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Sky-High Vegetables: Vertical Farming Sprouts In Singapore
Entrepreneur Jack Ng says he can produce five times as many vegetables as regular farming looking up instead of out. Half a ton of his Sky Greens bok choy and Chinese cabbages, grown inside 120 slender 30-foot towers, are already finding their way into Singapore's grocery stores
November 9, 2012
Singapore is taking local farming to the next level, literally, with the opening of its first commercial vertical farm.
Entrepreneur Jack Ng says he can produce five times as many vegetables as regular farming looking up instead of out. Half a ton of his Sky Greens bok choy and Chinese cabbages, grown inside 120 slender 30-foot towers, are already finding their way into Singapore's grocery stores.
The idea behind vertical farming is simple: Think of skyscrapers with vegetables climbing along the windows. Or a library-sized greenhouse with racks of cascading vegetables instead of books.
Ng's technology is called "A-Go-Gro," and it looks a lot like a 30-foot tall Ferris wheel for plants. Trays of Chinese vegetables are stacked inside an aluminum A-frame, and a belt rotates them so that the plants receive equal light, good airflow, and irrigation. The whole system has a footprint of only about 60 square feet or the size of an average bathroom.
Troughs of bok choy stack up vertically at the 30-feet urban farm in Singapore. The veggies rotate along the A-frame to ensure they receive even light. Courtesy of MNDSingapore.
Advocates, whose ranks are growing in cities from New York City to Sweden, say vertical farming has a handful of advantages over other forms of urban horticulture. More plants can squeeze into tight city spaces, and fresh produce can grow right next to grocery stores, potentially reducing transportation costs, carbon dioxide emissions, and risk of spoilage. Plus, most vertical farms are indoors, so plants are sheltered from shifting weather and damaging pests.
But is vertical farming just a design fad, or could it be the next frontier of urban agriculture? That depends on your angle — and location.
Implementing these "farmscrapers" on a commercial scale has been challenging, and making them economical has been almost impossible.
It's still up for debate whether vertical farms are more efficient at producing food than traditional greenhouses, says Gene Giacomelli, a plant scientist at the University of Arizona, who directs their the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center.
The limiting factor is light. The total food produced depends on the amount of light reaching plants. Although vertical farms can hold more plants, they still receive just about the same quantity of sunlight as horizontal greenhouses.
"The plants have to share the existing light, and they just grow more slowly," Giacomelli tells The Salt. "You can't amplify the sun."
For American cities, like New York and Chicago, Giacomelli thinks putting plain-old greenhouses on rooftops could be just as efficient as vertical farms – and a lot easier to implement.
In fact, two companies are already working on that approach. Gotham Greens is producing pesticide-free lettuce and basil for restaurants and retailers from rooftop greenhouses in Brooklyn, while Lufa Farms grows 23 veggie varieties in a 31,000-foot greenhouse atop a Montreal office building.
But for the island of Singapore, where real estate is a premium, vertical farming might be the most viable option. "Singapore could be a special case, where land value is so exceptionally high, that you have no choice but to go vertically," Giacomelli says.
An illustration of the 177-feet vertical farm by Plantagon currently in the works for Linkoping, Sweden.
The Sky Greens vegetables are "flying off the shelves," reports Channel NewsAsia — perhaps because the vertical veggies are fresher than most available in Singapore, which imports most of its produce from China, Malaysia, and the U.S. They do, however, cost about 5 to 10 percent more than regular greens.
"The prices are still reasonable and the vegetables are very fresh and very crispy," Rolasind Tan, a consumer, told Channel NewsAsia. "Sometimes, with imported food, you don't know what happens at farms there."
Lead photo: Senior Minister of State Lee Yi Shyan transplants some leafy green seedlings at the grand opening of Singapore's first commercial vertical farm. Courtesy of MNDSingapore.
The Little Farm That Could
“Farm By The Quay will serve as a hub to educate the public about urban farming while illustrating how growing food at home doesn’t have to be difficult using HAVVA solutions and technology
16 Nov 2020
Vertical farming systems can maximize use of space in an urban context.
FOR all that pottering about in one’s garden might sound fulfilling, there are many of us who are daunted by the prospect of growing our own plants.
Difficulties such as finding the right type of soil and the optimal amount of sunlight and water, all while fighting off common garden pests, can lead to frustration for those without green thumbs.
Such trials may be a thing of the past thanks to HAVVA Agrotech, as it pioneers an innovative farming solution integrating hydroponic, aquaculture, vertical farming, vermiponic, and aeroponic techniques.
These innovations will be showcased at HAVVA’s Farm By The Quay at Quayside Mall in twenty-five.7, Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam, allowing residents and visitors to experience the next step in urban sustainability.
A new frontier
“Farm By The Quay will serve as a hub to educate the public about urban farming while illustrating how growing food at home doesn’t have to be difficult using HAVVA solutions and technology.
“We will demonstrate how our system is fully scalable, ranging from small 1sqft farms to large-scale commercial farms, ” says HAVVA chief operating officer Kenzo Tan.
Doubling as HAVVA’s flagship outlet, Farm By The Quay is an organic vertical farm facility located at Quayside Mall, a few minutes’ walk from twentyfive.7’s bustling waterfront boulevard.
The vertical farm features a floor area of 195sqm, and visitors can look forward to a comprehensive line-up of activities organized by HAVVA to educate participants on the merits and methods of urban farming.
Farm By The Quay is a 195sqm vertical organic farm at Quayside Mall, twentyfive.7.
Farm By The Quay customers can also get their grocery shopping done, as it features fresh food and produce concept where vegetables can be plucked and fish freshly caught on the spot.
“Typically, urban farms in malls are located on rooftop levels, which reduces their visibility and accessibility to customers.
“However, Farm By The Quay is located at a prime spot on the ground floor within Quayside Mall, inviting exploration from visitors.
“Its design layout and fit-outs cater to the mall’s environment and conditions, and we also took into consideration factors such as safety, public access, and public engagement, ” says Tan.
From humble roots
Established in 2018 by co-founders Philip Loo and Tan, the idea for HAVVA began four years earlier when Loo visited Taiwan to learn about aquaponics, vertical planting, natural farming, and related techniques.
With this knowledge, he rented a 650sqm bungalow in George Town, and in partnership with his brother kick-started Penang’s first vertical aquaponics urban commercial farm – Loo Urban Farm.
Despite an uphill road, Loo persevered. In 2016, the eventual success of Loo Urban Farm encouraged him to submit an accelerator program for social enterprise at MaGIC (Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre), where he fortuitously met Tan.
“I was quite taken with what Philip was doing.
‘HAVVA’s business model ticked all the right boxes for us. Their operations are a good fit for the chosen space and location in our mall, ’ said Tan.
“To begin with, we had similar views on the necessity for toxic-free and nutrient-rich food.
“As he was working alone in the program without a team, I assisted him in any way that I could.
“By the end of 2016, I joined Philip and we focused on using technology to augment the growth of the business, ” says Tan.
While initial sales were sluggish, factors such as changes in market perception towards urban farming, clean eating, and organic food gave the business a welcome shot in the arm.
The company’s commitment to investing in technological and process enhancement has also paid off, as it has been accredited by organizations such as Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd and MaGIC, in addition to accolades at the Asia-Pacific Information and Communication Technology Alliance Awards (APICTA) and the Hope Awards in 2018.
New center of gravity
Farm By The Quay at Quayside Mall complements twentyfive.7’s cosmopolitan outlook and highlights the placemaking principles and master planning approach of developer Gamuda Land.
A 104ha self-sustained development in Kota Kemuning, twentyfive.7 features a gross development value (GDV) of RM4.2bil.
Its urban aesthetics and lifestyle amenities position it as the new center of gravity in Kota Kemuning and the surrounding community.
Loo (left) and Tan co-founded HAVVA to promote urban farming in Malaysia.
“HAVVA’s business model ticked all the right boxes for us. Their operations are a good fit for the chosen space and location in our mall.
“Despite being a relatively young company, their forward-thinking business plan, which targets both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) activity, is strategically comprehensive with promising growth potential, ” says Gamuda Land director of retail and leasing Herbie Tan.
“Quayside Mall caters to changing consumer demand for open spaces in retail centres following the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Special attention in its design has been given towards spatial quality, natural light and ventilation, and extended functionality of space, along with an emphasis on fostering closer connections with nature, allowing Gamuda Land to adapt a variety of communal programs and planting schemes within the mall.
“In addition, its curated tenant mix emphasizes lifestyle draws, with a diverse range of F&B, entertainment, beauty, and lifestyle retail outlets enhancing Quayside Mall’s appeal as the beating heart of Kota Kemuning in the new norm.
Quayside Mall in twentyfive.7 will house the vertical farm on the ground floor.
“The mall also strategically integrates the outdoor environment into its design. With a promenade leading directly from the mall towards the pet-friendly twentyfive.7 Central Park, featuring lakeside activities and social spaces surrounded by lush trees, visitors to Quayside Mall will experience retail like never before.
“We believe that the introduction of urban farms, whether community-based or as viable business concerns, is vital for our greater good as it will address the problems of logistics and climate change, enhance accessibility to food resources, improve food security in cities and reduce overproduction of food by increasing own-harvested food resources – a direction that has only been reinforced by the current pandemic, ” says Herbie.
Thanks to HAVVA, twentyfive.7 residents and the public can now enjoy fresh, non-toxic, and pollutant-free produce while learning more about the urban farming movement.
Farm By The Quay is scheduled to open its doors in December 2020.
TAGS / KEYWORDS: Branded , Gamuda Land, HAVVA Agrotech, Urban Sustainability
Green Tech Farm Settles On Singapore
Hong Kong-based vertical and urban farming innovator Green Tech Farm has announced it will open a new display and sales center in Singapore. The Singapore site was chosen from a shortlist of five major cities and countries in Asia and the Middle East
BY LIAM O’CALLAGH
19th November 2020, Hong Kong
Vertical farming specialist will construct a new display and sales center in Singapore
Hong Kong-based vertical and urban farming innovator Green Tech Farm has announced it will open a new display and sales center in Singapore.
The Singapore site was chosen from a shortlist of five major cities and countries in Asia and the Middle East.
Green Tech Farm, which manufactures and sells leading-edge hydroponics units with advanced lighting, heating, cooling, and AI-controlled robotics and control systems said that the city-state's geographical location and commitment to sustainable development made it a highly suitable choice.
"We settled on Singapore for a number of reasons, one of which was its own reputation for driving environmental sustainability,” Green Tech Farm said in a release.
“We felt that Singapore would be more inclined to embrace the principles behind what we are trying to achieve given their own efforts over the years.”
The Singapore center will house several fully operational examples of the HydroPod, the company's shipping container-based vertical farming solution while also functioning as a support and learning hub for regional customers.
The site will also showcase a fully operational HydroFactory - Green Tech Farm’s, modular offering which can be expanded to fill any large space - and give visitors the opportunity to see the system perform its many functions on a far larger scale than that available in the smaller, self-contained HydroPods.
According to Green Tech Farm, the center will be operational by the third quarter of 2021.
Autonomous Delivery Startup Nuro Hits $5 Billion Valuation On Fresh Funding of $500 Million
Nuro, the autonomous delivery startup founded by two former Google engineers, has raised $500 million, suggesting that investors still have an appetite for long-term pursuits such as robotics and automated vehicle technology
Kirsten Korosec@kirstenkorosec / November 9, 2020
Image Credits: Nuro
Nuro, the autonomous delivery startup founded by two former Google engineers, has raised $500 million, suggesting that investors still have an appetite for long-term pursuits such as robotics and automated vehicle technology. Nuro now has a post-money valuation of $5 billion.
