What Do Indoor Farming CEOs Think of Hydroponics Organic Approval?

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What Do Indoor Farming CEOs Think of Hydroponics Organic Approval?

NOVEMBER 8, 2017 EMMA COSGROVE

Last week the National Organic Safety Board (NOSB), the body tasked with making recommendations to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) around its organic certification, rejected a proposal that would disallow hydroponic and aquaponic farms from being certified organic.

Hydroponic farms grow fruit and vegetables in a growing medium submerged in water, through which farmers provide nutrients. Aquaponic farmers use connected aquaculture operations to provide these nutrients.

In 2010 the NOSB voted to exclude “soilless” forms of growing, but the USDA decided not to take the recommendation, continuing to allow hydroponic farms to be certified and leading to a period of uncertainty on the subject. 

Some 100 hydroponic farms have been certified over the years inside and out of the United States (there are USDA organic approved certifiers all over the world).  But the ambivalence on the part of the USDA and according to one certifier, often true belief in a soil-based standard, led many certifiers to stay out of that game. 

Ryan Brouillard, crop and livestock certification manager at  Quality Certification Services (QCS) in Florida, which does certify hydroponic and aquaponic farms told AgFunderNews in August,  “We see it as a useful and productive agricultural system and there is a lot of demand for organic hydroponics. Other certifiers look at the rules as written and see that it is a soil-based standard so I can see where they are coming from too.”

This ruling offers some clarity on the matter, but the NOSB’s recommendations do not automatically change the USDA’s rules as past events have proven. Last year the Cornucopia Institute filed a complaint with the USDA for allowing USDA Organic certifications to be granted to farms despite the NOSB’s 2010 recommendation. The Cornucopia Institute also lodged a petition to exclude hydroponics from USDA organic standards in just one of many actions to avoid the November 1 result.

From one angle, this ruling is simply bringing the NOSB in line with what the USDA has already been practicing. In fact, the farm policy director of the Organic Trade Association said that the decision was maintaining the status quo. But, the reaction from the originators of the quite young National Organic Program, which was finalized only in 2000, has been heated.

Objectors to including hydroponics in the organic certification argue that the standard was created to maintain the health of the soil, which is harmed by conventional pesticides. They feel that soilless growing systems are incompatible with this purpose and should, therefore, be disqualified from the certification.

Notably, the NOSB is made up of 15 members appointed to a five-year term by the Secretary of Agriculture. Of the 15, four are organic farmers, two are organic processors and packers, one operates an organic retailer, three are environmental conservation experts, three represent consumer interest groups one is a toxicologist, and one is a USDA accredited certifier.

One outgoing member of the board wrote on The Cornucopia Insitute’s website that the organic industry had begun to wield more influence that organic farmers over the board’s actions and makeup.

What do Indoor Farmers think?

Indoor farmers argue that growing hydroponically is decreasing the amount of pesticides, even organic-approved pesticides, going into the soil, along with drastically decreasing water use compared to organic field farming – and is therefore congruous with the intent of the original National Organic Program.

Irving Fain, CEO of Bowery Farming, a high-tech indoor farming operation in Kearny, New Jersey says that the NOSB’s previous standards were simply out of date with modern agriculture.

“The NOSB’s previous definition of organic was written at a time when the technology that is available today simply did not exist, so it is appropriate to recognize that today’s produce does not have to be grown in a field to meet the highest quality standards,” he said.

Fain’s company frequently uses the term “post-organic” in its marketing, claiming that because Bowery’s process requires no pesticides, it is superior to the organic standard, which allows approved pesticides.    

Bowery Farming, which has raised a total of $27.5 million from tech VCs  General Catalyst and GGV Capital, and GV (Google Ventures), is unique in that it does not commit to one growing technology. The company uses multiple hydroponic configurations in their Kearny farm, the common link between them being a smart monitoring and controls system called “Bowery OS” developed in-house. 

Though Bowery is eligible for organic certification, Fain says that he won’t be seeking it soon.

“Organic certification is not a priority for us right now as we’re currently growing fully traceable, post-organic produce,” he said.

High-tech hydroponic grower Plenty, which raised a record-breaking $200 million this past summer from Japan’s SoftBank Vision Fund among other investors, is taking the opposite tack.

Though Plenty’s South San Francisco farm is not selling produce yet, the facility is already certified organic and the plan is to certify each new facility – the company just announced its second farm will be outside of Seattle.

“Organic farmers are diverse in our production systems, but we are united in our values, priorities, and practices. We are pleased that the NOSB has put this debate to rest and confirmed that hydroponic systems have been and will continue to be excellent suppliers of USDA certified organic products,” said Plenty CEO Matt Barnard.

Hydroponics is in… What’s Out?

In addition to formally ruling hydroponics and aquaponics in, the board also ruled aeroponics, growing plants with the roots dangling in a mist environment from which they receive water and nutrition, out. Technically aeroponics is a form of hydroponics since water is the primary delivery system for the plants’ nutrition, but the NOSB makes a clear distinction.

New Jersey-based AeroFarms, which recently closed its Series D round at $40 million, is an aeroponic farm and CEO David Rosenberg is dissatisfied with the way the NOSB has framed this decision.

“Regulators and standard-makers should be performance-based and not prescription-based. The performance standards should look at what goes into the plants and what ends up on the plants… Making a distinction between aeroponics and hydroponics discredits the process of making standards around organics and highlights how commercially-driven decisions are made. If a party can deliver to a standard of performance, it should not matter if the nutrients were delivered as a spray versus a pool of water,” said Rosenberg.

The CEO said that AeroFarms has not and is not seeking organic certification, but that he would like to see “a fair set of standards and would like to have confidence in a process.  I would hope that the bodies that make these decisions appreciate how commercially driven decisions hurt credibility and ultimately drive people away from the organic certification.“

Of course, the USDA could choose to go its own way on this standard too and act against the NOSB’s recommendation to disqualify farms like AeroFarms, but with zero aeroponic farms certified to date and more than 100 hydroponic farms certified, another departure by the USDA from NOSB recommendations is perhaps less likely.

USDA Advisory Board Blocks Ban Against Using Hydroponics In Organic Farming

USDA Advisory Board Blocks Ban Against Using Hydroponics In Organic Farming

Constantine Spyrou

November 7, 2017

Hydroponics is one of the fastest-growing fields in agriculture today. By growing plants in water and "feeding" them solutions of nutrients they need, crops can grow at higher yields over a faster period of time while drastically reducing water consumption and land space. While it's an amazing tool for the future of food, one question has been in the minds of several industry members: Can food grown via hydroponics be classified as USDA Organic?

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In a recent 8-7 ruling, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) ruled against a ban on hydroponics in organic farming. In doing so, the board, which makes recommendations to the USDA on rules for the organic industry, clears the way for organic, hydroponically grown produce to proliferate in supermarkets. The USDA does still have to receive an official recommendation and choose to act on it or not, however.

If they do so, it could be huge for hydroponics, but would harm organic soil farmers. Hydroponics, with its faster growth rate and decreased water and land use, is already taking a significant market share away from the soil farmers. Nowadays, most organic tomatoes are grown through hydroponics and similar methods, and organic farmer Dave Chapman voiced fears to NPR that even more space in supermarkets will be given to hydroponically-grown produce.

"What will happen, very quickly, is that virtually all of the certified organic tomatoes in supermarkets will be hydroponic. Virtually all of the peppers and cucumbers [will be hydroponically grown]. A great deal of the lettuce. And most of the berries."

On the other hand, the innovative technology can be used to keep up with growing organic demand. It also is more sustainable than traditional farming since it doesn't utilize as many natural resources, making it the ideal choice for environmentalists and scientists focused on preserving the planet.

At the center of the debate, though, is the true definition of what it means to be "organic." Hydroponic farms claim that they are organic because they don't use synthetic pesticides and can grow year-round at a cheaper price. Traditional farmers, however, argue that the true core of organic farming is nurturing and taking care of the soil itself, something that hydroponics doesn't even involve.

When it comes to what it really means to be "organic," for now, it seems that the NOSB is willing to include hydroponics within that definition based on their recent decision.

Big Win For Indoor Farming: Hydroponics Can Be Certified Organic

Big Win For Indoor Farming: Hydroponics Can Be Certified Organic

Jack Griffin

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November 2, 2017

Statement of Jack Griffin, President, Metropolis Farms on Action by the National Organic Standards Board.

I want to congratulate the National Organic Standards Board for reaching the correct decision to continue to allow produce from hydroponic farms to be certified organic.

The bottom line is, indoor hydroponic agriculture is good for the environment; it’s good for consumers, and it’s good for farmers.

Yesterday, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) rejected a proposal developed by the organization’s Crop Subcommittee that would exclude hydroponics from organic certification. The vote was held during NOSB’s semiannual meeting in Jacksonville, Florida. The NOSB typically meets twice per year in various locations around the United States.

