Indoor Farming Is Revolutionizing The Food Chain

Does eating salad really contribute to a healthy lifestyle? Not when 5.6 billion pounds of pesticides are used worldwide to produce fresh greens. According to the World Health Organization, residues from those pesticides are linked to cancer and other serious health problems. In an endeavor to ensure citizens’ health, the vertical farming company &ever is committed to sustainably grow pesticides-free green products.

Vertical farms – the future of agriculture

&ever (formerly Farmers Cut), is a Hamburg-based farming company, which cultivates high-quality plants indoors while saving on natural resources. The farms have a vertical structure and are easily scalable in form and size, which allows them to be run in any climate conditions in any location around the globe. 

For &ever, it is all about the freshness and nutritional value of the food. Mark Korzilius, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of &ever, says that green leaves can lose most of their nutritional value after being washed in chlorine, chilled, packed, stored in warehouses over longer periods of time and then sent on the road for transportation. &ever solves that problem and provides citizens with fresh products by using the so called ‘harvest on demand’ or ‘farm to fork’ model, which leaves the roots intact even when the produce reaches the customer.

The newly opened farm in Kuwait

The first commercial &ever farm is the newly opened vertical indoor farm in Kuwait City. The facility will soon produce fresh salad all-year-round in the middle of the Kuwaiti desert. The farm can grow up to 550 kilos of fresh greens and herbs a day and has faster growth cycles than traditional outdoor farms, which are dependent on the weather conditions.

&ever’s indoor farms are also fostering new cultivation technologies. “We have invented the system ‘dryponics’, which is a unique method of growing salad indoors,” said Dr. Henner Schwarz, Co-CEO of &ever. Did you know that even food labeled as ‘organic’ can contain a lot of different pesticides? &ever’s project engineer in Kuwait Rami Safareni says that their products are “better than organic,” because the company can produce over 250 different types of plants using:

• 90 percent less water

• 60 percent less fertilizer

• zero pesticides

Thanks to the controlled atmosphere in the farm, the fresh greens don’t require washing and are harvested immediately before they are eaten, ensuring high nutritional quality. To demonstrate the purity of the plants, Korzilius and his team, taste the salad directly from the growing trays. “

It is a common misconception that plants come from the field,” Korzilius explained, pointing out that nowadays plants are mostly grown in greenhouses. Using these growing techniques, &ever is transforming metropolises like Kuwait City into farms and allowing citizens to taste green salad as if they had just harvested it from their own garden.

Farm to Fork

Kuwait’s unique fusion of local flavors and international dishes make it one of the most interesting food scenes worldwide. The first restaurant chain in Kuwait to benefit from the fresh green products will be the local Japanese restaurant Ora, owned by NOX Management. Faisal AlMeshal, Managing Director at NOX, points out that for the first time the restaurants will be supplied locally.

“We used to import all our greens mainly from Europe, but now we have a local solution that is tastier and fresher,” said AlMeshal. “The local supply saves money on logistics, minimizes waste and makes better choices for the planet.”

The technology behind it

Advanced technology provides &ever’s vertical farms with fully digital control over the whole production process. “Our production planning is based entirely on SAP Business Technology Platform, which allows us to optimize production according to the needs and capacities of the farm,” said Dr. Jan-Gerd Frerichs, Chief Technology Officer at &ever.

IoT sensors and edge computing devices are collecting data at several hundred data points throughout the farmhouse – monitoring seeding and germination, as well as crucial parameters such as carbon dioxide levels, temperature, humidity and airflow. To support the project with software implementation and development, &ever chose IBsolution — a trusted SAP strategic partner.

“We have contributed to &ever's goals by delivering innovative solutions on the SAP cloud platform to make their farmhouses being manageable with few people at maximum utilization,” said Loren Heilig, managing director at IBsolution. “It is great to see the first results of our partnership here in Kuwait.”

Data collected from the IoT sensors is stored within SAP’s in-memory database SAP HANA and analyzed with the help of SAP Cloud Platform logistics and production applications.

Building on the success of the Kuwait project, &ever is planning to open more sustainable farms in cities with unfavorable climate conditions throughout Africa and Asia. Nutritional food for millions of people, zero waste and minimizing ecological footprint is what the agricultural company is striving for.

To learn more about &ever, listen to below podcast.

By Nona Kichukova, SAP | Forbes | May 6, 2020

Gotham Greens Doubles Their Acreage Within Six Months

Viraj Puri: "Patient approach has allowed us to scale rapidly and sustainably"

In the last six months, US greenhouse company Gotham Greens has more than doubled their footprint by opening four new greenhouses. Newest in their 'collection' is the one in Denver. For decades the area next to an abandoned runway at the former Denver Stapleton Airport site had been sitting vacant. Only 3 years ago it was reopened as an urban marketplace and now the area is revived with the 30,000 square foot greenhouse. "We enjoy pursuing innovative adaptive reuse projects that can transform otherwise underutilized real estate into productive agriculture, whether on rooftops or at grade", says Viraj Puri, co-founder and CEO of Gotham Greens. 

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Lettuce on NFT
It's a remarkable sight in Denver, Colorado. Next to the 140,000 square foot building in what formerly aircrafts were manufactured, a 30,000 square foot greenhouse has appeared. The glass & steel venture is equipped with an NFT-system from which annually 2 million heads of lettuce will be harvested, including two new lettuce varieties: Crispy Green Leaf and Rocky Mountain Crunch. These products will all find their way to grocery retailers across seven states, including Whole Foods Market, Choice Markets, Alfalfa’s and more.

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Restaurant and foodservice customers
“We will also partner with restaurant and foodservice customers in the area and supply our products to restaurant and retail customers located at Stanley Marketplace as businesses begin to reopen”, says Viraj, something that has been impossible of course due to the COVID-outbreak. He adds how he never envisioned to open their Denver greenhouse during a global pandemic. “Our entire team worked extremely hard to commission this new greenhouse during the pandemic and we’re proud to be providing people across the country with healthy, fresh food options they can get excited about. Given the current pressures on our country’s food system, one thing is clear: the importance of strengthening our national food supply through decentralized, regional supply chains.”

That has been the vision of Gotham Greens from the start: ever since 2010, when they opened their first greenhouse in Brooklyn, New York, they’ve focused on delivering fresh, locally and sustainably grown produce to customers and our communities. Over the last couple of months they intensified their expansion, resulting in doubling their total growing acreage. “We built four greenhouses between 2011 and 2015. Rather than focusing on rapid expansion at that point in time, we took a more thoughtful approach to ensure our business model could scale profitably and sustainably in multiple environments and geographies. That patient approach has now positioned and allowed us to scale rapidly sustainably”, says Viraj. “In the past 6 months, we have more than doubled our footprint by opening four new greenhouses in a strategic and measured way. These include greenhouses in Providence, Rhode Island, Baltimore, Maryland, Chicago, Illinois, and now Denver, Colorado.” In total their annual production now grows to nearly 35 million heads of lettuce and distribution to more than 30 states nationwide.

According to Viraj, the end of there expansion is nowhere in sight. “Looking ahead, our goal is to bring our brand of high-quality, sustainably grown local produce and innovative greenhouses to more cities across the country.” In the past they selected quite some remarkable locations for this: on top of a grocery store, on a manufacturing plant, or on the former site of a steel manufacturing plant for example. Viraj explains how a combination of factors drive their decisions for selecting these new locations. “Customer market size opportunities, zoning, land conditions, and logistics and distribution access, just to name a few. Whether building in a rural area provides a bigger challenge? All greenhouse developments are challenging, and we are becoming more experienced with every subsequent project”, he says. “We enjoy pursuing innovative adaptive reuse projects that can transform otherwise underutilized real estate into productive agriculture, whether on rooftops or at grade.”

He adds how their business model has enabled them to remain nimble during these unprecedented times “Now more than ever, we are committed to delivering high-quality, long-lasting and nourishing produce to people when it’s needed most.”

For more information:

Gotham Greens 

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info@gothamgreens.com

www.gothamgreens.com

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Publication date: Wed 20 May 2020
Author: Arlette Sijmonsma
© HortiDaily.com

CubicFarm Systems Corp Announces Completion of $5M Private Placement With Ospraie Ag Science

Net proceeds to be used for R&D to expand machine capabilities  and crop varieties
 
Vancouver, BC – (AccessWire – May 13, 2020) – CubicFarm® Systems Corp. (TSXV:CUB) (“CubicFarms” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that further to its press release dated May 1, 2020, the Company has completed the non-brokered private placement with Ospraie Ag Science, LLC (“Ospraie”), involving the issuance of 21,739,130 common shares of CubicFarms at a price of C$0.23 per share for gross proceeds of approximately C$5.0 million (the “Offering”). Ospraie now holds an approximate 18.8% interest in the Company on a non-diluted basis (see Early Warning Disclosure below).
 
“We are very excited to complete this transaction with Ospraie, all the more so amid the current economic and travel challenges,” said CubicFarms CEO Dave Dinesen.
 
“Ospraie’s strategic investment will allow CubicFarms to execute on our vision of providing technology to feed a changing world, by driving our R&D efforts to further optimize our machine yields, automation and functionality, as well as expand the crop varieties that can be grown in our machines – all with a view of capturing more market share and adding value to our grower-customers.
 
“We look forward to working closely with Ospraie as they add incredible value to CubicFarms through their industry expertise, and exploring potential technological and commercial synergies with the other ag-tech companies in their portfolio and network.”
 
The shares issued in connection with the Offering are subject to a statutory four-month hold period.
 
Early Warning Disclosure
 
Prior to the Offering, Ospraie held 99,500 common shares of the Company, representing approximately 0.1% of the then current issued and outstanding common shares on a non-diluted basis. After giving effect to the Offering, Ospraie holds 21,838,630 common shares, representing approximately 18.8% of the issued and outstanding common shares on a non-diluted basis.
 
The Company has been advised by Ospraie that the common shares were acquired under the Offering by Ospraie for investment purposes and that Ospraie reviews its holdings in the Company from time to time and may, based on such review, market and other conditions and subject to compliance with applicable hold periods, increase or decrease its ownership of common shares, other securities of the Company or related financial instruments, whether in the open market, by privately negotiated transaction or otherwise.
 
A copy of Ospraie’s early warning report will appear with the Company’s documents on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval and may also be obtained by contacting Scott Baglio at +212-602-5090.
 
