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Assembly Member Wants To Turn Fallow Land Into An Urban Farm
Assembly Member Wants To Turn Fallow Land Into An Urban Farm
The 15-acre property in question is the former site of the Alaska Native Hospital
By Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media -
June 21, 2017
Officials in Anchorage are taking the first steps to convert a blighted downtown property into an urban farm.
The move comes as an amendment to a five-year management plan for the Heritage Land Bank that’s set to go before the Assembly next week at its June 27th meeting. The 15-acre property in question is the former site of the Alaska Native Hospital, located between Ingra Street and 3rd Avenue. Under the proposal from downtown Assembly member Christopher Constant, the area would first be tested for contamination, then potentially turned into an “urban agriculture center.”
“This doesn’t actually do anything specific toward approval,” Constant said after members of the Assembly’s homelessness committee agreed to move the proposal forward. “It just sends a message to the administration that this is a desirable area to explore.”
Constant represents the area where the potential center site would be.
“The land’s been sitting fallow,” Constant said. “At this point my personal hope is that we’ll do something positive with that land. Let’s put in a farm. And I’m not talking about a garden, I mean a farm.”
Constant would like to see the area grow produce like herbs or greens that can easily be brought to markets and restaurants in Anchorage. One of the eventual goals of the farm idea is creating training and employment opportunities for people living in nearby shelters or on the streets.
“Let’s come up with some ideas that can actually generate revenue to help people be employed,” Constant said. At such an early stage, he said it’s not clear whether it will ultimately be a for-profit or non-profit venture. “I personally lean towards coming up with a for-profit that manages the farm and the non-profit partners that are a part of it.”
Constant said he has started conversations about the project with a number of stakeholders, including partners at the city and area non-profits, as well as with private-sector businesses like Vertical Harvest, which builds hydroponic growing systems inside shipping containers.
Urban Crop Solutions Collaborates With Albert Heijn (Ahold Delhaize) & Bakker Barendrecht
Urban Crop Solutions Collaborates With Albert Heijn (Ahold Delhaize) & Bakker Barendrecht
Climate change, the global lack of arable land and the fact that more and more people are living in cities are a real challenge for the daily supply of fresh and healthy food for retail companies.
As an innovative and progressive retail company Albert Heijn, member of the global retail group Ahold Delhaize, is always seeking to work with partners using the most advanced cultivation methods, for the benefit of their customers. As a major vegetable and fruit supplier for Albert Heijn, Bakker Barendrecht plays a significant role in this process. The past three days Urban Crop Solutions (UCS), a specialist and reference as a global total solution provider in the fast emerging world of indoor vertical farming, teamed up with Albert Heijn and Bakker Barendrecht
Already more than a decade ago Albert Heijn has acknowledged the importance of sustainable cultivation methods. At the same time, their supplier for herbs, Tuinderij Bevelander, has begun to produce chives with hydroponic systems. Nowadays, the customer can still buy these chives produced on water at Albert Heijn. The implementation of this innovative cultivation method is becoming more accessible, due to the increasing technological developments. UCS is playing a key role in making indoor vertical farming systems more accessible. The agtech company develops tailored plant growth installations (PlantFactory), has its own range of standard growth container products (FarmFlex and FarmPro) and has an in-house team of plant biologists which develops plant growth recipes to grow a wide range of crops in these installations.
UCS has joined forces with Albert Heijn and Bakker Barendrecht in order to promote this high-tech method of cultivating. A FarmFlex container was strategically placed in front of the headquarters of Ahold Delhaize in Zaandam (The Netherlands) where the past three days employees could visit this mobile indoor vertical farming system. Global Sales Director, Brecht Stubbe and Chief Technical Officer, Dr. Oscar Navarrete were on-site to provide detailed information.
“The past 3 days were a very intense experience”, explains Brecht Stubbe, responsible for Urban Crop Solutions for this project, “Working together with these well reputed cultivator and retailer group confirms our view that our solutions will definitely be part of the solution to meet with the ambitions of our partners to supply their customers daily with fresh and healthy food.”
Futuristic Vertical Farming Sprouts Up In Tennessee Greenhouses
Vertical farming is like growing vegetables in a greenhouse on steroids. The industry includes methods like aquaponics, aeroponics and hydroponics. And it's predicted to reach almost $6 billion in revenues within the next five years.
June 26, 2017 | Caroline Leland, Nashville Public Radio
Vertical farming is like growing vegetables in a greenhouse on steroids. The industry includes methods like aquaponics, aeroponics and hydroponics. And it's predicted to reach almost $6 billion in revenues within the next five years.
One of the centers of vertical farming is Tennessee, where the technique is providing locally grown vegetables year-round. Caroline Leland (@CarolineLeland) reports from Here & Now contributor Nashville Public Radio.
This segment aired on June 26, 2017.
Related:
Iowa Agritech Accelerator Announces Teams, Executive Director
Iowa Agritech Accelerator Announces Teams, Executive Director
AgriTech Accelerator executive director, Megan Vollstedt
The Des Moines-based Cultivation Corridor has announced its inaugural cohort of five startups for the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator, as well its permanent executive director, Megan Vollstedt. Vollstedt is taking over from Tej Dhawan of Entrepreneurial Technologies, who served as interim managing director until the executive director was named.
The AgriTech Accelerator is modeled after the Global Insurance Accelerator, with the intent of bringing companies from around the world to central Iowa for the 100-day program starting July 10. The companies receive $40,000 and will give their pitch presentations at the World Food Prize in October.
Meet Megan Vollstedt
The AgriTech Accelerator’s new executive director got involved with the startup community while still a student at Iowa State University in Ames. She interned at Workiva (then called Webfilings), a cloud platform for reporting, compliance and data management.
“I learned what it takes to be in a startup and as the company grew and scaled, so did my role,” Vollstedt said. “Eventually I got to the point where I was a senior editor, managing internal communications. I got to work with the company as it grew and went through a name change, and I’m grateful for those experiences that helped me develop professionally.”
Meet the cohort
WISRAN: A Sunnydale, CA, company that measures time variations of farming activities. WISRAN uses a software platform to increase operation efficiency.
“They’ve got great potential and a great platform,” Vollstedt said. “We think this is a company that will be very successful.”
Pyur Solutions: Based out of Los Angeles, Pyur Solutions is developing non-toxic, plant-based herbicides and pesticides.
“They’re in a really niche market, which is something that’s very attractive in agriculture, but also to retail and homestead outlets,” Vollstedt said. “They’re in a great place to figure out their next step.”
Rabbit Tractors: An Ann Arbor, MI, startup building miniature autonomous farm equipment.
“They’re making really unique machinery equipment, and they’re going to get a lot of value out of working with our mentors here.”
Hintech: Based out of St. Joseph, MO., Hintech has built Decimator, a cornstalk remover and crusher used in no-till farming.
“This is a company that is in a good place in its development to work with our mentors and investment companies,” Vollstedt said.
Phenomics Labs: A Burnsville, MN, startup that makes portable labs with data collection cameras that evaluate plant growth.
“It’s a really interesting product, and the data they collect will show some unique opportunities for growth,” Vollstedt said.
About the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator
The accelerator has a team of 58 mentors from central Iowa companies who are available to the cohort. Investors in the AgriTech Accelerator include Farmers Mutual Hail, Grinnell Mutual, John Deere, Kent Corporation, The Peoples Company, Pioneer and Sukup.
While five teams have been named, applications are still open for the 2017 initial class. Startups may apply on the Agritech Accelerator site.
—
Joe Lawler is a freelance reporter based in Des Moines.
Jack Jack's Coffee House The 'Catalyst' For Urban Farming On Long Island
Jack Jack's Coffee House The 'Catalyst' For Urban Farming On Long Island
Jack Jack’s Coffee House in Babylon played a big role in helping bring the “Urban Farming” concept to Long Island, something that has caught the eye of local and NYC media alike.
