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"The Push For Urban Farming Solutions Has Only Intensified"
Agritecture offers answers regarding urban farming solutions
With significant population growth and urbanization both underway and projected across the globe, the push for urban farming solutions has only intensified. The search for innovative solutions has generated many questions surrounding best agricultural practices and how to build a sustainable urban farm.
Agricultural consulting company Agritecture was developed to address exactly those questions. Agritecture was founded in 2011 when its CEO Henry Gordon-Smith began blogging about urban agriculture and subsequently received numerous inquiries from entrepreneurs looking to start urban farms. Within a few years, Agritecture began to officially offer consulting services and quickly built a portfolio.
Sustainable urban farming solutions
“With a mission to empower impact-driven organizations to develop sustainable urban farming solutions, Agritecture focuses on turning business ideas into practical realities,” says Agritecture’s media strategist, Briana Zagami. The breadth of services offered by Agritecture allows the company to meet the needs of entrepreneurs at various project stages.
Ask Agritecture is the company’s entry-level service through which entrepreneurs can schedule a 30-minute phone call with a consultant to discuss economic and technological aspects of the project and recommend future steps. The company also offers premium consulting services, which are “backed by several years of operational data and a team of experienced growers, agricultural engineers, sustainability managers, and marketing experts”, according to Briana. Furthermore, Agritecture uses its feasibility tools to help urban farmers and entrepreneurs obtain real-world financial estimates for a greenhouse or vertical farm project in any location.
Education
Agricultural education is another cornerstone of Agritecture’s mission, which the company achieves through its Commercial Urban Farming course, which presents best practices in six comprehensive lessons complete with short video modules and additional resources. Agritecture also provides free educational content in the form of its blog, podcast and videos.
The most recent addition to Agritecture’s service offerings is the Agritecture Designer, which was launched in April 2020 and is the world’s first digital platform for the planning of urban farms. According to Briana, “the goal was to take our years of experience as leading industry consultants and translate this into a digital platform to help expedite the planning stage and avoid common pitfalls.”
Future
In 2020, Agritecture’s digital audience is now comprised of 100,000 + users around the world. The team has consulted on over 120 projects spanning more than 26 companies. When asked how Agritecture has responded in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Briana explained that “Agritecture reinvented itself in the wake of COVID-19 and offered insights from its learnings to other small businesses and advisory firms that are struggling to find new business. We launched several new online initiatives in April and May to better connect with our audience and saw a nearly 3x increase in inbound consulting requests.”
So how does Agritecture envision the development of urban agriculture? According to Briana, “urban agriculture will continue to grow around the world due to the innovative spirit of farmers and the rising demand for fresh, sustainably-grown products.” With the development of supportive policies and standards in key cities, Agritecture expects that urban agriculture will only continue to grow and push past its niche status.
For more information:
Agritecture
www.agritecture.com
Publication date: Wed 6 Jan 2021
New Infographic From Ultimation Industries Shows
“How to Optimize Vertical Farming,” a new infographic created by Ultimation Industries LLC, highlights the benefits of vertical farming and ways to maximize the production of an indoor farming system. Ultimation has designed, manufactured, and installed conveyor systems for over 30 years and is a leader in vertical farming material handling
How To Optimize Vertical Farming
ROSEVILLE, Mich. (Jan. 6, 2021) – “How to Optimize Vertical Farming,” a new infographic created by Ultimation Industries LLC, highlights the benefits of vertical farming and ways to maximize the production of an indoor farming system. Ultimation has designed, manufactured, and installed conveyor systems for over 30 years and is a leader in vertical farming material handling.
Vertical farms can potentially achieve higher yields for the surface area dedicated to production by controlling the light, temperature, humidity, water, and nutrients the plants receive. They also reduce “food miles,” the distance food items travel from the point of production to the table and can reduce CO2 emission from transport while delivering fresher and better-tasting products.
As sustainable agricultural operations such as vertical and indoor farms become more prevalent, conveyor technology systems can be part of the solution. “Conveyors are essential to vertical farming because they can make use of all the available vertical space of a facility and can move plants through automated systems as they grow,” said Richard Canny, president, Ultimation Industries LLC. “How to optimize vertical farming is the challenge that the industry faces as it scales up.”
In addition to creating customized products for assembly operations, Ultimation offers food safe grade systems and material handling solutions for the vertical farming industry. The company has recently expanded into smaller, ‘quick ship’ products and systems that are sold through their website and in Amazon’s stores.
For more information about Ultimation Industries, visit https://www.ultimationinc.com.
About Ultimation:
Ultimation Industries, LLC is a woman-owned leader in the conveyor technology and automation industry. Founded in 1989, Ultimation designs manufactures, and installs machinery and equipment, automation devices, tire and wheel processing lines, and conveyor systems for customers throughout the Americas. The company offers a line of proprietary automation systems and is also a leading integrator of Jervis Webb Conveyor Systems. Ultimation’s e-commerce channel sells Ultimation, Interroll, Itoh Denki, Jervis Webb, and a wide range of other conveyor equipment. In 2020, Ultimation was recognized as one of Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing private companies in America. The company was a finalist for Amazon’s 2019 Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year and earned honors as one of “2019 Metro Detroit’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For®.”
Visit https://www.ultimationinc.com/ for the latest product information and news about Ultimation.
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For further information please contact:
Nancy Sarpolis
248-219-5651
Israel’s Vertical Field To Deploy Smart Vertical Farms In Ukraine
Vertical Field’s agreement with the Czech Republic-based Moderntrend SRO, one of the largest agricultural distributors in Ukraine, will see the Israeli company’s solutions set up at Varus, a local grocery chain with 95 stores across 25 cities nationwide
Vertical Field's farms are grown on 'green walls.' Garu Nalbandian
Israeli company Vertical Field, the developer of smart vertical growing solutions for fresh produce, announced a new agreement on Wednesday to deploy its vertical farms in Ukraine, starting with a pilot program with one of the country’s largest supermarket chain.
Vertical Field’s agreement with the Czech Republic-based Moderntrend SRO, one of the largest agricultural distributors in Ukraine, will see the Israeli company’s solutions set up at Varus, a local grocery chain with 95 stores across 25 cities nationwide.
Founded in 2006, the Ra’anana-based Vertical Field uses advanced IoT software, embedded sensors, and in-house monitors to ensure its indoor vertical farms, which grow fresh vegetables, greens, and other plants, are nurtured in controlled conditions regardless of geography, physical location, weather, and climate conditions. The company says its soil-based vertical growing systems make the most efficient use of spaces, both indoors and outdoors, for both agricultural and smart landscaping.
Vertical Field CEO Guy Elitzur said the company’s solutions are ideal for urban environments where land is scarce and access to fresh produce may be more limited. He also indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for reduced contact and a more efficient supply chain.
“One of the realizations that have surfaced during the COVID-19 crisis is the need to develop solutions that allow urban residents access to healthy food, with minimal human handling and without depending on transportation and shipping from remote locations,” Elitzur said in a company statement. “We are delighted to be able to provide – and expand access to – healthy, and high-quality vegetables grown right outside the consumer’s door.”
Elitzur said the agreement with Moderntrend SRO will lead to partnerships with additional chains in the future.
Moderntrend SRO Director Bondar Denis said the pilot project introduces “innovative and proprietary technologies for vertical cultivation of products for the urban ecosystem by Vertical Field” and represented “a new level in the Ukrainian market.”
Last month, Vertical Field finalized a multi-million-dollar agreement with Israeli grocery chain Rami Levy to install vertical farms at dozens of the supermarket company’s branches across the country over the next five years.
