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Where Vertical Farming and Affordable Housing Can Grow Together
Some vertical farms grow greens in old warehouses, former steel mills, or other sites set apart from the heart of cities. But a new series of projects will build multistory greenhouses directly inside affordable housing developments
Some vertical farms grow greens in old warehouses, former steel mills, or other sites set apart from the heart of cities. But a new series of projects will build multistory greenhouses directly inside affordable housing developments.
“Bringing the farm back to the city center can have a lot of benefits,” says Nona Yehia, CEO of Vertical Harvest, a company that will soon break ground on a new building in Westbrook, ME, that combines a vertical farm with affordable housing. Similar developments will follow in Chicago and in Philadelphia, where a farm-plus-housing will be built in the Tioga District, an opportunity zone.
Inside each building, the ground level will offer community access, while the greenhouse fills the second, third, and fourth floors, covering 70,000 square feet and growing around a million pounds of produce a year. (The amount of housing varies by site; in Maine, there will be only 15 units of housing, though the project will create 50 new jobs.)
In Chicago, there may be a community kitchen on the first level. In each location, residents will be able to buy fresh produce on-site; Vertical Harvest also plans to let others in the neighborhood buy greens directly from the farm. While it will sell to supermarkets, restaurants, hospitals, and other large customers, it also plans to subsidize 10% to 15% of its harvest for local food pantries and other community organizations.
“By creating a large-scale farm in a food desert, we are creating a large source of healthy, locally grown food 365 days a year,” Yehia says.
How This Vertical Farm Grows 80,000 Pounds of Produce per Week
To some, the pristine growing conditions and perceived mechanical interference of a vertical farm can seem unnatural, but at Bowery Farming “interference” is actually not the goal at all. “We don’t really think about how people are involved in the growing process, but how to take people out of the growing process”
Bowery Farming uses technology to prioritize accessibility and sustainability in their produce growing operations
To some, the pristine growing conditions and perceived mechanical interference of a vertical farm can seem unnatural, but at Bowery Farming “interference” is actually not the goal at all. “We don’t really think about how people are involved in the growing process, but how to take people out of the growing process” says chief science officer Henry Sztul. “Our goal is actually to have as few people walking around our plants as possible.”
Bowery Farming is a network of vertical farms working to reengineer the growing process. Using a system of light and watering technology, Bowery is able to use 95 percent less water than a traditional outdoor farm, zero pesticides and chemicals, and grow food that tastes as good as anyone else’s.
Bowery Farming uses vertical farm-specific seeds that are optimized for flavor instead of insect resistance and durability. Seeds are mechanically pressed into trays of soil, and sent out into growing positions, or racks within the building that have their own lighting and watering systems. Each tray gets its own QR code so that they can be monitored and assigned a customized plan for water and light until they’re ready to be harvested.
Irving Fain, Bowery Farming’s founder and CEO contemplates the prediction from the United Nations that 70 to 80 percent of the world’s population will be living in and around cities in the next 30 years. “Figuring out ‘how do you feed and how do you provide fresh food to urban environments both more efficiently as well as more sustainably?’ is a very important question today, and an even more important question in the years to come.”
Indoor Farming Company With Backing From Ubben Aims to Solve The Problems With America’s Produce
The agriculture technology company focuses on building an indoor farm in Appalachia. The company combines agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology and including access for all to nutritious food, farming, and building a homegrown food supply. The company operates a 60-acre controlled environment, agriculture facility in Morehead, Kentucky, which grows juicy beefsteak tomatoes and tomatoes on the vine
Image from: AppHarvest
Company: AppHarvest Inc. (APPH)
The agriculture technology company focuses on building an indoor farm in Appalachia. The company combines agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology and including access for all to nutritious food, farming, and building a homegrown food supply. The company operates a 60-acre controlled environment, agriculture facility in Morehead, Kentucky, which grows juicy beefsteak tomatoes and tomatoes on the vine. It also operates a 60-acre indoor farm, outside Richmond, Kentucky, where it cultivates fresh fruits and veggies.
The company’s technological systems monitor the pollination across all 68 bays and 684 rows of plants. AppHarvest is only the fourth U.S. public Certified B corporation. A B corporation is a company that has (1) achieved a high standard of social and environmental performance as measured by the B Impact Assessment, (2) verified their scores through transparency requirements, and (3) made a legal commitment to consider all stakeholders, not just shareholders. Any company can apply to be one.
Stock Market Value: $3.3 billion ($33.26 per share)
Image from: CNBC
Activist:
Inclusive Capital
Percentage Ownership:
12.05%
Average Cost:
n/a
Activist Commentary:
Inclusive Capital Partners was formed in 2020 by ValueAct founder Jeff Ubben, to leverage capitalism and governance in pursuit of a healthy planet and the health of its inhabitants. The firm seeks long-term shareholder value through active partnership with companies whose core businesses contribute solutions to this pursuit. Inclusive is a returns driven fund with a focus on environmental and social investing.
Their primary focus is on environmental and social value creation, which leads to shareholder value creation. It is the successor to the ValueAct Spring Fund, which was launched in January 2018 and merged into Inclusive in 2020.
Inclusive is building a huge network and has accessed experts in industries such as energy, electrification, water, agriculture, food production, particulates, education and human rights. Just like ValueAct’s constructive, patient investment style, Inclusive will seek to earn the trust of managers, board members and institutional investors.
Jeff Ubben serves as the portfolio manager and Eva Zlotnicka serves as vice president. Eva has a pre-existing relationship with ValueAct through their interactions with Morgan Stanley, where she served as a VP and U.S. lead for the Global Sustainability Research Team. At Morgan Stanley, she worked to help address and raise awareness of environmental and social issues both inside and outside of corporations.
What’s Happening:
Jeff Ubben was appointed to the company’s Board in connection with the company’s business combination with Novus Capital.
Behind the Scenes:
This was initially an investment of ValueAct Spring Fund, which was converted into Inclusive Capital in 2020. Jeff Ubben first met AppHarvest founder Jonathan Webb in 2017 and has been involved with the company since the 2018 Series A round, working with Webb to put the management team together and develop a strong balance sheet. The company went public on February 1, 2021 through a $100 million SPAC transaction and a $375 million PIPE investment. Jeff Ubben is on the board where he can continue to help the company execute.
AppHarvest plans on having 12 facilities by 2025. The goal here is to make Kentucky the Netherlands of North America. The Netherlands (at 16,000 square miles) is the second largest agricultural exporter in the world, using greenhouse technology to feed two-thirds of all of Europe. In comparison, the state of Kentucky is 40,000 square miles and the US is 3.8 million square miles. AppHarvest’s motivation is first and foremost to benefit society, but if successful would have extraordinary financial returns as well.
As of 2018, 69% of fresh vine crops in the U.S. were imported, mostly from Mexico. These crops are pesticide-laden and grown using labor practices not up to U.S. standards. Moreover, they sit at the border for days and are driven 2,000+ miles to their destination, using tons of diesel fuel and resulting in less fresh produce. AppHarvest produces crops with no pesticides with greater nutrient density, and from their central location can reach 70% of the U.S. population in one day resulting in 80% less diesel fuel and much lower emissions. However, the larger environmental and economic benefit is in how the crops are grown — using 90% less water and yielding thirty times more per acre.
Moreover, AppHarvest’s resources are nature based – the greenhouse structure allows them to use 12 hours of sunlight per day and they collect the heavy Kentucky rainfall for their system resulting in a much less adverse effect on the water supply while greatly decreasing their cost of production by not having to pay for water. The greenhouse system also eliminates any weather or seasonal constraints, allowing the company to grow more efficiently 365 days per year.
While the company has no historic revenue, they just made their first delivery of beefsteak tomatoes on January 19, 2021, to customers that include Walmart, Kroger and Publix
Bringing The Future To life In Abu Dhabi
A cluster of shipping containers in a city centre is about the last place you’d expect to find salad growing. Yet for the past year, vertical farming startup Madar Farms has been using this site in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, to grow leafy green vegetables using 95 per cent less water than traditional agriculture
Amid the deserts of Abu Dhabi, a new wave of entrepreneurs and innovators are sowing the seeds of a more sustainable future.
Image from: Wired
A cluster of shipping containers in a city centre is about the last place you’d expect to find salad growing. Yet for the past year, vertical farming startup Madar Farms has been using this site in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, to grow leafy green vegetables using 95 per cent less water than traditional agriculture.
Madar Farms is one of a number of agtech startups benefitting from a package of incentives from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) aimed at spurring the development of innovative solutions for sustainable desert farming. The partnership is part of ADIO’s $545 million Innovation Programme dedicated to supporting companies in high-growth areas.
