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UAE To Launch Hydroponic Vertical Farming in 2020
Set to launch in Q3 of 2020, the vertical farming company Smart Acres will be set up in Abu Dhabi, with an aim to expand across the UAE
With a mission to improve food security and support UAE local farms
Darragh Murphy
June 03, 2020
With the UAE making strides in agriculture, and now competing globally by marketing fresh local produce, it’s now adding to this by launching a new hydroponic vertical farm.
Set to launch in Q3 of 2020, the vertical farming company Smart Acres will be set up in Abu Dhabi, with an aim to expand across the UAE.
The new systems aim to develop the UAE’s farming capabilities, along with improving food security to potential socioeconomic threats, such as pandemics, and to help businesses locally source food produce from UAE farms.
The company has designed farm modules using an IoT-based technology system to grow and monitor their produce, a system that consumes less resources and generates ultra-high quality crops.
Smart Acres’ vertical farming method completely reduces water waste, depletion of nutrients in soil, and infestation of insects, along with the elimination of any pesticides.
Currently, the company is producing a variety of lettuce and herbs, such as green glace, oakleaf, lollo rosso, and shiso, with plans to eventually grow baby spinach, mature spinach, and baby arugula.
Looking for locally sourced greens and can’t get enough fresh fruit, vegetable, and more? Check out these organic markets to shop at.
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ABU DHABI: US Educator Outlines Urban Farming Vision in ADIBF Virtual Session
American educator, urban farmer, and innovator Stephen Ritz revealed how his tower garden-growing technology is flourishing in the UAE during the latest Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, ADIBF, Virtual Session
ABU DHABI, 2nd June 2020 (WAM)
American educator, urban farmer, and innovator Stephen Ritz revealed how his tower garden-growing technology is flourishing in the UAE during the latest Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, ADIBF, Virtual Session.
The talk, titled ‘Changing the World with the Power of a Plant’, on Thursday covered Ritz’s rise to fame through his innovative teaching methods in some of the USA’s poorest communities, his ongoing projects in the UAE, and the numerous books he has published.
As the 30th edition of ADIBF has been postponed until next year, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, has instead organized the virtual sessions for scheduled guests to present their talks online, so viewers can watch safely in their homes.
Ritz, who has become known as ‘America’s Favourite Teacher’, has spawned a green movement through the changes he brought to the school where he taught in the South Bronx, New York. Utilizing hydroponics and aquaponics, he began to grow plants in the classroom, which in turn encouraged his students to follow sustainable and healthy lifestyles.
He first came to the UAE in 2015 as one of the ten finalists in the Global Teacher Prize. While he didn’t win, he used his runner-up prize money to create the Green Bronx Machine, a curriculum for a green classroom, which is now being taught around the world.
His work caught the attention of Dr. Abdulla Al Karam, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director-General of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, KHDA, in Dubai, who invited Ritz back to the UAE. Soon Ritz was visiting schools, universities, and businesses here to explain his methods. He also began working alongside Sheikh Dr. Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Nuaimi, the Environmental Advisor to the Government of Ajman, who is also known as the ‘Green Sheikh’ for his environmental work. The pair are currently authoring a book called Bringing the Farm to the Desert to be released in 2021.
Ritz also works with Esol Education, the international network of private schools that operates many schools across the UAE, and has been appointed as its Director of Health, Wellness and Innovation. He is now based at Fairgreen International School in The Sustainable City, Dubai, hence he says he now thinks of the UAE as his "second home".
Ritz said he enjoys nothing more than meeting children, inspiring teachers, inspiring healthy living, and inspiring healthy learning for everyone across the UAE through his passion, purpose, and hope.
With the 30th edition of the ADIBF postponed until next year, the DCT Abu Dhabi has launched a series of live virtual broadcasts to showcase artists and authors and open up new creative conversations with readers.
The virtual sessions will run until Monday, 15th June 2020, and feature ten speakers from around the world, to discuss a wide variety of themes – from history and education to entertainment and science – designed to appeal a wide audience of different age groups and tastes.
Other ADIBF Virtual Sessions have featured the Swedish behavioral expert Thomas Erikson, military survival specialist John Hudson; Lemn Sissay, the award-winning British-Ethiopian poet; and Annabel Karmel, the children’s cookbook author.
WAM/Tariq alfaham/Nour Salman
VeggiTech Builds and Operates Digital Smart Farms For Customers
In conversation with Hemant Julka, Chief Operating Officer, VeggiTech
By GN Focus | May 28, 2020 | Gulf News
In conversation with Hemant Julka, Chief Operating Officer, VeggiTech
Could you tell us about VeggiTech and its operations in the UAE?
VeggiTech is an agro-tech organisation focused on disrupting the agriculture industry to create sustainable and eco-friendly farms. We focus on LED-assisted hydroponics for indoor vertical farms and protected hydroponics to farm sustainably even in the UAE’s challenging conditions, where soil, temperature and water are not conducive to traditional farming. Our farming landscape has grown to over 60 acres of protected hydroponic farms and more than 45,000 sq ft of indoor vertical farms, with a team of over 150 qualified agronomists, engineers and farmers.
How could you help traditional farms in the country incorporate hydroponic farming practices?
VeggiTech’s business model is to build and operate digital smart farms for our customers. We drive the transformation of farms with these innovative technologies in a cost-effective manner. The year 2019 saw more than 35 acres of traditional farms converted into protected hydroponics and the introduction of 45,000 sq ft of indoor vertical farms in Sharjah alone.
Given our expertise, we ensure the latest innovation in farming technology is delivered with optimal return on investment for our customers.
Could you talk about a couple of key projects that you have handled recently?
Some of our recent successes were the conversion of a traditional farms (640,000 sq ft) into modern protected hydroponic farms and the commissioning of the indoor vertical farm of 25,000 sq ft grow area. Our protected hydroponics technologies provide a harvest of 40-45kg per sq m per annum, while our indoor vertical farms provide a harvest of 85-90kg per sq m per annum using less than 5 percent of the water used in traditional farming.
What initiatives have you taken to create more awareness on hydroponics and other innovative farming technologies for a sustainable agricultural ecosystem in the UAE?
Education is key for long term sustainable impact. We work closely with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE). Our Chief Agronomy Officer, Bhaskar Rao, leads our Learning Hub platform that hosts the Urban Grower’s programme for students, parents and teachers. We have had more than 50 graduate participants from the programme.
What’s Next For Vertical Farming? Proprietary Strawberries And Other Non-Leafy Produce
Agtech investment firm AgFunder announced this week that it has added agtech company SinGrow to its investment portfolio for an undisclosed sum
Agtech investment firm AgFunder announced this week that it has added agtech company SinGrow to its investment portfolio for an undisclosed sum. AgFunder founding partner Michael Dean wrote in a post that SinGrow “isn’t just looking to be another vertical farmer selling leafy greens.” Instead, the company uses a combination of plant biology, hydroponic vertical farming, and other technologies to grow what it hopes will be a range of produce types, starting with its own novel varieties of strawberries.
As Dean lays out in his post, SinGrow has developed a vertical farming solution that addresses every stage of a plant’s agricultural journey, from breeding to harvesting. (Most vertical farm solutions do not address plant breeding.) It breeds strawberry varieties adapted to humid weather and has two proprietary strawberry cultivators specifically developed for Singapore’s tropical climate. Both of those things mean SinGrow’s system uses less energy because it needs less air conditioning pumped in to cool the facility and reach the ideal growing temperature for the strawberries.
The company also grows the plants on a strawberry-specific rack it has developed, where the plants grow outward instead of upward. That in turn allows a harvesting robot to drive alongside the rack and simply snip the strawberries off rather than pick them.
Why strawberries? Well, first, they’ve been a hobby of SinGrow cofounder Bao Shengjie, who has been cross-breeding strawberry seeds since 2016. That particular fruit was of interest to the founders because it’s difficult to actually get in Singapore, at least at an affordable price point. SinGrow lists expenses, poor taste, and an unstable supply chain as reasons strawberries are difficult for the average consumer to buy in that region.