The Series C round was led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., with participation from new investors including Fidelity Management & Research Company and Baillie Gifford. The round also includes existing investors such as SoftBank Vision Fund 1 and Greylock.
Nuro was founded in June 2016 by former Google engineers Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu. While the startup was initially bootstrapped by Ferguson and Zhu, it has never struggled to attract investors. Nuro completed its first Series A funding round in China in 2016, a deal that gave NetEase founder Ding Lei (aka William Ding) a seat on Nuro’s board. A second, U.S.-based, round in June 2017 raised Nuro’s total Series A funding to $92 million. But it was the monster $940 million investment made by the SoftBank Vision Fund in February 2019 that catapulted Nuro ahead of numerous other startups attempting to commercialize autonomous vehicle technology. Nuro had a $2.7 billion valuation following the SoftBank investment, meaning its value doubled in about 18 months. That money has helped it grow to more than 650 employees.
Unlike many other startups in the AV industry, Nuro has focused its effort on designing a low-speed electric self-driving vehicle that transports packages, not people. Some of Nuro’s first tests and pilots were with Toyota Prius vehicles equipped with its self-driving system. Nuro partnered in 2018 with Kroger to pilot a delivery service in Arizona. The pilot, which initially used Toyota Prius vehicles, transitioned to its R1 delivery bot. Nuro has also partnered with companies like CVS, Domino’s, and Walmart.
The company has since developed a second-generation vehicle, known as the R2. This delivery bot, which is designed for local delivery service for restaurants, grocery stores, and other businesses, received an exemption from the federal government earlier this year that allows it to operate as a driverless vehicle.
“We are witnessing an unprecedented shift in consumer demand for safe and affordable local delivery services,” Zhu, CEO, and co-founder of Nuro said in a statement. “This funding, which brings us together with many of the world’s top investors, positions Nuro confidently toward a future where our world-class technology is adopted into people’s everyday lives.”
The company, which is testing and operating R2 on public roads in Arizona, California, and Texas, told TechCrunch that the new funding will allow it to “confidently grow for years to come, with multi-year runway to build in multiple cities and scale across multiple markets.” Nuro’s near-term focus is on scaling its service in Houston and implementing R2 into commercial service.
New Green Space Trend In City Centers: Vertical Gardens
One of the major environmental problems we face today is air pollution. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) data, 8 million people die each year from air pollution-related causes
BY MEHMET EMIN BIRPINAR
OCT 27, 2020
Throughout history, the world's population has lived in rural areas by and large. In the 1800s, at least 90% of the world's population lived in the countryside, while the urban population constituted less than 10%. With the development of trade, people switched to urban life as cities became centers of trade.
As industrial production became widespread, migration multiplied and people moved to areas with more production, establishing new and large settlements.
Especially with the Third Industrial Revolution, rapid urbanization began and today, 54% of the world's population lives in cities. By 2050, the world's urban population is projected to rise to 66%.
At the heart of mass migration lies the anxiety of a comfortable life with transportation, communication, education, and health being the most obvious reasons for this. This puts pressure on the area where people migrate to, as the resources are limited but the number of people looking to take advantage of them increases every day. While cities offer people the chance to live a more comfortable life at the same time they create local, regional, and universal problems that are difficult to solve.
Population growth and rising income levels are another source of problems. In our country, the population has increased by 50% in the last three decades from 55 million to 83 million. In the same period, developments within the country, where national income per capita increased by about four times, also led to an increase in consumption. This excessive consumption has undoubtedly put pressure on the environment.
Currently, cities consume 75% of natural resources globally and are responsible for 50% of the waste generated while also producing on average 70% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
Of course, cities should address needs, such as food, housing, clean air, water, and waste services but additionally should provide green spaces where citizens can go to be healthy, take a break, and refresh.
Silent Killer: Air Pollution
One of the major environmental problems we face today is air pollution. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) data, 8 million people die each year from air pollution-related causes.
Air pollution is an important environmental problem for Turkey, too. While developments designed to reduce pollution such as the spread of natural gas, the advancement of technology, the spread of public transport and alternative means of transport have been implemented and lowered pollution levels to some degree, pollution caused by public transport, in particular, continues to add to the issue.
The main factor affecting air pollution levels is vehicle density. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data, the number of vehicles on the streets in 1990 was 4 million, 8 million in 2008, 23 million at the end of 2019 and has reached 25 million currently. As with the population, about 20% of vehicles are in mega-city Istanbul.
A project carried out by Hacettepe University on behalf of Ministry of Environment and Urbanization revealed that about one-third of these vehicles are over 16 years old and equipped with old technology. This makes the application of green walls, which are becoming more and more common in the world, more attractive and necessary in order to prevent air and noise pollution caused by heavy vehicle traffic.
Refreshing green spaces
According to WHO assessments, the green space per person should be 9 square meters (97 square feet) for a healthy life. However excessive densities occur in some regions that can pose a number of difficulties for green space production.
The new garden trend was developed in order to prevent such problems in several developed megacities such as New York, Melbourne, London, and Paris, in order to alleviate the increased air pollution to some extent and to enable people to relax spiritually.
With the concentration of population density in certain regions within the scope of commercial activities, the space problem has become important in the world, and vertical growth has been achieved by developing multi-story buildings for housing. Vertical agriculture (multistory garden applications), which is also a new application in the agricultural sector which is gradually decreasing due to climate change and soil erosion, is becoming increasingly popular today.
Vertical gardens began emerging in the 1970s but now new types of green spaces are being cultivated that can be put to many different applications. Whether it be a rooftop garden, vertical garden, green or living wall, leading cities around the world including New York, Melbourne, London and Paris are incorporating a bit more nature into their concrete landscapes.
These gardens' most important trait is that they do not require additional space and are usually cultivated on unutilized rooftops or external wall surfaces. Even public transport stops, such as train stations, and the tops of the vehicles themselves are being used to increase the green view.
Benefits at hand
These gardening practices, which have been in our lives for the last 50 years, offer environmental benefits such as preventing air and noise pollution and reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, and economic benefits such as energy savings and reducing possible health costs.
Moreover, they act as a kind of filter for important air pollutants released from exhausts. According to research, a 60-square-meter garden wall can filter 40 tons of harmful gasses and 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of heavy metals. They also contribute to the air quality by absorbing harmful volatile organic compounds.
According to a 2012 article in the Environmental Science & Technology magazine published in the U.S., green wall applications on roads in the canyon structure (with buildings or walls on both sides) reduce harmful dust (PM10) by up to 50%. Again, similar results were obtained in studies conducted under an article published in ScienceDirect in 2016, where green wall applications were seen to prevent air pollutants by 24%-61%.
One of the important effects is the prevention of greenhouse gases. The greenery functions as a swallow space for greenhouse gases that lead to global warming. A living wall of only one square meter removes 2.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide gas from the air, while they also give 1.7 kilograms of oxygen to the environment, which is our source of life.
A study conducted at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, the largest university in Australia, also stated that if green walls are constructed correctly they can act as an ecological buffer, preventing both air and noise pollution. The study's results show that green walls can combat up to 63% of carbon emissions, which would contribute to the fight against climate change.
One of the important benefits is the reduction of noise. Vegetation in vertical gardens allows the noise from vehicles to be dispersed in multiple directions, rather than reflected directly in one. It acts as a kind of noise barrier by dampening it within itself. Up to 40% noise reduction can be achieved depending on the selected plant type and planting frequency.
Vertical gardens also absorb the sunlight, stabilizing the temperature in the region and preventing the formation of heat islands in city centers, one of the major problems caused by global climate change. They also absorb the energy in the environment through plant sweat. However, if it is applied to the external wall of a building, it keeps the building cooler in summer and protects it against adverse weather conditions such as winds in winter, thus contributing to energy saving.
According to the report of the ninth National Roof and Facade Conference held in 2018, the studies carried out by the National University of Singapore showed that reducing the temperature of a building by only one degree leads to as much as 5% in energy saving. Likewise, according to the evaluations of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), which has a history spanning 120 years, green walls contribute to energy efficiency by 23% like green roofs and rooftop gardens and can reduce temperatures by up to 10 degrees.
In addition, they are more aesthetically pleasing in appearance and provide relief for people as well as acting as the natural habitat for species of birds and insects. In this way, they help promote biodiversity, which is one of the major environmental problems facing the world today.
On the other hand, research shows that they also increase productivity in business environments as cleaning the air eliminates complaints such as headaches, eye irritation, and fatigue caused by air pollution – allowing employees to feel more energetic. They also provide relief by reducing stress.
Watching a green space for 3-5 minutes is known to improve blood pressure, heart rhythm, muscle tension and brain activities. According to relevant research, a green working office increases productivity by 15%. Amazon Towers in Seattle hosts 40,000 plants of 400 different species while the Desjardins building in Canada’s Quebec province is home to the world's largest living wall with a height of 65 meters, housing 11,000 plants.
The 800-square-meter entrance surface of the iconic Musee du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris has been adorned with 15,000 plants. Paris has a target of covering 1 million square meters of roadside wall, roofs, and façades of buildings facing main streets with greenery.
As part of the Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) project, 800 trees and 15,000 plants were planted on the balconies and rooftops of two 111-meter-high buildings in downtown Milan, overwhelmed by air pollution, bringing both fresh air and making it a beautiful site. Additionally, as part of the project, thousands of bird and insect habitats have been created in the center of the city, which has been landlocked by concrete.
A living wall was created in the passenger boarding hall at London’s Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest airport, to create a healthy environment for passengers. In the section called Garden Gate, seven panels with an area of 4.5 square meters were created, each containing 240 plants.
The motivation to create the gate was customer satisfaction. Passengers reported 47% satisfaction prior to the living wall which increased to 72% once the wall was up and operating healthily.
Likewise, studies carried out by the U.K.'s Birmingham and Lancaster Universities in 2012 revealed that adding more green life to the streets could prevent air pollution by 30% on a cumulative basis. According to British experts, green walls reduce NO2 emissions by 40% and particulate matters by 60%.
In this respect, walls on both sides of a busy main road that runs through London have been converted into green walls. It is reported that a four-meter square wall can produce the same effect as 275 trees. It is predicted that a portion of the £500 million budget allocated for the development of the green infrastructure of the city will be designated for the development of living walls in areas with heavy traffic.
Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, launched the initiative in 2018, covering columns on the roads with heavy traffic and the walls around the roads with green vegetation. The aim is to prevent vehicle-induced air pollution while beautifying the city.
More than 1,000 columns were covered with greenery and living material in an area exceeding 54,000 square meters and the project is expected to meet the oxygen needs of 25,000 people while absorbing 27,000 tons of harmful gases and about 6,000 tons of dust annually.
Turkey's efforts
Great efforts are being made both on a local and national front to increase green areas per capita in our country. As part of its vision project for 2023, the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning aims to bring 81 million square meters of green space to 81 provinces with the project of national gardens greatly contributing to this goal.
According to the municipal data, as a result of the investments made by the capital Ankara in the last 25 years, the green area per person has reached 20 square meters, marking a 10-fold increase with this figure standing at 6-7 square meters per person in Istanbul and 4-5 square meters in Izmir, another important big city of Turkey. Keeping this value in mind, when we look at other world metropolises, it is around 3 square meters in Tokyo, 5 in Barcelona, 10 in Paris, and 23 in New York.
These values are not the same for the entire province and differ in parts. According to international assessments, woodlands, green vegetation on roadsides, and green spaces on private property (including the gardens of public buildings) are not included in these values.
