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Hort Innovation To Explore High-Tech Solutions
In a release, Hort Innovation said the use of technology, such as vertical farm systems and hydroponics, in food production and delivery systems have the potential to redefine horticulture by optimising yield, quality, and supply
17th December 2020, Melbourne
Six-month project to assess potential of emerging production technology and its uses in Australian urban landscape
A modular farm in Brisbane using high-tech horticulture.
Hort Innovation has announced it has teamed up with a consortium led by agricultural consultancy RMCG in partnership with University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and global urban agriculture consultancy Agritecture, to assess the potential of emerging production technology and its application in the Australian urban landscape as part of a six-month project.
In a release, Hort Innovation said the use of technology, such as vertical farm systems and hydroponics, in food production and delivery systems have the potential to redefine horticulture by optimising yield, quality, and supply.
“High-technology horticulture is being implemented in urban areas across the globe using vertical farm systems, hydroponics and aquaponic systems and nearly fully automated production as well as rooftop, underground and floating farms,” it said in a statement.
Hort Innovation chief executive Matt Brand said bringing the technology to Australia would help attract capital as well as new investment to the sector with new ideas, approaches and mindsets.
“It gives us the opportunity to grow more from less and to keep demonstrating the good work that Australian growers do, day in day out, providing food to families both here and overseas,” explained Brand.
“Urban also means regional areas and hubs. Growers will use the technology as part of the overall production mix. It’s another production system that will be part of the diversity and variety that is Aussie horticulture.
“High technology horticulture may have the potential to play a significant role in increasing Australia’s horticulture sector value and help achieve Australia’s target of a A$30bn industry by 2030,” he added.
The feasibility study aims to identify opportunities and challenges for high technology horticulture in urban Australia. It will identify a range of high technology systems and assess their suitability to urban Australia by considering four key areas.
This includes how the technology fits within current regulations and planning requirements, farm input and waste, supply chain logistics and social, environmental and economic requirements.
Hort Innovation said the project will include a high-level literature review, modelling of the social, economic and environmental impacts and detailed analysis of how the economics of high technology urban systems compare to traditional farming systems.
The outcomes of the study will identify future priorities for research, development and extension activities and investment into Australian high technology horticulture in urban areas.
The study is being guided by an industry-led reference group including growers and emerging commercial leaders engaged in urban high technology horticulture in Brisbane and Sydney, members of local city councils, and subject-matter experts in protected cropping.
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AUSTRALIA: A Brilliant Plan To Turn Parking Garages Into Rooftop Gardens
“It’s the third-largest land use in the city,” he says. Community space, on the other hand, ranks dead last. Bates Smart crunched the numbers and found that, in total, parking takes up nearly 1,200 acres of space, or more space than New York’s Central Park
Sourced from Fast Company
There are more than 41,000 parking spaces in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. Many of them could be put to better use, says Julian Anderson, a director at the large Australian architecture firm Bates Smart.
“It’s the third-largest land use in the city,” he says. Community space, on the other hand, ranks dead last. Bates Smart crunched the numbers and found that, in total, parking takes up nearly 1,200 acres of space, or more space than New York’s Central Park. And if it’s not bad enough that these parking spaces take up so much space and encourage more driving, they also sit empty most of the time. “You think, my god, there’s one and a half times Central Park wrapped up in car parking in central Melbourne,” Anderson says. “What can we do to unlock this?”
One potential solution, he says, is to convert some of that parking into much-needed community space such as playgrounds, community gardens, and rooftop parks. And with a new mechanism his firm is developing in consultation with the city government, there may be a way to incentivize the owners of these parking spaces to make that happen.
Anderson says there are at least 20 standalone parking garages in central Melbourne that would be good candidates for reuse. Bates Smart has developed concepts for a few garages to serve as models for how this conversion could work, with some minor structural revision. One, located near the city’s main sports stadium, imagines the space converted into a series of playgrounds and gymnasia, with basketball courts and other recreational spaces. Another, in the city’s Chinatown, uses the ground floor as a market space and the rooftop as an outdoor eatery with open-air cinema. Anderson calls these potential projects a new kind of “vertical urban space.”
Source:https://www.fastcompany.com/90579163/a-brilliant-plan-to-turn-parking-garages-into-rooftop-gardens
Tagged: green roof, green roof benefits, living roof, living roof benefits, rooftop parks, rooftop garden, Melbourne, sustainability, resilience
VeggiTech Inspires People To Grow Crops Sustainably
VeggiTech is an agro-tech organization focused on disrupting the agriculture industry to create sustainable and eco-friendly farms
How VeggiTech Is Changing UAE's
Agriculture Sector With Innovative Farming-Tech
November 18, 2020
Hatim Morbiwala, Head of Learning and Development,VeggiTech, controls and monitors eco systems with VeggiTech IoTImage Credit: Supplied
VeggiTech is an agro-tech organization focused on disrupting the agriculture industry to create sustainable and eco-friendly farms. Its tech-enabled solutions are:
VeggiTech digital operating system (V-DOS)
This is a scalable, repeatable set of solutions that are focused on the controlled environment agriculture as well as farming as a service (FAAS) model for its customers and investors.
Grow operating system
VeggiTech deploys the latest technology in terms of grow lights that provide the right amount of spectrum of light frequency to a plant-based on its type and growth cycle. This light is tuned to the grow cycle and creates the optimum environment for it to grow, coupled with the right nutrition and water quality for the plants. Internet of Things (IoT)-based sensors manage the environment and are linked to the data models that track the yield per unit of input resource so that it continually improves the quality of yield per sqm of grow space.
Farm operating system
All of VeggiTech’s business activities are managed in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that provides complete control of the unit economics while creating a unique QR code for every crop being grown on its farms.
Learning Hub
VeggiTech also manages its Learning Hub using a state-of-the-art learning management platform that has online and offline features to interact with the learners. This has proven to be a very useful tool during the Covid-19 times as it continues to enable the future leaders – students – with the knowledge to grow their own food.
New launches
“With our vision to create the next one billion farmers, we are delighted to announce the launch of two new products that have been conceived, designed, and developed in the UAE,” says Hatim Morbiwala, Head of Learning and Development at VeggiTech. “We have developed a mobile app – Grow App – that will enable everybody to grow their own food and they can interact with the VeggiTech agronomist in case they need support with their plants. The app also has the ability to diagnose issues with the plants and recommend solutions using a machine learning database.”
Grow Kit is another unique product, developed by VeggiTech. “This is a physical kit which will inspire everybody to start their journey of growing their own food. We believe this is a life skill and should be part of the curriculum of every citizen on the planet,” says Morbiwala.
For more information, visit Veggitech.com
Call 058 263 1317 and 06 881 1861
email: info@veggitech.com
VIDEO: This 2-Acre Vertical Farm Out-Produces 750 Acre ‘Flat Farms’
According to Nate Storey, the future of farms is vertical. It’s also indoors, can be placed anywhere on the planet, is heavily integrated with robots and AI, and produces better fruits and vegetables while using 95% less water and 99% less land
John Koetsier Senior Contributor
November 20, 2020 Consumer Tech
John Koetsier is a journalist, analyst, author, and speaker
Farming is going vertical, thanks to startups like San Francisco-based Plenty.
PHOTO BY ALEX WIGAN ON UNSPLASH
According to Nate Storey, the future of farms is vertical. It’s also indoors, can be placed anywhere on the planet, is heavily integrated with robots and AI, and produces better fruits and vegetables while using 95% less water and 99% less land.
But the future of farms is also personal, emotional, and deeply meaningful.
“The objective of all technology really should be to enable human joy, right?” Storey asked me on the recent episode of the TechFirst podcast. “For me, it’s the memory of being a child in the garden and eating a carrot that my grandfather gave me that still has the grit on it, and the snap and the crunch and the flavor and the aroma, or a tomato from my grandmother’s garden.”
Plenty is an ag-tech startup in San Francisco that is reinventing farms and farming. Storey is the co-founder and chief science officer in a time when farming is going high-tech.
