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Swedish Company Builds Food-Laden ‘Plantscaper’ to Feed the Cities of The Future
Many researchers, politicians, and members of the public are worried that we’ll see dire shortages in the wake of such spectacular population increases. Perhaps most worryingly of which are the looming threats of food and water scarcity, likely to be compounded by climate change and greater migration towards urban centers.
Swedish Company Builds Food-Laden ‘Plantscaper’ to Feed the Cities of The Future
LAST UPDATED ON NOVEMBER 28TH, 2017 AT 6:45 PM BY ALEXANDRU MICU
Swedish company Plantagon is tackling the world’s food problems through ‘agritecture’, a combination of architecture, technology, and agriculture. The first of their projects, a massive vertical greenhouse or “plantscaper”, is set to open in 2020.
Artist’s concept of a plantscaper.
Image via Plantagon.
There are over 7.5 billion people living today, a number that’s expected to skyrocket to 10 billion in the next 30 or so years. Many researchers, politicians, and members of the public are worried that we’ll see dire shortages in the wake of such spectacular population increases. Perhaps most worryingly of which are the looming threats of food and water scarcity, likely to be compounded by climate change and greater migration towards urban centers.
For many of us, these shortages have yet to make an appearance, and it would be just dandy if things stayed this course. To be blunt, however, for that to happen we’ll need to grow much more food than we do today, and we’ll need to grow it more efficiently, especially in regards to water usage. One Sweedish-based company named Plantagon is working today so we’ll have solid footing when dealing with the issues of tomorrow.
Their solution involves dotting urban landscapes with huge vertical farms called “plantscapers”, crop-laden skyscrapers that can feed thousands of city dwellers each year.
The concept of Plantagon’s vertical greenhouses is the brainchild of Swedish innovator Åke Olsson. A passionate organic farmer, Olsson needed to get more surface out of his croplands. So, he designed a rack transport system which slowly cycles planting boxes from the floor of a vertical greenhouse to its ceiling, so he didn’t have to use any artificial light. Shortly after Plantagon International AB and the Plantagon International Association were founded in 2008, they bought the design from Olsson.
Image via Plantagon.
Plantscapers use the same concept but on a much taller scale, mixed in with a hearty helping of hydroponics to keep everything growing. They resemble high-rise office buildings that churn out delicious veggies instead of water cooler conversations and stressful deadlines. The first plantscaper, The World Food Building, is already under construction in Linköping, Sweden. The 16-story building is estimated to cost around $40 million and should be ready to open sometime in 2020.
The WFB’s layout allows for far more output relative to its surface area than a conventional farm. The building is expected to produce about 550 tons of vegetables annually, which according to the company should be enough to feed roughly 5,000 people. The plants will be grown in watery, nutrient-rich substrates. All factors and growing conditions, from water to nutrition, sunlight, temperature, and air quality will be monitored autonomously, to make sure everything is perfect for the plants and that waste is minimized.
Maintenance and harvesting jobs will similarly be performed by autonomous systems, Plantagon CEO Hans Hassle told Business Insider, likely in a bid to keep costs down. Plantagon hopes their autonomous systems and urban setting will lower transportation, production, and energy costs enough to make the ‘scrapers a sustainable solution to feeding the community. Additionally, the building will help save 1000 metric tons of CO2 emissionsand 50 million liters of water that a conventional farm uses for the same amount of food.
Of course, these figures will have to be verified after the WFB is completed, and any eventual teething problems are solved. Still, the plantscaper concept does seem to be a hit so far (I admit I’m quite taken as well, I just love buildings with plants). The company is currently in talks to develop plantscrapers in Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
I’d also be curious to see a cross between Plantagon’s concept and a technology such as that of SolarWindow — one producing food, the other electricity. Such buildings could conceivably feed and power cities at the same time.
Until then, will have to wait and see if the plantscraper concept will succeed. I hope it does.
This Week in Tech: IKEA and Other Heavy Hitters Invest $40 Million in Vertical Farming
IKEA and Other Heavy Hitters Invest $40 Million in Vertical Farming
Courtesy AeroFarms
Swedish furniture company IKEA, top chef David Chang of Momofuku Group, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and more big names and companies have invested a combined $40 million into AeroFarms, a vertical farm producer based in Newark, N.J.
The company, which recently completed the world's largest indoor vertical farm in the city, "will use the latest round of funds for continued investment in leading R&D and technology and additional farm expansion around the world," according to the company's press release.
Aerofarms uses a closed-loop aeroponics system (the process of growing plants in a mist environment rather than in soil) that the company says uses 95 percent less water than field farming. [AeroFarms]
Growing Urban Seedlings
Growing Urban Seedlings
November 04, 2017
By Sunny Liu
Behind the concrete facade of the 174 Collins St building is a growing indoor community garden with a purpose to bring fresh urban-grown produce to local tables.
Flourishing at the basement of Urban Seed’s Central House behind the Collins St Baptist Church, the micro farm is the brainchild of the Urban Seedlings team, comprising husband and wife Geoff and Sherry Maddock, Dan Ong and Mady Sieben, who all live in the building.
Earlier this year, the team transformed the disused basement into an incubator for micro greens and aquaponics, which is an integrated aquacultural system creating a symbiotic relationship between fish and plants.
With a goal to officially launch the program in March 2018, Urban Seedlings is raising “seed money” to fund this not-for-profit program.
Eventually, when the plants are harvested, Urban Seedlings will become a supplier of organic vegetables for CBD restaurants and cafes and a community safe haven for local residents to get together and get their green thumbs.
Geoff Maddock told CBD News Urban Seedlings wanted to promote a sustainable lifestyle in the CBD.
“We want to offer sustainable ways of community involvement and at the same time also present a hospitable, welcoming place for people to gather and share their skills,” he said.
“Urban Seedlings can create a social impact through showing people how to be sustainable and reduce their food waste through systems like a worm farm.”
Having lived in the US for the past 20 years, Sherry and Geoff Maddock were inspired by the not-for-profit Kentucky organisation FoodChain, which operates a large-scale indoor farm.
Mr Maddock said they also hoped to see locally-grown produce on tables in CBD restaurants.
“We want to grow part of the food in the urban centre. We have been liaising with local chefs and they are keen to source some of their vegetables from us,” Mr Maddock said.
The Urban Seedlings team said it wanted to develop a curriculum for students and local residents where they can learn how to turn their homes into an indoor green garden.
“We will host workshops so people learn how to grow it at home. There’s a huge potential for people to grow their own food in the urban area,” Mr Maddock said.
Urban Seedlings is already taking school tours and the students have been curious and interested in how the indoor micro farm operates.
According to the team, there are many benefits of having an indoor green space.
“It purifies the air. No machines can be compared to the efficiency of actual plants. It’s also very therapeutic and relieves stress,” Mr Maddock said.
CBD residents and workers will soon be able to check out the micro farm and purchase some succulent plants from Urban Seedlings.
For more information, visit urbanseedlings.org
The Dangers of Urban Gardens
The problem is almost everything else: in the midst of the horticultural fever people have forgotten that urban agriculture has challenges that seriously compromise the food security of its crops. If we do not take this problem seriously, we will find ourselves promoting tasty, ecological toxins.
The Dangers of Urban Gardens
In recent years, every city worth its salt that has had a system of urban gardens. It's a very good idea: an almost perfect combination of green spaces, community activities and food education.
The problem is almost everything else: in the midst of the horticultural fever people have forgotten that urban agriculture has challenges that seriously compromise the food security of its crops. If we do not take this problem seriously, we will find ourselves promoting tasty, ecological toxins.
