Urban Ag News Invites You to Virginia For The Innovation in Greenhouse and Vertical Farming Conference

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Innovation in Greenhouse and Vertical Farming

9 am – 4 pm, Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Will be held at Virginia Farm Bureau
12580 West Creek Parkway, Richmond, Virginia

Controlled environment agriculture is growing in the field of agriculture. Join academic and industry experts for this one-day event focused on the latest advances in hydroponics, sensor technology, lighting, automation, and vertical farming. Hear from technical experts as well as Virginia producers who have successfully incorporated controlled environment agriculture into their business models.

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Keynote Speaker
Neil Mattson, Ph.D.,

Cornell University

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Special Guest Speaker
Chris Higgins
Hort Americas

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Special Guest Speaker
Travis Higginbotham
Fluence

Pre-registration $75 (before Feb. 28)
Late registration $125 (closes March 8)

Click here for more information or email Joyce Latimer at jlatime@vt.edu
 

Register now!

Thank you to our current sponsors:

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Limited exhibit space available!

Contact Martha Walker at walker53@vt.edu

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This Urban Pop-Up Farm is Powered by Coffee Grounds

By Audrey Bourget 
17 JAN 2019 - 1:20 PM  UPDATED 17 JAN 2019 - 1:56 PM

The pop-up farm on Cirrus Fine Coffee’s parking lot is a little green oasis in the industrial area of Port Melbourne.

“We have heritage varieties of tomatoes, corn, zucchini, pumpkin, spring onion, beetroot, rainbow chard, spinach, silverbeet, flowers to attract beneficial insects and also a range of herbs like chives, basil, oregano and coriander,” says Brendan Condon. And all of this only takes up two parking spaces.

Condon is the director of sister companies Cirrus Fine Coffee, Biofilta and Australian Ecosystems, which have collaborated to develop super-efficient compact pop-up farms. “We often think that we have overcrowded cities, but if you look at them from the lens of urban farming, we have huge amounts of space. We can flip cities into becoming super-efficient food growers,” he says.

These beans deliver more than a caffeine hit.

From landfill to compost

Each year, caffeine-loving Aussies produce around 75 000 tonnes of coffee waste, most of it ending up in landfill where it contributes to the production of methane, a greenhouse gas. But coffee grounds don’t have to end up there; they can be composted and used to produce food.

Cirrus Fine Coffee’s own pop-up garden uses a mix of composted coffee grounds (rich in minerals and nitrogen), husks from the roastery (a good source of carbon), food scraps and a small amount of manure, to help produce around 300 kilos of food per year. With the World Health Organisation recommending adults consume a minimum of 146 kilos of fresh fruits and veggies per year, it means that one of these pop-up farms could provide enough for two people for a whole year.

The Biofilta wicking (self-watering) garden beds are easy to install and low maintenance. The design holds enough liquid to water the garden for a week in summer and a month in winter.

“We want people to take advantage of the abundant resources for urban farming and to engage with it, so we improve nutrition and health, and divert waste from landfill,” says Condon.

Cirrus Fine Coffee is committed to sustainability in more ways than one. Its coffee beans are ethically sourced, the brand's packaging is biodegradable and its offices run on clean energy.

It's also partnered with Reground, an organisation that goes to cafes to pick up coffee grounds and transport them to community gardens and pop-up farms.

“We all need to work together,” says Ninna K. Larsen, founder of Reground. “We work at changing the system rather than just collecting coffee. Coffee is just a great conversation starter. It’s about getting people talking about what organic waste can do, instead of going to landfill. We can grow food with it.”

Condon would like to see cafes and people around Australia embrace urban farming. “If you have a cafe where you recycle coffee grounds to grow food, people will want to go there and support that business,” he says. “Hopefully, in a few years, it will be common practice.”

A Method To Monitor Indoor Crop Health No Matter What Planet You're On

PUBLIC RELEASE: 17-DEC-2018

BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

IMAGE: SINGLE-IMAGE NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATION INDEX (SI-NDVI) ANALYSIS ENABLES EARLY DETECTION OF PLANT RESPONSE TO STRESS, PRIOR TO WHITE LIGHT-VISIBLE DETECTION. SI-NDVI IMAGES OF ARABIDOPSIS PLANTS SHOW RESPONSE TO SALT STRESS... view more

CREDIT: NICOLE S. BEISEL, JORDAN B. CALLAHAM, NATASHA J. SNG, DYLAN J. TAYLOR, ANNA-LISA PAUL, AND ROBERT J. FERL. 2018. UTILIZATION OF SINGLE-IMAGE NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATION INDEX (SI-NDVI) FOR EARLY PLANT...

As the world urbanizes and technologies such as LED grow lights bring down costs, indoor farming is becoming an increasingly important part of the food supply. Eventually, indoor farming techniques could help humans maintain a healthy diet in space. However, because of the completely closed systems in which indoor crops are grown, imbalances in soil nutrients, salinity, temperature, and other factors must be caught quickly to avoid losing a whole crop. In work published in a recent issue of Applications in Plant Sciences, Dr. Robert Ferl and colleagues at the University of Florida Space Plants Lab developed a light-based tool to assess plant health quickly, accurately, and inexpensively.

Not surprisingly for work coming from the Space Plants Lab, this study was conducted with an eye toward extraterrestrial farming. "Imagine a greenhouse being robotically maintained on Mars," said Dr. Ferl, corresponding author on the study. "The only data we can get back from that greenhouse is electronic. No sample return. Under those conditions it becomes really beneficial to derive as much data as possible from the photons that are coming off the leaves of plants." These photons make distinctive light signatures that can tell quite a bit about how a plant is doing, when analyzed using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI).

The NDVI is a widely used metric of plant health and photosynthetic rate that was originally developed for satellite-based monitoring of plant growth. This metric compares the plants' absorption of different spectra of light; healthy plants give off an identifiable light signature, absorbing light in the photosynthetically active region of light spectra, and reflecting near-infrared light. "[NDVI] proved to be an interesting starting point for the project simply because there is a large dataset and collective understanding that underpins the idea of using different spectral components to understand plant health," said Dr. Ferl. They adapted single-image NDVI (SI-NDVI), a low-cost version of this analysis, to see if it would be practical for monitoring crop health in indoor farming conditions.

Dr. Ferl and colleagues assessed the efficacy of this monitoring technique by exposing two different plants (arugula and the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana) to two different stressors (salinity and a high-concentration ammonium nitrate treatment) that create distinctive and well-understood stress responses. "Using these well-controlled stresses that have a well-defined biochemical basis for their responses is allowing us to probe the root causes of NDVI difference detections of stress or health responses," said Dr. Ferl. They were able to detect stress signatures from both treatments well before stress was visible to the naked eye, proving the utility of these techniques as early monitoring systems that can be deployed remotely and relatively inexpensively.

While these authors were primarily motivated by an interest in growing plants in space, the monitoring technique they developed could prove useful here on earth for indoor farmers looking to catch problems in the grow room quickly. "Single-image NDVI offers the opportunity to derive spectral character from a single RGB image. This keeps costs down," said Dr. Ferl. "It also opens the door to a large community of citizen scientists and applications developers that are interested in using SI-NDVI concepts commercially." This means that this method could be adapted to monitor a variety of crops grown under indoor conditions, which could mean less expensive, healthier salad greens on your table, whether that table be here or on Mars.

New York Vertical Farm Aims To Instill Consumer Trust With Transparency

By Laura Drotleff| December 19, 2018

Consumers can simply scan the QR code with the camera on their phones to get the full story on when, where, and how Square Roots’ herbs are produced in Brooklyn, NY.

In the wake of the romaine lettuce recall, Square Roots, a Brooklyn, NY-based vertical farm with famous co-founders, has launched new labeling that will allow consumers to access the full backstory for when, where, how, and by whom their food was grown with a simple scan.

Starting today, consumers can just point their camera app at the QR code, or type in the lot number, found on all Square Roots food packaging to trace their food’s path from seed to sale, with the aim of bringing a “whole new level of transparency” to the food chain.

Co-founded by Tobias Peggs and Kimbal Musk (yes, Elon’s brother), Square Roots is a seed-to-sale indoor urban farm that produces a variety of fresh, pesticide-free herbs that are hand-harvested, self-packaged, and same-day-delivered to retail stores in New York City. The company was built on the premise of reconnecting city dwellers with the “comfort, nourishment, and taste of food and the people who grow it.” In addition to growing and selling herbs, Square Roots has taken it upon itself to groom next-generation farmers and future leaders in urban farming through its training platform that requires a one-year commitment to the company.