Jim Adams of West Babylon was looking for a new way to benefit the community through the local and organic agriculture movement when he met the owners of Jack Jack’s, Mike Sparacino and Vanessa Viola.
As farmers themselves, Sparacino and Viola offered him tips to growing in the local area.
Signage that sits outside of Trimarco’s newly transformed lawn
They also helped him publicize his fledgling Long Island Farms effort and the need for volunteers.
Adams left a flier at Jack Jack’s asking people to “consider turning [their] lawn into a small local farm and at the same time eliminating landscaping expenses.”
“We are a place to share ideas that might be thinking out of the box,” said Sparacino.”So, when he put the poster up here we had a great response.”
Tilling The Lawn
Cassandra Trimarco, a physician assistant, who is a frequent customer at Jack Jack’s, was beyond excited to see the flier, being someone who was interested in growing her own food, but was restricted land-wise.
“I would grow little basil in cans, but that never worked out,” she said laughing.
After reading the ad she called immediately.
“[Jack Jack’s] was the catalyst and connection between [Lawn Island Farms] and myself,” she said.
Trimarco’s property was a perfect fit for a farm makeover.
Jim walking through his farmland at St. Peter’s Farm
And just this month, her little front-yard farm caught the attention of CBS News New York, with a Newsday report quickly following.
“On Long Island, there is now a ‘front yard to table’ effort and it’s turning heads,” CBS reported.
“We have plenty of land [on Long Island], we shouldn’t be flying in pesticide-filled [crops],” Adams told GreaterBabylon on Friday.
Trimarco moved into her Hyman Avenue house on May 1, and Lawn Island Farms immediately began the conversion process.
According to Lawn Island Farms, it took about two weeks of heavy pilling to get the initial seeds down, but now they are in harvest. Trimarco herself has no farming responsibilities, she just enjoys the view while getting $30 worth of crops per week.
“It’s great; I love it,” said Trimarco, “It’s attracting a lot of great things and it’s beautiful”
Jim Adams shows off a copy of The Urban Farmer
Lawn Island Farms takes the freshly grown produce and sells them to local businesses as well as at farmer markets in Bay Shore and Sayville.
The Movement
Jim became interested in urban farming after quitting his pool servicing job after 20 years in search of something more “meaningful.” He had read a book called The Urban Farmer, written by Curtis Stone, which gives guidelines to growing on small plots of land.
Jim and his wife, Rosette Basiima Adams, 34, soon started talking seriously about growing locally. For Rosette, who is from Uganda, she had found it odd to learn Americans didn’t grow their own food.
It wasn’t until she was 25 when she moved to the U.S. that she visited her first grocery store.
“When I first saw a supermarket I was excited and wowed,” she said. “Then I saw the food wasn’t fresh and was genetically modified.”
When Jim met with Sparacino and Viola, the first tip they were given was on a great location to start his farming.
“I recommended [Jim] to grow at St. Peter’s Farm,” said Saparcino.
St. Peter’s Farm is a small agricultural lot hidden behind by the St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Bay Shore.
Both Jim and Rosette visited the church, where they agreed to take over 10,000 square feet of land and create their Lawn Island Farms.
Rosette Basiima Adams checking on her crops outside of Trimarco’s house
“We never even knew that land was back there,” said Jim. “Who knew?”
Now, Lawn Island Farms is trying to use their first urban farm’s success story to inspire others to grow locally.
“There are a lot of people who care about where there food comes from and seek it,” said Jim. “But if more of these small farms keep growing then even people who don’t care will be provided with [fresh food].
“They deserve better… we all deserve better.”
If you’d like to support Lawn Island Farms and learn more about their journey click here.
Rosette (left), Jim (middle), and Cassandra (right) in front of her house.
Fresh radishes grown by Lawn Island Farms.
Lawn Island Farms crops at St. Peter’s Farm.
Fresh lettuce growing outside of Trimarco’s household.
St. Paul-Based Urban Organics Aims To Provide Local Greens All Year Long
St. Paul-Based Urban Organics Aims To Provide Local Greens All Year Long
June 24, 2017 12:37 PM By Rachel Slavik
Filed Under: Dave Haider, Rachel Slavik, St. Paul, Urban Organics
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Minnesota winters aren’t exactly ideal growing conditions for fresh local produce. One St. Paul company is working to bring local, organic greens to store shelves all year long.
Urban Organics is among the first to begin mass producing several varieties of lettuce within city limits prompting an agricultural evolution, of sorts.
Outdoor farming is moving inside because of people like Dave Haider.
“It’s absolutely perfect growing conditions 365 days a year,” Haider said.
Dave is the co-owner of Urban Organics, which produces locally-grown, organic leafy greens.
“I think people are starting to have a deeper focus on where their food comes from,” Haider said.
That interest has led to incredible growth since the company’s launch four years ago. Haider started with a smaller operation in the Hamm’s brewery but recently expanded to a new 90,000 square facility in the old Schmidt Brewery.
“I don’t think we anticipated such a high demand so quickly,” Haider said.
Urban Organics has found success using aquaponics and hydroponics, a process where fish and water are combined to help plants grow.
Each leafy green sprouts in nutrient filled water funneled from onsite tanks containing salmon and char.
“We capture the waste, remove the solid waste and ammonia in the water. It’s converted to nitrates through a biological filter and it’s that nitrate rich water that provides all the nutrients, all the nitrogen for the plants,” Haider said.
Dave said the end result is a growing system that uses less than five percent of water compared to conventional agriculture and ultimately allows fresh greens to reach store shelves within a day and a half.
“Very low impact on the environment,” Haider said.
The products are in most co-ops around the Twin Cities and three Lunds/Byerly’s stores. For more on where and what lettuce varieties are available, go here.
A Google-Backed Warehouse Farm Just Raised $20 Million to Build in Cities Across The US
A Google-Backed Warehouse Farm Just Raised $20 Million to Build in Cities Across The US
Bowery
Indoor agriculture startup Bowery says it's creating the farm of the future.
Unlike traditional outdoor farms, Bowery grows greens under LEDs (which mimic natural sunlight) inside a giant warehouse in New Jersey. Instead of soil, crops sprout in nutrient-rich water beds on trays stacked from the floor to the ceiling. Throughout the growing process, sensors in the trays track the growing process.
The company just raised $20 million in Series A funding, co-led by General Catalyst and GGV Capital ith participatio from GV (formerly Google Ventures). With the new funding, it will build more farms (first in the tri-state area and later in other cities across the US), move beyond greens to other crops, and hire more people.
When Bowery launched earlier in 2017, co-founder Irving Fain told Business Insider the farm has the capacity to grow 100 times more greens per square foot than the average industrial farm. The startup's operational costs stay low because it automates traditional farm labor and uses a proprietary piece of software, called FarmOS, to optimize its growing process.
Bowery is currently testing over 80 different varieties of greens, including baby kale, mustard greens, and arugula.
Bowery
Out of those 80, Bowery is selling six types for about the cost of most organic greens. Available at select Whole Foods and Foragers stores in the tri-state area, a five-ounce package of greens costs $3.99.
Bowery is one of many urban farming startups that have emerged in recent years. Also in New Jersey, AeroFarms started commercial production inside a 69,000-square-foot warehouse in 2016. Brooklyn's Square Roots, which made its first harvest in early 2017, is growing its produce inside ten 320-square-foot shipping containers.
Unlike Bowery, which says it will now experiment with other crops besides greens, these companies solely produce leafy greens. Compared to other vegetables and fruits, greens usually make more financial sense for vertical farms — They can sell greens at a higher price per pound that most other types of produce.