The dangers of urban gardens
A few years ago, the United States experienced a controversy that illustrates the problems and dangers that urban gardens can entail. Ryan Kuck, the director of Greengrow, an urban farm located in the industrial zone of Philadelphia since the eighties, said that his two newborn twins had high levels of lead in their blood due to the consumption of fruits and vegetables from their own garden.
Lead, for example, is especially harmful to children. In high concentrations it can have a very damaging effect on the nervous system and can cause mental retardation, developmental disorders or behavioral problems. According to the World Health Organization, in reality, there are no known safe levels of lead for children or adults: almost any concentration has detrimental effects on a lot of systems and parts of the body.
As Kuck himself acknowledged, "I was worried, but not surprised." The use of land in urban areas constantly changes with the city's cycles and development. A clear example is lead: for decades millions of cars used leaded fuels, thousands of buildings were painted with lead paint. Of course the soil of the cities is contaminated! There is pollution in the environment!
In addition, the plants we use in horticulture have the property of accumulating potentially toxic elements and compounds, such as heavy metals or derivatives of the use of hydrocarbons.
"The perfect salad"
That is, we are putting 'accumulators' of toxins in a contaminated soil. According to Andres Rodriguez, people are blindly planting gardens because of the urban gardens are fashionable. That is to say, they are installing the gardens without analyzing if the conditions of the land are suitable for cultivation (and, later, consumption).
According to Rodríguez, who investigates lead pollution in urban soils, despite their pedagogical and leisure potential, most urban gardens are a completely unnecessary ecological risk. They are also a sanitary risk. The scientific research that has been carried out on the subject supports it.
Natural = safe
The foods that enters the 'food circuit' is very controlled but there are few controls on the fruits and vegetables that we can find in urban gardens. It's paradoxical that the search for healthier foods has led us to producing food without any controls, cultivating it in contaminated lands and putting the health of those who consume it at risk.
These are not theories, the analyses that have been carried out in urban gardens in Madrid, as Rodriguez pointed out, are clear: land is not safe. Nothing justifies continuing with the projects to expand them if there are no minimum guarantees of security.
In addition, the data is so worrying that it seems inadvisable that the urban gardens movement should claim food security as one of its central ideas. It would be a pity if one of the most successful movements of community dynamism in recent years was lost due to health problems.
Source: magnet.xakata.com
Publication date: 11/22/2017
NYC Restaurant Opts for Hyper-Local, Clean Produce by Building a Hydroponic Farm on Location!
Rob Laing, CEO of Farm.One has a solution: hydroponics, a system of growing plants without many of the traditional inputs. Using just a finely tuned solution of water, Farm.One can grow crops without soil or even sunlight.
NYC Restaurant Opts for Hyper-Local, Clean Produce by Building a Hydroponic Farm on Location!
Michelle Neff
November 13, 2017
There has been a notable rise in consumer concern over the sustainability of their food choices in recent years. Thanks to the availability of information, people are becoming more concerned about their own health, as well as coming to realize the impact that their food choices have on the planet and animals.
Many people are looking for sustainable farming practices and choosing organic produce that isn’t filled with pesticides and other chemicals. According to data provided by the Organic Trade Association, sales of organic produce are expected to grow 70 percent between 2016 and 2021. People want food that is fresh and good for them, but unfortunately, most of the produce in the U.S. is shipped across the country and it’s not as easy to find locally grown fruits and vegetables in commercial grocery stores. With a number petrochemicals involved in creating synthetic fertilizers and pesticides – as well as those needed in the packing, cooling, and shipping process – it’s quite hard to find truly sustainable produce that you can trust.
Rob Laing, CEO of Farm.One has a solution: hydroponics, a system of growing plants without many of the traditional inputs. Using just a finely tuned solution of water, Farm.One can grow crops without soil or even sunlight. In fact, Farm.One is a unique indoor farm in downtown Manhattan, which uses hydroponics to reduce water use by around 95 percent, and advanced climate control technology to grow a wide variety of plants year-round without pesticides, pollution, soil contamination, herbicides, manure or waiting in cold storage.
Now, Farm.One is expanding and planning to launch a second farm, directly underneath the restaurant Atera in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City on November 14, 2017!
“In Denmark, it was possible to step out the kitchen door and forage for beautiful ingredients. To have Farm.One in New York, just a few steps away from our kitchen gives us access to a huge range of rare ingredients, year-round,” said Ronny Emborg, Executive Chef of Atera.
The new 1,200 square-foot farm is dedicated to growing rare herbs, edible flowers, and micro greens, all of which will be used throughout New York restaurants.
Farm.One’s new farm uses efficient LED lights to grow rare produce, all in a controlled environment, year round. The produce is then transported via bike or subway to restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn, to reduce food miles. If that wasn’t amazing enough, the new farm is capable of growing 1,000 pounds of produce. The future of food is here!
“Farming indoors in Manhattan allows us to deliver a huge range of rare produce for the most demanding chefs within a few hours of harvest, year-round. Our location eliminates waste and provides a fresher, better product,” CEO Rob Laing explains. Check out the below video to learn more about this innovative company.
We are thrilled to see Farm.One expand and help create a model for hydroponic farming for other businesses! Making healthy produce accessible even in the middle of a bustling city is undoubtedly a great move for the planet, animals, and the well-being of people.
Interested in learning more about Farm.One? In a recent episode of the #EatForThePlanet with Nil Zacharias podcast, Rob discusses his vision for how technology can transform the food system and help to create a more sustainable and healthy world.
Check out the full episode below:
Farm of Future Grows Crops Quickly, Efficiently
Farm of Future Grows Crops Quickly, Efficiently
- Matthew Lambert, mlambert@agrinews.com | Nov 21, 2017
Two of many rows of leafy greens, these ones being specifically butter lettuce, inside Living Greens Farm in Faribault, Minn. The farm utilizes vertical growing techniques inside of a warehouse as way to be efficient and environmentally friendly.
Matthew Lambert / mlambert@agrinews.com
FARIBAULT, Minn. — The warehouse that houses Living Greens Farm doesn't look like a place that contains the future of farming.
Located on the north side of Faribault near Interstate 35, Dana Anderson and Dave Augustine are executing "trial and error" tactics to help feed the world.
Augustine said that when he and Anderson began Living Greens in 2012, they ran into more engineering problems than growing issues. Now, they're an efficient machine, growing leafy greens in a 45-day growing cycle compared to the usual 80-90 days.
The farm uses a special frame designed by Anderson in his garage in 2010. While the prototype is different from what's in use today, the basic A-frame is the same: two frames pressed together at the top like a triangle, with room in-between for workers to move through.
It uses the frame for shedding water, allowing the crops, that spend around two weeks before they enter the A-frame setup, to be regularly misted with a nutrient solution.
Living Greens Farm doesn't use soil or water as a growing medium, rather it utilizes aeroponics or vertical growing, maximizing the growing space.
Living Greens Farm grows lettuce varieties, herbs and microgreens, selling around Minnesota and going to market within 24 to 48 hours after harvest.
These aren't genetically inferior crops either. Living Greens Farm grows everything from butter lettuce and upland cress to microgreen arugula and microgreen radish to basil and cilantro, just to name a few.
There are no herbicides or pesticides, not organic, and use little heat and light. Furthermore, Living Greens Farm uses one-200th of the land and 95 percent less water than a traditional farm.
From what began as trial and error has become an efficient machine that shows the potential for farming to be possible anywhere at anytime.