Despite getting a bad rep in much of popular culture over the last few decades for lack of education, farmers have always been stealthily technical, fixing tractors, constructing buildings, and innovating new tools to making farming better or easier. Recently drones and robots are invading the world of “flat farming,” as Storey calls it, and the space is legitimately hot, with over 1,600 startups and tens of billions of dollars of investment.
Plenty is one of those startups, but it’s taking a novel path.
Necessity, as per usual, is the mother of invention.
“The reality is, there are five places in the world where you can grow fresh fruits and vegetables really economically, and all of that land is used up at this point,” Storey says. “Vertical farming exists because we want to grow the world’s capacity for fresh fruits and vegetables, and we know it’s necessary.”
Americans are only eating half of the fresh fruit and veggies they should be, and globally it’s even worse: an average of 30%. In richer nations a lack of a healthy diet means increased levels of obesity, diabetes, and other health concerns; in poorer nations, there may not be enough food of any kind to go around.
Plus, some nations with limited land or poor growing conditions such as deserts face existential risks when they can’t control their own food supply.
“If you are a nation in this world that has limited food security, you have to import everything, the value of your food is quite different than it is here in the United States,” Storey says. “Which means that what you’re willing to pay for it is quite different. And what you’re willing to pay for that independence and that control is quite different.”
Indeed.
In fact, one of the lessons Covid-19 has taught us is the fragility of the interconnected global economy.
Listen to the interview behind this story on the TechFirst podcast:
So Plenty takes the flat farm and performs an Inception transformation on it: ripping up horizontal rows of plants and hanging them vertically from the ceilings. Sunlight from above is replaced by full-spectrum LED lights from all sides. Huge robots grab large hanging racks of growing vegetables and moves them where they’re needed. Artificial intelligence manages all the variables of heat and light and water, continually optimizing and learning how to grow faster, bigger, better crops. Water lost by transpiration is recaptured and reused. And all of it happens not 1,000 miles away from a city, but inside or right next to the place where the food is actually needed.
It turns out that growing, while natural, is also hard. At least at scale.
One key: de-stressing plants.
Nate Storey, chief science officer and co-founder of Plenty | NATE STOREY
“Our problem is that we have to push yields and we have to push quality to an extent that we need to eliminate all plant stress,” Storey say. “That’s really hard, it turns out. Anyone can grow plants at low yield levels, that is not hard. Plants are set up to withstand a lot. But trying to grow them at some of these just, I guess unprecedented growth rates, unprecedented qualities … that is really hard, it turns out.”
Storey says, without irony, that it’s like “building a space shuttle.” There are millions of parts, millions of genes, and plants tend to do “all sorts of wild stuff.”
“It’s kind of our modern human arrogance that thinks we’ve got that under control,” he adds.
The potential benefits are massive.
400X greater yield per acre of ground is not just an incremental improvement, and using almost two orders of magnitude less water is also critical in time of increasing ecological stress and climate uncertainty. All of these are truly game-changers, but they’re not the only goals, Storey says.
The key goal: great produce that tastes amazing.
The startup is fairly early in its mission to reinvent how produce is grown. It has a farm in San Francisco, dubbed Tigris, and another under construction in Compton, California. (Just think about that statement: a farm under construction.) Plus, the company has plans for much more expansion, using $400 million in capital injected by investors including Softbank, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and former Google chairman Eric Schmidt.
Commercialization is well underway, with a deal inked to supply 430 Albertsons stores in California.
But there’s also plenty of competition, and that’s not just from the flat farms of Iowa, Nebraska, and California. AeroFarms and BrightFarms are two American competitors in indoor farming, while InFarm and Agricool are among the European competitors. Others, like FreightFarms, focus on growing food in shipping containers.
A growing industry can support multiple players, however.
And growing better food in more places with less environmental cost is something that’s positive for everyone.
“The future will be quite remarkable,” Storey told me. “And I think the size of the global fresh fruit and vegetable industry will be multiples of what it is today.”
Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
I forecast and analyze trends affecting the mobile ecosystem. I've been a journalist, analyst, and corporate executive, and have chronicled the rise of the mobile economy. I built the VB Insight research team at VentureBeat and managed teams creating software for partners like Intel and Disney. In addition, I've led technical teams, built social sites and mobile apps, and consulted on mobile, social, and IoT. In 2014, I was named to Folio's top 100 of the media industry's "most innovative entrepreneurs and market shaker-uppers.” I live in Vancouver, Canada with my family, where I coach baseball and hockey, though not at the same time
The International Online Festival On Hydroponics & Aquaponics - November 27 - 28, 2020
Join 1000+ of World’s Brightest Minds in Hydroponics & Aquaponics to Learn, Share Secrets & Network Online
Join 1000+ of World’s Brightest Minds in Hydroponics & Aquaponics to Learn, Share Secrets & Network Online.
For two days, Agritech Fest will stream speeches, social lounge, networking sessions, and live Q&A sessions to help upgrade yourself to the next level. The all-in-one Hydroponic and Aquaponic event will bring you closer to leading growers and brands than ever before.
Click here to sign up.
Have a look at the event trailer below:
For more information:
www.welcome.agritechfest.com
Unleashing The Potential of Indoor Sole-Source LEDs on Tomato Production
Enlightening collaboration between Heliospectra and the University of Tokyo
Enlightening Collaboration Between Heliospectra And The University of Tokyo
Heliospectra announced a collaboration with the Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services (ISAS), the University of Tokyo. In an effort to redefine and unleash the potential of indoor tomato production, this will be a joint research project with the University’s Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services (ISAS), in collaboration with Associate Professor Wataru Yamori at the Agricultural Biology and Biogeochemistry Group, and Heliospectra Japan.
With the average age of Japanese farmers reaching 67 years old and younger generations migrating to cities, traditional farming is facing a crisis. This is forcing the country to investigate new ways to produce food. Plant factories are scaling to meet consumer food demand, mainly in vegetable cultivation in both solar and artificial light environments, and the industry is growing. Japan already has approximately 200 lettuce factories using artificial light, and that number is expected to double by 2025. However, to-date, plant factories have been unsuccessful in cultivating light-hungry vine crops such as tomatoes in indoor artificial light. Heliospectra and the University of Tokyo want to challenge this.
Working together, they are looking to build a business model for Japan’s plant factories and PFAL (Plant Factory with Artificial Lighting) organizations for indoor tomato cultivation. In the University lab, the Professor and his students will be using Heliospectra’s MITRA linear, the horticulture market’s first truly modular LED light. Designed by growers for growers, MITRA is a solution for high-light crops, with high-intensity light output and electrical efficacy of up to 2.8 µmol/J.
“We are very excited to be a part of this research together with Dr. Yamori and the ISAS at the University of Tokyo. Over the years, Heliospectra has conducted research on light’s effect on tomatoes in indoor facilities with great results,” comments Yasuhiro Suzuki, General Manager of Heliospectra Japan. “We now look forward to further expanding our knowledge and developing more effective indoor cultivation of tomatoes for commercial use. We look forward to collaborating with the university and sharing with the world our knowledge of growing tomatoes indoors.”
For more information:
Heliospectra
info@heliospectra.com
www.heliospectra.com
Publication date: Thu 29 Oct 2020
Biggest Swiss Fruit And Vegetables Cooperative Invests In Vertical Farming
A major Swiss domestic supplier, fenaco Landesprodukte, is working on a pilot facility for vertical farming. They're investing in YASAI, a spin-off of public university ETH Zurich. With an investment of CHF 500,000 in YASAI AG, the fenaco cooperative is participating in the construction of the pilot facility in Zurich
Fenaco Collaborates With YASAI
A major Swiss domestic supplier, fenaco Landesprodukte, is working on a pilot facility for vertical farming. They're investing in YASAI, a spin-off of public university ETH Zurich. With an investment of CHF 500,000 in YASAI AG, the fenaco cooperative is participating in the construction of the pilot facility in Zurich.
