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CO2 Tips In Growing Microgreens
CO2 Tips In Growing Microgreens
June 15, 2018
Vertical Farming and Microgreens are becoming popular, especially in urban areas. What we want to focus on today is having the right CO2 for your microgreens to yield the best product.
CO2 sensors are an essential equipment for tracking and controlling conditions in vertical farming. Sensors may be used to automate control systems. Therefore, continually monitoring and maintaining CO2 levels, offering ideal plant growth conditions without the need for human involvement. Let's face it, we need to sleep some of the times.
The most common solutions for monitoring indoor CO2 levels are non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) CO2 sensors. In an NDIR CO2 sensor, infrared light is conveyed through a tube of air to an infrared detector. The detector recognizes the light that was not absorbed by the CO2 present in the tube, and the concentration of atmospheric CO2 is measured.
The NDIR CO2 sensors are mainly popular as they deliver accurate CO2 measurements which are comparatively inexpensive, easy to operate, and easy for non-experts to set up.
The new GasBoxNG from Edinburgh Sensors is a ready-to-use NDIR CO2 sensor that is perfect for vertical farming applications. It employs a pseudo dual beam NDIR measurement system to provide better stability and reduced long-term drift, with least optical complexity. Therefore, the GasBoxNG provides fast and reliable CO2 measurements. The useful CO2 data provided by the GasBoxNG can be transferred to atmospheric control systems using an optional RS232 communication interface.
We hope this provided some information to help you on your road to success.
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"Different types of microgreens seeds"
Customers can meet experts to discuss their specific application requirements.
Tags: microgreens CO2 growing microgreens microgreens grower
Herifi Introduces Advanced Led Grow Light Technology To Improve Interior Aquarium, Plant Growing Efficiency
Herifi Introduces Advanced Led Grow Light Technology To Improve Interior Aquarium, Plant Growing Efficiency
June 1, 2018
Shenzhen Herifi Technology Co., Ltd develops a wide range of LED grow light to increasing more efficient light energy applicability in aquarium, plant growth, flowering and art while reducing global energy cost.
Shenzhen Herifi Technology Co., Ltd, a high-tech enterprise in electronics manufacturing, introduces new innovative LED grow light with enhanced features and a wide range of other LED products to provide global customers with the ideal lighting condition for all phases of water solution culture and hydroponics, plant growth and flowering as well as soil culture, while saving cost on conventional light sources. Again, it is aimed at providing global architects, engineers and designers with the source and inspiration for creation.
Recently, LED lights have become very popular particularly due to the widespread indoor growing practices. Today, most global electronic companies have ventured into the production of LED grow lights, however, there is yet the need for standard and quality in addition to products with high durability to save cost. Shenzhen Herifi Technology Co., Ltd fills this space with their full spectrum lighting solution and other innovative products. One unique product amongst these is the LED grow light bar, which has been designed for large and extensive compartments.
The Apolo LED grow light is considered as one of the best effective replacements for the conventional High-Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting such as the Fluorescent Light Bulbs, High Sodium Bulbs, and Metal Halide. These products have also been designed in different aesthetic forms and varieties for better applications which include Apotop series, sky series, ladder series, star trek series, Diamond series, STM series, KING series and more. The company also offers special custom services to meet their clients’ specific needs.
One of the company’s LED light products is the dimmable grow light. Several forms of this product have found application in the smart plant factories. Together with moisture and appropriate quantities of nutrients, adjusting this unique LED lighting provides a conducive growing environment for plants in the interior. The LED lighting also increases the growth rate of crops as well as the nutritional value while limiting, as much as possible, any interference from the immediate environmental factors. This provides good advantage particularly for countries in the polar and land-lock regions, with poor climatic conditions and land constraint for effective crop cultivation.
Clients who are interested in purchasing their new collections or wish to know more about Shenzhen Herifi Technology Co., Ltd and their other services are urged to visit their website on http://www.herifi.com
About Shenzhen Herifi Technology Co., Ltd
Founded in 2012, Shenzhen Herifi Technology Co., Ltd specializes in the manufacture of the plant led grow lights and aquarium led lightings. The company has a staff strength of 200 present in their 5000 square meters factory, in addition to high-tech equipment such as reflow soldering machine, automatic SMT machine, all sorts of electric test, production and R&D equipment, and large integrating sphere. Herifi has earned a high reputation throughout Europe and America in grow led lamps and aquarium led lights fields.
Website: http://www.herifi.com
Top-Shelf Growing With LEDs
Top-Shelf Growing With LEDs
Mike Zelkind’s vertical farming company, 80 Acres Farms, relies on technology and expertise for its success.
May 30, 2018
GIE Media Horticulture Group
Mike Zelkind worked in the food industry for more than 25 years before co-founding and becoming CEO of 80 Acres, an indoor farming company producing pesticide-free crops. He spent time in operations, marketing and sales at leading food companies such as General Mills, Conagra Foods, Bumble Bee Foods, Advance Pierre, and as the president and later CEO of Sager Creek Vegetable Company, a division of DelMonte Foods.
In that time, Zelkind came to believe that technology could help improve what was available to consumers while offering them local food. As a result, he co-founded 80 Acres Farms with Tisha Livingston in 2015. Its products are available at retailers such as Dorothy Lane Markets, Rouses, Whole Foods and Jungle Jim’s International Market, and through broadline foodservice distributors like USFoods.
“There’s an opportunity to grow it much more efficiently, to grow it without any pesticides — to grow a clean, nutritious product,” he says.
He said over the past few years when looking at the broader food industry, he came to believe that a core problem for food production is that field farmers are unable to control their environments. Since he does not come from a growing or horticulture background, Zelkind traveled the world with his business partner to understand different greenhouse types, growing methods, and technology, including the LEDs that he uses in all of 80 Acres’ facilities.
“I’ve been watching farmers struggle for years,” he says. “I felt like there was a real need. The food that we eat is not the same quality as what we ate 20 or 30 years ago.”
A better way
Using the best possible technology available, including LEDs from Philips Lighting, is a key part of Zelkind’s business philosophy. Unlike some indoor farms that are focused on building a new growing system altogether, Zelkind sees 80 Acres finding success by using the best technology available for each part of the business. With that technology in place, the idea is to grow a variety of different crops consumers want. That includes vine crops and herbs in addition to greens and microgreens.
“We’re not just doing lettuce or microgreens,” he says.
Zelkind adds that technology is advancing to a point where it helps improve what 80 Acres does. For lighting, for instance, he says a number of different LED spectrums and fixture types were trialed for the different crops grown at 80 Acres before he and his team decided that the best option was to grow each type of crop with specific fixtures and light spectrums. So, in the 80 Acres systems, a vine crop like tomatoes will be grown under a different fixture and spectrum than leafy greens or herbs, to meet each crop’s individual needs.
The operation uses LED bulbs with fixed spectrums from Philips Lighting, as well as a few different fixtures types from Philips Lighting, depending on the crop. Zelkind says he knows he’s getting a dependable light source from Philips and knows he can trust their advice. He also says Philips’ variety of available light fixtures and spectrums make them the best fit for his business and a partner in his success.
“[They] have the deepest grow knowledge,” he says. “It’s a phenomenal company with tremendous experience and a great set of lights.”
In addition to growing technology, Zelkind says 80 Acres is staffed with experienced industry people. He says having people who are well-versed in all parts of the business — everything from growing, engineering, food safety and plant science to marketing, sales, operations and data science — with 10 or 20 years’ experience in food, is what it takes to be successful in this new industry. It also sets the 80 Acres Farms apart.
“We think that cracks the code of how to build a commercially viable farm,” he says.
Potential for growth
Currently, 80 Acres has farms in four different locations — Daphne, Alabama; Springdale, Arkansas; Granite Falls, North Carolina; and Cincinnati, Ohio — with plans for more facilities in the works. A lot of the company’s effort right now is expanding what crops it can grow well. Zelkind says 80 Acres has already successfully grown strawberries and hops in its facilities.
“The plan is to go way beyond lettuce,” he says.