Bowery Farm is now ramping up for large-scale production (Fain would not disclose the farm's size or growing capacity), and is already working on its next farm in the tri-state area. In the future, Fain hopes to expand internationally.
Focusing On Food Loss And Food Waste: 2017 Food Tank Summit NYC: September 13
Focusing On Food Loss And Food Waste: 2017 Food Tank Summit NYC: September 13
DATE AND TIME
Wed, September 13, 2017
9:30 AM – 6:00 PM EDT Add to Calendar
LOCATION
The Greene Space
44 Charlton Street New
New York, NY 10014
* FOOD TANK IS COMMITTED TO BUILDING AN ENGAGED AND DIVERSE AUDIENCE. YOU MUST HAVE AN ACCESS CODE TO PURCHASE TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT. TO APPLY, PLEASE FILL OUT THIS FORM. HURRY, THIS EVENT WILL SELL OUT!*
Food Tank, ReFED, and The Rockefeller Foundation are excited to announce the inaugural NYC Food Tank Summit! This one-day event will feature more than three dozen different speakers from the food and agriculture field. Researchers, farmers, chefs, policy makers, government officials, and students will come together for discussions on diverse topics. The theme for the Summit is Focusing on Food Loss and Food Waste.
This Food Tank Summit is being held in partnership with ReFED and with support from The Rockefeller Foundation. ReFED is a multi-stakeholder nonprofit, powered by an influential network of the nation’s leading business, nonprofit, foundation, and government leaders committed to reducing U.S. food waste. The Rockefeller Foundation is supporting this Food Tank Summit as part of its $130 million YieldWise initiative, launched in January 2016 to address the global crisis of food loss and waste. The Foundation is working with private, public and nonprofit actors to foster a “greener revolution” in the food system, and connecting good ideas with the actors who can implement them at scale. Together, we can halve global food loss and waste and realize major benefits for people, companies, cities, and the planet.
This is the third event in our 2017 Food Tank Summit Series, which will bring together some of the world’s most impactful food system leaders. Every Food Tank Summit to-date has sold out, and more than 175,000 viewers from around the globe have tuned in for the livestream. This is a can’t miss event for 2017!
Confirmed Speakers Include:
- Emily Bachman, Compost Program Manager, Zero Waste Programs, GrowNYC
- Elizabeth Balkan, Director of Policy and Senior Advisor, Office of the Commissioner at NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY)
- John Boyd, Jr., Founder and President, National Black Farmers Association
- Joan Briggs, Executive Director, Fink Family Foundation
- Gigi Lee Chang, Managing Director, FoodFutureCo
- Chris Cochran, Executive Director, ReFED
- Tom Colicchio, Chef and Owner, Craft restaurants & ‘wichcraft
- Ron Gonen, Co-Founder and CEO, Closed Loop Partners
- Tony Hillery, Executive Director, Harlem Grown
- Helen Hollyman, Editor-In-Chief, MUNCHIES
- Lynette Johnson, Executive Director, Society of St. Andrews
- Prasanta Kalita, Director, ADM Institute for the Prevention of Postharvest Loss, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Justin Kamine, Partner, KDC Ag - Kamine Development Corporation
- Sam Kass, Chef, Entrepreneur, and Founder, TROVE
- Devon Klatell, Associate Director, The Rockefeller Foundation
- Jude Medeiros, Regional Vice President of Schools, Sodexo
- Clare Miflin, Architect, Kiss + Cathcart
- Monica Munn, Senior Program Associate, The Rockefeller Foundation
- Kimbal Musk, Chef & Co-Founder, The Kitchen
- Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank
- Tinia Pina, Founder & CEO, Re-Nuble
- Brian Roe, Professor, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University
- Stephanie Strom, Food Business Writer, The New York Times
- Brian Wansink, Professor and Director, Cornell University Food and Brand Lab
- Jocelyn Zuckerman, Contributing Editor, Modern Farmer
- Konstantin Zvereff, Founder and CEO, BlueCart
Ticket Information and Details:
The Summit. Includes the entire Food Tank Summit (breakfast and lunch provided) on September 13th. 35+ incredible speakers held at The Greene Space. $299 (scholarships available).
Food Tank is committed to building an engaged and diverse audience. Tickets for this event are available by application only. To apply, please fill out this form. We provide full and partial ticket scholarships for students, farmers, individuals with financial need, and other underrepresented groups. You can apply for scholarships on the ticket application. Hurry, this event will sell out!
Thank you to our Summit partners, sponsors, and media partners: Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition, Blue Apron, ReFED, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Sealed Air.
Interested in becoming a sponsor? Please email Bernard Pollack at bernard@foodtank.com for more details
Interestested in volunteering? Please send your resume and availablity to Vanesa Botero-Lowry at vanesa@foodtank.com.
Food Tank's Refund Policy: We understand that schedules change. The deadline to cancel your registration and receive a full refund is August 13, 2017. Any requests made after August 13, 2017 can not be processed
Sun Bandit Produces Solar Hot Water In Sub-Zero Temperatures to Heat Dwellings and Grow Fresh Produce North of the Arctic Circle
Sun Bandit Produces Solar Hot Water In Sub-Zero Temperatures to Heat Dwellings and Grow Fresh Produce North of the Arctic Circle
Freeze-Resistant Properties Allow World’s First Certified PV-Powered Solar Water Heating System to Heat Water, Channel Stored Energy to Feed Radiant Wall and Floor Heating and Extend Growing Season for Hydroponically Produced Fresh Vegetables In Sub-Zero Temperatures
The world's first solar hydroponic trailer to grow fresh produce north of the Arctic Circle.
LAFAYETTE, COLORADO (PRWEB) JUNE 23, 2017
Next Generation Energy’s Sun Bandit celebrated the Summer Solstice by shedding light on the first off-grid photovoltaic (PV) solar water heating solution to heat water, channel stored energy into radiant heating and hydroponically grow fresh vegetables in sub-zero temperatures -- NORTH of the Arctic Circle.
Freezing temperatures are no longer a barrier to solar hot water production.
The 26-foot Solar Hydroponic Trailer manifesting this innovation is located in the enterprising village of Kotzebue, Alaska, the hub of 11 Native Alaskan villages in the state’s Northwest Arctic Borough. Kotzebue is 26 miles north of the Arctic Circle, in the Land of the Midnight Sun. It’s an inspiring time to celebrate the power of solar energy -- and Sun Bandit’s expanded solar applications.
The Solar Hydroponic Trailer is the brainchild of Ingemar Mathiasson and solar thermal veteran Mark Houston, founder and CEO of Anchorage-based The Comforts of Home, LLC. A Passive House Institute (PHIUS)-certified* contractor/energy rater, Houston has been advising clients on energy conservation and alternative energy concepts for 30 years.
“For the first time, we can keep the trailer at 74 degrees in sub-zero temperatures, which allows growing to begin as early as March,” said Houston. “We are collecting solar energy, converting it to heat, and running it through a glycol-based radiant floor and wall panel that provides all of the heat we need to grow a bounty of fresh produce in often-dark, bitter-cold conditions for about nine months of the year.”
The project was inspired when Mathiasson, the energy coordinator representing the Inupiat village of Kotzebue, asked Houston to build a sustainable, cost-effective solution to keep a trailer warm enough to grow fresh vegetables throughout the year.
It’s a tall task, as temperatures in Kotzebue swing from a bitter 40 degrees below zero in winter to a chilly 54 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. Even during the summer, it’s simply not warm enough to sustain a large community garden. With an average daily temperature of 21.8 degrees Fahrenheit, the best ‘vehicle’ to consistently serve the village with fresh produce was a hydroponic trailer.
