Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
Rep. Goyke Commends UW School For Urban Agriculture Initiative
Federal USDA grant follows on urban farming legislation introduced by Rep. Goyke calling for a School of Urban Agriculture in Wisconsin
By State Rep. Evan Goyke - July 12, 2018
MADISON – The University of Wisconsin – Madison recently received a three year federal grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture to initiate the creation of a School for Urban Agriculture. The new school, as part of the University’s Farming the City Project, will target students, farmers, and non-profit staff.
This legislative session Rep. Goyke introduced the “The Wisconsin Urban Farming Futures” Initiative that focused on promoting urban agriculture in Wisconsin, including funding and siting for a future urban agriculture school (Assembly Bills 671, 672, 673, 674).
According to the grant description the new school and program will “…create curricula that meets the needs of students seeking short, intense training in specific aspects of urban agriculture (workshop and short course instruction) and the needs of four-year baccalaureate students who are interested in enhancing their education in this emerging content area.
…Importantly, the project will also target secondary students in an existing pipeline for college-level agricultural training in Wisconsin. In doing so, the project envisions a future workforce of urban farmers reflecting the social composition of the communities where many urban farms are being established.”
In response to the grant announcement and in support of its goals, Rep. Goyke stated:
“The fields of urban farmers look very different than the dairy farm my grandfather owned. Urban Agriculture offers a modern expansion of one of Wisconsin’s strongest traditions and can transform urban communities. In Milwaukee, we’ve seen new life spring from the ashes of old industry. Growing fresh healthy food in and near cities offers positive economic activity, job skills training, brings diverse communities together, and offers access to quality healthy food. Wisconsin’s agricultural future rests in the hands of future farmers, including those in this emerging sector of our agricultural economy. This new initiative and school will provide the tools and skills necessary for Wisconsin’s urban farmers to be successful.”
Dutch Economist Discusses Benefits Of Urban Agriculture
Jan Willem van der Schans
In my Ph.D. thesis, I focused on what the first advocates of free trade, John Locke, and Hugo Grotius, meant by the word ‘free’. At that time the Catholic church regulated international trade; the English, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese fought wars about international trade routes.
by Jan Willem van der Schans
Locke stated that free doesn’t mean ‘free’ of competition, but it refers to being ‘free of unilateral domination’. This also means that basic needs like water and soil are to be protected from international exchanges, as it cannot be conceptualised that people will give up these without being forced to. Today we have again redefined ‘free trade’; to grow roses we go to Africa and use the local population’s water– so free trade has nowadays become completely unlimited. Economists need to rethink what free trade means and what its benefits are.
New balance
Getting back to food production, I’m talking about basic necessities: free trade is for the realm of the extras – bananas, coffee, et cetera, while the basic necessities should be locally provided. So this is a model where a city or family are self-serving in terms of basic needs, and this is the model which is developing in urban agriculture; it’s about being resilient for basic needs, finding a new balance between grow your own and international trade. Urban agriculture is about what’s feasible – what makes sense – not about what’s possible. So if it makes sense for a city to grow salad products instead of importing them, then that’s OK: it’s resilient, and it has a better quality.
Gardener or farmer
I’ve been working on urban agriculture for the last 10 years. In Rotterdam when we started, we looked at the allotments and how they are managed. Over half of these are worked by people with an ethnic background other than Dutch, and 100% of them use the gardens to grow food. For the municipality, these allotments are zoned as recreational however in these allotments the use is 100% farming; they grow the local herbs and vegetables they cannot buy in the Dutch supermarkets.
So, when are you a farmer? The basic ‘thought’ is: if it doesn’t provide your basic income, you’re a gardener. But if I look at Europe from an economist’s view, many of the farmers in many countries would then be also ‘gardeners’. Without subsidies, they would not be earning a living wage.
Social inclusion
At Wageningen, we are socially inclusive about urban agriculture – even herbs on a balcony are included; anything that contributes to food security and food resilience. In the situation where many farmers have no successors, urban small-holdings can be perceived as breeding grounds: locals learn how to grow food in their garden, move to the Westland greenhouses and learn the trade, and then move on to become farmers themselves.
In Malmo in Sweden, their policy is to welcome refugees and select those with an agricultural background and offer them training to be employed in the sector. They see urban food growing as a source of human capital.
Tastier strawberries
When vertical farming came along people said: what we have is already good, why do we need these? Dutch farmers are a little conservative, so that is a pitfall. But now, people become more aware of changes in fertilizer availability, energy dynamics, et cetera. By making agriculture more circular, we create places which not only produce, but also that sequester the carbon in the ground and are space efficient. Another point is that the quality is better: fruits like strawberries in vertical urban farms can be kept on the plant longer before harvesting so they are tastier! We have to pick the right high-value products.
Circular streams
They also predict that ultra-short supply chains will develop: wholesalers will no longer collect produce at the farm; they grow it in their own vertical farm. I’m an economist – so this is about economic dynamics.
Urban agriculture should become more circular and use waste streams, water and sewage from the city to grow food. In Rotterdam, there’s a great example where special mushrooms grow on coffee waste. Urban agriculture will become part of our urban metabolism; with a circular flow of waste streams.
Multidisciplinary futures
I can see that this Challenge is attracting a wider range of student skills than traditional production experts. We see students in artificial intelligence or finance modelers, involved; I really welcome these new skills. Often the traditional Wageningen students are too much production oriented, too much about low-value commodities. New ideas, new blood can help direct these production skills.
Source: Wageningen University & Research
Publication date: 8/16/201
Gotham Greens, Natalie’s Juices And Red Sun Farms Tomatoes Sprouting In Strack's Produce Department
August 9, 2018
What’s new in the Strack & Van Til produce department? A fresh crop of locally grown, sustainable and made clean products to offer customers more choices. These include Gotham Greens, Red Sun Farms Tomatoes and Natalie’s Orchid Island Juices.
Gotham Greens are premium quality produce grown under the highest standards of food safety and environmental sustainability in a climate-controlled, urban rooftop greenhouse facility in Chicago.
The proximity of the Chicago greenhouse to Northwest Indiana ensures that the Gotham Greens lettuces and leafy greens you buy at Strack & Van Til are at peak freshness.
“Products are harvested just a few hours before they reach our shelves," said Bob Hylka, Strack & Van Til director of produce. "They’re grown responsibly, which means they’re free of harmful chemicals like pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides.”
Hylka said Gotham Greens also contain no GMOs; in fact, they’re verified by the Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit organization committed to preserving and building sources of non-GMO products, educating consumers and providing verified non-GMO choices.
Because nothing says healthy goodness like biting into a juicy, red ripe tomato, Strack & Van Til is proud to add Red Sun Farms Tomatoes to its produce department, with varieties hand selected for their unique characteristics to deliver the best quality and taste.
Red Sun Farms Tomatoes are grown by the largest greenhouse operation in North America, which controls the entire process from seed selection to harvest to delivery to your local Strack & Van Til store. “That means our consumers can depend on safety, freshness, and flavor,” Hylka said.
You can also be sure that 100 percent of Red Sun Farms Tomato seeds are non-GMO, plus they’re grown sustainably in high-tech, climate-controlled greenhouses. All water and nutrients not consumed by the plants are recycled; the water is conditioned and sterilized before being fed back into the greenhouse. No pesticides, insecticides, or herbicides are used in the growing process.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are just some of the items you’ll find in the Strack & Van Til produce department; check out the delicious varieties of natural juices on the shelves, including the new, award-winning Natalie’s Orchid Island Juices.
Hylka noted that Natalie’s Orchid Island Juices are minimally processed. “That translates into fresh, clean label juice.”
Natalie’s uses quality ingredients, by hand selecting and sourcing the finest fruits and vegetables available. It handcrafts its juice in small batches to ensure authentic freshness and clean, nutritious juice made with integrity.
Owned by women and family driven, Natalie’s has provided families with a source of authentic nutrition for more than 30 years, and now customers can enjoy that deliciousness and quality when shopping at Strack & Van Til.
Vertical Farming Gains Traction in UAE
By AG Reporter
August 9, 2018
Badia Farms has developed grow environments with special elements never implemented in any part of the world before. Photo courtesy-Badia Farms
Vertical Farming is fast gaining popularity in the UAE which could see the country exporting not only crops but also technology in the future
CNN reports on the dynamic technology that has the potential to revolutionize the way Dubai sources its food.