"Consumer demands for healthy, safe and sustainably produced food require innovative solutions from the agricultural and food industry. By participating in a pilot facility for the novel Vertical Farming production method, fenaco Landesprodukte wants to verify the advantages of this cultivation method", the company explains. "Thanks to its stacked installation, it increases productivity by a factor of 10 to 15 per square meter. Water consumption can be reduced by 90%."
"In the future, we do not want to produce ourselves, but rather use our experience in the field of vertical farming to open up a new, profitable business segment for growers," says Daniel Schwab, Head of the Vegetable Category at fenaco Landesprodukte. To this end, a sounding board was set up with vegetable producers from the Seeland region.
No chemical crop protection is used, or very small amounts only. In addition, year-round indoor production allows growth 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and it is possible to increase the proportion of Swiss vegetables and herbs. "The aim is also to demonstrate the economic efficiency for various product categories and to reduce energy consumption by exploiting synergies", they explain.
A strong signal for innovation in the agricultural and food industry
fenaco entering the field of vertical farming is a strong signal for innovation in the Swiss agricultural and food industry. The partnership with the ETH spin-off enables fenaco to better understand the potential for vertical farming and, if positive, to exploit economies of scale with larger plants. On the one hand, the product portfolio will be tested in cultivation and marketing and on the other hand, central agronomic questions will be addressed in a research project in cooperation with Agroscope.
"We are working on the farm of the future and regard this investment as a preliminary work and a basis for decision-making for future investments of our producers", says Markus Hämmerli, Head of fenaco products and research cooperations. This means the commitment is based on the goals of the fenaco cooperative: to support Swiss growers in the economic development of their companies.
Industry and technology know-how go hand in hand
The ETH spin-off YASAI under the leadership of CEO Mark Essam Zahran is the ideal partner for fenaco. The four founders and majority shareholders have excellent know-how in the field of software and hardware as well as a large international network. After several successful financing rounds, fenaco's financial commitment and the associated construction of the first pilot plant in Switzerland is an important milestone for the still young company.
"Thanks to the cooperation with fenaco, we now have a strong industrial partner with a lot of market and customer knowledge from the agricultural sector on our side. This is extremely valuable when scaling up the technology and entering the Swiss market," says Mark Zahran of YASAI. The partnership with fenaco also enables YASAI to distribute the vegetables and herbs it produces nationally in the retail trade and in the catering trade.
For more information:
www.fenaco.com
www.yasai.ch
29 Oct 2020
Gardyn Aims To Make At-Home Vertical Farming Small, Simple, and Stylish
Thanks to disruptions in the food supply chain, panic-buying sprees, and the general uncertainty of the times, growing food at home seems like a pretty good idea of late
Thanks to disruptions in the food supply chain, panic-buying sprees, and the general uncertainty of the times, growing food at home seems like a pretty good idea of late. Trouble is, many consumers don’t have the know-how to cultivate their own leafy greens and other produce in the backyard. Even those who do often lack adequate space.
A company called Gardyn is addressing both of those issues with an at-home vertical farming system that requires minimal input from the user and can easily fit inside a small apartment if need be. The idea, as Gardyn founder and CEO FX Rouxel explained to me over the phone last week, is to make growing food in one’s own home as simple and straightforward as possible. To do that, the company has built a farm that relies on AI to do much of the heavy lifting in terms of monitoring and maintaining an edible crop of food. Or as Rouxel said, “The system is managing everything for you.”
Gardyn’s system is made up of two parts: a compact vertical tower, which can grow as many as 30 plants, and an accompanying app powered by an AI assistant named “Kelby.” Users only have to order seeds and “plug” the seedpods into the vertical towers. The system automatically circulates water and nutrients to the plants, while Kelby monitors plant growth and sends reminders when it’s time to add water to the garden or harvest the plants.
Right now, available crops from Gardyn’s site include mostly leafy greens and herbs, some flowers, cherry tomatoes, and jalapeños. Customers can also use their own seeds if preferred.
The system uses what Rouxel calls “a hybrid of different hydroponic technologies,” including the deepwater method and aeroponics. (The company brands its approach as “hybriponics.”) By themselves, these different methods have certain limitations in the at-home setting. Deep water, where plant roots are fully submerged in nutrient-enriched water, requires a lot of space. Aeroponics is a great setup for outdoors, but once indoors it requires lighting, which gets expensive very quickly. Gardyn pulled elements from both to create a system that takes up only two square feet of space and doesn’t require any extra hardware. “Within just two square feet, you can produce a lot of food,” says Rouxel, adding that Gardyn’s units have produced “over 25,000 pounds of produce” during the last few months.
That quest to grow a lot of leafy greens in a small amount of space is an area with plenty of competition these days. Farmshelf recently unveiled its first-ever farm for the home, and companies like Rise Gardens and Agrilution (the latter recently bought by Miele) also offer promising solutions for the consumer space.
And while historically, investment in vertical farming has mainly gone towards the industrial-scale indoor farms (think AeroFarms), at-home farms are fast becoming a lucrative area. Investors, Rouxel explained to me, see traditional agriculture as a risky business that’s less insurable because its success is in part dependent on the weather outside. With climate change triggering more extreme weather, investors will look more and more to alternative solutions in controlled-environment agriculture.
“I am absolutely convinced we are going to see in the coming two years a total disruption in the way we grow things,” he says. Chiefly, that will be growing the food in much closer proximity to consumers, whether through at-home systems like Gardyn’s, in-store farms at grocery retailers, rooftop gardens, and high-tech greenhouses. “In future, we’re going to have a spectrum of solutions,” Rouxel noted.
Getting these vertical farms closer to consumers and in their own homes will require bringing the price of the machines down. At the moment, Gardyn’s system is roughly on par pricewise with other systems out there that can realistically feed a family of four: $799 for the base model all the way up to $1485 for the “Plus” model.
Rouxel is aware that the cost is still too high for many consumers. “We don’t want this to be only for well-off people,” he told me. “It’s important that we find ways that anyone can afford this.”
Many companies, including Gardyn, offer financing options on their farms now. And more investment dollars going into the space in the future could mean companies have the time and space to innovate on ways to make their system cheaper for the average consumer.
While pricing remains a question, one thing that’s certain is that at-home vertical farming is on the path to becoming a regular part of the kitchen, rather than just a trend. “What we want is to develop solutions that will quickly change the way people access food,” said Rouxel. “We won’t solve everything, that’s for sure, but we want to be part of the solution for how we shape food.”
FILED UNDER: AG TECH BUSINESS OF FOOD EDUCATION & DISCOVERY FEATURED FOODTECH
INDIA: Aquaponics Unit Gets Off The Ground In Ludhiana Vet Varsity
The system was established by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Mohali, under the collaborative project funded by the ministry of electronics and information technology (MEITY), GOI
Was Inaugurated by Sanjay Dhotre,
Union Minister of State For Education,
Communication And Electronics And IT
CHANDIGARH
Oct 14, 2020, HT Correspondent
Hindustan Times, Ludhiana
The aquaponics unit in Ludhiana. (HT photo)
Sanjay Dhotre Union minister of state for education, communication and electronics and IT, on Wednesday virtually inaugurated an ‘Aquaponics vertical farming system’ developed at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU).
The system was established by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Mohali, under the collaborative project funded by the ministry of electronics and information technology (MEITY), GOI.
Dhotre emphasized on the need to modernize food production sectors to double farmers’ income and enhance climate change resilience among the farming community.
He said that aquaponics is a promising technology for organic farming and there is a need to publicize such technologies for the wellbeing of the environment and humans.
Inderjeet Singh, the vice-chancellor of GADVASU, said that aquaponics involves a synergistic combination of aquaculture and hydroponics to promote vertical farming with enhanced nutrient utilization efficiency through recycling of water between the two components to produce fish and vegetables together.
