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From Bomb Shelter To farm: The Latest Food Revolution
When you think of growing anything ‘underground’, the first thing you may envisage is some kind of criminal activity. But, there’s a food innovation gaining traction around the world, specially in London, and while it might be coming from beneath the streets, it’s all above board
14 Nov 2019
Sponsored by KETTO
Food for thought
When you think of growing anything ‘underground’, the first thing you may envisage is some kind of criminal activity. But, there’s a food innovation gaining traction around the world, specially in London, and while it might be coming from beneath the streets, it’s all above board.
Here's what you need to know about the latest underground food revolution...
Growing Underground
The fully-working Growing Underground farm is located 33 metres beneath the busy streets of Clapham, in the abandoned tunnels of a former World War II air-raid shelter.
The urban farm covering 65,000 square feet lie 120 feet under Clapham High street and are home to 'Growing Underground', the UK’s first underground farm. The farms produce includes pea shoots, rocket, wasabi mustard, red basil and red amaranth, pink stem radish, garlic chives, fennel and coriander, and supply to restaurants across London.
Salad without soil?
Urban farmers, Richard Ballard and Steven Dring are using the latest hydroponic systems and LED technology to grow fresh microgreens and salad leaves, in a stable, sustainable and pesticide-free environment.
A spigot supplies nutrients and water to the roots of the plants and artificial light and warmth is provided by LED lighting. The site is powered with renewable energy.
Instead of using soil, seeds are planted into mats made out of old carpet offcuts. Once the seeds germinate, they are put under lights to mimic sunlight.
Science behind the sprouts
So what is hydroponics? According to the Royal Horticultural Society, it is “the science of growing plants without using soil, by feeding them on mineral nutrient salts dissolved in water.”
Hydroponics does not use soil, instead, the root system is supported using an inert medium such as perlite, Rockwool, clay pellets, peat moss, or vermiculite.
Location, location, location
Its central London location is convenient to distribute the vegetables to hotels, restaurants and shops, reducing the food miles for businesses and consumers. The farm also boasts using 77% less water than conventional agricultural methods.
The system is completely unaffected by the weather and seasonal changes, which means they can be grown 356 days a year.
All photos: Getty Images
Singapore Agritech Startup Sustenir Now Serving Hong Kong With Locally Grown, Low Emissions Kale
Earlier this year, Singapore-based agri-tech company Sustenir made headlines with its lab-grown strawberries and arugula in its hydroponic facility. Now, the startup has just expanded into Hong Kong to start vertical farming in the city, producing two kinds of kale at their Tuen Mun facility
By Sally Ho November 12, 2019
Earlier this year, Singapore-based agri-tech company Sustenir made headlines with its lab-grown strawberries and arugula in its hydroponic facility. Now, the startup has just expanded into Hong Kong to start vertical farming in the city, producing two kinds of kale at their Tuen Mun facility. Sustenir’s vertical farming technology presents an alternative to the current food system operating in hot and humid climates like Hong Kong and Singapore. By growing non-native crops in lab-controlled settings, the startup hopes to alleviate dependence on foreign food imports, which generates additional carbon emissions, and food waste in the transportation process.
After its latest round of Series A funding, which attracted US$15.4 million in investment from venture capital firms including Grok Ventures and Tamesek Holdings, Sustenir has recently launched a new 30,000 square foot hydroponic farming facility in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong. The produce currently launched in the city include “Kinky Kale” and “Toscano Kale”. The company is also looking to bring in new offerings in the near future, including kale juice and pesto, both of which they sell in Singapore.
Commenting on the reasons behind their launch in Hong Kong, co-founder and CEO of Sustenir Benjamin Swan told Green Queen that “Hong Kong has similar constraints to space as Singapore and has a similar reliance on imported produce. Our mission has always been to be present in countries and communities with heavy reliance to imports, so we can produce locally and lessen carbon emissions from import transportation.”
The company, which was founded in Singapore in 2013, produces crops that are in local demand using laboratory-controlled vertical farming methods based on artificial intelligence and LED lighting, which helps photosynthesis in plants. Using this technology, the shelf-life of Sustenir’s farmed crops can be extended, which helps to reduce food wastage. In addition, by growing non-native crops in a local facility, the concept minimizes the carbon footprint involved in transporting foods, as well as wasted food that often results in the logistical process of importing fresh produce. This is particularly relevant for Hong Kong, where over 90% of the city’s food supplies are imported from abroad, and for the wider Asian region, which is responsible for over half of global waste.
To cater to Hong Kong tastes specifically in their first launch outside of Singapore, Swan said to Green Queen: “When we enter a country, we always make sure that we tailor our products to the tastes and wants of the people so we can truly give a product made in Hong Kong for Hong Kong.”
Now that their first international foray under their belt, Sustenir hopes to be able to first increase their product offerings in the facility, including growing other leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, arugula and basil, and to continue to launch more urban vertical farms across Asian cities.
Lead image courtesy of ST Photo/ Lim Sin Thai.
Bowery Farming's $50 Million Financing Tops Recent Funding News In New York
New York-based agriculture company Bowery Farming has secured $50 million in Series B funding, according to company database Crunchbase, topping the city’s recent funding headlines. The cash infusion was announced Nov. 6th
Photo: Paul Arps/Flickr
November 12, 2019
New York-based agriculture company Bowery Farming has secured $50 million in Series B funding, according to company database Crunchbase, topping the city’s recent funding headlines. The cash infusion was announced Nov. 6.
According to its Crunchbase profile, "Bowery is the modern farming company growing the purest produce imaginable. We are on a mission to grow food for a better future by revolutionizing agriculture. By combining the benefits of the best local farms with advances made possible by technology, our indoor farms create the ideal conditions to grow post-organic produce you can feel good about eating."
The four-year-old startup has raised three previous funding rounds, including a $90 million Series B round in 2018.
The round brings total funding raised by New York companies in food and beverage over the past month to $55 million. The local food and beverage industry has seen 65 funding rounds over the past year, securing a total of $786 million in venture funding.
In other local funding news, lending and point of sale company Octane Lending announced a $45 million Series C funding round on Nov. 4, led by Valar Ventures.
According to Crunchbase, "Octane Lending is a point of sale financing platform focused on niche consumer lending markets. They are currently focused on the recreational market (motorcycles, ATVs, UTVs, personal watercraft, boats, RVs and snowmobiles). Their web-based platform helps dealers save time by eliminating the need to re-key customer information and helps move more units by opening dealerships to more prime/subprime lending sources."
Founded in 2014, the company has raised 11 previous rounds, including a $50 million debt financing round earlier this year.
Meanwhile, cloud data services and recruiting company Papaya Global raised $45 million in Series A funding, announced on Nov. 5. The round's investors were led by Insight Partners.
From the company's Crunchbase profile: "Papaya Global is a global HRIS that transforms global payroll, payments, and workforce management. Papaya Global's automated platform helps companies hire, onboard, manage and pay people in more than 100 countries. The cloud-based solution is easy to use and scale ensures full compliance and provides industry-leading BI and analytics."
Papaya Global last raised $3 million in funding in 2018.
Also of note, innovation management company Eight Sleep raised $40 million in Series C funding, announced on Nov. 6 and led by Founders Fund.
From Crunchbase: "Eight Sleep is the first sleep fitness company. It leverages innovation, technology, and personal biometrics to restore individuals to their peak energy levels each morning. Backed by leading Silicon Valley investors including Khosla Ventures and Y Combinator, it was named by Fast Company in 2018 as one of the Most Innovative Companies in Consumer Electronics."
The company previously raised $14 million in Series B funding in 2018.
Rounding out the city's recent top local funding events, rental property company SquareFoot raised $16 million in Series B funding, announced on Nov. 6 and led by DRW Venture Capital.
From Crunchbase: "SquareFoot serves companies that are looking for their next office and care deeply about finding the right next home. Growing companies require flexible lease options, a stress-free process, and transparency throughout the leasing journey. SquareFoot provides a seamless experience supported by easy-to-use technology and a highly responsive team of real estate professionals working to match specific client needs with a strong knowledge of what the market has to offer at any given moment."
The company previously raised $7 million in Series A funding in 2018.
Temasek Leads $50m Funding Round In US Indoor Farming Startup Bowery
“We are excited to share that Bowery’s third (and biggest) farm yet is launching in the DC-Baltimore area in early 2020. Along with this expansion, our team is elated to announce an additional $50 million in funding led by Temasek that will drive further innovation and scale across our organization,” it said on its Linkedin page
Southeast Asia India Greater China Rest of Asia World E-Commerce & Internet Economy Technology Real Estate and Infrastructure Financial Services Social Infrastructure Temasek leads $50m funding round in US indoor farming startup Bowery Farmers work at the Bowery Farming Inc.
indoor farm in Kearny, New Jersey. Photographer: David Williams/Bloomberg By Quynh Nguyen
November 7, 2019
Singapore state investor Temasek has led a $50-million Series B extension round for Bowery Farming Inc, a four-year-old startup that uses robotics to cultivate crops indoors.
“We are excited to share that Bowery’s third (and biggest) farm yet is launching in the DC-Baltimore area in early 2020. Along with this expansion, our team is elated to announce an additional $50 million in funding led by Temasek that will drive further innovation and scale across our organization,” it said on its Linkedin page.
Launched in 2015, Bowery is the modern farming company that uses robotics, LED lighting and data analytics to grow leafy greens indoors.
The company is currently operating two indoor farms in Kearny, New Jersey. Its new farm in Baltimore is around 3.5 times larger than the last, the company said.
The fresh funding brings the New York-based company’s total capital raised to $172.5 million. Last year, the indoor agriculture startup raised $90 million in Series B funding led by GV (formerly Google Ventures). Temasek, restaurateur David Barber’s Almanac Insights, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi joined the round.
Singapore-based investment firm Temasek last year participated in a $70-million Series B funding round in Pivot Bio, a US agriculture startup that combines machine learning and computational modeling to help microbes in providing plants with a daily supply of nitrogen, eliminating pollution in the process.
