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University of Arizona Greenhouse Crop Production & Engineering Design March 2019 Short Course
By urbanagnews - January 25, 2019
Combine lectures with hands-on workshops at the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center of the University of Arizona on March 11-15, 2019.
Three days of lectures from prominent Controlled Environment Agriculture experts from Arizona and around the country.
A full day of hands-on workshops that focus on different aspects of Controlled Environment Agriculture.
Great Networking Opportunities with peers, industry experts, and educators from all over the world.
Like tending to the vine closest to the wet-wall on a hot day, CEAC’s Short Course may be exactly what your operation needs for relief! Get your questions answered and increase your hydroponic growing know-how at the Greenhouse Crop Production & Engineering Design Short Course – A four day conference, put on by the University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, including three full days of lecture, one day of hands-on training workshops at CEAC, and an optional commercial greenhouse tour at NatureSweet Tomatoes.
Hydroponic Crop Production
Greenhouse Structure & Design
Greenhouse Site Selection
Developing Urban Ag Systems
Medicinal Crops & CEA
Emerging Greenhouse Crops
Sole-source Electric Lighting
Energy Conservation
Environmental Controls
Greenhouse Plant Lighting
Plant Physiology & Nutrition
Crop Layout, Care & Maintenance
Integrated Pest Management
Greenhouse Structure & Design
Organic Hydroponics
Myco-culture & Mushrooms
Business Considerations
Click here for more information and to register!
VIDEO: EPIC Urban Farming On Top of a Whole Foods | Gotham Greens Tour 🏙️🌿
A mythical urban farm on top of a Whole Foods in Brooklyn, NY, where they grow 13+ different types of greens and herbs.
It was called Gotham Greens, which is just about the best name for a hydroponic greenhouse you'll ever hear. They use nutrient film technique (NFT) channels to grow basil, arugula, leaf lettuce, and more. And better yet, it's all automated, down to CO2 monitoring, shade clothes, and more. They even make their own line of salad dressings, pestos, and other value-added products with the produce they grow!
South Jakarta Residents Turn Urban Spaces Into Vegetable Gardens
Residents of Pengadegan sub district in Pancoran, South Jakarta, have been running a successful urban farming program using hydroponics.
Jakarta / January 16, 2019
Residents of Pengadegan in South Jakarta prepare the walls along an alley in their neighborhood to start a vertical garden. (Via wartakota.tribunnews.com/Istimewa)
Residents of Pengadegan subdistrict in Pancoran, South Jakarta, have been running a successful urban farming program using hydroponics. On Tuesday, they started transferring the plants to a soil medium.
Pengadegan subdistrict head Mursid said that transplanting would start in the RW 05 community unit, as it had several open spaces.
“RW 05 fits the characteristics of the space required to grow plants in soil,” he said as reported by wartakota.tribunnews.com.
He added that growing plants in soil was more efficient, easier and cheaper, and that the results would be as satisfying as hydroponically grown plants.
The urban farming program was initiated at the Pengadegan subdistrict office to provide a model for residents to copy in their neighborhoods, said Mursid.
“We’re planting different kinds of vegetables like water spinach and Chinese mustard. They’re useful for people,” he said.
Earlier, urban farming groups in Kebayoran Lama Selatan subdistrict had harvested 150 kilograms of vegetables from their gardens, located in the dense neighborhoods near Tanah Kusir Cemetery. (vla)
Solar Microgrid To Power Indoor Farm All Year Round
January 22nd, 2019 by Erika Clugston
So you want to buy local produce, but you also want strawberries in December? Soon you can have your cake – scratch that – vegetables, and eat them too. Up to 100 varieties of vegetables, including lettuce and kale, will soon be grown in an indoor warehouse in New Jersey, supported by a solar microgrid to keep plants growing all year round.
Photo by Jatuphon Buraphon, via Pexels
Bowery Farming’s facility will be be powered by batteries, solar panels, and on-site gas generators to enable it to operate independently from the electric grid. Scale Microgrid Solutions will build, own and operate the microgrid, and Schneider Electric will provide most of the infrastructure and software for the indoor farm.
Bowery is well acquainted with high-tech agriculture, making waves with its “post-organic” vertical farming which landed it $20 million in investment in 2017. In fact, its produce is grown in trays and requires no soil at all, using 95% less water than traditional farming due to a finely-tuned hydroponic system. Now, it is adding microgrids to its tech-repertoire.
One doesn’t normally associate microgrids with the realm of agriculture, and Scale Microgrid Solutions CEO Ryan Goodman thinks it might a first. “I believe no one has ever done microgrids in the indoor agricultural space like we’re doing here,” Goodman said, according to the Energy News Network. “There are some differences, but primarily they’re related to the load profile and how we’re using the assets.”
15% of the power will come from solar, while some of the power will still come from the grid, and the rest from the natural gas generator and batteries. So while New Jersey winters will bring cold winters, with short days lacking in sunlight, the indoor farm will be unaffected. Schneider Electric’s lithium-ion battery energy storage system will store solar energy that can be released to lower demand from the grid.
Schneider currently has more than 300 microgrid projects on the go in the US, and is using its EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor software platform for cloud-connected, demand-side energy management. It’s integrated into the system to enable a look at current electric rate tariffs and optimization of energy usage – but does so faster than any human could.
This, combined with Bowery’s hydroponic system that uses 95% less water than is normally needed to grow plants, enables the creation of a super high-tech urban agriculture startup that will perhaps change the way we think about farming. Bowery Farming is set to begin the microgrid project this year, we can’t wait to see some tasty results.
"Producing Within 5 Miles of The Customer Makes Us 'Hyper Local'"
First Vertical Farm in Putney opens for business
There's something else than Brexit news coming out of the UK this week. Yeeld, the vertical farm in Putney, is happy to announce that they have commenced the sustainable growing of fresh produce.
The start-up is the brainchild of ex-city trader Doug Barr who left his job as a commodities trader to tackle one very large problem. How will we efficiently feed the next 2 billion people who come onto the planet?
To do so, Doug designed and built a vertical growing system over the summer of 2018, with initial growing trials commencing in September. "The next stage was perfecting the cultivation. We struggled a little at first with climate control but finally managed to get the temperature, humidity and air flow just right to achieve a perfect controlled climate to grow our microgreens all year round", he explains.
Nowadays the 1000 square feet farms is lit by T5 OMNIPower strips by Mirror Lighting, which are run on 12 hours on 12 hours off cycle. "We have found this gives the best results for growing our microgreens. They are very efficient at 20 watts."
The microgreens are grown on a recycled wool medium that gives the plant roots something stable to ground themselves into. As a whole, the plants are grown in flooded water beds. The company is currently process of raising capital to expand to a 500 sq ft facility. As they expand in the coming months, they hope to increase their line of vegetables and eventually start to include fruits, namely strawberries.
Three microgreen mixes
Yeeld is currently harvesting their microgreens, something that has been talked about extensively as wel. "We decided after many deliberations to focus, at least initially, on three different microgreen mixes. Initially we planned to offer individual varieties but felt at this early stage it would be better to focus on three solid product offerings instead of doing a small amount of many varieties. We found very early on that each variety of microgreen has a whole host of different characteristics that either make them simple to grow or tricky."
