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US - OHIO: Thinking And Growing Inside The Box
A brother-sister team has taken the mechanics of farming out of the field and into a freight container. “We are growing beautiful plants without the sun; there’s no soil, and so it’s all a closed-loop water system,” Britt Decker, co-owner of Fifth Season FARM, said
A brother-sister team has taken the mechanics of farming out of the field and into a freight container.
“We are growing beautiful plants without the sun; there’s no soil, and so it’s all a closed-loop water system,” Britt Decker, co-owner of Fifth Season FARM, said. “We use non-GMO seeds, completely free of herbicides and pesticides, so the product is really, really clean. In fact, we recommend people don’t even wash it, because there’s no reason to.”
Fifth Season FARM is unique in many ways; the 3-acre hydroponic farm is contained in a 320-square-foot freight container that sits along 120 S. Main St. in Piqua, with everything from varying varities of lettuce, to radishes, to kale and even flowers in a climate-controlled smart farm that allows Decker and his sister, Laura Jackson, to turn crops in a six- to eight-week cycle. The crops spend 18 hours in “daytime” every day, and the farm uses 90% less water than traditional farming.
“It’s tricky because we’re completely controlling the environment in here. It’s kind of a laboratory more than a farm,” Decker said. “I think there’s about 50 of them around the world right now. These are really international, and they’re perfect for places that are food deserts where they can’t grow food because of climate or other reasons. It gives them a way to grow food in the middle of nowhere.”
Image from: Sidney Daily News
Decker and Jackson, along with their brother Bill Decker, also do traditional farming and grow corn, wheat and soybeans, but Decker said they were looking for a new venture that would help lead them to a healthier lifestyle and learn something new.
“Just with the whole local food movement becoming more and more important and food traceability, we just thought it would be a great thing to bring to our community to help everyone have a healthier lifestyle,” Decker said. “People love food that’s grown right in their hometown and the shelf-life on it, when you get it home, is remarkable. It’ll keep for two weeks.”
Image from: AgFunder News
Currently, Decker and Jackson are growing a half-dozen variety of specialty lettuces that include arugula, butterhead and romaine, as well as specialty greens like kale and Swiss chard, and even radishes and flowers. They received their freight container at the end of July and set up their indoor farm over two weeks; while the farm has been in operation for less than six months, Decker says that they’re growing beautiful product.
They have also started growing micro-greens, said Decker. Micro-greens are immature plants which are 1 to 3 inches tall and are in a 5-inch by 5-inch container.
“People will use them as garnishments and in smoothies,” said Decker. “Since they are immature plants, they have an intense flavor.”
Decker said they are growing wheat germ, broccoli and spicy salad mixes.
They’ve also started moving forward with sales and marketing. Fifth Season FARM has partnered with the Miami County Locally Grown Virtual Market to sell their products to the community. They also take orders through their website, customers can opt to pick up their orders between 4 and 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, or Decker and Jackson will deliver products up to five miles from the farm. Decker said that Fifth Season FARM is also in discussions with three restaurants in the area about including their specialty greens on their menus.
Decker said they also plan to attend the Sidney Farmers Market when it opens for the spring/summer season.
“We’re really just getting going,” Decker said. “While we were learning to grow products, we didn’t want to overcommit to a restaurant or grocery store before we knew we could really grow beautiful product, so we’ve been donating product every week to the food pantry at the Presbyterian Church. It feels good to plant the seeds and watch them grow, and it feels good to make sure that people who aren’t getting the proper nutrition are getting some.”
Democratic Mayoral Candidates Offer Ideas for Addressing Food Insecurity
Nine candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to become the next mayor of New York City gathered Tuesday morning in a virtual forum to discuss their visions for the city's food policy and serving the roughly 2 million New Yorkers who are food insecure
Image from: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Nine candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to become the next mayor of New York City gathered Tuesday morning in a virtual forum to discuss their visions for the city's food policy and serving the roughly 2 million New Yorkers who are food insecure.
At the "Town Hall on the Future of Food in New York City" -- hosted by Hunter College in partnership with City Harvest, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, Food Bank for NYC, Hunger Free America, and other organizations, and moderated by NY1 anchor Errol Louis -- the candidates discussed the city's urgent need to manage rampant hunger during the pandemic and center it in the recovery effort. But the discussion also focused on the pre-existing problems of food insecurity, inequitable access to nutritious meals, and inefficiencies and lack of sustainability in the city's food use.
The participants, who were selected based on their polling and fundraising standings among a field of dozens of candidates, included Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, former federal housing secretary Shaun Donovan, former city sanitation commissioner and "covid food czar" Kathryn Garcia, former Citigroup executive Ray McGuire, former nonprofit executive Dianne Morales, former city veterans' services commissioner Loree Sutton, city Comptroller Scott Stringer, small business owner Joycelyn Taylor, and Maya Wiley, a civil rights attorney and former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio. Louis pushed them to focus on how they would bring anti-hunger initiatives to scale to address the food crisis compounded by the pandemic.