The round was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a venture supported by billionaires.
US - Indiana - Lafayette Resident Grows Produce Without Soil For Community
At Lafayette Produce farm on Wabash Avenue, 25 vertical, aeroponic towers produce basil, kale and other crops. Austin Kasso, Lafayette Produce owner, said he hopes to increase the farm to hundreds of towers as they become a year-round source of local, organic produce for Lafayette residents
BY LUCAS BLEYLE Staff Reporter
November 11, 2019
At Lafayette Produce farm on Wabash Avenue, 25 vertical, aeroponic towers produce basil, kale and other crops. Austin Kasso, Lafayette Produce owner, said he hopes to increase the farm to hundreds of towers as they become a year-round source of local, organic produce for Lafayette residents.
Lafayette Produce's vertical aeroponic system involves growing plants in towers, with the roots of the plants extending into the interior of soilless, cylindrical towers. Every 15 minutes, water mixed with an all-natural nutrient solution trickles down over the roots.
“With vertical aeroponics, we can grow 150 different fruits, vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers,” Kasso said. “We can do a great variety of things that people ordinarily don't have access to around here. We could do five different kinds of basil and five different types of tomatoes.”
Because the water-nutrient mix is reused and trickled through multiple times, none of the water or nutrients are wasted like they might be in soil-based agriculture, Kasso said. The resulting produce is healthier because the plants are never subjected to nutrient deficiencies while they grow, he said.
“(Aeroponic towers) use 98% less water than traditional farming and they can grow 150 different crops in about 50% less time with about 30% greater yield on average,” Kasso said.
“Yields in soilless systems are typically higher and you can reduce the crop cycle time, especially with the leafy vegetables if it's your fruiting crops,” said Petrus Langenhoven, horticulture and hydroponic crop specialist for Purdue's horticulture and landscape architecture department.
Up until last year, Kasso had worked with community members and the organization Habitat for Humanity to fundraise and purchase his first 12 aeroponic towers. Since he began in 2013, Kasso has experimented with numerous crops including tomatoes, kale, basil and zucchini.
In 2018, Kasso was approached by his current business partner, Bob Corbin, to start an aeroponic farm for Corbin’s Corner Market, a store on Wabash Avenue selling local goods such as handmade candles, raw honey and West Lafayette BONZ BBQ sauce.
Kasso said Wabash Avenue used to be considered the “armpit of Lafayette.” Historically, it was the part of the city that had little development and lots of crime. Over the last few years, community planners have worked to bring new life to the area, inviting artists to adorn buildings with murals and expanding the local park.
“I was inspired to start it here because I realized there's a food insecurity problem in Indiana as well,” Kasso said. “It needs to be addressed and I believe local food and urban farming are the answer to that.”
Langenhoven said the closer farming is to cities, the better.
“Urban farming is great," Langenhoven said. "I think the closer we can get to the major city centers, the better it is for that supply chain."
He said there is a potential for urban farming to help meet the demand for fresh produce. Two controlled-environment farms — Green Sense Farms in Portage, Indiana, and Gotham Greens in Chicago — both successfully supply produce year-round to the Chicago area.
Local produce often sells at a premium because customers are drawn to its superior taste and freshness.
“I'm a big fan of (local farming), because I like fresh produce,” Langenhoven said. “I know what fresh produce tastes like because I grow this stuff and I eat what I grow, and everybody else in the department ... they're always like, ‘Wow, this is so different from what it tastes like in the store.’ And it's really because it was picked this morning or yesterday and I've waited until it was fully mature to actually pick it.”
Langenhoven said customers are often willing to pay a premium for local produce that helps make capital- and energy-intensive controlled cropping systems such as aeroponics more viable.
“First thing to note about aeroponics is that it's actually a very management-intensive system," Langenhoven said. "Anything can go wrong if you don't have backups. You (can) have total crop failure because the roots are hanging in the air.”
Any sort of power outage can devastate a crop if proper electricity backup systems aren’t in place. These backup systems and the other controls needed to have a functional production system makes aeroponics very expensive, Langhoven said.
Due to the productivity and efficiency of his system, Kasso said he is able to make up for the increased infrastructure and energy costs, especially when compared to produce shipped from California. His goal is to sell produce at an affordable cost.
“Instead of charging more for organic, local, it's going to be similar to what you'd find at Pay Less or Walmart,” Kasso said.
Lafayette Produce currently sells basil to two local restaurants, Bruno’s Pizza and Town & Gown Bistro.
Bowery Grows With New Facility In Maryland
By increasing efficiencies around R&D, computer vision and automation, Bowery will continue experimenting beyond leafy greens and herbs, and focus on crops that are very limited by seasonality and traditionally grown outdoors, from root vegetables (turnips, radishes, kohlrabi) to fruiting crops (peppers, cucumbers)
Bowery announced its new indoor farm in the Baltimore-DC area - the brand's first farm outside the tristate region - with distribution of leafy greens and herbs to local retailers starting early next year. This new farm is 3.5x larger than Bowery's last facility, and the urban density of the new farm's surrounding area of White Marsh, MD provides access to a population of 26 million people within a 150-mile radius.
New crops
By increasing efficiencies around R&D, computer vision and automation, Bowery will continue experimenting beyond leafy greens and herbs, and focus on crops that are very limited by seasonality and traditionally grown outdoors, from root vegetables (turnips, radishes, kohlrabi) to fruiting crops (peppers, cucumbers).
Expanded distribution
In addition to moving to the Baltimore/DC region, Bowery recently expanded distribution at Whole Foods in the tri-state area, growing from availability in 12 locations to 31. Bowery leafy greens and herbs are now available in retail locations on Long Island, Connecticut, West Chester and in all Manhattan locations. On the heels of this expansion news also comes Bowery’s announcement of $50M in a B+ funding round.
For more information:
Bowery Farming
contact@boweryfarming.com
boweryfarming.com
Publication date: Thu 7 Nov 2019
Gotham Greens Opens Urban Ag Center In Chicago
Gotham Greens today opened its largest greenhouse in Chicago. The expansion enables Gotham Greens to deliver consumers a year-round supply of fresh produce to keep up with increasing demand from retail, restaurant and foodservice customers across the Midwest
100,000 sq.ft. greenhouse
Gotham Greens today opened its largest greenhouse in Chicago. The expansion enables Gotham Greens to deliver consumers a year-round supply of fresh produce to keep up with increasing demand from retail, restaurant and foodservice customers across the Midwest.
Reimagining a portion of the former Ryerson Steel Mill being repurposed by Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, the new 100,000 square foot, state-of-the-art greenhouse is Gotham Greens’ second greenhouse in the Historic Pullman Neighborhood of Chicago and sixth greenhouse nationwide. The greenhouse more than doubles the company’s Midwest production to 11 million heads of lettuce annually.
“Gotham Greens’ expansion in Chicago demonstrates its continued commitment to the city, state, and region by creating new jobs and using its high-tech greenhouses to grow high-quality produce, even during the coldest winter months,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Agriculture is a vital component of our state’s economy, and I’m pleased to see opportunities for urban agriculture – like this greenhouse expansion. Investing in innovative solutions will keep Illinois at the forefront for decades to come and help create good jobs that can support a family.”
The company’s local cultivation and regional distribution network enable delivery of products quickly after being harvested at their peak to ensure they are fresh tasting, nutritionally dense and long-lasting. This includes Gotham Greens regional favorites such as Pullman Green Leaf and Windy City Crunch.
“Since 2009, we’ve worked to transform how and where fresh produce is grown to provide more people with access to local, sustainably-grown produce that is as delicious as it is nutritious,” said Viraj Puri, Co-Founder & CEO of Gotham Greens. “After opening our first greenhouse in Chicago in 2015, we have received tremendous support from retailers, restaurants and shoppers alike who love that we can provide a reliable, year-round supply of fresh produce that’s grown locally. We’re thrilled to open our second greenhouse in Chicago to expand our production and distribution in the Midwest and bring our delicious leafy greens, herbs and fresh food products to even more people.”
“Thanks to the efforts of Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, the community and the city over the past years, we’ve been able to garner investments of more than $400 million for new businesses like Gotham Greens’ two greenhouses, new homes, recreational facilities, schools and national monuments that signal Pullman’s renaissance. New jobs and opportunities are improving the quality of life of its residents and building a better city for everyone,” said 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale.
Gotham Greens will double its workforce to approximately 100 full-time employees in Chicago and 300 nationwide.
“Gotham Greens’ expansion and doubling-down on Pullman demonstrates that our community has become a destination where people are choosing to go to live, to visit and to do business,” said David Doig, President of CNI, which developed the land sold to Gotham Greens. “The community’s assets, including its proximity to transportation, major markets and the availability of open land – in addition to its architecture, history and amenities – will continue attracting more people, more amenities and more businesses that will create a vibrant, sustainable community.”
Gotham Greens leafy greens, herbs, salad dressings and pesto dips are available at a variety of national and local grocery retailers across the Midwest, including Whole Foods Market, Jewel-Osco, Target, Heinen’s Grocery Store, Sunset Foods, Pete’s Fresh Market and Peapod. In addition, the company partners with various Chicago institutions, including the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Greater Roseland West Pullman Food Network, Pilot Light and the Chicago Botanical Garden’s Windy City Harvest.
For more information:
Gotham Greens
ACTION ALERT: Tell Congress To Support USDA Urban / Innovative Ag Office
By the end of this week (Friday, Nov 15) please call or email your two senators and one representative and ask them to Support the new USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production
(Bella Vita Farm, Brookeville, MD)
By the end of this week (Friday, Nov 15) please call or email your two senators and one representative and ask them to Support the new USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production.
In the next week or two, Congress will decide whether or not to fund the USDA’s new Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. The Office was created by the 2018 Farm Bill but still needs to be funded.
This new Office is intended to be the USDA’s central hub to handle aquaponics, hydroponics, vertical growing, and other new growing methods. It will coordinate matters for these growers and offer new research and funding opportunities. (See Summary)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1 – Identify your two federal senators and one federal representative.