Badia Farms, the first commercial indoor vertical farm in the region uses hydroponics technology to produce 27 varieties of leafy greens without the need for soil, sunlight and chemicals.
Omar Al Jundi, Founder and CEO, Badia Farms explains how the vertical farm works: “We use special LEDs to mimic the sun. We use a lot of sensors, climate control systems to regulate these conditions… the irrigation, timings scheduling and the different nutrients.”
Vertical farming is gaining traction in the region as Emirates Airline is about to start building the world’s largest vertical farm at Dubai World Central Airport. When it opens next year, it plans to produce 6,000 pounds of leafy greens per day for its catering department.
The ministry of climate change and environment has also assigned two acres of land for 12 vertical farms. Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, United Arab Emirates told CNN: “The beauty of the Badia Farms and Emirates Airlines announcement opens the eyes of our business people and investors to the topic. You can’t imagine the amount of interest we received, many business people are interested, they even are bringing international partners and international technologies and provide more and more lands. If they come with a business plan we are happy to support.”
Dubai imports approximately 90 per cent of its food but this technology provides the opportunity for greatly increasing home-produced crops. Thani Al Zeyoudi explains the ambitions for the farming and how ultimate aim is to begin exporting home produced crops throughout the region: “I am sure we are going to do it very soon. The distinguished thing about our crops is the quality. We will not only export the products but the technology after applying it here in the UAE.”
CNN hears that Badia Farms plans to double in size over the next few weeks and launch a similar vertical farm in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
Council Members Rafael Espinal, Donovan Richards, Steve Levin Launch Campaign to Green New York City Roofs
The legislators introduced a package of legislation related to requiring green roof systems, wind turbines or solar power on certain buildings.
Brooklyn - Council Members Rafael Espinal, Donovan Richards and Steve Levin today formally introduced a package of legislation aimed at expanding green roofs in New York City. The bills represent a concerted legislative effort to combat climate change and provide more sorely-needed green space in New York City.
A green roof is a roof that is partially or completely covered with plants and a growing medium on top of a waterproof membrane. Multiple studies have found that green roofs offer a variety of benefits for the environment. They reduce urban heat island effect by cooling down the surrounding atmosphere. They also mitigate stormwater runoff, which decreases water pollution. In some cases, green roofs can also be used for urban farming to provide more healthy, locally grown foods and jobs to our neighborhoods.
Building owners and homeowners would also benefit from green roofs. The added insulation they provide can cut cooling and heating bills of the building's upper floors. In addition, they provide a new amenity for residents that can increase property values.
“The time to fight climate change is now,” said NYC Council Member Rafael Espinal. “By greening every single rooftop in New York City, we will make a strong commitment to doing our part to protect the planet. In the most famous landscape in the world, New York City could turn our concrete jungle into a green oasis."
“For one of the greatest tools in the fight against climate change we need to look upwards,” said Council Member Stephen Levin. “Green roofs are an incredible innovation that reduce ambient temperatures, save energy, and reduce the strain on our sewer system, thereby preventing waste from being dumped into our waterways. Solar panels will also be crucial to jumpstarting our renewable energy generation right here at home. This set of legislation demonstrates a serious commitment to protecting our environment, and I applaud Council Members Espinal and Richards for their leadership on this issue.”
“New York City must be leveraging every opportunity possible to reduce our carbon footprint and our rooftops represent prime real estate for that very goal,” said Council Member Donovan Richards. “Installing solar panels or green roofs on every roof possible would be a major boost for our environment, long term quality jobs, and even save businesses and property owners thousands of dollars in energy costs. I’d like to thank Council Members Espinal and Levin for their partnership on this package of legislation.”
Legislation sponsored by Council Member Rafael Espinal, would require that the roofs of certain buildings cover all available space with a green roof system, solar panels, small wind turbines, or a combination of all three.
Legislation also sponsored by Council Member Espinal, would require the Office of Alternative Energy to provide information about green roofs on their website.
Legislation sponsored by Council Member Donovan Richards, would require that the roofs of certain new buildings be partially covered in plants or solar panels.
Legislation sponsored by Council Member Stephen Levin, would require that the roofs of city- owned buildings be partially covered in source control measures, including green roof or blue roof systems, or a combination of both.
“As the Executive Director of the New York City Community Garden Coalition and as a member of the People's Climate March NY I applaud these initiatives. Putting green infrastructure and creating green space on buildings is another step towards making New York City a leader in climate mitigation. There is more we can do such as making community gardens permanent and creating more green open space. These three bills begin the commitment to make climate action a part of city policy and dialogue,” said Aziz Dehkan, Executive Director, New York City Community Garden Coalition.
"Stormwater Infrastructure Matters (SWIM) Coalition enthusiastically supports the installation of more green roofs across the City. Green roofs help reduce energy demand in buildings, reduce Urban Heat Island effect, purify the air, create habitat, and capture and manage the stormwater runoff that currently overloads our sewer system causing sewage overflows into our waterways," said Julie Welch, Program Manager at the Stormwater Infrastructure Matters Coalition.
"With this legislation New York City joins a growing family of cities that are using rooftops to manage stormwater, generate clean energy, reduce the urban heat island, provide green jobs and generate much needed recreational spaces," said Steven W. Peck, GRP, Founder and President of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, the green roof and wall industry association which is having its annual conference, www.CitiesAlive.org, in New York from September 24-28, 2018.
“When we install a green roof, we see immediate social, economic, and environmental benefits that can truly transform a building. From the nourishing food our farm grows for its local community, to the native plants providing habitat for pollinators and people alike on the green
roofs we've built across the city, we are excited that Council Members Espinal, Levin, and
Richards are in advocating for the implementation of green roofs as a means to a more livable and resilient New York City,” said Anastasia Plakias, the founder of Brooklyn Grange, a rooftop farm located in Greenpoint.
Stanford Seed Startup Future Farms Is Out To Solve India’s Food Crisis With Clean, Soil-Less Farming
Sohini Mitter July 8, 2018
Chennai-based Future Farms was one of the first agri startups in India to utilise hydroponics and set up rooftop farms that produce clean food crops.
At a Glance
Startup: Future Farms
Founder: Sriram Gopal
Year it was founded: 2014
Where it is located: Chennai
The problem it solves: Pesticide-free, soil-less farming for “clean” food
Sector: Agritech
Funding raised: Bootstrapped
Sriram Gopal was running Synamen Thinklabs, an IT firm, in Chennai when he stumbled upon videos of soil-less farming and rooftop farms on YouTube. The year was 2014, and Sriram’s seven-year-old IT venture, which offered business consulting and go-to-market strategies to tech startups, was enjoying a good run with a turnover of about Rs 2 crore.
Sriram was keen to do more, and to experiment, even as his top team at Synamen Thinklabs was content sticking to their core business. It was then that the Caledonian Business School (UK) alumnus began scouting for newer ideas and opportunities, and discovered hydroponics.
Sriram Gopal, Founder & CEO, Future Farms
Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants without soil, using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent. It not only helps reduce water consumption and increase yield, but also ensures pesticide-free farming, making it a cleaner, greener agri solution.
“I was fascinated. It looked more like engineering than agriculture,” Sriram tells YourStory. “Hydroponics had existed in Southeast Asia for nearly 15 years. But no Indian company was doing it. I wondered why,” he says.
Bringing precision farming to India
YouTube videos and reading matter on the web led Sriram to develop small DIY hydroponics kits. His father, who was the owner of a printing factory in Chennai, aided him in the activity. They would soon go on to acquire the distributorship of a foreign company that sold hydroponics kits in India.
“We listed on Trade India and other online directories. But sales were low because the kits were expensive,” Sriram recalls.
However, it helped him network with “like-minded people” that included engineers, biotechnologists, agronomists, and some with a simple interest in gardening. About 8-10 of them were willing to join Sriram in his hydroponics “adventure” and they formed a company in late 2014.
Each of them, “core team members” as they are referred to, now own shares in Future Farms, which has grown to be a 70-member startup in four years. It has executed over “32 commercial projects” for companies, including the Adani Group, Parry Agro, Dabur, Kalpataru Group, Aries Agro, and others, essentially pioneering hydroponics in Indian agriculture.
Future Farms now grows 16 crop varieties, classified under English Exotic, Asian Exotic and Indian Exotic, across 15 acres of land spread over 10 states. It recorded a $1 million turnover last year.
Future Farms' hydroponics cultivation in Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu
Sriram says,
“The focus is mostly on leafy vegetables and we have farms in every corner of the country from Delhi and Gujarat to Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. We have grown significantly in the past two years.”