By NoCamels Team January 06, 2021
SEE ALSO: Israeli Grocery Chain To Offer Fresh Produce Grown On-Site
VIDEO: Havecon Introduces Havelettuce Projects: Standardized Turn-Key Lettuce Greenhouses Make Entering Greenhouse Industry Easier
Havelettuce will not only take on the build of a greenhouse but the complete project realization, offering a plug and play concept for starting a lettuce greenhouse enterprise. With this new initiative, the door into the horticultural industry will open more easily, CEO Henk Verbakel explains
Havecon has been known as a turnkey greenhouse supplier for many years now, but as of now they'll take turnkey to a new level under the name of “Havelettuce Projects”. Havelettuce will not only take on the build of a greenhouse but the complete project realization, offering a plug and play concept for starting a lettuce greenhouse enterprise. With this new initiative, the door into the horticultural industry will open more easily, CEO Henk Verbakel explains.
Reduce food miles
"Growing hydroponic vegetables closer to consumers will reduce food miles and help reverse the trend of foreign produce imports. Together with our partners and suppliers we bring over 100 years of combined experience in developing large-scale hydroponic greenhouses for several kinds of fruit, vegetables and medicinal cannabis. With Havelettuce Projects, we're using this knowledge to offer 1-2 and 2-4 hectare standardized, turn-key hydroponic lettuce greenhouses," says Henk.
With this new concept, they're answering to the growing demand for local food production and helping investors and other newcomers to the industry find an easy entrance. "We'll manage the entire project from start to finish. This means you only deal with one company," says Jon Adams, Vice President North America. "Furthermore, we provide project anonymity to our customers to provide a competitive edge by being the face of the project until it goes live."
Investors
The horticultural industry has become of interest for many investors and according to the Havelettuce team, it's not difficult to see why. "It is a proven method of growing plants in a soilless environment by relying on a nutrient-rich water solution," Jon explains. "Hydroponics can rapidly help serve unmet demands for fresh vegetables by being grown close to their markets. And it's a sound investment: with investment sizes of 20-50 million dollars for a 1- 4 ha projects we can show a 10-year average EBIDTA of 30 – 45%."
Hydroponic advantages
He adds how growing produce in a hydroponic greenhouse has many advantages. "Greenhouse temperatures and inputs can be precisely controlled, allowing plants to grow faster and face fewer diseases than their outside soil counterparts. Furthermore, a closed-loop irrigation system results in major water savings and uses less fertilizers. This prevents pollutants from entering soil and groundwater as seen with open-field production."
And it's not just the existing industry players anymore that see these opportunities. Many new people are entering the industry. To make it easy for them to do so and to avoid reinventing the wheel, Havelettuce has been created. "Our team has built over 400 greenhouse facilities throughout the world from project as small as 0.1 to over 100 hectares. And now we combine our expertise in hydroponic farming with that of our partners. With the standards we created, Havelettuce Projects makes lettuce cultivation in greenhouses possible for everyone in any climate," he shows.
This means that location, climate, utility load studies, feasibility studies, and all other things you can think of like the community outreach and education, the permitting and incentive procurement will be taken on by our team and by doing so relieve the investors, just as of course the engineering and constructing, project management, crop and harvest advice, and grower consulting and training. "We will provide all of the necessary tools needed to succeed in this industry."
For more information:
Havelettuce
info@havelettuce.com
www.havelettuce.com
Linkedin
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Publication date: Mon 4 Jan 2021
Author: Arlette Sijmonsma
© FreshPlaza.com
Vertical Field Has Signed A ‘Multi-Million Dollar’ Deal With Rami Levy Supermarkets To Offer Customers Fresh Produce Picked From Vertical Farms
The startup creates unique vertical plant installations made up of separate blocks of plants that can be rearranged at will
You’ve got kale: Grocery chain to sell salad leaves, herbs grown on ‘green wall’
12-13-20
Israeli startup Vertical Field has signed an accord with one of Israel’s largest supermarket chains to provide its stores with vertical farm installations, enabling customers to buy freshly grown produce such as lettuce and parsley.
Vertical Field, formerly called GreenWall Israel, said on Sunday that the “multi-million dollar agreement” with Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing 2006, a low-cost supermarket chain, will see the vertical farms installed at locations over the course of five years. The deal will enable the chain to sell produce grown locally, in Vertical Field’s proprietary soil-based container technology.
The startup creates unique vertical plant installations made up of separate blocks of plants that can be rearranged at will. This green wall of vegetation is suitable for growing vegetables in stores, offices and apartment buildings, or anywhere in urban areas, which have little space but many walls.
Produce grows vertically on the container’s walls, and according to the firm, minimizes both water consumption and use of soil. The plants are initially grown on tabletops and then planted into walls, where the soil is held via a special method.
The produce sold is grown in a sterile indoor environment without chemical pesticides or fertilizers, the statement said, and in controlled conditions, ensuring product consistency and yield throughout the year with no seasonality or weather effects.
An example of a vertical garden at the Vertical Field (formerly called GreenWall) greenhouse during a tour on March 23, 2016. (Melanie Lidman/Times of Israel)
Vertical gardens are part of a worldwide trend looking for ways to marry technology and agriculture in an attempt to feed an ever-expanding global population.
The deal with Rami Levy was signed after a successful pilot was held with the supermarket chain, the company said in a statement on Sunday.
The crops, which include lettuce, basil, parsley, kale, and mint, will be sold daily, directly to clients after harvest, “at competitive prices,” the statement added.
The walls will be in containers stationed outdoors, on the premises of the supermarkets. Customers will be able to buy the produce on the spot from a seller who will pick the produce from the container and hand it over, with payment happening on the spot.
Customers will also have the option of purchasing the produce with the soil bedding that it was grown in, “allowing the customers to enjoy all the nutritional benefits of a freshly harvested crop and a longer shelf life,” the statement said.
Lettuce and parsley grown by Vertical Field (Courtesy)
The containers are already stationed at Rami Levy stores in Bnei Brak, Ashdod, and Modiin, a spokeswoman for Vertical Field said.
The “vertical farm” was developed at the company’s research headquarters in Ra’anana, Israel.
“The portable urban farm that we have developed is designed to be located in indoor and outdoor spaces at supermarkets, restaurants, shopping malls, rooftops, and other on-premise locations,” said Guy Elitzur, the CEO of Vertical Field. “Over the past year, we conducted a number of successful pilot projects, and installed vertical farms adjacent to supermarkets and restaurants in the United States and Israel.”
This is the first supermarket chain that with the startup has reached an agreement, a spokeswoman said.
“Our customers bought Vertical Field’s produce during the pilot, and returned to purchase more,” said Yafit Attias Levy, VP Marketing at Rami Levy, said in a statement. “Therefore, we have decided to expand the partnership with Vertical Field to additional branches of the supermarket, and to offer fresh, high-quality, and pesticide-free produce in a way that increases shelf-life for our customers.”
Vertical Field was founded by Guy Barness in 2006.