2 – Find the phone number of their Washington, DC office on their website.
3 – Call each Office and ask to speak to the staff member that handles agriculture policy. [You may not get to speak to the staff, they may ask you to leave a message or give you an email address. Wherever you land, use the message below.]
4 – Tell them you’d like the Senator / Representative to Support the new USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production created by the 2018 Farm Bill. If you’re feeling chatty you can tell them what you do and why you think your work is important.
Thanks for supporting urban and innovative agriculture, future generations will thank you!
Brian Filipowich, Chairman
Aquaponics Association
US (CO): Ultra Local Denver Farm Grows Using Aeroponics
Fifty-six-year-old Sally Herbert, co-founder, and CEO of Altius, walks through her fields, pausing often to pluck baby kale leaves or fronds of pink-tipped lollo rosso lettuce for sampling
At the intersection of 25th and Lawrence streets in Curtis Park, on the second story of a building—high above the millennials zipping around on electric scooters and the yoga warriors exiting a nearby studio—sits Altius Farms, an 8,000-square-foot aeroponic greenhouse. Inside, small fans whoosh gently overhead and the temperature is always somewhere between 65 and 80 degrees. There’s a slight, almost pleasant humidity to the air and the fresh, clean mineral smell of lettuce. The clear polycarbonate roof diffuses and softens the Colorado sunlight, and glass walls make you feel like you’re surrounded by open sky.
Completing the urban Garden of Eden picture is Altius’ version of fields: 340 columns, each eight feet tall, from which sprout floppy green rosettes of butter lettuce, neon mustard frills, ruffles of baby red Russian kale, and lily-pad-like nasturtium leaves. The plants blanket the white, food-grade-plastic columns so thickly they look like edible topiaries.
Fifty-six-year-old Sally Herbert, co-founder, and CEO of Altius, walks through her fields, pausing often to pluck baby kale leaves or fronds of pink-tipped lollo rosso lettuce for sampling. The kale is mild and tender, the lettuce juicy and crisp. Nearby, a smiling intern snips baby arugula leaves into bins while farm manager Ethan Page and other staffers wash, dry, and package the day’s harvest. Assistant grower and account manager Brian Adams will soon deliver bags of the greens to Altius’ growing list of clients, which include Uchi (the farm’s downstairs neighbor), Il Posto, Butcher’s Bistro, and Marczyk Fine Foods.
Publication date: Thu 7 Nov 2019
The Vertical Farming Industry Is Growing Deeper Roots
The urban indoor vertical farm industry is at an important juncture. Automation is taking root, long-term contracts with creditworthy retail and foodservice distributors are in the works and vertical farms are preparing to scale up. Also, the industry is about to get its first trade group, the American Association for Urban and Vertical Farming
November 11, 2019
Plenty plans to build a global network of vertical farms, starting with the west coast of the United States.
The urban indoor vertical farm industry is at an important juncture. Automation is taking root, long-term contracts with creditworthy retail and foodservice distributors are in the works and vertical farms are preparing to scale up. Also, the industry is about to get its first trade group, the American Association for Urban and Vertical Farming.
"The vertical farming industry in the U.S. is at a point where — if provided facilitation in terms of industry coordination, information exchange, innovation, education, training, funding, etc. — ... it can be enabled to reach critical mass," said Joel Cuello, a University of Arizona professor of biosystems engineering and vice chair of the Munich-based Association for Vertical Farming (AVF).
Just as important: a trade association can advocate for the industry and help it secure more funding.
In the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, an annual allotment of $10 million was established to develop an office of urban agriculture and supporting projects, said Neil Mattson, controlled environment agriculture director and associate professor/greenhouse extension specialist at Cornell University. That’s a relatively small amount that includes everything from vertical farms to urban community gardens.
Whether industry-wide collaboration is needed or wanted at this stage is unclear. Sharing information could accelerate the industry’s development, but it also could dilute the value of a firm’s propriety research and development efforts.
Technology is important to reduce cost and to improve yields and quality, and therefore to provide a better return on investment.
The existence of New York City’s Agriculture Collective — which counts AeroFarms, Bowery Farming, Smallhold and Square Roots as members — illustrates that there are ways for the urban farming industry to share knowledge.
Having a city or regional dimension to collaborative efforts is key, especially when it comes to working in cities, said Henry Gordon-Smith, founder and managing director of Agritecture Consulting. For example, there is often a need for new zoning for indoor farming because it is not a permissible use of a building in an urban area, he added.
The new vertical farm trade association will be affiliated with the AVF, but the exact affiliation has not been negotiated yet.
A compelling story
Vertical farming does a very good job of tapping into customers’ interest in tasty, fresh and locally grown food. "Customers love it," said Chris Manca, Whole Foods Market’s local program coordinator for the Northeast region. "It connects with people who are passionate about local food and the environment."
Since 2014, Whole Foods has cultivated a high-tech Gotham Greens greenhouse farm on the rooftop of its Gowanus, Brooklyn, store. Leafy greens, microgreens and herbs grown in this rooftop greenhouse are sold in its store downstairs, in other nearby Whole Foods locations and at local restaurants. In addition, for the last year and a half, the Whole Foods location in Bridgewater, New Jersey, also has been selling mushrooms grown in an in-store vertical farm unit developed by the Brooklyn-based organic mushroom farming company, Smallhold. More recently, a second Smallhold in-store mushroom growing unit was added in a Whole Foods store in Brooklyn.
Gotham Greens
Gotham Greens operates a network of greenhouses across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, New England, Mountain West and beyond.
The chief selling points of indoor vertical farm-grown fruits and vegetables are that they are pesticide- and herbicide-free, require only a little water and land to produce, offer flexible supply dynamics, have short grow cycles, offer year-round production and have easy product traceability, according to those interviewed for this article. Grocers or producer purveyors also might be able to claim greater price certainty and a longer shelf life.
"We look at [vertical farms] as a growing trend and a unique opportunity to partner with up and coming brands," Whole Foods’ Manca said.
But some farms need to get their prices in line with traditional produce, and it is becoming clear that vertical farms must start offering a wider variety of produce. Many are experimenting with growing berries and vine crops, such as tomatoes and cucumbers. To date, leafy greens, microgreens and herbs have been vertical farms’ cash crops because they offer more competitive pricing due to high yields and the fact that they require less energy to grow.
The growing appetite for indoor growing
Five Mediterranean climates — including California’s — supply all of the world’s fresh fruit and vegetables, and these climates are dealing with changing weather patterns. That is forcing more scrutiny of the vertical and indoor farming sectors.
"Today, the world can only grow enough fresh fruits and vegetables to feed two-thirds of the global population what is required for a healthy diet. That's with 7.5 billion people on Earth," said Christina Ra, senior director of integrated marketing at Plenty, the San Francisco-based indoor vertical farming company that in 2017 raised $200 million in Series B funding from Softbank, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt, the former chairman of Alphabet.
Already, there is not enough, and the global population is expected to reach almost 10 billion in 2050, Ra pointed out.
Vertical farms alone cannot fill the gap, but new technologies and innovations, including more efficient LED lighting, robotics, machine vision and artificial intelligence, are making vertical farms more efficient and productive.
"Technology is important to reduce cost and to improve yields and quality, and therefore to provide a better return on investment," said Charlie Wang, president and CEO of Oasis Biotech, an Albuquerque-based company that owns vertical farms in Las Vegas, China and Albuquerque. It also develops and sells LED lights and hydroponic grow systems under SANANBIO brand.
During the last three years, LED lighting costs have dropped considerably amid a 20 percent improvement in energy efficiency. Looking ahead, over the next three years, similar advances in energy efficiency are expected, and developments in precision farming and automation are also expected to help the vertical farm industry eke out additional efficiency gains.
"We can do precision agriculture within a precise environment," said Grant Vandenbussche, senior business development strategist at Fifth Season, a fully automated indoor vertical farm company based in Pennsylvania. "This allows us to isolate variables to optimize for specific desired outcomes rapidly. We know how each factor is impacting things like plant growth, coloring, and flavor. … It's a true 'smart manufacturing' system."
Operating a fully-automated vertical farm can put a vertical farm's labor cost on par with field-grown produce, Cornell’s Mattson said.
We have been very forward [about how] energy requirements are a potential limiting factor for the industry.
According to Vandenbussche, automation helped Fifth Season reduce its labor from 40-60 percent of costs to 20 percent of costs. Fifth Season also said that the energy required from its automation processes is negligible within its system.
Indoor vertical farms’ energy needs for lighting and HVAC are considerable, however. For example, leafy greens grown in vertical farms in the Northeast currently have a carbon footprint that is two times higher than the carbon footprint for the same product grown in a field in California and then shipped 3,000 miles across the country, Mattson said.
There is also research and data that points to vertical farming being more energy-intensive than greenhouse-grown produce.
"We have been very forward [about how] energy requirements are a potential limiting factor for the industry," Vandenbussche said. "We're paying very close attention to our energy requirements as we launch our new farm, and we are implementing as many energy savings solutions as possible."
Sourcing all of a vertical farm’s energy needs from renewable sources through local utility providers can be challenging. Microgrids are an obvious alternative, but for some vertical farms, the initial capital cost is prohibitive.
For its farm, Fifth Season partnered with Scale Microgrid Solutions, a firm that provides turnkey microgrids, on a solar-microgrid solution. "[They have] a shared savings solution that allows you to capture the benefits of a microgrid without the upfront capital cost," Vandenbussche said.
Another workaround could involve geothermal energy, which can help control the air temperature. But for indoor vertical farms, the largest energy cost is electricity for lighting, which geothermal cannot address.
Plenty of paths
The indoor vertical farm industry has seen a lot of investment, but the business models are still sorting themselves out.
"There has been a big push on technology, but technology might not be the differentiating factor. The business models matter" said Ian Copeland, managing director at Ultra Capital, a San Francisco- and Philadelphia-based firm that focuses on small to midsize sustainable infrastructure projects in the agriculture, energy, waste and water sectors.
