Freight Farmer Q&A: Bee's Greens Company

8 Questions with Lizzy Porter of Bee's Greens Company!

We caught up with Lizzy of Bee's Greens Co. to learn more about her island farm in Waipahu, Hawaii!

One of the best things of being part of the Freight Farms team is talking to our farmers and hearing about their successes, customers, and challenges as they pursue a variety of container farming ventures. They are a wealth of information, so we're sharing some of their stories with you!

“As an island in the middle of the Pacific, importing comes at great environmental and food quality cost.” — Lizzy Porter

Freight Farms: What’s the story behind your Freight Farms project?

Lizzy Porter: My Freight Farms project was born from an interest in the future and emerging exponential technologies, and developed into what it is today after learning about contemporary food issues in Hawaii. I learned about Freight Farms while on a path of learning about how existing big industries could be decentralized and democratized. I began to understand more about current food insecurity issues in Hawaii - where more than 80% of food is imported; where arable land can be hard to come by; where tropical weather can surprisingly and significantly impact a growing season.

As an island in the middle of the Pacific, importing comes at great environmental and food quality cost. With the Freight Farms technology in mind, I found there was an opportunity to participate in a futuristic pursuit while helping with contemporary issues. Not to mention, I was pretty ready for an excuse to move to a beautiful tropic island. Thus, Bee’s Greens Company, operating in Hawaii for Hawaii, came to be.

FF: What, if any, was your experience with farming before becoming a Freight Farmer?

LP: Not much! I had a personal vertical hydroponic gardening system before becoming a Freight Farmer, but would not say I had experience with farming, let alone on a commercial scale. However, I grew up very comfortable with life sciences and technology so was ready for the challenge. I also believe that success often comes from delegating to others whose strengths complement your own - so was confident that if I was struggling, I could always find someone or a team with different skills and experiences to make the project thrive.

Lizzy with her brother and dad, who help her out at the farm!

“The support of my family, the Freight Farms team, and the Freight Farms community has been absolutely instrumental in helping me overcome challenges of getting started and finding my footing.”

— Lizzy Porter

FF: What reaction do you typically get from people when you tell them what you do for a living?

LP: Surprise and genuine interest! I love that my answer is not traditional, whether I’m talking to someone on a corporate path, in the agricultural field, or pretty much any other avenue. It usually makes for a fun conversation about the future, unconventional passions, and potential solutions to contemporary issues - and inevitably ends up with looking us looking a dates to schedule a tour of the farm.

FF: How did you find customers to buy your produce?

Just one fun farmers market sign!
Photo: Bees Greens Co. on Instagram

LP: We’ve found our customers through farmers markets! We sell the majority of our greens to both patrons of the markets as well as other vendors at the markets. Other customers have come through by looking for like-minded companies.

FF: What’s your favorite crop to grow and why?

LP: My favorite crop is probably the Butterhead Rex. It is well loved here but doesn’t normally grow year-round, so the communities I serve are familiar with it and excited to see it when they hadn’t expected to. It’s also just the right amount of tender and beautiful.

“With the global culture and awesome technology that we have in 2018, it is unrealistic and uncreative to just decide that a society can only have the food that grows well traditionally in that location.”

— Lizzy Porter

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Photo: Bees Greens Co. on Instagram

FF: What’s the most pressing issue in food and agriculture that you’d like to see solved?

LP: On a personal and local level, I think a very pressing issue is food security in Hawaii. 80% or more of food is imported to the islands from 3000 miles away, which means quality loss, environmental costs, and an economic loop that is not benefiting the local community as it could. The challenge is that, because the imported produce is produced in very large commercial scales, it can remain cheaper than fresh, low impact, local food. 

With the global culture and awesome technology that we have in 2018, it is unrealistic and uncreative to just decide that a society can only have the food that grows well traditionally in that location. Things like the Freight Farms’ LGM provides a great opportunity for global selections of locally produced, consistent, high-efficiency, low impact goods.

We completely agree with Lizzy! Check out our blog, Freight Farming Over Freight Shipping: Bringing Local Back to the Island for more insights into the problems island communities face today.

Lizzy working in her farm–you'd never know she didn't have any previous growing experience!

FF: What was the most challenging part of becoming a Freight Farmer and how were you able to overcome it?

LP: The most challenging part of this project was moving into a field that was relatively new to me, having never been involved in commercial farming before. The support of my family, the Freight Farms team, and the Freight Farms community has been absolutely instrumental in helping me overcome challenges of getting started and finding my footing. Now that we’ve been operational for a while, that support has been epically supplemented by the help and knowledge of great employees, and getting to share our stoke and passion with our customers and community.

“Passion is contagious, and I’ve found the best way to keep the stoke is to share it! ”

— Lizzy Porter

FF: What’s the best piece of advice you can give to people interested in becoming Freight Farmers?

LP: Passion is contagious, and I’ve found the best way to keep the stoke is to share it!  A new business venture can at times be a grind, but if you can find the pieces of being a Freight Farmer that are most interesting to you – i.e. the parts that blow your mind - those are what you want to hang onto and share with others to blow their minds in turn.  A significant amount of my sales and new connections have come from when I get on a roll, talking about how cool the system is, and why it’s important for now and for the future. Sharing my excitement and having it reflected back to me has been endlessly inspiring and motivating.

Wellspring Harvest Greenhouse Co-op In Springfield Brings Hydroponic Lettuce To Market

By Jim Kinney | jkinney@repub.com | August 1, 2018

Wellspring Harvest lettuce on sale at the Cooley Street Big Y. (Jim Kinney/ The Republican)

SPRINGFIELD -- It's not unusual to see fresh and locally grown produce arrive at Big Y in July just hours after it was harvested.

But it will be quite a treat when fresh, locally grown lettuce arrives at Big Y just hours after it was harvested -- in January.

The Wellspring Harvest Greenhouse Cooperative delivered its first lettuce Tuesday to four Big Y locations: Cooley Street, Ludlow, Wilbraham and Fresh Acres on Wilbraham Road.

The delivery -- 200 heads in total -- represents the culmination of more than two years of work by Wellspring that included building a $1.5 million four-season hydroponic greenhouse at on Pinevale Street on part of the formerly contaminated Chapman Valve site in Indian Orchard.

"We are creating a whole new food system for the city of Springfield," said Marcello Rossi, who handles sales and deliveries for Wellspring Harvest Greenhouse Cooperative. "We are going to grow food where we need it. Where we need it is in the heart of the city."

The greenhouse is Wellspring's third worker-owned enterprise, said Fred Rose, Wellspring Cooperative Corp. co-director. The quarter-acre greenhouse follows the Wellspring Upholstery Cooperative and the Old Window Workshop.

The Greenhouse has seven employees who have an opportunity to work toward being worker-owners in the business.

"Our mission is to create sustainable jobs, good local jobs and job training," Rose said. "Some of our workers have farm experience. Some do not. We are working with one man who was homeless."

Wellspring isn't like other farms. For one thing, it's all hydronic, with produce grown in a water solution. Wellspring is certified through the state's Commonwealth Quality Program assuring that the produce is grown, harvested and processed right here in Massachusetts using practices that are safe, sustainable and don't harm the environment.

"It's a very rigorous process," Rose said. "They look at everything."

Rossi said Wellspring grows its vegetables in a controlled environment taking precautions to avoid infestation by insects or contamination by disease. That's an area of concern for consumers given the recent recalls of salad greens from the marketplace.

The new greenhouse can produce 17,000 heads of lettuce a month with 10,000 a month being the breakeven point to profitability, Rose said.

"It sounds like a lot now, but we expect our product to sell more as the other local produce fades from the shelves," he said.

Wellspring will branch out, he said, adding herbs, tomatoes, cilantro and cucumbers as winter grips the region. Wellspring will also grow callaloo, a leaf vegetable popular in the Caribbean.

"In the middle of winter, you can have cucumbers," Rossi said. "You can have fresh tomatoes and they are not ripened artificially. They are not coming from the other side of the world."

Wellspring will expand its customers as well to include the Springfield city schools, Mercy Medical Center and the eventually the River Valley Co-Op in Northampton and the Franklin Community Co-Op markets in Greenfield and Shelburne Falls.

The four varieties of lettuce on sale at the Big Y markets -- red sweet crisp, romaine manoa, green sweet crisp and green butter -- come as a 5-ounce plant with a root in a plastic clamshell. Each package sells for $3.49 in keeping with the prices Big Y charges for its organic and specialty lettuce.

The lettuce will last as long as 10 days, Rossi said, and you can even plant the root and harvest a leaf at a time for months.

The $1.5 million greenhouse cost included buying the parcel from the Springfield Redevelopment Authority for $70,000. 

Wellspring Harvest financed the greenhouse project by raising more than $500,000 from local investors, Rose said. The rest came in loans from Farm Credit East, of Enfield, Connecticut, and Coastal Enterprises Inc., of Brunswick, Maine.

Myra S. Marcellin, vice president and senior loan officer for Farm Credit East, said she was attracted to Wellspring because of its business plan and mission of bringing sustainable agriculture to an urban setting.

"It fits with our mission," she said. 

Myra S. Marcellin, vice president and senior loan officer for Farm Credit East in Enfield, poses with Wellspring Harvest lettuce Tuesday in Springfield. Farm Credit East helped finance Wellspring Harvest and its greenhouse in Indian Orchard. (Jim Kinney / The Republican)

AccorHotels Now Using 600 Onsite Urban Food Gardens

9 August 2018, source edie newsroom

Hospitality giant AccorHotels has announced that it is on track to install urban fruit and vegetable gardens at 1,000 of its 4,500 global hotels by 2020, as part of its commitment to cut emissions from food transportation and reduce its food waste output.

The urban vegetable garden at Novotel London Waterloo produced enough pesticide-free basil to stock the kitchen all summer

The hotelier has today (August 9) revealed that it has fitted 600 of its locations worldwide with the gardens, which supply fresh vegetables, herbs and salads to be used in its restaurant and bar menus, putting the chain on track to meet its target of installing 400 more over the next two years. To date, 26 of these gardens are at UK branches, including the Novotel hotels in Canary Wharf, Paddington and Waterloo.

AccorHotels said in a statement that the move to build the gardens would help the company meet its target of reducing food waste from its restaurants – which collectively serve more than 150 million meals each year - by 30% by 2020, while boosting the traceability, and reducing the environmental footprint, of its produce supply chains.

“As a group that produces a lot of food for our guests across the world, it is vital that we play our part in reducing food waste and investing in sustainable food systems,” AccorHotels’ chief operating officer for Northern Europe, Thomas Dubaere, said.