The company has this neat explainer video that delves more into the specifics on how it grows its strawberries.
Singapore also relies on imports for about 90 percent of its foods, hence the Singaporean government’s 30x30 initiative launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Singapore should have 30 percent of its foods produced domestically by 2030.
On that note, SinGrow hopes to soon move beyond strawberries to grow grapes, saffron, and other crops, according to Dean’s post.
A (very small) handful of companies are also exploring what else they can grow beyond the leafy green. UK-based Phytoponics is trialing a system for plants like cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. And a while back, San Francisco startup Plenty said it wanted to grow “exotic” produce on its farm Tigris. To date, though, the company’s website still offers only leafy green varieties.
If a company like SinGrow can show others how to use biology, technology, and farming to grow a greater assortment of produce items, it could change vertical farming’s role in our system from an add-on method to a primary source for getting certain fruits and vegetables. It’s early days yet, but the technology looks to be moving in that direction.
Hydroponics - A Growing Trend in Architecture
Hydroponics might as well be the most sustainable way to feed the growing communities in moving forward. It is most efficient to grow leafy vegetables in vertical farms. Compared to traditional farms, vertical farms use 90% less land, gives 90% more fruit, and uses 90-98% less water with no soil.
‘In which Annie gives it those ones’, a movie that came out in the year 1989 featuring an honest life of a typical architecture college and its students. The principal figure is a titular character – Annie, or Anand Grover (played by Arjun Raina) who dreams of revolutionizing India through radical concepts. With a motive to reverse the whole process of urbanization, he suggests the growth of fruit farms alongside railway lines to make better use of excreta dumped on tracks by passing trains. This would end the migration from rural villages to urban cities. Such hare-brained schemes are “those ones” of the title – hippy-dippy fantasies of using architecture to be of some use of society. He questions in the movie, how could anyone else have not thought of the idea before he did. Well, the real scenario was even worse until hydroponics occupied its seat in the field of Architecture.
Farmlands in urban cities ©www.dezeen.com
Hydroponics Brings Farmlands To Urban Cities
With the rapid change in the world, there is a proportional decline in land availability and the quality of the soil. Resources like freshwater are left to count on throughout the world. By the year 2050, the population figure is predicted to rise to 9 billion and at the same time climate change could lower crop production by 25%.
Currently, with the expansion of cities & exhaustion of the rural lands, a vegetable growing on farmland travels about 2400 km before it reaches households. To keep it fresh and edible, it is sprayed by pesticides and chemicals. The food that one eats thus gets reduced to 50% of its nutrients, even 100% in some cases. Hence, the future of farming is being brought to cities across the world. Kimble Musk, brother of Elon Musk, and co-founder of Square Roots has a shipping container farm in Brooklyn. Under the streets of London there is a shelter being converted into an underground farm. There are tiny farms under Michelin Star Restaurants in New York City and a Tokyo office building which has its own rice paddy field in the lobby.
Vertical Farming in True Garden, Arizona ©www.usatoday.com
Hydroponics might as well be the most sustainable way to feed the growing communities in moving forward. It is most efficient to grow leafy vegetables in vertical farms. Compared to traditional farms, vertical farms use 90% less land, gives 90% more fruit, and uses 90-98% less water with no soil. The UN estimates that 20-40% of crops that are grown are destroyed by pests. So, growing in a closed environment without soil means no pests and thus, no pesticides. Tower Garden collaborated with Tower Farms to birth True Gardens in Arizona, USA. It is one of the major successful examples who have envisioned to drastically reduce the regional agricultural problems against the temperatures and lack of resources.
Hydroponics In Small-Scale Projects
Courtyards in office space ©www.archdaily.com
Backyards ©www.wallpaper.com
While people are getting under built concrete to fabricate urban farms in the cities, some architects open a new aspect of Hydroponics in the field of Architecture. C.C Arquitectos – an architectural firm in Mexico, designed a contemporary office that meets modern hydroponics. The site became a major driving force for this project. The building block is located between two production warehouses of leafy green vegetables. The project was intended to resolve the location of offices in a space that made emphasis on the constant interaction of the areas.
The context consists of agricultural fields that generate deep horizons. This became the second aspect the architect wanted to address: how to contain workspaces, bring a human scale to the whole, and provide visual breaks. He took advantage of the proximity to one of the production plant warehouses to visually involve the production process. It was intended to promote a friendly atmosphere, take distance from the corporate condition, and try to approach a community working for common purposes. This example shall inspire one, and all the designers to break the stereotypical boundary of application of hydroponics that limits to only vertical farming.
Hydroponics Meets Art
Before you proceed to read further, I would like you to take a pause and imagine –what if, hydroponics meets art and architecture with a pinch of technology? In advance of you declaring the amalgamation impossible, I would like to introduce a project known as Kinetic Green Canvas, built by Associative Data (BAD) along with Green Studios to create a prototype green art installation for building façades.
The Canvas consists of individual modules, each of which is a cube made from a steel framework, back paneling, L-shaped jambs, secondary structure, waterproofing board, irrigation piping, Green Studios hydroponic skin, and plants. These layered components are assembled on four sides of the cube module, with a motor and water pipe attachment that circulates water throughout. Varied shades of green grass are grown on each face and can create changeable ‘pixel’ art. All we need is art and plants to cheer up the neighborhood, so why not combine the best of both worlds?
Kinetic module ©www.materialdistrict.com
Stacking rows of pixel units’ ©www.materialdistrict.com
Kinetic green canvas creating art ©www.architectureanddesign.com
Hydroponics Builds A Tiny Ecosystem
Solar power at top level ©www.smithsonianmag.com
Fish farming at bottom level; ©www.smithsonianmag.com
Amidst the sea or river, grows a field yielding tons of vegetables, fruits, and fish each year! Barcelona-based architectural firm – Forward Thinking Architecture floats an idea of a complete ecosystem. With the ideology of no land-no problem, the firm proposes ‘Smart Floating Farms’; large triple-decker agriculture barges that feature fish farms down below, hydroponic gardens up top and, solar panels on the roof to keep things running. The designers contend that all of this could, in theory, operate pretty much automatically with minimal human intervention. A project takes the right direction when the classical elements merge together to support life and are self-sufficiently sustainable.
The extent of Hydroponics spreads exponentially more and beyond. It has been experimented in the farming sector and is successfully solving major world crises in the present and for the coming future. The growing trend in architecture shall meet advanced technology and who knows, we might even have growing buildings using hydroponics! Contradicting what we’ve always been taught – I would recommend building castles in the air. It could be one significant bridge for the human race to jump to productive architecture.
Architectural Journalist
Rethinking The Future
Tanushree Saluja is constantly inspired by connecting different forms of art and translating into architectural experiences. She strives for the eccentricity that’s interminable in the mind of the receiver. Bringing in fresh perspectives and unique outlook has been the greatest challenge and reward to her creativity.
PAKISTAN: Responding Creatively To Crisis With Non-Traditional Farming
Vertical gardens and microgardens have enjoyed new popularity in recent years, which the COVID-19 pandemic may catalyze further
27/05/2020
Rehman produces okra, gourds, melons, and tomatoes in the two tunnel garden units he built in the back yard of his home in Aka Khel, a town in one of Pakistan’s most food-insecure regions. Each less than a meter wide, these creative and economical structures are a type of low-technology greenhouse, consisting of steel tubes clad with a plastic covering and lined with irrigation hoses.
FAO helped him install these earlier this year and now “it’s a relief at a time when markets and transports are closed due to the pandemic,” he says. He is one of the millions of people around the world responding creatively to mitigate the pandemic’s disruptions to the food supply chain, which risk making food less available where it is needed most due both to logistical bottlenecks and declining incomes triggered by the health emergency. In this scenario, solutions that shorten the food supply chain, including vertical and urban farming have taken on new importance.
