Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
Canada: ‘Seed Voyage’ App Connects The Home Grower With The Urban Consumer
Canada: ‘Seed Voyage’ App Connects The Home Grower With The Urban Consumer
Linked by Michael Levenston
Seed Voyage Featured on CTV Toronto. Feb 2018
A grower could make about $500 on 100 square feet per summer
By Dushan Batrovic, Shawn Sowten
Seed Voyage Website
(Must see. Mike)
From their site:
Our platform is designed with one thing in mind – to connect growers and eaters so that they can buy and sell their locally grown produce. The home gardener signs up on seedvoyage.com and inputs two key things – their address and the foods they are growing. The local eater signs up and inputs their region of interest (for example, within 5 km of their house) and the foods they are interested in buying. When the produce is ripe and ready for harvest, the grower will send notification and any eaters with matching preferences will be alerted.
They will confirm purchase and pick up the goods at the growers house. All transactions are electronic so need to make change at the door. There are no fees for signing up, only a small transaction fee when goods are sold. Simple as that.
It’s a no-brainer; amazing quality and flavour. Homegrown foods picked at exactly the right time with no ripening on trucks. Even a generic veggie that is picked a few hours before eating tastes great. But specialized varietals like my Cherokee Purple tomatoes, which I grew last summer…amazing! You’ll start to wonder how those red spheres in the grocery store are even allowed to be called tomatoes. In the end, these are foods that are ultra-local and grown by passionate gardeners feeding their families. The difference in flavour and quality will blow you away.
This Hexagonal Indoor Farm Grows More Food In Less Space With 90% Less Water
Hexagro‘s Living Farming Tree is a groundbreaking indoor garden that uses technology to grow food faster using less space. The innovative design combines aeroponics with efficient grow lights, full automation, and a modular tiered structure to optimize space, crop yield, and water use – allowing anyone to grow crops in practically any room.
This Hexagonal Indoor Farm Grows More Food In Less Space With 90% Less Water
- March 26, 2018
Hexagro‘s Living Farming Tree is a groundbreaking indoor garden that uses technology to grow food faster using less space. The innovative design combines aeroponics with efficient grow lights, full automation, and a modular tiered structure to optimize space, crop yield, and water use – allowing anyone to grow crops in practically any room.
Hexagro aims to bring nature indoors and nurture the urban farming movement. This goal led them to create Living Farming Tree, an automated vertical growing system controllable with an app. As seen in the video above, poles and hexagonal connectors pop together to create the tree, providing a structure to support small growing modules. The system, which can be customized and scaled up with more modules, is built entirely with recyclable materials.
Related: Build your own indoor garden with modular LEGO-like blocks
Living Farming Tree uses aeroponics, a process that enables urban growers to cultivate produce sans soil or pesticides and with around 90 to 98 percent less water. The plants flourish in an inert substrate with roots hanging underneath; well-aerated, their roots absorb nutrients via a nutrient mist and oxygen, causing the plants to grow faster and taste better. According to Hexagro, this system—which boasts low energy consumption—allows for a 150 percent increase in the plants’ nutritional value as well.
The tree also lets you sit back and relax, for the most part: LED lights, sensors, and a proprietary monitoring computer keep your maintenance time to a minimum. Leafy greens, sprouts, herbs, air-filtering plants, or small fruits like strawberries will be available for budding urban farmers, and Hexagro hopes to offer spices, edible and non-edible flowers, and even vegetables like eggplants or tomatoes in the future.
Sold yet? Their website does not yet say how much the Living Farming Tree will cost, but Hexagro’s first international crowdfunding campaign is in the works, and you can let the sales team know you’re interested via this Google Documents form. In the words of CEO Felipe Hernandez, “With your help, [Hexagro] will transform your house into an indoor farm. Anybody, anywhere, can access healthy food.”
Images courtesy of Hexagro Urban Farming
under Design, Gallery, Green Interiors, Green Products, Urban Farming
How Would You Like To Grow A Head of Leafy Greens, Every Single Day And Not Need A Garden?
How Would You Like To Grow A Head of Leafy Greens, Every Single Day And Not Need A Garden?
The Co-Founder and CEO, Scott Massey, of Heliponix explains how the GroPod works on the Innovators with Dr. K.
Heliponix™ GroPod Product Details
The Heliponix™ GroPod is able to yield a full head of leafy greens for a small family on a daily basis. Users will enjoy a bounty of romaine lettuce, Genovese basil, spinach, cilantro, cress, rosemary, thyme, kale, or blank seed pods that allow you to enter your own growing conditions for varieties not yet available. The Heliponix™ GroPod will pay for itself by eliminating your dependence on most store-bought produce!
VH Hydroponics Pilots New Line of Hydroponic Growing Cabinets in Student Union
VH Hydroponics Pilots New Line of Hydroponic Growing Cabinets in Student Union
February 21, 2018
A demo unit of Vertical Harvest Hydroponics’ new indoor gardening cabinets is located in UAA’s Student Union. The university is one of only two places that the hydroponic growing cabinets are located in Anchorage, along with the Anchorage Museum.
VH Hydroponics is an agricultural technology company headquartered in Anchorage. The company, founded in 2014, has a mission to “provide an alternate way to source fresh, locally grown and sustainable produce in remote communities, year-round,” as stated on their website.
Hydroponics is the process of growing plants in a nutrient dissolved solution rather than in soil. This method offers many advantages, notably location flexibility and ability to produce crops year round. Other pros include no weather dependency, little to no bugs or weeds, less water consumption than typical farms and the ability to grow a large variety of crops.
The idea for installing a hydroponic cabinet in the university was presented by a group of students to the Green Fee Board. Many other hydroponic-based proposals have been brought to the board in the past, but according to Heather Jesse, chair for the Green Fee Board, this idea rose above the rest.
“Hydroponics is one of the most popular student ideas and one that is frequently presented to the board via grant proposals,” Jesse said. “This was the most feasible hydroponics proposal we’ve ever received, financially and physically. We were more than happy to fund it.”
After the efforts of the Green Fee Board, partnered with Student Activities and Commuter Programs, the hydroponic cabinet is now up and running in the Student Union. It is currently growing chard, kale, lettuce, chamomile, mint and strawberries.
Produce grown in the cabinet will help support the Daily Den. The program offers free food and beverages to students twice a day, Monday through Thursday. Vegetables produced in the cabinet will be introduced into the meals made at the Daily Den.
Jesse found the decision to install the cabinet extremely beneficial to students who take advantage of the Daily Den. She also believes it is a good use of the Green Fee, a $3 fee collected from every UAA student taking at least three credits on campus.
“As a student who frequently eats at the Daily Den, I think the benefits are very clear. Almost all of the meals I’ve had there have been carbs, frozen or both,” Jesse said. “Being able to provide students with proper nutrition, fresh vegetables and fruit is a priceless opportunity, especially since the Daily Den serves so many students each year.”
The growing cabinets are a new and smaller alternative to VH Hydroponics’ main product, the Containerized Growing System. These 40-foot units function relatively the same as the cabinets, although much larger. They are used in grocery stores, restaurants and hospitals.
Joe Selmont, a member of the Green Fee Board, sees the current cabinet system as an investment that could continue to grow in the future.
“In the long term, our little experiment with hydroponics holds potential to inspire confidence for the university to purchase a larger system that could eventually make us more self-sufficient, while simultaneously providing much needed nourishment to food-insecure students,” Selmont said.
If the cabinet proves successful, Kojin Tranberg, Commuter Programs coordinator within the Student Life and Leadership office, hopes to invest in one of the larger, commercial hydroponic units. This investment would also involve the organization’s campus partners, Seawolf Dining and the UAA Culinary Arts program.
One of Tranberg’s main focuses is food insecurity on-campus. This topic is one of the motivations behind the installation of the hydroponic cabinet. Tranberg believes the new growing unit will initiate student conversations about the topic.
“I personally have the ambition to stamp out hunger on campus,” Tranberg said. “This hydroponic garden is a key part in bringing awareness to the issue of food insecurity.”
Tregren's IoT Kitchen Garden Is Boosting The Strong Urban Gardening Trend
Tregren's IoT Kitchen Garden Is Boosting The Strong Urban Gardening Trend
NEWS PROVIDED BY Tregen
HELSINKI, February 8, 2018, PRNewswire
The ever growing urban gardening trend is hitting cities across the globe with an increasing intensity. We see this trend bringing green buildings, urban farms and now even automated gardens into our kitchens. The latest technologies in lighting and IoT have enabled the development of affordable kitchen gardens to be used in everyone's home. Tregren is the first company to bring these fully automated gardens to the consumers. Tregren's T-series kitchen gardens have been an instant success in Europe and North America.
"We could sense the potential already last year when we introduced our new T-series Kitchen Garden concept to our B2B customers at Ambiente-fair in Frankfurt. The first time we knew that we were on to something big was when our Kickstarter campaign was successfully overfunded. The strong demand continued when we recently announced the start of shipments and we immediately received orders from more than 15 countries across Europe. We are happy to see years of hard work is bearing fruit," says Tregren's CEO Jyri Timonen.
The success of T-series kitchen gardens is based on IoT combined with the innovative use of hydroponic cultivation. The state of the art technology in the T-series provide many benefits as it produces three times faster growth, big stable yields and the possibility to grow more than 100 different species of plants. The best thing is that this can be achieved without any previous knowledge of gardening.