Ospraie’s address is c/o Ospraie Management, LLC, 437 Madison Avenue, 28th Floor, New York, NY 10022.
 
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities, in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”), or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold within the United States unless an exemption from such registration is available.
 
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
 
About CubicFarm® Systems Corp.
 
CubicFarm Systems Corp. (“CubicFarms”) is a technology company that is developing and deploying technology to feed a changing world. Its proprietary technologies enable growers around the world to produce high-quality, predictable crop yields. CubicFarms has two distinct technologies that address two distinct markets. The first technology is its patented CubicFarm™ System, which contains patented technology for growing leafy greens and other crops. Using its unique, undulating-path growing system, the Company addresses the main challenges within the indoor farming industry by significantly reducing the need for physical labour and energy, and maximizing yield per cubic foot. CubicFarms leverages its patented technology by operating its own R&D facility in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, selling the System to growers, licensing its technology and providing vertical farming expertise to its customers.
 
The second technology is CubicFarms’ HydroGreen System for growing nutritious livestock feed. This system utilizes a unique process to sprout grains, such as barley and wheat, in a controlled environment with minimal use of land, labour and water. The HydroGreen System is fully automated and performs all growing functions including seeding, watering, lighting, harvesting, and re-seeding – all with the push of a button – to deliver nutritious livestock feed without the typical investment in fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, field equipment and transportation. The HydroGreen System not only provides superior nutritious feed to benefit the animal, but also enables significant environmental benefits to the farm.
 
Information contact
 
Kimberly Lim
kimberly@cubicfarms.com                 
Phone: +1-236-858-6491
www.cubicfarms.com
 
Cautionary statement on forward-looking information
 
Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the use of proceeds of the Offering and the potential benefits of Ospraie’s investment to the Company. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors including evolving market conditions, which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of CubicFarm Systems Corp., or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information including the Company obtaining the approval of the Offering from the TSX Venture Exchange. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict", and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events, or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will" be taken, occur, or be achieved.
 
These statements reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events, performance, and results and speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except as required by securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if the Company's expectations regarding future events, performance, or results change.
 
 

cubicfarms.com

Kimberly Lim
VP, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations
Mobile: 236.858.6491
Office: 1.888.280.9076
Email: kimberly@cubicfarms.com

Plant Growth Research and Technologies Featured in Upcoming NASA Webinar

The Veggie Lab at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is a Plant Processing Area - a web of ground research laboratories equipped with plant growth chambers of all sizes and the ability to simulate the International Space Station environment. That along with a team of researchers capable of applying the chemistry, biology, microbiology, and engineering needed to make plants grow in space, makes NASA a one of a kind hub for fulfilling space biology and growing crops in space.

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NASA’s webinar will feature researcher, Jacob Torres, who will discuss the latest food production research and technologies developed at NASA. These include a Passive Porous Plant Nutrient System that requires no electricity or moving parts, and a variety of micro-gravity simulation testing systems for plant growth. Also included will some video clips of Jacob inside the lab exhibiting some of his technologies and ongoing research projects. 

The webinar will explain how NASA’s technologies and capabilities are available to industry and other organizations through NASA’s Technology Transfer Program. Also it will introduce NASA’s Centennial Challenge, a competitive program for teams to compete for funding to develop and demonstrate novel technologies, systems or approaches for sustainable advanced plant and food production for long duration deep space exploration missions.

“Before astronauts took that first historic bite of lettuce in space, every piece of equipment involved in growing that lettuce was designed and meticulously tested in the Veggie Lab and other labs at NASA. NASA continues to research methods to improve plant growth and plant nutrition in space”, Jacob Torres comments.

• Register here for this free live webinar

• June 23rd 2020 at 2:00 PM (EST)

To learn more about NASA’s Technology Transfer Program, please visit their website. You can also browse their entire technology portfolio here.

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Publication date: Thu 21 May 2020

Farming Fuels A Holistic Approach to End Homelessness at Lotus House

Growing fresh food helps Lotus House residents find their fresh start

At Freight Farms we believe that everyone should be able to participate in the joy of eating fresh, healthy foods regardless of location, climate, or socioeconomic background. Our global Freight Farmer network makes this mission a reality–and none more so than the non-profit organizations that use hydroponic container farms to create meaningful and long-lasting change in their communities.  

Today we’re highlighting just one organization: Lotus House in Miami, Florida. Lotus House is what many of us would call a “homeless shelter”, but the term fails to capture the sheer extent of their services. Lotus House refers to itself as a “holistic residential facility and resource center for women and children experiencing homelessness”. The difference is significant. Instead of focusing on providing bare minimum resources–a hot meal, a bed, a shower–Lotus House tries to address the initial cause of homelessness, with the intent of getting women and their families back on their feet. Their services provide up to 500 women and children residents with daycare, employment education, and arts programs, beauty salon, yoga and meditation, and much more.

Meet Farmer Jackie

To learn more about the incredible things happening at Lotus House, we connected with Jackie Roth. Jackie is the ideal person to talk to about the role of farming within the center’s greater holistic model:

“As Project Coordinator, I manage all aspects of the Farm in addition to other specialty health/research projects at the shelter. I lead sessions inside the Farm every day, as well as the cooking demonstrations and outdoor garden work, and oversee all Farm maintenance and volunteers. So I’m basically the resident farmer, and guests know me as such.”

Hear from Jackie and Constance (Lotus House Founder and Director) when you download webinar, recorded on April 30th 2020. Download here.

Good nutrition as a pathway to wellness

For Jackie, Lotus House’s farm is part of a much larger conversation about the essential role health and wellness play in building resiliency and ending the cycle of poverty:

 “Our mission is to transform the trauma of homelessness into a window of opportunity, where guests can heal old wounds and build resilience for a brighter future. Rather than provide the temporary support of a bed and hot meal, we work to holistically end the cycle of poverty and abuse that too often leads women and families to our shelter. Health and wellness are essential to this healing, and food and nutrition are essential to that health and wellness. It truly takes a village and lots of moving parts to achieve this multidisciplinary vision, and the food and nutrition education component is no exception.”

The Lotus House farm works in tandem with the Culinary Center, where over 500 residents and staff members are served three free meals a day. The farm is mostly used to grow a variety of lettuces that go into the Center’s salad bar, along with other specialty greens, root vegetables, and edible flowers. For Lotus House, the Greenery is the perfect intersection of food, nutrition, and education, and it has been deployed accordingly. 

“We aim to serve largely plant-based foods and healthful meals that nourish the healing and developing minds and bodies of those who live here. The Culinary Center is home to one of our paid internship programs for guests where they earn their Food Handler’s certification, participate in the inner workings of a commercial kitchen, and hopefully create new career opportunities for themselves in a city with such a prominent hospitality and entertainment industry.”

Furthermore, the farm and the center have a symbiotic relationship. Jackie explains the benefit of the farm for Lotus House, and the greater community: 

“Our Farm saves us thousands of dollars a year on produce costs; in addition, we work closely with local nonprofits and businesses who donate reclaimed food that would otherwise be thrown away. And when we have more food than we need for ourselves, we give it back as groceries for people in the neighborhood - because the community’s health is so tightly linked to our own. So there’s lots of internal and external coordination involved in sustaining our own food source, reducing food waste, and bringing real nutrition to the people who need it most.”

Achieving good nutrition through education

Beyond the dining program, the farm serves an important role in educating and engaging many of the organization’s youngest residents (ages 3-12) on weekdays after school. Jackie, who oversees all the in-farm programming overviews the day-to-day:

“The Farm is the home for an innovative after-school program where children witness the seed-to-harvest life cycle and farm-to-table growing. We also do cooking demonstrations where kids can see different hands-on ways to use their vegetables and learn basic kitchen skills like chopping, mixing, blending, etc.”

Lotus House’s education farming program doubles as a mini-workforce. During their afternoon sessions, younger kids help Jackie plant seeds and harvest mature plants for delivery to the Culinary Center, where they will be served the very next day. Beyond that, older kids interested in the farm help Jackie with the more detail-oriented tasks, like transplanting and maintenance. 

But the farming program doesn’t end there! As with everything Lotus House does, the farming program has a holistic and multidisciplinary approach. In addition to the Greenery, the center has built out a general nutrition and gardening presence at the shelter. The building features an outdoor rooftop garden where the children grow basil, cilantro, beets, mint, broccoli and strawberry sprouts–started in the Greenery–in the soil and learn how to compost waste from the Greenery operations (grow plus, leaves, etc.).

The center runs also smaller events and initiatives about nutrition, such as the ‘Farm Stand’ where the Lotus House staff highlight a Farmer of the Week, share what’s growing, provide samples, and give out nutrition-themed activity sheets. 

Changing habits to change lives

Ultimately, the goal of the Lotus House Farm program is to encourage residents to eat more fruits and vegetables by connecting them to their food source. 

“With the Farm, we have a really unique opportunity to give guests a transparent lens into how food grows, from seed to plate, and get them excited about eating something cultivated in this high-tech environment. The approach is not to lecture people on what’s good for you or what’s bad for you, but to show them how cool plants are and all the different ways you can enjoy them.”

The opportunity to work with kids from a young age is particularly important in this goal. “It’s best to intervene young so they can build healthy habits early on, and hopefully share what they learned with mom to influence her attitudes and habits...If we can play even a small part in ...getting children excited about eating fruits and vegetables, exposing them to something they’ve never eaten before, or bringing moms and kids together to watch their plants grow and prepare a healthy snack, then it’s a worthy battle.” 

Inspiring future farmers

With robust educational programs established and successful, Jackie turned her focus for 2020 on two new initiatives: creating a wider volunteer program and rolling out a hydroponic farming job training program for teens and adults. 

The volunteer program sought to engage people all over Miami with the center and the farm, based on their availability: “The volunteers are integral to maintaining a beneficial student-teacher ratio, implementing therapeutic teaching techniques, and ensuring all necessary maintenance work is completed and our Farm stays hyper-clean.”

The job training program would teach residents basic farming skills before they started paid jobs with local container farming community partners, like fellow Freight Farmers at Hammock Greens: “We want every abled person in our shelter to come out with a good paying job, and even with the kids and volunteers there was often lingering Farm work, and we had lots of adults who expressed interest in learning more about gardening.” 