Investors want data-rich businesses that are responding to climate change, Gordon-Smith of Agritecture Consulting said. Consumers and retailers, meanwhile, want produce that they can trust will be clean and local, he added.
According to Whole Foods Market’s Manca, one big driver of the vertical farming trend is people wanting to know where their food comes from. "Especially for people in urban areas, I think that it’s really appealing to know that fresh produce is now being grown nearby and available at local stores at the peak of freshness," he said.
When it comes to vertical farming, venture capital is important, but project financing is critical, Oasis Biotech’s Wang said.
Project finance investors want to see long-term contracts with creditworthy counterparts; cost-competitive products and revenue predictability are also important.
Most vertical farms, including Plenty, initially have focused on leafy greens such as kale. Plenty
"Thanks to our modular platform — where we build farms inside refurbish shipping containers — we can quickly pop up in a new city with relatively little capital vs competitors,” said Tobias Peggs, co-founder, and CEO of Square Roots.
Earlier this month, Square Roots and Gordon Food Service (GFS), North America’s largest privately-owned foodservice distributor, forged a strategic partnership and opened its first co-located farm at GFS’ headquarters in Michigan.
"First, we want to refine and evaluate the proof of concept [at the co-located headquarters farm]. Assuming that we meet or exceed the projections going in, we hope to begin adding more locations next year," said Sean Walsh, GFS’s director of North America category management.
GFS trucks food to more than 100,000 restaurants, schools, hospitals/healthcare facilities, cruise ships and summer camp customers in the eastern half of the United States and Canada. GFS also runs a regional network of stores that service small businesses, caterers and walk-in consumers.
Other indoor farming companies are also in an expansionary mode. For example, Gotham Greens, which operates five high-tech greenhouse farms in New York City and Chicago, is opening new locations in Providence, Rhode Island; Chicago and Baltimore in the coming months. It says its retail presence will have grown to about 2,000 retail doors by the end of this year.
And in late October, Plenty, which concentrates on the West Coast, announced plans for a farm in the heart of Los Angeles. The new facility will create about 50 local jobs, ranging from growers to operations manager.
Space Crunch In Cities? How Rooftop Farming Is Becoming More Than Just A Trend
Founded in 2015, Rooftop Republic has set up more than 50 urban farms so far. Research by ecological and agricultural experts shows rooftop farms not only produce food but also create green spaces and boost biodiversity
Since 2008 more than 60 rooftop farms have sprouted up around Hong Kong, covering 15,000 square metres.
Photo: rooftoprepublic.com
05 Nov 2019, Marianne Bray, Reuters
Founded in 2015, Rooftop Republic has set up more than 50 urban farms so far
Research by ecological and agricultural experts shows rooftop farms not only produce food, but also create green spaces and boost biodiversity
At the top of a three-storey building in Hong Kong, with car horns blasting on the streets below, Jim Fung teaches a dozen students how to thin out choi sum vegetables.
"Always use the resources you have," the instructor said as he placed shredded office paper into soil-filled plastic crates and wound string around bamboo sticks to make support frames.
Fung was coaching the first cohort of students in an academy run by social enterprise Rooftop Republic to teach a new generation of urban farmers as demand for their skills soars.
The organisation is spearheading a movement to turn Hong Kong's idle rooftops and urban spaces into farms to help residents reconnect with nature and make the finance hub more liveable.
Once a cluster of fishing and farming villages, Hong Kong is now one of the most densely packed cities on Earth, with 7.4 million people living on a quarter of its 1,100 square km (425 square miles) of land.
The rest is mainly country parks and rural areas, but living in skyscrapers and working long hours has caused Hong Kongers to lose touch with the nature around them, say students at the academy.
"We've become detached from the history of the sea and land that Hong Kong had," said Jessica Cheng, a Rooftop Republic student who works for a philanthropic organisation.
Andrew Tsui, one of Rooftop Republic's three co-founders, said he wants the academy to be "Le Cordon Bleu" (a famous cookery school) of urban farming.
To him, that means a place where graduates become masters of the practice and at the same time become "stewards of our planet, our wellbeing, and our communities", he said.
Founded in 2015, Rooftop Republic has set up more than 50 urban farms so far.
It launched its academy in March, starting with events and workshops. The organisation's first urban farming course, which began last month, teaches students botany, organic farming and how to manage soil, pests, weeds and water resources.
Their classroom sits atop the headquarters of Hong Kong's Business Environment Council, a non-profit promoting sustainability in the world's second most-expensive city for property after Monaco, according to global realtor Knight Frank.
Since 2008 more than 60 rooftop farms have sprouted up around Hong Kong, covering 15,000 square metres (161,460 square feet), said Mathew Pryor, who heads the University of Hong Kong's landscape architecture division.
He estimates another six square km (2.3 square miles) of rooftop space could be available - about half the size of Hong Kong's airport and just less than the seven square km (2.7 square miles) of agricultural land in the city.
Hoping to expand that potential, Tsui told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that Rooftop Republic has been working with developers to include rooftop farms in their design blueprints.
One day, he predicted, rooftop farmers will be as necessary as facility managers who look after clubhouses and pools.
His organisation will train about 150 urban farmers over the next year, he added.
"We have the power to shape the future city we live in ... through demonstrating how adopting an urban farm lifestyle helps the end consumer become aware of ecology, biodiversity, nature, wellbeing and a circular food system," Tsui said.
SOCIAL VALUE
In the 1,200-square-metre (13,000-square-foot) Sky Garden in Metroplaza Mall - the largest urban farm atop a retail mall in Hong Kong - residents can cultivate edible flowers and fruit trees as they attend lifestyle classes like mindful gardening.
Research by ecological and agricultural experts shows rooftop farms not only produce food, but also create green spaces and boost biodiversity.
They also help mitigate the so-called "heat island" effect in cities, when heat is trapped by dark-coloured roads and buildings.
Just as importantly, Tsui said, the farms build communities among the people who care for the crops.
"There is huge potential for rooftop farming in a high-density city," said Pryor, the landscape architecture expert.
"Particularly if it can be aligned with social issues, like aging-in-place," he added, referring to when people have the chance to grow old in their own homes.
Access to a nearby rooftop farm can help the elderly engage with their community and keep them in good mental and physical health, he explained.
In a study of 108 people using rooftop farms, Pryor found more than three-quarters of respondents said they saw social value as the most important benefit of working on the farms, with socialising topping the list.
They added it was good for their health and for learning about nature.
Such learning is key, said academy student Alyson Hamilton, a teacher who runs her school's micro-garden.
"(My) students have no knowledge about food, where it comes from, how much plastic it comes in," she lamented.
NATURE AND COMMUNITY
Alongside the high cost and scarcity of space in Hong Kong, the main challenge for budding urban farmers is having the right conditions, Tsui said.
The basics that plants need - natural sunlight, fresh water and fresh air - are often in short supply in the city, he added.
"Our big question is, if many of our city spaces are not suitable for plants to survive, then how are they conducive for human beings?" he asked.
With more than half the world's population living in cities, Tsui said he's using what he has learnt from rooftop farming to engage urban planners and shape a human-centric city.
He questions whether the move toward so-called "smart cities" around the world actually allows city-goers to live smarter.
"Are we smarter in getting closer to nature for our wellbeing? Are we smarter in the way we design our neighbourhoods, allowing access to fresh air, direct sunlight and nature?" he asked.
Working with architects, planners and developers allows Rooftop Republic to incorporate some of those factors into the blueprints for new developments.
But rooftop farms - which are legal in Hong Kong - currently exist in a grey area between formal city planning and informal community action, said Pryor, the landscape architecture professor.
Both the city's New Agricultural Policy paper, published in 2014, and the Hong Kong 2030 strategic plan acknowledged rooftop farms as playing a significant part in urban agriculture. Government officials did not respond to interview requests.
Pryor would like to see the city's government include such farms into mainstream building and land policy, in recognition of how important they are for creating sustainable cities.
Tsui agreed, saying urban planners need to create ecosystems to nurture people's connection to nature.
"We want to put nature and community back into where we play, where we work, where we live," he said.
The story is by Thomson Reuters Foundation
The Rise of Urban Farming
Urban farming, or urban agriculture, can be described as the growing of plants and raising of animals in and around towns, cities and urban environments
Urban farming is big news. You may not have heard too much about it but according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO), urban agriculture is something that is practised by 800 million people worldwide, over one-tenth of the global population. So what exactly is it and how is it changing how we produce and distribute food?
What is urban farming?
Urban farming, or urban agriculture, can be described as the growing of plants and raising of animals in and around towns, cities and urban environments. Until recently, farming has been a largely rural activity. But the development of technology, together with a pressing need to find more sustainable ways of production and consumption, has led to the adaptation of farming techniques in more built up environments.
There are several different types of urban farms of varying scales that exist in different parts of the world, including commercial city farms, community gardens, community orchards, indoor vertical farms, hydroponic greenhouses, rooftop gardens, urban aquaponic farms (or fish farms), urban beehives and small-scale homestead farms. They produce a range of goods for local consumption or retail, such as grains, vegetables, fruit, meat, poultry, fish, herbs, honey and dairy products.
Urban farms can be small, medium or large-scale commercial enterprises, cooperatives run by community groups or residents, or even individual set ups. The farms have proliferated in both developed and developing countries in recent years, serving slightly different purposes in general in each. Farms in wealthier industrialized nations have largely been in response to the challenge to find more sustainable methods of agricultural production, along with moves towards more localized economies. In poorer countries, they have come about through multi-stakeholder efforts to combat food insecurity and hunger levels.
Why has urban farming become popular?
Urban farming has grown in popularity over the last 10–15 years. In the developing world, it has largely been driven by the rapid urbanization of developing regions. The urban population across the developing world has grown by around 500 million in the last decade and it is predicted that, by 2025, more than half of the developing world will live in urban areas. The main drivers of urban growth in these countries are high birth rates and an influx of rural people trying to escape poverty. Unlike countries where urbanization has been driven by industrialization, in low-income areas it is often accompanied by high levels of poverty, unemployment, and food insecurity. Urban farming has been seen as a way to combat all three of these problems.
