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Shorten Supply Chains With Urban Farming
While urban indoor agriculture may have seemed a far-fetched dream in the past, developments in city planning and technological innovation are making it into a reality
There are many reasons why a government or international organization may advocate the introduction of urban indoor farming. The association for vertical farming looks at some of the main motivations for bringing agriculture closer to the consumer. While urban indoor agriculture may have seemed a far-fetched dream in the past, developments in city planning and technological innovation are making it into a reality. These developments are helping to alleviate pressure on food supply chains and cultivate food security in a period of mass population expansion.
Urban indoor agriculture is seen as a viable solution to dramatic increases in population. Already fifty-five percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas and this figure is set to increase. Moreover, eighty percent of all food produced globally is destined for consumption in urban spaces to meet this increased demand. By bringing farming closer to the city, agricultural networks have a better chance of meeting this demand sustainably and efficiently by cutting out unnecessary segments of the supply chain. Farmers are also better able to attract young people into the workforce as they can offer new and innovative routes into agriculture which appeal to the urbanized workforce.
Agriculture in urbanized areas also presents an opportunity to establish a more circular economy. Farming can be integrated more holistically into the overall working of urban life by combining its production with other essential services like waste management. Rather than establishing a food network that operates on a ‘cradle-to-grave’ methodology, urbanized farming presents new opportunities to recycle and reuse resources in an integrated bio-economy. The decrease in transportation costs which comes from closer proximity between consumers and producers also helps to reduce emissions. The benefits of urban indoor farming can be seen to not only enhance economic efficiency but also maximize sustainability by cutting down the city’s overall carbon footprint.
Finally, urban indoor agriculture offers an exciting opportunity for communities to reconnect with the process of farming. Shorter supply chains not only increase accessibility to food but can also improve overall public engagement with the food production process. Supply chains can be seen not only as a means to an end but also as an opportunity for social engagement by integrating small producers, farms, and vulnerable groups along the supply chain. Educational opportunities for schools and society as a whole can be brought closer to the urban population which allows a reconnection with the cultivation of fresh produce.
While it is possible that cities never become solely reliant on urban agriculture, it is clear that the integration of agriculture into the urban zone offers several social, economic, and environmental benefits. Food supply chains should therefore actively cultivate urbanized agriculture to help reach increased standards of efficiency and sustainability at this time of rapid population expansion.
For more information:
Association for Vertical Farming
Marschnerstrasse,
81245 Munich,
Germany
info@vertical-farming.net
vertical-farming.net
Publication date: Mon 28 Sep 2020
VIDEO: Featured Project: Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm #2 at Brooklyn Navy Yard, Building No. 3
Brooklyn Grange is a privately owned and sustainably operated enterprise, and the U.S.’s leading soil-based rooftop farming and intensive greenroofing business
September 28, 2020
65,000 sf. Greenroof
Greenroofs.com Featured Project September 28, 2020
We’re replaying Brooklyn Grange’s second rooftop farm at Brooklyn Navy Yard to recognize their hard work and commitment to sustainable urban agriculture through these trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic. It would be great for Aramis and me to visit again soon!
They’re currently booking small groups for private tours, and offering workshops along with other events. With information that is up to date as of September 2020, Brooklyn Grange states there “is no need to register in advance to visit our weekend open houses and markets; just follow the directions we link to below and come on by during the hours listed!” Brooklyn Grange’s sister organization is City Growers, a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization founded in 2011 by Brooklyn Grange. You can also book a variety of workshops and youth educational visit through City Growers. Continued success!
Image: rooflite
Excerpt from Greenroofs.com Project Profile:
Brooklyn Grange is a privately owned and sustainably operated enterprise, and the U.S.’s leading soil-based rooftop farming and intensive greenroofing business. Community-oriented, they host weekly open houses in season and feel the green space contributes to the overall health and quality of life, bringing people together through green business and around good food with their wholesale, retail, and CSA members.
Their goal is to put more farms on roofs throughout New York and beyond, and grow more food, train and employ more farmers.
Image: © Anastasia Cole Plakias/Brooklyn Grange
Brooklyn Grange’s second farm, located atop Building No. 3 at the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard, is a massive 65,000 square foot roof towering twelve stories over the East River.
Most of the financing was granted by the Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Infrastructure Stormwater Management Initiative, and Farm #2 manages over one million gallons of stormwater each year. Installed in 2012, the farm is covered in 10-12″ of rooflite Intensive Ag blend, rooflite drain granular drainage layer, and the Carlisle Roof Garden system by Carlisle SynTec Systems.
Image: rooflite
Image: rooflite
Brooklyn Grange’s second farm increased the business’ annual yield to 50,000 pounds of fresh produce between their two locations and created many new green jobs. (Update: as of 2019 the yield has increased to 80,000+ of pounds of fresh produce between three locations.) The farm cultivates row crops such as leafy greens, aromatic herbs, heirloom tomatoes and peppers April through November.
Brooklyn Grange sows cover crops, such as clover and oats in winter months to prevent soil erosion and replenish vital nutrients. The Brooklyn Navy Yard farm is also home to many of the 30+ hives comprising Brooklyn Grange’s Apiary.
Image: © Anastasia Cole Plakias/Brooklyn Grange courtesy Brooklyn Grange
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They also host a robust events program here, with guests participating in yoga sessions or just enjoying a cocktail and some canapés overlooking the skyline at sunset. Brooklyn Grange partners with numerous non-profit and community organizations to extend the positive impact of the farm, including City Growers, a non-profit education program based on their rooftop farms.
Brooklyn Grange’s Rooftop Farm #2 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is a win-win-win, reducing stormwater runoff, creating local jobs, and providing access to fresh produce for the community.
Image: Laura Messersmith of Goldfinch and Scout
Year: 2012
Owner: Lessor – Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Building Type: Commercial
Type: Intensive
System: Single Source Provider
Size: 65,000 sq.ft.
Slope: 1%
Access: Accessible, By Appointment
Image: Kerry Ross, GRP
Credits:
CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER:
BEN FLANNER, BROOKLYN GRANGE
GREENROOF SYSTEM:
CARLISLE SYNTEC SYSTEMS
GROWING MEDIA:
ROOFLITE®
DRAINAGE:
ROOFLITE®
GREEN ROOF OVERBURDEN DESIGN:
ELIZABETH KENNEDY LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS (EKLA)
GREEN ROOF OVERBURDEN DESIGN:
DILIP KHALE, ARCHITECT, PC
ROOFING CONTRACTOR:
MARFI CONTRACTING CORP
ROOFLITE BLENDER:
LAUREL VALLEY SOILS
GROWING MEDIA PNEUMATIC PLACEMENT / INSTALLATION:
DOWNES FOREST PRODUCTS
Image: Kerry Ross, GRP
See the Project Profile
See the Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm #2 at Brooklyn Navy Yard project profile to view ALL of the Photos and Additional Information about this particular project in the Greenroofs.com Projects Database.
The Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm #2 at Brooklyn Navy Yard, Building No. 3. Photo © Courtesy of Brooklyn Grange.
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By Linda S. Velazquez, ASLA, LEED AP, GRP
Greenroofs.com Publisher & Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summits Host
Watch #VirtualSummit2019 Speaker Videos and EXPO and Speaker Q&A Videos on demand through 2020 with FREE Registration!
BIODIVERSITY, GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE, GREEN ROOFS, STORMWATER MANAGEMENT, URBAN AG
VIDEO: Marc Oshima of AeroFarms: 'How Do We Have A Common Language To Find Solutions?'
The company builds indoor, urban, vertical farms using proprietary aeroponics and LED light technology. It also partners with universities and large corporations to improve their technology
by Amy Sowder
Sep 30, 2020
Marc Oshima's heritage, stemming from his Japanese and German parents, gave him a global perspective from an early age.
As a child, Oshima traveled a lot too and enjoyed exploring the food markets and learning about the food of other cultures.
These days, Oshima works to not only grow his Certified B Corp., mission-driven AeroFarms company based in Newark, N.J. but to help solve the most pressing issues across the produce industry, in the U.S. and beyond.
The company builds indoor, urban, vertical farms using proprietary aeroponics and LED light technology. It also partners with universities and large corporations to improve their technology.
Marc Oshima of AeroFarms on helping the industry move forward
Increasing the consumption of fresh produce is the overall mission, but there's more.
Learn what else Oshima cares about, why he cares, and all the organizations in which he participates to make these goals come to fruition.
Related news:
AeroFarms repeats Fast Company awards Industry leaders detail sustainable changes, opportunities ahead
Indoor farming companies rank high on FoodTech 500 list
NJ-based AeroFarms receives sustainability award, launches microgreens
Nature Fresh Farms Pledges To Plant 25,000 Trees In Sustainability Campaign
After two years of research and development, Nature Fresh Farms has officially launched their 100 percent home compostable Cucumber wrap, a first for the North American marketplace
Leamington, ON | October 1, 2020
Nature Fresh Farms has launched its sustainability campaign following the release of their new home compostable Cucumber wrap.