Zelkind, though, does admit that there is still much to figure out before indoor farming becomes commercially viable. However, he does know that buying the right products – including the various LEDs he gets from Philips – are part of any realistic solution.
Growth for 80 Acres also involves scaling up farms over time at the right pace and in the right markets. In Ohio, for instance, a second facility near Cincinnati is being built to establish a regional hub. And when a new location is added, one or two modular farms are built to see how the location fares before a large amount of capital is invested.
“We’re in the first inning of the game,” he says.
As that happens, and the business grows, the goal remains the same.
“We want to provide, healthy, nutritious, local food,” he says. “And do so in a very sustainable way.”
Photo courtesy of Mike Zelkind
Solving Common Problems When Growing Microgreens
Solving Common Problems When Growing Microgreens
May 25, 2018
Over the past several years, the Nick Greens Grow Team has learned a lot, as a result of more than a thousand hours put into growing microgreens for commercial sale. It hasn't been smooth sailing the entire time. During this time, we’ve learned several hard-earned lessons. We're here to share some of our knowledge with growers for easier growing. Here are our top six most common challenges/problems with growing microgreens.
Uneven germination
Uneven germination is caused by either human error or lack of moisture. We can’t solve the human part, but here are a few tricks we learned along the way: Build or buy a tent to house your black 10X20 trays for the first few days of growth. Make sure to spray trays at least once a day and reclose the tent. Depending on the variety, remove trays after two to three days You are seeking 90% humidity and might need to experiment with the location of your tent several times. Alternatively, you can use a humidity dome with a black 10X20 over the dome for your higher end varieties such as Shiso or Borage.
Mold and mildew
Mold and mildew start during the germination process (because of the high humidity) but does not reveal itself until four or five days into the grow cycle. Reducing this problem starts with air-flow, Add small mini fans or an inline blower with a carbon filter and intake booster fan for fresh air. Spray your plants with Terereplenish during the germination process which naturally decreases mold due to the presence of beneficial, free-living microbes.
Harvesting difficulties
Even if you buy an expensive harvesting machine it might not be worth it. The only successful way to harvest microgreens in our experience is by hand. Use a decent pair of shears (we use the Fiskars titanium shears with the black and gray handles) and make sure you have a high stainless steel table to cut on. Ideally one that rolls and has a shelf underneath. (Anything smaller will cause ergonomic issues for you or your growers.) Line your food grade containers with paper towels (to absorb moisture) and refrigerate within 30 minutes of harvesting.
Too many varieties to choose from
Trying to grow anything more than six or seven varieties at a time will be a nightmare for your crop planning and lead to disappointed customers. It's, not easy choosing which varieties of microgreens to grow. We have had great success growing the following: Pea Shoots, Red Rambo Radish, Hong Vit Radish, Kale, and Broccoli. Each is easy to germinate, and turns in less than 10 days. Also by mixing everything listed above, you can create a great tasting rainbow mix.
Costly fiber-based media mats
Fiber-based media mats, like hemp, can be very costly growing media, and can significantly reduce or wipe out your profits. Any media that costs more than 10% of your revenue per tray is too expensive and your goal should be to achieve a 5% ratio. We found the most efficient and profitable mats are these pads. You can buy good quality, safe microgreens pads from our website or you can partner with a local roaster and reuse coffee bags which are more sustainable and generally free. In either case, you need to cut mats in advance, and then soak with 3 ppm of H202 for half an hour before seeding. Burlap doesn’t produce as much yield as soil, but it grows faster and is less expensive. If you are contemplating large production, you will want to grow on burlap or some other fibrous mat. The downside of burlap is that it dries up quickly and requires equipment with a timer and automatic feeding system. The best systems are supplied by Crop-king NFT, or you can build your own home-made racks with botanicaire flood trays.
High lighting costs
While lighting and electricity costs for indoor crops are relatively high, microgreens typically need less than 4 DLI a day -- equivalent to 8 hours a day at 125 PAR. We found using a combination of LED and fluorescent is the best.
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Seed Supply Company Targets Growing Urban Farming Market
Seed Supply Company Targets Growing Urban Farming Market
June 18, 2018
East-West Seed prototype hydroponic unit for urban farming. -- ANNA GABRIELA A. MOGATO
VEGETABLE and flower seed producer and supplier East-West Seed Co. is planning to expand its portfolio by offering vertical farming solutions such as hydroponic units and smaller greenhouses to urban dwellers.
East-West Seed Co. Agricultural Engineer Pedro F. Dayag III, who designed the hydroponic unit prototypes, said that the company decided to target prospective urban farmers due to strong interest.
“We’re still more concentrated on farmers in the provinces. We rarely entertain urban. Now, since our technology has achieved scale, we will bring it to urban [farming],” he added.
“[For urban farming], we are trying to educate those who eat vegetables that they can also do it on their own. It doesn’t really have to come from big farms. It also has a lot of benefits — aside from eating vegetables, you know how it’s planted. It’s also therapeutic [to grow your own vegetables].”
Mr. Dayag said that while hydroponic units are not yet available for mass production, the company will accommodate individual orders.
“If there’s an inquiry and someone wants it made then we can probably accommodate because is what we are really selling here is the greenhouse [for urban farming]. Greenhouses have a repeat-buy but this one (hydroponic unit) is only a one-time buy,” he added.
East-West Seed Co. got into the business of manufacturing and installing greenhouses almost 10 years ago at the request of farmers who buy seeds from the company. Mr. Dayag said that while greenhouses can be customized, these usually come in two sizes, 3.5 meters by 18 meters and 6 meters by 24 meters.
If built and installed in Manila, the greenhouse can cost to about P50,000 to P55,000. This does not, however, include the hydroponics units inside.
The company last month exhibited a hydroponic unit which can cost around P6,000 to P8,000, which includes the aquarium pump to circulate a solution outsourced from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños. At a height of about four feet, the unit can accommodate around 72 receptacles for growing vegetables.
“I was thinking of a design [for hydroponics] that can be used in condominiums with its own lighting and aquarium pump,” Mr. Dayag said.
“All the end-user has to do [is] to choose what to plant — it can be lettuce, kangkong (water spinach), pechay (bok choy). And on the first week, they plant only on the first layer, and add another layer on the second week so that they won’t run out of vegetables. For a single person, that’s a lot.”
Field marketing representative Cusrome Loi S. Adaro said that aside from hydroponics, the company is also offer repurposed pallets for gardening.
“We had that idea because we had so many pallets in the office that remained unused. We also had another project, the “seed in the city,” where we conducted urban farming seminars to get ideas like that,” he added.
“It is now possible that the land needed for farming not be that big; that’s why we thought of projects such as container gardening. That it our focus right now but [rural] farmers are really still our main market.” — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato
Understanding Greenhouse Lighting
Understanding Greenhouse Lighting
There’s a lot more to greenhouse lighting than meets the eye. Growers in search of the appropriate lighting for their greenhouse should consider the following three factors: the type of crop being grown, what time of year it is and how much sunlight is available.
Greenhouses generally require six hours of direct or full spectrum light each day. If this can’t be done naturally, supplemental lighting must be incorporated. Supplemental lighting is the use of multiple, high-intensity artificial lights to promote crop growth and yield. Hobbyists like to use them to maintain growth and extend the growing season, whereas commercial growers use them to boost yields and profits.
Equally important as supplemental lighting is photoperiod control lighting. A photoperiod of light is the number of hours that a plant receives light in a 24-hour time span. For example, if the sun rises at 6 in the morning and sets at 8 in the evening, a 14-hour photoperiod has lapsed. Photoperiod control lights are used to simulate long days, triggering early flowering or promoting delayed flowering, depending on the plant’s needs.
Growers have a wide array of lighting options to pick from, so it’s important to understand the nuances of different lighting styles. Let’s examine the uses and advantages of four different lighting types.