Lead photo: A Vertical Field container stationed at the Tel Aviv port (Courtesy)
Terramera Deploys New Industry-Leading Technology To Speed Discovery of Sustainable Crop Solutions For Farmers
New customized growth chambers and liquid handling robot already delivering better, faster research results
December 3, 2020
New customized growth chambers and liquid handling robot already delivering better, faster research results
Where many crop protection products fail in the field because testing doesn’t accurately replicate on-farm conditions, Terramera’s new growth chambers are customized to simulate wide-ranging weather as climate change leads to even more extreme conditions for farmers
Fully automated and uniquely retrofitted for experimental use, Terramera’s growth chambers will reduce the trial time from weeks to days while strengthening the connection between the lab and the farm and paving the way for the future of food
New liquid handling robot, “Enzing,” is a best-in-class design that is rapidly screening active ingredients with Terramera’s Actigate™ technology
VANCOUVER, BC – December 3, 2020 – Terramera, the global agtech leader fusing science, nature, and artificial intelligence to transform how food is grown and the economics of agriculture, today announced the launch of six custom, state-of-the-art plant growth chambers, showcasing Terramera’s industry-leading technological capabilities and redefining indoor agriculture’s contribution to field-based production.
Many crop protection products fail in the field because labs and greenhouses do not accurately replicate real-world conditions. Each chamber offers precise control over temperature (ranging from 5 to 40 degrees Celsius), humidity, and light to simulate many possible field conditions, from cool nights and morning mists to desert and subtropical conditions, and will be outfitted with a Terramera-built automation system for end-to-end integration. Automation will enable experiments to run entirely without human intervention including watering, spraying, nutrient dosing, and imaging of the plants throughout their lifecycle, dramatically accelerating data collection for product performance and increasing accuracy with Terramera’s industry-leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) platform.
“Customized growth chambers allow us to simulate weather to study disease and insect infestations with integrated treatment and imaging systems in one automated system -- replicated six times for parallel studies,” said Annett Rozek, Terramera Chief Scientific Officer. “This is as close as we can get to real-world conditions in a research environment and will deliver solutions as rapidly and efficiently as possible.”
The new growth chambers bring Terramera’s total to 12 and are part of a larger technological scale-up for the company, which also brought a new best-in-class liquid handling robot on board. Terramera’s own machine learning (ML) model named the robot, “Enzing,” which is integrated into Terramera’s fully automated in-vitro screening and data analysis pipeline. The robot has already enabled Terramera’s largest in-vitro screening project yet, testing the company’s Actigate™ library against numerous plant disease pathogens.
“This marks an exciting milestone for Terramera and a step-change in the industry by adding a new, essential capacity,” said Karn Manhas, Terramera Founder, and CEO. “Simulated environment studies are the missing link between controlled environments like the lab or greenhouse and field trials since many products fail because lab and greenhouse conditions are too different from the outside world on a farm. This technology increases our throughput, allowing us to predict outcomes more accurately, allowing us to quickly scale our knowledge and technologies to make farming healthier, more sustainable and productive while turning back the clock on climate change.”
About Terramera
Terramera is a global agtech leader fusing science, nature, and artificial intelligence to transform how food is grown and the economics of agriculture in the next decade. With its revolutionary Actigate™ technology platform, which was recognized by Fast Company as a 2020 World Changing Idea, Terramera is committed to reducing the global synthetic pesticide load 80% by 2030 to protect plant and human health and ensure an earth that thrives and provides for everyone. The privately held, venture-backed company was founded in 2010 and has grown to include a world-class bench of engineers, scientists, advisors, and investors. Terramera is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with integrated operations in Canada, the US and India that include research labs, a greenhouse and farm, and more than 240 patents in its global IP portfolio.
For more information, please visit Terramera.com
Media Contact
Valerie Martin
VP Strategic Communications – Terramera
612-743-4013
How Indoor Vertical Farms Use Big Data And Robotics To Grow Animal Feed
"Grov focuses on producing feed for animals to produce the other foods we depend on," said Lindsey. "Climate change, droughts, foods, etc., are reducing the water and arable land needed
These indoor vertical farms are designed to help farmers grow animal feed with less water and land.
GROV TECHNOLOGIES
PitchBook's December Q3 2020 Agtech analyst report highlighted a 14% decline in venture capital deals from Q2, 2020, but according to Alex Frederic, senior analyst of emerging technology at PitchBook, despite the declining overall AgTech investment, Animal Ag was up in Q3 2020 and estimated to reach $9.56 billion by 2025.
Frederic says Animal Ag companies are developing technology solutions to monitor, analyze, and optimize animal health and production in two primary categories: livestock and aquaculture.
"COVID-19 has highlighted the vulnerability of agriculture systems and the importance of maximizing animal health and nutrition," said Frederic. "We expect investment in animal ag hardware, such as robotics and wearables, to pick up in the near term given the rising concern over food security and animal supply chains."
Indoor vertical farming for animal feed
Animal Ag vertical farming newcomer Grov Technologies, which was acquired by Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE:NUS) in 2016, announced in December 2020, the company was collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to apply cloud-based machine learning capabilities to their vertical robotic farming indoor platform to grow high-density nutrient (HDN) animal feed.
According to Steve Lindsey, president of Grov Technologies, most indoor farming around the world is focused on the production of vegetables and greens for human consumption.
"Grov focuses on producing feed for animals to produce the other foods we depend on," said Lindsey. "Climate change, droughts, foods, etc., are reducing the water and arable land needed. Highly digestible feed has the potential to reduce animal emissions. Farmers will need to produce more with less under more challenging conditions. Indoor vertical farming help mitigate some of these issues."
Less water, less land
Lindsey adds that the most striking change of using a vertical farm is producing feed using less water, a fraction of the land, and reducing the cost and carbon emissions from transportation by placing indoor feed centers next to the cattle they feed.
"Many locations around the world are struggling to feed their populations, let alone their animals, [..] we put the farmer in a better position to control his future while mitigating the effects of weather," added Lindsey.
Grov's Olympus Tower can produce 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of sprouted wheat or barley grass per day using less than five percent of the water and replacing between 35 to 50 acres compared to traditional farming. Lindsey says that the Olympus Tower requires minimal labor because it uses robotic seed-to-harvest technology.
Lindsey says that since consumers are demanding greater visibility and traceability to proven sustainability practices, they want to know that animals are fed highly digestible and pesticide-free diets while using less water and land.
"Consumers are awakening to a greater understanding of how fragile food and feed supply chains are," added Lindsey.
Sensors, robotics, and machine learning
Grov's indoor vertical farms are equipped with micro-sensors that capture temperature, humidity, water flow, and growth rates from each growing tray in the tower. That data is correlated to calibrate the trays' rotation, the watering, lighting spectrum, and the robotic seeding ad harvesting.
"Our technology fuses the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, robotics, machine learning with lighting and spectrum management [..] to maximize potential yield and nutrition of a variety of crops," said Lindsey.
Lindsey believes that controlled environment agriculture is emerging as an impactful technology that can help address global climate change issues and sustainability for food and feed production.
"Covid 19 has alerted us that food and feed security is one of the most pressing issues of our day," said Lindsey. "The world is simply using too much land and water to feed animals. Increasing the use of efficient and sustainable technology can potentially make a difference."
Growing Crops In Cities Will Put An End To Food Waste
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, empty supermarket shelves prompted people to ask – sometimes for the first time – where their food comes from
Coronavirus showed how vulnerable our global food supply chains are, but growing closer to home could also solve our waste problem
23 December 2020
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, empty supermarket shelves prompted people to ask – sometimes for the first time – where their food comes from. In 2021 we will see more food in cities provided by producers who are less vulnerable to the disruptions of long supply chains we experienced during 2020.
