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How can the electrification of indoor agriculture impact water usage, transportation emissions and the elimination of soil and additives?
EPRI’s Electrification 2018 Conference will provide a forum to dig deeper into the key benefits that electricity provides the indoor agriculture industry and how emerging electric technologies are powering the future of sustainability.
Explore the Indoor Ag Industry
- Explore the Industrial Electrification - Technologies and Implementation conference track to learn how indoor agriculture is solving food and sustainability issues—from improving food safety and reducing food waste to growing more nutritious food for a planet with declining resources.
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EPRI conducts research, development, and demonstration projects for the benefit of the public in the U.S. and internationally. Our R&D evaluates electricity's potential in powering the technologies of today and tomorrow, and how electricity could transform indoor agriculture and other industries where power is a key input. We invite you to join us in this journey at Electrification 2018 and explore the various R&D underway now to understand the benefits, costs, and opportunities associated with efficient electrification.
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Indoor Urban Agriculture Is Growing Up Thanks To These Cities
At this point, the benefits of indoor urban farming are common knowledge: fresher food, fewer transportation emissions, and less spoilage thanks to shorter transit distances.
NYC’s Gotham Greens highlighted those and other benefits this week with the announcement that it had closed a $29 million Series C equity funding round led by Silverman Group and Creadiv. This latest round brings the company’s total funding to $45 million, and will help them “finance the expansion trajectory,” which covers 500,000 square feet currently under development in five different states.
Gotham is one of several major success stories for NYC-based urban indoor farming companies, many of which we’ve covered extensively at The Spoon. But the Big Apple’s not the only city making indoor urban farming widely available and, in the process, changing the way we think about farming.
In fact, today marks the opening of the Farm on Ogden in Chicago, a massive facility and project aimed at providing fresh, local food to an undernourished (literally and figuratively) part of the Windy City.
With those two pieces of news in mind, here’s a brief look at a few other cities and companies where the indoor farming movement is thriving:
The Farm on Ogden
Chicago
Though the enormous vertical farming operation FarmedHere shuttered in 2017, Chicago is still seeing plenty of developments from other urban agriculture players. Gotham Greens operates a facility in the Pullman area. And generating quite a bit of buzz of late is the aforementioned Farm on Ogden, a partnership between the Lawndale Christian Health Center and Chicago Botanic Garden. The $3.5 million year-round project will provide both jobs and local, sustainably produced food to the struggling North Lawndale area, where unemployment soars, over 14 percent of the population has diabetes, and one in four adults suffers from PTSD. The multi-use facility will offer year-round food production, teaching kitchens, and job training for everyone from teenagers to those with criminal backgrounds. The project is also in the midst of building a 50,000-gallon aquaponic system that will raise lettuce and tilapia.
Grove
Boston
Like Chicago, Boston’s urban landscape and often-grim weather make it a prime candidate for the indoor urban farming movement.
Dorm-room project turned full-fledged business Grove takes a slightly different approach, trading enormous warehouses for compact pieces of furniture in which to place its “farms.” As my colleague Catherine noted recently, Grove has teamed up with furniture and appliance companies to create custom hardware, while it supplies seed pods and ag software to cultivate the crops.
If, on the other hand, you’re after a more utilitarian means of growing your produce, Freight Farms can provide you with one of its vertical farms housed in 40-square-foot shipping containers. Each Leafy Green Machine container is a fully climate controlled environment with vertical crop columns, LEDs, and a closed-loop hydroponic irrigations system. The accompanying farmhand platform, meanwhile, lets users automate many of the growing tasks, and generates real-time data for crop analysis. Freight Farms counts multiple universities, as well as big names like Google, among its customers.
Detroit
Of course, if any city stands poised to benefit from the urban agriculture revolution, it’s Detroit; its 78,000 empty/abandoned spaces are prime real estate for potential farming endeavors.
Artesian Farms is a great example: the company’s current warehouse facility sat abandoned from the late ’90s to when the company moved in around 2014. Now, thanks to a collaboration with Green Spirit Farms, Artesian has turned the warehouse’s 7,500 square feet of traditional space into one gigantic vertical farm. The company is also a community builder: 100 percent of current employees are from the surrounding Brightmoor neighborhood, which also benefits from access to the food produced.
RecoveryPark Farms, meanwhile, is another effort to transform urban blight via indoor and urban farming practices. The project grows produce, root vegetables, and herbs in hydroponic greenhouses that’s then shipped out to restaurants within a 300-mile radius.
Like many other companies listed here, RecoverPark provides as much community outreach and employment as it does homegrown food. Which, at the end of the day, is really what “eating local” should be all about.
Jenn is a writer, editor, and ghostwriter based in NYC. At The Spoon, she covers agtech, sustainable food issues, and restaurant tech. She is obsessed with IKEA.
US (PA): COE For Indoor Agriculture Feasibility Study Completed
US (PA): COE For Indoor Agriculture Feasibility Study Completed
Barisoft Consulting Group has just released a feasibility study to establish a Center of Excellence (COE) for Indoor Agriculture in the Kennett region of Pennsylvania. This region, located near Philadelphia, PA, has long been considered the “Mushroom Capital” of the U.S. The proposed Center of Excellence would serve as an international hub and knowledge base for investment, production, operations, distribution, research & development, training and workforce development for all forms of indoor agriculture.
Indoor agriculture is a means of growing crops year-round under tightly controlled conditions. Kennett's massive mushroom growing infrastructure, which produces nearly half a billion pounds yearly, has fit that definition for over one hundred years. Over the past five years, more than $500 million dollars of venture capital has been invested nationally in efforts to grow other crops such as leafy greens indoors on a commercial scale, which is predicted to become a multi-billion industry according to the study.
The Kennett COE feasibility study was commissioned by Kennett Township with additional support from neighboring New Garden Township and Kennett Square Borough. It is part of a larger initiative to leverage the Kennett area’s extensive mushroom industry infrastructure to support a variety of other indoor crops.
This two-hundred-page feasibility study report is grounded in extensive primary data and is not another “white paper.” Methods of data collection included over 35 hours of interviews with industry executives, senior university administrators, and local and state officials. An online survey was distributed to select segments of industry and to local leaders by invitation only. Over sixty high-quality responses were received.
Dr. Eric W. Stein, who conducted the study, is an Associate Professor of Business at Penn State and CEO of Barisoft Consulting Group. He also runs an indoor vertical farm named e3garden for R&D and local production. According to Dr. Stein, “Our findings show strong support for the Center’s feasibility according to multiple criteria and for locating it in the heart of mushroom country. We expect the Center to accelerate commercialization of indoor agriculture and to help businesses reach profitability sooner.”
Michael Guttman, Director of Sustainable Development for Kennett Township (the town which commissioned the study), states, “This study represents a milestone in the evolution of indoor farming and will validate our position that Kennett can serve as a future home for both the Center and for all kinds of indoor agriculture facilities. It’s a win-win for the industry and the Kennett area.”
For more information:
Publication date: 6/27/2018
Works Credit Union Launches Aquaponics Facility
Works Credit Union Launches Aquaponics Facility
June 21, 2018
Green Works for healthy, wealthy living
A view of growing plants at the Green Works aquaponics facility of Works Credit Union at its Spring Garden compound.
