Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
US: Pennsylvania - Building A High-Tech Indoor Farm In The Steel Town of Braddock
Next door to U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works, Fifth Season is building an indoor vertical farm that will integrate high-tech elements like artificial intelligence, data analysis, and robotics to seed, harvest and package leafy greens to ship to local grocery stores and restaurants
STEPHANIE RITENBAUGH
October 21, 2019
In the shadow of one of Pittsburgh’s long-standing steel mills, a startup is hoping to cultivate a farm out of the grit of Braddock.sritenbaugh@post-gazette.com
Next door to U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works, Fifth Season is building an indoor vertical farm that will integrate high-tech elements like artificial intelligence, data analysis, and robotics to seed, harvest and package leafy greens to ship to local grocery stores and restaurants.
Fifth Season, which was founded in 2016 as RoBotany Ltd. and incubated at Carnegie Mellon University, developed its technology with two research and development vertical farms on the South Side.
The company’s leafy greens, grown without pesticides, have been sold at Giant Eagle and Whole Foods Market grocery stores in the South Hills, as well at restaurants such as Superior Motors, honeygrow, and Kahuna.
Now, the 60,000-square-foot facility is a hive of construction as crews prepare the building for its first seeds in December.
The Braddock farm is expected to produce more than 500,000 pounds of lettuce, spinach, kale, arugula, and herbs from a 25,000-square-foot grow room during the first full year of operation.
That’s quite a jump from the few thousand pounds a year produced at the South Side facility, said CEO Austin Webb, who co-founded the company with Brac Webb and Austin Lawrence. Mr. Lawrence is also chief technology officer.
On 30-foot-tall racks arrayed like bookshelves, trays of lettuce, spinach, kale, arugula, and herbs will be stacked on to shelves.
Along the aisles, a robot can be directed to, say, harvest seven trays of spinach when the time comes, rather than have a human use a ladder or scissor lift to remove trays by hand, Mr. Webb said.
The environment can be controlled around the clock in each area of the facility. In the grow room, the temperature, humidity, nutrients, light spectrum and even how long the day will be, will be closely monitored.
One driver behind Fifth Season’s strategy is to increase access to fresh food and to reduce waste.
Growing food in a neighborhood, with the end-users accessible within 24 hours of harvest, is much better than shipping produce over a long distance that means eight to 10 days until it’s on the store shelf, Mr. Webb said. “It has a much longer shelf life.”
The hydroponic facility also uses 95% less water than traditional techniques, and by reusing water that has been treated, runoff doesn’t go into waterways, Mr. Webb noted.
At full build-out, the Braddock facility plans to employ 40 to 60 people.
“We want to hire local as much as we can,” Mr. Webb said.
While vertical, indoor farming has been around for some time, the practice has gained traction in recent years as urban farming has become more popular amid concerns about food access and available farmland.
Allied Market Research expects the global vertical farming market to grow. In a September report, the Portland, Ore.-based firm said the industry accounted for $2.23 billion in 2018 and is expected to garner $12.77 billion in revenues by 2026.
But efficiency and profitability is a challenge for the sector.
Those are issues that Fifth Season hopes to address, using the technology it’s developed to control the growing process, costs and “optimize key factors such as energy, labor usage, and crop output,” Mr. Webb said.
“We are trying to create a new standard for our industry,” he said.
The company has raised more than $35 million to date, led by Drive Capital and other private investors with close ties to CMU.
Stephanie Ritenbaugh: sritenbaugh@post-gazette.com; 412-263-4910
Australia - Coming Soon: Acre Farm & Eatery Is A 2500-Square-Metre Urban Rooftop Farm And Cafe In Burwood East
The cafe will be located inside an enormous glasshouse with 450 square metres of vertical gardens in which about 15,000 seedlings have been planted (mainly high-yield greens and soft herbs)
There’s a vertical strawberry wall, a glasshouse cafe
with 15,000 seedlings and even a chicken coop.
28 October 2019
by NICK BUCKLEYSHARE
One of Broadsheet’s top ten stories of all time was the February 2018 news that the “world’s most sustainable shopping centre” was being planned for Burwood Brickworks in Melbourne’s east.
The development enlisted eco-pioneer, florist and designer Joost Bakker as a creative consultant to help turn the project’s rooftop into an urban farm, cafe, and restaurant space, which will open in December as Acre Farm & Eatery.
The cafe will be located inside an enormous glasshouse with 450 square metres of vertical gardens in which about 15,000 seedlings have been planted (mainly high-yield greens and soft herbs). Inside, the kitchen is behind glass walls too, giving diners a view of the chefs cooking the ingredients harvested from the rooftop. Adjacent to the cafe is a farmhouse-style restaurant with large windows looking out over the Dandenong Ranges.
Surrounding both dining rooms will be 2500 square metres of urban agricultural land, including a vertical strawberry garden, a chicken coop, established trees and ankle-height gardens that you’ll walk through to reach the glasshouse. Currently being planted are at least 12 varieties of tomato, as well as kale, silverbeet, baby carrots and heirloom baby vegetables, plus established olive and citrus trees. Even the flowers used to decorate the restaurant will be grown on the roof.
“You’ll kind of lose your sense of place going from a shopping centre to what feels like a rural area,” says executive chef Brad Simpson, who spent seven years in the kitchen at Prahran pub The Smith (first as head chef, then as executive chef) before it was sold in July last year. “We want people to feel relaxed, as if they’re in the country, and it’s going to have a warm, homely feel.”
The rooftop gardens and glasshouse will provide some of the produce used in Acre’s kitchens, but they won’t fully sustain them. The gardens are also partly designed to be an educational tool, to get diners to consider the provenance of what they’re eating.
“The reality of the situation is that for us to just use what came off the roof for the restaurant we’d run out pretty quick … you need hectares and hectares of space to do that,” says Simpson. “We’re going to grow as much as we can on the roof while keeping it looking lush so that it can educate people and be a bit of a showpiece for what happens inside.”
Produce brought in from outside will come from local Victorian growers following the same ethos as Acre.
“I’m looking at dealing with farms that operate the same soil-health programs that we will operate on the rooftop. No sort of harsh sprays or anything like that. We want the comparison for what we source outside of the farm to match as closely as possible to what we’re doing on it,” says Simpson, who points to a simple dish of eggplant relish, toasted seeds, and baby vegetables as being indicative of his menu.
“It’s probably the most remedial dish on the menu in some ways … it’s kind of a jazzed-up crudité plate. It’s utilising stuff that’s just been pulled out of the ground,” he says.
Setting up the kitchen has been a learning process for Simpson, who’s trying to minimise food waste and single-use plastics. For example, he’s done away with a Cryovac – a machine used to vacuum-seal food in plastic bags – something he says he never would have imagined doing without five years ago. And the new skills he’s learning are being integrated into his life outside the Acre kitchen too.
“I’m learning things at home just through this process. I’m saving apple skins and apple cores that my son doesn’t eat and turning it into apple cider vinegar,” says Simpson. “Things that I’d just normally throw out I’ve started thinking about differently. I’m making crackers from old sourdough that I don’t get through and stuff like that.”
In that spirit, expect to see secondary cuts of meat on the homely, approachable menu. One dish in the works is a whole, slow-roasted pork knuckle (using hind-quarter hocks from free-range Victorian pigs) with lovage and fennel from the garden, and apple.
“I’m really into the family-style of eating and making sure our menu’s not too structured, that it’s approachable, colourful, social food,” says Simpson. “I don’t want to be cutting edge … I want it to be social, family food that everyone’s going to be able to sit down and enjoy and most importantly not be intimidated by.”
Acre Farm & Eatery is set to open in early December at Burwood Brickworks, 78 Middlesborough Road, Burwood East.
Photography: Courtesy of Acre Farm & Eatery
US: Colorado - A New Building Rising Behind Stanley Marketplace In Aurora Will Be An Commercial Greenhouse
In a budding industry, Aurora has been handpicked as a landing spot for a green giant. Gotham Greens, the Brooklyn-born company at the forefront of the urban farming industry, is coming to town
New York-based Gotham Greens coming to Colorado, will open 30,000-square-foot facility in 2020 that will serve retailers throughout state and region
Michael Ciaglo, Special to the Denver Post
Gotham Greens co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri gives a tour of their new 30,000 square foot greenhouse next to the Stanley Marketplace Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Aurora. The greenhouse is less than an acre but will produce the equivalent of over 25 acres of conventional farming.
October 23, 2019
In a budding industry, Aurora has been handpicked as a landing spot for a green giant. Gotham Greens, the Brooklyn-born company at the forefront of the urban farming industry, is coming to town.
By the spring of 2020, Gotham Greens will be growing arugula, basil, bok choy and a variety of other herbs and leafy greens out of a 30,000-square-foot greenhouse nestled behind Stanley Marketplace, 2501 Dallas St. As recently as last week, the site wasn’t much more than a slab of concrete spiked with steel beams, but when it opens it will be a state-of-the-art facility set up to produce fresh food 365 days per year.
“Where we’re standing will be filled with plant growing beds,” company co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri said while walking the construction site last week. “Our proprietary growing method uses 95% less water and 97% less land than traditional farming.”
Indoor farming isn’t a new idea in the Denver area. Nonprofit fresh produce provider The GrowHaus will celebrate its 10th anniversary next month. It operates a trio of indoor farms in the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood. Altius Farms has been harvesting and distributing its own brand of aeroponically grown leafy greens and herbs since late 2018. It’s roughly 7,000-acre greenhouse sits on the roof of a restaurant in the S*Park development in Denver’s River North Art District. That project is owned by Westfield Co., the same developer behind Stanley Marketplace that has now brought in Gotham Greens.
What will set Gotham Green’s Denver operation apart is its scale. Its greenhouse is designed to serve the entire state and even some parts of bordering states, Puri said. Whole Foods has already signed on to carry Gotham Greens lettuce mixes, herbal dressings and other goods in all of its Colorado stores, according to the CEO. By growing its products close to consumers, the company also limits the carbon footprint of its business.
“What’s remarkable about this system, is it’s a climate-controlled greenhouse that employs a lot of technology — hydroponic, automation, computer control systems, advanced drip irrigation techniques,” he said. “It will produce a yield equivalent to a 25-acre farm.”
RELATED: Denver urban farming trend grows from a Sloan’s Lake condo tower to a Larimer Square parking garage
Stanley Marketplace is the western front of an ambitious expansion effort. Founded in 2009, Gotham Greens opened its first greenhouse in Brooklyn until 2011. It expanded to Chicago in 2014 and has grown its presence in New York over the last few years but 2019 has been its busiest year to date.
With new greenhouses in Providence, R.I., and Baltimore expected to open by the end of the year, the company will soon crack the New England and Mid-Atlantic markets. When those facilities are up and running, Puri will oversee a company with more than 500,000 square feet of greenhouse space and 350 employees. That’s before the Aurora facility opens and brings on 30 full-time workers, he said.
Colorado — and the Denver metro area specifically — were a good fit for Gotham Greens because many consumers in the state value sustainably grown, eco-friendly food products, Gotham Greens co-founder and chief financial officer Eric Haley said. Haley should know. He grew up in the south metro area and graduated from Cherry Creek High School in 1999.
A New Vertical Farm Is Coming To Compton. Is This The Solution To The World’s Global Food Crisis?
At a nondescript gray building about 10 miles south of the Mission District, a team of a couple of hundred people is trying to make vegetables taste better. This is the headquarters for Plenty, a company in the business of vertical agriculture — using hydroponics (growing plants without soil) to farm in an enclosed space
A look inside the Plenty farm in South San Francisco. The company will open a farm location in Compton in 2020. (Plenty)
By JENN HARRIS STAFF WRITER
October 25, 2019
South San Fransisco — At a nondescript gray building about 10 miles south of the Mission District, a team of a couple of hundred people is trying to make vegetables taste better.