“Our hotels are encouraged to source local produce, reducing the environmental impact from their food purchases and providing outlets for farmers to sell their produce.”

As well as shortening the produce supply chain, AccorHotels claims that installing urban gardens has improved the biodiversity and air quality in the areas surrounding its hotels, reduced the urban heat island effect and urban runoff and provided better heat and sound insulation to buildings which have rooftop gardens.

In addition to produce from onsite, pesticide-free gardens – which make use of hydroponic, aquaponic and vertical farming innovations to thrive - AccorHotels regularly uses honey produced from beehives on hotel rooftops across its restaurants. For example, the Novotel London Tower Bridge has recently been fitted with hives on its rooftop garden, with AccorHotels estimating that this will enable kitchen and bar staff to harvest 30kg of honey by the end of 2018.

Branching out

AccorHotels’ commitment to build urban gardens at its hotels forms part of the chain’s Planet 21 sustainability strategy, which was launched in 2012 and sets out a range of 2020 targets across topics such as eco-design, energy efficiency and water stewardship, alongside sustainably sourced food.

The strategy additionally includes the company’s Plant For The Planet initiative, which has seen AccorHotels commit to plant 10 million trees by 2021 through a string of global agroforestry and reforestation projects.

As of 2016, it has planted five million trees in 26 countries through the initiative – but Dubaere noted that the need to champion sustainable agriculture in a city environment had grown since Plant For The Planet launched in 2009.

“Our backing of agroforestry projects supports sustainable food production in rural areas, but almost 70% of the global population will live in cities by 2050, so we also feel it is important to mitigate the increasing consumption in urban areas,” Dubaere added.

The launch of the urban garden initiative came after AccorHotels last year became a signatory of WRAP’s Courtauld Commitment 2025, committing to achieve at least a 20% reduction in food waste and greenhouse gas emissions. To date, more than XYZ companies across a range of sectors have signed up to the commitment, with signatories representing 95% of the UK food market. 

Sarah George

2nd Urban Agri Africa 2018

The world’s population is expected to increase by about 3 billion by 2050 and it is forecasted that nearly 80% of that population will live in urban centers.  

Africa’s urban growth rate is at 3.5% the highest in the world and doubles the world average.  The challenge of growing enough healthy food for Africa’s growing cities is enormous.  At the same time, the stresses of climate change, and the declining availability of arable land and fresh water are challenging conventional agriculture as never before.

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Many countries and companies are expressing strong interest in vertical farming business and urban agriculture.  It is a solution to the weather and pests problems, food security, climate change and environmental preservation.  Commercialization of vertical farming is catching on in Asia, Europe, USA, Russia and now Africa.  

Many private companies are interested in growing crops in hydroponics, aquaponics and aeroponics systems in warehouses, greenhouses, containers and high scrapers.  There is also a burgeoning interest in the production of medicinal plants in vertical farms.

Africa has unique opportunities for vertical farms.  Feeding Africa’s rapidly growing urban population will continue to be a daunting challenge, but vertical farming – and its variations – is one of the most innovative approaches that can be tapped into as part of an effort to grow fresh, healthy, nutritious and pesticide-free food for consumers.

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Learn more at 2nd Urban Agri Africa 2018 to be held on September 25-26 in Johannesburg, South Africa.  The latest joint ventures and partnerships will be highlighted, case studies shared and strategies robustly debated.  New trends, opportunities, and technologies will be showcased, once again providing the perfect platform for extraordinary networking opportunities for all Summit participants.

Find out more at 2nd Urban Agri Africa 2018.

To register or request event details... Contact

Jose at +65 6846 2366 or jose@magenta-global.com.sg today.

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Find out more at 2nd Urban Agri Africa 2018.

Engineers Change The Future of Farming

BY KARABO LEDWABA - 17 July 2018

Engineers Mogale Maleka and Tumelo Pule have come up with hydroponic farming system that will change the future of agriculture in SA. Image: Mduduzi Ndzingi

Two mechanical engineers have used their technical expertise to make soil-less farming more efficient by building a system that relies on 20 hours less of electricity than what is currently being sold on the market.

Business partners Mogale Maleka and Tumelo Pule, who are both 25 years old, ventured into hydroponic farming, also known as soil-less farming, after graduating with their honours degrees from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in 2016. This type of farming does not require the use of soil but relies on water and fertilisers to hydrate and feed plants.

"In all honesty we have experienced issues of power failures which has caused our plants to die. My engineering mind said we need to find a way to fix this," said Pule. Hydroponic farming helps farmers avoid having their produce harmed by pests found in soil, diseases and weeds. It uses 90% less water than soil farming and allows for more plants to be grown in smaller spaces.

This type of farming is possible because plants such as spinach, lettuce, herbs and strawberries do not need to be submerged in the soil to grow. In these instances, soil is mainly used as an anchor for the plant and science allows for farmers to use other methods to keep the plants stable.

"Hydroponic systems need to feed the plant with water and nutrients continuously, which means that within an hour of electricity being gone, the plant will wilt and eventually die," said Maleka.

Their hydroponic planter is able to situate the water and fertilizer in a small reservoir without drowning the plant.

This means that water only needs to be pumped for four hours in a day, while traditional systems need water to pump for 24-hour periods to continuously feed and hydrate the plant.

The entrepreneurs said hydroponic systems are the future of farming.

"It is our belief that farming will need to rely on hydroponics because of issues such as urbanisation, climate change and an increasing population growth," said Pule.

Maleka said they had previously used the traditional hydroponic systems but found that they were not effective when combined with South Africa's load-shedding problem.

It took them seven months to finish their prototype, which cost them R28000.

"We were lucky enough that the University of Johannesburg believed in us and have given us a seed fund for our hydroponic planter," said Maleka.

The young innovators have plans to commercialise their product by selling it to farmers and eventually to households that want to grow their own produce.

Sipho Mahlangu from UJ's Process Energy and Environmental Technology Station (UJ PEETS) said the hydroponic planter was fascinating and innovative and that they would be assisting them in finding more funding to take it forward.

6 Places Where Soil-Less Farming Is Revolutionizing How We Grow Food

by Greg Beach

If it seems like “hydroponic systems” are everywhere, that’s because they are. Hydroponic farming is one efficient way to grow fruits and vegetables in small spaces without the use of soil. Instead of dirt, plants grow down into water, to which farmers have added the necessary nutrients for plant growth. These are then absorbed, along with water, through a plant’s roots. Light is provided either by the sun or specially designed grow lights, with many sustainable systems powered by renewable energy sources. Aquaponic farming incorporates fish into the soil-less system, using the closed-loop nutrient cycle from fish digestion to their advantage. Some systems even feed nutrients to plants through the air! From water-less deserts to the sun-less underground, soil-less farming is offering new possibilities to feed an increasingly urban, growing global population in a more Earth-friendly way.

1. Stores

Target has collaborated with MIT to create a hydroponics garden in several of its store, offering produce directly to customers.

With consumers increasingly conscious of their environmental impact, many stores have realized that going green is good for business. Big-box store Target began a series of trials in spring 2017 in which vertical, hydroponic gardens were installed in various Target locations to provide customers with the freshest possible produce. In collaboration with MIT Media Lab and Ideo, Target designed a system that is capable of growing leafy greens and herbs with minimal water usage. The company hopes to someday branch out into other crops, such as potatoes, zucchini and beets. MIT may even offer Target use of rare heirloom tomato seeds for its project. Meanwhile, IKEA has teamed up with Denmark-based SPACE10 to design high-tech hydroponics systems in-stores and in homes.

 

2. Deserts

Sundrop Farms uses solar energy to desalinize water that is then fed into its hydroponics system.

In preparation for a future dominated by climate change, in which oil becomes a lesser part of the world’s energy diet, Saudi Arabia has taken several major steps to build a more sustainable system in its challenging desert region. One such move is the rethinking of many traditional farming practices, especially focused on reducing water usage. A farm in the town of Jeddah uses neither water nor soil, rooting plants in mid-air while providing their nutrients through a mist. Designed by AeroFarms, the system is the first aeroponic farm in the Middle East and hopes to someday acquire all its water needs through capturing humidity in the air.

Related: The future of food: how dry farming could save the world

If a desert farm chooses to go hydroponic, there are ways to grow without draining freshwater supplies. In arid South Australia, SunDrops Farms grows 15% of the country’s tomato crop through a solar-powered hydroponic system. To eliminate the use of precious freshwater, SunDrops sources its water from the nearby saltwater gulf, which is then desalinated through the reflected heat of the sun.

In a very different kind of desert, soil-less farming helps growers from the Arctic to Antarctica make the most of a short growing season.

 

3. Cities

Farm 360 grows sustainable, local food in a hydroponic system that provides local jobs.

As the global population becomes more urban, cities are investing in more local food production systems that offer economic development opportunities and reduce a city’s carbon footprint. In a warehouse on the Near East Side of Indianapolis, Farm 360 are growing vegetables on a hydroponic system that is exclusively powered by renewable energy and uses 90 percent less water than traditional farming methods. The harvest is sold in local grocery stores while the farm supports dozens of living-wage jobs to residents of the neighborhood.

In even the most isolated urban areas, soil-less farming finds a home. With its ability to receive vital supplies and support a functioning economy severely restricted by the Israeli blockade, Gaza has stepped out onto the rooftops to grow its own food. Beginning in 2010, a United Nations-funded urban agriculture program equipped over 200 female-headed households with fish tanks, equipment, and supplies to build and maintain an aquaponics growing system. This initial spark has encouraged others to create their own and to teach others of this valuable skill.

 

4. The Underground

Tiny mushrooms sprouting at the underground farm La Caverne.

Farming without soil can often take place beneath the soil. In Paris, Cycloponics runs La Caverne, a unique urban farm that grows mushrooms and vegetables in an underground, formerly abandoned parking garage. The farm’s hydroponics system uses special grow lights to ensure the vegetables have what they need to survive. The mushrooms grow in a special medium and, through their respiration, provide valuable CO2 for the plants to thrive. La Caverne may have found inspiration from Growing Underground, London’s first underground farm. On 2.5 acres of unused World War II-era tunnels, Growing Underground produces pea shoots, several varieties of radish, mustard, cilantro, Red Amaranth, celery, parsley, and arugula.

Related: 7 agricultural innovations that could save the world

Honorable mention: shipping container farms. Although these may be mobilized on the surface, they may as well be underground due to the closed roof of most shipping containers. The solar-powered hydroponicsLA-based Local Roots can grow the same amount of vegetables, at cost parity, with 99 percent less water than traditional farming.

5. On the Water

GreenWave grows seaweed and shellfish in an innovative design system.