Works Credit Union has started on a journey to feed Tobagonians with its Green Works initiative for sustainable food production – an aquaponics system which was launched on Monday night at its compound in Spring Garden.
The Green Works aquaponics system will utilise waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic creatures as nutrients for plants grown hydroponically – that is fish and plants will be grown together in one integrated system. It is seen as safe, uses 90 percent water less than soil farming, is less labour intensive, virtually operating itself, uses less space and can reduce the food import bill.
Speaking at the launch, President Fitzroy Ottley said the initiative was focused on strengthening the livelihood of Tobago families, especially members of the credit union.
The project envisages nonchemical, healthy produce for Tobagonians as well as exports to Trinidad and the wider Caribbean in the future.
Ottley said Green Works was particularly relevant for Tobago with the continuing increase in the cost of food on the island.
“Tobago has been challenged in many ways to put food on the table and to rely on it coming from Trinidad. What we are about is to ensure that we reach out, connect and supply the needs of our people,” he said.
Sean Austin of Sean’s Rabbitry & Aquaponics presented the idea to the credit union two years ago as an income boosting project.
Guests marvel at the fish farm at the Green Works Aquaponics facility of the Works Credit Union at its Spring Garden compound at the launch of the Works Credit Union’s Green Works aquaponics facility on Monday night.
“The idea of aquaponics is a stepping stone for diversification…to provide our members with the opportunity to provide food for themselves. The board of Works Credit Union took a decision to build a structure in Tobago, turning it into a thriving aquaponics production area.
“This facility will not only contribute to the economic development and wealth of Works Credit Union, but it will also contribute to the wealth to the members of Works Credit Union,’ said Ottley.
He said the facility will be managed by a team and after a cycle, that team will go into its own project, being replaced by another team drawn from credit union members.
“This will continue until we are at the place where every single member of Works Credit Union who have a piece of land and want to go into agriculture production - that is safe from pesticides, safe from all the ills and chemicals that unknowingly contribute to our death - has had an opportunity to participate in the project.
“Until that time we are now on a mission to encourage our members to eat the right foods,” Ottley said, adding that members can save $350 weekly if they begin to plant their own non-chemical produce.
He said another event will be hosted to celebrate the first harvesting of the produce grown at the facility in the coming weeks - seasonings, lettuce and kale.
“We are going to make contact with all the hotels, guest houses and we expect if you want a safe product, you will visits the credit union on a daily basis and purchase some. It makes no sense that there are members who belong to a credit union who boast of an asset base of in excess of $260 million, and is bountiful and wealthy, but you haven’t figured out how can you personally become wealthy too.
“As the tide turns and the economy turns, we cannot lead if when we look behind, all our members are stumbling. We cannot survive if we continue to lend money to only buy fridge and car. We have to face the challenges, move forwards and make it work,” he said.
Why Hydroponic Grow Boxes Are The Future Of Growing
Why Hydroponic Grow Boxes Are The Future Of Growing
From the time I start writing this article to the time I finish the world's population will have increased by approximately 10,000 people. That not only means 10,000 more mouths to feed. It also means a decrease in the space that we have left on this earth.
There is no denying that the worlds increasing population is putting pressure on food supplies and available living and agriculture spaces. A decrease in growing spaces means a decrease in area for farms and agriculture to produce food for the world's population creating a vicious cycle that only leads to a more difficult problem to solve.
But what if everyone could produce their own food? A world where everyone produces the food that they eat within their own living space means there would be no need for massive agricultural spaces. We could then use those previous agricultural spaces for additional living space or natural reserves. What’s the most exciting part? This isn’t just a fantasy.
A hydroponic system means growing in an entirely water-based system instead of the traditional soil-based system. If you live in a high rise apartment in the middle of downtown Toronto, New York, Tokyo or any large urban center then growing your own food with soil isn’t a very viable option. Furthermore, even if you could have a room full of soil in your apartment you still might not have the horticultural touch to grow your own food. But luckily there is an answer.
Fully automated hydroponic grow boxes allow their users to grow their own food in their house without having to constantly tend to their crop like a farmer. The Canadian-based Company Grobo has created a hydroponic grow box that constantly monitors and adjusts its own ecosystem’s lighting, EC and pH levels.
Hydroponic grow boxes are launching us towards a world where traditional farming and agricultural systems are merely a memory. Each person can grow their own fresh food from the comfort of their own home. I’m excited to live in a world where I can grow my own strawberries, tomatoes, and lettuce while sitting in my apartment watching TV or playing baseball at the park.
Now that’s smart farming!
An Agricultural Revolution
An Agricultural Revolution
JUNE 16TH, 2018 CATHERINE MORRIS0
Ino-Gro Inc. uses high-density vertical farming techniques coupled with automation and remote monitoring software to create a climate-smart food production system.
How GreenTech is transforming the agricultural industry in Saint Lucia and beyond
In the past, successful farmers relied on the land, the weather, their instincts and a little bit of luck. Thanks to a boom in ‘green technology’ there are now a lot more tools at their disposal. The uptake of GreenTech among agricultural pioneers is helping to modernise the industry and streamline farming, as well as aiding the Caribbean in achieving its goal of food security.
CREATIVE TECH
More than US$800m was invested in agricultural technology (‘agtech’) globally between 2012 and 2016, according to research group CB Insights.
“Technology has been the main driver of change in most industries, and agriculture is no different,” says Warren Kellman, Managing Director of Ino-Gro Inc, a hydroponic farm in Barbados. “New technologies are being created every single day around the world and people are coming up with creative solutions [to environmental challenges].”
Ino-Gro Inc is one of those creative solutions. Launched in 2016 by Kellman and a friend, the farm is the first of its kind in Barbados and consists of a 40ft shipping container stacked with walls of leafy greens and operated through a fully automated, online system. Kellman and his team can monitor and control the environment – temperature, humidity, LED lighting – within the container through an app downloaded to their smartphones. Sensors, timers and alerts feed them information in real-time, with all data available via the cloud.
The vertical farming model allows Ino-Gro Inc to practise high-density farming in a relatively small area. Kellman says the container is equivalent to one acre of farmland and produces around 40kg of produce a week, including three different types of lettuce, mint, basil and edible flowers. Demand is high and the produce sells out every week, with hotels, restaurants, chefs and the general public eager to buy local.
Ino-Gro Inc’s success, however, was not guaranteed. There were challenges along the way but Kellman says he was not just motivated by turning a profit. “When we started, we wanted to find a way to make money but also do something good. We import too much. The population of the Caribbean is only going to grow, we need to find more sustainable ways to produce enough food.”
PRECISION FARMING
One of the biggest obstacles for Ino-Gro Inc was the initial expense. “These are high tech systems; the main challenge is the cost associated with them. It is one thing to buy them in the United States, but then you have to get them to the Caribbean,” says Kellman.
Ino-Gro Inc’s computerised container was developed by US firm Freight Farms but Kellman would like to see the Caribbean develop its own agtech industry. He is working as a consultant with Saint Lucia’s TeleCarib Labs, Inc to help develop a model, climate-controlled, indoor farm. “We are working on being the first to create, design and build this type of model farm. We want to find a more affordable solution so we can overcome the challenges of cost and, from there, we can approach other countries who are interested. Our aim is to manufacture in the Caribbean, reduce the cost of these systems and enable a lot more people to grow their own food.”