He added that it offers potential future solutions to global warming, with only 10-12% water and land requirement compared to traditional fish and vegetable farming systems, fulfilling the concept of ‘More crop per drop’.The V-C said that the facility will help GADVASU take up required R&D for its optimized utilization under climatic conditions of the state, especially for stakeholders with small landholdings.
In the keynote address, Hemant Darbari, DG, C-DAC, said that the automated aquaponics system will serve as an excellent R&D and demonstration provision for skill development in aspiring stakeholders of the region to produce more food from less land.
Jyoti Arora, special secretary, MEITY, spoke on making the facility sustainable through innovative techniques to attract more youth into the technology-driven agriculture sector.
The project in charge, Jaspal Singh, joint director, C-DAC, and his team implemented the project at GADVASU with Meera D Ansal, dean, college of fisheries, and Kulbir Singh, principle olericulturist, PAU, under the leadership of JPS Gill, director research, GADVASU.
Farm Boy Deal Just The Beginning For Indoor Farming Startup
Within six months of completing construction on its Cornwall growing facility, Fieldless Farms’ produce could already be found on the shelves of more than 20 Farm Boy stores across Ontario
Cornwall’s Fieldless Farms Eyes Expansion Into New Markets
BY: Adam Langenberg
October 6, 2020
“We want to scale this very large – we want to be a national success story,” says Fieldless Farms CEO Jon Lomow.
Within six months of completing construction on its Cornwall growing facility, Fieldless Farms’ produce could already be found on the shelves of more than 20 Farm Boy stores across Ontario.
But armed with an aggressive expansion plan to bring more hydroponically grown vegetables to Canadians, CEO Jon Lomow says his company is just getting started. Fieldless currently supplies two types of lettuce mixes – Northern Crunch and Ontario Sweets – grown in its Cornwall indoor farming facility. Lomow wants to rapidly expand both the types of crops the startup grows as well as its physical footprint.
Fieldless uses just 20,000 square feet at its Cornwall facility for its current operations, but Lomow insists that will increase quickly, with the CEO also harbouring ambitions of building new growing facilities in Toronto, Montreal and even the country’s west coast by 2025.“We want to scale this very large – we want to be a national success story. We want to play a major role in shortening supply chains for Canadians using controlled environment agriculture,” Lomow says.
He says Fieldless will significantly increase its capacity to grow leafy greens in the next one to three years, increasing the yield of both its current lettuce mixes and other crops such as romaine lettuce, spinaches, and basil. From there, there are plans to expand to smaller vegetable crops, including baby tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, which the company is just on the cusp of being able to grow economically, Lomow says.
Agricultural evolution
That kind of aggressive growth may seem overly optimistic to some, but Lomow says rapid change is all the company has known since its inception. Fieldless, which secured its first round of private capital funding in June last year, has gone from finishing construction on its Cornwall facility to providing almost 2,000 packs of lettuce mixes to customers each week inside six months.
Initially just selling products through Burrow Shop, the Ottawa-based online retailer Lomow co-founded, as well as Ottawa’s Massine’s Your Independent Grocer, Fieldless achieved one of its early goals in August when it signed a deal with supermarket chain Farm Boy to supply its lettuce mixes to 16 stores spanning from Cornwall to Kingston. That number quickly jumped when Farm Boy asked weeks later if Fieldless could supply seven stores in the Toronto area, a number that is set to grow again in coming weeks. Farm Boy’s origin in Cornwall and its “obsessive focus” on reducing the amount of fresh produce wastage made it the perfect first retailer to partner with, Lomow says.
That early growth gives confidence to Lomow, who notes that Canada – reliant on $48 billion of food imports each year – needs to significantly increase its food production in future years.
Lomow is also buoyed by what he predicts will be a “trillion-dollar evolution in the agriculture industry,” powered by falling automation costs and efficiency improvements in lighting technologies.
Fieldless Farms’ indoor growing plant in Cornwall.
The thing that sets Fieldless apart is that it’s not trying to do it all, Lomow says. Before launching, it signed a deal with an unnamed Canadian partner that handles the hydroponic technology side of the equation, leaving Lomow and his team to focus on the supply chain as well as perfecting the taste of its products and getting the products into stores.“We’ll deploy core technologies for our growing platforms and then we’ll innovate inside the gaps, because there are tons of gaps still in indoor farming,” Lomow says. “We just won’t be developing the core technology.”
“We decided we were way better off to focus our efforts on evaluating that technology, in making sure that we had the right technology as opposed to starting from scratch. If you go down the wrong road you’re kind of stuck there.”
The current technology platform sees lettuce crops grow from seedlings inside a 20-day cycle in a way that Lomow says strikes “the right balance between automation and manual labour,” but Fieldless’ technology-agnostic approach means it will partner with other technology companies to build other facilities and grow other crops in the future.
ORGANIZATIONS: Fieldless Farms Farm Boy'
PEOPLE: Jon Lomow. PLACES: Cornwall TAGS: Agri-business
Cultivating The Future Starts Next Friday!
The 2020 Aquaponics Conference, Cultivating the Future, starts next Friday, October 16. This year, you don't need plane tickets or a hotel room!
Hello Aquaponics World,
The 2020 Aquaponics Conference, Cultivating the Future, starts next Friday, October 16. This year, you don't need plane tickets or a hotel room!
The Conference features OVER EIGHTY SESSIONS including talks, panel discussions, virtual tours, breakout discussions, and more! Dr. Wilson Lennard, (pictured above) will join us live from Australia on Friday night to discuss the state of aquaponics research! Check out all three days of schedules:
Friday Agenda
Saturday Agenda
Sunday Agenda
Are you a K-12 teacher, home grower, or part of a small business or small farm? You may be eligible for STEM / Community Super-Saver Discount Tix!
Learn more:
STEM / Community Ticket Info
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"Vertical Farming Won’t Replace All Greenhouse Production, But It’s More A Combination of All of Them"
“We have been studying the vertical farming market for a couple of years now. Today, we haven’t seen any new, exciting things I must say, but vertical farms continue to improve
“We have been studying the vertical farming market for a couple of years now. Today, we haven’t seen any new, exciting things I must say, but vertical farms continue to improve. More production systems become high-tech, from greenhouse growers to other farmers. It’s also more about looking at what is applicable per location, whether it’s an indoor farm in an urban area or a high-tech greenhouse more suitable for the area it’s based,” Cindy van Rijswick, Expert Fresh Produce at Rabobank Research Food & Agribusiness, says.
Cindy van Rijswick
Not at its peak yet
Vertical farming in the Netherlands isn’t very thrilling production-wise, but many great techniques are developed here, she notes. “The USA e.g. is not very familiar with glass greenhouses. They switched to vertical farming at some point and often skipped the glasshouse concept. The only disadvantage a greenhouse has, compared to vertical farming, is that it needs more space and it is less easy to control because still sunlight is used.”
In the indoor farming market, there are a lot of small-scale companies. In comparison to the Dutch greenhouses, it’s not as profitable as it could be. When stacking multiple layers vertically it will increase production. “However, it's not large-scale enough. Now there is a limited range of products, such as luxury lettuces and herbs, for which there is only a narrow market.”
Uniformity
“The market is currently in a development phase. Before it will become mature, mistakes are being made. There are still many steps to be taken before we’ll get there. One being, increasing efficiency. In addition to that, there are too many different systems being used and instead, more uniformity is needed.
"All kinds of systems are developed while there are companies that have existing well-working systems. However, large sums of money are put into the sector while very little working proof comes out of it. In the future, there will be more vertical farm suppliers that will operate effectively. The sector needs to collaborate and compare more. In this way, steps can be taken. Although even then, it will not replace all greenhouse production, it’s more a combination of all of them,” Van Rijswick explains.
Costs per m2
The investment costs for a vertical farm are more or less starting at € 2000 per m2 in comparison to a greenhouse which is about € 200-500 per m2. There is a huge difference between investment costs which is a major disadvantage for farmers looking for funding. Efficient herb plant factories could possibly compete with a greenhouse at the same cost price. Unfortunately, there’s so little transparency in the industry that not much is known about it.