Therefore, due to space limitations, vertical and rooftop gardens are becoming a matter of greater importance with Turkey creating the necessary regulations in 2013, bringing the issue to legal ground.
The amendment to the Planned Areas Type Zoning Regulation paved the way for the building gardens on rooftops. Given the numerous benefits of green spaces such as air quality, energy saving, temperature balance, and contribution to biodiversity, this regulation is of great importance.
However, we cannot say that rooftop gardens and vertical gardens have become very common in our country.
Municipalities are implementing green initiatives especially in megacities such as Ankara, Izmir, and Istanbul where local governments are cultivating roadside wall gardens in areas with heavy traffic.
Caring for a wall or rooftop garden is very simple as they require minimal interference as they are designed with an internal irrigation system but do need an annual pruning, some fertilizer, or, when called for, the removal of harmful pests. The walls offer numerous ecological, economic, and mental benefits, with municipalities decorating the panels with figures derived from recycled plastic - both reducing maintenance costs and decorating the area.
Istanbul municipality's move
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) administration is taking an odd position after it previously stopped investments in advanced biological treatment plants with a membrane system that would bring with it a new era in wastewater management in Istanbul, saving a lot of money. The 55,000-square-meter green wall application, which offers countless benefits, unfortunately, faces a massacre.
Developing and growing vegetation is being removed and replaced by graffiti using a synthetic chemical paint. The IBB claims the move is due to the walls' high cost as well as pollution caused by the chemicals used in the care of these areas. However, the plants used for the vertical gardens are no different from those in other public parks and gardens and are subject to the same care and chemicals.
People continue to visit public parks, even bringing their children, and do not experience any side effects from the pollutant chemicals used on the plants, so why should the case for the roadside be any different? Moreover, plants in public parks and gardens are prone to vandalism whereas vertical gardens on roadsides are not.
The graffiti process in these areas has negative environmental effects with an average of 11,000 to 15,000 liters of paint being used, meaning at least 5-10 tons of volatile organic compounds will be released into the air. In addition to destroying the benefits of green vegetation, volatile organic compounds are formed as a result of the painting that emits compounds into the air, which are extremely harmful to health. When these compounds interact with NO2 gas released from vehicles it causes the formation of ground-level ozone, which is extremely harmful. Ground-level ozone, whose effects will gradually increase with hot weather, puts those with respiratory conditions such as asthma at great risk.
Colorful graffiti is more likely to distract drivers with dark colors absorbing more solar energy than concrete would, causing temperatures to further rise. The murals decompose faster due to sunlight and other meteorological factors and therefore will inevitably need to be renewed – an inevitable financial burden that eliminates the benefits the vertical gardens offered.
The destruction of a beneficial, functioning system – instead of utilizing the one million square meters of available wall in Istanbul – highlights the lack of planning that has gone into the move.
In our world where the effects of global warming are increasing day by day as heat islands emerge and high air pollution makes city centers more uninhabitable the importance of greenery per square meter increases. Environmental investments should increase rather than eliminating the existing ones.
As we have always said, the environment is an issue that cannot be politicized. Since all environmental investments will prevent health costs, we consider a healthy environment a form of preventive medicine. In this respect, we call on the authorities to do their duty. Let us not destroy the refreshing living walls but rather increase their number as it will benefit us all.
*Deputy Minister at the Republic of Turkey's Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, chief climate change envoy
Tags: VERTICAL GARDEN ISTANBUL ISTANBUL METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY ENVIRONMENT
An Urban's Rural View - Vertical Farming Is Looking Up
It looks like some of the big boys in agriculture are finally taking vertical farming seriously
11/2/2020
By Urban C Lehner , Editor Emeritus
Connect with Urban: @urbanize
It looks like some of the big boys in agriculture are finally taking vertical farming seriously.
Last month one of the biggest, the berry behemoth Driscoll's, became an investor in and joint venture partner of Plenty Unlimited, an indoor vertical-farming startup. (https://www.businesswire.com/…) (https://agfundernews.com/…) From Driscoll's and Japanese tech investor SoftBank, Plenty is getting $140 million, bringing its total funding to $500 million. More importantly, it's getting to work with Driscoll's on growing strawberries indoors.
Entrepreneurs have been trying to make a go of indoor vertical farming since 1999 when Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier and his students developed the concept. It seemed like a no-brainer to grow food close to where it would be consumed, with high yields on minimal acreage, with less water and fewer if any chemicals, without soil in some iterations, and without fear of droughts, fires, floods, frost or high winds.
The disadvantages were less obvious -- but debilitating. For conventional farms, the sun provides free photosynthesis. For farms inside buildings, the cost of artificial lighting is horrific, and the cost of climate control makes matters worse. An Irish researcher contends that in the United Kingdom, indoor farms require more than ten times the energy of heated greenhouses. He recommends rooftops for those who want to grow food in cities. (https://theconversation.com/…)
Other disadvantages include high costs for labor, rent, and capital-equipment depreciation. "Despite the advances that have been made in controlled environment agriculture, it isn't quite ready for prime time and many opportunities for innovation remain," a Cambridge Consultants paper concluded. (https://www.cambridgeconsultants.com/…)
Vertical farmers, venture capitalists, consultants, academics, and others are doing cartwheels trying to solve these problems. Plenty Unlimited uses wind power and solar cells to generate its electricity and has developed special forms of plastic LED lights. A University of Florida researcher is working on pulsing light -- five seconds on, 10 or 20 seconds off -- and seeing signs that it cuts lighting costs substantially without hindering plant growth. (https://theconversation.com/…)
While depreciation costs are high, capital is available; fearless investors are hurling money at the sector. Rent costs could start coming down, too. With the pandemic encouraging more work from home, there will be surplus space in office buildings. (On the other hand, some vertical farms sell directly to restaurants, which the pandemic has been hard on.)
Though making progress, vertical farming remains a tiny corner of the multi-trillion-dollar agriculture and food business. A market research firm estimated it at $212 million in 2019 and predicted it would hit $1.4 billion by 2027. (https://www.prnewswire.com/…) When I last covered this subject in 2015, many vertical farms were still losing money. It's likely many lose money today. (https://www.dtnpf.com/…)
All that said, vertical farming has come a long way in the last few years. Hundreds of operations have germinated and sprouted in countries around the world. There have been innovations in lighting and climate control.
After years of growing mostly leafy greens and herbs, vertical farms are preparing to add crops like potatoes, tomatoes, and blueberries. As vertical-farm pioneer Despommier wrote in the Wall Street Journal recently, "Vertical farms are no longer some futuristic fantasy." (https://www.wsj.com/…)
As an example, Despommier cited Infarm, a company that was started in Israel, is now headquartered in Berlin and employs 400 people in 40 countries, mostly European. According to Despommier, who serves as an unpaid adviser to Infarm, the company provides grocery stores with automated, hydroponic systems that allow them to grow food in their produce aisles.
"Each store selects its own mix of greens and herbs, and consumers are encouraged to choose, taste and harvest from a menu growing right in front of them," he wrote. You can't cut transportation costs much more or provide much greater freshness.
And now, to move the sector further forward, comes Driscoll's and Plenty.
You can see the benefits to Plenty in this deal. They go beyond the $140 million and the expansion into a new and promising product, strawberries. They're hitching their wagon to a company that controls about a third of the $6 billion U.S. berry market. It has proprietary genetics and a team of geneticists developing new products. It has a recognized brand name and marketing muscle; the "clamshell" berry package was its idea. (https://www.newyorker.com/…)
What does Driscoll's get out of the arrangement? Plenty, too, has plenty to offer a partner. It says its Laramie, Wyoming, farm -- where Driscoll's berries will be grown -- is "the largest privately-owned vertical farm research and development center in the world." Plenty says it's "currently building the world's highest-output, vertical, indoor farm in Compton, California." https://www.businesswire.com/…)
But why vertical farming in the first place? Bloomberg emphasized Driscoll's desire to learn robotics from Plenty, whose farms are highly automated. Labor is a big part of Driscoll's cost structure and immigrant labor is becoming scarcer in the U.S. (https://www.bloomberg.com/…)
The Financial Times pointed to the fires in Driscoll's home state of California. A Driscoll's executive told the FT that instead of moving a whole farm farther up the mountain to get away from them, it can move to vertical farms. (https://www.ft.com/…)
The FT also mentioned "deglobalization," by which it apparently meant that in the future there may be less cross-border trade in food. That would encourage big players like Driscoll's to produce locally. The FT noted that two of Driscoll's biggest markets are in Hong Kong and the Arab world. It won't grow berries outside in either place but could grow them vertically indoors.
Whatever the reasons, what Driscoll's has done is big. Of all the progress vertical farming has made over the last several years, getting the big boys in ag to take it seriously is arguably the most important.
Urban Lehner can be reached at urbanize@gmail.com
US: Growing Up: Vertical Farming Makes the Most of Limited Space
To increase agricultural yields, a CALS horticultural scientist and his students are literally looking up. They want to know if growing plants indoors in vertically stacked layers could be part of the solution to feeding a fast-growing world population as farmland becomes scarcer
Horticultural scientist Ricardo Hernandez and Mark Watson work with lettuce plants inside the vertical farm near the JC Raulston Arboretum. (2019)
October 26, 2020 | Dee Shore
To increase agricultural yields, a CALS horticultural scientist and his students are literally looking up. They want to know if growing plants indoors in vertically stacked layers could be part of the solution to feeding a fast-growing world population as farmland becomes scarcer.
Ricardo Hernandez, a leading expert on growing plants in controlled environments, is exploring ways to make vertical farming profitable and sustainable. He and his students have modified a donated shipping container to grow produce and herbs on campus.
Mark Watson, who graduated in May, says that indoor vertical farming has several advantages. It allows for year-round production, and it’s less susceptible to weather extremes. It can also be used in urban settings, potentially reducing food losses that occur in getting crops from rural farms to tables.
Still, substantial challenges remain. Indoor production requires significant energy, which pushes farmers’ costs up.
Watson hadn’t heard of vertical farming before he took Hernandez’s controlled-environment horticulture class in 2019. He went on to win a national award for independent research on the best temperature and humidity to allow tomato plants to heal indoors after being grafted onto the rootstocks of other plants.
He also served as president of NC State’s Vertical Farms Club, which is testing leafy greens and other food crops in the shipping container and exploring marketing opportunities. The club includes students in horticulture, plant and microbial biology, crop and soil sciences, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical and aerospace engineering.
Hernandez sees possibilities for farmers to raise high-value seedlings in vertical farms. As he explains, “Using a controlled environment can be key, because we can grow plants in high density and manipulate the environment—the lighting, the temperature, air movements and carbon dioxide concentrations—to produce the best seedlings possible.”
Plenty Bags $140m In Funding For Its Indoor Farming Tech
The Series D round was led by existing investor, SoftBank Vision Fund 1, with participation from new investor Driscoll’s, a California-based agriculture business that claims to control around one-third of the $6bn berry market in the US
10/14/20
Image: Plenty
Californian Indoor Agriculture Business Plenty
Has Raised $140m In Its Latest Funding Round,
Bringing The Total Raised By The Start-Up To $500m
On Wednesday (14 October), San Francisco vertical farming business Plenty announced that it has raised $140m in Series D funding.
The Series D round was led by existing investor, SoftBank Vision Fund 1, with participation from new investor Driscoll’s, a California-based agriculture business that claims to control around one-third of the $6bn berry market in the US.
Plenty, which was previously listed as an urban agriculture start-up to watch on Siliconrepublic.com, plans to use the latest round of funding to fuel growth and execute new commercial collaborations with Driscoll’s and US grocery business Albertsons.