This is the headquarters for Plenty, a company in the business of vertical agriculture — using hydroponics (growing plants without soil) to farm in an enclosed space — which is a long-in-development new frontier of farming that is starting to get to a place of technological efficiency that will allow it to scale commercially. In a space the size of a basketball court, the farm is growing kale, arugula, bok choy, beet leaves, fennel, and mizuna.
At Plenty, the mission is to make plants that taste so good, you’ll want to eat them over everything else.
Chief executive and co-founder Matt Barnard, 47, claims that Plenty not only uses 1% to 5% of the water used to grow comparable crops on a traditional farm but also uses a fraction of the land — and he’s doing it all in a 100% renewable facility powered by a combination of wind and solar energy.
After launching the South San Francisco farm this summer, the company will announce Friday that it has inked a deal to open a second vertical farm, this time in Compton. It will take just a few months to get the 95,000-square-foot facility up and running, but the farm is not expected to bring produce to market until late 2020.
Once completed, Plenty will supply produce to dozens of Southern California restaurants, including Nancy Silverton’s Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza, as well as hundreds of grocery stores.
The farm will be the largest of its kind in the greater Los Angeles area and one of what Plenty hopes is at least 500 farms around the country in densely populated urban areas with 100,000 or more people.
“By doing that, we increase access and availability through high-quality produce, change behaviors and get people to eat fruits and vegetables in lieu of snack food,” Plenty spokeswoman Christina Ra said.
Besides restaurants and grocery stores, the company also hopes to make inroads in local schools. Plenty is in talks with the city of Compton schools to create a partnership that will bring the farm’s produce and technology to kids in the area.
The company declined to say how much it will cost to build and operate the new facility, but Barnard said he plans to create dozens of jobs by hiring locally.
“Compton has rich agricultural roots and Plenty Farms is continuing that tradition,” Compton Mayor Aja Brown said in a statement.
Employees check on produce in a processing room at the Plenty farm in San Francisco. (Plenty)
In the center of the San Francisco warehouse, the Plenty farm is wrapped in a foil-like material that reaches from the concrete floor to the ceiling like an alien fortress. Giant dehumidifiers hum loudly on the outskirts of the rooms.
Once the farm is running at full capacity next year, Plenty claims it will be able to grow enough produce for more than 100 grocery stores. The growing capacity in Compton will be even greater.
Visiting the farm requires hair nets, beard nets, full jumpsuits, booties, gloves and special glasses; the vibe is less American Gothic and more like a movie about a world-ending virus.
The crown jewel of Plenty is the growing room, where plush greens sprout out from tall vertical towers that blend into each other like rows of continuous living walls. Opposite the plants are glowing strips of LED lights. Once the plants spend a few days in the growing room, the towers move along a track out into a processing room. A robotic arm turns the towers on their side, slices off the produce, then sends the greens to a room for packaging.
People manage and sterilize the machines, but no human hands actually touch the produce at any point in the farming process.
“There’s no need to wash our product,” Barnard said. “You know those bags of lettuce that say triple washed? They are washed in bleach. We don’t think people should have to eat pesticides or bleach.”
An employee checks on some produce at the Plenty farm in San Francisco. (Plenty)
Barnard, who grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, sees vertical agriculture as a way to address obesity, drought and food shortage problems — along with eliminating the need for your salad spinner. According to a 2018 USDA report, the earth will need almost 70%more food, 30% more water and more than 50% more energy production by 2050.
In a conference room at the farm, Barnard and Olivia Nahoum, the senior product development and sensory manager for the company, have set out a tasting of sorts. Using tweezers, Nahoum places borage flower, pea herb, wasabi flower, wasabi leaves, and purslane on a plate and instructs me to try them.
Tasting the pea herbs, fairy-sized green leaves attached to tinier stalks, is like biting into a raw snap pea with a freshness and earthiness likely better than the real thing. Purslane tastes of an ice-cold glass of sweet and sour lemonade on a hot summer’s day. Borage flowers, gorgeous sky blue blooms with white centers, evoke
a mojito, with pure sugar and notes of fresh cucumber. The wasabi flowers look innocent enough, but the delicate petals pack a peppery punch. The wasabi arugula leaf was the strongest of the bunch, offering up a nose-tingling slap of wasabi.
But the bulk of what Plenty grows is not fancy herbs. I also sampled baby kale that was soft and sweet, an unbelievably peppery arugula and a mixture of green and purple bok choy that made me think of baked potatoes.
Those greens have impressed Los Angeles chef Nancy Silverton, who is on the board of the company as a culinary advisor and collaborator.
“I was so blown away,” Silverton said of her visit to the farm. “The idea that this not only can be done, but I was so surprised by how good everything tasted.”
Chef Dominique Crenn, who is also on the Plenty board, uses a purple butterfly herb that Plenty grows to add a bit of tartness to her black cod dish at her San Francisco restaurant Atelier Crenn.
In order to tweak flavor profiles, scientists adjust what Barnard refers to as the light recipe of a plant. When you’re outside, everything is up to mother nature; Barnard said the climate, soil and overall growing environment “algorithm” determine a plant’s flavor. Inside, he and his team are adjusting the lights, air temperature and humidity to coax the maximum amount of flavor from the produce.
“For our kale, we can take the flavor spectrum and move it from bitter to sweet so that it’s more balanced and easier to eat healthy food,” Barnard said. “Now that we have brought the farm inside, we can control the things that control flavor and change the recipe in order to make plants that people like.”
Plenty has a plant and flavor science team in Wyoming that tests seeds and varieties to figure out which have the most flavor potential. In the last year, the facility tested 700 kinds of produce. Although most of what Plenty produces are leafy greens, Barnard said they are working on strawberries as well.
It may sound like something out of “Blade Runner,” but Chris Dardick, lead scientist and plant molecular biologist with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, says this type of flavor manipulation is feasible.
“Scientifically, I don’t know how much data or evidence there is yet on that, but from our own experience, fruit crops that develop sugars and flavors are influenced by environmental conditions like the amount of sunlight,” Dardick said. “Those properties can be manipulated if you have control over lighting conditions and temperature.”
He is doing his own work with vertical farming and sees immense potential.
Inside the Plenty farm in San Francisco. (Plenty)
“One of the ways we [USDA Agricultural Research Service] got interested in vertical agriculture was the idea being we could take an orchard and bring it indoors,” he said. “We work on fruit crops, particularly temperate trees like peaches, plums, apples, and pears.”
Most of those fruit are challenging to farm indoors because of their size, shape, and need for dormancy. The research Dardick is doing may make it possible to grow these fruit year-round, without the need to wait between planting a seed and the fruit flowering.
Plenty is not the only company to attempt vertical agriculture. There’s Bowery Farming and Farm One in New York, Buckeye Fresh in Ohio, and Canadian Grocer in New Jersey. NASA started testing crop systems with shelves of hydroponic systems at the Kennedy Space Center in the late 1980s. The scientists grew wheat, soybeans, potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes and a couple of attempts at rice in a controlled chamber as a way to test a volume-efficient approach to farming in space.
Raymond M. Wheeler, who was on the team that tested the crop system in the 1980s, said they used high-pressure sodium lamps similar to the orange-colored street lights you see on many city blocks to grow the plants. The lights, he said, were far from efficient, so Wheeler was encouraged by Plenty’s LED light system, the company’s focus on flavor, and what that could mean for growing plants in space.
“If someone can come up with a very flavorful, very nutritious leafy green or a range of types, that would be perfect,” Wheeler said. “You have to get people to eat on space missions so any way you could kind of help that out by enhancing flavor, the texture, the colors, all these things and the nutrients are all a good thing.”
Although the benefits of vertical farming are generally touted as positive, some critics point out that the energy it takes to fuel a hydroponic facility can be excessive. According to Paul Zankowski, a senior advisor at the USDA, it all depends on a farm’s location.
“It all depends on where it is grown and the energy factors of that city,” he said.
Plenty is still working out what will be grown at the Compton farm and where it will be available. The company is currently selling salad boxes of greens for $4.99 at small retailers in the Bay Area like Good Eggs and Bi-Rite, and some of the produce is available at restaurants like the San Francisco robot burger joint Creator.
“We’re looking to compete with the whole middle section of the grocery store — all that dead stuff with highly processed sugars and lots of calories,” Barnard said. “We want to compete straight up on flavor.”
Jenn Harris is a senior writer for the Los Angeles Times Food section. She has a bachelor’s in literary journalism from the UC Irvine and a master’s in journalism from the University of Southern California. Harris covers restaurant news, dining trends, chefs and cocktails. She’s also the unofficial fried chicken queen of Los Angeles. She once visited 22 bars and restaurants in a single day for a story. If you want to see what she’s eating now, follow her @Jenn_Harris_ on Instagram.
How Urban Agriculture Can Contribute To Food Security
Urban agriculture has a major role to play in providing healthy, affordable and accessible food to poor urban households in South Africa, according to Prof Juaneé Cilliers, chair of the Urban and Regional Planning Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at North-West University
October 23, 2019
Urban agriculture has a major role to play in providing healthy, affordable and accessible food to poor urban households in South Africa, according to Prof Juaneé Cilliers, chair of the Urban and Regional Planning Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at North-West University.
Worldwide, an average of three babies are born every second. This means that the global population grows by about 162 600 people per day, roughly equivalent to the population of George (157 000) or Midrand (173 000).
At the same time, spatial change is at a peak within the urban landscape, with 65% of South Africa’s population currently residing in cities.
READ How agriculture can ease the global urban water shortage
Our growing cities are also increasingly expensive living places characterized by urban sprawl and amplified travel distances, growing carbon footprints, increased energy consumption, and complicated distribution networks.
All this leads to higher food prices and greater food wastage, neither of which are beneficial to the urban poor. Recent data from Statistics South Africa suggests that 70% of urban households in South Africa live in conditions of food insecurity.
Bringing green spaces to urban areas
The world’s growing cities host more people, but less nature. Green spaces in cities have been susceptible to urban development pressures, evident in the depletion of green spaces and the associated downward spiral of living conditions.
In the search for “inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities”, one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the interrelated role of nature as a catalyst to reach the objectives of sustainability, is emphasized.
READ Eastern Cape urban agri projects to be rejuvenated
There is a consensus that we need to reclaim nature in cities in order to mitigate the challenges associated with these growing urban sprawls while capitalizing on the range of ecosystem services provided by nature.
Cities, which were once viewed as places where nature ends and urbanization begins, are today considered as a central nexus in the relationship between people and nature.
It is within these contemporary cities that we need to find sustainable future solutions as a matter of urgency because the challenge of sustaining life as we know it is becoming more complicated by the day.
Growing cities, increasing populations and escalating poverty levels mean that we cannot continue with a business-as-usual attitude.
One of the most important conservation issues of the 21st century is where and how food is produced in order to feed a growing and fast-urbanizing population.
Traditional agricultural practices have been widely criticized for their negative environmental impact.
This includes deforestation, threats to wild species, the destruction of habitats and biodiversity, pollution of water, air and soil, high water consumption and water quality degradation, as well as greenhouse gas emission and climate change.
Growing cities place further pressures on agricultural practices. With urban sprawl comes prolonged distribution networks, complex food supply chains, more costly processing, and packaging, and ultimately, more expensive produce, greater food waste and increased food insecurity.
Despite these negatives, agriculture remains one of the most important frontiers for conservation at the moment due to the industry’s deep connections with the global economy, human societies, and biodiversity.
Our challenge lies in finding ways to best utilize space, energy, and logistics in order to sustain an increasing urban population. In short, we need to rethink our cities, but we also need to rethink traditional agricultural practices.
Smart cities: easier accessibility and greater choice
The concept of smart cities is increasingly recognized as part of the discourse on sustainable cities.