Some soil-less growing operations take it a step further, leaving the ground behind entirely and opting for a farm floating on water. Barcelona-based design group Forward Thinking Architecture has proposed a progressive solution to the decreasing availability of arable land by creating floating, solar-powered farms. Using modules that measure 200 meters by 350 meters, Forward Thinking’s design allows for expansion and custom configuration of farms. Each module has three levels: a desalinization and aquaculture level at the bottom, then a hydroponic farming level, topped off by a level of solar panels and rainwater collection. The company estimates that each module would produce 8,152 tons of vegetables a year and 1,703 tons of fish annually.

Related: NexLoop unveils water management system inspired by spiders, fungi, bees and plants

Greenwave takes an alternative approach to soil-less, floating farming by combining the cultivation of shellfish and seaweed, both profitable crops that also help to clean the aquatic environment and absorb greenhouse gases. The farm requires little external input, pulls carbon dioxide from the air and water, and consumes excess nitrogen that could otherwise result in algal blooms and dead zones.

6. Your Home

Urban Leaf offers a kit to turn glass bottles into miniature, soil-less gardens.

Yes, you too could get in on the soil-less action. Whether you prefer to DIY or you’d rather something more straightforward, there are options for every style.

Lead image via Depositphotos, others via MIT OpenAg, Sundrop Farms, Esther Boston, Cycloponics, GreenWave, and Urban Leaf

A Suffolk Greenhouse The Size of 11 Football Pitches

David Vincent

Cliff Matthews, a director of Sterling Suffolk Ltd., inside the giant glasshouse being built on land between Great Blakenham and Bramford. The new greenhouse will be used to grow vine tomatoes by hydroponic

A company’s multi-million pound investment is about to turn Suffolk into a major producer of vine tomatoes.

Cliff Matthews, a director of Sterling Suffolk Ltd., inside the giant glasshouse being built on land between Great Blakenham and Bramford. The new greenhouse will be used to grow vine tomatoes by hydroponics

In the first stage of a £30m project, at Great Blakenham near Ipswich, Sterling Suffolk Ltd has built a massive Dutch-style glasshouse with the dimensions of an aircraft hangar - or 11 football pitches.

It is on track for the first tomatoes to be planted in December, and for the first cropping to begin from mid February 2019.

The plan is to produce tomato vines by hydroponics - without soil, but perhaps coconut matting (coir), and fed water and nutrients that are carefully controlled.

This giant greenhouse is similar to those seen in parts of Holland and France, and used to produce a range of salad vegetables, fruit and flowers.

Cliff Matthews, a director of the developers, Sterling Suffolk Ltd, said: “It has been great to start this, seven years ago, and to be here to see it coming to fruition,

“There are some bigger ones in the country of course. This phase one is the size of 11 football pitches.

“It is the most environmentally efficient glasshouse in the UK. The first of its kind here.

“There are a number in France and Holland.

“Real glass is more efficient for this.

“This is agriculture on a industrial scale. There is an art and science to growing tomatoes and we have a very good expert involved, Richard Lewis, one of the best in the UK.”

Vine tomatoes, with clumps of tomatoes still attached to the vine, would be harvested and supplied to supermarkets and the restaurant trade.

“We aim to produce 50,000 vines per week. It is more about the taste than the quantity.” he added. “These will be top of the range quality.”

The 5.6 hectare building is phase one of a three-phase project, costing around £30m in all, over the next three years.

When complete there will be 17 hectares of production glasshouses, plus office, packaging and production on site.

The first giant 8,3 metre tall house has been constructed since March, despite the bad weather.

Now it will be fitted out with blinds and hydroponics equipment ready for the first planting in December.

It would be very environmentlly friendly, he said, with air ciculation systems and the water for the hydroponics collected from the roof and stored in a reservoir.

The tomatoes would grow in natural light, with a season from March through to October, and one hectare of plants would grow under lights at other times.

The site would employ between 40 and 50 people, he said. “And we will employ more when we get growing and expanding.

“We have spent about half a million pounds in the local environment so far, with more to follow.

“Over the years it is gooing to benefit all of the community,”

The project attracted some local opposition during the planning process.

Mr Matthews added: “Personally I don’t think it looks too bad in the countryside. There are trees and we are goiong to plant more for screening.”

This project will not be the largest in the region, at Wissington in Norfolk British Sugar has an 18 hectatre glasshouse - and products there include medicinal cannabis.

Coming to Englewood: Kimbal Musk's Square Roots Urban Farm In Shipping Containers

Tobias Peggs, CEO of Square Roots Urban Growers, speaks about urban farming outside one of the Square Roots shipping containers on April 25, 2017 in New York. The startup says its hydroponic system can grow more than 50 pounds of greens per container per week. (Don Emmert / AFP/Getty Images)

Greg TrotterContact ReporterChicago Tribune

There’s another Musk brother with big plans for Chicago.

Kimbal Musk, younger brother of Tesla founder Elon Musk, is planning on bringing his Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Square Roots urban farm to Englewood on about 3 acres of city-owned property behind Whole Foods Market at 62nd and Green streets. Square Roots grows leafy greens in a hydroponic system inside repurposed shipping containers, yielding more than 50 pounds of greens per container each week, according to the startup’s website.

Kimbal Musk, brother of Tesla founder Elon Musk, is co-founder of Square Roots, a New York urban farm. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune 2017)

Craig Huffman of Ascendance Partners, developer on the project, confirmed Wednesday that Square Roots would be one of the anchor tenants of the second phase of the Englewood Square development, which is expected to break ground next year. The first phase, which included Whole Foods Market, Starbucks and Chipotle, opened to much fanfare in 2016.

Square Roots would have offices in the vacant firehouse behind Whole Foods. Huffman’s also in talks with Folkart Management, the restaurant group led by chef Matthias Merges, to open a barbecue restaurant in the firehouse.

Huffman otherwise declined to answer questions, saying it was too early.

“We are working around the clock to finalize our funding and then bring this project to life, which can help build new and exciting partnerships for Englewood through this unique entrepreneurial venture,” Huffman said in a subsequent emailed statement. “We believe Square Roots will support the momentum established by phase one by bringing more foot traffic and investment to Englewood.”

Square Roots, an urban farming concept inside shipping containers, is coming to Englewood. (Don Emmert / AFP/Getty Images)

Musk couldn’t be reached for comment. His automatic email reply said he was “off grid.”

Musk’s spokeswoman Courtney Walsh didn’t respond to emails and calls.

It’s not yet known how much the city might offer in tax incentives to help finance the project’s second phase. The first $20 million phase of Englewood Square received about $10.7 million in city subsidies.

Grant Klinzman, spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, said he couldn’t answer that question at this point.

“This is an important project and we are working hard with the community and developer to finalize the vision and make it a reality. We will have more to share later this year, but it’s a priority for the mayor and the city and reflects Englewood’s strong future,” Klinzman said in an email.

Square Roots greens are grown by entrepreneurs in a yearlong program and sold locally, according to its website. The company was founded by Musk and CEO Tobias Peggs, who was formerly CEO of Aviary, the photo editing program.

Community organizers in Englewood said they were excited by the farm’s potential to provide opportunities and fresh greens to Englewood residents, while also attracting people from other parts of the city. Square Roots will fit the “Whole Foods vibe” of the neighborhood, which is also home to the well-established Growing Home urban farm.

“It will serve as a kind of tourist attraction,” said Perry Gunn, executive director of Teamwork Englewood, a community nonprofit aimed at improving the quality of life in Englewood. “People will wonder, ‘What is this concept? Let me see and touch it.’”

Asiaha Butler, president of the nonprofit Resident Association of Greater Englewood, traveled to Brooklyn in November to see the Square Roots farm. Initially, she had concerns about adding shipping containers to what has become a vibrant retail area. But that changed as she saw the farms firsthand and learned more about how the business fosters entrepreneurship.

“When you open the doors, that’s when you’re like — whoa,” Butler said. “I was like, OK, now I get it. This is going to be a draw for Englewood.”

Butler commended Huffman’s “tenacity and willingness to do something different” in trying to get the second phase of the Englewood Square development off the ground. Despite some of the progress in Englewood in recent years, it’s still difficult to lure retailers to a neighborhood that’s had longtime struggles with poverty and violence, Butler said.

Both Butler and Gunn said they’d been involved in ongoing conversations with Huffman and potential tenants on the project.

The younger Musk, known for his philanthropy and trademark cowboy hat, has previous investments in Chicago. After receiving a $1 million grant from Emanuel in 2012, Musk’s nonprofit Big Green — formerly called The Kitchen Community — has built more than 120 learning gardens in Chicago Public Schools. Musk is also co-owner of The Kitchen, a farm-to-table restaurant in River North.

Last month, Emanuel selected older brother Elon Musk’s The Boring Co. to design a new high-speed transit option to O’Hare International Airport from downtown.

gtrotter@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @GregTrotterTrib

What Makes Your Lettuce Look and Taste So Good? It May Be the Fish

Karel Holloway, Special Contributor

Connect with Karel Holloway Email

That perfect lettuce in the clamshell box at the grocery store may owe its deep color and rich taste to fish.

More and more produce grown aquaponically is pouring into the highest-end restaurants, farmers markets and grocery stores in North Texas. Hydroponics, a similar water-based growing method, is increasing as well, providing the perfect produce prized by chefs and consumers.

One innovation is "living lettuce." The lettuce is harvested with the roots still attached. The roots harbor water and nutrients that continue feeding the plant, giving it a much longer shelf life. Mostly green leafy vegetables, like lettuce, and some herbs are grown aquaponically or hyrdroponically. Microgreens and edible flowers also are part of the mix. Larger vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are grown in some bigger facilities.

These types of farms require far less space, water and artificial chemicals than traditionally grown produce. Entrepreneurs and enthusiasts see water-based growing as the future in supplying urban areas.

Profound Microfarms owner Jeff Bednar harvests lettuce inside the hydroponics greenhouse at Profound Microfarms in Lucas. 

(Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)

Fish or no fish?

Aquaponics uses fish, usually tilapia or koi, to provide nutrient-rich water that is circulated to plant roots. The plants clean the water, which is pumped back to the fish tanks.

Goldfish tank in the aquaponics greenhouse at Profound Microfarms in Lucas. 

(Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)

Please, no jokes about lettuce growing in fish poop. The solids from the fish are cleaned from the water before it ever reaches the plants. Ammonia in the water is refined into nitrogen that feeds the plants. Aquaponics systems can be outdoors, but commercial growers usually use greenhouses.

Hydroponics systems don't use fish, instead depending on a mix of nutrients that are endlessly recirculated. And, please, no marijuana jokes. 