The Why Behind Square Roots’ Transparency Timeline

Musk wrote in a blog-post revealing Square Roots’ reason for launching its new scan-able label is that the operation wants to provide consumers with the transparency they’re demanding about where and how their food is grown.

Following the E. coli outbreak that resulted in the recall of all romaine lettuce grown in the U.S., consumers were put at risk, and the complexities and lack of traceability in the agricultural supply chain resulted in it taking weeks for federal agencies to track down the source of the bacteria.

Meanwhile, by growing in controlled environments, indoor food producers can provide advantages to minimizing the occurrence of outbreaks. Musk says by promoting this, Square Roots’ customers can enjoy the operation’s locally grown products “with the comfort and confidence of being able to see exactly how and where your food was grown and who grew it.”

Grown hydroponically inside climate-controlled, refurbished shipping containers, Square Roots’ end-to-end system monitors and controls every aspect of the production process, Musk says. The operation’s technology stack surrounds its farmers with data, tools, and insights to make smart decisions in real time, allowing them to sustainably produce food year-round.

Musk says while there’s a lot of excitement around the possibilities that blockchain offers for food traceability that could improve the current supply chain, consumers are turning to locally grown produce because there are fewer steps and less time involved from farm to fork.

“We, like many local farmers, don’t need to utilize blockchain architecture to give the consumer what they want today – total transparency, without the buzzword BS.”

Read Musk’s full article on the Square Roots blog, and learn about the company on its website. Stay tuned for more stories on how indoor producers are promoting food safety and transparency on GreenhouseGrower.com.

Osram Presents New Near-Infrared LED for Smart Farming Application

12/12/18, 10:38 AM | Indoor & Vertical Farming, Monitoring & Growing

Osram, a leader in the optoelectronic industry, today announced its new Oslon Black SFH 4736 near-infrared LED (NIRED). When installed in a smartphone or tablet, the NIRED offers a simple way for farmers to scan fruit, vegetable or grain crops, generating reliable information about the sugar, water and fat content. One of the most important decisions for farmers and vineyard owners is picking the right time to harvest. This not only ensures that the produce has the best possible taste, but also saves precious time and money during the processing and shipment stages. 

Determining ripeness is made possible by near-infrared spectroscopy. This process involves scanning the content of various types of fruit, vegetables and grains - and takes only a few seconds. For example, a farmer would select a random ear of wheat, scan it with a smartphone, and just a few seconds later read the results on the display. 

The NIRED irradiates the sample with a defined spectrum of light. Depending on its precise composition, the sample will reflect only a certain proportion of that light. The spectrometer then processes the information and integrates it into the smartphone or tablet. The reflected light can be considered a kind of "photometric fingerprint." These measurements indicate the existence and quantity of certain nutrients, allowing farmers to take samples and easily monitor the progress of their crops in real time so they can plan the ideal time for harvest. 

"By focusing on making progress for farmers, the new Oslon Black SFH 4736 near-infrared LED takes farming technology to the next frontier," said Karl Leahy, Director of Emitters, Lasers and Sensors at Osram Opto Semiconductors. "Our unique NIRED allows farmers to optimize their crop yield, as well as enhance harvest efficiency while keeping costs down." 

In late 2016, Osram Opto Semiconductors unveiled the SFH 4735 as the worlds first broadband emitter of its kind. The previous model is being used in various applications including in SCiO, one of the first near-infrared micro-spectrometers for the consumer market from Consumer Physics. The SFH 4736, which achieves almost twice the output thanks to its newly integrated lens, is also suitable for use in the professional sector and can provide valuable assistance to farmers. 

ABOUT OSRAM 

OSRAM, based in Munich, is a leading global high-tech company with a history dating back more than 110 years. Primarily focused on semiconductor-based technologies, our products are used in highly diverse applications ranging from virtual reality to autonomous driving and from smartphones to smart and connected lighting solutions in buildings and cities. OSRAM uses the endless possibilities of light to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities. OSRAMs innovations enable people all over the world not only to see better, but also to communicate, travel, work and live better. OSRAM has approximately 27,400 employees worldwide as of end of fiscal 2018 (September 30) and generated revenue of more than €4.1 billion. The company is listed on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt and Munich (ISIN: DE000LED4000; WKN: LED 400; trading symbol: OSR). Additional information can be found at www.osram.com.

2019 Virginia Innovation In Greenhouse And Vertical Farming Conference

By urbanagnews

January 12, 2019

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Join us on Tuesday, March 12, and explore additional tools for expanding farm revenue through vertical farming innovations.

Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension invite you to register at http://bit.ly/Register-2019-Vertical-Farming  for the 2019 Virginia Innovation in Greenhouse and Vertical Farming Conference

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Virginia Farm Bureau
12580 West Creek Parkway; Richmond, Virginia

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Keynote Speaker
Neil Mattson, Ph.D., Cornell University 

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Special Guest Speaker
Chris Higgins, Hort Americas

In addition, you will hear from:

• Jerry Conner, Four Oaks Farms

• Travis Higginbothan, Fluence Bioengineering

• John McMahon, Schulyer Greens

• Ryan Pierce, Fresh Impact Farms

Join academic and industry experts in exploring the latest advances in vertical farming, greenhouse technology, sensor technology, lighting, and automation.  Hear from technical experts and Virginia producers who have been successful in incorporating controlled environment agriculture into their business models.

Register by visiting http://bit.ly/Register-2019-Vertical-Farming before Thursday, February 28.

TAGS: Chris Higgins Conference Cornell University Education Hort Americas Neil Mattson

On the Heels of Digital Sales Boost, Kroger Launches First-Ever Unmanned Delivery Service

Nuro and The Kroger Co. announced the launch of the first-ever unmanned delivery service available to the general public.

Since August, the companies have operated a self-driving grocery delivery service in Scottsdale, AZ, with an autonomous Prius fleet accompanied by vehicle operators. The autonomous vehicles have completed nearly one thousand deliveries to the general public.

With this launch, the fleet is expanding to include Nuro's custom unmanned vehicle known as the R1. The R1 travels on public roads and has no driver, no passengers and only transports goods. Nuro has been developing the R1 since 2016, and announced its partnership with Kroger, America's largest supermarket retailer, in June.

"Nuro envisions a world without errands, where everything is on-demand and can be delivered affordably. Operating a delivery service using our custom unmanned vehicles is an important first step toward that goal," explained Nuro President and co-founder Dave Ferguson.

"Kroger customers are looking for new, convenient ways to feed their families and purchase the products they need quickly through services like pickup and delivery," said Yael Cosset, Kroger's chief digital officer. "Our autonomous delivery pilot with Nuro over the past few months continues to prove the benefit of the flexible and reliable technology. Through this exciting and innovative partnership, we are delivering a great customer experience and advancing Kroger's commitment to redefine the grocery experience by creating an ecosystem that offers our customers anything, anytime, and anywhere."

Kroger experienced 60 percent digital sales growth in the third quarter, and its seamless coverage area now reaches more than 90 percent of customer households.

Square Roots Implements “Transparency Timeline” for Greens

Tom Karst December 19, 2018

Urban farm Square Roots has unveiled what they call a transparency timeline, accessed via QR code on their packaging.
( Square Roots )

An indoor farm in Brooklyn, N.Y., wants to do its part to restore consumer confidence in greens.

Urban farm Square Roots has unveiled a new food packaging system that the company says will give consumers a comprehensive story of how the firm’s basil, sage, chives, and mint traveled from seed to the retail shelf.

In a Dec. 19 blog post by co-founder Kimbal Musk (younger brother of Elon Musk) headlined “After the Romaine recall nightmare, here’s how Square Roots is going to get Americans to trust their food again," the company said it was introducing a labeling program that would allow consumers to see “the complete story of where and how their food was grown, and who grew it, with a simple #knowyourfarmer scan.”

“By simply scanning a QR code or typing in the lot number found on every package of Square Roots fresh produce, you are now able to see the complete story of where and how your food was grown and who grew it — tracing the entire path from seed-to-store,” Musk said in the blog post.