To most people, a ‘smart city’ is one that is technology-driven and futuristic, where real-time intelligence informs decision-making and anticipates and mitigates a range of societal problems. From a spatial planning perspective, a smart city implies accessibility and choice.
Accessibility refers to better-structured networks and connections between communities and their host cities, while choice refers to a range of housing and transportation options. From an agricultural perspective, accessibility and choice pertain to options to ensure food security within the contemporary city.
Agricultural technologies and smart data and analytics are set to increase food production within cities. They will also help meet the ever-growing global demand and logistical distribution of food without further disturbing the urban environment. This smart city solution is encapsulated in the notion of urban agriculture.
Grow food in places where it was previously impossible
Urban agriculture offers innovative, sustainable solutions to the improvement of food security in cities, and simultaneously assists with mitigating the environmental challenges faced by cities.
Urban agriculture can be as simple as small, outdoor community, rooftop and backyard gardens, or as complex as indoor vertical farms with nutrient-enriched water and UV lighting to mimic the effects of the sun.
READ Women in agriculture are key to boosting food security
New technologies enable food to be grown in places where it was previously difficult or impossible, making urban agriculture a viable option for cities where space is limited.
Although not all crops can be grown indoors, urban agriculture has the potential to become a dynamic economic sector that can quickly adapt to changing urban conditions and demands, diversifying the functions of the city.
Urban agriculture makes it possible to produce fresh, nutritious food with low carbon and water footprints, while conserving land, reducing emissions and waste and providing healthy, affordable, accessible food to a city’s poorest residents.
It is, therefore, not surprising that a growing number of cities worldwide have already designed policies and programs to include urban agriculture as part of city planning.
Perhaps South Africa, too, should consider the integration of urban agriculture in mainstream spatial planning, and guide cities towards the creation of demarcated zones for urban agricultural production.
When urban agriculture is formalized as a land use, it has the potential to change the entire urban and agricultural landscape, increase access to healthy food options in urban areas, and mitigate the environmental impact of feeding the world.
Although urban agriculture might not be the only solution to solving food security across the world, it is certainly part of the solution to feed the 70% of urban poor households in South Africa, adding to the development of sustainable, socially inclusive, food-secure and environmentally healthy cities.
The views expressed in our weekly opinion piece do not necessarily reflect those of Farmer’s Weekly.
Email Prof Juaneé Cilliers at juanee.cilliers@nwu.ac.za.
New York City - Essex Crossing Organic Farm Launches In Lower East Side
Located on the sixth floor of The Essex at 125 Essex Street, the quarter-acre farm will be run by Project EATS—a nonprofit that operates farms across the city—and will grow organic carrots, radishes, beets, turnips, and baby greens, such as kale, mustards, and arugula
The farm will hawk fresh produce including carrots, radishes, and arugula
August 1, 2019
Delancey Street Associates
A new farm, now among the largest in the borough, launched Wednesday at the Essex Crossing megaproject in the Lower East Side.
Located on the sixth floor of The Essex at 125 Essex Street, the quarter-acre farm will be run by Project EATS—a nonprofit that operates farms across the city—and will grow organic carrots, radishes, beets, turnips, and baby greens, such as kale, mustards, and arugula.
“We’re looking forward to welcoming the LES community to the farm and providing fresh produce for the neighborhood in the Market Line,” said Debbie Kenyon, vice chair and senior partner at L+M Development Partners, in a statement.
Produce from the urban grange will be sold at the Farmacy, a stand at the mega development’s upcoming Market Line, which will run below Essex Street Market. Until then, the Farmacy will temporarily sell the fresh veggies at a recently opened public park that was similarly developed by Essex Crossing’s development team, Delancey Street Associates (a collaboration between L+M Development Partners, BFC Partners, Taconic, Prusik Group, and the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group).
That stand will be open for business on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m until the Market Line stall is up and running.
The farm will also feature programming for public schools on the importance of nutritious food and will offer free Saturday breakfast for seniors living in the neighborhood. Healthy lifestyle workshops, neighborhood forums, and community dinners are also in the works.
Opportunities for workforce development are another component of the project, as Project Eats will train and employ students from Seward Park High School to work at the farm and the Farmacy.
Just over a month ago, Essex Crossing debuted its 15,000-square-foot park, and earlier that month, the new version of Essex Street Market opened its doors to much fanfare.
Vertical Farming Is On The UP In London
Square Mile Farm’s crops are grown vertically as a means of optimizing space, maximizing yields, reducing waste and producing nutritious plants. This means that they do not have to compete with natural habitats for space or resources
Phoebe Young - 24 October 2019
The growing techniques are centuries-old, the agricultural technology is cutting (v)edge and the aesthetics look as if they are from the far-off future.
Say hello to an amazing, vertical hydroponic farm that produces ultra-fresh and highly-nutritious crops. What’s even more exciting is that Square Mile Farms have set up in Paddington Central, London’s busy work and social hub.
They have picked this unlikely location because their aim is to bring sustainable agriculture into the urban environment in the form of vertical farm crops.
What is Vertical Farming and how does it work?
Square Mile Farm’s crops are grown vertically as a means of optimising space, maximising yields, reducing waste and producing nutritious plants. This means that they do not have to compete with natural habitats for space or resources.
Their crops are grown ‘hydroponically’ in a controlled environment. This means that they are cultivated using small amounts of nutrient-rich water and no soil. Square Mile are producing fresh, nutritious produce including kale, fennel and basil in their vertical garden, which is nestled on the rooftop of 2 Kingdom Street.
Why Paddington Central?
Paddington Central joins the previously industrial gap between Paddington Station and the West End and is home to some of the world's biggest organisations. It's not exactly the first destination you'd think of for a farm.
Crops are grown ‘hydroponically’ in a controlled environment
How will farm and community connect?
The farm hopes to integrate itself with the community in Paddington, and inspire the city dweller to latch on to the growing trend of making food production sustainable, nutritious and local again. It will do this through organising events centred around food, well being and the environment.
Johnathan Ransom, Square Mile Farms Co-owner, explains that “Square Mile Farms is a business passionate about the food we eat, the impact it has on our environment and the growing demand to bring the farm back to the centre of the community it feeds. We take pride in offering professional insights and specialist expertise, as consultants, nutritionists and growers.”
Square Mile Farms is a business passionate about the food we eat
Workshops and events at Square Mile Farms
The farms will partly achieve this through hosting events. These will include talks on topics like The Basics Of Healthy Eating and Managing Stress and Anxiety. Guests will learn how what they eat affects their physical health and mental well being. A seminar on minimizing Food Waste will also take place.
To give you an idea of what will be on the cards, they recently held talks on ‘Nutrition: Essential For Sports; and ‘Nutrition: Good Food, Good Mood’.
Ongoing workshops about How To Grow Your Own Microgreens are another way in which Square Mile will get the fingers of these city dwellers greener. Attendees will be offered a personal session with the farm’s chief grower, who will be on hand to discuss everything from equipment, to the different varieties of microgreens and the conditions they require. Guests can also visit the farm by appointment to learn more about the project and take away some greens!
Events at the Square Mile Farm are priced from £5 to £25. For more information and to book an event please visit www.paddingtoncentral.com
These 5 Start-Ups Are Revolutionizing The Concept Of Urban Farming In India
Growing urbanization has pushed farms out of the towns to the peripheries. But a new breed of farmers is taking farming by storm by helping us harvest superfoods sans chemicals and pesticides in our kitchen. Meet some of the urban farmers from around the country who ensure that these tiny shoots or microgreens provide a palate full of health, wealth and goodness.
Growing urbanization has pushed farms out of the towns to the peripheries. But a new breed of farmers is taking farming by storm by helping us harvest superfoods sans chemicals and pesticides in our kitchen. Meet some of the urban farmers from around the country who ensure that these tiny shoots or microgreens provide a palate full of health, wealth and goodness.
Image credit: Entrepreneur India
Junior Feature Writer
October 21, 2019
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Hamsa V and Nithin Sagi broke away from their lucrative IT jobs with Infosys to pursue their dreams. Sagi had earlier taken up food photography and later partnered with Hamsa to open Growing Greens. The company is a business-to-business venture that sells microgreens, edible flowers, salad leaves, sprouts and herbs to five-star hotels, high-end restaurants and cafes in Bengaluru. “When we had started back in 2012, hotels would import microgreens from other countries due to the lack of local produce,” shares Hamsa.
Microgreens are young, small-sized, approximately one to three inched, tall vegetable greens with an aromatic flavor that chefs mostly use to decorate and dress food. These young plants are said to have concentrated nutrient levels that can go 40 times higher than the normal size produce.
Sagi and Hamsa did thorough market research before starting Growing Greens. They interacted with various chefs to understand their requirements and, in the process, were introduced to microgreens. Hamsa recalls, “Chef Manu Chandra helped us immensely in our journey. He was also our first client.” Growing Greens has grown gradually and consistently over the years. Sagi shares, “We started from a small terrace and today we are farming in four acres of land. We plan to take it up to 10 acres in the next two to three years.”
Hamsa V and Nitin Sagi, Founders, Growing Greens
Soil-less Cultivation for Urban Dwellers
The impediment to farming in a city is the lack of availability of space. But technology, with all its wonders, has made farming possible in small spaces through urban vertical farming and hydroponics. Instead of soil, a nutrient-rich water solution is used to grow the plant in hydroponics or soil-less farming. Urban vertical farming is a method in which such hydroponic or other technology used planted plants are grown vertically, one over the other in a small space. As there is no soil, the weight on the wall or a roof is significantly reduced and there is no structural damage caused to the building.
Urban farming also ensures more control over the way food is produced. Hamsa shares, “We do not use any pesticide or chemicals on our food. We also provide live microgreens to hotels and restaurants, i.e., microgreens that are not cut but with their roots intact.”
Mumbai-based banker turned farmer Linesh Pillai was introduced to urban farming in 2010 when he was in Poland. Disturbed by the high levels of contamination in food here upon his return, Pillai decided to grow his own vegetables. He started Terra Farms in 2012 and later renamed it as Urban Fate Farms or UGF Farming. He divides the operations of his company into four verticles broadly—Education, Dead Space Activation, Retailing and Zero Carbon Food Project. Under education, UGF visits schools and organizations to teach people how they can easily grow their own vegetables in the city. The Dead Space Activation is done for big hotel chains and high-end restaurants where UGF sets up a hydroponic plant and handholds them through the entire process until they learn to do it themselves. Some of their clients are Hyatt Moscow, Hyatt Delhi, Olive Bar and Kitchen Mumbai. Under retailing, UGF sells their live microgreens and leafy greens at Hypercity, BigBasket and Big Bazaar.
Zero Carbon Food Project tries to minimize carbon emissions created by our food habits. Pillai shares, “We have created a greenhouse at Don Bosco School, Manori. Growing the food where it is consumed reduces the carbon emission otherwise caused in logistics and cold storage.” UGF currently operates in Mumbai, Bengaluru and USA. The company plans to expand and open its office in Dubai by June 2020.
Linesh Pillai, Founder, UGF Farming
Start Your Kitchen Garden
Homecrop, founded by four graduates from Vellore Institute of Technology Manvitha Reddy, Sharmila Reddy, Sai Krishna and Krishna Reddy, brings urban farming to your backyards, terraces and balconies. The company sets up edible farms for urban households who want to grow their own vegetables. Manvitha feels that “people can become more empathetic and understand a farmer’s challenges by growing one’s own vegetables.”
Homecrop’s journey has not been an easy ride. Manvitha divulges, “It was very hard to convince people to pay someone to set up a kitchen garden for them.” The organisation now has a dedicated set of clients in Hyderabad. It also sells its DIY farming kits online pan-India through its website as well as through Amazon. Manvitha is grateful that she and her co-founders who have no background in farming are incubated at a-IDEA (Association for Innovation Development of Entrepreneurship in Agriculture), the technology business incubator hosted by ICAR-NAARM (Indian Council of Agricultural Research; National Academy of Agricultural Research Management) in Hyderabad.