“Abu Dhabi is pressing ahead with our mission to ‘turn the desert green’,” explained H.E. Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Director General of ADIO, in November 2020. “We have created an environment where innovative ideas can flourish and the companies we partnered with earlier this year are already propelling the growth of Abu Dhabi’s 24,000 farms.”
The pandemic has made food supply a critical concern across the entire world, combined with the effects of population growth and climate change, which are stretching the capacity of less efficient traditional farming methods. Abu Dhabi’s pioneering efforts to drive agricultural innovation have been gathering pace and look set to produce cutting-edge solutions addressing food security challenges.
Beyond work supporting the application of novel agricultural technologies, Abu Dhabi is also investing in foundational research and development to tackle this growing problem.
In December, the emirate’s recently created Advanced Technology Research Council [ATRC], responsible for defining Abu Dhabi’s R&D strategy and establishing the emirate and the wider UAE as a desired home for advanced technology talent, announced a four-year competition with a $15 million prize for food security research. Launched through ATRC’s project management arm, ASPIRE, in partnership with the XPRIZE Foundation, the award will support the development of environmentally-friendly protein alternatives with the aim to "feed the next billion".
Image from: Madar Farms
Global Challenges, Local Solutions
Food security is far from the only global challenge on the emirate’s R&D menu. In November 2020, the ATRC announced the launch of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), created to support applied research on the key priorities of quantum research, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital security, directed energy and secure systems.
“The technologies under development at TII are not randomly selected,” explains the centre’s secretary general Faisal Al Bannai. “This research will complement fields that are of national importance. Quantum technologies and cryptography are crucial for protecting critical infrastructure, for example, while directed energy research has use-cases in healthcare. But beyond this, the technologies and research of TII will have global impact.”
Future research directions will be developed by the ATRC’s ASPIRE pillar, in collaboration with stakeholders from across a diverse range of industry sectors.
“ASPIRE defines the problem, sets milestones, and monitors the progress of the projects,” Al Bannai says. “It will also make impactful decisions related to the selection of research partners and the allocation of funding, to ensure that their R&D priorities align with Abu Dhabi and the UAE's broader development goals.”
Image from: Agritecture
Nurturing Next-Generation Talent
To address these challenges, ATRC’s first initiative is a talent development programme, NexTech, which has begun the recruitment of 125 local researchers, who will work across 31 projects in collaboration with 23 world-leading research centres.
Alongside universities and research institutes from across the US, the UK, Europe and South America, these partners include Abu Dhabi’s own Khalifa University, and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, the world’s first graduate-level institute focused on artificial intelligence.
“Our aim is to up skill the researchers by allowing them to work across various disciplines in collaboration with world-renowned experts,” Al Bannai says.
Beyond academic collaborators, TII is also working with a number of industry partners, such as hyperloop technology company, Virgin Hyperloop. Such industry collaborations, Al Bannai points out, are essential to ensuring that TII research directly tackles relevant problems and has a smooth path to commercial impact in order to fuel job creation across the UAE.
“By engaging with top global talent, universities and research institutions and industry players, TII connects an intellectual community,” he says. “This reinforces Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s status as a global hub for innovation and contributes to the broader development of the knowledge-based economy.”
Pontus Submits Building Permit Application for Surrey Aquaponics Facility
The Company has submitted a construction application to the City of Surrey for its 20,570 square foot aquaponics facility. The approval process is estimated to be completed within 6 weeks and is expected to be followed by the immediate commencement of construction of the Facility's leasehold improvements. Accordingly, the leasehold improvements are to consist of a complete retrofit of the Facility to establish Pontus' solar-powered, water recycling CEVASTM aquaponic system
VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 3, 2021 /CNW/ - Pontus Protein Ltd. ("Pontus" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce it has made significant progress towards the development of its state of the art, integrated aquaponics facility located in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada (the "Facility").
Image from: CNW Group/Pontus Protein Ltd
The Company has submitted a construction application to the City of Surrey for its 20,570 square foot aquaponics facility. The approval process is estimated to be completed within 6 weeks and is expected to be followed by the immediate commencement of construction of the Facility's leasehold improvements. Accordingly, the leasehold improvements are to consist of a complete retrofit of the Facility to establish Pontus' solar-powered, water recycling CEVASTM aquaponic system.
The installation of all required equipment for the growth and production is forecasted to take between four and six months to complete. Upon completion, the Facility will be approximately 20 times the size of Pontus' prior prototype facility. The prototype facility has been used to test and develop the technology for the Company's proprietary growing process.
The Facility, as seen in the image above and video below, will utilize an array of additional technologies to create a clean and sustainable aquaponics ecosystem. Solar energy panels will be installed to capture renewable energy and power the closed-loop water system, which recycles up to 95% of all water inputs. The implementation of the Facility's unique, sustainable technology in conjunction with Pontus' proprietary CEVAS™ automated growth technology will allow the Company to emphasize biosecurity in its agricultural production processes, removing the need for additional chemicals, pesticides, and other non-native components.
Pontus CEO, Conner Yuen states: "Entering the construction application process is a major milestone for the Company as we move toward the commissioning of the Facility. Our aim is to create a state of the art process that will incorporate the latest in sustainable agriculture technology. The ability to implement this highly efficient technology solves many issues we see with current methods of food production such as land scarcity and low yields and contamination.
Pontus' biosecurity and renewable food sources are intended to create a proactive solution to these issues by reducing the potential for contamination and the need for pesticides. Pontus hopes the Facility will revolutionize how traditional agriculture is conducted and show the power of technological food advancements."
Plant-based Protein Powder Market
The Company's plant-based protein powder is a premium entry into the global protein and supplements market, which is currently valued at USD$15 Billion and is expected to grow to USD$20 Billion by 2025 according to Grand View Research. This growth is expected to be fuelled by many North Americans reducing or eliminating the regular consumption of animal products. The North American plant-based protein market is also anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14% from 2019 through 2025.
About Pontus Protein Ltd
Pontus Protein Ltd. makes pure plant-based protein powder sourced from nutritious water lentils, farm-grown in Vancouver, BC, with development plans to expand to Surrey, B.C.. Not only does Pontus Protein Powder exceed certified organic standards, but it's also gluten-free, pure and allergen safe. It's jam-packed full of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and ALL the essential amino acids.
This is not your average lentil, these are water lentils; a crop that can be harvested every 24 hours in an indoor aquaponic farm that uses 95% less water than traditional agriculture, using Pontus' proprietary Closed Environment Vertical Aquaponics System (or CEVAS™) aquaponic agritech technology. This is wonderful news for a planet populated with us hungry and health-conscious humans.
Farm In A Box Planned For Bridgeport's East End
BRIDGEPORT — You will not find any vast acres of fertile soil and crops in the East End neighbourhood. So the state, city and area activists have teamed with an entrepreneur on what they all said they believe is the next best thing: farmland in a box
Image from: CT Post
BRIDGEPORT — You will not find any vast acres of fertile soil and crops in the East End neighbourhood. So the state, city and area activists have teamed with an entrepreneur on what they all said they believe is the next best thing: farmland in a box.
Joe Alvarez, founder of High Ridge Hydroponics of Ridgefield, describes it on his website as “an indoor, vertical, hydroponic, shipping container farm to be located in the most urban settings throughout the world.” And the East End — which has been labeled a “food desert” because of the lack of fresh edibles easily available to residents there — will be that urban setting.
“We’re very excited about this,” Keith Williams, head of the East End Neighborhood Revitalization Zone community group, said during a teleconference Friday announcing a $49,999 state grant for Alvarez’s project. “Fresh vegetables. Healthy. That’s what we’re all about — healthy eating.”
High Ridge’s container will produce young micro-greens from broccoli, kale, cabbage, arugula and other plants to be sold at the East End NRZ’s market as a salad mix.
“These greens are harvested after only 10 to 14 days from being planted, which is extremely quick (and) they are super concentrated in nutrition,” Alvarez said.
Friday’s teleconference included several dignitaries who pledged to do everything they can to ensure High Ridge’s success in town, including Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, state Agriculture Commissioner Bryan Hurlburt, state Sen. Marilyn Moore, state Rep. Andre Baker, Mayor Joe Ganim and Edward Lavernoich of the Bridgeport Economic Development Corporation.
“I hope this project has a lasting and positive impact on your community,” Bysiewicz said. “And I hope it will become a model for other urban areas in our state to grow their own food using innovative technology and techniques.”
“This is not just a shipping container in the city,” Hurlburt said. “This is a much larger, deeper and richer project that we get to celebrate today.”
