The BCFN Foundation Presents The Food Sustainability Index in Brussels

The BCFN Foundation Presents The Food Sustainability Index in Brussels

This afternoon the BCFN Foundation will be at the seat of the European Parliament in Brussels to present the Food Sustainability Index, developed in conjunction with the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The Food Sustainability Index examines data relating to 25 countries and 16 cities, by means of a white paper, a city monitor, a series of infographics and a digital hub.

The aim is to promote better information on the global food paradoxes, in relation to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. An opportunity to discuss food waste, sustainable agriculture and nutrition challenges while highlighting best practices and concrete solutions which can help to reset the relationship between food, people and the planet.

Contributors

Luca Virginio - Vice Chairman, BCFN Foundation
Irene Mia - Economist Intelligence Unit
Angelo Riccaboni - Member of the Leadership Council of the UN SDSN, Coordinator of SDSN Mediterranean and BCFN Advisory Board member
Sirpa Pietikäinen - European People’s Party (EPP), Finland
Francesca Allievi – BCFN researcher and President of BCFN Alumni Association

Jacques Vandenschrik - European Federation of Food Banks
Angélique Delahaye - EPP, France

Matthias Meissner - WWF, Germany
Katarzyna Dembska - BCFN Researcher
Roberto Bertollini - Robert Bosch Academy

News From The Open Agriculture Initiative

The Food Computer is a controlled-environment agriculture technology platform that uses robotic systems to control and monitor climate, energy, and plant growth inside of a specialized growing chamber. Climate variables such as carbon dioxide, air temperature, humidity, dissolved oxygen, potential hydrogen, electrical conductivity, and root-zone temperature are among the many conditions that can be controlled and monitored within the growing chamber. Operational energy, water, and mineral consumption are monitored (and adjusted) through electrical meters, flow sensors, and controllable chemical dosers throughout the growth period.

Each specific set of conditions can be thought of as a climate recipe, and each recipe produces unique results in the phenotypes of the plants. Plants grown under different conditions may vary in color, size, texture growth rate, yield, flavor, and nutrient density. Food Computers can even program biotic and abiotic stresses, such as an induced drought, to create desired plant-based expressions.

Food Computers can be made in a variety of sizes, for production and experimentation on a wide range of scales.

Personal Food Computer – this tabletop-sized unit will draw makers, hobbyists, and schools that are interested in learning and teaching about food production. These small-scale environments are great for experimentation and for learning about biology, botany, environment, programming, engineering, and more.

Food Server – the size of a standard shipping container, these mid-sized units will appeal to interdisciplinary researchers and small-scale cafeterias, restaurants, and boutique operators. They will allow small scale producers to grown on-site and offer some of the freshest food options possible.

Food Datacenter – while still in the development phase, we hope to expand our technology to control the environments within warehouse sized units capable of industrial production. These units will likely be subdivided in order to grow many different types of crops, all under their ideal growing conditions.

The technology for controlling the environments inside of different sized units may vary, but once the hardware is established, the internal environments, or climate recipes, can be scaled up instantly.

The Global Food Innovation Summit

Eat Better, Eat Less, Food For All: Barilla Center International Forum

Innovation, Farming, World

1 December 2016

Eat Better, Eat Less, Food For All: Barilla Center International Forum

At the 2016 BCFN Forum, the conversation will focus on developing a food model that protects the health of individuals, communities, and the planet.

Greetings from Milan!
The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition's (BCFN) Seventh International Forum on Food and Nutrition takes place in Milan December 1st. The Forum will focus on the major global themes and challenges included in the Milan Protocol, established in 2013. 

Watch live now from Milan on www.foodtank.com and join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook using #BCFNForum.

The Milan Protocol sets three objectives: to promote healthy lifestyles and fight obesity, to promote sustainable agriculture, and to reduce food waste by 50 percent by the year 2050. And BCFN invites experts, opinion makers, and young researchers to come together for this interdisciplinary event to share findings, scientific data, and best practices to meet the United Nations Global Goals for food and agriculture-related issues.

The theme of the Forum is “Eat Better, Eat Less, Food For All,” and will bring together researchers, civil society, and policymakers to discuss the future of the food system. The conversation will focus on developing a food model that protects the health of individuals, communities, and the planet through practical proposals and effective measures to tackle hunger and obesity, the use of natural resources, food waste, the environmental impact of agricultural production, and climate change.

The Forum will also include a ceremony to announce the winners of the BCFN YES! Award. The BCFN Young Earth Solutions! (YES!) program was established in 2012 to encourage young people—specifically, university students under the age of 35—to develop innovative solutions to problems within the global food system. This year’s finalists hail from eleven different countries around the world, including Colombia, Cuba, Brazil, Taiwan, Mexico, Uganda, Jamaica, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Benin, and cover topics ranging from electronic management of beehives to the potential of edible insects to control food production.

Last year, the award went two projects. Nadia Ndum Foy and Oko Archibong Ukeme won for their work empowering minority Mbororo women in Cameroon through developing eco-friendly gardening systems. “With firsthand understanding of the plights of the deprived, we are driven by a belief that nobody, regardless of social status needs to suffer food deprivation.” Francesca Recanati of Milan, Italy also won for her work on strategies for productive conservation to fight deforestation and support local farmers. 

Luca Virginio, Director of External Relations at BCFN said of BCFN YES! program, "To me, food heroes are all the young researchers and activists who are working hard to build a better food system—and there are many out there! We need to celebrate and encourage their commitment and energy."

The 2016 Forum is open to the public, and visitors can attend the daylong event and listen in on debates and round tables for free. BCFN will also live stream the event on its website, the BCFN Facebook page, as well as the Food Tank website.

The Forum will also introduce the Food Sustainability Index and report, "Fixing Food." The Index, written in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit provides a ranking of 25 countries across the three pillars of the Milan Protocol: sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and food waste. “Fixing Food” analyzes the findings of the Index and features interviews with experts and leaders from across the food system. 

Speakers and panelists include Food Tank Advisory Group Members David Katz, Founding Director, Yale University Prevention Research Center and Hans Herren, President and CEO of the Millennium Institute.

The Forum also features the following speakers and panels:

• Stefano Zamagni, Adjunct Professor, Johns Hopkins University, SAIS Europe and Member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences delivers the opening keynote address, “The call for an integral ecology and food systems sustainability: suggestions for action.”
• Livia Pomodoro, Chairman Milan Center for Food Law & Policy will dive into “Food & Rules.”
• Kanayo F. Nwanze, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) President, will discuss “Sustainable Food Systems: What needs to change.”
• Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Earth Institute, Columbia University and Director, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, will outline a “2017 Outlook in the framework of Sustainable Development Goals.”
• David Eisenberg, Adjunct Associate Professor of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan. School of Public Health – Director Culinary Nutrition, will discuss “Teaching kitchens as catalysts of personal and social change.”
• Elizabeth Rasmusson, Assistant Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme

For more information please visit The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition website.

How Machine Learning And Big Data Are Driving Progress In Indoor Agriculture

How Machine Learning and Big Data Are Driving Progress in Indoor Agriculture

DECEMBER 5, 2016 MALIKA CANTOR AND MICKI SEIBEL

Editor’s Note: Malika Cantor is a partner at Comet Labs, a venture capital firm and research lab focused on artificial intelligence, and Micki Seibel is head of product at Orange Silicon Valley, part of French telecommunications giant Orange. The two organizations recently partnered on the publication of a report entitled: Bringing Digital Intelligence to Indoor Farming — urban agriculture in the age of AI.

Here Cantor and Seibel write about some of the report’s key takeaways and data points.

Since 2013, the number of new indoor agriculture facilities in the United States and Canada has risen sharply as the cost to build and operate them has decreased. These operations are not your father’s greenhouse. This indoor ag is highly automated and data intensive. It is more akin to manufacturing than farming, and it has an important role to play in our food system. Growing more nutritious food closer to the point of consumption is something for which most consumers are willing to pay a premium. With global warming, it’s imperative.

Consumers want it. The environment needs it. So our teams at Orange Silicon Valley and Comet Labs have set out to investigate the technology stack for next generation Indoor Agriculture.