Unfortunately, COVID-19 brought both programs to a screeching halt just as they were gaining momentum: volunteers stopped coming in and partnering businesses closed their doors. Jackie remains hopeful, however, making sure that post-COVID, the programs are still viable.

These new programs are not the only ones that had to be re-thought in today’s coronavirus reality. As Lotus House works to protect its residents, Jackie is aware of how the farm is at the center of two competing forces:

“On the one hand, we want to exercise the utmost caution in every regard due to the compact interior of the Farm and the nature of growing fresh, uncooked food for hundreds of people when there are still so many unknowns about this virus and its transmission. But on the other hand, supply chains are so uncertain right now and we are acutely reminded of the value of being able to produce our own food. And, all the kids are off school with extra time on their hands and a deep desire for some semblance of fun and normalcy.” 

Luckily, Jackie and her helpers were well-prepared to address public health and safety in the farm. Well before the coronavirus reared its ugly head, Jackie implemented rigorous cleanliness practices to avoid contamination like wearing gloves, sanitizing multiple times daily, “dabbing” when sneezing or coughing, and routine deep cleaning of the farm. Since the pandemic reached Miami, they’ve expanded the precautions: 

“Most drastically we’re restricting our attendance to no more than two kids at a time in accordance with social distancing. And because of limited attendance, we have fewer hands to help and are therefore at a reduced capacity. Despite all of this, we’re still going. There’s still interest and definitely still a need. Even if we get to a complete quarantine, our guests still have to eat and we will still strive to serve them nutritious options.”

In spite of the increased work and stress of running a farm in the center’s close quarters, Jackie feels that the pandemic situation has reinforced the importance of her work: “The good fight to end homelessness never stops–shelters keep running through even the most unprecedented emergencies, and we are charged with protecting some of society’s most vulnerable people. It’s actually been quite a blessing to grow closer as a team, adapt together, and try to preserve this homey space of healing and sanctuary despite all the madness outside.” 

Supporting Lotus House during COVID-19 and beyond 

In light of the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked Jackie how the greater Freight Farms community can help Lotus House. 

“Because of the pandemic, we truly need help now more than ever. If you head to our website, you’ll see a donation link on the homepage. Anything helps. Your support is critical and immensely appreciated! We are taking so many extra measures and expenditures to supply PPE to our staff and guests, to hire additional persons for added sanitation, to ensure our supply stocks are sufficient, to do whatever we can to protect everyone living and working with us. And to prepare for the inevitable spike in homelessness that will result from this economic collapse.” 

Looking beyond COVID-19, Jackie also outlined how community support will help support the Lotus House farm in the future: “Our Farm was purchased and funded the first year through some local community grants, but those grant periods ended last month. We are now exploring new funding streams to advance the program. We accept donations, specifically made out to “The Farm” if possible. We also designed our own educational curriculum for the program, and are happy to share this along with technical training if you would like to replicate what we’re doing. And anyone interested in volunteering can reach out to me at jackie1@lotushouse.org!”

Variety of Healthy Foods From Vertical Farming Platform

When talking about technology, it's easy to focus on things like computers, smartphones, apps and the growing number of smart gadgets around the house. But technology is far-reaching and can influence and change traditional sectors quickly, one of them being the agricultural sector.

One company that is looking to take on the commercial agricultural industry is Eden Green Technology, just out of Texas. This company focuses on sustainability in the food industry. Eddy Badrina, CEO of the company tells about what they do, how they use technology, and how they envision the future of the agricultural industry.

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Efficient use of space
"Eden Green Technology is a vertical farming platform that grows large quantities of local produce safely, sustainably, and efficiently. We use less land, energy, and water than both traditional farming and other indoor solutions. Our greenhouses are constructed on small footprints, in urban or suburban areas, to provide stable jobs and produce non-GMO, pesticide-free produce, which goes from farm to table in as little as 48 hours, compared to the 14 days it usually takes under the traditional model," Eddy says.

The founders of Eden Green are brothers Jacques and Eugene van Buuren. They came to the US to secure investment, source talent, and experiment with their technological solutions in diverse climates. They started in Texas, with its own extreme range of environmental considerations, agricultural know-how, and business opportunities, and built from there. 

Technology company
"Our technical secret sauce consists of a few ingredients, including our patented vertical “vines,” where our produce grows, and the way we create microclimates for each individual plant with temperature-controlled air and nutrient-enriched water. We also designed and built a proprietary mechanical, electrical, and plumbing solution specifically to automate and remotely monitor all our greenhouses. Because of that hardware and software combination, we like to think of ourselves as a technology company that happens to grow produce."

Read more at Vator.

By Horti Daily | May 4, 2020

You Must Be Able To Sell Vertically-Farmed Goods At Competitive Prices

Two years ago, business partners, Alexandre Van Deun and Olivier Paulus, opened one of the very first vertical farms for herbs in Brussels, Belgium. Now, the complete classic herb assortment is grown. Not only for local retailers like Delhaize and Aveve, but also for catering companies and restaurants. The farm's current 1,400m2 has become too small. This duo's next step is, therefore, a new 2,5-hectare farm with 15 cultivation layers.

Urban Harvest is currently located in an old meat market in the heart of Brussels. “The building was standing empty, and we wanted to grow our products locally, close to the consumer,” says Urban Harvest’s Alexandre. “At the moment, we cultivate on five or six layers in a 1,400m2 farm. We have all the traditional pot herbs in our range and also grow special herbs per client orders. Our clients are always interested in novelties. So we are always busy testing new products and growing techniques to respond to their demands.”

Herbz“The two largest retailers that buy our herbs are Delhaize and Aveve. Delhaize sells the herbs under their private label, and at Aveve, from May, they will be sold under their house brand, Herbz. The packaging is completely plastic-free, and on it, you can see that the herbs are grown, sustainably, in a vertical farm."

"In stores, there is no surcharge for vertically-farmed herbs. Sustainability is important to consumers, but they will not pay more for a different cultivation method. We deliberately built our system in such a way that we can supply our products at competitive prices,” continues Van Deun. 

Flavor and shelf lifeUrban Harvest cultivates its herbs on a substrate and, according to Van Deun, this contributes to the herbs’ good flavor and the plant’s resilience. “There are crucial aspects. The flavor must win over consumers, but the herb must also store well. Our herbs can easily last a week in someone’s kitchen,” explains Alexandre. “One of the most difficult herbs to grow is mint. We grow our plants from seeds, but it is almost impossible to find mint seeds. In the business, we mainly work with cuttings, making it hard to find good mint seeds. That is a puzzle we have not yet cracked.”

“Automation equals costs”Alexandre and Olivier developed the entire vertical farm themselves. “We were busy building the farm for 16 hours a day, seven days a week. We are very proud of that. Once we got four investors, we were ready for the next step,” continues Van Deun. “Our current and new farms are not completely automated. There are plenty of textbook examples of vertical farms that are not fully automated. There are costs involved with automation that people are not prepared to pay."

"That is why we decided to only focus on processes that make sense to automate. We, therefore, retain a measure of human interaction. Harvesting is still done by hand, and being able to control the quality is a considerable advantage of this. A harvesting robot would not be able to do so. In contrast, planting is automated. There are machines that do this perfectly, so why do it manually?”

Fifteen cultivation layers“We have since burst out of our seams and so, had to go in search of a new location. We will remain in Brussels, with a site that lies adjacent to the channel. We soon want to use the channel to transport raw materials, rather than using road transportation. We are already busy building the new vertical farm at this new location. It will be 2.5 hectares in size, and ten meters tall, so we can grow on 15 layers,” says Alexandre. If all goes to plan, the new farm will be operational in 2021.

Urban Harvest’s owners do see a future in vertical farming but do not believe it will replace ‘normal’ greenhouse cultivation. “It is better to consider vertical farming as a supplement to greenhouse and full soil farming. That is why, nine times out of ten, an idea like a roof greenhouse fails. Why build a conservatory in the middle of a city, on an expensive site? This can easily be done at the edge of town or in the countryside. If something’s production price is too high, there is no sense in investing in it,” concludes Alexandre.

More info
Alexandre Van Deun
alexandre@urbanharvest.eu

Urban Harvest www.urbanharvest.eu 

By Sharon De Ridder | FreshPlaza.com | May 7, 2020

Hydroponic Nutrient Solution Basics

All plants need fertilizer to live. In traditional gardening and farming, plants get their nutrients from soil and additive such as compost, manure, and chemical fertilizers. In hydroponics, plants are not grown in soil so nutrients must be delivered directly through the solution they are watered with.

These nutrients are divided into two categories: macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients are those that plants need in large amounts, including carbon, phosphorous, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Micronutrients are needed in tiny amounts but are essential. These include zinc, nickel, boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, boron, and chlorine.

Without these essential elements, plants are unable to build molecules, undergo enzymatic reactions, and complete the life cycle. For hydroponic gardeners, this means that without proper nutrients they cannot produce fruit or vegetables or that what they do produce would be sub-par.

Plant Needs

PH is also an essential element to consider. The pH value of a nutrient solution has a huge impact on the amount of nutrition a plant can absorb. It is essential to check pH levels on a regular basis, preferably daily, even if you are careful about measuring and mixing your nutrient solution correctly.

Different plants have slightly different requirements for pH value and nutrient concentration. If you are going to be growing a large variety of plants in your system, make sure to research the requirements for each so that you can group them in terms of their needs.

Temperature

A single plant’s needs may also change under different environmental conditions, such as weather, season, and temperature. This isn’t an issue for indoor setups that have a controlled environment, but it is something to consider if your system is located outside.

The nutrient solution must be kept at a steady temperature. The ideal is at room temperature, between 70 to 78 F. This is more of a concern for outdoor systems that are exposed to the weather. For winter, you can buy miniature water heaters that go inside your reservoir to keep the nutrient solution warm. For summer, keeping the ​reservoir in a shaded area and periodically topping it off with cool water is generally sufficient to keep it from getting too hot.​​​

Pre-Made vs. Homemade

You can either buy a pre-made nutrient solution, or you can formulate your own. Small farms and hobbyists generally purchase pre-mixed liquid or powder concentrates that are added to water. Large-scale farms generally mix their own to the specific needs of whatever they are growing, using bulk concentrates of the individual chemical compounds.