State Rep. Joe Gresko, D-Stratford, was also included, but wearing a different hat. Gresko works for Ganim continuing a mission started by former Mayor Bill Finch to turn Bridgeport from an ex-manufacturing hub into a leader in the green and environmentally sustainable economy.
It was under Finch that the East End was previously promised an urban green house on the site of the former “Mt. Trashmore” illegal dump. That project, dubbed “Boot Camp Farms” because it would hire veterans, was announced in 2013 and was also supposed to have financial backing from the state. But the developers had no prior experience in that field and the proposal never broke ground.
Alvarez, according to his online biography, “studied environmental science at Fordham University in New York City, graduated in May of 2017 (and) has worked as a private organic gardener, an aquaponic farmer, built greenhouses, maintained greenhouses and designed several custom hydroponic growing systems.”
Hurlburt said he felt confident the new project would be a success.
Alvarez “has limited experience but he knows what he’s doing. ... I know how much Joe was calling us and emailing us and how badly he wanted this grant to make it a reality. I know his heart is right where it needs to be to make it a success.”
“We’re all in this together to make sure Joe has the support he needs to be successful,” Hurlburt emphasized.
There are still important details to be finalized, including getting a site for the shipping container and additional money to cover the full, nearly $150,000 cost. Gresko said that the NRZ was negotiating to use some property and that “when the time comes” Bridgeport will “match” additional private funds Alvarez obtains.
“We’re going to keep an eye on this and troubleshoot as we go forward any issues,” Gresko said.
Alvarez said he hopes to complete construction by the fall. And the colder months are when his crops will be the most needed, said Deborah Sims, who operates the NRZ market.
“After farmer’s market season is over, we have difficulty sourcing (fresh food),” Sims said.
“Three hundred sixty five (days) we’re going to have the greens available,” said Gresko.
Baker recalled how his East End funeral home has hosted some farmer’s markets and called the High Ridge project “a long time coming.” He also told Bysiewicz he hoped similar initiatives to offer more fresh food to his constituents will follow.
“Lieutenant governor, we’re going to be leaning on you and the governor for more support,” he said. “You’re going to hear more from us.”
Ensuring Singapore's Food Security Despite the Odds
As with most issues that impact national security in Singapore, it often seems that the odds are stacked against us. Food security — access to safe and nutritious food — is a challenge on several fronts. Singapore is a small city-state with limited resources, with only 1 per cent of land available for food production, and over 90 per cent of food is imported from an increasingly disrupted world. The Covid-19 pandemic has further amplified the gravity of safeguarding food security
Image from: Reuters
As with most issues that impact national security in Singapore, it often seems that the odds are stacked against us. Food security — access to safe and nutritious food — is a challenge on several fronts.
Singapore is a small city-state with limited resources, with only 1 per cent of land available for food production, and over 90 per cent of food is imported from an increasingly disrupted world. The Covid-19 pandemic has further amplified the gravity of safeguarding food security. The city-state has been proactively planning for long-term food security through the Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) strategy of “three food baskets” — diversifying food sources, growing locally and growing overseas. This approach has served the Republic well in securing a supply of safe food.
DIVERSIFIED SOURCING IS KEY
Singapore’s food importers leverage the nation’s connectivity and the global free trade environment to import from multiple sources in about 170 countries and regions worldwide. Should there be a disruption to any one source, importers are able to tap alternative food sources and ensure supply remains stable. Lockdown measures brought about by Covid-19 underscored Singapore’s vulnerabilities to supply disruptions in food.
It was not by luck that the Republic’s food supply remained stable and market shelves continued to be promptly restocked — it was the result of a deliberate whole-of-government strategy to diversify food sources. To keep the nation’’s diversified food supply lines intact amid the Covid-19 global pandemic, SFA worked closely with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) to monitor Singapore’s food supply situation. Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, these economic agencies worked with like-minded countries to maintain open trade links.
LOCAL PRODUCTION AN IMPORTANT BUFFER
SFA drives innovation in local farms with the ambitious goal of producing 30 per cent of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030 as part of our “30 by 30” plan. To meet this goal, we need a holistic and long-term approach to space-planning, boosting agri-food technology and developing local agri-specialists. To facilitate and support the establishment of high-technology and productive farms in Singapore, SFA tenders out land based on qualitative criteria such as production capability, production track record, relevant experience and qualifications, innovation and sustainability.
In addition, a masterplan for the greater Lim Chu Kang (LCK) region, spanning about 390ha of land, will be undertaken in consultation with stakeholders over the next two to three years. The redeveloped LCK agri-food cluster will produce more than three times its current food production.
Building on the above efforts to grow Singapore’s high-tech agri-tech sector, SFA will continue to partner with the Economic Development Board and ESG to attract best-in-class global agri-tech companies, as well as to nurture promising homegrown agri-tech companies into local champions and help them to expand overseas.
EXPLORING ALTERNATIVE, UNDERUTILISED SPACES
Urban food solutions are expected to play a key role in global food security. While there are progressive enterprises operating out of farmlands and industrial estates, some agricultural game-changers are also taking root in unconventional areas — indoors, on rooftops and in underutilised spaces.
SFA worked with the Singapore Land Authority to introduce an urban farm at the former Henderson Secondary School site, which was transformed into Singapore’s first integrated space comprising an urban farm, childcare centre and nursing home within a state property. The farm space within the site was awarded in May 2019 to social enterprise City Sprouts, and it has become a vibrant destination for the young and old to learn about urban farming and enjoy a relaxing day out.
Citiponics, the first commercial farm located on a multi-storey car park in a residential neighbourhood, harvested its first yield of vegetables in April 2019. In September 2020, another nine sites atop multi-storey car parks were awarded for urban farming.
The successful bidders included proposals for hydroponic and vertical farming systems with a variety of innovative features, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain technology and automated climate control. These sites have the potential to collectively produce around 1,600 tonnes of vegetables annually.
Image from: Ciitiponics
TAPPING TECH
The Agriculture Productivity Fund (APF) supports local farms in their capability development and drive towards higher productivity. Through APF, SFA co-funds the adoption of farming systems to better control environmental variables, test-bed technologies and boost production capabilities. Between October 2014 and September 2020, a total of almost S$42 million has been committed to 115 farms.
The Covid-19 pandemic presented greater impetus to speed up local food production capacities. In September 2020, SFA awarded S$39.4 million to nine companies under the 30x30 Express Grant to quickly ramp up food-farm outputs over the next six months to two years. With advanced robotic and digital systems increasingly being used in farming, Singapore’s vegetables farmers have also become innovative agri-engineers and specialists in their own right.
With support from the 30x30 Express Grant, urban farming engineering solutions firm Indoor Farm Factory Innovation will set up an indoor vegetable farm with a vertical integration growth system up to 8m in height in a fully controlled and pesticide-free environment. The farm will leverage artificial intelligence farming systems integrated with IoT monitoring, dosing irrigation and an advanced environmental control system to achieve optimum growing conditions all year round.
Seng Choon, a chicken egg farm that has been in business for more than 30 years, has also proved itself a modernist in its operations. The company uses a computer that scans eggs to ascertain if they are clean; while feeding systems, temperature controls and waste cleaning systems have been automated with SFA’s support. Singapore’s efforts at ensuring food security would not be complete without support from consumers. To boost recognition of local produce among consumers, SFA brought the industry and public together to create a new “SG Fresh Produce” logo.
Farmers have been using this emblem on their packaging since August 2020. A website was also launched to provide a trove of information on locally farmed food. While the Covid-19 pandemic has led to import restrictions, it also helped to accelerate support for local produce. With public support for local farmers and other key measures, Singapore can beat the odds in ensuring food security in this ever-evolving, ever-disrupted world.
Does Vertical Farming Actually Work?
Essentially, Bowery grows greens and other veggies in a nutrient-rich tray of water, which is consistently recycled in a closed-loop system
Feb. 03, 2021
In the outskirts of Newark, New Jersey, tucked between a packaging manufacturer and an aquatics center lies a farm. Except, if you're driving down the nearby highway you probably wouldn't be able to tell that this particular farm is churning out thousands of pounds of greens each year. In fact, all you'll see is a bunch of buildings, because this is a vertical farming operation called AeroFarms, which grows all their food in a warehouse. Like the owners of AeroFarms, tech enthusiasts across the world have embraced the dream of vertical farming, exclaiming that their operations are the answer to feeding a growing global population, combating climate change, and eradicating food deserts.
The many-shelved farming operation that is AeroFarms is just one of many companies that use vertical space to grow vegetables. What sets AeroFarms apart, however, is that it grows in a fine mist filled with nutrients instead of a typical growing environment like Rockwool and nutrient-rich water. But AeroFarms is an outlier in the vertical farming space. The typical vertical farm looks a lot more like that at Bowery, a company that uses a more traditional hydroponics system to grow their produce.