The Stanford Seed effect
Founder-CEO Sriram attributes much of Future Farms’ recent growth to the Stanford Seed Program, a year-long leadership programme designed for high-potential Indian business leaders and startup founders to scale their ventures. “Stanford Seed has been phenomenal. It helped us in being taken seriously by the VC community, which usually favours the IIT-IIM labels,” Sriram says.
He adds,
“Half the systems that we are running today were non-existent before Stanford Seed happened. They have given a format and a structure to our organisation, extended support and validation. They also helped us network with VCs in the Silicon Valley and put us on the Stanford Seed Angel Network.”
Future Farms has gone on to execute a pilot in Sri Lanka, and has a few more international projects lined up this year.
Davis Albohm, Associate Director, Global Operations, Stanford Seed, tells YourStory,
“The Seed Transformation Program was designed to provide critical skills and support to business leaders in India, with the goal of empowering talented entrepreneurs by growing their companies, developing new products and services and creating new jobs. The success of Sriram and Future Farms is a testament to the great promise and economic potential of India, and we’re thrilled to follow his continued growth and successes.”
The measurable impact
Future Farms claims to have brought down water consumption by a whopping 90 percent, cut down farming cost by half, increased yield (it says it manages four acres worth of produce in a single acre), accelerated the growth cycle (seed to plant takes about 35 days now), and improved the overall produce (120-160 tonnes to 250-270 tonnes annually).
Sriram says,
“This urban farming technique is 100 percent clean. It leaves no pesticide residue, has zero bio-toxicity or metal contamination. It involves lesser labour and input cost, but gives a greater yield. After all, why should people pay a premium for clean food? Isn’t it their right?”
The United Nations estimates that there are over 820 million “hungry” people in the world, and a huge chunk of them are in India. The affordability and accessibility of food is poor, but with hydroponics and other modern farming solutions, it is likely to improve.
Market opportunities
According to Transparency Market Research, the global hydroponics market will reach $12.1 billion by 2025, with Asia-Pacific being the growth driver. The study states,
“Growing awareness about the advantages of this form of cultivation over traditional farming has been propelling the global market. Hydroponics save water, land, use lesser fertilisers, and are a simple solution to problems of climate change.”
Hence, for Future Farms, the world is a stage. In the domestic market, especially, it is one of the few hydroponics startups to have executed commercial projects (BitMantis Innovations, Letcetra Agritech, Triton Foodworks, and Junga FreshnGreen being the others).
Bootstrapped till now, Future Farms is close to sealing a $1 million fund-raise from angels. It is looking to ramp up its agri-technology and expand its farms in India and abroad. “We are a group of people solving a global food crisis,” Sriram says.
Indoor Farm Offers New Life For Ex-Elementary School
-
- August 11, 2018
The Daily Star
The former Otego Elementary School on Main Street is seen in June.
When the Unatego School District Board of Education voted to close the Otego Elementary School in February 2017, a committee formed to decide the fate of the building. In a 4-2 vote on Monday, Aug. 6, the board accepted an innovative farming proposal.
AgZeit LLC has high hopes. The proposal bills the collaborative project as “a new way of doing business that will economically revitalize Otsego County and the Mohawk Valley Region and help New York State once again become the breadbasket for the entire northeast.”
The Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council prioritized agribusiness initiatives in its 2017 Progress Report, considering it a viable engine for economic development in the region.
Agzeit LLC is the brainchild of James Dutcher and its operations currently exist in a classroom at Tiger Ventures, an alternative high school and business incubator in Endicott.
The concept to use indoor vertical farming technology with an optimized grow season is what Dutcher has been successfully experimenting with in Endicott.
Dutcher told The Daily Star that there are 32 units in the Endicott classroom, equivalent to five seasonal acres. The pilot has been running since November 2017 and makes an income of about $500 a week. Dutcher imagines that with the Otego facilities, AgZeit can scale up the production and the profit.
The business model states that 17 jobs will be added within the first year and another 21 in year two. The company projects that it will break even in year two. By year five, AgZeit intends to have 100 jobs with an average salary of $40,000.
“First and foremost we want to get the site productive,” Dutcher said.
Dutcher stressed the endeavor as collaborative, with a mix of private and public investors. 2445 Organics, a partner in the pilot out of Massena, developed the vertical grow rack technology that AgZeit uses.
According to the proposal, the funding ratio is 80 percent private investment to 20 percent potential grant monies.
Dutcher said that once the legal acquisition is complete, the company plans to be up and running within three months.
The fledgling business will tie high-production indoor organic farming with educational components and housing for veterans with opportunities for job training and a year-round farmers’ market.
“We’re not just focused on doing indoor farming,” Dutcher said. “We’re community-oriented.”
Additionally, the property will become part of the tax base of Otego.
Alternative energy sources are also planned for the building, such as incorporating a solar grid on the rooftop and using distillation and rainwater collection to water the crops.
While the plan is to develop a major food production site, the problem of distribution has been a major challenge in the area. Dutcher, however, is optimistic, saying that there is a readily available source of distributors. Further, the location is close to Interstate 88 on ramp, making it accessible for transport.
James Salisbury, president of the Unatego Board of Education, voted in favor of AgZeit.
“The hope is that it’s going to create jobs and will be something that is very beneficial to the Otego community,” Salisbury told The Daily Star. “I certainly feel like the community is looking forward to it.”
Whitney Bashaw, staff writer, can be reached at (607) 441-7218 or wbashaw@thedailystar.com . Follow her on Twitter @DS_WhitneyB
Urban Farm Coming To Former Sparrows Point Steel Mill Site In Baltimore County
Gotham Greens, a Chicago-based urban farm operation, is opening a large greenhouse at Sparrows Point. (Gotham Greens/Julie McMahon)
A former Baltimore County steel mill is going green, as a New York-based urban farming operation looks to transform a portion of Sparrows Point into a large greenhouse.
Gotham Greens is opening a 100,000-square-foot hydroponic greenhouse at Tradepoint Atlantic, the massive redevelopment project planned for Sparrows Point, according to a news release.
Using recycled water and renewable energy sources, the climate-controlled facility will grow produce for restaurants, grocers, and other food services throughout the Mid-Atlantic.
Baltimore County will become the third market for Gotham Greens, which also has greenhouses in Chicago and New York.
The Sparrows Point urban farm is expected to open early next year and generate 60 full-time jobs. It’s part of Tradepoint Atlantic’s efforts to create 17,000 jobs in the area.
“Urban agriculture, at its core, is about reconnecting with the community through food, jobs and economic development,” Viraj Puri, co-founder, and CEO of Gotham Greens said in a statement. “To that end, we’ve found a great partner and are proud to be part of the American industrial turnaround story taking place at Tradepoint Atlantic.”
Under Tradepoint Atlantic, the former steel mill site aims to become a hub for shipping, manufacturing, and distribution. A joint venture of the local investment firm Redwood Capital Investments and Chicago-based Hilco bought the property in 2014. Since then, FedEx, Under Armour and Pasha Automotive have moved in to Sparrows Point. Amazon is also building* a distribution warehouse there.
The county has been focused on developing the site for distribution and retail, but Gotham Greens will add diversity to the site, said Will Anderson, Baltimore County’s director of economic and workforce development.
”Something this creative and adaptive in really difficult industrial development is just one more piece in a diverse set of solutions,” Anderson said. “These products that are going to come out of land that was once a challenge for us are now ending up at AmazonFresh and Whole Foods and Target.”
Anderson said the hydroponic greenhouse will build on Baltimore County’s tech strength.
“It’s kind of a home run on a number of different levels that would be unexpected at a former [Bethlehem] Steel site,” he said.
The Sparrows Point steel mill, once owned by Bethlehem Steel, closed in 2012, and its facilities have fallen into disrepair.
Tradepoint Atlantic recently received $20 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation to upgrade the property. The project will include upgrades to the site’s port, such as dredging to allow larger ships to use Tradepoint’s berths. The $20 million grant will only cover a portion of the work at the 3,100-acre property; Tradepoint will foot the bill for an additional $30 million.
Baltimore Sun reporter Pamela Wood contributed to this story.
Mega Greenhouse Marks First Harvest That Will Be In 'Major Retailer' By October
BrightFarm's Wilmington greenhouse will be able to grow one million pounds of produce each year.BRIGHTFARMS
By Hannah Poturalski – Managing Editor, Dayton Business Journal
Aug 5, 2018
A mega greenhouse in Wilmington marked its first harvest this week in the $10 million hydroponic facility.
