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Is All White Light the Same - Webinar
In this free webinar, we break down the differences among different types of white horticultural lighting. We will present the results of comparative plant trials we conducted using a variety of our own and other LED providers’ luminaires
More and more LEDs are going from purple to white. Is there any difference among the countless white LED light options on the market, in addition to fluorescent? Cool white, warm white, full-spectrum white, fluorescent, white with UV and far red, etc. How to evaluate these choices?
In this free webinar, we break down the differences among different types of white horticultural lighting. We will present the results of comparative plant trials we conducted using a variety of our own and other LED providers’ luminaires.
Spectra appearing white to human eyes contain a variety of spectrum colors, including green. Humans can distinguish them in terms of their temperature (e.g. warm white and cool white) and CRI (color rendering index) which determines how realistic objects appear under them.
Plants however can have dramatically different reactions to light that appear nearly the same to us. The example here shows the difference in biomass accumulation from three light sources that look exactly the same!
This webinar is aimed at growers and researchers trying to understand which kind of light to illuminate their growth chambers, indoor farms, and greenhouse compartments with.
Register for the webinar here.
Contact Valoya sales here - sales@valoya.com
About Valoya
Valoya is a provider of high-end, energy-efficient LED grow lights for use in crop science, vertical farming, and medicinal plant cultivation. Valoya LED grow lights have been developed using Valoya's proprietary LED technology and extensive plant photobiology research. Valoya's customer base includes numerous vertical farms, greenhouses, and research institutions all over the world (including 8 out of 10 world’s largest agricultural companies).
Additional information:
Valoya Ltd, Finland
Tel: +358 10 2350300
Email: sales@valoya.com
Web: www.valoya.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valoyafi/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/valoya
Kalera Announces Newest Vertical Farming Facility To Open In St. Paul, Minnesota
With millions of heads of lettuce to be grown per year, Kalera’s St. Paul facility will provide a source of fresh, non-GMO, clean, living lettuces and microgreens to retailers, restaurants and other customers. Kalera’s location in the heart of the city will shorten travel time for greens from days to mere hours, preserving nutrients, freshness, and flavor
The New Facility Will Provide Fresh,
Hydroponically-Grown Produce To The Western Midwest
ORLANDO, Fla., March 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kalera (Euronext Growth Oslo ticker KAL, Bloomberg: KSLLF), one of the fastest-growing US vertical farming companies in the world and a leader in plant science for producing high-quality produce in controlled environments, today announced the purchase of a facility in St. Paul, Minnesota which they will convert to a vertical farming facility. Kalera’s Minnesota location is the eighth facility it has announced, making it one of the fastest-growing vertical farming companies in the United States. This announcement comes on the heels of the news of Kalera’s appointment of Sonny Perdue, former Secretary of Agriculture and Maria Sastre to the Board of Directors, as well as its acquisition of Vindara, the first company to develop seeds specifically designed for use in vertical indoor farm environments as well as other controlled environment agriculture (CEA) farming methods.
With millions of heads of lettuce to be grown per year, Kalera’s St. Paul facility will provide a source of fresh, non-GMO, clean, living lettuces and microgreens to retailers, restaurants and other customers. Kalera’s location in the heart of the city will shorten travel time for greens from days to mere hours, preserving nutrients, freshness, and flavor. The facility will also generate approximately 70 jobs upon opening.
“I’m proud to be welcoming Kalera to St. Paul and the W. 7th neighborhood,” said City Councilmember Rebecca Noecker, who represents St. Paul’s Ward 2. “The facility is not only bringing millions of dollars in investment into the community but is also providing jobs and importantly, increasing access to fresh, non-GMO, clean, locally grown produce.”
Kalera currently operates two growing facilities in Orlando and last week started operations in its newest and largest facility to date in Atlanta and is building facilities in Houston, Denver, Columbus, Seattle, and Hawaii. Kalera is the only controlled environment agriculture company with coast-to-coast facilities being constructed, offering grocers, restaurants, theme parks, airports and other businesses nationwide reliable access to locally grown clean, safe, nutritious, price-stable, long-lasting greens. Once all of these farms are operational, the total projected yield is several tens of millions of heads of lettuce per year, or the equivalent of over 1,000 acres of traditional field farms. Kalera uses a closed-loop irrigation system which enables its plants to grow while consuming 95% less water compared to field farming.
“Minnesotans are all too familiar with the limitations of a challenging climate,” said Daniel Malechuk, Kalera CEO. “They also take great pride in local accomplishments, so we are extremely excited to facilitate this opportunity for Minnesotans to have fresh, high quality produce year-round, grown by the locals for the locals.”
Final project commitments, including jobs and capital investment, are contingent on final approval of state incentives.
ABOUT KALERA
Kalera is a technology-driven vertical farming company with unique growing methods combining optimized nutrients and light recipes, precise environmental controls, and cleanroom standards to produce safe, highly nutritious, pesticide-free, non-GMO vegetables with consistently high quality and longer shelf life year-round. The company’s high-yield, automated, data-driven hydroponic production facilities have been designed for rapid rollout with industry-leading payback times to grow vegetables faster, cleaner, at a lower cost, and with less environmental impact.
US: NORTH CAROLINA: CraftGrown Farms Offers Fresh Microgreens, Lettuce And Herbs
All of the growing is done inside, allowing CraftGrown Farms to produce year-round and the ability to expand its growing capacity
BY JESSICA MAURER
March 10, 2021
CraftGrown Farms involves a hydroponic farm on Castle Street. (Photo courtesy of CraftGrown Farms)
Randall Rhyne’s career has included teaching high school biology and earth science as well as serving in the Army Reserve, with deployments to Iraq and Syria.
After visiting Wilmington last year, he fell in love with the city and decided to relocate from Virginia.
While serving overseas, Rhyne and his unit often had little to no access to fresh food, relying on MREs or snacks like Pop-Tarts. He often longed for fresh produce.
One spring when he was in the Syrian desert, he saw trucks hauling locally grown produce and found himself thinking that if the locals were able to grow their own food in the middle of a civil war, in a desert, there was no reason why he couldn’t do this at home. As soon as he returned to Virginia, Rhyne got to work.
Now, having secured a Castle Street storefront and growing space across from Luna Café on Castle Street last fall, Rhyne has created CraftGrown Farms, an indoor, hydroponic farm selling nutrient-dense microgreens, hydroponic lettuce, and herbs to local restaurants and the public.
All of the growing is done inside, allowing CraftGrown Farms to produce year-round and the ability to expand its growing capacity.
Rhyne said the response so far has been remarkable; in fact, he’s already outgrown his initial vertical grow system.
“It’s a great problem to have,” Rhyne said.
He said new customers are usually so excited about what they’ve tried that they want to take home more than they need.
“I’m an old school believer in the quality of the sale and even though these items have a good shelf life, I try to discourage people from buying too much at once,” Rhyne said.
CraftGrown Farms only harvests what it sells, so the produce is picked right in front of the customer, providing maximum flavor and freshness.
There are currently about a dozen microgreen blends available, as well as leafy greens such as kale, arugula, and tatsoi. The microgreens will keep in a vegetable crisper for two weeks, and all of the lettuce is sold with the root ball intact to preserve flavor and freshness.
“These are not your everyday lettuces,” Rhyne said.
CraftGrown Farms is located at 603 Castle St. and is open from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Have a tip for Restaurant Roundup? Email us at: restaurant@wilmingtonbiz.com.
The Rise of Vertical Farming: A Solution to Key Agricultural Challenges
Right now, vertical farming is transforming the industry and could be the future of food production with the world’s population expected to grow to a staggering 9.7 billion by 2050. So, what exactly is vertical farming and how could it change farming as we know it?
