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Polygreens Podcast Episode: 17 - Nicola Kerslake - Contain Inc.
Nicola Kerslake founded Contain Inc, a fintech platform for indoor agriculture, that aids indoor farmers in finding lease funding for their projects
Nicola Kerslake founded Contain Inc, a fintech platform for indoor agriculture, that aids indoor farmers in finding lease funding for their projects. They're backed by Techstars' Farm to Fork program, funded by Cargill and Ecolab.
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GrowGroup IFS Introduces Their Own Grow Container Systems GCS 40HQ
The GCS 40HQ is available in different models. All models are in a 40ft container and includes LED technology, climate computers with remote control, and extensive control on water, temperature, humidity, CO2, and lighting
March 12, 2021
GrowGroup IFS Introduces Their Own Grow Container Systems GCS 40HQ
GrowGroup IFS introduces the GrowGroup Grow Container Systems “GCS 40HQ” for small container cluster farms, research & development, schools & universities, and pilots for new indoor farms. With this new solution now GrowGroup IFS can support also small farms in an accessible way with their unique and full approach including support with the operation through their partners GaaS Wageningen and Hoogendoorn Growth Management.
Grow Container Systems “GCS 40HQ”
The GCS 40HQ is available in different models. All models are in a 40ft container and includes LED technology, climate computers with remote control, and extensive control on water, temperature, humidity, CO2, and lighting. The basic model has a very low entry-level and is upgradeable on different levels. The client can choose for example for an upgrade to the highest quality of climate computers of partner Hoogendoorn Growth Management or the highest quality of LED technology of Signify. The client can even choose for the support with the operation through partner GaaS Wageningen.
“We support the bigger farmers with our unique and full approach on indoor farming for some time already but noticed also that smaller farmers, in particular, have a great need for this. That’s why we launch our own GCS solution right now, so all farmers can use the newest technology of indoor farming for year-round cultivation all over the world”, John Breedveld, CEO GrowGroup IFS.
GaaS Wageningen
Partner GaaS Wageningen from the Netherlands has access to a pool of more than 200 agricultural specialists. Its core business is supporting the operation of high-tech indoor farms from the small ones as the container farms up to the large ones as the big indoor factories. They have high knowledge of indoor farming and sharing their knowledge with the farmers by supporting and training them but also with schools and universities.
GrowGroup IFS
GrowGroup IFS (Innovative Farming Solutions), founded by CEO John Breedveld in Barendrecht in the Netherlands, is specialized in developing indoor farming based on the most advanced Dutch innovative farming solutions, especially in regions where normal cultivation is restricted by extreme climate and or limited space.
Advanced Container Technologies, Inc. Joins Clean Food Initiative
Through the use of the company’s GrowPods, ACTX can provide farmers, community groups, investors, and non-profit agencies with a turnkey system to grow ultra-clean and nutritious food that can not only benefit the ecology of the planet and bolster community food security but can also provide new jobs and economic opportunities
March 03, 2021 | Source: Advanced Container Technologies Inc.
Company joins movement toward sustainable alternatives to traditional food production.
CORONA, Calif., March 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Advanced Container Technologies, Inc. (Ticker: OTC:ACTX) stated it is joining the Clean Food Initiative and intends to become a leading force in the drive toward sustainable agriculture.
The Clean Food Initiative is focused on bringing clean, fresh, healthy food to children throughout the world, that is free from pesticides, herbicides, or harmful chemicals. Along with the practice of implementing Sustainable Agriculture Systems (SAS), the aim is to develop a global food system that uses half the water and half the soil as it does today – yet produces twice as much food.
Through the use of the company’s GrowPods, ACTX can provide farmers, community groups, investors, and non-profit agencies with a turnkey system to grow ultra-clean and nutritious food that can not only benefit the ecology of the planet and bolster community food security but can also provide new jobs and economic opportunities.
GrowPods are automated indoor micro-farms that can provide a sustainable supply of affordable safe, clean, nutritious food, while also providing jobs at a local level by promoting the growth of a skilled agricultural workforce in non-traditional settings.
Doug Heldoorn, CEO of Advanced Container Technologies, Inc., said the company’s objectives are to make agriculture sustainable, investable, manageable, scalable, and transparent.
“There is a substantial difference between meeting basic food requirements and meeting optimum nutrition requirements,” he said. “People need access to high quality foods that are rich in nutritional value. Future generations deserve access to a healthy and sustainable food supply, not a diet filled with preservatives, pesticides or chemicals.”
SAS and the Clean Food Initiative represents one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century, as well as a tangible investment opportunity with sound business growth prospects and consistent annual income generation.
“There are few problems facing mankind that are as massive as our need to change our methods of food production and distribution,” Mr. Heldoorn stated. “Fortunately, there are innovative solutions to these challenges, and we are extremely proud to be a vital participant in this agricultural and social evolution.”
For more information, call (951) 381-2555 or visit: www.advancedcontainertechnologies.com.
About Advanced Container Technologies, Inc.
Advanced Container Technologies, Inc. is in the businesses of selling and distributing hydroponic containers called GrowPods; and designing, branding, and selling proprietary medical-grade containers that can store pharmaceuticals, herbs, teas, and other solids or liquids, and can grind and shred herbs; as well as selling other products and accessories, such as humidity control inserts, odor-proof bags, lighters, and plastic lighter holders; and provides private labeling and branding for purchasers of the Company’s containers and the other products. For more information visit: www.advancedcontainertechnologies.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release includes predictions or information considered "forward-looking" within securities laws. These statements represent Company's current judgments but are subject to uncertainties that could cause results to differ. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on these statements, which reflect management's opinions only as of the date of this release. The Company is not obligated to revise any statements in light of new information or events.
Company Contact:
(951) 381-2555
info@advancedcontainertechnologies.com
Investor Relations:
Stuart Smith
SmallCapVoice.Com, Inc.
512-267-2430
ssmith@smallcapvoice.com
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More articles related to: Product / Services Announcement Food
AmplifiedAg Introduces Indoor Farm Platform And Disruptive Technologies, Positioning Company For Rapid Expansion
"AmplifiedAg is on a trajectory to change how the world is feeding itself. Through the adoption of our core technologies and scalable farm platform, we're providing secure food sources and influencing a global shift to indoor farming, which will play a key role in providing food to a growing planet," said Don Taylor, CEO of AmplifiedAg, Inc
News Provided By AmplifiedAg
Mar 03, 2021
CHARLESTON, S.C., March 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With a mission to provide global access to safe food, AmplifiedAg, Inc. introduces its indoor farming platform which includes vertical farms, hydroponic systems, and its proprietary operating system with disruptive seed-to-sale SaaS-based technologies. For the past five years, AmplifiedAg has demonstrated its unparalleled ability to sustainably grow produce to scale at the highest yield, quality and nutritional value, while operating directly at the point of consumption.
AmplifiedAg, Inc. wholly-owns Vertical Roots, the largest hydroponic container farm in the world. Vertical Roots indoor farm production operates with AmplifiedAg's holistic indoor farming platform.
AmplifiedAg's compact farm design operates directly at the point of consumption, maximizes growing space, and is easily scalable in food deserts and space-limited areas. The company's proprietary OS gives farmers total transparency and control of horticulture, food safety, production and business management.