The systems don't use herbicides or pesticides and are less subject to contamination.

Lettuce growing in the aquaponics greenhouse at Breeden Fresh Farms in Terrell. 

(Erin Booke)

Upstart ideas

Harrison Breeden, 27, is president of Breeden Fresh Farms in Terrell. His aquaponics greenhouse produces 6,000 heads of lettuce a week on less than an acre of land.

"I'm passionate about this," Breeden says.

He had an interest in alternative ways to produce high-quality food and studied agricultural resource management at Texas State University. There was no class in aquaponics, but it was presented in some class materials. Intrigued, he put together a small system to see how it worked and was hooked. He decided he'd like to start an aquaponics farm, and his parents agreed to help. 

"They believe it is the future," Breeden says.

The aquaponics greenhouse at Profound Microfarms uses koi fish and goldfish. 

(Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)

'Let's move to the country'

Richard and Sharon Hastings of East Texas Aquaponics have a similar story.

They worked in technology and lived in a suburban home in an increasingly crowded Austin. Their kids were grown and they were thinking ahead to retirement.

"We certainly wanted to look at doing something different. We were getting more and more interested in food," Richard Hastings says. "I said, 'Let's move to the country.'"

While they thought it was a good idea, they weren't sure what to do. Neither had farmed and they weren't really interested in traditional growing. They had a large koi pond in their yard, which prompted them to look into aquaponics.

They studied it and decided it had potential as a business and bought a small farm in Mineola to begin their aquaponic adventure growing lettuce, herbs and edible flowers. They now have a 6,600-square-foot greenhouse and plan to expand. Most of their produce goes to East Texas grocery stores and farmers markets, and they also contribute to the East Texas Food Bank.

Profound Microfarms owner Jeff Bednar harvests lettuce  inside the hydroponics greenhouse. 

(Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)

A sustainable option

It was a small aquaponics kitchen experiment with his daughter, Lily, that led Jeff Bednar to create Profound Microfarms in Lucas. 

He was working in real estate, tired of driving all over the area and missing his kids. He began researching and taking classes and decided an aquaponics farm was the business he wanted to start.

Growing crops traditionally didn't seem to be a viable business model, he says. Soil is depleted, it takes a lot of water, and is too subject to the weather, he says.

"I wanted to do something more sustainable for the future," he says.

He grows more than 150 types of produce, most of which goes to Dallas area restaurants such as Petra and the Beast, Cedars Social and more. Chefs are interested because they can get different types of greens when they want them and it's really, really fresh.

And because it's fresh, there is less waste.

"Chefs tell me that a typical box of lettuce from farms has about 40 percent waste. Ours is about 5 percent," Bednar says.

Swiss chard grows in a hydroponics system greenhouse at Profound Microfarms. 

(Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)

A growing trend

What the three growers have in common is the desire to start a sustainable business that will help with food supply issues. The number of those like them is growing, though most of the evidence is anecdotal.

"We are seeing an uptick in young people looking to get back into agriculture," says Chris Higgins, owner and editor of Urban Ag News. 

Hennen Cummings, a professor at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, concurs. He teaches aquaponics and has seen an increase in enrollment. Classes have grown to the point that students jostle for position in the Hydrotron, the university's name for the aquaponics lab.

Bednar thinks water-based crops will always be a small part of the market, but already there are restaurants and some grocery stores that get much of their greens from local water-based farms. Breeden supplies several large chains and is working to provide produce to school districts.

And even though the product is more expensive than traditional lettuce, it makes up part of the difference with lower transportation costs and less waste.

"It's not going to solve world hunger," Higgins says, "but there is value there."

Using A Hydroponic System Vs Growing With Soil

by Stephen Campbell

June 08, 2018

Ah, one of life’s great debates: growing with a hydroponic system or with soil, an especially difficult question to answer for your first grow.

History has given us great success using dirt as a base, and in 1953, Austin Miller referred to soil as ‘the skin of the earth’. Throughout the years, the soil community has learned a few tricks. By adding nutrients, balancing pH, and enriching soil with organic ingredients, producers have made advanced planting mixes to ensure healthy plant growth.

So why consider a hydroponic system at all if soil has come so far? Well for starters, the advantages of hydroponics include offering the grower higher plant yields and automation, which for most people, are two very powerful motivations to switch away from the past, and move into the future. Let's take a more in-depth look at the two mediums:

HYDROPONICS

In a nutshell, a complete hydroponic system is simply growing plants without soil. There are many different types of hydroponic systems, we've listed some of these techniques below.

Aeroponics - The process of growing plants in an air or mist environment, without the use of soil or aggregate medium. Plant roots hang in the air, and a mist of nutrient-rich water is sprayed onto the roots periodically.

Aquaponics - The combination of aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, or prawns in tanks) and hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. The waste produced by aquatic animals supplies nutrients for the hydroponic plants. In turn, these plants purify the water for the animals.

Drip Irrigation - Also known as micro or localized watering, small drip emitters deliver a constant drip directly to the soil. This ensures that the soil is always moist, but not over watered.

DWC (Deep Water Culture) - A type of hydroponics system where plant roots continuously sit in a highly oxygenated water and nutrient solution. Oxygen is usually supplied using an airstone that pumps air to into the water.

Ebb & Flow - In this process, plant roots sit in a coarse growing medium for support, while a water and nutrient solution periodically flows past the roots on a set time schedule. This is similar to the ocean's rising and receding tides. This allows for the aeration of the roots, while automating the job of watering the plants by hand.

Nutrient Film Technique - This technique involves running a continuous oxygen and nutrient rich film of water over the plants roots in an enclosed space or tube.

All of these different techniques have one thing in common: they don’t need the roots to spread out in soil to absorb nutrients. Instead, they are fed a concentrated solution of oxygen and nutrients. This allows the roots to be packed into much smaller spaces.

All of these systems allow you to be creative and in control. You decide what nutrients to add, how much, and when. This control contributes to the increased speed and yield of growth you will experience.

There are additional benefits to going the hydro route. With a hydroponic system, you are using less water, as it is being recirculated to your plants and only changed out every 7-12 days. No more watching 10% of your runoff go to waste each watering. You also have a secret weapon in your battle against bugs, since eliminating soil from your operation will also eliminate certain bugs that can attack your plants.

SOIL

When it comes to soil, there are many different types and blends of soil available.  So what's what?

Sand - Formed from bits of rock including limestone, quartz, granite, and shale. Drains water quickly.

Silt - Fine particles of organic material combined with sand. Very fertile, drains water well.

Muck - Primarily humus from drained swamps or bogs. Dense with little potassium.

Clay - Fine crystals formed by chemical reactions between minerals. Very poor draining.

Loam - A combination of the above. Organic loams must contain at least 20% organic matter.

Compost - Decayed organic matter. Can contain good bacteria, fungi, insects, worms, and microorganisms.

So head outside with a bucket and shovel right? Yeah, not so fast.

You should always ensure that you are buying your soil from a bag and not just getting it from outside, as store bought product has been treated to remove all of the bugs and critters that can tear-up your garden.

Soil not only provides a secure anchor for your plants and it’s roots, but it also aids in the retention and delivery of nutrients. Soil can act as a buffer for those nutrients, making it easier for the gardener to maintain a perfect nutrient balance.

One thing to watch out for is watering soil, as it can be surprisingly tricky. The number one issue new growers have is overwatering their precious plants.

New growers will try to be extremely attentive to their plants, and they normally want to get the most growth possible. This causes them to water too much and results in killing their plants. Over watering is dangerous because plant roots need to eat and breathe. Too much water logged in soil depletes oxygen, and thus the roots do not get enough oxygen to survive.

When you water your soil, it’s helpful to have some water runoff to ensure you have fully saturated your medium. Once watered, the soil needs to dry out, allowing the roots access to air before letting them drink again. It is a balance that once achieved, will produce consistent healthy results.

The Final Choice

In the end, whether you choose to use soil or hydroponics is, of course, up to you. There really is no right or wrong answer. Just weigh the pros and cons of each style and method, make a decision that works best for you, and then get growing!

The Quality Standards for Hydroponic Lettuce

By Tyler Baras

Living Butterhead Lettuce in Retail Clamshell

“Voluntary U.S. grade standards are issued under the authority of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, which provides for the development of official U.S. grades to designate different levels of quality. These grade standards are available for use by producers, suppliers, buyers, and consumers. As in the case of other standards for grades of fresh and processed fruits, vegetables, and specialty crops these standards are designed to facilitate orderly marketing by providing a convenient basis for buying and selling, for establishing quality control programs, and for determining loan values.” (From the United States Standards for Grades of Greenhouse Leaf Lettuce)

Voluntary USDA grade standards designate different levels of quality in agricultural products. The USDA has official standards used to grade a lot of different crops including leafy greens like Greenhouse Leaf Lettuce, Field Grown Leaf Lettuce, Kale, Beet Greens, Collard Greens, Dandelion Greens and Mustard Greens. The standards for butterhead lettuce currently fall under the same standards used for Iceberg lettuce. Although the U.S. Standards for Grades of Lettuce do acknowledge the significant differences between the two types of lettuce, they are still grouped under the same standards. And there is no mention of living lettuce in the U.S. Standards for Grades of Lettuce, while living lettuce is one of the primary crops grown by hydroponic leafy greens growers. If the hydroponic lettuce industry is to grow beyond the premium product niche and enter the ‘real world’ of lettuce production, it would be helpful if hydroponic growers decided upon grading standards appropriate for hydroponically grown lettuce.

When hydroponic lettuce growers try to compete against field growers they almost never win in the battle for price per pound. Field growers can sell heads of lettuce wholesale under $0.75. Large hydroponic lettuce growers (3+ acres) can get their price per head close to $0.90. Field lettuce is generally packed in a 24 count box that will weigh 50+ pounds. The heads are easily 1 to 2 pounds. Hydroponic lettuce is often packed in a 6 or 12 count box and the heads rarely weigh over 10 ounces (0.625 pounds).

While hydroponic crops have a lot of external benefits like water savings and food safety, those benefits are not shown when a hydroponic butterhead is graded with the U.S. Standards for Grades of Lettuce. To preserve the narrative around hydroponic lettuce, it may be necessary to have USDA grading standards specifically for hydroponic lettuce so the crop does not lose some of its value when it enters the larger lettuce market that puts it ‘head-to-head’ with field grown crops.