Pre-mixed concentrates usually come in two separate bottles, one for macronutrients and one for micronutrients. They are separated because some elements are incompatible with each other when concentrated and cause precipitation when they are combined. Once diluted, they do not form precipitates and can be used together without issue. Some manufacturers have managed to hold the incompatible nutrients in a chemical complex so that they do not mix—these are sold in a single pack.

For hydroponics, twin or triple pack solutions are usually the best options. They are simple to mix and only require a few materials: a container to mix them in, a dedicated measuring cup, and a stirrer. If your mixing container has a lid, you don’t even need a stirrer, as you can just shake it up. The measurement is usually 3.5 mL of each concentrate per liter. Make sure to double-check the mixing instructions on the bottle, though.

Depending on the size of your system, for example, with a large scale Ebb and Flow setup, you may want to mix your nutrient solution in very large quantities. Drums that are 55 gallons make ideal mixing buckets for large systems and can store enough nutrient solution to replenish your reservoir for weeks. For smaller systems, or if you do not have space for a large mixing container, it is perfectly okay to mix your solution on an as-needed basis.

After mixing your solution, let it sit for a few minutes and settle, then check the pH and adjust as necessary. Starting off with a perfect pH will make it easier to maintain. You can even measure the number of drops of pH Up or pH Down needed every time you mix your solution, and just add that amount to the water before mixing in your concentrate.

By Christina D’Anna | the Spruce | Oct 14, 2019

The Basics Of Hydroponic Lighting

Hobbyists often take up hydroponics because they want to grow their own food but don’t have access to outdoor space. Although the sun is the ideal lighting source for growing plants, artificial lighting in indoor systems can provide a good substitute within the appropriate color spectrum.

Choosing the best lights for your hydro system can be daunting for a beginner. There are tons of options out there and depending on your system size and type of plants you are growing; some types may be better or more efficient than others.

Outside, a vegetable garden requires between four and six hours of direct sun per day, plus at least 10 hours of “bright light” or indirect sunlight. With artificial lighting in your hydroponic garden, the main goal is to imitate this. You should plan your system on having at least 14 to 16 hours of bright artificial light, followed by 10 to 12 hours of darkness every day. The darkness is just as important as the light—just like animals, plants need time to rest and metabolize.

If your plants are perennials, you will have to have a more strict and calculated lighting schedule to bring the plants through their vegetative (growth) and flowering (production) stages. The easiest way to maintain a lighting schedule is with an automatic electric timer. They are worth the investment because one small mistake or simply forgetting to turn the lights on or off has the potential to affect your plants' growth and production rates dramatically.

Different Plants, Different Needs

An electronic timer is especially necessary if you are growing a variety of different plants. Although you can follow the general guidelines above and have success, some plants do much better with longer or shorter periods of “daylight.” If you have a mix of these in your garden, you will need to figure out a custom schedule. An electric timer allows you to take care of this hassle-free and change it according to your needs as your garden evolves.

Short day plants: These require a long period of darkness to photosynthesize and produce flowers. If they are exposed to over 12 hours of light per day, they will not flower. Poinsettias, strawberries, cauliflower, and chrysanthemums are short-day plants. The short-day cycle mimics the environment in nature for plants the flower in the spring.

Long day plants: These require up to 18 hours of sunlight per day. They include wheat, lettuce, potatoes, spinach, and turnips. The long-day cycle mimics the natural environment of summer-flowering plants.

Day-neutral plants: These are the most flexible. They produce fruit no matter how much light they are exposed to. Some examples include rice, eggplant, roses, and corn.

If you must mix sort and long day plants, it is best to compromise their needs and pick a lighting schedule that is right in the middle, around fourteen hours of light per day.

Parts of the System

All hydro lighting systems have four main parts. These are the bulb, reflector hood, remote ballast, and timer.

Bulb: The most popular wattage for hydroponic bulbs is between 400-600 Watts. Most hydro gardeners use High-Intensity Discharge (HID) lights. HID bulbs produce light by sending an arc of electricity between two electrodes that are encased in glass with a mixture of gas and metal salts. The gas aids the creation of the arc, which then evaporates the metal salts, producing bright white light.

There are two types of bulbs available: High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) and Metal Halide (MH). Conversion lamps allow you to switch between the two types of bulbs easily.

Metal Halide is a good all-around light, and for most vegetables, it will work very well. If you can only afford or only have room for one type of bulb, MH is a good choice. They cost on average $150 or less for 400 watts. These should be replaced at least every two years, but a decrease in efficiency after about fifteen months so may need replacing earlier.

High-Pressure Sodium bulbs are the best choice for the flowering or fruiting stage of your plants. They are more expensive, so are often used in combination with an MH bulb (used during vegetative state) to save money on replacement costs. Although they are more expensive initially, HPS bulbs last up to twice as long as MH, up to five years. But, like MH lights they do lose effectiveness with use and may need to be replaced as often as every two years based on how much use they get.

Reflector hood: The reflector hood is a reflective casing around the bulb. It increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the bulb by reflecting the light down onto the plants at multiple angles, giving a more effective spread. This also allows you to use lights that give off less heat, saving on electricity and cooling costs.

Remote ballast: The ballast is the power box that powers the light. Sometimes ballasts are sold as a part of the lamp assembly, but these are usually far too hot and heavy. Remote ballasts are much better for home systems. This is the most expensive element of the lighting system, so it must be kept off the ground to ensure that it never gets wet in case of a flood or leak. Flooding is risky with systems such as Ebb & Flow in case your drainage tube gets clogged. It is recommended to buy the ballast as a set with the bulb because they must match each other in wattage.

Timer: Timers are the most inexpensive piece of the lighting system, but they are incredibly important. They must be heavy duty and grounded (three-prong plug) but can be either manual or electric. Manual timers use pins and have two plugs on either side so that you can attach it to two lamps at once. Manual timers are more popular because they are less likely to break than electric.

By Christina D’Anna | the Spruce | July 4, 2019

A High-Yield Indoor Farming System Ideal For The City

As prolonged droughts occur more frequently in South Africa, some entrepreneurs are investing in and developing new technology and farming methods, such as indoor growing systems, that ensure consistent, high-quality food production. Juan-Griffith Pollard, CEO of Urban Cultivation International, spoke to Pieter Dempsey about his scaleable hydroponic farming system.

More frequent and long-lived droughts. Global warming. Water scarcity. Higher input costs.

These are some of the factors driving the growing interest in new technology that enables a farmer to produce the same quality and yields as conventional farming, but using indoor farming systems instead.

Hydroponics, or indoor soilless cultivation, as Urban Cultivation International (UCI) calls it, is a method of growing plants in a water-based, mineral- and nutrient-rich solution instead of soil, and under artificial LED lights instead of sunshine.

According to Juan-Griffith Pollard, the CEO of UCI, indoor farming uses up to 90% less water than traditional farming practices, and far less space. In addition, plants can be grown pesticide-free and closer to high-consumption areas, such as densely populated cities.

These reasons, and more, explain why an increasing number of growers have begun exploring indoor soilless cultivation.

Precision growing
The system provides the optimal growing conditions for plants, enabling them to develop much faster and be far healthier than is the case with traditional outdoor cultivation.

According to Pollard, the evolution of new technology, such as LED grow lighting and the Internet of Things (IoT), has complemented the development of indoor soilless cultivation systems.

“IoT can be used to automate and regulate indoor farming by monitoring water levels, nutrient levels, pH levels, and temperature and light requirements of plants. “A farmer can be in control of the harvest at all times, wherever he or she is physically present.

“One of the biggest benefits of indoor farming is that produce can be farmed at any time of the year. Thus, a farmer can sell produce at out of season prices, and supermarkets can stock fresh local produce all year around,” says Pollard.

No-soil farming
Pollard started investigating various methods of indoor soilless cultivation in 2016 and fine-tuned them in 2019 to create a healthy, productive indoor farming system.

An entrepreneur by nature, he took note of the various challenges in traditional South African agriculture, including water scarcity and security risks. He also noticed the demand for certain leafy greens and microgreens in cities.

Thereafter, he traveled to the US, Europe and Asia to research systems that could be applied in the South African agricultural environment.

He went on to establish UCI at the N4 Gateway Industrial Park in Pretoria East.

“What makes UCI’s technology different from most other indoor systems is that a farmer can start small and expand by adding additional racks to the system. So there’s no need to commit to a huge capital investment to get started,” Pollard explains.

The UCI model enables the farmer to control the light hours, nutrients and moisture. It is automated to produce rapid harvest cycles with predictable results, and can be used in a small space. Crucially, it is also affordable.

A key advantage is that the plants can be grown without the use of insecticides and herbicides, as the crops are grown in a controlled environment.

Pollard predicts that farms of the future will be urban-based, and crop cultivation will have to become far more sensitive to water and energy usage. There are many cost-effective options for indoor, soilless cultivation, and these allow farmers to move from the fields to the city.

Indoor production is also an easier entry into farming; it can be started by any entrepreneur, or even a retiree, he adds.

A wide range
The options offered by UCI range from small household units to large-scale commercial systems. Regardless of size, they can deliver crop yields of up to 10kg/m2.

The household units are small, with just enough space to service the average household and to plant a variety of crops, such as leafy greens, microgreens and berries.

The household system was also developed for educational purposes and can be used as an entry into indoor soilless cultivation before a large capital investment is made in a commercial unit. UCI has developed a curriculum that explains the A to Z of indoor hydroponic farming.

The company’s industrial units include climate control and a lift system, which makes harvesting easier.

Depending on the type of crop, the return on investment is between two-and-a-half and five years, while high-value crops such as microgreens have a payback period of less than a year on capital investment.

Growing with ease
Plants can be grown from seed to harvest in 28 days, three times faster than that achieved with traditional farming.

“The plants are grown in a controlled environment under 12 to 16 hours of LED lights, giving you optimal harvest and zero wastage,” explains Pollard. In addition, produce grown in UCI’s systems has proved to be of excellent quality and offer good taste.

The entry commercial turnkey solution system contains a 10m-long and 1,9m-wide row, and the buyer can choose to fit between three and 12 levels.

For example, a 10m-row, five-level-high farm enables 100m2 to be planted in a floor space of only 20m2. “The higher you go, the more your yield per square metre,” says Pollard. The grow trays and spacing between plants are designed for optimal growing and yield. No sunlight is needed for this method; all the systems use LED grow lighting.

“LED technology provides the best energy efficiency, which saves you money in the long term,” says Pollard.