The QR code scan — readable by most smartphone cameras — informs consumers of what Musk called the “transparency timeline” for the commodity. The timeline includes information about the crop’s development, including:

• Seeding: the scan tells where the seeds were sourced from, when and where they were seeded and the first name of the worker who seeded the commodity;

• Nursery: The date the commodity was placed in the company’s climate-controlled nursery in the specified farm and the first name of the individual that transferred the tray;

• Transplant: The date the seedlings were moved from the nursery to the hydroponic grow towers i in the specified farm, and the name of the worker who moved them;

• Harvest: The date the herb commodity was hand-harvested and the first name of the worker that harvested it; 

• Packing: Date of packing and first name of the worker who packed it; and 

• Delivery: Date of delivery to retail store, with a note that delivery was done with “low impact transport.”

Musk said future versions of the transparency timeline could add information about the specific climate that food was grown in, recycling information relevant to the packaging for the product and perhaps other data. “If you would like see any other information added to the timeline, just let us know,” he said in the post.

With recent the recent E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce — the third outbreak in two years — Musk said that consumers are at risk from foodborne illnesses.

“The situation was compounded by opaque supply chains in the Industrial Food System, making it ridiculously difficult to accurately trace the source of guilty pathogens,” he said in the blog post. “To their credit, the big lettuce producers did eventually react, and agreed to start labeling their products with a mark of the state in which their products are grown. But that’s not enough. Consumers demand — and deserve — to know more.”

Musk said that indoor climate-controlled farming “has many advantages” over open field growing when it comes to minimizing the risk of such outbreaks. He said that Square Roots’ distributed, modular farm network reduces that risk even further.

“Square Roots customers can enjoy our products not just because they taste great and are grown hyper-locally, but also because they come with the comfort and confidence of being able to see exactly how and where your food was grown and who grew it,” he said.

Musk said blockchain technology has created buzz but so far hasn’t delivered much information to consumers.

“We’re optimistic on that long-term vision (of blockchain), and we know many of the people working hard on blockchain solutions right now,” he said in the post. “But the reality is that initial implementations, while heavily buzzword-compliant, have been distinctly underwhelming in terms of the information they provide.”
 

The Technology of Berries

High-tech strawberries are flourishing in Paris. French urban tech farming start-up Agricool has just picked up a cool €25m to grow more fruit. It plans to use the cash to establish more growing operations in the centre of Paris and to expand across France, as well as to launch in Dubai.

Argricool has been using old shipping containers in the heart of Paris to grow its produce. There’s no pesticide use and the method requires 90% less water and nutrients than regular strawberry rearing. It also leans solely on renewable energy.

The outfit claims it is 120 times more productive than conventional farming. Its output is currently available in four supermarkets in the French capital and in one on the outskirts.

Container farms are sprouting everywhere right now. One high-profile venture is Square Roots operated by Kimbal Musk – brother of Elon – which propagates fresh herbs for stores across New York City. The company has just launched new packaging featuring a QR code which unlocks the story of how and where the food item was grown. The goal is to boost food supply chain transparency.

The Vegetable Farmer from the Antarctic

By Dirk Asendorpf

The greenhouse EDEN: tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce grow up to -40 degrees outside. (DLR)

Paul Zabel from the German Aerospace Center operates a greenhouse in the Antarctic, where tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers flourish. For future space missions, plant cultivation is to be tested under difficult conditions.

"Zabel. Hello. "- A call in Antarctica. Just started there the polar day. 

"We have 24 hours of sunshine when we have no clouds. Today it is very nice. We have the second right summer week. It's only 

about minus 13 degrees. " In recent months, Paul Zabel had to cope with significantly worse weather conditions. For one polar winter, he was responsible for the research greenhouse of the German Aerospace Center. This is located 300 meters from the German Neumeyer Station in a container. 

"We had the lowest temperature with minus 43.4 degrees in August. There were a few days where there were stronger storms, and I did not go because that was just too dangerous. "

He has a satellite connection at all times in the greenhouse 13,500 kilometers away in the view. A dozen screens fill a wall of the control room. 

"We can not touch the plant itself. But we could say for example: The container is now two degrees warmer, we put this here and then the container would be up to two degrees warmer. We could control the light and, for example, we could also give a different nutrient mix to the plant. We can control everything from here. "

A full greenhouse for the first visitors to Mars

The complete remote control of vegetable cultivation in a hermetically sealed container is the prerequisite for its application to future interplanetary space missions. 

"Scenarios provide that the greenhouse system flies to Mars in advance, unfolds there automatically and already plants are grown automatically. And when the first humans come to Mars, they can almost find a fully grown greenhouse. That's the theory. " 

The tomatoes and salad are well grown. Only the strawberries and peppers did not really thrive in the EDEN greenhouse. (DLR)

However, the practice was still a long way away. Almost every day Paul Zabel had to look to the right in the Antarctic greenhouse. 

"For example, we had a broken LED lamp from the plant LEDs relatively early in the year. I could then replace it with a spare part. We had several failures of electrically controlled valves and pumps in our cooling system, which are now being replaced by other models. "

The repairs will be carried out by project manager Daniel Schubert personally in January. Then he also brings the seeds for the next test run, including seeds for ten different types of lettuce that Nasa has already tested on the International Space Station. In the Antarctic container they should germinate and grow as independently as possible. A gardener will not exist in the next polar winter.

The greenhouse should be completely remotely controlled

"We could not find anyone who would like to hibernate again. And then we thought: Could we do a self-sufficient mission? So really just observe and control the greenhouse system only from Bremen, out of our mission control center. And we say to the overwinterers: Only go in an emergency - or to harvest. " 

Paul Zabel flies back in mid-December to Bremen. There he missed a century summer. 

"I also talked regularly with my colleagues and then I was a bit jealous here and there. But I was just a year in the Antarctic. But chirping birds and being able to go out into the forest again, these are things that you just can not do here. And I'm definitely looking forward to that. "

Cover Crop Powers First Transatlantic Flight Using Sustainable Biojet

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018 LAUREN MANNING

On Monday, a United Airlines plane powered by biojet fuel made a landmark non-stop voyage from San Francisco to Zurich. Agrisoma Biosciences, a Canadian agtech company that develops Carinata seeds to produce aviation biojet fuel, partnered with United Airlines and French oil and proteins sector company Avril Group to accomplish the second international commercial flight using the company’s seed oil.

As with any startup, proof of concept is a key milestone.

“We are creating a new industry,” Hank Krakowski, Agrisoma’s Director of Sustainable Aviation, told AgFunderNews. “The question was whether the fuel is ready, and it is. Until we got through the approval process, we couldn’t talk to people about investing in contracts with us to create the feedstock for the biojet fuel.” Krakowski has deep ties to the aviation industry after working as a commercial pilot for United Airlines for 30 years. After hanging up his wings, he served as chief operating officer of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Organization for a few years before transitioning into aerospace investment banking. It was through this endeavor that biojet fuel and a sustainable future for aviation captured his focus.

Earlier this year, Agrisoma and Australia’s Qantas Airways partnered on a transpacific flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne that used biojet fuel produced from Carinata, which is a member of the mustard seed family.

“Qantas came to us over a year ago curious about whether we could be the source for their biofuel needs in Australia,” Krakowski explains. “Something happened that surprised us in a wonderful way: when the flight ended, over the next few months Australian farmers called us and Qantas to see how they could work with us.”

Since launching in 2001, Agrisoma has captured over $27 million in venture capital from Canadian investors, with its most recent Series C in March 2018 raising roughly $12 million. Its four investors – fund manager DesJardins Capital, impact investors Cycle Capital, Quebec-focused funders LuneRouge, and multi-stage investor BDC – all hail from Canada and seek out sustainable technologies. Krakowski hints at more financing activity for Agrisoma in the near future, but could not share more details at this time.

A Seed Company at Heart

While many might assume that Agrisoma brands itself as a biofuel company, it’s better categorized as a seed company. Agrisoma’s proprietary Carinata seed, currently being cultivated by growers in both the Americas and Australia, is a non-food, mustard-like oilseed that produces a grain that is roughly 50% oil and 50% protein. Carinata biojet fuel is made by harvesting tons of Carinata crop, crushing the grain to recover the oil, and refining that oil into jet fuel by the same process used for petroleum-derived jet fuel.

Agrisoma sells its Carinata seeds to farmers or agricultural cooperatives who then grow the seed as a cover crop and sell it back to Agrisoma. It has developed 20,000 lines of germplasm so that it can select the precise variation for different geographical locations and holds numerous patents for the germplasms.

“We have to go into different locations, do trials, sort out the right seed varieties and germplasms for that area, and then we put a two-to-five-year scale-up plan in place where we increase the acreage every year. We have to get farmers to plant and grow the seed and to harvest it correctly,” he explains. The company currently reports 50,000 acres of commercial crop growing across the Americas and Europe with the hope of doubling this acreage every year. It’s started the trial process for Carinata cultivation in Australia, New Zealand, and France.