Programs to help feed New Yorkers have often missed the mark, failing to meet adequate health standards and leaving many New Yorkers out entirely. A 2017 study from the Robin Hood Poverty Tracker found 1 in 4 eligible food stamp, or SNAP, recipients -- 700,000 New York City residents -- were not enrolled in the program, less than the statewide participation rate of 93 percent the same year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In September, the Poverty Tracker reporter 1.7 million New Yorkers were getting food stamps, over 200,000 more than last February. During roughly the same period the percentage of food stamp recipients who also used a food pantry doubled, from 27 percent of enrollees to 60 percent.
Nearly all candidates agreed on the need to increase SNAP benefits, and improve enrollment in the program; expand community gardens and urban agriculture; and improve access to nutritious food throughout communities and in institutional settings like schools and food pantries. There was also broad consensus around creating a more unified food procurement and distribution system in New York City by strengthening the Mayor's Office of Food Policy. Multiple candidates highlighted the frequent lack of coordination among the myriad city agencies that provide food as part of their services.
"One of the reasons why I needed to step in is that the Mayor's Office of Food Policy is incredibly understaffed," said Garcia, who managed the city's emergency food response last summer before leaving the de Blasio administration last fall and launching her campaign to succeed him.
"[Food Policy Director] Kate McKenzie does an amazing job but she doesn't have procurement authority, she doesn't have logistical authority...one of the clear things is how we approach food is very siloed, very fragmented," Garcia said, noting the separate food procurement activities of the Department of Education, Department of Correction, and senior centers. Garcia says the city provided 1 million meals a day and shored up food pantries last summer under her leadership. (Shortly after the forum, Garcia released a multi-pronged platform to fight food insecurity with an emphasis on enrolling more New Yorkers in SNAP and expanding what the benefits would cover.)
Adams, who repeatedly discussed the need for nutritious food, criticized the nutritional value of many of the government-provided or -supported food services, including Garcia’s covid effort, and said increasing the size of the Mayor's Office of Food Policy would have a limited impact if the city did not also incorporate the new perspectives from food-access "visionaries."
"They don't share the values," Adams said of the city's food-oriented bureaucrats, historically. "I am amazed at the roadblocks, that organizations like Rockaway Youth Task Force are not able to scale," he said during a segment of the conversation on urban agriculture programs.
Some of the candidates saw the city's food dilemmas rooted in job scarcity and low wages and frequently discussed the importance of building food policy into the city's economic recovery.
"We solve none of this if we don't recognize that fundamentally what is broken and why 30% of our people were not eating through the month before covid is because the rent was too damn high and people were choosing to pay rent instead of buying groceries," Wiley said, adding, "at the end of the day it is about the city's ability to generate new jobs." Wiley has announced a plan as mayor to create 100,000 jobs through a $10 billion capital investment and cited it as an example of how she would leverage existing city resources to bring her approach to scale.
"Fundamentally, food insecurity is about income and it is about the fact that we do not intentionally ensure that our young people have pathways to careers and are prepared for the careers of the 21st Century," said Garcia.
The conversation of workforce development dovetailed with another on building an urban agrarian economy in New York to create good jobs and ensure both sustainable and equitable food access for city residents.
"We need to also think about aligning not just food policy, but the resilience office that exists right now to work more in tandem with each other because we know that food justice is also climate justice," said Morales, who was the executive director of Phipps Neighborhoods in the South Bronx, a social services provider. As mayor, Morales said she would invest $25 million to food innovation and sustainability programs in communities of color.
Multiple candidates, including Stringer, Donovan, and Adams wanted to see a greater emphasis on local and regional food procurement. "If I'm mayor, I really want to create a Mayor's Office of Food Markets because we've got to link farming with communities and for a farm-to-table policy that brings the purchasing power of this city regionally, upstate, downstate, and create those relationships," Stringer said. "Farmers markets should be everywhere."
Image from: Square Roots
"There is huge potential to grow, so to speak, the power of locally-grown produce," said Donovan, who was the city’s housing commissioner under Mayor Bloomberg before spending all eight years in the Obama presidential cabinet. "We need innovative approaches to ensure we are using every inch of available space that we can." Like other candidates, he expressed support for ideas like more community gardens and vertical agriculture. Donovan also repeatedly stressed the need to support struggling restaurants and incorporate them into the city's food programs as well as its economic recovery.
While supportive of partnerships with upstate and Long Island counties, Garcia took issue with the notion that New York could achieve a sustainable food market locally. "If we want fresh, healthy food day in and day out, we're not harvesting today in this region, we are going to have to bring it in," she said following Donovan's comments. "We need to make sure the systems go beyond just this region so that we can still be getting lettuce even though it's February."