By Essex Mag
March 13, 2021
As such a critical industry, it is always interesting to read about the latest developments in farming and agriculture. Right now, vertical farming is transforming the industry and could be the future of food production with the world’s population expected to grow to a staggering 9.7 billion by 2050. So, what exactly is vertical farming and how could it change farming as we know it?
What is Vertical Farming?
The topic of vertical farming was recently explored by Marsh Commercial, providers of farming insurance, who outlined vertical farming as an indoor farming process with plants growing on vertically stacked surfaces under controlled conditions. This would allow farmers complete control over light, climate, irrigation etc which would enable them to grow seasonal crops throughout the year. This means that as opposed to farming on a single level, such as on a field, food could be produced in stacked layers integrated into structures such as a skyscraper.
Vertical Farming Benefits
Vertical farming is taking off in the UK and provides many solutions to a few of the biggest challenges facing agriculture today, including climate change and the growing and aging population. Essentially, this is because vertical farming allows food products to maximize space and optimize the environment for food production allowing for greater yield per square mater, low water consumption, and a lack of soil or pesticide.
Vertical Farming in the UK
Additionally, vertical farming is well-suited to island economies and those that import a lot of produce. Security of supply is incredibly important when it comes to the food chain in these places and vertical farming can strengthen this greatly, which in the UK is a huge plus when you consider the pandemic and Brexit. As explained by The Grocer, food supply chains are under more scrutiny than ever right now and vertical farming could be the solution.
Projects
FWI revealed that there are a number of big vertical farming projects announced in the UK lately, including Ocado sinking in £17 million in the sector in 2019 and an Edinburgh-based company with ambitions to develop 40 vertical farming sites (which 5 already in place).
Just Food also recently revealed that popular UK sausage and vegan food manufacturer Heck has also partnered with a vertical farming specialist Vertical Future to install a vertical farm in its headquarters. The farm will focus on micro-crops, which they believe could allow them to create new “unique and interesting flavors” too.
It is fantastic to see innovative and sustainable developments like vertical farming growing in the UK, especially in troubling times like this where there is so much uncertainty particularly when it comes to food supply and there being many challenges in the agricultural industry. Vertical farming is certainly the future and it is quickly becoming the norm in the UK with many big names realizing the potential for this innovative form of food production.
Marijuana And Makeup Are New Growth Areas For Vertical Farms
South Korean startup Farm 8 Co. is among a proliferation of indoor urban growers that saw sales jump during the pandemic
Heesu Lee
March 13, 2021, (Bloomberg) -- Supercharged by the need to secure local supplies of fresh vegetables during the pandemic, some vertical farms are now branching out into other high-margin areas such as medical cannabis, health supplements, and cosmetics. South Korean startup Farm 8 Co. is
Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/marijuana-and-makeup-are-new-growth-areas-for-vertical-farms
Copyright © BloombergQuint
PODCAST: Is This The Fastest-Growing Vertical Farming Business In The World?
Infarm’s global footprint has expanded rapidly in recent months. Its in-store units have been cropping up across the globe – including in Japan, one of the longest established and most developed indoor agriculture markets
March 11, 2021
Indoor agriculture is competitive. While there is so much whitespace for vertical farms and high-tech greenhouses to grow and sell produce regionally, those that are VC-backed seem to have been fighting for investor attention for years – with big announcements often lacking substance. So who is really leading the race?
When I returned from maternity leave in January, I reached out to my good friend Henry Gordon-Smith from urban ag consultancy Agritecture to find out what I’d missed and what sort of traction these highly-funded startups were really getting.
When thinking about which company was making the greatest strides, Henry highlighted Infarm – the Berlin-based vertical farming group with more than $300m in funding under its belt.
Infarm’s global footprint has expanded rapidly in recent months. Its in-store units have been cropping up across the globe – including in Japan, one of the longest established and most developed indoor agriculture markets. It’s also expanding into new crops, a welcome addition to the leafy green focus so many of its peers continue to have. And, since we recorded this podcast — yes that’s how fast they’re moving — they announced the roll-out of new modular ‘Growing Centers’ and added yet more funding.
So we decided to co-host an episode with Infarm’s two co-founders — and brothers — Guy and Erez Galonska, to dig into this growth.
Expect to hear about Infarm’s surprising commitment to sustainability; the focus on their core customer -the retailer; the expansion of their plant science team; and the evolution of their differentiated business model. Enjoy!
Lead photo: Image credit: Infarm
BERMUDA: Government Issues Vertical Farming Call
The Government has urged companies interested in bringing vertical farming to Bermuda to step forward through a new request for information
March 31, 2021
The Government has urged companies interested in bringing vertical farming to Bermuda to step forward through a new request for information.
The RFI calls for expressions of interest for parties who want to launch a commercial vertical farming operation “founded on principles of sustainability and environmentally friendly technology”.
Produce would be expected to be herbicide, fungicide, and pesticide-free, along with non-genetically modified.
The submission deadline for the RFI is 5 pm on Wednesday, March 31.
Submissions must include financial projections including sales volumes and corresponding revenue and relevant costs.
Wayne Furbert, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, said in November the Government had been working with US firm AeroFarms to “design and implement a vertical farming facility in Bermuda”.
Asked what the RFI meant for the relationship between the Government and AeroFarms, a spokeswoman for the Cabinet Office said the RFI was put out as part of the office’s due diligence efforts.
She said: “Through an RFI, the Government is seeking to determine if other interested parties were either contemplating or were in the process of producing commercial vertical farming in Bermuda.
“Interested entities who wish to engage further about this exciting, innovative, and environmentally sustainable project should visit www.gov.bm/procurement-notices.”
Vertical farming involves the production of crops in a controlled environment, usually indoors, using techniques such as hydroponics instead of soil and the crops grow in stacked layers.
The Government said last November that it was close to finalizing plans to bring a vertical farm to the island to help meet Bermuda’s demand for fresh produce.
Mr. Furbert said at the time the plan could reduce the cost of food production in Bermuda and generate 30 jobs.
He added that the proposal would be put to the Cabinet Committee for Economic Development later that month – but no further announcements have been made.
Improved Product Consistency
Introducing Travaglini FarmTech, a new business division that has been established by Travaglini S.p.a., the world leader in meat, cheese, and fish processing equipment. Travaglini FarmTech will deliver turnkey vertical farm solutions to food processors to help them improve product consistency and simplify their supply chain dynamics
12-03-2021 Philips Lighting
ITALY, Milan- Introducing Travaglini FarmTech, a new business division that has been established by Travaglini S.p.a., the world leader in meat, cheese, and fish processing equipment. Travaglini FarmTech will deliver turnkey vertical farm solutions to food processors to help them improve product consistency and simplify their supply chain dynamics.
“With vertical farming
we can grow and process consistent, high-quality produce in one location that can be close to retailers and consumers. We have full control over the entire process.”
- Luca Travaglini, leader Travaglini FarmTech
The challenge
Travaglini S.p.a. builds on 68 years of expertise in developing extremely accurate climate control, industrial automation, processing, and packaging equipment. The company is partnering with Philips Lighting, the world leader in lighting, to establish Italy’s first vertical farm research lab in Milan. This facility will be used to develop a state-of-the-art model for vertical farming growth strategies and technologies. The Italian vertical farm research lab will focus primarily on the production of leafy greens.