AmplifiedAg deploys indoor farms 70% faster than other CEA implementations, and directly at the point of consumption.
AmplifiedAg rapidly deploys fully functioning farms 70% faster than other CEA implementations, and at cost, that is 50% of the required capital per production pound. The company upcycles shipping containers into controlled agriculture environments with vertical hydroponic systems, LED lights, and electronics, and integrated with AmplifiedAg's proprietary operating system.
AmplifiedAg's indoor farm platform produces 86 times more crop yield per acre compared to traditional farmlands and provides reliable crop production with 365-day farming, regardless of climate and resources. The compact design maximizes the growing space and provides easy mobility and scalability in food deserts and space-limited areas.
But the heartbeat of the operation is AmplifiedAg's proprietary Operating System that features industry-exclusive traceability which tracks every detail of an individual plant's journey from its growth to distribution. This gives farmers total transparency and control of horticulture, food safety, and business management.
Farm containers' resilient architecture and segmentation minimizes the risk of crop loss due to pest and pathogen infestations. SaaS-based technologies provide real-time tracking analytics and 24/7 access for farmers to mitigate risk, control the farm environment and optimize plant growth.
AmplifiedAg's ability to quickly place farms directly in communities and distribution points drastically reduces emissions. Sustainably-focused, the farms don't use soil or pesticides and utilize up to 95% less water than traditional farming.
Wholly-owned by AmplifiedAg, Vertical Roots is the company's proofpoint and has set industry-breaking records in less than five years. Vertical Roots is the largest hydroponic container farm in the U.S., growing nutritious leafy greens with products in over 1,200 grocery stores across the Southeast.
With a proven concept for leafy greens, AmplifiedAg's horticulture expansion plan includes varied nutrient and protein-rich foods to feed the world's growing population.
Increasing threats to the planet's food production fueled Taylor, a 30-year software industry veteran, to found AmplifiedAg in 2016.
"With a growing population, less arable land, water supply and food contamination issues, climate change and environmental disasters," said Taylor, "Our planet is on a path to grow less food for more people while continuing to accelerate the degradation of the earth's fragile ecosystem. Exasperating our already critical food access issues on the planet. The only way we're going to get ourselves out of this situation is with technology. We need to grow safer food in greater volumes closer to the point of consumption while conserving and restoring the environment."
"That is what is driving all of our development and innovation, and ultimately the demand we are seeing from indoor farmers and communities across the world," concluded Taylor.
AmplifiedAg, Inc. was founded in 2016 as the parent company of Vertical Roots, Boxcar Central, a SaaS platform supporting third-party logistics companies and breweries, and Tiger Corner Farms, a CEA farm manufacturing company. AmplifiedAg has absorbed Tiger Corner Farms and Boxcar Central operations as the company presents its mobile indoor farm platform to the market.
About AmplifiedAg, Inc.
AmplifiedAg, Inc. is an ag-tech industry visionary on a mission to provide global access to safe food. The company manufactures indoor vertical farms, hydroponic systems, and disruptive seed-to-sale SaaS-based technologies. Unlike other indoor ag operations, AmplifiedAg provides holistic indoor farm solutions to grow and distribute food anywhere in the world.
AmplifiedAg owns and operates Vertical Roots, the largest hydroponic container farm in the World. Learn more at www.amplifiedaginc.com. Growing Food for a Growing World.
SOURCE AmplifiedAg
Related Link
Creating A Connected, Community Centered Urban Farm Environment
Street Farm’s micro-vertical farm works with a hydroponic growth system and is designed to be reused again and again. The designs vary in size from 8’ wide x 8’ high x 12’ long to 16’ high to 32’ long
“NYC streets are ripe with potential to start producing their own food," says Julian Lwin with Street Farm. Full and built up through the city might be, lack of space is no excuse for anyone, as Street farms’ vertical farm can be fit also in small public spaces. “We now can claim street space for sustainably grown urban greens the same way we claimed the streets for outdoor dining during COVID.”
COVID forced many countries to rethink their food system, as logistics suddenly got complicated. Also Julian became acutely aware of the need for new retail environments, finding a safer way to interact with food, and purchasing fresh produce. Via an automated dispensing think vending machines & dedicated StreetFarm app.
In this period he saw people taking their activities outside, exercising or even eating out on the streets whereas they would normally do this indoors. With that in mind, he found (conceived) Street Farm, intending to find a solution for growing fresh produce right there in the streets of NYC. “We will fabricate the farms right here in New York’s Brooklyn Navy Yard, to keep the transport emissions to an absolute minimum.” This model can be set up in any city metropolis around the globe where freshly grown produce is missing from the urban environment
Street Farm’s micro-vertical farm works with a hydroponic growth system and is designed to be reused again and again. The designs vary in size from 8’ wide x 8’ high x 12’ long to 16’ high to 32’ long. The smaller ones can be placed in gardens, allowing the larger-scale growing to be done in empty storefronts, city lots, etcetera. Julian dreams of the microfarms to be placed even in schools, libraries, and train stations to show people that food can be grown literally anywhere.
Urban “element" vertical farm
Combining the latest technologies in the field of AI and robotics for monitoring the growth and yield, the New York streets will produce lots of fresh produce for the local population. “With Street Farms we can transform New York from a food desert to a paradise of nutritious, healthy vegetables.” The plan is for the system to monitor the plant growth itself, but for the harvest to be done by employees, thus creating more jobs in the city. “We want these farms to create a connected, community-centered urban farm environment, connecting people to each other and to the food they eat.”
Julian finds it vitally important that people see tangible agriculture grown in public places, rather than hiding vertical farms in post-industrial spaces and rooftops. “Street Farms will connect the community with the products we eat. We aim for a paradigm shift in our relationship to the food we eat and our city landscape.”
Lead photo: The micro modular urban vertical farm satellite
For more information:
Lwindesign
Julian Lwin, Founder
julian@lwindesign.com
www.lwindesign.com
Publication date: Thu 25 Feb 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
New Freight Farms CMO Shares 4 Reasons Why He Moved From Sportswear To AgTech
After an amazing experience and professional success, James felt that he needed a change: a new challenge, a new industry, a new way to make an impact
Former Senior Director Global Marketing at Reebok shares his reasons for joining Freight Farms C-Suite
James Woolard spent the last 14 years at Reebok, heading up everything from regional Sports Marketing and Brand to Global Marketing for the brand’s Running and Style units. After an amazing experience and professional success, James felt that he needed a change: a new challenge, a new industry, a new way to make an impact. His search brought him to the world of AgTech and Freight Farms, where he saw the huge potential of both the company and the industry and knew it was just what he had been looking for. Today, James shares the four big reasons why he was so drawn to the AgTech industry, and how he believes his previous experience will help propel Freight Farms forward.
In the past, I have always resisted “building a social presence” as a result of a (very British) suspicion of people’s real motives and my own laziness in maintaining it. In truth, the former reason is an easy cover story for the latter. However, in this case, my aversion to online social platforms has been overruled by a greater feeling that I want to share: Gratitude.