The ability to move crops into controlled indoor environments means that food can be grown independent of arable land. Around 90% of leafy greens in North America are grown in California and Arizona, but 75% of the North American population lives east of the Rocky Mountains. In the United States and Canada, the average leafy green travels more than 2,000 miles (3,200km) before it is consumed.

The advantages that indoor agriculture brings to food production are enormous:

• Uses less water
• Uses fewer pesticides or none at all
• Year-round production
• Ability to move production closer to the point of consumption
• Opportunity to drop genetic traits focused on outdoors — pest resistance, drought tolerance, etc. — in favor of traits for nutrient density and flavor.
• Higher nutrient density and less food spoilage due to shorter distance traveled
• Opportunity to broaden the crop portfolio as economies of scale are reached with current crops -(mostly leafy greens, cannabis, and vine crops like tomatoes).

To make indoor agriculture economically viable, technological innovation is needed. We developed an 8-part technology stack to identify opportunities. It spans the type of structure at the bottom (i.e. greenhouses that uses some ambient light from an outside or fully enclosed structure, such as a building) to the intelligence layer gleaned from massive data sets at the top. We divided the stack into CAPEX (the one-time capital expenditures) and OPEX (the ongoing operating costs).

Advances in intelligent machine infrastructure –- namely the development of cheaper electronics and sensors collecting new data sets, as well as faster computing power and new algorithms –- have laid the foundation for a supplementary source of agriculture. In the indoor controlled context, the farmer works with all sorts of autonomous systems to optimize for nutrition, flavor, and yield given the smaller, more isolated environment. Robots assist with many functions like planting, optimizing fertilizer distribution, identifying and eliminating seedlings that need to be terminated, and the picking, cleaning, packaging, and transportation of crops. These autonomous systems are particularly efficient because they act on data and insights derived from the sensors deployed in the indoor environment that are more effective than in an unpredictable outdoor setting.

How does it work? First, distinct sensors collect different data sets. For instance, a camera collects high-quality pictures of the crop over time that are fed to computer vision analysis software to collect information about the color, shape, and size of the crop. In parallel, a sensor measures relative humidity levels around the crop over time. Finally, a machine learning model is built by fusing the separate datasets (even including external datasets of consumer preferences collected by a retailer) with time as the primary variable. All of these “events” are logged by the model that begins to learn the optimal conditions under which to grow a certain type of crop that the farmer can use. For example, the farmer might learn that when the crop turned a certain color, the humidity levels were particularly low, so a specific amount of water is added to yield a more healthy, dark green, and tasty head of lettuce.

We should emphasize that machine learning does not result in the automation of the farmer’s job. On the contrary, the farmer spends less time guessing things that are best assessed by an intelligent machine and more time identifying new ways to produce cost-effective, nutritious, and sustainable crops.

While all of these advances have enabled us to get this far, there is still a long way to go. At Orange Silicon Valley and Comet Labs we are particularly excited about entrepreneurial developments around cheaper artificial lighting. We are also looking forward to the increased modularity and adaptability of indoor agriculture systems, with the view of empowering more people to grow more nutritious and sustainable food.

On a global scale, the indoor growing industry is developing at a revolutionary pace. Following Japan and The Netherlands that have well developed indoor growing industries, a nascent industry is forming in North America. The CAPEX and OPEX of growing indoors is decreasing, and opportunities exist along the entirety of the technology stack. Although growing indoors may never meet cost parity with outdoor growing and will surely never replace it, we don’t think those are the objectives. Rather, in a world of global warming, moving some crops indoors decreases pressure from ever shrinking arable land, allowing the opportunity to grow more nutritious food and create jobs closer to where consumers live: in urban environments.

To read the full report, click here.

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AGLANTA '17: Where Growing Opportunity Meets Thriving Community

Where Growing Opportunity Meets Thriving Community:

There is no better time to invest in urban agriculture in Atlanta. The alignment of City leadership, opportunities for entrepreneurs, and industry partners make establishing agtech opportunities in Atlanta sustainable on every level. The inaugural AGLANTA conference will focus on Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) workshops that will help you plan your new urban agriculture business or scale your current operations. City leaders and industry advocates will speak, young entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas, and a curated exhibit of technologies will inspire and inform participants. 

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A Sunny Solution To The Problem Of Food Waste

A Sunny Solution To the Problem of Food Waste

KinoSol harnesses the sun to create dried fruits, vegetables, and other items.

DEC 1, 2016

Sarah McColl has written for Yahoo Food, Bon Appétit, and other publications. She's based in Brooklyn, New York.

What’s it like to launch a social enterprise start-up during your senior year in college? Ask Mikayla Sullivan, a global resources major at Iowa State University, who is part of a four-person team that has logged thousands of miles and as many hours working on a way to feed the one in nine people around the globe who suffer from chronic undernourishment.

“There are a lot of late nights,” she said, “and sometimes not a lot of sleep.”

This is not your average all-nighter; coffee helps, but so do international accolades. In November, the students won $35,000 in the Global Citizen Waislitz Award for the KinoSol, a food dehydrator that could provide a promising solution for the postharvest losses they saw traveling in places such as India, Ghana, and El Salvador.

“We already make enough food to feed everyone,” Sullivan said. “We wanted to focus on the food that’s already being produced.”

More than 40 percent of food loss in developing countries happens at the postharvest and processing stage—during drying, storage, processing, and in transportation—according to the FAO. In many communities, the team has observed that there’s sufficient food, but without refrigeration or storage, no means to make it last.

“People could not consume it fast enough, especially fruits and vegetables. So much of it was going to waste,” Sullivan said.

Her team’s solution is both low-cost and low-tech, and when she says it’s solar-powered, she doesn’t mean panels. The lightweight dehydrator looks a bit like a cupcake stand and functions like a mini greenhouse. Using the sun’s rays and air circulation in a process of natural convection, the collapsible design can dry fruits and vegetables in about six to eight hours. It can also dehydrate insects, beans, and grains, and features a storage compartment.

Right now, the KinoSol costs $250, though the team is hoping to bring that down, and it could be shared by a number of families. The team is collecting field data from NGOs, churches, and aid organization partners in Uganda, El Salvador, Haiti, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia, the U.S Virgin Islands, Brazil, South Africa, and Japan. They plan to have a fully functioning prototype by the beginning of 2017 based on survey responses and dehydration data sheets filled out with vital information: the communities where the units are being used, the kinds of foods being dehydrated, how efficient the unit was, and what those using the device would change. The goal is to help the KinoSol team identify any local adaptations that need to be made—such as increasing or decreasing air flow, or modifying the size of the storage compartment.

The Driest Way to Reduce Food Waste Also Happens to Be Delicious

“We understand climates and environments are so different around the world, it’s not necessarily a one-size-fits-all solution,” Sullivan said. “We really want it to be region-specific and meet the needs the communities have.” Nor does the team want to thrust the technology on people who have no use for it.

“That’s important to us—that we’re working with organizations that are focused on sustainable development,” she said—improving communities by addressing their needs and following their lead. It had not occurred to the team, for example, that they could dry spices and flowers in the unit, or that dehydrated insects would be so popular, Sullivan said.

While dried foods are common, they’re not always widespread in every region where KinoSol is being tested, Sullivan said. That has meant adding an additional educational component in places such as South America, to emphasize the nutritional benefits for children in particular when they consume more fruits and vegetables.

Development of the units was going so well, friends and family of team KinoSol asked about a dehydrator of their own. Stateside, we have our own food waste problems, though they look slightly different. More than 40 percent of food loss in in industrialized countries occurs at the retail and consumer level. The 222 million tonswe toss annually is nearly equivalent to the total net food production of sub-Saharan Africa, according to the FAO.

Now in its third iteration, the consumer model looks more like a toaster oven and will also work with the sun’s rays. The team imagines it could be hung from a window or porch, or placed on a roof or porch. The Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for research and development for that model ended on Nov. 18 and will allow them to optimize the dehydrator for domestic use.

“Our units that we’ve designed for developing countries function extremely well along the equator, but there you have 12 hours of sunshine pretty much all year round,” Sullivan said. “In the U.S., in Iowa, we still have those cold days and less direct sun, so that’s one of the things we’re trying to figure out.”