The three times faster growth pace is the result of Active Growing TechnologyTM, a combination of hydroponic cultivation, the latest in growing light technology and growth nutrients. With T-series, Tregren also launched the Smart GardenerTM application. The Smart GardenerTM controls the Active Growing TechnologyTM that creates the right growing condition for the different plant species.
"Like human beings, every plant has its own special needs. Some plants need a lot of water when others don't. Some plants need more light than others and some need to grow in a nutrient-rich environment to flourish, whereas for others this can be harmful. This is something that many of us experience as challenging, even to the extent that we don't consider gardening as an option. With the T-series, we wanted to omit this hurdle and provide an easy and effective solution to indoor gardening for everyone. We believe that the T-series will do the same for urban gardening that iPhone did to mobile phones," says Tregren's CVO and founder Markus Nilsson.
The T-series isn't only about good yields and intuitive usability, but it is also about design. The T-series consists of three products, the T3, T6, and T12. The T3 is the perfect product for small households. The T6 is the family-friendly kitchen garden, where your family can have all of their favorite herbs growing in your kitchen all year round. The T12 is designed for high yield households and public places where continuous harvest is needed. The recommended price 89€ for T3, 139€ for T6 and 179€ for T12. The Smart GardenerTM works with both Android and iOS devices.
Tregren T-series takes a new approach to indoor gardening, incorporating innovative technologies, effortless usability, and contemporary design into a unified product. Easy to set up, easy to take care of and guaranteed success enabled by Active Growing TechnologyTM and the Smart GardenerTM application make T-series a unique product of the future.
Tregren develops and manufactures consumer products intended for cultivation in urban areas, particularly indoors. The products are examples of a new kind of Nordic design where functionality and form support each other. Tregren's product philosophy is based on consumer-friendly functional design. Tregren operates in more than fifteen countries and more than one hundred thousand products developed by Tregren have been sold since the company was established in 2010. The products are developed and manufactured in Finland. For more information, visit http://tregren.com
SOURCE Tregen
Kitchen Farms and Cultivators: The “Urban Farm” is Shrinking… Right Down to Kitchen Size
By Barbara Langford, President HydroPro Sales Inc
Is a “Kitchen Farm” in your future? Would you jump at the chance to grow all of your leafy greens and herbs fresh, pesticide-free and healthy right in your own kitchen? The concept to provide fresh healthy food for your family right from your kitchen is hard to resist. Can you actually control what you eat, providing your family with healthy HYPER LOCAL greens, herbs and small vegetables and fruits, that you grow yourself? Yes, you can.
Controlled Environment Agriculture or as the pros call it, CEA, is coming to a kitchen near you, perhaps your own. Controlled environment growing involves growing hydroponically in water or aeroponically, in mist, inside, in a building where factors like temperature, humidity, lighting, nutrient and water levels, CO2 levels and more, are constantly monitored and controlled. These facilities can be huge, housed in gigantic warehouses, or shrunk down to shipping container size. They can make a big impact on local food sources. CEA facilities are highly efficient when compared to traditional in-ground farming using a fraction of the water, and zero pesticides. Plus, they provide local fresh food, often in urban areas, reducing the carbon footprint of produce having to travel days to reach a market.
The “Cultivators” a Farm in Your Kitchen
Taking these methods, shrinking them down, even more, kitchen appliance makers are using the lessons learned by the big growers and are creating CEA appliances, known as “cultivators” for your home. Ranging in size from a dishwasher to a refrigerator, you now have the option of growing all your leafy greens, herbs and small vegetables and fruits right in your kitchen, living room or garage. It doesn’t matter if snow is falling or it’s 105 degrees outside, you can grow with minimum effort and automated success. OH.. and by the way? NO tilling, weeding or pests to deal with. You will grow clean and pure without backbreaking labor in a small space that will give you maximum results!
These units are being developed by companies everywhere and there are some beautiful examples of what your kitchen can look like with the addition of a kitchen farm cultivator. Some of these units are quite pricey but when you see them in designer kitchens, you’ll see why!
Tabletop Mini Farms
Kitchen farms can be as simple as a tabletop unit too, although, without the temperature, co2 and humidity control found in the self-contained closed units. The tabletop farms are experiencing great popularity as entry-level automated hydroponic growing systems that can provide leafy greens and herbs in an attractive home accessory way. Anyone who loves plants and gardening will enjoy seeing their fresh herbs and leafy greens growing inside, featured under high efficiency LED lights, even during a snowstorm! The winter “pent-up gardener” syndrome can be alleviated when one has a pretty crop of lettuce, spinach, bok choi or herbs, happily growing on the kitchen counter. No need to wait to peruse the Seed Catalogs! Buy now… Plant now.
The unit shown here is the Micro Farm by Keisue. Keisue specializes in LED lights, and for many years, studied how light spectrum effects plant growth. The LED lights in the Keisue unit have been specifically chosen to be the right frequency and intensity to provide exactly what leafy greens and herbs need to thrive. Watch out though, having these tabletop Micro Farms can become addictive! Once one is obtained, more may follow. Click the image to the left for more info and to purchase this affordable (and adorable) micro-farm.
Keisue is also involved in the production of enclosed, controlled environment kitchen farm cultivators, as seen above. These units can provide a continuous supply of fresh greens, up to 4 heads of lettuce or other greens per week! For more information, direct your inquiries here.
The video below is a great representation of how the kitchen cultivators work using crop rotation. Seeds and seedlings are cultivated in the bottom of the cultivator and, as they mature, moved to different levels to complete their growing cycle. There are always plants starting and always plants finishing under LED grow lights that provide the perfect light for maximum performance. Even microgreens, one of the most nutritious superfoods you can eat, can be grown in the cultivators. (or on your countertop) These fast crops finish in 8 to 10 days (!)
If controlling the quality of your food source is important to you, growing your own, right in your own kitchen may be your best bet! We have info on many systems that can start you off but not break the bank. Please contact us for more info.
These 11 Easiest Vegetables to Grow Makes Gardening 10x Better
These 11 Easiest Vegetables to Grow Makes Gardening 10x Better
Posted on 2018-01-24 by Chris
What if I told you there are numerous easiest vegetables to grow that can make gardening 10X better and fun?
What’s more?
They require no special care or technical expertise.
You’d think there must be some hidden catch, right?
But there’s not. It’s absolutely true.
Today in this post, I’m going to walk you through 11 easiest vegetables to grow.
So, what makes some vegetables easier to grow than others? I’ve looked at four factors as follows;
1. The growing season – If a given vegetable has a short growing season, the growing becomes much easier.
2. Moisture requirement – as minimum as possible. Watering is a very difficult gardening task. Therefore, the little of it required the better.
3. Temperature – as flexible as possible.
4. Space – utilizes space efficiently.
Based on these four parameters, I’ve been able to come up with this list that can be used by both newbies as well as experienced gardeners.
Let’s jump in…
11 Easiest Vegetables to Grow
Potato
Potatoes are generally grown from seed potatoes – these are tubers specifically grown to be disease free and provide consistent and healthy plants. To be disease free, you should select the areas where seed potatoes are grown are with care.
Luckily, potatoes are so easy to grow, that gardeners end up with “accidental” potatoes every year!
Their growth is divided into five phases:
During the first phase, sprouts emerge from the seed potatoes and root growth begins.
During the second, photosynthesis begins as the plant develops leaves and branches.
In the third phase stolons develop from lower leaf axils on the stem and grow downwards into the ground and on these stolons new tubers develop as swellings of the stolon.
This phase is often (but not always) associated with flowering. Tuber formation halts when soil temperatures reach 27 °C; hence potatoes are considered a cool-season crop.
Tuber bulking occurs during the fourth phase, when the plant begins investing the majority of its resources in its newly formed tubers.
At this stage, several factors are critical to yield: optimal soil moisture and temperature, soil nutrient availability and balance, and resistance to pest attacks.
The final phase is maturation:
The plant canopy dies back, the tuber skins harden, and their sugars convert to starches – and then your potatoes are ready!
Read: 13 Easy to Grow Vertical Garden Plants
Lettuce
Generally grown as a hardy annual, lettuce is easily cultivated, although it requires relatively low temperatures to prevent it from flowering quickly.
Lettuce is one of the easiest vegetables to grow. It grows quick, is relatively convenient to harvest because you just have to simply snip the tops off the plants or select leaves as needed
It also takes up very little area. They are able to grow even in containers, possibly accompanied by flowers or tucked under taller plants.
Lettuces meant for the cutting of individual leaves are generally planted straight into the garden in thick rows.
Heading varieties of lettuces are commonly started in flats, then transplanted to individual spots, usually 20 to 36 cm (7.9 to 14.2 in) apart, in the garden after developing several leaves.
Lettuce spaced further apart receives more sunlight, which improves color and nutrient quantities in the leaves.
Lettuce grows best in full sun in loose, nitrogen-rich soils with a pH of between 6.0 and 6.8.
Heat generally prompts lettuce to bolt, with most varieties growing poorly above 24 °C; cool temperatures prompt better performance, with 16 to 18 °C being preferred and as low as 7 °C being tolerated.
Zucchini
Zucchini is very easy to cultivate in temperate climates. As such, it has a reputation among home gardeners for overwhelming production.
The part harvested as "zucchini" is the immature fruit, though the flowers, mature fruit, and leaves are eaten as well.
One good way to control overabundance is to harvest the flowers, which are an expensive delicacy in markets because of the difficulty in storing and transporting them.
The male flower is borne on the end of a stalk and is longer-lived.
While easy to grow, zucchini, like all squash, requires plentiful bees for pollination.