I am grateful for the experiences I have had, the people I have been fortunate enough to meet, and excited by all the opportunities in the future. However, most recently I am grateful for the opportunity to become the Chief Marketing Officer of Freight Farms. There were several small reasons to make the switch–but they all scaffold up to four somewhat big reasons:
Creating a Simple Solution for a Complex Problem
A pioneer of indoor agriculture and a leader in hydroponic container farming, Freight Farms has a suite of products and technology that can revolutionize access to hyper-local fresh grown produce. Our products reflect a level of complex design and engineering on which far cleverer people than me tirelessly work; yet the solution we are creating is incredibly simple — A 2.5-acre smart farm in a 40ft freight container that can go anywhere in the world to provide food security. With already over 300 of our farms around the world, we are building a tech-connected network of farmers who are simultaneously solving food access issues in their own communities and building a new global food system–all powered by Freight Farms technology.
1 in 6 people in the world relies on food imports to feed them daily. This number is set to reach 3 in 6 by 2050.
9 counties–mostly in California–are responsible for most of the food supply within the U.S. Any disruption (fires, drought, etc) can be catastrophic to the whole system.
In the U.S., 19 million people currently live in food deserts with limited access to healthy and nutritious fresh foods.
2. Leveraging Cross-Category Experience
In addition, I am incredibly grateful to my former colleagues at Reebok and Adidas. I was lucky enough to have a robust education in the UK Sports industry and be part of and learn from an amazing Adidas leadership team. I was fortunate enough to come to the US, understand firsthand the dynamics of a global business, and meet a diverse range of interesting people. And I got to set up my family in Boston.
Now it is time to apply this experience to Freight Farms. Why the move from sports to Agtech you might ask? Yes, I needed the change and new challenge. And yes I would be lying if I said I targeted Agtech but sometimes you find what you need without realizing it. I am still a sports fan at heart — and when I first walked into the offices I walked into a locker room full of energy and talent. I was intrigued and hooked early on. I met Jon — who a decade earlier had looked at a Freight container and thought “why can’t I put a farm in there and build a business helping people anywhere in the world access fresh, hyper-local food”; I met a team of people (young, purposeful, talented ones) like Caroline, our Director of Marketing and Community Relations, with huge potential and authenticity who wanted to learn and grow; I met a new CEO in Rick and CTO in Jake with pedigree and passion; I saw a set of investors led by Ospraie Management and Spark Capital backing this all with capital.
3. Driving Profits for Company & Customers
At Freight Farms, I saw the impact I personally could have on the business. We have a thriving community of customers who have been essential in building Freight Farms’ success. The stories are inspiring, and I am eager to apply my experience to help Freight Farmers achieve their own individual success with the best possible support from our company. At the end of the day, we can’t be shy about saying “people need to make money”, because that’s the only way our mission to build a global infrastructure of local farms can succeed. I am here to embrace this and say ‘how can we create a return on investment for every stakeholder’? This is how we will grow.
4. Saying ‘No’ to Greenwashing and ‘Yes’ to Tech for Good
I am conscious of the perceived need to be on trend with “sustainability”, of the danger of falling into buzzwords and jargon that are of the moment. There is a business model and story myriad people are chasing. This is all happening parallel to a degradation of our trust in technology; as a society, we recognize it’s time to direct it towards something good. With three girls under 12 (all over using screens in Covid times), I see the benefits and dangers. We all see the power of the big brands and how algorithms are driving division. I believe people want to see positive expressions of technology beyond driving up their 401k. Combined, these two factors unlock our greatest brand strength in 2021: we already do leverage technology and data to create a truly sustainable product. There’s no need to spin, exaggerate, or greenwash. We can carry on doing exactly what we are doing with confidence that we’re creating the kind of positive impact the world needs.
That’s what is most exciting about entering the ‘Agtech’ industry: the moniker actually means something — the former (Agriculture) consistently driving change throughout history, and the latter (tech) acting as the most rapid accelerator of that change in my lifetime. It’s exhilarating, and I can’t wait to see how far we can take it.
Learn more about Freight Farms.
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BRITISH COLUMBIA: Learning Centre Gearing Up For “Village Greens”
The Society used the $166,328 grant to buy a Growcer “growing container” to supply the community with fresh greens year-round: they have made inquiries at IGA and local restaurants and plan to donate some to the food bank
Published on February 13, 2021
By Laura Keil
Fresh, local and green aren’t words you often hear about Robson Valley products in the wintertime, but the Valemount Learning Society hopes to change that.
The Learning Centre is branching out from its usual array of employment services and courses and digging into local food, thanks to a grant last summer from Northern Development Initiative Trust. The Society used the $166,328 grant to buy a Growcer “growing container” to supply the community with fresh greens year-round: they have made inquiries at IGA and local restaurants and plan to donate some to the food bank. They are also considering a box program if other options don’t work out.
The container is currently on order and will arrive sometime in March, said Riette Kenkel, manager of the Valemount Learning Centre, and she hopes they will have their first harvest in May.
Mike Johnson, who works for VLC as an employment advisor, will run the Growcer operation, which will be called “Village Greens.” Prior to arriving in Valemount, he worked in a commercial greenhouse for 20 years, Kenkel said.
The Growcer company provides training as the food is grown hydroponically.
The container will be set up in the Valemount Industrial Park next door to Robson Valley Mushrooms and near the Valemount Community Forest offices. Kenkel said the heating costs should be offset by the well-insulated container walls, which are good to -50 degrees.
She hopes to package most of the food in biodegradable packaging.
Kenkel previously told the Goat it’s no one’s fault the fresh food supply in Valemount isn’t always consistent.
“By the time the truck gets here the produce is old, and if stuff flies off the shelf we have to wait for the next (truck),” she said. “The Learning Centre has always responded to community needs. This was something we were hearing.”
She said it’s a social enterprise, so if it makes money, that cash will be cycled back into the programs that the Valemount Learning Centre delivers.
One of the more recent programs they’ve taken on is 4-H, which has a focus on agriculture and livestock and they’ve put a call-out for people to come up with program ideas.
Kenkel says it goes beyond just agriculture, however. Projects can relate to environmental issues, learning about aspects of farming, soil, and animals- not just farm animals.
The Growcer container is self-contained and ready to go in any season using hydroponics. The Valemount Learning Centre hopes to fill the winter void, create a job or two and raise money for their other programs. //GROWCER
“It’s wide open right now for whatever the community wants it to be.”
Farmers Market management
The Society recently took over management of the Valemount Farmers’ Market from long-time organizer Christine Pelletier.
“We’re pretty excited about it,” Kenkel said. “We’re not really going to make any changes. We want to just run this next season as close to what it’s been in the past.”
She said the market will run from June 17th until September 30th this year and the rates for vendors will be the same: $10 per day plus a $10 annual membership.
Kenkel says they likely won’t sell their own fresh greens at the market, as they don’t want to compete with local growers.
“If Village Greens has something that’s marketable at the farmers market that isn’t competing with existing customers, then we might look at it. But yeah, we don’t want to compete with any of the smaller farmers that have been reliably selling lettuce, kale, basil, that kind of stuff.”
Related Posts:
USA - OHIO: Thinking And Growing Inside The Box
A brother-sister team has taken the mechanics of farming out of the field and into a freight container
FEBRUARY 10, 2021 By SIDNEY DAILY NEWS
Local Farmer Takes The Farm Indoors
By Blythe Alspaugh - balspaugh@sidneydailynews.com
PIQUA — A brother-sister team has taken the mechanics of farming out of the field and into a freight container.