Microgreens
Nowadays Yeeld is offering a range of microgreens to customers in London. “Microgreens are young, immature versions of every day vegetables that you would typically buy in the supermarkets. The main difference is we harvest them after 12 days”, says Doug. The reason they do this, according to Doug, is because at this early stage in their growth the nutrient content is extremely dense, some studies have shown up to 40 times the difference between mature vegetables and their micro versions.
Hyper local
Branding wise, the team felt they should really lean on the locality concept to get this across to their customer base. Location is key to the Yeeld team. "First off, before going any further we will no longer use the term “local”, normal farmers have overused that word, instead going forward we will use “hyper local” which refers solely to produce grown by Urban Vertical Farms like ours and any others out there", he explains. "Most of the produce that is marketed as local will still be a minimum of 50-100 miles away from where it is consumed, assuming we are talking about central London here. We will bring that down to sub 5 miles, so you see we really are “hyper local”."
"We named each of our three mixes after a few of our catchment areas in West and South West London: Richmond Radish Mix, Putney Pea Shoot Mix and Fulham Fresh Mix. - and these will no doubt evolve as we grow. We feel this will help to drive the image of fresh, hyper local produce that is harvested that morning, packaged and then delivered in under 90 minutes. Yeeld is Farm-To-Table 2.0."
For more information or trying the produce:
Yeeld
Unit 103
210 Upper Richmond Road
SW15 6NP
Putney, London
Website: www.yeeld.co.uk
Instagram: TheRealYeeld
Giving Shipping Containers A Second Life
View inside an Agricool cooltainer. © Agricool
BY MAREX 2019-01-20
CMA CGM is supporting the financial and industrial development of Agricool, a young company specializing in urban agriculture, in order to enable it to launch its industrialization phase.
Founded in 2015 in Paris, Agricool aims to create urban farms in recycled containers. With its agricultural model, the young company wishes to produce fruit and vegetables without pesticides, picked and sold on the same day. Several containers are currently being tested.
In Paris, Agricool grows strawberries and saves on water and nutrients by 90 percent compared to classical agricultural methods. The system uses renewable energy only. The strawberries contain an average of 20 percent more sugar and 30 percent more vitamin C more than retail store strawberries.
In the Fall of 2018, the CMA CGM Group provided its first concrete support to Agricool by offering technical and logistical support for the delivery and installation of a "cooltainer" in Dubai.
In December, Agricool completed a €25 million ($28 million) fundraising campaign to finance the industrialization of its innovative project. At the time, CMA CGM acquired an equity stake in the company through its investment fund, CMA CGM Ventures.
In parallel, CMA CGM wants to support Agricool's development by providing it with its industrial and logistics expertise. The Group thus becomes the main supplier of containers and the primary logistics and supply partner for the company.
The collaboration is part of the innovation support strategy implemented by Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO of the CMA CGM Group. The strategy involves equity investments and commercial partnerships with start-ups with strong entrepreneurial values and innovative industrial projects. In line with CMA CGM's commitment to sustainable development, this solution allows the company to recycle containers and give them a second life.
Seeking Fresh Produce, Mumbai Duo Quits Jobs To Grow Over 1,000 Plants Soil-Less!
by Jovita Aranha January 23, 2019
When Joshua and Sakina decided to quit their well-paying jobs and switch to farming, everyone, including their parents, thought they were wasting their time and efforts with a dead project.
“Who in their right frame of mind decides to leave a comfortable job in a city like Mumbai and get their hands dirty with farming?” naysayers asked.
Today, amid the chaos of the city, the duo is successfully running, what they call, Mumbai’s first hyperlocal farm!
Herbivore Farm in Andheri East
In a room less than 1,000 sq ft, with over 1,000 plants, they grow seven varieties of lettuce (lollo rosso, oakleaf, French romaine, summer crisp, butterhead), three varieties of Swiss chard (red, yellow and white), two types of rocket (wild and cultivated) and four varieties of kale.
All using hydroponic farming!
Operating from a warehouse in an old industrial estate that they transformed into an indoor farm in the Andheri suburb of Mumbai, the duo is growing pesticide-free, healthy and flavourful leafy greens, and delivering them at the doorsteps of their customers mere hours after harvest.
The Better India got in touch with the urban farmer duo to document their journey.
This journey towards growing their own food has its roots in a trip they took to Auroville in June 2017.
Joshua Lewis and Sakina Rajkotwala
“Our jobs were good. The money was flowing in, but there was no greater meaning to what we were doing. We wanted to do more with our time. We had goals, but didn’t know what to start with,” confesses Joshua.
He continues, “Besides, it felt like each day was passing by in a monotonous routine. It was a never-ending loop where we were neither living to the fullest nor giving enough. And so, on a whim, we decided to pack our backs and travel to Auroville in Puducherry. We spent three months there working at a natural farm and getting our hands dirty.”
This is the same Solitude Farm run by musician and organic farmer Krishna McKenzie, who moved to Auroville from the UK 25 years ago. Over 140 varieties of plants, ranging from wild greens, flowers, fruits, vegetables, oilseeds, cereals, grains, grams, and pulses, are grown across six acres of land. Read more about it here.
“The farm had a beautiful concept where the lunch for a particular day would be prepared using veggies harvested the same morning and served at the cafe. We would work at the farm in the morning and relish a heavy lunch cooked with the fresh veggies we harvested ourselves,” says Joshua.
Not only were these veggies at their maximum level of nutrition when consumed fresh but they gave them the energy to continue working in the farm without getting tired.
“We realised how food back home in Mumbai was sedative, doused with pesticides. Besides, the vegetables we consumed were off the shelf and at the very least, a week old, considering the harvest-to-transportation time,” says Sakina.
“When I ate lunch at the office, I felt sleepy at my work desk. Back in Auroville, we could work tirelessly even after lunch. This highlighted the crucial need for fresh food,” Joshua agrees.
After their return to Mumbai, the duo could hardly find anyone around them who grew and delivered fresh leafy green veggies.
And so, they decided to start growing their own leafy greens.
Joshua continues, “We are big-time lovers of salads. But we could hardly find any suppliers of clean, pesticide-free, leafy greens which could be consumed raw. Even the ones we consumed lacked flavour, often alternating between bland and bitter. And so, we decided to test hydroponic farming on Sakina’s terrace.”
The idea behind hydroponics was to avoid moving to the outskirts in search of land suitable for organic farming.
The goal was set. They wanted to grow fresh leafy greens in the middle of the chaotic city and consume them fresh.
Varieties of Swiss Chard
The classic trial-and-error method ensued for months. Whoever they sought guidance from had nothing more to share apart from the basic principles of hydroponics.
But the duo did not give up. They conducted extensive researched and kept trying. This was coupled with the pressure from home about trudging down an unconventional road.
Once they succeeded in growing three varieties, they invited their parents for a tasting session. Although their labour was appreciated, the parental units were unsure how the youth would be consistent.
But they decided to support the youngsters and gave them initial capital to kickstart their indoor commercial farm in Andheri East.
“I still remember how we made a 16-slide presentation to convince them to invest in our project. I don’t think they were convinced, but they had no option than to agree,” she laughs.
“With the customer base we have gathered and the farm that we have set up, they are now convinced we did not make the wrong choice,” says Joshua.
Christened Herbivore Farms, the concept behind the initiative is to make freshly harvested leafy greens available to their customers.
You May Also Like: Exclusive: UP’s Award-Winning Banana King Earns Rs 48 Lakh/Year, Becomes Idol For Farmers!
