Designing the Future of Urban Farming

Designing the Future of Urban Farming

Helping a Berlin startup strengthen its offer of vertical farming products and services

INFARM

The Challenge

Help INFARM develop the vision, products, and services for their B2B vertical farming offer.

The Outcome

Concepts for the industrial design of B2B vertical farm units, the interaction design of the app to control and monitor the units, and a business model for sustainability.

The challenge of how we’ll feed the exploding world population in the future—in a sustainable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly way—is seeding an agricultural revolution in Europe.

In 2012, INFARM founders Erez, Guy Galonska, and Osnat Michaeli found that vertical farms could be a solution to urban self-sufficiency. These farms could allow people to grow vegetables and herbs in small spaces, with no soil and far less water.

If every city on earth were to grow 10 percent of its produce indoors, it would allow us to take 340,000 square miles of farmland back to forest.

Dickson Despommier, Emeritus Professor of Public Health and Microbiology at Columbia University, and father of vertical farming

An approach that’s captured the imagination of futurists for decades, vertical farming involves growing vegetables and herbs in stacked units or inclined surfaces, within which moisture, light, temperature, and nutrients are monitored, and controlled.

After creating their first vertical farming experiment in their apartment in Berlin, the founders brought together plant scientists and industrial designers to explore and develop vertical farming’s potential.

Since then, the startup has created custom growing systems for clients including Airbnb, Mercedes-Benz, and Weber. Most recently, INFARM installed a vertical farm growing herbs and vegetables at the Berlin branch of German supermarket chain Metro, the fourth-largest retail chain in the world, to sell to the public. It’s been profiled in Wired Germany, Süddeutsche Zeitung, The Guardian, and Zeit.

The vertical farm is designed to be modular, allowing consumers to purchase according to their needs.

INFARM collaborated with IDEO to further explore their B2B offer, including concepts for the industrial design of the stackable, modular, climate-controlled units; the interaction design of an accompanying app to monitor and control the units, and its business model.

Urban farmers will sign up for “farming as a service,” comprising the units themselves, as well as a monthly subscription for seeds, cartridges filled with nutrients, and a pH regulator. Because they’re stackable, the modules can be scaled to suit anyone from a home grower to a restaurant chef or supermarket owner. And Erez claims a 1 square meter growing tray can yield four to six mature plants every day, 365 days a year, doubling that of state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouses.

The consumer app allows farmers to choose a set of herbs designed around specific recipes.

As well as remotely regulating each unit’s climate, the app will educate growers about new vegetables and herbs, selling packs of complementary seeds, with suggested recipes for them, and cooking instructions. Aiming to promote biodiversity, the firm will sell rare-breed and heirloom seeds too.

The startup has funding from the EU’s European Pioneers fund, and is now looking to secure investment to accelerate software development and ramp up their hardware production capabilities. Quite literally, it's growing its business.

Urban Cultivator And The Zero-Mile Diet

Urban Cultivator and the Zero-Mile Diet

Posted on December 29, 2015by Max Tuck

Most people would consider me to be the very opposite of an “early adopter”. Heck, I don’t even own a smartphone (or an i-pad, i-pod, or other such technology that you allegedly can’t live without in the modern world). But when it comes to equipment associated with the living foods lifestyle (of which I was very definitely an early adopter 25 years ago), I’m right there. Green Star Elite juicer – check. Excalibur dehydrator – check. Vitamix – check. Automatic sprouter – check (actually, I’ve got two). So when I heard via the Hippocrates newsletter that a new, “can’t-live-without-on-this-lifestyle” product was available, I was straight on the internet to find out if this amazing piece of Canadian kit could be obtained on my side of the pond. Enter Continental Chef Supplies (CCS), the only UK distributor of the magnificent Urban Cultivator; the machine that really could make a “zero mile diet” a realistic possibility.

So, what is it, is it all it’s cracked up to be, how does it work and will it really save time and money? Coming up, but remember back to a time perhaps a few years ago when your kitchen might have looked a bit different. How long have you had a dishwasher? I was certainly a “late adopter” of one of those, but wouldn’t be without it now. And how many people these days have a posh built-in coffee maker, or maybe, on a smaller budget, a Nutribullet, compared to 5, or even 2 years ago? What was once considered a gimmick might well become tomorrow’s essential. This was my initial feeling the moment I saw the Urban Cultivator.