“We are growing beautiful plants without the sun; there’s no soil, and so it’s all a closed-loop water system,” Britt Decker, co-owner of Fifth Season FARM, said. “We use non-GMO seeds, completely free of herbicides and pesticides, so the product is really, really clean. In fact, we recommend people don’t even wash it, because there’s no reason to.”
Fifth Season FARM is unique in many ways; the 3-acre hydroponic farm is contained in a 320-square-foot freight container that sits along 120 S. Main St. in Piqua, with everything from varying varities of lettuce, to radishes, to kale and even flowers in a climate-controlled smart farm that allows Decker and his sister, Laura Jackson, to turn crops in a six- to eight-week cycle. The crops spend 18 hours in “daytime” every day, and the farm uses 90% less water than traditional farming.
“It’s tricky because we’re completely controlling the environment in here. It’s kind of a laboratory more than a farm,” Decker said. “I think there’s about 50 of them around the world right now. These are really international, and they’re perfect for places that are food deserts where they can’t grow food because of climate or other reasons. It gives them a way to grow food in the middle of nowhere.”
Decker and Jackson, along with their brother Bill Decker, also do traditional farming and grow corn, wheat and soybeans, but Decker said they were looking for a new venture that would help lead them to a healthier lifestyle and learn something new.
“Just with the whole local food movement becoming more and more important and food traceability, we just thought it would be a great thing to bring to our community to help everyone have a healthier lifestyle,” Decker said. “People love food that’s grown right in their hometown and the shelf-life on it, when you get it home, is remarkable. It’ll keep for two weeks.”
Currently, Decker and Jackson are growing a half-dozen variety of specialty lettuces that include arugula, butterhead, and romaine, as well as specialty greens like kale and Swiss chard, and even radishes and flowers. They received their freight container at the end of July and set up their indoor farm over two weeks; while the farm has been in operation for less than six months, Decker says that they’re growing beautiful product.
They have also started growing micro-greens, said Decker. Micro-greens are immature plants which are 1 to 3 inches tall and are in a 5-inch by 5-inch container.
“People will use them as garnishments and in smoothies,” said Decker. “Since they are immature plants, they have an intense flavor.”
Decker said they are growing wheat germ, broccoli and spicy salad mixes.
They’ve also started moving forward with sales and marketing. Fifth Season FARM has partnered with the Miami County Locally Grown Virtual Market to sell their products to the community. They also take orders through their website, fifthseasonfarm.com; customers can opt to pick up their orders between 4 and 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, or Decker and Jackson will deliver products up to five miles from the farm. Decker said that Fifth Season FARM is also in discussions with three restaurants in the area about including their specialty greens on their menus.
Decker said they also plan to attend the Sidney Farmers Market when it opens for the spring/summer season.
“We’re really just getting going,” Decker said. “While we were learning to grow products, we didn’t want to overcommit to a restaurant or grocery store before we knew we could really grow a beautiful product, so we’ve been donating product every week to the food pantry at the Presbyterian Church. It feels good to plant the seeds and watch them grow, and it feels good to make sure that people who aren’t getting the proper nutrition are getting some.”
VIDEO: Freight Farms - Greenery Tour Recording
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Greenery Tour Recording
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US - NEW MEXICO: ‘Farm in a Box’ Coming To Grants
The Farm in a Box operates inside a 40-foot shipping container, shown here in Moffat County, Colo. A similar one will be set up at New Mexico State University branch campus in Grants. (Courtesy of Tri-State Generation and Transmission)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Fresh, locally produced vegetables will soon sprout from hydroponic beds in an enclosed, converted shipping container parked at New Mexico State University’s branch campus in Grants.
The 40-foot “Farm in a Box” will provide hands-on education and workforce training for local students and others interested in studying the emerging science of “indoor agriculture” as a new, potentially sustainable, enterprise that could offer fresh economic development opportunities and job creation in an area hard hit by the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
NMSU, the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, and the National Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) are collaborating on the project.
It’s one of several initiatives under development with local, state, and federal backing to diversify economic activity in Cibola, McKinley, and San Juan counties, where coal-fired power plants and associated mining have provided a financial mainstay for workers and communities for decades.
Both Cibola and McKinley counties are reeling from last year’s shutdown of the coal-fired Escalante Generating Station near Grants, plus the closure of Marathon Petroleum’s oil refinery in Gallup, which together eliminated hundreds of stable, high-paying jobs in those northwestern communities.
Unemployment hit 10.8% in Cibola County in December and 10.2% in McKinley County, according to the state Department of Workforce Solutions. That compares to an 8.2% average statewide unemployment rate.
To ease the impact of Escalante’s closure and assist in transitioning local communities, Tri-State provided $5 million in grants in January to four local economic development organizations. It is also now sponsoring the Farm in a Box initiative, providing $250,000 to set up and equip the high-tech container unit that houses the indoor agricultural operation, with forthcoming grants for NMSU faculty and student assistants to work on the project.
“We realize that closing such coal facilities as the Escalante plant that have traditionally employed significant workforces creates very difficult challenges for local communities to replace those jobs,” Tri-State spokesman Mark Stutz said. “Our goal is to find opportunities in support of economic development with new technologies when we can.”
Tri-State permanently closed the 253-megawatt Escalante power plant in Pruitt last summer as part of the association’s long-term plan to completely withdraw from coal generation over the next decade. It laid off about two-thirds of the plant’s 107 employees, Stutz said.
TriState also plans to close a much larger, 1.3-gigawatt coal facility in Craig, a municipality in Moffat County, Colorado, where the company sponsored another Farm in a Box project that EPRI set up last November.
“We don’t want to just walk away from these communities that we’ve been a part of for decades,” Stutz said.
High tech
EPRI has set up similar Farm in a Box projects in 13 states, said its principal technical leader Frank Sharp, project manager for the institute’s indoor agriculture-and-lighting research efforts.
It’s part of an emerging concept of indoor farming for urban areas and isolated rural communities where food could be grown year-round right where it’s consumed. It could lead to huge energy and water savings through efficient, high-tech growing processes, contributing to carbon reduction by using electricity rather than fossil fuels in agricultural operations and by eliminating long-haul transport of produce to market.
For economically stressed communities such as Cibola and McKinley counties, it could be scaled beyond shipping containers to retrofit under-used or abandoned buildings and to construct new facilities, such as greenhouses, on empty plots, Sharp said.
“It all translates into community impact, job creation, and beneficial use of electricity,” Sharp told the Journal. “Vacated buildings with the infrastructure already in place can be retrofitted, with opportunities to also build new facilities.”
Electric Power Research Institute principal technical leader Frank Sharp, left, with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association CEO Duane Highley, inside the Farm in a Box agricultural container that was set up in Moffat County, Colo., last November. (Courtesy of Tri-State Generation and Transmission)
Research needed
Research is still needed to maximize efficiency and production, measure benefits, make contained farming systems profitable, and train the workforce. That’s where NMSU comes in, said Jay Lillywhite, agricultural economics professor and co-director of NMSU’s center of Excellence in Sustainable Food and Agricultural Systems.
NMSU faculty and students will study the entire container system, which includes vertical, hanging plastic enclosures to grow crops connected to a closed-loop plumbing system to recycle all water. Researchers will monitor all energy and water use, plant productivity, the impact of red and blue LED lighting spectrums on plant growth, and the economics of the whole operation, Lillywhite said.