Despite the fact that prices for wheat and rice, staple foods for Pakistani families, rose sharply in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province due to COVID-19 restrictions on movement, Rehman was still able to feed his family. With the produce from his garden, they also have a more diversified diet. FAO, working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), also helped 75 of Rehman’s neighbors build tunnel farms, which help lengthen cropping seasons, intensify yields and boost local availability of fresh nutritious produce. Rehman says his tomato plants are producing five to ten times as much as they would in an open field.
Farming vertically
Vertical gardens and microgardens have enjoyed new popularity in recent years, which the COVID-19 pandemic may catalyze further. The former are often high-tech urban facilities allowing vegetables to grow indoors or outdoors using hydroponics while the latter are tiny farming plots that fit in urban settings. Both can offer high-yield opportunities to grow leafy green vegetables and other high-value food crops. Restaurants are even engaging in a type of microgarden, also called “precision indoor farming”, thanks to a company in Budapest, Tungsram, that was the first to patent the modern light bulb. Today it produces a closet-sized cabinet with computer-controlled lighting and temperatures and an integrated hydroponics system that allows businesses to create their own indoor gardens with minimal labor. Vertical farms, on the other hand, are often large urban operations, housed in old warehouses or basements. Some practitioners can even duplicate conditions needed to grow the world-famous basil from Italy or the prized Omakase strawberry from Japan.
But vertical farming isn’t just a trend in developed countries. In Kibera, a densely populated part of Nairobi, households use sack gardens made from local sisal fibers to grow onions and spinach without blocking alleyways. In Kampala, locals stack wooden crates around a central composting chamber and use old plastic water bottles for a precision-drop irrigation system to grow kale.
In Dakar, FAO helped galvanize microgardens as a food and nutrition strategy for poor households vulnerable to malnutrition. Today the city, with the participation of thousands of middle-class families, runs that program, which relies on one square meter structures made of coconut fibers to facilitate soil-less cultivation. “It’s ideal for short-cycle, high-value horticultural crops, including mushrooms and spices,” says Rémi Nono Womdim, Deputy Director of FAO’s Plant Production and Protection Division.
There are a host of extra benefits compared to open-field farming, including the possibility to reduce water use, limit pesticide applications and produce year-round, garnering additional income and insurance against temporary interruptions of normal access to food, he says. In Cairo, elaborate rooftop gardens can reduce ambient temperatures by as much as seven degrees Celsius.
Urban farming & greener cities
A longtime advocate of engineering greener cities and a lead author of FAO’s landmark report on efforts to do so in lower-income cities, Nono Womdim estimates that more than 360 million urban residents in Africa and Latin America alone already engage in some form of urban or peri-urban horticulture. The trick is to recognize their efforts with policy frameworks that ensure they have access to necessary inputs – including some form of land tenure as well as access to water and energy. Urban gardens and shorter food supply chains also underscore how food security depends on access to nutritious food, Nono Womdim says. “Additional benefits include reducing food waste and minimizing packaging,” he adds.
Producing locally may not always be the answer, but as the COVID-19 emergency has highlighted, in times of crisis, every little bit helps in reducing food insecurity. By the same logic, rudimentary vertical farming makes a lot of sense in extreme and remote conditions. The case is even stronger for ensuring that food systems can innovatively respond to natural disasters, conflict, or the chronic stresses expected to intensify with climate change.
That is why FAO is urging policymakers to facilitate shorter supply chains as a complement that can add sustainability, inclusion, and nutritional value to the world’s remarkably efficient production systems for staple carbohydrates. In the Khyber highlands, Rehman agrees. He’s already installed an additional tunnel unit at his own expense and enjoys his transformation from someone who always had to look for extra income to support his family to someone keen to keep his children in school and who people in the region seek out for advice. “I am very motivated now,” he says.
Tags: COVID-19, FOOD CRISIS, FOOD INSECURITY, FOOD SECURITY, VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES, FOOD CHAIN, AGRICULTURE, FARMERS, CLIMATE CHANGE, CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE,
VIDEO: VeggiTech - Vegetation Technology Redefined
VeggiTech is an Agro technology start up with the sole aim of disrupting the agriculture industry
VeggiTech is an Agro technology start up with the sole aim of disrupting the agriculture industry. VeggiTech obsesses on addressing the key challenges of traditional farming – soil, temperature and water through its design of protected Hydroponics and Grow Lights assisted Hydroponics.
VeggiTech stands for Vegetation technology redefined and has currently chosen the harsh conditions of UAE to demonstrate these technologies in farms that are open for Investors, Students and Consumers to experience. The Leadership team firmly believes in moving beyond presentations and demonstrating technology that provides the Return on Investment in a live functional environment.
Lead Image Credit: Supplied
Show Gives Grower a Chance to Show Off its Uniqueness
We want to be able to talk to a wider span of people with this show,” says Don Helms of Rockingham, VA-based That’s Tasty. “It’s new territory so we’re looking at interesting and unique ways to interact with people.”
For one vertical indoor organic grower, this year’s United Fresh LIVE! is a chance to potentially reach a broader audience.
“We want to be able to talk to a wider span of people with this show,” says Don Helms of Rockingham, VA-based That’s Tasty. “It’s new territory so we’re looking at interesting and unique ways to interact with people.”
The show, taking place this year June 15-19, gives That’s Tasty a chance to share with participants how it differs from others in the marketplace. “We call our facilities BioFarms because unlike other indoor growers, we are USDA Certified Organic and grow in a soil medium” says Helms. “It’s vertically growing in soil and it’s different in that regard. It makes the plants heartier with better flavors and colors and shelf life is also improved.”
Leafy options
That’s Tasty will be part of the Controlled Environment Pavilion where it hopes to display its line of culinary herbs that are living plants and fresh-cut as well as its leafy greens including large-leaf lettuce filets, cut-leaf iceberg, a red and green lettuce mix and more. The show is timed well in that these leafy greens, which are in limited distribution currently and grown in That’s Tasty’s Elkwood, VA BioFarm will be moving into the next phase of distribution.
Helms says that while demand recently for herbs and leafy greens had been erratic due to the pandemic-related shift in the way consumers were buying food, it’s more recently leveled out. “Overall, business is back on a similar track to where we were,” he says.
In fact, the recent spike in home cooking that North Americans have taken to during the pandemic may be something for That’s Tasty to tap into. “We think a lot of those behaviors are going to continue as people are more into cooking at home and being more adventurous with culinary creations involving fresh herbs and greens,” says Helms.
For more information:
Don Helms
That’s Tasty
Tel: +1 (540) 896-6939 ext. 2130
dhelms@thatstasty.com
www.thatstasty.com
Publication date: Tue 26 May 2020
Author: Astrid Van Den Broek
© HortiDaily.com
UAE Farm Tech To The Fore
New technologies are helping the country make more of its own produce
New technologies are helping the country make more of its own produce
Over a span of just six months, Covid-19 has not only changed the way we work, celebrate occasions and stay healthy but also forced countries to take a hard look at how they feed their residents. “I believe the current pandemic has provided us the opportunity to completely reimagine the global food system,” says Tony Hunter, a global food futurist.
Going urban
One of the factors pushing the global agri-tech agenda is the growth and increasing density of cities. “By 2050, more than two thirds of the world’s population is forecasted to live in cities,” explains Smitha Paresh, Executive Director of Greenoponics, a UAE-based retailer of commercial and consumer hydroponics systems, adding that urban agriculture will be crucial for feeding burgeoning urban populations.
“On a macro level, we will see a rise in urban farming, mostly using high-tech farming methods such as hydroponics, aeroponics or aquaponics.” Paresh cites Singapore’s conversion of car parks into urban farm centres as an example. “In the UAE, as per the national food security strategy for 2017-2021, we have already witnessed a huge increase in climate-controlled greenhouses all over the country.”