Michelle Keller, the head grower at Living Greens Farm, previously ran a hydroponic lettuce farm for 10 years. She's been with Living Greens Farm for a little more than four years and was familiar with the aeroponic process itself.
Keller can do what the average farmer can't: control the elements.
"I can mimic June 12 months of the year," Keller said.
Keller said the future of farming will likely still have larger fields growing corn, wheat, and oats, but a lack of space makes abandoned buildings or warehouses perfect places for start-up farms.
"This is the answer," Keller said. "It gets you closer to the end consumer, we're not shipping it in, we're not being dependent on foreign countries as much. Some type of indoor farming has to be the answer."
Anderson and Augustine say Rice County and Faribault were "business friendly" for the futuristic venture, but they aren't ruling out the possibility of growing other products or expanding their model and technique elsewhere, including international markets.
For Hydroponic Educator, Innovation Is A Way of Life
For Hydroponic Educator, Innovation Is A Way of Life
NOVEMBER 24, 2017 URBANAG NEWS
Originally published in Issue 15
By Sidsel Robards
Not many teachers can come back to school telling students that their summer vacation included a visit to The White House to pick up a Presidential Award. But Shakira Provasoli, resident science teacher at The Sun Works Center at PS333 in New York City, did exactly that after an August ceremony where she received a presidential honor from the EPA for her outstanding work as an environmental educator.
“It is an honor to be recognized by the EPA and the White House for my commitment to environmental education. I want to thank NY Sun Works for giving me the opportunity to create curriculum in such an inspiring science laboratory!”
—Shakira Provasoli
Established in 2011, the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators recognizes teachers who employ innovative approaches to environmental education and use the environment as a context for learning for their students. The award comes with a cash prize toward further professional development and is matched with a grant for the teacher’s school to further fund environmental educational activities and programs.
Rooftop greenhouse classroom
Shakira has been an educator for 16 years, and was part of the first cohort of the NASA Endeavor program. In the past five years she has been a science cluster teacher at The Sun Works Center at PS333. Her classroom is a 1,450-square-foot rooftop hydroponic greenhouse built by NY Sun Works. During the week she works with about 660 kindergarten to 5th grade students, who learn about everything from systems and cycles, environmental interaction, sustainable solutions, and sustainable cities – all through the lens of urban agriculture.
When Shakira was a classroom teacher, she strived to know the whole person in her students. But she says teaching all K to 5th grades as the greenhouse teacher gives her the opportunity to know them on a much deeper level. She learns not only if a child can read on grade level; she knows who shares highly coveted aquaponics tools, who gently transplants seedlings, who has enough stamina to power all four light bulbs on the energy bike and who can always spot the hidden frogs.
Shakira Provasoli
Hands-on, project-based science
Outside the classroom, Shakira’s contribution to the NY Sun Works program goes much deeper. She was one of the first teachers to join the team led by NY Sun Works’ Executive Director Manuela Zamora, to develop the extensive K through 12th grade curriculum Discovering Sustainability Science. The curriculum goes hand-in-hand with the organization’s hydroponic science labs and offers a new way of teaching hands-on, project-based science while covering state-mandated standards. The in-depth curriculum is being used in NY Sun Works’ partner schools throughout New York City and the state and is featured in an eponymous annual youth conference.
“I feel incredibly lucky to have students who eagerly race into my hydroponic classroom, determined to be the first ones to spot the ladybug eggs, power the energy bike, spray the seedlings, harvest kale, test the pH, monitor water quality, construct their own hydroponic system or correctly identify a pest.”
—Shakira Provasoli
In 2012, NY Sun Works launched a teacher training program. There was no question that Shakira would be the ideal candidate to lead the 36-hour course, “Water, Waste and Energy: integrating themes of sustainability into the classroom.” Since the course was implemented, it has been offered through the N.Y. Department of Education 16 times and has trained more than 150 teachers from both public and private schools in New York.
With her Presidential Innovation Award, Shakira hopes to show other educators how critical environmental education is to students and to our planet. School age children today need to have the tools to spark creative ideas for solutions that will lessen the effects of climate change in the future.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Sidsel Robards, Director, Development and Events, NY SunWorks
NY Sun Works is a non-profit organization that builds innovative science labs in urban schools. Through their Greenhouse Project Initiative they use hydroponic farming technology to educate students and teachers about the science of sustainability. www.nysunworks.org
Sustaining Communities Through Urban Agriculture
Sustaining Communities Through Urban Agriculture
- Erica Quinlan AgriNews Publications
- Nov 16, 2017
Plaut
INDIANAPOLIS — Urban agriculture is about more than just the number of farms in a city. It’s a way of viewing the entire food system, from farm to grocery store.
Karen Plaut, the interim dean of Purdue University’s College of Agriculture, discussed urban ag during a dinner hosted by Marion County Farm Bureau.
“Only 314 people are employed in the farm sector in Marion County,” she said. “But, as many of our FFA students have heard, if you eat, if you wear clothes — most of us are involved in agriculture or farming at some level.
“The university defines urban agriculture as the growing, processing and distribution of food crops and animal products by and for the local community within an urban environment.
“There’s a huge opportunity for careers in agriculture.”
Plaut listed several ways that Indianapolis shows what urban agriculture has to offer.
Urban Ag Certificate Program
“It’s a year-long program with 25 learning modules,” Plaut said. “It’s a hybrid format including online and in-person activities. The program has been in place for one year.
“The goal is to give in-depth instruction for urban, organic crop production all the way from farm design and harvest. Soil health, irrigation and pests are all important issues for an urban garden, just like a larger farm.”
Learn more about the certificate program at:www.purdue.edu/dffs/urbanag/programs/urban-ag-certificate.
Urban Bike Tour
“This year, 114 cyclists went on a bike tour to different urban farms,” Plaut said. “They stopped and looked at each farm, and in the evening, they brought it home by using produce from local farms to have dinner.
Made-in-Toronto Devices Aim to Make Indoor Gardening Simple
Aamar Khwaja is the founder of Modgarden, a modular indoor farming system, and his mission is to enable people to produce enough food to yield a salad a day.
Modgarden founder Aamar Khwaja | Samuel Engelking
One of the joys of summer is stepping out into the backyard or balcony and snipping a few leaves of fresh herbs or greens and adding them to dinner. Then winter comes and destroys all of the plant-growing fun.
But if one local entrepreneur has his way, city-dwellers will be growing healthy food year-round in their homes.
Aamar Khwaja is the founder of Modgarden, a modular indoor farming system, and his mission is to enable people to produce enough food to yield a salad a day.
The Modgarden was born out of Khwaja’s own personal need. After decades on Wall Street, he was chronically sick. When changing his diet resulted in improved health, he decided to grow his own food, which seemed impossible in his Toronto home.
“The food system is broken,” says Khwaja. “Any food can be labelled natural but still be sprayed with pesticides. I wanted to change that. After staring at a wall in my kitchen I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to grow something there?’”
He began researching urban farming and vertical gardening and struck upon the idea of creating his own system, which uses mineral-rich living soil and is app-enabled.
Khwaja enlisted Toronto-based sustainable architect Heather Dubbeldam, whose firm is designing a rooftop farm for a client that includes an orchard.
The Modgarden is smooth and sleek, more like a fetching piece of furniture than a productive garden. With three sizes, ranging from desktop to floor model, all of which are stackable, it has flexibility to fit small spaces. He already has a great deal of interest and expects the units to be on the market in mid-2018. Prices range from $799 to $1,199 (though pre-launch online discounts are $450-$750).