While biojet fuel is a relatively new product in the jet fuel market, Agrisoma has found a way to slip into the existing supply chain: the company sells directly to existing refineries with biofuel production capabilities, aiming to avoid adding additional layers of complexity to the process and the existing supply chain, says Krakowski.

The biojet fuel typically replaces 10% to 30% of the petroleum jet fuel needed for a flight, making for a cleaner fuel blend that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, according to Agrisoma. Carinata is the first oilseed to be certified as sustainable by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, an independent global standard, and certification program for sustainable biomaterials.

Competing with Conventional Jet Fuel

When it comes to industry acceptance, Agrisoma is banking on recent agreements from United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) encouraging airlines to achieve carbon neutral status by 2021 with the goal of claiming a 50% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2050. Carinata and the way in which the company goes about cultivating the crop offers certain environmental benefits that play directly into the ICAO’s aims.

“When you grow it, it sequesters carbon out of the atmosphere like any plant and puts it into the ground. Then, you harvest the plant, and you have a biomass that you leave behind on the ground that does a number of things: it prevents carbon from escaping and provides nutrients for the next crop growing.”

Farmers have been largely receptive to cultivating Carinata, which is used as a cover crop. This means that it doesn’t compete with traditional food growing cycles. And while other cover crops commonly don’t have a dollar value, Carinata cultivation offers farmers an additional stream of income during the off-season.

As an added bonus, Agrisoma sells the spent meal that’s leftover after the seed-crushing process for livestock feed. Because Carinata is a non-GMO seed, the meal sells at a premium to dairies producing organic products.

With some estimates suggesting that airline travel will double from current demand levels by 2040, Krakowski thinks that airlines will have no choice but to seek out sustainable fuel sources that allow them to keep pace with demand while satisfying the ICAO agreement. In fact, Agrisoma is in active discussions with a handful of oil companies about using its oil as a feedstock for biofuel production, says Krakowski.

The Sky’s the Limit

With a few successful flights under its belt, the company is focusing on increasing its acres of production and scaling up in the Americas and France, as well as Australia, New Zealand and perhaps Asia. Most startups keep a close eye on the competition, but for Agrisoma and Krakowski there is plenty of room in the biojet fuel space for additional players.

“If you look at the numbers the industry needs to meet a doubling of air commerce against biofuel availability, they will need every drop they can get from anybody who can produce biofuel regardless of where it comes from.”

China's Scientists Observe Plant Growth in its Space Lab

CGTN 2018-09-27 20:13

Astronauts need a lot of food during their space expedition that sometimes takes nearly two years. Carrying dried prepackaged food takes up space in their spacecraft. 

One solution is to send seeds that occupy less volume to cultivate them in the space. Recently, scientists have successfully grown vegetables and plants in the space shuttles. 

However, microgravity makes it difficult to water the plants as they clump together. Space scientists at NASA started using hydroponics and aeroponics to grow plants in space stations.

While hydroponics delivers water to plant roots, aeroponics ensures misty air conditions for plants' growth. 

Chinese scientists have taken this experiment to the next level at Tiangong-2, a space laboratory.

They are trying to accomplish full-cycle of plant growth under microgravity. Boxes containing rice and Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant, are on board the space lab.

"After the seeds arrive in space, they will grow and mature there, and finally yield seeds. This kind of long-term experiment is quite rare in the international community," Zheng Huiqiong, director of Tiangong-2's space biotechnology and the plant cell engineering research team said.

"It is of great importance because it can help solve one of the key problems to providing necessary food, water, and oxygen to humans," Zheng explained. 

The research found that under the conditions of microgravity, the flowering of Arabidopsis occurs 22 days later than on the ground. 

"If we need to eat leaves in the future, it is better to have plants that flower late. But for rice, late flowering will influence the yields, so we have to adapt it to the environment," said Zheng. 

The research also found that rice is more active in guttation under the conditions of microgravity, meaning it exudes more and more significant drops of sap on its leaves. 

"This phenomenon has advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, bigger sap drops will influence the growth of the plant because it will increase the humidity. On the other hand, it offers us clues to establish an effective life-support system in the future, so we could provide water to humans via plants," said Zheng. 

Moleaer Helps Big Tex Urban Farms Donate More to Local Community With Oxygen Nanobubbles

By urbanagnews -

October 3, 2018

Moleaer, the leading manufacturer of industrial-scale nanobubble generators, announces that the Big Tex Urban Farms has installed its Boost nanobubble generator to increase crop production. Throughout the growing season, Big Tex Urban Farms donates all its produce to local Dallas area organizations.

Big Tex Urban Farms wanted to incorporate an innovative solution that would help them grow more food per square foot to provide more produce to their local community. After evaluating several options, they chose Moleaer’s nanobubble generator. The generator boosts the deep-water culture’s dissolved oxygen content through oxygen-enriched nanobubbles. When roots are exposed to oxygen- enriched nanobubbles combined with elevated dissolved oxygen content, they can absorb nutrients more effectively, translating into higher yields and ultimately, more food for the local community.

When Big Tex Urban Farms lost power, temperatures in the greenhouse soared above 110 degrees Fahrenheit. The nanobubble-infused water was able to mitigate the effects. Nanobubbles are unique because they are neutrally buoyant and remain suspended in water for long periods of time. In this capacity, they act like a battery, maintaining dissolved oxygen in the water beyond the point of aeration. When the farm lost power, the nanobubbles saved the crop by keeping the plants healthy until power was restored. The tank that did not incorporate a nanobubble generator experienced significant losses, demonstrating a unique benefit of nanobubbles in high-temperature applications.

Moleaer Inc., nanoBoost-enhanced roots on far left

“Big Tex Farms State Fair Project is all about growing, harvesting, and donating produce. We give everything that we grow away to the local community,” said Drew Demler, Director of Horticulture at the State Fair of Texas. “We are trying to feed people and we think that the Moleaer nanobubble system is going to be a big part of how we can get more fresh produce to South Dallas.”

About Moleaer

Moleaer (Latin for tiny air) is a Los Angeles based company that develops industrial scale nanobubble generators to enhance a wide range of processes. Nanobubbles do not float, have immense surface area and stay suspended in water for long periods of time resulting in an unprecedented high rate of gas transfer. These extraordinary properties are proven to help farmers grow more food, oil and mining companies recover more valuable resources and operators treat wastewater more cost effectively.

Vegetable Towers to Rise in Parisian Suburbs

The French sure like their cities green. The country has seen a boom in urban farming over the last couple of years. In various projects both the government and various private parties have been launching ideas and concepts, and building farms to grow vegetables in the cities. The latest project to be launched is nearby Paris. In the suburb Romainville, two vegetable towers will comprise an acreage of 1000 m2 to supply inhabitants with freshly grown vegetables.

© : Poltred Studio / Ilimelgo and Secousses architects

"Talking about urban farming, the French market is a very promising market, since the French value their food highly", Corenthin (Felix) Chassouant with CMF confirms. CMF is specialized in high-tech greenhouses and buildings and has been working for several years on a proposal for urban farming greenhouses all around the world. In France they're participating in the new project as well.

La Cite Maraichere
This urban agriculture building is to be realized as part of a city renovation program. "All floors above the ground floor will be dedicated to local production", Corenthin shows. "As for the subsurface, it will be intended to produce mushrooms. The building will consist of 2 wings of 7 m wide each, the eastern greenhouse on the 6th floor and the western greenhouse on the 3rd floor (the first vegetable towers in Europe)." 

© : Poltred Studio / Ilimelgo and Secousses architects

© : Poltred Studio / Ilimelgo and Secousses architects

The building will also meet the latest environmental standards and will comply with public safety regulations. According to Corenthin though, the major challenge of this project was to combine aesthetics and technicality.

The project is to deliver a harvest of up to twelve tonnes per year. That consists of carrots, tomatoes and other products, all grown grown in circular economy substrates, mixing local compost, grinded green waste, coffee grounds. The vegetables are to be sold for small prices to local inhabitants and will also be used in the cafeteria on the ground floor. 

© : Poltred Studio / Ilimelgo and Secousses architects

Residence with greenhouses
The new Parisian project isn't the only urban farming project in France being realized currently. Various projects are mushrooming. One of them is "5 ponts" in Nantes, Corenthin shows. "This residence will integrate two urban farming greenhouses (6th floor and 4th floor) as well as two private winter gardens built by CMF. These greenhouses will be equipped with shading screens, heating systems and climate control. "This ambitious and innovative project entails various constraints: occupant safety, climate management of glazed spaces, and cohabitation with agricultural activity in urban areas", Corenthin shows.