Plenty’s technology
Plenty was co-founded by Matt Barnard, Jack Oslan, Nate Mazonson, and Nate Storey in 2014. The company’s vertical farming technology can grow produce all year round, and Plenty claims that it uses 99pc less land and 95pc less water to grow crops than traditional methods.
Plenty’s San Francisco farm uses 100pc renewable energy and according to the company, the firm can grow 1,500 acres of produce in a building the size of a big-box grocery store.
To date, Plenty has raised more than $500m from investors including Bezos Expeditions, Innovation Endeavors, and DCM Ventures. Plenty is currently developing a new indoor farm in Compton, California, which the start-up believes could become the world’s highest-output vertical farm.
Jeff Housenbold, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, said: “In just 30 years’ time, the world will need 70pc more food than we currently produce, requiring more efficient use of land and water. Without innovation in agriculture, this demand will be impossible to meet.
“We believe Plenty is transforming the way food is made and are pleased to continue supporting their mission to build sustainable, intelligent farms that deliver healthy, safe produce with a focus on premium flavour.”
Plenty’s agriculture platform uses data analytics, machine learning, and customized lighting to iterate at high speeds, using 200 years’ worth of growing data. The company said that it has seen a 700pc yield improvement in leafy greens over the last 24 months by using this data.
Barnard, who serves as chief executive of Plenty, said: “The recent disruptions in the global supply chain caused by the west coast wildfires and Covid-19 have highlighted how quickly our access to quality produce can be thwarted.
“Plenty’s controlled and resilient farms and local distribution made it easy for us to scale quickly, even during the pandemic, demonstrating that our indoor, vertical farm flourishes under environmental pressures and delivers delicious greens along with the sales that come with it.”
Kelly Earley is a journalist with Siliconrepublic.com
RELATED: ANALYTICS, FOOD, AGRITECH, FUNDING AND INVESTMENT, SAN FRANCISCO, AGRICULTURE
How Vertical Farming Helps Save Water
In many places around the world, for example in the Middle East, water resources are limited and their price is high. Reducing water consumption on a vertical farm in such regions can have a very positive economic and environmental impact
Generally, vertical farming uses 95% less water than traditional farming. At iFarm we have improved this indicator.
In many places around the world, for example in the Middle East, water resources are limited and their price is high. Reducing water consumption on a vertical farm in such regions can have a very positive economic and environmental impact. iFarm engineers have recently developed and patented a dehumidification system allowing to reuse the water that farm plants evaporate during growth.
How does it work? Let's take a look at a vertical farm with a cultivation area of 1000 m2. It produces 2.5 tons of fresh salads and herbs every month. To get such a yield, you need 2020 liters of water daily, most of which — 1400 liters — is used for plant nutrition. However, the daily actual water consumption is almost three times less. 2020 liters are poured into the system once, and then the "engineering magic" begins.
At iFarm vertical farms, we use flow hydroponics, i.e the roots of plants are constantly placed in the nutrient solution and consume it whenever they need, getting all the macro- and microelements in the right ratio and concentration.
From 1400 liters of the water, plants use only 80 liters for weight gain (consumption of nutrients from a larger volume is a prerequisite). The remaining 1 320 liters the plants simply evaporate. In the process of transpiration, a lettuce leaf can evaporate an amount of water that exceeds its own weight many times. We collect this water with air conditioners and dehumidifiers, purify it and reuse it in production, maintaining the optimal humidity inside at 70%.
The second "source" of water on the farm is the water supply system — another 700 liters are collected from it and then run through a special filtration unit, resulting in 560 liters of purified and 140 liters of untreated water. The latter is collected in a special tank for technical needs (washing hands, pallets, floors, etc.).
Thus in order to save water, we started collecting it from air conditioners and dehumidifiers that were originally designed to maintain optimal moisture on the farm. This approach allows the production to use only 700 liters of tap water per day, which is three times less than growing plants in conventional hydroponic greenhouses.
We are currently improving the automation of the nutrient solution replacement. The system will determine what macro- and microelements are missing in the trays at a given time and adjust them. According to the calculations of engineers, this will reduce the number of times the sewerage has to be drained completely and almost halve its consumption — from 360 liters to 150 liters. The amount of tap water required by a vertical farm to produce delicious and reach yields then will be just 440 liters, which is five times less than what a hydroponic greenhouse needs.
16.10.2020
The Farm Of The Future Might Be In Compton. Inside A Warehouse. And Run Partly By Robots
Plenty wants to build at least 500 of these vertical farms around the planet, especially in densely populated cities of at least 1 million people
BY STEFAN A. SLATER IN FOOD
OCTOBER 6, 2020
Lettuce grows in a vertical farm at Urban Crop Solutions in Waregem, Belgium, on September 20, 2016. (JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)
From the outside, the gray and white warehouse near the corner of Oris Street and Mona Boulevard seems like a thousand other mundane Southern California buildings. But the interior, once completed, will resemble a sketch from a futurist's daydreams. If all goes well, the 95,000-square-foot Compton facility will house rows of hydroponic towers organized into emerald walls of non-GMO, pesticide-free leafy greens. These plants won't rely on sunlight in order to grow. Gleaming LED lamps will provide all the light the crops could ever want. Robots will transport seedlings while other machines move the towers as part of an orchestrated production process. Picture a grow room in a futuristic Martian colony and you're probably on the right track.
The exterior of Plenty's vertical farming facility in Compton. (Stefan Slater for LAist)
The operation is run by Plenty, a San Francisco-based startup that uses vertical farming to create high-quality, nutritious plants "you'd actually want to eat" (their words). Stated another way, they grow crops, often without natural light or soil, in vertically stacked beds in enclosed and controlled environments.
Plenty wants to build at least 500 of these vertical farms around the planet, especially in densely populated cities of at least 1 million people.
The first Plenty farm, in South San Francisco, went into production in 2018 and was upgraded in the summer of 2019 to increase production. For its agricultural second act, the company chose Compton.
A farm operations associate in front of leafy greens growing in vertical towers at Plenty's vertical farming facility in South San Francisco. (Spencer Lowell/Courtesy of Plenty)
Plenty's long-term goals go beyond tasty salad greens. It wants to combat food apartheid by bringing healthy, locally-grown crops to communities that lack access to nutritious produce.
"We want to invest in places where we can serve a large number of people," says Shireen Santosham, the company's head of strategic initiatives. "Compton can help us better serve Los Angeles while also allowing us to invest in a community with a long history of farming."
The goal for Plenty's Compton outpost, once it's running at full capacity, will be to create enough produce to make regular deliveries to hundreds of grocery stores. In early August, the company reached an agreement with Albertsons to provide 430 of its California stores with assorted leafy greens.
Company reps say the Compton site will initially focus on producing kale, arugula, fennel, and bok choy before adding strawberries to its repertoire. They expect prices to be similar to organic leafy greens currently on grocery store shelves.
The company was hoping its Compton farm would be able to bring produce to market by the end of 2020 but the coronavirus pandemic altered that timeline. Plenty now hopes to start its first customer deliveries sometime in 2021.
A view of the grow space at Plenty's vertical farming facility in South San Francisco as seen through the vestibule window. (Spencer Lowell/Courtesy of Plenty)
WHY COMPTON?
Los Angeles has for centuries been a land of citrus groves, peaches, olives, and even vineyards, and Compton was no exception. In the late 1860s, Reverend Griffith Dickenson Compton led roughly 30 people from Stockton to settle in and cultivate the area. Rough weather and tremendous floods nearly destroyed their dreams, but they persisted, and their agricultural efforts eventually began to thrive.
A drawing of the Compton farm and Star Cheese Dairy of Omri J. Bullis in 1880. It was located on Alameda Street, north of El Segundo Blvd. (Security Pacific National Bank Collection/Los Angeles Public Library Collection)
In 1888, Compton donated his land and the area was incorporated as the city of Compton under the condition that a swath of it be zoned for agriculture. That particular area — a 10-block neighborhood sandwiched between downtown Compton and what's now the 91 Freeway — became Richland Farms, known for a variety of crops including pumpkins, sugar beets, and cauliflower. By the 1940s and '50s, Compton had become a working-class suburb. African American families, many of whom had moved to the West Coast to work in military production during World War II, settled there and were drawn to the Richland Farms neighborhood. With its large lots and agricultural zoning, residents could grow crops and raise livestock to provide for their families and their community.
Richland Farms — home of the Compton Cowboys — remains a living link to Compton's agricultural past. Drawing on that history, Plenty began designing and developing its Compton vertical farm (located a few miles north of Richland) in the summer of 2019.
"There is just a rich tradition of farming in Compton, and to have Plenty come back in an innovative way is exciting for our community," Compton Mayor Aja Brown says.
City officials are working with the company to connect its facility with nearby schools so kids can learn about vertical farming and the technologies associated with it.
A farm operations associate tends to plants in the grow space at Plenty's vertical farming facility in South San Francisco. (Spencer Lowell/Courtesy of Plenty)
OK, BUT WHAT EXACTLY IS A VERTICAL FARM?
Compared to traditional field agriculture, which humanity first started tinkering with approximately 12,000 years ago, vertical farming is in its infancy.
One of the first vertical farms was a hydroponic system built-in Armenia sometime before the early 1950s, although there's not much information about it.
The modern vertical farm, at least in the way we think of it, was popularized two decades ago by Dickson Despommier, an emeritus professor of public and environmental health at Columbia University.
Baby kale is grown at AeroFarms on February 19, 2019, in Newark, New Jersey. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
In 1999, he wanted students in his medical ecology class to explore ways they could feed New York's residents on crops grown entirely within the city. They started with rooftop gardens but those barely made a dent in the amount of food they needed. Then, Despommier remembered the city's abandoned buildings. "What if you could fill up those buildings with the grow system that you've instituted on the rooftop and just increase food production?" he says.
The result was a multi-level, urban farm featuring layers of crops stacked on top of one another.
Greens growing at Bowery Farming, a vertical farm in Kearny, New Jersey, on January 28, 2019. (DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)
Until the 21st century, commercial vertical farming seemed like the stuff of utopias, a grand if impractical dream evangelized by a handful of futurists and agricultural techies. But the last few years have seen a jump in interest — and venture capital. Between 2016 and 2017, investments in vertical farming grew nearly eightfold.
In 2017, Plenty received $200 million from several high-profile investors including Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. One of its East Coast competitors, Bowery Farming, received a $90 million investment from Google Ventures.
The UAE's Badia Farms in Dubai, seen on August 4, 2020, uses hydroponic technology and vertical growing towers to produce fruits and vegetables year-round. (KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)
AeroFarms, which uses aeroponics to grow produce, scored $40 million from IKEA and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid of Dubai. The United Arab Emirates is also hoping vertical farming will boost the country's limited domestic food production. The Abu Dhabi Investment Office sunk $100 million into four ag-tech companies, including Aerofarms, which plans to build a new vertical farm and R&D center in Abu Dhabi.
Two farm operations associates tend to plants in the grow space at Plenty's vertical farming facility in South San Francisco. (Spencer Lowell/Courtesy of Plenty)
WHY DO WE NEED THEM?
Vertical farming is all about efficiency. The process allows growers to control and monitor light, oxygen, nutrients, temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels. In a vertical farm, you don't need to wait for the right season. Growth and harvesting can occur year-round.
Plenty's approach relies on automation, intricate sensors, machine learning and hydroponic grow towers where plants are cultivated in a nutrient-rich water solution instead of soil. With this method, the company claims it can grow 350 times as much produce, per square foot, as a conventional, outdoor farm — all while consuming a fraction of the water.
"[Vertical farms] are much more water-use efficient than field production," Neil Mattson, associate professor of plant science at Cornell University, says.