In November, finding myself in London with a couple of hours to spare, I hopped on over to the CCS showroom in Baker Street. And there before my very eyes stood the latest wonder of modern technology – a Commercial Cultivator. This unit is primarily designed for chefs and professional kitchens; with four levels, and fitting 4 large growing trays onto each, it is otherwise either for someone who runs a small wheatgrass-growing business, or someone with a large raw-eating family. Try as I might, I could not think of anywhere in my kitchen that I could fit in one of these behemoths. I’d need a pretty large kitchen extension to accommodate one (or maybe 3 days on a serious garage clear-out mission – now there’s an idea!). It still might represent a relative overkill for my personal needs, but hey, I can dream.

Slightly more realistically, in another part of the showroom, stands the Residential Cultivator. The same size as an under-counter fridge or freezer, this unit does not require a major re-think of your living space. With two levels, and two large trays in each, it is ideal for a health-conscious couple who want to grow their own microgreens and tray greens such as wheatgrass, sunflower greens and pea shoots. Whilst you can certainly grow these outdoors for part of the year in the UK, depending on where you live, I have found that sunflower greens won’t grow on my outdoor, protected rack past October, and they don’t like it if I put them outside until the end of April. I therefore embraced the opportunity to have a residential unit on trial for a 3 month period – winter being the ideal time to put it through its paces. I cleared a redundant space in my utility room, cut a narrow section of worktop away and the unit was delivered on 11th December 2015, just as promised.

First impressions

Very well made, it’s an excellently designed, quality product. Something you’d really want to show off in your kitchen, rather than having it hiding in a utility space as I am doing for this trial. There’s the option to have it freestanding, which means that you can basically put it anywhere and no plumbing is needed, or it can be plumbed in to the water supply. Currently mine is on the freestanding option, although plumbed in would be the obvious choice for someone buying one. It looks very good, and is made from high quality materials. It can be customised to your kitchen design and colour – a bonus for the style-conscious.

How does it work?

It grows your tray greens, microgreens and salad leaves either hydroponically or with soil. I am currently growing wheatgrass, sunflower greens and pea shoots hydroponically, and some baby kale salad leaves in soil. The unit waters the trays from underneath, and you set the frequency of watering via the unit’s menu. Mine is currently set to a 3 minute watering cycle which takes place twice daily. The top growing level can be watered on a separate cycle from the bottom level. I don’t have to do a thing – I can even go on holiday and know that I don’t have to ask anyone to do any plant watering in my absence. The temperature can be set to your chosen level – I have set mine to a pleasant 20C.

For hydroponic cultivation, special growing mats, which I have nicknamed “nappies”, are used in the bottom of each tray. Although I have not yet tried them, special pre-seeded growing mats are available and with these, all you have to do is put them in a tray and the cultivator does the rest – no need for any conventional “sowing” of the seed and the potential problem of overcrowding (too much seed in one place, not enough in another). There is a programmable lighting cycle – the full-spectrum lights are currently set to come on at 8am and go off at midnight. Relative humidity is controlled inside the unit to prevent moulding of the seeds, and there are special domes provided which fit on the tops of the trays for the first few days, to keep your seedlings moist as they start to germinate. My first tray of pea shoots grown hydroponically did in fact develop black mould and I had to throw them out, but that’s because I didn’t follow the instructions properly at first. The current tray is looking a lot happier. If you’re used to growing on an outdoor rack, a little adjustment is needed.

The trays are large – bigger than the ones I use outside on my growing rack, which is a good thing. The sunflower green tray that I have recently grown lasted me a week, whereas my outdoor trays only last 4 days.

Benefits over growing your herbs, microgreens and tray greens outside

Massive! Climate-controlled, regular “sun”, no slugs, no snails, no flies, no need for pesticides or herbicides, no need to remember to water the produce, no risk of overwatering, no need for someone to “house-sit” your plants when you go on holiday…. I could go on, but you get the picture. “Growing your own” will never be the same again – you don’t even need outdoor space.

What seeds do I use?