Suitable location?
Van Rijswick affirmed that in some cases it’s better to be located inside the city. However, there are also many disadvantages to it. The land price is very high-priced in large cities, which causes it to be competing with for example office space. “There are many logistic problems as it's very complicated to get around within the city. The location has to be looked at in a more efficient way. As a large-scale farm, when being located next to a distribution center it’s much easier to distribute products to retail stores.”
Vacant buildings are hardly suitable for a vertical farm because of the following:
Often the floors aren’t able to carry heavy racks and installations
There are risks involved using a lot of electricity and water and it is sometimes difficult to insure these
The building will have a different use which is not always accepted by the municipality
Van Rijswick adds: “In most cases, it is better to acquire a new building where a new farm can be built rather than in existing offices. People think about it too easily. The most commonly used argument is that the building is then utilized beneficially, but this is not always the case.”
‘Japan as a frontrunner’
The country that has been out there the longest is Japan. Although the cost price is higher than in the Netherlands, people are willing to pay more for their greens. Van Rijswick continues: “Many young people would like to start their own farm, having great technique and a proper business plan. However, they can't put into words what their market is. China has had many food scandals, so there’s more demand for fresh produce with guaranteed safety. They’d rather pay more for clean food, produced in a safe growing environment. In Europe, this is less of an issue and competition is high, which makes it difficult to sell produce at a premium.”
‘More suitable for leafy greens’
“In the end, I think that indoor farming is most suitable for leafy greens, such as lettuce and herbs. Young plants and starting materials are also very suitable for this kind of growing environment. These greens are well suited for this type of cultivation, in terms of hygiene requirements and product quality. The crops can easily be stacked in multiple layers. This results in a higher value per kilogram, which is great looking at the cost price of these farming techniques.”
Large farms can process this type of production better than a small farm growing plants. These farms can pack and deliver the products immediately because only then it becomes logistically efficient. “For ‘fresh-cut companies’ it could be useful if they could grow some of their raw materials within their factory, such as expensive types of lettuce. In small businesses, I see more potential for local markets and the hospitality industry. But in the future, there certainly will be more large professional farms that will be growing large scale,” Van Rijswick explains.
For more information:
Rabobank
Cindy Rijswick, Expert Fresh Produce at Rabobank Research Food & Agribusiness
Cindy.Rijswick@rabobank.com
www.rabobank.com
Publication date: Tue 22 Sep 2020
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© HortiDaily.com
Autogrow Expands Into Europe With New Role And New Farm Solutions
CEO Darryn Keiller says, “this expansion into Europe is counter-intuitive during a pandemic however innovation and crop production doesn’t slow down, and the challenges growers face haven’t disappeared because of COVID-19
29 September 2020: Autogrow has ramped up their activity in the Northern Hemisphere by establishing a new Sales Director Europe and U.K. role based in the Netherlands supporting their expanding customer base for new digital farming solutions FarmRoad® and Folium®.
CEO Darryn Keiller says, “this expansion into Europe is counter-intuitive during a pandemic however innovation and crop production doesn’t slow down, and the challenges growers face haven’t disappeared because of COVID-19. In fact, they have been exacerbated by the pandemic. We think now is the perfect time to introduce solutions that will help growers with productivity, gain greater economic benefits, and transform the market. Added to which, with cross-border restrictions and travel limitations likely to remain in place in the foreseeable future, establishing a local presence is the right move.”
“The Netherlands has been recognized by the World Economic Forum as a leader in efficient and sustainable agriculture and, after the United States, is the second-largest exporter of agriculture in the world. By establishing a role in the region, we create strong ties with growers and, like our partnerships in the United States, introduce our new digital farming solutions FarmRoad and Folium.”
Autogrow has been working closely over the past few months with customers and distributors in the region including some of the largest tomato producers. They are delighted to be working alongside Van der Voort, a member of the Prominent farming cooperative, who share Autogrow's focus on sustainable farming practices.
“We have been growing tomatoes for over 50 years and technology has always played a pivotal role in our success. With multiple farms and increasing production, we look for solutions that are leading the AgTech market. The work the Autogrow team are doing with sensor technology and farm management solutions is cutting edge and we are excited to be working together,” says Van der Voort Co-Owner, Joost Van der Voort.
Although Autogrow’s headquarters is based in New Zealand, large geographical distances have never hindered the organization from successfully operating on the global stage. Their endeavors also have the support of the New Zealand Government.
“It’s exciting to see AgTech innovation developed in New Zealand supporting growers here,” says Ariane Gonzalez, New Zealand Trade Commissioner to the Netherlands.
“New Zealand is recognized on the global stage for producing efficient and effective agricultural solutions that work in a range of climates, and this is another great example of that in action,” says Ms Gonzalez.
In addition, Autogrow has assistance from InnovationQuarter, the regional economic development agency for the Province of Zuid-Holland.
"The Netherlands, and Rotterdam - The Hague area specifically, is the worldwide center of horticulture. We are eager to attract and facilitate innovators with exciting solutions as Autogrow. They are a great addition to our region and the sector and support our regional economy. Next to that they benefit and contribute to strengthening our ecosystem of innovative companies in horticulture, impacting the societal challenge for feeding and greening the mega-cities of the future,” explains Chris van Voorden, Head of Internationalization at InnovationQuarter.
Autogrow is currently recruiting for the new role with the expectation to have someone in place over the next few months.
To see the advertised role - https://www.ceresrecruitment.nl/en/vacancy/sales-director-uk-europe/CEBI03123-en
For more information on Folium Network Sensor - https://autogrow.com/products/folium
For more information on Yield Prediction by FarmRoad - https://www.farmroad.io/
MEDIA QUERIES
Kylie Horomia, Head of Brand & Communications
(e) Kylie.horomia@autogrow.com
(m) +6421 733 025
(w) www.autogrow.com www.farmroad.io
Sales queries – sales@autogrow.com
About Autogrow
Autogrow leverages the power of technology, data science, and plant biology to provide indoor growers affordable, accessible, and easy-to-use innovation – 24/7, anywhere in the world.
Our hardware, software, and data solutions support growers and resellers in over 40 countries producing over 100 different crop types.
We are the experts in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) and continue to stay ahead of a rapidly evolving landscape.
Indoor Ag Gets Social With New Farmbook Networking & Data Collection Initiative
“You don’t see a forum where people can get together who have small and medium-sized operations or who are thinking about investing in it. I get lots of calls from people asking for an hour of my time because they want to talk about the industry,” Farmbook’s Boston-based co-creator Peter Tasgal told AFN
September 28, 2020
Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) has seen a renewed bout of interest recently, but there are plenty of pain points still plaguing the growing industry. A new non-profit initiative called The Farmbook Project is hoping to resolve some of those issues by providing indoor growers with more opportunities to connect while aggregating data to establish benchmarks.
“You don’t see a forum where people can get together who have small and medium-sized operations or who are thinking about investing in it. I get lots of calls from people asking for an hour of my time because they want to talk about the industry,” Farmbook’s Boston-based co-creator Peter Tasgal told AFN. His fellow co-creator is Albuquerque-based Xander Yang, who has been working in the vertical farming industry for the last five years.
What Tasgal noticed was, when he got these requests, people were always asking him the same questions. He realized that growers in the space were mostly isolated and likely hungering for a chance to connect with their CEA colleagues. Growers in the space have a long history of keeping information to themselves, according to Farmbook. And while there may be a few good reasons for holding this info close to the chest, a bit more sharing could help move the industry forward as a whole.
Aggregating data confidentially through the Farmbook platform can also help with tackling another problem many CEA operators face: a lack of business planning and coaching. Having a cohesive business plan can help attract more investors, according to the Farmbook team. Investors cannot predict whether they will meet their ROI needs if an operation doesn’t have a business plan addressing how it plans to succeed.
