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Why Some Young Workers Are Leaving White-Collar Jobs for Farming
Why Some Young Workers Are Leaving White-Collar Jobs for Farming
December 4, 2017 | Gina Belli
There was a time in the United States when it was very common to work as a farmer. In 1820, 72 percent of the workforce was employed in “farm occupations.” By the late 1980s, that figured had fallen to just about 2 percent.
The industry is aging, too. According to the Labor Department, today the median age of farmers in the U.S. is 55.9 years old. But, that might be starting to change. These days, a growing number of young workers are going into farming, and they’re often leaving behind desk jobs to do it.
Farmers Are Getting Younger
The number of farmers aged 25 to 34 increased 2.2 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture data, per the Chicago Tribune. This is only the second time in 100 years that the number of farmers under the age of 35 has increased. These young people are already starting to have a real impact on this challenging industry.
“There’s real power in the young people and what they’re bringing to this, and to the agriculture, which is a tedious, tiresome, labor-intensive, and low-wage industry,” Henry Gordon-Smith of Blue Planet Consulting told Civil Eats.
There aren’t enough young farmers in this new generation to replace the ones who are retiring. But, the shift could “contribute to the growth of the local food movement and could help preserve the place of midsize farms in the rural landscape,” according to the Chicago Tribune article.
The number of farmers aged 25 to 34 increased 2.2 percent between 2007 and 2012.CLICK TO TWEET
They Aren’t Your Grandfathers’ Farmers
Many of these young farmers didn’t grown up on farms, as farmers often did in years past. Perhaps that’s why they’re open to doing things a little differently. This group is far more likely to grow organically, operate small farms, diversify crops or animals and to be involved in community supported agriculture (CSA) programs and farmers markets.
Other young farm workers are finding work in places like warehouse farms. Indoor agriculture, which utilizes techniques like vertical farming, hydroponics and aquaponics, is expanding in areas in and around cities.
“Food jobs have steadily left our cities for the past 100 years, and local food demand is driving production that is now bringing some of these jobs back to the communities in which their food is produced,” Paul Lightfoot, CEO of BrightFarms, told Civil Eats. “This has no downside for urban markets—it only increases jobs and economic activities.”
What They’re Leaving Behind
Perhaps these young farmers aren’t just moving toward rural farms but also away from office life, and the workday grind that goes with it. Of course, farming is unbelievably hard work. But, it’s a very different kind of experience than what workers encounter in white-collar employment.
“I wanted to have a positive impact, and that just felt very distant in my other jobs out of college,” 32-year-old farmer Liz Whitehurst told the Chicago Tribune. “In farming, on the other hand, you make a difference. Your impact is immediate.”
More than 50 percent of millennials say they would take a pay cut in order to find work that’s aligned with their values. And, 75 percent say they feel that businesses are focused on their own agendas not on improving society. One way to reconcile this is to leave office life behind and blaze a new trail.
Some of these young workers have even been bold enough to leave city life behind and try their hand at rural midsize farming. They might not have the numbers to replace the farmers who came before them, but they might revolutionize our agricultural system just the same.
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Tortuga AgTech Raises $2.4m Seed Round for Indoor Ag Robotics
BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Tortuga AgTech Raises $2.4m Seed Round for Indoor Ag Robotics
DECEMBER 4, 2017 EMMA COSGROVE
Tortuga AgTech, a Denver-based robotics startup targeting controlled-environment fruit and vegetable growers has raised a $2.4 million Seed round.
Tortuga Agtech is developing robotic systems for harvesting fresh produce in controlled environments, from indoor hydroponics to greenhouses, starting with strawberries.
“Our products will enable advanced growing methods to compete with scale agriculture, which means growers will be able to grow better produce that’s also better for the planet,” says the company’s website.
The round was led by early-stage hardware VC Root Ventures and closed in September. Root Ventures is also an investor inMomentum Machines, San Francisco’s burger-making robot company, which raised $18.4 million in June.
Also participating in this round were Silicon Valley tech VCs Susa Ventures and Haystack, data-focused firm AME Cloud Ventures, AI and robotics VC Grit Labs, the Stanford-StartX Fund and SVG Partners, which runs the Salinas Valley-based Thrive Agtech Accelerator. AME Cloud is also an investor Zume Pizza, a pizza delivery company in the Bay Area with a robot for a chef, which raised $48 million in October.
Harvesting of row crops has been automated for decades, but harvesting of specialty crops, like nuts, fruits, and vegetables, remains an elusive skill for farm robotics startups. Not only do these crops vary greatly in size, height, and color, they can also be more delicate and require not just a light touch in picking, but immediate assessment and packing by size or quality.
Though high-tech indoor agriculture is ripe for robotics interventions because of the easier and more stable working conditions compared to the field, not many robotics startups have emerged servicing this kind of growing.
Spread is a Japanese indoor vertical farming company that will open an automated lettuce farm in early 2018 allowing for a 50% reduction in human labor, according to the company. Transplanting seedlings, managing the growth process, and harvesting will all be automated, according to the company’s website.
South San Francisco-based vertical farm Plenty’s CEO told Business Insider that the company uses tiny robots in its seeding process. Though the company is not yet commercially growing strawberries, CEO Matt Barnard told AgFunderNews this is in the works.
Most operating vertical farms today are growing only leafy greens and microgreens due to the short growing cycles and high yields. There are just a few growing strawberries such as Japan’s Ichigo Company.
Greenhouses, however, are gaining market share of strawberry cultivation worldwide. Though greenhouse-growing of strawberries in the US has not yet taken off, 24% of strawberries grown in the Netherlands, the worlds second-largest exporter of food (by value) grow in a greenhouse according to the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics.
Also working on harvesting strawberries, but in outdoor environments, are Agrobot and Harvest Croo
Indoor Ag-Con Asia Returns to Singapore, Introduces Indoor AG Pitch Competition with $150,000 In Cash Grant Prizes
NOVEMBER 27, 2017 BY RONY DELUCIA
Indoor Ag-Con Asia Returns to Singapore, Introduces Indoor AG Pitch Competition with $150,000 In Cash Grant Prizes
Indoor Ag-Con
Indoor Ag-Con covers growing using hydroponic, aeroponic & aquaponic techniques. It is hosting a 2-day conference, trade show & pitch competition on Jan 16-17.
Still buzzing from @indooragcon Asia! Thanks for the great event.” — @Galactic Farms
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SINGAPORE, SG, November 27, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ —
The indoor agriculture industry has grown rapidly as consumer demand for fresh, local produce anytime, anywhere is forcing shifts in global supply chains. Indoor Ag-Con is the premier event covering the technology of growing crops in indoor systems, using hydroponic, aeroponic and aquaponic techniques. It is returning to Singapore for the third time in January 2018. This years’ event will be focused on accelerating innovation in the industry, in areas as diverse as plant biology and artificial intelligence.
Our two-day event will be hosted at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore on January 16-17, 2018, and will include an exhibition hall and an exciting lineup of speakers including representatives from AEssense, Eco Insect Farming, Microsoft, Sanan Bio and Urban Crop Solutions, among many others. We will be covering a broad range of crop types – such as leafy greens, mushrooms, insects, aquaculture and medicinal crops – as well as technologies ranging from artificial intelligence to LED lighting to control systems. Participants will receive an exclusive hard copy of the newest edition in our popular white paper series in the event gift bag. Participants will have the chance to network during the day, through our event app and at our popular after party on the first evening of the event. The event is sponsored by Fresh Box Farms, Upgrown Farming, and Urban Crop Solutions.
For the first time, Indoor Ag-Con Asia’s exhibition hall will include country pavilions, with companies from Canada, Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands able to represent their home countries at the event. Further details on joining a country pavilion can be found at indoor.ag/Asia.