Urban Cultivator supplies all the seeds you might need, or you can source your own. I am currently using their pea, kale, rocket, basil and other microgreens, but have used my own sunflower seeds and spelt grain (for wheatgrass). The wheatgrass grew amazingly fast, and the sunflowers seem to like the long light cycles and warm temperature. You can almost see the seeds growing in front of your eyes – it’s a lot more interesting than TV. The seeds supplied with my trial unit are organic and GM free, and I’m looking forward to trying out the pre-seeded mats in January.

Will it pay for itself?

The answer is definitely yes. I worked out that if I grow all the pea shoots I need, and do not have to buy in any trays of wheatgrass or sunflower greens, the Residential Cultivator would pay for itself in 3 years. If there were an intermediate sized unit (see below) it would be likely to pay for itself faster.

Any downsides?

I’m still getting the hang of the programmes and I had to download an instructions document from the internet since there wasn’t one with the trial unit. Having said that, CCS are great and have been happy to respond to phone calls and send prompt replies by e-mail, and the Canadian helpline is available 7 days a week. I think the unit would be best plumbed in, and that is definitely what I will do when I buy one.

The only other downside is that I think there should be 3 size choices. Much as I would love a Commercial Cultivator, it is size-prohibitive (until I build that kitchen extension), and with the amount of juicing I do, I feel the Residential Cultivator is slightly too small to grow all the salad leaves I need, in addition to the tray greens. If I’m growing my usual sunflower greens, wheatgrass and pea shoots, there’s no room in the Residential Cultivator for anything else, until my tray greens once more move outside onto my growing rack for our all too short British summer.

Would I buy one?

Absolutely. Should you buy one? Definitely. Every home should have one. And it’s far better for you than that expensive built-in coffee machine…

Where can I see one?

At CCS. I’m co-hosting “Alive”- a full day of wonderful healthy food prep and detox recipes at CCS on 6th February 2016, and we have just 7 places left. Do come and join us – details here.

Urban Cultivator Indoor Herb Growing Kitchen Appliance

Urban Cultivator Indoor Herb Growing Kitchen Appliance

OCTOBER 29, 2015   HEALTHY LIVING KITCHEN APPLIANCES ORGANIC

The residential Urban Cultivator provides the means to an opulent herb growing garden right in your kitchen. Eliminate all the dilemma’s that can damage your outdoor garden, including: weather, insects and rodents.

Our seeds are non-GMO, and no sprays or chemicals are added in the growing process. You’re getting 100% organic, healthy food.

Enjoy true freshness and clean herbs instantly with an endless array of ingredients for your next meal: Aromatic Marjoram, Bold Swiss Chard, Bright Basil, Citrus Dill, Crimson Beet Tops, Crisp Lettuce, Crunchy Cabbage, Delicate Chervil, Earthy Komatsuna, Fragrant, Cilantro, Fresh Parsley, Hearty Sunflower, Indigo Radish, Malt Amaranth, Maple Fenugreek, Mighty Broccoli, Mild Chives, Minty Thyme, Nutty Flax, Pepper Arugula, Power Kale, Robust Lentils, Sharp Mustard, Spicy Radish, Sugar Pea, Sweet Wheatgrass, Tangy Lemon Balm, Tart Sorrel, Umami Savory, Wasabi Nasturtium, Wild Oregano, Woodsy Sage, and Zesty Peppercress.

Fits in the same space as a wine cooler or bar fridge. Or, just have it free standing with the optional butcher block top.

Quick Installation Overview:

1. City Water In Connection
Use the vacuum breaker & braided City Hose to connect to your city water connection. The hose comes with a standard ⅜” compression fitting.

2. City Drain Out Connection
Connect the City Drain Hose (1/2” to 3/4“ hose connection) to your city drain which should be no further than 6’ from the Cultivator and 2’ up from the floor.

3. Power Connection
Connect the Cultivator to a standard 110/240V power outlet. The electricity plug should be no further than 2’ away from the unit and should run out on the same side as the water and drain hose. The wall receptacle is non-replaceable.

4. Hole Size For All Connections
Use a 4” hole saw and remove part of the bottom shelf of the cabinet adjacent to the Cultivator where all the connections run from.

5. Adjustable Feet
Twist the Cultivators feet to adjust its overall height from 34¼” to 34 ½”.

To see the complete installation involvement, check out the appropriate Urban Cultivator support video.

This Giant Floating Farm Could Produce Almost 10 Tonnes of Food Each Year

Forward Thinking Architecture

This giant floating farm could produce almost 10 tonnes of food each year

Fruits, vegetables and fish!