Hence the late night and the little sleep—though Sullivan is happy to invest in a project that could provide not only a post-graduation livelihood for her but a change in the way developing nations are able to preserve the food people labor hard to sow, cultivate, and harvest.

“I think what we’ve all kind of realized is that what we’re working on could have a really big impact,” she said. “At least we’re hopeful that it will.”

Eat Better, Eat Less, Food For All: Barilla Center International Forum

1 December 2016

Eat Better, Eat Less, Food For All: Barilla Center International Forum

At the 2016 BCFN Forum, the conversation will focus on developing a food model that protects the health of individuals, communities, and the planet.

Greetings from Milan!
The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition's (BCFN) Seventh International Forum on Food and Nutrition takes place in Milan December 1st. The Forum will focus on the major global themes and challenges included in the Milan Protocol, established in 2013. 

Watch live now from Milan on www.foodtank.com and join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook using #BCFNForum.

The Milan Protocol sets three objectives: to promote healthy lifestyles and fight obesity, to promote sustainable agriculture, and to reduce food waste by 50 percent by the year 2050. And BCFN invites experts, opinion makers, and young researchers to come together for this interdisciplinary event to share findings, scientific data, and best practices to meet the United Nations Global Goals for food and agriculture-related issues.

The theme of the Forum is “Eat Better, Eat Less, Food For All,” and will bring together researchers, civil society, and policymakers to discuss the future of the food system. The conversation will focus on developing a food model that protects the health of individuals, communities, and the planet through practical proposals and effective measures to tackle hunger and obesity, the use of natural resources, food waste, the environmental impact of agricultural production, and climate change.

The Forum will also include a ceremony to announce the winners of the BCFN YES! Award. The BCFN Young Earth Solutions! (YES!) program was established in 2012 to encourage young people—specifically, university students under the age of 35—to develop innovative solutions to problems within the global food system. This year’s finalists hail from eleven different countries around the world, including Colombia, Cuba, Brazil, Taiwan, Mexico, Uganda, Jamaica, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Benin, and cover topics ranging from electronic management of beehives to the potential of edible insects to control food production.

Last year, the award went two projects. Nadia Ndum Foy and Oko Archibong Ukeme won for their work empowering minority Mbororo women in Cameroon through developing eco-friendly gardening systems. “With firsthand understanding of the plights of the deprived, we are driven by a belief that nobody, regardless of social status needs to suffer food deprivation.” Francesca Recanati of Milan, Italy also won for her work on strategies for productive conservation to fight deforestation and support local farmers. 

Luca Virginio, Director of External Relations at BCFN said of BCFN YES! program, "To me, food heroes are all the young researchers and activists who are working hard to build a better food system—and there are many out there! We need to celebrate and encourage their commitment and energy."

The 2016 Forum is open to the public, and visitors can attend the daylong event and listen in on debates and round tables for free. BCFN will also live stream the event on its website, the BCFN Facebook page, as well as the Food Tank website.

The Forum will also introduce the Food Sustainability Index and report, "Fixing Food." The Index, written in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit provides a ranking of 25 countries across the three pillars of the Milan Protocol: sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and food waste. “Fixing Food” analyzes the findings of the Index and features interviews with experts and leaders from across the food system. 

Speakers and panelists include Food Tank Advisory Group Members David Katz, Founding Director, Yale University Prevention Research Center and Hans Herren, President and CEO of the Millennium Institute.

The Forum also features the following speakers and panels:

• Stefano Zamagni, Adjunct Professor, Johns Hopkins University, SAIS Europe and Member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences delivers the opening keynote address, “The call for an integral ecology and food systems sustainability: suggestions for action.”
• Livia Pomodoro, Chairman Milan Center for Food Law & Policy will dive into “Food & Rules.”
• Kanayo F. Nwanze, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) President, will discuss “Sustainable Food Systems: What needs to change.”
• Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Earth Institute, Columbia University and Director, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, will outline a “2017 Outlook in the framework of Sustainable Development Goals.”
• David Eisenberg, Adjunct Associate Professor of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan. School of Public Health – Director Culinary Nutrition, will discuss “Teaching kitchens as catalysts of personal and social change.”
• Elizabeth Rasmusson, Assistant Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme

For more information please visit The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition website.

The BCFN Reveals The Results Of The Food Sustainability Index (FSI)

1 Dec 2016

The BCFN Reveals The Results Of The Food Sustainability Index 

France, Japan and Canada: the countries where people eat best around the world. 
Italy comes sixth.
India and Saudi Arabia face the greatest food challenges.

• Taste is not the only thing that makes food “good ”
• The Barilla Foundation, in collaboration with The Economist Intelligence Unit, publishes a new Index measuring the sustainability of the food system focused around three pillars: nutrition, agriculture and food waste. 
• France leads the index, followed by Japan and Canada.
• Italy is in sixth position: it has the lowest greenhouse emissions from agriculture in Europe. Its principle challenges relate to over-nutrition; childhood obesity, in particular, is a growing problem.
• India, Nigeria and Ethiopia face significant nutritional challenges, while the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the USA have the highest levels of obesity and food waste per person.
• City Monitor: an Index for the world’s biggest cities is coming soon. 

Milan, 1 December 2016 – France, followed by Japan and Canada are the top three countries in a new index measuring food and nutrition sustainability across 25 countries, representing two thirds of the world’s population and 87% of global GDP. These three nations achieved the best scores for the production, distribution and consumption of food. Their agriculture is the most sustainable, food waste is lowest (including thanks to innovative policies to combat food) and where diets are the most balanced, without excesses or deficiencies, mindful of people’s health and the planet’s wellbeing. France takes first place above in part due to its innovative policies to fight food waste and the balanced diets of its population. Japan and Canada come second and third by virtue of their policies regarding sustainable agriculture and the widespread adoption of healthy balanced diets. 

Countries that score lowest are India, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and India and Egypt face a double challenge of obesity and malnutrition. Their use of resources (especially water) is also considered unsustainable, and they are losing food at the pre-consumer level. India is in last place in part because of its unsustainable management of water resources and the inadequacies in Indian people’s diets: it has the highest percentage of malnutrition among children aged under 5 years. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are 24th and 23rd in the ranking respectively, largely due to their excessive food waste and high levels of obesity.

The Food Sustainability Index (FSI) was, commissioned by the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (BCFN) Foundation and carried out by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) – the research arm of The Economist Group. It is the only index of its kind and revolutionises the way we look at food. For the first time, it provides an analysis of the world’s food choices not simply based on “taste”, but also on the overall sustainability of the food system . This in-depth analysis culminated in a ranking of countries around the world which the food system is most sustainable based on 58 criteria across three pillars: sustainable agriculture, nutritional challenges and food waste. The objectives of the FSI are to highlight the performance of various countries, establish comparable measurement criteria, provide examples of best practice and measure progress over time. 

“The slogan chosen for this BCFN Forum is ‘Eat Better. Eat Less. Food for All’ because it epitomises our view extremely concisely: if we eat better, not only will our health benefit as a result, but so will the wellbeing of the planet,” explains Guido Barilla, BCFN President. “The Food Sustainability Index will help us to understand where people eat the best around the world, not in terms of how good something tastes, but in terms of the sustainability of the food system, helping researchers and decision makers to understand where to focus research and policy choices.” "In my view, Italian food is the best in the world in terms of taste, but in terms of the food system, even though we are quite high up, we still need to do better,” concludes Barilla.

Italy ranks sixth: the best EU country for greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector, but childhood obesity is a problem
Our country ranks a respectable sixth place, and is among the top 10 countries for sustainable agriculture – with positive scores for diversification in agriculture and management of water resources – and it is the best European country when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions in the agriculture sector. Moreover, Italy is one of the leading countries in the fight against food waste, as shown by the law passed in August (along with France, Italy is one of the few countries to have passed a law to tackle this problem).

Nutritional outcomes are less positive. We eat too much: our country comes third last in the ranking for overnourishment and second last for the proportion of overweight and obese children aged between 2 and 18 years. We score positively, however, on how well-informed Italian citizens are on the importance of having a balanced and healthy diet, such as our Mediterranean diet. And yet, just as the rest of the world acknowledges this diet as the best in the world, data shows that Italians themselves are abandoning it, especially among the younger generations.