The pandemic caused consumers around the world to turn to smaller, local, and regional food providers that could secure access to food during lockdowns. In the UK, the Farmers to Feed Us digital platform created new ways for small-scale food producers to provide fresh produce directly to consumers. Sales of food from community-supported agriculture (CSA), where consumers subscribe to receive in-season harvests from groups of UK farmers, increased by 111 percent from February to April, with this trend also being apparent in the US and China. The 105-acre Eatwell Farm in California saw such a big spike in demand that it had to cease new subscriptions – and the waiting list is still growing. These demonstrate how producers can provide consumers with food security and, in return, how consumers have supported their businesses.
At the same time, accessing food hasn’t been easy for everyone. Countless people around the world have been forced to turn to food donations. Meanwhile, when restaurants, schools, and workplaces closed, food producers were hit with a lack of demand that saw tonnes of edible food go to waste. As income for smaller farmers was supported by consumer demand, a decline in business from food-service providers has made their futures uncertain. With the food system’s vulnerabilities exposed, the question has become: how can we better connect communities and food producers to make sure we are more resilient to future shocks? In 2021, the relationship between food and our cities will be drastically reimagined to answer this question.
Half of the world’s population currently live in cities and, by 2050, 80 percent of the world’s food will be eaten in densely populated urban environments. But, as cities strive to become more resilient, they will become much more than centres of consumption. To become stronger in the face of unplanned disruptions, our cities, and their surrounding areas will increasingly supply food and make use of valuable nutrients, creating thriving local, regional, and international food networks. This will be a pivotal step towards a circular economy for food, in which nothing becomes waste, everything has value, and the way we produce food regenerates natural ecosystems.
Increasing the amount of food grown in and around cities will also help to secure supply to residents without access to CSA schemes in nearby fields. Singapore, for example, imports a large proportion of its food, with only one percent of its land being dedicated to agriculture. When the country’s food supply chain was disrupted during its coronavirus outbreak, consumers in Singapore turned to urban farms and the government began to identify unused spaces in its cities for agricultural development. Similar developments to produce food locally will also be seen elsewhere in 2021. In Detroit, plans for a CSA program are currently being shaped, while in France, the remaining two-thirds of Europe’s largest urban farm, Nature Urbaine, will be planted in Paris, while 50 plots in Nantes that once grew flowers will provide vegetables for 1,000 households in need.
Food producers will also adopt regenerative practices, which focus on outcomes such as healthy soil and carbon capture that tackles climate change, to build resilience into their operations. And cities will have a key role to play in this.
In the current food system, when food flows into cities, organic waste is created in the form of discarded produce, by-products, and sewage. This waste is full of nutrients that can be used to grow new food and create biomaterials, but in today’s system, it is more likely to end up in landfills or go untreated. However, there are more viable – and greener – alternatives. In Italy, paper is already being made from pasta by-products, while orange peels, grape skins, and excess milk are being turned into fabrics. In the UK, London has committed to ensuring that by 2026 no biodegradable or recyclable waste will be sent to landfill.
This shift will not only be driven by a need to address waste and pollution. As we look to recover from the economic shock of Covid-19, our analysis has shown there is an economic opportunity worth $700 billion (£538 billion) for cities to reduce edible food waste and use by-products. Less than two percent of organic waste in cities is currently returned to the soil, yet the more organic matter that’s within soil, the more water it can hold and retain, making crops resilient to disturbances such as droughts and floods. This applies whether food is grown in the city, its peri-urban surroundings, or on rural farmland.
As part of the European Green Deal, the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy is aiming to reduce use of synthetic fertilisers by at least 20 per cent and triple the amount of land farmed organically by 2030, as well as promising legally binding targets to reduce food waste. To meet these targets, cities will be expanding their organic waste collection schemes in 2021 and ensuring it is used effectively, putting it back on the land as a replacement for synthetic fertilisers, using it as compost to build organic matter in soil and to feed livestock.
These kinds of initiative will give cities a surer footing for the future. In 2021, we will begin to build a resilient circular economy for food.
Ellen MacArthur is founder and chair of trustees of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Lead photo: Bertand Aznar
Vertical Indoor Farms Make Sense
Nate Storey, founder of a startup in the burgeoning agtech sector, which applies high-tech solutions to agriculture and farming, is convinced that the future of vegetable production is vertical and indoor cultivation, an approach that allows crops to be grown anywhere in the world to supply local markets
Enrique Dans Senior Contributor
Teaching and consulting in the innovation field since 1990
Nate Storey, founder of a startup in the burgeoning agtech sector, which applies high-tech solutions to agriculture and farming, is convinced that the future of vegetable production is vertical and indoor cultivation, an approach that allows crops to be grown anywhere in the world to supply local markets. His company, Plenty, has just demonstrated that about two acres laid out vertically and growing hydroponically, produces more than a conventional farm covering some 720 acres.
The company, which makes intensive use of robots and algorithms for watering and providing nutrients for fruit and vegetables, closed a $140 million funding round in October, bringing total investment to $500 million and reflecting the growing interest in this type of technology. Other companies also in the San Francisco area, such as Iron Ox Robotic Farms, also rely on robotization throughout the process, from planting to plant feeding and harvesting, and report similar yields.
High-density cultivation and control throughout the production cycle reduce the incidence of pests and diseases, along with reduced transportation costs, meaning the main expense is labor (hence the need for robotization), along with the initial installation investment and energy, which is increasingly cheaper and more efficient thanks to the development of solar energy and LED technology for lighting.
Another company, Finland’s iFarm, founded three years ago, , raised $4 million in an initial investment round in August. The company provides technology to about 50 projects in Europe and the Middle East covering a total of 11,000 square meters, and is capable of automating the care of about 120 varieties of plants, with the goal of reaching 500 by 2025 (the firm says it adds 10 new varieties each month).
Others, such as Rise Gardens, which raised $2.6 million in seed capital at the end of May, provide hardware and software kits for home hydroponics, which can be assembled in less than an hour and come in three different sizes, IKEA style, which also has a similar product. Others, such as Germany’s Infarm, offer these facilities to businesses such as stores and restaurants and have also attracted investors’ interest.
And there are many more: Eden Green, Bowery Farming, BrightFarms, Freight Farms, AeroFarms… a fast-growing sector that points to a future for vertical and indoor farming. A completely different model from that of conventional farms (which are also being heavily technologized), and that can be installed in any industrial building or even in containers (or in space, if need be), and that promises a transformation similar to that from growing crops under plastic. Will the vegetables we consume in the future come from this type of innovative farms?
Lead photo: (Brandon Wade/AP Images for Eden Green) ASSOCIATED PRESS
UAE: Vertical Farming Firm Reveals Plan To Launch Healthy Food Brand
Fit Farm will offer healthy and all-natural foods that can be prepared on the go Sara Holdings, the company which recently launched the UAE’s latest hydroponic vertical farming concept, Smart Acres, has revealed global expansion plans in 2021 which include the launch of a healthy food line
23 Dec 2020
Sarya Holdings Says Fit Farm Will
Hit Supermarket Shelves In The First Quarter of 2021
Fit Farm will offer healthy and all-natural foods that can be prepared on the go Sara Holdings, the company which recently launched the UAE’s latest hydroponic vertical farming concept, Smart Acres, has revealed global expansion plans in 2021 which include the launch of a healthy food line.
Fit Farm is set to hit the supermarket shelves in the first quarter of next year, the company's CEO Abdulla Al Kaabi said.
Launched in 2017 by two long-time friends and entrepreneurs, Al Kaabi and Sean Lee, Sarya Holdings initially began as a general trading business with an emphasis on fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) with the aim to bring quality foreign products to the GCC market.
Sarya General Trading houses popular South Korean brands and has partnered with over 10 South Korean brands to strengthen the import and distribution of its products to the GCC.