Santosham claims Plenty's vertical farms will use "about 1% of the land and 5% of the water" required by a comparable traditional farm.
Producing more food with less land is a must if we want to keep humanity fed.
A worker tends to basilicum plants at an indoor vertical farm at Colruyt Group in Halle, Belgium on March 3, 2020. (THIERRY ROGE/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)
By 2050, Earth will have 9.8 billion residents and two-thirds of them will probably live in a city. In places like Los Angeles or New York, where real estate doesn't come cheap, vertical farms could be installed without taking up much space.
Produce from vertical farms would also be less likely to spoil since it would, in theory, only travel a few miles to the nearest grocery store, market or restaurant, instead of sitting on a plane or cargo ship for hundreds or thousands of miles.
Plus, vertical farms could help make our food supply chain more resilient.
Since March, the pandemic has impacted everything from beans to strawberries. When the hospitality industry shut down, some farmers had buyers for only half of their crops, so they had to let them rot or plow them back into the soil. Dairy farmers dumped millions of gallons of milk. Meat plants have had to shut down due to COVID-19 outbreaks. Plus, the workers who pick the crops, raise the cows and run the slaughterhouses have been ravaged by the virus. And all of this has been happening while hunger skyrockets. In the last six months, food banks have seen a surge in demand, in some cases by as much as 600% percent.
"I don't think all of our food is going to come from urban production," Mattson says. "It does add diversity to our food supply chain to have some of our produce — the nutrient-dense foods — come from close to where they're consumed."
With COVID-19 exposing the weaknesses in our food supply chain, Mattson believes indoor growing (which includes vertical farming and greenhouses) and more localized production might get their moment in the high-intensity LED spotlight: "We're going to see these trends happen even quicker than if we hadn't encountered COVID."
The central processing area at Plenty's vertical farming facility in South San Francisco. (Spencer Lowell/Courtesy of Plenty)
A PEEK INSIDE
The Compton farm is still under construction but the company is using its existing South San Francisco facility as a template.
That facility, which started in 2015 as a container farm, features 50,000 square feet of production space and a roughly 10,000-square foot grow room. It provides produce to approximately 40 grocery stores and runs entirely on solar and wind power.
The Compton farm will feature a similar grow system. Employees, referred to as growers, will oversee the process of cultivating seeds into seedlings. Robotics will transfer the seedlings to large vertical grow towers, arranged to form what looks like a vast, green wall.
The amount of time produce spends in the grow room depends on the crop. Nate Storey, chief science officer and co-founder of Plenty, explains that one leafy green crop might go through the entire process from seedling production to harvesting in two to three weeks. That's significantly less time than if those crops were grown via traditional agriculture.
Laborers harvest romaine lettuce using a machine with heavy plastic dividers that separate them from each other on April 27, 2020, in Greenfield, Monterey County, California. (Brent Stirton/Getty Images)
On a large, outdoor farm in the Salinas Valley, baby kale would typically require 35 to 50 days, depending on the time of year, before it was ready for harvest, according to Richard Smith, a University of California Cooperative Extension vegetable advisor for the Central Coast.
"For something like lettuce, where you might be waiting for several weeks in the field, we're carving a significant amount of time off that production schedule," Storey says.
A post-harvest associate inspects produce for packaging at Plenty's vertical farming facility in South San Francisco. (Spencer Lowell/Courtesy of Plenty)
Once the plants spend some time in Plenty's grow room, robots pick up the towers and retrieve the produce, which is moved to a processing area where it's packaged. Through it all, human hands never touch the food.
"We're able to create an environment that's so favorable to plants and not pathogens or pests that we can deliver a product without ever applying pesticides, which is a big win," says Nick Kalayjian, senior vice president of engineering at Plenty.
In fact, without bugs or human contact, he claims Plenty's produce doesn't need to be washed. Kalayjian also says the small adjustments in temperature, water, nutrients and light result in produce that's at the peak of flavor.
Plenty sent me samples of their baby kale, baby arugula and Sweet Sunrise mix, a combo of fennel, beet leaves and other greens. Did visions of tree stars seize me and shatter all perception of space and time? No. But they did taste exceptionally fresh. The flavors were strong, clean and... just good. I found myself snacking on the Sunrise mix straight from the package, something I never do with greens.
A farm operations associate tends to plants in the grow space at Plenty's vertical farming facility in South San Francisco. (Spencer Lowell/Courtesy of Plenty)
WHERE DO WE GROW FROM HERE?
Vertical farms aren't cheap to build. They also require a lot of energy to run, much more than conventional field agriculture or greenhouses. "That, to me, is one of the big sticking points," Mattson says.
In a 2020 study, Mattson and other Cornell University researchers studied the economic and environmental impacts of bringing leaf lettuce to U.S. cities via field-based agriculture vs. CEA (controlled environmental agriculture) supply chains such as greenhouses and vertical farms.
"We had almost the same carbon footprint of growing in a greenhouse in New York City as compared to field growing and shipping 3,000 miles. The vertical farm had about twice the carbon footprint of either of those," Mattson says.
In Plenty's case, making sure their farms operate on sustainable, renewable power is a priority. The South San Francisco facility has a power purchase agreement in place with a renewable provider to supply the farm with sustainable energy. Plenty wants its Compton farm to run entirely on clean energy but that won't happen until some undetermined point in the future. Company reps couldn't offer a more precise timeline on when that might happen.
Various leafy greens grow in vertical towers at Plenty's vertical farming facility in South San Francisco. (Spencer Lowell/Courtesy of Plenty)
Warehouse-sized vertical farms may someday be common sights in major cities but it'll take time to scale up to that level. No one, except maybe the most optimistic futurists, thinks vertical farming is going to overtake field agriculture anytime soon.
"We're an additive technology, not a replacement technology. We simplify the supply chain and allow domestic production in places that don't currently have it," Kalayjian says.
A worker tends to lettuce under artificial lights at the Pink Farms warehouse in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 28, 2020. (JONNE RORIZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Although vertical farming is still in its earliest stages, Despommier urges us to imagine how it might work in 50 years. "We're looking at a sort of Stanley Steamer [car], not even a Ford Model T," he says, "We're looking at the early trials and tribulations of an industry that wants to supply all of your food. Look how fast it took America to go from no cars to two cars per person."
Maybe by the time humanity has figured out how to colonize other planets and build Star Trek-style replicators, the urban dwellers of earth will rely on skyscraper-style vertical farms. Maybe thousand-acre fields of fruit and vegetables will someday look as obsolete as rotary phones. Until then, we'll be playing in the dirt, just as we've done for thousands of years.
US - NEW YORK: Yemi Amu’s Urban Farming Concept Takes Root In The Big Apple
Earth is the only home we have. If we don’t start now to turn around the environmental damage we have caused, we might not be around to save it and the plants and animals that we depend on
By Tony Binns | October 6, 2020
Earth is the only home we have. If we don’t start now to turn around the environmental damage we have caused, we might not be around to save it and the plants and animals that we depend on. As a possible solution, many metropolitan cities are turning to urban farming and aquaponics. In Brooklyn, New York, Nigerian-born Yemi Amu has been a part of this movement by opening the city’s only teaching aquaponics farm, Oko Farms.
What is aquaponics and why is it important to the sustainability of our planet?
Aquaponics is farming in water. It is the cultivation of fish and plants together in a symbiotic aquatic ecosystem whereby fish waste provides nutrients for plants while plant roots filter the water for the fish. This farming method allows you to raise both fish and plants while using up to 80% less water than traditional farming. Aquaponics is also scalable and can occur both indoors and outdoors.
As we deal with the environmental impacts of climate change including soil erosion and drought, alternative growing methods like aquaponics can help create food security for vulnerable communities.
What is Oko Farms and how did it find a home in Brooklyn?
Oko Farms is an aquaponics farming and education company in Brooklyn. In 2013, we converted an abandoned lot in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, into the Oko Farms Aquaponics Education center — NYC’s first outdoor — and only publicly accessible — aquatic farm. We were able to acquire the lot through a partnership with the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation and GreenThumb NYC.
In addition to growing a wide variety of vegetables and fish, we provide workshops, tours, and support individuals and organizations with setting up their own aquaponics farms.
What type of produce and fish do you grow on your farm?
We grow a variety of vegetables on our farm, including leafy greens, herbs, onions, tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, cabbage, sorghum, rice, millet, squash, etc. We also raise catfish, bluegill, tilapia, goldfish, and koi
How did you get into aquaponics?
I learned about aquaponics while I was managing a rooftop farm that I helped to create. The rooftop farm was located at a housing facility for formerly homeless adults in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in 2011. One of the neighborhood volunteers introduced me to aquaponics and I was attracted to the fact that it saves water while producing both fish and vegetables. After that, I spent a couple of years studying and visiting aquaponics farms in Florida and the Midwest.
Are there career opportunities for people of color in the field?
Aquaponics farming is a great option for people of color interested in a career in farming, especially those living in urban areas. Access to land for farming can be challenging for people of color in the U.S, but some cities like Detroit, Philadelphia, and Atlanta have urban ag[riculture] policies that support farmers of color with land access.
For more information, visit www.okofarms.org.
Lead photo: Yemi Amu, director of Oko Farms (Photo courtesy of Harrison Chen)
Tenders Awarded To Turn 9 HDB Carpark Rooftops Into Urban Farming Sites
With these farming systems, the sites have the potential to collectively produce around 1,600 tonnes of vegetables annually"
September 30, 2020
SINGAPORE - Parked cars will soon make way for growing vegetables as tenders were awarded for urban farming at nine carpark rooftops by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) on Wednesday (Sept 30).
The sites, which are rooftops of Housing Board multi-storey carparks, comprise five single sites and two clusters of two sites each. They were awarded to six tenderers.
Each site has a term of up to three years.
The highest tender of $90,000 for annual rent was awarded to IT Meng Landscape and Construction for a cluster site in Jurong West, with one site spanning a total area of 3,311 sq m - three-fifths of a football field - and the other at 2,974 sq m.
Other carpark locations include Choa Chu Kang, Tampines, Hougang, Ang Mo Kio, Toa Payoh, and Sembawang.
SFA chief executive Lim Kok Thai said: "The successful tenderers' proposals included hydroponic and vertical farming systems with a variety of innovative features such as IoT (Internet of Things), blockchain technology and automated climate control."
With these farming systems, the sites have the potential to collectively produce around 1,600 tonnes of vegetables annually."
He added: "We look forward to seeing these HDB multi-storey carpark rooftops transform into productive vegetable farms that will contribute to Singapore's '30 by 30' goal, and we will render assistance and guidance to farms where needed."
The 30 by 30 goal refers to Singapore's aim to produce 30 percent of the country's nutritional needs locally by 2030.
Ms. Phoebe Xie, 30, director and co-founder of local urban technology company AbyFarm, was one of the six who successfully tendered for the carpark rooftop spaces. With the 3,171 sq m site at Ang Mo Kio, the company hopes to begin construction of the farm in the next few months, and to have its launch date within the first half of next year. Using a combination of hydroponics and aeroponics vertical farming methods, the farming process is expected to use 90 percent less water, and it is said to be 10 times more productive compared to traditional methods. “The farm will be entirely automated, with real-time technology used to control the environment within the green house, and to consistently monitor the crops and early identify the possibility of bad crops, which will ensure the quality of our crops,” she said. With an expected yield of 200 tonnes of fruits and vegetables each year, the company is looking to harvest local favourites, such as kang kong and kailan as well as other types of produce such as mushrooms, figs, and Japanese melon. Co-founder of SG Veg Farms Eyleen Goh, 46, who secured a cluster site at Sembawang, said the company is expecting around 80 to 100 tonnes of vegetables per site each year. The company will be selling most of its produce to nearby supermarkets, though it hopes to host weekend markets for residents to buy its vegetables.
Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that “the challenges of Covid-19 and climate change, together with other trade and environmental pressures, pose a threat to Singapore’s supply of critical resources such as food”.
As land is scarce in Singapore, the SFA has been “unlocking alternative spaces to grow food, such as vacant buildings, like the former Henderson Secondary School and carpark rooftops”.“
Over the next few years, we will be master-planning the larger Lim Chu Kang area and will be engaging the stakeholders and the public in the process,” she said, adding that there are longer-term plans in place to “expand agriculture in the Lim Chu Kang area and aquaculture off (Singapore’s) southern coast”.
Mr. Melvin Chow, senior director of SFA's food supply resilience division, said in May that the launch of the tender for the nine sites came as a result of growing interest from both the industry and the public towards urban farming in community spaces.
Last year, a pilot urban farm - spanning 1,900 sq m - was launched at a multi-storey HDB carpark in Ang Mo Kio. Known as the Citiponics Farm, it aims to grow up to four tonnes of vegetables a month.
The tender for the nine sites, which was launched on May 12, had closed on June 16, and the sites were awarded using the price-quality tender method, where both the bid price and the quality attributes, such as production output, design, and site layout, as well as business and marketing plans, were factored into the tender evaluation.
The SFA said it will be working with HDB to tender out more multi-storey carpark rooftop sites for urban farming in the fourth quarter of the year, as the move is also in line with HDB's Green Towns Programme to cool HDB towns through the use of greenery, such as on carpark rooftops.
More details of these plans for tender will be released at a later date.
Lead Photo: Local agri-tech firm Citiponics' vertical farming plot at the multi-storey carpark rooftop at Block 700 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6.ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
GERMANY: ‘Urban Farming’: Are Rooftop Fields The Future?
Large cities offer millions of square meters of unused roof space. Why aren’t they being converted to cultivate crops? The potential seems enormous, but “urban farming” is still in its infancy. EURACTIV Germany reports.
By Florence Schulz | EURACTIV.de
Translated by Sarah Lawton | September 30, 2020
Blueprint of a planned roof garden in Berlin. Up to two million square meters of roof space could be used for plant cultivation in Germany's capital alone. But the investment costs are still relatively high. [© Dachfarm Berlin]
This article is part of our special report New terminologies in sustainable food systems.
Large cities offer millions of square meters of unused roof space. Why aren’t they being converted to cultivate crops? The potential seems enormous, but “urban farming” is still in its infancy. EURACTIV Germany reports.
Salad from the roof of the supermarket or tomatoes from the facade of a high-rise building? What sounds like fiction is already a reality in some cities, albeit on a small scale. Urban farming is not a new concept, but one that has hardly been exploited to date.
Cultivating fruits and vegetables could experience a boom in the coming decades. After all, the human population is growing rapidly and is increasingly settling in cities. More than half of this population is already living in cities, and by the middle of the century, around 66% of people are expected to be living in cities – out of a world population of 9.7 billion.
More food also means correspondingly more demand for farmland, but this already accounts for 42% of the global land area.
Another problem is transport. According to the Fraunhofer Institute, around 12% of agricultural emissions are attributable to this alone.
As the World Summit on Biodiversity opens on Wednesday (30 September), new measures to halt its decline are being discussed, including the concept of payments for environmental services, which is currently widely debated in France and Europe. EURACTIV France reports.
Urban gardens for times of crisis
Could urban farming be part of the solution? One thing is certain: The idea is not new. Until the 19th century, cultivating crops was common practice within cities. When they disappeared, private allotment gardens spread.
Interestingly, a new trend is emerging: self-sufficiency is booming in the city, especially in times of crisis.
Often with success, as the British example shows: During World War Two, the government launched the “Dig for Victory” campaign. As a result, up to 50% of fruit and vegetables were produced by the population in allotment gardens.
In Spain, during the economic crisis, the proportion of allotment plots and community gardens increased six-fold between 2006 and 2014.
Apart from private cultivation, however, there are hardly any places where agriculture takes place on a larger scale in cities.
Roof gardens of the future use domestic heat and rainwater
In Europe, urban farming is still in its infancy.
“Every morning, I ask myself why not many more cities invest in it,” says Jörg Finkbeiner, architect, and co-founder of the Berlin network ‘Dachfarm.’ The consortium consists of gardeners, agro scientists, and architects, who together plan greenhouses for growing crops in the city.
However, Finkbeiner believes that this cannot be the case with urban farming, because most buildings are not statically suitable for it: “If you put crops in tubs on a roof and water them, you can quickly achieve 300 kilograms per square meter. Most buildings can’t support that.”
Dachfarm, therefore, relies on roof structures that are as light as possible and are built on top of existing buildings. The plants grow either in substrates such as pumice, lava or compost, as these are much lighter than soil or in hydroponic systems, where the nutrient supply is provided directly via a nutrient solution.
The glass gardens are designed to operate as efficiently as possible by using the waste heat from the building, collecting rainwater, or recycling greywater from households.
The concept of soil carbon sequestration, a cornerstone of regenerative farming, is regaining strength as a key measure in both climate mitigation and adaptation.
With Dachfarm, we want to show that the increasing amount of pavement in cities and the loss of arable land do not contradict themselves, Finkbeiner told EURACTIV.de.
Other advantages are that roof gardens can be used to produce close to the consumer and “on-demand,” so to speak, eliminating long transport routes or the need to store food. But not every type of agricultural cultivation is structurally possible, Finkbeiner points out. Besides, there are many open questions particularly in terms of building codes.
Bologna and Amsterdam with great potential
For supermarkets or restaurants, the own roof garden could be an attractive concept.
However, it is not worthwhile for everyone, because investment costs are still comparatively high and the food harvested in this way is more expensive.
A 2017 study by the European Parliament’s Scientific Service (EPRS) also came to the same conclusion: urban agriculture is “associated with considerable ecological, social and health benefits,” but can increase biodiversity and counteract the heating of cities.
However, this is also associated with high operating costs, for example for electricity, and is in competition with other types of use, for example for solar energy systems. In addition, the report says, tensions between “traditional and innovative farmers” and an increase in land values are also concerns.
There are no reliable figures on how widespread urban farming is in the EU. However, according to the ERPS evaluation, the potential could be huge, depending on the city.
In Bologna, for example, more than three-quarters of the vegetables consumed there could be grown in roof gardens. In Amsterdam, where currently only 0.0018% of food is produced locally, up to 90% of the fruit and vegetables consumed could be grown.
In a clear nod to the strategic importance of agroforestry, the term has now cropped up in both the European Green Deal, the European Commission’s roadmap for making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, and the EU’s flagship new food policy, the Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy.
Commission has no plans special funding
These figures seem optimistic, as they would probably require strong political support. In the current EU Common Agricultural Policy, urban farming projects can theoretically be financed with funds from both pillars as well as from the European Social Fund and the Regional Development Fund, but this is at the discretion of the member states.
Further support is not in sight, as the Commission “currently has no plans to coordinate strategies for urban agriculture beyond different levels of government,” according to the response EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski gave in the European Parliament in May.
However, a planning study on the topic is currently being prepared. This should be completed this autumn.
[Edited by Gerardo Fortuna/Zoran Radosavljevic]
EURACTIV's editorial content is independent from the views of our sponsors.
Today’s Rooftops Are Increasingly Becoming Green Spaces As Part of A Drive Towards Cleaner Cities
Today, there are often financial incentives for going green. In Hamburg, green roofing measures for both residential and commercial buildings are subsidized with up to €50,000 via the Hamburg IFB bank
September 23, 2020
Contributors: Erin Williams & Isabel Scruby
Take a bird’s eye tour of many of the world’s well-known cities and there’s one noticeable feature they have in common: a growing number of green roofs.
Whether it’s carefully cultivated gardens on Chicago’s skyscrapers, urban farms nestled among Hong Kong’s towers, or grassy layers atop many of Copenhagen’s large buildings, more cities have brought in planning laws mandating green roofs on new developments.
Toronto, for example, introduced laws for new buildings or extensions greater than 21,000 square feet back in 2009. Since then, developers have had to cover between 20 and 60 percent of their buildings with vegetation – and while they can opt-out for a fee, fewer than 10 percent choose to do so, according to data from Toronto’s City Hall.
Other cities have opted for more flexibility. In San Francisco, 15 to 30 percent of roof space on new buildings must incorporate solar panels, green roofs, or both.
“Local government policy has and continues to be the major game changer as more cities aim to improve air quality, protect against flooding and heat stress during heatwaves, and build nature back into the urban environment,” explains Isabel Scruby, Planning, Development & Heritage consultant at JLL.
It’s a far cry from when green roofs first appeared 50 years ago when it was often charities or housing cooperatives leading the charge in German cities such as Düsseldorf and Stuttgart, today considered Europe’s green roof capital.
Driving a greener future
Today, there are often financial incentives for going green. In Hamburg, green roofing measures for both residential and commercial buildings are subsidized with up to €50,000 via the Hamburg IFB bank.
In America, Washington DC’s stormwater regulations and Philadelphia’s tax credit scheme both encourage green roofs.
In London, there are no such incentives. However, it’s now home to some 42 percent of the UK’s overall green roof space, in part through residential schemes such as Barnet’s Collingdale Gardens and Islington Square.
“Since 2008, there has been a clear drive in the uptake of urban greenery in London – specifically living walls and green roofs – as part of the Living Roofs and Walls Policy,” says Scruby.
The challenge is for those areas where there are low levels of greenery to improve, says Erin Williams, consultant in JLL’s Upstream Sustainability Services team.
“That will require more developers and existing real estate owners to embrace to the idea.”
While there are certainly practical issues to overcome, from transporting materials onto the roofs to ongoing irrigation and stormwater management, there are also benefits for investors and tenants.
“Developers or redevelopers sometimes need convincing of the benefits of a green roof on a property’s long-term value and energy efficiency,” says Williams.
While utility costs vary between cities, the National Research Council of Canada estimates a green roof can reduce air-conditioning use by up to 75 percent.
And comparing the expected cost of a conventional roof with the cost of a 21,000 square-foot green roof, a 2006 study from the University of Michigan found that over its lifetime, a green roof would save about $200,000, with almost two-thirds of that in energy.
Appealing to modern tenants
While green rooftop space can be left vacant or landscaped for recreational use to help improve health and wellbeing among building tenants, some rooftops are going down a different route.
With greater public concern over climate change and a growing appetite for locally sourced produce, urban farming is starting to take off – with rooftops often offering high-quality environments to grow fresh produce. The world’s largest urban farm, Agripolis’ Nature Urbaine, recently opened on a central Paris rooftop.
In Exeter, the Crown Estate’s Princesshay rooftop garden, which includes five hives, fruit trees, and a herb garden, is home to around 100,000 bees. Since launching in 2012, honey is sold in a delicatessen below.
“Using green roofs to grow fruit and vegetables is a great opportunity to move rooftops away from purely recreational use and drive more value from them while also benefiting the local community and wildlife,” Williams says.
It’s a model that property owner YKK has implemented in Hong Kong to create a 9,000 square foot urban farm producing organic vegetables that are donated to local charities to help feed people in need.
“We’ve turned the building’s under-utilized space into a vibrant place where our tenants volunteer to help cultivate the plants,” says Sotomi Funasugi, director and factory manager at YKK (HK) Limited. “It not only allows tenants to relax and socialize, but it also strengthens bonds with the community by supporting local charities and helping schoolchildren to learn about growing vegetables.”