In the CEA space, startups have chosen a wide variety of routes to market, including direct sales through grocers, selling to restaurants, and wholesaling. Others sell equipment in the form of turnkey container farms.
Invest with Impact. Click here.
Considering that 75% of all retail tomato sales in the US come from greenhouse production, by Farmbook’s estimate, there should be plenty of data to sift through.
“We’ll certainly have to look at the data because […] we don’t want all the data to come from successful operators. That won’t be helpful,” Tasgal said. “We are looking to get information from a wide range of operators.”
Perhaps Farmbook’s biggest objective is to standardize some of the metrics used in CEA production, such as pounds of production per plant hole per annum. The initiative thinks the use of such standards would be valuable not only for existing producers, but also for prospective farmers trying to determine how to start their own operations. Investors assessing revenue forecasts and retail purchasing managers who need to know a potential supplier’s capacity could also benefit from standardized metrics.
“In the retail industry or in the car industry there is always lots of information available that people use to benchmark themselves or to figure out how to set up. Performance indicators,” Tasgal said. “I think people know that information in this space [but aren’t sharing it] and I think that’s hindering growth.”
Farmbook is still testing its platform, but the website is live and project members are working to grow the team to capture a wide range of industry views.
As indoor ag continues to grow and evolve, it’s finding ways to fit in with, or compete against, the existing food chain. There is a variety of opinions regarding the ultimate role that CEA will have to play in our future food system.
“I think it will never be a pure commodity. Just the cost structure of indoor farms necessarily requires that it has to be somewhat of a specialized product,” Tasgal said. “That’s not to mean small – just that you won’t ever be growing wheat, cotton, or large commodity grains indoors. But when 75% of eating tomatoes are grown indoors that is pretty amazing. It tells me that the tomato business is becoming a purely indoor market.”
Do you think the CEA industry needs more benchmarks? Let me know at lauren@agfunder.com
Crops Can Now 'Tell' Growers When They Are Stressed
All plants use internal electrical, mechanical, and chemical signaling networks to coordinate growth, reproduction, and defense – and Vivent is the first company in the world to launch a commercial crop health diagnostic system based on plant electrophysiology
Vivent, the Swiss biosignals analysis specialist, has closed a multi-million Euro Series A funding round. This first external investment from Astanor Ventures, will be used to expand sales of a unique plant electrophysiology system that diagnoses crop stress in real-time.
All plants use internal electrical, mechanical, and chemical signaling networks to coordinate growth, reproduction, and defense – and Vivent is the first company in the world to launch a commercial crop health diagnostic system based on plant electrophysiology.
Electrical signals are some of the fastest to transmit information throughout a plant – from roots to shoots. Vivent’s crop diagnostics system, called ‘PhytlSigns’, uses AI to interpret signals linked to plant stress and diagnoses pathogens and pests prior to the appearance of any visible symptoms. Early diagnosis increases yields, improves crop protection effectiveness, and encourages the adoption of environmentally preferable protection solutions.
“Growers are using PhytlSigns to monitor their crops in real-time. This additional information is improving their decision-making on climate control, irrigation, and crop protection,” explains Carrol Plummer, founder, and CEO.
“Thanks to low-cost powerful machine learning, we can give growers real-time information that results in safer, higher-quality, and tastier food with less reliance on preventive spraying and more focus on environmentally preferable crop protection. We are very excited to be working with Astanor, a top deep-tech venture fund, with ambitions to enhance food quality, security, and sustainability.”
Christina Ulardic, Partner at Astanor Ventures and new Vivent board member, explains that “Vivent is pioneering a new relationship with the crops we grow. It is remarkable to be able to see precisely how plants are responding to stressors in the environment and to learn how we can use these signals to provide treatments which improve plant husbandry.”
Vivent is already working with top global crop protection companies and growers in several countries to improve yields and product quality. Customers value early diagnosis of plant diseases, particularly those in roots, which are hard to identify using other methods.
For more information:
Vivent
www.phytlsigns.com
Publication date: Mon 28 Sep 2020
Basil Production In Horizontal or Vertical Aquaponic Systems
The main objective of this work was to compare basil production between horizontal and vertical decoupled aquaponic systems and assess the utilization of supplemental lighting in a greenhouse environment
Source: ECB
Aquaponic facilities allow the joint production of fish and plants in a reduced space. This hydroponic technique, combined with vertical farming, is not well studied. The main objective of a recent work was to compare basil production between horizontal and vertical decoupled aquaponic systems and assess the utilization of supplemental lighting in a greenhouse environment.
Six independent vertical racks were arranged with hydroponic trays at three heights. Three racks were affixed with LED lighting on the lowest levels and three with supplemental lighting on the intermediate level. Immediately adjacent to the vertical systems, two independent horizontal systems containing three trays were constructed to compare basil production.
After 35 days of growth post transplanting, the total production per tray and weight, height, number of leaves, and nodes of 20 selected plants per tray were determined. Records of the intensity of illumination photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD)) were recorded at dawn (8:00), noon (12:00), and dusk (18:00) at randomly predetermined positions associated with the 20 selected plants per tray.
The total basil production in the experiment was 58.79 kg, with an average production per unit area of 2.43 and 0.94 kg m−2 for vertical and horizontal systems, respectively. Productivity per unit area in the vertical systems was 160% greater than in horizontal systems. A significant effect of lighting, the height of the tray, and plant position inside the tray was found on plant growth parameters.
Optimization of light source distribution and tray orientation can enhance the productive performance in vertical aquaponic systems. Electricity cost associated with supplemental lighting per kg of production increment was 21.84 and 12.25 $ kg−1 for the bottom and intermediate levels of the vertical system, respectively, the latter being economically the most profitable.
Agronomy 2020, 10(9), 1414; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10091414
by Víctor M. Fernández-Cabanás 1,*,Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu 2,Alexes Juárez 3,Nathan T. Kaufman 3 andJackson A. Gross 3
1 Urban Greening and Biosystems Engineering Research Group, Departamento de Ciencias Agroforestales, Universidad de Sevilla, ETSIA, Ctra, Utrera km.1, 41013 Seville, Spain
2 Urban Greening and Biosystems Engineering Research Group, Area of Agro-Forestry Engineering, Universidad de Sevilla, ETSIA, Ctra, Utrera km.1, 41013 Seville, Spain
3 Department of Animal Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 29 July 2020 / Revised: 10 September 2020 / Accepted: 14 September 2020 / Published: 17 September 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Horticultural and Floricultural Crops)
View Full-Text Download PDF Browse Figures Cite This Paper
Keywords: decoupled aquaponics; vertical farming; hydroponics; basil; artificial lighting
Source: MDPI.
How We Can Rethink Agriculture So It’s More Local
While we can still produce enough food to feed the world today, we are running out of time
SEP 21, 2020
Climate Week is a reminder of how susceptible global agriculture systems are to climate change risks. More than 800 million people went to bed hungry every night even before COVID-19 disrupted the global food supply chain, which put an additional 130 million at risk of food insecurity.
This unprecedented crisis comes as industrial agriculture already struggles to feed a growing global population under threats of declining resources and an increasingly inhospitable environment.
While we can still produce enough food to feed the world today, we are running out of time. Many experts believe that conventional farming techniques are becoming unsustainable because of the vast amounts of land, water, and energy required, as well as additional crop failures that will occur with the warming climate. To achieve sustainable food security, we must fundamentally disrupt the traditional forms of agriculture. We must pivot towards more cost-effective food production that is closer to home, more sustainable than factory farming, and less land-intensive.
Building more local capacity for agriculture
With a global population projected to exceed eight billion in 2023 and 10 billion by 2056, we can ill afford the inefficiencies and incremental gains of today’s industrial agriculture. Feeding 10 billion people will require an additional 109 million arable hectares, a landmass larger than Brazil. Given that 80 percent of arable land is already in use, the world faces even more acute food shortages if we can’t figure out how to grow more with less and get it where’s it’s most acutely needed.