Our events have long supported entrepreneurs in this fast-growing industry, for instance, we sponsored the first Startup Weekend Singapore to include an indoor agriculture focus in 2017. We are taking this commitment one step further in 2018 with an indoor agriculture pitch competition – Indoor Ag-Ignite – to find the most innovative new ideas globally in indoor agriculture. The competition is open to any team or company of under 40 employees developing or deploying technologies for the indoor agriculture industry. Three winning teams will receive prize packages including Startup SG grants of S$50,000 per team thanks to the sponsorship of SPRING Singapore. Startup SG grants are divided into two parts; a S$25,000 non-dilutive cash grant and a further S$25,000 grant with an option to convert into equity at the next institutional fundraising.
We’re accepting applications to pitch on our website until January 8, 2018. The initial round of pitches will take place on January 15, 2018 at Marina Bay Sands, and a panel of three judges will select five finalists to pitch to our entire Indoor Ag-Con audience on January 17, 2018. A panel of judges will select the three winners. Please visit our website at indoor.ag/pitch for more information.
Participant Feedback: @Galactic Farms “Still buzzing from @indooragcon Asia! Thanks for the great event.”
Indoor Ag-Con, which hosts meetings in Las Vegas and Philadelphia in addition to Singapore, is the leading convener of growers, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, policy makers, and investors involved in the growth of the sector. Our audience includes greenhouse and vertical farm growers, technology companies, executives from the food and beverage sector, venture firms, startups and established urban farmers.
Since it was founded in 2013, Indoor Ag-Con has captured an international audience at all its, attracting some of the top names in the business. Events have welcomed over 2,250 participants from more than 20 countries.
Newbean Capital, the host of the conference is a registered investment advisor; some of its clients or potential clients may participate in the conference. The Company is ably assisted in the event’s production by Rachelle Razon, Michael Nelson and Sarah Smith of Origin Event Planning.
3rd Annual Indoor Ag-Con Asia
Date – January 16-17, 2017
Place – Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Registration – currently open to the general public from US$399
Features – Two-day seminar, with keynote speakers, exhibition hall, after-party, and pitch competition
For more information, please visit www.indoor.ag/asia or call +1.775.623.7116
Nicola Kerslake
Newbean Capital
7756237116
email us here
Why Did IKEA Invest in AeroFarms and What is Next For This New Agrifood Tech Investor?
In October, New Jersey indoor farming group AeroFarms announced that is had closed its Series D round on $40 million with a new, eye-catching investor in Swedish furniture giant IKEA Group.
Why Did IKEA Invest in AeroFarms and What is Next For This New Agrifood Tech Investor?
DECEMBER 4, 2017 | EMMA COSGROVE
In October, New Jersey indoor farming group AeroFarms announced that is had closed its Series D round on $40 million with a new, eye-catching investor in Swedish furniture giant IKEA Group.
The investment is part and parcel of an initiative at IKEA, also famous for bringing Swedish food to a global audience, to reimagine its food program with sustainability as the driving force, helmed by managing director of IKEA Food Services Michael la Cour.
IKEA’s iconic meatballs and packaged food products are headed for a shake-up, says la Cour, so we caught up with him to find out what’s in store and how startups might play a role. So far, this year, IKEA has participated in the AeroFarms Series D (through its entity IKEA Group) and the company has also invited Israeli fruit fly farm and insect protein startup Flying SpArk to join IKEA’s first boot camp and startup accelerator in September. IKEA is also a shareholder in Swedish plant-based meat and dairy alternative food manufacturer BoFood (through IKEA Greentech).
You said at the Sustainology Summit that we can expect radical change to the IKEA food program, which sounds to me like nothing is off the table. Is that right?
That’s absolutely right. At IKEA, we’re interested in everything our customers are interested in. And if you look at the food business, I think it’s undergoing a radical change, isn’t it? I think you see a lot of interesting movement in the food business from a retail perspective — new ideas that are popping up, cross-collaborations from celebrity chefs to the more mass-based food industry. I think it would be absolutely foolish to exclude anything at this point.
That’s the way we’ve approached the furniture side as well, and how we work with innovation. It’s by always trying to think with ambition, and being at the forefront of things, and collaboration is the absolute key in this, and that’s what we’re going to apply to the food business, as well.
With that in mind, how are you prioritizing the changes you plan to make? Are you using sustainability and environmental issues as your priorities, or are you using your own food sales as your guide?
Health and sustainability throughout the value chain is what guides us. It should be evident in the range we offer. It should be evident in how we develop things, and it should be evident in how we ultimately source things, as well. Now, this is, of course, a journey. We’re in the early stages of it, but it’s those things that sort of become our priority in everything that we do.
Michael la Cour
I think the IKEA Group investment in AeroFarms, is one such example on how to, in early stages, invest in vertical farming that would significantly change the environmental impact, let’s say, of how we would get fresh produce to a store in the future. I think even Flying SpArk, as well, is such one example.
It may be early days for mass consumption of fruit flies as a protein, but it’s in these early days that I believe companies like ourselves with 660 million customers every year through our food program need to step in.
Is investing in early-stage companies the way you plan on interacting with startups that in the future?
Yeah, absolutely, and I think we’ll find out. The startup IKEA Greentech invested in recently, BoFood in Sweden, is the first pilot. I think as we learn, we will start to understand at what stage of a startup is most suitable for working with us and how to define, in the early stages, the scalability opportunities. But again, when it comes to sustainability and health, we firmly believe that startups and mid-sized companies are the way forward for us.
We’ve also, for the first time, tried to sort of act like an incubator and see where that leads, so it’s a test and trial, if you will, for us as well, on how to incorporate that into a bigger machine more seamlessly, without having to go in and acquire and so on, but utilizing the resources we have, the investment capabilities and funding. That’s what we bring to it and they bring the innovation, the spirit, and the great ideas.
How deep do you expect or plan these relationships to go? Do you intend to, or can you imagine eventually being a customer or an acquirer?
Yes. I think actually we can operate on that whole scale, but I would always aim for a healthy split on that. I think there is a business opportunity in being a company that can facilitate startups, the corporation will launch products in the store directly. That scalability within a short timeline is our number one priority. At the same time, I also believe very much in pairing up with startups, tech companies, and on backward in our supply chain, which we are currently restructuring.
There are a lot of companies out there who make consumer hydroponic grow units that are the size of a wine fridge. And there are also companies out there making restaurant and retail installations using that technology. Why did you choose to go for a seller of food, and not a seller of growing systems?
Well, I think it’s more a matter of just what came first, really. IKEA actually launched a home cultivation product that enables you to do this in your own home.
Now, when it comes to the installation in the stores, we do have actual discussions on whether we can do it. The thing is that with the enormous flow of customers that we have in an average store, we have to find the practical way of doing this.
We would not do it only for show, but try to find a structure where it would actually work.
What is IKEA doing on the problem of food waste?
When it comes to food waste, we identified some years back that with 660 billion customers, of course, we can make a major impact. When you think about the business in general, there are a lot of things we can do, not just from a food perspective, but we sell food containers, we actually sell appliances.
I think the overall UN goal is 50% reduction of food waste by 2030, and we’ve tried to be more ambitious and reduce all our waste in our restaurants and bistros by 50% by 2020, knowing that some of the restaurants operate in more immature markets concerning food waste handling.
To help us with that, we have engaged with Winnow and LeanPath. Basically, it’s software that helps us to identify what we’re throwing away. It describes what we’re throwing away, it helps the awareness of our workers tremendously, and it’s also already in some of the stores, brought us down to very close to our goal.
Was food waste what brought you around to being interested in Flying SpArk?
Put it like this: food waste of course is an essential area to address, not only because it’s actually an unnecessary waste of 30% of all calories produced, but there is a need to feed a lot more people in the future, and that also means that you need to actually look for alternative proteins to what you have today. When we add the process of applications, I think it was some 1,000 companies, not food companies only by any means, but it was about 1,000 companies that applied to IKEA to be part of the bboot campinitiative. This was the one that stood out from an alternative protein perspective.