After two years of research and development, Nature Fresh Farms has officially launched their 100 percent home compostable Cucumber wrap, a first for the North American marketplace. Made from a starch-based PLA that is derived from plant-based resources, the film is home compostable breaking down naturally into CO2 and water within 90 days.
To celebrate its release and promote to consumers and customers alike, Nature Fresh Farms has launched a unique marketing campaign and want their followers to join in their initiative to make a difference. Their campaign has kicked-off with high-impact social media posts going live on their Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts. Every time someone shares these posts during the month of October, they will plant a tree. With one share equalling one tree, the company is pledging to plant up to 25,000 trees to help our forests thrive.
“We really wanted to grab the attention of our consumers and followers with this home compostable film,” said Luci Faas, Product Development Specialist. “Through this initiative, we hope to raise awareness of this packaging design that will make a lasting change on the environment but also go even further by planting trees to help our North American forests flourish.”
This campaign seeks to spotlight the progression of their sustainable packaging design while encouraging their followers to spread the word by sharing social media posts and help plant a tree. The initiative supports Nature Fresh Farms commitment to bettering the environment and their continued investment in searching for more sustainable packaging designs.
“Our customers are looking for more environmentally friendly packaging and we want to give them that,” shared Director of Sales, Matt Quiring. “With our continued goal of finding more viable packaging solutions we want to provide more options and make it easier for most people to make positive environmental choices.”
At Nature Fresh Farms they are driven to accelerate innovation through evidence-informed sustainable packaging solutions providing a better experience for their customers, while also helping to preserve the vitality of our planet.
About Nature Fresh Farms
Continuously expanding, Nature Fresh Farms has become one of the largest independent, vertically integrated greenhouse vegetable farms in North America. As a year-round grower with farms in Leamington, ON, Delta, OH, and Mexico, Nature Fresh Farms prides itself on consistently delivering exceptional flavor and quality to key retailers throughout North America, while continuing to innovate and introduce more viable and sustainable growing and packaging solutions.
SOURCE: Nature Fresh Farms | info@naturefresh.ca T: 519 326 1111 | www.naturefresh.ca
October 7th Webinar - Harnessing The Growing Synergy Between Space Farming and Indoor Agriculture
Over the decades there has been the evolution & transformation of biologically-based life support innovations that have now been adopted in today's global vertical farming industry
OCTOBER WEBINAR SCHEDULE
Harnessing The Growing Synergy Between Space Farming & Terrestrial Indoor Agriculture
OCTOBER 7, 2020 | 2-3 PM EDT
What Do Space Farming, Greenhouse Equipment
& Triple Bottom Line Farms Have In Common?
Moderator:
Dr. Joel Cuello, Professor of Biosystems Engineering at The University of Arizona and Vice Chair of the Association for Vertical Farming
Panelists:
Dr. David Bubenheim, Senior Research Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center
Ralph Fritsche , NASA Space Crop Production Project Manager.
Dr. Gary Stutte, President, SyNRGE
Over the decades there has been the evolution & transformation of biologically-based life support innovations that have now been adopted in today's global vertical farming industry. And, the emergence of Industry 4.0 innovations -- from data analytics to automation to AI -- is certainly helping launch vertical farms into their exponential advancements.
All these set the stage for synergistic public-private partnerships for successful implementation of biologically-based life support systems for long-duration manned missions on the Moon and on Mars -- and all their powerful innovation multiplier effects extended further for application in the terrestrial vertical farming industry. Hosted by the Association For Vertical Farming, our panel will be delving into the various aspects of such brave and exciting scenarios, both present and future.
SAVE YOUR FREE SPOT
OCTOBER 21, 2020 | 2-3 PM EDT
Why Does Greenhouse Equipment Need To Be Simple?
What is the number one thing to look for in commercial horticulture and agriculture equipment? Simplicity. The best-selling & most successfully used products are easy to learn, easy to use and easy to fix. This is not to say that they are actually simple. But, they are engineered with simplicity in mind.
Why is that so important in commercial horticulture? Our panel will explore why its so important for key equipment components to be simple and discuss what characteristics to look for in lighting, irrigation, sensors & more.
MODERATOR
Chris Higgins, President & General Manager, Hort Americas LLC & Owner, UrbanAgNews
PANELISTS
Paul Brentlinger, President, Crop King Inc.
Dr. Nadia Sabeh, President & Founder, Dr. Greenhouse
Isaac Van Geest, Sales, Zwart Systems
SAVE YOUR FREE SPOT!
OCTOBER 29, 2020 | 2-3 PM EDT
BUILDING SUSTAINABLE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE FARMS
During this insightful and inspiring session our moderator and panelists will discuss:
The concept of the Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet and Profits
The B-Certification process and reporting
The contributions indoor farms can make according to the Triple Bottom Line
Lessons learned from sustainable indoor farms that apply to all forms of indoor farming & more.
Moderator
Eric W. Stein, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture and Associate Professor of Business at Penn State
Panelists:
Dave Nichols, Director of Strategy, AppHarvest
Alexander Rudnicki, Senior Project Manager/ Plant Manager, Aerofarms
This session is hosted by Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture, whose mission is to accelerate the global transition to indoor farming production methods that are safe and sustainable and to empower indoor and vertical farmers with the knowledge, tools, and resources to build profitable businesses.
SAVE YOUR FREE SPOT!
Indoor Ag-Con, 950 Scales Road, Building #200, Suwanee, GA 30024, United States
VIDEO: IKEA Korea Launches Leap Year of Sustainability In FY21
IKEA Korea will introduce ‘IKEA FARMARE’—the first urban farm in IKEA restaurant worldwide at IKEA Gwangmyeong
Home furnishing retailer IKEA Korea announced the launch of FY21 brand campaign, ‘Good for me, Good for my home’. The new campaign will focus on driving a sustainable home furnishing movement in Korea, inspiring and enabling the many people to start living a better, more sustainable life at home while contributing to climate action and an inclusive world.
With the announcement of the new campaign, IKEA Korea revealed its plans to integrate sustainability into a happier home, healthier planet, and an equal, diverse, and inclusive society. First is making sustainable life at home easier and more accessible for more of the many, with affordable home furnishing products and solutions that use sustainable materials or help to save money and energy. IKEA Korea will introduce ‘IKEA FARMARE’—the first urban farm in IKEA restaurant worldwide at IKEA Gwangmyeong.
New services will be launched to contribute to circularity and climate action, which include the ‘Buy back & Resell’ service giving unused IKEA furniture a second life, and electric vehicle (EV) home delivery for furniture. As an activist for equality, diversity and inclusion, IKEA Korea will also launch activities to build an inclusive world where everyone feels welcome and valued.
With aims to become even more accessible and convenient, IKEA Korea will also expand and strengthen its existing service offer with the ‘Neighbourhood delivery’ service (KRW 29,000)—a more affordable delivery option to customers in nearby areas of IKEA Gwangmyeong, Goyang, Giheung and DongBusan. The new ‘Click & Collect’ service (KRW 10,000) allowing customers pick up their online orders at an offline store, and the ‘Remote Planning and Ordering’ service through the IKEA Customer Support Centre, will also cater to the growing needs for untact consumption.
“Thanks to the great interest shown towards the opening of new stores IKEA Giheung, DongBusan and city touchpoints in FY20, annual turnover has increased by 33% at IKEA Korea marking KRW 663.4 billion, with a total of 12.3 million visits to our stores. Also, with the impact of COVID-19 leading to an increased interest in home furnishing, we welcomed over 44.7 million visits to our e-commerce—a 14% increase since last year,” said IKEA Korea Country Retail Manager Fredrik Johansson. “In FY21 Leap year of Sustainability, we at IKEA Korea look forward to enabling the many Koreans to take part in the sustainability movement that we will create towards a happier home, healthier planet and an inclusive society.”
In addition, IKEA Korea is officially launching on August 25 the IKEA Catalogue 2021 in digital and print version using eco-friendly FSC™ certified paper, available at all IKEA stores and the IKEA Korea website. The new catalogue also features a total of 129 popular products that will be offered at ‘New Lower Price’. For more details and access to the digital catalogue, please visit the IKEA Korea website.
For more information:
www.ikea.com/kr/ko
Publication date: Wed 2 Sep 2020
Skyfarms - U.S. - Seed To Sky - The Way To Zero Hunger
The challenge: Zero Hunger. The opportunity: A $15B market, 60% increase in food production to feed a growing population, most which are living in urban areas with no access to local food, and 80% of agriculture pursuing SMART upgrades in farming.