“The incubation gave us the levy to experiment and learn. There was a lot of trial and error but we are lucky to have received solid mentoring,” claims Manvitha. However, in terms of funding an urban farming enterprise, things are still bleak in India. Homecrop not only sets up customized edible farms for its clients but also provides impeccable maintenance services. For the first two months, it regularly pays visits to the client’s garden who can later opt for ad hoc visits.
Krishna Reddy and Sharmila Reddy, Co-founders, Homecrop
Home-grower of Hydroponic Produce
Somveer Singh Anand, much like Pillai, is also a banker turned farmer. Upon his return to India from New York where he was working as a banker, he again like Pillai, found it impossible to source organic and uncontaminated food. Using his knowledge to develop indoor hydroponic technology suitable for Indian climatic conditions, Anand started Pindfresh in 2016. Anand confesses, “Selling mutual funds and insurance policies as a banker in the US was dreadful. I did not enjoy what I was doing.”
Pindfresh sets up indoor and outdoor hydroponic plants for people who want to farm using the technology. Anand’s knowledge of hydroponic did come in handy but there were other obstacles to overcome before coming out with the perfect technology. “The climatic conditions in the US and in India are completely different. What worked there did not work here. So, I had to control lighting, humidity and temperature. It is all science and once I got it right, the first feat was achieved,” professes Anand.
Pindfresh manufactures the pipes, lights and all the other equipments required to set up a hydroponic plant. The company earlier would outsource these components for the plant but were dissatisfied with the quality. Anand shares, “The quality of individual components would affect the overall quality of the plant. So we started manufacturing everything in-house to provide top quality to our customers. It gave us better quality control.”
Pindfresh is headquartered in Chandigarh but that doesn’t stop the company from being available to its customers across India. “We get on a video call and guide our clients accordingly. We are also just a call away for any query. We believe if the client has invested their money in something, they should get the maximum value out of it,” he declares.
Somveer Singh Anand, Founder, Pindfresh
Ensuring Food Traceability
Akash K Sajith, Founder, Living Food Company started the business after a personal tragedy befell him when both his parents were diagnosed with cancer. Taking charge of things, he informs, “There are 1.5 million cancer deaths in our country and only one-fourth of them are caused due to tobacco while the remaining three-fourth are due to contaminated food.”
Sajith, who has worked for Myntra and Lookup in the past, had a fair understanding of how start-ups function. With his knowledge, he gave his heart and soul to his new venture Living Food Company. The company is the largest B2C player selling microgreens to households. He shares, “We didn’t want to sell microgreens to just five-star hotels and big chefs as my main aim was to deliver healthy, organic and quality food to Indian households.”
80 per cent of Living Food Company clients are B2C consumers. Sajith started Living Food Company by selling microgreens and then later expanded it by selling fresh oven to table sour bread, spreads, probiotic drinks, among other products. Sajith wants to bring the missing transparency in the food sector. “Currently, no vendor gives you the traceability on where your food is coming from, where it is grown, and under what conditions they are grown. With Living Food, I want to bring about a change in the system,” he declares.
From his wide experience of working with start-ups, Sajith has learnt to never give up even in the face of adversity. He shares, “In the first six months, Living Food had 500 consumers which in the next six months had risen to 4,500. We are consistently growing.” He is happy that Living Food Company is changing the food sector in India, even though in a small way. The company has its own farms where it grows fresh microgreens and vegetables.
Akash K Sajith, Founder, Living Food Company
To Heart’s Delight
They might have traded away their lucrative careers but none of them are regretful about it. A common thread that binds all these urban farming entrepreneurs is the high degree of job satisfaction. Anand who relocated from Mumbai to New York to Chandigarh, says, “I’ve realised you don’t need much in life. I am happy that my small business is able to generate employment and give something worthwhile back to society.”
Pillai has a retirement plan chalked out for himself. “I am working towards building my retirement abode. It will be a self-sustaining house with no electricity and power connection. I will generate my own electricity through solar panels and engage myself in rainwater harvesting,” he mentions.
Taking pride over the best decision of her life, Hamsa confesses that farming has made her more content and happy. But her journey as an urban farmer has been riddled with challenges. “Farming is a difficult profession that requires a lot of patience and perseverance. There are many things that are not in your control like natural calamities. We have had forest fires in our farm and our crops have been spoilt because of heavy rains but I do not ever regret getting involved in farming,” she happily shares.
Benefits of Hydroponic or Soilless Farming
80 per cent less water used than regular farming.
Minimum 20 per cent faster plant growth.
Allows indoor, terrace, roof and farming in small spaces.
Better space optimization.
The plant is protected from all the contamination and toxins that can enter it through the soil.
US: Arlington, Virginia - Arlington’s Only Commercial Urban Farm
Tucked in an unassuming strip mall on Lee Highway, with no signage or disclosed address, Fresh Impact is under the radar of most Arlingtonians, but well-known among local chefs, particularly higher-end chefs
October 21, 2019
If you’ve dined in D.C. at Jose Andres’ minibar, Johnny Spero’s Reverie, or Robert Wiedmaier’s Marcel’s, chances are you sampled produce grown in Arlington.
It’s no secret that interest in urban farming has skyrocketed in recent years, however Arlington-based Fresh Impact remains the county’s only commercial urban farm.
Tucked in an unassuming strip mall on Lee Highway, with no signage or disclosed address, Fresh Impact is under the radar of most Arlingtonians, but well-known among local chefs, particularly higher-end chefs.
Founded in 2017, the company has grown over 300 different rare herbs, varieties of greens, and edible flowers based on the needs of the local restaurant industry.
“One of the primary reasons we located in Arlington was to be as close to D.C., and our customer base, as possible,” said founder Ryan Pierce.
“Being able to grow indoors, not only is it sustainable but our produce is free from pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides,” Pierce said.
At any given time, employees at Fresh Impact are maintaining between 30 to 40 varieties of produce depending on the season. Despite this, the farm still has room to grow and add more products.
“We’re hoping to sell out completely by the end of 2020, we want to get to where we simply can’t grow anymore,” Pierce said. “When that happens, then we’ll look at opportunities to expand our operations to other facilities and look to provide more local products to other restaurants.”
The company has grown primarily via word of mouth, through recommendations from chefs to other chefs. Everything is harvested and delivered to the restaurants on the same day to maintain maximum freshness.
Vertical Farming Firm Secures £4m In Seed Funding
London FoodTech firm Vertical Future has secured £4m in a seed round designed to power its sustainable food production technology. The firm’s technology allows for the growing of primarily baby leaf vegetables and herbs in a controlled, indoor environment
The London Company Uses Technology To Grow Plants In A Technique
Known As ‘Vertical Farming’
Alistair Hardaker 8th Oct 2019
An example of a 'vertical farm'
London FoodTech firm Vertical Future has secured £4m in a seed round designed to power its sustainable food production technology.
The firm’s technology allows for the growing of primarily baby leaf vegetables and herbs in a controlled, indoor environment.
The method has been developed with a vision to improve health and reducing CO2 emissions in ‘plant factory’ sites in London Fields and Mayfair, with a new development in its existing Deptford site.
Its new funding will support the first phase of the firm’s growth strategy – increasing crop production at these sites, with a target of a ten-fold increase in its B2B restaurant business alongside expansion into a B2C model under its MiniCrops brand.
Its more than 100 existing clients include Chop’d, Tom’s Kitchen and Mindful Chef.
Jamie Burrows, founder and CEO of Vertical Future, said the raise follows several years of hard work.
“Today’s raise validates our growth strategy and strong position in the London market, furthering our mission to improve the food and health of urban inhabitants, starting in London,” he said.
Ben Prior, CEO of Earthworm, added: “Vertical farming offers huge potential in solving one of the biggest issues of our time – how to feed a growing population sustainably.
“We are really impressed with Jamie’s vision and work ethic, and the team at Vertical Future has a very special business poised for growth.”
The technique’s popularly was recently bolstered after Ocado invested £17m into its own vertical farming venture.
Abu Dhabi Prepares For The Future of Food
This is a historic year for Agriculture Technology (AgTech) in the UAE. This March the Abu Dhabi government approved an AED 1 billion package to support the AgTech sector
This is a historic year for Agriculture Technology (AgTech) in the UAE. This March the Abu Dhabi government approved an AED 1 billion package to support the AgTech sector. The package is part of Ghadan 21 (Tomorrow 21), which is a three-year AED 50 billion program designed to accelerate the capital’s economic growth and reduce dependency on oil revenues. It is led by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), which was created in 2018 with the mandate to increase foreign direct investment. In this article, we are going to take a deep dive into the initiative.
What is it?
The stimulus consists of cash and non-cash benefits, which include rebates of up to 75% of R&D costs subject to eligibility and commercialization criteria.
Who is eligible?
Local and international companies are eligible. The program is focused on three specific sectors in the AgTech industry that have been identified for their strategic significance: precision farming and agriculture robotics, indoor farming, and bioenergy (algae).
But why?
The government has taken this major decision primarily for three reasons.
Firstly, the government seeks to establish Abu Dhabi as a global center for innovation in agriculture, especially in desert environments. This is achievable because the AgTech industry is in its early stages globally. As such, there is an opportunity to become global leaders if we become knowledge exporters. R&D is underfunded globally, which is why the initiative targets R&D and seeks to attract the best talent from around the world.
Secondly, agriculture is a high-risk industry due to the sheer number of variables that cannot be controlled, which is why governments around the world provide various levels of assurances and support. AgTech promises to decrease these risks in the medium term. However, developing and localizing these solutions to the UAE’s environment adds a degree of complexity. This is why the government’s initiatives are crucial for the success of this industry as a whole.
Finally, the government recognizes the urgency of addressing food security and diversifying the economy. Currently the UAE imports over 90% of its food, and the country’s population is forecast to increase from today’s 9.4 million to 11.5 million by 2025. Demand for food, especially high-quality produce, is set to rise sharply. A booming AgTech industry should meaningfully reduce dependence on imports.
What is expected?
Like any investor, the government seeks the highest return for its investment. The government measures success by analyzing which initiative will have the largest GDP multiplier (i.e. where 1 AED will generate the biggest knock on effect). In addition to reducing dependency on food imports and oil revenues, the package is expected to generate a contribution of AED 1.65 billion to the GDP and create more than 2,900 jobs in Abu Dhabi by 2021.
Are there any other benefits?
In addition to funding R&D, the initiative allows it to be easy to setup in AD with world-class infrastructure etc. and attract global level talent here to make UAE a global center of excellence for this industry.
Additionally, …
Government funding alone does not ensure success. Regulations need to keep pace with technological and commercial innovation. The ADIO acts as a bridge for industry to discuss the regulatory environment. These discussions have played in a key role in recent regulatory changes for the agricultural industry.
The Abu Dhabi government consolidated regulation of the agriculture sector through the establishment of the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA). This new organization has taken on the roles of the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, the Abu Dhabi Farmers’ Services Centre, and the Food Security Centre – Abu Dhabi. It is responsible for overseeing agriculture, food safety, food security, and biosecurity. The founding of ADAFSA is another step in accelerating the emirate’s efforts to drive scientific research and agricultural development while helping to build partnerships between the public and private sectors, according to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the deputy prime minister and minister of presidential affairs. He told local media:
“Food security continues to be a national and strategic priority that entails concerted actions between the government and private sectors in order to ensure a well-integrated food security strategy that is conducive to unlocking the value in the agriculture and food supply chains, and ensuring all segments of society have access to all food supplies”.
Like any new industry, businesses in the AgTech industry will inevitably discover that some aspects of the existing regulatory framework do not meet their commercial needs. This is natural as regulators cannot predict future industry requirements with 100% accuracy. However, it is encouraging to see that the government is proactive about increasing their understanding and are taking decisive actions. We are more optimistic than before about the AgTech industry’s prospects in the UAE.