The Modgarden is part of a growing movement catering to indoor food production, one driven by health consciousness and sustainability.
Food-oriented products already on the market are typically hydroponic and range from small objects to large, custom builds. For smaller spaces, there are systems like Click & Grow, which comes in three tabletop sizes with stylish light arms, as well as two wall farm units. Miracle-Gro offers a system called Aerogarden.
The Urban Cultivator is akin to a wine fridge and installed under a counter in place of cabinets. Even IKEA has an indoor gardening system, Krydda/Växer, though it’s not yet available in Canada.
Then there are aquaponics systems, like HiGarden or Grove, which incorporate fish and wetlands to make self-sustaining, closed ecosystems. Water from the fish tank is fed up to the plants and then filters from the plants through a wetland layer for purification before returning to the tank.
At a glance, these devices appear complicated. But as Leon Wasser, VP of business development for Toronto-based HiGarden, says, “All you need to add is air and fish food.”
HiGarden’s VIGA systems range from a mini tabletop and 12- and 24-inch desktop models, to those designed for building lobbies and indoor community farms. (Prices for consumer models run from $499 to $1,119.)
HiGarden founder, Phil Fung, is a leading LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) advisor, so his approach includes improving the sustainability of buildings.
HiGarden founder Phil Fung | Courtesy of HiGarden
While HiGarden’s ambitions include working with schools, long-term-care facilities and northern Canadian food deserts, the company is also conscious of growing consumer demand.
“Younger people in condos don’t have easy access to green space,” says Wasser. “This is something that could be transformative – bringing a [garden] oasis into your home can be really beneficial, health-wise.”
So far, most home-sized systems are best suited for microgreens, leafy greens, small vegetables, peas, beans and herbs.
Of course, when people think of growing herbs indoors, a different variety comes to mind.
With federal legislation legalizing marijuana, including growing at home, coming in July 2018, that other herb is on the radars of Modgarden and HiGarden.
HiGarden has already designed a four-pot prototype of the VIGA in anticipation of the four-plant growing limit the law will allow, but beyond that, no modifications have been made, largely because weed is still illegal.
The challenge with retrofitting existing units is that while you don’t need to lock up basil, you’ll want to keep cannabis away from kids. Security and sufficient airflow – not to mention the fact that marijuana is notoriously finicky to keep alive – are chief concerns.
Khwaja is researching modifications for Modgarden but says that, for the moment anyway, his focus is on “feeding people.”
To date, only a few growing units are purpose-built for pot and are still in prototype or early-market stages – or sold out.
Grobo, developed in Waterloo, is a tall, discreet growing box that would look lovely in a living room and boasts security features like a locking door, fluid glass to mask contents, and air filtration. And WeeGro, used by licensed medical marijuana growers, is also customizable to allow users to disguise or display as desired.
Whether growing herbs or herb, the demand is strong and consumers primarily want simplicity.
“If it’s easy, they’ll do it,” says Heather Dubbeldam. “If it’s complicated, they won’t.”
If Randy Rowe’s experience is any indication, consumer demand for cannabis-centric systems is high.
He’s the president of Grow Up Cannabis Conference & Expo, which had its inaugural show in October in Niagara Falls. It drew around 4,000 people, many of whom were interested in growing their own.
Rowe says anyone who comes out with a consumer product that can grow everything in one box will hit the mark.
“That said, growing marijuana is an art. To be able to grow your own is hard,” he says. “It’s why you don’t see people growing their own tobacco.”
Back at Modgarden, Khwaja is finalizing the product for a spring 2018 launch.
“This is the appliance of the future,” he says, before comparing it to a fool-proof (if less sustainable) kitchen gadget. “I see this as the Keurig of fresh salads.”
Winter Doesn't Faze 87,000-Square-Foot Aquaponics Farm in St. Paul
Winter Doesn't Faze 87,000-Square-Foot Aquaponics Farm in St. Paul
Three-plus months after debuting in its new, vastly larger location, Urban Organics continues to expand.
By Amelia Rayno Star Tribune | NOVEMBER 22, 2017
ELIZABETH FLORES • LIZ.FLORES@STARTRIBUNE.COM
Pentair and Urban Organics are partners in this 87,000-square-foot indoor fish and produce farm in the old Schmidt brewery that provides greens and seafood for grocery stores, co-ops and restaurants.
“There’s no seasonal affective disorder in here,” said Dave Haider, who founded Urban Organics along with his wife, Kristen Koontz Haider, and with Chris Ames and Fred Haberman. “It just makes sense — not just from an environmental standpoint but also from a food safety standpoint. It’s sustainable, it’s consistent and it’s a local option.”
Three-plus months after debuting in its new, vastly larger location, Urban Organics continues to expand its operation — with the capacity to churn out 7,000 pounds of fish a week (up from a mere 100 pounds per week at its first location) along with about 10,000 pounds of produce (up from 250 pounds).
And with a warehouse full of 25,000-gallon tanks and skyward-reaching trays of lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, arugula, basil and parsley, Urban Organics — which the WateReuse Association just named 2017 agricultural project of the year, a national award — is doing so in a very green way.
Here’s how it works: The fish provide the nutrients necessary to grow the plants. The plants, in turn, act as a filter to improve the water quality for the fish. Reusing the water over and over again allows Urban Organics to use just a fraction of what conventional farming would require.
As for the finished products? The fish is mostly nabbed by restaurateurs — Fish Guys handles the distribution, to places like Birchwood Cafe and Spoon and Stable. And the greens are boxed up into nine different salad blends and sold to various grocery stores and co-ops. Even with the great increase in production, Haider said, they’re struggling to fill the overwhelming number of requests.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” he said. “But we’ve had so much support from the local community. Right now we can’t even come close to keeping up with the demand.”
Indoor Farming Feeding Hundreds Each Day in Connecticut
November 1, 2017,
MERIDEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Indoor farming is underway in the state of Connecticut thanks to a group of young entrepreneurs.
Trifecta Ecosystems Incorporated has just fully filled out its new downtown Meriden aquaponics facility with thousands of plants growing in about 12 inches of water vertically and on a flat surface.
This historic facility is a massive former ball-bearing plant that they fully transformed.
CEO Spencer Curry says never in his wildest imagination did he expect to be in this kind of start-up business because he had been a Latin and philosophy major, but here he is and his company is thriving.
“We can feed about 300 people per week…An 11-ounce container which is like that large container at Whole Foods,” Curry stated.
“This is lettuce in a vertical grow tower,” Curry explained. “You’re actually seeing them hang vertically like that and that allows us to get more plants per square feet.”
Curry showed us other growing methods as well.
“This is actually another style of growing called deep water culture and this is the style we choose for our actual commercial farm in Meriden,” he said. “We use a high-efficiency LED grow lights from Fluence which is a company that we are working with for our commercial farm here.”
Curry said his business is mostly growing kale, lettuce, salad greens, cooking greens and herbs.
“Our model is about building our own network of farms and integrating that with both the existing farms that are out there and new farms that our clients are starting,” Curry said. “We honestly see Connecticut as primed to be a nationwide leader in indoor and controlled environment agriculture, but we also see our company as a much larger company than just the state. We want to develop our model here in Connecticut and make Connecticut really the de facto state in the nation to look toward controlled environment agriculture or CEA. We want to build the city that feeds itself and we want that to start here in Connecticut.”
Curry’s company works a lot with schools, so if you want to grow some greens vertically in your classroom, get in touch with them.
It grows right out of a fish tank, you farm fish and plants together.