Essentially, Bowery grows greens and other veggies in a nutrient-rich tray of water, which is consistently recycled in a closed-loop system. This system is then replicated en masse and expanded not horizontally, but vertically to maximize space. But because all these plants are stacked on top of each other, access to light becomes a big obstacle, which means that each shelf is equipped with LED lights to act as artificial sunlight. Some operations like Plenty go even further by shining only the beneficial colors in the light spectrum for growth. While some of these large-scale vertical farms can quickly become laden with advanced technologies like robotic arms and AI monitoring systems, at their most basic, vertical farms use a combination of artificial sunlight and vertical space to maximize the amount of yield per acre. These food factories seem promising, but they also seem like a lot of work. So why are people so excited about them? For that answer and a deeper behind-the-scenes look at vertical farming, make sure to check out the video above.
Our Changing Climate is an environmental YouTube channel that explores the intersections of social, political, climatic, and food-based issues. The channel dives into topics like zero waste and nuclear energy in order to understand how to effectively tackle climate change and environmental destruction.
Columbia Vertical Farm Uses Technology To Cut Plastic Pollution And Boost Sustainability
The new packaging comes at no extra cost to the customer and will be cheaper in the long-run for Vertical Roots
Vertical Roots is the largest hydroponic container farm in the country. They grow and package lettuce varieties and have recently implemented a packaging process that reduces plastic with a resealable film. TRACY GLANTZ TGLANTZ@THESTATE.COM
With the use of agricultural technology, Vertical Roots farm in West Columbia created a packaging system for its leafy greens that cut down the company’s plastic usage by 30% and extends the shelf life of the lettuce.
In 2015, high school friends Andrew Hare and Matt Daniels created the idea for Vertical Roots, now the largest hydroponic container farm in the country. Hare is the general manager of the company and Daniels acts as the chief horticulturist.
The first Vertical Roots opened in Charleston and expanded with its second farm site in West Columbia in 2019. Vertical Roots parent company, AmplifiedAg, manufactures the container farms and farm technology of which Vertical Roots operates.
The farms are part of a growing industry called controlled environmental agriculture (CEA) that uses technology to ramp up nutrient-rich food production year around.
Hydroponics helps the farm uses 98% less water than traditional farming, according to Hare. Their technology creates an indoor environment to grow lettuce on the East Coast. Most lettuce in the U.S. comes from California and Arizona, where temperatures do not fluctuate much throughout the year, travelling 2,000 miles from farm to table. Vertical Roots offers a solution for local lettuce.
“Our mission is to revolutionize the way communities grow, distribute and consume food,” said Hare. As populations grow, Hare said the ability to produce enough food is a global concern.
VERTICAL ROOTS AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION
As a company committed to sustainability, Vertical Roots had to address its plastic usage and the consumer demand for environmentally friendly products.
“I think everyone can agree that the amount of plastic that’s consumed and used globally is a bit of a problem,” said Hare.
If Vertical Roots were to completely opt-out of using plastics, as much as 40% of the lettuce would be damaged in transportation to the retailers, Hare said. So the company decided to still use plastic containers in order to cut out food waste, but it changed the amount and type of plastic used.
By replacing the conventional “clamshell” plastic lids that you see on a container of lettuce at the grocery store, Vertical Roots cut down more than 30% of plastic usage by creating a resealable film lid. The new packaging comes at no extra cost to the customer and will be cheaper in the long-run for Vertical Roots, according to Hare.
The farm also uses recycled plastic that can also be recycled again after use. Tiny perforations in the film lid of the packaging allow air to leave the lettuce container and extends the product’s freshness, making Vertical Roots lettuce last around 14 days on the shelf.
“We tested respiration and condensation with each lettuce variety, and ultimately found that we could extend the freshness and shelf life of our salad mixes even more,” said Hare.
Vertical Roots, at the S.C. Farmer’s Market, is the largest hydroponic container farm in the country. They grow and package lettuce varieties. Tracy Glantz TGLANTZ@THESTATE.COM
GROWTH IN THE AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY
In the first three quarters of 2020, a record $754 million of venture capital was invested in the vertical farming industry, according to PitchBook data. This was a 34% increase from the entire previous year, Bloomberg reported in a January article.
A 2019 report from Global Market Insights showed that the vertical farming market size, or the number of potential customers or unit sales, surpassed $3 billion in 2018 and said it, “will exhibit a massive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 27% from 2019 to 2026.”
In vertical farms, crops are harvested on several vertical layers indoors, where farmers can grow year-round by controlling light, temperature, water and other factors, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Vertical agriculture is also seen as a growing industry because it “could help increase food production and expand agricultural operations as the world’s population is projected to exceed 9 billion by 2050,” according to the USDA.
However, some are skeptical about the future of vertical farming for several reasons. The farms use LED light bulbs to grow crops, which require a lot of energy and money to operate.
Also, the farms mostly produce greens, which are low in calories because they take less water and light. The new farming technology is marketed as a way to combat world hunger, but in poorer countries, low-calorie greens are not as beneficial, according to Bloomberg.
THE FUTURE OF VERTICAL ROOTS
Despite a tough year due to COVID-19, Vertical Roots will open two more indoor, container farms in Georgia and Florida in 2021.
The company lost revenue from foodservice customers like restaurants, schools and universities during the pandemic, said Hare.
Those food service customers accounted for about half of Vertical Roots’ business, Hare said. Grocery store business stayed steady and even grew during the pandemic. As schools and restaurants are slowly reopening, Vertical Roots is gaining business back.
The West Columbia farm location produces about $1.5 million pounds of produce per year, said Hare. Vertical Roots lettuce is in 1,200 different grocery stores in 11 states, including Lowes Foods stores, Publix, Harris Teeter and Whole Foods Market chains.
Hare said the company is constantly working on sustainable initiatives, including figuring out a way to reduce light energy consumption by 20-25%, thinking about compostable packaging systems and finding ways to use less water at the farms.
In the future, Vertical Roots hopes to offer a larger variety of produce. The team is experimenting with growing foods like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, herbs and mushrooms to see if they could be viable products.
At 25,000 square feet, the world's first indoor vertical farm is also one of the largest farms. Located 120 miles south of Seoul, South Korea, fruits and vegetables grow without soil, bathed in light from pink LEDs. BY META VIERS
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Vertical Roots, at the S.C. Farmer’s Market, is the largest hydroponic container farm in the country. They grow and package lettuce varieties. TRACY GLANTZ TGLANTZ@THESTATE.COM
Our Best Chance To Stop Vilsack From Leading USDA!
While serving as USDA Secretary under President Obama, Mr. Vilsack supported chemically-dependent industrial agriculture that resulted in millions more pounds of pesticides released into the environment, contaminating our water and soils and harming human health and wildlife
President Joe Biden has nominated former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to return as head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This would be a huge step backwards in our urgent need to support agricultural systems that mitigate the ongoing climate crisis while protecting public health and the environment. But the Senate hasn’t confirmed Vilsack for the role yet, so we still have a chance to stop this regressive appointment by writing our senators.
Tell Biden’s transition team: Oppose Tom Vilsack as USDA Secretary!
While serving as USDA Secretary under President Obama, Mr. Vilsack supported chemically-dependent industrial agriculture that resulted in millions more pounds of pesticides released into the environment, contaminating our water and soils and harming human health and wildlife.
The beef industry supports Vilsack’s nomination and it’s easy to see why. Vilsack put meatpacking profits over worker and food safety when he implemented a new poultry inspection system that led to plants running faster line speeds with fewer independent inspectors. The last time he took on this role, the meat industry grew larger and more concentrated, further exacerbating the climate crisis. We can’t afford to make the same mistake in 2021.
Help us ensure USDA moves forwards, not backwards!
We know that “bigger IS NOT better” when it comes to agriculture! We can grow more food with fewer chemicals by investing in small and medium-sized, diversified farms.
That won’t happen with Vilsack — an avid supporter of the expansion of genetically engineered crops, the majority of which are designed for one purpose: to withstand being sprayed with more pesticides. In fact, Vilsack is such an aggressive supporter of genetic engineering, the Biotechnology Industry Organization named him Governor of the Year twice.
Vilsack’s appointment would also continue the “revolving door” relationship between chemical industry employees and government officials. Since leaving USDA, Vilsack has represented corporate dairies and other major food corporations. To avoid conflict of interest, we cannot continue to put executives of mega-corporations in top government positions — especially when those mega-corporations are also mega-polluters.
We don’t need to wait and see what Vilsack will do as USDA Secretary. We already know. He had eight years to put farmers, workers, and the environment ahead of food industry profits, but he chose not to.