In comments filed with the NOSB and the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), Griffin cited report language provided by the FY2018 House Agricultural Appropriations bill, H.R. 3268, which recognized urban hydroponic farms among the non-traditional methods of agricultural production (which) have the potential to reduce the use of water and pesticides, improve yields for particular crops, serve lower-income populations, and provide year-round crops at the local level.

About Metropolis Farms Metropolis Farms is a technology company changing the vertical farming industry. Metropolis Farms has created affordable outdoor and indoor vertical farming systems that can grow anything and empowers farmers to start a profitable year-round local farm, regardless of location. The system lowers costs with dramatically reduced use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, water, machinery, and energy.

 www.MetropolisFarmsUSA.com

For more information, contact Dave Juday (202) 251-6320

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About NOSB The NOSB is a Federal Advisory Board which considers and makes recommendations on a wide range of issues involving the production, handling, and processing of organic products. The Board’s role is to assist the USDA in the development of standards and advise the Secretary of Agriculture on any other aspects of the implementation of Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/organic/nosb

A Growing Battle in The $47 Billion Organic Food Industry Could Fundamentally Change The Program — And Some Farmers Are Worried

A Growing Battle in The $47 Billion Organic Food Industry Could Fundamentally Change The Program — And Some Farmers Are Worried

A display of WindowFarms hydroponic growing system. AMNH\R. Mickens

• Leanna Garfield

The National Organic Standards Board, an advisory committee to the US Department of Agriculture, voted to allow some crops grown hydroponically and aquaponically to have organic labels.

• Organic food sales totaled $47 billion in the US in 2016.
• Some traditional organic farmers are threatening to leave the NOSB, the program they helped create, over the controversial vote.

The United States organic industry — whose 2016 sales totaled around $47 billion — is facing a battle between traditional farmers and high-tech producers.

In recent years, hydroponic, aquaponic, and aeroponic farms — which grow produce in nutrient-rich solution without soil, often indoors — have boomed. Some of these businesses have been granted the organic label for their products. 

But that trend has dismayed some traditional farmers, who argue that allowing non-soil producers to label their food organic weakens the integrity of the program. True organic farming, they say, requires nurturing, natural soil. 

But in a series of close votes on Wednesday night, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), an advisory committee to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), voted to allow the majority of these high-tech operators to stay in the National Organic Program. The decision creates an organics standard for non-soil farming, which did not exist previously.

Dave Chapman, a longtime organic tomato farmer in Vermont, is not happy with the decision, which he calls a "tragic failure."

"The National Organic Program has failed at the very thing it was created to do: creating trust and transparency between organic farmers and eaters," he told Business Insider in a statement. "After a publicized series of failures in defending organic integrity, the Organic Program's Advisory Board decision to embrace hydroponic production as the 'new organic' is the final straw." 

Chapman said he is considering leaving the program. He and other critics of the board's decision say that hydroponic farming does not meet the USDA's definition of organic due to its lack of soil.

Organic traditionalists point to the ideas of Albert Howard, an English botanist who inspired the organic farming movement. In 1940, Howard wrote that "the health of soil, plant, animal and man is one and indivisible."

Inside Plenty, a Silicon Valley-based urban farming startup that scored the largest ag-tech investment in history. Plenty

Lisa Stokke, cofounder of farmer advocacy group Food Democracy Now said in a statement that the USDA's definition "reflects the beliefs of the international organic movement."

"To suggest calling hydroponic 'organic' is to completely misunderstand the meaning of organic," she addd.

But hydroponig growers argue that they're growing what consumers expect from the organic label: crops produced without synthetic pesticides.

Plenty, a California-based hydroponic farming company, gained organic certification earlier this year.  Matt Barnard, the company's CEO, told Business Insider that he was pleased with the NOSB's vote.

"We are growing fresh fruits and vegetables that are as organic as any other method," he said. "People have spent 35 years understanding what 'organic' is, which is a long time. We, as a business, did not feel it would've been fair or equitable to cause a just-as-organic farming operation to have to explain to people something as convoluted as 'Oh, it's just as organic as ... but not organic.' That would've cost us an amount of money and years that we don't have the budget for."

Organic farmers who grow their crops in soil participate in a protest in Stowe, Vermont, in 2015. AP Images

The NOSB issued its recommendation in four parts. It voted to allow hydroponic systems, which grow plants in water-based nutrients, as well as aquaponics, which combine hydroponic systems with fish farms, to remain in the Organics Program. 

The committee chose not to tighten its rules on container growing, a type of hydroponic agriculture that grows crops in a solution made of water, nutrients, and organic matter. Several large organic berry growers, including Driscoll’s and Wholesum Harvest, have implemented container growing.

But aeroponic farming — which grows plants suspended in the air with exposed roots — will be kicked out.

Overall, the decision may signal a new direction for the organic industry, since it will include farmers who don't produce crops in fields.

But some pioneers of the sustainable farming movement believe the vote could splinter the organics industry.

"At the very time that we most need the leadership of the organic community, the corporations have completed a hostile takeover of the National Organic Program," Chapman said. "We will have to start again."

NOW WATCH: A nutritionist explains which foods you should buy organically

National Organic Standards Board Decrees That Hydroponic Can Be Organic

National Organic Standards Board Decrees That Hydroponic Can Be Organic

By Dan Nosowitz on November 2, 2017

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A row of hydroponic greens  |  Aqua Mechanical onFlickr

On November 1st, the National Organic Standards Board finally made a decision on one of the most divisive issues in the organic world: should crops grown in water, containers, or otherwise not in the ground be allowed to call themselves organic?

The decision is thus: hydroponic and container gardens will remain eligible for organic certification.

This is a debate that’s much more complicated than it seems. Hydroponics and other types of high-tech farming get a lot of attention, most of it positive, for utilizing spaces that previously couldn’t house farms (abandoned factories, shipping containers, that kind of thing). They can potentially be very energy-efficient and reduce water usage. And there’s rarely a need for pesticides at all, since many of these operations are indoors.

Among those pleased with the decision is the Recirculating Farms Coalition, a group of eco-conscious high-tech farmers and innovators. “By siding with current science and recognizing that existing law purposely leaves the door open for various farming methods, the NOSB is sending a critical message that sustainability and innovation are valuable in U.S. agriculture,” wrote RFC executive director Marianne Cufone in a release.

But many of the farmers who were behind the original push for an organic certification program are vehemently opposed, and it’s not because of groups like the RFC. Two main groups benefit from hydroponic farms being able to get organic certification (and thus charge much more for their wares): techie farmers, like those Cufone represents, and large agribusiness firms. Those firms, which include Driscoll’s and Wholesum Harvest, operate gigantic hydroponic operations for their organic food, and many organic activists, like the Cornucopia Institute, see those as a cheap and easy way to charge a premium without actually doing any of the stuff the organic program is really about.

At its core, say those activists, organic food is about an entire ecosystem: taking care of the soil, recharging nutrients with crop rotation, providing for natural pollinators and pest control. It is a way for farming, which can often be ecologically destructive, to work with the planet. And massive hydroponic and container operations like Driscoll’s do not do that: they are willfully separate from the environment. They do not contribute to soil health (partly because they don’t use soil) nor to the overall health of the natural world. For their part, those companies say that they follow the rules in terms of pesticide use and therefore should be allowed to use the label. Organic activists say this is a loophole—a way to get the big bucks an organic label can secure by following the letter, rather than the spirit, of the law.

In some ways, it’s an unfortunate debate, because it pits people against each other who have many of the same goals in mind. Organic activists and small hydroponic farmers both want to grow food sustainably, at their core. But, as with most of the agricultural developments during the current administration, this decision isn’t about small farmers.

It may seem like a small thing, allowing hydroponics to call themselves organic. But to many organic farmers, this is a total perversion of what the term is supposed to mean and achieve. What’s the point of following all of these expensive and difficult planet-saving rules if a huge corporation can just build a factory and undercut your prices with a product that doesn’t work toward the same goals?

USDA Advisory Panel Rejects Proposal To Bar Hydroponics in Organic Production

USDA Advisory Panel Rejects Proposal To Bar Hydroponics in Organic Production

11/02/17 12:11 AM By Daniel Enoch

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KEYWORDS AEROPONICS AQUAPONICS CORNUCOPIA HYDROPONIC MOTION NOSB ORGANIC ORGANIC TRADE ASSOCIATION OTA SONNY PERDUE

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2017 - The National Organic Standards Board on Wednesday rejected a proposal to prohibit hydroponics in organic production, as defined by the board’s subcommittee on crops, disappointing growers who want organic certification restricted to crops grown in soil.

The vote was held during NOSB’s semiannual meeting in Jacksonville, Florida, after two full days of stakeholder comment, mostly by supporters and opponents of hydroponic farming.

The 15-member board – an advisory panel to USDA -- also rejected a motion to prohibit aquaponics, a system for farming fish and plants together in a mutually beneficial cycle, while approving a proposal to withhold the organic label for aeroponics, or crops grown in an air-mist environment. Organic certification allows producers to sell their products at premium prices.