High-pressure sodium fixtures
High-pressure sodium fixtures provide more orange and red spectrum light and have a golden-white appearance to the human eye. Since they promote budding and flowering, they are generally used later in the growth cycle of the plant. These fixtures are approximately 7 times more efficient than incandescent bulbs and work best when used in conjunction with natural daylight, making them a great option for greenhouses. High-pressure sodium lights also offer the potential for a 10% increase in intensity and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR.)
Give high-pressure sodium lights about 4 to 5 minutes to warm up and one minute to cool down. It is for this reason that they aren’t good for locations where the lights turn on and off frequently. It’s also important to be cognizant of placement; high-pressure sodium lights should be mounted 30 to 36 inches above the plant for optimal results.
Fixed and programmable spectrum LED fixtures
LED (light emitting diode) fixtures are the longest lasting option offered by Growers Supply, with a typical lifespan of 50,000 hours. The diode of an LED won’t burn out as fast as standard light bulbs, which gives it such an incredibly long lifespan. LED lighting fixtures have a higher efficiency than standard lighting because more of the power input goes to light than heat. For instance, incandescent bulbs are only about 20% efficient, as most of their input power goes to producing heat.
Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of LED lighting is the massive energy savings. They are easily integrated into any operation and offer up to 70% savings when compared to high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting.
There is no warm-up time required with an LED fixture and they are also free of mercury, making disposal much easier than other bulbs. LED’s provide superior functionality when used as a sole source of lighting, making them an attractive option for many growers.
Ceramic metal halide
Ceramic metal halide lamps are used for their blue light, although they appear bright-white to the human eye. They can easily function as a primary light source, with an average lifespan between 8,000 to 15,000 hours. Since metal halides are 3 to 5 times more efficient than incandescent bulbs, they make an excellent option for areas that don’t receive natural sun.
Important to note is that metal halides have to warm up for about 5 minutes or less before they can give out full light. They also need a cool down period of about 5 to 10 minutes before restarting. For this reason, they are not recommended for locations where the lights will turn on and off frequently.
Ceramic metal halide lights should be hung 30 to 36 inches over plants and can result in darkened leaves and overall healthy-looking greenery. Growers Supply PARLucent Ceramic Metal Halide Lights are ideal for greenhouse and hydroponic applications. Growers often use them in the early phase of a plant’s life when seeds are in the vegetative growth phase. The dimmable ballast allows growers to obtain the perfect lighting for their operation. They are completely silent too, so there are no bothersome humming, buzzing or high-pitched noises to deal with.
T5 fixtures
T5 fixtures are the most efficient and most popular fluorescent greenhouse lighting option for growing. They use less energy than traditional lamps and can last up to 50,000 hours. These environmentally-friendly lights sometimes feature aluminum reflectors for maximum efficiency. They are ideal for use in hydroponics, greenhouses, warehouses, barns and more. They can be used from the initial phase of seed starting to full term growth.
The letter “T” denotes the tubular shape of the lamp and the number 5 indicates its diameter in eighths of an inch. T5 lamps are slim, only 5/8” of an inch in diameter, which makes T5 fluorescent tubes more efficient than standard fluorescent tubes.
GrowSpan’s High-Performance 45” T5 Fluorescent Lamp features extremely high lumen output and full spectrum lighting that is excellent for plants from the seedling stage up to full term growth. Its minimal heat output means that it can safely be placed very close to plants, within 6 to 12 inches to be precise. While there’s technically no such thing as too much light, it’s important not to use too powerful a light in a small space, which can result in overheating of the leaf surface area.
For more information:
GrowSpan Greenhouse Structures
1395 John Fitch Blvd
South Windsor, Connecticut 06074
Toll-free USA: (800) 476 9715
International: +1 860 528 9550
info@growspan.com
www.growspan.com
Indoor Ag-Con Insights
Indoor Ag-Con Insights
This year’s event featured information on hiring practices, aquaponics and a look at a new high-tech growing facility.
May 29, 2018
Chris Manning
While currently in the trial stage, Oasis Biotech’s facility could begin selling leafy greens to customers in the summer of 2018; this photo is from outside the clean room. Photo: Chris Manning
This year’s Indoor Ag-Con took place from May 2 to 4 in Las Vegas. In addition to workshops and a trade show, attendees had the chance to hear from different industry leaders on topics such as how to hire staff for urban farms and whether or not aquaponics has gained traction in the produce industry. Some attendees also had the chance to tour a new, high-tech growing facility in Las Vegas.
Hiring for urban agriculture
Like many other parts of the green industry, many urban and/or vertical farms consider labor to be one of their primary concerns. Even in some densely populated areas — New York City, for example — some growers have had a hard time meeting staffing needs.
At Indoor Ag-Con, a panel addressed these two concerns. Two business owners — Tobias Peggs, co-founder and CEO of Brooklyn greens grower Square Roots, and Nona Yehia, the co-founder, and CEO of Jackson Hole, Wyoming grower Vertical Harvest — offered their insights into how to combat labor concerns.
According to Peggs, Square Roots has developed an environment that people want to work in and that sets people up for future success. For new employees who may or may not have a traditional horticulture background, Square Roots has a 12-month program that teaches employees how to grow; it comes with a salary, freedom to innovate and the chance to learn from experienced growers. Peggs believes the program is designed to build up people who invest themselves into it, citing employees who have gone to work for start-ups like Plenty or as independent urban farms owners; many employees also stay at Square Roots after the initial 12-month program. As for Yehia, she says turnover is the biggest issue her business faces. However, they work to combat this issue, and find a stable workforce, by approaching it from two fronts. The first is promoting the idea that Vertical Harvest is working to positively impact the world, and the idea that people want to work somewhere that is offering the community a service. Secondly, she says Vertical Harvest engages with Jackson Hole’s community and offers people with disabilities a job that provides them with an opportunity to develop real-world skills.
Aquaponic boom
At Indoor Ag-Con, Square Roots’ Tobias Peggs and Vertical Harvest’s Nona Yehia explained how they address labor concerns at their businesses. Photo: Chris Manning
One panel at Indoor Ag-Con asked when aquaponics would gain traction. According to the panel — which consisted of Jason Green from Brooklyn-based grower Edenworks, Tracy Nazzaro from Hilliard, Florida grower Traders Hill Farm and Rebecca Nelson from Aquaponics manufacturer Nelson & Pade Aquaponics — it already is.
Green, whose business is primary customer is Whole Foods locations in New York City, says Edenworks’ model is to rebuild the supply chain with on-demand fulfillment. He says Edenworks can deliver greens in a third of the time it would take a field operation to grow the same amount. Nazzaro says having a sustainable growing method and contributing to the local food economy are reasons why aquaponics work. She also cites Wisconsin grower Superior Fresh, who will soon open the largest aquaponics facility in the U.S., as proof that aquaponics can be a profitable business model.
The key for continued growth, Nelson says, is educating the public about aquaponics and making it accessible. Both she and Nazzaro says new crop development will also be key to aquaponics’ future growth.
The future in plain sight
New to Indoor Ag-Con this year was a tour to Oasis Biotech’s facility in Las Vegas. Owned by Oasis’ parent company, Sanan Bio, the facility uses clean-room grow rooms to produce leafy greens. To enter the grow rooms, workers must wear protective suits that aim to prevent any outside contaminants from affecting the crops. The facility also features research and development labs that will pull data points from different trial areas — starting with propagation and ending with the final harvest — to determine which varieties are performing the best.
Oasis Biotech is still in the trial phase and may not begin taking orders from Las Vegas-area restaurants until this summer at the earliest. But when it does, it will be able to dedicate different grow rooms to different restaurants in downtown Las Vegas that request a specific product. It also already has a retail brand — Evercress — that will launch when the company is ready to take its production out of the trial stage.
Signify And New Horti LED Partner Hortilife Boost Yields at Latvian Grower "Getlini EKO" Through Philips Greenpower LEDs
June 11, 2018
Signify And New Horti LED Partner Hortilife Boost Yields at Latvian Grower "Getlini EKO" Through Philips Greenpower LEDs
- Getlini EKO, Ltd. increased production of IMEA cucumbers
- Successful start of new Horti LED partnership between Signify and Hortilife B.V.
Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, today announced that its new partnership with Hortilife B.V. has boosted the yields at Getlini EKO, a Latvian grower of tomatoes, cucumbers and hanging plants. Results of the first commercial full-LED horticultural lighting project for IMEA cucumbers at Getlini EKO mirror those achieved in an earlier trial.
From September 2017 to early January 2018, Getlini EKO harvested 146 fruits per square meter in its 3,000 square meter cucumber greenhouse, in line with Signify yield estimates. Hortilife assisted with the installation of Philips GreenPower LED toplighting and Philips GreenPower LED interlighting at the Getlini EKO greenhouse.
“Our participation in projects like Getlini EKO and the full-LED trial at Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), proves that companies can successfully grow IMEA cucumbers year-round using our LED technologies,” says Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture at Signify. “Furthermore, it showcases our leadership in LED lighting for horticulture.”
Jointly established and managed by the Riga and Stopini Municipalities, Getlini EKO greenhouses are located on the site of the largest municipal solid waste landfill in the Baltic States. The facility was opened in 2015 and uses heat from the waste recycling process. It installed the energy-efficient Philips LEDs in spring 2017.
“We wanted to start growing IMEA cucumbers year-round,” says Guntars Strauts, agronomist at Getlini EKO. “We needed to install lights with little heat radiation as the recycling process already produces a lot of heat. LED lighting offered that in the most economical and ecologically friendly way.”
LED lighting generates significantly less heat than high-pressure sodium (HPS) lighting, allowing Getlini EKO to independently control light and heat in the greenhouse. “Signify had demonstrated its strong know-how in growing with Philips LED lighting,” Strauts adds. “We were convinced after seeing the results of the full-LED trial at the SGGW, Poland. The first trial period at the SGGW produced cucumbers with 60% less energy usage and 1.4 liters less water per kilo and achieved 24.8% higher yields.”
The Netherlands-based Hortilife and its export companies specialize in the engineering, installation and supplying of greenhouses and agro-storage equipment, installations and construction. It is active across
many crop segments, including tomato, cucumber, lettuce, roses and pot roses, among others. Hortilife has successfully overseen installations of greenhouses throughout Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic States.
Signify N.V. became the new company name of Philips Lighting N.V., the ultimate parent company of the worldwide group of Philips Lighting companies. The name of Philips Lighting Eurasia LLC will be changed at the beginning of 2019.
--- END ---
For further information, please contact:
Signify Corporate Communications
Daniela Damoiseaux, Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings and public spaces. With 2017 sales of EUR 7.0 billion, approximately 32,000 employees and a presence in over 70 countries, we unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter and LinkedIn. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
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Hopewell, New Jersey Elementary Partners With Princeton University’s Sustainable Farming Project
Hopewell, New Jersey Elementary Partners With Princeton University’s Sustainable Farming Project
- Samantha Brandbergh, Correspondent
-
- Jun 8, 2018
Students at Hopewell Elementary School look at plants as they grow in fully functional hydroponics systems. (Courtesy photo)
A partnership between Hopewell Elementary School and Princeton University is bringing a new scientific initiative to the school district’s younger pupils by giving them a new learning experience while also providing fresh produce for lunches.
Princeton University’s Vertical Farming Project is providing the school with fully functioning hydroponic towers that introduce “cutting-edge scientific educational opportunities for elementary students” and has encouraged the school’s ongoing farm-to-cafeteria program, officials said.
Vertical farming is the process of planting and growing various produce in vertically stacked layers, such as hydroponic towers, all in a soilless environment. This allows for more produce to be grown year-round and in a smaller space.
The school currently has six indoor towers where lettuce, an array of herbs and other produce are grown using a sponge pod instead of soil, and LED lights to mimic sunlight.
According to Dr. Paul Gauthier, founder, and director of the Princeton Vertical Farming Project, the initiative was created in 2017 with a goal of promoting sustainability and advanced science.
“Our goal at Princeton was to create a system to really try to understand how we can recycle [and] what kind of new practice we can get to almost not have any impact on the environment. And that’s what we’ve really focused on,” he said.
To help with the cost of the program, Hopewell Elementary secured multiple grants from Sustainable Jersey, New Jersey Education Association, BASF Corporation, Hopewell Valley Education Foundation and Hopewell Elementary School PTO.
“We’re using those funds to purchase a more permanent vertical farm project,” Hopewell Elementary Principal David Friedrich said. “We envision the towers as being more portable, whereas this is going to be a lot more permanent.”
Vertical farming has many benefits as opposed to traditional farming, Friedrich said. In addition to using less physical space and no seasonal limitations, farming in a soilless environment allows for 95 percent less water to be used.
Traditional farming, Gauthier said, can put stress on the plants — insects and organisms can attack the roots and the sun can damage the leaves.
“We were taught in school that plants need water and sunlight and nutrients that come from soil, and we’re showing that soil really isn’t required for growing,” Friedrich said. “So we supplement with other nutrients.”
The partnership will allow children from preschool to fifth grade to see exactly where their food comes from and will provide them with “fresh, organic produce for lunch and an invaluable introduction to the hands-on scientific development,” according to a press release.
Helen Corveleyn, who teaches fifth grade at Hopewell Elementary, oversees the indoor towers and the outdoor garden beds. She was first introduced to vertical farming after attending a conference at Princeton University over the summer, where Gauthier helped her realize she wanted to bring the program to Hopewell Elementary.
“I just looked at it and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is what I’ve been looking for,’” she said.
During this time, Corveleyn was interested in reviving the elementary school’s greenhouse, but, before vertical farming, she had yet to find something that fit with the school’s budget.
“I want kids to be able to approach food and approach hydroponics and be able to have this experience at a really young age,” she added.
For Gauthier, these experiences can provide students of all ages valuable lessons.
“Our parents were taught in school how to sew and how to cut wood or how to cook, so why not teach [children today] how to vertical farm?” he said. “It’s not complicated to do it, it’s just a new way to think.”
Gauthier believes that vertical farming won’t completely replace traditional farming, but trusts that it is part of the solution to promote these advanced methods of farming.
The partnership is an expansion of Hopewell Elementary’s sustainability efforts in recent years, such as an organic lunch menu, which is now in its third year.
“[Public] schools aren’t known for high-quality lunches, and we really wanted to change that,” Friedrich said. “Part of that is educating our students where vegetables and herbs come from, and research clearly states that the more involved students are — the more hands-on they are and how willing they are to try new foods early in their lives — leads to some really nice successes as they get older.”
The organic menu is currently offered twice a week and features organic produce, such as bok choy, which is grown at Hopewell Elementary. Next year, the menu will be offered three times a week, Friedrich said.
The permanent vertical farming structures, Friedrich said, will be placed off of the school’s cafeteria to “make a logical connection between the growing, the harvesting and the infusing in [the] menu.”
Those at Hopewell Elementary believe the project will have a lasting impact on the students.
“[The project] means hope for our kids in the future; it means hope for kids to learn about locally sourced food and where it comes from and it gives me hope for innovative science,” Corveleyn said.
Kennett, Pennsylvania Area Could Be Home To Future Indoor Agriculture Center, Presenter Says
Kennett, Pennsylvania Area Could Be Home To Future Indoor Agriculture Center, Presenter Says
06/12/2018 12:03 PM ● Published by Richard Gaw
By Richard L. Gaw | Staff Writer
In a presentation before the Kennett Township Board of Supervisors on June 6, Dr. Eric W. Stein, the chief executive officer of the Barisol Consulting Group and an associate professor of business at Penn State – Great Valley, encapsulated the findings of a recently-completed feasibility report that supports making the Kennett Square area a prime candidate to be the home of a worldwide center of excellence for the study and implementation of indoor agriculture, a method of growing crops and plants entirely indoors through the use of hydroponics and artificial light.
During a 40-minute synopsis of his 200-page report, Stein discussed world trends in indoor agriculture; the feasibility of creating indoor farms, both worldwide, across the nation and regionally; their economic impact on global trends in population; and the steps needed to be taken in order to create a center for excellence in southern Chester County.