In the midst of our climate crisis, we need a USDA Secretary who will make U.S. agriculture sustainable and resilient. That’s not Tom Vilsack.
Tell Biden’s transition team: Vilsack
is not what our country needs right now!
Thank you for everything you do,
Jaydee Hanson
Policy Director
Center for Food Safety
CANADA: Company To Set Up Indoor Vertical Farm In Red Deer
A new era of farming is on its way to central Alberta. Foundation Farms Corporation, a subsidiary of GME Innotainment will be building an indoor vertical farm at a warehouse in Red Deer this year
Jan. 27, 2021
Foundation Farms Corp will be building its first indoor vertical farm in Alberta in the coming months. (Screenshot, Foundation Farms Corp website)
A new era of farming is on its way to central Alberta.
Foundation Farms Corporation, a subsidiary of GME Innotainment will be building an indoor vertical farm at a warehouse in Red Deer this year.
In a press release, the company said they hope to see the farm go into production in the second half of 2021. They are leasing 2,000 square feet of a 15,000 square foot warehouse to build the farm.
They said plans include manufacturing and assembly of future vertical farm units. It will also provide regional product sales and distribution headquarters for the company’s products.
“We have an ambitious growth plan that includes the deployment of numerous vertical farms throughout North America,” said Ed Kroeker, CEO of Foundation Farms.
“We are also assembling plans for additional innovative agriculture ventures that continue the theme of sustainability and local sourcing of food products for today’s consumers. The ability to establish our E-ROOTS vertical farm alongside our new manufacturing and assembly plant provides the opportunity to leapfrog our growth.”
The E-ROOTS system that they use incorporates hydrodynamic and ultrasonic cavitation equipment as the core technology, along with air injection to enhance crop production through natural root stimulation
The process is designed to create a supersaturated oxygen condition for the water-based nutrient solution that is fed to the plants. No chemicals are used in the process.
According to the Foundation Farms Corp. website, they grow herbs, leafy greens, microgreens, and edible flowers. Foundation Farms claims that their plants are 30 percent more productive than traditional soil-based growing, that they grow three times faster and use 95 percent less water.
They also say their model is more direct to the consumer than the traditional model.
“While the current socio-economic situation throughout North America and indeed most of the world has devastated many business sectors, the demand for sustainable and localized food production has never been greater than it is today,” said Yves R. Michel, GMEV CEO.
WayBeyond Appoints Head of Industry Transformation to Drive Sustainability Agenda
“…ensuring we deliver on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and formalizing and extending the work we have been doing on industry education, connecting the eco-system and our own graduate and internship program,” says CEO & Founder Darryn Keiller.
WayBeyond’s vision is to transform the agricultural industry. This is a declaration of intent and to give this intent focus and leadership, Kylie Horomia has been appointed into a new role as Head of Industry Transformation. Ms. Horomia holds a Masters in International Communications, 20 years in communications and almost 10 years in the Horticulture industry, most notably with T&G Global and recently with Autogrow where she was Head of Brand & Communications.
“Kylie is a passionate and respected communications specialist and industry advocate, who has provided the next level of thinking around our story and will begin working on our long-term global sustainability strategy. This includes ensuring we deliver on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and formalizing and extending the work we have been doing on industry education, connecting the eco-system and our own graduate and internship program,” says CEO & Founder Darryn Keiller.
The key to the transformation of anything is the transformation from the inside. In the context of agtech, this means ushering in a new generation of farmers, scientists, and technologists. Addressing Zero Hunger (including reduction of waste), Clean Water & Sanitation, Sustainable Cities, and the evolution of Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; will take creativity and collaboration.
“With our WayBeyond team based in New Zealand, the Netherlands, and United States and employees from 15 cultures; we celebrate our diversity, which critically includes the diversity of thinking required to solve the world’s greatest food production challenges," explains Mr. Keiller.
Ms. Horomia is also on the Executive Board of the NZ Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators and worked to develop the Global CEA Census alongside New York-based industry partner Agritecture Consulting.
“I’m very excited about this new opportunity. AgTech is an amazingly fast-paced industry to be in and the work we are doing to grow food sustainably using science and technology is something of which I am incredibly proud. I will continue to promote the inclusion of STEM disciplines to reduce food waste, increase the efficiency of natural resources, and make a positive impact on growers, the environment and communities we operate within,” says Ms Horomia.
Ms Horomia will take up the role effective immediately.
To learn more about WayBeyond and follow Kylie’s transformation of the brand, please go to www.waybeyond.io
For further information, interviews and images, please contact
Kathy Cunningham
(e) kathy@empirepr.co.nz
(m) +6421 743 378
About WayBeyond
The WayBeyond Vision is to transform the agricultural industry to produce food sustainably for everyone on the planet.
The Mission is to break boundaries to explore new ways of farming so our solutions benefit every farm in the world (and beyond). This includes sharing knowledge and expertise with data, artificial intelligence, and plant science to transform the way growers farm. www.waybeyond.io
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!
Liberty Produce & Writtle University College Launch Webinar Series On The Transformation of Agriculture And Its Workforce For A Sustainable Future
Writtle University College (WUC) in Essex and Liberty Produce launch their highly anticipated public webinar series on January 27th 2021.
18th January 2021
London & Essex, UK
Writtle University College (WUC) in Essex and Liberty Produce launch their highly anticipated public webinar series on January 27th 2021. The online events will consider major issues facing the horticulture and agriculture sectors based around a key theme of ‘Transforming Agriculture and its Workforce for a Sustainable Future.’
Each of the webinars will feature a range of prominent industry figures and will welcome all viewers with an interest in sustainable production. All online events will be free-of-charge, in line with WUC and Liberty Produce’s ongoing commitment to education and knowledge-sharing. This webinar series is being supported by EIRA, a collaborative project funded by Research England that connects businesses in the East of England with academic expertise, specialist facilities and funding opportunities.
Dr Anya Perera, WUC’s Head of School for Sustainable Environments & Design, said: “We are proud to be working in collaboration with Liberty Produce and EIRA. Our three introductory webinars will focus on challenges faced by growers at a national and international level. We are delighted by the positive response from key members of the sector and look forward to sharing vital topics with our expert panellists.”
Benita Rajania, Product Director at Liberty Produce, said: “We are delighted to be teaming with WUC to bring together stakeholders from across our community for this new webinar series. Collaboration is a vital component in tackling the challenges our sector is facing, and we look forward to meeting virtually with our colleagues from across industry and academia to discuss latest developments, share knowledge and strengthen relationships at an industry level.”
Topics include: the modernisation of agriculture through technological advancement; examining food production systems and identifying skills gaps; how to create a fit-for-purpose workforce in a sustainable economy.
Each subject will be discussed by an expert panel, featuring guests including Dr Susan McCallum from the James Hutton Institute and Belinda Clarke, Director of Agri-TechE.
Since its foundation in 2018, Liberty Produce has been dedicated to the development of sustainable agricultural practices. The farming technology company was created in response to the global food security crisis. Liberty Produce develops leading-edge technology that enables the growth of local produce year-round, using fully-controlled indoor vertical farming systems.
WUC recently became the first UK university to offer degrees in regenerative agriculture. WUC been teaching land-based courses since 1893 and, in 2020, was ranked top university-sector institution in England for overall student satisfaction by the National Student Survey. Its small class sizes and specialist courses offer students a personalised approach that combines practical skills with cutting-edge theory.
2021’s webinar series reflects WUC and Liberty Produces’ collective dedication to the creation of long-term sustainable food production at a time of climate crisis and the disruption of global supply chains.
Click the links below to book your free webinar place:
January 27th: The modernisation of agriculture through technological advancement
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6675999720069964303
February 24th: Examining food production systems and identifying skills gaps
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7622331785910917132
March 24th: How to create a fit-for-purpose workforce in a sustainable economy
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8843380130486408204
About Liberty Produce
Liberty Produce is a farming technology company founded in 2018 to drive innovations that will enable us to meet our global crop requirements over the next century, without harming the planet. As experts in the development of technology (from advanced lighting systems to machine learning for integrated control systems) for the breadth of indoor agriculture (from glasshouses to Totally Controlled Environment Agriculture systems), Liberty delivers research and products that consistently push boundaries. Liberty Produce develops and builds systems that reduce operational costs with enhanced resource efficiency, improve yields and increase sustainability for greater food security through the growth of local produce year-round. www.liberty-produce.com
Further images available here.