Production
A 10m-long unit can handle 54 plants per tray. At 12 trays per level and at five levels, this equates to 3 240 plants per unit.

The lighting is usually kept on for between 12 and 16 hours a day, depending on the requirements of the plants.

“The more light they get, the faster they grow,” says Pollard.

The system can handle a variety of crops such as lettuce, spinach, baby spinach, marog (imfino), cherry tomatoes, strawberries, basil, watercress, sage, zucchini, beans, fodder and a range of microgreens and herbs.

To illustrate potential crop yields, Pollard and his team have used the five-level demonstration system at UCI’s premises to grow 250g lettuce heads in 28 days under optimal growing conditions. A yield of more than 18kg per tray has been achieved.

“Compared with traditional farming, the only major cost drivers are electricity and wages,” he says.

Each tray contains about 20ℓ of constantly recirculated water, and total water use is approximately 1 250ℓ/month. The system is extremely water-friendly, as almost all the water is absorbed by the plant.

“No water is wasted, hence the saving of 90% compared with traditional farming,” says Pollard.

He adds that climate and temperature control is a key factor in the grow room, and even the water temperature is cooled or heated as the plants require.

“We can mimic the controlled growing environment of certain crops as they require. “The system works with any water, and tests are routinely conducted to see what nutrients the plants need, and all variables can be adjusted according to the needs of the plants.

“We have a nursery system that grows the plants from seed to seedlings. After about seven days, the seedlings can be transported into the commercial system; the fully grown plant is then ready to be harvested after another 21 days,” Pollard says.

Due to the way in which the system operates, the chances of a pest infestation are very low.

“Biosecurity is crucial and we prevent any pathogens and pests from entering the facility.”
Harvesting a system that is 10m long and has five levels requires about three hours with two people.

With rapid urbanization increasing the demand for food, UCI’s system offers a number of key advantages.

It brings the farm closer to the people, thereby improving food security, and it reduces transport costs, in turn lowering the carbon footprint of supplying food. The system also offers good potential as a job creator.

“Our aim is to get entrepreneurial farmers to start utilizing the empty spaces in cities, such as empty buildings in city centres. Such spaces can be used to grow food, provide jobs and supply retailers directly,” says Pollard.

Visit urbancultivation.co.za.

By Pieter Dempsey | Farmer’s Weekly | May 6, 2020

50th Anniversary of Earth Day - 25 Earth Day Facts - Plus, How To Help The Planet Even While 'Social Distancing'

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day! Every year on April 22, people around the world mobilize to address some of the most urgent threats facing our environment, from climate change to deforestation to plastic pollution. We’re taking a look at what you need to know about this year’s Earth Day events, as well as looking at some fascinating Earth Day facts. In light of the coronavirus crisis limiting large, in-person gatherings, Earth Day celebrations will be going digital this year, according to the Earth Day Network, the organization that coordinates official Earth Day events around the world.

“At Earth Day Network, the health and safety of volunteers and participants in Earth Day events is our top concern. Amid the recent outbreak, we encourage people to rise up but to do so safely and responsibly—in many cases, that means using our voices to drive action online rather than in person,” Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day Network

“Whether it be coronavirus or our global climate crisis, we cannot shut down,” she added. “Instead, we must shift our energies and efforts to new ways to mobilize the world to action.”

Related: Inspiring Quotes for Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day’s milestone anniversary, here are 25 facts about the history of Earth Day, as well as facts about the environment that may serve as a wake-up call for action.25 facts about Earth Day

1. Gaylord Nelson, a senator from Wisconsin, founded Earth Day in 1970 to raise public consciousness about environmental concerns such as pollution, oil spills and vanishing wildlife. He tapped into the energy of the anti-war movement, framing Earth Day as a “national teach-in on the environment.”

2. April 22 was chosen as the date for Earth Day because it fell between Spring Break and final exams, and organizers wanted to maximize student involvement.

3. Twenty million Americans, or about 10 percent of the country’s population at the time, took part in events and demonstrations on the first Earth Day.

4. The first Earth Day pushed environmental concerns onto the national agenda. That same year, Congress authorized the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

5. The first Earth Day in 1970 inspired the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts, according to the EPA.

6. The theme for Earth Day 2020 is Climate Action.

7. Around 1 billion people take part in Earth Day activities around the world every year.

8. In the lead-up to Earth Day this year, millions of people worldwide will participate in Earth Hour on March 28. At 8:30 p.m. local time, people will participate in events and demonstrate their commitment to the planet. In past years, Earth Hour gatherings have contributed to real policy changes, including the creation of a marine protected area in Argentina and environmental protection legislation in Russia.WWF’s Earth Hour is the world’s largest grassroots movement for the planet that gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to the planet. In light of the coronavirus crisis, Earth Hour will be celebrated digitally this year.

9. On Earth Day in 2011, people planted 28 million trees in Afghanistan as part of a “Plant Trees Not Bombs” campaign.

10. Since the first Earth Day, average annual temperatures in the contiguous United States have been warming at a rate of 0.45°F per decade.

11. Humans today use about 50 percent more natural resources than we did 30 years ago, according to a report from Friends of the Earth.

12. Animal species populations saw an overall decline of 60 percent worldwide between 1970 and 2014, due to habitat loss, pollution, climate change and other factors, according to the WWF.

13. 2019 was the second-hottest year on record worldwide, just behind 2016, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

14. Twenty of the warmest years on record worldwide have occurred in the past 22 years, according to Climate Central.

15. Scientists estimate that dozens of plants and animal species go extinct each day due to human activity.

16. Rising global temperatures are leading to more extreme weather events, including more intense wildfires and more frequent, high-intensity hurricanes, according to the Earth Day Network.

17. The world’s population is expected to increase from 7 billion today to 9 billion in 2020, which will only increase the impact of human activity on the environment, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

18. Today’s average American generates about 4.5 pounds of trash per day, compared to 2.68 pounds in 1960, according to the EPA.

19. Food accounts for 10 to 30 percent of a household’s carbon footprint, due to the emissions involved in food production and transportation, according to the Center for Sustainable Systems.

20. U.S. automobile fuel economy increased 24 percent between 2004 and 2017.

21. You can improve your car’s fuel economy by 7 to 14 percent simply by obeying the speed limit.

22. Electronic devices plugged in on “standby” mode can account for 5 to 10 percent of a household’s energy use.

23. Using a dishwasher is more eco-friendly than hand-washing dishes, according to a recent study from the University of Michigan.

24. Nearly 80 percent of all plastic waste ever created by humans is still in the environment, according to Recycle Now.

25. More than 30 countries and regions have introduced bans on disposable plastic bags to fight plastic waste, according to Greenpeace.

Parade | By Lindsay Lowe | April 19, 2020

Risk of E. coli In Hydroponic And Aquaponic Systems May Be Greater Than Once Thought

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Hye-Ji Kim (left), pictured with graduate student Seunghyun Choi, found the presence of E. coli bacteria in aquaponic and hydroponic growing systems, suggesting the bacteria could reach produce consumers. (Agricultural Communication photo/Tom Campbell)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A spate of foodborne illnesses in leafy greens and other produce in recent years has sickened consumers and disrupted growers and supply chains. It’s been thought that hydroponic and aquaponic systems could reduce these issues since there is little opportunity for pathogens like E. coli to contaminate the edible parts of plants.

A Purdue University study, however, has found the presence of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) – the same bacteria that have made consumers of several produce products ill – in hydroponic and aquaponic growing systems. Hye-Ji Kim, an assistant professor of horticulture and the study’s corresponding author, said the findings suggest growers using these systems should be careful in handling and harvesting to avoid contamination.

“Many people think that there is no chance that E. coli could be present in these systems and that risk of contamination is low,” said Kim, whose results were published in the journal Horticulturae. “Our findings suggest there is some potential for food safety concerns. We’re not saying that these foods are unsafe, but that it’s important to handle these plants properly and carefully.”

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Aquaponic and hydroponic growing systems are thought to have little risk of containing bacteria that can sicken produce consumers. After finding E. coli in both types of systems, Hye-Ji Kim suggests growers to use caution to not introduce the bacteria to their operations. (Agricultural Communication photo/Tom Campbell)

The E. coli outbreaks that have occurred in recent years tend to happen in leafy greens and other vegetables grown in irrigated fields. Potential sources could be from E. coli in manure or groundwater that reaches the edible portions of plants, or from those contaminants getting to plants after root damage by wild animals.

Proponents of hydroponic and aquaponic systems suggest their growing methods would reduce or eliminate any risk of contamination. Both soilless systems, hydroponic plants are grown in water and chemical fertilizers or nutrient solutions, and aquaponic systems include the raising of fish, with fish wastewater utilized as water and nutrient source for the plants.

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The fish used in aquaponic growing systems may introduce E. coli to water and potentially produce crops, and accidental contamination is possible in hydroponic systems. Hye-Ji Kim and Yi-Ju Wang (pictured) suggest growers take careful steps to ensure that these bacteria don’t reach plants that could sicken consumers. (Agricultural Communication photo/Tom Campbell)

Kim, Yi-Ju Wang, a graduate student in Kim’s lab, and Amanda Deering, a Purdue clinical assistant professor of food science, set up both hydroponic and aquaponic systems for growing lettuce, tomatoes, and basil for about two months. The scientists found E. coli in both systems at the time of harvest.

In the aquaponic system, the authors believe the E. coli was introduced by the fish. The bacteria was found in the water, on plant roots, and in fish feces.

“Our separate aquaculture system confirmed that fish feces were a major source of contamination with STEC in the aquaponic system,” the authors wrote. “These results indicate that introducing contaminated fish can be a source of foodborne pathogens in aquaponics.”

The presence of E. coli in the hydroponic system, in which fish were not used, suggests that the bacteria was introduced accidentally. Kim believes it could have splashed from a nearby aquaponic system or have been introduced by a visitor who brought it in from outside the greenhouse. Either way, the presence in the system suggests that accidental contamination is a real risk.

E. coli was also found on plant roots in both systems, but the bacteria did not internalize in the plants. In other words, even with the bacteria present in water and on the roots, the edible portions of the plants were still safe to consume.

The key, Kim says, is proper handling to ensure that E. coli or other pathogens don’t make it to the edible parts of plants. Damaged roots would allow bacteria into the plants, potentially making it to edible portions internally. And the splashing of water during growing or harvesting could introduce bacteria to the edible portions of the plants.