The study stems from Kennett Township's early research in indoor agriculture, begun two years ago, that explored how growing produce indoors could be leveraged against its existing indoor growing industry, as a way to position the area as a national – and potentially world-wide – hub for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA).
“One of the things we noted was the similarity that indoor agriculture has to adapt to the mushroom industry,” said Michael Guttman, director of the township's Sustainable Development Committee and a member of the township's Indoor Agriculture Committee. “We began to think about how these two industries might come together, and particularly, how we might be able to diversify the economic base of the community, by leveraging the natural advantages we have of already being a center for the distribution and production of indoor produce.”
Guttman said that he met Stein about a year ago, and discovered that he was also studying the economic viability of indoor agriculture, which ultimately led to appointing Stein to write the feasibility study.
Combining the mushroom industry in Chester County with the idea of developing indoor agriculture is a natural partnership, Stein said.
“We saw the biggest synergies between the biggest form of indoor agriculture in the world, and what now has become a burgeoning industry in the growing of leafy greens, which are being grown indoors,” he said.
Exploring the concept of making the Kennett Square area a world leader in indoor agriculture takes a backseat to using the method to feed a growing world population. Increasingly, the future of food production, Stein said, hangs in the balance of being able to solve current and anticipated problems, chief among them finding a way to feed the 9 billion people who are expected to live on the Earth by 2050.
Stein also pointed to the impact that climate disruptions such as droughts and flooding has on growing seasons, as well as the ever-increasing dilemma of getting access to land, energy, and water – all of which have become increasingly fragile to environmental factors.
“We need to be more efficient and sustainable,” Stein said. “We need to maximize the use of existing space. Production can be localized in urban and peri-urban areas, and we can start to grow food with less water and no pesticides. Technology is making it possible for us to do that more effectively.”
The advantages of indoor agricultural growing centers, Stein said, are many: They use no pesticides and only 10 percent of the water that is used in conventional farming; it is resilient to climate change; its presence is stable and it can offer premium pricing, comparable to organic produce; it allows for the use of organic seeds; it prevents ecological damage, such as nitrogen discharge that is found in conventional growing practices; and more plants can be grown per foot indoors than on open-field farms.
While the chief costs of indoor agriculture is seen in lighting, HVAC labor, indoor vertical farming can yield as much as 100 times the profits than can be made from produce grown on a traditional outdoor farm. The vertical growing concept has already drawn major interest and funding, Stein said.
“Over one-half of a billion dollars has been invested in this industry in the last seven years,” he said. “A lot of folks with a lot of capital behind them are putting money into his industry. It's not just a blip or an oddball thing.”
Stein said that establishing Kennett Square as a home for a center of excellence is a “potent way to bring knowledge together” that can be used for research, infrastructure technology, establishing partnerships with universities; linking with the engineering, manufacturing and computer science industries; creating opportunities for leadership and advocacy; exploring market analysis and studying methods of improving business operations.
The Kennett Square area, Stein said, is in the right place at the right time.
“The infrastructure of cold storage, packaging, and distribution of the mushroom industry is already here and steeped in the culture of the region, as well as an extensive network of roads and rail, with close proximity to urban centers and airports,” he said.
“The concept of the center of excellence hinges on the idea of bringing minds and knowledge together to accelerate growth in the field. Although there are several centers of excellence in agriculture, there is no one particular center for excellence for indoor agriculture. Hence, there is an opportunity here for us. We see this as an excellent opportunity for the industry, and for the region to brand itself as the center for this kind of knowledge.”
The feasibility study included 35 hours of interviews with local stakeholders whose ideas will be crucial to the potential center of excellence project; visits and presentations at several indoor agricultural conferences; speaking with mushroom growers and agricultural professors at nearby colleges; and distributing an online survey that gathered more opinions about establishing the Kennett Square area as a center of indoor agriculture.
Stein will also make the presentation to the Kennett Borough Council and the New Garden Township Board of Supervisors, municipalities who, along with Kennett Township, have also lent their support to the feasibility study.
To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty.com.
Priva Knowledge Sessions During The GreenTech
Priva Knowledge Sessions During The GreenTech
How can Artificial Intelligence help growers with complex decision-making processes? In what way can knowledge sharing and applying become a major success factor for your company? And how can we improve controlling crop growth in greenhouses with smart technologies? Priva experts will give you answers to these questions. Visit eight sessions during the GreenTech and learn more about important themes within horticulture, including Vertical Farming, Human Capital Development, Crop management and more. An overview of the complete program, time, location can be found below.
Wednesday, 13 June
- 13:30 – 14:00 > Trends & Innovations Theatre
- ‘Artificial Intelligence and machine learning will change your horticultural business, for sure!’
- Greenhouses of the future by Theo Rieswijk, Innovator at Priva
What is artificial intelligence and machine learning? Concepts where each of us has his own image. But, one thing is certain. It touches our areas of work, but yours too. It offers enormous opportunities in the field of optimization and complex decision-making processes. Priva is active in this field and will give a number of examples with regard to energy savings and productivity. Theo Rieswijk explains how algorithms in a building environment already provide considerable energy savings in combination with excellent comfort for people. In the same way a foundation can be laid for horticultural greenhouses and plants.
- 15:30 – 16:00 > Food & Flowers Crops Theatre
- ‘Understand your business inside and out’
- Operational GreenHouse Management by André de Raadt, PMT manager at Priva
Companies are becoming larger and more complex. To deal with the horticulture challenges and to be able to manage a (part of the) company, managers need information to help them to make the right decisions. Operational, tactical and strategical decisions. Information about growing conditions, labour, costs, planning and progress are key. Without information managers are ‘driving blind’. It’s important that information is available for all ‘layers’ and managers within the company. By sharing, all departments are looking at the same information, they know from each other what they are doing and what they can expect from each other. Internal processes can be optimized and make the whole organization more efficient. FS Performance is a horticultural management information system which is designed to help the greenhouse operations managers. With practical examples and cases Priva will show the value of FS Performance for the greenhouse manager.
Thursday, 14 June
- 12:30 – 13:00 > Trends & Innovations Theatre
- ‘Precision Growing: Priva Moisture Balance Module’
- Precision horticulture by Dirk Prins, Business Developer at Priva
The precise control of water and fertilizers is essential in the production to lift the product quality throughout the chain at a higher level. The Priva Moisture Balance Module is an optimal irrigation start solution for substrate growing that determines every irrigation cycle fully automatically based on three important influences: water evaporation, plant water use and substrate water content. The result; increased fruit production by precise and timely dosing of water and fertilizers.
Moisture Balance Module: increased production by optimal water dosing
- 13:00 -13:30 > Trends & Innovations Theatre
- ‘How does sharing knowledge improve your business?’
- Human Capital Development by Rob Schoones, PMT manager at Priva
In a world where everything is digitized at a rapid pace, where technological developments follow each other ever faster, where boundaries fade and the interests of the individual become more and more central; flexibility, scalability and speed are important characteristics of a modern enterprise. Where the first, second and third industrial revolution mainly concerned the automation of traditional work, digitization now mainly affects the knowledge domain. The way in which knowledge is shared and the way in which knowledge is applied are important success factors for your company in the future. Are you curious how Priva has applied this? You are more than welcome to come and listen to the story about the Priva Academy.
For more information:
Priva
Zijlweg 3
2678 LC De Lier
Netherlands
T: +31 (0)174 522 600
F: +31 (0)174 522 700
contact.priva@priva.nl
www.priva.nl
Publication date: 6/11/2018
Hydroponic Company Eyes North Hartford, Connecticut Land For Multimillion-Dollar Development
Hydroponic Company Eyes North Hartford, Connecticut Land For Multimillion-Dollar Development
Crews are working to dismantle the former Philbrick, Booth & Spencer warehouse and storage facility on Homestead Avenue to clear the way for new development. Crop One Holdings, which specializes in hydroponics farming, is in talks with city leaders to build on the properties. (Mark Mirko/Hartford Courant)
A California company is in talks with Hartford leaders to build a hydroponic farming facility along a desolate stretch of Homestead Avenue.