USDA grade standards are helpful in international trade. The U.S. has one of the biggest lettuce importers on the northern border… Canada! (See Stats). Currently most hydroponic lettuce growers sell to local markets or if they are one of the larger hydroponic lettuce growers they might sell to a grocery store chain or produce broker that distributes their product in multiple states. I have seen living butterhead lettuce from Canada in the U.S. but I’m not aware of any U.S. hydroponic leafy greens growers shipping internationally. I would think that the increased shelf-life of living lettuce would be an advantage in international trade since lettuce is highly perishable.

The Standards for Butterhead Lettuce Quality

What should a USDA Grade A butterhead lettuce look like? How big should it be?

I’ve seen a wide range of targets from growers across the US and internationally. The majority of US hydroponic butterhead growers target a head that is between 5 oz. and 8 oz. (with roots attached). Many aquaponic and indoor vertical farms sell heads closer to 5 ounces. Many of the larger hydroponic lettuce growers (1+ acre greenhouses) target heads between 6-8 ounces. I’ve seen some greenhouse lettuce growers target 10 ounce heads. In Europe, it is common to see butterhead lettuce over 1 pound. In Japan, it is common to see living lettuce sold at less than 5 ounces. The market standards for hydroponic butterhead lettuce minimum weight vary but generally the bottom line is the head should not bobble around when packaged in a clamshell. Most living lettuce labels do not even state a minimum weight, instead the label might have “1 Count” or “1 Head”. Beyond weight there’s the more qualitative traits like leaf texture, leaf color and head formation. Check out these unofficial visual aids provided by the USDA to help grade romaine and lettuce. What would a visual aid for hydroponic butterhead lettuce look like?

Here are some of my favorite butterhead lettuces I’ve grown over the years, which do you think looks most like a ‘standard’ butterhead?

This article is property of Urban Ag News and was written in cooperation with Tyler Baras.

Starting An Outdoor Hydroponic Garden

Harley Smith

Source: Pixbox77 / Dreamstime.com

Takeaway: Indoor gardening can get expensive if you’re constantly running air conditioners and dehumidifiers. Why not take advantage of free sunlight and start an outdoor hydroponic garden?

Indoor gardening can get expensive in the heat of the summer, especially if you’re constantly running air conditioners and dehumidifiers. Why not take advantage of all the free sunlight nature has to offer and start an outdoor hydroponic garden?

Outdoor hydroponics still provides the perfect balance of water and nutrients, and your plants will grow much faster than in soil. Plus, there’s no weeding!

Choose a Sunny Location for Your Hydroponic Garden

There is no substitute for full-spectrum summer sunlight, and best of all, it’s free! Even a 1,000W lamp, placed a foot from your plants, can’t compare with a sunny day in mid-July. So when setting up an outdoor hydroponic garden, pick a sheltered area with a good southern exposure if you can.

I’ve grown prolific amounts of basil in a nutrient film technique system in a parking lot, towers of aeroponic herbs and strawberries on my back porch, and a huge row of tomatoes in stonewool in front of my garage.

The vines grew so dramatically that strangers driving by would stop their cars, knock on my door and ask me how I was making the tomatoes grow so fast!

They were amazed when I showed them my hydroponic systems. By the end of the summer, the vines were growing up to the roof and I had a wall of gourmet-quality tomatoes.

Keep the Water Reservoir Cool

Plants will transpire a lot more water in the outdoor heat than when they are grown indoors, so make sure you top off the reservoir with cool water from your garden hose often. It’s also a good idea to keep the reservoir in the shade whenever possible.

In an ebb and flow system, it’s easy because the nutrient reservoir is underneath the flood table anyway. But if the reservoir is somewhat exposed, I like to at least partially bury it if I can. The earth acts as a natural heat sink to pull some of the excess heat out of the reservoir.

On the hottest days of the summer, adding a little ice to the reservoir can help. Keep a couple of two-liter bottles of water in the freezer, and drop one into the reservoir occasionally.

If you walk by later in the sweltering afternoon and you notice the ice has melted, put the bottle back in the freezer and drop in another. Luckily, the worst heat waves usually don’t last more than a few days, so such emergency measures are rarely needed.

Lower the Electrical Conductivity (EC)

In hot weather, it’s best to lower the electrical conductivity of the nutrient solution. For example, if I normally keep the EC for my lettuce-growing system at 1.2, I’ll lower it to 1 in the summer. Plants are thirstier in the summer, so doing everything possible to make it easier for them to take up water is a good thing.

Low-to-medium EC stimulates vegetative growth by making the nutrient solution less salty, while medium-to-high EC restricts vegetative growth. During the heavy fruiting and flowering stage, a little salt stress is good but watch your plants carefully. At the first sign of browning at the edges of the leaves, lower the EC a little more.

The worst thing that can happen to an outdoor hydroponic garden is to let the reservoir run dry. Plants won’t last long in the summer sun without water. It might be a good idea to add a float valve to your reservoir as an insurance policy.

If the water level gets too low, the float valve will open automatically and top off the tank with fresh water. Plants can go a few extra days without fertilizer, but they will only last a few hours without water. Plan ahead so you can enjoy a few days away at the beach when you want to.

Boost the Heat Tolerance of Plants

The best time to condition your plants against stressful situations is before the stress happens. In the earlier part of the summer, try adding a combination of humic acid and kelp extracts to your nutrient solution.

A 10-year study at Virginia Tech showed that humic acids combined with seaweed extracts work 50% better than either product alone. A 5:2 ratio of humic acid to kelp works best to greatly stimulate lateral root growth and improve overall root mass. When the summer heat comes, the more roots the better for taking up the extra water they need.

The humic acid/kelp combo also encourages the plant to make extra plant-protection agents. Under ideal conditions, plants have no trouble protecting themselves from cell damage, but when plants are under too much stress, they can’t keep up with the constant barrage of damaging free radicals.

Free radicals break down cell membranes such as chloroplast and mitochondrial membranes, which is why plants go from green to yellow to brown under excessive heat and UV light.

If you condition your plants against stress with a combination of humic acids and kelp, plants will produce 50% more of the protective molecules that sponge free radicals, and plants will stay green longer when the summer heat arrives.

Remember to condition the plants before it gets hot—if the plants are already suffering in the middle of the summer, the bio-stimulants won’t have enough time to help.

Ensure Air Movement

Air movement is important, especially in the summer. One of the advantages of outdoor hydroponics is the breeze. The air movement helps cool the plant and keep the stomata open.

Stomata are the pores in the leaves that take in carbon dioxide and transpire water vapor and oxygen. As the breeze takes away the water vapor from the leaves, it has a cooling effect on the plant.

Too much wind has the opposite effect—plants close their stomata to conserve water so they don’t dry out too fast. Outdoors, we don’t have much control over the wind, so try to grow in a spot that has good air movement but also provides a protective windbreak.

Planting along a fence row with southern exposure is a good choice. Also, think ahead about what you will do if a major storm approaches. I’ve learned the hard way how important it is to properly stake and trellis my plants and provide a little extra emergency protection.

Protect Against Pests

One downside to growing outdoors is that you often have to share your crops with animals and other pests. The simplest advice is to fence in your garden or grow a few extra plants and hope the critters don’t get too greedy.

If you’re not willing to share, there are other deterrents available at your hydro store such as wolf and coyote urine (I’m serious!) that help keep rabbits and other invaders away. There are also some good natural sprays such as neem oil and insecticidal soaps that help fight bugs and act as natural insect repellents.

But the best defense against pests, particularly sucking insects, is to grow healthy plants. Use full-spectrum, all-purpose fertilizers, and keep the potassium-to-nitrogen ratio high. Too much nitrate nitrogen produces large cells with thin cell walls, making them an easy target for sucking insects and fungi, so don’t over-fertilize.

For even healthier plants, try using a bio-hydroponic fertilizer that combines minerals with organic bio-stimulants. For example, amino acids stimulate the uptake of calcium.

Due to the extra calcium intake, plants grown with amino acids have thicker cell walls and a higher resistance to temperature extremes. The plants will also have a stronger vascular system, allowing them to take up water and minerals more efficiently. (Read more about pests in Maximum Yield's pest control article archives)

It all adds up to nutrient-dense, high-brix plants that have an increased resistance to pests and diseases. If all goes well, sucking insects won’t even recognize the plants as food.

Just wait until you taste what a well-managed outdoor hydroponic garden can produce. Healthier plants mean tasty, nutrient-dense food high in vitamins and minerals.

Colors and aromas are also much richer, and you can literally see the difference in growth from day to day. It’s hard to imagine just how productive an outdoor hydroponic garden can be until you try one for yourself!

Giant Indoor Vertical Farm Backed by Chinese Firm Launching Just East of Las Vegas Strip

• One of the country's largest indoor vertical farms was built about 6 miles east of the Las Vegas Strip on the site of a former mail-order prescription drug facility.
• Oasis Biotech plans to start deliveries next week and said it can produce about 9,500 servings of mixed salad per day for local restaurants and casinos
• The vertical farm requires 90 percent less water than a traditional farm and uses about 50 percent less energy than most other indoor ag facilities.

Jeff Daniels | @jeffdanielsca

17 July 2018  CNBC.com

An indoor vertical farm that uses 90 percent less water than conventional growers is about to launch in Las Vegas and will be able to supply nearly 9,500 servings of leafy green salads per day to casinos and local restaurant chains.

"Las Vegas is the location that has the highest density of high-end restaurants, which can afford this premium specialty product," said Brock Leach, chief operating officer and general manager of Oasis Biotech. "We're going to be able to get our product from harvest to the customer in around 24 hours."

Oasis Biotech, a Chinese-backed farm that uses hydroponic watering and microclimate controls for crop cultivation, is scheduled to make its first delivery in Las Vegas on July 24. The 215,000-square-foot facility is expected to be one of the largest in the nation when fully built and will initially focus on growing baby greens, micro greens, and specialty herbs but plans to eventually expand into baby carrots as well as soft fruits, including strawberries.

Controlled-environment agriculture

The chemical-free facility uses hydroponics technology, so it grows plants without soil. It also uses high-end clean rooms similar to those found in computer manufacturing as well as special filters and ultraviolet lights to control air and water — all designed to keep the food safe.

"We are producing food that is the safest and securest food that you can possibly produce," said Leach.

Oasis Biotech

One of the nation’s largest indoor vertical farms is about to launch in Las Vegas and eventually span more than 200,000 square feet. 

The recent scare over salads at McDonald's due to an intestinal parasite outbreak highlights how difficult it is to monitor fresh produce grown on traditional farms. The FDA is still investigating what the source of the outbreak is for the cyclospora illnesses.

"The fact that the McDonald's outbreak made news is a warning of sorts, because we've always had foodborne outbreaks from various infectious diseases," said Dickson Despommier, professor emeritus for environmental health sciences at Columbia University and leading expert on vertical farming. "This [indoor controlled farming] technology allows you to avoid that."