The first step is to decentralize food production and distribute it more locally. When the 2017 famine in South Sudan took hold, it wasn’t because there wasn’t enough food to feed the five million people; it was because disruptions to the food supply prevented its distribution. Similarly, when food supply disruptions caused harrowing shortages on American supermarket shelves in the early months of the pandemic, we all witnessed how quickly panic and hoarding set in.
Urban agriculture is one way to build more local capacity. Building in cities, even on rooftops, can improve local food security and nutrition in food deserts where underserved communities suffer from access to fresh produce. Studies show that urban agriculture can meet 15 to 20 percent of global food demand today.
The next step is to bring food production indoors, when and where it makes sense. Technological innovation has helped bring food closer to local communities, enabling food to be grown more in places once thought impossible. However, we need to rethink our approach to indoor growing systems.
Today’s most advanced greenhouses and indoor vertical farms have significant shortcomings. Vertical farms, for instance, require massive amounts of energy due to the need for climate control systems and artificial lighting. Some argue that energy and environmental costs of vertical farms are offset by the reduced “food miles” of transporting food from afar. But as climate and environmental scientist, Dr. Jonathan Fole points out this argument turns out to be a red herring. Local food typically uses about the same energy per pound to transport as food grown away due to volume and method of transport.
And both indoor vertical farms and greenhouses suffer from a lack of the sun’s full light spectrum, compromising the robustness of indoor plant growth as well as the quality of the food.
The need for precise controls
Instead, a new model of agriculture is emerging that is nimbler than large scale commercial farming, safer than outdoor farms, greener than greenhouses, more natural than vertical farms, and more efficient than almost any other growing technique in terms of water consumption, power usage, and CO2 production. It’s essentially a hybrid approach of all three growing modalities – outdoors, greenhouses, and indoor farms. This “fourth way” of agriculture integrates and continually refines entirely new approaches to crops, operations, facilities, systems, and the growing environment (COFSE). The model was developed to produce far higher yields per acre than outdoor farms, superior yields to greenhouses, and up to 20 percent better yields than comparably sized indoor farming systems.
The new model has two key principles: first, bring the full sun indoors and, secondly, create and control an indoor ecosystem precisely tuned for each kind of crop.
Plants grow most robustly and flavorfully in full natural sunlight. While it may seem counter-intuitive to some, even the clearest of glass greenhouses inhibit the full light spectrum of the sun. But new cladding materials have emerged recently that enable the near-full-transmission of the sun’s RV and light spectrum.
Unlike plastic or glass, these new transparent membranes can help crops achieve their full genetic (and flavor) potential. Natural light also warms the microclimate when necessary, dramatically reducing heating energy requirements. And at times when the sun isn’t cooperating, advances in supplemental grow lighting can extend the plants’ photoperiod – even beyond natural daylight hours – to maximize crop growth and quality, and reduce time to harvest by up to 50 percent or better.
Greenhouses and vertical farms are also compromised by outdoor and human-introduced contamination. The new model relies on creating a tightly-sealed, cleanroom-like microclimate that keeps pests, pesticides, and other pollutants outside.
Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things, and similar advances, growers can create highly automated growing systems that reduce human intervention and its associated costs. Finely-tuned convective air circulation systems enable the microclimate to remain sealed and protective. Natural temperature regulation using sunlight and organic foam-based clouds can significantly reduce air-conditioning electricity requirements. And highly automated hydration, fertilization, and lighting are all continuously optimized by machine learning.
This new model, which has been designed over more than three years of research and development, is set to be put into large scale practice when the first of three new grow facilities completes construction on a 41-acre site in Coachella, Calif. Construction is set to commence within the next year. This unique approach, which included contributions from lighting experts who had previously worked at NASA sending plants into space, was developed to significantly affect local food security in an environmentally friendly way.
It applies the best aspects of current growing methods – outdoors, greenhouse, and indoors – and, where possible, replaces their shortcomings with superior technology and processes, creating an overall improved approach. Yet as a result of the facility design and automated growing system, it is designed to and expected to consume up to 90 percent less energy than traditional indoor grow operations while producing up to 10 to 20 percent better yields than other comparably sized farming systems.
The world we live in now gives us the intelligence and technologies we need to change the outdated legacy of how farming is done today into tomorrow’s way of producing food, creating a robust, delicious, and nutritious food chain on a global level. Using these technologies, we can decentralize production, reducing our reliance on global supply chains, and move high-density growing systems closer to communities to ensure food security for all.
Image credit: Devi Puspita Amartha Yahya/Unsplash
INGO MUELLER is the CEO of AgriFORCE Growing Systems Inc.
Future Looks Bright For Indian Hydroponics Market
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in a water-based, nutrient-rich solution without soil, where the root system is supported using an inert medium such as perlite, rock wool, clay pellets, peat moss or vermiculite
10 September 2020
Darsh Lathia and Yamini Vivek
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in a water-based, nutrient-rich solution without soil, where the root system is supported using an inert medium such as perlite, rock wool, clay pellets, peat moss or vermiculite.
The roots are suspended in a purified water system enriched with nutrients, thereby reducing the chances of pest and insect attack. This technique caters to a host of challenges, such as water and arable land shortage, global warming, and overuse of harmful pesticides and fertilizers.
Although hydroponic systems depend on water and water-based solutions, they use only about 1/20th of the amount of water used in traditional farming. Based on Frost & Sullivan’s analysis, productivity was found to increase by 3-10 times the conventional output in the same amount of space as conventional farming. The technology allows the decrease in time between harvest and consumption, leading to higher retention of nutritional value for the end-product. Many crops can be produced twice as fast in a well-managed hydroponics system.
Hydroponics on the Rise in India
Hydroponics is at a nascent stage in India, with the majority of farms being operated as startups. However, large corporates are entering this business, which will increase their acceptance at the commercial level. Based on our research, there are over 40 commercially active hydroponic farms in India and a couple of new farms are underway. With produce being perishable, the majority of farms cater to the nearby metro cities and companies try to set up farms close to demand centres for ease of logistics.
The large farms are concentrated in southern and western India. According to our analysis, Southern India accounts for the highest share, with cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Chennai having a large number of farms and many new small and medium farms being established.
Farms are forming near the Mumbai-Pune belt and other western regions of Maharashtra, such as Nasik and Kolhapur. Competition is currently not intense as the technology is in a very nascent stage and the awareness level is low, even amongst chefs and food enthusiasts. However, it is expected that the popularity of hydroponics will increase, and the competition will intensify correspondingly.
Our research revealed that Hydroponic farms in India are largely used to grow leafy greens like lettuces and herbs like Italian basils and vegetables like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and red and yellow bell peppers. In terms of volume and value, large greens like cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers, account for the major share of the hydroponic output, which is followed by leafy greens like various lettuces, arugula, and pakchoi.
The Green Conundrum Facing Farmers
Our research reveals that hydroponic farming is largely a B2B business model with HoReCa (Hotel, Restaurant, Cafe) and organised retail accounting for a 90%-95% share, and remaining by the unorganised sector. Organised retail is the primary mode of selling supply products in the retail market. The unorganised sector is almost negligible and the penetration of e-commerce is minimal. The organised retail outlet offers decent volume off-take and better margins compared to HoReCa.
With the unorganised retail market being price-sensitive, conventional farm output has a stranglehold due to its pricing. Transportation is done primarily through transport vans delivering the produce to adjoining city centres, typically about 100-200 km from the farm. Only farms supplying long distances (over 500 km) use reefer trucks.
Commercial hydroponic farms typically have a land area of 10,000 sq. ft. to 50,000 sq. ft. Usage of the grow bag technique accounts for 70%, whereas NFT (Nutrient Film Technique) and others account for the rest. As per Frost & Sullivan’s analysis, the cost of setting up a grow bag/trough system for growing large greens is almost half compared to setting up an NFT system for growing leafy greens and, hence, large greens are the preferred product category. Although leafy greens go through six to seven crop cycles and large greens take one to two crop cycles in a year, the output per plant for large greens in terms of volume is up to 20 times that of leafy greens. Also, in terms of value, large greens fetch about 25%-30% more value per kg compared to leafy greens.