"That should not hold us back from starting to have a robust agrarian economy in New York City," Adams countered, echoing Donovan's statements about the importance of life sciences in city schools and connecting lessons about food production to healthy eating.
When asked directly whether they would use the city's power of eminent domain to force the sale of private land for the city to use, most candidates raised their hands affirmatively. Adams expressed his dissent, noting that the many existing city resources that he said are being wasted or under-utilized should be tapped before forcing land sales. (Others also raised the importance of better using available land, with Stringer naming a report he issued as comptroller on the number of vacant city-owned lots that could be used to develop housing and noting that many lots could also be used for community gardens.)
McGuire, who recently stepped down from one of the biggest jobs on Wall Street to run for mayor, also criticized the mismanagement of city resources and cautioned on the costs to the city that eminent domain could pose. "It gets expensive so you have to figure out when you exercise eminent domain at market rates who is going to pay for it," he said.
Equity was an overriding theme in a number of areas of the food policy discussion, from eradicating food deserts to ensuring healthy options in schools and pantries.
"I think we do have a moral obligation to ensure that every resident of the city has those basic needs of food and housing," said Taylor, who created the nonprofit NYC WMBE Alliance, according to her website. "We have to make sure that when we look at the budget we look things that are 'nice to have' and things that are 'needs to have,' and if it means that we have to reallocate funds from the things that are nice to have to the needs, then that's what I would do."
"We need to stop leaving communities out of the co-creation process," said Morales, who stressed participation of food advocacy groups.
Wiley and Taylor also discussed the need for community participation in the form of locally-based food councils to inform nutrition, per Wiley, and more active mayoral outposts in each borough, per Taylor. Both also discussed the importance of collecting more targeted data to better determine the outcomes of food programs. Other candidates outlined plans or past work to incorporate cultural sensitivity into food access, including then-Manhattan Borough President Stringer's 2008 "Go Green East Harlem Cookbook" and Garcia's discussion of halal and kosher options in meal services, something others mentioned as well.
The candidates agreed that compounded structural problems of food deserts and the reliance of low-income communities on the city's various food programs exacerbate malnutrition and health outcomes, but not all offered the same solution.
"Today food deserts are such that many of our people don't have access to healthy food. They have access to those institutions that provide food that is pretty low on the nutrition scale," McGuire said. He laid out a more corporate-friendly view of the path forward, that involved rezoning to allow big supermarket chains, hiring gig workers to deliver meals to seniors, and bringing refrigeration resources to bodegas in order to better store fresh produce.
As is often the case, Morales was at the other end of the spectrum, saying she supports community land trusts to create both better access to fresh produce and greater "food sovereignty" in poor communities. Sutton said the solution was to leverage public-private partnerships.
"It's one thing to talk about all these ideas, but in the same breath to disdain, disparage and disrespect the top 1 percent of New Yorkers who bring in nearly 40 percent of our tax base or reject and shun real estate as one example, as a number of my fellow candidate have during this campaign," said Sutton, a former Army psychiatrist who led de Blasio's Department of Veterans' Services. "We are absolutely shutting down those pathways to partnership and prosperity."
Recycling Solar Energy for Indoor Farming Use
New patented technology that recycles renewable energy is ready to revolutionize CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) and make indoor farming both more profitable and more attainable in remote rural areas. This upgrade in solar technology offers benefits for farmers, consumers, businesses, environmentalists and local governments
New patented technology that recycles renewable energy is ready to revolutionize CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) and make indoor farming both more profitable and more attainable in remote rural areas. This upgrade in solar technology offers benefits for farmers, consumers, businesses, environmentalists and local governments.
Two businesses are building a prototype of the vertical farm of the future in Marquette, Kansas (pop. 620.) The indoor farm will recycle its own solar energy at night and during storms by absorbing LED light energy when it’s used to illuminate the interior growing spaces. The 60-unit, 11-acre prototype development will function independently of the local power grid using technology designed and built by Kansas native David Hinson, CTO of TSO Greenhouses.
Image from: Hortidaily
This technology will reduce burdensome costs of power, water, financing, real estate acquisitions, and property taxes. Such hurdles have often been the downfall of previous vertical farms, especially in urban areas. The forward-thinking pair’s plan addresses and solves all of these challenges.
The duo’s “ag tech campus” model includes accelerated growing of all-natural, clean food and protein fodder as well as reliable 5G internet for rural farmers, citizens and businesses. The entire system will be powered by renewable energy and make digital telecom deployment more practical.
Image from: Hortidaily
Hinson’s technology enables roof-mounted “solar trackers” to capture LED energy at night from the light reflected inside the structures that house hydroponic crops growing inside. These trackers rotate East to West when the sun is shining and then flip inward at night and during bad weather.