Germany, Canada and Japan: the best countries for the development and promotion of sustainable agriculture
It is estimated that the global population will grow to 8.1 billion people by 2025, and that 95% of this growth will take place in developing countries. Meanwhile, our planet’s cultivable land is becoming increasingly scarce. Satisfying the global need for food means reducing waste, developing more sustainable production methods and techniques, improving the efficiency of the food system and making considered and careful choices about the use of land. 
The three countries with the most sustainable agriculture sector in the Food Sustainability Index are Germany, Canada and Japan. Germany takes first place for sustainable agriculture, with excellent results in the management of water resources and the relatively low use of pesticides and fertilisers. Canada comes in second thanks to the high scores it achieved in the quality of its subsidies, the diversification of agricultural production and high productivity levels. 
At the other end of the scale are India, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. The United Arab Emirates suffer from scarce water resources, low levels of environmental biodiversity and a significant environmental impact of agriculture on the soil. The biggest challenges for India include improving the management of water and finding a solution to the negative impact of agriculture on water resources.

Nutritional challenges: France, Japan and South Korea lead the index, while India, Nigeria and South Africa score lowest.
Today, 795 million people around the world are undernourished, while 2.1 billion people are obese or overweight, and these figures continue to grow. The world is now faced with two key nutritional challenges: solving the problem of hunger and malnutrition around the world and at the same time tackling the increase in the numbers of overweight and obese people. Both of these factors have long-term consequences such as higher costs for health services, but also mortality, life chances and economic productivity. 

France, Japan and South Korea are at the top of the FSI for nutrition quality. France owes its high ranking to the quality of policy response to dietary patterns, such as tax on sugar in drinks. On the other hand, the countries which face the biggest nutritional challenges are India, Nigeria and South Africa. India is in last place mainly because of the inadequate diet of large sections of its population, with extremely high levels of malnutrition, while South Africa has seen a significant increase in the consumption of junk food along with continued challenges of under-nourishment among the poor. But while poorer countries try to combat hunger and malnutrition, rich countries are seeing an increase in the number of overweight and obese people. Indeed, on a global level, the number of overweight people has tripled since 1965. More specifically, there has been an increase from 3.2% to 10.8% among men and from 6.4% to 14.9% among women. This situation could also be duplicated in developing countries which are going through what is defined as “premature obesity”: here the percentage of overweight children and teenagers has risen from 8.1% to 12.9% among boys and 8.4% to 13.4% among girls. Indeed, obesity rates are constantly increasing in developing countries, especially in the smaller nations, even though hunger continues to be a very real problem. There is where the two issues – obesity and malnutrition – collide, with a significant increase in illnesses connected to obesity such as Type 2 diabetes, strokes and cancer. 
The United Arab Emirates is currently ranked last for overweight and obesity, followed by Saudi Arabia and the USA. In the United Arab Emirates, 74% of the population is obese or overweight (BMI above 25), followed by Saudi Arabia (69.6%) and the USA (67.3%).

The FSI also highlights the frequent micronutrient deficiencies in medium and high income countries. Turkey, Mexico, Argentina, Russia and Brazil are in the last eight places for micronutrient deficiencies, even ranking behind lower income countries (such as South Africa, China, Indonesia and Colombia). Even Italy, Australia and Germany rank below poorer countries when it comes to iodine deficiencies. The problem of micronutrient deficiencies is currently underestimated, despite being responsible for a series of conditions such as anaemia, stunted growth and night blindness.

France, Australia and South Africa are adopting the most innovative solutions to tackle food waste (but Italy is also one of the best) 
France’s top ranking on food waste was achieved thanks to its holistic approach based on food education and new commercial practices. Italy is also in the top ten for providing incentives to companies and producers which donate food to those who need it most. This is a simple but innovative idea which could be copied in other countries looking to tackle the problem of food waste. 
According to the World Wildlife Fund, a third of all food produced is wasted (1.3 billion tonnes of food either goes bad in storage, is lost or becomes inedible during distribution, or is thrown away by retail food stores, restaurants and kitchens). This represent around four times the quantity of food needed to feed the 800 million people around the world who do not have enough to eat.
Developed countries produce huge quantities of waste, mainly due to the fact that food is relatively cheap. Every year, the USA throws away around 46 million tonnes of food, with an average of around 40% represented by household waste. Europe ranks slightly better: according to data from the FAO, the food wasted in our continent could feed around 200 million people. However, food waste is also a problem in developing countries: in low and medium income countries, food represents a higher percentage of household expenditure, but in this case, food waste is lower. 
The countries where the most food is wasted are Saudi Arabia (427kg per person per year), Indonesia (300kg), USA (277kg) and the United Arab Emirates (169kg).

An index for the world’s biggest cities is on its way
The Economist Intelligence Unit, in collaboration with the BCFN Foundation, has also launched a new pilot project looking at the urban food system, called City Monitor. This new index is intended to identify a series of indicators in order to understand the dynamics of the urban food system by evaluating data and consumption habits. In the initial stage, the 16 cities chosen were selected on the basis of their geographical location, the availability of data and their efforts to implement a sustainable food policy. The cities are: London, Milan, Paris, Toronto, Belo Horizonte, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Kyoto, Mexico City, Berlin, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Dubai, San Francisco, Lagos and Mumbai. 

A prize for highlighting food paradoxes: the Food Sustainability Media Award is here
During the 7th International Forum, in order to keep the paradoxes in our food system in the global spotlight, the BCFN Foundation presented the Food Sustainability Media Award – an international journalism competition, created in collaboration with the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The objective is to raise awareness among the media of the key global issues regarding food, including food waste, climate change and the rights of farmers. The competition has three different journalism categories – written reports, video accounts and photography – and the winners will be those who are best able to highlight the food paradoxes as well as offering solutions on how to combat them.

PRESS OFFICE CONTACTS

Luca Di Leo, Head of Media Relations, luca.dileo@barilla.com, +39 0521 2621
Caterina Grossi, Media Relations Manager, caterina.grossi@barillacfn.com, +39 0521 2621

BCFN PRESS OFFICE c/o INC ISTITUTO NAZIONALE PER LA COMUNICAZIONE

Simone Silvi, Senior Account Media Relations, s.silvi@inc-comunicazione.it, +39 335.10.97.279
Francesca Riccardi, Media Relations Consultant, f.riccardi@inc-comunicazione.it, +39 335.72.51.741

About the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition Foundation
The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) Foundation is a think-tank, founded in 2009, with the aim of analysing themes linked to food and nutrition globally. Through a multidisciplinary approach, BCFN analyses the cause and effect relationships between food and economic, scientific, social and environmental factors. For more information: For more information: www.barillacfn.com; www.protocollodimilano.it

Why Grocery Retailers Are Embracing Rooftop Gardens

FEATURE

Why Grocery Retailers Are Embracing Rooftop Gardens

Stores redefine hyperlocal by growing produce on the premises

AUTHOR:  Keith Loria

PUBLISHED: Dec. 1, 2016

The food industry as a whole is in the midst of a shift from unhealthy processed foods to organic, local and all natural foods. Buying local is one of the biggest trends, as more consumers want to ensure that the produce they  are purchasing and feeding to their families is grown nearby. 

This consumer behavior has led to an influx of urban greenhouses, rooftop gardens and hydroponic operations. Businesses and retailers are getting the message loud and clear: people prefer to buy foods from their own communities — even if it means spending a little more.

Daniel Levine, director of consumer trends consultancy Avant-Guide Institute, noted the trend is so pervasive that edible gardens are sprouting up at baseball fields like AT&T Park in San Francisco. Beehives are also being placed on roofs of hotels and other buildings in cities around the world, and urban rooftop algae farms in Bangkok are experimenting with growing edible items like spirulina seaweed.

“The trend for all things ‘hyper local’ is heating up. Consumers perceive that food grown locally is fresher, healthier and better for the environment,” Levine told Food Dive in an email. “People view it as healthier because they can actually see where it was grown. Fresher because, well, it can literally be consumed the day it was picked. And better for the environment because it doesn't require excessive transportation or packaging to get from farm to table.”

Store to table?

Ken VandeVrede, chief operating officer of Edible Garden, a family of co-op local growers across the United States whose farmers specialize in fresh, hydroponic produce and offer consumers safe, nutrient-rich herbs and leafy greens directly in the supermarket, noted local is getting closer and closer to home.