“The best way to manage these issues is to not touch roots or water throughout production cycles. If you do, you should thoroughly wash your hands before touching the edible parts of the plants,” Kim said. “Proper sanitization of equipment is also important. And acquiring fish that do not contain E. coli would also be beneficial.”

Kim’s lab is continuing to investigate food safety risks in hydroponic and aquaponic systems. Projects include damaging roots and simulating splashes to understand how much contamination can occur.

The Indiana State Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and the Purdue University College of Agriculture funded this research.

Writer: Brian Wallheimer, 765-532-0233, bwallhei@purdue.edu

Source: Hye-Ji Kim, 765-496-0122, hjikim@purdue.edu 

Note to Journalists: A portrait of one scientist, a picture of another scientist in the lab and a picture of a growing system are available for journalists to use via Google Drive.

ABSTRACT

The Occurrence of Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli in Aquaponic and Hydroponic Systems

Yi-Ju Wang1, Amanda J. Deering2, and Hye-Ji Kim1

1. Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

2. Department of Food Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

Food safety concerns have been raised over vegetables and herbs grown in aquaponics and hydroponics due to the reuse of wastewater and spent nutrient solutions. This study was conducted to determine the occurrence of foodborne pathogens in greenhouse-based aquaponic and hydroponic systems. Fish feces, recirculating water, roots, and the edible portions of lettuce, basil, and tomato were collected at harvest, and microbiological analyses were conducted for the bacterial pathogens Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella spp. Enrichments and selective media were used for the isolation, and presumptive positive colonies were confirmed by PCR. STEC was found in fish feces, in the water of both systems, and on the surface of the roots of lettuce, basil, and tomato regardless of the system. However, contaminated water did not lead to the internalization of STEC into the roots, leaves, and/or fruit of the plants. Meanwhile, L. monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. were not present in any samples examined. Our results demonstrated that there are potential food safety hazards for fresh produce grown in aquaponic and hydroponic production systems.

Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415;

Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu  

US: Florida - Aquaponics: Winter Gardening Reaches New Heights In Winter Garden

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By: Irene Sans and George Waldenberger

February 26, 2020

ORLANDO Fla. — A sustainable garden on a Winter Garden rooftop has everything from a fish farm to produce to a water filtration system.

This type of garden is becoming more popular because they are sustainable, they require less space, they can mitigate dangerous heat and they may serve many ecological causes.

Certified meteorologist George Waldenberger visited Green Sky Grows, a Winter Garden aquaponics facility run by Valencia College.

US: Pennsylvania - Hope Street Learning Lab Opening Aquaponics Classroom This Summer

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Lindsay C VanAsdalan York Dispatch

Mar 2, 2020

Hope Street Learning Lab will be opening a community aquaponics classroom this summer, following plans announced in November to install a hydroponics lab.

"We are super excited about it, and the ability to partner with somebody like Dr. Bracey-Green — it really is phenomenal," said Blanda Nace, executive director of York City's Redevelopment Authority. Jamie Bracey-Green, director of the Center for Inclusive Competitiveness at Temple University's College of Engineering, is partnering with the Hope Street nonprofit to donate shipping containers for its aquaponics and hydroponics in York City.

The partnership comes through a local chapter of MESA — Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement — housed in the center, to bring more of those studies to underserved areas.

Hope Street lab looks to buy a stretch of York City property

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Jamie Bracey-Green, director for the Center of Inclusive Competitiveness at Temple University, is providing shipping containers for a new aquaponics classroom for Hope Street Learning Lab. She announced the proposed classroom along with Hope Street officials in February. The addition to the York City community learning center will involve soil-less hydroponic and aquaponic growing techniques. The classroom is slated to be open this July. Pictured, L to R: State Rep. Carol Hill-Evans, D-York City, Jamie Bracey-Green, Lincoln Charter Director of Community Outreach Anne Clark. Submitted, c/o Randy Flaum

Hydroponics and aquaponics are two urban farming techniques in which plants are grown in water without soil and fertilized with fish waste. These techniques often help provide fresh produce in food deserts.

Groundbreaking for the classroom is expected to commence March 31, and with it will be other additions to the Hope Street property, including a greenhouse next to the lab on the east side and a mint and herb garden on the west side.

The produce would be donated to the community. One shipping container is the equivalent to planting on 2 acres of ground, said Hope Street Executive Director Anne Clark.

Clark said the learning lab has been offering produce to residents in the city's west end for years, and the goal is to expand those efforts.

"It really is a neighborhood asset," Nace said of the planned farming technology, noting that the west end is definitely a priority in the city, but the need for food is even broader.

"The city in its entirely is a food desert," he said. "Anything we can do that change that is a step in the right direction." 

York College and Temple will work with Hope Street on design to allow some natural light in the shipping containers so they'll fit in with their environment, Clark said.

"I really want the indoor classroom to be part of outside," she said, but the challenge will be also keeping them dark enough to allow the artificial light needed for the hydroponic and aquaponic farming techniques.

West Shore aquaponics supports urban agriculture, STEM education

Clark, who is also the director of outreach for Lincoln Charter School, said Hope Street is also working with the state Department of Education to match standards for the new classroom with each grade level.

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Lincoln Charter School president and CEO Leonard Hart speaks at the announcement of a new aquaponics classroom for Hope Street Learning Lab in February. Lincoln Charter School is a founding partner of the learning lab, and its students often use the facility. The addition to the York City community learning center will involve soil-less hydroponic and aquaponic growing techniques in two shipping containers. The classroom is slated to be open this July. Submitted, c/o Randy Flaum

It would be available to all York County schools, as well as adult residents.

The cost of the project is about $10,000, which Clark plans to cover through financial or material donations of items such as paint, desk chairs, and solar panels.

The nonprofit is also looking at partnerships with Crispus Attucks York and York County School of Technology on some building elements and possible student mentoring.

Annual maintenance costs of Hope Street Learning Lab, which will increase about $5,000 with the new additions, would be offset in part by giving students the opportunity to plant and sell flowers.

Clark also plans to meet with the RDA in May to purchase the lab's property. Hope Street has an agreement with the authority to operate for a year, but does not own the property. 

Nace said it will be up to the RDA's board to decide, but the authority has been working to assemble all the Hope Street properties into one parcel. The RDA owns several, one is privately owned and two are owned by the city.

The new aquaponics classroom is slated to open by July.

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Pennsylvania Rep. Carol Hill-Evans, D-York City, speaks at the announcement of a new aquaponics classroom for Hope Street Learning Lab in February. The addition to the York City community learning center will involve soil-less hydroponic and aquaponic growing techniques in two shipping containers. The classroom is slated to be open this July.

Submitted, c/o Randy Flaum

Co-Founder And CEO of Heliponix, LLC Scott Massey Will Be Speaking About The Future of Food At The University of Michigan Tech Expo Sponsored by Google on March 13

Co-Founder and CEO of Heliponix, LLC Scott Massey will be speaking about the Future of Food at the University of Michigan Tech Expo sponsored by Google on March 13.

He will be speaking in a panel discussion with Rachel Konrad of Impossible Foods. A GroPod will also be on display to learn about its functionality from Scott in-person! 

Heliponix© provides consumers with the GroPod©, a smart garden appliance with a Seed Pod™ subscription, monthly shipments of organic certified seeds of your choice in pre-formulated pods. Our automated, hydroponic hardware combined with smart, cloud software allows anyone to become a farmer regardless of their climate, space, or existing knowledge of agriculture.

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To Purchase Your Ticket, please click here.

Users enjoy Pure Produce™ that is better for their health, and the environment by reducing water consumption and food waste through local production. It grows vegetables produce 3X faster than soil farming methods, a 500X more efficient use of land, using 95% less water without the use of pesticides.

The GroPod© is a smart garden appliance with a Seed Pod™ subscription.. Our automated, hydroponic hardware combined with smart, cloud software allows anyone ...

This accelerated growth rate, spanned over 60 planting ports, equates to the user having a head of leafy greens of their choice, every single day. Co-Founders, Scott Massey and Ivan Ball previously designed a hydroponic growth chamber at the Purdue University Horticulture College on a NASA funded research study for future space colonies; the long term goal of this NASA R&D initiative was to grow food in future space colonies.     

Check out their new GroPod© product demo video and recent coverage by The Associated Press while we were at CES. 

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Scott Massey earned his 2017 B.S. at Purdue University in Mechanical Engineering Technology and Certificate of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Scott exited a career as an engineer in the oil and natural gas industry to become a research engineer at the Purdue University Horticulture College. It was there Scott assisted in the design of a NASA funded, automated hydroponic plant growth chamber with the ultimate goal of sustainably grown food in space colonies under Dr. Cary Mitchell.

This inspired him to found Heliponix© (formerly Hydro Grow LLC) his senior year backed by Purdue Ventures Ag-celerator agricultural/biological Engineering Research Fund and Elevate Ventures.

Today the company employs several engineers and is expanding their network of GroPods deployed in the market which has been named the "Indiana's Best New Tech Product" by TechPoint through the Mira Award and "The People's Choice Award" by IFT (Institute of Food Technologists) through the Food Disruption Challenge. Scott continues to advise the Department of State through the Mandela Washington Fellowship on several aquaponic and hydroponic farms across Africa to fight food insecurity in the developing world.

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To Purchase Your Ticket, please click here.

Growing Sunflower Shoot Microgreens

Microgreens Facts

February 28, 2020

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We tend to know sunflowers as the beautiful flowers that we see while strolling through a trail, or neighborhood park. Sunflowers, although beautiful, aren’t just ornamental, but they can be used for other purposes too. The use of sunflowers has been around since the time of American Indians. The American Indian tribes would often use it for cooking, snacks and medicinal purposes. Most of us are familiar with snacking on sunflower seeds or the use of the oil through cooking, but did you know that they are also gaining popularity during the first shoot. Did you know that you can actually consume the shoots? There are incredible health benefits that come from consuming sunflower microgreens. The shoots are high in unsaturated fats, fiber, protein, calcium, iron, and other nutrients.

 Here are some facts about sunflower shoots:

1. Sunflower Sprouts contain approximately 25% protein and are a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, and E and minerals including calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and zinc.