The right lighting
Vertical farming is a reply to the environmental problem that exists today in horticulture – how to provide fresh food to urban environments in a way that’s efficient and sustainable. “With vertical farming we are looking to answer many of the questions that the food industry is facing today and that will only become clearer and more pressing in the coming years,” said Travaglini. We can grow and process consistent, high-quality produce in one location in a vertical farm that can be close to retailers and consumers. Plus, we can fully control the entire supply chain, from seed to packaging.”
Luca Travaglini, leader of Travaglini FarmTech division said, “We chose to work with Philips Lighting because they have the strongest expertise in this field, and we trust them to help us expand our skillset and knowledge base over the long-term.
Photos Courtesy of Philips Lighting
Click here for more information.
Stockholm’s Indoor Farms Boost Food Security
The city is revolutionizing its food sector by showing results in eco-friendly urban farming
The City Is Revolutionizing Its Food
Sector By Showing Results
In Eco-Friendly Urban Farming
14 Mar 2021
In April 2020, the UN warned that the world was on the brink of a catastrophic famine.
It was estimated that about 135 million people in around 55 countries faced shortages in food, particularly nutritious food, in 2019.
Against this backdrop, the UN has set an ambitious goal to ensure food security and wipe out hunger by 2030. It estimated that around 183 million people could slide into starvation and malnutrition if stricken with a pandemic akin to Covid-19. The coronavirus crisis disrupted global food supply chains, leading to chronic shortages in many countries.
Even before this pandemic, the ecological costs of food production were rising, compounded by water scarcity in many places. Irrigation accounts for about 70% of freshwater withdrawals around the world, with the figure reaching 90% in some developing countries.
Food production, which is critical for survival, affects the ecosystem. With the Earth’s resources depleting every day and the world population growing, we must discover innovative ways to cultivate food. We need ground-breaking and resourceful approaches to not only feed the world’s population but to do so in eco-friendly ways.
Faced with this dilemma, we need to develop alternative methods of farming, particularly using artificial intelligence.
Stockholm’s modern indoor farming methods provide some answers on how to overcome global food shortages. The city is revolutionizing its food sector by showing results in eco-friendly urban farming.
Some buildings in Stockholm incorporate artificial intelligence and eco-friendly methods into indoor farming. Circular energy wastewater and carbon-absorbing mechanisms enable indoor-grown greens while reducing the ecological footprint.
Indoor farming in Stockholm uses LED lighting and hydroponic watering systems. Food, especially vegetables, is grown indoors all year round. Growing vegetables indoors not only cuts reliance on food imports but also makes cities self-sufficient in food.
More than 1.3 million plants are grown indoors in Stockholm every year. Indoor farming has allowed Sweden to slash food imports by 60% and cut carbon emissions incurred in transporting food. Such transport accounts for a quarter of emissions in Sweden.
In some Stockholm suburbs, bright LED lights illuminate a business space. In this building, plants follow an artificial daylight rhythm to grow as efficiently as possible. Delicate plants such as various herbs and lettuce grow in stacks of about 20 metres wide by six metres high. Local restaurants, supermarkets and airlines buy this indoor-grown indoors.
Weather conditions in Sweden allow open-air farming for only three to four months a year. But climate is not a constraint in indoor farming, which maximises the use of space using stacks. Each shelf has its own LED lighting and circulating water. Even fruits like strawberries can be grown throughout the year.
Sweden Foodtech, a government agency, acts as a catalyst in promoting and encouraging innovation in the food sector. This agency also offers support to firms that want to restructure the food ecosystem. Companies converge when business events are organized focusing on major themes revolving around the future of the Swedish food sector.
Besides Sweden Foodtech, the Stockholm Business Region, a business promotion agency, aims to create a resilient food ecosystem for innovative businesses. Its goal is to position Stockholm as a “leading food-tech hub” for 300 companies in the food-tech industry.
Public interest, environmental consciousness, and an innovative society has made Stockholm a conducive place for food-tech initiatives. Consumers in this city are more ecologically vigilant, and many of them feel it is their moral obligation to support eco-friendly products. The city itself also extends support to all kinds of sustainable projects.
As a society grows more affluent, it places greater emphasis on health issues and ecological considerations. Ecological degradation and the use of harmful chemical fertilisers and pesticides will spur demand for eco-friendly and healthier food products.
Some 55% or 4.3 billion of the global population of 7.8 billion are urban dwellers. This figure could reach 70% or 6.8 billion of the world’s population of 9.7 billion by 2050.
High-tech vertical farms offer alternative ways to grow food on a large scale. In this way, we can grow our food in more energy-efficient and healthier ways. Despite developments in agricultural technology, conventional farming faces problems such as pests, climate change, and natural disasters.
With the scarcity of arable farming land, ecological problems, and health hazards, the trend is towards indoor food cultivation. The only challenge is to reduce the cost of indoor farming, especially for urban dwellers in less affluent countries.
But with technology rapidly advancing along with ongoing R&D and innovation, costs will fall, allowing economies of scale in indoor farming. Technological advances will lower costs, enhance quality and improve harvests, all of which will provide better returns on investments.
The trend towards indoor vertical hydroponic or aeroponic farming will gain momentum, especially in urban areas. Mass food production in the future will probably focus on indoor farming in buildings rather than horizontal farming on the ground.
READ MORE: Use idle city land to grow food
What’s in it for Malaysia? Our total agricultural imports reached nearly $18.3bn in 2019, roughly 7% from the US. We must slash this high import bill.
The government should encourage more Malaysians to enter the food ecosystem and develop the sector completely along the value chain. It should give incentives to unemployed graduates, especially those in relevant disciplines, to venture into the food sector. It should encourage them to get involved in R&D, integrated farming, indoor farming, manufacturing, logistics, marketing and distribution.
If there is anything we can learn from the coronavirus pandemic, it is that we have to ensure food self-sufficiency. We saw how the pandemic severely disrupted global food supply chains, and so our national agenda should prioritize food security.
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USA - OHIO: ‘Amazing Accomplishment’: 80 Acres Produce Made In Hamilton Now Kosher Certified
Hamilton-based 80 Acres Farms recently received Kosher certification, and a rabbi who is part of that approval said he was astounded at how well the indoor-farming company keeps insects from its produce, even though it uses no pesticides
March 13, 2021
By Mike Rutledge
Hamilton-based 80 Acres Farms recently received Kosher certification, and a rabbi who is part of that approval said he was astounded at how well the indoor-farming company keeps insects from its produce, even though it uses no pesticides.
Credit: Journal News
“It’s an amazing, amazing accomplishment,” said Rabbi Avrohom Weinrib, administrator of Cincinnati Kosher, which now oversees about 50 establishments in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana.
The not-for-profit organization soon also will be known as Central Kosher as it expands regionally. Both organizations will use the symbol of a circle around the letters CK.
With Passover starting the evening of March 27, such a designation can make preparing salads much easier for Jewish families. Vegetables and other plant products normally are Kosher. Yet a Kosher law bans eating even the tiniest of insects, Weinrib said.
“It has to be perfectly clean to be considered Kosher,” Weinrib said. “So basically, what we’re certifying — and this is the incredible process of 80 Acres — is they, through technology, got to the ability to grow things without any infestation, to the point of perfection, which is an incredible accomplishment in the world at large, but particularly an incredible breakthrough for the Kosher world.”
As part of the certification process, crops are washed in water, and that water is poured through a fine cloth that catches even the tiniest organisms. Then the cloth is checked on a light box. Then reviewers use magnifying glasses, and sometimes microscopes, “to ensure there’s nothing on there — anything like an insect,” Weinrib said.
“We’ve done about six weeks of inspections at 80 Acres to make sure that’s the case, and so far, it’s been zero,” he said. “There’s a few others in the country that have gotten to this level — very, very few — and 80 Acres is probably the best in the country in terms of this accomplishment.”
