Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming

IGrow PreOwned 7/24/18 IGrow PreOwned 7/24/18

New LED Lighting Technology Brings The Power Of The Sun To Hydroponics

A high-tech lighting system that mimics the huge variety of sunlight — manufactured by Edmonton company G2V and developed in a University of Alberta lab by research scientist Michael Taschuk — is now being tested in four cannabis grow operations across Canada

Screen Shot 2018-07-13 at 3.04.24 PM.png

New LED Lighting Technology Brings The Power Of The Sun To Hydroponics

IAN KUCERAK

July 13, 2018

The G2V lighting system wasn’t developed to grow plants. Instead, it was built to test solar cells at the U of A’s National Institute of Nanotechnology. The goal with solar cells is to get even slight increases in efficiency. This makes it necessary to have extremely precise diagnostic tools for taking measurements, including lamps that mimic the sunlight as it’s experienced on the Earth’s surface in all its variety, hot and cold, bright and dim, and everything in between.

— David Staples

IGrow PreOwned 7/21/18 IGrow PreOwned 7/21/18

Italy: Tomato Grower Plans To Light 6 Hectares With LED

Prominent Italian tomato grower Gandini Antonio officially selected igrox srl as technological partner in LED supplemental lighting.

Italy: Tomato Grower Plans To Light 6 Hectares With LED

Prominent Italian tomato grower Gandini Antonio officially selected igrox srl as technological partner in LED supplemental lighting. Gandini is going to increase the LED lighted surface in their greenhouses with a new system, in order to improve yield and quality of crop. The first delivery of the LED systems is scheduled for week 39.

From HPS to LED
Gandini Antonio is the main tomato grower in the north of Italy; they currently have 16,000 m2 already lighted with HPS. Gandini wants to replace its 600W HPS with LED systems in order to increase PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density) and improve the yield and quality of tomatoes, Alessandro Oliveri, CEO of igrox, tells us.

"In 2017 Gandini decided to test our a new LED fixture, a toplighting system of 300W and 2.35uMol/J efficiency with our HEx spectrum, specifically designed for supplemental lighting applications in greenhouses", Alessandro explains. "Our new system has been designed to get the best balance between efficiency and cost, ensuring high ROI and low investments per square meter."

In the test, Gandini compared different LED fixtures from other well known manufacturers. "Gandini selected our solution thanks to the best return on investment respect to the other tested LED fixtures. Our new systems produced the same yield but with 22% less power consumption respect to the other tested LED fixtures. In addition to this, the plants have a higher productivity and the fruits a superior quality if compared with the old HPS systems."

First phase: 7,500 square meters
The partnership with Gandini starts with a first order for substitution of HPS fixtures, getting a total LED lighted surface of 7,500 m2. Gandini aims to get to 60,000 m2 of LED lighted greenhouses in the next 2 years.

igrox horticulture business

Horticulture is a relatively recent venture for the people behind igrox, but they have been around for a while, Alessandro says: "We have a history of 40 years in general lighting and, after 2 years spent in R&D, in 2017 we started the horticulture business with the new brand igrox.

"We develop LED lighting systems for plant growth in controlled environments, combining latest technologies and high quality LED chips to provide top class, cost-effective lighting solutions.

"Our team is composed of engineers, biologists and agronomists in order to optimize and integrate our solutions with the specific needs of controlled environments for plant growth."

For more information:
igrox
Via Vittorio Veneto 23b
20010 Bernate Ticino (MI)
Italy
info@igrox.com
www.igrox.com

IGrow PreOwned 7/16/18 IGrow PreOwned 7/16/18

Turn-Key Vertical Farm Technology Available In Japan

Netled has made an agreement with M2 Solution on a presence in the Japanese market. The agreement opens Asia's fast growing market to Finnish high-tech vertical farming technology.

Turn-Key Vertical Farm Technology Available In Japan

Netled has made an agreement with M2 Solution on a presence in the Japanese market. The agreement opens Asia's fast growing market to Finnish high-tech vertical farming technology.

Netled has been developing vertical farm technology with the brand name Vera for several years. Turn-key farming technology with intelligent automation has several benefits: it saves fresh water and energy, and with automated processing minimizes the need for manual work. Main automation is not only about steering the equipment, it also includes ready growing recipes, which enables successful growing operations wherever the farm is located.

“We have studied the Japanese market for some time now. These studies have shown, that there is a niche for our state-of-the-art technology and know-how. We have had successful co-operation with Mr. Tsuneo Tozawa, Company Executive of M2 Solution, already in previous projects. With their deep understanding and know-how on the Japanese market and actors we have strong support for our actions in Japan”, says Niko Kivioja, CEO, Netled Oy.

For more information:
netled.fi

Publication date: 6/28/2018

IGrow PreOwned 7/12/18 IGrow PreOwned 7/12/18

Nichia Turns Vegetables Into Medicinal Plants With LED Lighting

LED applications have opened an explosive market in horticulture lighting. Nichia, the Japanese LED giant, set up a laboratorial plant factory in Shanghai to test how different LED light sources can alter the ingredients of plants to create medicinal effects.

Nichia Turns Vegetables Into Medicinal Plants With LED Lighting

LED applications have opened an explosive market in horticulture lighting. Nichia, the Japanese LED giant, set up a laboratorial plant factory in Shanghai to test how different LED light sources can alter the ingredients of plants to create medicinal effects.

By combining blue LED with various phosphors, Nichia managed to generate artificial LED light with sunlight spectrum to upgrade the quality of light, which not only enhances eye comfort for people but also improves vegetable growth. In Nichia’s plant factory in Shanghai, Chun Chia Tai, Chairman and President of Nichia’s Shanghai and Taiwan Offices, established an indoor farm to conduct experiments on plants with several LEDs.

(Image: Nichia; Chairman and President of Nichia’s Shanghai and Taiwan Offices)

According to Tai, Nichia aims to grow vegetables with intensified medicinal effects. The ingredients of vegetables could be modified by changing the spectrum of LEDs. For example, Nichia has bred vegetables containing lower sugar which would be beneficial for diabetic patients. With its unique technology of mixing phosphors with LEDs, the company is bringing horticulture lighting to a new level.

Nichia has connected with local supermarkets to sell its vegetables in Shanghai and shipped some products to the Netherlands. The wide range applications of LED have built up a bridge between cutting-edge technologies and farming, bringing more healthy options for people.

Keywords: Nichia Horticulture lighting Plant factory

IGrow PreOwned 6/27/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/27/18

Adjusting Lighting Conditions To Grow NASA Salads

Osram is providing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with a customized version of its proprietary connected horticulture research lighting system, Phytofy RL.

Adjusting Lighting Conditions To Grow NASA Salads

Osram is providing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with a customized version of its proprietary connected horticulture research lighting system, Phytofy RL. The smart lighting software, coupled with a unique setup of connected grow light fixtures, will supplement the lighting technology used in NASA’s Food Production. Research focused on production of salad-type crops for crews during space travel.

All software, hardware and LEDs in Phytofy were developed by Osram. Osram has developed a broad portfolio of horticulture LEDs that irradiate the specific wavelengths needed for optimum growth of a wide variety of plants and flowers, allowing the light to be adapted specifically for the needs of various crops.

“Osram is developing smart, innovative lighting technologies that can improve food production in a variety of environments, even unique environments like space,” said Steve Graves, Strategic Program Manager of Urban & Digital Farming, Osram Innovation, Americas Region. “Many of the world’s coolest and most beneficial inventions have come from scientists at NASA over the past several decades, and to play a role in empowering further innovation through the use of our technologies is an honor. We are excited about the possibilities Phytofy RL will bring to a wide variety of horticulture applications, and our teams are excited to continue learning and refining its setup before ultimately bringing this exclusive solution to market within the next year.”