As a result, farmers can harness the energy generated “off-hours” to grow a variety of crops 24 hours a day in multiple vertical “stacks” based on bespoke microclimates. Growing by “zones” inside a multi-level structure boosts crop production and horticulture flexibility. Traditional indoor farms and rudimentary greenhouses usually grow only 1-2 crops for local distribution.
In contrast, these new farms will be able to produce 10-15 different plant species simultaneously. Increased agility and production speed will also improve vertical farmers' ability to react to sudden demand shifts.
Image from: Hortidaily
5G Adds Lucrative Tech Payoff to Growth Cycle
Since the new 24/7/365 solar energy recycling technology only needs 33 percent to 40 percent of the harnessed energy, developers and farmers can sell excess energy for additional revenue. The local clean energy will power wireless 5G with the help of small rotating solar trackers with batteries. These trackers can be placed on community buildings, water towers, grain elevators, farm silos, bridge spans, existing cell towers and other permanent objects to ensure uptime and reliability.
This new source of 5G will create emerging markets for renewable energy, boosting rural economies. In the past, 5G telecom has been difficult to install and deploy in remote areas.
Path Diversity will be a game-changer
The pair plan to locate data centers near 100GB digital fiber trunks to further reduce the cost and time required to deploy 5G wireless. High-end data processing groups pay premium rates for 5G, which is rated as Tier 5 (aka T5 or always-on) based on its reliability. T5 is far less subject to outages and service disruptions.
Such state-of-the-art data centers are expected to attract the largest data processing groups in the world based on their enhanced functionality and amenities. This market also provides another lucrative revenue stream for farmers and tax-equity entrepreneurs interested in sustainability.
Investors Can Support Sustainability with “free money”
Freedom Farms CEO Geist and TSO Greenhouses Hinson have already raised nearly half a million dollars for Phase One, which will be the prototype of the vertical farming headquarters. They’re seeking an additional $2.5 million to finish the prototype by summer 2021.
Phase Two will be devoted to building 12 larger campuses that will fan out statewide from the headquarters in McPherson, Kansas. The entire $2 billion hub-and-spoke sustainability system is targeted for completion by 2030. Yields are expected to feed nearly 3 million residents statewide including many school lunch programs. Local hospitals, restaurants, colleges, universities, assisted living centers and public agencies are expected to become customers of the same-day harvests.
Investors will be able to reap these profits without ever risking their own money. Thanks to little-known U.S tax credit programs and clean-energy incentives, these projects don’t require a cash infusion. VC firms can "pool" their tax obligations, converting them to credits. This structure sets the project apart from previous urban farms or sluggish VC-funded startups.
Solar panels rotate with the sun so direct sunlight can reach inside the CEA facility and stimulate photosynthesis. Software allows the indoor farmer to create direct sun exposure on certain plants while creating shade for others, all based on each plant’s DNA preference.
The solar panels (modules) can be fully closed facing outward to create 100% shade inside if desired for any length of time controlled by the grower. By using TSO Greenhouses’ technology, vertical farmers and greenhouse growers can control and optimize sun and shade exposure simultaneously. This allows different crops to grow in zones inside the structure tailored precisely to receive the ideal light and shade to maximize plant life and production.
This 11-acre greenhouse will eventually serve as a headquarters to 12 smaller greenhouse hubs across Kansas. What makes this greenhouse unique is its ability to recycle solar energy to grow crops 24 hours a day while powering lucrative 5G data centers.
In Malahide, Two Friends Raise A Vertical Farm
When salesman Jack Hussey finishes his work day, he closes the laptop, leaves his home in Malahide and walks 10 minutes down the road. At the bottom of his friend’s farm sits an outhouse with a coldroom which now hosts his side business, Upfarm. A farm that goes upwards
Image from: Dublin Inquirer
When salesman Jack Hussey finishes his work day, he closes the laptop, leaves his home in Malahide and walks 10 minutes down the road. At the bottom of his friend’s farm sits an outhouse with a coldroom which now hosts his side business, Upfarm. A farm that goes upwards.
Imagine a shelf rack, says Hussey. “We’ve kitted the roofs of each shelf with an LED grow light. It’s to replicate the sunlight basically.”
A photo of the farm shows purple light beaming down on thick heads of lemongrass and basil, stacked on shelves. Yields from vertical farming are far more efficient than in-the-ground farming, Hussey said, on the phone last Friday.
He likens it to real estate. “You can have houses that are populated side by side or you can start going upwards with apartments.”
From Podcast to Table
Hussey always had an interest in food, he says. Last year he and a school friend, Bill Abbott, began to look into urban farming.
“But we were saying, is farming in the ground actually the best route to go?” Hussey says.
It’s labour intensive, which didn’t suit the two guys, who work other full-time jobs. Then, in March 2020, Hussey heard a podcast with American urban farmer Curtis Stone. He had an urban farm where he was using a spin-farming method, says Hussey. “It’s what they call it. You rotate crops out of the ground in a much more efficient way.”