“Edible Garden grows fresh and local produce for supermarkets, and we find that a major component to our success is the fact that our produce is grown just a short distance from the stores that we ship to,” VandeVrede told Food Dive. “Local produce has nothing but benefits for consumers. Produce grown locally guarantees that the product is fresh, it wasn’t grown in a different country, and that it hasn’t been sitting on a truck for a week. Would you rather buy produce shipped in from Mexico, or produce that was grown at or near the location you are buying it?”

Some innovative grocery retailers are taking things one step further and are growing produce in their own stores— or in the case of Whole Foods Market and its Gowanus Brooklyn store, growing it on the roof.

Designed and operated by Gotham Greens in 2013, the store's rooftop greenhouse features more than 20,000 square feet of space and grows approximately 250,000 pounds of fresh leafy greens, herbs and tomatoes each year.

A spokesperson for Gotham Greens said the partnership with Whole Foods Market was a perfect match for the company based on the retailer's unparalleled leadership and commitment to promoting local, healthy and sustainably produced food.

Levine said rooftop gardens are shining in their moment in the sun, and that retailers need to be on-trend to attract customers and keep a step ahead of their competition.

“Today’s grocers, once again led by Whole Foods, are enthusiastically embracing the hyper-local trend as a point of differentiation,” he said. “At the same time, the best ones are solidifying their position as integral members of their communities by inviting customers to learn about the how’s and why’s of urban farming.”

Considering the long journey that most fresh produce has to get to the store and the high level of spoilage, shrinkage and waste in retail produce departments, growing at least some of the food right on the sales floor might be a better option for both the store and its customers.

Recently, Target announced it was researching the idea of vertical farming for some of its stores as part of its current food innovation efforts. Business Insider reported that Target hopes to grow plants and vegetables indoors in climatized conditions and sell the food from the in-store gardens to customers as early as next spring.

“We need to be able to see more effectively around corners in terms of where is the overall food and agriculture industries going domestically and globally,” Casey Carl, Target’s chief strategy and innovation officer, told Business Insider. 

What transportation costs?

By utilizing this sustainable and environmentally friendly technology, things like transportation, storage and refrigeration are no longer challenges in getting fresh produce quickly to consumers.

Whole Foods was not the first grocery store to experiment with growing produce in-store. Rouses Supermarkets' Thibodaux, LA store began a Roots on the Rooftop program in May 2012. It offered fresh-grown herbs to its customers and foodservice production areas — and also grew profits.

Rouses also appears to be the first U.S. grocer to have developed its own aeroponic urban farm on its rooftop. The vertical aeroponic tower garden utilizes water rather than soil, and allows the crops to grow up instead of out. It was developed by a former Disney greenhouse manager, and the same system is used at Disney World, Chicago O’Hare Airport and on the Manhattan rooftop of Bell Book & Candle restaurant. 

The store originally employed a local agriculture consultant to get everything set up properly. Now the store’s staff — headed up by an experienced horticulture professional and a team of associates — handle the rooftop garden. According to a company spokesperson, the Rouses team plans the farm management process from germination of the upcoming crop, planting, daily monitoring and logging of the crops progress through to the harvest cycle.

Rouses currently has alliances with a handful of other nearby hydroponic farmers who grow lettuce and herbs, saving on transportation costs. 

Earlier this year the Metro Supermarket in Berlin, Germany introduced The Infarm, a miniature greenhouse in its store that grows herbs and greens like wasabi mustard greens and mizuna. A story in Fast Co.Exist reported that the thought behind the idea was to make vertical farming and fresh produce accessible to the public by allowing shoppers to grab vegetables straight from the source. The vegetables live their entire growth cycle within the greenhouse, from seed to harvest

It’s expected that the program will expand and can be adjusted at each store to grow a variety of items, including chilis, eggplants and tomatoes.

Mary Holmes, who teaches a course called “The Future of Food” at Case Western Reserve University, located in Cleveland, Ohio, said one challenge is that many of the greenhouses and rooftop gardens won’t have enough supply to keep the large grocery stores stocked with food. However, she does feel more retailers will begin offering these products in the years ahead.

Local Roots Discloses Its Global Sustainable Indoor Farming Initiative

Local Roots Farms, the LA–based indoor farming company, will now build indoor farming projects across the country to serve its commercial customers.

Not only did we spend years trialing our technology and perfecting our growing practices but we built an actual produce business. This cross section of experience makes developing farming projects a natural advancement.”

LOS ANGELES, CA (PRWEB) NOVEMBER 29, 2016

Local Roots Farms, the LA–based indoor farming company respected for its high-quality leafy greens and innovative approach to farming, announced completion of a TerraFarm network, ready for commercial deployment in Q1 2017. After a dramatic increase in demand for their scalable indoor farming solutions, Local Roots will now build indoor farming projects across the country to serve its commercial customers.

Despite an increased desire nationwide for locally-sourced produce programs, no indoor farm has yet been able to offer the consistency, quality, and affordable price points demanded by the nation’s largest buyers. Local Roots is primed to solve these exact challenges.

“We realized that we were in a unique position,” says CEO Eric Ellestad, “Not only did we spend years trialing our technology and perfecting our growing practices but we built an actual produce business. This cross section of experience makes developing farming projects a natural advancement.”    

Local Roots designs, builds, deploys, and operates controlled environment farms that yield the highest quality, locally-grown produce using breakthrough technologies. Those farms, called TerraFarms, grow with up to 99% less water, 365 days a year, pesticide and herbicide free, and with absolute consistency in production. Their plug and play form provides a novel solution to the retail and foodservice sectors by greatly reducing supply-chain risks such as price volatility and food safety exposure.

Featuring a uniquely elegant design engineered to increase environmental control and process efficiencies, each TerraFarm is capable of growing 5-10x more produce than other leading shipping container farms available on the market.

“Rather than depend on anecdotal stories of success and failure from fellow farmers,” says Ellestad, “Our growing practices and standardized operating procedures are rooted in sophisticated data analytics.”

The Local Roots Research and Development team, comprised of plant science, botany, agronomy, design and engineering specialists, capitalizes on this growing body of data to grow more nutrient rich, better tasting produce with guaranteed harvests and yields. Moreover, TerraFarms are PrimusGFS certified and operated according to strict food safety procedures. Taken together these approaches makes Local Roots produce the first of its kind.

Follow Local Roots Farms and its commitment to feeding the global population in the most sustainable way possible. For more information, please visit http://www.localrootsfarms.com or contact Allison Towle at a.towle(at)localrootsfarms(dot)com.

10 Exciting Developments Fusing Food And Real Estate

10 Exciting Developments Fusing Food And Real Estate

A new report, Cultivating Development, shows how culinary innovation and foodie culture can help build community

BY PATRICK SISSON  NOV 29, 2016, 2:15PM EST

There’s no question that attitudes towards food and healthy living have evolved over the last few decades. Cuisine and food culture have undergone dramatic shifts, from the proliferation of celebrity chefs to ever-more sophisticated palettes; since 1994, the number of farmers markets in the country have increased fivefold. It only makes sense that developers, always on the lookout for the next standout residential and commercial development, would start factoring these trends into their new projects.

In a new report, Cultivating Development, the Urban Land Institute examines how the real estate industry has begun to embrace culinary sophistication and foodie culture, positioning shared gardens and upscale food halls as must-have amenities and retail anchors. These additions not only fuel commerce and community, but can lead to more sustainable, equitable development that legitimately improves the health of residents. Here are 10 of the projects highlighted in the report, from healthy residential developments to indoor farming centers, that both help the bottom line and add value to the community.

Refresh Project (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Turning a food desert into an oasis, this community development project located between the Treme and Mid-City neighborhoods goes beyond adding a healthy grocery option to assembling the resources for healthier lifestyles. Spearheaded by the local group Broad Community Connections, this developmet replaced a vacant supermarket with a Whole Foods Market and a variety of healthy nonprofits, such as the Tulane University Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine, a first-of-its-kind program that teaches healthy eating and cooking in a clinical setting, the ReFresh Community Farm, and Liberty’s Kitchen, an on-site food service and life skills training center. The project didn’t just encourage better eating habits, but offered more holistic health and wellness assistance as well as career opportunities.