When we didn’t have enough money to buy food we grew it. But why in a world, where we produce enough food to feed 10B, do 1/3 go hungry and 1/3 are obese? Almost 1/3 is lost or wasted, or given to livestock.
The UN decided to tackle this challenge by declaring in 2001 in the Millenium Sustainable Development Goals that we had the technology and resources to end hunger. A greater focus on farming was on the rise. Then in 2015 the Sustainable Development Goals decided we had reached the moment where by 2030 we would reach Zero Hunger.
Additionally, plant-based diets are being recommended by health professionals around the world as a way for us to sustain ourselves as a whole population. And ever since we have been teaching and talking to anyone who wanted to know more about agriculture.
After working with a CEO of a $4B Fortune 500 company for a year, our founder decided it was time to take matters into his own hands and launch an agriculture movement. Getting back to his sustainable roots, the founder pursued a vision that was ahead of its time but is finally now in fashion. This came with challenges as the AgTech and Smart Farming market was unknown and has just reached its tipping point in 2018. Vertical growing, and growing in soilless mediums in any location, at anytime, would be the way we could grow food on every corner, but required better incentives for regular citizens to become stakeholders in the food production, distribution and consumption.
It once was said, ”let thy food be thy medicine.” And rightfully so. It not only provides us energy, but catapults entire civilisations and controls populations. Historically, the agrarian age brought about writing, money, roads, laws, and society as we know it.
Food is such an intrinsic part of survival so the people who owned the food became kings, but then resources of the many began to flow to the few. And its been that way ever since. It’s time to democratise, empathise and re-civilise through food distribution, and disruption.
The challenge: Zero Hunger. The opportunity: A $15B market, 60% increase in food production to feed a growing population, most which are living in urban areas with no access to local food, and 80% of agriculture pursuing SMART upgrades in farming.
Farmers Markets Across the US Face Potential Economic Crisis from COVID-19
“We are imploring state and federal governments to keep farmers markets in their mind as they develop relief packages,” said Feldman. “Please help markets keep their communities safe and thriving.”
Across the US, farmers markets operators–the organizations and individuals who plan, coordinate, and run America’s farmers markets, are engaging in herculean efforts to protect their communities from COVID-19. But even as interest in local foods spikes nationwide, many market operators face the double threat of increased costs to operate during a pandemic, in addition to declining income. To make matters worse, many aren’t eligible for current federal relief efforts.
Farmers markets have always been a hub for innovation. When farmers have opted or been forced out of the traditional supply chain, farmers markets have served as a lifeline to their business, filling a vital role to move their goods from field to plate. Now, in this time of crisis, farmers markets are at the forefront of adapting rapid solutions and innovation to protect staff, customers, and community. Apart from these efforts, emerging research suggests sunlight effectively kills COVID-19, adding more support to the idea that farmers markets may be the safest place to shop for groceries during the pandemic:
“There are benefits to visiting a farmers market in light of coronavirus in terms of the fact that you’re outside, there’s fresh air moving and the supply chain is shorter,” said Yvonne Michael, an epidemiologist at Drexel University School of Public Health. “…so I would definitely encourage people during the coronavirus to visit a farmers market.”
But changes come with both increased costs and decreased revenue for organizations that run farmers markets. According to a Farmers Market Coalition member survey, 74% of respondents reported decreased income, while 93% report added costs, including the purchase of PPE for market staff, rental of more handwashing stations, new software or services, and additional staff to rearrange market layouts and monitor customer traffic. The need to reduce the number of vendors to enforce physical distance requirements, while other vendors are unable to attend markets due to health concerns, age, and labor shortages, points to a steep decline in revenue for market organizations. In a similar survey by the California Alliance of Farmers Markets, nearly 20% of respondents reported concern that they may not survive the economic impacts of COVID-19.
“We expect to lose almost $200,000 by the end of the year” said Kate Creps, Executive Director of the Heart of the City Farmers Market, in San Francisco, an organization that distributes $1.5 million in food assistance through its markets each year. “Only 50% of our vendors are able to continue selling during this crisis. At the same time, we anticipate over $60,000 in additional expenses to maintain strict social distancing protocol to protect customers, vendors, and staff.”
To make matters worse, farmers markets operators have largely been left out of relief efforts, both public and private. “Farmers markets are probably the safest place to shop now, but that hasn’t happened by accident. It’s thanks to the committed efforts of the community based farmers market operators who deliver for their communities,” said Ben Feldman, Executive Director of the Farmers Market Coalition, a nonprofit representing 4,500 farmers markets across the country. “These are very lean organizations and we are close to a breaking point for many of them, especially if they continue to be shut out of support other sectors of the economy are receiving.”
The impact of losing farmers markets would be massive. Farmers markets facilitate an estimated $2.4 billion dollars in sales for farmers each year. “Without direct assistance for our state’s farmers markets, many of which already operate on a shoestring budget and an all-volunteer staff, we risk losing this vital outlet, drastically affecting the livelihoods of farmers,” according to Robbi Mixon, a farmers market manager and Director of the Alaska Farmers Market Association. “Small to medium scale farmers are the cornerstone of local food systems. If farmers markets disappear, these farmers lose market access and economic stability”
“We are imploring state and federal governments to keep farmers markets in their mind as they develop relief packages,” said Feldman. “Please help markets keep their communities safe and thriving.”
For more information:
Farmers Market Coalition
farmersmarketcoalition.org
Monday, May 11, 2020
Swedish Startup Receives Funding For AI-Run 'NeighbourFood' project
A newly established innovation cluster will develop the groundbreaking service-model for urban farming, AgTech startup SweGreen’s ‘Farming as a Service’, to contribute to a sustainable food supply chain
A newly established innovation cluster will develop the groundbreaking service-model for urban farming, AgTech startup SweGreen’s ‘Farming as a Service’, to contribute to a sustainable food supply chain. The 2MSEK-project called ‘NeighbourFood’ is granted by Vinnova as an initiative to support innovations in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The project NeighbourFood aims to upgrade a modern Urban Farming solution to an optimized smart and digital model for system monitoring and remote-control process steering.
Farming as a Service (FAAS)
"We have developed cutting-edge technology with high technical readiness level for food production indoors. With this project we address the last limitation factor towards a remote farming management model: A cloud-based service that enables a physical food production unit to become available as a service to our customers – as we refer to as ‘Farming-as-a-Service’," Swegreen Chief Innovation Officer Sepehr Mousavi highlights. The vision is to create a realistic alternative to the highly global, and to a certain degree fragile and resource inefficient, food production chains that currently dominate the marketplace. The innovation cluster behind the project, besides AgTech company Swegreen, includes also Research Institute of Sweden (RISE), Mälardalen University and high-profile Swedish chefs Paul Svensson and Tareq Taylor’s newly established restaurant Paul Taylor Lanthandel.
Local food
The demand for year-round urban food production has never been more relevant than now, under the crisis of Covid-19. Production of food is down at 50% in Sweden, which shows our society's exposure, Paul Svensson, top-notch chef and founder of Paul Taylor Lanthandel says. Our aim is to contribute to and increase the trust in and desire for locally produced food near our customers, Paul Svensson continues. We see us as a perfect channel for locally produced food at Paul Taylor Lanthandel we provide both a small general store and a restaurant, and thereby nurse a close relationship to producers and our local neighborhood community. The core of the innovation will take place in Swegreen’s production facility, called CifyFarm, which is an indoor vertical farm for production of nutritious leafy greens, salad and herbs, with a yield of approximately 200 times yield/area compared to traditional farming. The CityFarm uses minimal resources all year round and is isolated from the outside environment and is located on floor -3 of Dagens Nyheter tower in central Stockholm.
Digitally monitored farming units
The Farming as a Service concept of Swegreen’s enables Urban Farming technology to integrate with e.g. supermarkets or restaurants by digitally monitored farming units at the customer’s facility, which will produce food with minimal logistics and almost zero human intervention in a plug-and-play format. This farm management system empowers any entrepreneur with little or zero farming knowledge to grow high-quality food in an optimal environment while reducing risks and elevating the decision-making process, using dedicated decision-support systems and process optimization through the use of artificial intelligence, adds SweGreen’s CEO Andreas Dahlin. The NeighbourFood was one of the few selected projects by Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova, out of 287 applications filed in response to the call ‘Innovation in the track of crisis’.
Innovative business model
The project will also make use of the sharing economy, innovative business models, and digital twins to speed up a coping strategy towards the Covid-19 crisis and addresses the need for climate transition and secure circular and resilient food supply chains. The project is intended to be integrated into a national Shared Economy platform, Sharing Cities Sweden, financed by the Swedish Innovation Agency and the Swedish Strategic Innovation Program for smart and sustainable cities, Viable Cities. Neighbourfood is an example of the green deal and how the sharing economy in cities can trigger innovative business models for resilient food supply chains – a sharing platform for neighbours, by neighbours! mentions Dr. Charlie Gullström, a senior researcher at RISE and head of Sharing Cities Sweden, Stockholm Testbed.