In areas of pollinator decline or high pesticide use, such as mosquito-spray districts, gardeners often experience fruit abortion, where the fruit begins to grow, then dries or rots.
This is due to an insufficient number of pollen grains delivered to the female flower. It can be corrected by hand pollination or by increasing the bee population.
Bok Choy
Bok choy (Brassica rapa) is also called Chinese cabbage.
This Chinese vegetable is a cool weather vegetable that grows best in spring and fall.
Growing bok choy is done from seed. Planting bok choy can be done by directly seeding the garden soil or by starting plants indoors until the weather is right for transplanting later.
Either way, when planting bok choy, germination occurs within seven to ten days.
Bok choy used to be limited to meals in Chinese restaurants, but these days you are just as likely to find it growing in backyard gardens.
It's a quick growing vegetable and there are a surprising number of varieties to try.
Takes relatively shorter time to mature. Depending on the variety and the weather, bok choy should be ready to harvest in 45 - 60 days.
eet
All beets grow best in fertile soil with a pH between 6.2 and 7.0. Water the prepared bed, and plant beet seeds half an inch deep and 2 inches apart, in rows spaced 12 inches apart.
Beet seeds germinate in five to 10 days if kept constantly moist. Repeated watering can cause some soils to crust on the surface, which can inhibit the emergence of seedlings.
Cover seeded rows with boards or burlap for a few days after planting to reduce surface crusting. This technique is also useful when planting beets for fall harvest in warm summer soil.
Just be sure to remove the covers as soon as the seedlings break the surface.
Scallion
Scallions grow so fast.
Actually, you can re-root scallions from the grocery store.
You may even have luck regrowing the ones you've used for cooking if you leave a couple of inches of stem attached to the roots.
You don't even have to plant them in the garden. Scallions will happily grow in a glass of water. When something is this ridiculously easy to grow, you might as well take every opportunity.
Read: Small Space Gardening: 14 Mind Blowing Ideas (#7 is my favorite)
Onion
Onions are best cultivated in fertile soils that are well-drained.
Sandy loams are good as they are low in sulphur, while clayey soils usually have a high sulphur content and produce pungent bulbs. Onions require a high level of nutrients in the soil.
Phosphorus is often present in sufficient quantities, but may be applied before planting because of its low level of availability in cold soils.
Nitrogen and potash can be applied at regular intervals during the growing season, the last application of nitrogen being at least four weeks before harvesting.
Bulbing onions are day-length sensitive; their bulbs begin growing only after the number of daylight hours has surpassed some minimal quantity.
Most traditional European onions are referred to as "long-day" onions, producing bulbs only after 14 hours or more of daylight occurs.
Southern European and North African varieties are often known as "intermediate-day" types, requiring only 12–13 hours of daylight to stimulate bulb formation.
Finally, "short-day" onions, which have been developed in more recent times, are planted in mild-winter areas in the autumn and form bulbs in the early spring, and require only 11–12 hours of daylight to stimulate bulb formation.
Onions are a cool-weather crop and can be grown in USDA zones 3 to 9. Hot temperatures or other stressful conditions cause them to "bolt", meaning that a flower stem begins to grow.
Ginger
The easiest way to get started growing ginger root is to get a few fresh rhizomes of someone who does grow ginger, at the time when the plant re-shoots anyway (early spring).
Otherwise just buy some at the shops at that time.
Make sure you select fresh, plump rhizomes.
Look for pieces with well developed "eyes" or growth buds. (The buds look like little horns at the end of a piece or "finger")
Some people recommend to soak the rhizomes in water over night. That's not a bad idea, since shop bought ginger might have been treated with a growth retardant.
Pea
Choose an open, weed-free site in full sun. Grow peas in a moist, fertile, well-drained soil.
Try to dig plenty of well-rotted compost into the soil several weeks before sowing to improve soil fertility and help retain moisture.
It's best to avoid sowing peas on cold, wet soils as they tend to rot away. If space is at a premium then try growing peas in containers or patio bags.
Provide supports - Peas produce tendrils to help them climb upwards.
Erect wire netting, or push upright twiggy sticks into the ground along the length of each trench to provide your peas with supports to cling to.
Water regularly- Once pea plants start to flower it's best to water thoroughly once a week to encourage good pod development.
You can reduce water loss by applying a thick mulch of well-rotted manure or compost to lock moisture into the soil.
Radish
Radishes are a fast-growing, annual, cool-season crop. The seed germinates in three to four days in moist conditions with soil temperatures between 18 and 29 °C.
Best quality roots are obtained under moderate day lengths with air temperatures in the range 10 to 18 °C.
Under average conditions, the crop matures in 3–4 weeks, but in colder weather, 6–7 weeks may be required.
Radishes grow best in full sun in light, sandy loams, with a soil pH 6.5 to 7.0, but for late-season crops, a clayey-loam is ideal. Soils that bake dry and form a crust in dry weather are unsuitable and can impair germination.
Harvesting periods can be extended by making repeat plantings, spaced a week or two apart. In warmer climates, radishes are normally planted in the autumn.
The depth at which seeds are planted affects the size of the root, from 1 cm (0.4 in) deep recommended for small radishes to 4 cm (1.6 in) for large radishes.
During the growing period, the crop needs to be thinned and weeds controlled, and irrigation may be required.
Swiss chard
Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris) is an easy-to-grow, heat-resistant heirloom that does not bolt; it has a mild flavor.
Growing Swiss chard works best in rich, moist soil with a soil pH between 6.0 and 6.8. Plant about 12 to 18 inches apart in fertile soil, watering directly after planting.
Work nitrogen-rich amendments such as blood meal, cottonseed meal, feather meal, or composted manure into the ground before planting.
Other options include applying a timed-release vegetable food, such as 14-14-14, according to label directions, when planting and every couple of weeks during the growing season.
Like all vegetables, Swiss chard does best with a nice, even supply of water. Water regularly, applying 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week if it doesn’t rain.
You can measure the amount of water with a rain gauge in the garden.
Apply organic mulch such as compost, finely ground leaves, wheat straw, or finely ground bark to keep the soil cool and moist and to keep down weeds.
Mulching will also help keep the plant leaves clean, reducing the risk of disease.
Read: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening with Zero Skills
Kale
Kale is a leafy vegetable in the Brassica or Cole crop family.
It is usually grouped into the "Cooking Greens" category with collards, mustard and Swiss chard, but it is actually more of a non-heading cabbage, although much easier to grow than cabbage.
The leaves grow from a central stem that elongates as it grows. Kale is a powerhouse of nutrients and can be used as young, tender leaves or fully grown.
Kale can be grown as a cut and come again vegetable, so a few plants may be all you need.
The plants can be quite ornamental, with leaves that can be curly or tagged, purple or shades of green. It is considered a cool season vegetables and can handle some frost, when mature.
Carrot
Carrots are grown from seed and can take up to four months (120 days) to mature, but most cultivars mature within 70 to 80 days under the right conditions.
They grow best in full sun but tolerate some shade.
The optimum temperature is 16 to 21 °C. The ideal soil is deep, loose and well-drained, sandy or loamy, with a pH of 6.3 to 6.8.
Fertilizer should be applied according to soil type because the crop requires low levels of nitrogen, moderate phosphate and high potash.
Rich or rocky soils should be avoided, as these will cause the roots to become hairy and/or misshapen. Irrigation is applied when needed to keep the soil moist.
After sprouting, the crop is eventually thinned to a spacing of 8 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in) and weeded to prevent competition beneath the soil.
Conclusion
You’ve just read about some of the easiest vegetables to grow.1
Now all you have to do is choose one, give it a try and before you know it, you’ll become an expert in even growing the complex ones.
Just take the first step.
Cloudponics GroBox and GroPro Now Available on Amazon
Cloudponics GroBox and GroPro Now Available on Amazon
Geeks News Desk Jan. 18, 2018
Cloudponics, makers of fully-automated home growing systems, today announced the immediate availability of its GroBox andGroPro products on Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer.
Additionally, Cloudponics also announced an all-new, accessible financing option for its customers via Blispay. Through the partnership with Blispay, Cloudponics offers customers a more flexible way to buy now and make simple, affordable monthly payments. This new program will extend financing options to a broader range of customers interested in growing their own cannabis via the popular GroBox platform. Cloudponics customers can go to the Blispay Cloudponics page at checkout and apply for financing, where they will receive a line of credit to complete the purchase directly on the Cloudponics website.
"We want to diversify the online availability of our unique cannabis industry brand and products and launching on Amazon.com will significantly expand the distribution and availability of the Cloudponics product suite in the U.S.,” said Nicolas Ruiz, Co-Founder, Cloudponics. “The collaboration with Amazon makes it easier for millions to shop the Cloudponics brand and start taking part in the cannabis revolution.”
“Through Blispay we are able to provide flexible financing options to many of our customers and help share the joys of home growing,” added Ruiz. “Blispay will extend financing options to a broader range of customers interested in growing their own cannabis, such as those who rely on it medically, providing them with the ability to control the quality and quantity of their medicinal supply without breaking the bank.”
The GroBox intelligently monitors and manages multiple variables such as air temperature, nutrients, humidity, water levels, airflow, light schedule and pH balance in order to create and sustain the optimal conditions for consistent, predictable, and repeatable yields. The GroBox pairs with the Cloudponics app for 24/7/365 oversight. Here’s a link to a Livestream of the GroBox fully automated grow system.