The startup Flying SpArk applied, and they caught our eyes with the product proposal. It wasn’t the first thing that came to my mind when we talk alternative proteins. I’ve seen, like most people, the different grasshoppers and what you see out there, but this was a new take.
Is your interest in alternative proteins driving you toward a more plant-based menu? Are meatballs in danger?
I think what we see is that the direction of health and sustainability to me does not mean that we diverge completely from meat. For me, it means we start moving towards a much wider and much more exciting offering of plant-based products.
So what are the areas that you’re most interested in for the next like year? What are you looking at right now?
Yeah. I cannot really reveal what we’re looking at right now, but I can tell you in general terms what we’re interested in. I think meat alternatives is a major area that we are very, very interested in. There are of course already a few bigger players in the market.
I think there is both space and need for more than that. I do believe that the area of meat replacements, meat substitutes, is the area that we need to develop. Meat consumption has such a major footprint when it comes to CO2 gas emissions. We need to find alternatives that are still delicious, appealing, and that we can get in at price points that customers will by nature choose because they’re just as good if not better. So I see a huge need there to get players in and get supply up. The demand is there I believe, but the supply is what we need to get up very, very quickly. That is for me the absolute major movement that I would like to move and engage with in the short-term.
Skyscraper Farms Could Be The Answer To The Global Food Crisis
Mainstream agricultural practices have a few major problems in need of innovative solutions. For one, industrial farming practices are hard on the environment. Farms emitted 6 billion tons of greenhouse gases in 2011, or about 13 percent of total global emissions
Source: PLANTAGON
Skyscraper Farms Could Be The Answer To The Global Food Crisis
BY TESSA LOVE
November 6, 2017
Mainstream agricultural practices have a few major problems in need of innovative solutions. For one, industrial farming practices are hard on the environment. Farms emitted 6 billion tons of greenhouse gases in 2011, or about 13 percent of total global emissions. That makes the agricultural sector the world’s second-largest emitter, after the energy sector. Additionally, 38 percent of the world’s total land area was used for agriculture in 2007 and agriculture is responsible for over 70 percent of global freshwater consumption.
On top of that, the way we grow our food now is not sustainable to feed a growing global population, which is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050. We'd have to use more land, more environmentally harmful farming practices and ship more food across continents and the globe, particularly to reach people in concentrated urban centers. In short, it's not realistic. And facing this fact, we have to come up with better solutions.
Swedish company Plantagon believes they may have found an answer. The company has developed plans for "plantscrapers," massive vertical greenhouses meant for growing large-scale organic farms in cities, using less energy and and a smaller carbon footprint than the way we grow food now.
The "plantscraper" is exactly what it sounds like: a futuristic-looking glass skyscraper filled with an indoor farm and some office space for the workers. After years of research and development, Plantagon is now working to make its first prototype a reality: the company is currently crowdsourcing funds to construct a 16-story building called The World Food Building in Linköping, Sweden, which would serve as an international model for industrial urban farming.
The prototype—and all subsequent plantscrapers—would use Plantagon-patented technology to produce 500 metric tons of food every year in a climate-controlled environment. Half the energy used in food production would be recycled and used to heat the floors in the office portion of the building. Plantagon estimates that it could save 1,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions and 50 million liters of water compared to traditional farming methods.
Urban farming has long been looked to as a potential solution to our impending global food crisis. But until now, urban farming has been on a much smaller and more localized scale. Plantagon wants to change that.
"Our vertical farming technology is a solution to the food crisis caused by our human population growing so rapidly," the company said in a press release. "We are growing, the earth is not and vertical farming will make the difference."
Bringing Sustainable Farming Home
Bringing Sustainable Farming Home
I say farming, you say “Midwest”. It’s no secret that the Midwest, and Indiana in particular, serve as the agricultural epicenter for the United States.
Indiana is also home to Purdue University, a school who’s agricultural and technology programs serve as cornerstones for the institution. It is only fitting then that their students are behind Hydro Grow: an innovative blend of farming and technology that ushers in new-age growing.
Hydro Grow has created a commercialized hydroponic grow tank that is designed to fit seamlessly into the average home. This tank can be customized to grow the produce desired by the consumer, directly impacting the supply/demand chain of food production. Rather than settling for the produce items that are in season, or wasting money and soil on vegetables that no one will buy, Hydro Grow’s Gropod generates a tailored harvest.
In one of their most recent iterations, the Hydro Grow team has further integrated technology into the pod, equipping it with advanced analytics capabilities. Using complex algorithms, the pod will identify what plants are growing within and tailor the environment to maximize growth, making real-time adjustments based on the data stream. A mobile application allows remote monitoring, adjustments, cleaning and alerts to reach the user no matter when and no matter where.
This innovative approach to farming not only allows a family to have a tailored produce selection but contributes to the overall sustainability initiative. The ability to shrink and mass produce a practical solution to hunger has wide-ranging implications for a variety of global issues, including world hunger. It allows plants to find a nurturing environment in even the harshest of climates.
Connected farming is just one of the many ways IoT is disrupting established industries. Learn more at our IndyIoT Conference!
Clare Maher
Clare Maher is the Product Marketing Manager at ClearObject. A graduate of Saint Mary’s College (#gobelles), Clare can usually be found yelling at the screen during a Notre Dame game, quoting any film ever made or touring the Indy restaurant scene.
This Robot Handles The Entire Process Of Growing Lettuce By Itself
This Robot Handles The Entire Process Of Growing Lettuce By Itself
By Adele Peters/ Nov 30, 2017
A new indoor farming startup called Iron Ox wants to staff its greenhouses with only automated workers.
![[Photo: Iron Ox]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c8695d5016e11e71be1d83/1512238940204-YRF2JT2GH38RGEHW4IP3/p-1-this-startup-uses-robots-to-plant-move-and-harvest.gif)
[Photo: Iron Ox]
Inside a warehouse in the middle of the suburban office sprawl of San Carlos, a Silicon Valley town south of San Francisco, hundreds of heads of lettuce and herbs grow next to a mobile robot designed to move the plants as they get bigger. In a lab next door, engineers tweak robots that can handle every part of the growing process, from planting seeds to packaging harvested heads of lettuce for a grocery store.
By early 2018, Iron Ox, the startup behind the R&D farm, plans to open an 8,000 square foot production farm nearby–all fully automated, in a system that the company says can make local, pesticide-free food production as cheap as traditional agriculture in the field.
![[Photo: Iron Ox]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c8695d5016e11e71be1d83/1512238951054-WHRTBM7KKFCHZ6T8DLJC/i-1-this-startup-uses-robots-to-plant-move-and-harvest.jpg)
[Photo: Iron Ox]
When the co-founders decided to launch the startup, one was working on delivery drones at Alphabet’s X, and the other was building room service robots for hotels. They liked the work but wanted to do more with the available technology. “Robotics has come so far in the past few years–sensors have gotten cheaper, software has become more robust,” says co-founder and CEO Brandon Alexander. “We felt that we could be doing something with more impact.”
[Photo: Iron Ox]
They saw an opportunity in food production, where traditional farming faces multiple challenges. Most lettuce, for example, is grown in California and Arizona, two states that face an increasing risk of water shortages and stress from heat as the climate changes. A head of lettuce may be treated with nine different pesticides before it’s harvested and then shipped hundreds or thousands of miles across the country to consumers. As fewer people want to work on farms, producers also struggle with labor shortages.
Indoor farming, which uses a tiny fraction of the water and space, doesn’t require pesticides, and can happen within cities or suburbs, is often billed as a solution. But as Alexander and co-founder Jon Binney researched the market, they realized that cost was a challenge. “We loved the idea [of greenhouses],” Alexander says. “But our question was, if this is so much better, why is most produce grown outdoors? The biggest thing we found was that it costs significantly more–at least twice as much–to grow a head of lettuce indoors than outdoors.”