NASA was introduced to Osram through Hort Americas, which works closely with leading manufacturers to provide North American greenhouse growers, vertical farmers and researchers with the most technically advanced and cost-effective products to help them reach their yield, quality and project goals. Members of NASA's food production research team presented Hort Americas with a list of features they wanted from a lighting fixture, Hort Americas then used its network to help NASA team up with Osram to learn more about the Phytofy RL horticulture lighting technology.

Phytofy’s unique features include:

A UV channel which provides researchers with the ability to add a brief UV light to see how plants react and change.
More LEDs, which means a higher Photosynthetic Photon Flux (PPF). PPF measures light emission by calculating how many photons are coming out of the light every second. This is an important metric for plant researchers so they can determine the most efficient and effective light recipes.
An Irradiance Map – Researchers can see the irradiance using Osram software, so there is no need for them to measure irradiance separately before changing the light setting.

Osram’s smart horticulture lighting system is being piloted through a series of collaborations with universities and research labs around the world that are using the technologies and sharing insights. At NASA, Phytofy RL will allow researchers to easily adjust lighting conditions to optimize plant growth in various conditions and then replicate those settings in the Advanced Plant Habitat on the International Space Station, meeting the sophisticated needs of space food production. Installation of Phytofy RL within a growth chamber at Kennedy Space Center in Florida was completed recently, with plans to move the configuration to one or more of the Center’s walk-in plant grow rooms.

Via radiation with light of different wavelengths, the growth cycles of plants can be controlled and accelerated, allowing the plants to be harvested either more often or as required. Special light recipes optimize not only yield and growing time but also can increase the amount of vitamins and nutrients in the plant, and can enhance certain tastes and flavors. LEDs not only provide tailor-made bioactive lighting, but are also very efficient.

For more information:
Osram
www.osram.com/horticulture

IGrow PreOwned 6/26/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/26/18

Valoya Launches a High Intensity LED Grow Light for Greenhouses

The RX400 is a dimmable 400W LED grow light that boasts a light efficiency of 2,3 µmol/W making it a suitable one-to-one replacement for a 600W HPS light.

Valoya Launches a High Intensity LED Grow Light for Greenhouses

Valoya is the leading LED grow lights provider for crop science applications. Its fixtures are typically used by seed breeding companies, crop protection companies, vertical farms, research institutes, and universities. This includes 8 out of 10 world’s largest agricultural companies. The wide, patented spectra are what Valoya is known for and now these will become more accessible to greenhouse growers in Valoya’s brand new luminaire for greenhouse cultivation – the RX400.

The RX400 is a dimmable 400W LED grow light that boasts a light efficiency of 2,3 µmol/W making it a suitable one-to-one replacement for a 600W HPS light. It is rated IP55 meaning it is suitable for highly humid and dusty locations and can withstand getting sprayed by water. The RX400 is passively cooled and the little heat that is created is emitted upwards and not in the direction of plants. Its compact design results in minimal shading over the canopy and its lighting angle of 120° means it covers a large area of plants. In fact, it can be placed up to 4 m (13’) above the canopy, or if needed down to 0,5 m (20”).

Valoya’s spectra available in this luminaire are:

the sunlight spectrum NS1, favored by researchers worldwide
the plant biomass boosting AP673L, typically used by growers of leafy green vegetables
the AP67 spectrum for strong vegetative and generative growth, typically used by seed breeding companies

Valoya RX400 LED Grow Light_LED Chips.jpg

The RX400 was presented at GreenTech last week and is immediately available to order. To get a quote, please reach out to your local Valoya distributor. To see the full specs, please download Valoya’s Product Brochure.

About Valoya Oy

Valoya is a provider of high end, energy efficient LED grow lights for use in crop science, vertical farming, and medicinal plants cultivation. Valoya LED grow lights have been developed using Valoya's proprietary LED technology and extensive plant photobiology research. Valoya's customer base includes numerous vertical farms, greenhouses and research institutions all over the world (including 8 out of 10 world’s largest agricultural companies).

Additional information:

Valoya Oy, Finland

Tel: +358 10 2350300

Email: sales@valoya.com

Web: www.valoya.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valoyafi/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/valoya

IGrow PreOwned 6/23/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/23/18

Hein van der Sande Opens Certhon Innovation Centre

"The Innovation Centre is going to teach us a lot"

On Thursday 31 May, the Certhon Innovation Centre was officially opened by Hans Hoogeveen, Ambassador at the UN organizations for Food and Agriculture (FAO, WFP and IFAD) in Rome. With this center, the greenhouse builder responds to the need to produce food worldwide, in every place on earth and 365 days a year. There are more and more mouths to feed. Hein van der Sande: "The main aim is to achieve a significant increase in production."

Hein continued: "In addition, the water can be recirculated completely. Moreover, crop protection products are not needed if you cultivate in this manner. So this method of cultivation fits in perfectly with the policy of the supermarkets. Supermarkets are getting ever stricter requirements to the use of crop protection products. We have already learned a lot, but we're going to learn a lot more. We are going for it, and I look to the future with confidence."

View the photo report here.

The Innovation Centre is a 240 m2 greenhouse construction with insulation panels. Different cultivation methods and multi-layer cultivation are tested here. The cultivation is computer-controlled. And, last but not least, robots are going to be used. "Because that too is one of the aspects that makes progress worldwide: Technology will increasingly replace simple labor."

In the Certhon Innovation Centre, research is being done into crops in which Certhon has expectations in various climates, humidity, and light recipes. Hein van der Sande, CEO at Certhon: “With the knowledge, we gain from the Innovation Centre, we can give our customers and partners optimal advice for maximum results. The first studies we started in the facility with herbs, tomato, sweet pepper, strawberry and raspberry plants already gave promising results and a delicious harvest!”

Certhon did not devise this alone. Philips, Rijk Zwaan, Delphy, Wageningen UR and Koppert Biological Systems are part of this project. Hein van der Sande: "We see opportunities for the future of Dutch horticulture. We are faced with a new challenge, and we are keen to take it on. Certhon's innovative genes recognize opportunities."

Mr. Hoogeveen, ambassador and permanent representative at the UN organizations for Food and Agriculture (FAO, WFP, and IFAD) in Rome, addressed the audience: "It is a great honor to be standing here. We are proud of the Dutch horticulture sector. We notice that, everywhere in the world, Dutch horticulture is closely followed. Parties would like to cooperate with us on this level. We do not realize sufficiently the golden opportunities that this gives us. With the results of this center, everyone can produce good and nutrition-rich food thanks to conditioned cultivation. There is a need for that. After all, more and more people are going hungry. Growers have the need to be supported globally. Especially the growers in Africa are badly in need of our support."

After the speeches of Van der Sande and Hoogeveen, the guests were given the opportunity to head to the Innovation Centre. Explanations, questions, and admiration all over.

View the photo report here.

For more information:

Certhon
+31 (0)174-225080
www.certhon.com
info@certhon.com

Publication date: 6/5/2018
Author: Mark Mandemakers
Copyright: www.hortidaily.com

IGrow PreOwned 6/21/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/21/18

Superior Fresh – Largest Aquaponics Facility In The World

Superior Fresh is the largest aquaponics facility in the world. Their state-of-the-art fish facility is coupled with a 3-acre glass greenhouse where they grow various leafy greens and herbs.

Superior Fresh – Largest Aquaponics Facility In The World

Linked by Michael Levenston

Uses LumiGrow LED Grow Lights

LumiGrow Lighting | May 21, 2018

Superior Fresh is the largest aquaponics facility in the world. Their state-of-the-art fish facility is coupled with a 3-acre glass greenhouse where they grow various leafy greens and herbs. They grow everything from seed in their greenhouse under LumiGrow grow lights and produce 1.8 million pounds of leafy greens each year. The leafy vegetables make their journey from the greenhouse to supermarket shelves within 48 hours.