The recommendation that was approved – prohibiting aeroponics in organic production – now goes to USDA, where Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue could make a final decision. A source says the value of crops grown aeroponically is minimal.

Still, the results of the voting could further widen the divide between purists, like the Cornucopia Institute, which rejects any move to break the nexus between crops and soil, and the more mainstream organic community, as represented by the Organic Trade Association, which brags of organic food sales reaching $43 billion last year, the first time the market had topped the $40 billion mark.

In comments to the NOSB on Monday, Cornucopia’s co-founder, Mark Kastel, cited the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. “OFPA is clear,” he said, according to a tweet on Cornucopia’s website. “Careful ‘fostering of soil fertility’ is required by the law. You can’t nurture soil fertility without … Soil! This is your chance to protect the true meaning of organics rather than making it a mere marketing slogan.”

Maggie McNeil, a spokeswoman for OTA, said the association would have no immediate comment on the results of the voting.

In comments provided to NOSB on Oct. 11, OTA said it disagrees with the crop subcommittee definition of hydroponics: “Any container production system that does not meet the standard of a limit of 20 percent of the plants’ nitrogen requirement being supplied by liquid feeding, and a limit 50 percent of the plants’ nitrogen requirement added to the container after the crop has been planted.”

OTA said it appreciates the challenge the board faced in “accurately defining types of operations along the soil-less growing spectrum,” while recognizing that the “inconsistent use of terms, due to a lack of final definitions, has led to confusion and further controversy in this discussion.

“However, we do not support defining a particular type of production by what it is NOT, particularly when NOSB is also proposing to prohibit that type of production. Instead, OTA suggests CS retain the definition accepted by NOSB in 2010: The production of normally terrestrial, vascular plants in nutrient rich solutions or in an inert, porous, solid matrix bathed in nutrient rich solutions.”

Meanwhile, the Recirculating Farms Coalition welcomed the results of the NOSB voting.

“We’re very pleased that the NOSB voted not to prohibit hydroponic and aquaponic farms from USDA Organic certification,” said Marianne Cufone, RCP’s executive director. “Many products from these farms already carry a USDA Organic label and to now withdraw that would be irresponsible and confusing for consumers and farmers.”

“By siding with current science and recognizing that existing law purposely leaves the door open for various farming methods, the NOSB is sending a critical message that sustainability and innovation are valuable in U.S. agriculture. These goals are at the center of the nationwide local food movement and spur growth of urban and rural farms alike, by a wide range of people. Inclusiveness is important in our food system.”

The Recirculating Farms Coalition is a collaborative group of farmers, educators, non-profit organizations and many others committed to building local sources of healthy, accessible food.

#30

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Managing editor

Different Type of Agriculture to Bring Better Quality Vegetables to Your Table

Different Type of Agriculture to Bring Better Quality Vegetables to Your Table

October 17, 2017  |   Bryce Mansfield

Local family growing vegetables without soil

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DRAFFENVILLE, KY- Better quality vegetables grown without soil —One family wants to bring that to west Kentucky by using a different type of agriculture. It’s called aquaponics.

Aquaponics is a combination of hydroponics and aquaculture. Hydroponics is the process of growing plants without soil and aquaculture is the process of raising fish specifically to grow plants.

How does it work? Fish — tilapia most commonly — are raised in a holding tank. Bacteria is filtered from their waste, and the bacteria is used to fertilize different vegetable plants. The water is then filtered and recycled back into the fish tank, and the whole process repeats itself in a cycle.

This process is going to be fundamental to one local family, who will bring this type of agriculture to west Kentucky for the very first time.

Leaving nursing after 26 years to pursue a lifelong dream isn’t easy. For Tammie McCullough, it’s worth taking that leap.

“I was nervous about leaving the corporate world, but I’m fortunate I get this opportunity. I always wanted to own my own business and work for myself, and now it’s coming true,” McCullough said.

She and her husband turned this journey into a family adventure.

“My son had just graduated college. He wasn’t sure exactly what direction he wanted to go in life, and my dad is retired so he’s always looking for something to do. So, it was a perfect family fit,” McCullough said.

Her son, Tyler McKenty, said he looks forward to getting everything in place so they can get started.

“It makes me feel good, kind of a sense of purpose. Like I’m not just out there working to be working. I actually want to do this. I can go to work every day, happy. Knowing what I have to do and get it done,” McKenty.

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For McCullough, this business adventure is a start she dreamed of years ago and she has a message for those who have dreams of their own.

“Follow your dreams. Don’t give up, and just take that leap of faith. It can be a reality,” McCullough said.

The family hopes to have the greenhouse up and running by the start of the new year.

For more information on west Kentucky Aquaponics, click here.

For more information on this story and others, follow Bryce Mansfield on Facebook by clicking here.

Food of the Future is Growing Crops in a Kitchen Cupboard,’ says High School Food Science Lab Founder

Food of the future is ‘growing crops in a kitchen cupboard,’ says high school food science lab founder

16-Oct-2017 By Adi Menayang

The ideal kitchen-of-the-future is where herbs and legumes are alive and growing in a cupboard instead of dried or canned, according to Jaime Guerrero, founder and administrator of a high school food science lab in Chicago. With the MIT ‘food computer,’ that future may not be as far off as it may seem.

HTTPS://WWW.FOODNAVIGATOR-

Start-up Furthers The Cause of Urban Farming From a Shipping Container

Start-up Furthers The Cause of Urban Farming From a Shipping Container

by Christina Anthony

Thursday, October 12th 2017

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3)

A farm on wheels is growing crops from a Grand Rapids parking lot.

Meteorologist Christina Anthony reports on a start-up company furthering the cause of urban farming.

When white-collar technology meets blue-collar labor it gives birth to the very interesting Green Collar Farms, where plants can grow without the help of soil or natural sunlight, and where size truly doesn't matter.

Brian Harris, Former President and CEO of H&H Metal Source, spent twenty years employing science against the elements of steel.

Now, he's using his scientific background to harvest crops for his new company, Green Collar Farms, all from the inside of a shipping container.

Harris said, "It's 350 square foot inside, but because we're growing hydroponically without soil in a vertical form factor, we're able to yield about an acre in a half to two acres of crop every seven weeks, 365 days a year."

By growing crops in a controlled environment, Harris can weed Mother Nature out of the equation.

He can adjust the temperature, humidity, lights, and carbon dioxide levels manually from within the container, or with an application on his iPhone.

Harris can even feed crops nutrients through a computer system wired to vertically stacked columns of greens.

He said, "The food all comes to them. Their root ball is about 10 percent the size of a normal root ball. So they taste really, really good."

Green Collar crops, like lettuce, kale, and arugula, are harvested alive with the tiny root attached, and distributed within 24 hours. No matter the season, which means the leafy greens have a longer shelf life than those trans-plants.

Harris said, "This container farm is simply the first expression of what indoor agriculture can be."

Harris's mission for Green Collar Farms runs deeper than his scientific roots.

He said, “Once we get down the road another twelve months or so, we will have an idea about how to bring in the whole 10,000 square foot facility in the urban core that provides stem education opportunities, employment, health, and wellness benefits, jobs. So that's the journey."

Harris hopes his container farm will grow on Grand Rapids, and kids interested in science.

If you want to learn more about his blossoming business head to http://www.greencollarfoods.com/

Your Next Head of Lettuce, Grown By A Robot

Your Next Head of Lettuce, Grown By A Robot

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You could drive past and never see the only farm in San Carlos, California. The tiny city of 30,000 that sits between San Francisco and Silicon Valley has all the charms of suburbia—sprawling office parks and single-story homes—but doesn’t seem a likely suspect for agriculture.

The farm, run by startup Iron Ox, is nestled between three stonemasons and a plumber in a nondescript office park building; there’s no greenhouse, no rows of freshly-tilled soil, or tractor parked outside. Only peeking in the large bay door reveals the building’s tenants: a few hundred plants and two brightly-colored robot farmers.

Iron Ox looks a lot like a tech company. One of its co-founder is an ex-Google engineer and it raised $1.5 million in pre-seed venture capital from Y Combinator, Pathbreaker, and Cherubic Ventures in April 2016. Instead of fake food, or plant-based meat meals, or even a food delivery service tethered to an app, Iron Ox is reinventing farming, raising real, not faux, food. Think hydroponically raised lettuce and basil, like what you’d get at an ordinary farmers market.

Iron Ox plans to build a network of autonomous, robot-run greenhouses near major US cities, complete with a fleet of trucks to ensure same-day delivery. Traditional outdoor farms don’t mesh with suburban sprawl, but the planned square-acre greenhouses have a small footprint that can easily fit into dense urban or suburban areas. The robots plant, raise, and harvest the crops.

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Iron Ox founders Jon Binney, left, and Brandon Alexander. (Iron Ox)

Pod lettuce

Co-founder and CEO Brandon Alexander, who worked on Google’s Project Wing, figuring out how to make multiple robots work together, says it takes just three or four months to set up one of its farms. Plants take six weeks to mature. One of these modular, square-acre farms could provide the same yearly yield as 30 acres of traditional farmland, Alexander says.