“Essentially he was able to capitalise on a third acre of land. He was able to take in 80k a year,” he says.
Hussey was inspired by that, by somebody making the most of a small bit of land. So in June last year, in the middle of a pandemic and juggling working from home, Hussey and Abbot set about doing the same, albeit with a different model, and launched their vertical farm.
Image from: Farmony
How It Works
Farmony, which specialises in tech for vertical farming, sold Upfarm with the tools to get up and running – shelves, special LED lighting, a watering system and humidifiers. It is the ideal conditions for growing produce, says Framony co-founder John Paul Prior. Nutrients, hours of light, humidity and temperature are controlled in vertical farming, Prior says.
But Farmony is also a data company, Prior says. “So we capture data at all stages of the growing cycle. And we feed that back to the grower.”
This helps the grower to establish the optimum conditions, he says. “That’s not just in terms of plant growth, that’s in terms of workflow management.”
The size of an operation can be the small coldroom in Malahide that uses one Farmony module, and produces microgreens and wheatgrass for sale. Or it can be like a farm in Tipperary with 60 modules, he says. A module is 1 metre wide, 1.3 metres long and 2.5 metres tall, Prior says. Hussey says it is labour-intensive looking after a vertical farm module.
After work last Thursday, he and his dad replanted his microgreen crops into 30 different trays. “It took about two hours,” he says.
What Is the Benefit?
“So as long as you can control your temperature, your humidity, and your nutrient levels in the water, you can basically grow all year round,” says Prior. Vertical farming also means better conditions for workers, Prior says.
“If you’re working in a controlled environment, like a vertical farm, you’re working in a clean environment,” Prior says.
“You work between 18 to 22 degrees. There’s no harsh frost. There’s no extreme cold winters, equally there’s no burning-hot summers.,” says Prior.
The crop is consistent too, says Prior, thanks to the controlled environment.
“Let’s say I’m someone who loves basil and who makes a lot of pesto at home,” he says.
Getting basil of consistent quality from the supermarket can be difficult when it comes from different countries, or may have been sitting on a shelf for days after travelling thousands of miles, he says.
Image from: Farmony
Why Is this Important?
Soil quality is dropping, Hussey says. “What does that mean for outdoor growing?”
The answer, Hussey says, is vertical farming. It uses mineral-rich water so it doesn’t rely on nutrients from the ground, Hussey says.
Says Prior: “Vertical farming uses about 10 percent of the water of traditional farming.”
Prior says it takes less energy to get food from a nearby vertical farm than to ship it from afar. It was not always the case until a breakthrough in another industry, he says.
“Billions of dollars have been invested in the cannabis industry globally. It’s meant that the investment in grow-lighting technology has been huge,” he says.
“As a result, the price, the efficiency and most importantly, the energy efficiency of the lighting is really amazing” he says.
Says Hussey: “It’s not easy work but it is nice work. It’s good work.”
UNFI Picks Up Living Greens Farm Products in Midwest Expansion
Living Greens Farm (LGF), the largest vertical, indoor aeroponic farm in the US that provides year-round fresh salads, salad kits, microgreens and herbs, announced the addition of significant new retail distribution of its products in the upper Midwest to independent, specialty, and co-op retailers
I|mage from: Living Green Farms
Living Greens Farm (LGF), the largest vertical, indoor aeroponic farm in the US that provides year-round fresh salads, salad kits, microgreens and herbs, announced the addition of significant new retail distribution of its products in the upper Midwest to independent, specialty, and co-op retailers.
Starting February 2021, LGF’s full line of products featuring ready-to-eat bagged salad products (Caesar Salad Kit, Southwest Salad Kit, Harvest Salad Kit, Chopped Romaine, and Chopped Butter Lettuce) will be carried by UNFI Produce Prescott (formerly Alberts Fresh Produce). UNFI Produce Prescott is a division of UNFI, which distributes food products to thousands of stores nationwide. Their focus is on independent, specialty and co-op retailers.
UNFI has eight warehouses nationwide. LGF’s products will be carried by their upper Midwest location, located just across the river from the Twin Cities in Prescott, WI. This distribution center services hundreds of retailers throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. UNFI is the first national Certified Organic distributor, something they take a lot of pride in. Their produce and floral businesses are rooted in local farms and seasonal import growers.
LGF’s proprietary vertical indoor farming method yields the highest quality and freshest produce available. This is because there are no pesticides or chemicals used in the growing process. And because LGF’s growing, cleaning and bagging process significantly reduces handling and time to the retail shelf, consumers enjoy the freshest product on the market. These benefits continue to attract new users and new retail distribution as UNFI Produce Prescott is the second UNFI location to carry LGF. In December, UNFI’s Hopkins, MN location began offering LGF products.
For more information on why Living Greens Farm products are the cleanest, freshest and healthiest farm salads and greens available, go to www.livinggreensfarm.com.