While the number of green rooftops – and their range of uses – continues to grow, Williams says there’s room for the concept to grow further, pointing to Paris’ plans to make its rooftops a key part of its green transformation.
“As planning policy filters through and has a greater impact on developer thinking, there’s a strong possibility adding a green roof simply becomes part of planning applications,” Scruby says. “That’s the hope. We’re not there yet - but progress has been made.
How Singapore Plans to Survive The World’s Impending Food Crisis
One of the most densely populated countries on the planet, its 5.7 million people rely on other nations for almost everything they eat
Singapore’s obsession with food goes far deeper than its world-famous chili crab and laksa. One of the most densely populated countries on the planet, its 5.7 million people rely on other nations for almost everything they eat. Just 0.9 percent of its land area of about 700 square kilometers was classified as agricultural in 2016, only marginally more than icebound Greenland.
Despite producing little of its own, Singaporeans arguably have better access than anyone else to affordable, abundant, and high quality produce. The country has ranked first in an index of food security for two years running and is now deepening its focus as the COVID-19 crisis exposes the fragility of global food supply chains. To this end, the country is developing expertise in technologies such as vertical farming, nutrient recovery from food waste, and the use of insects, microalgae and cultivated meat as alternative protein sources, according to William Chen, the director of Food Science and Technology Programme at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
Already, work is underway to free up more spaces for urban food production, for example on the rooftops of multistory car parks, according to the SFA. The government is financing research into sustainable urban farming as well as future foods such as alternative proteins and seeking to expand fish farming off the south coast of the country. It’s also funding technology to help raise output from its existing farms, which totaled about 200 licensed operations as of 2018, producing mainly vegetables, fish, and eggs.
Read more at Japan Times
Publication date: Wed 27 May 2020
Agrihoods and Access To Healthy Food
Enter agrihoods: the community feeling of suburbia mixed with the progressive thinking of the city, sprinkled with the splendor of the country
May 13, 2020
Written by Tinia Pina | Re-Nuble
The question has always been there: city life or country life? However, in the 1850’s, in response to a rising urban population and as a result of improved transportation methods, the suburbs began to sprawl out from large metropolises. Now, roughly 80 percent of Americans live in urban areas. Yet, the demand for closed-loop food processes continues to increase. Urban area citizens still want access to sustainable and healthy food systems.
Defining Closed-loop Systems
By definition, a closed-loop system is one in which the operation is regulated by feedback. To clarify, feedback, in this sense, means that a portion of the output is fed back into the system to act as part of the excitation. The output cannot exist independent of the feedback.
Closed loop food systems produce high-quality, healthy foods using less energy and less water. When locally-sourced, their production and sale contributes positively to local economies and develops pride within the community.
Agrihoods and Access to Healthy Food
Enter agrihoods: the community feeling of suburbia mixed with the progressive thinking of the city sprinkled with the splendor of the country. There are several reasons people are drawn to this style of living. First and foremost is access to locally grown, sustainable food. A close second is the closed-loop process: the inhabitants enjoy the crop and the remains are composted for use as fertilizer. There is an eloquent beauty in the cyclical nature of closed-loop food processes.
In addition to providing sustainable, locally-sourced food, agrihoods provide steady work for farmers who gain access to affordable farmland in exchange for their services. Most farmers rarely enjoy a steady salary; this is not true for those employed by agrihoods. Most earn a salary of $35,000 to $100,000 annually and receive free or reduced housing.
While these little utopias are springing up all over the country, they remain out of reach for many Americans that either cannot afford the amenity of living in a neighborhood with a resident farmer or who simply prefer to live in the bright lights.
However, the opportunity for a closed-loop food process can exist even in the middle of Manhattan, giving urban areas access to healthy food. Soilless systems provide a closed-loop, sustainable method of food production that is as valuable to communities as it is to farmers. Soilless systems can be established indoors or out and can take on any size. Additionally, it requires less water to produce foods in a soilless system than in a traditional, soil-based system because water is continuously circulated; not lost to runoff.
Soilless Systems Provides Healthy Food Access for Urban Areas
Recent studies have shown that indoor, soilless systems require up to 90% less water than traditional farming methods. By keeping the plants at optimum conditions throughout the growth cycle, they are better able to utilize nutrients and produce more fruits and vegetables per gallon of water used.
Consumers reap the benefits of locally-sourced, organically grown produce while farmers enjoy a sustainable production method. These systems remedy some of the challenges presented to those that attempt to bring in healthy, locally-sourced produce to urban areas; such as zoning and infrastructure.
However, what has been missing in most soilless systems is true feedback. The fertilizers and growth nutrients used in most systems are petroleum-derived and chemical-based. They are produced in a lab and have nothing to do with repurposing food waste. They fail to take advantage of the nutrients that exist in food waste.
Access to high-quality, bio-derived agricultural materials is challenging, especially for farmers and hobbyists that utilize alternative growth methods. Re-Nuble was developed to meet this need. Re-Nuble products are 100% bio-based, sourced from vegetative food waste, meaning that everything that goes into making Re-Nuble comes from plants; there are no petroleum-based ingredients. As we continue to carry out our own R&D, we hope to identify even more ways to help soilless farms regulate their operations through feedback, providing urban areas with access to healthy food.
Photo source
Tags: agrihoods, healthy food, urban agriculture, urban food
USDA Announces $3 Million in Urban Agriculture Grants
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the availability of $3 million for grants through its new Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the availability of $3 million for grants through its new Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. The competitive grants will support the development of urban agriculture and innovative production projects through two categories, Planning Projects and Implementation Projects. USDA will accept applications on Grants.gov until midnight July 6, 2020.
“These grant opportunities underscore USDA’s commitment to all segments of agriculture, including swiftly expanding areas of urban agriculture,” Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey said. “Such projects have the potential to address important issues such as food access and education and to support innovative ways to increase local food production in urban environments.”
“We are proud to be able to offer support through this cross-agency effort,” said Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Greg Ibach. “In creating this grant opportunity, USDA will build upon its years of experience providing technical support, grant funding and research to help farmers and local and urban food businesses grow.”
Planning ProjectsUSDA is making available $1 million for Planning Projects that initiate or expand efforts of farmers, gardeners, citizens, government officials, schools and other stakeholders in urban areas and suburbs. Projects may target areas of food access, education, business and start-up costs for new farmers and development of policies related to zoning and other needs of urban production.
Implementation ProjectsUSDA is making available $2 million for Implementation Projects that accelerate existing and emerging models of urban, indoor and other agricultural practices that serve multiple farmers. Projects will improve local food access and collaborate with partner organizations and may support infrastructure needs, emerging technologies, educational endeavors and urban farming policy implementation.
Webinar A webinar, which will be held on June 3, 2020, from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, will provide an overview of the grants’ purpose, project types, eligibility and basic requirements for submitting an application. Information on how to register for and participate in the webinar, or listen to the recording, will be posted at farmers.gov/urban.
More information The Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production was established through the 2018 Farm Bill. It includes representatives from many USDA agencies, including Farm Service Agency and Agricultural Marketing Service, and is led by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. More information is available at farmers.gov/urban.
Additional resources that may be of interest to urban agriculture entities include AMS grants to improve domestic and international opportunities for U.S. growers and producers and FSA loans.
Horti Daily | Monday, May 11, 2020
SINGAPORE: Interest In Urban Farming Sprouts Amid COVID-19 Outbreak
Farm 85 Trading, a vegetable farm which also sells seedlings and farm supplies, said thatits’s sales went up by five times right after the circuit breaker was announced, with customers buying a range of items from soil and seedlings to compost
10 May 2020
SINGAPORE: After Madam Tan Swee Jee’s husband failed to find okra on a recent trip to the market, she revived her interest in farming and began planting again.
The retiree in her 60s had started organic farming a few years ago but grandchildren and other activities left her little time to tend to her garden. As Singapore hunkered down for the “circuit breaker” period, she found time and reason to grow not just okra, but tapioca, papaya, herbs, and other vegetables.
“We rely on other (countries) for our food, if they don’t sell to us we have nothing to eat,” she said in Mandarin. “This way, at least I can still have a lady’s fingers.”
Madam Tan Swee Jee and her husband planting peanuts and sweet potatoes in their garden. (Photo courtesy of Tan Swee Jee)
Farm supply shops and companies that run urban farming workshops told CNA that there has been more interest in home farming since around February or March.
Singapore raised its Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) level to Orange on Feb 7 after some locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 were detected, sparking a brief spate of panic buying.
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In mid-March, Malaysia imposed a movement control order which raised concerns that food supplies from the country, including vegetables, eggs, and fruit, might be affected. Authorities came out swiftly to say that food and essentials from Malaysia will continue to flow during the lockdown.
But Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing have warned that Singapore would have to be ready for disruptions to its supply of food and other essentials as lockdowns in various countries have diminished global production capacities and disrupted global supply chains. About 90 percent of Singapore’s food currently comes from overseas.
As the pandemic spread around the world and worsened here, Singapore announced on Apr 3 that most workplaces and schools would close in a circuit breaker period that started from Apr 7, and that people were to leave their homes only for essential activities such as buying food and groceries.
GROWTH IN INTEREST, SALES
Vegetable plots at Farm 85 in Lim Chu Kang. (Photo: Zach Tan)
Farm 85 Trading, a vegetable farm which also sells seedlings and farm supplies, said that its sales went up by five times right after the circuit breaker was announced, with customers buying a range of items from soil and seedlings to compost.
“Most of the customers we have seen are people who were new to farming or gardening ... Almost all customers were determined to try and grow edibles in their own homes,” said Mr. Zach Tan, the farm’s manager.
Demand for farming supplies has gone up at Farm 85 Trading amid the COVID-19 outbreak. (Photo: Zach Tan)
Mr. Kevin Tan, director of Ban Lee Huat Seed said they saw a 50 percent increase in sales of seeds since the start of the outbreak, along with more interest in Asian leafy greens like bak choy and kang kong.
Urban farming social enterprise Edible Garden City has seen an uptick of interest in home gardening, a spokesperson said. Enquiries for their edible landscaping service increased by 40 percent, but they could not follow up with these requests after circuit breaker measures kicked in.
“Many of those who enquired about garden builds cited COVID-19 as just one amongst a host of reasons why they wanted to have a home garden … Many also added that they now see that food security is an important issue in Singapore,” said the spokesperson.
Two centres that run organic farming courses, Gardens with Purpose and The Living Centre, also said that demand for their courses are at a high.
Ms. Joanne Ng, founder of Gardens with Purpose, said that she was slated to have a large class just before the circuit breaker but she had to suspend it as measures restricting gatherings were tightened.
She is now considering selling the vegetables she grows on her 2,000 sq ft farm as she has been getting more queries from consumers.
Microgreens can be grown at home. (Photo: National Parks Board)
The National Parks Board (NParks) said that as the interest in gardening increases, more people are growing their own microgreens, herbs, and other edibles at home.
“Given the amount of time we are spending at home, it is a good opportunity for more people to learn to garden at home,” said Mr. Ng Cheow Kheng, group director for Horticulture & Community Gardening at the agency.
GREENHORNS & BEAN SPROUTS
Mr. Jack Yam holding a pot of kailan at his corridor farm. (Photo: Jayna Yam)
Rock climbing instructor and gardening enthusiast Jack Yam told CNA that substantially more people have been asking to join the Facebook interest group he runs – Urban Farmers (Singapore).
Some have also been posting questions on how to start their own home gardens or farms, which prompted him to post tutorials on the Facebook page for their reference.