Other companies, such as Plenty–another farming startup based in Silicon Valley, which grows greens in vertical towers and recently raised $200 million in funding–say that it can produce lettuce at a cost that is competitive with traditional farms. Plenty uses a layout that maximizes yield in small spaces, and notes that the cost of key components for growing, like LED lights, have dropped dramatically. But Iron Ox’s approach is to focus on removing another cost: labor, which for some growers, can account for 50% of the cost of production.
Some greenhouse-grown lettuce might cost $3.99 now, versus $1.99 for the same head of lettuce from the field. “At the end of the day, if you’re always going to have to cost more, then you’re going to be this niche product,” says Alexander. “For the impact that we’re after, one of the biggest things for us is we need to make this produce accessible. Accessible doesn’t just mean affordable–that’s part of it–but it’s affordable and available. Ideally to everybody.”
In the company’s system, a robotic arm plants seeds in a tightly-packed tray, where the seeds germinate in nutrient-filled water. As the plants get bigger, the arm can transplant them to a tray with more space, and then transplant them again a couple of weeks later. Moving the plants maximizes the number of plants that can grow in a tight space.
The robotic arm also uses a camera to scan each plant and note any problems. “We can actually observe is it the right size, is it the right color, does it have any pest pressure or mildew or anything like that,” he says. Plants with mildew, which can easily spread, can be automatically removed. The robots can use machine learning over time to optimize how the plants are grown.
[Photo: Iron Ox]
The new production farm won’t be the first to grow lettuce with an automated system; a massive new factory in Japan uses robots to grow millions of heads of lettuce a year. But the new system in Silicon Valley is less like a traditional factory, and more flexible.
“That [Japanese farm] works well for a set process: ‘we’re going to grow this type of lettuce in this way, and we’re going to do that for the next 20 years,'” Alexander says. “We try to go with as little infrastructure as possible. All we really need is a concrete floor, at the end of the day. All of our modules, these hydroponic pallets, are portable. We have a mobile robot.” If the company later wants to use a slightly more efficient layout, or change its operation, it can make those changes through software.
As the first production farm in San Carlos scales up, the startup will sell to local chefs with an interest in the company’s sustainability; once output is high enough, it will sell to grocery stores. Ultimately, the company envisions building farms near consumers across the country, so someone shopping at a grocery store in Atlanta no longer buys week-old greens from California. It also plans to expand to other crops.
“We don’t want to be just a leafy green farm, at the end of the day,” says Alexander. “That is our initial focus–we want to nail that, we think that’s important to solve– but with our approach, this robotic system, we would like to be a fresh produce farm.”
Akron-Based Vigeo Gardens Nets Produce Deal With Quicken Loans Arena
Vincent Peterson, Mark Preston and Jacob Craine started Akron-based Vigeo Gardens as a small hydroponic garden in Craine's basement in 2014. It has quickly grown into a 6,100-square-foot, high-efficiency vertical farm with 2017 sales set to exceed $750,000.
Akron-Based Vigeo Gardens Nets Produce Deal With Quicken Loans Arena
December 3, 2017
Genovese basil grows beneath LED lights at Vigeo Gardens in downtown Akron. The indoor farm provides hydroponic lettuce, hydroponic basil and microgreens to more than 40 restaurants in the Cleveland and Columbus markets, along with major food distributors, grocery stores such as Heinen's and Giant Eagle, and most recently, Quicken Loans Arena. (Vigeo Gardens)
By Megan Becka, special to cleveland.com
AKRON, Ohio - Vincent Peterson, Mark Preston, and Jacob Craine started Akron-based Vigeo Gardens as a small hydroponic garden in Craine's basement in 2014. It has quickly grown into a 6,100-square-foot, high-efficiency vertical farm with 2017 sales set to exceed $750,000.
Vigeo Gardens currently occupies the third floor of the former B.F. Goodrich Company tire factory in downtown Akron, and provides hydroponic lettuce, hydroponic basil and microgreens to more than 40 restaurants in the Cleveland and Columbus markets, along with major food distributors, grocery stores such as Heinen's and Giant Eagle, and most recently, Quicken Loans Arena.
"To be able to supply the home of the Cavs is a dream come true and will hopefully open up a lot of doors for us," Craine said.
The deal took about three months to secure, and the first shipment of lettuce, basil and microgreens will arrive at the arena on Monday, according to Vigeo Gardens Director of Sales John Hairston.
Vigeo founders Peterson, Preston, and Craine, along with five full-time employees, grow more than eight varieties of lettuce and 20 types of microgreens at their indoor farm, as well as basil and wheat grass. According to Craine, indoor farming offers several benefits, including being able to grow and harvest produce year-round, without the use of pesticides or chemicals.
Vigeo Gardens' lettuce and basil are harvested the same day they ship and sold live, which means the produce can last for up to two weeks in the fridge or longer.
"It's as fresh as you can possibly get," he said.
The farm is also on a mission to refine and grow its operation, using the least resources possible.
"We've spent the last two years designing, developing and tweaking the systems to perfect vertical hydroponic farms," Craine said. "Everything in our space is designed, engineered and built by us."
Innovations include designing a vertical racking system to house the plants and a custom nutrient solution. The trio also worked with a Chinese manufacturer to create custom LED lights.
The farm is working to be waste-free by 2018 through composting and waste-water recycling initiatives and is working with FirstEnergy to become the first zero-carbon footprint farm in Ohio.
"Our goal is to expand throughout the Rust Belt, because there is a need for fresh produce all the time, especially during winter months. We'd like to continue our work repurposing old factories, like we have here in Akron, into high-efficiency vertical farms to supply communities with fresh produce," Craine said.
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Panasonic Singapore Starts Supply to Tong Chiang Group With Crops From Its Indoor Agriculture Farm
Panasonic Singapore Starts Supply to Tong Chiang Group With Crops From Its Indoor Agriculture Farm
The FINANCIAL -- Panasonic Singapore has started supplying its locally-harvested produce from their indoor agriculture facility to Tong Chiang Group.
The premium Japanese crop varieties include green leafy lettuce; red leafy lettuce; mizuna; mini red radish; mustard wasabi; and a range of microgreens which are cultivated in Singapore's first licensed indoor vegetable farm. These crops will be selectively incorporated into the catering menus of Tong Chiang Group's portfolio of food services.
Due to the shortage of arable land, 90% of Singapore's green leafy vegetables come from overseas. Hence, Panasonic aims to contribute to Singapore's self-sufficiency levels of vegetables by increasing the supply of local produce. Since the inception of the agriculture business, the company has increased its facility from 258m2 to 1154 m2 with plans for further expansion. Panasonic is also strengthening its research and development efforts to expand its crop variants to include seasonal fruits, according to Panasonic.
Paul Wong, Managing Director, Panasonic Singapore, said, "One of our core growth strategies of the agriculture business is to expand our commercial partnerships with local food providers. Tong Chiang Group shares our vision in promoting Singapore's vision of increasing its self-sufficiency in agriculture and we are happy to supply our crops to them. With this, Panasonic furthers our commitment to a better life and a better world by improving the quality and freshness of local produce."
Vegetables are harvested and delivered fresh from the indoor agriculture farm to Tong Chiang Group's central kitchen, ensuring quality and freshness of the crops.
Lisa Zou, Chief Executive Officer, Tong Chiang Group commented, "Tong Chiang Group prides ourselves in offering healthy and delicious meals for Singaporean families. With rising demands for healthier food options in the local market, we look forward to working with Panasonic in delivering fresh and nutritious vegetables to our customers. The crops are locally harvested and pesticides-free, allowing our customers to enjoy healthy eating with a peace of mind."
Looking ahead, Panasonic will continue promoting to increase the level of self-sufficiency of leafy vegetables in Singapore. As one of the leading factory automation solutions providers, Panasonic is committed to design and develop indoor agriculture solutions to meet market demand for stable and sustainable production of locally-harvested premium crops.