In richer nations, the growth of urban agriculture has been in tandem with a return to localism, the growth of localized businesses, social entrepreneurialism and ethically-minded startups. Social good and environmental sustainability are high on the agenda with new businesses, with one study finding that 90% of today’s CEOs and 88% of business students believe that sustainability is an important part of commercial success. Finding new and improved agricultural methods is an important area of sustainability. Studies have found that agriculture uses 38% of the world’s land area and is responsible for over 70% of global freshwater consumption. With more people concentrated in urban areas, farms can be more productive without using up the same level of resources. Warmer urban conditions are also conducive to the growing of crops.
Not all urban farming practices, however, are for a commercial profit. There are many such as community gardens and community orchards that are run by charities, community groups or resident cooperatives and exist for more social purposes such as sharing food, providing for poorer sections of the community, or bringing parts of the community together.
What are the impacts of urban farming?
Impact on businesses and the economy
Urban farming can have many positive effects on the local economy. As well as presenting green-fingered entrepreneurs with opportunities to start new local businesses, it also creates job opportunities for local people. Furthermore, farms can often provide local shops, supermarkets and restaurants with cheaper and fresher produce which has knock-on positive effects. One study has estimated that urban farms have the potential to provide around 10% of global vegetable crops, which could translate into big savings for local economies worldwide. Start up costs, however, are still high. Those involved in urban farming typically work longer than average hours, lose more food than rural farmers due to urban pests, and struggle to find skilled and experienced staff.
Impact on the environment
Urban farming has been championed as a way of improving agricultural environmental sustainability, but in truth it can have both positive and negative effects and it comes down to the way that farms operate and are regulated. Farms can provide a more efficient way of meeting local demand. If operated sustainably, they can reduce both the agricultural energy footprint (through eliminating the need to store and transport imported products) and the water footprint (through sustainable irrigation and water recycling). They can also transform wasteland into productive green space and stop it from becoming polluted. Vertical farms, which are set up inside multi-storey buildings and warehouses, also have the benefit of saving on space.
But studies have shown that urban farms can also increase energy and water use. Indoor farms, such as vertical farms, use energy-intensive artificial lighting and climate control systems. Many farms use the municipal water supply rather than a recycled water system for irrigation. There are also distinct health and safety risks with urban farming. Urban land can be contaminated with pollutants, while wastewater if not treated properly can contain human pathogens. This can compromise food safety if strict regulations are not in place.
Impact on communities
There are a number of positive social impacts associated with urban farming, such as:
improving food security and reducing poverty among the poorest by providing cheaper and more easily available food;
health benefits of providing affordable nutritious fruit, vegetables and organically produced meat;
greater social inclusion by providing local job opportunities and, in the case of community projects, bringing communities together;
educational opportunities for children, e.g. school trips to city farms and community gardens where pupils can learn more about where food comes from
However, urban farming has attracted some criticism in places such as Europe for becoming monopolized by the middle-classes and excluding lower income groups.
Who are the main players in urban farming?
Europe
Urban farming in Europe is not a new phenomenon. In fact, several countries encouraged the production of food in urban environments during both the First and Second World Wars in the 20th century. Today, start up urban agriculture enterprises are cropping up across the continent. At governmental level, individual governments have had limited involvement but the EU-funded Urban Agriculture Europe, a network of over 120 researchers, have been looking into ways in which urban farming can play a key role in future EU agricultural policy. Berlin-based start up InFarm has become the European urban farming leader with over 100 indoor and outdoor city farms in Germany, France and Switzerland. Among the largest urban farms in Europe are Space&Matter in the Netherlands, the Jones Food Company vertical farm in the UK, and the BIGH rooftop farm in Belgium.
America
There has been a growth in urban farming across the American continent in recent decades. In the US, policies and initiatives vary between states but projects ranging from vertical hydroponic enterprises to community gardens flourish across the country. A 2012 study by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) identified over 300 urban farms in the US. This includes one of the world’s largest urban farms located across nearly two acres in Chicago. In Canada, there has been more state-level involvement. Toronto in particular has been proactive, setting up a Food Policy Council which has drawn up a GrowTO Urban Agriculture Action Plan. In south and central America, where poverty and food insecurity are big issues in several countries, the UNFAO has been involved in kick-starting urban micro-gardens projects in countries including Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Asia
Several Asian countries have invested significant amounts in urban farming technologies as a way of dealing with population growth and combating food insecurity. China, which has industrialized at a rapid pace in recent decades, has become a world leader in indoor vertical farming thanks to state investment. Similarly, Thailand has a community-supported agriculture initiative, led by the Thailand Environment Institute, that has helped create rooftop farms and indoor vertical farms across Bangkok. In India, another country that has urbanized at a pace, urban farming is now being seen as a sustainable food production method. Methods such as rooftop farming have taken off in cities such as Kerala.
Africa
The African continent has also seen wide-scale urbanization in recent years. Urban farming methods in the poorest countries have largely centred around setting up micro-gardening and community gardening projects, overseen by UNFAO, equipping urban locals with skills and resources to produce sustainable and feed the local community. Methods such as vertical farming are starting to take hold in some African countries. Johannesburg has hosted two Urban Agri Africa Summits to date, looking into possibilities of developing urban farming technologies across the continent.
Urban farming is unlikely to replace traditional agriculture any time soon but it will have a vital role to play in addressing challenges such as environmental sustainability and food insecurity in the coming years. As the world continues to urbanize and new technologies emerge, we can expect to see increasing governmental and inter-governmental involvement as urban farming becomes more mainstream. The key stakeholders will need to make sure that business models stay alert to environmental, social and economic challenges so that the farming of the future is a sustainable benefit for all.
Miigle+ is redefining consumerism by using technology to impact consumer behaviors for the benefit of all mankind and the future of our planet. To learn more, visit www.miigle.com
Bowery Raises $50M More For Indoor, Pesticide-Free Farms
Indoor farming startup Bowery announced today it has raised an additional $50M in an extension of its Series B round. This comes just nearly 11 months after it raised $90 million in a Series B round
Indoor farming startup Bowery announced today it has raised an additional $50M in an extension of its Series B round. This comes just nearly 11 months after it raised $90 million in a Series B round that we reported on at the time.
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In a written statement, Bowery said the add-on was the result “of significant momentum in the business.” Temasek led the extension and Henry Kravis, the co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., also put money in the “B+ round.” The financing brings the New York-based company’s total raised to $172.5 million since its inception in 2015, according to Bowery.
The startup, which aims to grow “organic, sustainably grown produce,” also announced today its new indoor farm in the Baltimore-DC area. The new farm is 3.5 times larger than Bowery’s last facility, according to the company. Its network of farms “essentially communicate using Bowery’s software.” according to the company, and benefits from the collective intelligence of 2+ years of data.”
How It Works
Bowery’s proprietary software system, BoweryOS, uses vision systems, automation technology, and machine learning to continuously monitor plants and all the variables that drive their growth.
“Because we control the entire process from seed to store, Bowery farms use zero pesticides, 95 percent less water, and are 100+ times more productive on the same footprint of land than traditional agriculture,” the company claims.
Co-founder and CEO Irving Fain said at the time of Bowery’s last raise that in general, the company is focused on creating “scalable solutions for an impending climate and food crisis.”
“And we deeply believe in the power of technology to make drastic, necessary improvements to the food system,” he added.
Since the last raise, Bowery says it has extended its computer vision system and increased automation.
Bowery’s produce is currently available at select Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh, Westside Market and other retailers.
The market for organic food is growing, and so is the number of startups working in the space. Last December, Paris-based Agricool, which has its own take on Agtech innovation, picked up a $28 million round. That company has developed a way to grow produce inside of its “cooltainers,” which are essentially large shipping containers.
Previously, Crunchbase News writer Joanna Glasner reported that funding for venture-backed U.S. agricultural companies spiked in the first half of 2017, with investors seeking to fund companies applying robotics, data, genetic engineering, and other technology to farming practices.
Illustration: Li-Anne Dias
How Urban Farmers Are Learning To Grow Food Without Soil or Natural Light
Growing food in cities became popular in Europe and North America during and immediately after World War II. Urban farming provided citizens with food, at a time when resources were desperately scarce
Mandy Zammit/Grow Up, Author provided
Silvio Caputo, University of Portsmouth
February 13, 2018
Growing food in cities became popular in Europe and North America during and immediately after World War II. Urban farming provided citizens with food, at a time when resources were desperately scarce. In the decades that followed, parcels of land which had been given over to allotments and city farms were gradually taken up for urban development. But recently, there has been a renewed interest in urban farming – albeit for very different reasons than before.
As part of a recent research project investigating how urban farming is evolving across Europe, I found that in countries where growing food was embedded in the national culture, many people have started new food production projects. There was less uptake in countries such as Greece and Slovenia, where there was no tradition of urban farming. Yet a few community projects had recently been started in those places too.
Today’s urban farmers don’t just grow food to eat; they also see urban agriculture as a way of increasing the diversity of plants and animals in the city, bringing people from different backgrounds and age groups together, improving mental and physical health and regenerating derelict neighborhoods.
Many new urban farming projects still struggle to find suitable green spaces. But people are finding inventive solutions; growing food in skips or on rooftops, on sites that are only temporarily free, or on raised beds in abandoned industrial yards. Growers are even using technologies such as hydroponics, aquaculture, and aquaponics to make the most of unoccupied spaces.
Something fishy
Hydroponic systems were engineered as a highly space and resource-efficient form of farming. Today, they represent a considerable source of industrially grown produce; one estimate suggests that, in 2016, the hydroponic vegetable market was worth about US$6.9 billion worldwide.