©Samo / TETRARC Nantes Project manager and architect

The project is proposed by “Les Eaux Vives" Association. It is supported by the City of Nantes, Nantes Métropole and the European Union as part of the UIA project (Urban Innovative Action).

"It is really cool to be a part of this", Corenthin confirms. "With CMF we've always supplied the traditional market - which is also interesting - but now we see we have the capability to imagine and develop innovative solutions that combine our greenhouse knowhow as a climate builder with architectural concepts, to meet the specific situation of an urban farmer." 

For more information:
CMF
BP 10 001 - Varades
44370 Loireauxence
Tél. : +33 (0)2 40 98 34 00
Fax. : +33 (0)2 40 98 34 94
www.cmf-groupe.com

Publication date : 10/29/2018 
Author: Arlette Sijmonsma 
© HortiDaily.com

The Fifth Edition of The Global Summit Showcases International Expansion

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From the left: Walid Haidar - Dean of the Consular Corps and Consul General of Lebanon in Milan, Alan Christian Rizzi - Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Lombardy Region, Marco Gualtieri - Founder and President of Seeds&Chips and Alessandro La Volpe - Vice President of IBM Cloud.

 Seeds&Chips 2019

The Fifth Edition of The Global Summit Showcases International Expansion  

Kicking off on May 6 at Rho FieraMilano, the next edition will welcome world renowned guests, hundreds of speakers, and conference sessions discussing food, innovation, and the planet’s most pressing challenges.  

In 2019, Seeds&Chips will also be a part of the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco (January 2019) and New York (June 2019)  

Global goals: in September 2019, the first Australian edition of the Summit will take place in Melbourne, and plans are in the works for Africa and China

Milan, 9 October 2018 - The fifth edition of Seeds&Chips, The Global Food Innovation Summit, the most important international event dedicated to Food Innovation, was presented today, with the exceptional institutional support of the Lombardy Region. 

From the 39th floor of Palazzo Lombardia, the announcement of latest edition of the Summit was welcomed by consulates representing countries from all corners of the world: Ecuador, Uruguay, Slovenia, Turkey, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, Brazil, USA, Australia, Romania, Kuwait, Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Lithuania, Israel, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Argentina and Finland. The President of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, delivered a video message of greetings and thanks to the assembled audience, while onstage, speeches were delivered by Walid Haidar, Dean of the Consular Corps and Consul General of Lebanon in Milan; Marco Gualtieri, Founder and President of Seeds&Chips; Alessandro La Volpe, Vice President of IBM Cloud, and Alan Christian Rizzi, Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Lombardy Region responsible for relations with international delegations.

With this united front, the Region of Lombardy and Seeds&Chips demonstrated their unity to guiding the future of food system both in Italy and the world; indeed, with the city of Milan as the central point of the debate, this theme was the most important takeaway. Lombardy was the driving force behind Expo Milano 2015 and The Global Food Innovation Summit, born and bred in the region’s capital, is a testament to its legacy, its message and its global reach.

"It is a great privilege for us to receive the both support and concrete backing of the Region of Lombardy and to thus have a crucial partner to carry forward the legacy of Expo Milano 2015 - said Marco Gualtieri, Founder and Chairman of Seeds&Chips. For the first time, the world has placed a conversation about food at the center of an enormous matrix including the challenges linked to the growth of the world population, climate change, urbanization, and to a fundamental word for today and for the next decades: sustainability. I have always considered Expo to have been a huge success but, to be such, we must continue to carry forward those themes and all that they represent, never forgetting to keep both Milan and Italy in the center. In the same year that Expo took place, in New York the United Nations approved the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 and in Paris almost all the countries of the world signed the Cop21 agreement to combat climate change.

Together, these milestones generated an epoch-defining transformation that crossed every economic sector, each united by the concept of sustainability and with food as the transversal and dominant factor. We created the first edition of Seeds&Chips with the knowledge that it was essential to represent and enhance this transformation as well as establishing three fundamental pillars: the presence and the real and practical involvement of young people including both Millennials and teenagers, the continuous research and presentation of solutions and new models, and a strong international identity. This fifth edition of Seeds&Chips will be a new starting point: much has been done, but much remains to be done ".

"Seeds&Chips has helped to maintain a healthy and articulate debate on the issues that emerged during Expo Milano 2015, thus representing the natural evolution of that first step”, added Alan Christian Rizzi, Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Lombardy Region with responsibility for relations with international delegations. “Food security and food safety, the fight against food waste, agricultural sustainability: these are issues that our regional government is determined to tackle with the urgency they deserve. An event like Seeds&Chips stimulates this discourse through the involvement of experts and authorities from all over the world. Lombardy is the largest agricultural region of Italy, and an area with a storied culinary tradition of food and wine, with dozens of certified products.

The growth and prosperity of the agri-food sector cannot, however, ignore elements such as innovation and research, which are now essential for competing in an increasingly fierce market. The combination of agri-food, research and business in Lombardy is very strong. One example is the High Technology Agrifood Lombardy Cluster, which creates synergies between major universities, large companies, SMEs and regional research institutions to explore the new possibilities of agritech and industry 4.0. Milan, the capital of the region, also hosts 10% of startups in the Italian food sector, with 8.5% located in or around Bergamo. These are the elements we want to enhance and develop.” 

A GLOBAL VISION

Seeds&Chips 2019 will take place from 6 to 9 May at FieraMilano Rho, running concurrently with TUTTOFOOD. Over four days, the Summit will host conference sessions and meetings on the major topics related to food and innovation around the globe, from climate change to robotics, from e-commerce to precision agriculture, and from food waste to the circular economy, among many other themes. An exhibition hall will allow start-ups, companies, accelerators and incubators to present and showcase their projects, while hundreds of international speakers, investors and policy makers from all over the world will discuss major global challenges.

Following the success of the last edition’s WaterFirst! Call for Ideas, which gathered more than 65 projects from countries on 4 continents, a special focus will once again be placed on the theme of water, one of the biggest global challenges in the coming years.

The Global Food Innovation Summit recently announced their partnership with the Government of the State of Victoria and Food + Wine Victoria to create Seeds&Chips Australia in the city of Melbourne in September 2019. It will be an international event focused on innovation in agrifood, with the goal of becoming the standard bearer for food innovation not only in Australia, but throughout Southeast Asia. The event will feature sessions, debates, forums, workshops, business meetings and awards, to give a 360 ° view of food and innovation.

Seeds&Chips has already signed a three-year joint venture agreement with the Specialty Food Association, the American organization behind the Fancy Food Show, the oldest and most well-known American event dedicated solely to food. Beginning in 2018, Seeds&Chips will have a significant presence at the both the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco and the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York. The next edition of the show takes place in San Francisco in January 2019, and in New York in June 2019.

The fifth edition of the Summit in Milan will welcome institutions, companies and startups from scores of countries around the world. Australia, Germany, Holland, Israel, San Marino and Slovenia are among the first confirmed for 2019.

In addition, several African countries as well as China will have an important part to play in the upcoming Summit. These regions are strategically vital in developing best practices related to environmental stability, innovation, and the global food chain. Seeds&Chips is also in talks with representatives of these regions to develop international agreements and working relationships. 

MILLENNIALS AND GENERATION Z

As always, young people are the real heroes of Seeds&Chips. However, it is not only millennials but the emerging “Generation Z” of teenagers who have a vital role to play.  The fifth edition of the Summit will provide even more opportunities for engagement for young people and teens with a range of innovative formats and programs. Each conference will have at least one speaker at the under the age of 30 and will be opened by a Teenovator, activists from 13 to 19 years old who are particularly active in food innovation and the food revolution. Young innovators will also have the chance to participate in the Give Me 5! program, where they will meet with global leaders one on one for 5 minutes and propose their projects, ask questions, and gain inspiration for the future.

INVITED GUESTS AND SPEAKERS

A number of international speakers are already confirmed to join the fifth edition of the Global Food Innovation Summit, with many more to follow. Among those scheduled to speak: Howard Yana Shapiro, Chief Agriculture Officer, Mars Incorporated; Giovanni Battistini, Senior Vice President, Open Innovation Science, Ferrero; Alexandre Bastos, Director of Global Innovation, Givaudan International; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank, Andrew Ive, Founder, Big Ideas Ventures; Victor E. Friedberg, Co-Founder,  S2G Ventures and Founder and Chairman, FoodShot Global; Bernardo Hernández, Entrepreneur e Executive Chairman, Citibox; HRH Princess Viktoria de Bourbon de Parme and Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank until 2015 and current president of the Global Advisory Council, Africa Leadership University, and member of the Board of Trustees , Rockefeller Foundation.