New partnerships have also been inked with brands from Japan, India, Mexico, and the Philippines for 2021 while the company is now planning to launch its own brand called Fit Farm.
Sowing the seeds to improve UAE's food security
Set to launch in Q1 2021, Fit Farm will offer healthy and all-natural foods that can be prepared on the go. While the company plans to introduce a full range of healthy and nutritious food products, its initial food offering will include a wide selection of ready-to-eat chicken products.
Al Kaabi said: “Our mission with Fit Farm is to empower the people through accessible cuisine driven by healthy lifestyle choices and connecting them with readily-available healthy foods."
Smart Acres is based at the Armed Forces Officer’s Club in Abu Dhabi and is a hydroponic vertical farm, which aims to enhance food security.
In collaboration with n.thing, a South Korean vertical farming technology company, Smart Acres has been able to design farm modules using an IoT-based technology system to grow and monitor their produce, a system that not only consumes less resources but generates ultra-high quality crops.
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.
Smart Acres’ vision is to expand to meet the demand of popular produce in the region such as strawberries, with a shift and emphasis on cultivating potato seeds.
Indoor Farming Industry Gets Boost From COVID-19
Leading indoor farming companies, like BrightFarms, offer hydroponically grown, “cleaner than organic” packaged salads that results in a higher-quality product that consumers can trust
By Steve Bradley
The coronavirus pandemic has caused a major shift in dining out and led many Americans to become more familiar with their kitchens than ever before. In fact, according to the 2020 “America Gets Cooking” report commissioned annually by Hunter, a food and beverage public relations and marketing communications consultant, more than half (54 percent) of Americans report they are cooking more during the pandemic.
Thirty-nine percent said in a survey they are trying to eat healthier, with many saying they are becoming adventurous in the kitchen, trying new ingredients, brands, and products. Salads and vegetables are two of the top five food items survey respondents say they are preparing more.
This presents a tremendous opportunity for grocers to meet this demand for preparing meals at home, as well as a growing desire to maintain a healthy diet during the pandemic to assist in fighting off the unwanted pounds associated with staying at home.
Fresh produce can play a key role in eating healthy but is not something that can easily be ordered through an online retailer like non-perishable goods. Shoppers like to hold and visually inspect produce for freshness, firmness, crispness, color, and other desirable characteristics.
In short, fresh produce is a primary driver of traffic into grocery stores.
Additionally, consumers also want to know that what they are buying can be trusted. Salmonella, E-coli and other pathogens have unfortunately made their way into our fresh produce supply, causing massive recalls, illnesses, and even deaths. Consumers want to know they are buying a safe product and – increasingly – want to know more about where it came from and how it was grown. Words like “organic,” “non-GMO” and “locally sourced,” have become part of everyday language for many Americans.
Leading indoor farming companies, like BrightFarms, offer hydroponically grown, “cleaner than organic” packaged salads that results in a higher-quality product that consumers can trust. Even produce labeled “organic” has likely been treated with chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides. This also means the consumption of water, land, and costs associated with shipping produce are dramatically reduced. Additionally, locally grown means the quality is preserved through a much shorter shipping process, while also relying on less fuel due to shorter travels to market.
Controlled-environment agriculture ensures produce is not subjected to the whims of nature, such as drought, excessive rain, or other weather patterns.
In many ways, the BrightFarms’ model of bringing local produce around the U.S. into commercial stores has the potential to disrupt the multi-billion-dollar leafy greens industry. Few people could have likely imagined 10 years ago that hailing a taxicab would no longer be the “go to” for getting around town. Similarly, corporations, with the ability to look around corners and see the future, are re-imagining how consumers get high-quality local produce onto dining room tables.
We need to feed a growing population in a more efficient way – not tied to any one certain geographic area. Investments in cleantech-focused on resource efficiency, resiliency, and adaptation. Local, sustainable, controlled environment produce consumers can trust gives us that opportunity.
We believe it is possible to make the world a better place – building a better future for the next generation – while also growing business and creating jobs.
Steve Bradley serves as vice president of Cox Cleantech at Cox Enterprises, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Growing Smart And Sustainable
The industry has received much more attention this year, which has motivated the interest in sustainability. There is more focus on the sustainability of a farm, alongside its profitability and the validity of a system.
“The industry has received much more attention this year, which has motivated the interest in sustainability. There is more focus on the sustainability of a farm, alongside with its profitability and the validity of a system,” Michael says.
Michael Martin is a researcher at the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, focusing on sustainability and industrial ecology. Michael has been researching the sustainability of vertical farming systems for a few years now. Currently, he leads a number of projects on the subject, collaborating with many of the Swedish system developers.
Michael Martin
“I think that there’s a discourse used to promote or motivate why vertical farms are there. They’re often related to the reduction of water, transport, and so on, but there are also a large number of critics cherry-picking some of the more obvious potential drawbacks of the systems,” Michael affirms.
Carbon footprint and energy
For impacts related to energy, Michael states that it really depends on where a grower is located. Where energy use is key, for e.g. LED lighting, Northern European countries have great preconditions, with lower carbon energy sources and a supply of district heating. A large share of [district] heating in Northern European countries derives from the incineration of waste and biomass.
Most vertical farms are found in, or in close proximity to, urban areas, in residual spaces, meaning that they have access to heat. However, as these farms have stable ambient temperatures they don’t need much heat, and options for cooling are sometimes more important.
However, sometimes there’s too much excess heat in the building, which then needs cooling. “We have been looking into the interplay of the building and the farming system, plus the synergy of it. ‘What are the possibilities of heating a building with LEDs waste heat?’ There is potential for integrating the systems to the neighborhood so that the residuals, biofertilizers, waste heat and so can all be used to reduce wastes and improve resource efficiency through symbiotic development."
Smart growing and automation
Taking lighting conditions, for instance, by creating the optimal conditions for plants to grow. Typically one recipe is used for lighting and nutrients. But when allowing different optimizations through smart technology, everything can be monitored in terms of nutrients and water, etc. By being hands-on with the growing processes, resource consumption can be reduced.
There are new types of systems that are coming with a greater focus on product-service systems such as FAAS, i.e. selling functions and services instead of products. "I think that in terms of technology we can really make farms more sustainable. Automation and optimization of growing conditions can create large potential resource consumption improvements and optimize growing conditions."
For more information:
IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Michael Martin
michael.martin@ivl.se
Publication date: Tue 15 Dec 2020
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
Welsh Government Fund The Supply & Installation of CEA Systems
To date, the approaches to CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) have been vastly different, uncoordinated, and largely unsupported. Through this pilot, we will offer real growth potential at a scale that is impactful, replicable and delivers wider benefits for the region
To date, the approaches to CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) have been vastly different, uncoordinated, and largely unsupported. Through this pilot, we will offer real growth potential at a scale that is impactful, replicable and delivers wider benefits for the region.
This project, Crop Cycle, is being funded by the Welsh Government through the Foundational Economy Challenge Fund and we will be working with businesses and partners who are committed to the four pillars of the Economic Contract. The project will provide a testbed for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), in the community setting – the very heart of our Foundational Economy. The project is being led by Social Farms & Gardens supported by Welsh Government’s Horticulture Cluster group and NutriWales CEA Special Interest Group.
The project allows for multiple & differing CEA systems to be tailored to fit different community settings but allowing them to be investigated and assessed in a coordinated and joined-up way across the pilot sites. This approach is unique, allowing the testing of new socially focused business models, the engagement of the local communities and businesses with CEA, and the development of new technical solutions.