How is it beneficial?
Hydroponic farming is water-efficient
The climate within the greenhouse is artificially controlled, so the crops are protected against the weather outside.
Hydroponics is soil-less farming, where macro and micronutrients dissolved within a water solution directly facilitate plant growth. The system uses 75-85 per cent less water than conventional farming!
Growing plants in a vertical system allows them to grow five times more. The only challenge currently is that since the food is delivered within hours of harvest, the locations they cater to are limited.
When I ask them how their venture stands apart from their competitors, Sakina quips, “We consider our USP to be that our produce is delivered to the customer’s home a few hours post-harvest. So it is always at its peak of freshness, nutrition, and flavour. Our indoor farm enables a clean, sterile environment, which has zero pesticides, so it’s 100 per cent safe. We use 80 per cent less water to grow our produce with a recirculating irrigation system.”
To market their produce, the duo also gave away free samples which received an amazing response.
Every week, they harvest 350 plant heads which cater to 150 customers who have a monthly subscription.
Lettuce
A Herbivore Harvest Box (Monthly Subscription) costs Rs 1,500 (with extra delivery charges for South Mumbai) for one month. The deliveries are staggered over four weeks–one per week on a decided day–depending on the location of the subscriber.
Every week, this subscriber gets one box containing two to three varieties of leafy greens harvested the same morning.
“Most people who tried our produce conveyed how fresh and flavourful the leafy greens were, how different their texture was. Many of them subscribed to us soon after. It helped change their age-old perception of leafy veggies being ‘bitter’ or ‘bland’. And that was certainly morale-boosting for us. To be honest, I myself wasn’t such a big fan of greens until we started growing them ourselves,” signs off Sakina.
Also Read: Heights of Hydroponics: Meet the Chennai Man Who Grows 6,000 Plants in 80 Sq Ft Space!
To all the aspiring urban farmers who want to grow their own food, but often find excuses not to, Joshua has a message.
“Every time you wake up in the morning, you often have things on your bucket-list that you want to achieve before you die. You might often overthink about how much time you’d be wasting in pursuing those goals. In the process, you do not land up doing anything about them. So our message simply is–if you are passionate about what you want to do and know that you will enjoy it, just do it. The universe will conspire to remove all the obstacles in your path and everything will fall in place.”
To know more about Herbivore Farms, contact them on 89280 94239. Check out their Facebook and Instagram accounts. To sign up for a monthly subscription of their produce, click here.
(Edited by Shruti Singhal)
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Written by Jovita Aranha
A lover of people, cats, food, music, books & films. In that order. Binge-watcher of The Office & several other shows. A storyteller on her journey to document extraordinary stories of ordinary people.
Westfield Creates Urban Farm On Top Of French Shopping Mall
10th January 2019
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has opened the first urban farm on top of a shopping centre in France.
The 270 square metre farm is located on the roof of the So Oeust shopping centre. It produces vegetables and plants through vertical agriculture – free from herbicide, pesticide or fertiliser.
Since the opening in June, over one ton of fruits and vegetables have been harvested including tomatoes, basil, mint, strawberries, bell peppers, chilli peppers, kale and thyme.
The products are sold to customers in a dedicated popup store within the shopping centre.
The farm will be extended to 600m this year.
Jean Collet, Director of URW Link, said: “Overall, the circular and collaborative approach of Sous Les Fraises adds true value to our assets: it exploits unused space and promotes a pragmatic and positive vision of agriculture. This enriches our buildings, making them more sustainable and in tune with their environment. We are accelerating on this topic and look forward to new projects with Sous Les Fraises.”
Last year, Westfield unveiled its vision for a ‘hyper-connected micro-city’ fuelled by social interaction and community. Destination 2028 predicts the key trends in retail.
Michael Mander
I am a journalist from Essex, England. I enjoy travelling, and love exploring attractions around the world. I graduated from Lancaster University in 2018. Twitter @michael_mander.
Davos 2019: The Man Who Thinks He Can Make Us Love Kale
By Katie Hope BBC News, Davos
23 January 2019 Davos
Matt Barnard says food can taste better grown indoors. Image copyright PLENTY
Matt Barnard's favourite memory of the recent Christmas holiday period was receiving a thank you letter from the 10-year-old daughter of a friend who'd been over for a meal. "I'm stunned you got me to like kale. I never knew I could like salad," she wrote.
The products had come directly from Mr Barnard's South San Francisco farm.
It's a nice anecdote. Of course, food you've grown yourself tends to be fresher and taste nicer than the same stuff from the supermarket.
But Mr Barnard's ambitions are a lot bigger than providing friends and their children with nice lunches. He is the chief executive of Plenty, a high-tech, agricultural start-up that he co-founded six years ago.
He may only have two farms currently, with a third due to open later this year, but they are test pads for a much more ambitious global expansion plan. "Plant science artificial intelligence training centres" is how he describes them.
Pole planting
The crops are grown upwards on vertical poles, enabling them to produce higher yields on much smaller areas of ground, and the farms are indoors, meaning the weather has no impact. LED lights provide the equivalent of sunshine.
The plants don't even need soil, instead they are fed by nutrient-rich water and there's no need for pesticides because there are no pests in this carefully controlled environment.
For Mr Barnard, farming is a return to the family business. He grew up on an orchard but says he never expected to work in the industry because he "didn't enjoy growing up without any control over my livelihood".
Plenty's farms grow leafy green plants including kale, sweet lettuces and salad leaves Image copyright PLENTY
On his farms it's now all about control.
The amount of water, ratio of minerals, humidity levels and different types and durations of LED light are all being varied and tested.
"By giving plants different versions of perfect environments, we have the ability to influence the way they taste," he says.
'Bowling balls'
The farms' small size means they can also be close to, or even within, big cities, dramatically reducing the distance produce needs to travel before it is eaten.
He believes that fresh produce "gets a bad rap" because most fruit and veg crops are chosen for their durability, rather than their flavour.
"Look at the iceberg lettuce. It's got no flavour and no nutrition, but it's the largest cash crop in the US because it's like a bowling ball making it resilient in the field and truck. That's what the supply chain dictates," he says.
Local farms like his are able to grow more delicate and varied types of produce because they don't need to be as robust.
"Working to produce food for people not trucks," is how Mr Barnard puts it.
High energy
He is optimistic that people will automatically choose to eat more veg if it tastes better.
Such farms could also be part of the solution to obesity and to feeding a growing global population when we're running out of space to grow crops economically, he believes.
As futuristic as it sounds, this kind of farming isn't new. There are similar companies elsewhere such as Jones Food Company in North Lincolnshire, Intelligent Growth Solutions in Scotland and the Growing Underground business in London. Internationally there are rivals such as Aerofarms in the US.
Plenty of such farms have also failed, with critics saying the high cost of the energy required to run them stops them being commercially viable.
Mr. Barnard says iceberg lettuce is easy to transport but lacks flavour. Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
Mr Barnard says it's an industry that is easy to enter with off-the-shelf systems, but argues that Plenty's use of machine learning and data is what makes it different.
He says external changes, including a sharp drop in the cost of LED lighting, has also helped make it viable, with the farms more reliant on light than heat.
Reconnecting
It's easy to be sceptical, but he's been backed by some serious investors, raising $200m (£154m) from some big names, including Japanese media giant SoftBank, Alphabet's Eric Schmidt and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos in 2017.