In addition, representatives of the largest food innovation centers will participate at the Summit, such Natalie Shmulik, CEO The Hatchery Chicago and Angeline Achariya, CEO, Monash Food Innovation Centre.

Finally, Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria, will be among the global leaders present at the fifth edition of the Global Food Innovation Summit, along with representatives of the Forum of Kings, the organization that brings together Princes, Sheikhs and leaders of African countries around the themes of peace, economic development and sociocultural cooperation. 

Seeds&Chips - The Global Food Innovation Summit, founded by entrepreneur Marco Gualtieri, is the premier Food Innovation event in the world.  An exceptional showcase entirely dedicated to the promotion of technology, solutions and talent from all over the world, the Summit features an exhibition hall and a complete conference schedule discussing the innovations that are changing the way food is produced, transformed, distributed, consumed and discussed. The third edition of Seeds & Chips, The Global Food Innovation Summit, featured President Barack H. Obama as a keynote speaker in his first post presidency appearance. The 2017 event featured 300 global speakers, over 240 exhibitors, 15800 visitors and recorded 131 million social impressions over 4 days. The fourth edition of Seeds & Chips featured keynote addresses from John Kerry, 68th Secretary of the United States of America, and Howard Schultz, Executive Chairman of Starbucks. The 5th edition of Seeds & Chips - The Global Food Innovation Summit will be held at FieraMilano Rho, from 6 to 9 May 2019.

Seeds&Chips Is Pleased To Announce The Australia Edition In Collaboration With The State of Victoria

Launching in Melbourne, September 2019 to lead the international discussion about the future of food

Milano/Melbourne, (September 14th, 2018) - Seeds&Chips,

The Global Food Innovation Summit the leading event on Ag and Food innovation worldwide partners with The Victorian Government and Food + Wine Victoria, the non-profit organisation whose mission is to promote the development of the Australian food & beverage sector also through their well-established event the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival (MFWF). 

Global Table will be the new internationally-food and agriculture focused business event and part of the Taste Victoria strategy, launched by the Victorian Government to bolster the State’s presence in the food chain globally. The Summit will be hosted in Melbourne on September 2019.

The partnership between Seeds&Chips and Food + Wine Victoria aims to position Australia as the destination for investors and traders to connect with business leaders from across the Asia-Pacific by bringing the Global Food Innovation Summit to life with its signature content driven programming including its world-renowned speakers, the conference, exhibition, pitch competitions, Give Me 5 and much more. 

Together with the Specialty Food Association and its Fancy Food Shows in New York and San Francisco, as well as the opening of their new San Francisco offices, Seeds&Chips will proudly represent Italy also in Australia and will continue to bring forth not only the humble experience gained within the past four years, but also the legacy of the Expo Milano 2015. Together with the United States, Australia represents a key partner for the continuous advancement of the global food system and a more sustainable future for all. 

Possible other international communications will follow concerning strategic countries such as China and Africa. 

Founder & Chairman of Seeds&Chips Marco Gualtieri said, “We are so pleased to announce our presence in Australia next year. Food, technology, innovation, young people, sustainability, food security: these are just some of the themes that we’ll be working on throughout the Summit. We hope to champion these issues on a continent full of opportunity with an acute awareness of environmental issues and a strong innovation infrastructure. As such, I am particularly grateful to the Victorian Government, Food + Wine Victoria, Melbourne and Australia for their foresight and willingness to gather all that we have learned over the years as well as their recognition of the importance of the themes that we are advancing and the enormous economic opportunity that they represent.

Over the years, Seeds&Chips has grown with the aim and the conviction to continue building upon the legacy of Expo 2015 by emphasizing both the importance of these subjects and the potential for economic development associated with them”.

Food + Wine Victoria Chairman, Radek Sali said, "We are thrilled to partner with Seeds&Chips as part of Global Table, Asia-Pacific's new agri-food and beverage business event to be launched in Melbourne in September 2019. Seeds&Chips has quickly built a reputation for leading the global discussion around the future of food and at Global Table, we will be harnessing that power across the full food supply chain. From Milan to Melbourne and the world over, we face many of the same challenges and it is only by bringing together entrepreneurs, farmers, investors, food scientists, government and so many more key players that we can create and share useful solutions”.

Minister for Agriculture, Jaala Pulford, concluded: “The Victorian Government is excited that Seeds&Chips will be joining us here in Melbourne in 2019 for Global Table. Their unique focus on themes like food, technology and innovation will be key in helping us achieve our ambitious target to grow our food and Fibre Exports to $20 billion by 2030”.

Seeds&Chips - The Global Food Innovation Summit is the world's leading event in the field of Food Innovation. An exceptional showcase entirely dedicated to the promotion of technological solutions and talents from all over the world, the Summit brings an exhibition hall and conference sessions to Milan to present and discuss themes, models and innovations that are changing the way food is produced, transformed, distributed, consumed and experienced.

At the third edition of Seeds & Chips - The Global Food Innovation Summit, President Barack H. Obama made his first post presidency appearance as a Keynote Speaker, and the event welcomed over 300 international speakers; over 240 exhibitors; 15,800 visitors and recorded 131 million social impressions in 4 days. The fourth edition of Seeds & Chips, The Global Food Innovation Summit, was held at MiCo, Milano Congressi, from 7 to 10 May 2018 and included Keynote Addresses from John Kerry, former Secretary of the United States of America, and Howard Schultz, Executive Chairman of Starbucks. The 5th edition will take place in Milan, from 6 to 9 May 2019.

Have Your Food and Eat the Wrapper Too

Contributing Author: Alaina Spencer

According to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), “approximately 8 million metric tons of plastic waste enters the ocean every year.” This plastic waste can take up to 400 years to break down in the landfill, harming animal life, polluting cities, or overwhelming landfills. To combat the harmful environmental effects of plastic, many companies are seeking to replace excess plastic packaging with edible materials. Using innovative technology and plant-based materials like seaweed, organizations have developed numerous packaging alternatives safe for human consumption.

To highlight these inspiring alternatives to plastic, Food Tanks brings you 18 innovations in edible packaging. These organizations are working to reduce plastic waste, support a healthy environment, and influence consumer behavior.

1. Apeel Sciences

Apeel, a translucent ‘peel’ that slows water loss and oxidation from Apeel Sciences, works to extend the freshness of fruits and vegetables and reduce the amount of rotten, wasted food. The California-based company, Apeel Sciences, used plant-derived materials found in peels and skins in creating Apeel to naturally lengthen the shelf life of perishable foods. The sheer coating keeps air out by acting like a second peel and is completely edible. Apeel is trying to reduce the amount of food lost for producers, suppliers, retailers, and consumers.

2. Bakeys

Bakeys, an edible cutlery company, was founded in India to try to provide a waste-free and chemical-free alternative to disposable plastic, wood, and bamboo cutlery. The founder, Narayana Peesapaty, created Bakeys out of concern for groundwater depletion and the danger of plastic toxins on human systems. The cutlery is made of a blend of sorghum, rice, and wheat flours, completely biodegradable, and vegan-friendly.

3. Coolhaus

Coolhaus is a Los Angeles-based ice cream sandwich company that offers their creations in an edible potato wafer paper wrapping. While not all of their products are packaged in edible packaging, Coolhaus offers this potato wrapping as an eco-friendly alternative to their other plastic-based wrappers. To reduce catering and event packaging waste, Coolhaus imprints the tasteless potato wrappers with specific logos or brands using edible ink for each event.

4. Do Eat

Belgium-based company, Do Eat, combines water and potato starch to create a gluten-free, vegetarian, edible package for sandwiches, bagels, cookies, and other individual foods. As an alternative to plastic food packaging, Do Eat packaging is completely edible, biodegradable, and home compostable. The neutral flavor allows the packaging to be paired with savory or sweet foods and can be grilled with its contents. Do Eat founders, Thibaut Gilquin and Hélèn Hoyois, are attempting to change consumer waste behavior without consumers noticing a difference.