FIONA MACDONALD

7 SEP 2015

Architects in Spain have designed a three-storey floating farm that would help produce nearly 10 tonnes of extra food for Earth's growing population each year, without taking up any land or fresh water.

The solar-powered farm would include massive hydroponic farms, watered by desalinated seawater, and a fish farm below, making the entire system self-sustaining and capable of producing most items in a healthy diet.

Of course, the farm is still very much conceptual and no prototype has been made just yet, so it's hard to know how successful their plans would be when put into practice. But the blueprint is based on existing technology, so there's no reason why it couldn't be built.

"This is not science fiction. It is a serious and viable solution," the architect team behind the concept at Forward Thinking Architecture write on their site. "It is not meant to 'solve' all of humanity’s hunger problems or to replace existing traditional agriculture; this is not the idea at all. The driver behind the project is to open a new initiative which can be complementary and compatible with other existing production methods in order to help reduce food risk associated problems in different areas of the globe."

This isn't the first time a floating farm has been proposed - last year a separate group of Spanish architects proposed a taller version of a floating farm, and in Japan and India engineers are building floating solar farms to harness electricity.

What's different about this design is that it contains its own mini-ecosystem that, in theory, would be capable of producing all of the following items:

According to the plans, the top level of the farm would be covered in solar panels and skylights, to allow sunlight to be harvested for electricity, and also to filter through to the plants below.

The second level would contain the hydroponic vegetables and crops. The waste products from these crops would be used to feed the fish in the level below, and the waste from these fish would then be used to fertilise the crops, creating a self-sustaining system.

Forward Thinking Architecture predict that the farm would be able to produce 1.7 tonnes of fish annually and 8.1 tonnes of fruit and vegetables.

Altogether the farm would take up a massive 200 m by 350 m area, or 204,000 square metres - which on land would be pretty impractical, but on the ocean wouldn't be much of a problem given the vast amount of space available.

The farm would also contain wind turbines and wave energy converters, to make the most of the natural energy available to it. And there would be a desalination plant and an on-board slaughterhouse and processing and packaging area, so that products could be sent straight to shops or consumers, reducing the food miles and carbon footprint of each product.

What's even better is that the farm is mostly automatic, using sensor systems to regulate watering processes and position itself in the most efficient spot each day.

Obviously there are some big hurdles to overcome with any type of structure of this kind - the biggest we can think of is the tumultuous nature of Earth's oceans. We currently struggle to keep wave energy generators safe from storm surges, so it would be hard to find safe spots to moor these beauties.

But with an abundance of harbours and lakes around the world, it wouldn't be impossible. And even though this is all just a pipe dream for now, if we could find a way to grow food sustainably in currently unused areas, it would be a big step towards feeding the soon-to-be 7.5 billion mouths on Earth.

H/T: Tech.Mic

This New Site Seeks to Strengthen the Boston Food Industry

This New Site Seeks to Strengthen the Boston Food Industry

Already, Branchfood boasts info on more than 150 local producers, distributors, advocacy groups, funders, startups and composters.

Rebecca Strong - Staff Writer

8/20/15 @11:21am in Tech

"Eat local."

It’s a phrase we’ve been hearing more and more in recent years, as awareness rises around the nutritional benefits of consuming produce that hasn’t traveled thousands of miles and interest in supporting the local agriculture economy increases. Now, there’s even a term for the people who practice this motto: locavores, who tend only to consume food grown within about 100 miles of its point of purchase. Branchfood launched in 2013 as a platform to promote local food innovation, while connecting like-minded people to share their growth-stage food product and food tech companies. The coworking and events startup, which is based at the CIC on Milk Street, recently realized the lack of a go-to source for learning more about the local food ecosystem—so they decided to build one.

Empowering the industry with information

Lauren Abda

Founder Lauren Abda says her inspiration for the Boston Food Network was this Techscene map. The idea was to aggregate information about all the various entities that make up Boston’s food scene, and bring all that data online so that it’s easily accessible and searchable. Currently, the site includes information about over 150 local food producers, distributors, advocacy groups, funders, startups, composters and more. And it’s already receiving national recognition: The Boston Food Network will be featured at the upcoming International Economic Development Council’s annual conference in Anchorage, Alaska—the world's largest annual gathering of economic developers. This new initiative will also be a topic of conversation at the upcoming Branchfood Community Table gathering Sept. 3.