'Vertical Farm' Ceres Greens Set To Open In Barre, Vermont
'Vertical Farm' Ceres Greens Set To Open In Barre, Vermont
Wed, 11/22/2017
Vermont Business Magazine
Construction is underway at Vermont’s first vertical farm, which is designed to grow leafy greens and herbs. Ceres Greens is set to open in January 2018, growing fresh produce year-round in their newly constructed 12,500-square-foot space. Founders Jacob Isham and Greg Kelly have spent the past 14 months perfecting the technology and methods needed for growing produce indoors in a controlled environment.
Jacob Isham and Greg Kelly, Ceres, Greens, Barre. Courtesy photo.
“Our purpose is to help meet the food security challenges we face,” said Isham. “While Vermont is an agricultural state, we still import about 90% of our produce, even in the summertime. Our ability to grow and deliver fresh produce every day of the year will help towards the goal of more locally grown food. We grow using organic, GMO-free seeds, purified water, and without the use of any pesticides.”
The company uses its proprietary grow system, sensors and automated computer controls to create the ideal environment, delivering the precise amount of light, nutrients, constant temperature and humidity to grow its produce.
“Very delicious, as if it came right out of your own garden,” states Kelly. “Our produce will be one day old, having traveled no more than 100 miles when delivered to our customers, as opposed to produce currently available being 7-10 days old and having traveled upwards of 3,000 miles. When we are at full production, our customers, in addition to enjoying tasty locally grown produce, will be pleased knowing they are contributing to saving 100 barrels of oil a month from being burned and the associated carbon being emitted into the atmosphere.”
Isham, a service-disabled veteran of the U.S. Army, is an alumnus of the Veterans to Farmers controlled environment agriculture program in Colorado and intends to provide job training and opportunities in horticulture to fellow veterans in Vermont. Ceres Greens is owned and operated as a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business.
Kelly, with 35 years of technical experience, has spent the last two years developing the company’s vertical farming system.
Source: Ceres Greens www.ceresgreens.com
NATUFIA Kitchen Garden, Your Connected Garden In Your Kitchen.
Natufia brings you its own solution thanks to its "NATUFIA Kitchen Garden". In the same concept as these wine cellar fridges, the NATUFIA Kitchen Garden is a wardrobe. A cupboard equipped with a whole system of filtration and pot which will welcome various vegetables.
NATUFIA Kitchen Garden, Your Connected Garden In Your Kitchen.
TOPICS: 3GHerbConnectedGardenVegetableNATUFIA Kitchen GardenWirelessWiFiWireless
POSTED BY: DAVID PERUCH JANUARY 10, 2017
Present at the Las Vegas show, this company offers a concept for the least original. That of having his own garden in his kitchen. Like a wine cellar device, the company offers NATUFIA Kitchen Garden.
You are a fan of fresh vegetables, but you do not always have time to go to the primeur near you. And unfortunately, you do not have the space to make your own vegetable garden.
Natufia brings you its own solution thanks to its "NATUFIA Kitchen Garden". In the same concept as these wine cellar fridges, the NATUFIA Kitchen Garden is a wardrobe. A cupboard equipped with a whole system of filtration and pot which will welcome various vegetables.
The NATUFIA Kitchen Garden is also equipped with light sources that will have the effect of generating the brightness needed for your vegetables to grow well. Equipped with a multitude of sensors, the NATUFIA Kitchen Garden will be able to analyze the ecosystem in real time.
Equipped with Wi-Fi, all this information can be transmitted directly to the owner's smartphone.
The company also offers its own seeds to ripen in the form of small capsules similar to coffee capsules of the well-known brand which Georges Clooney loves. Among these seeds are a whole collection of condiments.
Thus, you will be able to "plant" parsley, sauce, tomatoes, salad, chamomile and many more. The company offers a variety of 17 condiments for a price of around one euro per capsule.
Capsules that will be available for purchase directly from his online store. For the cabinet "NATUFIA Kitchen Garden", it gets a little rough. Indeed, you will have to pay not far from 13 000 € to acquire and put in place this having connected to the connected garden in your kitchen.
A product that could eventually become a product for the least interesting. Especially for all those who live in apartments. Or who do not have the opportunity to grow their own vegetables in their garden.
This Week in Tech: IKEA and Other Heavy Hitters Invest $40 Million in Vertical Farming
IKEA and Other Heavy Hitters Invest $40 Million in Vertical Farming
Courtesy AeroFarms
Swedish furniture company IKEA, top chef David Chang of Momofuku Group, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and more big names and companies have invested a combined $40 million into AeroFarms, a vertical farm producer based in Newark, N.J.
The company, which recently completed the world's largest indoor vertical farm in the city, "will use the latest round of funds for continued investment in leading R&D and technology and additional farm expansion around the world," according to the company's press release.
Aerofarms uses a closed-loop aeroponics system (the process of growing plants in a mist environment rather than in soil) that the company says uses 95 percent less water than field farming. [AeroFarms]
Growing Urban Seedlings
Growing Urban Seedlings
November 04, 2017
By Sunny Liu
Behind the concrete facade of the 174 Collins St building is a growing indoor community garden with a purpose to bring fresh urban-grown produce to local tables.
Flourishing at the basement of Urban Seed’s Central House behind the Collins St Baptist Church, the micro farm is the brainchild of the Urban Seedlings team, comprising husband and wife Geoff and Sherry Maddock, Dan Ong and Mady Sieben, who all live in the building.
Earlier this year, the team transformed the disused basement into an incubator for micro greens and aquaponics, which is an integrated aquacultural system creating a symbiotic relationship between fish and plants.
With a goal to officially launch the program in March 2018, Urban Seedlings is raising “seed money” to fund this not-for-profit program.
Eventually, when the plants are harvested, Urban Seedlings will become a supplier of organic vegetables for CBD restaurants and cafes and a community safe haven for local residents to get together and get their green thumbs.
Geoff Maddock told CBD News Urban Seedlings wanted to promote a sustainable lifestyle in the CBD.
“We want to offer sustainable ways of community involvement and at the same time also present a hospitable, welcoming place for people to gather and share their skills,” he said.
“Urban Seedlings can create a social impact through showing people how to be sustainable and reduce their food waste through systems like a worm farm.”
Having lived in the US for the past 20 years, Sherry and Geoff Maddock were inspired by the not-for-profit Kentucky organisation FoodChain, which operates a large-scale indoor farm.
Mr Maddock said they also hoped to see locally-grown produce on tables in CBD restaurants.
“We want to grow part of the food in the urban centre. We have been liaising with local chefs and they are keen to source some of their vegetables from us,” Mr Maddock said.
The Urban Seedlings team said it wanted to develop a curriculum for students and local residents where they can learn how to turn their homes into an indoor green garden.
“We will host workshops so people learn how to grow it at home. There’s a huge potential for people to grow their own food in the urban area,” Mr Maddock said.
Urban Seedlings is already taking school tours and the students have been curious and interested in how the indoor micro farm operates.
According to the team, there are many benefits of having an indoor green space.
“It purifies the air. No machines can be compared to the efficiency of actual plants. It’s also very therapeutic and relieves stress,” Mr Maddock said.
CBD residents and workers will soon be able to check out the micro farm and purchase some succulent plants from Urban Seedlings.