This project will introduce food growing right into the heart of our communities, ones where they understand the local issues and are connected to the particular dynamics of the local area. Activities will test new community-based engagement models looking at social well-being, local entrepreneurship, and environmental impact. In this way, the project will be innovative in its operational delivery, social engagement, and business model creation bringing together community, businesses, and local public sector organizations.
Three sites will be supported, two of which are in the Valleys. Green Meadow Community Farm in Cwmbran, one of only two ‘city farms’ in Wales, and one which connects people to food and farming in a very public way. It is owned and operated by Torfean County Borough Council, bringing with it a high-level partnership. The farm already welcomes thousands of visitors through its gates and connects locally through a number of schools and college partnerships – making it an ideal ‘showcase’ location for this pilot.
Welcome To Our Woods in Treherbert is the site of the second valley, nestled in the heart of the Rhondda Valleys. This proactive community group has been actively engaging with its communities through partnerships with the Green Valleys CIC and their joint ‘Skyline’ project. This partnership and ground-up way of working has led to several funding investments in the region looking to explore community ownership of land and the benefits that can be brought about by allowing the community to utilize some of their surrounding natural green assets for the betterment of the environment, and the local communities. This makes it a unique and perfect fit for this pilot.
Ian Thomas from Welcome To Our Woods, said, ‘work is progressing well on the growing facility in Treherbert and we are excited to be bringing such an innovative and progressive project to our local high street. We have already been engaging with the Upper Rhondda community to explore the projects that actively use our woodlands for the benefit of those they surround, and initiatives such as this help give local people an idea of what can be achieved’.
The third site will be in Ty Pawb Community Hub in Wrexham, situated in the center of Wrexham, this recently refurbished site boasts a monthly footfall of 50000. One of the key players in the successful regeneration of the town it will also link with the community rooftop garden where Welsh Heritage Fruit trees are to be planted. Its facilities include an art gallery, stage area for concerts, and rooms for educational visits and community clubs.
Gary Mitchell, the Wales Manager for Social Farms & Gardens who is leading the project team stated, "we are excited to be running the pilot project across a diverse set of sites to gain insight and further knowledge into how new agricultural systems can successfully support communities in delivering local, fresh and nutritious foods as well as important social benefits in a sustainable manner."
For more information:
Social Farms & Gardens
Gary Mitchell, Wales Manager
gary@farmgarden.org.uk
www.farmgarden.org.uk
15 Dec 2020
VIDEO: Local-For-Local Food Production In Climate Containers
Bosman Van Zaal is getting more and more questions about the use of Grow & Roll climate containers for food production, equipped with cultivation systems with multiple cultivation layers. Organizations that are committed to local food products are showing particular interest
18-12-2020 | Goedemorgen
NETHERLANDS- Bosman Van Zaal is getting more and more questions about the use of Grow & Roll climate containers for food production, equipped with cultivation systems with multiple cultivation layers. Organizations that are committed to local food products are showing particular interest.
Under own management
The Grow & Roll climate containers have been developed in-house since 2016 and adapted to applications by third parties. In 2019, for example, an entrepreneur from the United States, together with several other companies from the Green Innovators Group, developed a closed climate unit in a sea container for research and cultivation of plant material. The results of this research will form the basis for large-scale Vertical Farming in the future.
The knowledge gained has led to further development at Bosman Van Zaal, as a result of which the climate containers are now also suitable for food production on location.
Multilayer cultivation
Vertical Farming is one of the solutions to the problem of the growing demand for food. A multi-layer system uses less surface area, energy, and water. And production takes place all year round, resulting in higher yields.
Tailor-made climate
Each unit is equipped with various installations, which together determine the climate in the container in an integrated way, controlled by a climate computer. Systems for heating, cooling, ventilation, water, air, and water purification, fertilization, CO2 and LED lighting are often the ingredients for an optimally closed climate, anywhere in the world, on an outdoor site, or in a building. Peripheral equipment or hardware are easy to install, allowing this flexible form of food production to continue to take place quickly and efficiently, even in the longer term.
Housing
For practical reasons, standard sea containers are widely used because they are relatively easy to transport and move. Because of their handy dimensions, these units are also suitable for placing in buildings, possibly stacked. In this way, the vertical food production is taken even further.
Bosman Van Zaal
Bosman Van Zaal develops, produces, and builds complete horticultural projects at home and abroad. The projects are based on the latest developments and the latest insights for the sustainable and efficient cultivation of food crops, ornamentals, and plants for the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. For more information, please visit www.bosmanvanzaal.com.
Indoor Ag-Con Announces Inaugural Advisory Board
Committee of Industry Leaders From Indoor Agriculture, Grocery, Specialty Food, Commercial Real Estate, Hemp, Other Sectors To Provide Guidance, Insights To Help Shape 2021 Exposition & Conference
INDOOR AG-CON ANNOUNCES FORMATION OF
INAUGURAL ADVISORY BOARD
Committee of Industry Leaders From Indoor Agriculture, Grocery, Specialty Food, Commercial Real Estate, Hemp, Other Sectors To Provide Guidance, Insights To Help Shape 2021 Exposition & Conference
LAS VEGAS (December 15, 2020) – Indoor Ag-Con, the premier trade show for the indoor agriculture | vertical farming industry, announces the formation of its inaugural advisory board. Bringing together industry leaders from across the agriculture supply chain – from indoor farming to grocers to commercial real estate – the new board will advise and help shape the educational conference and exhibition floor offerings of the May 16-18, 2021 edition of Indoor Ag-Con and other new initiatives planned for the coming year.
"As we look at the challenges and opportunities the Covid-19 crisis has brought to live events and indoor agriculture, it’s more important than ever that we work with a group of recognized thought leaders in the industry to act as our Advisory Board to guide us in the right direction as we plan our 2021 event,” said Nancy Hallberg, co-owner, Indoor Ag-Con.
“Taking this a step further, we wanted our board to include leaders from key industry sectors that drive and intersect with indoor agriculture, like grocery business, commercial real estate, alternative crops and others,” adds Brian Sullivan, co-owner, Indoor Ag-Con. “For 2021, successful indoor agriculture business development strategies will be the primary focus for our event. The insights and intelligence we’ll gather from these successful leaders of indoor agriculture, as well as a number of the sectors our attendees and exhibitors hope to do business with, will go a long way in shaping meaningful content, networking and exhibition opportunities.”
2021 Indoor Ag-Con Advisory Board Members Include
Samuel Bertram, CEO | Co-Founder, OnePointOne, Inc.
Julie Emmett, Senior Director, Retail Partnerships Plant Based Foods Association
Greg Ferrara, President & CEO, National Grocers Association
Henry Gordon Smith, CEO & Managing Director, Agritecture
Marni Karlin, Executive Director, CEA Food Safety Coalition
Tracy Lee, Division Lead, CEA Department, Sakata Seed Company
Jody McGinness, Executive Director, Hemp Industries Association
Tim McGuinness, Sterling Advisory Group & Former SVP, International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Chris Nemchek, President, Coach Global Solutions & Former SVP, Specialty Food Association
Matt Roy, Vice President of Business Development Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), Tanimura & Antle
E. Austin Webb, CEO & Co-Founder, Fifth Season, Powered By Robotany
Nona Yehia, CEO | Co-Founder ,Vertical Harvest
For 2021, Indoor Ag-Con will co-locate with The National Grocers Association (NGA) Show, the leading trade show and conference for independent grocers. The combined event will be held at the new Caesars Forum Convention Center in Las Vegas from May 16-18, 2021. The NGA Show and Indoor Ag-Con visitors will have access to all exhibits, and discounts will be available for cross-over educational event attendance.