“We’ll record everything and transmit all the data wirelessly to EPRI,” Lillywhite said. “It needs to be profitable. Indoor agriculture has had mixed reviews in terms of profitability, so we’ll look at a model that makes sense for New Mexico and the Southwest.”
Other applications
Opportunities extend into many disciplines beyond agriculture, including electrical engineering focused on energy efficiency and renewable generation as alternative systems, such as solar panels, are added to indoor operations, said Rolando A. Flores, dean of NMSU’s College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences.
“The project has excellent potential to address social, environmental, and economic facets of sustainability, and become a resource-efficiency model for urban agriculture, provided that renewable energy can be incorporated from the beginning,” he said.
State Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, D-Grants, said indoor agriculture can offer significant opportunities alongside other initiatives to diversify the local economy.
Lundstrom sponsored legislation last year that now allows counties with coal plants that are closing to set up special economic districts with bonding and taxing authorities to invest in infrastructure, business recruitment, and retention to create jobs and promote economic development.
That led to the launch in December of the McKinley County Electric Generating Facility Economic District, which is focused on converting the Escalante site in Pruitt into a new industrial zone to recruit more businesses to the area.
“Value-added agriculture is one of the opportunities we can work to develop there with help from the partners on this project,” Lundstrom said. “It can have a significant impact as we work to recruit new, sustainable industry to the local community.”
2020 Shone A New Light On The Need For Container Farming
For us here at Freight Farms, the COVID-19 pandemic became a pivotal moment
Even A Pandemic Couldn’t Stop Us!
When the COVID-19 pandemic came to a head in March, we all felt a deep sense of trepidation. At the time, the future looked beyond bleak. We were all at the forefront of a completely new experience and it was up to us to figure out how to stay safe and continue to thrive in the ‘new normal’ world. For us here at Freight Farms, the COVID-19 pandemic became a pivotal moment. Would people still care about their source of food in the midst of a health crisis? Would individuals be looking to shift careers and lifestyles during such uncertainty?
The answer came right away: yes. The pandemic shone a spotlight on the key flaws within our food system and the need for a workplace revolution. We saw a tremendous growth of interest from people looking to make a positive and needed impact on their communities. We reflect on the year with immense gratitude for our community of farmers that continue to help us address pressing issues of sustainability and food security–we can’t wait to see all we can accomplish together in 2021!
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8 Easy Steps To Start Your Farm
Whether you want to sell to restaurants, hotels, or members of your local community, The Greenery™ makes it possible for anyone to grow local food on a commercial scale.
We’ve worked with farmers across the globe to help them establish successful businesses, so we know what you’ll need to do to launch a successful business.
Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
STEP 1
Understand hydroponics and your local food market.
STEP 2
Build your business plan.
STEP 3
Secure financing for your farm.
STEP 4
Find your perfect farm site and research your municipality’s zoning laws.
STEP 5
Get trained - join us at Farm Camp or in Farmhand Academy
STEP 6
Prepare for arrival - our Client Services team will take care of all the logistics!
STEP 7
While your crops start to grow, develop your marketing, packaging and other facets of your business.
STEP 8
Launch your farm and join the community of growers. Read advice from others like you.
The Freight Farms team will be there to support every step of the way.
Schedule a call today to get all your questions answered
and take the first step towards building a successful business.
Book A Consultation
Urban Crop Solutions Solidifies Presence In North America With The Appointment of Douglas Gamble As Sales Manager
He joins UCS from the more traditional side of agriculture – having been raised on a dairy farm, which later transitioned into a large-scale Greenhouse operation
Urban Crop Solutions (UCS) is pleased to announce the appointment of Doug Gamble as their North American Sales Manager. Doug has spent over 25 years in management, sales, and business development roles; and brings his own entrepreneurial experiences and spirit to the position. He joins UCS from the more traditional side of agriculture – having been raised on a dairy farm, which later transitioned into a large-scale Greenhouse operation.
As the company’s first North American Sales Manager, Doug will lead the supply and delivery of UCS’s latest solution – the ModuleX plant factory; and ramp up the export of the company’s technology and environmentally beneficial solutions to urban farming in Canada and the United States. Doug will lead the operation from the small town of Sackville, New Brunswick in Canada – where his office, home, and family are located.
Urban Crop Solutions is a Belgium based pioneer in the fast-emerging technology of indoor vertical farming. It has developed over the past five years, 220 plant growth recipes, for which all drivers for healthy plant growth – such as optimal LED spectrum and intensity, nutrient mix, irrigation strategy, and climate settings – are tested and validated daily in its Indoor Farming Research Lab in Waregem (Belgium). To date, UCS has delivered over 25 projects for clients throughout Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific. Its commercial farms are being operated for vegetables, herbs, micro-greens for food retail, foodservice, and industrial use. Research institutions are also operating UCS’s grow infrastructure for scientific research on banana seedlings, flowers, and hemp.
For more information:
Urban Crop Solutions: www.urbancropsolutions.com
For more information on this press release, or on Urban Crop Solutions and their products and services, you may contact Doug Gable, Sales Manager - North America; or Brecht Stubbe, Global Sales Director.
Doug Gamble, Sales Manager doga@urbancropsolutions.com
Brecht Stubbe, Global Sales Director brst@urbancropsolutions.com
European headquarters: Regional headquarters:
Grote Heerweg 67 800 Brickell Avenue, 1100 Suite
8791 Beveren-Leie (Waregem) Miami, FL, 33131
Belgium USA
(+32) 56 96 03 06 +1 (786) 408-6027
Facebook: www.facebook.com/urbancropsolutions
Twitter: www.twitter.com/U_C_Solutions
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/urbancropsolutions
YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/UrbanCropSolutions
VIDEO: Local-For-Local Food Production In Climate Containers
Bosman Van Zaal is getting more and more questions about the use of Grow & Roll climate containers for food production, equipped with cultivation systems with multiple cultivation layers. Organizations that are committed to local food products are showing particular interest
18-12-2020 | Goedemorgen
NETHERLANDS- Bosman Van Zaal is getting more and more questions about the use of Grow & Roll climate containers for food production, equipped with cultivation systems with multiple cultivation layers. Organizations that are committed to local food products are showing particular interest.
Under own management
The Grow & Roll climate containers have been developed in-house since 2016 and adapted to applications by third parties. In 2019, for example, an entrepreneur from the United States, together with several other companies from the Green Innovators Group, developed a closed climate unit in a sea container for research and cultivation of plant material. The results of this research will form the basis for large-scale Vertical Farming in the future.
The knowledge gained has led to further development at Bosman Van Zaal, as a result of which the climate containers are now also suitable for food production on location.
Multilayer cultivation
Vertical Farming is one of the solutions to the problem of the growing demand for food. A multi-layer system uses less surface area, energy, and water. And production takes place all year round, resulting in higher yields.
Tailor-made climate
Each unit is equipped with various installations, which together determine the climate in the container in an integrated way, controlled by a climate computer. Systems for heating, cooling, ventilation, water, air, and water purification, fertilization, CO2 and LED lighting are often the ingredients for an optimally closed climate, anywhere in the world, on an outdoor site, or in a building. Peripheral equipment or hardware are easy to install, allowing this flexible form of food production to continue to take place quickly and efficiently, even in the longer term.