Never eaten a raspberry
Every time Weinrib’s family prepares salads or greens, “It’s going to take my wife, or one of my children, or if we pay someone to do it, to go through this exact process of washing, inspecting and almost always washing a second, or third or fourth time, until it actually gets clean,” he said.
“Because we have to make sure it’s fully clean,” Weinrib added. “So it’s time-consuming, it’s labor-intensive, and it’s something that is not an easy process.”
But when consumers see the Kosher symbol, said Kosher coordinator Rabbi Lazer Fischer, “They just open up the bag, and they can use the lettuce inside,” knowing it’s completely insect-free.
Monica Noble, who runs 80 Acres’ quality and food safety program, said the company didn’t have to change anything to earn the certification.
“Our controlled growing environment is ideal to meet Kosher requirements,” she said.
At 80 Acres, “our grow zones are enclosed and employee traffic is extremely limited, which helps us prevent pest access in the first place,” Noble said.
Kosher laws are so stringent that Weinrib has never eaten a raspberry. Fischer, who recently moved from Israel, hasn’t had one since about age 5, after intensive cleansing of those raspberries.
Other difficult-to-clean produce includes blackberries, asparagus, Brussels sprouts and sometimes strawberries.
Fischer has tasted raspberry syrups, so he has a general idea. But he hopes one day 80 Acres will have “a breakthrough” for people who have never tasted a raspberry.
Explore PHOTOS: How 80 Acres Farms has grown in Hamilton so far this year
Holiday meals
Kosher certification feels good to Samantha Bergman, 80 Acres’ senior manager of retail sales and merchandising, because of her grandfather, Harvey Bergman.
“That was something that was so important to him, honoring the Jewish tradition, and passing that down from generation to generation,” Bergman said. “I’m grateful I work somewhere that can honor this tradition for the multitude of families that hold it close to their hearts.”
Many Muslims and others also pay attention to kosher certifications.
Shakila Ahmad, with the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati in West Chester, said when their Halal certification isn’t on a product, many Muslims look at the Kosher certification, especially when making sure there are no traces of pork in a product.
During Passover, which runs from March 27 to April 4, which this year coincides with Easter, Jews don’t eat breads, cakes or any grain-based product. That lack of leavened food represents the fact that in escaping slavery while leaving Egypt, they had to flee quickly with no time for dough to rise into bread. Maybe someday, 80 Acres will grow romaine lettuce, which can be used as a bitter herb, representing slavery. Romaine is particularly difficult to clean, the rabbis said.
PlantLab Opens The First Indoor Grow Site In The United States
As a Dutch pioneer in indoor farming (vertical farming), PlantLab has opened a new production site in the US city of Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana
As a Dutch pioneer in indoor farming (vertical farming), PlantLab has opened a new production site in the US city of Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana.
The first overseas ‘Plant Paradise’ grows vegetables for the locals in a place where it was previously unthinkable: in a former battery factory near the center of town.
The first herbs and lettuce heads have now been harvested from the 2,000 square meter grow site and delivered to local supermarkets and foodservice companies. PlantLab will grow different types of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and herbs in Indianapolis. The new location will ultimately be good for a total of 420,000 kilograms of fresh vegetables and provides employment for around seventy people.
Healthy and delicious
PlantLab has made a breakthrough over the past ten years with its efficient, worldwide patented technology for innovative urban agriculture, which is now in use in a commercial production site in Amsterdam and now also in Indianapolis.
This makes it possible to grow fresh, healthy, and tasty vegetables on a large scale close to the consumer without the use of chemical pesticides. In an area of only two football fields, it is possible to produce enough to supply a city of 100,000 people with 200 grams of vegetables every day.
Sustainable urban corridors
PlantLab has partnered in Indianapolis with Englewood Community Development Corporation, which works on the sustainable development of urban corridors. The products are marketed under the brand name “Uplift, good food for purpose”.
“The collaboration gives us the opportunity to mean more to Indianapolis society,” says Michiel Peters, CEO of PlantLab. “It fits exactly with our mission. We are not only increasing the supply of sustainable and responsible fresh food for local customers, but we are also creating jobs in a sector that is totally new to this region. ”
Need less water
This summer, PlantLab raised € 20 million in growth funds from De Hoge Dennen Capital as part of an investment round. Scaling wants to use that money to open theatrical production sites in the Netherlands, the United States, and the Bahamas, among others. PlantLab production sites can be located anywhere in the world, even on sterile soil or in the middle of urban areas.
Crops reach their full potential by regulating temperature, humidity, and light, while 95% less water is needed. The light comes from specially developed LED lights that provide the specific color of light that the plant needs for photosynthesis.
Sonny Perdue, Former US Secretary of Agriculture And Georgia Governor, Joins Kalera Board of Directors
Brings over 40 years of experience in agriculture
Brings Over 40 years of Experience In Agriculture
Kalera (Euronext Growth Oslo ticker KAL, Bloomberg: KSLLF), one of the fastest-growing and largest vertical farming companies in the world and a leader in plant science for producing high-quality produce in controlled environments, today announced that Sonny Perdue, former United States Secretary of Agriculture and Georgia Governor, will join its Board of Directors and has also personally invested in the company in the latest financing round. Perdue’s appointment to the Board follows the addition of Maria Sastre to the Board of Directors, as well as Kalera’s acquisition of Vindara Inc., the first company to develop seeds specifically for use in vertical farming environments.
Sonny Perdue served as the United States Secretary of Agriculture from 2017 to 2021, where he initiated USDA’s Ag Innovation Agenda. Prior to his time as Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny served as Governor of Georgia from 2003 to 2011 and a Georgia State Senator from 1991-2002. As a state senator, he was often praised for tackling issues when no one else had the courage to do so and for his ability to grasp the nuances of complex problems. Sonny was recognized as a leading authority on numerous issues including agriculture, transportation, education, emerging technologies and economic development.
“Kalera remains focused on being global leaders in all that we do, whether it be in technology, expansion, innovation, building an executive team, or having a world class Board of Directors,” said Daniel Malechuk, CEO of Kalera. “The addition of a global industry titan like Sonny Perdue is a testimony to this commitment and validation of Kalera’s role in defining how we feed the world for generations to come. We are humbled that Sonny has chosen to join us as a fully-active participant on our Board, and are excited about the unique perspective and insight he will provide through his experience as Secretary of Agriculture for the world’s leading agriculture and food producer.”
“Kalera is leading the pack in a booming vertical farming industry,” said Sonny Perdue. “Kalera is a perfect example of the power of American innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship to develop different, better ways to grow and provide food at home and around the globe. Through my travels, I’ve had the opportunity to experience many intriguing ideas in food and agricultural innovation and technology. In my opinion, Kalera captures the intersection of technology and sustainable food production better than anything I have seen. That is why I am excited about the potential I see in Kalera to change the way we grow and consume our food.”
This news follows the Company’s recent acquisition of Vindara Inc., the first company to develop seeds specifically designed for use in vertical indoor farm environments as well as other controlled environment agriculture (CEA) farming methods. Kalera has realized rapid expansion into a number of new markets including Atlanta, Houston, Denver, Columbus, Seattle, and Hawaii. Kalera is the only controlled environment agriculture company with coast-to-coast facilities being constructed, offering grocers, restaurants, theme parks, airports and other businesses nationwide reliable access to locally grown clean, safe, nutritious, price-stable, long-lasting greens. Kalera uses a closed-loop irrigation system which enables its plants to grow while consuming 95% less water compared to field farming.