Superior Fresh’s fish house and greenhouse have been meticulously designed and built using state-of-the-art technology to maximize profits with a superbly modern facility. For their greenhouse lighting, Superior Fresh is using LumiGrow LED grow lights paired with LumiGrow Light Sensor technology to ensure yield and quality goals are met consistently while reducing energy costs by 50% compared to traditional HPS lighting.

“Our biggest leap forward has been the [LumiGrow] smartPAR software,” says Adam Shinner, Head Grower at Superior Fresh. “…When we have enough sun, the lights turn off. When we don’t have enough sun, they turn back on. It allows for full integration of our lighting system [with the greenhouse zoning], which has truly not been possible up until this point.”

“Understanding that we are going to have 9 billion people on this planet in the next 30 years or so, we have to start thinking about how we’re going to efficiently grow food close to the marketplace,” says Brendan Gottsacker, CEO at Superior Fresh. “LumiGrow has allowed us to grow food right here in Wisconsin in the middle of the winter.”

Lumigrow

Superior Fresh

IGrow PreOwned 6/21/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/21/18

Herifi Introduces Advanced Led Grow Light Technology To Improve Interior Aquarium, Plant Growing Efficiency

Shenzhen Herifi Technology Co., Ltd develops a wide range of LED grow light to increasing more efficient light energy applicability in aquarium, plant growth, flowering and art while reducing global energy cost.

Herifi Introduces Advanced Led Grow Light Technology To Improve Interior Aquarium, Plant Growing Efficiency

June 1, 2018

Shenzhen Herifi Technology Co., Ltd, a high-tech enterprise in electronics manufacturing, introduces new innovative LED grow light with enhanced features and a wide range of other LED products to provide global customers with the ideal lighting condition for all phases of water solution culture and hydroponics, plant growth and flowering as well as soil culture, while saving cost on conventional light sources. Again, it is aimed at providing global architects, engineers and designers with the source and inspiration for creation.

Recently, LED lights have become very popular particularly due to the widespread indoor growing practices. Today, most global electronic companies have ventured into the production of LED grow lights, however, there is yet the need for standard and quality in addition to products with high durability to save cost. Shenzhen Herifi Technology Co., Ltd fills this space with their full spectrum lighting solution and other innovative products. One unique product amongst these is the LED grow light bar, which has been designed for large and extensive compartments.

The Apolo LED grow light is considered as one of the best effective replacements for the conventional High-Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting such as the Fluorescent Light Bulbs, High Sodium Bulbs, and Metal Halide. These products have also been designed in different aesthetic forms and varieties for better applications which include Apotop series, sky series, ladder series, star trek series, Diamond series, STM series, KING series and more. The company also offers special custom services to meet their clients’ specific needs.

One of the company’s LED light products is the dimmable grow light. Several forms of this product have found application in the smart plant factories. Together with moisture and appropriate quantities of nutrients, adjusting this unique LED lighting provides a conducive growing environment for plants in the interior. The LED lighting also increases the growth rate of crops as well as the nutritional value while limiting, as much as possible, any interference from the immediate environmental factors. This provides good advantage particularly for countries in the polar and land-lock regions, with poor climatic conditions and land constraint for effective crop cultivation.

Clients who are interested in purchasing their new collections or wish to know more about Shenzhen Herifi Technology Co., Ltd and their other services are urged to visit their website on http://www.herifi.com

About Shenzhen Herifi Technology Co., Ltd

Founded in 2012, Shenzhen Herifi Technology Co., Ltd specializes in the manufacture of the plant led grow lights and aquarium led lightings. The company has a staff strength of 200 present in their 5000 square meters factory, in addition to high-tech equipment such as reflow soldering machine, automatic SMT machine, all sorts of electric test, production and R&D equipment, and large integrating sphere. Herifi has earned a high reputation throughout Europe and America in grow led lamps and aquarium led lights fields.

Website: http://www.herifi.com

IGrow PreOwned 6/19/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/19/18

Top-Shelf Growing With LEDs

Mike Zelkind worked in the food industry for more than 25 years before co-founding and becoming CEO of 80 Acres, an indoor farming company producing pesticide-free crops. “There’s an opportunity to grow it much more efficiently, to grow it without any pesticides — to grow a clean, nutritious product,” he says.

image%2f2018%2f05%2f80-acres-web-crop.jpg

Top-Shelf Growing With LEDs

Mike Zelkind’s vertical farming company, 80 Acres Farms, relies on technology and expertise for its success.

May 30, 2018
GIE Media Horticulture Group

LED Lighting

Mike Zelkind worked in the food industry for more than 25 years before co-founding and becoming CEO of 80 Acres, an indoor farming company producing pesticide-free crops. He spent time in operations, marketing and sales at leading food companies such as General Mills, Conagra Foods, Bumble Bee Foods, Advance Pierre, and as the president and later CEO of Sager Creek Vegetable Company, a division of DelMonte Foods.

In that time, Zelkind came to believe that technology could help improve what was available to consumers while offering them local food. As a result, he co-founded 80 Acres Farms with Tisha Livingston in 2015. Its products are available at retailers such as Dorothy Lane Markets, Rouses, Whole Foods and Jungle Jim’s International Market, and through broadline foodservice distributors like USFoods.

“There’s an opportunity to grow it much more efficiently, to grow it without any pesticides — to grow a clean, nutritious product,” he says.

He said over the past few years when looking at the broader food industry, he came to believe that a core problem for food production is that field farmers are unable to control their environments. Since he does not come from a growing or horticulture background, Zelkind traveled the world with his business partner to understand different greenhouse types, growing methods, and technology, including the LEDs that he uses in all of 80 Acres’ facilities.

“I’ve been watching farmers struggle for years,” he says. “I felt like there was a real need. The food that we eat is not the same quality as what we ate 20 or 30 years ago.”

A better way

Using the best possible technology available, including LEDs from Philips Lighting, is a key part of Zelkind’s business philosophy. Unlike some indoor farms that are focused on building a new growing system altogether, Zelkind sees 80 Acres finding success by using the best technology available for each part of the business. With that technology in place, the idea is to grow a variety of different crops consumers want. That includes vine crops and herbs in addition to greens and microgreens.

“We’re not just doing lettuce or microgreens,” he says.

Zelkind adds that technology is advancing to a point where it helps improve what 80 Acres does. For lighting, for instance, he says a number of different LED spectrums and fixture types were trialed for the different crops grown at 80 Acres before he and his team decided that the best option was to grow each type of crop with specific fixtures and light spectrums. So, in the 80 Acres systems, a vine crop like tomatoes will be grown under a different fixture and spectrum than leafy greens or herbs, to meet each crop’s individual needs.

The operation uses LED bulbs with fixed spectrums from Philips Lighting, as well as a few different fixtures types from Philips Lighting, depending on the crop. Zelkind says he knows he’s getting a dependable light source from Philips and knows he can trust their advice. He also says Philips’ variety of available light fixtures and spectrums make them the best fit for his business and a partner in his success.

“[They] have the deepest grow knowledge,” he says. “It’s a phenomenal company with tremendous experience and a great set of lights.”

In addition to growing technology, Zelkind says 80 Acres is staffed with experienced industry people. He says having people who are well-versed in all parts of the business — everything from growing, engineering, food safety and plant science to marketing, sales, operations and data science — with 10 or 20 years’ experience in food, is what it takes to be successful in this new industry. It also sets the 80 Acres Farms apart.