About Cloudponics
Cloudponics is the IoT hydroponics system for autonomously growing high-yielding, high quality plants. Cloudponics’ GroBox system intelligently creates the ideal growth conditions for consistent, predictable, and repeatable yields. The GroPro is Cloudponics’ professional grade controller that allows growers to remotely monitor and automate hydroponic indoor grows with nutrient dosing, pH sensoring and climate controls. Founded in 2015 and lead by entrepreneurs Pepijn van der Krogt and Nicolas Ruiz, Cloudponics is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.cloudponics.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
New Houses Built, Urban Farms Expanding As Bailey Green Project Pushes Ahead
Habitat for Humanity Buffalo has built five houses on Wende Street as part of the Bailey Green project. (Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News)
New Houses Built, Urban Farms Expanding As Bailey Green Project Pushes Ahead
By Mark Sommer | Published 7:06 a.m. January 15, 2018
The Bailey Green project on the East Side was started by a major business, guided by an internationally acclaimed plan and has had the involvement of the University at Buffalo, community organizations, businesses, entrepreneurs and politicians.
The idea was to create affordable housing, green space and recreation, healthy food and job opportunities in an economically impoverished and long-neglected area, where the spaces between homes are often pockmarked with open space from previous demolitions.
Despite some setbacks, the plan to impact a seven-block, 33-acre area, located between Bailey Avenue and Leslie Street, and Genesee and Scajaquada streets, is pushing ahead.
"I think we have good forward motion," said John Somers, owner of Harmac Medical Products, a maker of single-use medical devices at 2201 Bailey Ave., which is spearheading the public-private effort.
"But the project is not always on a straight line," Somers said. "Some of the partners have dropped out, and some have moved faster than others. That's the nature of the process."
Here's what's happening:
- Habitat for Humanity Buffalo has built five ranch-style homes on Wende Street, has two more nearing completion and will start six more houses on Kilhofer Street in April. The nonprofit expects to build or rehab additional houses in the neighborhood in 2019.
- Groundwork Market Garden is growing organic produce on Genesee Street and has purchased a 40,000-square-foot building next door to its 2.5 acres of farmland. The building will be initially for packing, cold storage and youth education.
- Urban Fruits & Veggies plans to break ground in April for the first of two hydroponic greenhouses at Zenner and East Ferry streets. More funds will need to be raised for a second greenhouse, community garden, fruit orchard and wellness center that includes yoga instruction and a small medical practice.
- A carpentry training center by artist and architect Dennis Maher, working with Albright-Knox Art Gallery's Innovation Lab, is expected to begin rehabbing a building in 2018 that was removed from the city's demolition list, with help from Harmac and a grant from Lovejoy Council Member Richard Fontana.
Two key projects from the original plan are no longer involved.
Heart of the City Neighborhoods Inc. planned to build eight four-unit affordable apartments on four streets, but could not obtain funding.
And Algonquin Sports for Kids backed out of plans to build two mini-pitches for soccer over concerns about cost, maintenance and liability.
"If things like this were easy, it would have been done as soon as we talked about them," said Allison DeHonney, owner of Urban Fruits and Veggies. "You need to have partners who will be able to overcome the challenges. This is a big project in a severely neglected neighborhood."
Civic-minded business
Harmac has been the catalyst for Bailey Green. The company has been located on Bailey, near East Ferry Street, for 37 years.
The company has maintained a nearby, once-derelict stretch of Bailey from Genesee to Scajaquada for eight years. The company bought 20 blighted parcels, demolished broken-down houses, converted more than 4 acres to green space and planted 150 trees. Harmac still pays for the trash pickup.
Harmac owns some of the land being used for Bailey Green. It is working with the city's Division of Real Estate to obtain other parcels for redevelopment.
"It's a great public-private partnership," said Brendan Mehaffy, who directs the city's Office of Strategic Planning.
The company had an economic incentive to clean up the surrounding area, since it wanted its surroundings to look more appealing to out-of-town job applicants. At one time, Somers said Harmac considered moving out of the city past Clarence. But when Harmac realized 25 percent of its employees lived within its ZIP code, the company decided to rejuvenate the area instead.
Somers said Howard Zemsky, the Buffalo developer and state development head, suggested the creation of a 10-year plan to guide the neighborhood's revitalization. The company reached out to the University at Buffalo Research Institute, which, under the direction of Hiroaki Hata, an associate professor of urban design, became involved in fall 2014.
Three architecture and urban planning student teams helped create the first phase of a Bailey Green master plan that went on to earn second place in the 2016 International Making Cities Livable Design Competition.
Hata and urban planner Ji Dai remain involved with the project.
Harmac has helped its partners with startup funding and other kinds of assistance, Somers said. The company also has facilitated minor home repairs working with the Urban League of Buffalo. Prime Time Energy offered reduced-cost weatherization to homeowners, and Doyle Alarm Systems, based in Rochester, donated alarm systems last year and in 2018 for the Habitat homes.
Buffalo Peacekeepers and Stop the Violence Coalition also are involved.
"I think it’s about safety and stability, and rejuvenating the community," Somers said. "It’s a grassroots effort and building relationships one person and one partnership at a time. It's probably taking longer than people expected, but I think we are making a positive impact."
John Somers, owner of Harmac Medical Products, walks down Wende Street near the company's Bailey Avenue plant in this file photo from Feb. 29, 2016. (Derek Gee/Buffalo News)
This year saw the third annual Bailey Green Day, with several dozen community members attending.
"We were a stop on the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo's bus tour of the city," Summers said, proud of the recognition.
The company's involvement outside the building is in league with what it does inside.
Educational programs, a scholarship, a fresh produce market in the summer and onsite mammogram testing are some of the extras Harmac makes available to its employees.
Urban Fruits & Veggies' DeHonney said Somers has been a big help and source of encouragement to her.
"I can't say enough about John," she said. "He is just so supportive, and he really wants this to come to fruition."
Urban Fruits & Veggies plans to begin work this spring on its first of two hydroponic greenhouses with Harmac's support and the support of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and First Niagara Foundation.
At Bailey Green, an oasis emerges in neighborhood around Harmac Medical Products
By Mark Sommer:Owners of second-generation manufacturer Harmac Medical Products, which has stayed in the city and employs local residents, have decided to invest in their neighborhood as well...
Housing variety questioned
Not everyone is happy with the direction Bailey Green is taking.
Stephanie Simeon, executive director of Heart of the City Neighborhoods, a nonprofit that builds affordable housing, believes the project is too focused on owner-occupancy rather than including multifamily housing.
Her plans for eight four-unit apartments on four streets had to be abandoned after the group couldn't obtain the necessary funding.
"The way we were going to do sustainable development was unheard of," Simeon said. "We were going to address the issues of food access, recreation and affordable housing in three different ways."
Simeon said homeowners in the immediate area were going to be helped with small repair grants. Those wanting to own their own homes would be aided by Habitat. Renters would have places to move into as well.
"It's great Habitat has built its homes, but not everybody can afford to own their own home," and diversity of housing stock adds to a neighborhood's stability, she said.
Momentum for the project, and community engagement, waned after Heidi Rosmer, the company's community advancement liaison, left in 2017, Simeon said.
"She was the linchpin. We had the direction, we had the map, but we lost the conductor who helped us navigate the plan," Simeon said. "This is now a shell of a plan, and the only one standing – and they’re standing with shaky legs – is Habitat."
Somers said he's still hoping that apartments will be part of the Bailey Green mix. He also said there have been and will continue to be efforts to involve neighbors.
This is one of the houses that Habitat for Humanity Buffalo has built on Wende Street as part of the Bailey Green project. (Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News)
Habitat expands role
Normally, Habitat for Humanity builds one new house for every three homes it works on. At Bailey Green, it's been all new builds.
Habitat has nearly completed seven houses with six more on the way. The potential is there to build 15 more, said Teresa Bianchi, the group's executive director.
Doing clusters of housing at a time, she said, helps create a closeness even before people have moved in. That's because each family is required to put in 500 hours of sweat equity. The first 250 hours are used to help others to build their home, and the second 250 is used to build theirs.
"If you're building together on one street, you're building community before you ever move into your house," Bianchi said. "That helps solidify the neighborhood."
A Harmac employee was able to become a homeowner through Habitat. Two people were hired by the medical devices manufacturer after moving into their new homes.
"Everyone thinks Habitat is about building houses, but we're really here to build communities," Bianchi said.
"That's what Bailey Green is. We'll stay committed to Bailey Green as long as there are houses for us to work on."
Explore urban farms like 5 Loaves, Groundwork Market
A farm in the city
Groundwork Market Garden wasn't initially part of Bailey Green when Mayda Pozantides and Anders Gunnersen began preparing their plot of land for organic vegetable production in 2016.
But their work in producing affordable and nutritious food – including more than 300 pounds of tomatoes weekly in a hoop house – within Bailey Green's boundaries ties in perfectly with the project's mission.
Groundwork Market also grows arugula, spinach, lettuce, kale, eggplant, squash, zucchini, turnips and radishes. The produce is sold to 10 restaurants, farmers markets and to 20 families through a small CSA program.
The small farm also is used as a teaching site, with children tending to a dozen raised gardens through a national organization for children.
"When I go to the quarterly Bailey Green meetings, I feel energized about the neighborhood and the initiative and the future of this area," Pozantides said. "There are more people getting involved at every meeting, and you can see the energy."
Urban Gardening System Grow More Helps City Dwellers Build Mini Local Farms
Designed by Danish firm Husum & Lindholm Architects, Growmore structures can be assembled using six plywood components. The system is designed for people living in cities to utilize unused urban space for local food production.