BrightFarms' 120,000-square-foot farm will have the capacity to grow one million pounds of produce each year and will supply supermarkets in Ohio.
"BrightFarms will be available at a major retailer this October and hopes to bring its fresh, local produce to a variety of retailers in the region," the company said in a release. The retailer was not disclosed.
An event with speakers and tours was held Aug. 3 to mark the first harvest of produce at the hydroponic greenhouse. Produce will include Sunny Crunch, an iceberg, and leafy green hybrid; Happy Beet, beet greens; arugula, romaine, kale, spinach and basil. Friday's harvest was sent to the Ohio State Fair.
"If consumers would like to see BrightFarms in their grocery store, they can contact the store's customer service to let them know," the release continued.
Speakers at the event included Mitch Heaton of Dayton Development Coalition; Wilmington Mayor John Stanforth; Clinton County Commissioner Brenda Woods; and representatives for Ohio Senators Rob Portman (R) and Sherrod Brown (D).
"As consumer demand for local produce has increased, BrightFarms is playing a key role for retailers that have struggled to source locally year-round," the company release said. "BrightFarms estimates that its Wilmington greenhouse will use 80 percent less water, 90 percent less land, and 90 percent less shipping fuel when compared to salad farms located in California or Arizona."
New York-based BrightFarms has three other greenhouse farms outside of Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. DBJ previously reported in May the greenhouse was hiring for 30 jobs.
5 of The Easiest Crops to Grow In Small Spaces
Increasingly more people are starting to grow their own food in an urban setting, making only minor adjustments to their homes in order to provide proper conditions for the plants. A study by the National Gardening Association in the US revealed that in 2013, Americans spent $3.5 billion on seeds, soil, nutrients, vegetable starts, and other supplies
Takeaway: Here's how to grow your own private garden no matter where you live. Start off by choosing the most suitable edible plants that can be grown in small spaces like a home garden, garage, or even an apartment room.
Organic and healthy food has seen an unprecedented rise in popularity in recent years. People are becoming increasingly more conscious about what they consume and are also paying more attention to the origins of their food. For many people, preference is given to natural and organic products grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers or harsh pesticides.
Big supermarket chains like Tesco are noting a 15% increase in organic sales for 2016. Aside from the health factor, a large part of this organic food boom can be attributed to the efforts of world-renowned chefs like Jamie Oliver, who always stress the importance of using good products.
Growing Your Food at Home
While we can all agree that organic food is better and preferable, not all of us can afford it on a regular basis. Most organic brands are considerably more expensive as compared to their “regular food” counterparts.
Increasingly more people are starting to grow their own food in an urban setting, making only minor adjustments to their homes in order to provide proper conditions for the plants. A study by the National Gardening Association in the US revealed that in 2013, Americans spent $3.5 billion on seeds, soil, nutrients, vegetable starts, and other supplies. Furthermore, the research shows that 42 million households are growing food in their homes or shared gardens.
There is an opportunity for anyone who wants to eat healthy without breaking the bank; the possibility of creating your own private garden and grow the veggies you like, all the while spending drastically less on food. All you need is the space to do so! Even if you don't live in a detached house and don't have a garden plot in the backyard, there are ways to make it work.
Growing the Right Plants
Let's take a look at some of the most suitable edible plants that can be grown in small spaces like a home garden, garage, or even an apartment room. This means that the plants must be grown in pots, DIY containers, or vertical gardening structures.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes grow very well in containers of almost any size, but it all depends on the type of tomato you choose. Make sure that the container you select is sufficiently big to allow for the plant to develop freely. You can choose to plant the tomato from seeds or simply buy a small starter plant. It is advisable that you add some kind of growing support as it grows bigger. It can be a cage or even a regular wooden post.
Basil
Basil is suitable for growing both indoors and in a small yard garden. One of the great benefits of growing it yourself is its wide use in all sorts of recipes. When the need arises you can simply reach out and grab a few fresh leaves. It is important to note that you should avoid getting the plant's leaves and stem wet when watering it, just water the soil itself. It also needs lots of sunlight so growing it in a small container makes it easy to move to a more sunlit location.
Parsley
Parsley is another perfect plant for growing in a container and also has a wide applicability in culinary. Unlike basil, it requires a lot less sunlight so it can thrive even in an apartment with fewer windows or no balcony. The most vital thing when growing parsley is to find the right water balance - keep the soil moist but don't overwater.
Strawberries
It might sound surprising but strawberries are very suitable for growing indoors and don't need that much space. The plant needs a lot of sunlight so make sure to place it near a window. Strawberries also thrive very well under artificial sunlight so they can also be grown in winter.
Zucchini
Zucchini is a high yielding plant and even a single pot can provide enough for the whole family. It can thrive both indoors and outdoors and it's easy to grow from a seed. The plant needs a moist environment and warm soil so the seeding should happen in late summer. As we mentioned earlier, a single plant can produce a lot of zucchinis so make sure that your containers are large enough.
How to Grow Plants in a Small Space
Now that we've discussed which plants are suitable for growing in small places like apartments or tiny gardens it`s time to discuss the process itself.
Preparation
Before starting the growing process and investing in any tools or seeds, first consider the scale of your operations – how many plants you'd like to grow and what kind. If you're a family of three it's likely that you won't need 10 pots for growing tomatoes. Also, don't forget to allow room for the plant to develop. You might be tempted to cram a lot of pots in a single corner but the plants' growth will most likely suffer if you do this.
The Environment
Growing plants in containers is actually not very different from growing them in a garden. It might be less limiting in terms of space but you have more freedom in terms of placing the plants around. Practically, you can grow almost any plant in a container if you provide the necessary environment.
Certain plants like strawberries require more light to thrive so you should consider using LED grow lights for indoor farming. Take care of providing proper light conditions and adequate watering and your small garden will do perfectly, no matter if it`s in your apartment or outside.
The Containers
You can get really creative here and use almost anything from an old wardrobe or a drawer to a bucket, or even create a custom container from wood pallets. This can also serve as decoration for your home. After you have the containers all you need is soil and seeds to plant in it. For a more in-depth and complete explanation on how to create your own garden and grow the plants you like, watch this video.
Creating your own garden full of tasty vegetables and herbs is not as hard as it might sound. Even if you live in a very small apartment you can still find the space for a few containers and try it out, the benefits are definitely worth the effort. Don't forget to provide the plants with proper amounts of water and light and the rest will go smoothly.
Read More: The Do's and Don'ts of Container Gardening
Written by Luis Rivera
Luis has 20+ years of experience in global market expansion, business development, mergers and acquisitions, business re-engineering, finance and investor relations of software companies. He is passionate about technology, spectral science, indoor farming, food production, automation, and more. Since 2015 he has been the president of Advanced LED Lights, a leading LED grow lights manufacturer based in Hiwasse, Arkansas. When not at work, Luis enjoys swimming, yoga, as well as growing grapes and flowers in Sonoma, California. Full Bio
Home, Urban And Vertical Farming Will Play A Central Role In The Future Food Supply of Metropolitan Areas
New technologies are entering the market and will soon change our habits for good.
The conference “Revolution in Food and Biomass Production (REFAB)”, Cologne, 1-2 October 2018, allows a deep look into the future.
Food in our supermarkets has often traveled hundreds of kilometers. What if, nowadays, we have better options for producing healthy, tasty food with lower carbon footprint? Through indoor farming in our kitchens, vertical farming under controlled conditions at industrial scale and outdoor urban gardening methods, healthy food can be produced efficiently and locally.
Urban farming is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in built-up areas and allows to produce food on rooftops, parks, houses, walls, warehouses and other unexpected settings. It is also being integrated into modern architecture and design concepts, with architects and designers combining their expertise to create beautiful environments with integrated food production. Urban agriculture has the advantage that food could go from farm to table in hours rather than days or weeks, cutting transport over long distances to save costs and fuel.
The inFARMING® project from Fraunhofer UMSICHT (Germany) concentrates on utilizing existing rooftops, trying to connect established greenhouse technologies with new concepts and innovative process and material research to meet the specific requirements of the available infrastructure. It integrates production of food in the city by using energy and water flows of the facility, which leads to lower energy usage and savings in carbon dioxide emissions as well as the resource consumption for food production. Internationally, more and more cities integrate such concepts in their city planning.