For more information, please visit www.investinabudhabi.ae or follow them on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Digant Raj Kapoor
People Manager
Sources
Gulf News – 11 March 2019
The National – 11 March 2019
Arabian Business – 11 March 2019
ADIO Website – seen on 26 August 2019
Zawya – 15 May 2019
AgFunder News – 25 March 2019
World Future Energy Summit – 27 March 2019
New Zealand: Vertical Farming Takes Off In Former Wellington Nightclub
The lights are still there, but the moody blues have been replaced by state-of-the-art multi-colored LED grow lights. Shoots Microgreens is a start-up company growing tiny crops mainly for restaurants, but with some of the produce sold through stores such as Moore Wilson
To View The Video, Please Click Here | ROSA WOODS/STUFF
Shoots Microgreens is one of NZ's first vertical farms, housed in a former nightclub.
Once nightclub goers used to bounce off the walls of a Wellington basement, but now it's been transformed into an urban market garden supplying over 80 restaurants.
The lights are still there, but the moody blues have been replaced by state-of-the-art multi coloured LED grow lights.
Shoots Microgreens is a start-up company growing tiny crops mainly for restaurants, but with some of the produce sold through stores such as Moore Wilson.
Microgreens are the intense flavoured first shoots and leaves, and are popular among chefs and bartenders for garnishing meals and cocktails. Many familiar leaves can be used as microgreens, including mustard, basil, rocket and coriander.
Co-owner Matt Keltie started the business last year and it now employs three fulltime workers, although it is yet to make a profit.
While ostensibly a hydroponic-style system, Shoots Microgreens is marketing itself as different to such common garden businesses that have been around for decades.
ROSA WOODS/STUFF
Shoots Microgreens co-owner Matt Keltie has started a business in a former Wellington nightclub.
First, the location: vertical farms have sprung up in a number of major urban centres where the crops are grown close to where people consume them – in high rises, derelict buildings and abandoned warehouses – reducing carbon emissions and maximising unused spaces in cities.
"It's all about using an efficient production area, recycling water, and having a lower carbon footprint."
Secondly, the crops are grown without the need to cart in soil and spray the chemicals that conventional growers use to control animal pests, fungal diseases and weeds.
Thirdly, everything is recycled including the water and growing trays, and deliveries are made using e-bikes.
Keltie started the business in a garage before moving into a smaller space than where he is now. Once he had successfully realised the proof of concept and started to supply restaurants, he had enough confidence to launch the business.
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (Eeca) helped with a $12,300 investment in the special LED grow lights under its "Gen Less" campaign.
Ray McGregor delivers microgreens for company Shoots Microgreens on an e-bike. | SUPPLIED
Compared with traditional incandescent hydroponic lamps, the LEDs are cool to the touch, and can be frequency controlled to improve productivity – they grow the shoots around twice as fast as their halogen counterparts.
The LEDs conserve 45 percent more lighting electricity, saving Keltie's business about $25,000 a year on its power bill.
With customisable spectrums of light, the colour of LEDs can be adjusted to optimise the growth of each specific variety of microgreens. As they do not produce heat, they can be stacked at every vertical layer, with no risk of heat damaging plants, as with incandescent hydroponic lamps.
Every day chefs order their microgreens and are delivered or collected.
The non-soil medium the plants are grown in is a trade secret, although Keltie is planning on moving to a hemp-based medium once it becomes available.
Keltie says the taste of the microgreens is governed by the light applied to the plants – the lights are one component but managing and changing alone or all components of the growing system influences the plants.
"When I take two trays of the same plants grown under different numbers of bulbs, some chefs can tell me how they've been grown because there's a subtle difference in flavour. It's all about the mix of water and lights.
"Not only do the LEDs provide the right growing spectrums, they are hellishly efficient in terms of power."
A supplier provides the fertiliser in the right sorts of ratios but Keltie is starting to test which plants take up which nutrients, so he can apply a specific rather than a broad spectrum mix. For example, peas do not require much nitrogen.
ROSA WOODS/STUFF | . Microgreens are used as garnishes or in cocktails.
He admits there has been a lot of trial and error in the start-up period.
"When people say how far down the track are you with your learning, I say about 5 per cent, I've still got a solid 95 percent left to learn. But we hope to start soon in Auckland, once we've ironed out the issues here."
Prices start at $7.25 for a tray of peas, which grow in a little over a week, whereas slower growing red sorrel is priced accordingly higher.
Quotes from famous historical figures are mashed up in a call to arms for climate change campaign Gen Less, encouraging New Zealanders to get more out of life by using less.
Capitol Restaurant owner-chef Tom Hutchison says he buys the microgreens every day.
"It's good that they're doing well, the product is fantastic."
Hutchison is not so much a fan of the very young greens, preferring the more mature, larger leaves.
Eeca technology innovation manager Dinesh Chand worked with Keltie to help get the project off the ground.
"This project not only shows potential for LEDs to reduce electricity use and increase productivity, but is a great example of reducing transport-related emissions. In this case, supplying locally eliminates the equivalent annual carbon emissions of taking 20 cars off the road."
GETTY-IMAGES
In London. microgreens are grown in old air raid shelters beneath some of the capital's busiest streets.
Vertical farming can save up to six times the ground space that conventional farming uses. Keltie said it was not a replacement for traditional New Zealand farming yet, but was part of its future.
Eeca chief executive Andrew Caseley said the authority's intention in running the Gen Less campaign was to mobilise New Zealanders to be world leaders in clean and clever energy use.
Companies that have already joined Gen Less, include Westpac, Countdown, New Zealand Post, Stuff, Wishbone Design, Ecostore, Lewis Road, and Ethique.
"Less" refers to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy use. People could join the campaign by walking their children to school, switching to a more efficient car such as an EV, buying sustainable goods and services, and using LED bulbs, he said.
Paris Is Turning Abundant Car Parks Into Underground Farms
Falling ownership in car sales in Paris has increased the space of abandoned car parks in the city. This venture has taken a green turn as the city is transforming old car parks to grow mushrooms or even salad
Falling ownership in car sales in Paris has increased the space of abandoned car parks in the city. This venture has taken a green turn as the city is transforming old car parks to grow mushrooms or even salad.
Paris had built too many underground car parks in the 1960s and 70s, when the city tried to keep with the mushrooming housing blocks, building underground parking for residents hence became inevitable.
Sources allege, beneath Paris there are millions of square meters of car park. Figures however allege, a steady decline in car ownership in Paris, a trend which city authorities are keen to encourage. The drop in the number of car owners is also attributed to the new, convenient cab and bike services to move around the city.
As a result, some of the car parks find themselves surplus to the requirements. The city is hence calling for new ideas which can transform Paris’s underground to reveal its full potential. A number of competitions have taken place with this focus.
Urban farmers - Cycloponics were selected as one of the winners for rejuvenating three car parks in Paris. One of their projects was the redundant La Chapelle, a no-go area used by drug dealers and prostitutes. The space now is however blooming. The group made the space conducive for cultivating main crop: oyster, shiitake and white button mushrooms. They also grow chicory, a northern French delicacy that grows in the dark.
The produced harvest is sold through nearby organic grocery stores, which also means urban food is grown and consumed within a short distance. This method also reduces the pollution that comes along with the transportation.
In France there are a lot of regulations around operating a business underground not least for security reasons. Other businesses have been rejected for applications. Permits for such kind of farming have however been possible.
The city’s car parks are as a result experiencing a green makeover.
Posted in Environment, NewsTagged Paris, underground farms
The Green Revolution Spreading Across Our Rooftops
As concerns about climate change and dwindling natural resources grow, green roofs have become increasingly popular. The Toronto-based organization Green Roofs for Healthy Cities estimates an increase of about 15 percent in the number of green roofs in North America since 2013
The space on top of the 525W52 building in New York features plants, lounge chairs and a view of the Hudson. Credit 525 West 52nd Street
By Kelly DiNardo
October 9, 2019
When David Michaels moved to Chicago this year, he chose the Emme apartment building in part because of the third-floor green roof, which has a lawn, an area for grilling, fire pits and a 3,000-square-foot vegetable garden.
“The green space was a huge factor in choosing this apartment,” Mr. Michaels said. “My wife and I are out there every other night, grilling or relaxing. And we like that they host classes out there.”
The Emme actually has two rooftop gardens — the one visible to residents on a deck on the third floor and a 5,000-square-foot garden on the roof of the 14-story building. Both are run by the Roof Crop, an urban farm that grows food for restaurants on a handful of roofs in Chicago. Residents at the Emme can also subscribe to regular bundles of rooftop-grown fruits and vegetables.
As concerns about climate change and dwindling natural resources grow, green roofs have become increasingly popular. The Toronto-based organization Green Roofs for Healthy Cities estimates an increase of about 15 percent in the number of green roofs in North America since 2013.
Replacing black asphalt and shingles with plants can lower the surrounding air temperature, filter dirty stormwater and reduce a building’s energy use.
While it is difficult to calculate the savings, as utility costs vary from city to city, the National Research Council of Canada estimates a green roof can reduce air-conditioning use in a building by as much as 75 percent.
Beyond the energy savings, by lowering air-conditioning demand, green roofs also help to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
As understanding of the benefits grows, more cities around the world are passing green roof legislation. In 2010 Copenhagen began requiring green roofs on all new commercial buildings with a roof slope of less than 30 degrees. In 2016, the city of Córdoba in Argentina issued a bylaw that directed all rooftops — new or existing — of more than 1,300 square feet to be turned into green roofs. The same year, San Francisco began requiring that 15 to 30 percent of roof space on new buildings incorporate solar panels, green roofs or both. More recently, the New York City Council passed a suite of measures to reduce greenhouse gases, including a requirement for green roofs, solar panels or a combination of both on newly constructed buildings. Other cities support green roofs through non-legislative measures; Washington, D.C.’s stormwater regulations and Philadelphia’s tax credit both encourage green roofs.
Toronto was the first city in North America to pass a green roof law, in 2009, requiring new buildings or additions that are greater than 21,000 square feet to cover between 20 and 60 percent of their buildings with vegetation. Developers can opt-out for a fee, but fewer than 10 percent choose to do so, according to Jane Welsh, the project manager for environmental planning at Toronto’s City Hall. Many that do seek exemptions are simply looking to install smaller green roofs than are required by the Green Roof Bylaw.
The green terrace at the Summit New York building in Midtown East has living trees, barbecues, and an herb garden. Credit Quallsbenson
Since the law was enacted, roughly 640 green roofs, covering more than five million square feet collectively, have been constructed, effectively changing Toronto’s architectural DNA and making the city a leader in the green roof movement.
Simply put, a green roof is one that allows for the growth of vegetation, but the process is more involved than plopping down a few potted plants. Typically, a green or living roof is constructed of several layers including a waterproof membrane, a root barrier, a drainage layer, a growing medium — soil is too heavy — and plants.
As green roofs have become amenities for residents and employees, they often also include picnic tables, benches, fire pits, and other extras.
Before Toronto’s green roof bylaw took effect, the Hugh Garner Housing Co-operative in the city decided to build one when its roof membrane needed replacement. Residents were presented with three designs — one that evoked a circus, one modeled after an English garden and one that brought to mind a city park. Residents voted for the park in the early 2000s, and today, the 22,000-square-foot roof features flower beds, trees, an herb garden, gazebos and specially-made picnic tables that are wheelchair-accessible.
“In the summer, every picnic table will have folks eating dinner out there,” said Beata Domanska, a resident and former board member who advocated the green roof. “People are up there playing cards, reading, sun tanning. We have member events there. We’ve even had weddings up there. It’s become part of the culture here.”
Of course, green roofs are not entirely new.