5. Ecovative

Ecovative is a design and packaging company working to develop, produce, and market environmentally friendly products to work in conjunction with the Earth’s ecosystem. The New York-based company begins at the cellular level by using mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus, to grow packaging for wine bottles, cold storage, or any product needing support. Ecovative uses various nutrients and environments to grow the mycelium packaging which creates differing strengths and flexibilities. While Eben Bayer, a co-founder, says the packaging is, in fact, edible, he encourages consumers to compost it to use as fertilizer.

6. E6PR

A Mexican-based start-up, Eco Six Pack Ring or E6PR, is trying to replace the plastic six-pack ring that holds beer cans by combining compostable matter and by-product waste to create an eco-friendly six-pack ring. Plastic six-pack rings often make their way to the ocean greatly harming sea life, which inspired E6PR to create an environmentally and animal friendly product. These biodegradable and compostable ‘ecorings’ completely break down if left in the wild or in water and do not harm animal’s digestive tracts. The ecorings are also 100 percent edible, but the company does not encourage human consumption due to possible contamination on the journey to the retail store.  

7. Evoware  

Evoware, a seaweed-based packaging company, works to reduce plastic waste by replacing plastic food packaging with edible, dissolvable, and biodegradable packaging. The tasteless, odorless packaging comes in various sizes to fit sandwiches, cereals, or coffee sachets and is customizable for specific colors and brand logos. Along with reducing plastic waste, the Indonesian-based company collaborates with local seaweed farmers to try to reduce carbon emissions, increase farmers’ incomes, and maintain clean shores. Evoware is trying to provide an eco-solution to plastic waste while improving the livelihoods of Indonesian seaweed farmers.

8. Loliware

Loliware is a biodegradable, edible cup company founded and designed by Parsons School of Design graduates, Chelsea Briganti and Leigh Ann Tucker. Loliware uses seaweed, organic sweeteners, and fruit and vegetable coloring to produce natural, non-toxic cups that are FDA approved to eat. According to Briganti and Tucker, Americans throw away 25 million plastic cups every year which inspired them to create Loliware. Loliware is trying to change the packaging industry by providing edible products as a solution to one-use plastic cups. The company is currently in the midst of launching an edible straw with the hope to expand their products and decrease the abundance of single-use plastics.

9. Monosol

Monosol, an Indiana-based packaging company, utilizes water-soluble film technology to create sustainable packaging that completely dissolves in water. A division of Japan-based parent company, Kuraray, Monosol partners with various businesses to provide an eco-friendly alternative to packaging of all sorts including detergents, personal care products, and food goods. Because the packaging is transparent, tasteless, and odorless, Monosol is trying to replace the wrapping for foods such as oatmeal and spices.

10. NVYRO

NVYRO, pronounced en-vi-ro, transforms Cassava plants, also called tapioca, into single-use biodegradable and edible packaging to offer an alternative to polystyrene and plastic food packaging. The Cassava plant is a sturdy raw material, which is then broken down and processed through thermal compression moulding making NVYRO’s products water-resistant for 75 minutes and oil resistant for several hours. Based in the United Kingdom, NVYRO offers a wide variety of products ranging from plates and cups to take-out containers in the hopes to replace current single-use plastic and paper goods.

11. Poppits

Florida-based startup, Poppits, is a toothpaste company using water-soluble pods to attempt to reduce the need for plastic toothpaste tubes and caps. In efforts to eliminate plastic pollution, Poppits use food-grade edible film to house single-use toothpaste pods that completely dissolve when brushing, which are packaged in sustainably sourced, biodegradable cardboard and recyclable aluminum. Poppits inventor, Wayne Solan, hopes to decrease bathroom mess while providing an edible and environmentally friendly toothpaste package.  

12. Scoby

Polish design student, Roza Janusz, drew inspiration from vegetable cultivation to create Scoby: Living Packages, an edible, recyclable packaging, for her graduate project at the School of Form in Poznan, Poland. Scoby, short for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast, is a growing, living organism most known as the membrane found in kombucha. Janusz uses extracts from agricultural waste to feed Scoby which then grow into edible and compostable packaging. Janusz wants farmers to grow their own Scoby to limit wasteful packaging practices and instead create zero-waste packaging.

13. Skipping Rocks Lab

London-based start-up, Skipping Rocks Lab, uses seaweed and plant materials to create waste-free alternatives to plastic packaging. Their first product, Ooho, dubbed “water you can eat,” strives to provide the convenience of plastic water bottles without the environmental impact. Ooho is a spherical, flexible package made of seaweed that holds water and can be eaten like a grape. While Ooho is currently only sold at events, Skipping Rocks Lab is working on getting Ooho into stores to help reduce the amount of plastic water bottles ending up in the oceans and prevent millions of kilograms of CO2 from ever being emitted.

14. Taste No Waste Project

Montreal-based anthropological researcher and industrial designer, Diane Leclair Bisson, uses culture-specific research to inform sustainable food packaging innovations that seek to change consumer interaction with food containers through the Taste No Waste Project. The Taste No Waste Project replaces disposable food containers with edible ones made from tomatoes to offer a possible waste reduction solution and a new gastronomic experience. By creating an edible container, Diane hopes to generate a more meaningful interaction with food and its packaging, which she thinks can be an agent for cultural change.

15. TIPA

Inspired by the compostability of an orange peel, TIPA, an Israeli-based sustainable packaging company, creates packing material that looks and feels like plastic with one large difference: it’s completely home compostable. Daphna Nissenbaum and Tal Neuman founded TIPA as a potential solution to the world’s growing plastic waste problem. TIPA combines bio-materials and technology to create flexible, plastic-like packaging that is 100 percent biodegradable and leaves no toxic residue.  

16. Tomorrow Machine

A Swedish design company, Tomorrow Machine, questions the lifespan of plastic food packaging through their own packaging series, This Too Shall Pass. The packages in the series have the same life-span of the contents they hold whether it’s juice, rice, or oil. The edible packaging for oil is made of wax-coated sugar, which cracks open like an egg then melts under water. The designers behind the food packaging series work to build a more sustainable world through research, technology, and new materials.

17. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Two chemical engineers, Peggy Tomasula and Laetitia Bonnaillie, of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in the USDA, are trying to reduce food spoilage by using casein proteins found in milk to create an edible wrapping product similar to plastic wrap. The researchers recently combined an alkali compound to the casein wrapping, which they state keeps oxygen out of food 500 times better than petroleum-based wrappings and is resistant to humidity, temperature, and moisture. Because the wrapping is made of the casein protein, the researchers suggest use with other dairy products or provide an allergy warning.

18. WikiCells

Inspired by the methods of nature, WikiCells are edible skins that encase food or liquids to create a protective barrier from the outside world. Harvard Professor, David Edwards, came up with the idea to use various natural food particles held together by nutritive ions to construct a completely edible skin as an alternative to plastic packaging. With the help of designer François Azambourg, Edwards brought WikiCells to fruition with the hopes of WikiCells products being sold in bulk, similar to fruits or vegetables, which the consumer could later wash at home. Incredible Foods commercialized WikiCells and now sell the products in the United States as Perfectly Free bites.

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Danielle Nierenberg

Danielle Nierenberg is President of Food Tank and an expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues. She has written extensively on gender and population, the spread of factory farming in the developing world and innovations in sustainable agriculture.

This Toronto Skyscraper Is Covered With 450 Trees

BY EILLIE ANZILOTTI

Toronto has long been serious about its urban canopy. The Ontario city is already home to around 10 million trees, which cover around 26% of the city. The current mayor, John Tory, wants to grow that to 40%.

Brisbin Brook Beynon, a local architecture firm, is already giving the city a leg up on that goal, albeit in an unconventional way: a 27-story residential building that will be covered with around 450 trees, growing on its balconies and roofs. This “vertical forest,” as BBB terms it, takes inspiration from the Bosco Verticale–residential towers in Milan that went up in 2014 with as many as 11,000 plants lining the sides. Since then, copycat buildings have been built in cities like Nanjing and in Taiwan–designed to combat pollution and prove that green space does not need to be limited to the ground. This latest iteration could open as early as later next year.

[Image: Brisbin Brook Beynon]

For Brian Brisbin, principal at BBB, bringing the vertical forest concept to Toronto aligned perfectly with the mayor’s goals for increasing tree coverage. And when he began researching the concept by studying the Bosco Verticale, he realized that all of the technology that enabled the Milanese building to function originated in Canada and North America. “That felt fairly profound,” Brisbin says.