Home farming is an example of urban gardening, which brings food production into your home. Different technologies are already available that fit into kitchen counters or on balconies. For tech fans, mini farms with hydroponics systems up to the size of a fridge are already available on the market. These technologies can be operated via smartphone and allow to control parameters like the light intensity or water and nutrients flow. Microscale farming at home will develop into a constant food source that covers a part of our nutrient need and even work without using soil.
The Estonian company Click & Grow will present their developed home gardening solutions, which measure the vital requirements of plants automatically. A nano-tech growth medium then releases exactly the right amount of water, oxygen, and nutrients for optimal plant growth.
Another urban agricultural practice is vertical farming where food crops are grown in stacked layers or shelves. These farms are decoupled from the environment and everything from temperature over lighting to watering is engineered to replicate traditional outdoor farming under ideal and controlled conditions. The term “while some try to modify a seed to match the environment, the environment is modified to match a seed” describes vertical farming quite Institute for Ecology and Innovation -2- well.
Vertical farming promises a more than 300 times higher productivity compared to a commercial farm. This is possible due to a highly automated farm with a season independent operation time of 365 days a year, leading to more crop cycles per year with increased growth rate and higher yield.
Further advantages of vertical farming are independence from environmental influences like seasonal changes, droughts, bitter cold, fires, and floods. Due to the closed loop system, pesticides can be avoided and 90 percent less water than at traditional farms is required. Every plant has its own light requirements, which can be met by controlling the light spectrum, intensity, and frequency. This allows to increase yields, reduce growing times, and even influence the taste, appearance and nutritional content of plants.
The Dutch company Certhon designs and builds modern turnkey greenhouses and multilayer cultivation systems for the horticulture sector. In terms of daylight free cultivation systems, Certhon integrates all the necessary components for optimal climate management like heating, cooling, lighting, irrigation, CO2 and growing tables for every crop. In the last years, Certhon has learned lessons in the development of indoor and vertical farming and will share their experiences at the conference.
The German company OSRAM, as one of the global leaders in lighting technology, is at the forefront of advancements in horticultural lighting providing everything from single LED grow lights to complete solutions. OSRAM can create virtually any light environment with its intelligent light systems to influence factors like the vitamin content of tomatoes and intensity of basil. Global interest is huge. Countries like India and China are expected to witness the fastest market growth in Asia, but in Berlin alone there are more than 50 indoor vertical farms up and running.
Big investors like Wal-Mart, Amazon or GV (formerly Google Ventures) are heavily investing in vertical farming startups and indoor farming technologies. However, challenges remain: The growth of the vertical farming sector is largely affected by operational costs for LED lighting, climate control, labor, and space. Further hindrances are high initial investment costs and current limitations on the variety of crops grown.
Many of the mentioned forerunners of urban, home and vertical farming, such as Certhon, inFARMING®, OSRAM and Click & Grow, are working on these issues and will present their latest developments and visions at the conference “Revolution in Food and Biomass Production (REFAB)”, 1-2 October in Cologne, Germany. Altogether, 50 speakers and an exhibition will show the future of food and biomass production (www.refab.info).
Responsible for the content under German press law (V.i.S.d.P.): Dipl.-Phys. Michael Carus (Managing Director) nova-Institut GmbH, Chemiepark Knapsack, Industriestraße 300, DE-50354 Hürth (Germany) Internet: www.nova-institute.eu – all services and studies at www.bio-based.eu
Email: contact@nova-institut.de
Phone: +49 (0) 22 33-48 14 40 nova-Institute is a private and independent research institute, founded in 1994; nova offers research and consultancy with a focus on bio-based and CO2-based economy in the fields of food and feedstock, techno-economic evaluation, markets, sustainability, dissemination, B2B
Three Cyclist From Paris Bike 2000 Miles Visiting 60 Urban Farms
Linked by Michael Levenston
L'Equipe Agrovelocity Visit City Farmer from Michael Levenston on Vimeo.
Adèle, Audrey, and Mathilde from L’Equipe Agrovelocity Visit Urban Farms on the West Coast of North America from April to mid-August 2018
Aged of 22 years old, Audrey Rague, Adèle Maury and Mathilde Negri gather around a mutual interest for sustainable food supply, environment and the futures of agriculture. Inspired by the project Agrovélocités and Agrovelocity East Coast and in collaboration with their funders, they decided to continue AgroVeloCity together.
“We are three French students from Paris Institute of Life Science, and we are doing a project to see urban farms all the way of the west coast of the U.S., and we will be in Vancouver between the 3rd of August to the 10th!
Voici une petite vidéo sur l’agriculture urbaine à Los Angeles et les merveilleuses rencontres que nous avons faites avec les acteurs de la ville !
We are in partnership with the team of researchers from our university in Paris and we are doing report, videos, and social media like Instagram, facebook. We already visit more than 60 urban farms and community gardens in San Diego, Los Angeles, Sacramento, in the Bay area, Portland, and Seattle. And we go everywhere by bike!
Share this post: on Twitter on Facebook on Google+ on LinkedIn
Students Competing In The Greenhouse Challenge Are In The Final Sprint
While most students have been on holiday, some were hard at work in the basement of Atlas. Student team GreenWURks participates in the Urban Greenhouse Challenge and designed a vertical greenhouse in the old Bijlmer prison in Amsterdam. At the end of last week, they delivered their report. On 28 August, they present their work and the winner of the Challenge will be announced.
The student teams have been working on their designs since February. The GreenWURks team has fifteen members. "In the beginning, there were twenty of us, but a number of students have dropped out and a few have been added”, says Loes Mellink. As the team leader, she has overseen the work of the entire group for the last six months. “New people bring new perspectives. That makes decision-making difficult, but is also a breath of fresh air and motivates everyone to work.”
Community project
With their design, GreenWURks aims to have local residents become shareholders in the city greenhouse in the old Bijlmerbajes. The greenhouse must be installed in consultation with local residents and therefore the cultivation plants are modular. “We want people to bond with the tower and learn about food production. Above all, they must enjoy growing vegetables themselves in the greenhouse and we think that the best way to do that is if they are involved in its establishment”, says Mellink.
This is the atmosphere that the Bijlmer tower should have according to GreenWURks. Impression Shiyi Liu, Du Man and Fangyi Zheng.
Mellink feels that commitment from the surrounding area is important. The connection between the Bijlmerbajes and the surrounding area was already there when it was a prison. During a tour earlier this year, Mellink heard many stories of how prisoners and their family members communicated by standing on the roofs of student homes and yelling to each other. And the prison wardens lived in the adjacent village.
In 2016, the old prison was converted into a residence for refugees, who then started a hotel and a restaurant there. “These social developments characterize the Bajes neighborhood and we have taken this into account in our design”, says Mellink. “The restaurant should definitely remain and can even cook with the vegetables that are grown in the greenhouse.”
Investing in real estate
The students of the Greenhouse Challenge are now on holiday until the end of August. On 28 August, their hard work will culminate in a pitch and an award ceremony for the best idea. The winning team will receive ten thousand euros. Mellink already knows what she would do with the prize money. “If it were up to me, we would organize an educational trip for the whole team. And if anything is left over, we would invest in the renovation of the Bijlmer tower.”
Source: Wageningen University & Research
Publication date: 8/7/2018
Plenty Brings It's Vertical Kale Gardens To Outside Lands Music Festival In San Francisco
San Francisco-based vertical farming company Plenty is to make its debut at Outside Lands, a music festival in the city’s Golden Gate Park.
Associate Editor, UK | Contactable via charlotte@livekindly.co
Posted by Charlotte Pointing
August 10, 2018
San Francisco-based vertical farming company Plenty is to make its debut at Outside Lands, a music festival in the city’s Golden Gate Park.
The environmentally-conscious farming company will set up camp in the Farmers Market, temporarily designated as “Eco Lands” for the festival, and hand out samples of its leafy green produce, such as arugula and kale. While the samples will be served as prepared hors-d’oeuvres and include other ingredients such as figs, zucchini, tofu, and more, the produce is also a substantial snack on its own, according to co-founder Matt Barnard. “I’ve seen people just snacking on [our arugula] like a potato chip,” he told Eater.
Musicians and performers, such as headliners Janet Jackson, Florence + The Machine, and The Weeknd, will also have an opportunity to get a taste of the action. Plenty has commissioned former “Top Chef” contestant, Whole Foods ambassador and celebrity chef Melissa King to create dishes for the big names.