Housing
For practical reasons, standard sea containers are widely used because they are relatively easy to transport and move. Because of their handy dimensions, these units are also suitable for placing in buildings, possibly stacked. In this way, the vertical food production is taken even further.
Bosman Van Zaal
Bosman Van Zaal develops, produces, and builds complete horticultural projects at home and abroad. The projects are based on the latest developments and the latest insights for the sustainable and efficient cultivation of food crops, ornamentals, and plants for the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. For more information, please visit www.bosmanvanzaal.com.
VIDEO: Reviving Urban Life - An Innovative Soil-Based Indoor Vertical Farm That Brings The Production of Food to The Place It Is Consumed
One revolutionary agro-tech company, Vertical Field (www.verticalfield.com), is harnessing the power of geoponic technology, agricultural expertise, and smart design to tackle all of these issues and more
VERTICAL FIELD’S NEW PORTABLE FARMS ARE MAKING
THE WORLD MORE SUSTAINABLE – AND BETTER FED
Consistent Supply
Reduces Inventory Waste
Less Human Handling
More Sterile Environment
[DEC 9, 2020, New York/Rana’na, Israel] – Urban areas contain more than half the world’s population and contribute to some 70% of the planet’s energy emissions. Cities guzzle the bulk of Earth’s resources and produce more waste. Many residents live in “urban food deserts.” And buildings are literally making their occupants sick.
Vertical Field’s Urban Crops offers an ideal alternative to traditional agriculture. The soil-based platform can grow hundreds of types of crops – pesticide-free, indoors or outdoors – and requires no training to operate.
Our planet is home to some 7.7 billion people. In many places, hunger is a reality. Unpredictable climate patterns are threatening the availability and stability of fresh produce. Yet the global population is rising. How will we feed the world by the mid-21st century, when an expected 10 billion of us need food? And now in-light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the food supply chain is in jeopardy more than ever before -- the need to bring food easier and faster directly to consumers is more important than ever.
One revolutionary agro-tech company, Vertical Field (www.verticalfield.com), is harnessing the power of geoponic technology, agricultural expertise, and smart design to tackle all of these issues and more. The Israeli startup – cited by Silicon Review as a “50 Innovative Companies to Watch in 2019” and named by World Smart City in 2019 as “Best Startup” – produces vertical agricultural solutions that help the environment, improve human health conditions, cut down on human handling, reduce waste, and make fresh, delicious and more produce available 365 days a year locally and directly to consumers and other end users.
“Vertical Fields offers a revolutionary way to eat the freshest greens and herbs, by producing soil based indoor vertical farms grown at the very location where food is consumed,” said Vertical Field’s Chief Executive Officer, Guy Elitzur of Ra’anana, Israel who is hoping to place his ‘vertical farms’ in retail chains and restaurants establishments in cities throughout the US.
“Not only do our products facilitate and promote sustainable life and make a positive impact on the environment, we offer an easy to use real alternative to traditional agriculture. Our Urban farms give new meaning to the term ‘farm-to-table,’ because one can virtually pick their own greens and herbs at supermarkets, restaurants or other retail sites,” he adds.
Vertical Field’s Urban Crops offers an ideal alternative to traditional agriculture, especially in urban settings where space is scarce. The soil-based platform can grow hundreds of types of crops – pesticide-free, indoors or outdoors – and requires no training to operate.
From Wall to Fork
Vertical farming in cities is an energy-efficient, space-saving, farming alternative to traditional crops grown in acres and fields. Thanks to Vertical Field, everyone from city planners and architects to restaurants, supermarkets, hotels are using vertical farming to create lush, green edible spaces in congested areas around the world.
Portable Urban Farm
An alternative to the living wall is Vertical Field’s unique Vertical Field®, which can be placed in either a 20-ft or 40-ft. container equipped with advanced sensors that provide a controlled environment. This technology constantly monitors, irrigates, and fertilizes crops throughout every growth stage. Healthy, high-quality fruits and vegetables flourish in soil beds that contain a proprietary mix of minerals and nutrients.
Advantages of Vertical Field’s Vertical Farm:
Bug-free and pesticide-free – healthy, fresh, and clean produce
Less waste – uses 90% less water
Shorter growing cycles, longer shelf life
Plants are “in season” 365 days/year - grow whatever you want, no matter the weather or climate conditions of the geography
Consistent quality
Modular, expandable, and moveable farm
Automated crop management
More Sterile Environment
Less Human Contact
Creating a more sustainable way of life in cities across the globe has never been more urgent. Vertical Field is responding to the challenge today. Green cities will enrich life in urban areas, provide healthier and better food, and shorten the distance between consumers and their food.
About Vertical Field: Vertical Field is a leading agro-tech provider of vertical farming and living green wall solutions for urban environments and smart cities. The company is operated by professionals, agronomists, researchers, and a multi-disciplinary team, enabling the development of smart walls that combine the best of design and manufacturing, smart computerized monitoring, soil-based technology, water and lighting technology, and more. Vertical Field delivers next-generation vertical farming systems for a global clientele, including Facebook, Intel, Apple, Isrotel, Microsoft, and many more.
Mario Saw Container Farming As A Chance To Become His Own Boss
In order to understand the indoor farming industry better, Mario enrolled in an online course of hydroponics which gave him the basics of the farming process
Mario from New Age Provisions Farms left his 9-5 to start his own container farming company. It hasn’t always been easy, but Mario loves his new independent lifestyle.
The team with Freight Farms recently sat down for a chat with what they call an amazing Freight Farmer–Mario Vitalis! Mario’s journey to start farming wasn’t the smoothest, but Mario applied his incredible work effort, perseverance, and general positive attitude towards launching New Age Provisions Farms in August 2020. All the hard work paid off–Mario is already expecting to receive his second Greenery container farm in December 2020!
Be Your Own Boss
Before August, Mario had no experience with farming. He spent the majority of his professional life in the business and corporate world, getting his first taste of freedom when he decided to go into real estate as a side business. That side business showed Mario the huge potential that he could have as an entrepreneur. It was in an effort to expand his real estate business by monetizing empty lots that Mario first stumbled upon container farming.
Originally, Mario was thinking of using the lots for container homes, but the regulations around residential projects were far too complicated. With agriculture, however, Mario found that there was a much greater opportunity. Today, Mario has left his corporate job to pursue farming and real estate full time and he loves it.
“Farming allows me to be my own boss. One thing I’ve always wanted to do is own a business. That is what will set you apart from being a thousandaire to a millionaire.”
In order to understand the indoor farming industry better, Mario enrolled in an online course of hydroponics which gave him the basics of the farming process. He then started doing some research about the available technology, eventually choosing the Freight Farms Greenery as the container farm that was the easiest to use and produced the greatest yields. Mario signed a purchase agreement the same day that he saw the Greenery, knowing that it was the right technology for his plans.
But before he could start, Mario had to overcome a few hurdles.
Container Farm Financing
The first was financing. In August 2019, Mario applied to the USDA Farm Service Agency for a $50,000 loan to put down a deposit for the Greenery, with plans to supplement the rest with a private loan. In spite of providing the Agency with a thorough and well-reasoned business plan and yield projection, he was informed that the application was ‘incomplete’, and in December 2019 was denied without any explanation. Mario was shocked–in his eyes, the application had been bulletproof.