Collaborations
Swegreens Sepehr Mousavi who will be the project’s coordinator and lead also adds: "We are proud of our collaboration with RISE through one of the most prominent researchers in Sweden when it comes to digitalization and use of sharing economy solutions", Dr. Charlie Gullström and the platform of Sharing Cities Sweden alongside Dr. Alex Jonsson from RISE Prototyping Societies. This service introduces FaaS to our national platform for sharing economy as a new vital function. Sepehr Mousavi continues: "Also having Dr. Baran Çürüklü from Mälardalen University, a vibrant academic center for development of AI-related technologies’ and his team of PhD students onboard adds the competence needed for us to be able to hack the query and guarantee the success of the NeighbourFood project." Dr. Baran Çürüklü adds: "Food production can suddenly be a mission-critical factor as we can see now. Orchestration of production facilities through artificial intelligence may be decisive in managing such a crisis."
For more information:
SweGreen
Andreas Dahlin
andreas.dahlin@swegreen.se
www.swegreen.se
Publication date: Mon 11 May 2020
Is Indoor Farming Sustainable?
Voices all over the world are telling us that we urgently need to transform food production to make it more sustainable. But what is sustainability? What does it mean?
Voices all over the world are telling us that we urgently need to transform food production to make it more sustainable. But what is sustainability? What does it mean?
Natasha George | LettUs Grow
04/07/20
Voices all over the world are telling us that we urgently need to transform food production to make it more sustainable. But what is sustainability? What does it mean? The idea has been thrown around to such an extent this past year, that it sometimes seems more of a buzzword than an achievable goal.
Sustainability is defined as ‘the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level’. In terms of food production, this means that we need to grow and produce food in a way that does not exhaust our resources, but also provides enough food for our growing population.
Our current food production system is, quite simply, not sustainable. We are growing food on deforested land, smothering our crops in toxic pesticides, killing wildlife, and then flying that produce halfway around the world. Government statistics tell us that last year, the UK produced only 53% of the food that it consumed - the rest coming from overseas.
So how do we produce food in a way that is sustainable? We need to achieve sustainability for ourselves and for the sake of our environment - for our land, wildlife, and soils. Importantly though, we must also protect the welfare and financial security of our farmers - ensuring that their industry is also able to thrive. Indoor farming can achieve both. Here are just some of the ways indoor farming can address sustainability concerns:
Saving resources
The fewer resources we use to grow food, the more likely it is we can sustain that production. We use aeroponic systems in our indoor farms. This means that we require no soil. Instead, we use a nutrient-dense mist to grow crops - using 95% less water than traditional farming. This is a huge breakthrough, as freshwater shortage on Earth is a huge problem - only 1% of the world’s water is accessible drinking water, and water scarcity is only going to worsen.
Another resource that is currently at risk is our land. Despite the fact that we only produce around half of the food we consume, agriculture accounts for 63.1% of land use in the UK. Growing indoors and vertically will allow us to grow more efficiently, and free up space which could be used for forestry or rewilding projects.
Shorter supply chains
Indoor growing systems can ensure that farmers are able to grow crops all year round, which means that we do not have to rely on buying in produce from overseas. Buying local means you are supporting the local economy, and food does not need to travel as far to reach our plates, which lowers its carbon footprint. It is estimated that 30% of food waste is produce lost in the supply chain, so less travel time means less waste.
Sadly, agricultural industries abroad often provide food to countries like the UK at the expense of their own market. This means their farms are not always feeding the people growing the food. Scholar and environmental activist, Dr. Vandana Shiva calls this a ‘stolen harvest.’ Being able to grow more of our own food in the UK means that our growing demand is not exploiting markets overseas. Importantly, this means that we can maintain fair trade relationships with other countries that are fruitful for all parties.
Pesticides and fertilizers
In order to meet the high demand for food and protect their livelihoods, many traditional farms use pesticides to protect their crops from pests, weeds or diseases. However, we now know that the decline of insects and wildlife is a serious threat to our environment and there is a push towards organic farming methods. Indoor farms create a controlled environment, removing the need for toxic pesticides.
Fertilizers are also used in traditional farming to ensure that plants get enough nutrients - our closed system ensures that these fertilizers do not leak into waterways and corrupt ecosystems.
Climate control
Controlled environment agriculture provides farmers protection from worsening weather patterns due to climate change. Providing this food security would mean that we could consistently maintain our food production rates in the UK through the winter months and provide job security for farmers. Whilst artificial lighting consumes more energy than using natural sunlight, we can also make use of renewable energies, which are only going to become more energy and cost-efficient in the future.
Lead photograph was taken by Jack Wiseall
The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of AgriTechTomorrow
Indoor & Vertical Farming, Processing & Supply Chain | government policy, sustainable
Irma To Introduce Vertical Farming In 35 Stores In Denmark
Coop Denmark has announced plans to introduce vertical farming in some 35 Irma outlets, in collaboration with Germany's infarm
February 18, 2020
Coop Denmark has announced plans to introduce vertical farming in some 35 Irma outlets, in collaboration with Germany's infarm.
The retailer plans to roll out the technology in its stores over the next two months, after a successful pilot project in its Østerport store last year.
'An Innovative Concept'
Infarm has devised an innovative concept that allows retailers to grow herbs and certain leafy vegetables in stores, using vertical farming units.
The cultivation of the herbs and vegetables require very little water and no synthetic pesticides.
The process also minimizes the requirement of transportation from farms to store shelves.
Commenting on the initiative, Irma director Søren Steffensen described vertical farming as the "way of the future to grow vegetables. With this collaboration, we unite Irma's goal of promoting the most sustainable forms of production and the best possible quality of taste."
Read More: Financial Cost Of 'Vertical Farming' An Impediment To Sector's Expansion
Founded in Berlin in 2013, infarm is now present in France, Luxembourg, Switzerland.
In September 2019, it partnered with Marks & Spencer to introduce the technology in its Clapham Junction store in South West London.
Two months later, US retailer Kroger announced plans to launch the concept in its outlets across North America.
Fresh Produce tagged: Trending Posts / Sustainability / Denmark / Copenhagen / Irma / Vertical Farming / infarm
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
UK: 29 Hectares of New Tomato Greenhouses To Use Waste Heat
A £120m project to construct two of the UK’s largest greenhouses at two farmland sites near Norwich and Bury St Edmunds has been announced. The advanced greenhouses will be warmed by residual heat from nearby water recycling centres owned by Anglian Water
A £120m project to construct two of the UK’s largest greenhouses at two farmland sites near Norwich and Bury St Edmunds has been announced. The advanced greenhouses will be warmed by residual heat from nearby water recycling centers owned by Anglian Water. The construction phase of the project will begin immediately, with completion expected in autumn 2020. Commercial-scale growers from the UK and the Netherlands have already committed to leasing the space.
Closed-loop heat pumps
Closed-loop heat pumps will be used to transfer the heat from the water recycling centers to the greenhouses, and will have the additional benefit of cooling the facility’s treated water outflow before it is returned to the environment.
Electricity for the greenhouse’s heat pumps will be provided by a Combined Heat and Power plant, with waste heat from the CHP providing further warmth for the greenhouses. The gas-fired CHP plant’s carbon emissions will be transferred into the greenhouses, raising the CO2 levels and further accelerating the growth of the plants, and capturing the majority of the carbon.
"The greenhouses will provide growing conditions for a range of plants and vegetables requiring a high-heat, and relatively low-light environments such as tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. Once operational, the greenhouses will be capable of producing more than 1 in 10 of the country’s tomatoes, and will create 360 permanent new jobs", the initiators say.
Greenhouses
The complete facility will be realized by Bom Group greenhouses are among the largest ever constructed in the UK with each covering more than 13 hectares. Standing around 7m tall the large glass structures allow crops to grow vertically along guidewires, and do not require any soil, instead of being grown hydroponically from nutrient-rich water solutions. Once in full production, they will be capable of growing more than 20 tonnes of tomatoes every day – 12% of the tomatoes grown in the UK.
Renewable heat
"In Europe, solar radiation alone cannot provide sufficient energy to reach optimal growing temperatures throughout the day, even in the summer. Most commercial greenhouses overcome this problem by using another heat source to increase temperature", they say.
The majority of greenhouses use gas-fired boilers for this additional energy. Greencoat Capital’s approach largely displaces these fossil fuel emissions by using waste heat from Anglian Water’s nearby water recycling centers.
Jobs
Once operating, the two greenhouses will create 360 permanent jobs in the local area, rising to 480 during high season.