The desire to grow fresh vegetables in many remote areas of Alaska isn’t new; Alaskans import up to 95% of their food. Houston says there are companies shipping hydroponic growing containers to Alaska, but they’re overly-sophisticated for the market. They have rotating racks and a bevy of bells and whistles. And they use oil, which can run from $6 to $11 a gallon, depending on the location. Not only is oil expensive for many Alaskans (it has to be refined and then delivered by ship or flown to remote villages), it is finite. It can be a long wait for a delivery truck trekking across the tundra to replenish one’s fuel reservoir – or any household goods for that matter.
Kotzebue had tried using oil to heat their hydroponic trailer, but when it came time to ventilate the space to eliminate water vapor emitted by the plants, the ventilation systems (sometimes as rudimentary as simple fans) rid the trailer of moisture, but took the heat as well, fostering less than ideal growing conditions.
To solve the heat loss problem, Houston introduced a Minotair Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) to remove unwanted moisture and contaminants and replenish the trailer with fresh outdoor air. Before leaving the trailer, the ASHP heats the stale, damp exhausting air to 150 degrees. The heated air blends with fresh incoming air (whose temperatures can be as low as 40 degrees below zero), warming it to 66 degrees Fahrenheit before returning it to the growing area. This is a critical process, as air colder that that would damage or kill the plants.
When village elders got wind of Sun Bandit, they asked Houston to conceive of a cleaner concept using Sun Bandit as the primary heat source. “They didn’t need anything fancy. They just wanted a place they could reliably grow things. And they wanted to heat it without using oil,” Houston said. “Burning oil (and the cash that goes with it) wasn’t working for them.”
By integrating Sun Bandit’s solar electric hybrid water heating and storage solution with hydronic heating hybridized with a Sanden Air Source Heat Pump and air sealing with urethane foam, Houston has delivered a lower cost, oil-free innovation that provides fresh vegetables year-round in a difficult growing climate – and with a reduced carbon footprint.
Seven to eight months of the nine-month Solar Hydroponic Trailer growing season will be supported using free solar hot water and radiant heat from stored Sun Bandit energy. Sun Bandit optimizes energy production with an arsenal of built-in back-up options for days when the sun doesn’t shine. In off-grid situations, Sun Bandit solar hybrid water heaters can be configured with a small wind turbine or battery backup to heat water and – as the Kotzebue project illustrates -- support radiant floor heating and hydroponics. Sun Bandit is equipped to use grid-fed electricity when solar is not available as well. View a detailed slide presentation of Houston’s solution by clicking here.
Sun Bandit was selected for this project because it performs where old-school solar water heating systems can’t, eliminating fluids, leaks, pump stations, overheating, stagnation, freezing and the complicated installation and maintenance issues that can plague traditional mechanical solar water heating systems.
“The exciting takeaway here is that freezing temperatures are no longer a barrier to solar hot water production -- even in extreme conditions,” said Next Generation Energy CEO Dave Kreutzman. See Sun Bandit’s white paper on “Redefining Solar Hot Water Efficiency” by clicking here.
As a small business owner, installer and energy rater, Houston sees the broader market potential for Sun Bandit-centered solar hot water and heating solutions in homes; he's already working with clients eager to begin.
“I’ve been in this business for decades. The Kotzebue project demonstrates that PV-powered Sun Bandit is a much better product to use in colder regions: it’s simple, low-maintenance and it can be installed in one third the time. It’s really the only one that works in the coldest, darkest of climates. And in its solar heating applications, Sun Bandit is four times more efficient than regular electric heat,” Houston said. “At the end of the day --- particularly the longest day of the year -- people don’t want to have to fix things in freezing temperatures. They just want them to work. That is where Sun Bandit shines.”
About Next Generation Energy's Sun Bandit® : Sun Bandit is a trademark-registered, patented product innovation of Colorado-based Next Generation Energy (NGE®), whose expertise in PV, solar thermal and off-grid system design and engineering have been delivering high-performing, money-saving renewable energy solutions to commercial, utility-scale, governmental, individual and multi-family housing interests for over 30 years. Learn more by calling 877-NGE-4SUN – or visit http://www.ngeus.com. Find Sun Bandit at http://www.sunbandit.us.
Sensing Opportunity in Drought, Two Horticulture Classmates Launch Eco Conscious Aquaponics Farm
Sensing Opportunity in Drought, Two Horticulture Classmates Launch Eco Conscious Aquaponics Farm
June 21, 2017 | Pamela Ellgen
The Eco Conscious Aquaponics team in their greenhouse in Goleta, CA. Owners Julian Cantando and Clayton Garland (pictured center left and center right) decided to launch the farm at the height of the California drought. Photo credit: Pamela Ellgen.
In 2016, at the height of the California drought, Julian Cantando and Clayton Garland envisioned a more sustainable farming model than traditional soil-based agriculture, which has always thrived in California.
“Last year was the seventh year of the drought, the lake was down, and the threat of not having water was real, at least for other farmers who aren’t on a well. It was kind of a bleak situation,” Cantando says.
He and Garland were classmates in the Horticulture Program at Santa Barbara City College and often discussed going into business together.
“We had always been talking after class about doing something in the realm of sustainable agriculture, but we didn’t really know what we wanted to do,” he says. “The opportunity presented itself and we jumped on it.”
After graduation, the pair rented a greenhouse at The Orchid Ranch perched on cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, purchased pre-owned equipment for an aquaponics operation, and opened Eco Conscious Aquaponics. They grow lettuces, microgreens, and vegetables, including watercress, sorrel, celery, fennel, and bok choy. They also have some soil-based plants in the greenhouse, including opuntia (known as prickly pear cactus in the culinary world), cape goose berry, and miracle berry.
“We get a lot of feedback that our produce has a better flavor profile because it gets all the water that it needs and all of the nutrition that it needs,” Cantando says. “Our system is 100% irrigation, which means the plant roots are sitting in water. They never get stressed out, so it’s a really tender, beautiful plant.”
Eco Conscious Aquaponics plants its seeds in coconut fiber, a sustainable byproduct of the coconut industry. The inert medium retains water and has high porosity, like a sponge, while also holding air even when fully saturated. Coconut fiber also has an ideal pH and is inhospitable to fungal growth.
Unlike other aquaponic operations that grow and harvest fish for food, Eco Conscious Aquaponics uses long-lived fish such as catfish, koi, and goldfish, which will not be harvested and exist only to supply nutrients to the plants.
It is an entirely organic operation and pest management is handled with marigold plants to deter insects and yellow sticky tape to snare flies.
The Eco-Conscious Aquaponics founders are young; Cantando is 23 and Garland is 30 and the farm is entirely self-funded. Both founders hold off-farm jobs to pay the bills.
Nevertheless, the farm is completely self-sufficient and generates around $5,000 in monthly revenue, with up to $3000 in monthly expenses. They reinvest 20 percent of profits back into the business.
As with any startup, getting the word out about their product was an early hurdle. They went door to door connecting with local restaurants in Santa Barbara and offering samples to chefs. They also began selling to farmer’s markets in Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez. Staying diligent and consistent was the key to getting clients. Delivering freshly harvested, delicious, consistent produce has been the key to keeping clients.
“It’s as fresh as it gets,” Cantando says. And, they have had terrific responses from local chefs. “That’s why we are still here.”
He acknowledges that operating in Santa Barbara where people are environmentally conscious and can afford to care about what’s on their plate is crucial to their success.
In the future, Eco Conscious Aquaponics hopes to expand their operation to additional locations, diversify what they grow, and possibly pursue soil-based agriculture. “I don’t [see] anything wrong with growing in soil as long as the water is available and it’s a sustainable practice,” Cantando says.
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General information on aquaponics: Aquaponics uses up to 90 percent less water than soil-based operations, making it especially viable in drought-prone areas. It is a system of aquaculture in which farmed fish supply nutrients for hydroponic plants, which act as a biofilter for the water. Just as important, plants receive adequate hydration for superior flavor. Additionally, it is a closed-loop system with no fertilizer runoff.