“We think that cracks the code of how to build a commercially viable farm,” he says.

Potential for growth

Currently, 80 Acres has farms in four different locations — Daphne, Alabama; Springdale, Arkansas; Granite Falls, North Carolina; and Cincinnati, Ohio — with plans for more facilities in the works. A lot of the company’s effort right now is expanding what crops it can grow well. Zelkind says 80 Acres has already successfully grown strawberries and hops in its facilities.

“The plan is to go way beyond lettuce,” he says.

Zelkind, though, does admit that there is still much to figure out before indoor farming becomes commercially viable. However, he does know that buying the right products – including the various LEDs he gets from Philips – are part of any realistic solution.

Growth for 80 Acres also involves scaling up farms over time at the right pace and in the right markets. In Ohio, for instance, a second facility near Cincinnati is being built to establish a regional hub. And when a new location is added, one or two modular farms are built to see how the location fares before a large amount of capital is invested.

“We’re in the first inning of the game,” he says.

As that happens, and the business grows, the goal remains the same.

“We want to provide, healthy, nutritious, local food,” he says. “And do so in a very sustainable way.”

Photo courtesy of Mike Zelkind

IGrow PreOwned 6/14/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/14/18

Signify And New Horti LED Partner Hortilife Boost Yields at Latvian Grower "Getlini EKO" Through Philips Greenpower LEDs

Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, today announced that its new partnership with Hortilife B.V. has boosted the yields at Getlini EKO, a Latvian grower of tomatoes, cucumbers, and hanging plants. Results of the first commercial full-LED horticultural lighting project for IMEA cucumbers at Getlini EKO mirror those achieved in an earlier trial.

June 11, 2018

Signify And New Horti LED Partner Hortilife Boost Yields at Latvian Grower "Getlini EKO" Through Philips Greenpower LEDs

Getlini EKO, Ltd. increased production of IMEA cucumbers
Successful start of new Horti LED partnership between Signify and Hortilife B.V.

Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, today announced that its new partnership with Hortilife B.V. has boosted the yields at Getlini EKO, a Latvian grower of tomatoes, cucumbers and hanging plants. Results of the first commercial full-LED horticultural lighting project for IMEA cucumbers at Getlini EKO mirror those achieved in an earlier trial.

From September 2017 to early January 2018, Getlini EKO harvested 146 fruits per square meter in its 3,000 square meter cucumber greenhouse, in line with Signify yield estimates. Hortilife assisted with the installation of Philips GreenPower LED toplighting and Philips GreenPower LED interlighting at the Getlini EKO greenhouse.

“Our participation in projects like Getlini EKO and the full-LED trial at Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), proves that companies can successfully grow IMEA cucumbers year-round using our LED technologies,” says Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture at Signify. “Furthermore, it showcases our leadership in LED lighting for horticulture.”

Jointly established and managed by the Riga and Stopini Municipalities, Getlini EKO greenhouses are located on the site of the largest municipal solid waste landfill in the Baltic States. The facility was opened in 2015 and uses heat from the waste recycling process. It installed the energy-efficient Philips LEDs in spring 2017.

“We wanted to start growing IMEA cucumbers year-round,” says Guntars Strauts, agronomist at Getlini EKO. “We needed to install lights with little heat radiation as the recycling process already produces a lot of heat. LED lighting offered that in the most economical and ecologically friendly way.”

LED lighting generates significantly less heat than high-pressure sodium (HPS) lighting, allowing Getlini EKO to independently control light and heat in the greenhouse. “Signify had demonstrated its strong know-how in growing with Philips LED lighting,” Strauts adds. “We were convinced after seeing the results of the full-LED trial at the SGGW, Poland. The first trial period at the SGGW produced cucumbers with 60% less energy usage and 1.4 liters less water per kilo and achieved 24.8% higher yields.”

The Netherlands-based Hortilife and its export companies specialize in the engineering, installation and supplying of greenhouses and agro-storage equipment, installations and construction. It is active across

many crop segments, including tomato, cucumber, lettuce, roses and pot roses, among others. Hortilife has successfully overseen installations of greenhouses throughout Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic States.

Signify N.V. became the new company name of Philips Lighting N.V., the ultimate parent company of the worldwide group of Philips Lighting companies. The name of Philips Lighting Eurasia LLC will be changed at the beginning of 2019.

--- END ---

For further information, please contact:

Signify Corporate Communications

Daniela Damoiseaux, Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify

Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69

E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com

www.philips.com/horti

About Signify

Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings and public spaces. With 2017 sales of EUR 7.0 billion, approximately 32,000 employees and a presence in over 70 countries, we unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter and LinkedIn. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.

Our global brands are

IGrow PreOwned 6/11/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/11/18

US (WI): Superior Fresh Grows Salmon And Veggies At High-Tech Facility

Superior Fresh is the largest aquaponics facility in the world. Their state-of-the-art fish facility is coupled with a 3-acre glass greenhouse where they grow various leafy greens and herbs.

US (WI): Superior Fresh Grows Salmon And Veggies At High-Tech Facility

The light sensor technology allows Superior Fresh to monitor the exact light levels in the greenhouse and create programs that automatically adjust the fixtures to efficiently meet production goals year-round.

“Our biggest leap forward has been the LumiGrow smartPAR software,” says Adam Shinner, Head Grower at Superior Fresh. “…When we have enough sun, the lights turn off. When we don’t have enough sun, they turn back on. It allows for full integration of our lighting system [with the greenhouse zoning], which has truly not been possible up until this point.”

For more information:
LumiGrow
800-514-0487
info@lumigrow.com
www.lumigrow.com

Publication date: 5/29/2018

IGrow PreOwned 6/9/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/9/18

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Lighting Research Center Releases New Report on LED Horticultural Lighting Systems

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has published a new report on the energy and economic performance of LED horticultural luminaires.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Lighting Research Center Releases New Report on LED Horticultural Lighting Systems

By urbanagnews

May 16, 2018

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has published a new report on the energy and economic performance of LED horticultural luminaires. The LRC evaluated key factors such as power demand, life-cycle cost, luminaire intensity distribution, and luminaire shading. Of particular importance is the fact that the LRC considered the effectiveness of the entire lighting system for a controlled growing environment.

The research team found that for a given growing area, energy savings were possible with some of the tested LED horticultural luminaires compared to the tested high-pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) horticultural luminaires, when meeting the same photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) criterion, but there was remarkably wide variation among products.

The LRC chose PPFD as the primary metric for the evaluation because, for plants, PPFD is analogous to photopic illuminance on a work surface in an architectural application. Just as it is only valid to compare the power densities of alternate lighting systems at equal illuminance levels on the work plane, the power densities of alternate horticultural luminaires should only be compared when they provide the same PPFD on the plant canopy. The LRC found that, on average, approximately three times as many LED horticultural luminaires would be needed to provide the same PPFD as a typical 1000-watt HPS horticultural luminaire layout.

For this project, the LRC developed an equal-PPFD-based framework for evaluating and comparing horticultural luminaires, which includes 11 luminaire-specific metrics and 5 application-specific metrics to provide growers with the most accurate information regarding any given horticultural luminaire’s performance. The LRC used this framework to evaluate a total of 14 horticultural luminaires, including 10 LED products. The evaluation included photometric testing, application simulations, and life-cycle cost analysis.

The results of the evaluation show that stakeholders can be misled by considering luminaire efficacy alone. Rather, the luminaire intensity distribution and layout to reach a criterion PPFD are necessary for an accurate life-cycle cost analysis. The LRC report provides a technology-neutral framework that stakeholders can use to evaluate lighting systems.