It was only after a great deal of prodding that Mario was able to get some clarity into his denial. Due to a lack of experience with hydroponic container farming, the FSA had re-run all of Mario’s calculations within the scope of traditional linear farming and determined that he could not possibly reach the yields–and therefore the profit that he was projecting. This, plus Mario’s lack of farming experience earned him a denial.
Initially, Mario was devastated. When he turned to his family for support, he received some pivotal words of wisdom from his grandfather: “They don’t want you to own the land. They want you to work the land.” Mario’s grandfather was referring to the huge dearth of Black farmers in America–only 2% of the national farming population–which is a direct result of long-standing discrimination within organizations like the USDA that makes it difficult for minority farmers to receive crucial financing. So Mario decided to fight.
The first step was to appeal the decision. Mario wrote a letter to the USDA requesting an appeal, which the USDA denied by backing the original decision. Mario then appealed again, and this time he went to court against the USDA FSA. In court, Freight Farms was able to support all of Mario’s initial claims about the Greenery’s yield potential, allowing Mario to prove without a doubt that his farm was the right candidate for the loan. The judge ruled in Mario’s favor and shortly thereafter, he received a call from the FSA with an offer for the original $50,000 loan. Mario looked at it all and said:
“I don’t want $50,000… I want $250,000. I want you to pay for the container that I have–plus buy me a new container.”
Farm Site & Zoning
With the fight with the USDA behind him and the money in his pocket, Mario turned his attention into getting his business started. This is where he encountered his next hurdle: zoning. Mario initially intended to put his farms on a property he owned, but then found out that the land was zoned residential. As a piece of agricultural machinery, Mario would need to secure a variance (i.e. an exception) from the municipality–a long and expensive process. This time, instead of fighting, Mario turned his resourcefulness towards his personal network. He reconnected with a friend from high school who owned a used car lot and offered it as a place for Mario to keep his farm.
Farm Business Plan & Customers
Unfortunately, Mario’s trials were not quite over. Just as Mario was finalizing all of his financing and zoning, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, effectively turning Mario’s original business plan on its head. Mario had originally planned to sell to restaurants in the area, but as the local establishments shuttered, he was forced to pivot quickly. He found his footing with an online marketplace called Market Wagon, which aggregates dozens of local farmers and craftsmen on one platform. For the shopper, it’s a simple way to shop from multiple small local businesses on one platform–for the businesses it’s great exposure and easy logistics.
“The Greenery allows you more flexibility, more longevity…it’s fresher, it looks great… and it tastes great! It hits all five senses.”
Since Mario’s first harvest in August, Market Wagon has brought a steady stream of success. In using the platform, he’s been able to fine tune his crop menu to the best sellers (lettuce and basil) and to find the right price point. He’s also able to leverage the Greenery to his advantage, reacting faster to market changes than his competitors. The most recent example was a November 2020 outbreak of E.coli in the romaine lettuce supply–within a week Mario already had romaine seedlings in production.
Plus, the shoppers love Mario’s greens, recognizing it as a superior product that’s worth a higher price point.
“You grow art…
…if [customers] want regular vegetables, [they] can go to a store. What you’re growing here is artisan.”
Hydroponic Cannabis
Mario also grows a variety of experimental crops, including tomatoes, strawberries, and… cannabis! In 2020, Mario became the first Freight Farmer to grow commercial cannabis in our container farms. His growing operations are strictly monitored in accordance with the 2018 Farm Bill, which mandates that his plants have a THC level at or below 0.3%. Mario uses clones to ensure he only gets female (flowering) plants, which grow about 12 inches high at maturity and produce 7-10 grams of flower each.
While the cannabis market is still young in Indianapolis, Mario sees it as a huge business potential as medical and recreational marijuana becomes more common. Although he’s only just starting to experiment with the cannabis crop, he’s excited to use the Greenery’s intricate climate control settings to adjust the taste, smell, color, and potency. He believes this will allow him to stand out in the market as a premium product that is fresher and completely safe from pesticide exposure.
Connecting the past with the future
While there have been challenges along the way, Mario loves his new Freight Farmer lifestyle. His container is a second home–complete with armchairs and a TV–and a symbol of his independence and success in overcoming the odds. With personal mantras like “never give up”, “live life to the fullest”, and “against all odds”, Mario is not only a great inspiration for the future, but also a testimony about how we can overcome our past.
“I’ve always known the city life… but there’s always been a desire to get back to, and discover, my roots.”
Mario speaks candidly about a life and family history full of adversity. He is able to trace his family lineage all the way back to West Africa: his great-great-grandparents were Southern slaves, his great-grandparents were sharecroppers who escaped the south in the 1930s to come to San Francisco. So, in many ways, farming has allowed Mario to reconnect with his past, and to redefine what it means to be a Black farmer for his young daughters and other members of this community.
“Having this type of farm allows me to connect to a history that I have forgotten. I am a descendent of the slaves… this farm enables me to... get back to the type of living where our people once lived off the land.”
As Mario awaits the arrival of his second farm, he’s beyond excited about growing his business. Not only does he see it as a crucial step in developing his own business, but he wants to maximize his impact in his community. With few grocery stores and little access to fresh food, Mario’s neighborhood is one of many food deserts that exist in cities around the country. He hopes to help change the community from within with an infusion of healthy and affordable produce. You can follow along with Mario through his website, Facebook, and Instagram.
For more information:
www.freightfarms.com
New Modular Scalable Indoor Vertical Farm Design
In addition to our 20,000 sq. ft. farm, we now offer a modular scalable farm system that can “start small and grow big” to meet increased demand
Green Sense Farms has been an early adopter and pioneer when it comes to indoor vertical farming. We built our first 20,000 sq. ft. indoor vertical farm in 2012 in Portage, IN. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) has changed greatly since that first farm and so has our company. We started our journey focused on operating our indoor vegetable farm, selling lettuce, baby greens, herbs, and microgreens to grocery stores and produce companies in IN, IL, and MI. Since that time, we have leveraged our operating experience and evolved the company to provide contract research and farm design & build services on a global basis.
One of our recent innovations is the development of a modular scalable growing system using our proven grow technology. We found that our standard 20,000 sq. ft. farm can be cost-prohibitive in many parts of the world. We have also seen that many vertical farm companies “start big and grow small” making right-sizing a farm the key to being profitable.
In addition to our 20,000 sq. ft. farm, we now offer a modular scalable farm system that can “start small and grow big” to meet increased demand. After spending a year studying container farms to objectively understand their strengths and weakness, we came up with a better indoor grow design that includes:
• Touchless conveyance
• Improved IPM and automated sanitization
• Higher crop density and improved economics
• Can be operated with 2 employees plus a packing team
• Computer delivery of growing inputs and climate control with improved air circulation
• Can be housed in functionally obsolete industrial buildings with minimal tenant improvements.
Our modular scalable custom farms use shipping containers as a prefabricated low-cost structure to install the individual farm components. Components can be sold separately or as a system and include:
• Seeding line
• Germ / Nursery Room
• Grow Room
• Packing / Cooler
• Equipment Room, with CO2, fertigator, water treatment, water storage, and recirculation, HVAC, data collection, sensors, and automation controls.