Fifth Season Takes Vertical Farming to a Whole New Level
Fifth Season’s verdant baby spinach screams farm fresh even though it’s grown nowhere near traditional farmland. The sweet and slightly crunchy greens are grown in a Braddock warehouse on racks stacked 30 feet high. Located just a stone’s throw from U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works Edgar Thomson Plant, it is urban farming at its core
Image from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette
Fifth Season’s verdant baby spinach screams farm fresh even though it’s grown nowhere near traditional farmland. The sweet and slightly crunchy greens are grown in a Braddock warehouse on racks stacked 30 feet high. Located just a stone’s throw from U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works Edgar Thomson Plant, it is urban farming at its core.
What makes the vertical farming operation especially unique is that it is automated and robots call the shots. About 40 to 60 machines are involved in every step of the life of the spinach and other leafy greens, from planting the seed to providing nutrients to the final packing.
Fifth Season does employ local “farm workers” to assist the robots in seeding, harvesting, packaging, quality assurance and control using computer software, but there is no human touch involved through it all.
“The first time someone ever touches the spinach leaf with a finger is when the package is opened,” says Grant Vandenbussche, chief category officer.
Co-founded by brothers Austin and Brac Webb and Austin Lawrence, Fifth Season started a year ago. Within months it was rolling out its baby spinach, leafy greens and salad kits.
“We wanted a name that represents what we are doing,” says Austin Webb, 32, who also is the CEO. “It is a call to the fact we have created an entirely new season. It is 24/7, 365 with the technology we have built.”
None of them planned to become modern farmers, says the Carnegie Mellon University grad, but they turned to vertical farming because it was an efficient, economically sustainable way to solve land and water woes.
Image from: thespoon.tech
‘Fields’ of Greens
Fifth Season grows an equivalent production of 200 acres in 25,000 square feet of grow space. Its “fields” are stacked on top of one another in vertical shelves. When you add up all that surface area of grow space, it is more like 126,000 square feet.
“We also quickly turn crops at the farm,” Mr. Vandenbussche says.
While spinach takes about 40 days to grow outdoors and can be harvested only twice during its peak season, it takes the crop only three or four weeks to grow in the controlled environment and is harvested 19 times. Once the plants are harvested, a new cycle of reseeding begins with fresh media, seeds and nutrients.
“That’s why we get so much more productivity,” he says. “We are immediately reseeding our ‘land.’”
This controlled environment yields quality produce because it is always peak season at Fifth Season, says Chris Cerveny, who heads the Grow R&D division. Greens are grown in the same conditions year-round, getting the exact amount of nutrients and water they need. Because pests and airborne toxins also are kept at bay, crops can be produced without pesticides.
All that TLC comes through in the slightly curled baby spinach, which is sweet and not grassy. The leaf doesn’t wilt or get slimy or lose its slight crunch even after two weeks of refrigeration.
A lot of thought was given even for the curl, which gives the spinach a stronger volume, making it look full and bountiful. The curl also makes the spinach more forkable unlike its flat-leaf counterpart that is hard to stab on a plate.
Other leafy greens such as kale, mustard, Chinese cabbage, green tatsoi and purple pac choi are featured in two blends — Bridge City and Three Rivers. Fifth Season plans to roll out its Romaine lettuce in spring.
The greens also are found in four types of salad kits — Sweet Grains (blended greens, quinoa, chickpeas, corn, feta and poppy seed dressing), Crunchy Sesame (blended greens, farro, sesame sticks, dried cranberries and ginger-mandarin dressing), Toasted Tuscan (spinach, lentils, sun-dried tomatoes, bagel chips and vinaigrette), and Spiced Southwest (blended greens, black beans, pepitas, cotija cheese, corn-salsa sticks and chipotle ranch dressing) — which are available online and in Giant Eagle stores. A fifth salad kit is in the works and is being called “a shakeup of one of the most classic salads.”
While machines are a big part of what Fifth Season does, it seeks to keep human connection alive. It recently launched a recipe blog for those who have an appetite for cooking and writing, The Green Room is devoted to cataloging personal memories, dream meals and recipes via short stories.
Fifth Season also has partnered with the Penguins and is providing greens for the team’s pregame meals for the 2020-21 season.
“We want people in Pittsburgh to be able to eat the exact same delicious blend of greens that Sidney Crosby and company are eating,” Mr. Webb says. “We want people to know that there’s a new way to grow food and to eat and experience it.”
Image from: Next Pittsburgh
It’s All Under Control
Everything from seeding to packaging is done in four rooms. The process starts in the seeding and processing room, where seeds and growing media are placed inside black planter-like boxes called inserts. Each has a unique code that’s traced by a software system. The inserts go on white trays that pass through a photo station, feeding information to the computer system, and then glide into the bio dome.
There are two rooms in the bio dome, each with a grow space of 12,500 square feet. They’re lit up with a pinkish-purplish glow from high-efficiency LED light bulbs that mimic the different seasons of the year.