Arable environments
For Hunter, who spoke about potential silver linings of Covid-19 at a recent Gulfood webinar, new technologies present the best means of achieving domestic self-sufficiency. “They can release countries from the tyrannies of arable land and water stress.” He singles out algal products that rely on low rainfall and can use seawater; cultivated meat and biomass products; cell-based products such as milk proteins; and synthetic biology that can manufacture a range of food products.
Over the long term, Ravindra Shirotriya, CEO, VeggiTech, believes there are three critical areas for sustainable farming in the UAE. The first is precision agriculture, which focuses on growing conditions for plants using hyperbaric chambers and nanotechnology-based organic nutrition. Photo bio-reactors, meanwhile, can cultivate food-grade algae such as spirulina. Finally, Shirotriya cites smart farms, which work with smart cities to create harvest plans based on real-time data on food demand and consumption within communities. “This will address our current broken food ecosystem, where we waste 35 percent of food while 15 percent of the world population goes to sleep hungry.”
VeggiTech’s primary focus is on setting up LED-assisted hydroponics for indoor vertical farms and protected hydroponics for sustainable farming in the UAE.
In terms of crop production, Avinash Vora, Co-founder of Aranya Farms, says new technologies aim to boost yields, reduce waste and grow produce entirely. “Technology is being applied at every stage, whether for plant seeding, monitoring growth, managing water, energy conservation, harvesting and packaging. “We are making huge strides adapting all of them here in the UAE; the interest and investments in agriculture prove that.”
For Philippe Peguilhan, Country Manager of Carrefour UAE at Majid Al Futtaim Retail, the UAE had already been seeking self-reliance in food production, but coronavirus amped up its importance. “The disruption that Covid-19 caused to the supply chain highlighted the importance of local produce and presented an excellent opportunity for local farmers to grab a greater share of the market.” Majid Al Futtaim recently made headlines for opening the UAE’s third, and Dubai’s first, in-store hydroponics farm.
Hydroponic hope
Hydroponics is one agri-tech that’s attracting keen investor interest. “As an indicator, Madar Farms’ 7,000-sq-m factory will produce 365 tons of tomatoes a year, and about 14,000 tons of cherry vine tomatoes were consumed in the UAE in 2019,” says Hunter. “There’s therefore the market opportunity for 38 Madar farms in the UAE for tomatoes alone. Add in other nutrient-dense crops such as cucumbers, peppers and leafy greens. Depending upon their size, we could be looking at several hundred businesses.”
On an individual level, more people are leaning towards home farming, especially towards soil-less cultivation since it is simple and easy, according to Paresh. “It guarantees a certain amount of yield. Home farming will be on the rise, considering the disruption we may face in trying times like this.”
As with most technologies, Hunter says the biggest challenge of hydroponics is profitability. “Fortunately, the costs of technology inputs required to optimise hydroponic production efficiencies are falling rapidly. This drop, together with simultaneous increases in performance, is driving down the costs of hydroponics, making acceptable ROIs much easier to achieve.” He adds that economies of scale can help achieve good ROIs. “Currently most farms are in the 1-2 ton per day range but farms of 50 tons per day are being projected by as early as 2025.”
Sustainability challenges
“Challenges in building our own farm were access to sufficient and cost-effective electricity; renewable sources of water; and the availability of locally made raw materials, specifically growing media, nutrients and seeds. With seeds we are adapting — we have been growing our own seeds but having a library of seeds to choose from that are suitable for our climate and environment would be a huge boon to all farmers.”
— Avinash Vora, Co-founder of Aranya Farms
By Riaz Naqvi, Staff Writer | Gulf News | May 28, 2020
VIDEO: Local Hydroponic Farm Continues Pop-Up Produce Markets Through Pandemic
The farm is a mostly wholesale produce operation, selling their vegetables in bulk to be distributed around the region, but they say they felt a need to keep local produce flowing into the community, while many chain grocery store shelves were running low
By Rachael Penton and Ben Gauthier
May 21, 2020
ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - The hydroponic tubes at GrayWalk Farms in Alexandria are full of fresh heads of butter and romaine lettuce, mustard greens, and herbs like basil.'
Source: KALB
Lately, all that home-grown goodness has been making it onto dinner plates more often here in Cenla.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, GrayWalk Farms has been selling their produce at pop-up markets at places like Little Cakes with Big Attitude and Beans N Cream Coffee, while the Alexandria Farmer's Market has been closed."
We've been doing it for about six weeks now and it's really worked out well. The community seems to really embrace it,” said owner Jay Pearson.
The farm is a mostly wholesale produce operation, selling their vegetables in bulk to be distributed around the region, but they say they felt a need to keep local produce flowing into the community, while many chain grocery store shelves were running low."
Since the pandemic we've seen that there is a big need since they've shut down the farmer's markets, to be able to go out and open ourselves to the community and give them some fresh produce,” added Pearson.
According to a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, food prices in America during the month of April saw the biggest one month increase since 1974, increasing by 2.6 percent.
While the prices of many grocery items continue rising in the U.S. because of supply chain disruptions and a larger demand for groceries with many people staying home more often, GrayWalk said they expect to produce prices to remain steady. Especially on produce here at home, where it's harvested on a weekly basis in a sterile environment, with no travel time to your table."People really appreciate that and there's a big difference in taste too,” says Pearson. "There's nothing like supporting your local businesses. There's going to be a big shift in this community going local and trying to seek out that fresh produce. Whatever may be in season, they're going to be looking for it because they've gotten a taste."
To find out where the next pop-up produce market is, follow GrayWalk Farms on Facebook.
Grow Your Own Food At Home
Launched in 2017, Dubai-based Greenoponics Agricultural Services, which focuses on soil-less cultivation methodologies, is a trendsetter in sustainable farming practices, helping UAE residents to start their own vegetable patches at homes, offices, and commercial spaces.“
Greenoponics Can Provide Solutions Through Hydroponics and
Aquaponics Techniques
May 28, 2020
Hanging hydroponic system from GreenoponicsImage Credit: Supplied
Growing food sustainably in the UAE is no easy feat. However, new technologies and innovative farming practices are pushing more city dwellers to grow vegetables, greens, and herbs in their homes.
Launched in 2017, Dubai-based Greenoponics Agricultural Services, which focuses on soil-less cultivation methodologies, is a trendsetter in sustainable farming practices, helping UAE residents to start their own vegetable patches at homes, offices, and commercial spaces.“
Urban farming can improve the UAE’s food security, reducing dependence on imports,” says Smitha Paresh, Executive Director, Greenoponics.“We can provide solutions through hydroponics and aquaponics techniques, along with greenhouses and net houses for commercial, residential, and institutional purposes.”
Greenoponics, which is part of the Happy Holdings group, has installed several systems on rooftops of building and in kitchen gardens at homes, at camp accommodation facilities, schools, and restaurants and institutional premises.“Our systems have been able to yield six kgs of tomatoes per plant in three months and 20kgs of leafy greens per square metre in one month,” she says.“
Hydroponics-based techniques such as nutrient film technique (NFT) and Dutch bucket system (DBS), can be easily installed on rooftops and even on balconies, thus having many benefits,” Smitha says.“
These include 70–80 percent less consumption of water, automated controls, lower pest attacks, the guaranteed yield from less space, and highly nutritious vegetables, fruits, and greens.“
Furthermore, hydroponics-based farming contributes to sustainability, food safety and security, water conservation, and resource optimization,” Smitha explains.