2. Sunflower Shoots also contain, healthy fats, essential fatty acids, fiber, and phytosterols. Numerous clinical trials have demonstrated that daily consumption of foods enriched with at least 0.8 g of plant sterols or stanols lowers serum LDL cholesterol.

3. Both sunflower seeds and their shoots contain high amounts of vitamin E. Vitamin E works synergistically with vitamin C and selenium to reduce blood pressure, increase the elasticity of arteries and prevent heart disease.

4. The sunflower shoot is a natural expectorant for chest congestion: In Ayurvedic medicine, these sprouts are thought to have the ability to encourage clearance of the lungs. Natural expectorants may also be used as a preventative measure against lower respiratory infections to deter the invasion of pathogens.

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Sunflower shoots at first may not look very impressive but when applied to food they tend to steal the show. Sunflower shoots tend to elevate any dish, from throwing a few on a simple salad to a Michelin star restaurant gracefully placing a shoot on top of something extraordinary. Sunflower shoots are graced with a nutty flavor and a crunchy texture.

We love sunflower shoots so we’ll be giving you some tips on how to grow them. Here are some of our tips on how to grow them.

 Cycle: 9-11 days from seed to harvest

Soak:

1. Room temperature water, 8-12 hours

2. 60 minute sanitize can serve as soaking

Key Growing Strategies:

1. Soak seeds in room temperature water

2. Minimized, but optimized light exposure

3. Do not let lodge when covered

4. Water stress leads to hardier shoots - they can recover from severe wilt in a matter of hours

Uncovering:

1. Sunnies should be uncovered when shoots are about 2 inches long or shorter. 

2. A better indicator than shoot length is that they should be uncovered when still perfectly vertical and before the weight of covering trays causes them to lodge 

   light.

3. Minimum 2 days light in summer; 3-4 days better in winter, 4 days optimum, depending on conditions.

4. Double up cover trays to prevent light pockets through drainage holes.

5. Avoid excess or overly intense light as this can cause an undesirable texture.

Watering:

1. Do not water upon uncovering - give at least one-day stress 

2. Water consistently afterward for good growth; wet soil also makes trays easier to clean 

3. Be sure to water trays consistently - back of trays often neglected 

4. Rotate trays 180 degrees every 2 days in winter growing conditions 

5. Excess water in hot conditions creates rapid growth but a flavorless and inferior sprout 

6. Drainage is crucial 

Stressors:

1. Restricting water early in the uncovered stage leads to a redder stem and nuttier flavor 

2. Colder weather stunts growth can also cause reddened stems 

3. Excess heat causes rapid, weak growth

Disease:

1. Susceptible to mold with poor air circulation and warm, wet conditions 

2. Mold susceptibility varies between seed lots 

3. Minor disease can be present in 5-10% of trays with little effect on yield 

4. Disease presence on new seeds is to be expected as they adapt to conditions in the greenhouse; 3-5 weeks may be required for the greenhouse ecosystem to adapt to new seeds

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   These are just some general tips on how to grow sunflower shoot microgreens. We’re in love with Sunflower shoots over here at Nick Greens. If you have any questions feel free to contact us. 

Tags: microgreens sunflower micro shoots microgreen growingtips growingfood growing microgreens

growingindoors growing

Containerized Vertical Farming Company Freight Farms Secures $15 Million

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By Noah Long ● February 15, 2020

Freight Farms — a global innovation leader of containerized vertical farming — announced that it has raised $15 million in Series B funding

Freight Farms — a global innovation leader of containerized vertical farming — announced that it has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by Ospraie Ag Science. Spark Capital also participated in the round. Including this funding round, the company has raised over $28 million.

“It’s a big step forward for the industry when financial markets recognize and champion the value of creating a distributed food system,” said Freight Farms CEO Brad McNamara. “Aligned on mission-driven growth as a team, there is a massive opportunity before us to scale across global markets, propelling meaningful technology that’s already doing good.”

Freight Farms’ Greenery is able to produce over 500 varieties of crops like calendula at commercial scale year-round using 99.8% less water than traditional agriculture. Four rows of the company’s panels on a flexible moving rack system are able to house more than 8,000 living plants at once thus creating a dense canopy of fresh crops.

This round of funding will be used for advancing the Freight Farms’ platform through continued innovation with new services designed to benefit its growing global network of farmers and corporate partners. And this investment follows the announcement of Freight Farms’ strategic national partnership with Sodexo to grow food onsite at educational and corporate campuses nationwide and will support ongoing contributions to collaborative research projects and partnerships.

“Freight Farms has redefined vertical farming and made decentralizing the food system something that’s possible and meaningful right now, not in the ‘future of food,'” added Jason Mraz, President of Ospraie Ag Science. “Full traceability, high nutrition without herbicides and pesticides, year-round availability – these are elements that should be inherent to food sourcing. Freight Farms’ Greenery makes it possible to meet this burgeoning global demand from campuses, hospitals, municipal institutions, and corporate businesses, while also enabling small business farmers to meet these needs for their customers.”

Launched in 2010 by McNamara and COO Jon Friedman, Freight Farms debuted the first vertical hydroponic farm built inside an intermodal shipping container called the Leafy Green Machine with the mission of democratizing and decentralizing the local production of fresh, healthy food. And this innovation, with integral IoT data platform farmhand, launched a new category of indoor farming and propelled Freight Farms into the largest network of IoT-connected farms in the world.

Freight Farm’s 2019 launch of the Greenery raised the industry bar, advancing the limits of containerized vertical farming to put the most progressive, accessible, and scalable vertical farming technology into the hands of people of diverse industry, age, and mission.

“With the Greenery and farmhand, we’ve created an infrastructure that lowers the barrier of entry into food production, an industry that’s historically been difficult to get into,” explained Friedman. “With this platform, we’re also able to harness and build upon a wider set of technologies including cloud IoT, automation, and machine learning, while enabling new developments in plant science for future generations.”

Freight Farms has been an integral part of scientific and academic research studies in collaboration with industry-leading organizations, including NASA (exploring self-sustaining crop production) and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (exploring the integration of CRISPR seed genetics and vertical farming to create commercial opportunity). 

The company’s customers hail from education, hospitality, retail, corporate, and nonprofit sectors across 44 states and 25 countries, and include independent small business farmers — who distribute to restaurants, farmers’ markets, and businesses such as Central Market, Meijer, and Wendy’s.

Find out what's inside a converted shipping container in the parking lot of a dorm at Georgia State University. Stay tuned for a recipe that samples what's i...

INDIA: Top 5 Agritech Startup That Helps You Set Up Soil-Less Indoor Farming

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Feb 11, 2020

Hydroponics or growing plants in water or sand, rather than soil, is done using mineral nutrient solutions in a water flush.

 This indoor farming technique induces plant growth, making the process 50 percent faster than growth in soil and the method is cost-effective.

Only an expert gardener knows how tough it can be to grow plants and how much extra care it takes with special attention to soil, fertilizer, and light. One can’t get the process right and expect good yields without getting his/her hands dirty. But, to make their work a lot easy and convenient, many start-ups in India are working on hydroponics farming.

Hydroponics or growing plants in water or sand, rather than soil, is done using mineral nutrient solutions in a water flush. Moreover, this indoor farming technique induces plant growth, making the process 50 percent faster than growth in soil and the method is cost-effective. Mineral nutrient solutions are used to feed plants in water.

 Here’s a list of five start-ups in India that are innovating agriculture methods and leading the way in indoor farming.

Barton Breeze: Gurgaon based Barton Breeze is a commercial hydroponic farm specialist, using controlled sustainable technology and modern farming techniques, to create highly productive agri-models for the new-age farmer. Barton Breeze is not just a hydroponic farm developer, but also a farmer, growth consultant and a retailer. We provide end to end farm management solution and execute projects on a turnkey basis from the development of climate-controlled Polyhouse/Polycarbonate house to Aeroponic set up and training resources on how to run the farm efficiently and impart technology training. Barton Breeze combines sustainable technology and modern farming techniques, to create highly productive models for the new-age farmer. We pride ourselves on providing knowledge and the best available products to our customers. Carefully chosen and tested equipment and nutrients ensure our customers have maximum results with their microgreens.

Future Farms: Chennai based Future Farms now grows 16 crop varieties, classified under English Exotic, Asian Exotic and Indian Exotic, across 15 acres of land spread over 10 states. It recorded a $1 million turnover last year. Their primary focus is on leafy vegetables with farms spread across the country from Delhi to Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat.

Acqua Farms: Chennai based Acqua Farms grows everything from Italian basil to carom (ajwain), mint, spinach, lettuce and a host of leafy greens and herbs. Moreover, he grows these vegetables using planters made of PVC pipes. “Besides a starter kit, Acqua Farms also provides setups for larger planter systems with 24, 48, 72, 96 and going up to 1,000, depending on what the user needs. They also have a subscription-based service to those who have no knowledge of hydroponics, where, against a monthly amount, they assign the user an agronomist who takes care of their plants and monitors it once a week.

Letcetra Agritech: Goa-based Letcetra Agritech in the Mapusa area of Goa is the first such indoor hydroponic farm, which grows good quality, pesticide-free vegetables. Their farm, measuring 150 sq meters, produces tons of leafy vegetables like lettuce and salad greens, besides cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and basil. “Letcetra has expanded to include two more farms with an overall area of 2,300 square meters. The combined fresh produce from all three farms put together is about 6-8 tonnes of different varieties of lettuce and other leafy greens, per month.

BitMantis Innovations: Based out of Bengaluru, this IoT and data analytics start-up have developed its IoT solution GreenSAGE, which allows individuals and commercial growers to grow fresh herbs throughout the year with the minimum of fuss. Under GreenSage, you have the Micro Edition and Greens Edition kits that use hydroponics methods for efficient use of water and nutrients.

The Ups And Downs of Vertical Farming

The term Vertical Farming (VF) can be used to define a variety of concepts. For some, it might conjure up images of tall structures with plants growing on the outside, while others may imagine stacks of shipping containers. In essence, VF refers to the practice of building upwards, or downwards in the case of underground setups, to maximise production area for a given footprint. 

by Jon Swain

Vertical farming can offer a practical solution in places where space is limited or land value is high, such as in cities, or where conventional greenhouses would not be viable, perhaps due to space or climate. It may also be possible to create a vertical growing setup within a conventional greenhouse, if an arrangement of layers can be set up adequately, without compromising crop quality, although the height of the structure could limit what is practical.