About Kalera
Kalera is a technology driven vertical farming company with unique growing methods combining optimized nutrients and light recipes, precise environmental controls, and clean room standards to produce safe, highly nutritious, pesticide-free, non-GMO vegetables with consistent high quality and longer shelf life year-round. The company’s high-yield, automated, data-driven hydroponic production facilities have been designed for rapid rollout with industry-leading payback times to grow vegetables faster, cleaner, at a lower cost, and with less environmental impact. To learn more visit www.Kalera.com.
New Sustainability Partnership Launched Between Sodexo And ZipGrow Inc.
Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Life Services, has joined forces with ZipGrow Inc., the manufacturer of the world’s most installed vertical hydroponic equipment, to develop a unique program to introduce sustainable growing systems to facilities throughout Canada and the United States of America
Burlington, March 11, 2021: Today, two international industry leaders have launched a first-of-its-kind partnership to develop more sustainable local food chains throughout North America.
Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Life Services, has joined forces with ZipGrow Inc., the manufacturer of the world’s most installed vertical hydroponic equipment, to develop a unique program to introduce sustainable growing systems to facilities throughout Canada and the United States of America.
One of Sodexo’s primary goals is to ensure all our operations are industry-leading from a sustainability perspective. “This new partnership with ZipGrow Inc. not only enables us to reduce our carbon emissions of distance traveled for food source, onsite food waste, and packaging requirements, but also to introduce innovative technology to our facilities and team members”, said Normand St-Gelais, Director of Corporate Responsibility, Sodexo Canada.
ZipGrowTM technology is a patented system that utilizes both hydroponic growing systems and vertical planes to maximize production volume within a small footprint. Primarily growing leafy greens such as lettuce and kale, along with herbs and small fruiting crops such as strawberries, ZipGrow systems will be installed in Sodexo locations including educational institutions, conference facilities, and corporate food service centres.
“Having been installed throughout the world over the past decade, our system enables growers, both big and small, to access fresh produce no matter where they are located”, explains Eric Lang, President of ZipGrow Inc. “We are excited to move ahead with this new partnership with Sodexo. Together we will be able to introduce sustainable food to Sodexo locations throughout North America.”
“As a Chef, we are always looking for ways to introduce the freshest possible produce to our kitchens”, said Chef Davide Del Brocco, Sustainability Manager, Sodexo Canada. “By having a grow system on site, we can now not only customize our produce to meet our upcoming needs, but we can also now harvest fresh greens and use them that same day.”
“Having like-minded partners like ZipGrow who understand what is important to us and who are aligned with our values and goals is crucial in working together for a Better Tomorrow." said Andrea Cantin, Corporate Social Responsibility Coordinator, Sodexo Canada. With Sodexo and ZipGrow Inc. both having company values strongly embedded in sustainability, this new partnership will see this innovative agriculture technology being introduced to multiple Sodexo facilities in Canada and the US.
About Sodexo
Sodexo delivers a wide range of customized solutions, designed to optimize work and living environments. Sodexo has been providing food and facilities management services in Canada for over 40 years, with a focus on enhancing safety, work process, and well-being. Sodexo is a market leader in Canada. Sodexo has been recognized as a top employer for the past seven consecutive years. Sodexo is proud to have created the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation, an independent charitable organization that has raised over $3 million to fight hunger and donated more than one million meals to at-risk youth across Canada since 2007. Sodexo is included in the CAC 40, FTSE 4 Good, and DJSI indices.
Key figures (as of November 2020)
420,000 employees
1st in its sector in both the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) and the 2020 SAM sustainability yearbook 64 countries
100 million consumers served daily
About ZipGrow Inc.
ZipGrow Inc. is an international leader in indoor, vertical farming technology. Our flagship product, the ZipGrowTM Tower, is a core component of many of the world’s most innovative farms; from indoor hydroponic warehouses to vertical aquaponic greenhouses and high-density container farms. For more information contact hello@zipgrow.com or at 1-855-ZIPGROW.
Contacts
Media
Caroline Desvaux
Tel: +1 514 476 2158
Caroline.desvaux@sodexo.com
“Vertical Farming Gives Us The Opportunity To Create A Demand-Driven Food System”
Harvest London allows its customers control in letting them decide details of the specific crop they’re interested in, not only on things like taste, color but also packaging, frequency of deliveries
Starting the business in 2017 with a proof of concept, Harvest London was ready to construct a more high-tech farm. “We’ll only grow the requested demand of the customers,” says Chris Davies, CEO at Harvest London. “Everything is supply-based, however, this has resulted in food waste and a fundamentally broken food supply system. Our customers sign a long-term growing contract, selling the capacity to grow produce.”
Harvest London allows its customers control in letting them decide details of the specific crop they’re interested in, not only on things like taste, color but also packaging, frequency of deliveries. In addition to being grown to order, this gives them more control over their supply chain which they previously didn’t have, as normally they would take what they’d be given.
Matching supply to demand
Harvest London makes use of a ‘partners by design’ model, meaning everything cultivated is grown to order, matching supply to demand. Going from harvest to delivery within four hours as long as customers are London-based. Meaning they don’t grow for money's sake, as the company believes it has the most impact on cutting prices, margins and increasing food waste. Therefore, Harvest London works very closely with customers in order to truly understand their demand. This enables them knowing where the produce is going and who the produce is used by.
Variety focus
On its previous farm, the company was growing 10-15 things as they had a different business plan back then. Harvest London was growing several unique crops for Michelin restaurants. However, it was only growing 500 grams to one kilo at a time. Chris adds, “We focused on variety which was the most important thing back then. Now, we’ve learned from that and have the recipes and know-how still, but we’re growing five crops at the same time at a larger scale. Certain crops are viable at the moment, but that viability is a function of how well you can do things.”
Quickly the company sold the business out and within three months, it was growing at 100% capacity. This resulted in turning customers away says Chris as they didn’t have more capacity. After meeting their maximum capacity the company ran some funding rounds in order to construct a bigger farm to increase production.
Emerging technologies
We’re fundamentally system integrators, using existing techniques from different industries, and have compiled all of those together. This ends up with a vertical farm.” According to Chris, many vertical farms are making the mistake by trying to be a hardware and vertical farming company at the same time. However, being a vertical farm is already hard enough on itself.
“We don’t play at the hardware space, at the base layer of hardware, however, we add value to the value-added technology space. We built a platform that essentially operates as the brains of our farm, regardless of the hardware, growing method, etc. It doesn’t matter from a hardware perspective, here’s a software platform that allows our data-driven operations. The thinking is that by taking this approach you’ll be able to break down silos of data. This is done by sharing data across different hardware providers and constantly learn, not being tied to any kind of hardware ecosystem,” Chris affirms.
The green infrastructure space
In the shortest term doing things with renewable resources, says Chris, is kind of a stop-gap measure. It’s the right thing to do in the short term, but based on the significant energy costs a vertical farm has, you have to take a more holistic approach. There’s a lot of money present in the market, the concept of green finance ‘greening the financial system’ hasn’t reached its potential yet. “The way you’re really going to transform food production is by thinking more holistically about food production within the context of a larger infrastructure. The most success we had with investors, the ones that already understand the green infrastructure space. If you already understand the economics of solar farming, wind farming or anaerobic digestion, then you understand the concept behind investing in vertical farming. Very high capital expense at the start of the process, but very productive for the lifetime of the asset”
Co-locating vertical farms
However, when wanting to make a difference in food systems, according to Chris, is building more vertical farms, which is high capital intensity. More and more, vertical farms will be treated as green infrastructure projects. It’s almost like the multiplier effect when already owning a solar farm and anaerobic digester e.g. imagine a scenario of co-locating a vertical farm right next to these grids. You can create a very circular energy and food production system here. The hub and spoke model of vertical farming works really well. As about 85% of the produce comes out of the country, says Chris, a farm just outside London is still an exponential. We all know that in order to get the economy of scale, and efficiency, and maximizing your kilos per square meters.