Crop One Holdings, a San Jose-based corporation, would invest more than $16 million in the project – $6 million in the structure and $10.5 million toward equipment, according to documents filed with the city. It plans to grow produce indoors, “substituting 320-square-foot growing units for up to 19 acres of farmland.” Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants in a water-based, nutrient dense solution.
Crop One would pay the city $250,000 for three properties along Homestead that combined make up a 3.5-acre area. Hartford recently got a $2 million grant to demolish blighted structures on the land. Crews began to dismantle the buildings this month, and work is expected to conclude by the end of the summer.
Mayor Luke Bronin has asked the city council to approve an agreement for Crop One that would free the company from paying real estate taxes for the first five years and reduce the amount of taxes in the following four years. It would also bring down the amount of personal property taxes the company would pay in the first five years (by 70 percent in the first two years, 50 percent in the third and fourth year and 30 percent in the fifth year).
The demolition of several blighted structures is underway along Homestead Avenue. Work is expected to be completed by the end of the summer. (Mark Mirko/Hartford Courant)
“Crop One will put back in productive use approximately 3.5 acres of blighted property, create 75 new jobs and make locally sourced fresh produce available to Hartford and surrounding communities,” Bronin wrote in a letter to the council.
He did not elaborate on the types of jobs, but said that the company has agreed to hire Hartford residents for “at least 25 percent of its direct labor workforce.”
Crop One owns a farm in Millis, Mass., and has several more in the pipeline, city officials said. Company leaders could not be reached for comment Friday.
The swath along Homestead Avenue is part of a federally designated “Promise Zone” that gets priority consideration for funding. It is also a state-designated “Opportunity Zone.” The status, created in the GOP federal tax legislation, rewards private investment in low-income neighborhoods.
The properties have been home to several tenants over the years, including the former warehouse and storage facility for Philbrick, Booth & Spencer, a steel-forging manufacturer.
“This is a triple win for Hartford – a green tech company bringing jobs to North Hartford and development to a site that’s been blighted for years,” Bronin said through a spokesman. “This would be the first real job creation in decades on the Homestead Avenue corridor.”
The city council is scheduled to meet Tuesday. Members said the proposal will be sent to a committee for review.
Venture Funding Supports Urban Farming Start-Up
Venture Funding Supports Urban Farming Start-Up
23 May 2018 Yorkshire Business
Growing Better, a Leeds-based social enterprise that provides urban farming for better mental health, has secured up to £10,000 in AD:VENTURE start-up and growth grants.
The business was founded by Rob Moores in 2016 and initially used polytunnels to grow baby leaf salads leaves and herbs.
When it was decided that this model would not provide a commercially sustainable year-round supply to local restaurants and food outlets, crowdfunding was secured for an indoor hydroponic vertical farm.
Growing Better received advice, guidance and support through the AD:VENTURE programme to put in place a plan that would focus on future growth.
Since the funding was awarded, the company has taken on a new full-time member of staff, expanded its offering to provide growing kits for consumers and has also extended its engagement with schools.
Rob Moores said: "Accessing practical support from AD:VENTURE allowed us to build up our business plan and in turn to consider other options. We realised that we had the potential, with funding support, to commit to appointing three new members to the team over 2018.This in turn would allow us to support more people and to grow the business using the contributions made by AD:VENTURE as cash flow.
"Knowing that we have a business model in place that we could scale up was great. As well as working with an increasing number of people that have mental health illnesses, we have also started to supply several restaurants, which in turn gives us the funds to put back into the business."
Autogrow’s API And Amazon’s Alexa Leads To World's First Talking AgTech System
Autogrow’s API And Amazon’s Alexa Leads To World's First Talking AgTech System
June 8, 2018
Global AgTech company Autogrow has utilized Amazon’s virtual assistant ‘Alexa’, and their IntelliGrow API (Application Programming Interface) to create the first ever talking automated growing system.
Their breakthrough technology demonstrates the versatility of their API and proves Autogrow’s commitment to crack the code of future crop production.
“We think this is the best use-case of AI (Artificial Intelligence) today. We’ve basically turned a vocal sound into a machine command and proven integration of different systems is possible,” says CEO Darryn Keiller.
“We have done it with Alexa, but we can also integrate with a growers HVAC or lighting system. The possibilities are limitless.”
Autogrow has been considering voice activation technology for a while, but it was a recent conversation with one of their growers that spurred them to accelerate development.
“One of our growers noted how modern apps like Apple’s Siri allows you to interact and how great it would be if he could ask his controller to update him on his crop environment but also instruct it to take action if required,” explains CTO Jeffrey Law.
“Our Solutions Architect, Lee Dunn, relished the challenge and chose Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service (AVS) due to their commitment to enable developers to voice-enable connected products.”
By connecting with Autogrow’s API, Alexa can answer a variety of questions related to readings from Autogrow’s Intelli Range of products including EC, pH, humidity, temperature, and light as well as force a nutrient dose.
“This is a new tool we can build on to give our growers more flexibility and control in their business and from here, the possibilities are limitless,” says Mr Keiller.
“At the heart of it, our burning drive is to help producers of crops grown in non-outdoor environments produce more yield, better quality crops, all year round. They can then generate more profit, enabling them to produce crops that the consumer wants, and when they want it,” says Mr. Keiller.
Lee Dunn, Solutions Engineer
About Autogrow
Autogrow leverages the power of technology, data science, and plant biology to provide indoor growers affordable, accessible and easy-to-use innovation – 24/7, anywhere in the world.
Our hardware, software and data solutions support growers and resellers in over 40 countries producing over 100 different crop types.
We have over two decades of experience and passionate, fun people creating original ideas and making them a reality for our growers.
Little Leaf Farms Expands Its Indoor Baby Greens Production
Little Leaf Farms Expands Its Indoor Baby Greens Production
Posted By: Brian Sparks May 22, 2018
Little Leaf Farms, one of the largest growers of hydroponic baby greens in North America, has officially opened its expanded greenhouse in Devens, MA. The expansion doubles the size of the greenhouse from 2½ acres to 5 acres, and more than doubles its annual production of baby greens. The company has also purchased adjacent land for a third expansion project set to begin in 2019, which will further increase the size of the greenhouse to approximately 10 acres.
“We are passionate about transforming the way food is grown,” says Paul Sellew, CEO and Founder of Little Leaf Farms. “We incorporate principles of sustainability in everything we do, all to provide consumers with delicious, local baby greens at a fair price. Our process is clean from the start, so consumers can be confident they’re purchasing a safe product, grown in an environment that employs the most advanced food safety practices.”
Opened in 2016, Little Leaf Farms produces locally grown, fresh baby greens year-round that are delivered to New England consumers within hours of being harvested. Little Leaf Farms grows multiple varieties of baby lettuce at its greenhouse that are blended into salad mixes and sold in more than 1,000 Northeast grocery stores and to many restaurant, university, and institutional customers. Little Leaf Farms’ ability to deliver fresh, great tasting and safe baby greens to consumers that can be easily traced back to its Massachusetts greenhouse has led to the company’s rapid growth and expansion.
Little Leaf Farms’ hydroponic growing process uses natural sunlight, a computer-controlled growing environment, and a rainwater-based irrigation system that uses 90% less water than field-grown lettuce. The company’s technologically advanced growing system enables the baby greens to be seeded, grown, cut, and packaged without ever being touched by human hands.
More information about Little Leaf Farms’ expanded greenhouse facility and where its baby greens can be purchased can be found on the company’s website.
Indoor Farms: The solution To Memphis' Abandoned Buildings?
One St. Louis investor has proposed a solution to abandoned buildings in Memphis. Carter Williams said many of Memphis' abandoned buildings, especially the larger ones, can be turned into indoor farms.
Indoor Farms: The solution To Memphis' Abandoned Buildings?
May 22, 2018
By WMCActionNews5.com Staff
By Brandon Richard
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
One St. Louis investor has proposed a solution to abandoned buildings in Memphis.