“We want to have the most efficient farm out there,” says Alexander. “In some ways this is just the natural evolution of [farming].” Growing up, Alexander spent summers working on his grandfather’s peanut, potato, and cotton farm that straddles Texas and Oklahoma. He’s seen his grandfather adopt self-guided tractors and other new technologies, giving the ability to scale the family farm from 40 to 5,000 acres in one generation.

While raising crops has evolved from the time of small family farms, it’s still inefficient, Alexander says. Vegetables waste a large portion of their shelf lives traveling 2000 miles to get from farm to store. In addition, the pool of labor for existing centralized farms is aging and diminishing. The average US farmer is 55 years old, and the average crop worker is 33. “There’s just not enough labor to go around,” Alexander says.

Iron Ox isn’t the only company trying to revolutionize food production. Plenty, another Bay area startup, recently received $200 million from the Softbank Vision fund with a similar mission of distributed farms near metropolitan areas. Plenty’s buzzword isn’t automation, but vertical farming: growing crops up walls to save space. AeroFarmswants to disrupt hydroponics with nutrient-filled mist. Freight Farmswill grow crops in shipping containers.

The robots

Iron Ox plans to use three robots powered by artificial intelligence to work each square-acre of greenhouse. Two robots, without official names but referred to as transporters, will lift and ferry trays of plants over to the third robot, a robotic arm. The robotic arm will plant seeds, cycle juvenile plants into larger growing plots, image the plants to check for disease, and harvest the crop. Iron Ox plans to grow leafy greens like the lettuce and basil varieties it is testing now. Large-field crops like corn aren’t on the roadmap.

Iron Ox is using a hydroponic system called deep water culture; the plants, seated in plastic cones, float on a raft in a tray of water, their roots submerged in nutrient-rich water.

These trays are the key to Iron Ox’s indoor farm; while many deep water culture systems are built around large, stationary pools of water, these trays allow the plants to be moved to and from the robotic arm. The company developing the three components—robotic arm movement, transporter robot, and automated hydroponic system—separately. Humans now do the work slated for the robots, but the pre-robot farming provides a valuable runway of data for Iron Ox about optimal growing conditions.

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Half a dozen data points are collected from each water tray per second, plus air temperature and quality, ambient light, humidity. The brains of the system are in the robotic arm. If it knows certain plants need more space, the transporter can be summoned to collect them for transplanting. If it’s time for harvest, the trays come to the arm.

The arm, which stands between two trays, moves with serpentine ease only occasionally interrupted by a mechanical lurch. As I watch, it’s controlled by CTO Jon Binney, but can be set to autonomously shuffle plants around from tray to tray. The goal is to only have one robot arm per acre of greenhouse, able to switch out its end effector, or hand, for specialized tools based on the task. Universal Robots is the arm’s manufacturer, but it runs custom code for motion planning. The stereoscopic cameras used to image the produce are installed and integrated by Iron Ox, and the end effectors used to inject and transplant are built custom-built by the company as well.

The transporter’s job is to hulk over a tray of plants, tuck the tray into its belly, and carefully transport it to a space next to the arm. It glides around the warehouse with a precise, mechanical grace, seemingly able to drift in any direction on its Mecanum wheels. These specialized wheels mean the trays can be just inches apart on the entirety of the greenhouse floor, since the transporter doesn’t need space to turn.

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The process

The plants start as seeds, which are injected by the robotic arm into small, foam-like cubes seated in a plastic cone. The plastic cone protects the base of the plant from the robotic arm’s grippers, which giving each plant a standardized place to grip the plant while moving it around.

When the seeds have sprouted and grown for about two weeks, they are brought to the arm by the transporter. The robotic arm then picks up the plants and transplants them to a tray with more room between each plant. Each tray is outfitted with augmented reality tags (that allow the arm to recognize which tray it’s working with, and the bounds of where it can and can’t put plants.)

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Two weeks later, the transplant process occurs again, and then again two weeks after that. Each time a plant is moved, two cameras on the arm build a 3D model of it, which is analyzed to check for disease and to ensure it’s growing normally. After the plant is fully grown, the arm pulls it—roots and all—from its plastic cone, and places it in a plastic clamshell container to be shipped.

The company has yet to launch its first fully-functioning greenhouse, and it currently donates its hydroponically-grown produce at a local San Carlos food bank in addition to supplying the company salad bar. IronOx wants to build the first greenhouse by the end of 2017, sell to local chefs in the Bay Area, and then scale to grocery stores in early 2018.

IKEA’s Indoor Farm Is Trying To Alter How We Grow Food

IKEA’s Indoor Farm Is Trying To Alter How We Grow Food

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The prototype designed by SPACE10 can grow greens three times faster than traditional methods

JACK BYRAM

• 5 OCTOBER 2017

Multinational furniture manufacturer IKEA has introduced an indoor farm with the hopes of giving people the ability to grow their own food at home. The prototype, or Lokal as it’s called, was designed by SPACE10, IKEA’s lab for innovation.

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Lokal is the most recent prototype to come from The Farm, a SPACE10 lab seeking to change how we view traditional farming while implementing new food production methods into our cities.

By experimenting with hydroponics, which is the growing of food without soil, SPACE10 says that it’s able to grow food up to three times faster and with 90% less water than traditional methods, according to a blog post with Medium. In addition to being soilless and faster than traditional methods, Lokal is also able to grow greens without any sunlight at all. Instead, the plants survive solely off of LED lighting and mineral nutrient rich water, simulating what Lokal refers to as “The perfect spring day, every day”.

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SPACE10 points out that the current global food system is problematic for a few reasons. For starters, our current method of food production is contributing to the changing climate and is also wasteful of resources that we are already running low on, like fresh water. Furthermore, current methods lend themselves to wasting food. The hope is that the benefits of hydroponic farming courtesy of Lokal will go a long way in remedying some of these problems.

People should understand that the benefits of Lokal are not exclusive to the planet. According to its post with Medium, the food also “tastes good, is more nutritious, pesticide-free and fresh all year round”.

While this is all very interesting, simply creating a hydroponic growing apparatus is not even the end goal for Lokal. The Farm seeks to take things further by meshing the agrarian and tech worlds in the future. As it posted in Medium, the lab has hopes of “Introducing sensors and machine learning to the vertical stacks and connecting the data with Google Home — to enable people to ‘talk’ to plants, in effect, and hear how they’re doing, as well as to teach children and adults alike about sustainable food”.

It will be interesting to see just how much of a change Lokal will be able to make on the food growth industry’s ecological footprint, but for now it’s still a prototype.

Lokal

Vanilla The Next Hydroponic Cash Crop?

Vanilla The Next Hydroponic Cash Crop?

Posted on September 25, 2017

The best vertical farming crops are high value, difficult to grow crops that have a strong local market. Have recent events and their ongoing impact created a new contender for the top spot?

• The market
• The need
• How to grow hydroponically

We’ve covered niche spice crops for hydroponics, as well as rare plants before, but we’ve never looked at this issue in light of current events. ThisMarch, Cyclone Enawo, the strongest tropical storm to hit Madagascar since 2004, tore through the country, killing more than 80 people and doing millions of dollars in damage to one of the country’s premier exports: vanilla.

In 2015, Madagascar was estimated to have produced 3,914 tonnes out of a global total of 8,294 tonnes, projected U.N. data showed.

As a result of the cyclone, global vanilla prices have jumped 300%, cresting $600/kg – and it was already the world’s second most expensive price after saffron.

Extreme weather events like Enawo are becoming increasingly common, especially if hurricane season in the United States was any indicator this year. Yet, vertical farms, which can be situated in more mellow outdoor climates while dialing in the perfect conditions for indoor growing, might be uniquely positioned to produce these crops in spite of those weather events.

So, is there an opportunity for vertical farmers and hydroponic growers to step in?

Growing Vanilla Hydroponically

Vanilla is a member of the orchid family (Orchidaceae) and much of the knowledge for growing those is applicable here. It can be grown hydroponically with the right media – inert, sterilized, coarse, free draining –  such asexpanded clay, pumice, etc. It needs less nutrients than other vegetable crops though there isn’t a real consensus about what ppms/EC is best. I’ve seen recommendations for EC .5.

Among the challenges of growing vanilla hydroponically (besides the lack of good information), vanilla is a climbing plant climbing plant, so you will need to provide supports for the aerial roots to attach to. It is also reliant on hand pollination if you aren’t growing in its natural habitat, an extremely labor intensive practice.

Finally, it’s a long term investment as you won’t even start seeing the plants reduce until their third year of growth:

Yield info taken from this outdoor cultivation guide

Take a look at the video below to get a glance inside a an existing vanilla farm and the amount of hand labor farming this crop takes (hand pollination! *buzzers won’t work).