A prototype for the farm will be established before the end of the year at the TeleCarib Labs’ campus, and will be “data-centred”, according to Kellman who says sensors will collect information that can be analysed to maximise productivity. “It allows for more accurate farming. We can analyse the data and make calculated decisions.”
VIRTUAL HUB
When the TeleCarib Labs farm becomes operational, it aims to sell directly to consumers through a virtual platform created by Tri Farms Ltd, a Saint Lucia company founded by local entrepreneur Garvin Francis.
Tri Farms’ eCrop is the region’s first virtual agricultural hub where producers and buyers can connect online. Producers simply log on, create a profile for their farm and let potential buyers know what they are selling and when it will be available. This direct service allows farmers to pre-sell their goods and gives buyers certainty so they can plan their purchases and minimise supply chain risks.
The system, which went live in January 2017, is used by the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association to host its Virtual Agricultural Clearing House (VACH) which encourages hotels, restaurants and food and beverage distributors to buy local. Francis says that helping Saint Lucia limit its food import bill was the impetus for Tri Farms Ltd when he first began brainstorming the idea over a decade ago. “Agriculture has been lagging in Saint Lucia and tourism provides an opportunity for local producers,” he says. “It sounds simple on paper but it’s not that easy – the market is so fragmented. There was a disconnect in terms of information; you could have a glut of one item one week and the next you might not find it on the island.”
Francis, who has previously worked in both the tourism and agricultural sectors, teamed up with Melvin Felicien whose background is in IT. Together they developed Tri Farms’ forecasting tool which is primarily aimed at buyers in the tourism industry. “Availability and consistency are very important in the tourism sector. Those buyers needed a tool that could predict what was coming on the market,” says Francis. “There is no reason why the hotels should be importing any produce that can be grown locally.”
There are now around 80 farmers registered with Tri Farms’ eCrop service. The company is looking to acquire more capital so it can scale up operations to make the system more intuitive and offer users an app. Francis says: “As with any tech company, capital is our biggest restriction, but this product has so much potential. There is quite a bit of focus now on building these platforms to create linkages. That is the future of agriculture – the availability of information through the use of technology. I anticipate a huge buzz and some creativity coming out of the Caribbean.”
THE NEXT GENERATION
If the agricultural industry is to reach its potential, however, the next wave of entrepreneurs has to be engaged. “The awareness is there but it’s not where it needs to be, especially when it comes to the younger generation,” says Kellman who wants to see more technology in schools and regularly invites kids to Ino-Gro Inc to show them how the system operates and spark their interest. “They come to our farm so they can get introduced to this new technology and become familiar with the way farming will be in the future. That is part of our mission – to not only grow and supply food, but also to educate people and let them know the importance of food security.”
It’s also the goal of TeleCarib Labs, which aims to launch its Future Farmers Entrepreneurship Programme next year. This initiative will give students the opportunity for hands-on experience at the model indoor farm, as well as skill development workshops and online learning.
“TeleCarib Labs will transform farming by linking innovation with education,” says Kellman. “There is plenty of opportunity in the agricultural industry. I would encourage young entrepreneurs to never settle, never give up and keep up to date with the technology that’s out there, not just in their own country but all over the world.”
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The World’s Most High Tech Indoor Farm Doesn’t Grow Food or Cannabis
The World’s Most High Tech Indoor Farm Doesn’t Grow Food or Cannabis
“The real transfection of plants to make biopharmaceuticals was hatched in Palo Alto in a bar called the Sundance Mining Company in 1987,” Barry Holtz, CEO of iBio CDMO, the world’s most high-tech indoor farm, told delegates at the recent Indoor Agtech Innovation Summit in Brooklyn, NY.
Transfection is the introduction of foreign DNA into plant cells in order to instruct them to create specific proteins. Essentially, iBio turns plants into bioreactors, Holtz explained.
iBio uses highly automated indoor farming methods to manufacture pharmaceutical drugs and, according to Holtz, it already has much of the technology that today’s food-growing indoor farms are just starting to develop.
“A lot of the things being discussed today, we’ve already done, but we’ve done it in a vacuum,” said Holtz of the automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics discussed by other speakers at the conference.
The thought may have begun in a bar, but the company got started in earnest when the US Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA) – think Q branch from a James Bond Film – posed a challenge to Holtz in the 1990s; what he called a “live fire test.”
“We received a gene in the mail – a sequence. We knew it was a vaccine against some form of influenza,” said Holtz, creating tension as if he was pitching a movie. “Our charge was to make 50 million doses in 12 weeks, and we did that.”
Now, the company’s products are used to treat fibrotic diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, systemic sclerosis, and scleroderma.
By all measures, iBio passed the test of time as well. The New York Stock Exchange-listed company (IBIO) recently filed for an expected $16 million underwritten public offeringand is in the process of expanding to Brazil and Japan.
iBIO’s Texas facility houses laboratory and pilot-scale operations, as well as large-scale automated hydroponic systems capable of growing over four million plants and delivering over 300 kilograms of recombinant protein pharmaceutical active ingredient per year.
So what does the farm looks like? Well first of all, it’s underground. Holtz said that when DARPA approached him about building the facility, it needed to be “hardened.” Being in Texas that meant tornado proof and hurricane proof. Holtz joked that the farm could probably “take an RPG.”
The farm has 13-inch thick concrete walls, and its growing compartments are 150 feet long and 50 feet high. The growing and harvesting happen without any human interaction.
“We’ve probably over-engineered everything,” Holtz joked. He went on to explain that the farm has the same capacity as 32 12,000-liter bioreactors and would cost $600 million- $700 million to build in “today’s money.”
The level of security and fortification is due to the immense responsibility of making vaccines and treatments.
“When you license a drug, you have an implicit responsibility to deliver it and once a patient population grows they become dependent on that drug. So the FDA looks at ‘can you supply?’” explained Holtz.
The reward is high in pharmaceuticals, but so is the risk. Not only is operating to a pharmaceutical standard expensive, but licenses for active ingredients are granted by formulation and not by facility, said Holtz, so the regulatory burden doesn’t get relatively lighter with scale.
Holtz said he had come to the conference to collaborate with the growing industry of indoor food farms. But with a $200 per gram cost of goods for one of Holtz’s pharmaceutical products, the distance between the two industries seems to be miles rather than feet.
Photo: Barry Holtz on stage at Indoor Agtech Summit with Nate Story from Plenty and Jessica Kristof from Phylos Biosciences.
Does Indoor Farming Hold The Key To The Global Food And Nutrition Challenge? Indoor Farming Visionaries Gather For Major Summit In New York
Does Indoor Farming Hold The Key To The Global Food And Nutrition Challenge? Indoor Farming Visionaries Gather For Major Summit In New York
The world is on the cusp of a global agri-food revolution, powered by technology innovation. Globally, we face enormous challenges of water scarcity, hunger and malnutrition as the traditional food supply chain struggles to feed a population set to grow by more than a third by 2050. In the United States alone, the next 30 years will see the population swell by an enormous 112 million from its 328 million today. (Source: https://www.census.gov).
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, there are just 60 harvests left before the world’s topsoil is completely depleted, after decades of chemical-heavy intensive farming and erosion through deforestation and global warming. By 2050, the amount of arable and productive land per person will be only a quarter of what it was in 1960.