Urban Farming Won't Save Us From Climate Change
Photographer: Zoran Milich/Moment Mobile ED
Urban Farming Won't Save Us From Climate Change
Community gardens serve many purposes. Slowing climate change isn't one of them.
By Deena Shanker | June 21, 2017, 8:46 AM CDT
In places such as New York and Boston, the appeal of the self-sustaining rooftop farm is irresistible. If only enough unused space were converted to fertile fields, the thinking goes, local kale and spinach for the masses could be a reality, even in the most crowded neighborhoods.
Proponents claim that city vegetable gardens are a solution to nearly every urban woe, providing access to healthy foods in neighborhoods that lack it, as well as economic stimulation, community engagement, and significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But a new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology says that in colder climates such as the Northeast's, the emissions reductions are minimal.
"Urban farming advocates tend to focus on the distance from farm to fork, equating local food with environmentally sustainable food, oversimplifying the complexity of food sustainability to a single aspect," the researchers write. In reality, the carbon reductions made possible by urban farming are much smaller than many had assumed. In the best case scenario, urban farming would only reduce a Northeastern's city's food-related carbon footprint by 2.9 percent, the study found.
The study's authors used Boston to prove their point.
They first established the city's food-related environmental impact baseline by combining publicly available dietary information with data on the burden required to supply that food. Next, they determined the space available for urban farming, including both ground lots and usable rooftop space. Finally, they used data from several farms in Boston and New York to understand the resources used, including fossil fuel-based power, the vegetables they yield, and their overall environmental impact. Ultimately, the researchers found the environmental gains from urban farming to be "marginal."
The reason is that while city-grown vegetables can have a slightly lower environmental impact than those grown thousands of miles away, horticulture has never been the real problem. It's not apples and tomatoes that are responsible for most of the diet's greenhouse gas emissions; it's animals. Meat and dairy products contribute 54 percent of the American diet's potential impact on climate change. If city residents really want to lower their carbon footprints, they should become vegan. For bonus points, they can turn their roofs into solar gardens instead of vegetable ones.
There are many reasons to embrace urban agriculture. Greater access to produce could help improve the diet of city residents, and replacing pavement with soil could help abate water runoff, for example. But slowing climate change isn't one of them. The potential economic benefits of urban farming are also less promising than proponents had hoped, the study found. Even if Boston-grown vegetables were sold within the larger metropolitan area, the value would still be less than .5 percent of regional gross domestic product. And while some of that growth would go to low-income neighborhoods, the majority would flow to areas with poverty rates below 25 percent.
"I am positive about urban agriculture," says Benjamin Goldstein, of the Technical University of Denmark and the lead author of the study. "I just want to make sure it's done for the right reasons."
City Roots Urban Farm Becomes Hub For Eat Local Movement In The Midlands
City Roots Urban Farm Becomes Hub For Eat Local Movement In The Midlands
- By Stephanie Burt Special to The Post and Courier
- Jun 18, 2017
Eric McClam at the family's City Roots urban farm in Columbia.
COLUMBIA — In 2009, when Robbie McClam and his son, Eric, started City Roots Farm, they usually had to follow an introduction by explaining that the urban property was out by the Columbia Municipal Airport. These days, there is rarely any follow-up reference needed.
City Roots has expanded into a hub of the local food movement in the capital city, providing not only fresh veggies to the chefs and farmers market shoppers in the region, but microgreens to the Southeast, a CSA for local residents, an event venue, and even a children’s day camp this summer. And they are not stopping there.
Martha and Eric McClam hold daughter, Tessa, at City Roots. She is growing up around the farm, and so are 3,000 to 4,000 children who visit each year through Richland County schools.
“Columbia is a completely different place from when I left in 2004 to when I returned in 2009,” says Eric McClam, who heads the operation that employs 20 staff members and five interns. “The arts scene and the food scene were really beginning to be intertwined, and there was a general awareness of sustainability that made us excited.”
So when McClam knocked on the kitchen door of Kristian Niemi, who was then cooking at Rosso Trattoria, to gauge the chef's interest in purchasing local products, Niemi responded with an enthusiastic yes, especially if the consistency and quality was up to high-end restaurant standards.
Thus, the McClam family had their assignment and went to work, creating a diverse farm on 3 acres that in 2018 will reach an expanded 40 acres (including land leased elsewhere in Richland County). Approximately 30 restaurants in the Columbia area use City Roots produce, including Niemi’s current flagship, Bourbon. That’s not counting the chefs outside the immediate region who have access to the products through distributors. Although City Roots produces a wide range of fruits and vegetables, from blueberries to oyster mushrooms to tomatoes and even cut flowers, its main crop is microgreens.
A view of one of the greenhouse tunnels where microgreens are grown.
“We grow 20 varieties of microgreens that are in 32 Whole Foods Markets in the Southeast, Growfood Carolina food hub in Charleston, various farmers markets we participate in, and even on Carnival Cruise Ships,” McClam explains. The greens are grown primarily in five high tunnels on the farm, and the fast-growing specialty crop provides a stable base for the farm, which allows for creativity and experimentation.
For example, in 2015, the farm installed a tilapia pond system to begin aquaponic farming on site, and after working with that for a year or so, is now transforming that pond into more of a demonstration pond for schoolchildren. They didn’t bank all their efforts on the tilapia venture being successful, so as a agribusiness, they were able to redirect efforts elsewhere. It's a nimbleness that is often lacking for single-crop farms.
Microgreens growing at City Roots farm, which has become a major supplier of the leafy produce in the Southeast.
It also allows them to take chances and have vision for the space as a unique entity beyond just crops and harvest.
“I just walked up to Eric at the farmers market one day and said, ‘I want to have a dinner on your farm,’” says Vanessa Driscoll Bialobreski, a Columbia native, event planner and public relations professional who had recently moved back to the city and was looking to get involved in the local community.
City Roots said yes, and from there, things "just blew up,” Bialobreski says. Over the past six years, at least 13,000 tickets have been sold to more than 200 events at the farm.
Bialobreski is now the managing partner for the Farm to Table Event Company, which runs those events and counts Robbie McClam and Niemi as partners as well. It has created a symbiotic relationship that continues to help all parties while at the same time creating events for the city, including a recent sold-out James Beard Foundation dinner and a Mardi Gras Festival. “It’s great for us to get involved in the community as a team and bridge that farm-to-table gap,” Bialobreski says.
City Roots has become a hub for the community, not only at farmers markets and wholesale to local chefs, but also has a gathering space for a growing number of local food-centric events.
“City Roots is such an important part of the overall food culture that is helping to put Columbia on the map as a destination,” says Kelly Barbrey, vice president of sales and marketing at Experience Columbia SC. “Many of our local restaurants are using their produce, microgreens and flowers, all of which are grown right here in the heart of the city, and local residents and out-of-towners love coming to unique events held at City Roots, like the Rosé Festival and Tasty Tomato Festival, to feel connected to the energy and vitality of our community.”
Beyond the festive events, the up to 4,000 schoolchildren who visit each year, the first annual summer day camp, and the locals who shop in the farm store, City Roots is now working to bring even more people to the farm through canning and pickling. At the moment, staff is working on building out a kitchen that will meet DHEC approval. Not only will it help the farm preserve produce that can be another specialty product, but the kitchen can be a space where people can come to learn the skills of pickling and preserving.
With the rise of the collaboration between Farm to Table Event Co. and City Roots, the farm is serving the community in multiple ways, including through special events.
It seems there’s always something “cooking” at City Roots, from the Midlands farms database they are building and sharing for area chefs to the consideration of produce being included in Blue Apron. Eric McClam and his staff are not only willing to consider new ways of bringing local produce to consumers, but are creating a more stable and sustainable regional culture through that produce.