Abda noted that the site will serve a wide range of people in the Boston community, bringing consumer awareness to local businesses while simultaneously helping those who value local food find out about local players.

“It’s the only site where one can gain a holistic understanding of the local food ecosystem,” she said.

For example, the Support Network section will give entrepreneurs an avenue for finding food focused venture funds, consulting services, or potential business partners. Consumers looking to find locally grown producer will find links to existing resources on farms, farmer’s markets and CSAs serving the Greater Boston area. Busy professionals, meanwhile, have access to a list of food/beverage delivery services on the site, and CPG companies can locate farmers markets and retail outlets that may be interested to carry their products. Chefs, of course, will reap rewards from the resource as well: They can use it to find catering companies to work with, as well as food waste and food recovery organizations available for food pickup or drop off.

The way Branchfood sees it, Boston has the potential to be one of the strongest food systems in the country.

“The strength lies at the intersection of Boston’s proximity to local food from New England farms, patronage for supporting local, and emerging entrepreneurial initiatives dedicated to improving access, cost, health, taste, and distance to our food,” explained Abda.

But in order to get there, it will be crucial for more people in the Boston food industry to connect and collaborate—which is where the new site comes in.

Boosting the network's value

During the first stage of pulling this together, Abda says her team received feedback from about 10 local food experts, enthusiasts, and Web design/development specialists on how to improve it. They are aiming to add more functionality in the future, including sorting and filtering entries, featuring new companies and organizations that want to increase their visibility, and providing further information on each organization such business partnerships or how long they have been active. Down the road, they’re also looking at incorporate this resource organically within other existing databases, like the data available on the City of Boston Office of Food Initiatives website.

Above all, Abda emphasized that The Boston Food Network is an evolving resource. Anyone can submit suggestions to add to these lists of food startups, producers, incubators, funders and distributors. She added that Branchfood is also considering ways to incorporate suggestions a la Wikipedia, with users submitting content edits, and Branchfood reviewing/approving. Already, they’ve added Local Food Jobs section based solely on initial feedback.

“We want this resource to continue to grow and be molded by community feedback and suggestions,” she told BostInno. “This is version 1.0.”

A top priority right now, according to Abda, is working with entities like the Office of Food Initiatives to find the best ways to make this information as easily available to the public and the area's stakeholders as possible, while simultaneously enhancing the technical aspects of the site for improved user experience and interest.

Ushering In The Future

Ushering in the future

Why thermal management is critical to the evolution of LED grow lighting.

November 10, 2016
John Cafferkey

The world is undergoing a revolution in horticultural lighting that will have wide-ranging implications in terms of how and where we grow, and what crops we consume. The move from high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting to LEDs is slashing electric bills for indoor farmers. Alongside cost, the reliability and longevity have both improved, reducing maintenance requirements.

The “instant on-and-off” aspect of LEDs makes them easily integrated into automated growing cycles to maximize plant growth. And with wavelengths optimized for different crops, power usage can be reduced further. The lower heat output of LEDs means plants can be grown closer to light sources, allowing for better use of space.

Analysts LED Inside predicts the market will reach USD $500m by 2017, while WinterGreen Research sees it reaching $1.8 billion by 2021.

LED technology is likely to transform the horticultural industry

The argument for LED grow lighting is increasingly one of economy. The reduced running costs of LEDs has moved the market from high-value crops like cannabis, to lower-value fruit and vegetables, which is having a transformative effect on the industry.

LEDs allow affordable cultivation in previously inaccessible places such as tower blocks in city centres, extreme climates or areas lacking natural light such as the Arctic Circle in winter. Innovations like vertical farming, where plants are tightly stacked on floor to ceiling shelving with closely positioned LED lights, make enormous crop yields from a small footprint possible. Such techniques improve the consistency and standardization of crops while reducing pesticide use. And locating farms close to consumers cuts transport and storage costs.

The societal implications are enormous. In enabling the affordable growth of a diverse range of crops, LED technology has the potential to improve worldwide nutrition, as well as to offset food inflation as populations increase. By enabling crops to be grown close to consumers, LED technology could offset ecological and ethical issues associated with the over-farming of high-value crops (such as avocados and quinoa) within highly localized regions.