Despommier said indoor vertical farming in cities will continue to grow in the future due to demand from restaurants and stores that are looking for "growers that can promise healthy, fresh produce year-round right next door to where the store is. The model has been developed, and I think it's a viable one."

Most of the leafy greens and other fresh produce supplied to the Las Vegas market are grown in California and Arizona, so there are added shipping costs and product can sometimes take several days to reach southern Nevada customers. Las Vegas hosted more than 42 million visitors last year and southern Nevada is home to more than 2.1 million residents or about three out of every four residents in the Silver State.

Talking to casinos

"We will be meeting with a lot of the major casinos here in the next few weeks," said Leach. "But they won't be part of our initial distribution. We're focusing more on independent restaurants and small chains."

The major casinos declined to comment for this story.

Leach said the vertical farm plans to sell its leafy greens and other products through a large local produce distributor. "They touch over 80 percent of our target customer base," he said. "Many of the large casinos already buy from this distributor."

The vertical farm's parent company is Sananbio, which is owned by Chinese LED chip-making giant Sanan Group. Sananbio already operates one of the world's largest vertical farms in China's coastal city of Quanzhou. Oasis Biotech represents its first major foray into controlled agriculture in the United States and an opportunity to showcase its technology and sell equipment and lights to other indoor agriculture businesses.

'One of the largest players'

"We're going to be one of the largest players in the industry," said Leach. "I don't see anyone in this space as competition but a potential collaborator."

The LED lighting installed at Oasis Biotech uses 50 percent less energy compared with traditional indoor growing, according to the company.

The Chinese company spent about $30 million on the vertical farm, including the 215,000-square-foot industrial property located about 6 miles east of the Las Vegas Strip. The vertical farm is located on the site of a former mail-order prescription drug facility.

The first phase of the indoor farm consists of about 60,000 square feet of production or the equivalent of a 34-acre farm. A second phase, planned for early next year, is expected to add 50 percent more space.

According to Leach, Oasis Biotech expects to be profitable from an operating standpoint in 2019.

"We're the only large indoor controlled-environment ag operation right now that is corporate-backed" and not funded by venture capital, Leach said. "That means we can focus on scale without having to spend a huge amount of resources on capital raising."

Automating harvesting

The microgreens and baby greens are currently harvested by hand, but the company plans to go to a fully automated harvesting in the second phase. The harvest automation equipment is based on the technology that has been used for several months at Sananbio's China operations.

"It will be automated from seed to harvest," said Leach.

Oasis Biotech employs about 130 people. The growing supervisor for the vertical farm is a former potato farmer from Idaho.

"We've got over 70 farmhands with maybe three people who have done controlled-environment ag before. We're teaching them how to be hydroponic technicians. There's going to be a whole new generation of farmers that are going to grow up around controlled-environment ag."

Water efficiency

Water supplies are limited in southern Nevada, a region facing drought conditions and where most of its water comes from the Colorado River or groundwater. The Las Vegas indoor farm uses 90 percent less water than a traditional farm, or roughly 300 to 500 gallons per day — about as much as a family of four uses flushing their toilets and running their showers.

While the mercury soared into the triple digits in Las Vegas this week, Oasis Biotech relied on micro-climate controls to keep the temperature and humidity just right for growing plants in hydroponic systems.

"If you can pull this off in the middle of a desert and this extreme heat, you should be able to do it in other places," said Leach, who previously was CEO of Urban Till, an indoor farming company in Chicago. Prior to that, he worked for a logistics company that handled food distribution for McDonald's.

Many of the early indoor vertical farms built in the U.S. have been in abandoned factories or industrial locations. The indoor farms also offer a solution to countries that need to import most of their fresh produce due to limited arable land or where water scarcity is a constant challenge.

Indeed, a new low-water indoor vertical farm is going up in Dubai this fall and expected to produce upwards of 6,000 pounds of leafy greens daily. The $40 million high-tech farm's backers include Emirates Flight Catering, which supplies more than 200,000 meals daily.

Lettuce traditionally grows in 80 to 90 days outdoors, and producers tend to get up to three harvests out of the field during the season. The indoor vertical farm in Las Vegas can output lettuce in 18 to 24 days and farm 365 days a year, according to Leach.

"The days are longer because we leave the lights on for about 16- to 18-hour cycles," said Leach, and "there's never a cloudy day."

-Story updated to reflect changes in fact sheet provided by Oasis Biotech.

South Africa: Soilless Farming Shows Potential

View fullsize

Farmers in the Central District; Messrs Olemogile Botsile and Lesego Obuseng have called on their peers to take to soilless horticulture.

The duo explained in an interview after Serowe Agricultural Show where they were exhibiting recently, that the practice, termed  hydroponic had the potential to assist the horticultural sector turn the corner.

They said they took to the method after experimenting with traditional farming for a long time without much success, given the climatic condition of the country.

Mr Botsile explained that under hydroponic farming, vegetables are grown in soilless conditions, with  cultivation taking place in an aquatic-based environment.

He said the system had become popular over the years because of its yields.

“We would like to advice farmers specialising in horticulture to consider growing hydroponically, as the plants here are of exceeding high quality, occupy less space and consume fewer resources than traditional growing methods,” he said.

He said after planting for three years without satisfactory yields, they decided to find out if there were other methods which they could utilise to make returns.

“Through our research and benchmarking in South Africa, we identified, hydroponic as the best. Traditional farming has proved an upset in our returns as we were spending more than we could benefit on aspects such as water, herbicides and fertilisers,” he said.

Mr Botsile said the method proved a success after its trial at Taukome lands, adding that they realised that it had potential to assist those who had failed in their back yard gardens as a result of water shortages.

He noted that the water was mostly recycled and could yield 90 to 100 per cent harvest, as the farmer was able to monitor individual plants.

“Although the concept of growing plants without soil seems contrary to a plant’s nutritional needs, plants can actually grow exceedingly well in soilless growing systems.

To thrive, plants need water and nutrients, which are traditionally absorbed from the soil they are grown in. However, if these nutrients can be provided through a nutrient-rich solution applied directly to a plant’s root zone, it can be grown without any soil at all. This is what basically happens under hydroponics planting,” he said.

Mr Botsile noted that under hydroponic systems, they use dnutrient solutions to feed plants, and use other substrates to provide support for roots, adding that some hydroponic systems required no substrates at all. 

“Our company supplies different methods and variations of hydroponic gardening, ranging from small, in-home systems to large, complex commercial systems, depending on our client’s need,” he said.

He indicated that hydroponic growing methods, in combination with vertical gardening, could aid in expanding the possibilities of urban gardening and indoor gardening, where there was insufficient space.

“Although the amount of hydroponically grown produce has not overtaken the amount of field-grown produce yet, it is quickly gaining a foothold,” he said.

Mr Botsile indicated that this was especially true as more and more consumers were becoming aware of where their food came from and how it was grown, as evident in the growing interest people had shown towards the system.

“In addition to using much less water, he noted that hydroponic farms did not require the same amount of upkeep as  traditional farms, adding that it was ideal for people with less time on their hands and could be best used by even retired individuals.

“Hydroponic farms are much less labour intensive, hence less tiring, than traditional farms because they are in compact spaces, often at waist-high levels.

Therefore, harvesting and replanting is much easier with hydroponic systems.

In this system there is no digging or weeding required, making the overall upkeep of hydroponic systems minimal.

Source : BOPA

Author : Thuso Kgakatsi

Location : SEROWE

Event : Interview

Date : Aug 13 Mon,2018

The Bay Area Company Building World's Largest Vertical Farm In Dubai

Tara Duggan July 20, 2018

Crop One of San Mateo grows leafy greens without soil or sunlight in hydroponic facilities using LED lights.

Photo: Crop One

A small San Mateo company is building what is billed as the world’s largest vertical farm next year in Dubai, right on the runway that serves Emirates airline. The 50-foot-high sealed warehouse will produce 3 tons of leafy greens a day, without using a drop of what Sonia Lo calls “free energy” — otherwise known as sunlight — or soil, essentially recreating an optimized version of Central California in the Middle East.

“I love the fact that you’re redistributing the means of feeding back to where people actually are,” said Lo, CEO of Crop One Holdings in San Mateo, which since 2015 has provided fresh-cut lettuce and basil through Boston’s snowy winters from the company’s first vertical farm in Massachusetts. “The implications for what agriculture can do in terms of feeding more people are also incredibly exciting.”

Large-scale vertical farming, sometimes called indoor farming, uses LED lights and small doses of water and nutrients to grow leafy greens and herbs — and soon strawberries — year-round in otherwise unsuitable climates. Since the farming method can protect plants from the ravages of climate change and may have the potential to recreate terroir for wine grapes or coffee, it’s attracting big investors. In the Bay Area, Crop One’s just-announced partnership with Emirates Flight Catering amounted to $40 million just to build the Dubai farm, and Plenty in South San Francisco, which will open a farm in the Seattle area this year, raised $200 million in funding last July.

Both companies are exporting two things the region is known for: technology and fresh-cut greens. Yet they both plan to also open facilities in Northern California as the Salinas Valley, known as America’s Salad Bowl, copes with labor shortages, drought and high land prices.

Matt Barnard, CEO of Plenty, which will sell the greens to Bay Area customers in a few months from its South San Francisco farm, points out that the majority of the world’s fruits and vegetables grow best in Mediterranean climates, of which there are just a handful around the world, including Salinas Valley.

“We’ve tapped out Salinas. There’s not a way to add capacity,” he said.

Barnard prefers to use the term indoor farming, not to be confused with growing in greenhouses, which use natural sunlight and dirt. In vertical farms, vegetables grow hydroponically — in a “soil-less medium” of water and nutrients. They sit on actual vertical walls, in the case of Plenty, or on stacked shelves with LED lighting overhead. The temperature- and humidity-controlled environment can be as simple as a shipping container within a larger warehouse.

Vertical doesn’t necessarily mean towering high, though; it does mean the plants are stacked closely and efficiently. The Dubai farm will be only about four or five stories tall, but at 130,000 square feet, it is large enough to produce greens for the 225,000 meals Emirates caterers produce daily for in-flight meals. Lo said she can produce the same amount on a single acre indoors that would normally require 400 acres of land, and that her company landed the deal because it has shown it can make vertical farming profitable.

Sonia Lo, founder of Crop One in San Mateo says, “The implications for what agriculture can do in terms of feeding more people are also incredibly exciting.”