Arbor House (Bronx, New York)

This new housing development seeks to provide not just affordable housing, but a healthy diet, to a community that’s been disproportionately affected by diabetes and heart disease. A 10,000-square-foot hydroponic rooftop farm atop the 124-unit property will grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs, which will then be sold in a neighborhood lacking a surfeit of healthy options.

The Pinehills (Plymouth, Massachusetts)

This new village center models itself after more a traditional layout and design, meaning extensive open space (only 30 percent of the land is developed) and a large two-acre village green as a centerpiece. The retail area, anchored by The Market, the state’s first “healthy market,” is linked to nearby homes via a network of walking paths.

Mariposa (Denver, Colorado)

Built by the city housing authority, this 800-unit mixed-income development utilizes clever design and an array of public programming to encourage healthy living, including a weekly farmer’s market, the on-site Osage Cafe, and a community bike-share program.

Mercado La Paloma (Los Angeles, California)

Established nearly 15 years ago, this former garment factory-turned-food industry incubator has been a celebrated success, earning plaudits from the U.S. Congress. Nearly 200 locals, from social service workers and artists to immigrant entrepreneurs, are employed at this complex, which helps provide startup capital, a health center, as well as conference rooms and performance spaces. An in-house initiative to provide nutrition information, La Salud Tiene Sabor, has spread to local restaurants and markets.

Summers Corner (Summerville, South Carolina)

A “community in a garden” near Charleston, this planned development includes a bike trail system, demonstration gardens, and an outdoor market. The main garden houses the Clemson University master gardener program, which gives residents the opportunity to sharped their skills in the company of experts. Produce from the garden are also used at the nearby Corner House cafe.

Aerofarms (Newark, New Jersey)

This recently opened indoor farm, set inside a former steel mill, will eventually grow two million pounds of produce annually, and serve as an anchor for the RBH Group’s Makers Village project, a three-acre sustainable production district set to activate the local job market.

Eco Modern Flats (Fayetteville, Arkansas)

Using healthy lifestyles as a selling point, a local developer turned these blocks of ‘60s-era apartments into greener, more sustainable homes, featuring a landscape redesigned to include native plants, rainwater harvesting, and rooftop gardens. Parking was also moved to help create a massive communal garden, one of many community features that helps build relationships among tenants.

Aria Denver (Denver, Colorado)

Set to open in 2018, this infill community on the site of a former convent will knit together 450 homes and a variety of gardening and health amenities, including a pay-what-you-can farm stand, a permaculture pocket gardens, a 1.25-acre production garden, shared kitchens, as well as access to healthy cooking classes. The developers believe “giving up” land for these amenities ends up raising the value of the project as a whole, both making it more attractive and bringing in more community partners.

Rancho Mission Viejo (Orange County, California)

A massive series of planned developments intertwined with farms and ranches, this residential and retail project offers a more sustainable and community-oriented model for homebuilding. The first village, Sendero, includes two communal farms amid 941 homes, and when finished, the entire development will include schools, parks, clubhouses, and other recreational facilities. .

Glorious Green Office In Tokyo A Showpiece For Urban Agriculture

• Glorious Green Office In Tokyo A Showpiece For Urban Agriculture

The Pasona Group’s blooming headquarters doubles as a promotional tool for farming

BY PATRICK SISSON  NOV 28, 2016, 11:23AM EST

Tokyo’s streetscape typically leans towards the modern and mechanized, crowded with bright signs, busy neon lights, and new office towers. But a few blocks from the city’s main train station, the nine-story office of a progressive human resources firm presents a more pastoral addition.

The headquarters of the Pasona Group, one of the country’s largest staffing and talent agencies, literally blooms, a garden in the sky that provides Tokyo with a striking display of foliage. More than 100 types of roses grow on the building’s “green curtain” exterior during the late springtime, and in autumn months, vines growing on the trellised facade display fall colors. And that’s just the outside. The ground floor entrance, lined by citrus plants such as limes and kumquats, leads to a lobby with a functioning rice paddy and urban farm.

“We’re trying to broadcast what you can do in a metropolitan environment,” says Yukie Yoneyama, who works for the company’s urban farm division, which began seeding and planting the midcentury office building in 2010.

Pasona’s investment in a greener office isn’t just about creating a better environment for the company’s more than 1,500 Tokyo employees, though the plant-filled tower does create a less-stressful workplace and cut the building’s annual carbon emissions by 7-8 tons. The living office is part of a larger strategy by the self-described “social solutions company” to help catalyze rural economies and live up to its mission to provide jobs where they’re needed. It’s a physical manifestation of Pasona’s philosophy.

Company founder Yasuyuki Nambu started the staffing agency in 1976 to help provide jobs to mothers looking to re-enter the workplace. As the company grew over the last few decades, Nambu’s social justice focus has expanded to embrace numerous issues in Japan via an array of subsidiaries (Pasona Heartful, for instance, provides jobs for the disabled).

Over the last few decades, the combination of an aging population, a long-term recession, and unemployment has hit the Japanese farming sector hard. Nambu’s proposed solution to the crisis is to “make farming cool again,” investing in ornate projects like the urban farm, which seeks to re-connect city dwellers with agriculture, and funding community-focused businesses in rural areas.

The Pasona HQ certainly offers a sleek, camera-ready model of urban agriculture. With 43,000 square feet of space dedicated to growing more than 200 kinds of crops, nearly every corner of the Kono Designs-created office features some spin on urban agriculture. One of the conference rooms features overhead trellises holding ripe, red tomatoes, while apples and blueberries grow on the grass-covered rooftop. The indoor rice paddy, built from scrap wood and harvested multiple times a years, anchors an employee lobby, which hosts regular concerts during lunch hour. A floor of open meeting spaces includes hydroponic growing systems for herbs—small containers for sprouting seeds are hidden inside benches—offering aromatherapy between appointments. Rows of lettuce plants, raised in a “vegetable factory” along with other produce, help provide more than 10,000 meals a year in the employee cafeteria.

“One of the biggest benefits growing indoors is that we don’t need to worry about seasons,” says Yoneyama, while pointing out the special lighting and watering systems that run throughout the building. “Under normal conditions, lettuce takes 60 days from seed to harvest. We can grow it here in about 45 days.”

In a country where produce prices can by sky-high, Yoneyama says the aim of the company’s agriculture program isn’t to cut costs—rather difficult, when factoring in the cost of indoor lighting—but to spur development. Regional development has been a high priority for many companies, and Nambu believes spurring entreprenurial opportunities is the solution.

“The agricultural industry was hit by all these forces at the same time, so the question is, how do you help the agriculture and tourism industries they depend on?” she says.

In effect, Pasona’s green office is a commercial for regional development, turning normally staid downtown commercial space as a promotional tool. The rice strains planted in the lobby all come from areas hit hard by the 2011 tsunami. The company also supports a farm on Awaji Island, in south-central Hyogo Prefecture, that helps train future farmers and promote local agriculture (products such as dressings and sauces are sold in the company’s lobby).

Long-term, the company plans to continue supporting and promoting small-scale, regional farms and companies, and offer its expertise on urban farming to interested companies or architects. With a renewed focus on corporate social responsibility and healthier workspaces, Pasona fields inquiries from around the world.

“This is something that can really take off and provide a lot of benefits,” says Yoneyama. “We want to look outward.”

Green Acres Are Flourishing On Campus Rooftops Across The Country

Green Acres Are Flourishing On Campus Rooftops Across The Country

Sustainability-minded green roof projects are appearing from Montreal’s Concordia to the University of Saskatchewan

Leanne Delap

November 28, 2016

Rooftop gardens are having a moment at Canada’s universities. The eco-benefits of green roofs cycling storm water away from the sewage system, combined with the health and social benefits of growing fresh food for consumption right on campus, make the concept a win-win.

Ryerson has been ahead of the urban farming curve. About 10 years ago, says Mark Gorgolewski, a professor in the department of architectural science, CarrotCity.org was formed. “A group of architecture students were interested in food issues,” he says, “and wanted to do thesis projects that addressed the relevance of architectural design to urban food growth, preparation and enjoyment.”