For more information, visit urbanseedlings.org
Philips Lighting Provides LED Lighting for New Sustainable Algae Production Facility at AlgaeCytes
Philips LED lighting provides an efficient lighting source to produce algae-derived Omega-3 oil
LED system enables algae to be grown in a controlled environment with mild temperatures
Promotes higher yields, reduced energy usage and more control over production
Philips Lighting Provides LED Lighting for New Sustainable Algae Production Facility at AlgaeCytes
October 19, 2017
- Philips LED lighting provides an efficient lighting source to produce algae-derived Omega-3 oil
- LED system enables algae to be grown in a controlled environment with mild temperatures
- Promotes higher yields, reduced energy usage and more control over production
Eindhoven, The Netherlands – Philips Lighting (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, today announced that AlgaeCytes, based in Kent, UK, installed Philips GreenPower LED interlighting in its new algae farm, which uses a patented technology to meet the growing demand for Omega-3 supplements and oils without depleting the world’s fish stocks. AlgaeCytes chose Philips LED lighting because it is ideally suited for creating a mild, controlled, and energy-efficient production environment for algae, where it can ramp up production to meet demand. The company chose Philips Lighting as its partner because of its lighting expertise for horticulture, research into algae with Wageningen University and its focus on building long-term relationships with its business partners.
Producing fish oil without the fish
Bio-based products are one of the many growth markets in the horticulture sector, and Omega oils from non-marine sources are attracting a lot of attention. Dependence on traditional marine-animal sources of Omega-3 oil puts pressure on global fish stocks, which is unsustainable. “AlgaeCytes has developed a process that captures the properties of algae-high-value-ingredients for the health and personal care markets. The company has built its first production module using a photobioreactor system and freshwater algal strains to produce algae-derived EPA, an Omega-3 oil which has known health benefits. High-quality protein and carbohydrates are also produced as a by-product of the process,” said Naz Bashir, CEO AlgaeCytes. “The opening of this new facility on October 26, 2017, marks an exciting stage for AlgaeCytes that we believe will unlock the potential of algae for nutritional and health care markets.”
Supporting the bio-based market
“We are excited to be participating in this novel production facility for bio-based ingredients,” said Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture at Philips Lighting. “It is just one more example of how growers and researchers are opening new opportunities with LED lighting. I think this is just the start and we can expect LED lighting to be a driving force for many other innovations in bio-based markets.”
LED lighting is ideal for algae production
Producing algae at commercial scale requires an enormous amount of light, which makes it challenging to prevent warm temperatures. Until now, growers have used sunlight or high pressure sodium (HPS) grow lights to cultivate algae. However, sunlight is seasonal and HPS grow lights generate too much heat. Using LED lights enables AlgaeCytes to maintain optimal conditions for the growth of algae. It is also very energy efficient compared to HPS. At the AlgaeCytes facility, Philips Lighting’s Horti LED partner, Cambridge HOK, installed a unique LED system. Multiple lines of Philips GreenPower LED interlighting are placed on the sides of large glass tubes filled with nutrient-rich fresh water and algal strains. The LED interlighting produces high levels of light without increasing the temperature around the tubes.
For further information, please contact:
Philips Lighting
Daniela Damoiseaux, Global Marcom Manager Horticulture
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@philips.com
www.philips.com/horti
AlgaeCytes Limited
Naz Bashir, CEO
Email: nazbashir@algaecytes.com
CambridgeHOK
Tim Haworth, General Manager
E-mail: thaworth@cambridgehok.co.uk
About Philips Lighting
Philips Lighting (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting products, systems and services, delivers innovations that unlock business value, providing rich user experiences that help improve lives. Serving professional and consumer markets, we lead the industry in leveraging the Internet of Things to transform homes, buildings and urban spaces. With 2016 sales of EUR 7.1 billion, we have approximately 34,000 employees in over 70 countries. News from Philips Lighting is located at the Newsroom, Twitter and LinkedIn. Information for investors can be found on theInvestor Relations page.
About AlgaeCytes
AlgaeCytes is a business that is focused on delivering ingredients and products from algae for the personal care, nutrition therapeutics and health markets. At AlgaeCytes our ambition and constant objective is to develop products according to the principles of the green economy, naturally and with minimal waste. We are always aiming to have a positive impact on health and nutrition. At AlgaeCytes we aim to add value by offering ingredients such as vegetarian Omega 3 oils EPA and other algae-based ingredients. AlgaeCytes can also make high-quality protein and carbohydrates from algal biomass from traceable sources. AlgaeCytes' patented technology offers a number of benefits in terms of sustainability. It allows for continuous indoor algae farming production in regular commercial locations, near skilled employees, transportation and markets.
About CambridgeHOK
CambridgeHOK is the UK’s leading Glasshouse, Heating and LED lighting specialist with its own inhouse expert design engineers. It specialises in bespoke turnkey design and installation adapting every solution to the client’s needs using the very latest in technology. More information can be found on its website: http://cambridgehok.co.uk/.
That Healthful Looking Green Leafy Stuff in Your Fridge May Not Be As Great For You As You Think.
That Healthful Looking Green Leafy Stuff in Your Fridge May Not Be As Great For You As You Think.
How could that be you ask? Well…Let me explain.
Firstly, a brief ecology lesson;
- Healthy organic soil contains microorganisms* or microbes
- These microbes work to break down plant matter in the soil
- This breakdown of vegetation creates humate deposits in the soil
- Humate deposits are rich in the amazing fulvic acid and humic acids (also known as minerals)
*Soil microorganisms can be classified as bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, algae and protozoa. Each of these groups has characteristics that define them and their functions in soil.
So, how does this relate to my lettuce?
Right now, less than 4% of the soil in North America is certified organic farmland, and worldwide chemically based farming practices are continually polluting the soil.
This means the valuable microbes are being killed off by things like herbicides and pesticides, fertilizers, ultimately leading to mineral depletion. Without these precious microbes even re-mineralizing the soil is futile, as the humates and fulvic acid are still missing.
Ok, on to that lettuce finally! Chances are it was grown in an environment that was lacking microbes, and thus the creation of humates and fulvic minerals are almost nil to very low. As a result, the lettuce is lacking in minerals even though it may look lush and green.
I get it, sick soil = means my lettuce is lacking
But what effect does this have on my health? And what’s this fulvic acid stuff you keep talking about?
Patience please, your answers are on the way in our next couple emails while your waiting you can watch today's message from our founder HERE.
Let's make tiny farming not so tiny!
Is Organic Labeling Something The Hydroponic Industry Needs?
Is Organic Labeling Something The Hydroponic Industry Needs?
Conscientious shoppers are seeking out organically labeled food in their grocery stores and even at farmers markets.
November 28, 2017
CropKing
In an extremely close vote Nov. 1, the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board made a decision on a controversial issue: can hydroponically grown crops be certified organic? The answer, by an 8-7 margin, was yes. With the vote out of the way, the NOSB will now have to make recommendations on how the hydroponic industry can be governed under the organic label. However, as both organic and hydroponic agriculture adjust to the board’s decision, a simple question looms in the air, “Is organic the best path forward for hydroponically grown crops?”
Here’s the thing, there’s no arguing that organic is a hot niche. In April 2016, the Huffington Post wrote an article detailing Costco’s fast-selling organic produce section, entitled, “Costco Is Selling So Much Organic Produce, Farmers Can’t Keep Up”. In fact, while the USDA doesn’t keep hard numbers on total organic sales, the agency does have this chart showing the growth of sales. Even to the untrained eye, it’s clear organic sales have been steadily growing since 2005. That’s more than a decade of increasing sales.
Organic is having a sustained moment in the sun. Conscientious shoppers are seeking out organically labelled food in their grocery stores and even at farmers markets.
There are downsides to organic though. The market is already saturated with growers competing in the space. The Organic Authority says there are already 100 hydroponic growers certified to sell organic. And that’s just the hydroponic growers that got in before Nov. 1. Given the national attention on the NOSB decision, more applications for organic certification could be coming into USDA shortly.
There’s also growing confusion over organic versus competing labels, particularly the “local” identifier. Some consumers don’t know the two aren’t synonymous.
“What is a consumer looking for when they buy organic? Most buyers who purchase organic do so because organic, to them, equals safety, pesticide free, healthy food for my family,” said CropKing President Paul Brentlinger.
Plus, shoppers are increasingly heading to farmers markets to buy local crops, perhaps signaling a shift in priorities for heady produce buyers. In 2013, the USDA said there were 8,144 farmers markets, that’s up from 1,755 in 1994. That’s why more produce is carrying a “local” label.