Hydroponics enable people to grow food without soil and natural light, using blocks of porous material where the plants’ roots grow, and artificial lighting such as low-energy LED. A study on lettuce production found that although hydroponic crops require significantly more energy than conventionally grown food, they also use less water and have considerably higher yields.
Growing hydroponic crops usually requires sophisticated technology, specialist skills and expensive equipment. But simplified versions can be affordable and easy to use.
They grow up so fast. Mandy Zammit/Grow Up
Hemmaodlat is an organization based in Malmö, in a neighborhood primarily occupied by low-income groups and immigrants. The area is densely built, and there’s no green space available to grow food locally. Plus, the Swedish summer is short and not always ideal for growing crops. Instead, the organization aims to promote hydroponic systems among local communities, as a way to grow fresh food using low-cost equipment.
The Bristol Fish Project is a community-supported aquaponics farm, which breeds fish and uses the organic waste they produce to fertilize plants grown hydroponically. GrowUp is another aquaponics venture located in an East London warehouse – they grow food and farm fish using only artificial light. Similarly, Growing Underground is an enterprise that produces crops in tunnels, which were originally built as air-raid shelters during World War II in London.
The next big thing?
The potential to grow food in small spaces, under any environmental conditions, are certainly big advantages in an urban context. But these technologies also mean that the time spent outdoors, weathering the natural cycles of the seasons, is lost. Also, hydroponic systems require nutrients that are often synthesized chemically – although organic nutrients are now becoming available. Many urban farmers grow their food following organic principles, partly because the excessive use of chemical fertilizers is damaging soil fertility and polluting groundwater.
To see whether these drawbacks would put urban growers off using hydroponic systems, my colleagues and I conducted a pilot study in Portsmouth. We installed small hydroponic units in two local community gardens and interviewed volunteers and visitors to the gardens. Many of the people we spoke to were well informed about hydroponic technology and knew that some of the vegetables sold in supermarkets today are produced with this system.
A simplified hydroponic frame in Portsmouth. Silvio Caputo/University of Portsmouth
Many were fascinated by the idea of growing food without soil within their community projects, but at the same time reluctant to consume the produce because of the chemical nutrients used. A few interviewees were also uncomfortable with the idea that the food was not grown naturally. We intend to repeat this experiment in the near future, to see how public opinion changes over time.
And while we don’t think hydroponic systems can replace the enjoyment that growing food in soil can offer, they can save water and produce safe food, either indoors or outdoors, in a world with increasingly scarce resources. Learning to use these new technologies, and integrating them into existing projects, can only help to grow even more sustainable food.
As with many technological advancements, it could be that a period of slow acceptance will be followed by rapid, widespread uptake. Perhaps the fact that IKEA is selling portable hydroponic units, while hydroponic cabinets are on the market as components of kitchen systems, is a sign that this technology is primed to enter mainstream use.
Silvio Caputo
Senior Lecturer, University of Portsmouth
Silvio Caputo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
University of Portsmouth provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.
Urban Agriculture
The urbanization of the planet is drawing agriculture and small farms into city centers in both low-income and industrialized economies. Catering to this trend requires more effective use of space, urban-waste recycling and in some cases sophisticated technology, such as that used in vertical farming
The urbanization of the planet is drawing agriculture and small farms into city centers in both low-income and industrialized economies. Catering to this trend requires more effective use of space, urban-waste recycling and in some cases sophisticated technology, such as that used in vertical farming.
Urban agriculture is nothing new. Travelers arriving in Babylon at the beginning of the second millennium B.C.E. described the orchards, vegetable gardens and cultivated fields in the suburbs of the immense Mesopotamian city. Overhead there were the “hanging gardens”, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, producing fruit for the court of Nebuchadnezzar and offerings for the gods.
In more recent times, the industrial revolution brought about the creation of “allotments”, first in England, then in continental Europe. These often carried with them a certain moral aspect, encouraging the working class to maintain rural and family values in the heart of the city with its many temptations.
Today, innovation and research on agriculture in urban environments are being spurred by the global population growth and rapid urbanization expected over the next decades. Ideas range from micro-gardening targeting the most disadvantaged populations in Africa and South America to highly futuristic vertical farming operations in Japan and North America1.
A Reality in Developing Economies
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (F.A.O.) defines urban and peri‑urban agriculture (UPA) as the growing of plants and the raising of animals within and around cities2. UPA already provides for the needs of a quarter of the world’s city-dwellers. Further development of UPA is essential given the growing urban population, which has increased at a rate almost twice that of the overall population in only ten years. According to the F.A.O., more than half of all inhabitants of developing economies, or 3.5 billion people, will be concentrated in cities by 2025.
To feed these new residents, it will be necessary to maintain agricultural zones in peri-urban areas to slow down deforestation and reduce energy costs incurred by the cold chain and transportation from producer to consumer regions. The F.A.O. funds programs that encourage disadvantaged urban populations to grow micro-gardens for their own consumption and also as a source of extra income. With the right care, a one-square-meter micro-garden in a tropical climate can produce either 30 kilograms of tomatoes per year, 36 heads of lettuce every 60 days, 10 cabbages every 90 days or 100 onions every 120 days. This same square meter requires three liters of water per day, which, in certain climates, can be supplied by collecting and storing rainwater off a ten-square-meter roof. According to the F.A.O., kitchen gardens can be up to 15 times more productive than rural farms.
Of course, urban agriculture has obstacles to overcome, such as poor soil quality, air pollution, inappropriate use of pesticides and fertilizers that contaminate water, and biodiversity management.
25: The number of lettuce harvests per year in a high-tech vertical farm.
New Vertical Farms
In high-income economies, two methods have emerged for bringing agricultural production closer to cities. The simpler of the two is to use building rooftops and streamline collection and recycling of household waste. The second and more sophisticated method, deployed in countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the United States, and Canada, is soil-free vertical farming, which requires much less space.
There are two main forms of soil-free farming:
Hydroponics, the older of the two techniques, in which plants take root in an inert substrate, such as pumice, and are watered with a liquid nutrient solution containing mineral salts rich in nitrogen, phosphates, and potassium.
Aeroponics, in which plants are grown in plastic structures with their roots hanging in the air and exposed to vaporized nutrient solutions.
A variety of systems ensure closed-circuit water use, constant ventilation and exposure to natural or artificial light. The ability to control humidity and temperature ensures that plants grow four- to six times faster than they would using conventional farming techniques.
In the U.S. state of New Jersey, AeroFarms has developed farms where a head of lettuce can be grown in two weeks. Water recycling means the company consumes 95% less of the resource than field farms. Vegetables are grown without the use of any pesticides or herbicides, watched over by employees in cleanroom suits.
In Singapore, where limited space means that almost all food products must be imported, hundreds of nine-meter-high aluminum frames have been installed, around which plants rotate up toward the light, then down into troughs of rainwater.
Urban and peri-urban agriculture already provides for the needs of a quarter of the world’s urban population.
In Japan, which has six-times less farmland than France but double the population, large industrial companies are investing in vertical farming. For example, Toshiba has started a farm near Tokyo that produces 3 million bags of lettuce and spinach a year. The success of this type of agriculture is partly due to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which led to concerns about vegetables being exposed to radiation. Some restaurants even offer greens grown before the customer’s eyes in miniature greenhouses.
Vertical farming has two drawbacks. First, because plants are grown on vertical shelves, there is an emphasis on smaller species, with grain farming excluded at this stage. Second, energy costs are high due to investment, equipment operations, and lighting.
London’s Urban Farms Move Underground
As London-born architect Carolyn Steel points out in her book Hungry City, “The relationship between food and cities is endlessly complex, but at one level it is utterly simple. Without farmers and farming, cities would not exist.”
November 04, 2019
These farmers hope to solve a major problem
of urban food production: space.
Photography courtesy Growing Underground
As London-born architect Carolyn Steel points out in her book Hungry City, “The relationship between food and cities is endlessly complex, but at one level it is utterly simple. Without farmers and farming, cities would not exist.”
In an overcrowded city like London, with its housing shortages and box-flat living, urban farmers are facing an ever-increasing challenge of where to grow their produce; how to withstand the weather and the city’s pollution, and in ways that utilize any and all available space.
When Richard Ballard was completing his degree in film studies, he thought it would lead toward a film career. Instead, it led him down a rabbit hole—or rather, a tunnel. In 2015, Ballard, alongside business partner Steven Dring, founded Growing Underground—the self-described first subterranean urban farm in the world—in an old Second World War bomb shelter below London’s Northern line. Ballard learned about these abandoned tunnels during his studies, and he began to wonder why, in a city desperate for space, no one was making better use of them.
Growing Underground uses the natural insulation of underground tunnels, 100-percent renewable energy to power its LED grow lights and a recycling hydroponic system. The farm produces 1,200 packs of pesticide-free micro-cresses daily, and it looks to solve one of the major concerns of urban food production: space. Currently, the farm uses only 20 percent of the historic tunnels; the small team of 25 make expert use of the 520 square meters. There are plans to expand next year, thanks to the success of operations and additional funding.
Despite their growth mindset, (“Everyday is a school day here,” Ballard says during a recent tour), nothing about Growing Underground’s operation is accidental. Visiting the tunnels requires a clinical sterilization process: Jewelry must be removed. Hairnets, boots and a good hand scrub are required before stepping into the pink-hued, temperature-controlled cave. The wafting smell of radish surrounds the first batch of purple sprouts, precisely stacked in floor-to-ceiling shelves. Other varieties include coriander, garlic chives, sunflower shoots, fennel and more. Seeds are propagated in a separate area before cycling through the corridor’s lights until they are ready to be harvested. For some plants, such as pea shoots, this six-day cycle allows for approximately 60 harvests per year—ten times more than most traditional methods.
Growing Underground’s unusual approach has helped lead the way in reimagining what urban farming looks like, creating room for newcomers such as Harvest London, a company using controlled-environment technologies and vertical gardening to create bespoke “climate recipes.” They hope to dissuade chefs from flying in produce by mimicking the environment locally without compromising on flavor; a timely endeavor given the potential risk to food sourcing in a post-Brexit world.