“Upon analyzing our data, we were intrigued by how intensity distribution and layout emerged as key factors in system performance,” said LRC Research Scientist Leora Radetsky, who authored the report.

When choosing a lighting system for a greenhouse, growers should consider the size and number of luminaires needed, because luminaires block the daylight from reaching the plants. The LRC shading analysis found an increase in shading from LED luminaires compared with HPS luminaires due to the size of the luminaires and the fact that more are needed to provide the same PPFD. The shading from LED luminaires reduces daylight in a greenhouse by up to 55% compared with a 5% reduction in daylight from HPS luminaires, thus more electric energy could be needed for lighting with the LED systems, depending upon the available daylight.

In a recent LRC survey, 75% of growers identified the cost of LED horticultural lighting to be a barrier to adoption, therefore it was important to include a life-cycle cost analysis in the report. The LRC found that three of the tested LED horticultural luminaire lighting systems had lower life-cycle costs and the remaining seven had higher life-cycle costs than either of the two 1000-watt HPS lighting systems that were tested.

“Energy use and life-cycle costs vary widely among LED and HPS lighting systems used in controlled environment horticulture,” said Radetsky. “It has been the standard approach for many years in the field of architectural lighting, and is becoming readily apparent in horticultural lighting, that we must conduct complete system energy and life-cycle cost analyses to generate an accurate picture of which technology would work best for each particular application.”

The project was funded by the Lighting Energy Alliance and Natural Resources Canada. Members of the Lighting Energy Alliance include Efficiency Vermont, Energize Connecticut, National Grid, and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.

View the LED and HID Horticultural Luminaire Testing Report.

About the Lighting Energy Alliance

The Lighting Energy Alliance (LEA) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lighting Research Center is a collaboration of members who pool their funds to advance lighting research and education that is of common interest. Since launching in 2014, LEA has worked to identify effective new ways to save energy, quantify the savings, and support its members in implementation.

About the Lighting Research Center

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is the world’s leading center for lighting research and education. Established in 1988 by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the LRC has been pioneering research in solid-state lighting, light and health, transportation lighting and safety, and energy efficiency for more than 30 years.

LRC lighting scientists with multidisciplinary expertise in research, technology, design, and human factors collaborate with a global network of leading manufacturers and government agencies, developing innovative lighting solutions for projects that range from the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to U.S. Navy submarines to hospital neonatal intensive-care units. LRC researchers conduct independent, third-party testing of lighting products in the LRC’s state of the art photometric laboratories, the only university lighting laboratories accredited by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP Lab Code: 200480-0).

In 1990, the LRC became the first university research center to offer graduate degrees in lighting and today, offers an M.S. in lighting and a Ph.D. to educate future leaders in lighting. With 35 full-time faculties and staff, 15 graduate students, and a 30,000 sq. ft. laboratory space, the LRC is the largest university-based lighting research and education organization in the world.

About Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is America’s first technological research university. The university offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in engineering; the sciences; information technology and web sciences; architecture; management; and the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

Rensselaer faculty advance research in a wide range of fields, with an emphasis on biotechnology, nanotechnology, computational science and engineering, data science, and the media arts and technology. The Institute has an established record of success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace, fulfilling its founding mission of applying science “to the common purposes of life.”

TAGS LED Grow Lights LED research Research Technology

IGrow PreOwned 6/8/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/8/18

Signify Signs New Partnership Agreement With Eiffage Energie Systèmes To Serve French Horticulture Market

Signify, the world leader in lighting, today announced it has signed an official Philips Horti LED partnership agreement with Eiffage Energie Systèmes.

Signify signs new partnership with Eiffage 2.jpg

Signify Signs New Partnership Agreement With Eiffage Energie Systèmes To Serve French Horticulture Market

Signify now has a dedicated Horti LED partner in France to meet increasing demand for horticultural LED lighting
Eiffage Energie Systèmes will sell Philips GreenPower LED lighting to the French horticulture market

Signify, the world leader in lighting, today announced it has signed an official Philips Horti LED partnership agreement with Eiffage Energie Systèmes. As of May 28, Eiffage Energie Systèmes will be a certified supplier of Philips GreenPower LED lighting for all horticulture applications, such as greenhouses as well as innovative vertical farming facilities.

Signify signs new partnership with Eiffage 1.jpg

Growing demand for year-round production

“Eiffage Energie Systèmes is a perfect addition to our partner network because of its location and knowledge of the sector. It has delivered and installed co-gens in greenhouses in France for many years and is well acquainted with the market,” said Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture at Signify. “We see a trend amongst French growers looking for ways to serve the market all year-round. Because of the French climate, growers need to increase the amount of light in the greenhouse, without further raising the plant temperature. LED lighting produces far less heat than HPS lighting, making it a smart choice on the path towards year-round uniform production,” Van Slooten added.

Quality cultivation solutions for French customers

“Eiffage Energie Systèmes and Signify are both companies that stand for quality, certainty, and knowledge,” said Jean Jacques Pince, Managing Director of Eiffage Energie Systèmes Nouvelle Aquitaine. “We are honored to work with Signify and to include Philips LED products in our portfolio because it fits our current way of working. We have expertise in greenhouse building and already do this type of installation work. LED lighting is a valuable addition to our portfolio because we can couple the quality of the Signify product offering with our strong presence in France.”

Signify signs new partnership with Eiffage 3.jpg

Signify and Eiffage Energie Systèmes are already working on three commercial projects to be installed later this year. The ongoing expansion of the Philips Horti LED partner network demonstrates Signify’s commitment to extend its leadership in the horticulture industry as an innovative LED lighting provider and partner for the greenhouse industry.

PS Signify became the new company name of Philips Lighting as of May 16, 2018.

IGrow PreOwned 6/8/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/8/18

Thrive Agritech Secures $2 Million Capital Injection

The latest investment round, led by New York-based Rose Capital, accelerates the LED lighting company's unique lighting technology into the global horticulture market.

The latest investment round, led by New York-based Rose Capital, accelerates the LED lighting company's unique lighting technology into the global horticulture market.

May 22, 2018

Thrive Agritech, Inc., a technology company focused on leading innovations in LED horticulture lighting, has announced that it has received an additional $2 million in equity capital to accelerate the development and deployment of its LED technology in controlled environment agriculture. The investment round was led by Rose Capital, a New York-based institutional investor. In conjunction with the investment round, Rose Capital has also joined Thrive’s Board of Directors.

The financing round–and new partnership with Rose Capital–follows an exceptional year for Thrive Agritech, which saw a rapidly expanding customer base with lighting installations in greenhouses, vertical farms and cannabis production facilities across North America.

Rose Capital noted, “We are excited about this investment based on the extraordinary customer adoption that Thrive has experienced since its first product launch in 2015. Thrive has established a successful track record of commercializing best-in-class LED lighting products–having launched a new product every year since the company’s inception. We look forward to partnering with Thrive to continue to break down traditional industry barriers and commercialize some of the most innovative products in the global horticultural market.”

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that food production must increase by 70 percent over the next forty years to satisfy increasing demand. The total market in North America for LED lighting solutions for greenhouses is expected to grow from 2.5 million square feet in 2015 to more than 50 million square feet in 2021. In response to these trends, companies like Thrive are introducing high output lighting solutions to change the efficiency dynamic for global growers.

“Our biggest challenge today is responding to the overwhelming number of opportunities with which we are being confronted,” said Thrive Agritech CEO Brian Bennett. “As we close this investment round, we will be aggressively hiring sales, marketing and operations support and leveraging Rose Capital’s expertise, to exceed the expectations of our customers and further develop our product portfolio and core technologies. Additionally, we will be expanding operations into Europe to capture growth in the emerging greenhouse supplemental lighting market.”