“We’ve been using soil and plants as a roofing material for thousands of years,” said Steven Peck, the founder and president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. “The Vikings would flip their boats over and cover them in sod because it’s a great insulator. What’s new is the research the Germans have done. They essentially invented the lightweight extensive system.”
In the 1970s, German horticulturists, construction companies and others began developing waterproofing technologies and researching blends of growing mediums that would be lighter than soil. In the 1980s, Germany passed a mix of local and federal laws encouraging green roof development and today the country features approximately 925,000,000 square feet of living roof. The movement began to take root in the United States and Canada in the early 2000s, with developers, architects, and designers looking to imitate Germany’s achievement.
Today, the University of Toronto’s Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory has grown into a leader in green roof research. The state-of-the-art facility uses 33 testbeds, a weather station and more than 250 sensors gathering data on soil moisture, flow rates, temperature, rainfall, humidity and amounts of sun and wind to help researchers assess and improve green roof performance.
Research like this helped overcome some early hurdles when ambitious designs, plant choice, lack of irrigation or a combination of factors left plants dying and green roofs turning brown.
“The focus has shifted from pretty to performance,” explained Vanessa Keitges, the chief executive of Columbia Green Technologies, the firm behind more than 1,500 green roofs in North America, including Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle and the Zella Apartments there, which feature a deck with an herb garden, outdoor kitchen, dog run and plenty of seating. “We’re getting better at fine-tuning the plant palette so you don’t end up with a brown roof. We’ve moved to drip irrigation instead of spray. We’re designing systems that are much easier to maintain. We want them to be goof proof.”
A bird’s-eye view of the roof of the Zella Apartments in Seattle, where green areas available for residents’ use include a dog terrace, with waste bags provided, and an outdoor kitchen. CreditGreen Technologies/Weisman Design Group
City planners are looking to green roofs to mitigate the urban “heat island” effect, which describes a metropolitan area that’s significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas because of human activity. Air temperatures in cities, particularly after sunset, can be as much as 22 degrees Fahrenheit (around 12 degrees Celsius) warmer than less developed regions. The elevated temperatures raise energy consumption, increase air pollutants and compromise human health, with extreme heat now causing more deaths in the United States than all other weather events combined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The vegetation on a living roof cools the surrounding air through evapotranspiration, the process in which moisture in plant leaves evaporates into the air, essentially working like an outdoor air-conditioning system. In addition, the increased insulation and decreased need for air-conditioning means less overheated air is put back into the surrounding environment.
The plants on green roofs also work like a giant sponge, soaking up water and therefore reducing the amount of rainwater that reaches street level, lowering the risk of flooding, minimizing sewer system overflow and filtering dirty runoff.
“Cities are built to be impervious,” Mr. Peck said. “The water runs off buildings and streets, and when it hits streams and estuaries, it can cause erosion. It’s also incredibly contaminated. If you want to have drinkable, fishable, swimmable water in and around our cities, we need to capture stormwater and use it as a resource, instead of just getting it away from the buildings as soon as possible.”
Beyond the long list of financial, health and environmental benefits, green roofs have become valued amenities in residential buildings.
“We were really keen on finding a place with outdoor space,” said Carolyn Kushner, who chose the apartment building 525W52 in New York in part because of the roof, which features lounge chairs overlooking the Hudson River, a large lawn, grilling stations, bocce ball and Ping-Pong and shuffleboard tables, all surrounded by shrubs and greenery. Dr. Kushner and her partner — who proposed on the roof — go up there several times a week. “We have a glass of wine and watch the sunset. The city can be really overwhelming if you don’t get that kind of greenery. It’s nice to have someplace to escape to.”
One early cause of hesitation in adopting living roofs was the upfront cost. Green roofs cost two to three times as much as a traditional roof.
“With so many environmental initiatives, it often boils down to money,” Ms. Domanska said. “One of the ways we’re able to sell this is that a green roof significantly extends the life span of a roof. Over time it saves money. That was very attractive to the people who live here. Now people see all the benefits, but initially, it was about the savings.”
Studies bear this out. A 2006 study from the University of Michigan compared the expected costs of conventional roofs with the cost of a 21,000-square-foot green roof and found that over its lifetime, the green roof would save about $200,000. Almost two-thirds of that would be in reduced energy needs for the building below.
“We’ve established best practices for creating green roofs,” Mr. Peck said. “We have political leaders looking for ways to improve the health and well-being of the people in their cities and also address climate change. We have research that shows the benefits of green roofs. It seems clear that the cities that invest in green infrastructure will be the cities that thrive.”
A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 12, 2019, in The New York Times International Edition.
Container Farming In The City
Modern industrial agriculture is a resource-intensive endeavor, requiring massive amounts of land, water, and energy. Some urban farmers are thinking outside the box by bringing their farms inside the box in the form of shipping containers
Corner Stalk Farm grows an acre’s worth of lettuce in a shipping container that only takes up 320 square feet. (Photo: Jay Feinstein)
Modern industrial agriculture is a resource-intensive endeavor, requiring massive amounts of land, water, and energy. Some urban farmers are thinking outside the box by bringing their farms inside the box in the form of shipping containers. Living on Earth's Jay Feinstein and Aynsley O'Neill took a trip to Corner Stalk Farms, in East Boston, Massachusetts to find out more.
Transcript
CURWOOD: Industrial agriculture today is a resource-intensive endeavor, requiring big machines, plenty of land, water, and energy to produce much of the food on a typical American dinner table. And as the public trends more toward plant-based foods, some are thinking outside the box by bringing farms inside the box. By retrofitting old shipping containers with grow lights and hydroponic gear, what would take about an acre of land to grow vegetables such as lettuce can be fit into just 8 by 40 feet. Living on Earth's Jay Feinstein and Aynsley O'Neill took a trip to Corner Stalk Farms in East Boston, Massachusetts to find out more.
GPS: Your destination is on the right.
O’NEILL: The only other time I've been to East Boston was to go to the airport. So I'm a little surprised at how busy it is. And I see these shipping containers. I mean, right in the middle of these houses and behind the auto body shop...but, here we are!
FEINSTEIN: You know, the funny thing is a farm like this would not have even been legal until 2013, when Boston revamped its zoning code.
O'NEILL: I didn't even know that someone would make a farm illegal.
FEINSTEIN: Yeah, I know, right?
O'NEILL: Do you think that's the guy upfront?
FEINSTEIN: Yeah, I think so.
O'NEILL: He's a little less sunburned than most farmers.
COONEY: My name is Shawn Cooney. And I'm the partner and owner of Corner Stalk farm in East Boston, Massachusetts, and we started in 2014. So this is it. So we...there's not too much to it. I mean, it's basically you've seen the whole of the farm by walking the 120 feet or so.
FEINSTEIN: That's amazing.
COONEY: And we've got four units that are you know, basically growing lettuce year-round. And, you know, that's it. Do you wanna go inside?
O'NEILL: Yeah!
FEINSTEIN: We'd love to.
COONEY: Cool.
O’NEILL: Well, it's definitely a few degrees cooler in here.
FEINSTEIN: And these lights are blinding. I mean, these red and blue lights, LEDs, it’s something like out of a sci-fi movie.
O'NEILL: Are those the plants in those columns all up and down?
COONEY: Right. You really need just an industrial area, you need a, you know, a place where you can basically bring as many plants as possible into as little amount of square footage as possible. So we kind of look at it as cubic feet. In a real farm, you're talking about square footage and acreage. Here, it's really cubic feet. We've got so many feet on the floor, but we plant plants up to ten high.
FEINSTEIN: So, show us around.
COONEY: Okay, so basically, you walk in and we're in a complete self-contained farm. We've got a climate control system, and a lot of fans keep the air moving so that everything's happy. And the plants get a little bit of stress. If you just leave them without any movement, the plants actually get weak.
O'NEILL: Wait, so they need exercise? They're lifting weights, they're jumping jacks, they're?
The shipping container uses a combination of red and blue LED grow lights and hanging hydroponics to grow their plants. (Photo: Jay Feinstein)
COONEY: Uh, pretty much yeah, it's stressing the plants is what it's really called in the industry, but they do need to be moved around for them to have a good texture to them, so that the cell walls are thick enough, so that it's not just eating a piece of water.
O'NEILL: And you can maintain it all using a box on the side of the container.
COONEY: Yeah, there's a tiny little antique style computer that's, that's very industrial. And you can log into it from the outside world. If you want to fiddle around with settings, or just check on everything, you can do that from home, you can do it from from vacation, you can do it, whatever.
FEINSTEIN: So how did you get into this?
COONEY: I started three software companies and sold them. And I started doing business plans, looking for the next thing, and one was the ag tech farming. This kept coming up is something that was interesting. Dug a little further, did a little more business planning, and it won. My wife and I self funded it, and we have loans and the loans are from the US Department of Agriculture, like a regular farmer would get his loans.
FEINSTEIN: So what are you growing in here?
COONEY: Well, mainly we grow lettuce. That's our business. And we've grown tomatoes, we've grown lots of flowers, we've grown all kinds of herbs, and God knows what else. But it turns out that as a business, you have to sell what people buy every day. And what people buy every day is our greens, even our restaurants, that's what they want.
O’NEILL: Well, so you sell to individuals and you sell to restaurants.
COONEY: We sell, we sell to both, we sell probably 50/50. We sell to a bunch of nice restaurants in the Boston, downtown Boston area. We deliver to them. And we sell to regular consumers.
FEINSTEIN: But still most of your customers, are they still in Boston? Because that's hyper local, when you think about it. You growing in Boston, you're selling in Boston?
COONEY: Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, they're all in the metro Boston area. A lot of Cambridge customers. But it is, you know, it is basically a hyper local thing. The reason we keep the customers is it's a better product than what you can by at, you know, pretty much anywhere. Basically what it comes down to is it looks better. It tastes better, and it's got more nutrients, and it feels better. It's got better texture. So that's kind of what people are buying.
FEINSTEIN: Tell us more about hyper local, it's sort of a buzzword nowadays. People say it's better for your health; it's better for the environment. Is that true?
COONEY: Pretty much, yeah, it's true. And it's got a downside. The downside is it's probably a little more expensive also. But it is - any vegetable, once you harvest it, loses some somewhere around 7% of its nutrient value every day from the day they're harvested, up to a point. And they lose a lot of their texture, and their attractive qualities. What we sell is still alive, we sell the lettuces with the roots on them. You get a much better life cycle lot of them that way. So they're, they're basically not losing any nutrients. And they maintain their freshness. If you ever had the experience of buying a nice box of brand name, cut lettuce in a plastic bin, that looks great, and you get home and then two days later, it smells funny and you've got black sludge on the bottom. That won't happen with what we're selling.
O'NEILL: I was wondering because there are times when I have bought, like you said, cut lettuce from the grocery store. And it's a race against the clock.
COONEY
I mean, that's one of our biggest customer satisfaction points, and our selling points was that you get to use it all. It's not like you're buying a $10 package of lettuce and using $3 worth. You know, with us you buy a $10 package of lettuce and you get to eat $10 worth of lettuce. But you can go on vacation, you can go on a business trip, and you can come back and still have something in there that's perfectly palatable.
FEINSTEIN: What type of environmental cost are you saving?
COONEY: Regular farming is a "grow as much as you possibly can and sell it when it's ready, as fast as you can". We’re an on-demand business, because we don't grow extra. We’re growing pretty much what we're selling, give or take a little bit. You know, and one of the things we definitely don't do is waste any water. No matter how good you are at growing outside, you could never grow with the kind of water use we have. We use, say 1000 plants we can grow in one unit, we probably use 25 gallons of water a week. So you couldn't water your patio plants for a week with 25 gallons and keep them alive.
Shawn Cooney and his wife Connie (not pictured) own Corner Stalk Farm, in East Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo: Jay Feinstein)
O’NEILL: So what was the inspiration behind deciding to build a farm inside? And I don't mean in a greenhouse. And I don't mean in a window box or anything like that? What was the shipping container idea?