“There were quite a number of posts in the group, new members actually saying that hey, I'm totally new. I have no idea how to start. What are the things that are needed?” he said.
One of them was engineer Ong Chee Lam, who said that he has an interest in growing edibles but has yet to start a proper farm at home. He has begun experimenting with bean sprouts and some herbs.
“The reason why I wanted to start was because of how the COVID-19 situation unfolds, it made us realise that the food security is a real issue so went to read up and see how we can do something in urban Singapore,” he said.
Bean sprouts grown by Mr. Ong Chee Lam. (Photo: Ong Chee Lam)
His first haul was 400g of bean sprouts which added some crunch to his mee rebus, and he will continue, he said.
“I suspect the new normal will not be the same ... (I) will definitely continue to research and take action to keep this as a sustainable hobby,” he added.
FLOURISHING FARMS
Meanwhile, some experienced growers CNA spoke to are growing more edibles rather than ornamental plants.
Ms Mandisa Jacquelin Toh said that her family was working towards self-sufficiency when it comes to vegetables and fruit.
“It's truly a right direction when we are hit by COVID-19 and the circuit breaker period … we don't have to risk ourselves going to wet market and supermarket unnecessarily,” she said.
The IT professional, who is in her 40s, said she has set up a rotating system that allows her to harvest some produce every day from her rooftop garden, which she said is a third the size of a football field.
A basket of vegetables harvested from Ms Mandisa Jacquelin Toh's rooftop farm. (Photo: Facebook/Mandisa Jacquelin Toh)
The list of edible plants she grows rivals a supermarket’s selection, including long beans, figs, mulberries, herbs, corn, tomatoes, chili, lime, okra, and bittergourd. She even has muskmelons, watermelons, guava, custard apples, starfruit, kedongdong, mangoes, and cempedek.
“We regretted not starting even earlier when COVID-19 started,” said the long-time gardener, who started seriously growing edibles about 10 months ago.
Mr. Yam, who grows his plants along the corridor and common spaces outside his Housing Board flat, also made the switch months earlier and said he was glad he did. Now, vegetables including xiao bai cai, kalian, and kale make up 80 percent of his urban garden.
“Because of my space constraints, it’s not fully sustainable, but at least it supplements the food that we are eating,” he said. “Seeing the sudden surge in interest, I'm actually quite excited and happy about it.”
But he found that many people who wanted to start their home gardens or farms were “caught off-guard” and once the circuit breaker started, it was hard for them to get supplies. This was why he also put up a tutorial on growing bean sprouts, and he has seen quite a few people posting their attempts online.
“Green beans are easy to get hold off, and then within three to four days, you can get the harvest. As a parent, you could occupy your kids with this particular activity, yet at the same time grow something that your family can eat,” he said.
NParks has also put up a series of tutorials on home gardening on social media, including DIY gardening videos, information on plants that can be easily grown at home and simple recipes for produce from home gardens.
Some simple plants to start with are microgreens, Brazilian spinach, Indian borage, and herbs like mints and basils, Mr Ng suggested.
GREEN THERAPY
Beyond sustenance, the home farmers said that caring for their plants has been a good exercise and a source of joy in an anxious time for many.
Halfway house The Helping Hand happened to start their urban farm this month, and tending to the vegetables has replaced some of the carpentry and furniture delivery activities residents did before the circuit breaker period.
An underused grass patch at the home now has 20 raised vegetable beds that is providing both food and therapy of sorts.
“It teaches our residents some very important skills and values, which helps us in some ways as an emotional regulator. It teaches them patience, and also introduces the green concept,” CEO Mervyn Lim told CNA.
For now, the vegetables will be cooked and consumed by the residents but they will look into turning the farm into a social enterprise, and may even open a café, he added.
Resident Toh Chiang Hee, who is in his early 60s, told CNA that seeing the plants grow has given him a lot of joy.
“I talk to the seedlings and tell them to grow bigger and taller,” he said in Mandarin.
Vegetable beds at halfway house The Helping Hand's urban farm. (Photo: The Helping Hand)
FOOD SECURITY
These shoots of growing interest come as Singapore aims to produce 30 percent of its food supply locally by 2030. A new S$30 million grant was announced in April for the agri-food industry to help commercial farms speed up the production of commonly consumed food like eggs, vegetables, and fish.
And the spurt of enthusiasm for home farming springs from a gradual burgeoning of interest in recent years said both Ms. Ng of Gardens with Purpose and Ms. Faith Foo from The Living Centre.
“We have been advocating for urban farming through a wide range of urban farming courses since the establishment of our center the last five years, and thus have also seen a progressive trend of people interested in urban farming,” said Ms. Foo, who has moved all their courses online for the circuit breaker period.
Ms. Ng said that she has noticed more young people and families sign up for her organic farming courses before the COVID-19 outbreak and hopes that schools can be next. Before this, many Singaporeans still felt that it was easier to import vegetables from other countries, and the toil for “a few vegetables” was not worth it, she added.
“Toxic chemicals are everywhere, be it food or the environment, so I started to prepare this 10 years ago … now the time is right, Singaporeans didn’t expect the food supply chain can be disrupted,” she said. “I didn’t see COVID-19 coming but I knew there would be a demand for clean food.”
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Lead Photo: Madam Tan Swee Jee tends to a vegetable patch in her garden. (Courtesy of Tan Swee Jee)
Source: CNA/hm
Tagged Topics food agriculture COVID-19 coronavirus
Swedish Startup Receives Funding For AI-Run 'NeighbourFood' project
A newly established innovation cluster will develop the groundbreaking service-model for urban farming, AgTech startup SweGreen’s ‘Farming as a Service’, to contribute to a sustainable food supply chain
A newly established innovation cluster will develop the groundbreaking service-model for urban farming, AgTech startup SweGreen’s ‘Farming as a Service’, to contribute to a sustainable food supply chain. The 2MSEK-project called ‘NeighbourFood’ is granted by Vinnova as an initiative to support innovations in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The project NeighbourFood aims to upgrade a modern Urban Farming solution to an optimized smart and digital model for system monitoring and remote-control process steering.
Farming as a Service (FAAS)
"We have developed cutting-edge technology with high technical readiness level for food production indoors. With this project we address the last limitation factor towards a remote farming management model: A cloud-based service that enables a physical food production unit to become available as a service to our customers – as we refer to as ‘Farming-as-a-Service’," Swegreen Chief Innovation Officer Sepehr Mousavi highlights. The vision is to create a realistic alternative to the highly global, and to a certain degree fragile and resource inefficient, food production chains that currently dominate the marketplace. The innovation cluster behind the project, besides AgTech company Swegreen, includes also Research Institute of Sweden (RISE), Mälardalen University and high-profile Swedish chefs Paul Svensson and Tareq Taylor’s newly established restaurant Paul Taylor Lanthandel.
Local food
The demand for year-round urban food production has never been more relevant than now, under the crisis of Covid-19. Production of food is down at 50% in Sweden, which shows our society's exposure, Paul Svensson, top-notch chef and founder of Paul Taylor Lanthandel says. Our aim is to contribute to and increase the trust in and desire for locally produced food near our customers, Paul Svensson continues. We see us as a perfect channel for locally produced food at Paul Taylor Lanthandel we provide both a small general store and a restaurant, and thereby nurse a close relationship to producers and our local neighborhood community. The core of the innovation will take place in Swegreen’s production facility, called CifyFarm, which is an indoor vertical farm for production of nutritious leafy greens, salad and herbs, with a yield of approximately 200 times yield/area compared to traditional farming. The CityFarm uses minimal resources all year round and is isolated from the outside environment and is located on floor -3 of Dagens Nyheter tower in central Stockholm.
Digitally monitored farming units
The Farming as a Service concept of Swegreen’s enables Urban Farming technology to integrate with e.g. supermarkets or restaurants by digitally monitored farming units at the customer’s facility, which will produce food with minimal logistics and almost zero human intervention in a plug-and-play format. This farm management system empowers any entrepreneur with little or zero farming knowledge to grow high-quality food in an optimal environment while reducing risks and elevating the decision-making process, using dedicated decision-support systems and process optimization through the use of artificial intelligence, adds SweGreen’s CEO Andreas Dahlin. The NeighbourFood was one of the few selected projects by Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova, out of 287 applications filed in response to the call ‘Innovation in the track of crisis’.
Innovative business model
The project will also make use of the sharing economy, innovative business models, and digital twins to speed up a coping strategy towards the Covid-19 crisis and addresses the need for climate transition and secure circular and resilient food supply chains. The project is intended to be integrated into a national Shared Economy platform, Sharing Cities Sweden, financed by the Swedish Innovation Agency and the Swedish Strategic Innovation Program for smart and sustainable cities, Viable Cities. Neighbourfood is an example of the green deal and how the sharing economy in cities can trigger innovative business models for resilient food supply chains – a sharing platform for neighbours, by neighbours! mentions Dr. Charlie Gullström, a senior researcher at RISE and head of Sharing Cities Sweden, Stockholm Testbed.
Collaborations
Swegreens Sepehr Mousavi who will be the project’s coordinator and lead also adds: "We are proud of our collaboration with RISE through one of the most prominent researchers in Sweden when it comes to digitalization and use of sharing economy solutions", Dr. Charlie Gullström and the platform of Sharing Cities Sweden alongside Dr. Alex Jonsson from RISE Prototyping Societies. This service introduces FaaS to our national platform for sharing economy as a new vital function. Sepehr Mousavi continues: "Also having Dr. Baran Çürüklü from Mälardalen University, a vibrant academic center for development of AI-related technologies’ and his team of PhD students onboard adds the competence needed for us to be able to hack the query and guarantee the success of the NeighbourFood project." Dr. Baran Çürüklü adds: "Food production can suddenly be a mission-critical factor as we can see now. Orchestration of production facilities through artificial intelligence may be decisive in managing such a crisis."
For more information:
SweGreen
Andreas Dahlin
andreas.dahlin@swegreen.se
www.swegreen.se
Publication date: Mon 11 May 2020
AeroFarms Recognized by Fast Company For Third Consecutive Year
"Our mission is to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity, and we are honored to be recognized among a group of trailblazing companies working to change the world
Inside AeroFarms
Photo courtesy of AeroFarms
The vertical farm operation was recognized by the magazine as a 'World Changing Idea.
May 2, 2020
Per a press release, AeroFarms has been recognized in Fast Company's World Changing Ideas package for the third year in a row. The company placed in four categories: General Excellence, AI & Data, food and space, and places and cities. AeroFarms was a finalist in both the General Excellence and AI & Data and an honorable mention in the food and spaces and places and cities categories.
AeroFarms' announcement read as follows:
"Our mission is to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity, and we are honored to be recognized among a group of trailblazing companies working to change the world. At AeroFarms, we have developed our own patented indoor vertical farming technology to completely transform the way fresh, safe, healthy, and tasty food is grown at scale. We are not just a farm–we are a group of full-stack, world-class experts where horticulture intersects with engineering, food safety, data science, and nutrition, giving us the unique capability to understand plant biology in an unprecedented way.
In addition to being recognized for our innovative use of AI & Data to grow our plants, we are proud to be recognized for our commitment to revitalizing Spaces, Places & Cities, and bringing green jobs and fresh food to cities. Each of our farms has a unique story breathing new life into abandoned buildings. One of our commercial farms and corporate HQ is built on the site of a former abandoned steel mill in an industrial section of Newark, NJ.
And it doesn’t stop there — we are working with top tastemakers and chefs like David Chang, and leading researchers at Cornell and Rutgers and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research on cutting-edge science to create the next generation of Food that has greatest nutrient-density and flavor around…and the results have been absolutely delicious."