Thrive Agritech was founded at the Y Combinator accelerator in Silicon Valley, with a mission to enhance sustainability for controlled environment agriculture. The company’s industry-leading energy efficient lighting products have already made significant reductions in the carbon footprint from older lighting technologies. Further, all Thrive Agritech products have an optimized horticulture light spectrum, high reliability, and most importantly improve efficiency and longevity of horticultural crop growth.

Lighting LED Raising Capital

IGrow PreOwned 6/7/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/7/18

Current, Powered By GE And Jones Food Company Partner To Launch Europe’s Largest Indoor Farm

Current, powered by GE (NYSE: GE) and Jones Food Company Ltd. (JFC), today announced that construction is underway toward building one of the world’s largest indoor farms.

Current, Powered By GE And Jones Food Company Partner To Launch Europe’s Largest Indoor Farm

Horticultural lighting solution enables environmental benefits including 90% less water, 50% less fertilizer, reduced energy and carbon footprint
High-care operation creates opportunities to redefine the future of global food, pharma, and cosmetics with industrial-scale production
Clean room automation enables “no touch” harvesting versus an average of 13 human contact stages

The impact of indoor farming with Current by GE Arize lighting solution (Graphic: Business Wire)

June 07, 2018

LONDON & AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Current, powered by GE (NYSE: GE) and Jones Food Company Ltd. (JFC), today announced that construction is underway toward building one of the world’s largest indoor farms. The intensive plant nursery, located in North Lincolnshire, England, will be the largest indoor farm in Europe, producing up to 420 tonnes of leafy greens per year across a growing area of 5120m2, arranged in racks rising to the height of 11m. To maximize the facility’s yield, Current by GE is installing more than 12Km of its new Arize* LED horticultural lighting solution, with a balanced light spectrum that catalyzes optimal growth in every plant and shortens the growth cycle for more intensive production.

We knew that lighting would be the lifeblood that could bring high-care intensive food production to an industrial level that demonstrates real commercial viability. - JFC CEO James Lloyd-Jones

The equipment is housed within a futuristic, intelligent cleanroom (or “high-care”) environment that allows crops to be grown in complete isolation from external contamination – ideal for food production as well as growing high-quality cosmetic and pharmaceutical ingredients. Production of the first crop from the Jones Food Company operation is due to start in autumn 2018.

“Nobody has been able to scale indoor, high-care intensive food production to an industrial level that demonstrates real commercial viability,” explained James Lloyd-Jones, CEO, and co-founder of JFC. “We knew that lighting would be the lifeblood of the facility and we’d need a partner who could see the potential and work with us to develop the right lighting set-up and spectrum to make our vision a reality.”

The world’s largest high-care indoor farm

With a growing area of 5120m2, the equivalent of 26 tennis courts, arranged across racks rising to a height of just over three storeys, the facility – owned and operated by JFC – will set new production and environmental standards for crop production of the future. With year-round local production JFC aims to slash food miles and produce leafy greens, herbs and other crops that can be delivered from harvest to plate in minimal time.

In addition, by designing the farm as a “high-care” facility, JFC will also be able to cater to the growing demands of cosmetics and pharmaceutical customers who require reliable supplies of the highest quality, natural ingredients. Every factor in the growth of the crops produced will be highly controlled; from the nutrient solution delivered to the roots of each and every plant, to the concentration of CO2 in the room, to the light wavelengths and duration of the growing “day” and subsequent rest period. Thanks to intelligent automation and advanced robotics, every plant can be grown in ideal, cleanroom conditions, untouched by human hand from planting to harvest. By comparison, conventional production cycles typically average 13 stages of human contact.

Lighting the future of horticulture with Arize

Malcolm Yare, Horticulture Business Development Manager for Current by GE commented, “We’ve spent years honing our technology in other industrial lighting sectors, and years more partnering with agricultural experts and researching the needs of horticultural applications. Our Arize LED solutions now lead the industry for efficiency and we continue to research new ways to improve performance through innovation. We look forward to working with Jones Food Company and our wider ecosystem of partners to find new ways to scale high-quality, global food production whilst reducing the energy and environmental costs of vertical farming.”

The Arize range of lighting solutions is low cost to install and maintain, with a market-leading 36K-hour lifetime (L90) and a five-year warranty to provide peace of mind and long-term reliability. An IP66, UL Wet rating also makes them ideal for high-care and cleanroom facilities as the luminaires can be easily washed and sanitized in-place.

Saving the environment whilst boosting the balance sheet

The JFC facility is designed to minimize the environmental impact of vertical farming, which will also offer a direct financial benefit to the company. For example, it will use up to 90 percent less water and 50 percent less fertilizer than conventional growing methods, saving on input costs. In addition, Current by GE’s Arize LED solutions are highly efficient, generating less heat than competitive products, reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint by 33 percent compared with vertical farming averages.

Notes to editors:

Jones Food Company production statistical visualization:

The growing surface area is 5120m2 – close to 26 singles tennis courts
12.3Km of Arize lighting is the equivalent of laying nearly 38 Eiffel Towers end to end
The growing racks reach a height of 11m, just over 3 storeys
420 tonnes of leafy greens are expected to be produced each year – roughly the same weight as 70 adult elephants

For more information regarding Current by GE’s Arize LED solutions for horticulture, visit www.currentbyge.com or visit us at our booth at GreenTech Amsterdam between 12th and 14th June 2018 (Hall 8, booth 105).

About Current, powered by GE
Current is the digital engine for intelligent environments. A first-of-its-kind startup within the walls of GE (NYSE: GE), Current blends advanced LED technology with networked sensors and software to make commercial buildings, retail stores and industrial facilities more energy efficient & digitally productive. Backed by the power of Predix*, GE’s platform for the Industrial Internet, and a broad ecosystem of technology partners, Current is helping businesses and cities unlock hidden value and realize the potential of their environments. www.currentbyge.com

About Jones Food Company
The nucleus of the Jones Food Company consists of three main protagonists: James Lloyd-Jones (CEO), Dr Paul Challinor (CTO) and Gary Thorneycroft (CFO). Together, they have consolidated initial ideas on improving the management of high-value crops in intensive growing conditions by constructing a world class plant production unit based in the UK.

The use of wide-ranging experience gained in the energy, horticultural research, and finance industries has been paramount in the solving of complex production issues, ahead of the first crop harvest. The combination of intensive hydroponics, energy-efficient LED lighting and sophisticated environmental control systems, coupled with the maintenance of a high-care production and harvesting process flow, takes growing to a new level in the UK fresh produce industry and is world-leading in its wider outlook.

*Trademark and/or Service Mark of General Electric Company

Contacts

Current, powered by GE
Karen O’Neil, +1 857-265-9113
karen.oneil@ge.com
or
Racepoint Global
Jenna Keighley, +44 208 811 2151
Jenna.keighley@racepointglobal.com

IGrow PreOwned 6/6/18 IGrow PreOwned 6/6/18

Signify Signs Deal With Agro-Inwest To More Than Double The Size of The world’s Largest LED Horticultural Lighting Project To 68.5 Hectares

Improvements in tomato production, quality and predictability lead Agro-Inwest to expand its LED installation from 25 to 68.5 hectares – an area equivalent to 100 soccer pitches

Signify Signs Deal With Agro-Inwest To More Than Double The Size of The World's Largest LED Horticultural Lighting Project To 68.5 Hectares

Improvements in tomato production, quality and predictability lead Agro-Inwest to expand its LED installation from 25 to 68.5 hectares – an area equivalent to 100 soccer pitches

First look inside the world’s largest LED horticulture lighting project in new video

Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, today announced that Agro-Inwest, one of Russia’s most modern and rapidly growing companies cultivating fresh vegetables will expand its use of Philips LED lighting for growing tomatoes from its current 25 hectares to 68.5 hectares – an area of greenhouses equivalent to 100 soccer pitches. In 2017, Signify and Agro-Inwest introduced the largest LED horticulture lighting project in the world. The quick payoff and the clearly visible improvements in the crop yield, has led to the company expanding its investment in Philips GreenPower LED toplighting and Philips GreenPower LED interlighting system for its tomato production. The scale of the project illustrates Signify’s leadership in horticultural lighting.