ABOUT INDOOR AG-CON
Founded in 2013, Indoor Ag-Con has emerged as the premier trade event for vertical farming | indoor agriculture, the practice of growing crops in indoor systems, using hydroponic, aquaponic and aeroponic techniques. Its events are crop-agnostic and touch all sectors of the business, covering produce, legal cannabis |hemp, alternate protein and non-food crops. In December 2018, three event industry professionals – Nancy Hallberg, Kris Sieradzki and Brian Sullivan – acquired Indoor Ag-Con LLC , so setting the stage for further expansion of the events globally. More information: https://indoor.ag
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Indoor Ag-Con, 950 Scales Road, Building #200, Suwanee, GA 30024, United States
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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This Belgian Start-Up Allows Anyone To Become An Urban Farmer
A Belgian start-up is helping people in major cities turn their hand to urban farming. Peas&Love is the brainchild of Jean-Patrick Scheepers, co-founder of Belgium’s biggest cooking school. After the failure of a sustainable farming project near Brussels, he moved into the city itself and started farming on rooftops and in gardens
14 Dec 2020
Senior Writer, Formative Content
A new approach pioneered in Belgium allows anyone to become an urban farmer.
Start-up Peas&Love rents out allotments on rooftops and in unused urban spaces.
The company does all the gardening but members get to harvest the fresh produce.
An app alerts them when crops are ready to pick.
Members share produce and garden space with the community.
A Belgian start-up is helping people in major cities turn their hand to urban farming.
Peas&Love is the brainchild of Jean-Patrick Scheepers, co-founder of Belgium’s biggest cooking school. After the failure of a sustainable farming project near Brussels, he moved into the city itself and started farming on rooftops and in gardens.
“For 20 years, I tried to grow fruit and vegetables in my garden or on my terrace and each year I failed,” he told the audience at the Change Now summit in 2017, the year Peas&Love was launched. “I didn’t have the time and I didn’t have the knowledge.
“My idea was that, if I could have my own personal source of vegetables and fruits that are local, that are seasonal, that are good, that are full of quality, that would exactly fit the description of a potager in French, or a kitchen garden in English, and that would be great.”
Garden of plenty: Crops ready to pick at a Peas&Love urban farm near Paris. Image: Peas&Love
Scheepers started Peas&Love after using vertical growing techniques to overcome his earlier gardening setbacks. It now has three urban farms in Brussels and five in Paris where anyone can rent an allotment for about $40 a month.
All of the farming work is taken care of by the company, and members are alerted by an app when it’s time to harvest the produce. Each 4m square vegetable garden is divided into two halves: one for the sole use of the subscriber and the other to grow crops that will be shared by all members.
Made for sharing: half the allotment is private, the other half is shared.
Community based on sharing
“The motivation of the people who are part of the concept is mainly to renew contact with nature but they don't have the time or the knowledge,” Scheepers says. “You come every week to harvest your own allotment but you don't have to do the work to get it.”
It’s all about creating a community of people who help each other and share values as well as food, he says. It’s a “new approach in urban farming” which has 200 active urban farmers at its first location in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, in Brussels.
Rooftop agriculture: Peas&Love’s first Brussels urban farm. Image: Peas&Love
The company’s “Peas for all” programme makes 5% of the space on its farms available to educational projects and local associations to help more people reconnect to nature.
Scheepers recently set up the European Urban and Vertical Agriculture Federation to promote the concept and provide a forum to represent urban farmers at a European level, and he has launched an Urban Farm Lab in Istanbul.
Lead photo: Urban farms are becoming common all cross the world. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
Vertical Farming Modules Take Hyperlocal To New Heights
One of the largest and fastest-growing vertical farming platforms in the world, Infarm’s smart farming modules are bringing a whole new meaning to the word “hyperlocal.”
Cultivating by Artificial intelligence,
These Vertical Farming Modules Are
Bringing Fresh Herbs And Leafy Greens Straight To The Consumer
December 7, 2020
By Greta Chiu
Infarm modules grow fresh herbs and leafy greens by automation, partnering with grocery retailers worldwide.
One of the largest and fastest-growing vertical farming platforms in the world, Infarm’s smart farming modules are bringing a whole new meaning to the word “hyperlocal.”
Best recognized for their grocery store installations that have appeared all over the globe, shoppers are able to watch the growing process and pick from fresh herbs and leafy greens immediately after harvest. Maintained by machine learning and AI technology, each standalone vertical farming unit is continuously monitored and tweaked to ensure optimal growing conditions.
“We control our farms remotely using sensors and a centralized, cloud-based platform that adjusts and improves itself continuously, so each plant grows better than the one before – providing plant seedlings with an ideal combination of light spectrums, temperature, pH, and nutrients for optimal growth,” explains Emmanuel Evita, global communications director for Infarm.
Using machine learning, big data and IoT technologies, the Berlin, Germany-based company is able to collect large amounts of data from their farms around the world in real-time, amounting to more than 50,000 data points within a plant’s lifetime. And the modules aren’t just for grocery stores. Infarm says their easily scalable and rapidly deployable technology has been set up in distribution centres, restaurants and other urban spaces to match local needs.
“With more than 1,000 farms in stores and distribution centers, we’re able to use the data on each one of more than 500,000 plants we grow every month to understand their unique growth patterns and offer the highest quality product to consumers,” says Evita.
The company is deeply committed to improving the safety, quality and environmental footprint of food production. Offering an ever-expanding catalogue with over 65 different combinations of herbs, microgreens and leafy greens, the range of products includes cooking staples like Italian basil to specialty varieties such as wasabi rucola. Infarm’s plants are also grown without the use of chemical pesticides and are locally germinated in their nursery farms. The seedlings are then cultivated in-store for another three to four weeks to maturity before being offered to consumers. The vertical farming units are said to require 95 per cent less water, 90 per cent less transportation and 75 per cent less fertilizer compared to conventional soil-based agriculture. 90 per cent of electricity used by the Infarm network is sourced from renewable energy, and the company has set a target to reach zero-emission food production next year.
“We save thousands of food kilometres by not shipping from abroad, removing trucks from the road, and increasing the resilience of the global food system with every farm we install. Our approach supports biodiversity by reducing and almost eliminating the supply chain of food,” says Evita.
Landing in Canada
Infarm partnered with Empire Company Ltd. and begin rolling out installations in select Sobeys, Safeway and Thrifty Foods in British Columbia earlier this year.
“Our partnership with Infarm is unique in Canada and offers our customers a world-leading urban farming solution,” says Niluka Kottegoda, vice president of customer experience at Sobeys. “By the end of September, we will have fully functional vertical farming units in 28 of our Safeway and Thrifty Foods stores in the Vancouver and Victoria areas with several additional stores carrying the harvested herbs and lettuce.”
Kottegoda says their customers have been responding very well to this urban farming solution. “Not only do they appreciate the sustainable nature of the farms, but they certainly love having access to the freshest possible leafy greens and herbs all year long.” Empire expects to bring Infarm installations into Toronto soon, with a national rollout on the horizon.
Taking the world by storm
First established in 2013 by Osnat Michaeli and brothers Erez and Guy Galonska to help cities become self-sufficient in food production, Berlin-based Infarm now has operations in 10 countries and 30 cities worldwide. Over the past year, they’ve partnered with 30 of the largest retailers in the world, including Albert Heijn (Netherlands), Aldi Süd (Germany), Amazon Fresh, COOP/Irma (Denmark), Empire Company Ltd (Canada), Kaufland (Germany), Kinokuniya (Japan), Kroger (United States), Marks & Spencer (United Kingdom), Selfridges (United Kingdom) as well as others in France, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.