From this student work flourished a website database, a book, a symposium and a travelling exhibition. By 2011, the group was involved in early efforts at growing food in various underutilized spaces around campus. In 2013, production was centralized on (and elevated to) the 10,000-sq.-foot Ryerson Urban Farm atop the George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre. The rooftop had been built as a green space, and from its opening in 2003, when it was known as the Andrew and Valerie Pringle Environmental Green Roof, it has been planted with day lilies and some 80 varieties of local weeds.

All those weeds created “rich, organic life” in the soil, says Arlene Throness, the Urban Farm manager, which they sheet-mulched and deepened for food production.

The Urban Farm now operates on a five-year crop rotation; there are 30 different crops and hundreds of cultivars. Members from the student body, staff and surrounding community all tend to the space and take home a basket of food a week as return on investment. Some produce is sold on campus at a farmers’ market; some is sold to campus kitchens. The yield, says Throness, is some 8,000 lb. a year.

The architecture connection still stands, though Urban Farm also crosses over into other faculties at the school, including nutrition, as well as environmental sciences.

The green is spreading: At OCADU there is a greenhouse that operates with no electricity and can produce lettuce in the dead of winter. Trent, the University of Toronto and Concordia all have greenhouse gardens in the sky.

And at the University of Saskatchewan, an opportunity arose on top of the phytotron (a research greenhouse). The condensers were moved, leaving a bare expanse visible from an open walkway.

“Aha,” said Grant Wood, a professor of urban agriculture, who worked with the university’s office of sustainability to come up with “the rooftop.” After getting the engineering students to check on load-bearing weights, and “a lot of paperwork,” says Wood, pallets and recycled containers were moved onto the roof. The team started with 500 sq. feet of planting, for a yield of about a thousand pounds of produce this past year; the goal is to double that next year.

The garden is being used as a teaching space for both university classes in various disciplines and agricultural camps for school kids over the summer. Crops are sold to campus food services, which advertise the fresh bounty the way restaurants point to local suppliers on their menus.

“We grow the veggies, sell them to culinary services,” says Woods. “They feed students and staff and then put the waste into a dehydrator that goes back into compost. It all takes place in less than a mile. We are working in food feet: sustainability at its ultimate.”

Veggie Plant Growth System Activated on International Space Station

May 16, 2014

Veggie Plant Growth System Activated on International Space Station

Expedition 39 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Steve Swanson opens the plant wicks in the Veggie plant growth system May 11 on the International Space Station. The six plant pillows contain 'Outredgeous' red romaine lettuce seeds.

Researchers activated the Veggie plant growth system May 9 inside a control chamber at the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to shadow the activation and procedures being performed on Veggie on the International Space Station.

By Linda Herridge
NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center

If you plant it, will it grow—in microgravity on the International Space Station? Expedition 39 crew members soon will find out using a plant growth system called “Veggie” that was developed by Orbital Technologies Corp. (ORBITEC) in Madison, Wisconsin, and tested at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The first fresh food production system, along with the Veg-01 experiment, were delivered to the space station on the SpaceX-3 mission from Cape Canaveral in April and transferred to the Columbus module for storage until it was time for in-orbit activation.

Expedition 39 flight engineers and NASA astronauts Steve Swanson and Rick Mastracchio installed Veggie in the Columbus module May 7 in an Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station (EXPRESS) rack.

Wearing sunglasses, Swanson activated the red, blue and green LED lights inside Veggie on May 8. A root mat and six plant "pillows," each containing 'Outredgeous' red romaine lettuce seeds, were inserted into the chamber. The pillows received about 100 milliliters of water each to initiate plant growth. The clear, pleated bellows surrounding Veggie were expanded and attached to the top of the unit.

Inside each plant pillow is a growth media that includes controlled release fertilizer and a type of calcined clay used on baseball fields. This clay increases aeration and helps the growth of plants.  

Dr. Gioia Massa is the NASA science team lead for Veggie. She sees Veggie and Veg-01 representing the initial steps toward the development of bioregenerative food production systems for the space station and long-duration exploration missions.

"The farther and longer humans go away from Earth, the greater the need to be able to grow plants for food, atmosphere recycling and psychological benefits," Massa said. "I think that plant systems will become important components of any long-duration exploration scenario."

About 24 hours after Veggie was activated on the space station, back on Earth, "pseudo-naut" researchers activated identical plant pillows in the Veggie control chamber in the International Space Station Environmental Simulator laboratory at Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility. Researchers will monitor the plant growth and perform the same procedures as Swanson is doing on the space station.

"My hopes are that Veggie will eventually enable the crew to regularly grow and consume fresh vegetables," Massa said.

One of the plant experiment's goals is to verify the Veggie hardware is working correctly. Another goal is to establish that the space lettuce is safe to eat.

On the space station, the Veg-01 plants will grow for 28 days. Photographs will be taken weekly, and water will be added periodically. The pillow wicks were opened to help the seedlings emerge. As the plants grow, the pillows will be thinned to one plant per pillow, and microbial samples will be taken to check for any microorganisms that may be growing on the plants. At the end of the cycle, the plants will be carefully harvested, frozen and stored for return on the SpaceX-4 mission later this year.

Veggie will remain on the station permanently and could become a research platform for other top-growing plant experiments. ORBITEC developed Veggie through a Small Business Innovative Research Program. NASA and ORBITEC engineers and collaborators at Kennedy worked to get the unit's hardware flight-certified for use on the space station.

"Veggie could be used as a modular plant chamber for a variety of plants that grow up rather than in the ground," said Gerard Newsham, the Veggie payload support specialist with Jacobs Technology on the Test and Operations Support Contract. "This is just the beginning." 

Another set of six plant pillows, containing 'Profusion' Zinnia seeds could be activated in Veggie for the Expedition crew to grow and enjoy as they wait for word that the red romaine lettuce is safe to eat. If the lettuce is safe to eat, Massa said an additional set of plant pillows containing the romaine lettuce seeds will be activated in Veggie. 

"I hope that the astronauts on the space station eventually will use the equipment to 'experiment' with their own seeds or projects," said Nicole Dufour, who coordinated and led the testing of the flight hardware at Kennedy and wrote the crew procedures for the astronauts to use on space station. "Veggie is designed for crew interaction and to enjoy the plants as they are growing."

Dufour said she hopes Veggie serves as a regular facility the crew uses to grow food crops. Dufour is an engineer in the Flight Mechanisms and Flight Crew Systems Branch of the Engineering and Technology Directorate.

Brian Onate, former Veggie project manager, helped shepherd the plant growth system from initiating the build of the flight units in 2012 to just a couple of months before its delivery to the space station.

"I hope to see Veggie's success as the first step in food production that will allow astronauts on the space station to enjoy fresh food and gain knowledge as we explore beyond low-Earth orbit," Onate said.

Developments In Fresh Produce

 Developments In Fresh Produce

The first in-store Farming unit in the Netherlands has opened it's doors three weeks ago at the renovated AH XL store in Purmerend. The XL store is completely refurbished and implemented some new innovative concepts. The very first "self service herb garden" where the customer can harvest their herb of choice by using the pair of scissors provided at every herb garden module and a bag to put their freshly cut herbs in. There are 13 herbs to choose from. Customers will only take as much as they need so this will eliminate unnecessary food wastage. All herbs have one price so customers can mix the herbs to their liking. 

The herb garden is divided into two sections "one more week" and "ready to cut". The herbs arrive as semi finished products and grow their last week with the help of Led grow lights. This way the customer can see the growth with their own eyes. The low maintenance watering system makes sure all the herbs receive the right dosage of water at all times.

We keep getting positive feedback from our customers and so far our concept of the "self service herb garden" has been shared more than 600 times world wide! Freshness adds to any food experience and you can't get any fresher than this!

These 3 Women Are Changing the Future of Food Sustainability

These 3 Women Are Changing the Future of Food Sustainability

These women presented at the Change Food Fest conference last weekend in New York City

Nov 18, 2016 | 12:00 pm

By

Pauline Lacsamana - Editor

These three women are paving the way for sustainability in food technology.

Last weekend, the Change Food Fest in New York City gathered food advocates from large and small businesses to explore the changing landscape of sustainability in the food industry.