You can suscribe to the greens right out of their farm in Meriden. It’s located at 290 Pratt Street.
To find out more, go to www.trifectaecosystems.com.
A Jeff Bezos-Backed Vertical Farm is Coming to the Seattle Area
Indoor farming startup Plenty is building its first full-scale farm in the Seattle area. Plenty snagged $200 million in Series B funding in July from investors including SoftBank's Vision Fund, Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOGL) Chairman Eric Schmidt and Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' Bezos Expeditions.
A Jeff Bezos-Backed Vertical Farm is Coming to the Seattle Area
Plenty will open a 100,000-square-foot indoor farm in Kent in the first half of 2018.
By Casey Coombs – Staff Writer, Puget Sound Business Journal
Nov 3, 2017
Indoor farming startup Plenty is building its first full-scale farm in the Seattle area.
Plenty snagged $200 million in Series B funding in July from investors including SoftBank's Vision Fund, Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOGL) Chairman Eric Schmidt and Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' Bezos Expeditions.
Expected to open in the first half of 2018 in Kent, Plenty's farm will employ a workforce of indoor farming engineers, organic growers and operations experts.
“Seattle’s emphasis on delicious, healthy food and energy and water efficiency makes the area a natural fit for our next Plenty farm,” Plenty CEO and co-founder Matt Barnard said. “At nearly 100,000 square feet, Seattle will be home to our first full scale farm and help set the standard by which our global farm network makes locally-grown, backyard-quality produce accessible to everyone. We’re excited about what’s next and look forward to building the Seattle team.”
The produce will be available to local Seattle and Vancouver BC-area consumers beginning in mid-2018.
Using LED lighting, micro-sensors and big data processing, the company's indoor farming technology aims to help solve global fresh produce shortages.
Plenty farms use one percent of the water and fraction of the land of conventional agriculture.
Plenty’s first field-scale farm is located in South San Francisco and will start delivering produce to local Bay Area customers within hours of harvest by the end of 2017.
The Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Redmond headquarters campus features similar lettuce-growing technology:
“Seattle’s emphasis on delicious, healthy food and energy and water efficiency makes the area a natural fit for ou
Microsoft grows hydroponic lettuce in Redmond
Mark Freeman, senior manager of global dining services at Microsoft, stands with lettuce growing in a hydroponic pyramids in Building 121's Cafe 121 on Microsoft's campus in Redmond.
Amazon's Jeff Bezos Invests in Vertical Produce Farming Company Plenty
, according to a report from getting into the fresh produce businessA new investment by Jeff Bezos has the man behind the Amazon Whole Foods buyout Business Insider
Amazon's Jeff Bezos Invests in Vertical Produce Farming Company Plenty
Nov. 6th, 2017
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA - A new investment by Jeff Bezos has the man behind the Amazon Whole Foods buyout getting into the fresh produce business, according to a report from Business Insider. Bezos reportedly has taken his place alongside the likes of Eric Schmidt of Alphabet, SoftBank Vision, and DCM Ventures to get in on the ground floor of Bay Area-based vertical farming startup, Plenty.
With the new investors signing on, Plenty announced it will now open a 100,000-square-foot farm in Kent, Washington, where the startup hopes to grow pesticide-free, “backyard quality,” fresh fruits and vegetables for consumers in the Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., areas. This second farm marks the first occasion Plenty will grow beyond its home in South San Francisco.
A plenty vertical farm
Business Insider reports that Plenty’s new farm will grow 4.5 million pounds of greens annually, which, according to the USDA, is enough to feed around 183,600 Americans. Set to come online in spring 2018, Plenty’s twist on the classic produce farm means that all of its crops will grow on glowing, LED-lit, 20-foot-tall towers, taking all soil, pesticides, and even natural sunlight out of the growing equation. Those of us in the biz know this is called indoor vertical farming and allows for a climate-controlled, year-round growing option.
In Seattle, Plenty has said it will begin growing leafy greens and herbs first, but will later expand to fruits, such as strawberries, tomatoes, and watermelons. CEO and Co-Founder Matt Barnard told Business Insider the company will begin selling in 2018 under it’s newly achieved organic certification and may be even looking at delivery as one option for distribution.
Matt Barnard, CEO, Plenty
Seattle’s emphasis on delicious, healthy food and energy and water efficiency makes the area a natural fit for our next Plenty farm,” said Barnard in a press release. “At nearly 100,000 square feet, Seattle will be home to our first full-scale farm and help set the standard by which our global farm network makes locally-grown, backyard-quality produce accessible to everyone. We’re excited about what’s next and look forward to building the Seattle team.”
A plenty vertical farm
To date, after Bezos’ contribution, Plenty has raised $226 million, which Barnard said will help the company fund new farms around the world in order to drive down prices and costs.
Will the Amazon leader move further into fresh produce investments as he seems to be keeping a watchful eye on the food industry? AndNowUKnow will keep you apprised with the latest.
3D Printed Connectors Make This Startup's Sustainable Indoor Garden Grow
3D Printed Connectors Make This Startup's Sustainable Indoor Garden Grow
by Sarah Saunders | November 22, 2017, | 3D Design, 3D Printing, Business
The first time we planted a garden in our backyard, I couldn’t get enough of watching the vegetables grow. I would go out in the yard and gently move aside the leaves to get a glimpse of the tiny green beans that were getting bigger every day. We had an abundance of tomatoes that year – so much that the cages were starting to bend from the weight. At the time, I had friends who lived in an apartment and were unable to garden outside, so they grew tomatoes indoors in one of those hanging garden set-ups. Hexagro Urban Farming, an Italian startup, is working to innovate urban farming, and this same kind of hanging garden, using 3D printing technology.
The Milan-based startup works to develop scalable, sustainable and sharing economy-based solutions, so customers can improve their production and supply of fresh, healthy, home-grown food. Last month, Hexagro launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Katana platform, which runs through New Year’s Eve, for its sustainable Living Farming Tree – an attractive, maintenance-free indoor garden, complete with 3D printed connectors.
The Living Farming Tree aims to bring nature from the outside to the inside of any workplace, like businesses, hotels, and restaurants, where its air-cleaning plants and healthy vegetables can enhance the well-being of the people there.
Irish 3D printing company Wazp, which worked with IKEA this summer on its first mass-produced 3D printed collection of home objects, also announced a partnership with the Hexagro startup for the Living Farming Tree, in order to provide a sustainable, socially responsible solution that could work in the catering industry.
“This partnership is a notable example of how 3d printing can facilitate innovative companies, like Hexagro, scale; by enabling stock-purchasing to be critically managed at the early stage of a business, so that essential capital is not tied up in stocks, while also giving a long-term option for commercial production,” said Wazp Product Development Manager Daniel Barrett. “Working with the Hexagro team is an exciting opportunity for us, to be a part of a new and innovative approach to a more sustainable farming future for countries around the world, which will be a global success.”
The Living Farming Tree is available in three size options:
- 4 Module Kit with 24 vases
- 7 Module Kit with 42 vases
- 13 Module Kit with 78 vases
The connectors for the modules are 3D printed, so that the design of the Living Farming Tree system is adaptable, modular, and scalable – thus making it possible for any person to bring nature into their own space, whether it’s at work or home.
L-R) Hexagro Urban Farming Team: Felipe Hernandez, Alessandro Grampa, Milica Mladenovic, Arturo Montufar
“We are glad to have found a partner that can help us in developing our 3D printed parts for prototyping and early fulfillment,” said Alessandro Grampa, CMO and Business Development at Hexagro. “This will allow us to maintain a dynamic product development, adapting to customer needs and feedback. Thanks to Wazp high-quality technology, we can provide our clients with the best modular and scalable farming systems adaptable to any of their indoor environments.”