Thermal management is a critical factor in the further evolution of LED grow lights

However, LEDs do have one issue: thermal management.

The type of LEDs generally used in horticultural lighting are high-brightness LEDs (HB LEDs), between 1–5W. Although massively more thermally efficient than HIDs, most HB LEDs are still only around 40 percent efficient, so 60 percent of the energy comes out as heat rather than light. Horticultural LED modules often have hundreds of HB LEDs mounted onto a printed circuit board (PCB), creating a considerable thermal challenge. If heat isn’t removed effectively it can have a negative impact on the LEDs, reducing lifetime and light quality and ultimately leading to the LED’s failure, and the plants themselves.Another factor to improve thermal management is growers’ desire to place plants closer to the light source without heat affecting the crop, thus allowing for tighter spacing and greater economies of scale.

There are two fundamental types of thermal management — active and passive. Active thermal management uses fans and pumps to push air or liquid through the LED module. Heat is conducted into this medium (air or water) and drawn away from the LEDs where it is radiated out into the atmosphere or used to warm soil. Passive thermal management uses materials to conduct the heat away. A heatsink is a good example.

Most designers are familiar with active cooling systems. However, heat must be removed at the level of the LED chip itself. If heat is not effectively conducted away from the LED chip, the whole system will fail.

How LED heat extraction works (at the chip and board level)

An LED module will, depending on the device, generally feature either “packaged” or bare HB LED dies mounted on a PCB. To keep this simple, let’s assume the use of packaged LEDs.

A packaged HB LED cannot radiate heat directly into the air due to the surrounding encapsulant. Heat must be conducted through the bottom of the LED, - usually via a ceramic mount that is part of the HB LED ”package” – through the PCB and then out to the thermal management system.

Traditional PCBs, such as FR4, are not sufficiently thermally conductive for HB LEDs. Instead, HB LEDs are mounted onto metal-clad PCBs (MCPCBs), a PCB that incorporates a metal heat spreader. Critically, this MCPCB must also feature a dielectric (electrically isolating) layer that sits between the metal board and the circuit layer to prevent the LED shorting. This dielectric layer must be sufficiently thermally conductive to conduct heat effectively to the metal layer beneath it.

Traditionally, MCPCBs use a layer of epoxy resin between the metal base and the copper circuit as the dielectric. As resins are poor thermal conductors, the epoxy is usually laced with grains of ceramic to improve its performance. However, ceramic-loaded epoxy resin cannot achieve really good thermal conductivity because individual ceramic grains must be separated from each other by epoxy to hold the material together. As the need to remove heat increases, existing MCPCB solutions are unable to meet the challenge.

A new approach is required — one that enables MCPCBs to reach a significantly higher level of thermal conductivity.

Nanoceramics — a new approach to MCPCBs

A new approach to MCPCBs has been developed that delivers thermal performance suited to the demanding needs of horticultural lighting. This approach uses a patented electro-chemical oxidation process to convert the surface of aluminium into a nano-grain alumina (nanoceramic) dielectric layer.

The thinness of this alumina layer (10–30 microns) is critical as it creates an extremely short, uninterrupted thermal path which the heat can move quickly. This gives nanoceramic a composite thermal performance of 115 W/mK. This is much higher than anything else available.

This performance enables horticultural grow light designers to push the limits of lumen density, squeezing more light out of smaller modules. Indoor farms can be built to a higher density helping to achieve higher yields on the same footprint, ultimately driving the economies of scale that are the critical factor for this new wave of farming to fulfil its potential.

John Cafferkey is Marketing Manager at Cambridge Nanotherm, an innovative company employing nanotech for the thermal management of LEDs headquartered in Haverhill just outside of Cambridge. John is responsible for developing and communicating Cambridge Nanotherm’s proposition to global LED manufacturers and designers. 

USA Subterranean Farm

USA Subterranean Farm

• Published on July 6, 2015

Glenn Behrman

FollowingUnfollowGlenn Behrman

CEA Advisors,GreenTech Agro LLC, Developers of The Growtainer™ & Growrack™. Indoor Farming Experienced Professional

About two years ago, before I was really ready, I proposed the development of a subterranean indoor farm in a major metropolitan area in the mid-western United States.With a population of 2.75 million, access to four major highways and a food deficit over 2 billion dollars per year, this was and still is an excellent opportunity.