“When we started, we were the only show in town so to speak when it came to buying local produce,” McClam says. “Now local produce, or at least the consideration, is part of people’s vocabulary. We are happy to be right at the time when Columbia caught the local food craze.”
ShopRite Expands Locally Grown Program
ShopRite Expands Locally Grown Program
JUNE 23, 2017
Continuing its long-held tradition of carrying locally grown products, ShopRite has expanded its Locally Grown program, offering a rich variety of products throughout the supermarket — from fresh fruits and vegetables to farm-raised beef, seafood, flowers, baked goods, honey, craft beer and roasted coffees.ShopRite associate Chun Hung of Cherry Hill, NJ.
ShopRite associate Chun Hung of Cherry Hill, NJ.
“ShopRite has been partnering with local farmers since our inception almost 70 years ago,” Derrick Jenkins, vice president of the produce and floral division at ShopRite, said in a press release. “But more than ever, we are meeting increased customer demand for locally sourced products by working hand-in-hand with local entrepreneurs, family farms and businesses to procure and sell products that have been locally grown.”
ShopRite recently joined state officials in announcing the debut of the “Grown in Monmouth” label. Its stores in New Jersey’s Monmouth and Ocean counties will feature flowers and plants branded with the new label and sourced from local farms.
Many seasonal and unique products can also be found on a store-by-store basis. These “hyperlocal” products are produced by local independent businesses and growers, including greens that have been grown on local hydroponic or indoor “vertical” farms.
“ShopRite is proud to work with local family farms and businesses because local is not only how we source our food, it’s who we are,” Jenkins said in the release. “We look forward to offering shoppers an ever-increasing assortment of locally made products and goods throughout the year.”
We Kid You Not: Goats Clean Up Parks and Educate Communities on Urban Farming
We Kid You Not: Goats Clean Up Parks and Educate Communities on Urban Farming
By AINE CREEDON | June 16, 2017
June 14, 2017; Denver Post
Imagine waking up on a Saturday morning to eight goats being walked on leashes down your street, heading to a local park where the honorary goat-welcoming committee awaits them. In Wheat Ridge, a western Denver suburb, this unusual landscaping goat crew turning heads is becoming a local attraction and is also educating communities on urban agriculture.
In 2013, Wheat Ridge’s Five Fridges Farm was struggling with how to address an overgrown noxious weed problem they were facing. The land was in a tough spot for lawnmower access, and chemicals simply weren’t an option for the local organic urban farm. So, Five Fridges Farm decided to bring in a group of its LaMancha male goats to the 1.5-acre enclosure, where they spent several weeks grazing on weeds.
Using goats as landscapers has become a perfect solution to their problem and they are now being brought to graze in other open spaces within the community. Due to their unique digestive systems, goats are able to consume invasive weeds without redistributing any of the seeds in their excrement. As the weeds are removed, the goats enjoy a nutritious meal, and the land also further benefits from fresh manure for fertilization.
Amy Weaver, owner of Five Fridges Farm, says the most surprising outcome of the project has been the community support that has erupted. Over the past few years, the goats have become a big hit with local residents, which flock to visit the hard workers cleaning up their parks.
This is the fourth year the Wheat Ridge community has successfully used LaMancha goats to manage invasive weeds and vegetation in natural areas, and these popular yearly visitors are providing a great opportunity to educate the community about urban farming. “People have big questions about their food system. This is a place where people can ask questions without judgment,” Amy Weaver explained. “The money from the products isn’t what fuels the farm. It’s the education that comes from it.”—Aine Creedon
ABOUT AINE CREEDON
Aine Creedon is Nonprofit Quarterly's Digital Publishing Coordinator and has worn many hats at NPQ over the past five years. She has extensive experience with social media, communications and outreach in the nonprofit sector, and spent two years in Americorps programs serving with a handful of organizations across the nation. Aine currently resides in Denver, Colorado where she enjoys hiking with her dog Frida and is currently serving on the advisory board of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network Denver and also co-leads their Marketing and Communications Committee.
Newbean Capital Launches Finance Arm To Support Indoor AG
Contain Inc Partners With AmHydro, Bright Agrotech & CropKing:
Newbean Capital Launches Finance Arm To Support Indoor AG
Newbean Capital, a registered investment advisor and organizer behind the Indoor Ag-Con events, has launched an alternate finance arm, Contain Inc.. “Our goal is to become the alternate finance provider of choice to indoor farmers”, said Nicola Kerslake, co-founder of Contain Inc.
The venture has partnered with three indoor agriculture technology providers to provide lease financing to their customers. For longstanding industry consultant AmHydro, it will offer lease financing for the company’s Get Growing! greenhouse bundle packages. AmHydro has been designing and building innovative, hydroponic systems for over 30 years. It manufactures and helps to install food-grade growing systems for both small and large commercial operations. AmHydro offers systems for the small business entrepreneur up to the large multi-acre commercial suppliers of companies such as Whole Foods and Costco.
Contain Inc has recently arranged a five-year lease agreement for Bright Agrotech’s ZipFarm equipment at a 6.5% rate for MyChoice Programs, an East coast nonprofit that supports individuals with developmental disabilities to participate in their communities. As one of its innovative programs, it decided to transform a building into a vertical farm that could feed both the residents of its homes and the local community using Bright Agrotech equipment.
Its newest partner - CropKing - a manufacturer and distributor of commercial greenhouse structures, hydroponic growing equipment, and supplies. Known for working with family farms, it has specialized in the business of controlled environment agriculture and hydroponic growing since 1982. It offers both bucket and NFT systems for indoor grows.
See also :
contain.ag
amhydro.com/financing
brightagrotech.com
cropking.com
mychoiceprograms.com
Publication date: 6/20/2017
Sheryl Crow, Jack Johnson & The Avett Brothers to Join Willie Nelson & Friends at Farm Aid
Sheryl Crow, Jack Johnson & The Avett Brothers to Join Willie Nelson & Friends at Farm Aid
6/13/2017 by Thom Duffy
Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson onstage at Beacon Theatre in New York City.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Sheryl Crow, Jack Johnson and the Avett Brothers will join Willie Nelson and friends at the 32nd annual Farm Aid food and music festival taking place Sept. 16 at the KeyBank Pavilion in Burgettstown, Pa., outside Pittsburgh.
The guiding foursome of Farm Aid -- Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews -- also will share the bill with Jamey Johnson, Blackberry Smoke, Valerie June, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real and Insects vs. Robots, with other artists to be announced. Matthews will perform an acoustic set with Tim Reynolds, as part of their summer tour. Promise of the Real backed Young on his 2015 album The Monsanto Years and a subsequent tour.
Tickets for the concert go on sale June 23 via LiveNation.com and Ticketmaster. A limited number of pre-sale tickets will be sold beginning at noon ET June 14 at farmaid.org/concert.
Each of this year's featured headliners is a longtime supporter of Farm Aid and its efforts to support family farmers, and the Good Food Movement. Crow, who has been touring this summer with Nelson and Bob Dylan, played Farm Aid in 2003 in Columbus Ohio. The Avett Brothers previously have played benefits for organizations including the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association in their native North Carolina, and Johnson has been a frequent presence at Farm Aid (including one memorable appearance as a cow).
10 Reasons Why Willie Nelson's Farm Aid Is Unlike Any Other Music Festival
This marks the third time Farm Aid has come to Pennsylvania, following concerts in Burgettstown in 2002 and Hersey, Pa. in 2012. Agriculture is the state's leading economic enterprise, contributing nearly $75 billion to the state's economy each year. The state is home to 58,200 farms and ranks 22nd nationally in farm sales.
Pennsylvania is also considered the birthplace of organic agriculture and a leader in sustainable agriculture practices. In Pittsburgh, 30 miles east of the concert venue, urban farming has thrived. The organization Grow Pittsburgh has launched more than 60 farms to increase access to fresh food and farm training programs for young people.