Prof Tim Benton, an expert in food systems from the University of Leeds, agrees there is a role for companies like Plenty, but says they are unlikely to replace conventional horticulture.
"On average, if you divide global agricultural land by the number of people on the planet, each person uses a football pitch of land to crop the food we eat. Even if vertical farming stacks space high, it would be difficult to replicate even a big chunk of this space within cities. So, whilst part of the solution, it is not THE solution," he says.
But like Mr Barnard, Prof Benton agrees vertical farming is one way to reconnect people with food, "converting it from a commodity that is plastic wrapped, cheap and 'waste-able', into something real, something local, something nurtured during production".
Mr. Barnard wants to "meaningfully change how people think about fresh produce"
Image copyright PLENTY
Plenty's farms currently grow leafy green plants including kale, sweet lettuces and salad leaves, which require less energy compared to more substantial crops such as potatoes.
The crops are distributed via online retailers, at special events and given to a small number of consumers to trial.
Shelf life
Mr Barnard says Plenty only sells its produce when it can do so at "median organic pricing or better".
Of course, that is still much higher than rival non-organic produce, but Mr Barnard denies that his farms are simply producing tasty food for the middle class.
Lab tests have shown the produce has a longer shelf life and he says that means people will waste less, which makes it more affordable.
"Our mission is pretty ambitious. We've shown that it is possible at large scale relative to efficiency. Now we have to go about the hard work of building a business."
That's why he's here at Davos to spread the word and secure further investment for his plan.
Mr Barnard expects the business to accelerate after 2020, with expansion "likely to be outside the US".
In the end, he will judge his success on whether he manages to "meaningfully change how people think about fresh produce" as something enjoyable to eat.
So has he persuaded his own children, aged 11 and 13, to take an interest in veg?
"More and more so. Both are eating more over time," he says.
Related Topics: Davos Food Agriculture
How Abu Dhabi Found A Way To Grow Vegetables In 40-Degree Heat
January 17, 2019 by World Economic Forum
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum.
Author: Emma Charlton, Writer
Could you grow your lunch in an old shipping container? One that’s situated in 40-degree desert heat?
A project underway in Abu Dhabi aims to encourage people to do just that – pairing old shipping containers and high-tech hydroponics to overcome the region’s hostile climate and increase local food production.
(Unsplash, 2019)
A new solution for farming in hostile conditions / Image: CustomWeather
While food security issues are climbing up the agenda globally, they are felt particularly acutely in the United Arab Emirates, where temperatures are high and rain levels low. Creating vertical farms inside shipping containers could help communities grow more of their own produce and cut down on the cost of transporting food to the region.
In Masdar City – an urban development project in Abu Dhabi – Madar Farms are using hydroponic systems that require much less water than traditional farms, to grow lettuce, herbs and brassicas. The project is being showcased at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
Because the plants are growing in a controlled environment inside the container, with nutrients coming from enriched water, pesticides and insecticides are not required. LED lighting with deep red and blue hues mimics sunlight and cycles on and off to simulate periods of day and night for the plants.
LED lighting mimics sunlight and switches off to simulate night. / Image: Madar Farms
According to proponents of the idea, shipping-container-based farming uses 95% less water than traditional farming. The containers, which are 12.2 metres long and 2.4 wide, are stackable, durable and easy to modify. It’s an idea that’s taking hold elsewhere as well, with CropBox offering a similar idea in the United States.
Some people argue that becoming dependent on such methods creates a reliance on a secure energy supply to power the boxes, while others point out it could disrupt ecosystems and harm pollinators.
Despite these reservations, vertical farming systems like this one, where grow towers hang vertically, and others, where crops are stacked, are seen as essential for the future of sustainable farming.
The vertical farming market is forecast by Global Market Insights to grow to $13.9 billion a year in 2024, from $2.5 billion in 2017.
Vertical farming is a key growth area / Image: Global Market Insights
Shaping the Future of Food is one of the World Economic Forum’s key initiatives, since it anticipates the global population will have swelled to 9.8 billion by 2050, resulting in a need for 70% more food than is consumed today. Leadership, innovation and collaborative action are needed to meet the challenge, it says.
“Food systems do not currently provide nutritious food in an environmentally sustainable way,” the initiative says. “At the same time, food production, transportation, processing and waste are putting unsustainable strain on environmental resources.”
How A Facebook Post Drove A Banker To Launch A Multimillion-Dollar Vertical Farming Business
January 15 2019
Karen Gilchrist @_KARENGILCHRIST
Next time you feel guilty about idling away your commute on social media, remember that inspiration can come from all sources.
That was certainly the case for Benjamin Swan, whose subway scrolling sparked an idea that led him to quit his corporate job and embark on a multimillion-dollar business venture.
“It all started with an article on Facebook, ” Swan told CNBC’s Christine Tan in a recent episode of “Managing Asia.”
Benjamin Swan, co-founder and CEO of Sustenir | Sustenir
“I was on my way home from work and I read an article by (microbiology professor and author) Dickson Despommier on the future of farming and vertical farming very specifically,” said Swan, referring to the practice of growing crops in stacked layers, rather than horizontal fields.
“I was looking at a lot of the illustrations and thought to myself ... (this) just wouldn’t work for Asia.” So, that evening, the ex-engineer, who at the time was working for Citibank in Singapore, consulted “Professor You and Dr. Google” (YouTube and Google), and set about finding a solution.
’’I felt that everything I have done in my life kind of boiled down to this point ... I felt that this was my opportunity to do something that would make a difference.
Benjamin Swan
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF SUSTENIR
Six months — and many long nights of experimentation — later, Swan, along with co-founder Martin Lavoo, finalized the first working prototype for an indoor vertical farm that could replicate in Singapore the conditions required to grow non-native crops.
And with that, the first seeds of Sustenir were sown. Within 18 months, Swan and Lavoo had quit their day jobs to pursue the project full-time; and today, five years on, the pair have pumped millions of dollars of their own and investors’ money into vertical farms designed to make food production in Asia more sustainable and efficient.
Addressing global food challenges
It may seem like a dramatic move for a banker bored on his commute. Indeed, Swan, Sustenir’s CEO, said “never in (his) wildest dreams” did he think he’d go into farming, or even entrepreneurship. But, when he first stumbled across the idea in Despommier’s article, he said he saw it as his opportunity to “fight the good fight.”
“I felt that everything I have done in my life kind of boiled down to this point,” said Swan. “My construction days, working as a banker, all my skills that I had learnt, I felt that this was my opportunity to do something that would make a difference, an opportunity to fight the good fight.”
Kale growing in Sustenir’s Singapore-based vertical farm facility. | Sustenir
Globally, food production is becoming a hot button issue, with governments and corporations looking for innovative ways to make the process more suitable for today’s society and climate concerns. That challenge is especially felt in Asia — and Singapore and Hong Kong in particular — where rising populations and limited land availability put pressure on the agriculture sector.
Vertical farms can provide a solution to that by reducing the space needed for production and manipulating the indoor climate (with LED lights for example) so that exotic crops can be grown away from their natural environment, thereby moving production closer to consumers. In the case of Sustenir’s kale, Swan said it can make the process 127 times more efficient than traditional farms per square foot.