It seems consumers are increasingly interested in where crops come from and how they’re grown. That’s why some industry vets have been wondering about a hydroponic-specific label, something that indicates growers are utilizing the best, most sustainable practices available in the CEA, hydroponic environment. Something the fast-growing industry can tout as its own and put marketing might behind. Something that can be added to the already impressive list of labels.
“Regardless of the debate surrounding salt based fertilizer or organic fertilizer I think the CEA industry can check those boxes for the consumer. Many CropKing growers market their product as "locally grown", "pesticide free" and are able to develop that relationship with the communities they support,” said Brentlinger.
After all, the organic labelled products totaled $47 billion in sales last year, according to Business Insider. Could a hydroponic-specific label push your sales to new heights?
Tell us what you think, would a hydroponic label benefit you? Let us know in the comments.
Photo: iStock
Urban Agriculture Production Act Could Help Eliminate Urban Food Deserts
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) introduced the Urban Agriculture Production Act in September. This bipartisan bill aims to support nutritional and farmers’ market programs and help create the next generation of local, urban farmers and food producers.
Urban Agriculture Production Act Could Help Eliminate Urban Food Deserts
NOVEMBER 28, 2017 | DAVID KUACK
Urban Agriculture Production Act offers growers, retailers and consumers opportunity to produce, market and purchase locally-grown food.
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) introduced the Urban Agriculture Production Act in September. This bipartisan bill aims to support nutritional and farmers’ market programs and help create the next generation of local, urban farmers and food producers.
Kaptur was joined by 11 original cosponsors: Rep. John Conyers (MI-13), Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-13), Rep. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (DC-AL), Rep. Gwen Moore (WI-04), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), Rep. Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Rep. Sanford Bishop (GA-02), Rep. Tim Ryan (OH-13), Rep. Dwight Evans (PA-02), Rep. Alma Adams (NC-12) and Rep. Don Young (AK-AL). The bill is supported by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and Farmers Market Coalition.
Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur introduced the Urban Agriculture Production Act in September with the goal of supporting small farmers, helping to eliminate food deserts and promoting local agriculture.
Photos courtesy of Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur
Congresswoman Kaptur sat down with Urban Ag News to talk about the Urban Agriculture Production Act and the impact it could have on growers, local food retailers and urban communities.
UAN: What are the goals of the Urban Agriculture Production Act and why did you introduce the bill at this time?
Kaptur: The Urban Agriculture Production Act can serve as a marker for the next Farm Bill reauthorization. My key goals are to support small farmers and producers, work to eliminate food deserts and promote local agriculture in our nation’s metropolitan areas.
Across America, too many of our urban neighborhoods are absent of stores where community members can purchase fresh, healthy foods. There are more than 23 million individuals residing in these so-called “food desert” neighborhoods, where there are no stores within one mile in which they can buy healthy food. Without healthy options, people are forced to eat unhealthy, processed, junk food, because that is all that is available and affordable. This bill is a step to correct this unacceptable trend.
UAN: The term “urban agriculture” includes urban farms, hoop houses, aqua-culture, hydroponic and aquaponics facilities and rooftop, vertical and indoor farms. Would this also include new or existing commercial greenhouse growers who may be looking to set up production facilities in urban areas?
Kaptur: Certainly. But it is important to also note that new approaches to greenhouse growing should be re-imagined in order to manage energy and water systems through more efficient and renewable means. In urban communities like those I represent, resources are available and are waiting to be utilized. Vacant and blighted properties can be repurposed into productive sites with the installation of energy- and water-efficient commercial greenhouses. Waste heat from manufacturing operations can also be rechanneled to allow for an entirely new class of four-season growing.
Embracing such opportunities can empower new people through agriculture. Residents in urban areas could benefit from not only the jobs created, but also from the unique skills gained in food production and distribution processing.
UAN: How is the production of the food and its sales going to be coordinated? In other words, how are growers going to know that they have markets ready to handle their produce even before they grow the crops and retailers are going to be sure they have an adequate amount of produce to sell?
Kaptur: That is up to the growers, but ideally, we will have at least some venues, think farmers’ markets that are also empowered by the investments we’re making in this bill. From there, growers and producers can get a foot in the door to compete and succeed.
UAN: The Act directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an urban agriculture outreach program. Part of this program enables the Secretary to award grants. Would growers be eligible for these grants and what type of production and marketing activities/projects could these funds be used to finance?
Kaptur: That is one of the most exciting pieces of the legislation. Growers would be eligible for these grants. And the grants are for the following types of activities in urban or in and around urban areas:
- Infrastructure, land acquisition and land conversation.
- Education and training to enhance agricultural production.
- The aggregation of farmer products and supplies for purposes of transportation to market.
- Other activities that support urban agricultural production as determined by the Secretary of Agriclture.
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur hopes the Urban Agriculture Production Act will encourage growers to look at new approaches to greenhouse growing that will enable them to manage energy and water systems through more efficient and renewable means.
UAN: Where would the money come from to operate the urban agriculture outreach program and who would oversee it?
Kaptur: Our bill authorizes Congress to allocate $50 million each year to the Department of Agriculture for the urban agriculture outreach program. It also creates an Urban Agricultural Liaison who would administer the program.
UAN: How much money will be available to initiate the urban agriculture outreach program and for how long would this funding be available? Does this amount of funding change from year to year and does it have to be appropriated annually?
Kaptur: $50 million is the amount authorized in our bill, starting in 2018 and each fiscal year thereafter. This authorizing amount does not change from year to year. We hope this money will eventually inspire other investment from businesses, nonprofits, churches and even local and state governments.
In my hometown of Toledo, for example, a local restaurant, Balance Pan-Asian Grille, is building an urban indoor aquaponics farm next door to their new location to grow the food that will be served every day. It is very exciting and ideally, our bill would help create more opportunities and the expertise for this to happen a lot more across the country.
UAN: Who will decide as to which production and marketing projects receive funding?
Kaptur: The Secretary of Agriculture will determine how the production and marketing funding is awarded based on the criteria set out the bill.
UAN: Some of these projects are eligible for grants and others are eligible for loans. Who will make the decision as to which projects receive which type of funding?
Kaptur: The Secretary of Agriculture, either as acting through the Administrator of the Farm Service Agency or any other USDA agent who he deems appropriate, will make the determination.
UAN: With the mentality of the current administration and some legislators in Washington to cut spending, what do you think are the chances of this bill passing even though it has received bipartisan support?
Kaptur: That is why we are focused on incorporating as much of our urban agriculture bill into the upcoming Farm Bill. Though it won’t be easy, this legislation is a must-pass bill, and historically has always crossed the finish line.
UAN: Will the Urban Agriculture Production Act have any connection with the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill? If so, would funding the urban agriculture outreach program and its projects have any impact on funding other programs in the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill?
Kaptur: Well, we hope so. And I am confident that other Members of Congress from both rural and urban areas alike will see the value in spurring innovation and investing in our urban agriculture infrastructure.
For more: Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), 2186 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515; (202) 225-4146; https://kaptur.house.gov.
NYC Restaurant Opts for Hyper-Local, Clean Produce by Building a Hydroponic Farm on Location!
Rob Laing, CEO of Farm.One has a solution: hydroponics, a system of growing plants without many of the traditional inputs. Using just a finely tuned solution of water, Farm.One can grow crops without soil or even sunlight.
NYC Restaurant Opts for Hyper-Local, Clean Produce by Building a Hydroponic Farm on Location!
Michelle Neff
November 13, 2017
There has been a notable rise in consumer concern over the sustainability of their food choices in recent years. Thanks to the availability of information, people are becoming more concerned about their own health, as well as coming to realize the impact that their food choices have on the planet and animals.