And it also, Brisbin says, made bringing the concept to Toronto feel much more feasible. “We have a lot of depth of specialty in this area in Toronto, with horticultural and agricultural universities and research facilities,” he says, “and we’ve brought a lot of together to take a very science-based approach to developing this project.”

The team behind BBB’s vertical forest includes experts like Robert Wright, the dean of the faculty of forestry at University of Toronto, researchers from the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, which researches the viability of tree species in urban areas, and Vanden Bussche Irrigation, which develops horticultural technology. Together, the team has developed a specialized system to monitor and irrigate all 450 trees. Currently, the trees are growing offsite at a nursery managed by PAO Horticultural outside of the city. Planted in their own portable woven stainless steel planters, the trees–half conifers, half deciduous–will eventually be scattered evenly across the building’s exterior terrace surfaces. A monitored system integrated into the building will connect with all of the planters to track key metrics for each of the trees–amount of water, nutrient density, and external conditions like wind strength.

[Image: Brisbin Brook Beynon]

“We have this saying that there’s no management without metrics,” Wright says. Part of the strategy for the building is to hire a dedicated maintenance team, who will navigate throughout the many balconies, caring for the trees. Especially as Toronto faces extreme weather variability–dipping down as low as –22 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter and up to the 90s in the summer–having a team on hand to monitor the trees’ metrics and ensure their health will be key. This, Wright says, is a crucial task across the whole city of Toronto’s urban forestry efforts, but the height of the vertical forest compounds the urgency. “It’s one thing if a branch drops 20 feet to the ground, and quite another for one to drop 200 feet off a balcony,” he says.

While covering buildings in trees will not alone help cities like Toronto achieve their urban canopy goals, projects like these certainly deliver benefits to the surrounding area (though they also have some critics), like cleaner air and more space for birds and pollinator species, which will in turn assist more mainstream green infrastructure projects. Toronto, for instance, has made strides to increase the presence of green roofs of city buildings, and projects like the vertical forest could act, Brisbin says, “as a sustainable microclimate between these horizontal green spaces on roofs and on the ground” and direct pollinator species between the two.

Because projects like this are still new, the price tag for living in the building will be steep, Brisbin says. While final prices for the units are not yet set, as the vertical forest is still in the process of gaining approval from the city, tenants and buyers will have to pay a premium to fund the maintenance team that will keep the greenery alive and thriving. “And it involves a lot of science, data, and research to develop,” Brisbin says. The team is conscious of the fact that the high cost of living in the vertical forest perpetuates an unfortunate and longstanding urban divide: Areas where poorer residents live often lack good green infrastructure, whereas wealthier residents tend to live on tree-lined streets. “But what we’re hoping is that once we develop the system and the partnership with the farms that are growing the trees, all of that will be available directly to any other project, whether it be public housing or private development,” he adds.

Imagining The Impossible: The Futuristic Designs of Vincent Callebaut

Adam Williams

July 24th, 2018

New Atlas takes a look at Vincent Callebaut's most interesting architectural designs (Credit: Vincent Callebaut Architectures)

Sometimes outlandish, often fantastical, but always compelling, Vincent Callebaut's projects range from realizable ideas like towers covered in greenery to conceptual works depicting a near-future in which architecture, technology, and nature are blended to make cities a more pleasant – and sustainable – place to live.

The Belgian architect heads his firm Vincent Callebaut Architectures in Paris, France. Over the years he has developed a recognizable design language that draws inspiration from nature and makes liberal use of honeycomb patterns and complex geometry. He seems poised for greater prominence now though, as at least two of his projects are due to be built in the next few years.

Let's take a look at some of his most interesting designs.

5 Farming Bridges

Now that the so-called Islamic State has been expelled from Mosul, Iraq, the reconstruction of the city can begin. The 5 Farming Bridges proposal involves rebuilding a like number of bridges destroyed during the fighting and using them as residential units and urban farms. Existing rubble would be used as building material, with flying drones and spider-like robots doing the actual construction.

Manta Ray

The Manta Ray proposal envisions a manta ray-shaped ferry terminal in Seoul, South Korea. The remarkable-looking building would float in place to deal with seasonal flooding and sport a huge roof covered with a solar power array, along with a wind turbine farm. Biodegradable waste and high-tech water turbines would transform the river's kinetic energy into power too – all of which would allow the ferry terminal to power itself and send a surplus to Seoul.

2050 Paris Smart City

Created for a competition seeking ideas to turn the City of Light into a City of Green in the coming decades, 2050 Paris Smart City calls for 15 new sustainable towers to be built on the rooftops of existing buildings on the city's famous Rue De Rivoli. The towers would feature residential units and sport dragonfly-shaped solar panels on their facade, providing all required electricity for the project.

Nautilus Eco-Resort

The Nautilus Eco-Resort is a paradise imagined for the Philippines that would allow well-heeled tourists to vacation without polluting the planet (excepting on the flight there, presumably). The whole thing would be arranged into a shape inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and include a dozen spiral hotel towers that rotate to follow the sun. Nearby, a like number of sea snail-shaped buildings would include exhibition spaces and hotels, while at its center would be a large timber building covered with vegetable gardens and orchards.

Tour & Taxis

Callebaut's Tour & Taxis sees the Belgian architect propose a return to his home country to transform a former industrial area in Brussels into a vibrant sustainable community. The area would comprise three ski jump-shaped high-rises that would be topped by solar panels and covered in greenery. Other notable elements include wind turbines, rainwater harvesting, and the production of fruit and vegetables.

Hyperions

Hyperions consists of a cluster of connected timber towers in New Delhi, India, that are named after, and take design cues from, the world's tallest living tree. It will boast extensive greenery and enable occupants to grow their own vegetables on balconies, as well as the facades, the rooftops, and in specialized greenhouses. The interior is taken up by apartments, student housing, and office space, and it will all be powered by solar panels. According to Callebaut, this one is going to be built and is due to be completed by 2022.

Agora Garden Tower

It can be difficult to imagine how exactly all these renders would translate into brick and mortar buildings, but Taipei's Agora Garden Tower shows the way. Sporting a twisting form inspired by DNA's double helix shape, the building twists 4.5 degrees each floor, turning a total of 90 degrees in all. Once completed, it'll feature 23,000 trees, as well as a rainwater capture system and solar power.

Engineers Change The Future of Farming

BY KARABO LEDWABA - 17 July 2018

Engineers Mogale Maleka and Tumelo Pule have come up with hydroponic farming system that will change the future of agriculture in SA. Image: Mduduzi Ndzingi

Two mechanical engineers have used their technical expertise to make soil-less farming more efficient by building a system that relies on 20 hours less of electricity than what is currently being sold on the market.

Business partners Mogale Maleka and Tumelo Pule, who are both 25 years old, ventured into hydroponic farming, also known as soil-less farming, after graduating with their honours degrees from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in 2016. This type of farming does not require the use of soil but relies on water and fertilisers to hydrate and feed plants.

"In all honesty we have experienced issues of power failures which has caused our plants to die. My engineering mind said we need to find a way to fix this," said Pule. Hydroponic farming helps farmers avoid having their produce harmed by pests found in soil, diseases and weeds. It uses 90% less water than soil farming and allows for more plants to be grown in smaller spaces.

This type of farming is possible because plants such as spinach, lettuce, herbs and strawberries do not need to be submerged in the soil to grow. In these instances, soil is mainly used as an anchor for the plant and science allows for farmers to use other methods to keep the plants stable.

"Hydroponic systems need to feed the plant with water and nutrients continuously, which means that within an hour of electricity being gone, the plant will wilt and eventually die," said Maleka.

Their hydroponic planter is able to situate the water and fertilizer in a small reservoir without drowning the plant.

This means that water only needs to be pumped for four hours in a day, while traditional systems need water to pump for 24-hour periods to continuously feed and hydrate the plant.

The entrepreneurs said hydroponic systems are the future of farming.

"It is our belief that farming will need to rely on hydroponics because of issues such as urbanisation, climate change and an increasing population growth," said Pule.

Maleka said they had previously used the traditional hydroponic systems but found that they were not effective when combined with South Africa's load-shedding problem.

It took them seven months to finish their prototype, which cost them R28000.

"We were lucky enough that the University of Johannesburg believed in us and have given us a seed fund for our hydroponic planter," said Maleka.

The young innovators have plans to commercialise their product by selling it to farmers and eventually to households that want to grow their own produce.

Sipho Mahlangu from UJ's Process Energy and Environmental Technology Station (UJ PEETS) said the hydroponic planter was fascinating and innovative and that they would be assisting them in finding more funding to take it forward.