“Farming right now we know is a problem,” said Swan. “We are reliant on techniques that have been used for centuries and whilst we are trying to bring in automation, and improving the ways we’re using machinery and so forth, the thing that we can’t improve is land usage. So vertical farming can solve that problem.”
Making farming cool
Vertical farming companies, of which Sustenir is one of many across the globe, are not only trying to reinvent tired processes. They’re also attempting to reinvigorate a tired industry that has struggled to attract young, millennial workers, typically thought to prefer big cities and co-working spaces to provincial life.
Swan, who is now 38, said he hopes his business can help overhaul that mindset and attract more young people into agricultural careers.
“When people think of farming they think they’re going to be out in the soil, in the sun,” said Swan, who is now 38. “It’s not until we bring them into this environment that they actually go ‘wow, this is pretty cool.’”
We like to think of this as more of a tech company. We’re actually using technology to create great products.
Benjamin Swan
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF SUSTENIR
“We like to think of this as more of a tech company. We’re actually using technology to create great products,” he continued, referring to Sustenir’s use of artificial intelligence and its development of a real-time robotic assistant to monitor the farm’s environment.
Part of that, said Swan, is incorporating a youthful, forward-thinking mentality into his leadership style. As CEO, he builds a morning gym session into his work day routine, saying that’s when his “ideas come best,” and he encourages his 30 employees to enjoy similar autonomy.
“I create an environment for all my leaders inside of this company, to craft the way they want to get their job done,” said Swan. “I give them that freedom, I set the KPIs as what needs to be achieved but allow them to do it in the way that they want to do it, thereby giving them full ownership.”
Nevada: Henderson-based Xtreme Cubes Sees Growing Industry
As indoor farming grows, which is what these would be used in, they’re environmentally sealed containers.
By Bailey Schulz / Las Vegas Review-Journal
January 5, 2019
Cannabis farms, military shelters and downtown Las Vegas’ Container Park all have one thing in common: They were built from interlocking blocks created by Xtreme Cubes.
The Henderson-based company builds modular street structures it describes as “giant, prefabricated Legos.” The blocks come in a range of sizes and can be interlocked and used for things like offices, residential buildings, retail buildings and remote work sites.
According to CEO and co-founder Brandon Main, the modular building industry has been growing rapidly, with a growing number of diverse sectors taking an interest.
This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
What’s it like working in Henderson?
We started the company in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2008, but we quickly outgrew that factory. We landed on a property out here in Henderson in 2015. Moving out here, we have the space, we have the access to interstate, we have rail access, and Nevada is actually a very business-friendly state. There’s no income tax and a lot of opportunity with a tremendous workforce in the surrounding areas.
It’s a tough economy right now with low unemployment, but we can pull employees from neighboring states. Geographically, we’re in a good spot. Moving to Henderson allowed us to achieve our growth plans.
How has the modular building industry changed over the years?
The industry is growing rapidly. There’s a workforce shortage with such low unemployment. Contractors are struggling to find people to perform their work, and there’s a need for a high-quality product quicker.
The modular building industry has been around a long time. Even though there were other options, we took a cutting-edge approach to the process, and we said we’re going to design a steel building frame system that can carry all the load. Ours is a standalone application that is specifically aligned to customer needs.
What sort of industries use Xtreme Cubes?
Industrial was our starting sector, but over the years we got into commercial and retail and then residential. We built some cabin-style or condo apartment-style buildings. We’re getting into some hotels and then military or government-type buildings.
Some of the new sectors include military applications and hospitals. We’re going to be building some modular rehabilitation clinics and hospitals, or hospice care. We’re getting ready to release our first set of hotels, a multi-story apartment.
With the legalization of marijuana, medical cannabis is another new sector. As indoor farming grows, which is what these would be used in, they’re environmentally sealed containers. A lot of the problems with the cannabis industry is related to control of crops. No mold, pesticides, insects, anything that’s a potential infection to crops. We have a clean room where the operators can grow. If can be leafy greens, tomatoes, specialized herbs.
We as a manufacturer offer turnkey solutions to our customers. We design and build to exact requirements.
What’s the benefit of building with blocks as opposed to traditional construction methods?
Speed to market. With traditional construction methods, you’re burdened with the permitting process and delays with on-site inspections. We have the same building codes as traditional construction methods but in a factory environment. We have our own third-party inspector that comes to our factory. We marry them up together in sync and save all that time. We end up with a finished product in one-third of the time. We can run around the clock.
Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0233. Follow @bailey_schulz on Twitter.
Singapore Aiming To Become Region's Urban Agriculture Technology Hub: Koh Poh Koon
January 15, 2019
SINGAPORE - Singapore has the "right ingredients" to make it the urban agriculture and aquaculture technology hub in the region, Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, said on Tuesday (Jan 15).
In a keynote speech at the Indoor Ag-Con Asia conference at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, which is being held in Singapore for the fourth time, Dr Koh said Singapore is in a strong position to "catalyse technological and business innovations", as it has a climate for innovation, strong talent base and strategic location which can transform agriculture and aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific region.
"Where arable land is scarce, innovating how we produce food is critical in helping us overcome our farming constraints and better contribute to our food sustainability and traceability efforts," he said.
Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Koh Poh Koon said Singapore is in a strong position to "catalyse technological and business innovations".PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
"Investments in agri-tech can also help to reduce our reliance on food imports and allow us to enjoy seasonal produce while lowering our carbon footprint."
To boost the agri-tech sector, Dr Koh announced that Enterprise Singapore, through its investment arm Seeds Capital, has appointed seven investment partners under Startup SG Equity - a scheme that encourages private sector investment for start-ups.
Seeds Capital aims to spur the growth of emerging and strategic sectors such as agri-tech, by stimulating investment in innovative local start-ups.
Under this partnership, more than S$90 million worth of investments will go into early-stage tech start-ups with food and agri-tech solutions.
The appointed partners are AgFunder, Hatch, ID Capital, Openspace, The Yield Lab, Trendlines and VisVires New Protein.
With Seeds Capital, the partners will assist early-stage start-ups, such as by introducing new business partners and providing support to enter new markets.
Seeds Capital will also provide co-funding of up to $4 million per deep tech start-up under Startup SG Equity.
Dr Koh said: "We are building a vibrant agri-tech start-up environment to uncover more talent, anchor experts, partners, investors and accelerators into our ecosystem, and expand the pool of knowledge and resources.
"We are developing relevant research capabilities in areas such as seed formulation and fish nutrition, advanced biotech-based protein production and food safety science. (Furthermore) we are establishing a high-tech physical cluster in Kranji to support operations in urban agriculture and aquaculture."
One of the Singapore agri-tech companies at the conference was Protenga, an insect farming company that produces animal feed. It has incorporated data sensors into its farms to help determine the right feeding frequency and amount, increasing the quality and volume of produce.
Another company VertiVegies, an indoor vertical farming firm, also displayed its modular planting system that uses technology to ensure efficient plant growth, while taking up minimal space and giving Singapore the potential to achieve food security.
"Singapore's journey to become a leader in agriculture technology is still in the early days, and there is much more for us to do," added Dr Koh. "I encourage industry representatives and leaders to carry on your good work in leading the development of solutions and standards for the sector, to provide fertile ground for the germination of new ideas, technology matching and transfer, capability development."
Republic Polytechnic (RP) Invests In Urban Farming With New Diploma
The Agriculture Technology Laboratory will be equipped with indoor farming systems. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
Jan 11, 2019
Republic Polytechnic (RP) is paving the way for the future of Singapore's high-tech urban farming.