Already, we have growing inner-city populations that lack access to affordable fresh food, with increasing malnutrition and obesity, the effects of which impact our communities and stress our health infrastructure.
This month, over 200 agribusiness leaders, entrepreneurs and investors from around the world will gather in New York to discuss how indoor farming offers a solution. At the indoor AgTech Innovation Summit on June 20-21, they will discuss the challenges that need to be met to build sustainable, profitable and healthy local and national food systems.
Serving as the summit’s Strategic Partner is Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), the country’s leading owner, operator, and developer of collaborative life science, technology and AgTech campuses, and the company’s venture capital arm, Alexandria Venture Investments, which invests in cutting-edge AgTech companies. With its position at the forefront of emerging innovation in AgTech, Alexandria Venture Investments led a blue-chip investment syndicate to create the AgTech Accelerator, a unique start-up venture development fund focused on discovering and developing agricultural technology companies.
“Through our sustainable, vibrant environments and our strategic investments in agricultural innovation, we continue to support the next generation of companies and technologies that are essential to the growth of the AgTech sector,” said Joel S. Marcus, Executive Chairman and Founder of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc./Alexandria Venture Investments, who will co-moderate the panel discussion Investor Debate: What Type of Capital Does This Sector Need to Grow. “We recognize the immense potential of indoor farming to benefit the health and well-being of the people in our communities and ultimately to help solve the critical challenges of global hunger and nutrition.”
Indoor farming’s precision systems create optimal growing conditions, delivering exactly the right amount of water, nutrients, and light directly to the plant, using up to 90% less water than traditional agriculture. Grown indoors in a controlled environment, with no need for pesticides or herbicides, the produce is as clean and organic as it’s possible to be.
Historically, the indoor sector has struggled with cost-efficiencies at scale, limiting its produce to a premium price-point. At last, breakthroughs in LED efficiencies, power optimization, AI and machine-learning are reducing costs and increasing yields, enabling indoor-grown produce to compete on price-point with traditional open field produce. The super-fresh locally-grown model is now within reach of being achievable on a massive scale, making healthy fresh food affordable to millions.
Brooklyn Borough President, Eric L. Adams will open the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit with insights into how the indoor farming revolution is transforming New York’s thriving communities.
He is joined by leading innovators and operators from around the world, including AeroFarms, FreshBox Farms, Shenandoah Growers, Plenty, Infarm (Germany), Gotham Greens, Bright Farms, Square Roots, Bowery Farming, Badia Farms (UAE) and the Japan Plant Factory Association.
The summit will host senior representatives from the biggest names across agribusiness, food, and finance: Bayer, Monsanto, Cargill, Kelloggs, McCain, InVivo, US Foods, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Finistere Ventures and Tyson Ventures, alongside technology developers including IGS, Cornell CALS, Fluence, Motorleaf, Priva, OSRAM and Signify, with pitches from six agtech start-ups showcasing their breakthrough solutions.
This powerhouse audience will focus on best practice, defining growth opportunities and the need for collaboration in this fast-emerging precision ag sector.
The Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit is part of the World Agri-Tech Innovation Series of summits focused on international networking and deal-making for agribusinesses, solution providers, entrepreneurs and investors.
For full information about the event program and speakers, visit www.indooragtechnyc.com
Purdue Grad Wants His Invention To Reduce Food Deserts
Purdue Grad Wants His Invention To Reduce Food Deserts
May 24, 2018, by Randy Spieth
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – A new appliance for the home could soon get mass produced, allowing owners to grow fresh fruits and vegetables without ever leaving their homes. Scott Massey, the CEO and co-founder of Heliponix, has just unveiled his first GroPod and wants to see it become an appliance to tackle hunger.
A GroPod is a little smaller than a standard dishwasher or oven. It uses hydroponic technology to grow seed pods, similar to single-serve coffee containers.
“When you buy a pod for it, and you plug it in, your GroPod already knows what you put in," Massey said. "Different plants have different environmental preferences and the unit will find the average temperature, light cycle, humidity for your variety, among many other variables, and give you specifically the best growing conditions based of what you like to eat.”
Massey first worked on self-sufficient plant growing while on a NASA project as a student at Purdue. He has also used hydroponic technology to start farms in the western Africa country of Togo. Today, he has help start one of the largest farm systems in the region, with space at two Togo universities, a co-working space, and at the U.S. Embassy compound.
“One system for $300 can grow about 500 pounds of vegetables, annually," said Massey. "That’s enough to feed a family.”
Massey said once you see a child suffer from malnutrition, it's a difficult image to get out of your head. That's why he wanted to help.
The creator of the GroPod said he'd like to see the appliance come hand-in-hand with federal housing assistance programs. He came up with the idea after an internship on the El Paso, Tex. and Juarez, Mexico border. There he was building Section 8 housing and saw what a food desert can do to people.
The SNAP program could serve as financial assistance to have seed pods mailed to the homes of low-income families.
"The only thing they had was a McDonald's and a convenience store," Massey said. "After time, you just get obese."
Massey unveiled his first finished GroPod Thursday. He's using it as part of a demonstration to people and organizations working to improve food options in the city at the Flanner House. Some investors were also expected to be on hand.
The finished product is being given to his customer later Thursday night. He added he has many more orders in for the appliance.
Massey, who is from Evansville, is discussing selling the invention to a mass producer of kitchen and household appliances. He said he believes his creation could be on shelves everywhere in a little over a year.
“This is designed to be a common appliance that can be integrated into any home," said Massey. "It does not to be plumbed in. It does not need a special outlet. It only requires Wi-Fi and a standard 110-volt outlet.”
Filed in: News
How Urban Farmers Are learning To Grow Food Without Soil Or Natural Light
How Urban Farmers Are learning To Grow Food Without Soil Or Natural Light
February 13, 2018
Mandy Zammit/Grow Up, Author provided
Author
- Silvio Caputo
Senior Lecturer, University of Portsmouth
Disclosure statement
Silvio Caputo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Partners
University of Portsmouth provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.
Growing food in cities became popular in Europe and North America during and immediately after World War II. Urban farming provided citizens with food, at a time when resources were desperately scarce. In the decades that followed, parcels of land which had been given over to allotments and city farms were gradually taken up for urban development. But recently, there has been a renewed interest in urban farming – albeit for very different reasons than before.
As part of a recent research project investigating how urban farming is evolving across Europe, I found that in countries where growing food was embedded in the national culture, many people have started new food production projects. There was less uptake in countries such as Greece and Slovenia, where there was no tradition of urban farming. Yet a few community projects had recently been started in those places too.
Today’s urban farmers don’t just grow food to eat; they also see urban agriculture as a way of increasing the diversity of plants and animals in the city, bringing people from different backgrounds and age groups together, improving mental and physical health and regenerating derelict neighbourhoods.
Many new urban farming projects still struggle to find suitable green spaces. But people are finding inventive solutions; growing food in skips or on rooftops, on sites that are only temporarily free, or on raised beds in abandoned industrial yards. Growers are even using technologies such as hydroponics, aquaculture and aquaponics to make the most of unoccupied spaces.