For more information:
Harvest London
Chris Davies, CEO
chris@harvestfarms.ag
www.harvest.london
Publication date: Fri 12 Mar 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
Vertical Farming Taking Weather Out of The Equation
Use of vertical farming technology has become more widespread in recent years, but how can it complement conventional farming systems? Alex Black and Rob Yorke report
11 March 2021
Use of vertical farming technology has become more widespread in recent years, but how can it complement conventional farming systems? Alex Black and Rob Yorke report.
Vertical farming taking weather out of the equation
Vertical farming is seen as an exciting concept, in which to grow high-quality produce without the worries of the weather and get more British produce on shelves.
And the sector is growing. In 2018, vertical farming was worth $3 billion (£2.2bn) globally and it is predicted to grow to $22bn (£16bn) by 2026. This is from a standing start, with no vertical farms in operation in 2010.
Baby leaves
Emma Burke is chief executive of Perfectly Fresh, a site in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, which is equivalent to 20 hectares of farmland and produces baby leaf for Marks & Spencer for both retail sale and as a sandwich ingredient.
“We are growing a premium product, our unique selling point is flavour, quality, and shelf life," Ms. Burke said. “Traditional baby leaves are often imported from Italy, Spain, and even the US. Vertical farming means that we can grow baby leaves and other crops in the UK all-year-round which previously were imported.
She believes vertical farming is part of the solution to feeding a growing global population in a sustainable way. Using vertical farming and growing plants indoors under controlled conditions, produce can be grown all year round, using less land and in any location, from an office block to a desert.
Ms. Burke said the future of vertical farming was ‘global’ with projections of an 11bn population by 2021.
“Our fragile planet simply does not have enough natural resources to meet this future consumption. Vertical farming is part of the solution to the global problems we all face,” she added.
Hydroponics
Preston-based firm Growpura is behind a new commercial-scale vertical hydroponics demonstrator facility to be based at Colworth Park in Bedfordshire.
The project, backed by a £4.5m Government grant, will use a ’simple but sophisticated’ vertical technology conveyor system to continually move plants past sources of light, irrigation and monitoring technology in a cleanroom environment.
Chief executive Nick Bateman said the innovative technology will improve product quality but importantly, generate flexibility as it can modulate plant growth to meet demand requirements.
He said: "The driver for this is to be more efficient, trying to reach net-zero as quickly as possible.
"The ability to move the technology so we can make the most effective use of natural light reduces electricity use, so we can cut production costs.
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"We can lower our carbon footprint by producing and packing on the same site and then transporting straight to to the final destination and because this is cleanroom technology, the products are ready to eat so we are cutting out the washing process."
Unlike conventional production, vertical farming units can grow crops 24/7, 365 days a year.
But Mr. Bateman believes the technology could complement existing farm enterprises.
"If a farmer has a renewable energy project, where they are sending power to the grid, it could be economically more beneficial to use that energy to power a vertical operation," he said.
Predictability
"You do not have the labour costs or the challenges of pests and diseases and supermarkets are increasingly looking to source food produced in this way.
"This is because it gives a supermarket predictability, helps to deal with fluctuations in demand, and does not bring any issues with contamination or disease."
Perfectly Fresh recently invested in a Research and Development Centre of Excellence to fully understand how to grow the best quality, in the shortest time possible, while developing yields and production efficiency.
For some crops, it is possible to have additional crop cycles per year than can be achieved in the traditional field growing.
Food waste could also be reduced in-store and at home, as vertically farmed salads can have a significantly longer shelf life.
Ms. Burke said vertical farming was just the next step for the industry, comparing it to the introduction of robotic milking machines in the dairy sector or the Hands-Free Hectare project at Harper Adams University.
She also believes it can attract new entrants and assist with changing the perception of careers in agriculture and horticulture as the industry will need research scientists, data specialists and photo biologists amongst a range of other technical experts.
Premium needed to make vertical farming work
While vertical farming technology is exciting, it could be difficult to make it work economically, with high initial investment costs and operational expenditure.
Sarah Hughes, who completed a Nuffield scholarship on the subject, said the crop needed to have some ‘real value’ to make it work.
“The amazing thing is you can grow anything anywhere at any time but it is whether it is economical,” she said.
Ms. Hughes, now marketing manager of hybrid barley at Syngenta, added many companies had focused on salad crops and herbs as they grow very well in this system but they could provide a premium product.
“I do not know how big that market is to grow into. This year a lot of those premium customers, the restaurant’s caterers which would have been quite a big sector for those type of business models, have disappeared quite quickly,” she said.
There were also opportunities in supermarkets but she suggested to make that work economically businesses would likely be having to sell a novel product as they were competing with glasshouses and field-grown crops.
Ms. Hughes suggested there could be opportunities in growing seed or food with higher vitamin content by manipulating the environment or in insect farming.
“That health and well-being sector is really big for consumers and there are still people prepared to pay for that,” she said.
There may be opportunities for farmers that could grow a very niche crop to link up with restaurants.
Ms. Hughes gave the example of a shop she had seen in Japan with a vertical farm included as a ‘tourist attraction’ with the produce sold in the restaurant.
International
Elsewhere in the world, vertical farming was taking off in the coastal areas of the US where major investors were looking for green, agritech investments.
It was also proving popular in the Middle East where water shortages affected farming and there was also a high proportion of hotels and consumers who would pay for the premium products.
More traditional growing methods could also benefit from some of the ideas of vertical farming without using the full model.
She highlighted glasshouses that still utilized sunlight but used supplementary lighting and carbon dioxide.
Rooftop Farming
Square Mile Farms, established in late 2018 by Johnno Ransom from a Lincolnshire farming family and Patrick Dumas, with an interest in nutrition, is a cutting-edge example of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA).
This involves a closed-loop system involving UV-treated nutrient-rich water delivered to vertical racks of inert Rockwool growing plugs in an atmosphere of stable temperature-flowing air illuminated by calibrated LED lights. It is just one of the end of the spectrum of hydroponic farming – using water as the nutrient delivery medium rather than soil – which includes vertical farms of all shapes and sizes.
Mr. Ransom said: “After doing a land management degree at Reading, then working as a property funds consultant, I decided to move into a more socially responsible area which was about bringing agriculture in the built environment.
"There was increasing interest in what is termed ‘urban lifestyle farming’ based around growing fresh produce close to communities becoming more sustainable."
In the 1970s, NASA were the first to start growing crops in water with a view to growing food in space.
There is more interest in hydroponic farming from venture capital investors as innovation has resulted in better LED lighting required for growing, as well as the prospects of lower operating costs.
Crowdfunding also helping to finance start-ups such as Square Mile Farms.
While many established farms - from London, Scunthorpe to Dundee – aim to serve supermarkets and wholesalers, Square Mile Farms, is keen to connect and bring urban consumers closer to food production by growing ‘greens on the walls of offices and in the basements of flats.
“It is a great model for businesses to embed well-being and social responsibility objectives into everyday living” he added.
“An office environment is already controlled to a large extent for human occupation which also benefits leafy greens and herbs plants which thrive off the temperature and CO2 in a busy workspace – we just need to the right light and water-efficient inputs."
When asked about Government support for this nascent agriculture, Mr. Ransom hoped Defra might show more interest to level the playing field with conventional agriculture.