James Samworth, Partner at Greencoat Capital, said: “We’re very pleased to have achieved another innovative first in the UK renewable energy sector. Technology and cross-sector co-operation is continuing to unlock some amazing possibilities in energy and agriculture. We see considerable opportunity to invest in renewable heat in the UK, providing pensions investors with the predictable returns they require to pay beneficiaries, meanwhile reducing our carbon emissions as an economy.”
Duncan Hale, Portfolio Manager at Willis Towers Watson said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Greencoat Capital on this project, particularly as we are making best efforts to invest in the low carbon economy while still delivering the strong risk-adjusted cashflows our investors are after. This marks a step-change in the decarbonization of agri-business and heating, and we are proud to be supporting UK infrastructure with the assets we manage.”
Dr. Lu Gilfoyle, Head of Environmental Quality at Anglian Water said: “It has been great to be involved in such an innovative project, helping to solve a number of challenges for Anglian. Removing excess heat from the river systems is a priority for DEFRA and ourselves, and it is fantastic to be able to put that heat energy to good use.”
Andy Allen, Director at Oasthouse Ventures, said: “Delivering a world-first low carbon greenhouse system is hugely exciting for the small team who took this from conception, design and planning, to contracting and now construction. The environmental, social and political benefits of these systems are significant, and we look forward to further disrupting the traditional carbon heavy models of agriculture.”
Pension investment
The capital for the project comes from a number of public and private pension funds in the UK, reflecting the growing trend of pensions managers seeking returns through direct investment into renewable infrastructure. Greencoat Capital now manages almost £2bn of private market pension fund capital through its various renewable infrastructure funds.
For more information:
Greencoat Capital
www.greencoat-capital.com
For more information:
Martin van Zeijl
Bom Group
Kulkweg 60
3151 XE Hoek van Holland
Tel: +31(0)174 725 160
www.bomgroup.nl
Publication date: Thu, 03 Oct 2019
5 Tips On Being More Sustainable, The Brooklyn Way
It’s easy to feel cynical in regards to the current state of our environmental resources. With the recent release of a United Nations report highlighting the dire future of our global food supply, fires scorching the Amazon rainforest and record-breaking temperatures hitting cities across the world, the news cycle continues to project little hope in solving our global climate crisis
September 6, 2019
Keyshae Robinson
Brooklyn Grange's Navy Yard location. Eagle file photo by Lore Croghan
It’s easy to feel cynical in regards to the current state of our environmental resources. With the recent release of a United Nations report highlighting the dire future of our global food supply, fires scorching the Amazon rainforest and record-breaking temperatures hitting cities across the world, the news cycle continues to project little hope in solving our global climate crisis.
But by implementing habitual sustainable practices into a daily routine, we can all be more active in preventing further damage to our fragile environmental ecosystem.
“I think it’s really about purchasing habits, consumption habits, waste habits,” said Anastasia Plakias, co-founder and COO of Brooklyn Grange Farms, the largest soil-based rooftop farming business in the world. “The key to sustainability is knowing you’re not going to be perfect and making peace with that.”
To make the transition of “going green” less intimidating, we spoke to three different eco-conscious organizations local to Brooklyn about how to be both more sustainable and more accountable. Here’s what they had to say:
Brooklyn Grange Farms:
The agricultural space opened their third farm, the largest to date, on Aug. 18th in Sunset Park. Aside from providing fresh produce to local farmer’s markets and restaurants, the space will absorb roughly 175,000 gallons of rainwater, helping to reduce the amount of CSO’s entering NYC’s water system. Learn more here.
1. Find practices that make you happy
“If you enjoy skincare or beauty routines, great! Save your coffee grinds and use them as a skin exfoliator. Or if it’s shopping, shop local by visiting the nearby co-op or butcher,” said Plakias. “Most New Yorkers are incredibly busy, so it has to be habits that spark joy in order for us to actually make a routine of it.”
Grow NYC
Founded in 1970, Grow NYC is the largest environmental nonprofit in the city. With several programs, including educational outreach, waste reduction, and community gardens, their efforts provide essential sustainable resources for more than 3 million New Yorkers. Learn more here.
2. Start small
“Cooking at home is a huge step in the direction of sustainability,” said Liz Carollo, assistant director of GrowNYC’s Green Market programming. “You can buy food directly from a farmer, save your food waste and take it directly to a market for composting, or drop off your old clothing so it doesn’t go into a landfill. All great efforts in reducing your carbon footprint.”
3. Don’t let false perceptions dissuade you
“We have markets in all five boroughs and we serve every single income level,” said Carollo. “It’s ridiculous that there is a belief that if you’re lower income, you aren’t concerned about the environment because those from vulnerable communities are the most impacted by climate change.”
Earth Angel
Headquartered in Brooklyn, Earth Angel is an organization holding the local entertainment industry accountable by mitigating the waste and disposal habits on production sets. The film industry has bypassed much of the environmental criticisms typically aimed at fashion, aviation or oil industries, despite contributing an estimated 500,000 tons of waste each year in production alone. Learn more here.
4. Cut back on meat
“It takes 660 gallons of water to produce one hamburger and people don’t often think about the environmental impact of agriculture,” said Emillie O’Brien, founder and CEO of Earth Angel. “When it comes to livestock, it’s even more exaggerated. Eating meat three times a week instead of five for example is a small shift that has a profound impact.”
5. Eliminate single-use plastic
“Plastics are a petroleum based product and a lot of them aren’t safe so I always advocate for using reusable straws, shopping bags, or avoiding ordering from delivery services,” O’Brien said.
CropKing Pres. Paul Brentlinger On Ag’s Undervalued Human Element
Dan Brentlinger, the late founder of CropKing, knew he wanted to be an indoor grower as early as a sixth grade when he wrote an essay about his dream of pursuing horticulture. By that time, he was already growing strawberries in his basement. It took years for the industry to catch up to his ambitions
All images courtesy of CropKing and Paul Brentlinger
Dan Brentlinger, the late founder of CropKing, knew he wanted to be an indoor grower as early as a sixth grade when he wrote an essay about his dream of pursuing horticulture. By that time, he was already growing strawberries in his basement. It took years for the industry to catch up to his ambitions. He founded CropKing because he felt other indoor operators were offering poor products with even worse support for growers. Now, Paul, his son, is at the reigns, and we chatted about financing tips, the ag data revolution, and how the human element of agriculture is more vital than ever.
What is the biggest challenge in indoor ag right now, compared to when CropKing got started?
You fast forward 35 years [from the founding of CropKing] and the bigger challenge isn’t that nobody understands what hydroponics is, or what the benefits of controlled environment agriculture are, or why our food system isn’t working in its current state.
Now the bigger question is, how do you weed through all the garbage? As any industry matures, you’ve got the guys like CropKing or AmHydro, who have been around for almost 40 years. You don’t make it for 40 years if you’re not providing good products and good support. But now that CEA and hydroponics are somewhat mainstream, you’ve got everybody and their brother claiming to be experts and to have packages and tech support and quality supplies.
In the age of social media and mass information, how can growers make sure they’re getting reliable advice?
I would talk to as many people as I could that are doing what you’re doing. You’re not inventing something new. It doesn’t matter where you live, within a hundred miles of you, somebody is doing something very similar to what you want to do.
Find out who they went with, what made them successful, what do they not like about their process of getting set up. Get as much info as you can from going to seminars, going to trade shows. Meet with the people you’re going to buy your stuff from because those are the same people that are going to support you afterward, and if you don’t like ’em, find somebody else. If you don’t think you’re going to want to call these people weekly or daily in your first year, you’re going to have to find somebody else, because that’s realistically what you should be doing.
What’s CropKing’s signature approach?
Customer service. I’m not selling something that is extremely unique. It’s not, “You have to have this specific thing to succeed.” What you need to succeed is support, the ability to get through the problems, to not have a catastrophic failure, all of those things that, when you look at our ag space, crush people in their first year.
There is only a really small group of successful small businesses that last longer than 10 years. Well, if you look at the number of growers that CropKing has set up over the last 38 years, it would be safe to say that over 80% of them are still in business 10-to-15 years later.
What should new growers know about financing?
There’s a lot of entry points. The growers that Contain is more likely financing, and the growers that CropKing typically sells packages to, are relatively small commercial growers, typically less than an acre, most of the timeless than half an acre.
When it comes to financing these guys, they probably don’t have the agricultural experience that traditional banks are looking for to say, “We believe in ag, and you obviously have the skillset to make this successful.”
Our answer to that is a business plan model that we can help you put together that is very beneficial to the bank and being able to look at it and go, “OK, we understand what you’re accomplishing and how you’re going to be able to do this,” and you can then explain to the financier the support system that you have by going through CropKing. So we can help people navigate that.