Something fishy
Hydroponic systems were engineered as a highly space and resource efficient form of farming. Today, they represent a considerable source of industrially grown produce; one estimate suggests that, in 2016, the hydroponic vegetable market was worth about US$6.9 billion worldwide.
Hydroponics enable people to grow food without soil and natural light, using blocks of porous material where the plants’ roots grow, and artificial lighting such as low-energy LED. A study on lettuce production found that although hydroponic crops require significantly more energy than conventionally grown food, they also use less water and have considerably higher yields.
Growing hydroponic crops usually requires sophisticated technology, specialist skills and expensive equipment. But simplified versions can be affordable and easy to use.
They grow up so fast. Mandy Zammit/Grow Up, Author provided
Hemmaodlat is an organisation based in Malmö, in a neighbourhood primarily occupied by low-income groups and immigrants. The area is densely built, and there’s no green space available to grow food locally. Plus, the Swedish summer is short and not always ideal for growing crops. Instead, the organisation aims to promote hydroponic systems among local communities, as a way to grow fresh food using low-cost equipment.
The Bristol Fish Project is a community-supported aquaponics farm, which breeds fish and uses the organic waste they produce to fertilise plants grown hydroponically. GrowUp is another aquaponics venture located in an East London warehouse – they grow food and farm fish using only artificial light. Similarly, Growing Underground is an enterprise that produces crops in tunnels, which were originally built as air raid shelters during World War II in London.
The next big thing?
The potential to grow food in small spaces, under any environmental conditions, are certainly big advantages in an urban context. But these technologies also mean that the time spent outdoors, weathering the natural cycles of the seasons, is lost. Also, hydroponic systems require nutrients that are often synthesised chemically – although organic nutrients are now becoming available. Many urban farmers grow their food following organic principles, partly because the excessive use of chemical fertilisers is damaging soil fertilityand polluting groundwater.
To see whether these drawbacks would put urban growers off using hydroponic systems, my colleagues and I conducted a pilot study in Portsmouth. We installed small hydroponic units in two local community gardens, and interviewed volunteers and visitors to the gardens. Many of the people we spoke to were well informed about hydroponic technology, and knew that some of the vegetables sold in supermarkets today are produced with this system.
A simplified hydroponic frame in Portsmouth. Silvio Caputo/University of Portsmouth, Author provided
Many were fascinated by the idea of growing food without soil within their community projects, but at the same time reluctant to consume the produce because of the chemical nutrients used. A few interviewees were also uncomfortable with the idea that the food was not grown naturally. We intend to repeat this experiment in the near future, to see how public opinion changes over time.
And while we don’t think hydroponic systems can replace the enjoyment that growing food in soil can offer, they can save water and produce safe food, either indoors or outdoors, in a world with increasingly scarce resources. Learning to use these new technologies, and integrating them into existing projects, can only help to grow even more sustainable food.
As with many technological advancements, it could be that a period of slow acceptance will be followed by rapid, widespread uptake. Perhaps the fact that IKEA is selling portable hydroponic units, while hydroponic cabinets are on the market as components of kitchen systems, is a sign that this technology is primed to enter mainstream use.
"The Technology of Cultivating on Water is Fascinating"
Botman Hydroponics
"The Technology of Cultivating on Water is Fascinating"
"A solid belief in yourself and an even greater belief in technology, that’s the formula for Botman Hydroponics, the ultimate floating cultivation system." The company spent more than ten years on development and research. "It was a necessary period for refining and optimizing every aspect. Now the real action starts", said Jan Botman, company founder.
Until about five years ago people were still often skeptical to the ideas of crop cultivation on water, but you can’t ignore it anymore. The concepts have been refined and thorough research is being done. Hydroponic cultivation has finally become a reality. Jan: "The technique of hydroponic cultivation grabbed me years ago and it has not let go, I have worked for about twenty years as an exporter of produce, especially overseas.
"I decided I wanted to do something else and I read about the program called "Teelt de Grond Uit” (Cultivation Out of the Ground) from Wageningen UR. In this program, cultivation systems for open-field horticulture are being developed that comply with European regulations for water quality. This is done in cooperation with Proeftuin Zwaagdijk and others. Back then, I had already visited a hydroponic project in Belgium that used gutters. I contacted Wageningen and got on board as an entrepreneur. In the meantime, I was already involved in a program of growing leek on water at the testing company of Applied Plants & Environment in Vredepeel. In 2012 I got more deeply involved."
Crop level sub-climate
"Proeftuin Zwaagdijk conducts applied research and I developed the Botman Hydroponics system. The nice thing is that the further development of the system ran parallel to the tests that were being done. Many other systems of cultivating on water work with styrofoam, for example. I absolutely wanted the materials of my system to be 100% food safe, which is why I opted for plastic. In 2013 I made the first Botman Drijverbak model, for both leaf crops and ornamental plants. After several years of testing and research, we gained a deeper insight into how the system works and how crops can grow optimally."
"The nice thing about plastic is that it lets the temperature though because it doesn’t insulate. Contrary to what is sometimes thought, this offers great advantages: the water that the container floats on can act as a type of floor heating - or as cooling. This allows us to create a sub-climate at the crop level, without the entire room has to be a certain temperature. This is much more sustainable. This system also does not leave any waste. The plastic can be recycled and the plant containers are biodegradable. All components have been thought through in detail in order to achieve the most efficient result possible."
Oxygen-rich water
"Another long-held assumption was that the oxygen content of water was unimportant. The opposite is true. The presence of oxygen is essential for the absorption of nutrients by the plant. I, therefore, developed a system for this as well, that’s been studied for three years now. All the results indicate that we are on the right path. In oxygen-depleted water, disease also becomes more likely. This is also the biggest risk of cultivating on water. If things go wrong, then a bacteria can spread rapidly through the water, so you have to make sure that it can’t go wrong. We’ve been successful so far.
The next step is to control the water temperature with a heat pump for both heating and cooling. I have been working on this for ten years, but to me, it’s really only about to start now. The actual production is going to begin, I'm really looking forward to that. It takes a lot of time and attention to think of every step. I stand up and I go to bed with them. But with a smile. "
LivingLab
"From LivingLab EVERGREEN I made a test setup for Clusius Lab, the practical teaching facility at the Clusius College in Hoorn that allows students to do tests on behalf of entrepreneurs. I facilitate the hydroponics system that students can use to find answers to various research questions. While the system of Botman Hydroponics has my name, I, of course, can’t do it all alone. I also work gratefully together with different companies and people. Students can make valuable contributions through smaller, very concrete studies. For example, calculating working with heat pumps or researching an idea for supporting the stems of chrysanthemums. Because they naturally go vertical, you need crop support. And even though some studies do not seem that important, often they are very necessary to get a step further. I can imagine that it would be fun as a student if you could contribute to that."
EFRO EVERGREEN
"In the collaboration with organizations such as Proeftuin Zwaagdijk, like now with the EFRO EVERGREEN project, there is a mutual benefit. They offer the location and a number of facilities, but the input of knowledge comes from two sides, just like the sharing and building on it. I am also a client of Proeftuin Zwaagdijk: partly we work together, other things I take care of myself. The most important thing is the link to the experiments: we have already achieved so many good results. I’m also not the only one working on floating cultivation, other parties are working from their approach. And that we meet each other is only a benefit I think.”