By utilizing 3D printing technology to manufacture the module connectors, they can be scaled up to increase production, making the system adaptable to different kinds of crops; they also have a modular design, so the system can be customized to fit in any space. The system includes an automated monitoring device, which uses data analysis and dedicated crop planning software to adapt the Living Farming Tree to individual environmental conditions; it also comes with LED lights and an automatic irrigation system. According to the startup, the best crops for the Living Farming Tree include herbs like basil, mint, and oregano, and leafy green vegetables like kale, spinach, and lettuce.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen 3D printing technology used to augment urban gardens, and by taking advantage of the benefits that 3D design and scalable production that Wazp’s supply chain solution offers, Hexagro will be able to bring the Living Farming Tree to the market faster, while also improving the system by listening to, and implementing, customer feedback and needs.
Speaking of customers, there are still super early bird rewards left on the Living Farm Tree’s Katana campaign – a pledge of €549 (a 30% discount from the retail price) will get you one of the first small configurations of the system, which includes a water pump, nutrient container, monitoring system, irrigation system, four LED lamps, four farming modules, 11 3D printed global connectors, and one app, with included user credentials.
The Living Farm Tree has been shortlisted for the Katana Opencircle Project, part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 initiative.
Let us know what you think about this, and other 3D printing topics, at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.
Three Startups That Wowed Jack Ma And Won Alibaba's Backing
Three Startups That Wowed Jack Ma And Won Alibaba's Backing
November 22, 2017
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
[HONG KONG] After hearing 600 pitches spanning fintech and robotics to healthy ageing, three startups will share US$3 million in backing from an entrepreneurs fund set up by billionaire Jack Ma.
Jumpstarter, a competition for new ideas and products similar to TechCrunch Disrupt, has the backing of Mr Ma's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, which unveiled its HK$1 billion (S$173.4 million) fund in 2015 to support startups.
A shortlist of six candidates made the final pitches on Tuesday, getting eight minutes to talk about their products and then four minutes of questioning by the judging panel. Among the criteria used to decide winners were innovation, community impact and market potential.
The winners:
Cuttingedge Medtech Ltd: Robot doctors may not be science fiction anymore. A team of robotic and medical imaging graduates is building specialised surgical robots for orthopedics, neural surgery and oral implants. The vision is personalised care with minimal invasive surgery.
Farm66 Investment Ltd: The company is joining the increasingly hot field of hydroponics and vertical farming as companies try to alleviate a global food crisis with sustainable agriculture. Combining indoor farming with fish ponds, this startup has already won a couple of awards from local industry associations.
En-Trak Hong Kong Ltd:This four-year-old startup targets commercial buildings with a connected device platform to help manage power use. En-Trak says it can pull in data from existing meters to manage consumption and lower costs while also lowering carbon emissions, with customers already including Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Fuji Xerox.
The other finalists:
BeeInventor: Trying to bring a technology solution to an old-fashioned industry, BeeInventor has built a cloud-based platform for communication among construction workers. Its Dasloop product fits over the helmets worn on building sites and monitors body temperatures, warns of potential collisions and provides video feeds. It can also connect to gas detectors or a flashlight.
Viewider: This startup aims to help merchants on e-commerce sites pick the best site to sell on. Viewider builds search and market research tools that help online merchants suss out global e-commerce services such as eBay or Amazon, register products for sale and price their wares accordingly.
Human Washer Ltd: Like a car wash for people. This startup offers the Sit & Shower, a device that enables the elderly and mobility impaired to bathe with automated soaping, temperature control, 13 surrounding water jets and air drying. The company says the device also cleans itself.
BLOOMBERG
With Vertical Farms, Food Banks Are Growing Their Own Produce to Fight Hunger
With Vertical Farms, Food Banks Are Growing Their Own Produce to Fight Hunger
Vertical farms allow food banks to grow their own produce with high-tech systems in an effort to fight food insecurity year-round.
The Community Food Bank of Oklahoma’s Growtainers. Photo courtesy of Growtainers.
BY JODI HELMER | Technology, Urban Agriculture
11.17.17
When temperatures dip below zero, it’s too cold for farmers to grow fresh produce in Tulsa.
Until spring, almost all of the fresh fruits and vegetables distributed through the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma are imported from warmer climes like Mexico and California. Those donations are few and far between, often leaving the food bank distributing non-perishable items such as canned tomatoes, peanut butter, and pasta instead of fresh foods. To address this gap, the food bank started to grow its own greens, ensuring a stable supply of fresh, locally-grown produce for its clients.
“Our priority is getting healthy foods to the people that need them, but getting donated produce has been a big challenge for us—and having fresh produce is even tougher in the winter months,” said John McCarthy, the food bank’s director of community incentives.
Inside the Community Food Bank of Oklahoma’s vertical farm. (Photo courtesy Growtainers)
In 2016, the food bank installed a vertical farm—an indoor, temperature-controlled environment where food is grown in stacked towers under LED lights. The two 40-foot by 8-foot shipping containers that make up the operation were upfitted into indoor hydroponic farms by Growtainers, one of several manufacturers of vertical farm systems. The containers are designed to produce up to 1,800 heads of lettuce and other leafy greens every 45 days—regardless of the time of year.
“We harvest greens in the morning, and they’re available in the afternoon, producing a really nice product we can count on,” McCarthy said.
Farming is generally not commonplace among food banks. Feeding America, a nonprofit, nationwide network of food banks, reports that only 29 of its 200 members operate farms and distribute that produce to food insecure and low-income clients. And this is mostly because land is expensive to acquire or lease; growing food is time- and labor-intensive and requires specialized knowledge; and many food banks choose instead to focus their efforts on the logistics of getting food to people in need.
But vertical farms—with manufacturers’ promises of producing large amounts of food in a small footprint through high-tech, plug-and-play growing operations—could bring about a shift in food banks’ willingness to grow their own food. Unlike greenhouses, which can lack light and temperature control, thereby limiting the growing season, vertical farms might offer food banks the ability to grow food year-round.
With the National Organic Standards Board recently making the controversial recommendation that hydroponic and aeroponic systems be eligible to earn organic certification, vertical farms are poised to reach new levels of popularity. And though there is no data on the number of food banks operating vertical farms, several appear to be experimenting with the high-tech approach.
Cultivating the Right Approach for the Climate
One of the biggest arguments against food banks getting into the vertical-farming business is simply that these systems are pricey. The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma paid $140,000 for its two Growtainers, securing a grant from the Morningcrest Healthcare Foundation to purchase the vertical farms. It costs an additional $680 per month for electricity to power them.
For nonprofits, cost can be a barrier and, in some locations, indoor farms are an unnecessary expense. The learning curve can also be steep and most food banks rely on volunteer labor to handle maintenance and harvesting, often with training from the manufacturers of the vertical systems.
The climate was the main reason the Surrey Food Bank, the second-largest food bank in British Columbia, installed a vertical farm from Living Garden Foods at one of its four locations earlier this year. The wall-mounted towers grow produce in eight rows; fresh lettuce and kale are harvested every six weeks, allowing the food bank to provide fresh greens for up to 80 families at its Cloverdale location.
“A lot of food banks have outdoor community gardens, but this is a new thing, and we think it’s working well,” said Feezah Jaffer, the food bank’s executive director.