The Covid-19 pandemic which, apart from highlighting a fragility around ‘just-in-time’ fresh food systems, has also brought people closer to the source of their groceries.
Mr. Ransom added: "Some form of accreditation along the lines of organic certification would be a logical step in labeling produce from CEA – which is nutritious and pesticide-free if done right."
The farms have grown more than 40 types of crops, including leafy greens from various herbs basil and parsley, chives, dill, coriander, lemongrass, bok choy, fennel, sorrel and red stem radish, and brassicas, such as curly kale, cavolo nero, mustard greens, and various lettuces and baby leaf.
Polygreens Podcast Episode: 17 - Nicola Kerslake - Contain Inc.
Nicola Kerslake founded Contain Inc, a fintech platform for indoor agriculture, that aids indoor farmers in finding lease funding for their projects
Nicola Kerslake founded Contain Inc, a fintech platform for indoor agriculture, that aids indoor farmers in finding lease funding for their projects. They're backed by Techstars' Farm to Fork program, funded by Cargill and Ecolab.
Latest Episode
GrowGroup IFS Introduces Their Own Grow Container Systems GCS 40HQ
The GCS 40HQ is available in different models. All models are in a 40ft container and includes LED technology, climate computers with remote control, and extensive control on water, temperature, humidity, CO2, and lighting
March 12, 2021
GrowGroup IFS Introduces Their Own Grow Container Systems GCS 40HQ
GrowGroup IFS introduces the GrowGroup Grow Container Systems “GCS 40HQ” for small container cluster farms, research & development, schools & universities, and pilots for new indoor farms. With this new solution now GrowGroup IFS can support also small farms in an accessible way with their unique and full approach including support with the operation through their partners GaaS Wageningen and Hoogendoorn Growth Management.
Grow Container Systems “GCS 40HQ”
The GCS 40HQ is available in different models. All models are in a 40ft container and includes LED technology, climate computers with remote control, and extensive control on water, temperature, humidity, CO2, and lighting. The basic model has a very low entry-level and is upgradeable on different levels. The client can choose for example for an upgrade to the highest quality of climate computers of partner Hoogendoorn Growth Management or the highest quality of LED technology of Signify. The client can even choose for the support with the operation through partner GaaS Wageningen.
“We support the bigger farmers with our unique and full approach on indoor farming for some time already but noticed also that smaller farmers, in particular, have a great need for this. That’s why we launch our own GCS solution right now, so all farmers can use the newest technology of indoor farming for year-round cultivation all over the world”, John Breedveld, CEO GrowGroup IFS.
GaaS Wageningen
Partner GaaS Wageningen from the Netherlands has access to a pool of more than 200 agricultural specialists. Its core business is supporting the operation of high-tech indoor farms from the small ones as the container farms up to the large ones as the big indoor factories. They have high knowledge of indoor farming and sharing their knowledge with the farmers by supporting and training them but also with schools and universities.
GrowGroup IFS
GrowGroup IFS (Innovative Farming Solutions), founded by CEO John Breedveld in Barendrecht in the Netherlands, is specialized in developing indoor farming based on the most advanced Dutch innovative farming solutions, especially in regions where normal cultivation is restricted by extreme climate and or limited space.
Fruitbox 56 - Daniel Kats, InFarm
Despite its name, InFarm’s roots are very much in the market. In February 2021, the Berlin-based urban farming startup announced the creation of new growing centres to supply fresh produce to the likes of Edeka, Lidl and Kaufland
5th March 2021
The Urban Farming Startup's Head of Sales
Tells Fruitnet About The Next Stage of its Impressive Expansion
Despite its name, InFarm’s roots are very much in the market. In February 2021, the Berlin-based urban farming startup announced the creation of new growing centres to supply fresh produce to the likes of Edeka, Lidl, and Kaufland.
Starting in Germany and extending very soon to the UK, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, US, and Canada, the move represents a step-change in its operations, scaling up a business model that until now has focused on smaller, plug-and-grow units within retail stores themselves.
Now, as demand for locally grown produce continues to rise, the company is preparing go beyond the 1,500 in-store farms already installed and ramp up production wherever the market demands it.
And with total venture capital funding of more than US$400m to date, it’s certainly shaping up to be one of the world’s most hotly tipped vertical growing startups.
“We are not building farms,” explains InFarm’s vice-president of corporate sales Daniel Kats, speaking on the latest episode of Fruitbox. “We’re taking facilities and deploying models inside. Those automated towers can then grow by demand. If the retailer has more demand, we just add one or two or ten more towers.”
Why now? “The population is growing, the demand keeps growing, and a lot of food production is needed in many large cities,” says Kats. “Therefore we are pushing the button now and starting to grow.”
Now operating in ten countries, and set to launch in Japan this year, the company is also venturing into new products. As a result, it’s ready to become a major supplier in its own right, rather than simply enabling retailers to grow a limited number of items in stores.
“We are growing much more variety and assortment,” Kats adds. “We started with a lot of leafy greens, herbs, lettuces, mixed salads, microgreens, and now we’re doing the first steps into tomatoes, mushrooms, chillies, strawberries in the future, which require naturally much bigger spaces to grow centrally and distribute to the supermarkets.”
Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis. Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.
All previous episodes of Fruitbox can be found on any of the following podcast services:
Apple · Spotify · Anchor · Google · Overcast · Soundcloud · Stitcher · Pocket Casts
Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.
To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email: chris@fruitnet.com
To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email: advertising@fruitnet.com
Enjoyed this free article from Eurofruit Magazine and its team of editors? Don't miss out on even more in-depth analysis, plus all the latest news from the fresh produce business. Subscribe now to Eurofruit Magazine.
Alabama Indoor Vertical Farm Finds Delaware Soulmate
Lee Harrison and his wife, LeeAnn, are the founders of Gardens on Air, an indoor vertical farm located in Rainbow City, Alabama. Operating in 3,000 sq. ft. of a 20,000 sq. ft. former grocery store, Gardens on Air grows chemical-free produce and herbs harvested and sold locally
Lee Harrison, co-founder of Gardens on Air
Lee Harrison and his wife, LeeAnn, are the founders of Gardens on Air, an indoor vertical farm located in Rainbow City, Alabama. Operating in 3,000 sq. ft. of a 20,000 sq. ft. former grocery store, Gardens on Air grows chemical-free produce and herbs harvested and sold locally. They are a Certified Woman-Owned, Certified Natural Grown, Vegan Certified, and a Non-GMO Project business.
The parents of 13-year-old twins, the Harrisons are driven by a mission to improve people’s lives by ensuring the abundance of healthy food choices and offering second chances by providing employment opportunities to disadvantaged individuals. So strong is their belief in what they’re doing to make a positive difference that when a devastating turn of events threatened them with financial ruin, they took risks, made sacrifices, and fought the odds to not just survive, but triumph. They could hardly give up they are surrounded by friends and mentors whose encouragement and influence kept them forging ahead.
Lee traveled up to Delaware from Alabama on February 28 to see Second Chances Farm’s operations firsthand. A retired Alabama State police officer and a man of faith, Lee was particularly interested in our innovative approach to ending recidivism by providing employment, mentorship and entrepreneurial opportunity to previously incarcerated individuals. He knows the value of giving second chances to people and has seen firsthand how returning citizens are ostracized by society once they’re released from prison. He’s also witnessed many success stories of how good people can rebuild their lives if given the opportunity, trust, and respect.
Lee learned a lot of hard lessons about the importance of respect in his rookie years as a cop. He admits to having been a strictly “by the book” cop, stone-faced and uncompromising, until one day when someone literally knocked some perspective into him.