In the end, though, if you’re not financeable, you’re not financeable. If you’ve got bad credit, or you don’t have substantial assets, or you’ve gone through two bankruptcies, there probably are not great options to get a loan to start a business.
Why work with Contain?
Even if you are financeable, an agriculture loan can still be more difficult to get than a traditional business loan. This is where Contain comes in, and I think, is starting to fill a niche, in that you guys are saying, “Hey, we know that if you, the grower, are going to buy from x, y, or z, you are more typically successful than not, so we’re willing to finance it, assuming it’s coming through these channels.”
There was clearly a missing section in finance as it relates to small commercial ag in controlled environments, and that’s what you guys are filling. I think it’s great. And you guys are first to market, but I think in the next five years you’ll see more similar models to what you guys do, and I think it’s awesome.
How does financing change based on grow size?
Financing of a less than half an acre and financing a two-acre are worlds different. If you are financeable and you’re trying to do something that’s less than a million dollars, you could probably accomplish that in the next four or six months if you’ve got your ducks in a row. If you are trying to do a two-acre project and you’re looking for financing, if you’re not anticipating 18 months from now, you’re really delusional. It’s just that long of a process to get this stuff together.
When you’re talking about building a two-acre facility, you’re talking about way more involvement with city officials and understanding what the look of this has to be and bringing in infrastructure and utilities and turn lanes and all that stuff that people who are building a two-bay, four-bay, half-acre greenhouse get away with by putting it in the back of their property and utilizing the wonderful world of ag exemptions.
What trends are you most excited about in indoor agriculture?
There’s the increased focus on data collection. It’s got pros and cons. A lot of people are looking at AI and data as a way to get to where it’s more of a process and an app, and we’re just setting programs. I don’t think we’re going to get to that level. I think the human aspect in growing is very key, and you’ll never work that out of a greenhouse. But the ability to have this data to make that human that much better is extremely valuable.
This conversation transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Learn more about Contain and funding your indoor ag business at our website, and subscribe to Inside The Box, our weekly newsletter.
Raising The Roof: Cultivating Singapore’s Urban Farming Scene
Whether you’re wandering through a residential area or exploring the recently re-opened Funan mall, you may have noticed new urban farms sprouting up – flourishing with fruit, herbs and vegetables, occasionally tilapia inconspicuously swimming in an aquaponics system
September 23, 2019
by STACEY RODRIGUES
NOKA by Open Farm Community at Funan Mall is one of the latest urban farms to take root in Singapore. (Photo: NOKA)
Call it a social movement or Singapore’s solution to sustainable self-sufficiency, but urban farming in our garden city is growing to new heights.
Whether you’re wandering through a residential area or exploring the recently re-opened Funan mall, you may have noticed new urban farms sprouting up – flourishing with fruit, herbs, and vegetables, occasionally tilapia inconspicuously swimming in an aquaponics system.
Urban farming has become quite a bit more than a fad or innovation showcase for our garden city. “The practice of urban farming has picked up in scale and sophistication globally in recent years,” said an Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) spokesperson.
“In Singapore, we encourage innovative urban farming approaches such as rooftop farming, which optimizes land, introduces more greenery into the built environment, and potentially enhances our food supply resilience.”
Several companies have taken on the gargantuan task of cultivating the urban farming scene here. Rooftop farming pioneer, Comcrop (short for Community Crop), has been hard at work with its latest commercial farm, an 11-month-old greenhouse in Woodlands Loop. Edible Garden City (EGC) has more than 200 farms across the island and works closely with restaurants to ensure sustainable supply and demand.
READ> WHY THIS MICHELIN STAR CHEF SPENDS SO MUCH TIME ON SINGAPORE FARMS
Indoor micro-greens being grown at NOKA. (Photo: NOKA)
Citiponics has made a name for itself building water-efficient aqua organic “growing towers” that can be used to build anything from butterhead lettuce to sweet basil. In April this year, they opened the first commercial farm on the rooftop of a multi-story car park. The farm produces vegetables sold at the Ang Mo Kio Hub outlet of NTUC FairPrice under the brand, LeafWell.
Sky Greens is arguably the most impressive urban farming venture. It is the world’s first low carbon, hydraulic driven vertical farm, and has been recognized globally for its sustainability innovation.
There are several benefits to having our farms so close to home. Through community gardens or access to commercial-scale farm produce, the public have an opportunity to understand how food is grown.
As urban farmers take great care to ensure produce is pesticide-free, while incorporating sustainable zero-waste and energy-saving practices, there is also comfort in knowing where the food comes from and its impact on the environment.
READ> THE ARCHITECTS OUT TO SAVE THE WORLD THROUGH SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
Mushrooms fruiting in a chamber at NOKA. (Photo: NOKA)
“Having food production within the city or heartland [also] brings food closer to the consumers as it cuts transport costs and carbon emissions, and may improve environmental sustainability,” said a spokesperson from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), the new statutory board created in April this year to develop the food supply and industry.
However, there are also broader concerns of the impact of climate change and food security in Singapore. It is why much is being done by the likes of the SFA to achieve “30 by 30” – “which is to develop the capability and capacity of our agri-food industry to produce 30 per cent of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030,” said the SFA. “Local production will help mitigate our reliance on imports and serve as a buffer during supply disruptions to import sources.”
Singapore still has a long way to go as the urban farming scene is still a very young one. But there are opportunities for growth given the continued development here. In the URA’s latest phase of the Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High-Rises (LUSH) 3.0 scheme, “developers of commercial and hotel buildings located in high footfall areas can propose rooftop farms to meet landscape replacement requirements.”
Naturally, developers are taking advantage of this. One of the newest kids on the block is the urban rooftop farm run by EGC for new Japanese restaurant, Noka by Open Farm Community at Funan. Noka is putting its money on offering Japanese cuisine that infuses local ingredients, from the butterfly blue pea to the ulam raja flower – ingredients grown and tended to by the farmers at EGC’s 5,000 sq. ft. urban garden just outside Noka’s windows.
(Photo: WOHA)
“The urban farming space is still in the emerging stages of development,” said Bjorn Low, co-founder of EGC. “We are literally scratching the surface of what’s possible. The areas of growth are in the application of urban food production in urban design and city planning, the use of urban farms for deeper community engagement and the role urban farms plays in creating social and environmental impact in the city.”
While many farmers have found ways to convert existing rooftop spaces into farms or gardens, Jonathan Choe, associate at WOHA Architects, says that one of the greatest opportunities to advance urban farming in Singapore is to build an entirely integrated system that not only incorporates growing spaces, but also how these farms can interact with the entire building infrastructure – from building cooling measures to water recycling and energy management. The firm, which has their own testbed rooftop garden, is currently working on the upcoming Punggol Digital District development.
Dwarf bok choy. (Photo: WOHA)
READ> THE ARCHITECTS DESIGNING THE PUNGGOL DIGITAL DISTRICT ON CREATING A GREENER SINGAPORE
But the greatest challenge for urban farmers is truly economies of scale. “Agriculture on its own is already a challenging industry due to industrialization of farming and our food system,” said Low. “Scale is a limiting factor in the city, and urban farming business models need to be able to adapt to both the challenges of a globalized food system and the availability of cheap food, whilst operating in areas of high cost and overheads.”
It begins with cultivating an awareness of and demand for local produce amongst both consumers and businesses alike. For Cynthia Chua, co-founder of Spa Esprit Group – the people behind Noka – taking an interest in agriculture is more than necessary, as it will have long-term benefits in preparing for the future generation of Singaporeans.
White radishes. (Photo: WOHA)
READ> HOW SINGAPORE’S RESTAURATEURS ARE RISING TO THE CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABILITY
Restaurants like Noka, which choose to highlight local produce are an easy way in for consumers to learn about the benefits of supporting local farming businesses. As a business owner, Chua has also noticed that “traveling chefs from different countries are gaining interest in playing with our tropical produce.” In Chua’s opinion, it is the “right timing” to push innovation and continue to turn this “scene” into a fully sustainable industry.
“As a city-state, the general population is disconnected from farming and the way food is being farmed,” said Low. “Urban farms should become touchpoints for us to learn about sustainable agriculture techniques, and encourage consumers in Singapore to eat more responsibly, locally and ethically.”
Farmshelf Continues Expansion In Foodservice Channel, Signs Agreements To Bring Vertical Farming To Primary Schools And Universities
Farmshelf, an indoor farming company, today announced continued success in its foodservice channel with the addition of ten primary school system partnerships, and multiple university agreements including University of Illinois at Chicago, which will anchor Farmshelf’s launch in the Midwest next month
BROOKLYN, N.Y.- Farmshelf, an indoor farming company, today announced continued success in its foodservice channel with the addition of ten primary school system partnerships, and multiple university agreements including University of Illinois at Chicago, which will anchor Farmshelf’s launch in the Midwest next month.