For more information:
GreenPort NoordHollandNoord
www.greenportnhn.nl
Botman Hydroponics
www.botmanhydroponics.com
Publication date: 3/12/2018
Letter From The Chairwoman of The AVF (2018)
The Association for Vertical Farming is evolving from an emerging movement into an industry organization ready for the next steps.
Letter From The Chairwoman of The AVF (2018)
FEBRUARY 21, 2018 URBAN AG NEWS
A Letter from AVF Chairwoman Christine Zimmermann-Loessl
Dear AVF Members,
The Association for Vertical Farming is evolving from an emerging movement into an industry organization ready for the next steps. To quote Alibaba founder and philanthropist Jack Ma, “The next generation of globalization should be inclusive and create opportunities for young people to get involved. The last 30 years of globalization was controlled by 60,000 big companies. In the next 30 years, we will have 6 or 16 or 60 million companies get involved in globalization.”
At the AVF, we have taken this quote to heart based on experience from the past and with members feedback, we are adjusting the overall AVF strategy by bringing changes to the board and staff to ensure that the Association is ready and able to pick up the priorities that we agreed on at the Annual General Meeting in Munich on the 1st of December 2017.
We will want to engage with our members at the core of our mission and interact more effectively with policy makers, the horticulture industry and our partners. Also important is the further development of our global network of members and acquisition of new members – to meet that goal we are planning an upcoming AVF summit in Hong Kong in September.
The AVF is now developing into a more professional organization. We are changing the way we work and in the course of that process we have also made some changes to AVF staff. A few well-known names have now moved on in a different direction, such as Henry Gordon Smith, Zjef van Acker and Mark Horler. I would like to thank them for the contributions they have made to the Association in the past years and wish them all the best in their future in the vertical farming industry.
With this, the AVF team is looking forward to helping our members turn 2018 into a successful and prosperous year and encourage all of you to reach out to us with your ideas and suggestions @ members@vertical-farming.net.
New AVF Staff – Our team is eager to work with you and help you succeed.
Anne Flour, European Affairs Manager,
Anne is a highly motivated EU Project Manager with extensive experience in agriculture and environment. As an independent, she supports organisations to thrive in the European Union context.
Gus van der Feltz, Head of Member Relations
Gus is a self-employed entrepreneur and Vertical Farming expert. Between 2014 and 2017 Gus was responsible for Vertical Farming at Philips and Philips Lightning
Yanni Garica Postigo Operations Manager,
Yanni is the co-founder of PlantHive. Formerly business controller @ St. Gilles Municipality, International-minded and curious!
New Board of Directors
Thomas Zöllner, Vice-Chairman
Tom is an entrepreneur and expert for innovation in agri-tech, with a solid base in the Vertical Farming Industry.
Penny McBride, Vice-Chairwoman
Penny is a start-up/strategic advisor in the urban agriculture industry in the US and internationally.
Key objectives for the Association for Vertical Farming in 2018 / 2019:
1. Standardization and Certification (S&C): With our members, AVF will lay out the groundwork for standards and reference data for agri-tech crop production. We will soon announce a proposal for committee composition and the roadmap for partnerships with our members and regional organizations.
2. Education (E): The AVF will facilitate education & training for the agri-tech industry while integrating a new e-learning platform. Additionally, we will strive to publish relevant industry white papers in multiple languages to help distribute knowledge into the global market.
3. Policy Advocacy (PA): Policy development, already started with the successful Summit in Washington DC, will continue to foster advocacy with policymakers, pursue grant opportunities, partnerships and lobby on behalf of the members in the EU and USA. We have established an office in Brussels and registered officially as a lobby organization at the EU.
Finally, a short reminder of membership payment – please remit, membership is due 01. January of each Year. If you have not received your invoice yet, please contact us at info@vertical-farming.net
Vertical Farm A Towering Feat For Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA, Community
Vertical Farm A Towering Feat For Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA, Community
Shannon Richey, Assistant editor
March 12, 2018
Brandon Chan, an engineering student, 22, creates a to-do list for the Vertical Farming Club in a greenhouse at the DVC Horticulture area on Thursday, Feb. 23rd. He and the rest of the club are creating a sustainable vertical farming system to grow vegetables in layered beds.
Keren Pasule sets about inspecting a series of capped PVC tubes, each with a tidy row of holes drilled into it, stacked on a utility shelf in the balmy greenhouse in the DVC Horticulture Area.
She makes her way over to an empty fish tank, explaining that it will eventually be stocked with roach fish, providing a nutrient rich water source for growing a variety of lettuces.
Pasule, 19, a biochemistry major, is the project manager for DVC’s Vertical Farming Club, which is in the process of constructing an aquaponic vertical farming system.
Unlike traditional methods of farming, which require large swaths of land and soil, a plentiful water supply, and a favorable climate, vertical farming takes place indoors, in grow beds stacked vertically. Crops are grown without soil, with necessary nutrients being delivered through an irrigation system of recirculating water, while LED lights provide a replacement for sunlight.
“Vertical farming is the future of farming,” wrote Peter Swenson, chair of the club, noting that the system offers solutions for many of the issues facing food security and current farming practices.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that there needs to be 50 percent more food for an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050, with two-thirds of that global population living in densely packed urban environments. As already declining rural populations age, the traditional agricultural workforce will dwindle further, creating a significant deficit.
The FAO also point out that roughly 1.3 billion tons of global food production is lost or wasted annually due to natural disasters, spoilage, and long transportation routes.
Through technology and simply by nature of being indoors, they are able to avoid some of the environmental consequences and hardships, such as droughts, infestations and hurricanes, beleaguering traditional farms with increasing frequency.
In vertical farms, conditions can be specifically regulated to replicate an optimal growing climate. Water is recycled, requiring significantly less of it. There is no fertilizer runoff into the water supply of natural habitats and little to no need for pesticides.
Such operations can be woven into the urban fabric, often springing up in warehouses, repurposed shipping containers and even skyscrapers. The food is available fresh to the surrounding community, eliminating long haul shipping routes, along with their associated CO2 emissions.
And most importantly said Ryan Moschiano, 23, a horticulture major and Vertical Farming Club member, “It takes up a lot less space.”
Because crops are stacked vertically, the amount of land needed to yield a large amount of agricultural product is significantly reduced.
A study by Stanford University, in partnership with the Institute for Food and Resource Economics at the University of Bonn in Germany, found that a vertical farm in Berlin, built on two-thirds of an acre, standing 37 stories tall, yielded 516 times more produce on average than a traditional farm with as much land.
That’s 3, 573 tons of edible fruit and vegetables for neighboring residents and restaurants.
According to the study, one hurtle that seems to stand in the way of vertical farms taking off on a large scale is cost. Certain factors, like the hydroponic nutrients they use as a substitute for soil, are more expensive than in traditional farming.
But the vertical farming students at DVC have created a work around for this problem.
It may sound less than savory, but the roach fish will create waste which possesses the nutrients that the plants need to flourish. By filtering the water through the fish tank they can eliminate the need for artificial nutrients thus creating a more feasible, cost-effective system.
Swenson points out that finding these kinds of solutions requires a cross-disciplinary team. Vertical farming offers students the opportunity to learn about and apply skills in horticulture, engineering and project management.
Brandon Chan, 22, an engineering major and club member said, “I like the idea of being able to design a sustainable system and then build it from the ground up.”