In September, Infarm announced another $170 million in the first close of a funding round expected to reach $200 million. That will bring in over $300 million of funding to date.
By investing this capital into infrastructure, research and development, the company expects to grow their installations by 10 per cent, reaching over 5,000,000 sq. ft. in the next five years.
“The coronavirus pandemic has put a global spotlight on the urgent agricultural and ecological challenges of our time,” says Erez Galonska, co-founder and CEO of Infarm. “As we scale to 5,000,000 sq. ft. in farming facilities across Europe, North America and Asia by 2025, this investment will help us make a truly global impact through our network, preserving the thousands of acres of land, millions of liters of water and ultimately change the way people grow, eat and think about food.”
Topics: Handling Systems Retail Vegetables
Growing Crops Onsite Through Technology, While Fostering Holistic Wellness
Feeding America projects more than 50 million Americans will have faced hunger in 2020 – up from 35 million before the coronavirus pandemic. That is 1 in 6 people experiencing food insecurity this year, and food banks are struggling to keep up with demand
Feeding America projects more than 50 million Americans will have faced hunger in 2020 – up from 35 million before the coronavirus pandemic. That is 1 in 6 people experiencing food insecurity this year, and food banks are struggling to keep up with demand.
While dry goods can be extremely important at food banks, fresh produce like greens and vegetables are frequently lacking in the mix because they can be quick to spoil between long transport/donation times in getting to the pantry, often need refrigeration, and can be expensive.
Growing crops onsite
Below are 5 examples of nonprofits that are using hydroponic vertical container farms from Boston-based Freight Farms to grow fresh leafy greens and vegetables onsite to support the nutritional needs of their communities and supplement other pantry staples with just-harvested crops. Despite the cooling winter weather, these organizations are able to continue growing year-round. Crops are also produced with 0-5 gallons of water per day and are herbicide and pesticide-free.
Growing food to nurture bodies has also provided these organizations with the additional ability to unify communities and empower individuals through integrated therapeutic programming, hands-on skill-building, and nutritional education.
Lotus House: Miami, FL
Lotus House is a holistic women’s shelter that uses its Freight Farm to grow fresh, healthy greens for its community kitchen, which serves an average of 500 women and children every day. As of July 2020, Lotus estimates about $40,000 worth of fresh vegetables and greens have been produced in the farm.
The farm has also been an innovative after-school program for children, many of whom are accompanied by their mothers. This gives the staff the chance to teach nutrition while residents connect with the process of growing their own food. Prior to COVID, Lotus had also begun the development of a new job training program to teach teen and adult residents basic farming skills for paid jobs with local container farming community partners, like Hammock Greens, another Freight Farmer in Miami. It plans to turn its attention back to this when it is safe to do so.
San Antonio Clubhouse: San Antonio, TX
The Clubhouse supports adults with mental health conditions, giving more than 2,000 members a place where they can learn and grow through meaningful work. The Clubhouse also offers job training and helps members build a resume, search for employment, and advocate to potential employers.
The Clubhouses’ Freight Farm not only provides healthy greens for the facility year-round, but it is one of the ways members can volunteer to gain job experience. Any produce not used by San Antonio Clubhouse is donated to local nonprofits.
Boys & Girls Club of the Capital Region: Troy, NY
Last year, the greens from BGCCA’s Freight Farm became part of ~1,100 meals served per day at its locations. In safe times, the farm gives young people hands-on experience planting, growing, harvesting and selling fresh crops as part of the club's after-school programs.
Metro Caring: Denver, CO
Metro Caring meets people’s immediate need for nutritious food while building a movement to address the root causes of hunger. It is well-known for its free fresh food market.
Regarding the launch of its Freight Farm in collaboration with St. Joseph Hospital, Metro Caring’s chief gardener Jess Harper said, “Being able to grow fresh produce all year round, providing healthy local access to fresh greens and teaching people how to farm hydroponically, I think we’ve got a win all the way around.” The organization believes hunger is about more than lack of food, designing programs to include job training and to connect people to other support services and utility assistance.
Cass Community Social Services: Detroit, MI
Cass uses its Freight Farm to bring fresh food access and nutritional education to Detroit residents. The container farm enables them to grow crops year-round to supplement the community kitchen.
Additionally, the produce from the farm is sold locally to neighborhood restaurants to create a revenue stream that supports other initiatives.
“The greatest feature for us is the ability to have fresh, free, organic food all year long. Our food choices are as critical as our exercise habits in terms of health.”— Reverend Faith Fowler, Executive Director of Cass Community Social Services
For more information:
Freight Farms
www.freightfarms.com
December 1, 2020
GE Current Expands Horticulture Distribution Network To Support Indoor Growers Across Eurasia
Current’s Lucalox and Arize lighting solutions are available now. Customers can contact their local distribution partner for more information and advice on the best Current solution for their individual greenhouse set-up
GE Current, a Daintree company, has signed three new distribution partnership agreements with Agro Top Garden, Helle-Tech Oy, and Vitro HTS to make its full Lucalox HPS and Arize LED portfolio available to more greenhouse growers across Europe and Asia. The deals inked will provide growers focusing on horticulture, floriculture, and the burgeoning medicinal cannabis market, with easier access to leading lighting technologies, whether they rely on traditional HPS or are looking to transition over to low-energy LEDs to meet net-zero carbon goals.
Malcolm Yare, Business Development Manager for Horticulture at Current, commented, “There are all sorts of variables that combine to create the most productive greenhouse environment, from location and surrounding geography, to weather patterns and the type of crop grown. We want to ensure that greenhouse growers have access to the perfect lighting for their unique set-up. By expanding our network of distribution partners, we can ensure that growers receive expert, localised advice and support to ensure that they get the right Current system to maximise their yields and grow their businesses.”
Agro Top Garden is now the exclusive European distributor of Current’s Lucalox HPS lighting to the medicinal plant market, as well as being a master distributor of the company’s Arize LED portfolio. With a depth of broad horticultural experience, Agro Top Garden advises customers on the best growing media and fertilisers for their flowering plants. Now, with Current’s broad portfolio at its disposal, the company will also be able to advise cannabis growers on the most appropriate, low-energy lighting technology to nurture high-quality, abundant harvests every time.
Based in Finland, Helle-Tech Oy provides a range of greenhouse products, up to complete turn-key installations. With more than 30 years’ team experienced in building greenhouses all over Europe and Russia, Helle-Tech Oy partners with its customers throughout every stage of planning and installation, followed by close support and counsel, in order to maximize the potential of each greenhouse. With more growers looking to reduce their energy bills and carbon footprint, Helle-Tech Oy is expecting to guide many more customers through the transition from HPS to LED lighting in 2021, working with Current’s lighting experts to maintain yields and income throughout the process.
Vitro HTS is based at the heart of Eurasia, in Antalya, Turkey, and is focused on supporting growers across Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. With new investments in horticulture and floriculture across the region, Vitro HTS is ideally positioned to support new market entrants and existing growers with Current’s state-of-the-art lighting systems that reduce energy consumption and costs, whilst boosting revenue.
Current’s Lucalox and Arize lighting solutions are available now. Customers can contact their local distribution partner for more information and advice on the best Current solution for their individual greenhouse set-up.
For more information:
www.gecurrent.com
agrotopgarden.de
www.helle-tech.fi
www.vitrohts.com
1 Dec 2020