Yesterday, the poly launched the specialist diploma in urban agricultural technology - the first full-qualification diploma in the field.
At the launch, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Dr Koh Poh Koon, emphasised the importance of increasing the margin of safety for Singapore's food supply through agricultural technology.
Dr Koh explained that since Singapore imports more than 90 per cent of its food supply, it is crucial to leverage on technology to minimise challenges like disruptive weather conditions and optimise crops' growth cycles.
To overcome the challenges of unpredictable weather and land scarcity, the agricultural industry has turned to urban agriculture.
Commencing in June with an inaugural batch of 25 students, the part-time diploma in applied science gives students the option of signing up for the associated SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme.
Dr Koh also witnessed the opening of RP's Agriculture Technology Laboratory and memorandum of understanding signing with Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation.
The Agriculture Technology Laboratory is a new facility to support students in deepening their skills through hands-on training.
The lab will be equipped with indoor farming systems like vertical plane cultivation,conduit-based horizontal hydroponic nutrient film technique, tray-based horizontal hydroponic growing and substrate growing systems.
According to Mr Yeo Li Pheow, the principal of RP, the motivation behind the new course and lab stemmed from the pressing issue of food security due to Singapore's limited land area.
"In order for Singapore to be more self-sufficient and resilient, we need to increase the amount of food we produce locally and reduce our dependence on food imports," said Mr Yeo.
NKDA Mulls Panel to Boost Urban Farming
The matter has been discussed in the board of NKDA and a decision in the matter will be soon taken.
Tarun Goswami Dec 2018 4:15 AM
Kolkata: New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) is considering a proposal to form an empanelled group to assist people, particularly senior citizens, to set up rooftop urban farming. The matter has been discussed in the board of NKDA and a decision in the matter will be soon taken. A notice will be given asking interested groups to respond. It may be mentioned that at Swapno Bhor, the state's first senior citizens' park, organic farming of vegetables has recently been started in collaboration with an NGO and senior citizens, who are members of the same, are overseeing it. Senior officials of the NKDA said many people have shown keen interest to start rooftop urban farming but could not start it because of lack of expertise. For many years, people have been growing flowers on their rooftop gardens. It may be mentioned that in the annual flower show organised by Alipore Agri Horticulture Society there is a section where flowers and cactus that are grown on rooftop gardens and displayed. The best flower grower is also awarded. Now, in addition to flowers, people have shown interest to start rooftop urban farming. But a majority of them lack expertise and knowledge. For example, on rooftop garden pots made of coconut fibres are used instead of earthen pots as they cause heavy damage to the roofs. Again, from where seeds of vegetables can be procured are not known. To address these issues, the empanelled groups will assist those whose are interested to start rooftop urban farming. The group will charge for providing assistance and the rate will be fixed by the NKDA. This will keep the senior citizens socially engaged, the officers felt. To keep the senior citizens engaged and occupied who will be buying accommodation at Snehodiya, an open terrace has been made in the proposed multi-storeyed building whose construction is going on. The senior citizens can utilise the terrace to coach children from economically-challenged families. This will keep them socially busy and also motivate the children to a great extent.
Urban Underground Farming
BY STAFF REPORTS ON DECEMBER 30, 2018 WORLD NEWS
SEATTLE — According to the U.N., the world population is more than seven billion and is expected to reach more than nine billion by 2050. With a vast majority of the population migrating to urban areas, cities are forced to expand. This puts a strain on rural land space and food production; urban underground farming is being seen as the solution.
Steven Dring, a co-founder of Growing Underground believes poor topsoil management and the percentage of freshwater used in industrial agriculture are compounding matters.
Dring feels that unless farmers start replenishing the soil’s nutrients, the lifespan of the world’s topsoil is only 80 to 120 years. Urban underground farming — a solution to the aforementioned problems — utilizes existing underground structures and hydroponics to yield large crops using minimal water.
Hydroponics and Urban Underground Farming
Hydroponic technology uses porous material in place of soil as well as low-energy LEDs instead of natural light. Plants can even sit in nutrient-rich waterbeds where the water is captured and recycled.
LEDs mimic photosynthesis, a process by which plants convert light of certain wavelengths into chemical energy that is stored for future use. The LED light’s low heat creates an ideal temperature for growth in the absence of sunlight.
Additionally, growing beds are stacked vertically to maximize the space of underground farms.
Underground Farming Around the World
Worldwide, growers are cultivating food beneath the soil. Underground farms already exist in England, France and Bolivia. Sweden and Wales have undergound farms that are in development.
England
A World War II air-raid shelter 100 feet below the streets of London was transformed into an urban underground farm by Growing Underground’s Steven Dring and his business partner Richard Ballard.
The farm provides two and a half acres of space for plant growth. Its depth regulates ambient temperature and its filters free the air of pests while hydroponics ensure the growth of crops.
This business model is more cost-effective than the U.K.’s traditional greenhouse farming. The only consistent expense is for the LEDs. Greenhouse farmers use two heat sources: natural light and LEDs due to short summers. They also use importation to keep a steady supply.
Dring believes his company is not replacing traditional farming and instead it’s just complementing it.
France
In Paris, the startup, Cycloponics, uses a once abandoned parking garage measuring 37,700-square-feet to grow crops. It is located beneath an affordable housing complex.
They use hydroponic farming to harvest microgreens and bricks of composted manure to grow mushrooms.
Cycloponics produces four and a half pounds of greens each month and even harvests chicory, which requires no natural light. The team produces 660 pounds of the crop each month via urban underground farming.
Sweden
Plantagon CityFarm is building an underground farm in an old newspaper archive underneath an office tower in Stockholm.
The company will not only grow food in vertical towers under LEDs but also heat the building. Instead of capturing the light’s heat and venting it out of the room, it will be sent into a heat storage system to heat offices.
It also plans to sell its food locally, which will eliminate shipping costs and pesticide use as well as reduce fossil fuel emissions.
The company’s innovative approach to urban underground farming is attracting Singapore and Malaysia; both of the countries have a shortage of farmable land.
Wales
Abandoned coal mines across Wales are being scouted as new sites for underground farms in the U.K. The country’s coal industry went down in the 1980s, leaving mine shafts and tunnels unoccupied. These coal mines are now being revived via urban underground farming.
The project is seen as a cost-effective way of supplying largescale crops for the growing global population. Advocates say these farms can yield up to ten times more food than regular farms.
Coal mine farms can grow plants in nutrient-rich water or suspend them in midair and mist them with water and nutrients. LEDs or fiber-optic technology can tunnel sunlight deep into the ground — both inexpensive methods — while the carbon-capture technology can take advantage of natural carbon dioxide.
If coal mines are to become underground farms, there will be technical, legal and financial hurdles to overcome before beginning construction. This project can generate income and minimize remediation costs. In fact, many hill farmers in Wales are living paycheck to paycheck, so the income from underground farming can benefit them greatly.
Bolivia
The idea of urban underground farming can be applied to an arid environment like Bolivia’s Andean Plateau. This area contends with frequent drought, frost, high winds and increasing temperatures.
Bolivian underground farms are known as Walipinis. Only their roofs are visible for they blend into the plateau’s arid landscape. Internally, bricks absorb the sun’s heat and act as conductors to create warm and humid conditions all through the year. These farms protect crops from nature’s elements and ensure food security for farmers’ families.