The Surrey Food Bank’s vertical farm system. (Photo © Pixel Perfect Photography)
Still, some food banks growing food in warmer climates are continuing to grow outside. San Antonio Food Bank, for example. operates a 75-acre farm and an urban orchard with 170 fruit trees, distributing produce to clients in 16 counties across Texas. The conventional farming plots grow everything from onions and potatoes to watermelons and cantaloupe, helping the food bank achieve its mission to provide fresh, healthy foods to those in need.
Because of the success of the farms, Patrick Brennan, manager of facilities and agricultural initiatives at the San Antonio Food Bank, has no immediate plans to add vertical farming to the agricultural operations.
“In more extreme climates, growing indoors is a more attractive option,” Brennan explained. “We do get temperature fluctuations and occasional freezes, so vertical farming might be in our future, but for now we have the ability in Central Texas to decrease costs by growing produce traditionally.”
Working Through the Growing Pains
For food banks where the climate isn’t as friendly to outdoor farming, vertical farms may hold promise. Given their positive experience with vertical farming, Surrey Food Bank in B.C. is hoping to install similar systems at the bank’s three other sites as well. While farmers donate apples, pears, cherries, and other locally grown fruits and vegetables to the food bank, those donations often fall short of demand, requiring the food bank to allocate part of its budget to purchase fresh produce. All together, produce comprises 45 percent of the food the bank distributes.
Before expanding the farming effort, however, Jaffer wants to address some of the challenges facing the current operation.
First harvest in the Community Food Bank of Oklahoma’s Growtainers. (Photo courtesy Growtainers)
Less than six months into production, volunteers at the Surrey Food Bank are still figuring out how to maximize the farm’s output. Some of the greens failed to grow, and others went to seed too fast. Additionally, varieties like Swiss chard grew well, but clients were unfamiliar with the greens or disliked their flavor. As volunteers gained experience with the vertical towers, production problems became less common and surveying families about what kinds of greens they prefer helped the food bank tweak its crop mix so no greens went uneaten.
The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma also adjusted its approach based on feedback from clients and experience with the vertical growing system. In addition to experimenting with growing tomatoes in one of its Growtainers, the food bank reduced output of non-nutrient-dense greens such as butter lettuce, romaine, and mesclun in favor of growing more kale and spinach—and teaching clients on how to prepare it by offering recipes—to maximize the nutritional value, and reduce waste.
Jaffer at the Surrey Food Bank believes asking clients about their preferences helps provide a sense of ownership in the harvest and increases their willingness to add fresh greens to their food baskets.
“There have been growing pains, but the more we learn these lessons, the bigger of a success it becomes,” she said. “We think food banks need to evolve to meet the needs of our clients, and embracing vertical farming technology is one way we can do that.”
What’s On The Menu at Food Dudes? Kale Grown in Their Backyard
What’s On The Menu at Food Dudes? Kale Grown in Their Backyard
The Food Dudes are partnering with a Brampton company that creates indoor farming systems, allowing restaurants to use hyperlocal produce in their menus.
Modular Farms president Aaron Spiro gows kale inside his mobile farm with infra red lights. (VINCE TALOTTA / TORONTO STAR)
By AINSLIE CRUICKSHANK Staff Reporter
Mon., Nov. 6, 2017
Inside an inconspicuous white container tucked in the corner of a parking lot behind an east-end catering company, infrared lights and a vertical hydroponics system will soon produce up to 68 kilograms of kale a week.
Once harvested, that kale will be carried across the alley to The Food Dudes’ bustling kitchen and transformed into something delicious.
“They can start guaranteeing their customers that any kale on the menu was not only grown locally but was literally harvested less than half an hour before people are eating it, which is pretty amazing,” said Aaron Spiro, the president of Modular Farms.
Over the last four years the Brampton-based company has developed an indoor farming system housed in 40-foot containers made of insulated composite steel panels that they say can grow food in any climate.
They aren’t cheap though. It would cost close to $150,000 to purchase the “primary module” like the one at The Food Dudes. But rather than owning and operating its own module, the catering company has an agreement with Modular Farms to purchase 100 per cent of the module’s produce.
While Modular Farms’ units that have been purchased can now be found in a handful of locations across North America, including Calgary and Sudbury, this is the first in Toronto — but Spiro said it won’t be the last. He’s hoping to see more Modular Farms pop up throughout the city, either purchased outright or through similar partnerships like the one with the Food Dudes.
“Our goal is really to replace as much food as possible with locally sourced options. When it comes to restaurants and caterers, it’s about putting the farms as close to them as possible,” said Spiro, who’s also managing the indoor farm at The Food Dudes.
Modular Farms vertical hydroponics system will soon produce up to 68 kilograms of kale a week.
Karen Landman, a professor at the University of Guelph who studies urban agriculture, said these container systems can make a “real contribution.”
“There’s certainly room for that kind of production in an urban environment,” she said, adding it contributes opportunities for learning, community engagement, and chances to get high-value crops like herbs as fresh as possible.
The Food Dudes’ creative director Brent McClenahan said they’d like to have four units in the back parking lot giving them access to a variety of produce year round.
“We’ve partnered with Modular Farms because we recognize that urban agriculture is a local solution to an increasing environmental problem,” he said in a statement.
“As we move into the future and our cities continue to strain the surrounding lands and resources, hyper-local food sourcing will play a crucial role in defining our capacity and approach to feeding our communities.”
Aaron Spiro, president of Modular Farms, poses outside an inconspicuous white container in the corner of a parking lot, which contains his mobile kale farm.
While The Food Dudes currently get most of their produce from the Ontario Food Terminal, Toronto’s main produce distribution centre, they’re planning to eventually source all of it from either organic farms or hyperlocal hydroponics.
The indoor farm out back is just one step toward that goal.
Inside, awash in red light, Spiro takes one of the vertical towers from the wall and lays it on a shiny metal work bench. He pulls a tray of seedlings from the shelf below and pries one of the peat moss plugs free. Today it’s ready to be transplanted into the tower and in about three weeks it will be ready for harvest.
A computer system manages the climate and nutrient dosing to maximize plant growth.
“Kale, it’s a very hardy plant, you can really pump the nutrients into it and it grows quite extensively,” he said.
In the future, the company’s hoping to offer learning opportunities for the public.
They also want to bring in students from schools such as Durham College, the University of Guelph and Niagara College, which have pre-existing horticulture programs, to learn about their system and hydroponic food production.
The Chinese Houses With Rooftop FARMS
More than 22 cutting-edge properties have been erected in the afflicted area, which allow residents to grow their own food and rear animals for continuous, greener living in an environment where there is little space for house building.
The Chinese Houses With Rooftop FARMS: Residents Can Grow Their Own Food And Rear Animals on Eco Properties Erected in Aftermath of Devastating Earthquake
- Jintai Village is located near Guangyuan, Sichuan Province, and was badly affected by an earthquake in 2008
- The disaster left nearly five million people homeless and roughly 80% of local buildings were destroyed
- Rebuild efforts were then put back in 2011 when heavy rainfall and a landslide destroyed many new homes
- Now, the local government have built a total of 22 sustainable houses with farms on the rooftops
By Ted Thornhill and James Draper For Mailonline
PUBLISHED: 09:20 EDT, 31 October 2017
It was devastated by the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008.
But now China's Jintai Village, in the Sichuan Province, is rebuilding itself in an ingenious way - thanks to a new development of sustainable houses with roof farms.
More than 22 cutting-edge properties have been erected in the afflicted area, which allow residents to grow their own food and rear animals for continuous, greener living in an environment where there is little space for house building.