So now that we have an idea of what growing vanilla looks like, let’s take a look at some instructions from a popular online growing forum:

“Here’s Vanilla 101. Aside from being trees, coffee and cacao are pretty ” easy ” to grow.

I start vanilla as a 2 foot vine cutting tied onto a 6 foot bamboo tripod tucked into a 1 gallon nursery pot filled with orchid bark/peat/perlite media in bright shade ( 1500 – 3000 fc ) . If going from a bare vine cutting, trim 1-2 leaves off the lower end and insert into media past the last trim point. ( No need for rooting compound. )

Depending on your humidity, mist the entire vine ( up to ) a few times daily with water for a month or so. ( In the 80s with an RH at 90% here, I mist once a day. ) Mist with a weak nutrient solution every week. The media should be kept very lightly moist. ( I just let the overspray from misting the vine take care of it. ) The cutting will put out roots into the media and you should see new leaf growth in a few weeks. If you have a growing tip ( uncut end ) on your cutting, it will start to grow out. Otherwise, the plant will initiate a new tip. This causes the vine section above that point ( usually the last before the end of the cutting ) to dry out and drop off, allowing the new tip to begin growing out. Startling but normal.

The orchid starts in media but predominantly uses the aerial roots to feed as it matures. A 300 ft long, 3/4″ diameter vine can grow out of a 3 gallon pot full of moist pine bark. Aeroponic / nutrient misting systems are essentially how commercial orchid nurseries grow millions of plants per acre and work quite well for vanilla. An ebb flow tank is likely to be too wet for the media bound roots and does not readily address the majority of the plant’s root system.

At about 3 years, the vine is capable of flowering. If it does, vanilla pod production requires hand pollination within a 6-8 hour window of the flower opening ( and they only open once ) .

If pollination is successful, the pod will fully form in about 2 months. It takes another 6 – 9 months to cure/age the pod to produce those chemicals we associate with vanilla. The orchid typically lives about 15 years.”

Conclusion

While hard to grow, vanilla is a highly profitable crop with some of the key characteristics that make it valuable for vertical farming cultivation. If more people experiment with this type of cultivation, it’s fair to assume that knowledge will increase and costs will come down, making it even more competitive.

Like saffron, because of the high labor costs, it is unlikely that cultivation of this crop will move primarily to the countries that are leading the way in vertical farming any time soon.

However, as changing weather patterns affect agriculture around the world, the adaptability of vertical farming may prove beneficial for continuing to produce vanilla and other expensive plants.

Started By Four Friends, Triton Foodworks grows 700 Tonnes Of Organic Food Without Soil

Started By Four Friends, Triton Foodworks grows 700 Tonnes Of Organic Food Without Soil

• HEMA VAISHNAVI  |  28 AUGUST 2017

Foraying into urban farming, a group of friends have set up a green enterprise that is based on hydroponics.

There is growing concern in urban and semi-urban areas about the dangers of the pesticide-ridden food that is sold in the market.

Following the Green Revolution in the mid-1960s, the use of pesticides in India has increased. Although the period saw the boom in agriculture like never before, the flip side of this revolution has left the country consuming poisonous food. Food production in large quantities at the cost of their health has made people wary and look for alternatives.

In the confines of an urban setting, four youngsters from Delhi are venturing into hydroponics to provide an organic and healthier option for the urban populace.

Hydroponics is the method of growing plants in a water-based, nutrient-rich medium, without the use of soil. This method essentially cuts down the amount of water being used compared to the method in which plants are grown in soil. In some cases, up to 90 percent less water is used in the hydroponics method compared to the traditional soil-based agriculture — a boon for water-starved urban areas. One can plant four times the number of crops in the same space as soil farming.

An experiment in urban farming

Triton Foodworks started as an experiment in urban farming in the September of 2014 by four friends — Deepak Kukreja, Dhruv Khanna, Ullas Samrat, and Devanshu Shivnani.

In early 2014, Ullas was exploring ways to develop his agricultural land in Mohali for his mother, who suffers from ILD, a degenerative disorder of the lungs. When the doctors told him that life on a farmhouse would in fact be counterintuitive for his mother due to dust and other issues related to farming, he became obsessed with finding a way to farm in a clean and hygienic manner.

Dhruv, who was in Singapore at the moment working on his tech startup, wanted to come back to India and start something here. On a catch-up call, the two got discussing how much fun it would be to start a business together; especially something that made sense economically and ecologically. Following a lot of research, they zeroed in on hydroponic farming, something that connected with both of them. Dhruv visited a few hydroponic farms in Singapore to see firsthand how it works. Ullas met Deepak online while researching on hydroponics. The team quickly realised that to make this thing big, they needed a formal structure and a financial disciple — which is when Devanshu was roped in.

“We were just a bunch of friends who wanted to do something in the space of food and agriculture. We were very excited by the opportunities of rooftop farming and farming within the limits of the city. We did a pilot to grow strawberries in Sainik Farm of Delhi. We used an open system with vertical towers to grow eight tonnes of strawberries out of 500 sqm of land. Eventually, we decided against setting rooftop farms due to feasibility issues. Instead, we set up full scale, commercial farms in the outskirts of cities,” says 38-year-old Deepak, technical Co-founder, who takes care of the farming aspect of the business.

Like any bootstrapped startup, Triton Foodworks also faced a huge number of issues at every step. Their farm at the Sainik Farm was demolished by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) because the team refused to pay a bribe.

“We went to the Delhi government to ask for some sort of help in setting up farms in Delhi; we were called ‘food terrorists’ to our face. Quite a few vendors still owe us money for our early projects, something which is a huge issue in this industry. We had no previous data to map our progress against, no previous players who could be used as a yardstick in the field,” says 27-year-old Devanshu, who takes care of the finances and the financial modelling for the business.

Taking hydroponics ahead

“Toxic food is the biggest issue we are trying to resolve. People don’t realise how toxic their food really is. We don’t use chemical pesticides for our plants. The second issue is the fact that we are running out of land and water to grow food. Lastly, we are addressing the problem of traceability, consistency and, by extension, accountability in farming. You buy a bag of chips and you can trace it back to the field in which the potatoes were grown, but if you pick up a tomato from your vegetable vendor, there is no way to know where it came from, who harvested it, when was it harvested, and what all did he put in it to grow. We are teaching people to ask these questions by offering them answers even before they realise this information is important,” says 27-year-old Dhruv, who looks after operations and marketing.

The team relies on Ayurvedic recipes and bio control to fight off pests and other infections, as an alternative to pesticides and insecticides. The team grows the same amount of food grown under conventional farming with just about one-eighth of the area and using 80 percent less water.

The team has successfully set up more than 5 acres of hydroponic farms across three locations in India. The strawberry farm in Mahabaleshwar grows 20 tonnes of strawberries a year and a 1.25 acres facility in Wada district of Maharashtra that produces about 400 tonnes of tomatoes, 150 tonnes of cucumbers, 400 heads of spinach, and over 700 bunches of mint.

Triton also operates an acre facility in Shirval, Pune that grows tomatoes and cucumbers, which are used to feed farmers’ markets in Pune. The team also advises companies in Hyderabad, Manesar and Bengaluru that are interested in incorporating hydroponics.

Triton currently has over 200,000 sqft of area under hydroponic cultivation in various locations in the country. Using hydroponics, it produces more than 700 tonnes of residue-free fruits and vegetables every year.

“Our systems enable us to save around 22 crore litres of water per year as compared to traditional agriculture. In terms of volume, our vertical systems grow food comparable to 10,00,000 sqft of land when using traditional agriculture methods, which translates into a saving of more than 800,000 sqft of land to grow the same amount of food. Since our farms are located within a 100-km radius from cities, our produce carries lesser food miles,” says 27-year-old Ullas.

The team is currently in the process of setting up stalls in farmers’ markets in Pune and Mumbai.

This Urban Farmer Feeds Old Age Homes Through His Hydroponic Farm

This Urban Farmer Feeds Old Age Homes Through His Hydroponic Farm

The produce from his hydroponic farm will help feed underprivileged senior citizens in old age homes and NGOs, with none of it being commercially sold for profits.

by Jovita Aranha

Ever wondered what it would be like to grow your vegetables at home? One might looked puzzled and say, “Sure! But in an urban setting? Is there even enough space?”

Well, one program manager based in Singapore is on a mission to change the concept of traditional agriculture by practicing hydroponic farming on unused spacious rooftops.

Srihari Kanchala is not only focused on growing produce locally but aims to impact the lives of senior citizens. The produce from his hydroponic farm will help feed underprivileged senior citizens in old age homes and NGOs, with none of it being commercially sold for profits.

“Urban farming seemed to be the best option not only to promote locally grown vegetables and fruits but also utilize unused open spaces, in the concrete jungle that the cities have turned into,” says Srihari

What is hydroponic farming?

Hydroponic farming

Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture. It is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions in water. These plants grow directly in water and require no soil. The two important factors to be controlled include the nutrients in the water, as well as the air temperature. Even though the effort one has to put in is double than that of outdoor agriculture, the method allows an urban farmer to grow veggies efficiently year-round.