“Demand in Russia for locally grown vegetables and fruits is increasing and Agro-Inwest has responded by scaling production using LED lighting,” said Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture at Signify. “Our partnership with them has been a big success and we are pleased to continue to help the company to expand its ability to improve crop quality and predictability while reducing its costs.”

Agro-Inwest has already achieved excellent results in the 25 hectares of tomato greenhouses that use Philips LED horticultural lighting. “The Philips LED lighting has reduced energy usage by almost 50% and improved growth predictability, crop appearance, and yield,” said Irina Meshkova, Deputy CEO and General Director, Agro- Inwest. “We are on track to recoup our costs on that project in two to four years, a very attractive return on investment. In addition, Signify has been very accurate in projecting our yields which gives us great confidence in future results. We know LED is the future and Signify has proved a reliable and knowledgeable partner.”

Signify N.V. became the new company name of Philips Lighting N.V., the ultimate parent company of the worldwide group of Philips Lighting companies. The legal name of Philips Eurasia LLC will be changed in the beginning of 2019

IGrow PreOwned 5/31/18 IGrow PreOwned 5/31/18

“The 2020’s Will Be The Decade of The Vertical Agriculture Revolution”- Ray Kurzweil, Director of Engineering at Google

“The 2020’s Will Be The Decade of The Vertical Agriculture Revolution”

- Ray Kurzweil, Director of Engineering at Google

MAY 30, 2018, BY SCOTT MASSEY

Indoor agriculture has gained an explosive amount of traction in past few years as it has been recognized as a viable solution to solve food and sustainability issues by offering the potential to grow and distribute produce near areas of demand.

For a planet with declining resources, indoor agriculture is a key component to improving food safety while reducing waste and growing more nutritious food in highly controlled environments that utilize electric lighting, thermal, and sensing controls. These include a 90% reduction in water usage, reduced transportation pollution and elimination of soil and additives. With the rising population and the decreasing costs of LED energy, there’s never been a better time to explore electrification of the indoor agriculture industry, which has the potential to fuel the future of sustainability.

However, there were still a number of technical hurdles that must be overcome for this technology to have a meaningful impact in yields of food production. The largest of which is astronomical energy costs due to indoor lighting preventing indoor agriculture from being a financially viable enterprise without dependence on government subsidies. In this industry glance, we met electrical and software engineering representatives to hear about their methods to reduce the operational cost and increase the profitability of CEA (controlled environment agriculture).

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) conducts research and development relating to the generation, delivery, and use of electricity for the benefit of the public. An independent, nonprofit organization, EPRI brings together its scientists and engineers as well as experts from academia and industry to help address challenges in electricity, including reliability, efficiency, health, safety and the environment. EPRI's members represent more than 90 percent of the electricity generated and delivered in the United States, and international participation extends to 40 countries.

Q&A: Frank Sharp, Senior Technical Leader, Energy Utilization, EPRI.

What is the best form factor in this industry?

EPRI is researching CEA because of its potential to address issues related to population growth, food security, food safety, water access, water use, sustainability, grid load, local job creation, land usage, and smart city integration, all for community benefit. That said, we see three primary emerging forms and each has benefits:

1. The converted warehouse, vertical farm, custom building

This provides an opportunity to use underutilized or underperforming real estate in areas that often have limited economic potential. These facilities offer the ability to yield high quality produce in large volumes near population centers via their use of technologies to maintain ideal growing conditions.
2. Converted shipping containers or pods
This approach is highly mobile, is often modular, and utilize modern technologies to maintain growing conditions. These facilities offer the ability to reliability deliver fresh produce to targeted communities and applications and use minimal resources.
3. Augmented greenhouses where heat and lighting are added to keep the greenhouse operating year-round.
This format has a lower operational cost per square foot since it’s lighting load is only utilized when sunlight is not available

These facilities have the ability to deliver crops in large scale and deliver fresh produce year-round to markets. We found a lot of unanswered questions about each of these types of controlled environment agriculture and they all warrant significantly more research as we move forward. We are working with utilities and CEA groups to better leverage current technology to forward each of these formats for the public benefit.

In addition to these three forms, there are other forms developing like aquaculture, indoor shrimp production, and insects for protein.

Note, established industries like traditional greenhouses and floriculture operations are also very common and will continue to expand and be utilized. These operations are typically not researched by EPRI since their operations and technologies are well established. EPRI does follow work in these areas and will engage to evaluate new process and technologies in these operations if they emerge.

With major e Coli and other pathogen outbreak concerns plaguing the food landscape, CEA is a viable solution if implemented correctly. What measures are you implementing now to reduce the likelihood of a pathogen outbreak, or warn a consumer that the food is not safe?

Controlled environment agriculture can reduce the likelihood of the spread of foodborne pathogens due to its ability to control the environment and limit exposure to outside factors. But there is still a risk and all agriculture facilities (indoor or out) should remain vigilant to maintain food safety and security in the future. Continued research into efficacies and future technologies will help reduce this risk further.

Energy is one of the most expensive components for an indoor growing operation. What is your number of grams that can be grown on the farm in a given month, then divide this by the number of KWH consumed per month? Please give more configuration details, pictures, and growth trial data from these trials.

While energy is one of the more significant costs of growing indoors, this industry has great potential to expand. This expansion will be driven by the need for fresh produce by expanding the population, but the CEA industry must focus on improving its operational efficiency where it can be a vital part of a further efficiently electrified economy.

Benefits derived from improved operational efficiency and higher yield can also help CEA facilities minimize labor costs, which are typically the highest costs. The combination of improved technologies, operational efficiency improvements, and maximized labor costs can help assure CEA facilities that their products are competitive.

CEA integration with an electrified economy will also make CEA a key part of future smart cities.

The smart city integration of CEA will be further enhanced by the use of grid-integrated renewable energy and other distributed energy. As these resources come online, access to affordable and clean energy resources will help shift the energy costs of CEA facilities. We will be exploring this aspect of CEA in great detail during our 2018 Electrification conference in Long Beach this summer.

With further electrification and demand on the grid, additional research is critical to learning how to support grid stability and reliability as more CEA operations come online.

We are working with utilities and CEA operations around the world to learn more about emerging technologies and identifying proper placement of these operations on the existing grid.

IGrow PreOwned 5/31/18 IGrow PreOwned 5/31/18

The Challenge of Space Gardening: One Giant 'Leaf' For Mankind

NASA has decided that gardening in space will be crucial for the next generation of explorers, who need to feed themselves on missions to the Moon or Mars that may last months or years.

The Challenge of Space Gardening: One Giant 'Leaf' For Mankind

Kerry SHERIDAN

AFP News 10 May 2018

Tomatoes grow in a LED-lighted box, similar to what astronauts use to grow lettuce on the International Space Station, at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami on April 25, 2018

It's not easy having a green thumb in space.

Without gravity, seeds can float away. Water doesn't pour, but globs up and may drown the roots. And artificial lights and fans must be rigged just right to replicate the sun and wind.

But NASA has decided that gardening in space will be crucial for the next generation of explorers, who need to feed themselves on missions to the Moon or Mars that may last months or years.