“I was so gung ho about enforcing the law that I had complaints on me,” says Lee. “I never lied. I've never done anything that would be considered unethical treatment of anybody. I just didn't have the capacity to see past the written law.”
All that changed the day Lee went to arrest a black man named Bruce Lee, (a.k.a. “Big Guy,”) who had just been released from prison and was visiting his family.
“We had felony warrants on him mostly drug-related. He had done nothing but work out during his last stretch behind bars, so he was what we called, ‘jail-house built.’ Massive. I was 150 pounds soaking wet, and my partner, Terry, was even smaller. Terry wanted us to wait for backup. But I said, ‘No! If we let him out of our sight, he might get away.’ That’s how I thought.
“I walked right up to him and said, ‘Hey, we got a warrant for you.’ He leaned into me and whispered, ‘Look man, please don’t do this in front of my family. Let me finish, and I’ll gladly let you put me in the car.’”
Lee wasn’t hearing any of it. The third time he told Big Guy he was taking him to jail, he grabbed his arm. The next few minutes, he says, are a blur.
“I remember it in slow motion,” Lee says. “His arm was like a tree trunk. I felt as though I had grabbed the back end of a car as it was taking off, and I knew I was about to get really hurt. To say he mopped the floor with Terry and me is an injustice. All I had left afterward was my gun belt, half my shirt, and half my pants. I was a bleeding mess.”
Lee managed to pull out his gun and he pointed it at Big Guy’s two friends, both of whom were even bigger, and demanded they put the cuffs on him, which they did.
“When we got to the jail, Big Guy wasn’t even winded,” Lee says. “He just calmly says to me, ‘If you had done things differently, I guarantee this wouldn’t have happened.’”
Big Guy was, at one time, a prominent gang leader. His world was violent, but regardless, he knew how to lead people and get them to do what he wanted. He knew how to run a successful if illegal, business.
“I can tell you what your problem is” he said. ‘You need to treat people with respect. Don’t raise your voice. Be polite. There will be people who don't do what you say regardless. It don't matter. There's those people, you just got to do what you gotta do with those people. But if you would’ve just taken the time… if you’d just stood there and let me finish talking to my mom who I haven’t seen for years and is bad off we wouldn’t have had a problem.”
The Harrison Family
This made Lee’s heart leap. He realized he hadn’t been respecting people’s dignity or humanity, and he also didn’t know that the man’s mother was suffering. “And I said, okay, I'll take your advice. And I did, and my complaints went down to zero. I rarely had to fight anyone anymore. Everything changed for me at that point. In 1999, I was Officer of the Year for the State of Alabama.”
At that moment, Lee shed his “no emotion, strictly business” police persona and let his real, compassionate self shine through. He could often be found shooting hoops on the basketball courts in crime-ridden neighborhoods as a trusted friend and role model. Partnering with Second Chances Farm to create a presence in Alabama to help former inmates reenter society will be a dream come true.
Ten years ago, when job-related injuries forced him into retirement, Lee’s brother came across research from NASA about aeroponic and hydroponic farming. Lee was intrigued about growing crops without pesticides and other harmful chemicals.
“My father had cancer and was having issues with his medication, so we were looking for healthy foods that we could grow. We didn’t trust the purity of so-called ‘organic’ foods we had learned that even if soil-based crops are grown without harmful chemicals, they are still vulnerable to the risk of chemical run-off from the non-organic fields.”
The Harrisons started small with an aeroponic system and later moved to hydroponic methods. “We grew for other people who had cancer, too. “ We decided to expand because we were doing a lot of good and really enjoying it. After years of having to prove ourselves to the USDA, we were able to be certified as Organic. Since research has shown the positive effects of wheat and barley grass juice on muscle growth, we have been growing that for cancer patients, too.”
It hasn’t been an easy ride. In Alabama, agriculture is hard-wired into the culture. It’s the primary way of life.
“I don't know how many times we've been told we wouldn’t make it. ‘It won't work.’ ‘There's no way to do it.’ ‘It won't happen.’ ‘You can't do that.’ ‘How can you grow a plant without dirt?’ ‘You're an idiot.’ And yet, today, indoor vertical farming has become a multi-million dollar industry garnering millions of investment dollars. People are starting to accept that they are dependent on huge amounts of produce that comes into our state from California and Arizona and that we are much better off protecting our people by growing our own produce locally, 365 days a year.”
Lee believes that the mentality and the mission of Second Chances Farm and Gardens on Air interlock flawlessly. We are honored to have met Lee Harrison, a truly honorable, compassionate, and inspiring man.
Lee has invited Ajit Mathew George, founder of Second Chances Farm to visit Lee’s existing 20,000 sq. ft. facility in Alabama between March 30 and April 2 to see how it might be integrated into “Second Chances Farm Rainbow City, Alabama.”
Stay tuned for more details!
USA - NEW YORK STATE - Ellicottville Greens’ Investors Discuss Why They Backed The Company
Ellicottville Greens crossed a major hurdle facing many growth-oriented startups recently when it pulled in a $1 million round of Series A funding from local angel investors
By Dan Miner – Reporter, Buffalo Business First
March 10, 2021
Andrea Vossler, partner at Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP | JOED VIERA
Ellicottville Greens crossed a major hurdle facing many growth-oriented startups recently when it pulled in a $1 million round of Series A funding from local angel investors.
How did co-founders Gabe Bialkowski and Sal LaTorre convince angels to move cash into their bank account in exchange for an ownership percentage of the business?
The answer lies somewhere at the intersection of familiarity, talent, and foresight, according to Scott Friedman, chairman of Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman law firm, and Andrea Vossler, a partner at that firm.
The duo, who invest through Varia Ventures, were the lead funders in Ellicottville Greens’ round.
Bialkowski is a computer science graduate from the Rochester Institute of Technology who has been in and out of several startups in the last decade, including a startup in Los Angeles that successfully raised seed capital.
“We worked with Gabe in the past and we find him to be bright, entrepreneurial, and collaborative,” Friedman said. “To build a great company requires real teamwork and Gabe is open to building a great team.”
Scott Friedman, chairman of Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP | JOED VIERA
The “bet the jockeys” mantra is a common beat among angel investors, who know that even the best ideas will face challenges requiring human ingenuity to overcome.
The model itself was also at the right place for an angel investment round, Vossler said. Ellicottville Greens builds organic vertical farms in shipping containers – making them cost-effective and mobile. It already has four such units in operation, allowing the team to show real-world evidence of its theoretical premise.
The company positions itself at the cutting-edge of a hot consumer trend, which is the ability to offer fresh and locally sourced produce. Its mobile units can be placed directly on a customers’ premises – an idea with major potential in the grocery space.
Ellicottville Greens' Container Farms | ELLICOTTVILLE GREENS
And finally, it uses technology to support production and operations and uses established e-commerce channels such as Produce Peddlers and Off the Muck.
“It’s an ag-tech startup in a massive market that’s continuing to grow,” Vossler said. “Gabe is taking a fairly straightforward business model and wrapping it with technology, utilizing the shipping containers to push down costs and creating significant efficiencies around the delivery of the product.”
Ellicottville Greens completed a $250,000 seed round of funding last year from Launch NY and other local angels. Bialkowski aired his company’s progress at a Jan. 27 web presentation in front of the Western New York Venture Association.
He surpassed many of his own growth and financial milestones for the year in the first quarter.
The mix of attractive leadership, market, and rapid growth was how Ellicottville Greens crossed the finish line on its Series A round. The idea, of course, is that the real race has just begun.
“As he continues to build his team and get traction, we don’t think there is any limit to the potential for this company,” Friedman said.
IN THIS ARTICLE Andrea Vossler Person Banking & Financial