Through these partnerships, Farmshelf will provide its proprietary hardware and hydroponic technology that makes growing more than 50 types of leafy greens, herbs and edible flowers easy for foodservice providers, restaurants and hotels. Farmshelf is currently operational in New York, Washington, D.C. and Houston metros with 100 units in operation.
“Schools and universities are on the cutting edge of finding new ways to feed students in a healthful, responsible and cost-effective way, while also educating them on opportunities to reduce waste and grow produce on site,” said Andrew Shearer, founder and CEO of Farmshelf. “Working with foodservice providers in an academic setting is the perfect engagement for us as it helps educate the next generation about healthy eating and responsible, sustainable farming.”
“Farmshelf is ushering in a new way for us to provide fresh produce to students and staff who dine on campus by bringing the farm right to our facility,” said Laura Lapp, Vice President of Sustainability and Culinary Services for Chartwells Higher Ed. “Providing our chefs direct access to a variety of greens and herbs allows them to elevate their dish offerings with fresh, flavorful and healthy ingredients – all at their fingertips. We can utilize Farmshelf as a teaching tool in our educational programming to show students not only how easy it is to grow fresh produce, but to also highlight the wellness attributes and flavor that fresh herbs and vegetables add to a dish.”
Farmshelf’s product is a smart, efficient and visually stunning growing system that brings fresh produce to the consumer, no matter the location. The company uses the latest technology in vertical farming, computer vision and machine learning to grow food to optimize flavor, yield and quality.
“Our mission at Farmshelf is to bring indoor farming to as many establishments as we can, including academic settings, foodservices and restaurants – essentially wherever fresh produce is used,” said Shearer. “We are pleased with the adoption we’ve seen to date in the food community with leading chefs Marcus Samuelsson and José Andrés being passionate users of Farmshelf and supporters of our mission. We are excited to help familiarize and get people excited about this type of food procurement.”
Farmshelf operates on a monthly subscription model with an upfront fee for the unit, as well as options to lease the hardware. Subscription services include monthly seedpod delivery and Farmshelf remote monitoring.
About Farmshelf
Founded in 2016, Farmshelf is an indoor vertical farming company that makes it easy for foodservice providers, restaurants, hotels and schools to grow their own leafy greens and herbs in an attention-grabbing, compact, on-site installation. For additional information, visit: http://www.farmshelf.com.
LA & 8Minute Solar Ink Lowest Cost Solar-Plus-Storage Deal In US History
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has signed a groundbreaking 25-year power purchase agreement with 8Minute Solar. The deal will make possible the largest municipal solar plus storage facility in the US
September 11th, 2019 by Steve Hanley
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has signed a groundbreaking 25-year power purchase agreement with 8Minute Solar. The deal will make possible the largest municipal solar plus storage facility in the US. But the best part is the combined price for solar energy plus storage is just 3.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, the lowest ever in the US and cheaper than electricity from a natural gas-powered generating plant.
Credit: 8Minute Solar
The electricity will come from a massive solar power plant located on 2000 acres of undeveloped desert in Kern County, just 70 miles from the city. Known as the Eland Solar and Storage Center, it will be built in two stages of 200 MW each, with the first coming online in 2022 and the second phase scheduled to be switched on the following year.
Los Angeles DWP will take 375 MWac of solar power coupled with 385.5 MW/1,150 MWh of energy storage, according to PV Magazine. Neighboring Glendale Water and Power will take 25 MWac of solar plus 12.5 MW/50 MWh of energy. The electricity from Eland I and II is expected to meet between 6 and 7% of Los Angeles’ needs, according to PV Magazine.
The Eland Solar & Storage Center has been engineered by 8minute to provide fully dispatchable power under control of the LA DWP to meet its customers’ demands with reliable and cost-effective power — a capability previously reserved for large fossil fuel power plants. Eland’s ability to provide fully dispatchable power for less than the traditional cost of fossil fuels effectively positions solar PV as an attractive candidate to be the primary source of California’s 100% clean energy future.
In case you didn’t know, the company takes its name from the amount of time it takes the sun’s rays to reach the Earth at the speed of light. In an e-mail to CleanTechnica, Jeff McKay, VP of marketing for the company, says, “Today was a big win for the city of Los Angeles, the people of California and the renewable energy industry as well.
“The project offers a glimpse of the future, with zero-carbon sources providing energy cheaper than fossil fuels to households throughout Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley — at the lowest combined solar and storage prices on record. While further final regulatory approval is still needed, today was a big step in ensuring this project becomes a reality, and we feel very strongly that this project is a win-win for everyone involved.”
The Eland PPA was supposed to close a few months ago, but the IBEW local that represents the workers at the city-operated natural gas power plants complained their needs were not being addressed properly. It now appears those concerns have been addressed, according to the LA Times.
If the transition to renewable energy is to take place in an orderly and expeditious fashion, it is vital that the needs of workers in legacy industries not be ignored and that positive steps are taken to protect the interests of those who will feel the economic impact of the changes coming for the utility industry.
Tags: 8Minute Energy, Eland Solar, and Storage Center, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
About the Author
Steve Hanley Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Rhode Island and anywhere else the Singularity may lead him. His motto is, "Life is not measured by how many breaths we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away!" You can follow him on Google + and on Twitter
The Scottish Innovations Tackling The World’s Food Shortage
Invergowrie-based Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) has created Scotland’s first vertical farm, pictured here, and the company has recently harvested a £5.4 million cash boost from the Scottish Investment Bank, agri-food investor S2G and online venture capital firm AgFunder
Intelligent Growth Solutions' purpose-built facility is being constructed at the James Hutton Institute near Dundee.
SARAH DEVINE
19 September 2019
Scotland’s agriculture sector is changing rapidly, with rural businesses across the country driving forward groundbreaking innovations in attempts to address the myriad challenges of the land.
Globally, some 113 million people across 53 countries reportedly experienced food poverty last year, and it is expected that the world’s population will reach 9.8 billion by 2050, according to the UN.
However, inventive organizations across Scotland are devising new and creative ways to tackle the global food shortage.
Invergowrie-based Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) has created Scotland’s first vertical farm, pictured here, and the company has recently harvested a £5.4 million cash boost from the Scottish Investment Bank, agri-food investor S2G and online venture capital firm AgFunder.
The firm, which is based at the James Hutton Institute situated on the outskirts of Dundee, provides vertical farming technology to enable efficient food production through indoor crops around the world, having built its demonstration facility at Invergowrie last year.
It features stacked layers, LED lights and app-controlled air vents to create the perfect conditions for crops to thrive all year round.
The early-stage company states that its patented Internet of Things-enabled power and communications platform is able to reduce an organization’s energy usage by up to 50 percent and labor costs by up to 80 percent, in comparison to other indoor growing environments, and can produce yields of 225 percent compared to crops that have been grown under glass.
IGS experimented with colored LED lights, growing basil plants at the indoor facility in an impressive 20 days.
Its chief executive, David Farquhar, explains that such developments are urgently needed because at present an astonishing 30 percent of the world’s food is put to waste.
“Vertical farming allows experimentation to take place in order to impact the yield or cost of production, flavor, nutrients, appearance or a combination of those things,” he says.
“Producers want consistency, assurance of supply, and to know they are going to fill supermarket shelves or supply those Michelin-starred restaurants every day of the week. Those are things that farmers struggle with all the time.”
Farquhar adds: “If there is a forecast for bad weather and a supermarket decides to only take half of their delivery, what are they going to do with the rest of the produce?”
Using the vertical farm, a crop’s growth can be slowed down or sped up to prevent waste.
“People have been talking about vertical farms for several years, but we are now at the starting point. Over the next six months, we will get going with the first technology in the world that is capable of delivering this on an industrial scale.”
The firm, which was formed in 2013, plans to use this recent funding to create jobs in areas such as software development, engineering, robotics, and automation.
Investment into such areas is also needed across Scotland because dietary demand is changing, according to David Ross, chief executive of Edinburgh-based Agri-EPI Centre.
“Environmental sustainability is personal now for everyone and therefore there are challenges for primary producers to adapt to the needs of the consumer, the needs of society and the overall sustainability of the planet,” he says.
Freight Farm Gives University of Michigan Fresh Produce, Sustainability Data
The Freight Farm is a 320-square-foot recycled shipping container outfitted with 256 columns that can grow plants ranging from veggies to flowers. Automated humidity and temperature controls, a hydroponic system and hot pink LED lighting control the plants’ growing conditions
By Caroline Skiver
September 9, 2019 MDining
Sitting down to eat a salad you may think your greens traveled in a shipping container, but it might not occur to you they were grown in one. Yet this will soon be the case for people eating at MDining’s cafés and halls.