Growing Underground hosts tours for customers and corporations alike, hoping to inspire the possibility of sustainable practices to all who visit.
365 Days of Lettuce Growing In Belton, Texas
A new 50,000 square feet greenhouse will be realized in Belton, Texas, by hydroponic lettuce producer TrueHarvest Farms. The greenhouse is equipped with growing automation technology from Green Automation
TrueHarvest Farms Goes For It
A new 50,000 square feet greenhouse will be realized in Belton, Texas, by hydroponic lettuce producer TrueHarvest Farms. The greenhouse is equipped with growing automation technology from Green Automation. Riding on the steadily increasing demand for locally grown produce, TrueHarvest Farms will grow fresh and pesticide-free head lettuce locally in the controlled environment of a greenhouse 365 days a year.
Family farm
Founded in 2017, TrueHarvest Farms is the evolution of a family hay and pecan farm now 40 years old. The company is strategically located in the “Texaplex Triangle”, which is formed between the cities Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. With a population of around 20 million people and having 80% of the state’s population growth since 2000 as well as generating up to 70% of the Texas economy, this area is the ideal location for new, innovative and sustainable production of leafy greens.
“The climate here in Texas makes year-round field growing of leafy greens impossible and the area has so far, as the rest of the USA, relied heavily on having lettuce trucked into the state from California and Arizona for a substantial part of the year”, says Marshall McDaniel, Managing Member at TrueHarvest Farms. “We will be distributing truly fresh, nutritious, safe and locally grown lettuce to stores within a 250-mile radius of our operations. The lettuce will be available to the customer in less than 24 hours of harvesting”.
TrueHarvest Farms, rooted in Belton, TX, is ready to supply fresh, nutritious and safe leafy greens to the Texaplex Triangle.
Increased interest in clean lettuce
Recent food safety scares in the lettuce industry have led to an increased interest in and call for safe and clean lettuce produced in a controlled environment. The greenhouse is a closed system, controlling what comes into the greenhouse, making it possible to not only keep the lettuce clean but also to grow them without using any chemical pesticides. The irrigation water, the air, and the growing medium are controlled, monitored and clean - keeping consumers safe and the environment protected.
“There is an enormous demand for locally grown and safe lettuce today”, confirms Jason Maks, Managing Member, and Grower at TrueHarvest Farms. “Our facility is in the final stage of obtaining PrimusGFS certification and we are dedicated to meeting the highest safety standards in the food industry. TrueHarvest Farms will be a reliable source for locally grown and safe produce for the Texas markets. We are ramping up our production right now and expect to reach full capacity in January 2020. At the moment we are growing Butterhead, Crisp and Romaine varieties”, explains Maks.
TrueHarvest Farms is using the automated growing system optimized for head lettuce production. “When growing leafy greens in tough climates it is imperative to operate the greenhouse with the highest efficiency and to generate the highest yields per square foot, therefore TrueHarvest Farms decided to use the automated growing system from Green Automation”, says Patrik Borenius, CEO, Green Automation Americas. “Throughout the entire growing process maximal space efficiency is achieved through automatic movement and adjustment of gutters, giving the plants as much space as needed, but as little as possible”.
Maximizing yield
In addition to maximizing yield through space efficiency, labor efficiency is an essential key component in a profitable operation. The system has a highly automated and versatile medium filling and seeding line arrangement using stackable trays and supporting both net pots as well as Ellepots. After seeding and germination, the plants are placed onto the automatic growing system, featuring adjustable and movable growing lines, where they will soak up the natural sunlight. As the plants grow, they are moved automatically through the greenhouse toward the harvesting station.
TrueHarvest Farms did multiple trips to reference operators in Europe, including to such remote locations as Joensuu, Finland, before making a decision. “It is a proven system and on par with our earth-conscious commitment. We are looking forward to growing and providing the Texas market with the highest quality lettuce”, says Marshall McDaniel. “This is only the beginning, we have room to grow and our head house as well as the irrigation system are designed for future expansions,” McDaniel explains.
Contact:
Patrik J. Borenius
Green Automation Americas LLC
13833 Wellington Trace, Suite #E4-203
Wellington, Florida 33414
www.greenautomation.com
Publication date: Thu 31 Oct 2019
Urban Rooftop Farming Is Becoming More Than Just A Trend In Singapore
Whether you’re wandering through a residential area or exploring the recently re-opened Funan mall, you may have noticed new urban farms sprouting up—flourishing with fruit, herbs and vegetables, occasionally tilapia inconspicuously swimming in an aquaponics system
October 29, 2019
Call It A Social Movement or Singapore’s Solution To Sustainable
Self-Sufficiency, But Urban Farming In Our Garden City Is Growing To
New Heights
Whether you’re wandering through a residential area or exploring the recently re-opened Funan mall, you may have noticed new urban farms sprouting up—flourishing with fruit, herbs, and vegetables, occasionally tilapia inconspicuously swimming in an aquaponics system.
Urban farming has become quite a bit more than a fad or innovation showcase for our garden city. “The practice of urban farming has picked up in scale and sophistication globally in recent years,” said an Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) spokesperson.
“In Singapore, we encourage innovative urban farming approaches such as rooftop farming, which optimizes land, introduces more greenery into the built environment, and potentially enhances our food supply resilience.”
Several companies have taken on the gargantuan task of cultivating the urban farming scene here. Rooftop farming pioneer, Comcrop (short for Community Crop), has been hard at work with its latest commercial farm, an 11-month-old greenhouse in Woodlands Loop. Edible Garden City (EGC) has more than 200 farms across the island and works closely with restaurants to ensure sustainable supply and demand.
(CNA Luxury: How Singapore’s restaurateurs are rising to the challenges of sustainability)
Indoor micro-greens being grown at Noka. (Image: Noka)
Citiponics has made a name for itself building water-efficient aqua organic “growing towers” that can be used to build anything from butterhead lettuce to sweet basil. In April this year, they opened the first commercial farm on the rooftop of a multi-story car park. The farm produces vegetables sold at the Ang Mo Kio Hub outlet of NTUC FairPrice under the brand, LeafWell.
Sky Greens is arguably the most impressive urban farming venture. It is the world’s first low carbon, hydraulic driven vertical farm, and has been recognized globally for its sustainability innovation.
There are several benefits to having our farms so close to home. Through community gardens or access to commercial-scale farm produce, the public has an opportunity to understand how food is grown.
As urban farmers take great care to ensure produce is pesticide-free, while incorporating sustainable zero-waste and energy-saving practices, there is also comfort in knowing where the food comes from and its impact on the environment.
(CNA Luxury: Why this Michelin star chef spends so much time on Singapore farms)
Mushrooms fruiting in a chamber at Noka. (Image: Noka)
“Having food production within the city or heartland [also] brings food closer to the consumers as it cuts transport costs and carbon emissions, and may improve environmental sustainability,” said a spokesperson from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), the new statutory board created in April this year to develop the food supply and industry.
However, there are also broader concerns of the impact of climate change and food security in Singapore. It is why much is being done by the likes of the SFA to achieve “30 by 30”—“which is to develop the capability and capacity of our agri-food industry to produce 30 percent of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030,” said the SFA. “Local production will help mitigate our reliance on imports and serve as a buffer during supply disruptions to import sources.”
Singapore still has a long way to go as the urban farming scene is still a very young one. But there are opportunities for growth given the continued development here. In the URA’s latest phase of the Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High-Rises (LUSH) 3.0 scheme, “developers of commercial and hotel buildings located in high footfall areas can propose rooftop farms to meet landscape replacement requirements.”
Naturally, developers are taking advantage of this. One of the newest kids on the block is the urban rooftop farm run by EGC for new Japanese restaurant, Noka by Open Farm Community at Funan. Noka is putting its money on offering Japanese cuisine that infuses local ingredients, from the butterfly blue pea to the ulam raja flower—ingredients grown and tended to, by the farmers at EGC’s 5,000 sqft urban garden just outside Noka’s windows.
(CNA Luxury: Is green the new glam? How tiny, rich Monaco is tackling sustainable tourism)
Woha Architects’ edible sky garden, at the firm's office in 29 Hongkong Street, is a test bed for urban farming techniques. (Image: Woha Architects)
“The urban farming space is still in the emerging stages of development,” said Bjorn Low, co-founder of EGC. “We are literally scratching the surface of what’s possible. The areas of growth are in the application of urban food production in urban design and city planning, the use of urban farms for deeper community engagement and the role urban farms plays in creating a social and environmental impact in the city.”
While many farmers have found ways to convert existing rooftop spaces into farms or gardens, Jonathan Choe, associate at Woha Architects, says that one of the greatest opportunities to advance urban farming in Singapore is to build an entirely integrated system that not only incorporates growing spaces but also how these farms can interact with the entire building infrastructure—from building cooling measures to water recycling and energy management. The firm, which has their own testbed rooftop garden, is currently working on the upcoming Punggol Digital District development.
Dwarf bok choy being grown at Woha Architects’ edible sky garden. (Image: Woha Architects)
But the greatest challenge for urban farmers is truly economies of scale. “Agriculture on its own is already a challenging industry due to industrialization of farming and our food system,” said Low. “Scale is a limiting factor in the city, and urban farming business models need to be able to adapt to both the challenges of a globalized food system and the availability of cheap food, whilst operating in areas of high cost and overheads.”
It begins with cultivating an awareness of and demand for local produce amongst both consumers and businesses alike. For Cynthia Chua, co-founder of Spa Esprit Group—the people behind Noka—taking an interest in agriculture is more than necessary, as it will have long-term benefits in preparing for the future generation of Singaporeans.
A harvest of white radishes from Woha Architects' edible sky garden. (Image: Woha Architects)
Restaurants like Noka, which choose to highlight local produce are an easy way in for consumers to learn about the benefits of supporting local farming businesses. As a business owner, Chua has also noticed that “travelling chefs from different countries are gaining interest in playing with our tropical produce.” In Chua’s opinion, it is the “right timing” to push innovation and continue to turn this “scene” into a fully sustainable industry.