COONEY: Part of it is, it's a durable, clean environment that can put up with the stresses that farming puts on a space. And basically there's all kinds of stuff that goes on in here that would basically bring down a building. You know, it would ruin the walls, you couldn't clean it. If something ever happened in here, we had some kind of a mold infestation or something. You could shut everything off. And you can sanitize this place just like you would the clean room in a restaurant or a food processing center.
FEINSTEIN: To what extent do you use chemicals in here?
COONEY
We do use them once in a great while. We can't be organic because we don't grow in dirt, it’s a water based environment, but we adhere to the organic principles. Generally, the way we control any kind of a pest in here is kind of preemptive. We basically use ladybugs. We ship them in once a month or so, and sprinkle them around, and they pretty much do the policing of any kind of bugs in here. And when we have had to use something it's called chrysanthemum oil.
O’NEILL: May I ask? May I try some of the lettuce?
COONEY: Sure. Okay, well we harvested some
FEINSTEIN: What is it?
COONEY: This is the Salanova Red Butter. There's not many people who actually have favorites, but if they do, this is the one that they want. So go ahead, have a taste.
O'NEILL: Sure looks like normal lettuce...
[SFX CHEWING]
O’NEILL: I don't mean to sound incredulous, but I'm a little incredulous. Might I have another one?
COONEY: Sure.
O'NEILL: Alright.
COONEY: Finish them all.
FEINSTEIN: It's very green.
O'NEILL: It's very green.
FEINSTEIN: I’m gonna try this too.
[SFX CHEWING]
FEINSTEIN: Wow, you can taste like it was grown right here. It was.
O'NEILL: It's definitely fresh. I mean, you literally just clipped it right in front of us. But it's... that's... I've never had lettuce like this. This I would eat. on its own, I don't even feel like I need to be you know, putting salad dressing on it. Or, oh, I need a crouton or something.
FEINSTEIN: And this is a weird thing to say too. But it kind of feels alive.
COONEY: You guys want to try something a little, little further on the edge? This is called wasabi arugula. And I grow it for a couple of restaurants. And they use it instead of wasabi on their crudo and their raw fish and their raw meats. So here, take a leaf of that and be prepared.
Jay Feinstein (left) and Aynsley O’Neill (right) prepare their notes and audio equipment outside Corner Stalk Farms. (Photo: Steve Curwood)
FEINSTEIN: All right, I'm prepared. I don't know what to expect here.
[SFX CHEWING]
FEINSTEIN: It does taste like wasabi. But it it's a little milder, but I love it actually.
O'NEILL: I myself am a little terrified. I have an all time low tolerance for wasabi.
[SFX CHEWING]
O’NEILL: Well, it is a bit much for me, but it is really good. And I'm a little astonished that it's not coming in those tiny little balls of green mush.
COONEY: It's actually a real arugula, and it just happens to have that flavor profile. It's not related to wasabi at all. It's the same as the arugula you buy in the plastic package, family wise.
O'NEILL: Well, I know that some people will call arugula "rocket". And that was certainly, you know, a blast off of flavor.
COONEY: Yeah, this is much closer to the rocket family part of arugula than the general arugula you buy in the store.
O'NEILL: So what do we owe you now? 10 bucks for the lettuce, and how much for the arugula?
COONEY:10 bucks for the lettuce, and the arugula is free.
O'NEILL: Well, I think we're all ready to head out. Thank you again for showing us around.
COONEY: Oh, you're welcome.
FEINSTEIN: Thank you so much.
COONEY: Thanks for coming. I appreciate everyone's time.
CURWOOD: That’s Living on Earth’s Aynsley O’Neill and Jay Feinstein with farmer Shawn Cooney at the shipping container called Corner Stalk Farms. And by the way, we ran some numbers, and found that the shipping container farm is using 99 percent less water than a traditional farm would use to grow the same amount of produce. The farm is also saving on the order of 5 metric tons of carbon dioxide in shipping for each crop, which is roughly what would be emitted to truck the same amount of lettuce from California to Boston. Around 300 of these types of shipping container farms have been sold as of now. This story is part of our series, Cool Fix for a Hot Planet. For pictures and more visit our website, LOE.org.
How Urban Farming With Hydroponics Can Help Feed The World While Saving Water
A New York City rooftop is an unlikely place for a farm. But stretching across much of a 20,000-square-foot rooftop in Gowanus, Brooklyn is a bounty of bright green butterhead lettuce, aromatic basil, various tomatoes, and other produce
By Michael Stahl
October 8, 2019
weather.com
A New York City rooftop is an unlikely place for a farm. But stretching across much of a 20,000-square-foot rooftop in Gowanus, Brooklyn is a bounty of bright green butterhead lettuce, aromatic basil, various tomatoes, and other produce.
Inside a Gotham Greens greenhouse | (Julie McMahon/Gotham Greens)
Unlike a traditional farm, the sprouting plants here grow without soil. They flourish atop vast racks with water trenches running through them that are slightly angled so that gravity helps the irrigation water shuttle around the closed system, instead of using energy-sucking pumps to move water around. Nutrients that the plants need are dissolved into the water, which comes from the local municipality’s supply. Any water runoff is purified, nutrient re-enriched, and released back into the channels.
The crops here grow year-round and under relatively little stress, because conditions in the greenhouse, including the amount of sunlight and the temperature, are monitored closely by sensors. Water evaporation is also minimal.
This futuristic food production space is one of five greenhouses in New York and Chicago operated by Gotham Greens. Founded in Brooklyn, Gotham Greens grows fruits and vegetables in urban greenhouses that are outfitted with hydroponics technology and other cutting-edge features, such as a closed irrigation system that minimizes water requirements.
“[This system] allows us to use about 95% less water than conventional field farming,” says Gotham Greens co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri. “We use less than a gallon of water for every head of lettuce we produce.”
On a traditional farm, it takes more than 15 times that amount of water to grow a head of lettuce. With Americans consuming about 930 million pounds of lettuce each year, according to the Produce Market Guide, if such hydroponics systems were adopted just across the lettuce industry, they could save billions of gallons of water each year in the United States alone.
Agricultural innovations like these, along with industry expansion, could also help ease the concerns that, due to population growth, the human race will become unable to adequately feed itself. By the year 2050, the planet’s population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion people, boosting food demands by approximately 60%. A 2018 study found that, if effectively deployed in cities around the world, urban agriculture could produce as much as 180 million metric tons of food a year, including up to 10% of the planet’s legumes, roots and tubers, and vegetable crops. The study showed such widespread urban agriculture integration would have a range of benefits, including reduced energy use and drastic cuts to water consumption.
A hydroponic red oak leaf lettuce | (Getty Images/sutiporn somnam)
In order for the world’s food producers to keep up with a growing population’s food demands, they’ll have to increase agricultural development one way or another. If the status quo is maintained, the required boost in agriculture production could generate a 15% uptick in freshwater use. But the earth’s supply of fresh water — about 70% of which is already utilized by global agriculture — is under threat, due in part to global warming. Higher temperatures create a host of problems for the world’s water system, including faster evaporation, the disappearance of inland glaciers that feed freshwater supplies, and more extreme weather events that contribute to greater freshwater runoff.
Advancements in hydroponic technology, however, have led to the development of recirculating hydroponic systems, which minimize water use by recycling unused irrigation water. Gotham Greens has such a system in its greenhouses.
“As water just continues to become a more scarce resource around the world,” Puri says, “we believe this form of agriculture is going to play a greater role in modern agricultural systems.”
Viraj Puri, CEO of Gotham Greens | (Julie McMahon/Gotham Greens)
Gotham Greens did not invent its closed irrigation system, but its approach is particularly efficient, Puri says. To help educate the public about innovative farming techniques, Puri’s company offers tours of its greenhouses and has invested in urban agriculture education initiatives. Puri has also participated in panel discussions to educate the public about the positive impact that urban farming can have on the world, despite the increased competition his disclosures could bring to his business.
He says he’d welcome “a more system-wide, cohesive effort to support this form of farming.” Puri has been encouraged by the U.S. government’s examination of new, sustainable farming practices as well, which could lead to greater implementation of them.
Seedlings at a hydroponics farm | (Getty Images/Eternity in an Instant)
Urban agriculture also allows for consumers in cities to get fresher products because they don’t have to travel thousands of miles. Currently, almost all lettuce eaten in the U.S. is grown in two water-starved states: California and Arizona. Urban agricultural companies provide lettuce to communities without the environmental impact that comes with shipping lettuce thousands of miles via fossil fuel-burning, refrigerated trucks. Plus, more farming with hydroponics translates to less land that will be needed for agriculture, which could, in turn, mean the reestablishment of previously lost natural habitats.
Urban agriculture does have its drawbacks. Growing food in cities, which are comparatively more highly polluted environments than rural areas, leads to leads to food contamination concerns.. And while urban farms increase property values, they raise economic concerns about the displacement of people who lived in such areas before the high-tech food producers came along. Critics also say that the products from such farms are more expensive, raising questions of access to those with limited financial resources.
And while energy use varies widely from site to site, the artificial lights and other climate control measures often used by urban farms may at times consume far more energy than traditional farms. Another limitation of urban agriculture is embedded into its very essence: the fact that the farms are built in cities, which have a dearth of available space to begin with. One study found that if every vacant lot in New York City were suddenly dedicated to farming, those farms would yield enough produce for just 160,000 people — and there are over 8 million people living in New York City.
People in Time Square | (Getty Images/Alexander Spatari)
“Urban agriculture is really exciting for a lot of reasons, but when you look at a city like New York, we’re never going to be able to grow all of our food needs within the city limits,” says Ricky Stephens, director of digital strategy at Agritecture, a consulting firm focused on urban agriculture project development.
Still, Stephens says urban agriculture should be part of a more localized food system, as its benefits go beyond environmental conservation to an awareness about the value of food and community.
“I think the beauty of urban agriculture is that it really brings that understanding of a local food economy directly to the consumer,” he says. “You’re actually seeing it and you’re maybe interacting with the farmers, maybe you know the farmers.”
(Getty Images/julief514)
The ability of Gotham Greens to use up to 95% less water than traditional farms do in producing some of its food ranks the company on the highest end of the spectrum of water conservation across the urban agriculture industry, Stephens says. Gotham Greens, he says, is “one of the most successful urban farming models that exist[s].”
One hope of developers like Stephens is that urban agriculture will catch on in cities around the world, and Gotham Greens is an impressive example of how to do it.
That expansion is already underway.
By the end of 2019, after opening new farms in five states, Gotham Greens itself will manage over 500,000 square feet of greenhouses. And food production businesses that have adopted hydroponics and other new technologies like that of Gotham Greens have been popping up around the world. Some new companies are even growing farms in shipping containers, demonstrating that fresh food production can truly happen just about anywhere these days.
AeroFarms Announces Retail Launch of Microgreens with Amazing Flavor to Disrupt Leafy Greens Category
AeroFarmsⓇ, leader for indoor vertical farming and locally-grown produce has just introduced a new line of microgreens under their proprietary retail brand Dream GreensⓇ to further expand their mission of nourishing communities with safe, fresh, nutrient-dense, and delicious food that offers Peak Flavor AlwaysⓇ
Newark, NJ; October 14, 2019 -- AeroFarmsⓇ, leader for indoor vertical farming and locally-grown produce has just introduced a new line of microgreens under their proprietary retail brand Dream GreensⓇ to further expand their mission of nourishing communities with safe, fresh, nutrient-dense, and delicious food that offers Peak Flavor AlwaysⓇ.
Dream Greens now has two exciting, flavorful varieties of microgreens -
Micro Super Mix and Micro Spicy Mix, now available at all Whole Foods Market locations in the Northeast as well as online via FreshDirect. This retail debut builds upon the success of AeroFarms microgreens food service program that launched last year.