Carter Williams said many of Memphis' abandoned buildings, especially the larger ones, can be turned into indoor farms.
"You can produce enough food for more than 2.5 million people year round," Williams said.
For now, Williams is just floating the idea.
"Maybe they'd be inside malls, maybe not. But that's something for local developers to figure out," he said.
Williams said indoor farms could provide healthier choices for a city once named the fattest and unhealthiest in America.
"So people get fresh lettuce, fresh leafy greens, fresh spinach year round," he said.
While the idea sounds appealing to many people on the surface--some folks at the Cooper-Young Farmers Market question if it's the best option.
"It's workable. It can be done, but I don't know from a cost-benefit standpoint if it's really viable," Memphian Katie Felts said.
Felts wants to know more about how the food in those indoor farms would be grown.
"I don't know about the product, the indoor product. You know, is it really coming from the soil?" Felts asked.
While not everyone is sold on his idea, Williams recently brought 200 scientists, farmers, entrepreneurs and investors to the Bluff City for an agriculture technology conference he co-founded.
He said he did that because he believes Memphis is destined to be the hub of farming innovation--with or without those abandoned buildings.
Copyright 2018 WMC Action News 5. All rights reserved.
The (secret) Recipe For The Perfect Strawberry 🍓
The (secret) Recipe For The Perfect Strawberry 🍓
Our mission has been simple: make excellent fruits and vegetables grown without pesticides accessible to everyone. But what does “excellent” mean? For us, it’s two things: flavor, yes, but also and most importantly nutritional value. This second point is what we’re going to talk about in this series of articles. Our way of growing upends how things used to be done, so it’s time to look at the nutritional value of the fruits we’re growing. As a biology expert at Agricool, I took to my keyboard to let you know everything we do here.
- #1 — The (secret) recipe for the perfect strawberry 🍓
- #2 — No need for whipped cream, our berries are sweet as is! 🍧
- #3 — Inside our berries? A shot of vitamins! 💪
Looks like me, Pierre-François (but you can call me PF) !
Hello, science! 🔎
From the very beginning, we’ve been recording the nutritional value of our strawberries. How? By conducting analyses in our own superlab and with the help of external, specialized labs.
These analyses let us study every aspect very closely. One thing is sure — everything went under the microscope. Next, we compared our results to both national and international standards (and you can find that data directly thanks to the internet):
- The French national agency for food safety (ANSES), the key reference in France 🇫🇷
- The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the key reference for everyone in the world 🌎
- The French technical body for fruits and vegetables (CTIFL), the key farming reference in France 🇫🇷
Thanks to this approach, we can have a global and objective view on the nutritional value of not only our strawberries but also all those that are available today (different varieties, different ways of growing, different regions…).
The nutritional value of a strawberry 🌿
Before getting into the heart of the matter, there’s one very important detail: the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables changes not only thanks to certain options (variety, growing technique, storage, analytical method, etc.) but also during the course of the growing process itself.
→ The sugar example
The sugar level is typically quite low at the beginning of a harvest, when the strawberries are large and numerous. As time goes on, the number and size of the fruits diminish, and the sugar level increases. Why? It’s a dilution effect. In other words, a strawberry plant in ideal conditions will produce a certain maximum amount of sugar each day. Thus if there are fewer fruits on the plant, they will have higher sugar levels (and vice versa).
Strawberry connoisseurs, read this! 👇
You love super sweet strawberries? There are some growers in Japan who use the dilution effect to produce very large, very sweet berries. How? During the growing process, they cut away most of the flowers. This way, they get only 1 or 2 berries per plant (as opposed to 25–30 normally!). All of the sugars produced by the plant are thus concentrated in these fruits known as “Sugar bombs”. These are very rare strawberries, with prices that are usually around €30 per 250 grams (€120 per kilo!).
Taking this kind of change into account, it’s not rare to find a nutritional value that doubles between two different samples, particularly if they come from different varieties and different growers. This is why the ANSES reports on upper and lower limits rather than simple averages that aren’t necessarily very pertinent outside of a certain context. Repeated nutritional analyses (which we do!) are still the best way to estimate the qualities found in a certain crop of fruits. And just like with all data, the reliability of any analysis is proportional to the number of samples analyzed.
Close-up on a strawberry
So those are the methods; let’s see the results.
The nutritional value of a fruit is judged using several criteria:
- The most famous: sugar and vitamins
- The lesser-known: antioxidants, fatty acids and minerals
To know the nutritional value of a fruit, there are 2 options: trust your taste buds and/or look at the nutritional values. The latter depend directly on its composition. You might know it already, but fruits are principally composed of water and sugars. The other 3 components are minerals, proteins and lipids. Other elements (vitamins and antioxidants) are present as well, but in very small quantities (measured in milli- and micrograms for 100 grams of fruit) that aren’t visible on the graphs below.
Measuring Energy Values 🔍
Now we need to quantify the various elements that make up a strawberry, which can be measured in either joules or calories. We can also measure the energy provided to the body when one consumes the fruit.
A little catching-up 🏃
To function normally, the body consumes calories. For an adult between 18–55 years of age whose body-mass index (= weight/height²) is 22 and who partakes in an average amount of physical activity per day, the average recommended calorie intake is 2100 kcal for a woman and 2600 kcal for a man.
Examples
- While reading this article, your brain is consuming roughly 1.5 calories per minute
- A person who weighs 70kg and who runs 10km in an hour consumes roughly 720 calories
Back to the strawberry
The caloric value of a strawberry is, on average, 32 kcal per 100g. A large strawberry weighs 50g. It supplies the energy needed for 10 minutes of walking or 5 minutes of biking.
And just for comparison’s sake, the caloric value of 100g of spaghetti is 158 kcal.
And the Agricool strawberry?
The caloric value of our berries is slightly higher than average, at between 40–50 kcal/100g. In other words, the energy value of our fruits is a bit higher than the norms recorded by ANSES. This is explained by the higher sugar content of our strawberries. Essentially, most of the caloric value of a strawberry comes from its sugars. We’ll get into that in more detail in the next article.
Comparative analysis of strawberry composition
There’s one other point to note: our strawberries contain relatively little water. That explains their firm, fleshy texture. Their fats and proteins are standard, as are the minerals. And the sugar level is a bit higher than average, which gives them that little something extra.
And it seems like this last part (sugar!) is the most important for many people. If you want to learn more about that aspect, keep an eye out for my second article next week.
What will it cover? Well, among other things, the Brix index, the glycemic effect, and a detailed analysis of different strawberry varieties (including our own).
Basic Microgreens Materials
Basic Microgreens Materials
June 5, 2018
Growing microgreens requires only a few materials. A bit of these things you might have laying around the house, although others will be just a small investment. We started our microgreens business with a 100 dollar bill.
Seeds
High-quality seeds are a very important part of growing microgreens. Factors that will affect the growth of your seeds are storage, seed source, handling, and age of seeds. If you would sow a thousand seeds, the difference between a 95 - percent germination rate and a 50 - percent germination rate is quite visible. It can be disappointing to have gone through the hard work of sowing and caring for your microgreens trays only to see a small percentage of your seeds sprouting up. When it comes to storing and handling your seeds, you will want to store them in a cool and dry location. Keep away from great fluctuation in temperature and humidity. During hot, muggy summer days, be careful not to leave them in the sun or let them get caught in a summer rainfall. Accurately caring for your seeds will maintain their viability for a long period of time. Your seed packages offer you valuable information such as lot number, seed variety, germination rate, germination test date, and age of seeds. Unless kept in a special environment, your seeds will last two to five years depending on a variety of vegetable. The amount of time your seeds will stay viable depends on whether you keep them stored in proper conditions.
With access to the wild wild web, you have hundreds of seed companies at your fingertips. For the purpose of growing microgreens, you are looking for seed companies selling in bulk. When trying a new seed company, start with a small quantity of seed. If you ask nicely, many companies will mail you out samples. When you have found the varieties you like, you probably want to move up to buying one pound bags. If you notice yourself using seed quickly,
most companies offer discounts at 5 to 10-pound bags. Seed quality also play a role after your seeds have come up. We have grown arugula that had great germination but had terrible-looking cotyledons. We have had purple radish, which is normally a purple stem microgreen, comes up with white stems.