"Family farm agriculture is the heart of Pennsylvania," says Nelson, founder and president of Farm Aid. "What's happening in western Pennsylvania and the region shows us that we can count on family farmers to strengthen our communities and connect people. Whether we live in rural or urban places, food -- and music -- brings us all together."
At the same time, western Pennsylvania has lost 2,539 farms -- a 13 percent drop -- in the past decade, an example of an economic crisis facing farmers nationwide. Farmers have faced a multiyear slump in crop and livestock prices. Since 2013, America’s farmers and ranchers have weathered a 45 percent drop in net farm income, the largest three-year drop since the start of the Great Depression, Farm Aid reports.
The circumstances echo the farm foreclosure crisis of the mid '80s that led Nelson to stage the first Farm Aid benefit on Sept. 22, 1985 in Champaign, Ill. The farm advocates who rose up in that era were recently profiled in a new documentary, Homeplace Under Fire.
Farm Aid has been staged every year since 1985, at venues around the country, and is the longest-running concert for a cause in pop music history. Since Nelson founded the organization, it has raised $50 million for advocacy efforts and direct support of farmers.
But more than an annual benefit concert, Farm Aid has been a 30-year-plus effort, led by Nelson, to fight corporate control of America's farmland, shape national farming policy, and promote the Good Food Movement.
Each year, Farm Aid serves as an annual gathering of activists focused on food issues, environmentalism and social-justice battles. Many farmers and activists travel to the event to network, share strategies, listen to the music and eat family farm food on a menu that Farm Aid has trademarked "Homegrown Concessions." With composting practiced backstage and promoted to the audience, the concert aims for zero waste.
Farm Aid's support of family farmers extends to its policy of accepting sponsorship only from companies that share its mission. California-based Bonterra Organic Vineyards will be a sponsor of Farm Aid 2017.
Prior to this year's concert, Farm Aid is teaming up with IfOnly to sell and auction signed memorabilia and behind-the-scene tours at this year's event.
Farm Aid also is encouraging festivalgoers and supporters to use the hashtags #FarmAid2017 and #Road2FarmAid to join discussions about this year's concert on social media.
Cincinnati City Council Hopes To Turn Vacant, Blighted Properties Into Urban Farms
Cincinnati City Council Hopes To Turn Vacant, Blighted Properties Into Urban Farms
Amanda Seitz | 6:46 AM, Jun 15, 2017
CINCINNATI -- What if rotting, vacant homes and abandoned, overgrown lands in some of the city's neighborhoods were transformed into urban farms growing fresh produce?
Cincinnati City Council is considering a new pilot program that could flip as many as 10 vacant parcels of land into gardens ready for planting anything from herbs to cucumbers.
Supporters believe the humble start to this project could ultimately alleviate some of the city’s most stubborn problems: food deserts, unemployment and blight.
“It will assist in taking that blight, that was a negative, and not only improving the look, but providing sustenance to the area as well,” said Cincinnati City Councilman Kevin Flynn, who proposed the program.
City crews have struggled to keep up with mowing and weeding the more than 1,000 properties – some of them condemned or abandoned by their owners, Flynn said.
That leaves neighbors frustrated with unkempt eyesores that abut their homes.
Flynn believes unkempt city-owned properties like these could see new life as urban farms. Photo by David Sorcher | WCPO contributor
“It got me thinking: Rather than it being a burden on the city to have to pay to maintain these spots … let’s give them to somebody that will maintain them and how about we plant some fruits and vegetables in these vacant spots?” Flynn told WCPO in an interview last week.
The motion he wrote calls for the city to develop a plan to convert urban farms on city-owned land, identify potential properties, and look into any costs the city might have to consider when launching the program.
His proposal passed with the full support of council earlier this month.
WCPO Insiders will learn how similar programs have worked in other cities, areas of Cincinnati where this development might occur and how it might be funded.
Rooftop Garden Grows On Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project Volunteers
Rooftop Garden Grows On Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project Volunteers
Added by Scott Stiffler on June 14, 2017.
Saved under News, Features
How does their garden grow? Kiddie pools, pots, and hanging planters play host to good green things on the roof of Metro Baptist Church. Photo by Rebecca Fiore.
BY REBECCA FIORE | When Jennifer Shotts moved to New York City from Kansas, she knew she wanted to be a part of the community. As a self-professed environmentalist, Shotts was shocked at how much trouble she had finding a community garden.
New York Cares, which guides volunteers to places where they can work to improve education, revitalize public spaces, and meet the immediate needs of those living in poverty, placed her at Metro Baptist Church (410 W. 40th St., btw. Ninth & Dyer Aves.).
At first, she helped out in the food pantry. “Then someone said to me, ‘Have you seen the rooftop?’ I thought, what’s up there? I trekked all the steps and just fell in love with it,” Shotts recalled, of that moment over three years ago.
Four flights of stairs above the food pantry is the Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project (HKFP), a 4,000-square-foot volunteer-run rooftop garden containing 52 kiddie pools, 38 pots, and 20 rail hanging planters tasked with growing fresh, organic fruits, and vegetables.
HKFP was created in 2010 as a response to the rapid gentrification happening in the neighborhood. Clinton Housing Development Company, Metro Baptist Church, Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries, and the Metropolitan Community Church created HKFP as a way to provide fresh produce for all.
“There aren’t a lot of affordable grocery stores in this area and there was a concern that low-income people, especially the food pantry clients who weren’t really able to eat fresh, healthy vegetables,” Debbie Mullens, a third-year volunteer, said.
Lettuce, tomatoes, Swiss chard, kale, collared greens, radishes, scallions, mustard greens, bok choy, apples, blueberries, and raspberries grow in the kiddie pools and pots, while herbs are grown in the rail-hanging planters.
Kiddie pools are used because they are light-weight and don’t put too much pressure on the 20th century building’s structure, Rev. Tiffany Triplett Henkel said. Henkel is a pastor at Metro Baptist Church and executive director of Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries. “We farm from April to about mid-December,” Henkel explained, though they have experimented in the winter months, growing cover crops to keep the soil rich.
Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the farm is open to the public for gardening. Shovels, trowels, sunscreen, gloves, and clippers are provided.
“Everything that we grow here goes down to the food pantry on the first floor,” Mullens noted. “Everything is donated. None of it is sold and the volunteers don’t take any food home with them.” She said on a good day there can be between 10 to 30 people on the roof. Currently, there are over 20 plants growing, with half a dozen more on the way as the summer months approach.
“In the course of the year we will probably have between two hundred to three hundred people gardening with us,” Mullens said. A regular volunteer could vary from a young adult learning about crops to a retired folk trying a new hobby out, she said. Groups often come up, corporate volunteers such as Morgan Stanley, Zipcar, and Hermes, as well as educational groups from local schools.
“Urban agriculture appeals to a wide variety. We have folks of all walks of life,” Henkel said.
The volunteers harvest the crops, weigh them, and upload their records to Farming Concrete, which is (according to their website) “an open, community-based research project to measure how much food is grown in community gardens and urban farms.” It is supported by the New York City Community Garden Coalition. They provide scales all over the city.
The pantry at Metro Baptist Church, which is open Saturdays at 11 a.m., is described as a client’s choice-style, according to Mullens, where community members can come pick out the foods they prefer.
“As the folks come through they can select what they want, rather than just walking in and somebody handing them a bag of who knows what,” she said, and noted that the food pantry currently has about 750 clients.
The Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project’s table, at May 20 & 21’s Ninth Avenue International Food Festival. Photo by Christian Miles.
Additionally, this will be the farm’s second year with high school interns working on the garden and learning about how to make a difference in their communities. All local high schoolers, experienced with farming or not, are welcome. The Urban Farm Intern Program selected 10 students to work 15-20 hours a week for six weeks from July 5 to Aug. 12. A modest stipend will be given to them.