Greenoponics has also developed and marketed unique mini-hydroponic systems for growing various fruiting vegetables such as okra, aubergine, capsicum, and gourds. Using these systems, people can grow more than 20 plants in just one square metre area.“We have installed greenhouses and net houses, with Dronii-DBS and Eva-NFT systems, at various public schools run by the Ministry of Education, several schools of GEMS Group, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid School for Girls, Sheikh Hamdan Innovation Center for Youth and Al Ghurair farms. We will be part of Dubai EXPO at the sustainability pavilion for hydroponic systems,” she says, adding, “Greenoponics was selected by DEWA for the Innovation Week in 2018 to showcase its innovative technology. We have also bagged the Ajman University Innovation Center Award for our products and services.”
For more information on the company, visit Greenoponics.com
Hydroponic Microgreens 2: Marketing Microgreens Feat. Nick Greens
A big thank you to Nick Greens for all the helpful insights he shared with us! Learn more about Nick by visiting Nick Greens Grow Team.
A big thank you to Nick Greens for all the helpful insights he shared with us!
Learn more about Nick by visiting Nick Greens Grow Team.
If you're ready to get started growing, check out some of our favorite systems for microgreens!
AmHydro Propagation Systems
Western South Dakota Aquaponic Farm Floats Fresh Food
A Butte County couple is putting fish to work in a new aquaponic greenhouse, growing fresh, locally-grown lettuce that now lines Northern Hills grocery shelves
May 23, 2020
Photo: Lacey Peterson, AP | Chris Garro shows off the long root under some herbs growing at the aquaponic greenhouse at Garro Farms in Nisland, S.D. (Lacey Peterson/Black Hills Pioneer via AP
BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. (AP) — A Butte County couple is putting fish to work in a new aquaponic greenhouse, growing fresh, locally-grown lettuce that now lines Northern Hills grocery shelves.
He is a Black Hills and Wyoming native, she’s from northeast Iowa, and together, Chris and Alexa Garro, owners of Garro Farms, have mastered the art of mimicking a natural ecosystem that combines traditional aquaculture with hydroculture in the ultimate symbiotic system.
It just so happens that the work fish naturally do, eating and producing waste, is the perfect fertilizer for growing plants. And boy do those fish grow a lot of plants when they get to work.
The best of both worlds
Aquaponics uses the best of all the growing techniques, utilizing the waste of one element to benefit another, mimicking a natural ecosystem.
Alexa told the Black Hills Pioneer it represents the relationship between water, aquatic life, bacteria, nutrient dynamics, and plants that grow together in waterways all over the world. Taking cues from nature, aquaponics harnesses the power of bio-integrating those individual components — exchanging the waste byproduct from the fish as a food for the bacteria, to be converted into a perfect fertilizer for the plants, and return the water in a clean and safe form to the fish — just like mother nature does in every aquatic ecosystem.
“If we were to let this system just hang out and never touch it, it (the bacterial symbiotic process) would happen naturally,” Alexa said. “It’s kind of like nature wants to make it work, and then we just provide the facilities.”
The system has found shortcuts around common agricultural issues.
While gardens can be located in your backyard, industrial farms are often thousands of miles from where their food is consumed. This requires extensive transportation, refrigeration, and packaging to get the food from farm to table.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil, by instead using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent. While hydroponics solves many soil-based issues, it also offers its own problems.
Traditional hydroponic systems rely on the careful application of expensive, man-made nutrients made from mixing together a concoction of chemicals, salts, and trace elements. For the Garros, through aquaponics, they merely feed the fish and monitor the system carefully, and grow fresh, bountiful greenery that you could have on your table the day after harvest.
The Arpan setup
Garro Farms, located approximately 18 miles northeast of Belle Fourche on Arpan Road, is home to the 2,400 square-foot commercial-scale greenhouse. Chris, utilizing second-hand materials, built the greenhouse with the ultimate goal — to supply fresh produce to the Northern Hills and Wyoming areas all year long.
“It took some imagination to get it to this,” Chris said. “And I hope other people follow suit, too.”
Although there are numerous types of aquaponic systems, the Garros selected deep-water culture, or raft-based growing, that uses a foam raft which floats in a 12-inch deep channel filled with fish effluent water that has been filtered to remove solid wastes. Plants are placed in holes in the raft and the roots dangle freely in the water.
Photo, Chris and Alexa Garro have opened a commercial-scale aquaponic greenhouse to offer fresh, locally-grown lettuce and herbs to Northern Hills and Wyoming communities pose at the farm in Nisland, S.D. (Lacey Peterson/Black Hills Pioneer via AP)
In 2018, Chris implemented a smaller backyard experiment in aquaponics and found the plentiful rewards it could provide. He said the property had only a limited amount of available space, forcing him to get creative, making aquaponics the perfect solution to offer healthy, high-yielding fresh produce.
The system’s water starts out in a 500-gallon in-ground tank and is pumped into the tank where the fish thrive. From there, the nutrient-rich water flows through a solids filter and into a bacterial conversion tank before being piped into the “beds” where the plants roost while they grow.
“And then back again,” Alexa said. “So, it’s all a big cycle. The plants clean out that nitrate, and it comes back to the fish.”
The system circulates approximately 4,500 gallons of water each hour, Chris said.
And the system works well.
“Almost every single thing that comes out of this, there’s no waste byproduct,” she said, adding that other than adding iron to the water, Garro Farms doesn’t provide any additives to the process. “Otherwise, it’s completely self-sustaining. The older the system gets, the more efficient it works, and the more balanced it gets.”
“We figured out how to basically get as much production in this size (of) greenhouse as we would get out of something four times this size,” Alexa said. “So, by taking the square footage and doing a certain crop rotation that he did, that’s how we get (the amount of production).”
Currently, the farm grows six types of lettuce — green oakleaf, rouxai, adriana, salanova red incised, green incised and butter crunch. They also cultivate microgreens, grown under natural sunlight in the greenhouse, including pea shoots, purple-stemmed radish and sunflower. But that’s not all; the Garros are experimenting with herbs like cilantro and culinary sage.
“To be this new and have the right levels and everything producing was a stroke of genius on Chris’ part,” Alexa said.
Without the rotation the Garros utilize, Chris said it would be next to impossible to get the amount of growth production.
“We can do between 50,000-74,000 heads of lettuce out of here a year,” he said. “And if I had done it the conventional way and not moved anything, if we just put in the water and let it grow … they need quite a bit of room when they get bigger and we’d of cut that (production) in a quarter.”
From the time the seeds are planted, the plants are full grown and ready for market in about 35 days, Chris said.
“We’re not using any special seed or anything like that,” he said. “We’re trying to provide ideal conditions, and if you give something ideal conditions, … it just does better.”
What about the fish?
As one of the main components in an aquaponic system, the fish are an important focus for the Garros.
Chris said he stocked his 1,500-gallon fish tank, which is above ground and separate from the water tank, with 50 pounds of fathead minnows three or four months ago.
The type of fish is atypical for an aquaponic setup, Chris said.
“This is pretty experimental, too, because I haven’t read about anybody doing that with bait fish,” he said.
Due to the proximity to the Belle Fourche Reservoir and wanting to keep product procurement as local as possible, the farm gets the minnows from the Wheel In Bait Shop.
The local supply is handy but, Alexa said the fish species is particularly hardy when it comes to handling the area temperatures, whereas other fish species typically used in other aquaponic setups like tilapia, koi or goldfish would struggle in the South Dakota conditions.
So, what happens when the fish get too big and the balance is thrown off?
“The cool thing about it is we’ll trade these out for smaller ones with the bait shop,” Chris said.
A 50-pound batch of minnows will likely thrive in the greenhouse for around six months before needing to be traded out for smaller ones, he said.
“Most people factor in because they either do a huge, massive, million-dollar scale building, or they have a little backyard system,” Alexa said. “So, they either want to eat the fish or they’re factoring it into their revenue plan. For us … it’s so weird fitting that middle ground where we’re not a million-dollar facility but we’re not a 500-gallon backyard system. What worked for everybody else will not quite work here, especially in South Dakota in the wintertime.”