New vision: The collection of houses in China's Jintai Village, Sichuan Province, where sustainable houses have roof farms
Green fingers: More than 22 cutting-edge properties have recently been erected in the afflicted area
Do it yourself: Fruit and vegetables can be seen growing atop a roof farm, where the community can cultivate fresh food
Clever: The conception actively affords people the opportunity to grow food, while the design incorporates rainwater harvesting, natural light and ventilation for maximum productivity
New generation housing: Experts at the University of Hong Kong, led by design experts John Lin and Joshua Bolchove, devised a way for people to live in homes that had functionality as well as strength
Designed by the Rural Urban Framework, it's funded by both local government and NGOs in response to the natural disaster, which left nearly five million people homeless when it struck nine years ago.
It's estimated that 80 per cent of all buildings in the affected area were destroyed.
Then, in July 2011, heavy rainfall and landslides obliterated five years of reconstruction efforts.
So experts at the University of Hong Kong, led by design experts John Lin and Joshua Bolchove, conceived a way for people to live in homes that had functionality as well as strength.
Impressive: The village homes are flanked by a stunning mountain view, which is accentuated by the clouds
Rebuilt: Jintai Village was badly affected by the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, then again by landslides in 2011
This stunning aerial view shows how the village is eye-catchingly stacked in tiers
Struggle: The disaster left nearly five million people homeless and roughly 80 per cent of local buildings were destroyed
Connected: Each upper storey is cantilevered over a sheltered porch, which encourages people to sit outside and sell their products or interact with their neighbours
n addition to the green space on the top of building, which affords people the opportunity to grow food and rear animals such as pigs and chickens, it also incorporates rainwater harvesting, natural light and ventilation for maximum productivity.
Built along narrow streets, the design strategy provides four different types of houses, varying in size, function and roof sections.
Each upper storey is cantilevered over a sheltered porch, which encourages people to sit outside and sell their products or interact with their neighbours.
Meanwhile, open spaces on the ground level allow for individual family-owned workshops.
Rural Urban Framework said: 'This project demonstrates a socially and environmentally sustainable model for earthquake reconstruction while examining the many nuances of reconstructing a community.
'This is an investigation into modern rural livelihood. With tens of thousands of newly planned villages occurring in China today, the challenge is to plan villages as authentic places whereby the spatial organization and physical expression is derived directly from its relationship to its natural environment.'
San Francisco Startup Plenty Takes Vertical Farming to New Heights
San Francisco Startup Plenty Takes Vertical Farming to New Heights
Nov. 14, 2017
Plenty, an indoor agriculture company based in San Francisco, claims it has found a way to make vertical farming scalable and profitable, according to Vox.
The company uses ultra-efficient grow methods to produce 350 times as much produce per acre as conventional farming, and using just 1% of the amount of water. According to Vox, this is more than twice as much production as the next leading production level in the vertical farming industry.
Plenty operates a growing warehouse in San Francisco and plants to build one outside Seattle next year capable of producing 4.5 million pounds of greens per year. The company ultimately hopes to place grow facilities near every city in the world with one million or more residents.
For years, vertical farms have been touted as the future of agriculture — a way to grow food efficiently using a fraction of the space of conventional farmland. And for years, startup operations have hemorrhaged money before eventually going out of business.
Labor and energy are the two main costs that vertical farms struggle to overcome. Startups also pay high real estate costs, often fail to adequately use data, and frequently have a shaky go-to-market strategy. There are, in other words, numerous ways to fail in the promising but very low-margin field.
Plenty doesn’t offer a new approach to vertical farming but rather a more refined one. As an example, Vox writer David Roberts highlights Plenty’s grow walls. Rather than use stacks of horizontal planters, as many vertical farms do, Plenty employs 20-foot grow walls packed with greens. Water and nutrients pour down the walls, meaning the company is using gravity instead of expensive pumps to feed its greens and makes sure to trap any water and condensation that filters down and recycle it.
Plenty uses automation whenever possible, including tiny robots called “Schleppers” that move seedlings around. The company is also obsessive about tracking and maintaining optimal growing conditions. Its San Francisco warehouse has 7,500 cameras and 35,000 sensors to monitor temperature and numerous other metrics.
As it scales, Plenty claims it will be able to offer competitively priced produce to stores around the country. It will also have the selling point of being locally grown and very flavorful.
But will Plenty deliver, or is it just another company making big promises? Potential pitfalls abound, including high real estate costs and quality control. Plenty’s model is built around achieving massive scale, and getting there will require lots of money and minimal mistakes.
As Roberts points out, if Plenty doesn’t succeed, another company likely will. Bright Farms and Gotham Greens are two other outfits that are refining the model, and that have partnered with retailers to offer branded locally sourced greens. Vertical farming carries the promise of local, flavorful, efficiently produced fruits and vegetables, and a large payoff for whoever can make it efficient and scalable enough.
This $40 Million Robotic 'Plantscraper' Will Feed over 5,000 People Per Year
By 2050, the world's population is expected to swell to 9.6 billion, with around 66% living in urban areas. This projection is leaving many cities wondering how they will feed all those people.
This $40 Million Robotic 'Plantscraper' Will Feed over 5,000 People Per Year
- Leanna Garfield
- Nov. 18, 2017
Plantagon
By 2050, the world's population is expected to swell to 9.6 billion, with around 66% living in urban areas. This projection is leaving many cities wondering how they will feed all those people.
A Swedish food-tech company called Plantagon is proposing that cities consider building what it calls "plantscrapers" — office towers that contain giant indoor farms. Plantagon is constructing its first plantscraper in Linköping, Sweden.
Called The World Food Building, the tower will operate hydroponically, meaning vegetables (mostly greens) will grow without soil in a nutrient-rich, water-based solution. The farm will largely be automated, Plantagon CEO Hans Hassle told Business Insider.
Construction of the $40 million building began in 2012, and it's set to open by early 2020.
Check out the plans below.
The World Food Building will produce approximately 550 tons of vegetables annually — enough to feed around 5,500 people each year.
Plantagon
Source: Helgi Analytics
The front of the 16-story tower will include the farm, while the back will include the offices.
Plantagon
About two-thirds of the building will be devoted to offices, while the other third will include a huge indoor farm.
Plantagon
Companies are now signing leases to move in when it's complete.
The crops will grow using both natural sunlight and LEDs.
Plantagon
The LEDs will be calibrated to specific light frequencies to maximize production.
Plantagon
Robots will perform many of the farm's processes. This will keep operational costs down.
Plantagon
Compared to an outdoor farm of the same size, the plantscraper will generate more food while using less land and water, Hassle said. He estimates the tower will save 1,100 tons of CO2 emissions and 13 million gallons of water annually.
Plantagon
Some meeting rooms, like the one below, will have a view of the farm.
Plantagon
In other areas of the tower, there will be eateries for office employees and the public.
Plantagon
In addition, the building will include a market where people can purchase veggies. Local restaurants and other food retailers will be able to buy directly from Plantagon, which will operate the farm, Hassle said.
Plantagon
Plantagon has designed another similar indoor farm with offices, though it's in the shape of a globe. There are no plans to build it yet.
Plantagon
This plantscraper will include a spiraled food production line, which automatically moves the plants from the bottom to the top and back again while they grow. The length of the cycle would depend on the crop, but would normally take around 30 days, Hassle said.
Plantagon
The designers hope Linköping's plantscraper will encourage other cities around the world to build large-scale indoor farms that have multiple uses.
Plantagon
Plantagon is in conversations with other developers in Sweden, Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong, and Shanghai to build similar structures.