The Vertical Farming Club hopes to build a system that sustains itself for years to come and eventually partner with the culinary program on campus to deliver the fresh, high quality produce that they grow.
“We want this to be a community asset, something that really benefits DVC in the long run,” said Pasule.
Keren Pasule, 19, biochemistry major and Vertical Farming Club project manager, works in the greenhouse in the DVC Horticulture area on Feb 23rd. She and the rest of the club are creating a sustainable vertical farming system to grow vegetables in layered beds.
To learn more about the club visit https://chem.libretexts.org/LibreTexts/Diablo_Valley_College/Vertical_Farming_Project
This Hydroponic Farm Is Speeding Up NYC's Farm-To-Table Process
Hydroponic farming is becoming an increasingly popular option in cities with a high demand for fresh produce. Farm One is one such system that is providing their restaurant clientele with microgreens, herbs, and edible flowers grown right in Manhattan, Inhabitat reports.
This Hydroponic Farm Is Speeding Up NYC's Farm-To-Table Process
BY AIMEE LUTKIN
March 1, 2018
Hydroponic farming is becoming an increasingly popular option in cities with a high demand for fresh produce. Farm One is one such system that is providing their restaurant clientele with microgreens, herbs, and edible flowers grown right in Manhattan, Inhabitat reports. They claim they can reach 90 percent of their buyers by bike within 30 minutes. That's fresh.
Farm One is part of the Institute of Culinary Education, so it's a place for learning chefs as well—which is also a great way to build up a network of people who know about and support it. The hydroponic farm was built in April of 2016, with 150 different varieties of crops on rotation.
The space was developed by urban agriculture firm Agritecture, whose managing director Henry Gordon-Smith told Green Matters in an email that it's a really special place that is building a roadmap for future hydroponic growing technology.
"Farm One isn't like other vertical farms: for one, they grow the most unique and rare crops on demand for the most curious and sophisticated chefs. Additionally, each farm is optimized to match the urban site they set up an operation in, embracing the positive attributes of the space to the demands of their customers. Farm One is leading the way in the production of crops that have often never been grown in vertical farms to inspire chefs, cities, and customers to ignite their senses with the future of local agriculture," wrote Gordon-Smith.
The indoor farm is lit by LEDs, and the interior is monitored for conditions that are primed to grow greens. They use zero pesticides or herbicides, and the hydroponic system requires 95 percent less water than in a traditional garden. The main waste product from the enterprise is plant matter, which is composted.
Farm One is also committed to variety. They say on their website that they "scour the world" for "rare seeds" in an effort to promote biodiversity. It also doesn't hurt that the growers are themselves chefs, which means an interest in variety and flavor for its own sake. The farm is growing, but remains committed to staying local and minimizing travel time for their produce. If you can grow lettuce in the basement, you never need to eat a wilted leaf again.
The Farm of The Future Is Magenta
The Farm of The Future Is Magenta
What color do many green plants like? The opposite of green: magenta. Nanoco
After the US, guess what country is the second largest exporter of food by dollar value? The Netherlands. One of the smallest countries in the world has become one of the biggest exporters of food.
Dutch farmers have become masters of indoor farming, as National Geographic reports. With advanced greenhouses using LED lights, hydroponics and more, they're able to grow more food, faster and in a smaller space. It's a growing trend (pun intended).
Lighting is one of the biggest costs of indoor farming, but some wavelengths (colors) of visible light are more useful than others. Magenta, for example, is a favorite of green plants. Quantum dots are can be tuned to produce magenta light efficiently.
By using wavelengths the plants want most, less overall light and power needs to be used. No power is wasted creating green wavelengths that a specific plant species doesn't need, for example.
Lights augmented by quantum dots can promote faster growth, not just on a per-plant basis, but even depending on where that plant is in its growing cycle. Certain wavelengths can be used for a young plant, and slightly different wavelengths for a more mature plant.
Researchers have also been able to grow plants faster. Nanoco, makers of the lights you see in the image at the right and above, claim that in some cases plants can grow twice as fast as with standard LED lights.
Quantum dots could be the key to indoor farms producing significantly more food, or small farms being able to produce vastly more food. Indoor farms can also exist in places not typically conducive to farming, such as the cities where most of the world now lives.
And if you look even further ahead, this would be a pretty fantastic way for us to grow a lot of food quickly in space, on the Moon or Mars, and beyond.
Microgreens: What, Why and How?
Feb. 06, 2018
Microgreens: What, Why and How?
What are Microgreens?
Whether it is on the menu of a fine restaurant or the product section of a specialty grocery store, you are likely to spot microgreens. They are dressed in vinaigrette as a salad or used to stylishly top our meal dishes as garnishes. However, other than the fact that they are very small in size, what exactly are microgreens? Well, they are delicate miniature seedlings of edible herbs and vegetables that add flavor, texture and color to a variety of foods. They pack a dense assortment of nutrients complete with beneficial enzymes thanks to their rapid growth.
While they may be presented in a sophisticated manner at gourmet restaurants, microgreens, also known as “vegetable confetti”, are simple and cost-effective to grow. Typically, microgreens are harvested using scissors within a month with the edible parts being the stem and the leaves.
Nutritional Content in Microgreens
So how do these tiny greens fare against their mature counterparts? Well, studies have shown that they punch well above their weight in terms of nutrition. Microgreens such as red cabbage micros, garnet amaranth, cilantro, radish and lettuce seedlings pack as much as 40 times higher levels of vital nutrients than their mature counterparts.
Red cabbage micros, for instance, was found to have 69 times more Vitamin K than its mature counterpart. Cilantro microgreens recorded 3 times higher beta-carotene concentration. Green daikon radish on the other hand, was found to have the highest Vitamin E concentration among other microgreens as well as its mature counterpart.
How to Grow them?
The beauty of microgreens is that anyone can grow them. All you need is a shallow container, windowsill, hemp pad, some potting mix and suitable seeds. As long as the microgreens’ trays (containers) receive good light and adequate moisture, they will grow just fine. The seeds also need to be adequately spaced so that they are not too cramped. A useful tip to help with faster germination, that you can use for larger seeds like beans and peas, is to soak them overnight in warm water.
Microgreens are typically harvested before they attain maturity by snipping them at soil level after the first two ‘true’ leaves emerge from the cotyledon. They usually attain a growth height of anywhere between one inch and three inches. It really is the ideal crop for urban gardeners with limited space. There are dozens of microgreens’ varieties and the number keeps on growing with the years.
Benefits of Growing Microgreens at Home
- The obvious health benefit
Because microgreens are harvested almost immediately after germination, they contain a higher level of nutrients than mature plants. Studies have proven that they have a very high content of carotenoids, vitamins and antioxidants.
- It perfect for space-efficient urban home farming
You don’t need expansive tracts of land to grow microgreens. Even if you are living in a city apartment, all you need is a sunny windowsill and you are ready to grow your own fresh organic greens.
- It is as simple as A B C
You don’t have to be an experienced farmer to grow microgreens. It requires few and affordable materials and a few simple steps with little maintenance and you are good to go.
- Refine your means with color, texture and flavor
You’ve probably heard the phrase: “looks are an important part of taste”. Well, microgreens come in a variety of colors that you can use to garnish your dishes. In addition, they offer uniquely specific essences, textures and flavors known to please the most refined of palates.