Media enquiries: Claire Apthorp media@liberty-produce.com +44 (0) 7920403068
General enquiries: info@liberty-produce.com; +44 (0)20 7193 2933
About Writtle University College (WUC)
Writtle University College (WUC) has been at the forefront of the agrifood sector since 1893. In 2020, it was named the highest rated university-sector institution in England for student satisfaction by the National Student Survey, also receiving 100% satisfaction for its horticulture course. Industry-focused programmes offer the skills, expert theory and qualifications required to enter a fast-moving sector. WUC recently launched a degree in regenerative agriculture, which is the first of its kind in the UK. https://writtle.ac.uk/
Media enquires: Sara Cork press@writtle.ac.uk
About EIRA
EIRA is a collaborative project between seven universities and colleges in the East of England. Driving economic growth in the region, EIRA connects businesses with academic expertise, consultancy, facilities and funding opportunities. Led by the University of Essex, EIRA is also supported by the University of East Anglia and the University of Kent. Backed by £4.7 million of Research England’s Connecting Capability Fund, EIRA delivers activities across three themes: digital creative, artificial intelligence and biotechnology. EIRA has opportunities to work with businesses of all sizes through Innovation Vouchers, Research and Development Grants, i-Teams, Hothouse events, Start-up Microfinance and Innovation Internships. eira.ac.uk
General enquiries: eira@essex.ac.uk
Twitter: @EIRA_eARC
Indoor Farming Industry Gets Boost From COVID-19
Leading indoor farming companies, like BrightFarms, offer hydroponically grown, “cleaner than organic” packaged salads that results in a higher-quality product that consumers can trust
By Steve Bradley
The coronavirus pandemic has caused a major shift in dining out and led many Americans to become more familiar with their kitchens than ever before. In fact, according to the 2020 “America Gets Cooking” report commissioned annually by Hunter, a food and beverage public relations and marketing communications consultant, more than half (54 percent) of Americans report they are cooking more during the pandemic.
Thirty-nine percent said in a survey they are trying to eat healthier, with many saying they are becoming adventurous in the kitchen, trying new ingredients, brands, and products. Salads and vegetables are two of the top five food items survey respondents say they are preparing more.
This presents a tremendous opportunity for grocers to meet this demand for preparing meals at home, as well as a growing desire to maintain a healthy diet during the pandemic to assist in fighting off the unwanted pounds associated with staying at home.
Fresh produce can play a key role in eating healthy but is not something that can easily be ordered through an online retailer like non-perishable goods. Shoppers like to hold and visually inspect produce for freshness, firmness, crispness, color, and other desirable characteristics.
In short, fresh produce is a primary driver of traffic into grocery stores.
Additionally, consumers also want to know that what they are buying can be trusted. Salmonella, E-coli and other pathogens have unfortunately made their way into our fresh produce supply, causing massive recalls, illnesses, and even deaths. Consumers want to know they are buying a safe product and – increasingly – want to know more about where it came from and how it was grown. Words like “organic,” “non-GMO” and “locally sourced,” have become part of everyday language for many Americans.
Leading indoor farming companies, like BrightFarms, offer hydroponically grown, “cleaner than organic” packaged salads that results in a higher-quality product that consumers can trust. Even produce labeled “organic” has likely been treated with chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides. This also means the consumption of water, land, and costs associated with shipping produce are dramatically reduced. Additionally, locally grown means the quality is preserved through a much shorter shipping process, while also relying on less fuel due to shorter travels to market.
Controlled-environment agriculture ensures produce is not subjected to the whims of nature, such as drought, excessive rain, or other weather patterns.
In many ways, the BrightFarms’ model of bringing local produce around the U.S. into commercial stores has the potential to disrupt the multi-billion-dollar leafy greens industry. Few people could have likely imagined 10 years ago that hailing a taxicab would no longer be the “go to” for getting around town. Similarly, corporations, with the ability to look around corners and see the future, are re-imagining how consumers get high-quality local produce onto dining room tables.
We need to feed a growing population in a more efficient way – not tied to any one certain geographic area. Investments in cleantech-focused on resource efficiency, resiliency, and adaptation. Local, sustainable, controlled environment produce consumers can trust gives us that opportunity.
We believe it is possible to make the world a better place – building a better future for the next generation – while also growing business and creating jobs.
Steve Bradley serves as vice president of Cox Cleantech at Cox Enterprises, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia.
New Technology To Speed Discovery of Sustainable Crop Solutions For Farmers
Terramera announced the launch of six custom, state-of-the-art plant growth chambers. Many crop protection products fail in the field because labs and greenhouses do not accurately replicate real-world conditions
Terramera announced the launch of six custom, state-of-the-art plant growth chambers. Many crop protection products fail in the field because labs and greenhouses do not accurately replicate real-world conditions. Each chamber offers precise control over temperature (ranging from 5 to 40 degrees Celsius), humidity, and light to simulate many possible field conditions, from cool nights and morning mists to desert and subtropical conditions, and will be outfitted with a Terramera-built automation system for end-to-end integration.
Automation will enable experiments to run entirely without human intervention including watering, spraying, nutrient dosing, and imaging of the plants throughout their lifecycle, dramatically accelerating data collection for product performance and increasing accuracy with Terramera’s industry-leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) platform.
“Customized growth chambers allow us to simulate weather to study disease and insect infestations with integrated treatment and imaging systems in one automated system -- replicated six times for parallel studies,” said Annett Rozek, Terramera Chief Scientific Officer. “This is as close as we can get to real-world conditions in a research environment and will deliver solutions as rapidly and efficiently as possible.”
The new growth chambers bring Terramera’s total to 12 and are part of a larger technological scale-up for the company, which also brought a new liquid handling robot on board. Terramera’s own machine learning (ML) model named the robot, “Enzing,” which is integrated into Terramera’s fully automated in-vitro screening and data analysis pipeline. The robot has already enabled Terramera’s largest in-vitro screening project yet, testing the company’s Actigate library against numerous plant disease pathogens.
“This marks an exciting milestone for Terramera and a step-change in the industry by adding a new, essential capacity,” said Karn Manhas, Terramera Founder, and CEO. “Simulated environment studies are the missing link between controlled environments like the lab or greenhouse and field trials since many products fail because lab and greenhouse conditions are too different from the outside world on a farm. This technology increases our throughput, allowing us to predict outcomes more accurately, allowing us to quickly scale our knowledge and technologies to make farming healthier, more sustainable and productive while turning back the clock on climate change.”
For more information:
Terramera
www.terramera.com
4 Dec 2020
America Is Hungrier Than Ever For Sustainable Food Systems. Can We Build Them?
In the spring of 2020, many small farms across the U.S. found themselves in a bittersweet predicament. Restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus were forcing restaurants — major buyers for the local farms that serve urban areas — to shut down
November 2, 2020
In the spring of 2020, many small farms across the U.S. found themselves in a bittersweet predicament. Restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus were forcing restaurants — major buyers for the local farms that serve urban areas — to shut down. The loss of these key customers might have wiped out many of these local growers, if not for another COVID-19-induced phenomenon: individual shoppers started calling — and calling — and calling.
"The farms we work with are seeing a huge spike in demand [for direct sales]," Dan Miller, CEO, and founder of the crowdfunding platform Steward, told me when we spoke by phone in early April. "But now they have to quickly switch their businesses to meet that demand." So Miller, who launched the platform in the fall of 2019 to provide funding to small, sustainably run farms — operations often underserved by traditional finance — soon found himself expanding Steward’s services to help these same farmers shift their business model.
Stories of small farms pivoting their operations on a dime were easy to find in the early months of the pandemic: these farmers worked overtime to meet customer demand, added services such as online ordering and home delivery, and jumped into action to prop up community food banks struggling to serve an influx of the newly unemployed. Compared to the industrialized and supersized food system most Americans live with — represented by rivers of wasted milk and COVID-19 outbreaks at meat-packing plants that killed more than 200 people — these distributed systems looked healthier, safer, and more environmentally sustainable than ever. They also looked more agile and resilient.
Crises often present an opportunity to reimagine current systems, so I wondered: Would that happen here, with food? Would the food consumption trends driven by the pandemic wind up as a paragraph in the history books — like the "victory gardens" of World War II — or could it lead to lasting change? And how do we transform this moment of crisis into a more resilient, sustainable, healthy, and just food system?
Crises often present an opportunity to reimagine current systems.
At GreenBiz Group’s virtual clean economy conference, VERGE 20, last week, speakers and participants addressed questions such as these, discussed how to make sure that these changes stick and identified what challenges stand in the way. During a session delving into lessons from the pandemic, panelists agreed that the No. 1 barrier to changing the current food system is financing.
"The financial services that are out there … are really not calibrated for the moment we’re in," said Janie Hipp, CEO of the Native American Agriculture Fund. "If we’re going to actually build an agile and resilient system going forward, then we have to invest in it."