It’s an honor and privileged to be part of CEA and watch it evolve from an idea into an industry. For more information on contract research or design and build services contact:
Robert Colangelo, Founding Farmer
S. Korea’s Indoor Farming Technology Helps Crop Production In The Middle East
This may look like a regular shipping container, but in fact, it’s an indoor vertical farm exported to the United Arab Emirates by a South Korean company. The 12-meter long container is filled with vertical racks of crops, including Romaine lettuce. Named ‘Planty Cube’, the farm replaces conventional farming methods with digital technology
2020-11-12
This may look like a regular shipping container, but in fact it’s an indoor vertical farm exported to the United Arab Emirates by a South Korean company. The 12-meter long container is filled with vertical racks of crops, including Romaine lettuce.
To View The Video, Please Click Here
Named ‘Planty Cube’, the farm replaces conventional farming methods with digital technology.
Natural sunlight is replaced with artificial lighting and water levels, air temperatures, and humidity can be adjusted with just a few clicks.
"It also operates under a hydroponic system, where nutrients are mixed into water so that crops can grow without soil."
Farms can also be monitored remotely from South Korea, even from a smartphone, and conditions can be adjusted to optimize plant growth.
This way of farming can produce quality food all year round, without being affected by the weather, natural disasters, or disease.
There has been high demand for South Korean indoor vertical farms in the Middle East.
Two indoor vertical farms were first set up in July 2019 as part of a pilot project.
Now a total of 10 are stationed in Abu Dhabi with more planned to be shipped next year.
"We are actually planning to export our farm in the next first quarter about 50 cultivation modules… Also, we're getting a lot of requests from other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) areas, such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Kuwait. "
South Korea launched a set of programs last year to export its smart farm technologies.
It aims to become a key player in the industry, along with the U.S. and the Netherlands.
Min Suk-hyen, Arirang News.Reporter : shmin@arirang.com
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A Couple of Showrooms In Europe Need To Get The Ball Rolling For Verde Compacto - Shipping Container Farm
"People Are Immediately Enthusiastic When They See It"
"People Are Immediately Enthusiastic When They See It"
He, partly joking, calls himself ‘a born and raised’ city dweller from the heart of Amsterdam: Olivier Kappetein. As a representative of Mexican vertical farming company Verde Compacto in Europe, this is not ideal; will people be willing to listen to him given his background and his not yet widely undisputed product?
"Unfortunately not always, but that is why I’m looking for partners to start showrooms within Europe where we can display our cultivation systems. If people could actually see what we do, they would also see the potential in it. Of this, I’m sure. And yes, I know very well that vertical farming is not the solution to the global food problem, but I do believe there are many situations in which our systems would come in handy.”
The team of Verde Compacto that develops the container farm Huvster and the smaller Veggiebox cultivation variety
Advancing a Mexican family-run company
Before going further into the systems (such as the cultivation containers), we need to go back to where it all began. How does a young man from Amsterdam end up at a Mexican company active in vertical farming? “I was introduced to a Mexican through my dad a few years ago. It turns out he worked at Verde Compacto where he developed fertilizers. Through those fertilizers, they came into contact with vertical farming and decided to continue in that field.
I went to Mexico myself and got to know the family-run business better. They are ambitious and want to expand their brand in Europe and were looking for someone who could help them with that. With my degree in Business Administration, I can take on that role, and after doing my research to understand the relatively young market better, I now want to take some real steps forward.”
Opportunities, among others for apocalyptic bunkers
In the beginning, Olivier planned to aim all of his efforts in the Netherlands at first, but due to, among other things, the coronavirus, getting to know the market better, and the reservations against vertical farming in the Netherlands, he had to look in other places as well. “I want to build a couple of showrooms where people can see our products both in the Netherlands and in other European countries. We make cultivation systems in various sizes, from container to fridge-sized systems, always according to the vertical farming principle with a high productivity per square meter of 253 kilograms. I see a potential for these systems in, for example, Scandinavia, Germany, and the United Kingdom, countries with large urban areas or difficult growing climates. The younger generations in those places have a demand for sustainable, local products.”
But Olivier also has his eyes set outside of Europe, like in the Middle East. He is also looking into bunkers. Actual bunkers. “It is currently trendy for rich people worldwide to build apocalypse bunkers out of fear for the end of the world. Those people want to be self-sufficient in those bunkers, which is where our systems come into play. A great niche market with requests from the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, to name a few.”
Realistic due to size
In any case, Olivier is a realist: replacing large, traditional cultivation companies with vertical farms in whatever way can not be justified anywhere. “To give you an indication of our system size: recently, we started working together with The Goat Project, an Italian vertical farming project. Up to an investment amount of 30 million euros, we will be delivering together, but after that, they take on everything up to an investment amount of 3 billion euros.”
That is why Olivier aims first and foremost on restaurants and supermarkets, where the consumer can choose how the product they will eat is grown. But, the systems can just as well be used for ornamental cultivation or cannabis cultivation, both medical and recreational. “For that latter type of cultivation, we developed a specialized system which could also be used to cultivate tomatoes, though on such a small scale that would not be very profitable.”
Strawberry yogurt
However, it would be profitable for an Icelandic producer of strawberry yogurt. Importing fresh strawberries to the island is more expensive than growing them yourself in a vertical farm. “The energy comes from the earth in Iceland due to the geysers, but there are many more situations in which, with a bit of thinking and using the local circumstances, a generally more expensive system works. The ROI of our systems is about one to three years, with a very high productivity per square meter (5700 plants in a 12-meter container named Huvster), the second-highest for container cultivation on the market.”
Rotating LED lighting increases energy efficiency
Critics often point out the high energy input of vertical farming. Olivier recognizes that, but refers to the clever use of local circumstances, and the technological innovations developed by Verde Compacto meant to increase efficiency. Rotating lights, for instance, a unique system compared to many other vertical farming systems. “Instead of cultivating in layers, we work with cultivating in standing tubes with LED strips rotating around them so that every plant gets the light it needs, but the energy input in kilowatt-hours is 50% lower per square meter and the production per square meter higher.”
Make them enthusiastic
Back to the restaurants, which is what Olivier focuses on in Europe first. He imagines one of the cultivation containers walls being see-through so that the consumers can take a peek at the cultivation facility. “Especially large groups of young consumers who want to, for instance, eat vegetarian or vegan, I expect will be very enthusiastic, and so will the investors. It is also easier to talk about something if it is physically there and allows fresh and healthy foods to be sourced closer to home.”
However, Olivier is aware of the disadvantage that European supermarkets are not yet able to sell products grown in vertical farms under an organic quality mark. According to him, that hampers the growth of vertical farming. “At the moment, they lose their organic quality mark as soon as they cultivate on water because the standards are pretty outdated when compared to the technological cultivation developments.”
Win-win situation
But it is not an insurmountable problem, especially given the worldwide increase in demand for local products during the pandemic. But is this true given the fact that Verde Compacto is Mexican, and in the Netherlands, many well-known players are active in offering cultivation solutions? “I don’t think that matters all too much these days. Price-wise we don’t differ much from European or North American systems. Every system has its pros and cons. I am very open about that. A well-thought-out calculation is always required, but both parties can create a win-win situation when it happens. Of this, I, and hopefully my future partners as well, am sure. I'm looking forward to discussing it with them.”
For more information:
Verde Compacto
www.verdecompacto.com
Olivier Kappetein
olivier.kappetein@verdecompacto.com
+316 14 62 13 10