The Freight Farm is a 320-square-foot recycled shipping container outfitted with 256 columns that can grow plants ranging from veggies to flowers. Automated humidity and temperature controls, a hydroponic system and hot pink LED lighting control the plants’ growing conditions.
The farm sits on the U-M Campus Farm at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. While a Freight Farm typically costs around $75,000, this one is being lent to U-M by LaGrasso Bros. Produce.
The Freight Farm is located at U-M’s Campus Farm at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. (Photo by Aaron Brodkey, MDining)
While the greens produced there will be sold to MDining, the farm also serves a larger purpose as a research project conducted within the Center for Sustainable Systems.
“The project, funded as a catalyst grant by the Graham Sustainability Institute, initially sought to provide evidence-based decision support for institutional buyers (like MDining) who are faced with a barrage of options that may be seen as ‘sustainable,’” says Martin Heller, senior research specialist at CSS.
Yet the researchers had difficulty procuring data on existing Freight Farms, so they decided to generate their own. The energy needed to operate U-M’s Freight Farm — for lights, air conditioning and circulation pumps — will be monitored along with other inputs like water and nutrients. In August, East Carolina University began using the same data collection tool on its Freight Farm to provide more data.
A life-cycle assessment — or LCA — that considers the environmental impact of all stages of a product’s life cycle will be used to compare greens grown in the Freight Farm with those produced by other methods, such as hoophouses at the Campus Farm or those shipped in from states like Arizona or California. The environmental impact of the Freight Farm structure will be factored in as well.
Greens grown close to home may seem like they’re the most sustainable, but Heller said that isn’t always the case.
“It’s easy to assume that the locally grown greens would fare better, but we know from experience with LCAs of food products that, relative to the inputs required for production, transportation may not be a dominant driver of environmental indicators such as energy use and greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
While the results aren’t in on the environmental impact of the Freight Farm, it offers a unique way to grow produce in small spaces.
Jocelyn Marchyok, a master’s degree student working as an MDining sustainability intern who manages the Freight Farm, holds plant seedlings that will be moved to the vertical columns of the farm’s growing area. (Photo by Aaron Brodkey, MDining)
Jocelyn Marchyok, a recent U-M graduate now pursuing her master’s degree at the School for Environment and Sustainability, is working as an MDining sustainability intern to manage the Freight Farm.
Marchyok is filling up one-quarter of the Freight Farm at a time, allowing her to grow around 3,200 heads of lettuce in two months. As seedlings, batches of plants will rest in trays for two weeks before they’re transferred to the vertical columns.
From a sustainability standpoint, one way the farm is unique is in its limited water usage.
“This is a completely hydroponic system, so in terms of water, we’re going to be using a lot less,” Marchyok said.
“The tank by the columns has 135 gallons and the one with the seedlings uses about 35 gallons of water. The water is continuously recycled through so there’s not really any input of water unless I’m cleaning it out, which should be every two or three weeks.”
Marchyok is interested to see the energy usage, as the LED lights are on about 18 hours a day. The lights generate heat, which in turn requires an air conditioning system and dehumidifier. In the winter, a heater may be needed. The LEDs are supposed to be enough to heat the farm, but Marchyok isn’t convinced this will hold true with Michigan winters.
The end goal of the project is to determine the associated energy use per kilogram of salad greens produced and delivered to MDining. While the duration of the project is uncertain, Heller would like to get data from all four seasons to capture seasonal variation.
In the meantime, people eating with MDining can know that their greens are not only coming from less than five miles away, but are contributing to research as well.
Tags: Campus Farm Center for Sustainable Systems Freight Farm Matthaei Botanical Gardens MDining
Better Food For More People: Notes From The World Food Summit 2019
“The global food system is a major driver of challenges relating to human health, the climate change and environment. We need to think and act in new ways to face challenges of climate changes, hunger, food safety and unhealthy food habits
SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
KYLE BALDOCK
All of us know our food system is broken, but are we all willing to do what it takes to fix it?
Better Food for More People
“The global food system is a major driver of challenges relating to human health, the climate change and environment. We need to think and act in new ways to face challenges of climate changes, hunger, food safety and unhealthy food habits.
The world is facing enormous challenges if we are to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Today, more than 800 million people live in hunger, 1 in 10 people in the world fall ill after eating contaminated food, while more than 2 billion people are overweight or obese. More than 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted every year, equivalent to 24% of all food produced for human consumption.
In connection with these figures a huge challenge is that international researchers point out that expected changes in population and income levels in the period 2010 to 2050 can increase environmental impact from production and consumption of food by 50-90% globally if targeted remedial measures are not taken. The environmental impact will reach levels beyond the planetary boundaries that define a safe operating space for humanity.
According to researchers, only a combination of measures will be sufficient to mitigate the expected increase in environmental impact. Combined efforts in relation to prevention and reduction of food waste, technological changes to increase the resource efficiency in food production and changed dietary habits are imperative.”
During the last week of August, Copenhagen was the host city to the World Food Summit 2019 and a series of side events to discuss strategies towards tackling the aforementioned challenges and realising the mantra of the summit: Better Food for More People.
How do we create the necessary change? And what is the role of governments, international organisations, private sector, academia and civil society?
Based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the World Food Summit connects leaders from around the world to discuss concrete solutions for transforming the global food system, focusing on the following topics:
-Ensuring Food Safety and Food Security
-Better Health and Diets
-Improved Resource Efficiency
The World Food Summit is an annual accelerator of actions necessary to transform the food systems to become safer, healthier, and more sustainable in response to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Danish Minister for Food Mr. Mogens Jensen hosted the Summit to work with leaders ready to act on the global food challenges.
The first day of the summit was held in the national parliament of Denmark with an honorary visit from HRH the Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark. Speakers from different parts of the world shared their own visions and solutions in the fields of the environmental impact of agriculture, waste prevention, and the necessity of an overhaul in our dietary choices. The fundamental message of all the talks was clear: there is no time left for inaction!
On the second day of the summit, three workshops identified key actions from all stakeholders globally that will enable us to reach the identified pathways towards a healthy and sustainable food system in accordance with the sustainable development goals.
World Food Summit plans to tackle the challenges facing our food systems
These are some of the suggestions made by the workshop moderators at the end of day two:
-Reform the agricultural subsidy program to reflect the real price of food
-Support and empower local production
-Educate the general public on nutrition
-Implement regional solutions by considering the specific differences and needs
-Create a World Food Forum to come up with guidelines and minimum standards that will help businesses to move in the right direction using new business models
-Enforce governmental regulation, minimum standards and trade deals that prioritise environmental concerns
-Invest in the whole value chain to ease the transition to a sustainable food system
-Rethink the fundamentally flawed systems instead of super optimisation
-Create the global food-borne diseases database through WHO and national governments
-Implement transparency and accountability in the value chain as an indispensable characteristic of the system
During last year’s summit, ten countries became signatory partners to one or more of the World Food Summit’s three commitments. These commitments are about information and nutrition, food safety and food waste; together, they create a framework that can generate tangible results going forward and establish cooperation between partner countries on fostering local solutions and public-private partnerships. This year, five more countries added their names to the signatory lists of these commitments to show there is a strong collective will to commit and work in collaboration to tackle the challenges facing our food systems.
We are way past the time for making small changes to mitigate climate crisis: we need a plan to revamp our entire food system as fast as possible.
The Danish food minister Mr. Jensen closed the summit by reminding everyone about what John F. Kennedy said on his 1962 speech that lead to the Apollo 11 mission later on. We need to come up with business models to achieve goals like the Danish government’s ambitious plan of 70% fewer emissions from 1990s levels; no one knows how exactly we will get there but first you need to have bold ideas and then find the ways to fulfil them.
Take home messages:
-Identify the false advertisements and marketing schemes and support governments, businesses and organizations that are truly fighting for a better future for our food systems
-Embrace different solutions and diversify our actions in fixing the food system
-There is less focus on the production methods than in waste and consumer choices
-Research on crucial issues like climate change should be a public funded program to avoid biases-We need to come up with a transition period plan for industries that are problematic to our planet to change their business models
-Financing innovation should be our number one priority
-Raising awareness about our food system, labelling and carbon tax need to be a continuous effort
We need to diversify the solutions and a commitment from all of us to consider the repercussions of our daily decisions on the planet. Going back to John F. Kennedy’s vision “We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or make it the last.”
Words by AVF Head of Science & Education Ramin Ebrahimnejad. Ramin will be leading a special session on all these topics and more at the upcoming event The Role of Urban Food Systems in a Changing Climate at C40 World Summit in Copenhagen on 10 October, 2019. The event is free and you can sign up to attend at this link: https://bit.ly/2k54fOY
To get in touch with Ramin Ebrahimnejad, please e-mail re@vertical-farming.net