Necessary nutrients, like vitamins C and K, break down over time in freeze-dried foods. Without them, astronauts are increasingly vulnerable to infections, poor blood clotting, cancer and heart disease.

So the US space agency has turned to professional botanists and novice gardeners -- high school students, in fact -- to help them practice.

"There are tens of thousands of edible plants on Earth that would presumably be useful, and it becomes a big problem to choose which of those plants are the best for producing food for astronauts," explained Carl Lewis, director of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, which is leading the effort.

"And that is where we come in."

- Useful foibles -

The Miami-based garden has identified 106 plant varieties that might do well in space, including hardy cabbages and leafy lettuces.

They have enlisted 15,000 student botanists from 150 schools to grow plants in space-like conditions in their own classrooms.

The four-year project is about midway through and is paid for by a $1.24 million grant from NASA.

Using trays rigged with lights that mimic the grow boxes used in space, students must tend to the plants and record data on their progress, which eventually gets shared with NASA.

"We're not using typical gardening equipment," said Rhys Campo, a 17-year-old high school student who tried her hand at growing red romaine lettuce this year.

"We have setups that are a lot more high-tech."

Still, some plants get overwatered, some classrooms are hotter or colder than others, and holiday breaks may leave the grow boxes unattended.

In Campo's class, the lettuce dried up, and students were unable to taste it.

Such foibles have turned out to be an unexpected but useful part of the project, said NASA plant scientist Gioia Massa.

"If you have a plant that does well in all that variability, chances are that plant will do well in space," she told AFP.

- New textures -

Astronauts living at the space station, 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth have encountered their share of failures while gardening in orbit, too.

The first portable growing box for space, equipped with LED lights, called Veggie, was tested at the orbiting outpost in 2014.

Some of the lettuce didn't germinate, and some died of drought.

But astronauts kept trying, and finally took their first bite of NASA-approved space-grown lettuce in 2015.

Now, there are two Veggie grow boxes at the ISS, along with a third, called the Advanced Plant Habitat.

The food being grown is only occasionally harvested and amounts to just a leaf or two per astronaut, but it's worth it, said NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold, during a live video downlink with students at Fairchild last month.

"The textures of food are all kind of very similar," he said of the freeze-dried fare available on board the ISS.

"When we are able to harvest our own lettuce here, just having a different texture to enjoy is a really nice diversion from the standard menu."

- The ideal space veggie -

Plants don't need gravity in order to grow. They just orient themselves to the light.

According to Massa, a good space plant has to be compact and produce a lot of edible food.

Plants also have to do well in a spaceship like the ISS, which has a temperature of 71 degrees Fahrenheit (22 Celsius), 40 percent relative humidity, and high carbon dioxide -- some 3,000 parts per million.

"That is something plants aren't adjusted to," said Massa. "On Earth, it is about 400 ppm."

Under a system, Massa described as akin to hydroponics but not exactly the same, space plants also have to germinate from a plant pillow with only a small amount of dirt, do well under LED lights, and be microbially fairly clean, because it is hard to wash vegetables in space.

Some of the student-tested crops are expected to launch in coming months, including dragoon lettuce and extra dwarf pak choi.

By next year, tomatoes could be on the menu

- Connection to Earth -

NASA is looking into the possibility of robotic space gardening, to automate the process so the crew can focus on other tasks.

But many astronauts say they like tending to plants because it helps them maintain a connection to Earth.

"The psychological benefits can be important for astronauts," said NASA research scientist Trent Smith.

Besides -- as many gardeners know -- having a plot dry up or be devoured by mold isn't the end of the world.

"The thing that the students learn is that making mistakes is okay," said JoLynne Woodmansee, a teacher at BIOTech High School in Miami.

"The whole process of science is all about building. You can't learn something new without making a mistake."

IGrow PreOwned 5/30/18 IGrow PreOwned 5/30/18

Philips Lighting Is Now Signify

"The choice of our new company name originates from the way light becomes an intelligent language, which connects and conveys meaning," said Eric Rondolat, CEO of Signify.

May 16, 2018

Philips Lighting Is Now Signify

Eindhoven, the Netherlands - Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, has today launched its new company name, following the amendment of the company's articles of association changing its name from Philips Lighting N.V. to Signify N.V.

"The choice of our new company name originates from the way light becomes an intelligent language, which connects and conveys meaning," said Eric Rondolat, CEO of Signify. "It is a clear expression of our strategic vision and purpose to unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world."

Signify will continue to use the Philips brand for its products, the most trusted lighting brand in the world, under the existing licensing agreement with Royal Philips. The company expects the name change to be implemented in all the countries where it is active by the beginning of 2019.

Founded as Philips in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, we've led the lighting industry with innovations that serve professional and consumer markets for more than 127 years. In 2016, we spun off from Philips, becoming a separate company, listed on Amsterdam's Euronext Stock Exchange. We were included in the benchmark AEX index in March 2018.

With operations in more than 70 countries and 32,000 people worldwide, Signify generated sales of EUR 7 billion and invested EUR 354 million in Research and Development in 2017.

"We are driven by the principle that light is essential," Eric Rondolat added. "And by connecting it to networks, software, sensors and IoT platforms, we open the door to a smarter world."

News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter and LinkedIn. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.

--- END ---

For further information, please contact:

Signify Investor Relations

Robin Jansen

Tel: +31 6 1594 4569

E-mail: robin.j.jansen@signify.com

Signify Corporate Communications

Elco van Groningen

Tel: +31 6 1086 5519

E-mail: elco.van.groningen@signify.com

About Signify

New LED Lighting Technology Brings The Power Of The Sun To Hydroponics

Italy: Tomato Grower Plans To Light 6 Hectares With LED

Turn-Key Vertical Farm Technology Available In Japan

Nichia Turns Vegetables Into Medicinal Plants With LED Lighting

Adjusting Lighting Conditions To Grow NASA Salads

Valoya Launches a High Intensity LED Grow Light for Greenhouses

Hein van der Sande Opens Certhon Innovation Centre

"The Innovation Centre is going to teach us a lot"

Superior Fresh – Largest Aquaponics Facility In The World

Herifi Introduces Advanced Led Grow Light Technology To Improve Interior Aquarium, Plant Growing Efficiency

Top-Shelf Growing With LEDs

A better way

Potential for growth

Signify And New Horti LED Partner Hortilife Boost Yields at Latvian Grower "Getlini EKO" Through Philips Greenpower LEDs

Our global brands are

US (WI): Superior Fresh Grows Salmon And Veggies At High-Tech Facility

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Lighting Research Center Releases New Report on LED Horticultural Lighting Systems

Signify Signs New Partnership Agreement With Eiffage Energie Systèmes To Serve French Horticulture Market

Current, Powered By GE And Jones Food Company Partner To Launch Europe’s Largest Indoor Farm

We knew that lighting would be the lifeblood that could bring high-care intensive food production to an industrial level that demonstrates real commercial viability. - JFC CEO James Lloyd-Jones

Contacts

Signify Signs Deal With Agro-Inwest To More Than Double The Size of The World's Largest LED Horticultural Lighting Project To 68.5 Hectares

“The 2020’s Will Be The Decade of The Vertical Agriculture Revolution”

Q&A: Frank Sharp, Senior Technical Leader, Energy Utilization, EPRI.

What is the best form factor in this industry?

1. The converted warehouse, vertical farm, custom building

2. Converted shipping containers or pods

3. Augmented greenhouses where heat and lighting are added to keep the greenhouse operating year-round.

The Challenge of Space Gardening: One Giant 'Leaf' For Mankind

It's not easy having a green thumb in space.

"And that is where we come in."

- New textures -

- The ideal space veggie -

- Connection to Earth -

Philips Lighting Is Now Signify

Interested in Listing or Buying a Farm?