Trays
We find that heavy duty 10 x 20-inch black plastic trays work the best. These trays are often available at hydroponic stores selling gardening supplies for around $2.50 per tray. Whether you decide to use the 10 x 20 or 10 x 10 black trays, proper drainage is very important. Although often overlooked, drainage is one of the keys for a plant to thrive. While being very important in the garden, it's even more important in your trays. If you are buying or collecting plastic trays, they will probably already have holes cut in the bottom. If you're making your own trays, be sure to create slits or holes to allow excess water to flow through. If there is a lack of drainage, you will find stunted growth, rot, and mold in your microgreens.
Soil
The core of any indoor or outdoor farm is its soil, and microgreens are no exception. Choosing the proper soil to grow your microgreens in is vital. A rich, fertile soil is filled with biological and mineral interactions necessary for vibrant, nutrient rich plants. During the beginning of our first rounds of growing microgreens, we used several brands of potting soil, looking for the ultimate one. Throughout these trials we were overwhelm to see the differences between them. The soil that stood out the most in both quality and performance had additional ingredients derived from the ocean such as kelp, crab meal, and shrimp meal. Using a high quality soil, you will enjoy strong, even growth and an increase in yield. While yield per tray is less important for the home grower, a commercial grower must pay close a attention to this detail. The cost of higher quality soil is often absorbed by the yields you will reap from your trays. We recommend Ocean Forrest for growing microgreens commercially or at home.
Humidity Dome
If you don't have a greenhouse to grow in, you will need to invest in or invent humidity dome to cover your trays. This creates a mini-greenhouse effect and keeps temperature and moisture at a more consistent state than if your germinating seeds were exposed to open air. This is especially important in dry climates or in seasons when there is a larger fluctuation between the night and day temperatures. If humidity domes are not used, you may find your seed germination is greatly reduced, uneven, and much slower than covered trays. Any local hydroponic store should carry them. The average price seems to be around $4.00.
Water Sprayer
If you have a small garden or houseplants, you may already have some of the supplies you'll need to water your microgreens. Make sure you can adjust the sprayer head. Out of all the settings provided on your sprayer, a medium shower has been the most effective. If you are going to be grown indoors, you'll need a watering can. Make sure it has an attachment that allows the water to sprinkle out rather than pour out in one stream. Since you are growing the microgreens so densely, air circulation is very important. You don't want to water them so hard that they fall and mat. If this happens, the lack of air and excess water will cause them to rot. If you find that your microgreens have fallen, you can try gently brushing them upright with your hand. The key to good watering is to be gentle while watering.
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Tags: microgreens microgreensfacts microgreensmaterials microgreensgrower
How To Guarantee Your Greenhouse Success Story?
How To Guarantee Your Greenhouse Success Story?
Why a comprehensive project lifecycle methodology with a proven methodology and complete services package, delivered by the right partner is key to growing your greenhouse business profitably.
When planning a greenhouse project, farmers and investors alike face a long list of worries and concerns. How will I know if my project is financially viable? Will it be completed on time? Once construction is complete, will my team have the agronomic knowhow to create the optimal growing conditions for successful harvests?
To answer these questions and give you the confidence to initialize a greenhouse project, it helps to have a partner that combines deep agronomic expertise with a comprehensive and proven greenhouse project lifecycle methodology; one that addresses all stages of the project from feasibility assessment through planning and design to agronomic planning, operations, and maintenance services.
Managing your Greenhouse project: From start to success.
In the feasibility assessment stage, a preliminary evaluation of the project is conducted to determine its viability and financial viability. In certain cases, a full feasibility study is required to analyze a range of aspects, including preferred technology, workforce requirements, agronomical aspects and financial analysis.
Tailor-made solution
As every project inevitably brings a unique set of requirements, it is critical to plan and design a tailor-made solution that meets your climatic and agronomical challenges head-on. It begins with choosing the right structure, be it a glasshouse, polyhouse or nethouse, and fitting it with the right equipment and accessories to ensure an optimal growing environment.
Next, it is important to choose an execution model, turnkey or supply and supervision, that fits your needs and your desired level of peace of mind.
The operations and maintenance stage is often the most critical stage in the project. Services such as agronomical guidance and consultancy, technical support for the structure and equipment and marketing linkages to off-takers, will determine if your project will be successful and financially viable in the long term.
In summary: Managing a successful greenhouse operation can be complex and full of pitfalls. Choosing a greenhouse project partner with deep agronomy expertise who can accompany you throughout the entire lifecycle with a proven methodology can give extra peace of mind and ensure high-quality results and rapid return on your investment.
"At Netafim, we don’t just build your greenhouse, we help build your business. Want to know more? Come and meet us at GreenTech 2018, booth #12.323."
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Netafim
Contact a Netafim expert here.
Publication date: 5/30/201
Western Dakota Tech Grads Seek Solution To Food Deserts
Western Dakota Tech Grads Seek Solution To Food Deserts
May 24, 2018 | By JOHN CONWAY
RAPID CITY, S.D.
Food deserts in Rapid City are nothing new, but they were back in the headlines last year when three full-service grocery stores announced they were closing their doors.
Now, a group of young engineers and entrepreneurs think they have found a cost-effective solution to the problem. And they're finding it right here in Rapid City.
The closure of Prairie Market and two Family Thrift grocery stores in October greatly expanded the food deserts of Rapid City. Food deserts are places where people do not have reasonably convenient access to full-service grocery stores that sell a variety of nutritious food options.
In the absence of full-service grocery stores, convenience stores - which are abundant in these areas – have become a primary food source for the local residents. Mary Corbine, food security manager with Feeding South Dakota, says this situation is far from ideal.
"Convenience stores just don't have access to all the nutrition that a person needs, and they tend to be more expensive," Corbine said. "So, therefore, they're utilizing [more of] people's resources."
And without that balanced nutrition, people in food deserts tend to have higher rates of preventable disease.
"If you are eating higher calorie foods, [processed foods] and higher sugary foods, you probably will have more obesity, more heart disease and also more diabetes due to increased weight," said Cindy Gates, a clinical dietitian at Regional Health Rapid City Hospital.
The problem caught the attention of electrical trades students at Western Dakota Technical Institute (WDT). They are using their skills to develop a new system to help provide healthy food options to the residents of food deserts all year.
"The great thing with our system is that we can set it down there within the communities,” said Nick Smith, a member of the WDT aquaponics team. “Therefore, we eliminate the transportation costs of getting food to them."
Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. An aquaponics system raises fish and uses the fish excrement to feed plants. An aquaponics system produces not just fresh fish, but also fresh fruits and vegetables more effectively than traditional agriculture. The system can grow produce anywhere in the world, year-round.
"The yield first would be much greater than a normal garden, like a community garden,” Smith said. “We can grow plants twice as fast and produce about three times as much as a normal garden."
Aquaponics isn't new, but it has required a lot of human labor to operate and maintain the filters and pumps and monitor things like water levels. The WDT aquaponics team is working to automate the system, requiring less human input.
"We pretty much train the computer to do [the work] for them,” Smith said. “The computer takes care of all that, and all they have to do is come in and harvest [the produce]."
The system, if successful, will also recycle its own water and bring year-round fresh food to not only food deserts, but actual deserts where water is scarce, reducing the cost of nutritious food options.
"The only water input we have is when we initially build it,” said Joseph Cattin, another member of the WDT aquaponics team. “After that, it should be totally off the grid and not need any other input."
The team also hopes to eventually develop a solar power source for the system, allowing it to be installed in areas without access to electricity, making the system entirely self-sustaining.
The team’s work on the aquaponics technology has won them a spot as a finalist in the National Science Foundation Community College Innovation Challenge. They will travel to Alexandria, Va. in June to present their project to industry and members of Congress.