This method of farming uses water and space efficiently. Most experts deem it the ultimate future of farming.

Read more: This Software Engineer Sold His Company to Start a Vertical Hydroponic Farm in Goa

Is Urban farming a new concept?

Well, no! You can trace the history of urban agriculture to 3,500 BC when Mesopotamian farmers set aside plots in their growing cities to carry out farming. During World War II, urban farmers had what came to be called ‘victory gardens’ that produced crops to feed underprivileged neighborhoods too. One of the prime reasons for the implementation of this concept is the lack of clean produce. It is expected to pick up pace in India.

Speaking about the inspiration behind Urban Chennai, Srihari told Milaap, “One of the biggest examples of the urban citizens helping each other during crisis was Chennai floods. That inspired me to do something and contribute back to the society.”

The idea behind the initiative is to encourage and promote small communities to grow healthy fruits and vegetables locally. “I believe that food brings people closer, which in turn brings communities together,” he says.

Srihari’s goal is to help apartments, gated communities, and corporate offices with large terrace spaces join hands and grow healthier vegetables, not only for their personal use but also share what’s left with underprivileged communities that can’t afford meals.

The financial capital investment for hydroponics even though on the higher end of the scale, is
cost effective and energy efficient. It can provide more yields, ensuring surplus locally grown produce at a lesser cost.

Charity and experiments, all begin at home. So, Srihari wants to start this project by transforming 1,000 sqft of his family rooftop and convert it into a model urban farm and community space.

Technology used after funding

Srihari has received financial help from his family – his father, Mr Gopikrishnan, his father-in-law, Mr Chandrasekaran and his cousin, Mr Sreevatsava, all of whom are based in Chennai.

The urban farmer’s 1,000 sqft greenhouse is built using polycarbonate instead of plastic sheets. This helps the farm withstand the heavy rains and storms that Chennai is infamous for.

To ensure natural ventilation, it has side openings and an insect mesh over the top. The power requirement for the greenhouse is very minimal.

To ease problems of controlling leaf temperature, Srihari has installed Aluminet screens on the top that bounce off 50% of the sunlight. This helps them control the temperature and ensures the plants don’t burn out.

Control panel and automation tools that ensure very minimal work is required.

Without these aluminet screens, the greenhouse temperature would be 8-10 degrees above the temperature outside. So, even the process of controlling temperature is 100% natural without the use of huge mechanical exhaust fans.

An installed RO Unit(Reverse Osmosis water filter) ensures clean water supply to plants.

This 1,000 sqft place can grow 1600 plants at any given point. Once the plants are transplanted into the grow systems, they don’t need any manual work as they are irrigated automatically until harvest.

There are sensors that monitor the amount of nutrients given to the plants and control it as per requirements. So, the urban farmer only intervenes at the harvest stage.

This urban farm grows vegetables such as tomatoes, brinjals, capsicums and greens like spinach and lettuces. In addition, a lot of herbs like basil, fenugreek, coriander, and curry leaves are also grown.

“I see this project as a means of bringing huge difference. The whole thing seems more personal and fulfilling,” he says.

A newly imported vertical Aeroponics system from Germany is now allowing them to grow more plants in a space as tiny as 20sqft in a vertical tower. Is aeroponics the future then? Well, it’s hard to predict but it certainly more water efficient than hydroponic farming.

(L) Aeroponics (R) Foggers that automatically turn on when the humidity inside the greenhouse goes below 50.

You can connect to Srihari at Srihari@me.com

Here’s What You Need to Know About The Organic Standard Changes

Here’s What You Need to Know About The Organic Standard Changes

by Jason Arnold | Sep 7, 2017 | Business Mgt & Operations, Farm & Business Planning | 0 comments

The Organic standards could soon exclude your farm from ever being certified.

You’ve probably heard about the organic standards changing. But you might not know what’s actually happening and how it impacts your farm. Whether you’re currently an organic farmer, or if you’ve had even a fleeting thought about getting certified, changing standards can impact your ability to sell and grow great food. 

In this article, we’re going to discuss what’s happening in the NOSB and USDA, and why soilless farms should have the option to get certified organic.

Here’s what’s happening

The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is a board of 14 people that make recommendations to the USDA regarding the organic standards – what they should be and how they should change.

Currently, the NOSB is considering a recommendation that the USDA bans hydroponic, aquaponic, aeroponic, and other container-based growing methods from the organic standards. (Currently, growers using these methods are able to receive organic certification under the USDA’s National Organic Program.)

If the USDA were to take such a recommendation, it would bar soilless farmers from ever being certified organic.

The option would be off the table – probably forever. This would put the hydroponic and aquaponic industries at a disadvantage and could even impact traditional organic farmers as well by deleting a significant portion of the organic community.

The NOSB’s upcoming recommendation will impact real farmers across the U.S.

To protect the business options of farmers and future farmers, it is critical that members of the hydroponic, aquaponic, and aeroponic community make their voices heard by the NOSB. The ultimate goal is to ensure that consumers can continue to have an ample supply of reasonably priced organic fresh produce.

How do I get involved?

There’s a lack of information regarding how hydro-, aqua-, and aeroponics work and how changed standards would impact farmers. The best way to make sure your voice is heard is to tell the NOSB how this decision will affect you and your farming business. The NOSB will take your comments into account as they prepare for a vote on October 31st.

Click here right now to make a comment.

It’s not always easy to sit down and articulate your comment, so we’ve outlined the four main issues surrounding the decision about banning growing methods. These are the primary arguments to keep organic on the table.

4 reasons to allow soilless organics

1) Soilless grown produce is robust, safe, and nutritious like consumers deserve.

The Organic label was created to signify safety, sustainability, and responsibility in food. Consumers depend on the organic label to signify that food is:

• Free of unsafe or unhealthy pesticides and fertilizers
• Resource efficient with effective cycling and recycling of inputs through the farm
• Free from harmful impacts to the air, water, and surrounding land.
• Created in humane and healthy conditions 

Hydroponic and aquaponic production, like any farm, can align with these criteria. 

The purpose of the Organic label is to encourage growers to grow great food, not restrict them.

One great example of how hydroponics and aquaponics support responsible resource use and nutritious food is the decrease in food miles. Hydroponic and aquaponic systems can be built indoors, enabling fresh produce to be grown close to the consumer all year round, eliminating hundreds or thousands of miles of transportation.

Locally grown fresh foods also provide better nutrients. The Harvard T.H. Chan Center for Public Health reports that “even when the highest post-harvest handling standards are met, foods grown far away spend significant time on the road, and therefore have more time to lose nutrients before reaching the marketplace.” (1)

When food is grown regionally or locally using indoor hydroponics and aquaponics, the consumer gets a richer nutritional profile, and the environment benefits from a shorter supply chain. The bottom line: hydroponics and aquaponics don’t block better food; they empower it.

2) Soilless growing contributes to the economy and strengthens food security

Modern farmers, empowered with appropriate tools and technology, are able to grow food in areas where fresh, local food has never been possible before. Doing so helps more people have access to nutritious food in previously unthinkable locations:

1. Urban food deserts
2. Northern latitudes
3. Areas that lack abundant ground and surface water

This is helping a new generation of farmers in both urban and rural locations as they face difficult growing conditions and even more difficult economics. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) allows more people to grow food and access markets. (3)

According to former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, “Urban agriculture helps strengthen the health and social fabric of communities while creating economic opportunities for farmers and neighborhoods.”

Hydroponics and aquaponics empower people to grow anywhere, all year long.

As part of the Upstart University community, you know this better than most. Your innovative spirit and commitment to your community are the beating heart of the Upstart Farmer network.

Click here to submit it this as comment to the NOSB.

3) Soilless growing doesn’t subtract the power of sun and soil; it amplifies it.

There are numerous studies about the benefits of Organic crops grown in soil with careful attention to the biological composition of the soil. Many organic farmers will claim that since we continue to learn more about the biology in organic production systems, the potential unknown benefits of producing in soil is worth excluding hydroponic and aquaponic production methods.

Unfortunately, the anti-hydroponic activists take advantage of the fact that most members of the general public do not have a degree in microbiology. By using words like “unnatural, sterile, robo-crops,” they deliberately try to to confuse the public about the realities of hydroponic or aquaponic production methods. It is up to us to set the record straight.  

Indeed, studies show that Organic aquaponic and hydroponic production relies on a robust microflora in the root zone – made of the same types and numbers of bacteria and fungi that thrive in soil. 

Click here to submit this as a comment to the NOSB.

4) Small farms need assistance getting to market.

Small and independently owned farms often struggle to beat the economics of the start up world and often rely on a second or third income stream to support their farm (6). The price premium that is associated with organic crops helps to support small, medium, and large farms, both locally and regionally.

Should growers using innovative approaches to produce organically be punished for doing something new?

The Organic label assists many small farmers to maintain a business.

Click here to submit this as a comment to the NOSB. 