According to Barnard, the music festival is the perfect spot for the vertical veg farming company to make its debut. Only 24 percent of grocery store produce is identified by brand, he told Eater, and this way, the Plenty name is more likely to be remembered. Following its festival appearance, the company, which has already raised over $200 million in funding, will begin a veg box delivery service around the San Francisco Bay Area. After that, it’s Seattle’s turn, which the company will service with produce from its farm in Kent, Washington.
Plenty’s aim is to create sustainable “food for people, not trucks,” according to Barnard. Speaking to Fast Company earlier this year, he explained, “30% to 45% of the value [of produce] at shelf is trucks and distribution centers. And that to us doesn’t make any sense when we can be getting people better food that tastes better, is more nutritious, with less pesticides.”
Indoor farms are becoming more popular. In New York, Bowery is working on opening up its second location. However, what makes Plenty different, according to co-founder Nate Storey, is that it grows its produce vertically.
Storey noted, “Shifting to the vertical plane makes us usually four to six times more efficient spatially than a stacked system – like someone from Aerofarms or someone like Bowery. Ultimately we’re able to have a much higher space-use efficiency than we could if we were trying to stack our equipment. So everything in the system serves that end, which is how can we pack more plant production into the space without sacrificing plant health.”
Outside Lands festival is taking place from August 10th – 12th.
AgriTech Startup Pindfresh Is On A Mission To Bring Urban Farming Revolution In India
Diana Chingakham Inc42 Staff
The Startup Is Developing An App That Will Notify Customers When To Take Care Of The Plants
Food today is laden with chemical fertilizers that cause some major health risks such as cancer. Fertilisers such as ammonium nitrate, cadmium, potassium chloride, organophosphate (OP), pyrethroids, etc. are used to protect vegetables against pest and premature decay. Despite the apparent impact on health, the irony is that India is now the second largest manufacturer of pesticides in Asia after China and ranks twelfth globally.
“It was the importance of clean and healthy food dawned upon us. Bringing farming to the urban Indian homes, and making people aware of what they eat is the mission behind setting up Pindfresh,” says Somveer Anand, founder of agritech startup Pindfresh.
For Somveer and his wife Sohila Anand, the idea to launch Pindfresh was very much based on a personal experience that he had after one of his close relative fell ill due to the consumption of chemical-loaded food.
During their India visit the husband-wife duo had an hands-on experience on the extreme dearth of hygienic, nutritious food in India and this is where, they also felt, there was a dire need to provide people with the ability to grow vegetables locally. That’s precisely where the Pindfresh’s journey began 2016 when they were also joined in by Jaspal Singh Anand.
The agritech startup Pindfresh is turning small plots or spaces between buildings or in buildings into usable farm space. From rooftop gardens to floors specifically designed to incorporate farming, to other spaces within high-rises filled with racks of perfectly lined leaf vegetables, it is striving to bring about a farming revolution in urban India.
Apart from selling in-house home systems (hydroponic and others) and fresh produce (lettuce, rocket, basil, and mushrooms), it also runs programmes to train people (in schools and societies).
Inc
New State Grant Program Awards Quarter Million to Urban Agriculture Projects
Beneficiaries of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture program include schools and the Sioux community.
JULY 31, 2018
Nine projects designed to encourage urban youth agricultural programs will receive $233,750 in funding through a new Minnesota Department of Agriculture program.
The AGRI Urban Agriculture Grant Program is the result of a 2016 state report that found there was interest among Minnesota residents in having government support for urban agriculture. The program was inspired by a failed bill, authored by Representative Karen Clark (DFL-Minneapolis), with a similar mission.
“Promoting urban agriculture, especially with youth, will allow kids growing up in urban environments to see that they too can be a part of the food system through agriculture,” says Erin Connell, grant program administrator.
Having grown up in an urban environment, Connell says she knows the challenge of exposing city kids to farming.
“At age 10 I was convinced that in order to be involved in agriculture you had to be a farmer and live in rural Minnesota.”
In college, however, Connell’s eyes were opened to opportunities in urban agriculture. That’s the goal of the grant program: “not to decrease the value of the rural farmer, but to allow for urban communities to have a hand in creating their own food system.”
The 2018 AGRI Urban Agriculture Grant recipients who will work in this space are:
- Appetite for Change: A Minneapolis-based company that will provide job readiness training to North Minneapolis youth through urban farming and farmers’ market participation
- Frogtown Farms: A St. Paul-based company that will provide high-level, hands-on urban agricultural education
- Lakeview Elementary School: This Robbinsdale school will be able to expand its garden by adding a greenhouse and outdoor classroom
- Little Earth Community: Based in Minneapolis, this company will focus their community-led urban farm production on Indigenous principles and perspectives
- Prairie Island Indian Mdewakanton Sioux Community: The Red Wing community will implement a micro-farm aquaponics system to educate youth and address health disparities related to food access experienced in the area
- Project Sweetie Pie: This Minneapolis endeavor will transform a greenhouse into a youth and adult education center
- University of Minnesota Bee Lab: This facility in Falcon Heights will host 5 field days of hands-on learning activities and workshops for local students focused on pro-pollinator practices that enhance productivity
- University of Minnesota Extension: K-12 youth in the Virginia, Minnesota “Virginia Grows” program will be invited to participate in afterschool 4-H programming at a nearby greenhouse
- Youth Farm: This Minneapolis entity will expand its Farm Stewards Fellowship curriculum which focuses on educating youth on skill development related to food, social change, and urban agriculture.
The beneficiaries of this round were chosen by the Commissioner of Agriculture and a review committee comprised of experts from various agriculture-related fields. Funding for the program has been assigned for two fiscal years, 2018 through 2019. Connell says they’ll invite proposals for the next round as soon as possible.
How Citizen Farm's Sustainable Urban Farming System Offers Ultra-Fresh Ingredients To Singaporeans
Home-grown Citizen Farm shows how sustainable urban farming has the potential to bring communities together and transform people’s relationship with food.
Text by Lediati Tan, photos by Choo Haoxin
By Arista Kwek | 03 August 2018 | Features, Food, Ingredients, People
In highly urbanized Singapore, agricultural land takes up less than 1 percent of our total land area and more than 90 percent of our food is imported. Our relationship with food often starts at the supermarket or the wet market and ends at the dinner table. While we may share photos of our meals on social media, the focus is first on aesthetics followed by taste. There is often little thought given to where our food comes from, how they are grown and the farmers who grow them.
A new breed of farmers in Singapore hopes to address the disconnect between people and their food through their work at Citizen Farm, a sustainable and socially-driven urban farm that opened in the heart of Singapore’s Queenstown (Jalan Penjara) in June last year. The farm is made up of a band of 25 farmers from diverse backgrounds but with a shared vision of bringing the community together through urban agriculture. Many of the farmers are mid-career switchers such as former engineers, bankers, and civil servants, and 10 of them are individuals with special needs.
“The urban farm provides that backdrop for creating that bridge between the consumer and the food,” says Darren Ho, 29, who heads the farm. “As opposed to just going to the wet market, they now have a farm within a town for them to visit and to touch and feel. We want to create that community farming experience and at the same time become a production hub for freshly grown produce.”
Darren Ho leads a community of over 20 urban farmers at Citizen Farm
Urban farming model
The farm is the brainchild of Edible Garden City, an urban farming company which supports the grow-your-own-food movement in cities. Since 2012, Edible Garden City has been building urban farms for restaurants, hotels, schools, offices and private homes. Citizen Farm is the next step in its vision to promote urban agriculture, especially at under-utilized spaces.
“We wanted to create a bigger impact on the community so we needed to find a place where we can call home,” says Ho. It found the perfect location at an 8,000 sqm plot of land, which used to be the site of the former Queenstown Remand Prison. Unlike traditional farms, Citizen Farm practices a closed-loop urban farming model which integrates different indoor and outdoor farming systems to cultivate sustainably-grown, pesticide-free quality produce with minimal waste. Its closed-loop model takes any agricultural waste generated from one farming system and recycles it for use in another system.
A small prototype of the aquaponics system used to grow leafy greens at the farm
The farming systems employed on the farm include a combination of indoor hydroponics and aquaculture into an aquaponics system to grow leafy greens such as kale and chard; an indoor substrate-based system to grow microgreens like micro basil and pea tendrils; an outdoor soil-based garden to grow edible flowers and herbs such as Mexican tarragon flowers and mint; as well as organic waste to grow mushrooms such as oyster mushrooms.