“They are positioned over the plants at different heights depending on stage of growth,” Mr. Cerveny says. “This is partly how we can provide consistently ideal growing conditions.”
As the plants grow, they are moved by a robot to optimize their growth cycle. Full-grown crops are transferred to the harvesting room by another robot.
“Harvesting is where it becomes like a Willy Wonka factory,” Mr. Vandenbussche says.
Long rows of trays filled with tiny plants are sent on a conveyor system to a station where workers inspect them for quality with surgical tools. After inspection, the plants are harvested by a robot and then immediately ride up a tall conveyor to be packaged and sealed in a 34- to 36-degree room so they remain fresh.
“Every crop we grow gets evaluated for maximum flavor, volume, crunch and color,” he says.
The plants’ intense, dark color is controlled by LED light bulbs, which are dialed up or down to get the correct hue. Although they never see the sun, the greens don’t get into a funk as humans might.
“What humans see in terms of light and how chlorophyll responds during photosynthesis are two different things,” Mr. Cerveny says. “Plants really only need red and blue light to grow effectively. We include some additional colors to help bring out other quality aspects of our crops, but providing the full sunlight spectrum is effectively a waste of energy, especially indoors.
“To the human eye, it looks like the plants live in a land of purple and pink lights, but they are perfectly happy there.”
Even though the environment is controlled and the software system is constantly updated, no two plants are exactly the same. Some fight for light more than others. Some might fail the quality control test and end up in a compost waste facility if their flavor is off or their color is not right.
“That is what is so amazing. We have more control than any other farmer, and yet we have limitations. Every seed is different,” Mr. Vandenbussche says. “They are plants. They are real living organisms.”
Agritecture Partners With Harvest Returns Crowdfunding Platform To Modernize Urban Agriculture Financing
The two companies will work together to accelerate the urban farming and controlled environment agriculture (CEA) industry across the country by offering new entrepreneurs a more accessible way to raise capital. This type of farming can reduce the environmental impact of the food system and increase local food security
Image from: Harvest Returns
Fort Worth, Texas – Agritecture, LLC, an urban farming consulting and digital services firm, announced it has partnered with Harvest Returns, an agriculture investing platform.
The two companies will work together to accelerate the urban farming and controlled environment agriculture (CEA) industry across the country by offering new entrepreneurs a more accessible way to raise capital. This type of farming can reduce the environmental impact of the food system and increase local food security.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the fragility of centralized food production,” said Chris Rawley, CEO of Harvest Returns. “Developing additional indoor farms will distribute growing operations closer to where food is consumed, creating a more resilient food system.”
In 2020, the USDA offered the availability of only $3M in grants for urban agriculture and innovative production. Agritecture notes that the average CapEx, or startup cost, for controlled environment farms modeled via their Agritecture Designer digital platform is $512,000, and nearly one-third are over $1M.
Image from: Urban Ag News
“Since our founding in 2014, we’ve seen sustained, year-over-year growth in interest toward urban agriculture, especially amongst industry newcomers,” said Henry Gordon-Smith, Founder and CEO of Agritecture. This growth has only accelerated since the onset of the pandemic, according to the team at Agritecture, which reported nearly a 2x increase in website traffic since Q1 of 2020.
“Despite this increasing interest and the record levels of funding for the handful of indoor mega farms, financing continues to be one of the primary challenges for small and medium-scale CEA businesses,” Gordon-Smith notes. “Yet, we know these farms can achieve profitability with competitive payback periods, while still serving their local markets and communities.”
Gordon-Smith cites Agritecture’s 2019 and 2020 Global CEA Census Reports, produced alongside agtech solutions provider Autogrow, which show that nearly half of all CEA facilities are being started by those with no previous farming experience.
Furthermore, per their recent census, 78 percent of CEA business founders who attempted to raise money were unsuccessful in doing so through traditional financing sources, such as banks.
“By teaming up with Harvest Returns and their innovative financing platform, we can now deliver a direct link from our planning services and digital platform, Agritecture Designer, to funding opportunities for these smaller-scale facilities,” added Gordon-Smith.
Pontus Submits Building Permit Application for Surrey Aquaponics Facility
The Company has submitted a construction application to the City of Surrey for its 20,570 square foot aquaponics facility. The approval process is estimated to be completed within 6 weeks and is expected to be followed by the immediate commencement of construction of the Facility's leasehold improvements. Accordingly, the leasehold improvements are to consist of a complete retrofit of the Facility to establish Pontus' solar-powered, water recycling CEVASTM aquaponic system
VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 3, 2021 /CNW/ - Pontus Protein Ltd. ("Pontus" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce it has made significant progress towards the development of its state of the art, integrated aquaponics facility located in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada (the "Facility").