One example of the financial challenges sustainable farms face comes in the form of crop insurance. If a farmer wants to transition a farm from conventional practices to organic or regenerative ones, costs are associated with that transition. However, insurance policies typically do not cover them, so the farmer is forced to take on the extra up-front costs and risk. The same holds true for traditional agriculture financing, developed for conventional farming. Loans are typically underwritten based on the equipment, inputs, volume, prices, and insurance coverage of conventional growers. These factors are different for organic and regenerative farmers, so the numbers often don’t work, resulting in loans being denied or unaffordable.
This increased access to capital could help scale the market, which hopefully would bring down the cost and make this more nutritious food more widely available, said Matthew Walker, managing director at S2G Ventures, a food systems-focused venture fund and mission investor.
"There’s a lot of work to be done to provide affordable nutrition … and allow those who are seeking to grow organic, or use any tech-enabled process that might be better for soil health, better for nutrition, to at least get started," he said.
This increased access to capital could help scale the market.
Making healthy food available in disadvantaged neighborhoods, where affordable, fresh vegetables are hard to come by, is the mission of the Green Bronx Machine, but founder Stephen Ritz — a VERGE keynote speaker — didn’t wait for systems change. Established in 2012, the program uses hydroponic and vertical farming technology at its indoor teaching farm at a South Bronx school, where kids learn how to grow and cook vegetables themselves.
Each week throughout the school year, the kids take home bags of groceries to their families. Green Bronx Machine also operates a "food for others" outdoor garden and summer youth employment program in the Bronx, which serves food-insecure families in the community. And it has various other partnerships and serves as a model for schools in other districts, including a program in more than 60 Chicago schools, sponsored by the foundation of Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, who joined Ritz on VERGE’s Building a Better Food System for America’s Cities panel.
Like the farmers who work with Steward, the Green Bronx Machine’s student farmers pivoted when the pandemic hit, Ritz said in his keynote.
"As COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill, it became the ultimate manifestation of three larger illnesses: racism; greed; and corruption," Ritz said. "And we found new ways to secure and distribute food to those who needed it most."
This has included providing weekly grocery delivery for 26 food-insecure patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, who are recovering from cancer, and for 55 of the most vulnerable families in the Bronx, across a 26-mile route that includes walk-up buildings.
"The truth is children want to be part of the conversation. The truth is children don’t let differences divide them. The truth is children are smarter than you think," Ritz said.
As COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill, it became the ultimate manifestation of three larger illnesses: racism; greed; and corruption.
When New York was the epicenter of the pandemic — a place whereby May, the virus had killed more than 20,000 people, primarily in underprivileged neighborhoods such as the South Bronx — food grown by a bunch of kids was delivered to families who may not have eaten otherwise.
The Green Bronx Machine joined community farms, urban farms, and small family farms in offering a lifeline to their communities. They proved themselves resilient in a crisis, and their numbers are growing, but they remain a teeny, tiny part of the gargantuan American food system.
In 2017, there were 16,585 certified organic farms, a 17 percent increase from just a year earlier, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service’s latest Organic Survey, released this month. These farms accounted for 5.5 million certified organic acres, an increase of 9 percent over 2016.
This impressive growth marks the continuation of a decade-long trend. And yet, certified organic acres still represent less than 1 percent of the total 911 million acres of American farmland. (Although I should add that the survey’s three-year lag does not provide an up-to-date picture, and farms that use organic or regenerative practices but have not been certified don’t get counted.)
The main challenges for these farms is getting the infrastructure and operational capacity in place to support a growing customer base.
Curious to see whether the direct sales demand Steward’s farmers saw in the spring was continuing to hold, I checked back in with Miller. By email, he told me that demand had held and offered an example from Fisheye Farms, an urban farm in Detroit. Fisheye, he reported, already has sold out their entire winter CSA and is fielding inquiries for spring. CSA stands for "community-supported agriculture," a system where customers buy "a share" of the farm. They pay a fixed rate to receive regular boxes of whatever’s in season. Every other week, from November through February, members of Fisheye’s winter CSA will receive spinach, kale, carrots, turnips, radishes, microgreens, and more. The cost is $300, or about $38 a week.
"The main challenges for these farms is getting the infrastructure and operational capacity in place to support a growing customer base," Miller said in his email. "Even the farmers with the most demand still need capital to run better, as they can’t finance everything they need just on cash flow."
In other words, to replicate and scale what these farms do, and build distributed food systems that are resilient, sustainable, healthy, and just, will take time, cooperation, and a lot of green.
Lead photo: by Oleg Demakov on Unsplash.
UNITED KINGDOM: Whole Foods Joins List of Infarm Customers
As part of its continued UK expansion, the Berlin-based company will install its modular vertical farming units in two of the retailer’s London stores – High Street Kensington and Fulham – so shoppers can buy fresh produce that has been grown in store
E KNOWLES
15th October 2020, London
The Berlin-Based Urban Farming Specialist
Continues Its Meteoric Rise
With The Addition of One of London's Leading Retailers
Whole Foods Market customers in the UK will soon be able to purchase a range of fresh produce grown by Infarm, which claims to be the world’s fastest-growing urban farming network.
As part of its continued UK expansion, the Berlin-based company will install its modular vertical farming units in two of the retailer’s London stores – High Street Kensington and Fulham – so shoppers can buy fresh produce that has been grown in-store.
Infarm produce will also appear in Whole Foods Market stores in the capital at Piccadilly Circus, Stoke Newington, Richmond, Clapham Junction, and Camden at the end of October and during November.
These stores will be supplied with produce from a local Infarm growing centre in Tottenham, the company said, providing flexible supply as and when required.
For Whole Foods Market shoppers, the Infarm range will include herbs such as coriander, parsley, basil, mint, dill, and Thai basil, as well as a number of different fresh lettuce varieties.
“The partnership between Infarm and Whole Foods Market aims to satisfy increasing consumer demand for sustainably grown products with a smaller environmental footprint, helping customers to both make healthy choices and reduce their food waste,” said a spokesperson for Infarm.
Growing and Growing
The company recently raised US$170m in series C funding, further boosting an expansion strategy that has seen it land retail partnerships in the UK, US, Canada, France, and Germany. Fruitnet understands it will soon be making its market debut in Japan.
The expansion comes as retailers look to find innovative ways to combat climate change. “Infarm units use 95 percent less water and 90 percent less transport than traditional agriculture, as well as 75 percent less fertiliser and no pesticides,” the spokesperson added.
The first harvest from Whole Foods Market Kensington is scheduled for 19 November.
Daniel Kats, vice-president of corporate sales at Infarm, commented: “Whole Foods Market felt like a perfect fit for Infarm. Its commitment to providing customers with vibrant, sustainable food aligns with our goal of growing produce locally and, in the process, substantially reducing food waste and the environmental impact of what we consume. We hope that in installing our modular farms in Kensington and Fulham, we can help to educate shoppers about the future of food.”
Jade Hoai, director of purchasing and operations at Whole Foods Market, said: “We are excited to partner with Infarm to offer a truly hyper-local selection of greens and herbs across all of our London stores. Whole Foods Market customers can expect to find fresh, unique herbs from Infarm’s vertical growing units like Boudreaux purple basil, that are grown locally, have no pesticides, and use a fraction of the traditional resources required to grow. We are excited about this relationship for its joint commitment to environmental stewardship and for the delicious, nutritious meals our customers will be crafting at home.”
Super Local
Founded in Berlin in 2013 by Osnat Michaeli and the brothers Erez and Guy Galonska, Infarm is dedicated to creating a future where local super fresh produce is available for everyone. The farms are placed in various locations in the city, like supermarkets, restaurants, and distribution centres, so that vegetables grow and are harvested close to the moment of purchase or consumption.
Infarm farmers visit the store after each growth cycle to add new seedlings to the farm. According to the company, the plants retain their roots post-harvest to maintain exceptional flavour and freshness, meaning they’re still alive when harvested.
“These controlled, growing environments are connected to a central cloud-based farm-brain which gathers more than 50,000 data points through a plant’s lifetime, allowing the platform to learn, adapt and improve itself constantly so that every plant grows better than the one before,” it adds.
“This modular, data-driven, and distributed approach — a combination of big data, IoT, and cloud analytics, in addition to rapid growth at a global scale — sets Infarm apart from any other urban, farming solution.”
During last week’s FPJLive conference organised by the Fresh Produce Journal, Infarm’s UK operations director Jeremy Byfleet confirmed the company was investigating the possibility of expanding its product offer beyond leafy salad vegetables and herbs to include a number of other fresh fruit and vegetables.