Black soldier fly larvae help break down food waste into compost for the farm’s plants
Apart from mushrooms and greens, the farm also has facilities to raise black soldier fly and jade perch, both of which contribute to the farm’s sustainability. The black soldier fly, which is not harmful to humans and does not transmit diseases, is reared to break down food waste such as soy pulp and brewery grains into compost for its vegetables. At the larval stage, it has a voracious appetite. A tonne of black soldier fly larvae can consume as much as four tonnes of food waste each day. The larvae can also be harvested as protein-rich animal feed and are also fit for pet and human consumption. The farm currently feeds the insect to its jade perch.
To grow leafy greens, the farm’s aquaponics system helps to convert fish waste generated from cultivating jade perch into nutrients for the plants. This system also helps to purify the water used to rear the fish and promotes water conservation by using 10 – 20 percent less water to grow the leafy greens than traditional soil-based farming. While Citizen Farm is focused on its green produce, for now, it does have plans to sell the jade perch when they have grown to size.
Green powerhouse
On what sets its produce apart from others on the market, Ho says: “We talk about our produce in a way that no other farmer does. We place a lot of emphasis on quality and honesty. Freshness is a quality that money cannot buy. You can invest in the best technology to preserve the freshness of the food grown in Australia and bring the food here, but it’s not the same as harvesting it that morning and eating it that afternoon.”
For instance, its microgreens, a tasty and nutrient-rich food that enhances both the aesthetics and flavors of a dish, are grown in space-saving, vertically stacked substrate trays under energy-efficient LED light. The clean and controlled indoor environment not only eliminates the need for harmful pesticides and chemicals but also ensures consistency in quality. These factors make its
microgreens popular with chefs.
The farm currently supplies microgreens and edible flowers, which are carefully harvested by hand, to 30 restaurants in Singapore. It counts Michelin-starred restaurants such as Labyrinth and the now-closed Restaurant Andre, as well as 1-Altitude and Super Loco, among its clients. The farm also supplies raw materials such as lemon balm and calendula for home-grown lifestyle company Spa Esprit Group’s spa and beauty services, as well as fresh produce for its restaurants like Tippling Club and Open Farm Community.
Innovation enables the farm to grow 15 varieties of microgreens using one type of substrate
Citizen Farm is the only mushroom producer here to grow its own lion’s mane mushroom, a type of gourmet mushroom with wispy fringe as well as purported health benefits, from spawn to fruit. It also grows pink oyster mushroom which develops a deeper pink hue when temperatures drop. These are grown using organic materials such as sawdust and coffee grounds, which are later recycled and broken down into compost for its garden.
In all, Citizen Farm is able to grow more than 20 varieties of greens and mushrooms on its premises. Its monthly yield of 50 – 80 kg of produce are sold to 30 restaurants and 40 families across Singapore. The farm has not fully-utilized its entire space to grow food but it is steadily scaling up its production over the next few months. It also continues in trying to grow new varieties of vegetables such as radishes, shiso and other flavourful and nutritious food.
This ability to grow a diverse range of produce and achieve a healthy yield is the result of painstaking research and experimentation undertaken by Citizen Farm to develop and improve on advanced farming systems and create the best conditions to grow its plants. Without this effort, some of its plants including microgreens such as nasturtium and red vein sorrel would not have thrived in Singapore’s tropical climate under normal circumstances.
Says Ho: “We grow what is suited to the environment first, and then we look at what we can grow with the technology that is afforded to us. For example, different types of microgreens would require different types of substrate but we managed to figure out how to grow 15 different types of microgreens using one type of substrate.”
Citizen Farm also taps the expertise of farmers in other countries with well-developed agricultural systems such as Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia by visiting them at their farms to learn new methods and adapt them to local conditions. Ho says: “I’m a firm believer in the cross-pollination of ideas between people. Different farmers using the same land and the same resources will do things very differently. No one is right or wrong, it’s just which methods are better preferred. You form your own philosophy as a farmer.”
Small farm, Big dreams
Citizen Farm has introduced various initiatives to further its goal of building a sense of community through urban farming. To provide a link between farmers and consumers, it sells a bundle of its produce which include leafy greens such as lettuce and kale, microgreens like micro coriander, edible flowers and herbs like blue pea flowers and Indian borage, as well as mushrooms like pink oyster mushrooms though an eight – or 12- week subscription service known as the Citizen Box.
By signing up to the subscription service, Ho says that it shows the consumer’s commitment to support the farmer’s efforts for a period of time. This, in turn, allows the farmer to concentrate on producing the best quality produce for the consumers, and also gives the farmer confidence to grow more over time. He adds: “We encourage the consumers to come down to collect their box and meet our farmers. Our farmers can tell them how to cook it, what the food is about and its history and that builds that connection.”
Citizen farm often hosts community engagement events to help the public better understand its work and vision
To help people better understand its work and agricultural systems in general, Citizen Farm hosts community engagement events such as farm tours and educational workshops for schools, corporations and other interest groups on a range of topics including how people can grow their own edible garden, as well as cheese making workshops. It also regularly offers volunteer opportunities for those interested to work on its farm.
Locally, the farm is looking at ways to duplicate the Citizen Farm model in other towns in Singapore. It has embarked on a project funded by non-profit philanthropic organization Temasek Foundation Ecosperity, which will see its mushroom, insect and vegetable farming systems combined together to form a three-story farming unit. These will comprise both indoor and outdoor growing spaces housed in eight shipping containers on its premises. The idea is to test the feasibility of such a unit, with a view to scaling the idea to neighborhoods around Singapore in the future.
Regionally, Citizen Farm hopes to deepen its links with farms in South-east Asia that share its commitment to sustainability and social consciousness. Besides sourcing for fresh produce from these farms to offer consumers here a wider variety of sustainably-farmed food, it also wants to build a community of like-minded farmers to exchange farming philosophy with. Ultimately, what Citizen Farm hopes to achieve is to change how people think about food.
Ho says: “It’s really about a lifestyle, a way of living. It’s mindful eating and understanding how food is medicine and not poison.”
Arista patiently waits for rice to crisp at the bottom of the pot.
Sweden: Former Food Factory Transformed Into Vertical Farm
In a former factory hall in Tibro, the growers of Ljusgårda AB are preparing to harvest the first crops from their vertical towers. The company has been realizing their indoor farm to offer customers sustainable and locally produced vegetables. Vertical farming and innovative LED lighting solutions play an important role in this.
Ready to harvest
Ljusgårda AB's new premises is ready to provide customers with flavorful, tasty crops. The company has re-purposed an old factory in Tibro to create a state-of-the-art indoor controlled environment facility of 7000m2 with a capacity to produce over 1000 tons of food per year - completely free from pesticides. The crops will be grown in hydroponic vertical cultivation towers combined with state-of-the-art energy-efficient LED lighting.
Ljusgårda AB focuses on sustainable, eco-conscious vertical farming with the goal to produce high-quality vegetables year-round. To do so, they placed an order with Heliospectra AB. The order is for Heliospectra's fully adjustable Elixia LED lighting solution and valued at around SEK 1.3 million ($143,552).
Pesticides and water
"Our goal is to produce tasty high-quality vegetables that our customers can eat with a good conscience. No pesticides, low water consumption and a 100% renewable energy, and since the products are locally produced, we avoid long transports and emission," says Andreas Wilhelmsson, CEO of Ljusgårda.
"Further, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) allows us to control every aspect of our growing environment. This includes nutrition, water, temperature, light and more. A controllable lighting solution like Heliospectra's Elixia also lets us adjust the light spectrum to fit specific crops. This enables us to create an optimal environment for diverse crops, accelerate harvest and achieve consistent, high-quality production year-round. Achieving year-round yields are something you can't take for granted in a country like Sweden," he continues.
In an earlier interview, he spoke out about the expectations to harvest the first rocket this summer and showed how rocket lettuce, dill and chives are grown in an ebb and flow system. "And before next year there will be fresh Swedish strawberries."
He explained how the halls earlier were used by wood company Tivedslamell. Andreas Wilhelmsson: "We have installed a new floor, repaired the walls and the roof, installed lighting and ventilation. In total we have invested about a million euro."
In the former factory are two more spaces of equal space, and a bigger space which can be divided into different climate zones.