The bottom line? Organic standards should adapt to new techniques instead of dismissing them.

If the goal of the Organic label is to empower more consumers with organically grown produce, then hydroponics and aquaponics have a lot to offer. It doesn’t make sense to restrict or exclude these methods from the Organic label.

However, restriction is what will happen if farmers like you don’t speak up. Luckily, speaking up is easy; the easy way to make sure your voice is heard is to make a comment to the NOSB. The NOSB will take your comments into account as they prepare for a vote on October 15th.

Here are 4 easy way to comment:

• Go to the NOSB Organic Comments page and write a message telling the NOSB that you believe your growing methods should remain organic. 
• Sign up to give a three-minute testimony at the October 24 and 26 webinars.
• Sign up to attend the Fall Meeting in person and provide in-person three-minute testimony.
• Contact your federal congressional representatives and tell them you want the NOSB to retain the organic eligibility of sustainable growing methods like aquaponics, hydroponics, and aeroponics. Click here to enter your zip code and find your representatives.

Click Here to Make Your Voice Heard

Safe Water Sources For Hydroponic Food Production

Safe Water Sources For Hydroponic Food Production

 AUGUST 30, 2017  |  DAVID KUACK 

Whether using municipal or well water, monitoring and testing are important to ensure successful production of greenhouse hydroponic lettuce and leafy greens.

An increasing number of ornamental plant growers are looking to take advantage of the growing interest in local food sales by expanding their production with seasonal crops of lettuce, leafy greens and herbs. Unlike ornamental plants, growers of edible crops have the added concerns of food safety.

“If growers are using municipal water for growing ornamental crops and then add lettuces and leafy greens, there should be no concerns related to water quality from the standpoint of human pathogens that might be associated with surface water,” said horticulture professor Sarah White at Clemson University. “There are pH issues associated with municipal water because most municipal water is neutral or alkaline to prevent the corrosion of pipes. Ornamental growers would likely need to acidify their water if the pH is above 7.5, especially for leafy greens and lettuces. These growers may already be acidifying their water for the ornamental plants they are producing.

“For new growers who are planning on using municipal water, they need to know what the water pH is. Because the pH is likely to shift during the year, growers need to be cognizant of the shifting pH and how injecting acid needs to be responsive to these changes. Some bedding plant crops may require more or less acid injection than lettuces and leafy greens.”

White said most municipal water sources are drawn from surface water reservoirs, which can cause some seasonal variation in water pH.

“Usually during the winter the water source quality is consistent,” she said. “If growers are producing during the winter and carrying production into spring there might be some changes in the water source that can affect the pH.

Ornamental plant growers using municipal water who add lettuces and leafy greens should not be concerned with water quality from the standpoint of human pathogens.
Photo courtesy of Tyler Baras, Hort Americas

“Regardless of whether growers are producing lettuce and leafy greens in nutrient film technique (NFT) or deep water raft systems, they need to actively monitor pH year round. There are Bluetooth pH meters that can be stuck into a water source that will log pH. It’s easy to do. Growers should monitor and track their pH and know what they have to do to adjust it.”

White said for ornamental growers looking to add lettuces and leafy greens, it isn’t going to matter what type of acid is used to lower the water pH.

“Growers should be able to use the same acid for both ornamental and edible crops,” she said. “Usually they pick an acid based on the cost. If they are going to adjust the water pH they should inject fertilizers after the water pH has been adjusted.”

White said municipal water usually has a pH of 7.5 to 8. Most plants grow best at a pH of 6 to 6.5.

“Nutrient availability changes with different pH,” she said. “That is why the pH needs to be adjusted in order for the nutrients in the water to be available to the plants.”

White recommends if growers have never produced lettuces and leafy greens that they monitor the water pH more often.

“If growers don’t know how sensitive these new crops are to pH, they might try doing some trials with lettuces, leafy greens or herbs,” she said. “This will enable growers to determine the best pH for producing these new crops before they invest in filling a whole greenhouse.”

Adjusting water alkalinity

White said depending on where growing operations are located in the country, municipal water sources can have different alkalinities.

“In some western states and coastal regions of the United States, alkalinity issues are more likely,” she said. “In locations with higher alkalinity, more acid is required to get the water pH to the desired range for crop production. A lot of plants don’t do well with high alkalinity vs. low alkalinity. If the pH is being adjusted by injecting acid this coincidentally manages the alkalinity level as well. It typically requires more acid to accomplish the same pH change in water with higher alkalinity. Water that has high alkalinity will also have a high pH.

“If growers have a water source that is highly alkaline in a certain region of the country, chances are it won’t matter what source growers pull from because there are going to be alkalinity issues. The only thing they could do differently is if they capture rain water, filter it, and then blend it with their other water source.”

A rapid sand filter removes organic matter and other debris that might get into recycled irrigation water. This filter might remove some disease organisms, but it’s not 100 percent.
Photo courtesy of Sarah White, Clemson Univ.

Well water

White said well water is the most common water source used by growers.

“We have done two surveys in the last 10 years and about 65 percent of all growers indicated they use well water,” she said. “The reason is because it is a clean water source and there are not usually any issues with plant diseases. The contaminants that most growers might encounter are salinity and iron. If growers have a lot of salts in their water, how it is managed becomes very critical. Many Southwestern growers deal with this issue.”

White said water with a high salt level can be caused by a mix of elements and it is regionally specific.

“Sodium, chloride, calcium and magnesium are the biggest contributors to high salinity water sources,” she said. “If growers are having high salt issues, it’s probably caused by chlorine or sodium. Growers can manage fertilizers to help balance the high salts.”

White said the other contaminant growers might find in well water is iron depending on the region of the country where they are located.

“There are typically problems with iron and iron-oxidizing bacteria associated with well water use. If there is iron in the water, growers should aerate it before they use it. Aerating the water oxidizes the iron so that it precipitates out. The aeration should be done before the water goes into the fertilizer tank and before growers start adding salts. Once fertilizers begin to be added it might be more difficult to remove the iron.”

White said the pH for well water is usually in a good range for growing plants. She said growers should still test the pH of their water.

“If growers are drawing from a salty water source, chances are they are going to have alkalinity and pH issues. If growers are using salty water sources on ornamental plants and decide to try growing lettuces, leafy greens and herbs, whether they can use that water and how it is being treated will depend on the type of ornamental plants being grown. Some ornamental plants tolerate salts more than others. Growers may not have to do much to bring the salts to an acceptable level for lettuces, leafy greens and herbs.”

White said most growers won’t put in a reverse osmosis system to remove high salts because of the high cost associated with the equipment and having to manage it along with the waste water it produces.

“Growers are more likely to manage high salts by blending water sources, by heavily irrigating the crops or by their choice of which plants to grow,” she said. “Growers may want to use a municipal water source to blend with well water so that salts are at a manageable level for the plants. I highly recommend that growers get water quality analyses done periodically. They should also have an inline monitoring system if they chemically treat the water so that they know the real-time pH and salinity (electric conductivity is a proxy) levels of their water.”

Growers concerned with plant diseases can pair a rapid sand filter with a sanitizer such as a chlorination system like Accu-Tab.
Photo courtesy of Sarah White, Clemson Univ.

Water filtration

White said there really isn’t a need to filter municipal or well water unless growers are recirculating the water.

“A rapid sand filter, which is cheap and fast, will remove organic matter and other debris that might get into the water,” she said. “This filter might remove some disease organisms, but it’s not 100 percent. If growers are concerned with plant diseases, they are going to need to add a sanitizer like chlorine, ultraviolet light or ozone. A rapid sand filter is easy to pair with a chlorination system like Accu-Tab.

“Growers could also use a slow sand filter. This is a biologically-based system, but it just takes longer to filter the water. The slow sand filter removes both particulate and plant disease propagules. Depending on what a grower’s goal is, a slow sand filter would accomplish the same thing as a sanitizer.”

White said a lot of ornamental plant growers who use well water route it into an open containment pond.

“Most growers have a pond that they pump the well water into before irrigating their crops,” she said. “These growers might have an issue with using that water to irrigate edible crops. They would need to use a sanitizer, which would take care of plant pathogens as well as potential human pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli. Those are the main pathogens growers would have to be worried about.”

For more: Sarah White, Clemson University, Plant and Environmental Sciences Department, (864) 656-7433; swhite4@clemson.edu; http://www.clemson.edu/cafls/faculty_staff/profiles/swhite4; http://cleanwater3.org.

David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Sells Off International Operations To Focus On Core Business and Hydroponics

Scotts Miracle-Gro Sells Off International Operations To Focus On Core Business and Hydroponics

The lawn-and-garden giant also anounced pending acquisition of "marquee brand" in hydroponics, an ancillary sector of the cannabis industry

PUBLISHED: AUG 31, 2017  |  By Alicia Wallace

Scotts Miracle-Gro has shed its Australia and European businesses in a deal that frees up the company to direct its attention on lawn-and-garden products and an ambition to become “the world’s most successful hydroponic gardening business.”