As vertical farming establishes itself as a viable alternative to traditional methods, sustainability is really the key. Building vertically not only saves space but can also allow unconventional spaces, such as underground tunnels, to be used for growing. Additionally, VF has also been demonstrated to reduce the amount of soil and water required, with many using hydroponics, making it an option in arid regions where conventional glasshouses are not viable.

An important consideration for vertical farms is to ensure sufficient light reaches all layers of the crop. Even if using daylight, shading of the lower layers, especially in built-up areas, will reduce the amount of light reaching the crop. Most VFs will require supplementary lights; a light fitting above each layer of the crop is likely to be necessary.

Growing Underground, a London based setup, uses a hydroponic system to grow microgreens on four levels in 500m2 of tunnels 33 metres underground. With no natural light, high-efficiency LEDs are vital to give the crop the light spectrum it needs, but these still consume a large amount of energy and produce a considerable amount of heat. Chris Nelson from Growing Underground says, “the aim is to become carbon neutral, but it is still an energy intensive business. With closely packed layers, it is easy for a microclimate to form, so it is important to have good, effective climate monitoring and control to ensure sufficient air movement and to maintain an optimum growing environment.”

Fully enclosed farms (i.e. with no windows) demand complete control over the environment. While the number of external factors is reduced, it can also be expensive, as there is no access to free daylight. This could be an interesting option for anyone with access to an underground space, but “a clear business case is crucial” warns Chris Nelson.

The temperate UK climate means conventional glasshouses work well; heating demands can be met easily and light levels are usually acceptable. As such, vertical farms have typically been aimed at supplying niche markets: low volume, high value. Vertical farming may not be the ‘greenest’ solution compared to crops grown under glass in warm, sunny climes, but it does allow produce to be grown close to the market. As such, food miles can be drastically reduced.

A self-contained setup lends itself well to consistent, year-round production with a quick turnover time. A closed system, i.e. with water and nutrient recycling and heat recovery from vented air, can help improve efficiency, but disease control is vital. Careful climate management is necessary. Depending on the location, vertical farms often need a significant amount of heating or cooling, as well as some form of humidity control. Air movement is also important to maintain an active climate. All of these will use energy and contribute significantly towards operating costs, but sustainable, local food production is a benefit in itself and offers a degree of security against the myriad of factors that can adversely affect conventional production methods.

Although VF may not yet drastically reduce the industry’s environmental impact, in the UK at least, it does offer a solution to food production in areas where conventional methods just would not work. This is one of the main drivers behind VF, which can help combat the need to produce more food for an ever-expanding world population.

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For more information:
NFU Energy
024 7669 6512
www.nfuenergy.co.uk 

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Publication date: Wed 24 Apr 2019

21 Reasons To Start Container Farming In 2020

Pure Greens Arizona LLC

January 3, 2020

The beginning of a new year is a great time to pick up new hobbies, interests and maybe even start a new career!

If you’ve been thinking about getting into container farming, there has never been a better time.

In this article, you’re going to learn 21 reasons why you should start container farming in 2020.

Let’s get started!

1. Be your own boss! One of the main benefits of container farming is that you make the rules. You decide what you grow, and how you grow it. Starting a container farm can be a side hustle to make a little more money or it can become a new career! It’s really all up to you.

2. Create your perfect lifestyle. Are you struggling with finding the right work/life balance? Starting a new career in container farming could be the perfect solution. You’ve probably heard the saying “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” With container farming, you can turn your passion into a real, sustainable business.

3. Stop sitting all day. It’s been said that “sitting is the new smoking.” Starting a container farm business will get you out from behind a desk. With container farming, you will be working in your container every day! Planting, harvesting, and monitoring your crops. Starting a container business is a great way to move away from a sedentary lifestyle towards a more active one!

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4. Support your local community. Starting a container farm business is really starting a local food business. As a container farmer, you will be selling mostly to your local community at farmer’s markets, local restaurants, and even local grocery stores that want to add fresh local produce to their selections. Through this process, you will get to know your local community as you provide them with fresh, delicious nutritious food!

5. Help people eat healthier! Locally grown food is fresher, more nutritious, and safer! When you sell local produce, you grow in your container farm, you are improving the health of your community. Especially if you live in what’s known as a food desert. A food desert is an urban area where it can be difficult to buy affordable or good quality food. Food deserts happen for a variety of reasons from harsh climates that make it difficult to grow produce to communities not having good quality roads to allow in food trucks. With a container farm business, you can set up shop in a food desert and be the only supplier of quality affordable produce.

6. Save water. Container farms use less water than traditional farming techniques. Traditional farming is responsible for 80% of the entire US’s water usage! What you might not know is that growing a normal head of lettuce using traditional farming, uses a whopping 3.5 gallons of water! Now contrast that with a head of lettuce grown on a container farm which only uses about 1/10th of a gallon of water total! Every head of lettuce grown with a container farm saves more than 3 gallons of water! And as we all know water is a consumable resource, not a renewable one, so every gallon of water saved helps the planet in a big way!

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7. Give people safer food. Remember when Chipotle had that E-coli outbreak in 2016? How about in November of 2019, when an E-coli outbreak got so bad that it lead to the recalling of Romaine lettuce in California? Just because the food comes from a supermarket or a fast-food chain doesn’t make it safe. In fact, a quick google search for “produce recalls” will show you exactly how unsafe some of the food you are being sold truly is. When you start container farming, you can be sure that you are providing safe food that won’t make people sick.

8. Save money on taxes. Starting a business is tax-deductible. That means that you can write off or depreciate a portion of all the money you spend on your container farm business.

9. Fill a missing niche in the market. Most produce is grown and sold seasonally, which is why cherries, for example, are only available for a very short time period. But when you use a container farm, you don’t have to worry about seasons or weather. That means that you can harvest crops that would normally be out of season, filling a niche in the existing food marketplace in your city.

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10. Join the local food movement. According to Wikipedia “Local food movements aim to connect food producers and consumers in the same geographic region, to develop more self-reliant and resilient food networks; improve local economies; or to affect the health, environment, community, or society of a particular place. The term has also been extended to include not only the geographic location of supplier and consumer but can also be “defined in terms of social and supply chain characteristics.” For example, local food initiatives often promote sustainable and organic farming practices, although these are not explicitly related to the geographic proximity of producer and consumer.” By starting a container farm, you join with the local food movement in your city.

11. Provide jobs to your local community. When you start a container farm business, you’re going to need some help. Which means you will be providing jobs to your community. But more than that you will be creating a sustainable, beneficial job that helps bring safe, nutritious, healthy food to your community. That’s what we call paying it forward.

12. There are therapeutic benefits to farming! Gardening has long been renowned for its relaxing qualities but there are tangible therapeutic benefits to farming as well. “A ten percent increase in nearby green space was found to decrease a person’s health complaints in an amount equivalent to a five-year reduction in that person’s age” according to the Gardening Matters nonprofit of Minneapolis’ page, “Multiple Benefits of Community Gardens.” Farming also reduces stress! An experiment published in the Journal of Health Psychology compared the relaxation benefits of reading and gardening and found that farming subjects experienced more relaxation than those that read.

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13. Grow food across generations. With a container farm, you can spread your love for farming to your parents, kids, and even grandkids. A container farm business is perfect for anyone of any age who wants to learn more about growing food. Some container farm owners we know even set up camps to teach kids how to farm and earn a nice profit in the process! Plus, you can pass down your container farm to your kids just like any other business.

14. Container Farms can be set up and ready to go in a few hours. With most business opportunities you must wait a long time to get started. For example, if you were to buy a McDonald’s franchise, you would need to wait for the permits, construction, hiring, and delivery of equipment like fryers and soda machines. But with a container farm, you can have everything set up and ready to deploy in just a few hours. No muss, no fuss.

15. Manage your crops from your smartphone. With regular farming you need to get out there and see what’s going on with things like pests, watering and monitoring ph. levels. With a container farm, you can monitor everything from your smartphone with the growlink app.

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16. Grow more food in less space. Another reason to start container farming in 2020 is that you can grow a lot of food in a little space. With an 8 X 40 container farm you can harvest up to 400lbs of herbs or leafy greens per month!

17. Save on water and energy. Container farming is WAY more energy efficient than traditional farming! A report by Urban Agnews showed a Swedish based company Spisa Smaker saved 48% more electricity than when compared with traditional farming! Additionally, using a closed-loop irrigation system like those found in most container farms saves around 50% more water than traditional farming as well. Container farming helps you save money and consume fewer resources while producing high-quality food.

18. Reduce your footprint by planting without soil. One of the main reasons traditional farming uses so much space, energy and water is because it requires soil. Every crop planted using traditional farming monopolizes the land that they are planted on at least for the growing season if not forever. Soil can also affect where and when you can and cannot plant crops. For instance, areas with limited soil, icy or snow-covered soil or even soil that has become contaminated can be difficult for crops to grow in. But with a container farm, you don’t have to worry about the soil at all! With a hydroponic system like the ones, we use here at Pure Greens AZ plants absorb nutrients directly from a water-based nutrient delivery system.

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19. Grow pesticide and herbicide-free crops! With traditional farming, you’ll need to use pesticides or herbicides to protect your crops from a variety of pests. Most farmers do this with pesticides or herbicides. Now some of these pesticides are natural and not that harmful, while others like Roundup have been linked to cancer. With container farming, you can use all-natural pesticides like Neem leaves, salt sprays, and Eucalyptus oil. Growing crops without harsh pesticides and herbicides is a great way to produce safer food for your community.

20. You can grow a wide variety of crops. With container farming, you are not limited to the crops that grow naturally in a location or crops that are seasonal. Container farming allows you to grow a wide variety of crops based on what you want to grow, not other factors like soil conditions or weather patterns.

21. Experience fast and consistent growth. Container farms can grow crops incredibly quickly as you can see in this video of the Pure Greens team harvesting 14 lbs. of Kale in an hr.! But it’s not just speed, container farming also allows you to grow crops consistently in areas where otherwise you would not be able to like areas with heavy winters or food deserts!

There you have it 20 great reasons why you should start container farming in 2020!

And if you need some help or want to learn more about the state-of-the-art turnkey container farms, we build here at Pure Greens head over to our website or give us a call at 602–753–3469.

Containers Container Farming Indoor Farming Agriculture