Pandemic curveball meets ingenuity
The current pandemic conditions put a slight kink into the Garros’ plans.
Chris said that the pandemic conditions related to COVID-19 have caused a supply shortage for some of the supplies needed for the greenhouse, requiring them to operate on a smaller level until more supplies arrive.
Photo, Alexa Garro examines the lettuce crop grown at Garro Farms' aquaponic greenhouse in Nisland, S.D. (Lacey Peterson/Black Hills Pioneer via AP)
“And we don’t even have this thing (the aquaponic bed) like a quarter of the way full, and this is (producing) about 860 heads (of lettuce) a week,” Alexa said.
In about a month, Chris anticipated the greenhouse would likely be at around three-quarters capacity.
Even through the rough conditions, Garro Farms is rising above and plowing through the roadblocks. The farm’s produce is already on the shelves of Lueders Food Centers in Spearfish and Belle Fourche, Lynn’s Dakotamart in Belle Fourche, Bee’s Knees Natural Foods in Spearfish, Grocery Mart in Sturgis and Bearlodge Bakery in Sundance, Wyoming.
Soon, that will likely expand. Alexa said they’re in talks with some restaurants all the way to Rapid City, hoping to provide locally grown, healthy options everywhere.
“We had such a good response from everybody. All the stores we’ve sold to … they’re selling out weekly,” Chris said.
The bigger picture
The couple, who, between the two of them, has ranched in Montana, worked in the Bakken oil fields, done professional construction work, and worked in radio and news outlets, decided they wanted a new direction in life.
“It’s good work, and I didn’t mind it,” Chris said. “But, doing something like this, to me, is a bigger thing. Growing food, to me, is more important.”
The farm expects to be able to keep a consistent level of inventory in terms of production, year-round.
“The way that we’re going to get away with that is the grow lights,” Chris said. “In the wintertime, I’ll probably put them over all the beds. You need 10-15 hours of sunlight (each day).”
The couple was uniquely drawn toward growing lettuce. Chris said that around 95% of the country’s lettuce comes from the California region.
“There’s no reason we can’t grow this locally like this,” he said.
“Lettuce is just one crop that you can’t really get it in mass in the winter in South Dakota,” Alexa said. “This is something that everybody that I talked to had the same problem, ‘I buy lettuce, it goes bad; I buy lettuce, it’s not really what I wanted.’ We just kind of went, ‘lets focus on this and get it going.’”
The pandemic conditions have highlighted to the couple the importance of having a local supply chain.
“If we can do this here, I think it’s possible pretty much anywhere,” Chris said.
Chris said he hopes to continue to grow the business, bring on staff, and someday, produce for most of western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming.
Although the farm sold its first batches of lettuce to local stores in mid-April, the couple is already expanding on the greenhouse, planning a 12-foot addition to the front to accommodate a packaging area.
Aquaponics Can Have Both Environmental And Cost Benefits
Although aquaponics systems, which combine conventional aquaculture with hydroponics, have become a hotly debated topic in future food production, data on the economic feasibility of aquaponics is relatively limited
Aquaculture is the farming of fish and other aquatic animals, while hydroponics involves growing plants without any soil. Both approaches have been successful on their own, however, combining fish and vegetable production — so-called aquaponics — could also be profitable, according to a new analysis published on 19 May in the journal Aquaculture Research (1).
Although aquaponics systems, which combine conventional aquaculture with hydroponics, have become a hotly debated topic in future food production, data on the economic feasibility of aquaponics is relatively limited.
To figure out how realistic the approach might be, researchers from the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) analyzed one year of real production data from an existing aquaponics system — the “Mueritzfischer” — located in Waren (Müritz) in Germany. The research system was build as part of INAPRO, an EU-funded project led by IGB aimed at demonstrating the viability of an innovative aquaponics system.
The 540-square-meter facilities produce fish and vegetables on a large scale in a combined recirculating system. The fish and plants are grown separately within the two recirculating systems and sensors are used to continuously monitor can connect the two systems when needed to create optimal growth conditions.
The authors examined two different scenarios and performed an extensive profitability analysis. One scenario showed that the aquaponics approach can be profitable if facilities are sufficiently large. Using this scenario, the researchers developed a model case, which they used to calculate figures for different sized facilities.
Under the right conditions, aquaponics can have both environmental and cost benefits, according to the authors. The main barriers to the commercialization of aquaponics are the high investment costs and high operating costs such as for fish feed, labor, and energy, particularly in countries like Germany. Another challenge is that profitability largely depends on the market environment and the production risks, which can be difficult to predict.
Lead author Goesta Baganz believes there might be huge potential for aquaponics in urban areas: “The already profitable model case would cover an overall space of about 2,000 square meters. This would mean that professional aquaponics would also be possible in urban and peri-urban areas, where space is scarce and often relatively expensive.”
“If, therefore, urban aquaponics can make a profit on such a scale, there is even greater opportunity for local food production, which is becoming increasingly important throughout the world as urbanization progresses”, Baganz explained.
In a global context, Professor Werner Kloas, who led the project, said: “Considering current problems like climate change, population growth, urbanization as well as overexploitation and pollution of natural resources, global food production is the largest pressure caused by humans on Earth, threatening ecosystems and the stability of societies. Consequently, one of the key societal goals is to achieve eco-friendly, efficient food production,”
(1) Baganz, G. et al. Profitability of multi‐loop aquaponics: Year‐long production data, economic scenarios and a comprehensive model case. Aquaculture Research (2020). DOI: 10.1111/are.14610
The First Online Dashboard For Aquaponics
“We’re about empowering people to be the best aquaponic growers possible. Tech is what gives people the tools to do awesome things.” - Jonathan Reyes, CEO, and Co-founder of Aquaponics AI
Aquaponics AI, a US-based aquaponic technology research company, just unleashed their software into the wild. It’s the system every aquaponic grower has been waiting for.
It has traditionally been difficult to get started in Aquaponics because of the steep learning curve but they are making it easy to get started and maintain a system with features like a project template that gets your system running with recommended maintenance schedules by big players in Aquaponics.
They’re bringing innovative usage of artificial intelligence and big data to Aquaponics for the betterment of the global aquaponics community. Their vision is to unleash your Aquaponic growing powers. You’re the beneficiary of high-quality produce and revenue streams created from your system.
In addition to being the forerunner in Aquaponic technology, they also have invaluable libraries for fish, plants, and diseases, as well as calculators for managing your system.
“We’re about empowering people to be the best aquaponic growers possible. Tech is what gives people the tools to do awesome things.” - Jonathan Reyes, CEO, and Co-founder of Aquaponics AI
You can see the latest developments on their website https://aquaponics.ai alongside invaluable resources and calculators that are available for free.
10 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Container Farm
If you’ve been looking into indoor farming from home, you’ve probably come across a container farm as a sustainable option. A container farm is an indoor vertical farm, that operates inside of a repurposed shipping container
If you’ve been looking into indoor farming from home, you’ve probably come across a container farm as a sustainable option.
A container farm is an indoor vertical farm, that operates inside of a repurposed shipping container.
These farms grow crops using hydroponic systems, artificial lighting, and controlled environment agriculture (CEA) technology.
Container farms are popular for their ability to yield a lot of produce in a compact space.
But before you get started, there’s some vital information you should learn.
In this article, you’ll learn what you should find out before starting a container farm.
1. What type of hydroponic system does it use?
There are many different types of hydroponic systems.
The type of hydroponic system a container farm uses will influence compatible crops, maintenance, and its advantages and disadvantages.
For example, recirculating systems like nutrient film technique (NFT), allow the farm to reuse water, cutting back on water use, and work best with quick-growing leafy greens.
2. How is the hydroponic system controlled?
How the hydroponic system is controlled, will determine how much additional labor you need in order to operate it.
If it’s an automated system, like our Pure Greens Container Farms, you’ll save time and energy.