Walipinis help farmer and llama breeder, Gabriel Condo Apaza, improve his family’s diet and save money as they no longer have to purchase food from markets. Businessman, Michael Gemio, refurbished abandoned Walipinis and turned them into an eco-farm. He hires local families to develop the Walipini technology.
Walipinis require only a small amount of water to operate. Despite droughts and high temperatures, the existing small streams are able to supply the required amount of water.
Conclusion
Due to rapid urbanization, global cities face problems such as unemployment, an inability to meet growing food demands, poor health and pollution. Urban underground farming is the solution to these problems. As long as cities implement appropriate policies, underground farms can operate at an optimal level.
– Julianne Russo
Photo: Pixabay
Denver, Colorado: A Look Inside Rino's Rooftop Urban Farm
January 8, 2019
If you’ve recently walked down Lawrence Street in RiNo, you have probably have been stopped in your tracks by the sight of a rooftop garden. At the very least, you’ve probably wondered what was going on above Uchi. This beautiful greenhouse space is home to Altius Farms. As one of the largest vertical aeroponic rooftop gardens in the country, Altius currently grows varieties of lettuce, herbs and edible flowers galore.
Part of the new S*Park condo community, Altius landed at the RiNo location where the land historically has been farmed since the 1930s. The greenhouse itself offers 8,000 square feet to run operations, and the community garden outside will double the growing space once the spring comes. S*Park and Altius are planning to team up for great farm-to-table events and community dinners come warmer temperatures.
Sally Herbert, co-founder of Altius, is excited to open the flagship location of Altius Farms in Denver and partner with S*Park to do so. Short for Sustainability Park, the condo community is an incubator for sustainable living and community development. Centered around wellness for human bodies and the earth, Altius Farms is a great addition to the RiNo living complex.
Herbert commented that their mission is to “bring urban farming back into our communities.” They are currently focusing on their partnerships with restaurants to do so. Altius works with some of Denver’s top-rated restaurants – including Beast + Bottle, Butcher’s Bistro and Urban Farmer. The team at Avanti Food & Beverage asked Herbert to grow a mix of greens to pair well with a particular dressing the restaurant is concocting for a special event.
“There’s a real demand for produce that’s safe, nutritionally dense, that’s got good flavor, that doesn’t have 1,500 food miles on it,” Herbert explained. Most of Altius’ customers are located in the surrounding neighborhoods, so the produce is fresh when restaurants receive their orders. This cuts back on food waste both within the farm and in restaurants – however the produce that Altius can’t sell before its prime, they donate to We Don’t Waste and Denver Food Rescue.
“We are a for-profit company with a social impact mission,” Herbert commented. And in addition to engaging the community in learning more about their food, Altius operates on a sustainable business model. The aeroponic tower system uses 10 percent of the water and 10 percent of the space to produce 10 times the yield of a conventional soil farm. Herbert also gets to see an eye-level view of each plant every day – making it easy to identify the needs of particular plants throughout the greenhouse.
The greenhouse itself was designed to recognize the plants needs by pooling the environment. Sensors around the greenhouse cue the processing system to turn on fans or heaters, open up roof and side vents to adjust the humidity and temperatures to make the greenhouse the perfect environment for growing leafy greens.
The greenhouse also provides a controlled environment for their plants to grow. Altius Farms has a separate water system and a controlled environment that is not affected by the state of surrounding farms. In result, Altius was able to supply their customers with romaine when the rest of the country was having an e. coli scare.Transversely, if Altius had a scare in their own farm, it wouldn’t affect any growing site except the greenhouse location.
The horticulturalist for Altius, Don Dwyer, has been in the growing business since the 1970s. More and more he sees that people want to “establish a relationship with their food.” Altius helps facilitate a positive relationship with food by providing fresh produce with interesting flavor profiles to Denver residents. Dwyer also understands that so many Denverites want to support local farms and Altius gives residents a way to learn about growing food in an urban location.
As Altius approaches full growing capacity, they are looking forward to living into their mission and engaging the community in their work. “Food is important in [illness] recovery and in education and just having nutritious meals for our kids,” Herbert explained. Once they have the capacity, Altius hopes to serve the community beyond restaurants – including schools and medical centers.
For the time being, Altius takes great care of their restaurants. Herbert enjoys offering tours and tasting to their chef partners and helping them to design a menu around Altius greens. With flavors like wasabi arugula to mustard greens and a number of edible flowers, Altius Farms caters to many chefs and their various dish innovations.
These partnerships excite Herbert, who has never worked with chefs in this way. “What’s been interesting,” Herbert commented, “is that they are – pun intended – hungry for this kind of food. They want to have the conversation with us.” In the future, Altius wants to expand their produce and grow specific plants for restaurants – working with chefs from the inception of a dish idea to the culmination.
Altius Farms is located at 2500 Lawrence Street #200, Denver. Their restaurant customers in RiNo and LoDo are Urban Farmer, Uchi, Crema, HiTide Poke, Port Side, Stowaway, Famous Original J’s Pizza, Butcher’s Bistro, Goed Zuur, Beast + Bottle and Dio Mio. Altius greens are available in both Marczyk’s Fine Foods.
All photography by Evans Ousley.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When not working one of her three jobs, Evans walks the streets of Denver to discover more about the city's food scene. On the weekends, Evans loves to stroll around Denver's many parks – mostly to obsess over all the dogs she can't have.
Local Grown Salads Launches Indoor Vertical Farms In Opportunity Zones
Local Grown Salads launches Indoor Vertical Farms in Opportunity Zones in Washington DC, Baltimore, and Nashville. Farms produce organic Ready-To-Eat Salads.
BALTIMORE, MD, UNITED STATES, January 10, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ --
Local Grown Salads is opening Indoor Vertical Farms in Opportunity Zones located in Baltimore, Washington DC, and Nashville.
Local Grown Salads will be providing Ready-To-Eat salads, Ready-To-Use Herbs and vegetables that are GMO Free, Organic, Herbicide & Insecticide free, and certified insect free.
Wonderfully Fresh - Harvested and delivered on the same day.
Massive Selection - 25 different salads.
No prep needed - these are ready-to-eat.
No Food Safety concerns - FSMA & SFQ Quality Code level.
Good For The Environment - Reduced Carbon Footprint, No nasty runoff. No killing the bees.
Local Grown Salads is looking to provide LGS First Account status to a small set of restaurants, caterers, or food delivery companies prior to the official launch.
The LGS First Accounts will have special pricing, guaranteed availability, first access to product, and other advantages.
LGS First Accounts are select food service companies that will use Local Grown Salads' Ready-To-Eat Salads to provide extra-ordinary products to consumers.
LGS First Accounts will be located within 2 hours of one our locations and sell at least 5,000 high quality meals a week.
Local Grown Salads has limited the volume available and will be selective about who will receive this market advantage.
About Local Grown Salads Patent Pending Indoor Vertical Farming technology:
• Grows fresh produce year-round in a controlled environment with the highest standards of food quality and food safety
• Creates product that is organic, pesticide free, herbicide free, and GMO free
• Decreases transportation costs, thereby reducing the carbon footprint
• Helps to address the problem of food deserts
• Allows indoor farming that helps save the planet’s arable land
About Local Grown Salads and Opportunity Zones:
Opportunity Zones are a tax incentive established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. 8,700 Opportunity Zones have been designated. The Opportunity Zones are low-income and food desserts. Local Grown Salads is expecting to create 20 jobs in its farms and provide fresh healthy food at wholesale prices to the community.