- The aspect of “self-sufficiency”
Being able to eat what you grow is one of the most satisfying feelings. With microgreens, growing organic produce is no longer looked at as a daunting complex and labor-intensive task. As a matter of fact, modern technologies like hydroponic kits make it even a whole lot easier.
Many microgreens growers are opting for hemp pads over soil because they make it possible to obtain a clean soil-free harvest. Also, these stabilized growing media are suitable for a wide variety of microgreens as well as growing methods that preserve moisture much longer. We provide such hemp pads to all aspiring and established microgreen growers to help them achieve the best results (provide sales page link here).
GroBox Sells Indoor Hydroponic Greenhouse On Corporate Website
GroBox Sells Indoor Hydroponic Greenhouse On Corporate Website
After raising more than $77,000 from crowdfunding backers on Kickstarter, consumers can continue purchasing the GroBox indoor hydroponic greenhouse on the corporate website at http://www.getgrobox.com in early March.
By the end of the Kickstarter Campaign, crowdfunders helped push presales of the all-in-one, plug-and-play GroBox seven times higher than its campaign goal.
Offering anyone the ability to grow their own plants in their own home, GroBox controls the watering schedules and air flow to grow plants faster than other methods while using two-thirds less water than traditional systems.
GroBox was designed with hydroponics technology that allows the device to be self-watering, set watering cycles and manipulate the LED grow lights for the correct amount of light. This means that users only change the water in GroBox a few times a month.
GroBox also comes with a formulated a fertilizer solution in the form of clay pellets, replacing soil, which ensures plants get the exact nutrients they need and allows for more even water distribution. The LED grow lights in GroBox also provide the lighting plants need no matter the season or outside weather and are also customizable for the growth phase of specific plants.
For more information:
www.getgrobox.com
Publication date: 3/2/2018
Bringing New Technology In Farming To The Emirates
Bringing New Technology In Farming To The Emirates
The new pay – off of Levarht ‘Bringing the best together’ is matching our new project in the Emirates in full. Together with our business partner GrowGroup, we are bringing technology in vertical and horizontal farming to the next level. In close cooperation with our knowledge partners Philips Lighting, Rijk Zwaan, and Delphy. All specialists sharing their unique expertise and knowledge in making this new venture a success!
Green Factory
In Al Ain, in the United Arab Emirates, we will set up a sustainable green factory for the production of lettuce, baby leaves and herbs in a chemical-free environment. A unique combination of vertical & horizontal farming, with our own propagation area. And in addition to that a connected packing facility, which allows us to mix and pack 100% clean mix salads. Non washed and all ready-to-eat.
Tasty, Fresh & Clean, the perfect match
Our joint objective is to serve the final consumer fresh lettuces and herbs, and completely free from any chemicals or other forms of crop-protection. By selecting the tastiest crops, the strongest varieties and creating a clean production, we are able to serve the consumer the best produce within 24 hours after harvest … ready-to-eat. Because our products are so clean, we don’t even have to wash before packing.
Sustainability, the future of farming
By creating a completely closed environment in production, using the latest generation of LED lighting, we can reduce the usage of water and energy to a minimum.
We also see a great opportunity in growing closer to the stores and the final consumer. Local production enables us to reduce mileage and imports. So not only fresher produce on the shelves, but also a step forward in protecting the environment.
Bringing the best together
We have found in each other strong partners, who share the philosophy of not only changing but especially improving farming technics and serving the consumer fresher, cleaner and tastier product. Partners sharing their unique expertise … the best example of “Bringing the best together”.
January 30th, 2018
Microgreens We Love To Grow
Microgreens We Love To Grow
March 2, 2018
Do you know which Microgreens we love to grow? These are our favorite Microgreens but we’ll also be giving you some seeding procedures too! You won’t regret missing out on this! We promise.
Pea Shoots
Crunchy, juicy texture and the same yummy taste as fresh peas. Perfect for sandwiches and on pizza, rice, and soup dishes! Try your pea shoots at different times/stages while they’re growing – their flavor, texture and look is best when they’re about 3” tall. Here are the procedures for growing theses beautiful pea shoots yourself!
These large seed varieties are grown using a different method than the other microgreens, So we will cover them first. The same technique is used for peas, can be used for sunflowers and any other large seed variety (such as popcorn seeds). Pea seed should be soaked prior to planting for 8 - 12 hrs. (soak seeds when you leave your farm at the end of the day)
Preparing the pea seed for planting:
10 oz of pea seeds per 10x20 black tray
To soak the pea, a plastic food grade container works well (5-gallon bucket with paint strainer bag).
Fill the container with enough water to rise above the seeds 2”. The seeds will swell as they absorb water, and you’ll want to make sure they stay below the water line and must remain covered.
Allow seeds to soak overnight. They are now ready to be spread on the microgreens pad.
Soaking The microgreens pad
The special microgreens pads are made of untreated all natural loose weave plant-based materials. The grow trays are 10"x20", so 1 microgreens pad are laid end to end in the tray. This makes them easier to handle at harvest time when they must be removed from the tray with the crops attached. The microgreens pads usually come in a pack of 10 - 10"x20" and don't need to be cut. If you lay the pad in the tray dry, they would not lay flat, and the seeds would go rolling off the high spots and end up crowding up in the low areas. The microgreens pad would also have a hard time becoming evenly damp, to begin with. Before placing the pads in the tray PRE-SOAK THEM in a 5-gallon bucket of vegan boost water for a few hours before seeding. This helps them lay flat in channels, which makes planting a lot easier and helps gives your seeds a germination boost.
Fill the bucket with RO water or tap water.
Place one tsp of vegan boost in bucket (mix properly).
Fold and place the pads in bucket.
Soak for 1 hr to 24 hrs. They are now ready to be used.
Place the soaked pad into the tray.
Smooth out the pad until it is completely flat.
Evenly shake the seeds in each tray, one tray at a time, using a gentle shaking motion with a cup.
Evenly spread seeds on the microgreens pad using your hands.
Place tray in darkness for 48 hrs to 72 hrs till seedlings sprouts up 2".
Place tray in sunlight or artificial grow lights
Microgreens - Red Rose Radish
A classic winter radish that is best planted later in the season, and then harvested for winter storage. China Rose produces an attractive rose-colored exterior and delicious white flesh. As its name suggests, this radish hails from China and was introduced to the occidental world by Jesuit monks in the 1950's.
Place the soaked pad into the tray.
Smooth out the pad until it is completely flat.
Weigh out the appropriate amount of seed for each variety to be planted
Red Rose Radish seeds per 10"x20" tray = 21 grams
Evenly shake the seeds in each tray, one tray at a time, using a gentle shaking motion with a season shaker.
Spray each tray, one at a time, spray generously (rule of thumb is to count out loud for each tray).
Spray humidity dome for a few seconds.
Cover 10"x20" tray with humidity dome.
Place tray in darkness for 48 hrs to 72 hrs till seedlings sprouts up 1.5".
Place tray in sunlight or artificial grow lights.
If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy these post:
"Foolproof growing tips for microgreens"
"Rules for growing microgreens indoors"
Tags: microgreens growing microgreens peashoots shoots red rose radish