The Marysville, Ohio-based Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. on Thursday completed the previously announced sale of its overseas operations to Exponent Private Equity LLP. The $250 million deal includes operations in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom, leaving Scotts in a position where close to 100 percent of its sales and profits would come from North America, officials have said.

Related stories

• Boulder’s AeroGrow reports hydroponics revenue boost for owner Scotts Miracle-Gro

The sale to Exponent and a previous divestiture of Scotts LawnService allows Scotts to dedicate its money and attention to its long-established core business and its high-flying venture into hydroponics. Scotts has spent hundreds of millions of dollars plucking up sector leaders and folding them into subsidiary Hawthorne Gardening Co. in a move to capitalize on the ancillary wings of the fledgling U.S. marijuana industry.

“The integration of acquisitions under the Hawthorne umbrella is proceeding as planned, and we are in the closing stages of completing the acquisition of a marquee brand in another category of hydroponics,” Jim Hagedorn, Scotts chief executive officer, said in a statement.

“Our goal remains the same: to create the world’s most successful hydroponic gardening business.”

Scotts’ jaunt into hydroponics started in Boulder, Colo., where it invested in AeroGrow International, a maker of indoor garden systems. Scotts now owns a majority stake of AeroGrow.

The international deal comes a year after Scotts shuttled its LawnService business into a joint venture with TruGreen. Scotts took a 30 percent stake in that venture and has received $290 million in cash as a result — including an $87 million dividend announced Thursday.

Farming In A Shipping Container: It’s Happening In Grand Rapids

Farming In A Shipping Container: It’s Happening In Grand Rapids

POSTED 7:43 PM, AUGUST 29, 2017, BY JAMES GEMMELL

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. —  Imagine growing food indoors without water, sun or soil – and making a decent living doing so.

Green Collar Farms vertical crops

Green Collar Farms LLC says it is West Michigan’s first indoor hydroponic, vertical micro farm. That’s a 350-square-foot operation inside a re-purposed shipping container, located at 530 Second Street NW in Grand Rapids. Green Collar Farms was founded by Brian Harris, who says vertical farming is a sustainable enterprise that has the potential to grow local food and provide middle income-level jobs in urban areas.

“The ultimate goal,” says Harris, “is that a person could make a middle-income living out of the crops that go to your local farm-to-fork restaurant, and groceries.” He believes that could help grow a community’s vitality, not just grow crops.  Under-used spaces like vacant warehouses or dormant garages and basements could be transformed into vertical farms.

The hydroponic farming uses L.E.D. technology that Harris says is 60 percent more efficient, per watt used, than sunlight. How can the plants grow inside a container with no sunlight? Harris says plants “see” light differently than people, who mostly observe it in yellows, greens and oranges. But plants see sunlight in red and blue, and interpret it in terms of radiation. So, the L.E.D.s that are used inside the shipping container are a red-and-blue combination. “So, it gives the plant the little bit of blue it needs to have to wake up in the morning. And the red is really what makes it stretch.”

Green Collar Farms uses automated Controlled Environment Agricultural (CEA) techniques to operate year-round, regardless of season. It can produce hyper-local greens and herbs with a yield equal to the output of a traditional two-acre farm – while using only 10 percent of the water. Green Collar is supplying hydroponic greens like kale, leaf lettuces and herbs to select restaurants in Grand Rapids. And Harris plans to expand distribution to local grocery stores, markets and even school cafeterias.

He figures that will benefit students. And that the L.E.D. technology will attract and introduce them to hydroponic vertical farming: “I think if you bring some kids in here, and they see these lights, it’s like Star Wars. And I think at that point, I’ve got them where I can start talking to them about the biology of plants. Start talking to them about engineering. Introduce them to the ‘what ifs’ of innovation.” He says that spark an interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), as well as plant biology, agriculture and nutrition.

Harris envisions upscaling the vertical-farm concept up to 20,000 square feet, boosting the crop output significantly.  He says that will really produce jobs: “At that point…you’re starting to employ hyper-local residents. You can introduce food (for) the under-served community. The idea here is, if we scale this up to the inner-city to provide them local jobs…”.

However, Harris recognizes that the indoor vertical farming has its limitations. “So, you’re not going to grow wheat, corn, barley…this is not an apple orchard…but there are lots of field crops that are grown in muck farms or other soil environments that are not necessarily optimal for the environment. You could bring those in to hyper-local. Because they’re typically consumed hyper-local.”

Solar-Powered Bike Sharing Farm Is A Mobile Community Garden For The City (Video)

Solar-Powered Bike Sharing Farm Is A Mobile Community Garden For The City (Video)

Kimberley Mok (@kimberleymok)
Design / Urban Design
August 17, 2017

© People’s Industrial Design Office

Our long love for the bicycle extends beyond the two-wheeler itself, spilling over into bike-powered inventions, electricity-generating gyms, even whole buildings designed around the bike.

Seen over at Designboom and created by the People’s Industrial Design Office -- the design arm of Beijing firm People’s Architecture Office -- during a three-day design hackathon in Seoul, South Korea, the Bike Share Farm is a solar-powered and bike-propelled mobile hydroponic garden, inspired by the bike sharing concept. The idea was to bring plant life to the citizenry, the designers say:

Seoul is a massive vertical city with minimal garden space. Mobile farms can make shared urban farming possible in such a dense megacity.

Bike Share Farm has been made with mobility in mind. Using off-the-shelf components, a portable hydroponic system with a series of zigzagging tubes forms a frame into which two different bikes can be slotted as the mobile garden travels from place to place. The hydroponic system's irrigation mechanisms are powered by a series of photovoltaic panels.

The Bike Share Farm is a prototype attempts to tackle the issues highlighted during the hackathon of how to "[share an] eco-city with technology." While there may be finer details to work out (such as factoring in how long it will take the plants to mature before harvesting), one could almost imagine a mobile garden like this bringing 'instant' fresh green produce to food deserts or neighbourhoods lacking community gardens. An intriguing idea as well as a powerful symbol of food security and human-powered mobility; see more over at People’s Industrial Design Office.

Hydroponic Farming To Be Tested In Cambodia

August 25, 2017

Hydroponic Farming To Be Tested In Cambodia

Sok Chan / Khmer Times Share:    

An outdoor hydroponics system growing herbs such as mint, basil and rosemary at an urban farm in Singapore. Reuters

Japanese company Asian Gateway (Cambodia) will soon conduct a pilot project with a hydroponic farm in Cambodia.

It will be tested at the Royal University of Agriculture (Chamkar Dong campus) in the first stage and after that will be used as a model for farmers and the private sector to implement across the whole nation.

Asian Gateway’s president and founder, Tomonori Kimura, said at a meeting with Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon on Wednesday that the hydroponic farm will be done in cooperation with the Royal University of Agriculture in Cambodia.

He said Asian Gateway specialised in infrastructure development and maintenance technology to integrate environmentally friendly technology.

He added that the pilot project will soon start and introduce new technology to a hydroponic farm to produce vegetables to supply local markets. He said his company will do research and study the market for hydroponically grown produce.

The project will study how to reduce the costs of production through technology and it will not use chemicals on the vegetables, which it aims to produce safely to target middle income earners.

“It is an indoor farm which will be using solar energy that can manage the temperature and humidity and it will not be a concern if there is not too much rain, drought or disease,” Mr. Kimura said.

Agriculture Minister Mr Sakhon, told Mr Kimura that Cambodian people, particularly urban people, are interested in safety food and chemical free vegetables. He said he hoped the hydroponic farm could be started soon and it could expand and transfer the technology to the provinces.

He added that he wants the farm to produce safe food to supply local market demand and reduce the reliance on imports and asked the company to cooperate with the Royal University of Agriculture on the project.

Ngo Bunthan, the rector of the Royal University of Agriculture, told Khmer Times that no exact date has been set to implement the pilot project, but it will start soon at the university, which researches and teaches people about farming.

“We have not yet finalised the date as we are preparing the plan. It is new to Cambodia and we will study how we can apply it in Cambodia and benefit our people,” Mr Bunthan said.

“It [hydroponic farming] does not depend on the climate, and though rain or drought, we still can produce vegetables,” he added. “If the project succeeds, private companies and farmers can take that model and use it.”

He said the purpose of the project was to find the technology to apply to the indoor farm to grow vegetables at a low price which are safe for people.

Kean Sophea, the deputy director of the department of horticulture and subsidiary crops at the Ministry of Agriculture, welcomed the company’s move, saying it is part of the government’s aim to boost the supply of local vegetables on the market.

He added that Cambodia has not experienced hydroponic farming. However, he said hydroponic farming is good as it could rotate the growing period for the whole year with the products fetching competitive prices.

“Hydroponic farming can be done everywhere as it is done indoors,” Mr Sophea said. “If a hydroponic farm is large, it could contribute to the supply of vegetables in Cambodia’s markets.”

He said Cambodia imports 300 to 400 tonnes of vegetables per day from neighbouring countries.