All Dream Greens microgreens are safely grown indoors in AeroFarms’ state of the art indoor vertical farms in located in New Jersey. Dream Greens are completely pesticide free, and they are ready-to-eat without any need to wash, providing a major benefit to consumers looking for safety and convenience.
Microgreens are the perfect addition to Dream Greens leading packaged baby leafy greens line, and strongly aligns with all the major grocery trends for produce, including local, flavor forward, sustainability, health & wellness, and visual appeal. In addition to being a flavorful & attractive garnish, a big handful of Dream Greens microgreens makes for an elevated salad base, side dish, & center-of-the-plate ingredient. Harvested after a few short days, Dream Greens microgreens provide more nutrient density than their mature green counterparts, so incorporating microgreens is a powerful way to provide a potent boost of vitamins, minerals & phytonutrients.
“We have had tremendous demand and interest in our microgreens, and we are thrilled to be launching at Retail our beautiful, pristine micro mixes that we think will disrupt the leafy greens category with the ultimate in nutrient density and peak favor,” says Marc Oshima, Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer at AeroFarms.
For more information, contact Marc Oshima, Co-Founder & CMO at Press@AeroFarms.com.Visit us at www.AeroFarms.com and www.DreamGreens.com
Dream Greens Micro Super Mix
Our micro super mix is a tiny & mighty blend of powerhouse greens including hearty red cabbage, sweet kale & juicy pac choi.
Dream Greens Micro Spicy Mix
Our micro spicy mix is a tiny & zesty medley with the perfect dash of heat, including red mustard greens, peppery arugula & juicy pac choi
About AeroFarms and Dream Greens
AeroFarms is on a mission to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity. A global, mission-driven company, AeroFarms is a Certified B Corporation and proud to be named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. AeroFarms’ patented, award winning aeroponic technology provides the perfect conditions for healthy plants to thrive, taking indoor vertical farming to a new level of precision and productivity with minimal environmental impact and virtually zero risk. Through its retail brand Dream Greens, you can enjoy locally grown, pesticide-free produce that bursts with flavor and nutrition, all year round.
AeroFarms facilities meet USDA/FDA regulatory requirements and holds certifications in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Non-GMO Project Verified, & OU Kosher.
SOURCE: AeroFarms
Relevant Links: www.AeroFarms.com; www.DreamGreens.com
Agrihood Development Brings Urban Farming to Denver
The Westfield Company development has teamed up with Altius Farms to bring urban farming to the whole community.
By Tori Mason
October 11, 2019
DENVER (CBS4) — An urban agrihood community in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood is providing a greener lifestyle, for residents and the public. The condominiums in S*Park, or Sustainability Park, have environmentally-friendly features like solar power, recycled brick, and compost valet.
S*Park, an urban greenhouse in downtown Denver, promotes sustainable food year-round. (credit: CBS)
The Westfield Company development has teamed up with Altius Farms to bring urban farming to the whole community.
”Companies are trucking produce from 1,500 miles away into Colorado. Here we can grow more efficiently and much more close to our city centers, where restaurants and grocery stores and urban life is thriving,” said Sally Herbert, CEO of Altius Farms.
Credit: CBS
The S*PARK development features a 7,200-square-foot greenhouse operated by Altius Farms. It’s one of the largest rooftop aeroponic gardens in the country. Currently, there are 23 different varieties of product growing. The majority are sent to local restaurants and markets.
“It’s Colorado. We have 6 or 7 months of growing time outside. Here was have the whole year. We have 320 days of sunshine every year in Colorado. Why not take advantage of that?” said Herbert.
Herbert spent Wednesday morning harvesting produce in S*PARKS’s outdoor garden that wouldn’t survive Thursday’s freeze.
Soon, the public will be able to take advantage of Herbert’s year-round produce. Altius Farms launched a Community Supported Agriculture program this week. Subscribers will receive produce and flowers from the greenhouse for a fee.
“On a weekly or monthly basis, they’ll get a little basket or bag of produce like lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, all grown locally,” said Herbert.
S*PARK residents will be the first to test the CSA program, then Altius Farms will open it up to the public.
UK Food Technology Company, Vertical Future, Completes Its £4m Seed Round To Accelerate Growth Plans In London
Vertical Future, a London-based food technology company, announced the completion of its Seed Round, raising £4m of equity finance, with further investment expected in the coming months. The company uses technology to produce high-quality, ethical food (primarily baby leaf vegetables and herbs), in controlled environments
Funds will be used to build additional ethical plant factories in London Fields and Mayfair, expanding from its existing site in Deptford
The move will also see improvements in technology, primarily in automation, data, and nutrition
Earthworm, lead investor, and High-Net-Worth-Investor-base invest in high-yield food production for urban environments
The company’s long-term objective is better urban health
Today (7th October 2019), Vertical Future, a London-based food technology company, announced the completion of its Seed Round, raising £4m of equity finance, with further investment expected in the coming months. The company uses technology to produce high-quality, ethical food (primarily baby leaf vegetables and herbs), in controlled environments. They also develop efficient and sustainable methods of food production and supply systems, with a long-term commitment to improving health and reducing CO2 emissions in cities.
“Following several years of hard work, today’s raise validates our growth strategy and strong position in the London market, furthering our mission to improve the food and health of urban inhabitants, starting in London,” said Jamie Burrows, Founder, and CEO of Vertical Future.
The capital raised will be used to support the first phase of Vertical Future’s long-term, ambitious growth strategy. The company will see a 25x increase in crop production capacity across its London operations, aided by the development of two new ethical plant factories” in London Fields and Mayfair, as well as further developing its existing site in Deptford. Despite significantly more automation, this heightened production is expected to lead to 30 or more permanent local jobs, with more specialist roles focusing on the development of in-house growing tech, robotics, and process management.
The investment round was led by Earthworm – a fast-growing impact investor with a portfolio across food, energy, and waste – and supported by corporate finance adviser, Acceleris Capital. Also supporting the raise was Amberley Advisory and Gateley.
Ben Prior, CEO of Earthworm said: “Vertical farming offers huge potential in solving one of the biggest issues of our time – how to feed a growing population sustainably. We are really impressed with Jamie’s vision and work ethic, and the team at Vertical Future has a very special business poised for growth.”
Lord Nigel Crisp, Former Head of the NHS and Non-Executive Board Member at Vertical Future, added: “This is our first major move in this sector, enabling us to direct our work more towards health, in addition to purely producing food, in future years. Sustainable food will be one of society’s biggest health challenges and we aim to be at the forefront of the effort for better, long-lasting, tangible solutions”
Vertical Future’s ability to produce significantly more food will target a 10x increase in its Business-2-Business (B2B) restaurant, home cooks, and food brand customers – sold under the “MiniCrops” consumer brand. Current customers include Tom’s Kitchen, Mindful Chef, Chop’d, Kaleido, Sartoria, Lahpet, and Quaglino’s, to name a few.
Simon Thorn, CEO of Acceleris said: “We are delighted to complete this transaction with Jamie and the team at Vertical Future. We believe that we have secured an excellent investment partner in Earthworm and we look forward to supporting the company’s growth over the coming years. The team has attracted an impressive customer base so far and we see plenty of areas for growth.”
About Vertical Future
Vertical Future is a privately-owned technology company focused on improving health in cities through developing a better, more efficient food production and supply system.
About the Founder
Jamie Burrows previously worked as a consultant specializing in healthcare and life sciences strategy. Before founding Vertical Future in 2016, he worked at numerous top-tier consulting firms including EY and Deloitte, and also undertook a secondment to the Office for Life Sciences at the Department of Health. Educated to Ph.D. level in Economics, Jamie believes that much of the Vertical Future business directly relates to the central theme of health economics - resource scarcity.
About Earthworm
Earthworm is an environmental fund manager which only backs projects that will have a positive social or environmental impact.
We work closely with industry professionals from food, energy and waste to source, develop and nurture start-up and scale-up businesses with significant commercial potential. Although it is vital for the companies within the Earthworm community to make a return for our investors, it is equally important that they are ethically driven and they contribute to the circular economy. Members of the Earthworm community share expertise and best practice to support each other and achieve the best return for investors.
Earthworm now manages over £100m of investor capital. 10% of Earthworm profits go to charitable causes and 10% is invested directly in the environmental technologies of tomorrow.
About Acceleris Capital
Acceleris Capital are an FCA regulated corporate finance boutique that focus on advising early-stage technology SMEs.
Since incorporation in 2000, Acceleris have advised and managed fundraisings for over 50 UK businesses and raised over £120m, with a track record including start-up to IPO, trade sale and private equity exits.
Acceleris primarily source external funding directly from their network of High Net Worth investors and major UK investment institutions.
For more information and interviews, please contact:
Jess@ha-lo.co
+44 7789102402
Farmshelf CEO Counts On Manufacturing Scale To Become Big Hydroponic Feeder
And already Farmshelf has experienced the backing of another manufacturer based an ocean away and in an entirely different industry: Mini, the BMW-owned car brand, took Farmshelf under its wings as part of its Urban-X startup-incubator program and then invested in the company, along with angel investors including a handful of Fortune 500 CEOs and celebrity chefs
By Dale Buss
October 2, 2019
These days, Farmshelf basically is only helping grow basil in the back rooms of some of America’s best restaurants. But Founder and CEO Andrew Shearer is pursuing a vision of using manufacturing scale to bring down the cost of his hydroponic horticultural systems to transform his Brooklyn-based startup into a primary engine of the global food system.
And already Farmshelf has experienced the backing of another manufacturer based an ocean away and in an entirely different industry: Mini, the BMW-owned car brand, took Farmshelf under its wings as part of its Urban-X startup-incubator program and then invested in the company, along with angel investors including a handful of Fortune 500 CEOs and celebrity chefs.
Farmshelf sells internet-connected hydroponic systems that come complete with everything needed to grow herbs and vegetables indoors. For $8,250 apiece, customers can purchase Farmshelf’s bookshelf-sized units – there are more than 75 in the market already – and grow food in a “cost-effective, sustainable and easy way,” as Shearer tells Chief Executive.
The systems come with plant pods, nutrients, and the Farmshelf operating system. “You get the pods in the mail and put them into the system, plug it into the wall and add water once a week,” Shearer explains.
So far, restaurateurs and other low-volume customers mainly are growing herbs and leafy greens on Farmshelf. “Herbs is the largest focus because it is the most valuable crop, and it drives a bigger impact on dishes from a flavor and freshness perspective,” Shearer says.
But Shearer’s ambitions are carrying him far beyond. Actually, Farmshelf’s system already can grow about 50 crops, also including strawberries, peppers, tomatoes, radishes and “microgreens,” he says. “We can also grow potatoes and carrots and other things, but we’re focusing on highly nutritious foods that don’t transport well. That makes the most sense. It’s not a zero-sum game; we need to feed a growing population.”
And in that regard, he’s thinking much bigger for Farmshelf as a future food-supply solution. So far, for instance, Farmshelf has been a business-to-business proposition, but Shearer wants “to enable consumers to grow their own food where they are.”
“Today, we’re shipping food 1,500 miles to get to the end-user,” He says. “And urban agriculture struggles with logistics problems. In megacities, the last mile is the biggest problem, with highly perishable goods that don’t transport well. So our solution is internet-connected hydroponic farms that provide plants exactly what they need when they need it.”
Prototyped systems will boost Farmshelf yields by at least half, Shearer predicts, while scaling manufacturing will bring the cost of the system down drastically. “That’s how we can create a solution that will work in Abu Dhabi, Los Angeles, New York or Antarctica,” he says. “It’s not just urban agriculture but distributed agriculture.”
Dale Buss is a long-time contributor to Chief Executive, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and other business publications. He lives in Michigan.