Photo: Crop One

But using LED lighting instead of “free energy” comes with high costs and a carbon footprint that can be comparable to shipping greens across the country. Running a 30,000-square-foot indoor farm in the New York City area would cost about $340,000 per year for power, lighting, heating and cooling, according to a recent report by Civil Eats. Because water can be filtered and reused in vertical farms, water use is only an estimated 1 percent of conventional farming.

Lo estimates that vertical farms cost one and a half times as much as traditional farms to operate, but that the cost to Emirates will be the same as what it currently pays for the vegetables shipped or flown from Spain, Italy or California. Plus, the greens will be available within 24 hours of harvest, she said, instead of the usual six weeks.

When it comes to the carbon footprint, a farm producing 1 ton of vegetables a day uses 3 megawatts of energy a year, Lo said, or enough to power roughly 2,200 homes. Greens produced by the Boston area farm, which sells under the FreshBox label, are carbon neutral when compared with greens transported from California, Lo said; they haven’t done a carbon analysis for Dubai yet. The company is planning to open three new farms in Connecticut and Texas soon and is eyeing sites in Northern and Southern California as well as the Midwest, Georgia, and Oklahoma.

One big advantage of vertical farming is that the sealed environment means no pesticides or herbicides are required, and the bacteria levels on the vegetables are much lower, which makes them safer as well as longer-lasting, reducing spoilage.

Then again, the same factors pushing vertical farming forward are also improving technology for traditional agriculture, such as remote sensors, software, and drones that help farmers make irrigation more precise and improve soil health.

In November, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reaffirmed that hydroponic farms may use the USDA organic label, even though traditional organic farms and greenhouse growers fumed over that decision, arguing that soil is inherent to organic farming.

Teeny Greenie Farming: Local Farmer Producing Nutrient-filled Microgreens

by Kathryn Daniel

July 21, 2018

ALLENTOWN, Fla. (WEAR) — Virginia Bates raises about a dozen crops. She listed off just a few for us, "Radish, broccoli, kale, bok choy, arugula."

Her dozen or so varieties aren't grown in fields or even a greenhouse, but in a small, insulated "grow" shed.

Bates laughed, "This is the type of farming that anybody can do. I think that's what appealed to me, you can farm in heels if you want." 

Bates plants and harvests every week and loves her work.

"My goal is to get people to think about what they put in their bodies," she explained.

She grows "microgreens". Research shows that the first leaves of a plant have up to 40 times the nutrients of a full grown vegetable.

She elaborated, "A handful of broccoli microgreens is like eating a pound and a half of mature broccoli. That's crazy."

Once a vegetable reaches "adult" status, its nutrients are spread throughout the entire item. Bates said with micro greens, all of that goodness is condensed into the first, tender shoots.

Bates calls her product "Super Teenie Greenies." She harvests between every seven to ten days to get the maximum nutritional punch.

Bates detailed that anytime a crop is grown without soil, it's done so hydroponically. The medium she grows in only looks like dirt.

"It is organic ground coconut husks," she revealed.

Bates supplies several local restaurants and Ever'man Cooperative Grocery weekly. She and her assistant, Jewel Owens, set up shop at the Palafox Market every Saturday.

Jewel's favorite variety is the kale and spicy mustard combo.

The teenager grinned, "I really like the taste. I like how nutritious they are for you. Normally things that are super nutritious don't taste as good, but these are really, really good."

Bates said many parents buy the Super Tennie Greenies and "sneak" them into smoothies, in sauces and on pizza for their children to get a ton of vitamins and minerals.

She sells a "grow kit" and is shipping them all over the country, which makes this fifth generation farmer feel proud of her healthy fare.

She said, "To hear that my product is able to impact their daily life and make them feel better in a real way that's backed by science."

Tomato, ToMacco: Farmers Are Elevating Their Crops With Vertical Farming

Mike Vago

July 29, 2018

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With more than 5.6 million articles, Wikipedia is an invaluable resource, whether you’re throwing a term paper together at the last minute, or doing legal research on whether it can really be considered assault if your victim habitually made the “cows outstanding in their field” joke. We explore some of Wikipedia’s oddities in our 5,690,195-week series,Wiki Wormhole.

This week’s entry: Vertical farming

What it’s about: Ah, the farmer’s life. The smell of the soil, the green of the leaves, the view from the 45th floor. Yes, like bathrooms before them, farms are moving into the future by moving indoors. Hydroponic farming has made vertical farms possible, in which floor after floor of a building is devoted to growing food. One such farm in Buffalo, New York contains 17 million plants, and a “windowless farm” in Kyoto produces 6 million heads of lettuce a year.

Biggest controversy: It’s an open question as to whether vertical farms are actually beneficial. While they don’t use pesticides or chemical fertilizers, their electricity needs are far beyond that of a traditional farm. And while farms that don’t have to deal with pests or changes in weather can be more efficient, the cost of a large building in an urban center generally far outpaces the cost savings of not having to transport food from country to city.

Strangest fact: The idea of vertical farms has been around a long time. Sir Francis Bacon first proposed growing plants without soil in 1627, and by the mid-1800s, “soil-less cultivation” was being used routinely. Gilbert Ellis Bailey coined the phrase “vertical farming” in his 1915 book of the same name, but he used the phrase to consider plants from top to bottom (i.e., from leaves to root). However, six years earlier, Life Magazine published a concept drawing of a tall building that cultivated food, and soon Bailey’s phrase was used to describe what Rem Koolhaas called “the skyscraper as a utopian device for [food] production.”

The thing we were happiest to learn: Vertical farms could have a tremendous environmental benefit. For starters, an indoor farm uses about one-twentieth the land as a traditional farm, so a move to vertical farming could slow or even reverse human’s destruction of wildlife habitats. Factory farms, in particular, can heavily use pesticides, hormones, and other chemicals that are bad for the environment and consumer. And farmworkers are exposed to these chemicals on a daily basis, and have a greater risk of injury on a traditional farm.

Thing we were unhappiest to learn: It’s not easy being green. Since, apart from the roof, no part of a building enjoys direct sunlight, vertical farms rely on electric lights, which use power and cost money. Current LED technology is keeping vertical farms from being cost-effective, but the lighting industry is working on increased efficiency which could make all the difference. And while vertical farms use far less water than traditional farms, the water they do use ends up full of fertilizer and has to be disposed of—not always easy to do responsibly in an urban environment.

Also noteworthy: Vertical farms may take us into space. It’s only mentioned briefly here, but the British Interplanetary Society developed a hydroponic garden for use on the moon. It’s widely accepted that if humans are to live in space or on other planets, we’ll need to grow our food indoors, rather than weigh down a ship with a stockpile of food, or try and grow crops in inhospitable alien soil.

Best link to elsewhere on Wikipedia: Another possible environmental benefit of vertical farming is the use of methane digesters. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and a byproduct of organic material decomposition. But if methane’s being produced in a compact area—like a vertical farm—it can be trapped and used as both fuel (biogas) and fertilizer (digestate). While using biogas to generating power still puts greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, they’re gases that would already be released by farming, so there’s no net increase, and it would be used instead of fossil fuels, making the process carbon-negative.

Further down the Wormhole: One of vertical farming’s biggest modern-day proponents is ecologist Dickson Despommier, who features heavily in this article. He announced his vision for a high-tech vertical farm at a 1999 Columbia University lecture. New York City’s own Ivy League school was founded as King’s College in 1754 by namesake George II, and was renamed after the Revolutionary War.

The school’s alumni include three presidents (Obama and both Roosevelts; Eisenhower was also the school’s president in between WWII and his presidency of the whole country) and five founding fathers—John Jay, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Livingston, Egbert Benson, and Alexander Hamilton. In an obscure bit of history that hasn’t gotten any recent mention, Hamilton was killed in a duel by disgruntled former Vice President Aaron Burr. Nineteenth-century dueling was practiced with either pistols or swords, a throwback to dueling’s 17th-century heyday. One of that era’s most colorful duelists was Julie d’Aubigny, a bisexual opera singer and accomplished swordfighter. We’ll look at her swashbuckling life next week.

UAE Minister Outlines New Drive To Create 'Silicon Valley' Of Food Production Technology

Drastically fluctuating global food prices sparks greater need to produce more of our own goods, says Mariam Hareb Almheiri

Nick Webster July 25, 2018

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A new wave of vertical farms, using similar techniques to this one in New Jersey, America, will soon be springing up in Dubai. REUTERS.   

The UAE is set to establish a "Silicon Valley" of food technology in an effort to meet the country's growing food security needs, the food minister has said.

Mariam Hareb Almheiri, Minister of State for Future Food Security, said the issue represents a huge challenge for the region and the world.

Unstable global markets, as well as inflation, remain a significant threat to the price of everyday food. But emerging technologies such as vertical farming and hydroponics are helping experts address those concerns, reducing both soaring consumer and environmental costs.

Speaking in a radio interview on Dubai Eye 103.8, Ms. Almheiri said the country was well aware of the challenges ahead and was taking steps to protect food prices and encourage sustainability.

“We are living in an era of increased pressures on food production stemming from a host of interlocking challenges, including accelerating climate change, dwindling fresh water access and escalating energy demands,” she said.

“Providing adequate food for the world’s citizens is a global problem and one that is likely to become more pressing in the coming decades.”

The challenges of ensuring adequate food supply was the subject under discussion at a series of workshops held last month by the UAE Office for Future Food Security.

The sessions examined several potential global scenarios for the year 2050 and analysed how these might affect the provision of sustenance for the region’s growing population.

Given both unstable global supply chains and climate-driven disruption of agricultural production, food, and water security have become central strategic challenges.

Ms Almheiri said plans for a food equivalent of Silicon Valley in the UAE were currently under review, with the aim of bringing together public and private bodies to boost research and improve existing technology.

“A UAE national plan is being worked on as part of the future food security file that includes advancing research and adopting technologies,” she said.

“We are trying to create the equivalent of Silicon Valley - but with food, by bringing together research institutes, universities, academia and the private sector.

“The aim is to understand what everyone is doing on food security and how someone from the outside can access data to push research and development.”

Read more:

How fruit and veg grown in vertical farms could soon be on plates in the Middle East

Dubai government agrees on deal to start up 12 vertical farms in the city

Emirates to build Dh147m vertical farming factory near Dubai airport to produce food for passengers

The first vertical farms are expected to involve a public and private partnership with the Emirates Flight Catering group.

A second, $40 million (Dh147m) joint venture with Crop One Holdings - a leading vertical farm operator based in the US - is also in the pipeline to build the world’s largest vertical farm in the Dubai.

It will produce 2.7 tonnes of greens and micro-greens to help supplier EFC with its 250,000 required meals a day.