Many people are looking for sustainable farming practices and choosing organic produce that isn’t filled with pesticides and other chemicals. According to data provided by the Organic Trade Association, sales of organic produce are expected to grow 70 percent between 2016 and 2021. People want food that is fresh and good for them, but unfortunately, most of the produce in the U.S. is shipped across the country and it’s not as easy to find locally grown fruits and vegetables in commercial grocery stores. With a number petrochemicals involved in creating synthetic fertilizers and pesticides – as well as those needed in the packing, cooling, and shipping process – it’s quite hard to find truly sustainable produce that you can trust.
Rob Laing, CEO of Farm.One has a solution: hydroponics, a system of growing plants without many of the traditional inputs. Using just a finely tuned solution of water, Farm.One can grow crops without soil or even sunlight. In fact, Farm.One is a unique indoor farm in downtown Manhattan, which uses hydroponics to reduce water use by around 95 percent, and advanced climate control technology to grow a wide variety of plants year-round without pesticides, pollution, soil contamination, herbicides, manure or waiting in cold storage.
Now, Farm.One is expanding and planning to launch a second farm, directly underneath the restaurant Atera in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City on November 14, 2017!
“In Denmark, it was possible to step out the kitchen door and forage for beautiful ingredients. To have Farm.One in New York, just a few steps away from our kitchen gives us access to a huge range of rare ingredients, year-round,” said Ronny Emborg, Executive Chef of Atera.
The new 1,200 square-foot farm is dedicated to growing rare herbs, edible flowers, and micro greens, all of which will be used throughout New York restaurants.
Farm.One’s new farm uses efficient LED lights to grow rare produce, all in a controlled environment, year round. The produce is then transported via bike or subway to restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn, to reduce food miles. If that wasn’t amazing enough, the new farm is capable of growing 1,000 pounds of produce. The future of food is here!
“Farming indoors in Manhattan allows us to deliver a huge range of rare produce for the most demanding chefs within a few hours of harvest, year-round. Our location eliminates waste and provides a fresher, better product,” CEO Rob Laing explains. Check out the below video to learn more about this innovative company.
We are thrilled to see Farm.One expand and help create a model for hydroponic farming for other businesses! Making healthy produce accessible even in the middle of a bustling city is undoubtedly a great move for the planet, animals, and the well-being of people.
Interested in learning more about Farm.One? In a recent episode of the #EatForThePlanet with Nil Zacharias podcast, Rob discusses his vision for how technology can transform the food system and help to create a more sustainable and healthy world.
Check out the full episode below:
A New Jeff Bezos-Backed Warehouse Farm Will Grow Enough Produce to Feed Over 180,000 People Per Year
A New Jeff Bezos-Backed Warehouse Farm Will Grow Enough Produce to Feed Over 180,000 People Per Year
Inside Plenty's first farm in South San Francisco, California. Plenty
- Vertical farming startup Plenty — which has raised $260 million to date — is opening a 100,000-square-foot farm in the greater Seattle, Washington area.
- The company, which grows fruits and veggies under LEDs and without soil, hopes to sell its organic produce for the same price as traditional produce.
- Plenty plans to drive down operational costs by automating its growing processes as much as possible.
Following a $200 million investment this summer — the largest agriculture-tech funding round in history — vertical farming startup Plenty is expanding beyond its Bay Area roots.
The company is opening a second farm in the greater Seattle area, Plenty CEO Matt Barnard told Business Insider. Located in Kent, Washington, the 100,000-square-foot warehouse facility will grow 4.5 million pounds of greens annually, which is enough to feed around183,600 Americans, according to the USDA.
The new farm will officially start production in spring 2018. Instead of growing outdoors, Plenty grows its crops on glowing, LED-lit 20-foot-tall towers inside a former electronics distribution center in South San Francisco. The towers do not require soil, pesticides, or even natural sunlight.
The technique is called indoor vertical farming. It's a type of agriculture in which food grows on trays or hanging modules in a climate-controlled, indoor facility. The process allows certain types of produce to be grown year-round in small spaces.
Plenty's farm will be nearly twice the size as its original one in California. The company also has a smaller non-production facility in Wyoming, where it has tested different growing processes for over 300 crops.
The new Seattle-based farm will grow leafy greens and herbs first, but will later expand to fruits, including strawberries, tomatoes, and watermelons. Barnard said that Plenty's strawberries will be smaller, less pulpy, and higher in sugar and acidity levels than the ones most consumers are used to.
Plenty is aiming to lower produce costs by automating parts of its farms
Plenty, which received organic certification earlier this year, will start selling its produce in 2018. Though the company is not ready to announce exactly how it will distribute, Barnard hinted that delivery may be an option.
To date, Plenty has raised $226 million. In July, $200 million came from a Series B funding round led by SoftBank Vision. The round included DCM Ventures as well as funds that invest on behalf of Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
With the new investment, Barnard said Plenty plans to build more farms around the world. The team ultimately aims to drive down operational costs so that Plenty can sell its produce for prices that match traditionally grown fruits and veggies.
Plenty is working toward that goal by automating its farm processes "as much as possible," Barnard said. For example, the company uses small robots, called the Schleppers, to transplant seedlings.
"We grow very densely," Barnard said. "And that means you get to a limit where it's hard to have a person in there."
Farm of Future Grows Crops Quickly, Efficiently
Farm of Future Grows Crops Quickly, Efficiently
- Matthew Lambert, mlambert@agrinews.com | Nov 21, 2017
Two of many rows of leafy greens, these ones being specifically butter lettuce, inside Living Greens Farm in Faribault, Minn. The farm utilizes vertical growing techniques inside of a warehouse as way to be efficient and environmentally friendly.
Matthew Lambert / mlambert@agrinews.com
FARIBAULT, Minn. — The warehouse that houses Living Greens Farm doesn't look like a place that contains the future of farming.
Located on the north side of Faribault near Interstate 35, Dana Anderson and Dave Augustine are executing "trial and error" tactics to help feed the world.
Augustine said that when he and Anderson began Living Greens in 2012, they ran into more engineering problems than growing issues. Now, they're an efficient machine, growing leafy greens in a 45-day growing cycle compared to the usual 80-90 days.
The farm uses a special frame designed by Anderson in his garage in 2010. While the prototype is different from what's in use today, the basic A-frame is the same: two frames pressed together at the top like a triangle, with room in-between for workers to move through.
It uses the frame for shedding water, allowing the crops, that spend around two weeks before they enter the A-frame setup, to be regularly misted with a nutrient solution.
Living Greens Farm doesn't use soil or water as a growing medium, rather it utilizes aeroponics or vertical growing, maximizing the growing space.
Living Greens Farm grows lettuce varieties, herbs and microgreens, selling around Minnesota and going to market within 24 to 48 hours after harvest.
These aren't genetically inferior crops either. Living Greens Farm grows everything from butter lettuce and upland cress to microgreen arugula and microgreen radish to basil and cilantro, just to name a few.
There are no herbicides or pesticides, not organic, and use little heat and light. Furthermore, Living Greens Farm uses one-200th of the land and 95 percent less water than a traditional farm.
From what began as trial and error has become an efficient machine that shows the potential for farming to be possible anywhere at anytime.
Michelle Keller, the head grower at Living Greens Farm, previously ran a hydroponic lettuce farm for 10 years. She's been with Living Greens Farm for a little more than four years and was familiar with the aeroponic process itself.
Keller can do what the average farmer can't: control the elements.
"I can mimic June 12 months of the year," Keller said.
Keller said the future of farming will likely still have larger fields growing corn, wheat, and oats, but a lack of space makes abandoned buildings or warehouses perfect places for start-up farms.
"This is the answer," Keller said. "It gets you closer to the end consumer, we're not shipping it in, we're not being dependent on foreign countries as much. Some type of indoor farming has to be the answer."
Anderson and Augustine say Rice County and Faribault were "business friendly" for the futuristic venture, but they aren't ruling out the possibility of growing other products or expanding their model and technique elsewhere, including international markets.