Farm utilities include equipment for setting up the farm, plant seeds, minerals/nutrients and water, organic pest control solutions, packaging, and so on. Greenhouses, NFT channels, grow bags, net pots, fogger and auto dossers are some of the major farm equipment used. Plant seeds and nutrients account for the largest component of the operational expenses, some of which are imported from Europe and America.
HoReCa and Healthy Lifestyles Set to Boost Hydroponics
HoReCa is considered to be the largest customer segment for hydroponics as it has a bulk requirement, and farm owners trying to offload their volume prefer to cater to the HoReCa segment.
Hydroponics also ensure a smooth supply, despite weather conditions and monsoon seasons, when supply is usually interrupted for traditional vegetable suppliers. Within HoReCa, high-end cafes and restaurants not only have a decent off-take but also offer better margins as this sub-segment prefers high-quality vegetables and is open to paying a premium. With health-conscious customers requesting vegan, Keto diet, and so on, the menu is revised constantly to cater to the demand of the customers, and there will be increased growth of detox juices and salads. The entry of more salad outlets is leading to the growth of exotic vegetables, thereby creating opportunities for hydroponically grown vegetables. Since 2017, salad consumption has increased by 25%-30% and this trend is expected to continue in the coming five years.
With an improved lifestyle, high disposable income, and growing awareness, there is an increasing demand for healthy menus like low-carb and organic, where customers are requesting more leafy vegetables that are organically grown. Not only Tier 1 cities, but Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities also are expected to follow a similar disrupting trend in the coming years.
Over the past few years, the share of expenditure on health and wellness has increased among the young working class. According to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, the foodservice industry is expected to reach ?5,52,000 crore by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 10%. Of this, the health-conscious segment is expected to cater to over 1 crore people in the top six Indian cities by 2022, registering a growth rate of 12%.
Organised retailers and specialty grocery stores, especially in major cities, have higher-volume off-takes and also offer comparatively better margins for hydroponic growers. This is because the consumers visiting these stores are willing to pay a premium for high-quality produce. However, prices offered at unorganised retailers are too low for the hydroponic farmers to break even. Direct-to-customer offers a higher margin compared to HoReCa or retail; however, it also requires additional effort in acquiring customers, creating awareness, offering innovative packaging, and so on.
Hydroponics Headed in the Right Direction
Hydroponics holds advantages over traditional farming. However, organically grown products have already become popular among young consumers. HoReCa and organised retail still prefer organically certified products over hydroponics.
Conventionally grown products are available at a much cheaper rate compared to hydroponically grown produce as well. The presence of hydroponic players in India was limited until 2015; however, with the growing popularity of the technology and year-round supply, which conventional farms cannot offer, it has gained attention in recent years. New players are expected to enter the market in the coming years and revolutionise urban farming in the country.
The authors are consultant and consulting analyst, chemicals, materials & nutrition practice, Frost & Sullivan. They can be reached at Srihari.Daivanayagam@frost.com)
Little Leaf Farms Expands Hydroponic Greens Distribution Across East Coast
Based in Massachusetts, Little Leaf Farms has doubled its hydroponic greenhouse-growing capacity to 10 acres of fields under glass capable of producing more than two million packages of lettuce each month, which will broaden the company's distribution to retailers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina
15-Sep-2020
By Mary Ellen Shoup
Based in Massachusetts, Little Leaf Farms has doubled its hydroponic greenhouse-growing capacity to 10 acres of fields under glass capable of producing more than two million packages of lettuce each month, which will broaden the company's distribution to retailers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.
Read More At: Food Navigator
Why We Believe Vertical, Urban Farming Can Help Save The Planet!
Conventional industrial farming contributes significantly to issues such as deforestation, biodiversity loss and the release of carbon emissions
Sophie | 2020
Our vertical, hydroponic farm based in Paddington, London.
Increasingly, we are all becoming aware of the negative impact of our food system on the environment. As individuals many of us are taking action to reduce the environmental impact of our diets, whether we’re reducing our meat and dairy consumption by trying out ‘meat-free Mondays’ or ‘veganuary’, buying zero waste foods, trying to buy more locally produced food or even growing our own.
Ultimately, we are looking for ways to minimize the negative environmental impacts of our food system. At Square Mile Farms, we believe that urban farming can play an important role in building a sustainable food system. Not only can we reduce food miles and prevent natural habitats from being converted for growing, we can also re-engage people to help them understand how food reaches their plates, which we believe is essential to enact real change going forward.
How does the current food system negatively impact the environment?
Conventional industrial farming contributes significantly to issues such as deforestation, biodiversity loss, and the release of carbon emissions. According to the Food Climate Research Network, the global food system is responsible for around 20-30% of greenhouse gas emissions. The WWF notes that food is responsible for 60% of global biodiversity loss and the UNFAO records that food production accounts for 70% of freshwater withdrawals.
The clearing of forests for livestock or growing crops is doubly concerning: not only do these practices have their own environmental impacts, e.g. methane emissions and issues related to fertilizer run-off, but they are also destroying forests which are important ‘carbon sinks’, absorbing approximately 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide yearly according to the UN.
Clearly, our current food system is flawed and this is only set to worsen as demands increase.
Infographic from: FCRN, ‘What is the food system’s contribution to the global GHG emissions total?’
Growing pressures on the food system
By 2050 the UN predicts the world population will grow to 9 billion: this is expected to require 60% more food and increase demand for water by 20% in the agriculture sector alone. So we need to find ways of making the food system more sustainable. We need to increase food production, while minimizing the environmental impact, or ideally making it negligible.
How can hydroponic farming in offices lessen the environmental impact of our food system?
We believe hydroponic, vertical farming is part of the solution to this issue. This method of growing food uses around 90% less water than conventional agricultural systems and can increase crop yields by up to 500%. So we can tackle two key problems in our current food system, the demand for water (by using considerably less) and the spatial impact (growing vertically allows a much more efficient use of space). By using existing urban spaces, such as workplaces, we can grow veg and herbs without converting more land for agricultural purposes.
Growing in offices also has the benefit of reducing food miles. By bringing food production to population centers, and further to that, by bringing it to people’s workplaces we are able to provide fresh produce where people are. If you’re taking home fresh produce once a week from work, there are virtually no food miles involved as you’d be traveling to and from work anyway!
Our office farm installations.
Another important way in which office farming can help improve our food system is by re-engaging consumers in cities. Writing for the World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur, a champion of Circular Economy, emphasized the important role cities will have in achieving a sustainable food system, especially because “80% of all food is expected to be consumed in cities by 2050”. She notes that cities should source food locally where possible and that they should avoid being “passive consumers” and instead, use their demand power to reward responsible farming practices. Office farming allows us to bring food production to the forefront of people’s minds, driving engagement, and encouraging conversation around our food system. We believe this is vital in order to educate and to inspire the change that we need to secure a sustainable future.
We believe that individual action is important when it comes to enacting change, but to achieve this we need innovative ideas that make it achievable for consumers to make such changes a reality. That’s why we bring urban farming to offices. We install farm walls and displays to improve employee wellbeing, drive engagement, and of course, provide fresh, nutritious produce. If you’d like to find out more about our offering click here.
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Sources:
Bradley, P. and Marulanda, C., ‘Simplified Hydroponics to Reduce Global Hunger’, Acta Hortic. 554, 289-296.
Innovate UK, ‘Predictions - The Future of Food’.
MacArthur, Ellen, ‘Our food system is no longer fit for the 21st century’.
FCRN, ‘What is the food system’s contribution to the global GHG emissions total?'
UNFAO, ‘Water’.
UNFAO, ‘Water Use’.
UN News, ‘Climate Change’.
WWF, ‘Why we’re working on food’.
UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme, ‘The United Nations world water development report, 2016’.