If it’s a more basic system, you’ll have to put in more work to get the results you desire.
3. How is the environment controlled?
How the inside environment of the container farm is controlled, depends on the level of CEA technology that’s been installed.
A basic refrigerated container, with no modifications, will regulate indoor temperature to some degree, but it won’t be easily adjustable or precise.
On the other hand, more controls like temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide will result in perfect growing conditions for your crops, improving quality and yields.
4. Where can you put it?
One of the benefits of container farming is the ability to grow food in any climate and in densely populated urban areas.
But before starting your container farm, you’ll need to know if you have the proper space for it.
You need to make sure you have enough room on all sides of the farm, level ground, a proper connection to water, and an electrical source.
5. What preparation do I need to do before starting?
The preparation you put into starting a container farm will depend on your personal situation, such as whether you already have the proper space, tools, and materials for it.
Additionally, you’ll want to consider preplanning your budget and what crops you’d like to grow so that you can adjust your expectations accordingly.
6. What do I need to buy separately?
Whether you’re renting or purchasing your container farm, you’ll need to know what materials and equipment it comes with, so you can plan to purchase anything else separately.
These things will need to be accounted for in your budget, and it’s best to know before starting in order to minimize financial surprises.
7. How much work does operating one unit require?
If you already have plenty of time on your hands, this might be less of a concern.
But if you’re only going to be able to put in a few hours of work each week, you might want to look into getting some help.
In general, you should budget for at least 20 hours of work time for your container farm each week.
8. Who will do the labor?
As mentioned in the previous section, if you can’t fully commit your time to maintaining your container farm, you should look into hiring someone.
If you plan to hire someone, you’ll have to make sure to include that in your budgeting as well.
And if you’re going to take on the work all on your own, you should ensure that you’ll have enough time to do so before you start.
9. What plants can I grow in it?
Before starting a container farm, you should know what crops you’re most interested in growing.
Container farms grow a lot of different types of crops, but the most ideal ones will depend on what type of hydroponic system it uses.
You’ll want to make sure your desired crops align with what you’ll actually be able to grow.
10. What are the expected yields?
Whether you’re using the container farm to feed people or to sell your produce, knowing what to expect is important.
You should make sure the farm has the ability to yield enough to match your needs, both in terms of mouths to feed and profit.
Now that you know what questions to ask, you can start finding the answers!
Check out our container farming guides on our website puregreensaz.com or call 602–753–3469 for more information.
WRITTEN BY
Pure Greens Arizona LLC
Pure Greens’ container-based grow systems offer a variety of interior layouts, sizes, and options so customers can create a farm that meets their needs.
Strawberry Growers Take Production Up in The Air to Answer Market Demand
Due to growing demand and challenges in cultivation and labour, more and more former open field strawberry growers have shifted to hydroponic or semi-hydroponic cultivation over the last couple of years
From Open Field to Semi-Hydroponic to Standing or Hanging Systems
Due to growing demand and challenges in cultivation and labour, more and more former open field strawberry growers have shifted to hydroponic or semi-hydroponic cultivation over the last couple of years. The next step for these growers is to lift their growing system in order to improve the working conditions, irrigation possibilities, and to lower the disease pressure. “The growing interest in the market in the berry range has pushed the industry to create new tools and production systems that years ago were unthinkable, thus creating a large decrease in labor costs”, says Isabel Ruis with Hydroponic Systems.
Growing production
The global production of strawberries has grown exponentially over the last decades. Especially in Europe, the acreage has increased by almost 50%. According to the numbers of trade maps also the Northern and Central American production has grown by almost 30 percent. “This huge development has been caused by the strong increase in demand, as strawberries are considered a fruit with a high content in vitamin C, almost equal to Citrus fruits”, says Isabel. The Spanish company has specialized in offering efficient solutions for hydroponic cultivation. “In Spain, around 93 to 95% of the production of the strawberry acreage can be found in the province of Huelva. This production is mostly destined for the European markets. The demand for higher quality and production urged growers to invest in the growing conditions and techniques, aiming at efficient use of resources, so to minimize the impact on the environment’, says Isabel.
She explains how in traditional ways of growing, where simple structures are used to protect the crop and there’s hardly any control over the climate, there’s also little control over the water and nutrients dosage and costs. “Irrigating strawberries is especially complicated because the crop is often grown under plastic, on very sandy soils with low capacity to retain water. Leaking of the water into the soil and contamination risks also caused criticism on the cultivation, especially from an environmental point of view.” In addition and especially important nowadays the plants being grown at soil level provide a problem for the labour force: the uncomfortable work makes it harder to find workers.
Semi-hydroponic as first step
Over the last years, many growers invested in a semi-hydroponic system: growing in substrates placed on the soil. “The need to rotate crops, developed mainly by family farmers in small areas, has encouraged the investigation of new forms of growth to meet the requirements of today’s markets. Since hydroponic growing can be done at any location, this can also occur close to distribution points and consumption points, therefore, saving on shipping and environmental contamination", Isabel explains.
Now they see how more and more growers chose to elevate their cultivation since it offers better control over the crop, a new opportunity to maximize production in lesser surface and reduce the use of resources further.
Up in the air
Standing or hanging systems have proven to be a solution for further development. The Elevated Hydroponic System, developed by Hydroponic Systems, has been one of the solutions enabling growers to do so. “By elevating the crop, the disease pressure is lowered so the use of chemicals will decrease. And thanks to elevating the crop, the working conditions are way better: more comfortable and more efficient. A reduction of at least 50% for the harvest costs is within reach thanks to these improved and optimized working conditions. And we can higher the production per square meter”, adds Isabel. “This is thanks to the improved growing conditions and to the higher planting density. By lifting the plants, we can grow up to 200.000 plants per hectare.’
She shows how lifting the crop will also reduce the contamination of the soil and leaking of water, making disinfection of the soil and deep fertilizing unnecessary. “The water is used more efficiently and growers get the opportunity to recirculate the drain water. To realize this and guarantee optimal use of water and nutrients, Hydroponic Systems created the spacer piece. This is a plastic gutter system that is used in many greenhouse operations that place their substrate slabs at surface level. The spacer results in better ventilation between the drain channel and the substrate with a reduction of disease pressure and a healthier root system as a result.
Uniform soil
“With this relatively simple solution, the soil is irrigated in a uniform manner, allowing a uniform development of the roots of the strawberry plants. It will result in a better quality of the roots since they deal with fewer diseases as the soil is aired better and the roots aren’t in contact with the drainages. This will reduce the need to apply chemical products”, Isabel says. “And it will result in better performance of the crop: the fruits will benefit from the better nutritional control and both the cultivation quality as the quantity will improve thanks to this.”
“As we can see, the growing interest in the market in the berry range in the last years has made the industry create new tools and production systems that years ago were unthinkable”, Isabel concludes. “Very important in this is also the reduction in labor costs, which is difficult and expensive to find due to the working conditions of working at ground level.
According to “Revista Mercados” in their article on the 02/2019 about the collection of strawberries, in the year 2019 23,000 positions were offered for workers to collect strawberries in Huelva, having only 970 people replied and showed interest, this figure is only 4.2% of the unemployed people registered in this area, showing a lack of interest in a province with 25% unemployment. The development of systems like Hydroponic Elevated Systems permits the growers to be more efficient while investing in quality and production: answering the market demand.”
For more information:
Hydroponic Systems
Murcia, Spain
info@hydroponicsystems.es
+34 968 89 81 81
www.hydroponicsystems.eu
Publication date: Fri 22 May 2020
© HortiDaily.com / Contact
The Decarbonization Promise of Indoor Agriculture is Still in The Seed Stage
The data we do have shows that a combination of efficiency improvements and grid decarbonization can make indoor farms a much better environmental choice for some crops
By Jim Giles
May 21, 2020
Here’s a tale of two chefs.