Although I've been in the horticulture industry for almost 45 years, two years ago I was still connecting the dots and certainly didn't know then what I know now about indoor farming, controlled environment agriculture and technology based production but my proposal was well received by the local and state government officials that I came in contact with and they were behind the project 100%. The city and state offered substantial assistance, including access to various economic incentives, a preferred "local grown" purchasing initiative and assistance with developing strategic relationships with C level executives at local Fortune 500 businesses, local hospitals and universities, non-profits, schools, etc.

Since that time I've developed and nurtured relationships with the right people, further evaluated the site that I have in mind, met with the leasing people and found a subterranean site that is affordable, has a great infrastructure in place and is guaranteed to be front page news for a number of reasons.

Fast forward to today: Now I've spent the past four years laser focused on indoor farming, learning a lot from a lot of really qualified people. I've designed, built and operate two successful container based indoor farms, picked the brains of the most knowledgeable people in the industry, established a network of experts in every necessary component and facet of indoor production, spent 1000's of hours focused on site design, automation, production, technology and economics and now I'm ready to pull the trigger on the development of the most unique state of the art indoor farm in the world.

Fast Forward to November 2016. I'll be in Kansas City next week for the kick off of this fantastic project. Watch as it unfolds.... gb@cea-advisors.com

Indoor Farm Taps Technology To Grow Leafy Greens

Drawing from his background as an electrical engineer, Steve Fambro, founder and chief executive officer of Oceanside, Calif.-based Famgro Farms, has tried to eliminate as much variability in leafy green production as possible.

Steve Fambro has drawn from his electrical engineering background to take a systems approach to producing leafy greens indoors

The result is an indoor technological platform that optimizes crop production by trying to provide all of the plants’ needs in terms of lighting, nutrition, humidity, air flow and moisture.

“It uses hydroponics that we have developed and patented and it uses LEDs that we manufacture and patented, but those are just parts of the story,” Fambro said. “I don’t consider this vertical farming. Our goal is so much more.”

Instead, he thinks of it as a systems approach that meshes with his personal philosophy of providing affordable, locally grown produce.

The indoor operation consists of 10 individual farms, each about the size of a parking space that a Toyota Prius would occupy. Together, they produce leafy green yields equivalent to those from 5 to 10 acres of open fields, Fambro said.

The farm grows myriad leafy greens, ranging from its signature sweet kale to microgreens and herbs.

The kale, marketed under Famgro Farms' own label, is touted as having a buttery texture that eats more like lettuce.

“It’s not unlike Kobe beef,” Fambro said of its tenderness.

Although the operation does produce kale microgreens, its forte is full-grown leaves.

“The reason for that is chefs like the savoy, bumpy leaves and they can plate it in different ways,” he said.

For each crop, the company has developed a specific production system that caters to that plant’s individual needs.

The kale crop, for example, spends just 15 days as seedlings and another 15 days in the farm under intense lighting before harvest.

All of the crops are grown in an enclosed building designed to exclude insects, weeds and diseases. Sanitary procedures along the way help to minimize pathogens.

As a result, Fambro said they don’t use any pesticides.

In addition, he uses no animal-based nutrients.

Under the National Organic Program, producers can use 37 different pesticides, bone meal, fish emulsions and manure-based composts while maintaining their organic certification.

Famgro’s crops are not certified organic, partly because portions of the program conflict with his philosophy and partly because of food safety concerns.

Take fish emulsions, for example.

“We have no idea if it’s old-growth fish that are brimming with mercury,” he said. “There are no standards of any kind of how those fish are acquired or rendered into fish emulsions.”

Using animal-based products also introduces a second life form into the plant production system, complicating food safety, Fambro said.

In addition, using a vegan-based production system allows the company to market to consumers who for personal or religious reasons oppose killing animals.

As with every crop grown, each step along the way is entered into the computer and tied to a batch number. Not only does this provide for traceability, but it also allows the operation to improve the growing process, Fambro said.

If a propagator, for example, isn’t doing his or her job and yields suffer, the cause can be traced back.

Having all of the data at the touch of a computer also allows the company to schedule production just in time to meet customers’ orders.

Famgro sells to individual local retailers, Whole Foods in Southern California and foodservice as well as through wholesaler LA & SF Specialty, Los Angeles