Urban Gardening System Grow More Helps City Dwellers Build Mini Local Farms
Sebastian Jordahn | 4 January 2018
Our next Dezeen x MINI Living video explores a modular urban farming system called Growmore, which allows people living in cities to build mini gardens from a series of simple plywood planters.
Designed by Danish firm Husum & Lindholm Architects, Growmore structures can be assembled using six plywood components. The system is designed for people living in cities to utilise unused urban space for local food production.
The components include planting and shelving units, which are connected by pivotal joints. This enables users to move and rotate assembled structures, so they can fit in a wide range of different spaces.
As well as food production, the system is designed to create a refuge from the hustle and bustle of the city.
"Growmore is an urban gardening modular design that enhances our awareness on local production," the architects said. "It consists of very few elements, which makes it possible to build in any given context."
Husum & Lindholm presented the design last year during the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism – an exhibition showcasing ideas and strategies for the cities of the future.
The design has also released by the designers as an open-source system, meaning anyone can use and adapt the design to their needs and produce the components with a CNC machine.
This movie is part of Dezeen x Mini Living Initiative, a year-long collaboration with MINI exploring how architecture and design can contribute to a brighter urban future through a series of videos and talks.
India: Startups Reaping Dividends in Urban Farms
India: Startups Reaping Dividends in Urban Farms
The urban farming startup ecosystem could be worth $1billion in India in the next two to four years and will become essential due to environmental concerns
By Shashwati Shankar
Economic Times India
Jan 5, 2018
In the past three to four years, more than a dozen urban farming startups have been launched in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Jaipur and elsewhere. They provide services such as setting up rooftop and balcony farms for independent homes and companies with vertical farming options for those with more wall space than floor area.
“I began with conducting farming and gardening workshops but in the last one or two years we have seen interest significantly increase,” said Kapil Mandawewala, founder of Edible Routes. “I get about 30 orders a month, with a majority coming from independent homes and the rest from community centers, educational institutions or corporates.” Edible Routes was registered in 2016 but were operational in the urban farming space for three years prior to that. Mandawewala began experimenting with farming on family-owned land in Gujarat in 2008.
The space for terrace, balcony or farm gardening could range from 50 square feet in a balcony to 50 acres on a farm, with the initial pricing to start a terrace garden ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000. “The maintenance cost for most urban farms usually ranges between Rs 1-2 lakh in a year, whereas for the gardens it’s a few thousand rupees. This remains a challenge as 10 out of 20 requests from customers interested in setting up an urban farm are lost because of the initial investment,” said Mandawewala. Delhi-based Edible Routes has operationally broken even and makes revenue of Rs 3-5 lakh a month, he said.
Excerpt:
Read the complete article here.
Welcome To The Agrihood: Golf Courses Out, Urban Farms In As upscale Developers Invite Buyers To Grow Fruit And Vegetables
Welcome To The Agrihood: Golf Courses Out, Urban Farms In As upscale Developers Invite Buyers To Grow Fruit And Vegetables
Developers from Suzhou, China, to Palm Springs, California are betting that giving homeowners the opportunity to practise healthy living by growing ‘clean food’ – on vines and in olive groves and garden plots – will be attractive
PUBLISHED: Thursday, 11 January,
When residents of prestigious apartment buildings and upscale communities tire of their sophisticated amenities (wine bars, concierges, Olympic-sized pools), they will turn to the simple pleasures of the land. That, at least, is the thinking of residential developers around the world – and one they are banking on.
Agrihoods – gardens where fruit and vegetables grow that are shared by a neighbourhood or community – are a nascent trend in global real estate development, but one that is on the rise. Partly, it’s an outgrowth of the trend in farm-to-table dining, partly a hunch that residents of a building or neighbourhood have an incipient desire to come together to tend urban gardens and share what they grow.
Hong Kong urban farmers find bliss in rooftop gardens
It’s already happening in Hong Kong’s backyard.
A new development for the active elderly, Yangcheng Lake Island Senior Housing, near Suzhou in Jiangsu province, will this year welcome its first residents and invite them to grow produce on plots of land for their own consumption or for use in the on-site restaurant kitchen.
“The fundamental idea is to incorporate clean food, clean air, healthy living – all the things that are important around the world,” says Jason Briscoe, managing partner of the Shanghai office of architectural firm Steinberg, which is building the 1.2 million square foot community.
"We wanted to create an environment that was more all-inclusive than a golf course implies"
BRAD SHUCKHART
According to Briscoe, this is one of the only residential projects he knows of in China that has an urban garden in addition to the regular amenities. The project, developed by China Life Investment Holding Company, will provide about 1,000 homes, ranging in size from 430 square feet to 2,000 square feet.
Briscoe anticipates that “a broad range of ages” may call the development home, but says it is targeted specifically at “active and highly mobile seniors”.
He says adult children are looking to buy units for their parents.
“The ways in which people will engage [with] the landscape will vary,” he says. “Some are focused on the ability to farm their own piece of land, to work the landscape and grow fruit and flowers, to control the quality of their produce. The goal is to encourage interaction between the residents, as well as the outside community.”
Hong Kong in 2050: Gardens fight gentrification, cocktails against condominiums
The agrihood idea is gaining traction in other parts of the world. Targeting a different demographic to that of the Suzhou development, Walden Monterey in California is a 250-hectare site on which 22 houses will be built for sale primarily to Silicon Valley millennials. Nothing is being developed; buyers will spend US$5 million for each plot of land, which will run to about 9 hectares (22 acres), on which to create their dream home.
People who have bought land there already, says a spokesman for the developer, favour a rustic lifestyle over golf courses and clubhouses. They can choose what to plant on their property – fruit or olive trees, or grape vines – and the produce they bear can be shared at farm-to-table dinners on site.
Agritopia, in Gilbert, in the US state of Arizona, has 4.5 hectares (11 acres) of certified organic farmland; Kukui’ula in Hawaii offers buyers of its multimillion-dollar homes the ability to access The Farm, where they can pick fruit and vegetables. At Playa de La Paz, a wealthy enclave on the Sea of Cortez in Mexico, owners of its 23 residences are welcome to stop by the ranch of the developer and collect newly laid eggs (some from ostriches), harvest greens and even toss a line into the ocean for fish.
At Miralon, an upcoming development in Palm Springs, Southern California, 25 hectares (62 acres) of olive groves will be planted rather than building a golf course – a standard feature for which the city is known.
“It’s a twist on a typical agrihood,” says Brad Shuckhart, president of the California division of development firm Freehold Communities.
Miralon has contracted with the Temecula Olive Oil Company, which will tend the olive trees and harvest their fruit with the help of residents, who can help press the olives and be allocated some of the oil produced; the rest will be sold on-site and through farmers’ markets.
“We wanted to create an environment that was more all-inclusive than a golf course implies,” Shuckhart says. “The actual use of that open space is really only for golfers. The olive groves are open to all the residents, to take walks in, to enjoy the shade and the vistas, and then to harvest the fruit.”
The fundamental idea is to incorporate clean food, clean air, healthy living – all the things that are important around the world
JASON BRISCOE
The 1,150 Modernist-inspired homes will be move-in ready towards the end of 2018; also on the property are several planned garden plots that will be maintained by the homeowners’ association. Because many of the residents of Palm Springs do not live there full time, having access to the gardens is a way for homeowners to be involved with the property when they are there.
“The produce that is grown in the common beds will be distributed to residents, who will also be encouraged to plant their own fruit and vegetables,” Shuckhart says. “Everyone will be welcome.”
North Bethesda, Maryland's Pike & Rose Getting Big Rooftop Farm For Tenants
North Bethesda, Maryland's Pike & Rose Getting Big Rooftop Farm For Tenants
By Jeff Clabaugh | @wtopclabaughJanuary 4, 2018 12:29 pm
WASHINGTON — D.C.-based Up Top Acres, which got its start planting rooftop farms in the D.C. area in 2014, is preparing for its biggest project yet: a 17,000-square-foot rooftop farm at North Bethesda’s Pike & Rose mixed-used development
And it will offer a membership program, called community-supported agriculture, to both Pike & Rose office workers and residents.
“It’ll be about $25 worth of fresh produce a week. They’ll get anywhere from eight to 10 items per week,” Up Top Acres co-founder Kristof Grina told WTOP.
“They’ll grab it in the evening and take it home and cook with it, and we’ll provide recipes to go along,” he said.
Up Top Acres runs a small network of close to a half dozen rooftop farms in the D.C. area. Its largest prior to the upcoming Pike & Rose farm is a 7,000 rooftop farm at 4905 Elm Street in Bethesda Row. That rooftop farm has partnered with nearby restaurants, including Jose Andres’ Jaleo Bethesda, since its first planting in 2015.
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Grina says they have learned much about what works and what does not work, as far as crops planted in rooftop farms in the last couple of years.
“Stuff that really likes the heat,” do best, Grina said. “It gets a lot of sun up on the roof, so your tomatoes, your peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, all of those things do really well, plus we have an extended growing season,” he added.
Both the Pike & Rose and Bethesda Row projects for Up Top Acres are in partnership with building owners Federal Realty Trust, which has said it plans to replicate large-scale rooftop farms at more of its buildings in the future.
In addition to the produce, rooftop farms also save money by reducing roof maintenance costs in the long run and increasing efficiency as a green roof, FRT said.
Up Top Acres said traditional farms measure the distance their produce travels in miles driven, while it measures it in flights of stairs. The company also has a farm membership at 55 M Street Southeast in the Capital Riverfront.