The farms can be located anywhere because temperature, humidity, light, water and plant nutrients are all provided in a controlled environment. Plants are grown entirely without soil, with nutrient-rich solutions that produce fast-growing, healthy plants used instead.

The UAE's National Food Security Strategy, which will set sustainable, long-term policies for future food security, is scheduled for launch in September.

“Adapting our diet could help preserve food security in future,” Ms Almheiri said.

“Developing a nutritional standard for all UAE citizens will help us understand the needs of how to lead a healthier lifestyle.

“Once that is in place we can guide consumers towards the better foods to eat for a better quality of life.

“We’ll start with a food label system, that is being developed with the minister of state for happiness and well-being, so consumers can choose their foods wisely.

“This will look at sugars, fats and calories with red being bad, orange in moderation and green a heathy indicator.

“The next step could be not allowing red labelled foods in schools, or stopping additives from being added to foods.”

The Quirky Plan To Grow Fruit And Vegetables On Manchester City Centre Rooftops - Using Live Fish

Experiments have revealed that city centre buildings could be turned into market gardens producing up to 180 million packs of salad a year

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By David Thame  21 JUL 2018

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Dr Andrew Jenkins and inset, the garden on the rooftop of Irwell House, Salford

Manchester’s city office blocks and apartment towers are powering a regional economy like no other. That much is obvious. But could they also be growing salads?

Experiments by a Belfast-based academic and a local property developer have revealed that city centre buildings could be turned into a market garden producing up to 180 million packs of salad a year.

Crops harvested could include lettuces, Swiss chard, chillies, courgettes and even strawberries.

The astonishing research suggests that if the walls of buildings are adapted, and roofs covered in polytunnels, individual buildings could produce tens of thousands of crops each year using soilless agriculture systems.

The high-level market gardens would rely on aquaponics – using live fish to provide nutrients to help plants grow – and hydroponics, which relies on water alone.

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The high-level market gardens would rely on aquaponics – using live fish to provide proteins to help plants grow

Dr. Andrew Jenkins, now a post-doctoral research fellow at Queen's University Belfast, first worked on the idea in partnership with designers and BDP and local developer Urban Splash as far back as 2013.

The project at Irwell House, Blackfriars, Salford, demonstrated that older buildings could take the weight of rows of fish tanks, pumping and filtration systems.

They grew crops that needed more serious root systems against the windows, to give them more light, and put the heavier fishtanks on the building’s structural steel work.

The result was the potential to grow 16,000 vegetable servings a year from a single office block. The cost of the installation was just £28,000 – but a full commercial growing system would be considerably more expensive.

Dr Jenkins explains: “We extrapolated the data from Irwell House across the entire city centre’s stock of buildings – which meant designing a 3D model of the city so we could see what their surface area was, and which areas fell into shade which made them unsuitable for growing.

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Crops harvested could include lettuces, Swiss chard, chillies, courgettes and even strawberries

“What we discovered is that the total surface area of the city’s big buildings is 445 hectares (1,100 acres) – of which 360 hectares (890 acres) fulfills the basic requirements for growing things.

"So there’s about 360 hectares (890 acres) of growing space within the realms of possibility, and the roof space is easier to use that the vertical wall space, because installing the tanks and coverings is more low-tech.”

However, the project has had to adapt to Manchester’s somewhat variable weather. Crop tanks on the roof need protection from wind and cold weather – meaning structures like polytunnels.

Dr. Andrew Jenkins

The fish used in aquaponics also need to be hardy: at first they used quick growing Red Nile Tilapia – but native species like the common carp might be happier in the winter, and would not need heated tanks.

If there were four harvests a year Manchester could produce up to 180 million fruit and vegetable servings from its roofs and walls.

Could it really work? Dr. Jenkins says it certainly could.

"We’re having conversations about how you do the farming,” he says.

“It could be automated, which reduces cost and increases productivity – or maybe you can create jobs – or a mix of the two. But it is certainly true that people can’t be replaced in animal and plant husbandry and it could mean up to 8,400 new jobs.”

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The project at Irwell House, Blackfriars, Salford

Landlords will be glad to know that if the idea catches on they will not need to make very expensive changes to their buildings. “The weight of the tanks is not carried on the floors, but on the structural steelwork,” Dr Jenkins says.

However useful market gardening on office blocks may be, Dr Jenkins cautions that it is no substitute for sorting out the U.K.’s long-term food security.

“We are hitting the hypothetical limits of agriculture in the UK, which means we are pushing our soils as hard as they can go.

"People hear of urban agriculture of the kind I’ve been investigating, and believe it could be a solution.

"If we used the external surfaces of urban buildings we could only deliver about 1.5% of the UK’s food needs. That's enough for about one million people per year, which is small in the grand scheme of things but could ultimately transform local economies and job creation in many cities in the future."

Manchester Evening News

9 Most Profitable Plants To Grow Hydroponically

August 1, 2018

 by MADISON MORGAN in Lists, News

If you have a green thumb and are looking for a side hustle, you need to read this list of the most profitable plants to grow hydroponically.

With the Whole Foods culture taking over — seriously, there’s a Whole Foods in the center of Harlem, New York City now — there’s a major push for freshly grown fruits, vegetables and anything else that can be grown locally. It seems many Americans are just starting to wake up and realize, “oh, maybe I should pay more attention to where my food is coming from.” I mean, I’m not organic everything, mainly because it’s expensive and I’m a millennial, but I do pay attention to the foods I eat and try to eat pretty “clean” foods. Honestly, if you still think it’s normal for a chicken breast to be the size of an adult baseball mitt, then you really have some research to do.

Anyway, if you are looking for healthy and locally grown options, thankfully many grocery stores and markets have a wide variety these days, or you can visit your local farmer’s market. If you really want to be serious about your food, you can take it up a level by growing your own produce. If you’re really good at it, you can even sell what you don’t eat, for a generous profit. So really, it’s a win-win situation.

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If you’re a city dweller, like myself, that doesn’t mean learning to plant and growing things is out of reach for you. Thanks to technology there are now really cool ways to be able to grow plants indoors, using minimal space and that’s where hydroponics come in. Simply put, hydroponics uses mineral nutrient solutions to feed plants that are growing in water, so no soil is used in the process.

The practice is also pretty versatile because you can set it up in a big greenhouse space or in your living room using smaller systems or towers. If you’re not totally confined to the indoors and have a little yard space to work with, take a look at this article on the most profitable plants for aquaponics, small gardens, and backyard nurseries.

There are a variety of plants that can grow indoors, without needing too much sunlight, which you can learn more about with the easiest indoor plants to grow from seed and the easiest edible plants to grow indoors. While it’s great to be able to grow your own plants to eat, it’s even better to do that and to also make money. Depending on what kind of hydroponic system you’re interested in (and have the space for), you’ll want to research the hydroponic farm startup cost before you get in too deep. Costs can range anywhere from $50 for a small in-home system, to $100,000 for an indoor farm set up.

So, is hydroponic farming profitable? The answer is, yes. If you do your research on the most profitable plants to grow and sell, you should have no problem making money. You also want to take a look at growth time too. For example, hydroponic ginseng can take a few years to grow, but it sells for some crazy good prices (we’ll talk more about this in a bit).

We decided not to focus on the most profitable crops per acre since you would need to be a big deal farmer for that, but on smaller systems that you can grow in your home. Furthermore, we focused on price per pound of crop, since that’s more reasonable to grow in a smaller system. To figure out some of the most profitable plants to grow hydroponically we used the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farmer’s Daughter Herbs, and Simply Hydroponics and Organics. Once we determined the price per pound for crops that can be grown hydroponically, we ranked them starting with those with lowest prices.

9. Cilantro

$6.00 per pound

We’ll start our list with a popular herb, and you will notice many more herbs on this list as they grow well in hydroponic systems, and sell for good prices, as well. Cilantro is popular in many Chinese and Thai dishes but can be used in a variety of different recipes. It can be harvested in about 3-4 weeks after planting, so you won’t have to practice patience with this herb.

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8. Basil

$14.00 per pound

Who doesn’t like basil? You can use it for pizza, fresh pesto sauce (my personal favorite), or for a salad. Basil has tons of nutrients and vitamins and is considered to be one of the healthiest herbs.

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Pixabay/Public Domain

7. Dill

$14.00 per pound

Number seven on our list of most profitable plants to grow hydroponically is dill that is kind of random, and you can only see it occasionally, but it’s actually part of the celery family. Dill takes very little work to grow, as all you need to do is plant the seeds and give it a little sunlight. So, if you’re just developing a green thumb (or not even there yet), this is a good option for you.

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Pixabay/Public Domain

6. Mint

$14.00 per pound

You can never have enough mint leaves around in my opinion. Whether you put it in a glass of sweet tea or use it to make mojitos (my personal favorite), you can’t go wrong with having it near. It also sells really well, so that’s a plus too, which is why we have it on our list of most profitable plants to grow hydroponically.

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Anna_Pustynnikova/Shutterstock.com

5. Chives

$14.00 per pound

We are continuing our list of most profitable plants to grow hydroponically with chives that are a natural insect repellant, so if you’re growing these in your living room or a crowded apartment building, this might benefit you in more ways than one. On the other hand, chives can be used for soups, fish, baked potatoes and much more. At $14 per pound as the average resale price, you will be glad you grew them.

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Pixabay/Public Domain

4. Tarragon

$16.00 per pound

Next on our list of most profitable plants to grow hydroponically is Tarragon that goes well with meats like fish and chicken and is predominantly used in French cuisine. However, it also has and can be used to induce sleep, increase appetite, improve cardiovascular health, and even for pain relief.

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Pixabay/Public Domain

3. Bay Leaves

$30.00 per pound

Many times, dried bay leaves are used to add to the aroma and taste of a dish, and they are also not cheap. There are multiple varieties of the herb, like the Indonesian bay leaf, California bay leaf, and the Mexican bay leaf.

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Pixabay/Public Domain

2. Ginseng

$500-$600 per pound

We briefly mentioned this earlier, but ginseng sells for some really high prices, especially the wild one. It’s a “rooty” crop that looks like ginger, and it is used a lot in teas and energy drinks. For many centuries, it’s also been used for various health purposes.

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Pixabay/Public Domain

1. Cannabis

$1,600 per pound

Last but not least, we have cannabis to top our list. There’s a reason why the marijuana business does so well, which is mainly because weed makes a ton of money for the people who grow it. Obviously, this one only applies to you if you live somewhere where it can be grown legally though. If you do, it can be grown hydroponically, and you can spend the rest of your days counting your cash as this tops the cake on the list of 9 most profitable plants to grow hydroponically.

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