“As a city-state, the general population is disconnected from farming and the way food is being farmed,” said Low. “Urban farms should become touchpoints for us to learn about sustainable agriculture techniques, and encourage consumers in Singapore to eat more responsibly, locally and ethically.”
Access is a collaboration between Singapore Tatler and CNA Luxury.
TAGS DIGEST ACCESS SUSTAINABILITY URBAN FARMING FARM TO TABLE
Westcore Lands Vertical Farmer Plenty Unlimited at Industrial Asset
Bay Area-based Plenty Unlimited signed a 10-year lease to take Westcore Properties’ entire 94,875-square-foot warehouse development project currently under construction in Compton, CA
October 29, 2019
Bay Area-based Plenty Unlimited signed a 10-year lease to take Westcore Properties’ entire 94,875-square-foot warehouse development project currently under construction in Compton, CA. The vertical indoor farming company will take occupancy at 126 E. Oris St., which is slated for completion next month.
The Class A building’s ceilings soar to 32 feet making the facility a good match for the vertical rows of sustainably grown, leafy greens, like kale, Plenty will cultivate at the property.
Plenty will make a multi-million-dollar investment into the build out and technology for the farm at the Compton property. The farmers growing technique requires a tiny fraction of the water and land of conventional farms, and allows plants to grow independent of seasonal or weather variations through use of hydroponics and LED lights. The controlled environment also eliminates the need for pesticides.
Savills’ Zack Jamail and David Gordon represented the tenant. Kidder Mathews’ Marc Bonando and Brad Connors advised the landlord.
Can Altius Farms Convince Denverites To Pay More For Ultra-Local, Aeroponic Produce?
Sally Herbert's urban farm in Curtis Park uses less water and land to produce lettuce, arugula, and other greens for Denver's booming restaurant scene—and for your kitchen table
Towers of produce at Altius Farms. Photo by Rebecca Stumpf.
Sally Herbert's urban farm in Curtis Park uses less water and land to produce lettuce, arugula, and other greens for Denver's booming restaurant scene—and for your kitchen table.
BY CALLIE SUMLIN | NOVEMBER 2019
At the intersection of 25th and Lawrence streets in Curtis Park, on the second story of a building—high above the millennials zipping around on electric scooters and the yoga warriors exiting a nearby studio—sits Altius Farms, an 8,000-square-foot aeroponic greenhouse. Inside, small fans whoosh gently overhead and the temperature is always somewhere between 65 and 80 degrees. There’s a slight, almost pleasant humidity to the air and the fresh, clean mineral smell of lettuce. The clear polycarbonate roof diffuses and softens the Colorado sunlight, and glass walls make you feel like you’re surrounded by open sky.
Completing the urban Garden of Eden picture is Altius’ version of fields: 340 columns, each eight feet tall, from which sprout floppy green rosettes of butter lettuce, neon mustard frills, ruffles of baby red Russian kale, and lily-pad-like nasturtium leaves. The plants blanket the white, food-grade-plastic columns so thickly they look like edible topiaries.
Fifty-six-year-old Sally Herbert, co-founder, and CEO of Altius, walks through her fields, pausing often to pluck baby kale leaves or fronds of pink-tipped lollo rosso lettuce for sampling. The kale is mild and tender, the lettuce juicy and crisp. Nearby, a smiling intern snips baby arugula leaves into bins while farm manager Ethan Page and other staffers wash, dry, and package the day’s harvest. Assistant grower and account manager Brian Adams will soon deliver bags of the greens to Altius’ growing list of clients, which include Uchi (the farm’s downstairs neighbor), Il Posto, Butcher’s Bistro, and Marczyk Fine Foods.
There’s an efficiency to the way the staff moves that might make you think Altius has been honing its operations for many seasons. In truth, the farm’s been operating for a little over one year. In that time, the company has become a supplier for 40-some restaurants and luxury grocers, and it’s one of Denver’s largest hydroponic vegetable farms. It’s also the only aeroponic-specific facility producing food in Denver proper.
Aeroponics—which was popularized in the 1980s at Epcot’s Land pavilion in Walt Disney World—takes the principles of hydroponic gardening literally to the next level. As with hydroponics, there is no soil involved. In aeroponics, however, plants commonly grow out from vertical columns, not up from pots or beds. The plants’ root systems are housed in ports of spongy, inorganic growing mediums, which are popped into little openings in the columns. A gravity-fed, automated irrigation system pushes a pH-balanced, nutrient-fortified mist through the columns for three minutes at a time in 15-minute intervals, keeping the plants’ air-suspended roots moist.
Aeroponic towers produce lettuce in less space than traditional farming. Photo by Rebecca Stumpf.
The concept has become trendy around the world because these farms can produce food using up to 90 percent less land and water than traditional crops require and can be grown within miles—or even feet—of consumers. In 2018, GV (formerly known as Google Ventures) invested $90 million into Bowery Farming Inc., a New York-based brand that bills itself as “the modern farming company.” Everyone from IKEA executives to the sheik of Dubai has thrown money at AeroFarms, a similarly ambitious outfit in New Jersey. All provide answers to American consumers’ ever-louder demands for local and sustainable food. But the question remains: Can Herbert convince Denverites to join the movement and pay more for greens raised without soil?
Five years ago, Herbert had exactly zero farming experience when a friend recommended she check out Veterans to Farmers, a local nonprofit that trains former service members in traditional and hydroponic agricultural systems. Herbert, who served in the Air Force for 13 years (active duty and reserve), liked the group’s mission to provide veterans with fulfilling civilian careers and joined the board.
While helping a Veterans to Farmer’s trainee at his hydroponic operation in Lakewood in 2014, Herbert learned about controlled-environment agriculture and was fascinated. The timing was apt: Herbert, who typically dresses in plain T-shirts and the sort of breathable pants one might wear hiking, was burnt out as CEO of GS1, a global logistics company. She started researching farming trends and realized that Denver’s short growing season and proliferation of consumers who care about sustainability made it the perfect place for an innovative aeroponic operation.
Finding a location for Altius in the city proved challenging. “I needed a developer who believed in the cause and saw food production as an amenity to their site,” she says. When she connected with Westfield Company Inc. (the developer behind the S*Park complex of luxury townhomes and condos that encompasses Uchi and Altius) in 2015, things clicked.
As it turned out, the plot of land in Curtis Park had been a farm site before. (Elaine Granata, Denver’s grandmother of urban farming, had long coaxed peas and tomatoes from the ground there.) When the Denver Housing Authority sold the property to Westfield, it did so under the condition that the development includes a farming or green space component. Enter Altius. Where other new condominiums tout pools, S*Park’s tenants would have access to fresh vegetable subscriptions and events in the outdoor farm-to-table dinner space, making their “#gardengoals become a reality,” as the S*Park website promises.
With her location secured, Herbert needed funding to bring her vision to fruition. Despite the global interest in vertical farming and her business connections, she had no luck courting local investors. “There’s a lot of money floating around this town for tech startups,” Herbert says. “But trying to get someone to invest in an agriculture company? Forget it.”
It’s not surprising that some investors would be scared off by food production: Slim margins can mean a slow return on capital, and in a city where an acre of land can sell for upward of a million dollars, high-revenue businesses or development projects are preferable to farming’s modest profits. So, to get off the ground, Herbert financed the business herself.
In the midst of Denver’s brutal mid-July heatwave, Herbert’s plants are comfortable in their climate-controlled environment. Herbert, though, is outside, working in Altius Farms’ brand-new garden and event area. Just weeks ago, this ground-level space was a fenced-in rectangle of dirt. Now, it is fully built out with raised beds and long communal tables, ready for ticketed farm-to-table dinner events.
Herbert, her shiny, dark hair pulled into a low ponytail, hunches over one of the 15 soil-filled beds to carefully prune a tomato plant. Nine months in, things are going well at Altius: Through trial and error, Herbert’s team has figured out which varieties of seeds work best in the indoor tower environment. High-end restaurants all over town have begun to name-drop Altius’ greens, herbs, and edible flowers on their menus. And the farm has donated hundreds of pounds of produce to nonprofits We Don’t Waste and SAME Café.
Herbert hopes to expand her aeroponic business beyond Denver. Photo by Rebecca Stumpf.
But it is not enough to turn a profit—yet. It’s still difficult to convince a grocery shopper to pay $4.99 for a clamshell of salad mix when they can get a head of lettuce for less than $2 at King Soopers. “Farming is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Herbert says. And that’s even with Altius’ automated irrigation and temperature control systems, the polycarbonate roof that prevented a June hailstorm from shredding her crops, and a strong customer base.
Because, at the end of the day, it’s still farming. It’s still waking up in the middle of the night panicking about the crops. It’s still having to convince folks to buy a premium local product and coaxing nature into a business model. The aeroponic system has drawbacks, too: The towers aren’t suitable for growing root vegetables, and proponents of organic produce tend to frown upon the aeroponic method, which requires plants to be fed liquid nutrients.
Another challenge, which Herbert has grappled with since the beginning, is that the arrival of Altius in Curtis Park meant the displacement of other farmers; Granata now grows at a small space abutting a parking lot at the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital. Herbert is conscious of the fact that to some, her aeroponic farm is just another sign of a gentrifying neighborhood. As such, she seeks ways to better serve the surrounding area (donating produce to Comal Heritage Food Incubator) and to support other farmers (continuing to serve on the Veterans to Farmers board).
While Herbert is surprised at just how many setbacks have arisen, she’s still confident in Altius. Just as she trusts her seeds will sprout, she says that the farm is on track to profitability. Her lofty goal—to potentially put locations in Denver and cities across the country—feels distant but possible. In the meantime, she pauses to wipe sweat from her brow and survey her work, just for a moment, before heading back to the greenhouse above.
CALLIE SUMLIN, CONTRIBUTOR
Callie Sumlin is a writer living in Westminster and has been covering food and sustainability in the Centennial State for more than five years.