Change Food is a non-profit organization that emphasizes the importance of the food we eat and its relationship with our environment. One of the goals of Change Food is to educate people about sustainable food and farming, according to the organization’s website.

In an opening statement for Change Food Fest, Diane Hatz, Change Food’s founder, addressed the issue of communication between the technology movement and the food movement, also noting the lack of funding for successful food tech businesses because of them being potentially “risky” investments.

“Technology is not the answer; technology is the means to get us to the answer,” Hatz said. “People are the answer. We are the foundation of ours and each other’s success and we really need to take note of that.”

Another woman with a sustainable food vision is Erica Orange, CEO and executive vice president of The Future Hunters, who presented the Green-to-Blue model as a spectrum of activity for food sustainability for businesses to strive toward. The model consists of three phases: Doing Green; Being Green; and Being Blue.

Doing Green is the outdated model in which companies need to be competitive in the sustainable food market. Grocers selling organic food and reusable tote bags are examples of this model. Being Green is the desired model in which sustainability is used as an “intrinsic guiding principle” in the company structure, influencing how products are produced, what materials the products are made with, and what labor went into it. Being Blue, the future model, means businesses would be putting more back into the eco-system than what was taken from it in the first place. An example of this would be using urban farming to optimize space to grow more food.

Last is Kim Huskey, the food service director at Google, who shared her mission of encouraging a more plant-based diet at the Google offices, not only for employees and visitors nationally, but also globally. The food division of Google aims “to inspire and enable the world to make food choices and use food experiences to develop more sustainable lifestyles and communities.”

To make this goal a reality, Google partnered with the Culinary Institute of America and Harvard School of Public Health for Menus of Change. This food initiative involves “globally inspired plant-centric dishes, minimally processed foods, and appropriate portions,” which make vegetables and legumes more desirable using culinary techniques on vegetables that have traditionally been reserved for meats.

Governor Of West Flanders Visits Urban Crops

On Monday the governor of the Belgian province West Flanders, Carl Decaluwé, visited the headquarters of the agtech company Urban Crops in Beveren-Leie (Waregem). Urban Crops combines the farming knowledge on cultivation of the region that is situated in the heart of the Western European vegetable industry with the technical knowledge of some of the global leading machine building companies of this region to develop innovative agricultural plant growth solutions for its international portfolio of customers.

On Monday the management of Urban Crops welcomed the governor of the Belgian Province West Flanders, Carl Decaluwé, together with a delegation of the leadership of the city of Waregem for an extensive visit of the plant research labs, the pilot installation of its plant factory technology and the offices of the Urban Crops headquarters. The different technologies and techniques Urban Crops uses for its innovative solutions were explained and demonstrated during the visit. Urban Crops has international patent applications pending for several of these techniques. The diverse challenges Urban Crops faces as a young and ambitious company were also discussed in an open conversation with the provincial leadership.

“Having our roots in this knowledge-rich region is an enormous advantage compared to many companies that want to take up a role in the closed environment vertical farming industry by mainly pursuing their goals from a sole scientific point of view.”, says Maarten Vandecruys, founder and managing director of Urban Crops. “We are proud having created some kind of micro climate for all kinds of local companies and local educational institutions that want to invest further with us in innovation and knowledge in this newest level of farming.”

“Our province has a history of many international companies active in the agriculture, machine building and food industry and of which the knowledge centre has been situated in our province for years”, says governor Decaluwé. “It gives me great pleasure to see that Urban Crops uses all these local competencies to become a global leading player as a turnkey solution provider in their fast emerging international market of the closed environment indoor farming.”

Urban Crops was also pleased at the occasion of this visit to announce the plans for the extension of its research lab infrastructure in the following months with eight new units. This extension has to be realized by the summer of 2017 and will be built in two phases at the same site of the currentUrban Crops headquarters in Beveren-Leie (Belgium). The extra research lab capacity will be used for further optimizing the plant growth recipes and to test and validate additional (special) crops. The additional lab capacity will also be used to perform tests with own developed automation software and hardware components, such as its newest series of plant growth LED lights or its own developed robotics.

Vertical Farming Kit Recognised by Manufacturers' Association

Vertical Farming Kit Recognised by Manufacturers' Association

15 November 2016, by Gavin McEwan

Coventry-based hydroponics developer HydroGarden's vertical-farming system VydroFarm was among the winners in the Future of Manufacturing Regional Awards, presented by EEF, formerly the Engineering Employers Federation.

The firm will now go on to represent the Midlands in EEF's National Awards, the winners of which will be announced on 31 January 2017 in London.

HydroGarden says it intends to "maximise VydroFarm's significant growth and sales potential, especially via export".

In May the company was awarded £340,000 from the government's Agri-Tech Catalyst fund to develop the format.

GE Forges Ahead With World’s First Wind + Hydro + Storage Project

GE Forges Ahead With World’s First Wind + Hydro + Storage Project

November 14th, 2016 by Tina Casey 

Trump or no Trump, the global clean energy train has left the station. A case in point is a new wind, hydropower, and energy storage collaboration between US-based GE and Germany’s Max Bögl Wind AG. The project is on track to connect its four wind turbines to the grid next year, with the hydropower component coming online in 2018.

The project represents an innovative combo of two different forms of renewable energy with an energy storage bonus thrown in.

Wind turbines and real estate

GE dropped a bit of a clue regarding one aspect of the project a couple of years ago, when it introduced its “space frame” turbine tower.

The company invited me to take a sneak peek of its prototype in California on behalf of CleanTechnica, and one thing I learned is that GE was beginning to think of wind turbine towers in terms of their footprint.

Our guide on the tour pointed out that the hollow design of the turbine tower provides the potential for piggybacking other uses inside the frame. Here’s a view of the interior:

That’s a lot of useful space, right? The polyvinyl cladding allows daylight to filter through, so you could imagine indoor farming among many other options.

Wind power and energy storage

GE’s new project takes the piggyback idea to a whole new level.

The project is located at the Gaildorf wind farm. It includes four wind turbines with a combined capacity of 13.6 megawatts. The base of each turbine will double as a water storage reservoir, for a total of 1.6 million gallons (to be clear, these are not GE space frame towers — for obvious reasons, they are fully enclosed).

These storage units will interact with a nearby lake with a 9 million gallon capacity, and a 16 megawatt hydropower plant. In effect, the turbines will act as giant batteries and provide an opportunity for the hydroplant to operate economically:

During times of peak demand and high electricity prices, the hydro plant will be in production mode. During times of low electricity demand and lower prices, the hydro plant will be in pump mode, pumping and storing water–and hence energy–in the upper reservoir for later use.

Here’s a schematic representing how the storage will help ensure the reliable delivery of electricity from the system:

To ice the renewable energy cake, the added storage raises the height of each turbine tower by 40 meters.

The end result is a “record-breaking” height of 246.5 meters, making these turbines the tallest in the world.

GE will contribute its new 3.4-137 (3.4 megawatts, 137 meter rotor diameter) wind turbines to the project. That includes the company’s Digital Wind Farm platform with Predix* software to maximize efficiency.

For those of you new to the wind energy topic, stronger, more consistent winds are located at higher altitudes. So, the taller the wind turbine, the better.

When the wind is blowing strong, excess energy from the turbines will go directly to the grid. During lulls, the hydropower plant will draw additional water from the turbine towers as needed.

Onward And Upwards For Pumped Storage

Compared to other forms of energy storage, conventional pumped hydro has a limited opportunity for global application. Geography is the main limiting factor because two reservoirs are required, and one must be located higher up than the other.

The innovative approach offered by the GE – Bögl collaboration expands those opportunities to more sites, where an in-ground upper reservoir is otherwise unfeasible.

According to GE, Bögl is already anticipating that it will engage in one or two similar projects in Germany annually after the Gaildorf project goes online.

As for GE, the company’s GE Renewable Energy arm has been front and center in the clean energy revolution, especially in the area of wind turbine technology.

The company positioned its wind turbine business to take full advantage of the federal Production Tax Credit for wind, and now it has been expanding into the wind transmission sector.

GE recently got back into the high voltage converter business after a 20-year hiatus, just in time to hook up with the proposed 720-mile Plains & Eastern wind transmission line. The company will provide three converter stations for the project, which also has the support of the Energy Department.