In addition to Jaleo, Up Top’s restaurant and retail customers include Blue Jacket, Equinox, Little Red Fox, The Oval Room, A Baked Joint and Glen’s Garden Market.
Like WTOP on Facebook and follow @WTOP on Twitter to engage in conversation about this article and others.
© 2018 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.
All-in-One, Plug-and-Play Indoor Hydroponic Greenhouse ‘GroBox’ Launches on Kickstarter
All-in-One, Plug-and-Play Indoor Hydroponic Greenhouse ‘GroBox’ Launches on Kickstarter
Created to make it easy for anyone to grow their own food in the convenience of their own home, self-watering GroBox grows plants faster with two-thirds less water
Offering an extremely efficient and sustainable way to grow plants through hydroponics, GroBox controls the watering schedules and air flow to grow plants faster than other methods while using two-thirds less water than traditional systems.
SAN FRANCISCO (PRWEB) JANUARY 09, 2018
GroBox, an all-in-one, plug-and-play indoor hydroponic greenhouse that offers anyone the ability to grow their own plants conveniently in their own home, is now available for the first time on Kickstarter.
Offering an extremely efficient and sustainable way to grow plants through hydroponics, GroBox controls the watering schedules and air flow to grow plants faster than other methods while using two-thirds less water than traditional systems.
By using hydroponics technology that makes GroBox self-watering, sets watering cycles and manipulates the LED grow lights, users only have to change the water in GroBox a few times a month – skipping the guesswork for how often they should be watering their plants.
GroBox has also formulated a fertilizer solution so plants get the exact nutrients they need, providing clay pellets that replace messy soil and allow for even water distribution. The LED grow lights in GroBox also provide the lighting the plants need no matter the season or outside weather, and are also customizable for the specific growth phase for specific plants.
GroBox is easy to set up, as well. Users only need to:
Add filtered water to fill line, then add in fertilizer
Add clay pebble growing medium
Add plant mediums and insert seeds (or clones)
Set growing settings based on plants they are growing
From there, GroBox owners only sit back and watch their plants grow, changing the water inside only a few times a month. Plants can either be grown from seeds or clones.
GroBox was designed to make it easy for everyone, everywhere to grow their own plants in the convenience of their home, on their own time, and during any season. By growing their own plants, users also know exactly where they come from – assuring users that they are eliminating pesticides and other harmful chemicals from entering their bodies.
For more information about GroBox or to purchase the indoor hydroponic greenhouse at an early-bird discount during crowdfunding, visit the GroBox Campaign Page on Kickstarter.
About GroBox
GroBox is a part of the sustainable gardening movement. We started with FogBox and have been innovating with incorporating sustainable agriculture methods into technology for years.
We want to help change how people think about their food -- where it comes from and what’s going into it. No toxins or pesticides, ever. Just plants.
Our mission is to become a part of the sustainable gardening movement and make it easier for people to grow their own plants, on their own time, anywhere, during any season.
Automated Hydroponic Gardens Help You Grow Fresh Produce Indoor Year-Round
Automated Hydroponic Gardens Help You Grow Fresh Produce Indoor Year-Round
Derek Markham (@derekmarkham)
Living / Lawn & Garden
January 4, 2018
Grow some of your own greens, veggies, and herbs indoors with one of these automated hydroponic growing systems.
When you combine an automated low-water growing system with efficient LED lighting, you get a space-saving - and time-saving - solution for growing veggies indoors. Thanks to advances in both automation and lighting, as well as dropping prices for those technologies, the number of countertop and kitchen gardens on the market is rapidly growing.
The latest entry to the indoor gardening scene comes from OPCOM, which is offering a wide range of hydroponic growing systems ranging from a small countertop garden to vertical wall gardens to modular stackable units, as well as 40' shipping container farms, all of which feature "energy-efficient Auto-Cycle" systems that control the lights and watering.
OPCOM, a 23-year old global digital imaging and lighting company, has been branching out into the manufacture of indoor grow units as well because its founder and CEO Jack Ting "passionately believes in the power of hydroponic farming to produce healthier plants while reducing costs and conserving land, energy and water." The company's OPCOM Farm products are intended for everyone from the beginning gardener to those looking to set up a restaurant garden or indoor urban farm, and all of which rely on hydroponics and LED lighting said to simulate the "precise sunlight spectrum" for optimal growth.
The smallest of the units is the O2-Light, a tabletop garden that runs about $180, includes a built-in fan ("a Bio-Air Refresher") and a light that has two lighting modes and can be swiveled over your reading material or work area, with the intent of enabling "a healthy reading environment." The GrowFrame, which costs about $280, can be mounted on a wall as a vertical garden or used on a tabletop, fits up to 20 plants, and also includes a fan (I mean a Bio-Air Refresher). The GrowBox (~$600) is a tabletop unit that can grow up to 50 plants, and its open-frame design and height- and angle-adjustable LED lights are meant to be able to let it handle plants up to 3 feet tall. The $800 GrowWall is a vertical growing system that can accommodate up to 75 plants across 5 tiers, and has a minimal physical footprint (~9" deep x 53" wide).
The company also has a number of other bigger units that could be a great complement to a school, business, or restaurant, as well as large "Interactive Cloud Farms" in a 40' shipping container for those looking to grow mass quantities of greens, veggies, or herbs for sale.
NATUFIA Indoor Kitchen Garden For The First Time Unveiled at KBIS, Orlando
The Natufia Kitchen Garden is Natufia Labs’ technological response to today's’ overwhelming issues of food traceability, pesticide, GMOs, poor taste and unnecessary waste that have plagued the food industry and our plates all the way to the greatest chefs.
NATUFIA Indoor Kitchen Garden For The First Time Unveiled at KBIS, Orlando
The fully automated Natufia Kitchen Garden, the one that CNN, ABC, Der Spiegel, Vogue Paris, USA Today, Fox News, WIRED, PC World spoke so much about after its stint at Las Vegas CES last year and the one that has been adopted by some of the best chefs in Europe and now selling by Bulthaup Paris will be presented for the first time to the US professional Kitchen and Bath Industry at KBIS in Orlando Jan 9-11.
- Booth: S5456 at South Hall's ASID Design Pavilion
- Co-founder and team available for meetings at KBIS
The NATUFIA® Kitchen Garden, the leader in high end automated hydroponic solutions, on exceptional display at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Orlando, Jan 9-11 2018.
ORLANDO, USA, 4 JANUARY 2018 – After its widely acclaimed first introduction in the US last year during Las Vegas CES 2017 show, and after one year of successful introduction in the European market, Natufia Labs will be presenting its latest Natufia Kitchen Garden model at the Orlando 2018 Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) at ASID Design Pavilion, South Hall, Booth S5456. The latest model of the Natufia Kitchen Garden will be on display and presented by Natufia Labs CEO Gregory Lu and his team.
The Natufia Kitchen Garden is Natufia Labs’ technological response to today's’ overwhelming issues of food traceability, pesticide, GMOs, poor taste and unnecessary waste that have plagued the food industry and our plates all the way to the greatest chefs.
The Kitchen Garden is the product of four years of intensive engineering, software, hydroponic and botanic research to provide leading chefs across the world with a solution to organically grow plants right in their kitchen, all year round, and to finally recover the true taste of things.
Recent independent lab tests revealed vitamins level over 400 % higher when grown inside the Natufia KG. "Consumers are progressively seeking out organic and healthy food options. We provide a sustainable technical solution that connects people back with nature, without efforts and without compromising on quality and nutritional values" says Gregory Lu.
“This is the future: This is for all Chefs to support technological progress and the preservation of nature,” says Emmanuel Renaut, three Michelin starred Chef in Megève, an early adopter of the Natufia Kitchen Garden, who was recently ranked 6th top chef worldwide. Among other early adopters, we count ***** Four Season George V Hotel Chef Simone Zanoni, or ***** London Sofitel St James Chef Hameed Farook.
After having the Natufia Kitchen Garden being tested in the hands of the greatest, Natufia Labs decided to start making the Natufia Kitchen Gardens available to private users; the one that also wants health, taste and convenience to reach their plate. Bulthaup Paris (3 stores), Modulonova, Varenna and others have started to sell Natufia KG to Paris and London private customers.
Now that the Natufia Kitchen Garden is developing at great speed its presence on the UK, French and Italian professional and private markets, and a very conclusive first introductory at Las Vegas CES last January, the presence at KBIS Orlando 2018 shows a more determined move by Natufia Labs to start to commercialize in the US and in Canada.
Natufia® Labs, established in 2014 is the manufacturer of Natufia Kitchen Garden. Natufia Labs has become one of the leading research labs and a specialized manufacturer of high technology content hydroponic equipment designed for people who admire original taste, traceability of food and GMO-free nutrition. Less waste, more taste, better health.
www.natufia.com Facebook.com/Natufia
Download press pictures from here.
Media contact:
marketing@natufia.com
Direct: +1 646 919 7020
Aggressively Organic To Send Hydroponic Systems to Puerto Rico
Aggressively Organic To Send Hydroponic Systems to Puerto Rico
HYDROPONICS STARTUP RAISES FUNDS TO SEND FARMING TECHNOLOGY TO PUERTO RICO
Aggressively Organic aims to send 50,000 Micro Growth Systems™ to the U.S. Territory
Earlier this week we announced via social media that we’re raising funds via a rewards crowdfunding campaign on Humanity Project to ship 50,000 Aggressively Organic Micro Growth Systems™ to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
We’re setting out to raise $500,000 on Humanity Project to manufacture, create, and deliver our patent pending Aggressively Organic Micro Growth Systems™ to Puerto Rico so that individuals, agencies, and relief groups can use these self-contained personal hydroponic systems to start growing phytonutrient rich food immediately upon arrival. Vegetables and herbs grown in Aggressively Organic Micro Growth Systems™ would be available for harvest as soon as 30-60 days without building out any additional electrical, water, or other resources.