Both are based in the Midwest and both are preparing a Caesar salad. One uses lettuce shipped from where much of our lettuce is grown: The fields around Monterey, California. The other sources her greens from a nearby indoor farm.
Out in Monterey, the farmer used diesel-powered machinery, pumped water, fertilizer, and pesticides. At the indoor farm, precision systems provided the lettuce with exactly the amount of water and nutrients the crop requires — and no more.
The pickers in California discarded lettuces that didn’t look perfect. That wasn't an issue indoors: Conditions are so well controlled that almost all the crops met consumers’ exacting standards. Finally, when the crop was packed and ready, the indoor farmer drove 20 miles or so to drop the lettuce at our chef’s restaurant. The Monterey produce had to travel 2,000 miles.
Which chef is preparing the more environmentally friendly salad?
Let’s start with the bad news. The story above about indoor farming, a tale about technology can produce dramatic environmental gains — it doesn’t hold true. The Monterey lettuce is currently the better bet, according to a new analysis from the WWF.
For places that are food-insecure, this could be a real game-changer.
The problem with indoor farming, also known as controlled environment agriculture, is the electric grid. Indoor farms use LEDs to light crops. In St. Louis, Missouri, the focus of the WWF study, two-thirds of electricity comes from fossil fuel plants that pump out health-damaging particulates and planet-warming carbon dioxide.
The WWF team combined these and other impacts into a single score that captures total environmental harm. Lettuce grown in St. Louis greenhouses, which supplement LEDs with natural light, scored twice as high as the conventional crop. In a vertical farm lit entirely by LEDs, the difference was threefold.
Now to the good news: Our chef who sources from a nearby indoor farm may not be making the best environmental choice today, but she likely will be soon.
That’s partly because if we look beyond energy use, indoor ag delivers clear benefits. Indoor systems require little or even no pesticides and generate 80 percent less waste. They use less space, which can free up land for biodiversity. The WWF study found that precision indoor water systems use 1 liter of water to produce a kilogram of lettuce; for field-grown lettuce, the figure is 150 liters.
Another reason is that indoor ag’s energy problem is likely to become less serious. Market forces are already adding renewables to the U.S. electricity mix and pushing out coal. Technology improvements in the pipeline also will cut energy use in indoor farms.
PlantLab, a Netherlands-based startup, has developed an LED that’s more efficient in indoor ag settings because it emits light at the exact wavelengths used for photosynthesis. New crop varieties from Precision Indoor Plants, a public-private partnership that is developing seeds specifically for indoor use, may require less light to grow.
This tech is at an early stage, which makes it tough to quantify the future impact. But the data we do have shows that a combination of efficiency improvements and grid decarbonization can make indoor farms a much better environmental choice for some crops. Cutting energy use also will lower costs, making indoor farms competitive on price. It’s fascinating to speculate about what would happen if both these trends came to fruition.
Indoor farms likely would diversify, for starters. At present, indoor farms in urban areas profitably can grow leafy greens but little else. If energy costs come down, cucumbers, berries, and tomatoes also might make financial sense, suggests Julia Kurnik, director of innovation startups for WWF.
When this project ends, key players will already be invested and ready to move ahead with building a pilot system that can be replicated worldwide ...
With more diverse output, the farms could become local hubs that would strengthen the food system’s resilience to extreme weather events and other shocks. "For places that are food-insecure, this could be a real game-changer," Kurnik added.
Venture capitalists already have seen this future; hundreds of millions of dollars have flowed to indoor farming companies in recent years. That’s essential if this industry is to grow, but it’s also great to see an organization such as the WWF in the mix.
After studying the potential, the WWF has convened a diverse group of stakeholders to map out the expansion of indoor ag in St. Louis. In addition to business execs and investors, the group includes civic and community leaders.
"By working as a group to make those decisions," explains the report, "when this project ends, key players will already be invested and ready to move ahead with building a pilot system that can be replicated worldwide, making food production more environmentally sustainable."
I’ll certainly be keeping tabs on progress in St. Louis, and with indoor ag more generally. If you know of a particular project or related technology that deserves a mention, drop me an email at jg@greenbiz.com.
This article was adapted from the GreenBiz Food Weekly newsletter.
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How A Winnipeg Company Wants To Change Agriculture
Conviron has provided plant growth chambers and technology to the top government research agencies, universities and AgBiotech companies in over 90 countries around the world
Here are some other interesting tidbits about Conviron. Founded in 1964 by the Kroft family, CEL Group of Companies is headquartered in Winnipeg, MB. CEL comprises Conviron Canada, USA and Australasia. It also includes Argus Controls, a supplier of plant-centric environmental controls and automation systems used in greenhouse and indoor growing facilities.
Conviron has provided plant growth chambers and technology to the top government research agencies, universities and AgBiotech companies in over 90 countries around the world.
CEO Steve Kroft, often refers to his company’s solutions as 'weather in a box' because they mimic outside conditions and changing seasons over time through the automated control of temperature, light, humidity, irrigation and nutrients. In effect, it's a specialized type of high-tech greenhouse or indoor farm with environmental factors that can be precisely controlled.
The company has also delivered equipment to biotech companies like Medicago for the incubation and germination of tobacco plants critical for their research into plant-based vaccines for Ebola and SARs. Medicago recently announced it has produced a virus-like particle of the novel coronavirus, a first step towards producing a vaccine, which will now undergo preclinical testing.
Chambers range in size from six sq. ft. to over 2,000 sq. ft. depending on the application and includes lighting, temperature and humidity systems as well as a user-friendly control system to create and manipulate any kind of climate regime.
Argus Controls makes controlled environments for plant growth. It provides systems that automate the monitoring and controlling of all horticulture operations through on-site, remote and mobile interfaces.
Dating back to the early 1990s, Conviron has provided NASA with several chambers to support its research related to growing plants in outer space. The University of Guelph uses Conviron chambers and Argus controls systems in their high-tech facility in their research aligned with the Canadian Space Agency and International Space programs.
Since 2005, the National Science Foundation's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica has been using an Argus control system to operate its food growth chamber that provides fresh vegetables and some much needed light, humidity and green space for the staff and scientists who winter at the station. The system operates the lighting, temperature control, and hydroponic nutrient feeding systems in the chamber, which is programmed and managed remotely from the University of Arizona.
Researchers at University College Dublin in Ireland can reconstruct prehistoric atmospheres using Conviron chambers and investigate plant evolution throughout Earth's history.
When canola was first developed in the 1970s, part of the research was done in Conviron chambers. Canola is the world’s only “Made in Canada” crop. In response to the ban of trans-fatty acids in food products, canola was developed by researchers from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the University of Manitoba in the 1970s, using traditional plant-breeding techniques.
Some of the turf used around the greens at Augusta National Golf Club was also developed in Conviron equipment.
Source: Economic Development Winnipeg.
Publication date: Fri 22 May 2020
Researchers Aim To Cut The Energy Footprint Of Indoor Farms
Indoor farms can grow vegetables close to cities, where there are lots of people to feed. Farming indoors can also extend the growing season in cold climates and protect crops from damage during extreme weather.
But growing food indoors is energy intensive, so it can produce a lot of carbon pollution.
“Lighting is a big factor,” says Erico Mattos of the Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering Consortium. “You have the heating and cooling systems, ventilation systems, all the systems that you have to control. So it’s really important for us to reduce this energy demand.”
Mattos’s group is working to reduce the energy used in indoor farms and greenhouses.
“The challenge is, how can we still provide all these inputs that the plants require, the crops require to grow, but using energy with the most efficient way as possible?” he says.
Researchers are tackling the problem from multiple angles. For example, they’re designing high-efficiency LED lights and they’re experimenting with ways to optimize specific crops’ growth with customized lighting, ventilation, and humidity controls.
Mattos says these technologies and systems will help make greenhouses and indoor farms more cost-effective and better for the climate.
Lead Photo Credit: Terry Rice