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Running A For-Profit Business With A Not-For-Profit Mission
Vertical Harvest is using controlled environment agriculture to give people with disabilities the opportunity to improve their livelihoods along with the sustainability and economies of their communities
Vertical Harvest is using controlled environment agriculture to give people with disabilities the opportunity to improve their livelihoods along with the sustainability and economies of their communities.
Jackson, Wyo., might not be the first place you think of when it comes to innovation in controlled environment agriculture. Vertical Harvest, which began operating in 2016, produces leafy greens, tomatoes, and microgreens in a 13,500-square-foot vertical greenhouse.
“From the beginning, Vertical Harvest set out to create a model that could leverage the greatest impact in communities,” said Nona Yehia, co-founder and CEO. “We are a model that is setting forth to cultivate healthy people, communities, and economies. It is through that understanding that all those things are linked to create sustainable communities. We know that successful communities are sustainable communities.”
Yehia said Vertical Harvest was born out of two critical needs in her community.
Nona Yehia, co-founder and CEO at Vertical Harvest, said her company is a model that aims
to cultivate healthy people, communities, and economies. Photos courtesy of Vertical Harvest
“Number one was that we import the vast majority of food that we eat,” she said. “By the time it arrives, it’s not that great to eat. Number two is that Jackson is a burgeoning local community, but it has never been a place that has been known to build careers. People come here to ski and party and then they leave. Business owners were having a really hard time keeping consistent employees, making it really hard to run a business.”
Creating a diverse, inclusive, and profitable workplace
One of the things most unique and innovative about Vertical Harvest is the workforce it employs.
“What was really important to me and to company co-founder Caroline Croft Estay was that Vertical Harvest would provide a place where underemployed populations could feel that they were contributing in a profitable environment,” Yehia said. “By employing people with physical and intellectual disabilities we were exposing peoples’ abilities rather than focusing on their disabilities. We were creating an employment bank that was actually beneficial to the bottom line. This was a big part of why we wanted to be a for-profit organization as well.”
From the beginning, Vertical Harvest was set up as a L3C or a benefit corporate model.
By employing people with physical and intellectual disabilities, Vertical Harvest has developed a workforce that is beneficial to the company’s bottom line.
“We wanted Vertical Harvest to be a scalable, replicable model that doesn’t have to be supported by a charitable or philanthropic organization,” Yehia said. “We wanted it to be a model that could be a part of the civic infrastructure and could perpetuate its own growth. The scalability and replicability of Vertical Harvest was why we chose the L3C model.”
Croft Estay was an employment facilitator trying to find consistent, meaningful work for her clients with physical and intellectual disabilities.
“These were people who grew up in the community, who wanted to contribute to their community and wanted to find consistent meaningful work,” Yehia said. “This is where we put food and jobs together in this vertical capacity. From the beginning, we were targeting a common problem that businesses undergo in our community.
“Right from the outset, other business owners were saying they were having this problem and they saw that Vertical Harvest was not. They asked us to help them. There is not only support for the individuals with disabilities, but there is support for the whole employee team to create a diverse inclusive workplace. The most valuable thing that we have built out of this commitment is our culture. We all know that businesses live or die on the quality of the culture that they have built. It is one of the most amazing things that we have built through this commitment to diversity and inclusion.”
Vertical Harvest, which initially built a 13,500-square-foot vertical greenhouse (shown) to
produce leafy greens, tomatoes and microgreens, is planning to expand with a 50,000-square-
foot prototype.
Developing a premium brand
Arik Griffin, who is Vertical Harvest’s chief financial officer, said one of the things the company has discovered is that part of the power of Vertical Harvest’s brand is the humanitarian good it is doing.
“People want to support us and buy our products,” Griffin said. “The restaurants and grocery stores like us for our quality and for the humanitarian message that they can get behind as do the consumers in the market place. People love our quality and they love our message. That translates into a brand premium.”
Yehia said it also helps that more people want to know where their food is coming from.
“Everybody has someone they know or a family who has a disability and the struggles that person goes through,” she said. “The reason that I am so passionate about this project is because I have a brother with a disability. At a very young age I realized he wasn’t going to have the same opportunities that I was going to have to create a career. That really resonates with people.
Vertical Harvest has expanded its customer base for its leafy greens, tomatoes and microgreens from Wyoming to include Montana and Idaho.
“We are creating opportunities and we have created an employment model where we bring out the abilities and it changes perceptions of what people are able to do. That creates a foundation of trust and strength with the community that really resonates with people, especially right now. It is what businesses can do. There is a real reward in benefitting people outside of your own stakeholder groups. This is something that is going to become more attractive as we move into 2021 and beyond.”
Unlimited expansion
Yehia has no doubt that the model Vertical Harvest has created can be profitable.
“Our incubator farm in Jackson will achieve profitability next year,” she said. “Vertical Harvest’s position in the industry is unique. There are a lot of these farms that have not succeeded. We have created a group of stakeholders who are committed to seeing Vertical Harvest and its prototype achieve profitability.
“Our two biggest hurdles that we learned are the production facility was too small to start out with and our market is too small. Jackson is a seasonal market. It is a smaller market than what our production system can produce in order to be profitable. We’ve expanded our customer base to include Montana and Idaho.
Arik Griffin, chief financial officer at Vertical Harvest, said part of the power of the company’s brand is the humanitarian good it is doing, which has been supported by its customers and consumers.
“We have worked very hard to understand the right crop mix, the correct market size, and the correct farm size that can create a return that would be attractive to social impact investors. We have created a 50,000-square-foot prototype that when placed in the right markets will succeed and that will occur quickly. We knew that we could take what we’ve learned from our successes as well as our failures to create this model that fits within the objectives of social impact finance.”
Vertical Harvest is looking at building five new greenhouses in the next five years. Its next project will be built in Westbrook, Maine, in 2021 with crop production expected to begin the following year.
“We want to bring this model to every community that we possibly can within the country and internationally,” Griffin said. “We have as our mission providing good food and good jobs to local communities. Another piece of our mission is to spread that out, to bring it to as many people as possible. We’re in the first stage of our Series A capital raise. We are raising funds in order to provide the infrastructure at the corporate level so that we can expand.
“The other thing we need to achieve this is hearing from communities and finding local stakeholders who want to do impact investing and make a difference in their communities. Bringing together the people who want to make a difference. We also need to make sure we are constantly in touch with experts in the CEA industry trying to nurture our relationships with the very best people.”
For more:
Vertical Harvest, (307) 201 4452; info@verticalharvestfarms.com; https://verticalharvestfarms.com/
This article is the property of Urban Ag News and was written by David Kuack, a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas.
![The Fifth Annual [Virtual] NYC AGTECH WEEK](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c8695d5016e11e71be1d83/1602855385792-8GOXB983PAR03VW7284G/agtech+week+2020+%283%29+%281%29.png)
The Fifth Annual [Virtual] NYC AGTECH WEEK
Our 2-day virtual conference features farm tours, panels, workshops, and presentations highlighting the fast-growing and innovative AgTech sector in NYC, the US, and Internationally
THE FIFTH ANNUAL [VIRTUAL]
NYC AGTECH WEEK
OCTOBER 20-21, 2020
Produced by the NYC Ag Collective: a Non Profit organization dedicated to educating and sharing the opportunities and benefits of AgTech. NYC AGTECH WEEK is the only AgTech conference on the East coast run by the leaders of the industry themselves.
Our 2-day virtual conference features farm tours, panels, workshops, and presentations highlighting the fast-growing and innovative AgTech sector in NYC, the US, and Internationally. NYC AGTECH WEEK brings together industry Founders, Investors, CEOs, Startups, and Thought Leaders through curated networking events and opportunities.
GET YOUR TICKET HERE
Use the following Discount Code: iGrow10
20 October 2020 - 21 October 2020
20 October
Day 1: The Local View - Session I
Session I: Introduction to NYC Urban Agriculture - Oko Farms Tour - Farm.One Tour
[Virtual]
12:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Tickets
20 October
Day 1: The Local View - Session II
Session II: NYC Food Resilience During COVID-19 - Opening remarks and introduction
[Virtual]
02:00 PM - 03:15 PM
Tickets
20 October
Day 1: The Local View - Session III
Session III: NYC AgTech Startups: Where They’re At Now - Product/ tech demos
[Virtual]
03:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Tickets
20 October
Day 1: The Local View - Session IV
Session IV: Networking Breakout Rooms
[Virtual]
04:15 PM - 05:30 PM
Tickets
21 October
Day 2: The Global-View - Session I
Session I: Spotlights & Comparisons of Global Urban Agriculture Hotbeds - Region
[Virtual]
12:00 PM - 03:00 PM