The Local Grown Salads farms can re-purpose older (heritage) buildings which are not challenged for other uses.
Zale Tabakman
Local Grown Salads
+1 416-738-2090
email us here
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Urban Farm In Brooklyn Looking To Attract Young Farmers
Located in a former Pfizer factory in the Williamsburg district, the company said one of its main aims is to offer young people careers in agriculture.
So-called 'urban', or 'vertical', farms have been making their way into some US cities over the past few years. With limited land in major metropolitan areas, indoor urban farms offer the chance for city stores and restaurants to get their hands on locally-grown produce. Square Roots in Brooklyn, New York, is one of these next generation indoor farms. Located in a former Pfizer factory in the Williamsburg district, the company said one of its main aims is to offer young people careers in agriculture.
"The average age of the American farmer is 58," noted Karsten Ch'ien of Square Roots. "With more young people living in cities, we bought shipping containers into the city because that is where many of them live. Young people are very technology literate, and with the rise in demand for healthy, locally-grown foods, this is the perfect combination for them to get involved in the produce industry. As a result, the average age of our farmers is just 24."
Ch'ien said that Square Roots offers training and skill building as part of helping young farmers establish a firm foundation in the industry. "At the heart of Square Roots is the Next-Gen farmer training program, which creates opportunities for more people to become farmers—and future leaders in urban farming—through a year-long commitment on the Square Roots team."
Produce is grown in modified shipping containers. Ch'ien is on the far right.
Growing in shipping containers
Produce at Square Roots is grown in shipping containers, which have been climate controlled and fitted with the latest in vertical farming gadgetry. All the operations are controlled in the company's offices overlooking the parking lot where the ten containers lie. The shipping container model gives the company great flexibility.
"Growing in shipping containers requires less upfront capital to establish and maintain," Ch'ien explained. "They are easy to retrofit and move if we need to. Additionally, it's very simple to expand the farm. Instead of remodeling or building an extension, we simply add another shipping container and fit it out in the same manner. Here in the parking lot, we have plenty of room to grow horizontally. At this stage, it's not practical for us to stack containers due to the need for climbing up and down ladders with produce."
According to the company, each shipping container yields between 50 and 70 pounds of produce each week. The containers have been engineered to be environmentally friendly and food safe. "The mineral nutrient system cycles and recycles, so each container only requires eight to ten gallons of water per day. Any kind of food safety issue can be contained in each farm," Ch'ien said.
Culinary herbs the focus
Vertical farms still have a way to go to become a mainstream source of produce. Currently, they are typically restricted to leafy greens and other plants that have minimal energy requirements. Square Roots focuses on culinary herbs. The herbs are grown and packed inside the container and then delivered to local independent retailers on one of the company's tricycles.
"Leafy greens are the easiest to grow vertically," Ch'ien observed. "We can also grow things like grape tomatoes and other small vegetables. It really depends on the energy requirements of each plant. Here at Square Roots, we focus on culinary herbs, with each container specializing in a herb. Typically, the timeframe of maturity to harvest is four to six weeks, depending on the herb. We grow in sections and harvest each container twice per week, so that there is always produce that is ready to be picked."
Square Roots uses these tricycles to deliver their produce direct to customers in the NYC area.
Ch'ien notes that growing more energy-intensive commodities such as tomatoes and small root vegetables is not economical at this stage but said that this may soon become viable as technology continues to improve. "Outside of leafy greens and herbs, it's very challenging to grow other crops economically right now. However, technology is improving each year, providing us with increased opportunities to scale and moderate costs. Additionally, we want to ensure we balance sellable yields with quality."
As to the question of whether vertical farming is a threat to traditional farming, Ch'ien believes the two are not mutually exclusive, but rather the whole system can work side by side. "We don't see it as a competition between traditional land-based farming and urban, vertical farming. All growers have the same goal which is to deliver the freshest, best quality produce to customers. We believe vertical farming can work in tandem with traditional farming, each serving a useful purpose in the industry."
For more information:
Karsten Ch'ien
Square Roots
Ph: +1 (740) 337-6687
karsten@squarerootsgrow.com
www.squarerootsgrow.com
Publication date : 12/18/2018
Author: Dennis Rettke
© FreshPlaza.com
Food Security Issues Drive Wealthy But Civic Conscious Singaporeans To Become Farmers Abroad
Besides applying the vertical model to urban agriculture — experimenting with rooftop gardens and vertical farms in order to feed its many residents — farmers (both the wealthy and the not-so-moneyed) have ventured abroad to try their agricultural luck so that they can help ease up their country’s need for adequate food supply
December 29, 2018
To alleviate Singapore’s potential of becoming a nation of “starving” citizens, a number of well-meaning and audacious Singaporean farmers have endeavored to go overseas and establish farms so that they may be able to send food products back home.
Globally, Singapore ranks 4th as most food-secure nation on the Global Food Security Index. This catalog considers the affordability, availability, quality and safety of food supply. While Singapore has limited land capacity to produce its own food, it has designed a resilient food supply system which enabled it to reach a state of good food security. However, recent reports reveal that there exists food insecurity in several segments of its society and highlights how the expensive cars and bright lights of the cosmopolitan city-state very well concealed this relevant issue.
Currently, only 7% of Singapore’s food is grown locally. Every day, the country imports most of its fresh vegetables and fruits from neighboring countries like Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, as well as from more distant trading partners like Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Chile.
Besides applying the vertical model to urban agriculture — experimenting with rooftop gardens and vertical farms in order to feed its many residents — farmers (both the wealthy and the not-so-moneyed) have ventured abroad to try their agricultural luck so that they can help ease up their country’s need for adequate food supply.
When Apollo Aquaculture Group chief executive officer Eric Ng realized that his fish farm lease in Lim Chu Kang would expire in 2019, the 44-year-old began scouting for other options which include going overseas.
“Land is very limited here, and the cost of setting up a farm in Singapore is very high. But Brunei has vast land and abundance of sea water,” he said.
Today, he owns a parcel of land in Brunei that can generate 5,000 tons of trout, groupers, snappers and sea bass when operating at full capacity. In comparison, he only can produce about 110 tons of fish annually from his farms in Singapore.
Another daring farmer is former civil servant Lai Poon Piau, who recalled how he had to settle for plain prata after the roti prata stall near VivoCity ran out of eggs a few years back, due to the global food crisis which saw prices of food go sky-high. It was then that he realized how vulnerable Singapore was, in terms of food security.
Seeking to reconnect with his farming roots, Mr. Lai eventually acquired 80ha of land in Kampot, Cambodia in 2010 and started farming peppercorns three years later.
From the 50 tons of pepper he produces annually, only 100 kg is being exported to specialty stores and restaurants in Singapore. But he is gradually trying to build up his distribution channels for export. “I would like to sell all of it to Singapore if I can…Eventually, the idea is to use Singapore as a hub to export (my pepper) to other parts of Asia as well,” he said.
Ng and Lai Poon are just two of the handful of Singaporean farmers who have started farming on foreign soil, a concept that many experts think could help Singapore reinforce its food resilience despite its burgeoning population and its limited land resources.