There’s an incentive for those who donate, too. When a donor purchases some systems for a family in Puerto Rico, we at Aggressively Organic will send the same amount of systems to the donor so they can grow their own food at home as well.
As soon as we receive $500,000 for 50,000 systems, we will will allocate all of our efforts, energy and capacity to fulfill on the promise of providing short, mid and long-term relief to Puerto Rico and the citizens there. We cannot currently fund this production, but can provide our revolutionary farming technology at $10.00 a system rather than their retail pricing of $20.00. All the end user would need to provide would be enough water (24- 32 oz) every 30-90 days and sunshine or lighting.
To learn more and support our mission to send our Micro Growth Systems™ to Puerto Rico visit: https://humanityproject.com/projects/aggressively-organic-relief-for-puerto-rico/
By Bridget O'Reilly | December 8th, 2017 | Food Insecurity
Hydroponic Farm, Housing Project Planned Near Pablo, Montana
Hydroponic Farm, Housing Project Planned Near Pablo, Montana
January 07, 2018 at 11:27 am | By PEREGRINE FRISSELL Daily Inter Lake
A developer planning an ambitious housing project and hydroponic farm near Pablo believes his company is on the brink of realizing its goal after years of wrangling grants, permits and community support.
Previously the farm and residential development were going to be adjacent to each other, but the developer has switched course and is putting each on separate lots a little under 3 miles away.
The firm, Hawaii-based Aloha Noblehouse Inc., which has an executive director and president based in Marion, plans to construct a commercial farm on a 31-acre site on Minesinger Trail, just off U.S. 93 south of Polson toward Pablo.
Just less than 3 miles away, closer to Pablo, will be an 80-unit single-family housing development that will offer low-priced mortgages. Both properties are on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
The idea is that people who choose to live in the housing should be able to support themselves and their family by working a job at the nearby agricultural production facility, said Gerald Greenstein, president of Aloha Noblehouse. He intends the project to enhance food security and affordable-housing options and promote economic development in the area between Polson and Pablo.
“Our area is desperately in need of affordable housing,” said Jodie Paxton, executive director of the Ronan Housing Authority.
Paxton said she supported the project and was in talks with the developers early on to manage the housing when it was going to contain rental units.
They have since switched to plans to sell the units so the housing authority is no longer involved, but Paxton said the proximity to Salish Kootenai College would make the development an important addition to the area.
“Unfortunately it’s tough to live here, it’s tough to find a job that can pay for what it costs to own a home,” Paxton said. “I think it would go a long way toward assisting those who are in a lower income bracket to buy a home.”
The developer, in an application for a New Markets Tax Credit, states the housing portion of the development will include an electric vehicle charging station, a daycare for children between 2 and 5 years of age, community center and a triage nurse station. A triage nurse is generally referred to as the first nurse to evaluate a patient, determine the severity of the maladies and decide where to refer them for more comprehensive care.
The organization has yet to file for any permits with Lake County that would be needed before construction were to begin, said Jacob Feistner, director of the Lake County Planning Department.
They have received letters of support from several organizations, including the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Ronan School District. The project has also been endorsed by the Lake County commissioners and the Salish Kootenai Housing Authority.
Greenstein and his colleagues at Aloha Noblehouse are still working to pull together the funding they need to begin construction. He hopes the project will provide a sustainable business model that could act as a catalyst for similar developments to go up throughout the nation. Aloha Noblehouse also holds property in Idaho and Hawaii.
The proposed sites will operate with a mixture of renewable energy resources, and the developer hopes to get them as close to carbon-neutral as they can, according to an executive summary of the project.
While the farm would be small in size compared to most commercial farms, the developer hopes to have a large output by producing year-round in a large greenhouse-like setting using hydroponic farming techniques. Aloha Noblehouse predicts the project could create between 25 and 40 jobs, according to a copy of its business plan.
The developer plans to grow organic lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini and peppers, as well as basil and thyme. The business plan states the company will seek USDA organic certification and seek production contracts with the food supplier giant Sysco.
They estimate their total annual sales to be in the range of 1,600 tons of food, totaling about $4.4 million the first year, according to the executive summary. They expect it to grow closer to $5 million in following years.
The developers say they would like to partner with Salish Kootenai College, the Montana University System and nearby Kicking Horse Job Corps for educational opportunities and to help find people to staff the facility.
The application also states they will seek to install a restaurant attached to the agricultural production facility. It would be operated as a privately held, for-profit limited liability company.
The project has gained the approval of the Lake County Community Development Corporation.
“As an agency that works on economic development, we absolutely support developments that add new housing, create jobs and add value to agriculture in the area,” said Gypsy Ray, executive director of the Lake County Community Development Corp. “From what I’m aware of, all of those things would be part of the program if successful.”
Ray noted that while she had spoken with the developers and supported the project, she had not worked closely with them in recent weeks or months. She said they were still seeking funding and investors, and that had been the major hurdle for a while.
The single-family residences are expected to begin in the $140,000 range, and Aloha Noblehouse has arranged options with financiers to make competitive mortgages attainable for those with good credit. The default design will be three bedrooms and one bath, Greenstein said, but could be altered for an additional fee if enough prospective residents express interest.
The developer also has been angling for a New Markets Tax Credit, a federal tax credit available for ventures that include real-estate investment in low-income areas of the United States. The credits would go toward the housing project only, not the agricultural center.
The tax-credit program was nearly eliminated in the negotiation process for the new federal tax plan that passed through Congress just before Christmas. Aloha Noblehouse contacted Montana’s U.S. senators and representative to enlist their help in preserving the credit, and the final passed version does not eliminate the program.
Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.
City Farming: If Your Yard Looks Like This You Could Make USD$950/wk
City Farming: If Your Yard Looks Like This You Could Make USD$950/wk
By Ben Brown on January 3, 2018
Making money out of your own parcel of land, whether it be five square meters, or 10, is easier than you imagine and as we push towards a more sustainable future, more homes are taking up their own versions of city farming with budding green entrepreneurs making more than $1000/week out of micro-farming.
There’s a philosophy I believe in called ‘just start’. Simply put, it’s removing the excessive planning and thoughts that people use to delay ideas, and instead, just start. And that saying is especially evident in the city farming world, with the method of putting a seed in the ground and watching it grow.
After that first seedling sprouts a shoot, you will come to learn new methods and innovate the ways you conduct your own city farming to start producing high turnover regular crops in your tiny space and onsell that produce to farmers markets, cafes, and restaurants.
City farming is just that. It’s a way of keeping up with the commercial consumption of fresh foods in cafes, markets, and restaurants as businesses take a turn towards providing more organic foods. And it’s how regular household owners are making an income comparable to a full-time white-collar job, just by working the greens in their backyard.
What on Earth is City Farming And Why is it Here?
If you haven’t heard of it already, it’s no surprise. The city farming movement is very new, but the concept of growing your own foods definitely isn’t.
By 2050 our global population is expected to hit 9.7 billion, according to the UN. That’s 33% more than what we have on this planet right now. And what’s more shocking is that two-thirds of those people will be living in city areas which means there are a lot of mouths to feed in urban areas.
The interesting part of that is that even though most of the population is in cities, their foods originates far from those areas, often in regional farms hundreds or thousands of miles away. This removes the self-sufficiency of a lot of cities which are instead reliant upon the transport of foods which can easily be affected by disasters and other issues.
City farming introduces the idea of cities and urban areas to develop their own organic fresh foods to feed a local area or community, rather than relying on those far-flung farming areas.
Whether it be in front yards, backyards, abandoned lots, balconies, rooftops or just indoors, new methods of produce gardening have been utilized by various entrepreneurs seeking to make a change to the way we feed our cities.
By definition, according to Maximum Yield, city farming (also known as urban farming or urban agriculture) is:
A combination of different efforts aimed at growing fruits and vegetables in an urban area and then distributing them within that specific area.
So let’s take a closer look at how this might be achieved, and how some green-thumbed entrepreneurs are earning more than USD$1000 each week by farming in their own urban yards and how you can too.
How is This Backyard Money-Making Scheme Possible?
It’s simple, people pay a premium for fresh, organic goods, even more so if they are in season produce and are varieties that are hard to find in stores.
This can be done on any time commitment, with small-time portions creating a small income, while the full-time farmers are able to rake in a very sizeable income. This is all measured on the type of production you want to run, whether it just be a small greens or mushroom patch, right up to a microfarm, which requires investment and work and has the most rewarding aspect of a homegrown business.
While there are a number of ‘how to’ guide’s out there available to you, in a general manner, the following is a step-by-step basic guide on how you would manage to get started. I would advise you to research each area a lot more to know the specifics about what might grow the best in your environment, soil and conditions, what time availability you have, and the area you live in with surrounding businesses and markets.
1. Empty The Yard
The first and most important thing you can do if you have a grass lawn like most do is to reduce it. Grass does nothing except consume water, aside from of course if you have a dog, where it can use the grass as a toilet, it is effectively useless.
In most areas, your lawn in your backyard or front yard will consume the same amount of water as most greens and vegetables would, so it is a much better way to utilize resources as you can generate food rather than just green grass.