“Last year, we had eight students for four weeks and this year we will have ten students for six weeks,” Henkel said.
These interns will not only have a hands-on experience to planting and harvesting, but also have classroom time where they will learn from professors of agriculture and other professionals.
“Interns will be learning about urban and non-urban agriculture techniques, how to care for and grow food,” Henkel said. “But more than that even learning about food systems and when they are compromised, nutrition, and how communities can address food needs.”
Also, the farm is gaining its first college intern from Berea College in Kentucky for June and July. Mullens said she is excited for the new interns to come in after the success of last summer.
“I think these kids came away with a much better idea of what food justice is and how you can impact hunger issues through urban agriculture,” she said.
In further addition to the interns, the rooftop, and the pantry, HKFP also has a program in connection with a local farmer. The Community Support Agriculture, or CSA, program provides people living in the neighborhood to purchase fresh and locally grown food from Nolasco Farm in Andover, NJ. There are weekly, and bi-weekly shares.
“The concept of the CSA is you support the farmer upfront. That way the farmer can buy what he needs. It’s a form of supporting local farmers,” Henkel said. A full share for 22 weeks costs $550, while a half share, every other week, is $275. Three hours of volunteer work is required, “that’s the spirit of it,” Henkel said.
People can also sponsor shares that will provide fresh food to other local pantries. “While we are proud of the food we are able to grow and give to the food pantries, getting education around food is more important,” Henkel said. “If we can work with a younger generation then they can learn to advocate for themselves and their community. We are growing more than food.”
For more information, visit hkfp.org, mbcnyc.org, clintonhousing.org, rmmnyc.org, mccchurch.org, farmingconcrete.org, and http://nyccgc.org.
The door is always open to volunteers. Photo courtesy Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project.
Farm to School Grows With USDA Grants
Since 2013, the Office of Community Food Systems has awarded over $20 million to more than 300 grantees for farm to school, which encompasses efforts to integrate regional foods in child nutrition programs. It also connects children to the source of their food through cooking classes, taste-tests, farm visits and school gardens. Grants range from $14,500 to $100,000 for farm to school planning, implementation and training.
Farm to School Grows With USDA Grants
Omar, the school garden club coordinator, instructs a group of seventh grade students to “pick an adult” and lead them to the greenhouse. The bright blue sky and expansive mountain range set a dramatic backdrop for the six raised beds and two greenhouses. Mona, a precocious 12 year-old student at Magdalena Middle School in New Mexico, wastes no time charging into the greenhouse and swiftly picking red leaf lettuce.
Since 2013, the Office of Community Food Systems has awarded over $20 million to more than 300 grantees for farm to school, which encompasses efforts to integrate regional foods in child nutrition programs. It also connects children to the source of their food through cooking classes, taste-tests, farm visits and school gardens. Grants range from $14,500 to $100,000 for farm to school planning, implementation and training.
In May, Erin Healy, the USDA's Director of the Office of Community Food Systems, Food and Nutrition Service, had the chance to visit New Mexico’s Magdalena Municipal School District, a 2015 and 2017 Farm to School grantee. The school used the 2015 funds to contract with Omar, a local farmer who mentors students to grow and harvest over 10 crops. Students proudly shared what they learned from the garden club, including “irrigation systems” and “how to get rid of aphids using ladybugs.” The school’s salad bar is the star of the lunchroom and is described as “restaurant-quality,” as it includes student-grown lettuce, leafy greens, cucumbers and tomatoes from the school garden. Since they no longer need to purchase lettuce during the winter, the cafeteria staff shared, “the garden has saved us a lot of money!”
Using additional grant funds from the state, the school will pay students to maintain the garden through the summer and sell the produce at a farm stand. This type of program is incredibly important in a community like Magdalena, where the closest grocery store is 30 miles away. Joaquin Lujan, a local farmer and partner to the school garden project, explained “New Mexico is one of the poorest economies in the country, and kids go hungry. It is vital that projects like this survive.” When Leslie Clark, the school principal, and Michael Chavez, the New Mexico Department of Education State Director, were asked what they would say to fellow administrators about the benefits of Farm to School, they responded “It reaches kids that would not otherwise be reached and engages them in learning.”
On June 12, the USDA awarded Farm to School grants to 65 grantees, which will reach approximately 5,500 schools and more than 2 million students. Selected projects are located in urban, rural and suburban areas across 42 states and Puerto Rico. The USDA estimates that 37 percent of the target school districts are rural. Additionally, 14 projects will occur in the pre-K environment, while 27 projects will occur in summer feeding programs. State agencies and Indian Tribal Organizations remain a priority for Farm to School grant funding. And this year, 17 state agencies and one Indian Tribal Organization, The Karuk Tribe of California, will be funded.
Learn more about this year’s grantees by checking out the 2017 Farm to School List of Awardees.
Publication date: 6/19/2017
These #4 Start-Ups Are Promoting Hydroponics in India
These #4 Start-Ups Are Promoting Hydroponics in India
Hydroponics or growing plants in water or sand, rather than soil, is done using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent
Image credit: Pixabay
Feature Writer, Entrepreneur.com
June 8, 2017
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Only an expert gardener knows how difficult it can be to grow plants and how much extra care it takes with special attention to soil, fertilizer and light. One can’t get the process right and expect good yields without getting his/her hands dirty. But, to make their work a lot easy and convenient, many start-ups in India are working on hydroponics farming.
Hydroponics or growing plants in water or sand, rather than soil, is done using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent.Additionally, this indoor farming technique induces plant growth, making the process 50 per cent faster than growth in soil and the method is cost-effective. Mineral nutrient solutions are used to feed plants in water.
Here’s a list of four start-ups in India that are innovating agriculture methods and leading the way in indoor farming.
Letcetra Agritech
Letcetra Agritech is Goa’s first, indoor hydroponics farm, growing good quality, pesticide-free vegetables. The farm in Goa’s Mapusa is an unused shed and currently, produces over 1.5 to 2 tons of leafy vegetables like various varieties of lettuce and herbs in its 150 sq metre area. The start-up is founded by Ajay Naik, a software engineer-turned-hydroponics farmer. He gave up his IT job to help farmers in the country.
BitMantis Innovations
Bengaluru-based Iot and data analytics start-up BitMantis Innovation with its IoT solution GreenSAGE enables individuals and commercial growers to conveniently grow fresh herbs throughout the year. The GreenSAGE is a micro-edition kit that uses hydroponics methods for efficient use of water and nutrients. It is equipped with two trays to grow micro-greens at one’s own convenience.
Junga FreshnGreen
Agri-tech start-up Junga FreshnGreen has joined hands with InfraCo Asia Development Pte. Ltd. (IAD) this year to develop hydroponics farming methods in India. The project started with the development of a 9.3-hectare hydroponics-based agricultural facility at Junga in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla district.
Junga FreshnGreen is a joint venture with a leading Netherlands-based Agricultural technology company – Westlandse Project Combinatie BV (WPC) — to set up high-technology farms in India. Their goal is to create a Hydroponics model cultivating farm fresh vegetables that have a predictable quality, having little or no pesticides and unaffected by weather or soil conditions. They will be grown in a protected, greenhouse environment.
Future Farms
Chennai-based Future Farms develops effective and accessible farming kits to facilitate Hydroponics that preserve environment while growing cleaner, fresher and healthier produce. It focuses on being environment friendly through rooftop farming and precision agriculture. The company develops indigenous systems and solutions, made from premium, food grade materials that are efficient and affordable.
Nidhi Singh
A self confessed Bollywood Lover, Travel junkie and Food Evangelist.I like travelling and I believe it is very important to take ones mind off the daily monotony .Read more