Unpredictable weather
"Given unpredictable weather conditions and changes in seasonal daylight, businesses across Scandinavia and Europe see a need to become more self-sufficient. Controlled environment agriculture and Heliospectra's dynamic lighting solutions give growers the tools needed to maintain control over their production and the ability to supply retailers with consistent production year-round," says Ali Ahmadian CEO Heliospectra AB. "Ljusgårda's dedication to sustainable, innovative and profitable business performance is something we share, and I look forward to a rewarding collaboration."
The fully adjustable LED lighting solution Elixia is compatible with Heliospectra's HelioCORE™ light control software, enabling growers to improve the quality of plants, accelerate harvest and production cycles while providing consistent and standardized returns. Delivery will take place and be visible in the accounts during the third and fourth quarter of 2018.
For more information
Ljusgårda AB
Heliospectra
Box 5401 SE-402 29 Göteborg Sweden
Phone: +46 31 40 67 10
Fax: +46 31 83 37 82
info@heliospectra.com
www.heliospectra.com
Publication date: 8/8/2018
BIG Reveals Miami Produce Center Raised On Stilts Above Former Warehouses
Eleanor Gibson | July 8, 2018
Architecture firm BIG has released plans to build a major complex in an industrial neighborhood of Miami, combining housing, offices, a school, and urban farming.
BIG's Miami Produce Center will be elevated on columns above a trio of warehouses in Allapattah – a district known for a large open-air produce and textile markets.
The 125,000-square-metre complex will comprise a stack of eight volumes, containing co-working offices, co-living apartments, and a hotel. The three existing buildings traversing the site will also be transformed as part of the scheme into restaurants, shops and cafes, and a school.
Newly released renderings show ground-level spaces around each structure will be landscaped into gardens. A street will run through the middle of the site, which will include an educational campus. Large expanses of glazing will be added to the front of the renovated low-rise warehouses to open up the interiors to the outdoor space.
"Between the warehouses, three public spaces will exhibit a variety of lush landscapes that create diverse microclimates and allow the buildings' programmes to extend outdoors," said a project description from BIG, which just completed a pair of skyscrapers in Shenzhen.
Related story
BIG completes
pair of twisting towers in Miami's Coconut Grove
Four long buildings will then be raised on slender stilts above the warehouses and arranged around the perimeter of the site.
Each will host a different function – one for offices, another for a hotel and two for residences – with outdoor space on the rooftops. The images show sports courts, parkland, and rows that suggest vegetable planting. BIG describes an aim of the project as to activate the site with "urban farming".
Another four residential blocks will then be built above, bridging the gaps between the lower volumes. These will also be raised on stilts and feature rooftop gardens.
"Large industrial floor plates" will make up the levels in each new building, allowing for plenty of flexibility inside.
Zigzagging walls between the plates will create outdoor nooks, while their offset arrangement will produce patterns across the facades. These walls will be colored pale pink, orange or blue, depending on their block.
An abundance of planting is planned for the development – from gardens and walkway canopies to the car park, where greenery will drape through gaps in the ceiling. A night-time rendering of the garage also shows it transformed into a nightclub.
BIG designed the Miami Produce Center for local real-estate company UIA Management, with American planning, engineering, and design consulting firm Kimley Horn.
It marks the firm's second major project in the city, joining the luxury housing development is completed in the Coconut Grove neighborhood in 2016.
The firm, founded by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels in 2005, is working on several projects across North America. In New York, where it has an office, these include a barrier system designed to protect Lower Manhattan from tidal surges and rising sea levels, and a pair of "dancing" towers beside the city's High Line park.
Related story
Pleated facades cover
pair of Shenzhen skyscrapers by BIG
Project credits:
Partners-in-charge: Bjarke Ingels, Agustin Perez Torres, Thomas Christoffersen
Project leader: Shane Dalke
Project team: Agne Rapkeviciute, Chris Tron, Emily Chen, Emine Halefoglu, Karolina Bourou, Kevin Pham, Kig Veerasunthorn, Manon Otto, Matthijs Engele, Phillip MacDougall, Siva Sepehry Nejad, Terrence Chew, Tracy Sodder, Veronica Acosta, Xander Shambaugh
Small Indoor Greenhouses Let Apartment Dwellers Grow Veggies
August 7, 2018 by Tracee M. Herbaugh
This undated photo provided by Harrison Lin shows what the completed version of the indoor greenhouse made by a group of six engineering students at Rice University. The students built three of these greenhouses, about the size of a small …more
You don't need a green thumb to grow vegetables indoors.
On the contrary, there are plenty of indoor greenhouses that take the work out of growing plants, from the amount of water they get to the right dosage of light.
One of these indoor greenhouses—or automated growing systems, as they're referred to—was created by six engineering students at Rice University. Aside from planting the seeds, the greenhouse does pretty much everything. It's about the size of a small bookshelf and operates anywhere indoors.
"We didn't want it to take up too much space in an apartment," said Harrison Lin, a student who worked on the project. He said they wanted to "make it not intrusive, but it could still grow a useful amount of plants."
There are push buttons on the device to designate how much light and water the plants get, and to determine the temperature inside it. If you're feeling extremely hands-off, there are three pre-set options: leafy greens, roots, and herbs. Select what you're growing and go about your business.
"In the most ideal circumstance, you plant your seeds, put on the correct settings and walk away until it's ready to harvest," said Jack Kaplan, another student on the team.
This undated photo provided by Harrison Lin shows the watering and lighting system inside the indoor greenhouse constructed by six engineering students at Rice University. The system measures water for specific vegetables and the lights …more
Most indoor growing systems are hydroponic, meaning plants are planted in water mixed with mineral nutrients, but this one uses a soil trough for planting. LED bulbs provide the plants with the red-blue spectrum of light needed to grow. The only maintenance is refilling the water tank every three weeks.
The students built three of these indoor greenhouses as a senior project. They were installed at the HSB Living Lab, a residential research facility at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.
This undated photo provided by Mary Leach shows George Reberio Brooks Jr. on his orchard in Tewksbury, Mass. Brooks Jr. has more than 45 years experience growing fruits and vegetables but still found it difficult to grow lettuce indoors. (Mary Leach via AP)
Growing food indoors, often in small spaces like city apartments, has become popular.
In 2017, indoor gardening was listed as a popular trend in a report by Garden Media Group, a marketing group that tracks industry. Apartment dwellers have less room for a traditional garden but still, want fresh veggies.
This undated photo provided by Mary Leach shows George Reberio Brooks Jr. on his orchard in Tewksbury, Mass. Brooks Jr. has more than 45 years experience growing fruits and vegetables but still found it difficult to grow lettuce indoors. (Mary Leach via AP)
Businesses are noticing the expanded interest in at-home gardening.
Aerogarden, owned by Scott's Miracle Grow and the Hawthorne Gardening Company, is another automated in-home growing system on the market. It's automated, hydroponic systems range in size and price point—the smallest retails for $99 and holds four plants, while the largest sells for nearly $700 and grows 24. Sales have grown over 20 percent year over year since 2013, and last year's sales grew by more than 30 percent, according to company numbers.
Automated systems take the guess-work out of gardening, said Clydette Alsup-Egbers, an associate professor of plant science at Missouri State University. The biggest reason that indoor plants die, she said, is over-watering. If an automated system is used, that risk is eliminated.
"People who are new to growing don't know what they're doing," she said. "A kit makes them feel more confident."
This undated photo provided by Mary Leach shows George Reberio Brooks Jr. touching some of the plants blooming in his orchard greenhouse in Tewksbury, Mass. Brooks Jr. has more than 45 years experience growing fruits and vegetables but still …more
Automating everything is what commercial greenhouses have done for years, said Julie Bare, an estate gardener at Meadowbrook Farm, located in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and owned by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
Bare helps grow some of the hundreds of plants on display in the renowned Philadelphia Flower Show. To do this, greenhouses are necessary; the show is held annually in March, which means short days and cold temperatures.
Still, even the most seasoned gardener can run into problems with indoor vegetables.
A few years ago, George Rebeiro Brooks Jr., a retired mechanical engineer, tried growing lettuce in pots inside at his home in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. Brooks, who owns Green Hollow Orchards, has grown apples, tomatoes, and other plants for local farmers markets for more than 45 years. But his indoor lettuce turned out limp, not crispy.
"It's just my guess, but I think it didn't have the right air circulation indoors to make it toughen up," he said.
This undated photo provided by Mary Leach shows George Reberio Brooks Jr. in a greenhouse on his orchard in Tewksbury, Mass. Brooks Jr. has more than 45 years experience growing fruits and vegetables but still found it difficult to grow lettuce indoors. (Mary Leach via AP)