When you are removing the grass, think about the quality of the soil you are going to be using to produce your mini-crops. Does your soil have a high nutrient count? Does it need to be fertilized? There are in fact starter crops that farmers use to replenish the nutrients of the soil to keep the ground fertile, so you may have to look into biohacking your soil for optimal results. A great source for this comes from Mother Earth News.
When it comes to soil maintenance, a quote I read on Reddit stands out very well, which says: “good gardeners grow plants, whereas great gardeners grow soil“.
2. High Yield Edible Plants For City Farming
Just looking at the nutrients of the soil above, it is important to remember that some plants will suck the nutrients out of your soil and leave your next crop with nothing in the ground whatsoever. Sure, if you want to grow something once this might work. But if you are looking at having regular seasonal harvests you are going to need to keep that bed full of nutrients.
The second part of that is ensuring that you are able to regularly harvest and sell your crops (that is, if you want to make a business out of it), so you need to select plants and vegetables that have the following traits:
- Are an in-demand product in your area
- Where the fresher the produce is the more value it has (coming from you rather than a farm hundreds of miles away)
- Has a quick turnover, so doesn’t take too long to grow
- Is not too reflective of the season, so that you can grow it all year round
There are various foods that have high turnarounds that are highly popular with urban farmers and backyard organic entrepreneurs. Six easy urban farming foods to grow are:
- Beans
- Potatoes
- Carrots
- Squash and zucchini
- Tomatoes
- Radish
These are aside from the leafy in-demand plate greens such as baby spinach and microgreens which are heavily used in organic cafes and restaurants as well as a high commodity in farmers markets.
3. Grow According To Your Available Space
Just because you have a small backyard or even an apartment, it doesn’t mean you can’t produce good amounts of fresh foods. In fact, with the right design of growing methods, you can triple the effective space of your area through looking at planting crops vertically.
Growing vine plants such as beans, tomatoes, peas and cucumbers are a great way to utilize that space. You can do this with PVC piping, wires, netting and trellises to support the vines and their heavy fruit as they grow up to six foot and produce great crops. In doing this, you need to make sure the vine plants have plenty of space in between each other and have plenty of soil to grow into, as vine-based plants often develop large root systems and draw lots of water out of the ground.
The other method is to built a plant system over another producer. This is quite common ingreenhouses, where a vegetable or plant that doesn’t need as much light can grow on the ground, while microgreens are grown on a tray at waist-height above them. This allows you to grow multiple crops at the same time with different harvest times.
No matter what type of weather zone you are in, growing all year round can be difficult to achieve just because of seasonal weather pattern changes. To combat this, many urban farmers are usinggreenhouses, customised to the length of their backyard, in order to maintain perfect growing conditions all year round.
A great source for looking at new methods of vertical growing and what to use isPinterest, which provides a great array of guides on how to grow in confined spaces, vertical farming, city farming and permaculture.
4. Make Your Profit
You might be reading this because you enjoy gardening or the idea of being a little bit more self-sufficient in life. Or, you might be reading this because you are also entrepreneurially-minded and like the idea of being able to make money by spending the time in the backyard, and on the computer researching innovations in gardening.
When it comes to generating profit, there are three methods you can achieve this by. They are:
- Selling directly to businesses such as cafes and restaurants
- Selling through farmers markets
- Selling by yourself (community shares)
For large farms, retailers buy a share of what is grown on those farms at the start of the growing season and onsell it to the customer when it is harvested. This works in the same manner when you sell yourself to your neighbors and other people in your nearby community. It takes a bit of work to set up, but essentially you need to find out what it is people want in your area and grow it for them. You are now acting as an on-demand farmer for those people and are able to deliver a freshly harvested good rather than harvesting and then selling, which comes with the risk of not being able to sell your produce.
A home like this could easily produce USD$900-$1000/wk
This same method works for the first money-making method and is the ideal scenario that will see you being able to expand your farm. If a cafe or restaurant is reliant upon you being able to produce fresh goods each month, then you have a consistent business with that buyer and are able to continually farm from your backyard and deliver to them for a great profit. This is, of course, once you are able to effectively run your own farm to constantly provide a commercial business with fresh goods every week or month.
Selling through farmers markets is simple and much easier but comes with significant risk. The risk for selling your produce at markets is that you might not be able to sell all of your product at the market, so you might have to face waste of your fresh goods. The other issue is that it depends on the foot traffic and interest of the market balanced with the stall fee you have to pay. Can you be certain you will be able to cover the stall fee, the expense of your mini farm, and the bills you need to pay to keep up the next month’s crops?
While the markets may seem like a risky option, they can also pay off quite well as you are not dealing with a demanding client, they are easy to get involved in, and generally, at a farmers market, greens and vegetables are a very in-demand product.
What are you waiting for? Pull up the grass and get the crops in.
Remember about that philosophy I mentioned at the beginning of this post on ‘just start’, if you are even slightly interested in the idea of city farming, and enjoy working outdoors, mixing science, statistics, nature and business together, then just start by getting that soil fertile and planting your first seedlings.
Farmers that only use urban properties to farm greens and vegetables are making well over USD$1000 each week by working on the exact same principles as I have written about in this post. For instance, Curtis Stone, The Urban Farmer makes $75,000 annually using the same formula, as well as various other entrepreneurs who are making similar full-time incomes running their own greens businesses.
So get started with city farming.
Hydroponics Startup Looking To Decentralize The Food Supply Chain
Hydroponics Startup Looking To Decentralize The Food Supply Chain
doitvoluntarily (75) in news • January 5, 2018
In 2016, it's estimated that the global hydroponic market was worth more than $230 million.
It's anticipated that the global market will surpass $395 million by 2020. Though there are some estimates that place the market value much higher, suggesting that it could reach more than $13 billion by 2025.
The hydroponics approach is expected to keep on growing because it provides farmers with more control over the growing process.
Not only that, but it also provides a host of benefits such as using less water, taking up less space, and helping to protect against pests, producing higher yields than traditional methods, and so on. However, some critics of the method suggest that the produce is inferior to traditional methods as far as quality and nutrients because of the way that it's grown.
The global hydroponics market is expected to grow over 6.4 percent over the next decade.
A number of different crops are able to be grown with hydroponic growing methods and they are things like cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, strawberries, and more.
Right now, Europe is said to have the largest hydroponics market, making up roughly 36.44 percent.
They are followed by the Asia Pacific region that makes the 2nd largest market in terms of revenue. Following in 3rd place is the North American market and although they might be 3rd right now, they've got the fastest growing market.
There are a variety of companies already in this space and a great deal of different hydroponic growing projects that are taking place around the world. You've got dozens of crops being grown with this method in greenhouses, in shipping containers, in backyards, and a variety of different growing spaces.
One entrepreneur who is interested in this growing method, Jonathan Partlow, spent about 5 years working on his design for a hydroponic growing system that would help to decentralize the food supply chain. He wanted to provide people with a growing medium and something that could easily work in a variety of different spaces both big and small.
Eventually, he came up with Aggressively Organic.
This company offers pint-sized hydroponics that makes it easy for people to have fresh and quality produce available right in the convenience of their own home. Partlow came up with the micro growth system you can see below.
The growing system consists of a glueless corrugated box that has a plastic liner, coco coir disc, and comes with some nutrient solution mix.
They've already shipped these mini growing systems to some farmers in a beta group and they are also looking to use the product to provide humanitarian relief to areas that are struggling with food insecurity.
One of their recent humanitarian efforts included working to get the Aggressively Organic mini growing systems to Puerto Rico. For that effort, they've set up a crowdfunding page to try and raise funds (trying to raise about $500k) to bring about 50,000 systems to the island.
With their mini design, the plan is for you to cut and take the produce when you need it.
You harvest whenever you are hungry, and when you've got dozens of different ones growing at one time it makes preparing a decent snack or meal fairly easy. Vegetables and herbs grown could be harvested within 21- 60 days; depending on what you're growing.
Partlow says that this growing method can produce lettuce using only an eighth to a quarter-gallon of water, compared to traditional growing methods which might use 3 gallons or more when trying to grow a head of lettuce. And the Micro Growth Systems are expected to retail for around $20 US and the only thing the user needs to provide is light and water.
At the moment their patent is still pending and the product is still in manufacturing, those interested can sign up on their site to try and become a beta grower.
Their system claims to be able to grow more lettuce in a 10 x 10 room than a traditional organic farm might be able to grow with a half acre of land.
Aggressively Organic is based in Indiana and they hope with their business that they'll be able to bring more than 200 jobs to the area by 2021.
Pics:
Pixabay
via GreenandVibrant.com
Twitter/Aggressively Organic
Sources:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171206006224/en/Global-Hydroponics-Market-Report-2017-2023-Market-expected
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hydroponics-market-2020-forecasts-168-cagr-with-hvac-holding-largest-share-569069051.html
http://www.freshplaza.com/article/186162/Aggressively-Organic-relief-packages-helping-Puerto-Rico-regrow-after-Hurricane-Maria
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160811005565/en/Global-Hydroponics-Market-2015-2020---Market-anticipated
https://aggressivelyorganic.com/
http://www.gardencentermag.com/article/pint-size-hydroponics/
https://www.scalarmarketresearch.com/market-reports/hydroponics-market
http://www.freshplaza.com/article/186162/Aggressively-Organic-relief-packages-helping-Puerto-Rico-regrow-after-Hurricane-Maria
https://humanityproject.com/projects/aggressively-organic-relief-for-puerto-rico/
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/37020852/fishers-ag-startup-launches-campaign-for-puerto-rico