Image from: CNW Group/Pontus Protein Ltd
The Company has submitted a construction application to the City of Surrey for its 20,570 square foot aquaponics facility. The approval process is estimated to be completed within 6 weeks and is expected to be followed by the immediate commencement of construction of the Facility's leasehold improvements. Accordingly, the leasehold improvements are to consist of a complete retrofit of the Facility to establish Pontus' solar-powered, water recycling CEVASTM aquaponic system.
The installation of all required equipment for the growth and production is forecasted to take between four and six months to complete. Upon completion, the Facility will be approximately 20 times the size of Pontus' prior prototype facility. The prototype facility has been used to test and develop the technology for the Company's proprietary growing process.
The Facility, as seen in the image above and video below, will utilize an array of additional technologies to create a clean and sustainable aquaponics ecosystem. Solar energy panels will be installed to capture renewable energy and power the closed-loop water system, which recycles up to 95% of all water inputs. The implementation of the Facility's unique, sustainable technology in conjunction with Pontus' proprietary CEVAS™ automated growth technology will allow the Company to emphasize biosecurity in its agricultural production processes, removing the need for additional chemicals, pesticides, and other non-native components.
Pontus CEO, Conner Yuen states: "Entering the construction application process is a major milestone for the Company as we move toward the commissioning of the Facility. Our aim is to create a state of the art process that will incorporate the latest in sustainable agriculture technology. The ability to implement this highly efficient technology solves many issues we see with current methods of food production such as land scarcity and low yields and contamination.
Pontus' biosecurity and renewable food sources are intended to create a proactive solution to these issues by reducing the potential for contamination and the need for pesticides. Pontus hopes the Facility will revolutionize how traditional agriculture is conducted and show the power of technological food advancements."
Plant-based Protein Powder Market
The Company's plant-based protein powder is a premium entry into the global protein and supplements market, which is currently valued at USD$15 Billion and is expected to grow to USD$20 Billion by 2025 according to Grand View Research. This growth is expected to be fuelled by many North Americans reducing or eliminating the regular consumption of animal products. The North American plant-based protein market is also anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14% from 2019 through 2025.
About Pontus Protein Ltd
Pontus Protein Ltd. makes pure plant-based protein powder sourced from nutritious water lentils, farm-grown in Vancouver, BC, with development plans to expand to Surrey, B.C.. Not only does Pontus Protein Powder exceed certified organic standards, but it's also gluten-free, pure and allergen safe. It's jam-packed full of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and ALL the essential amino acids.
This is not your average lentil, these are water lentils; a crop that can be harvested every 24 hours in an indoor aquaponic farm that uses 95% less water than traditional agriculture, using Pontus' proprietary Closed Environment Vertical Aquaponics System (or CEVAS™) aquaponic agritech technology. This is wonderful news for a planet populated with us hungry and health-conscious humans.
“Autonomy Will Not Happen Until We Start Sharing Data”
In an emerging industry with companies eager to prove their technologies’ worth, Sensei Ag remains form-factor agnostic, meaning that the agtech company remains unbiased towards different farm hardware solutions – focusing more on software and plant biology. Sensei Ag is a market-changing agtech company that develops agile growing solutions through a highly iterative approach to farming, focused on improving the nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables while also reducing production costs. The company combines plant science, computer vision, machine learning, automation and artificial intelligence into its growing systems
In an emerging industry with companies eager to prove their technologies’ worth, Sensei Ag remains form-factor agnostic, meaning that the agtech company remains unbiased towards different farm hardware solutions – focusing more on software and plant biology.
Sensei Ag is a market-changing agtech company that develops agile growing solutions through a highly iterative approach to farming, focused on improving the nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables while also reducing production costs. The company combines plant science, computer vision, machine learning, automation and artificial intelligence into its growing systems.
According to Sensei Ag CEO Sonia Lo, remaining form factor agnostic is key to the company’s mission of providing hyper-nutritious food to as large a consumer base as possible, which it achieves through both vertical farms and greenhouses.
Image from: Sensei Ag
“We believe that the most robust data comes from operating farms of multiple types. So, not just vertical farms, but also low-tech and high-tech greenhouses. And with vertical farms, we are looking at a number of form factors. Our end goal is to be a grower’s resource and know more about growing at scale with different form factors than anyone else.”
The company is also a strong advocate for open data in the vertical farming industry, which is currently lacking, as evidenced by the siloed development of multiple systems and products, some of which cannot be easily integrated into third-party systems.
“There are lots of data flows and increasingly inexpensive farm management systems. The question, then, is the organization of data into intelligence. Intelligence facilitates autonomy, and as we manage data flows, more farms can become autonomous. But I don’t think autonomy will happen until we start sharing data. For example, we saw an automation supplier with a great robot.
The problem was the robot only works in their ecosystem, so you have to buy the whole farming solution in order for the one robot to work. Ideally, that robot would be plug and play and be able to work in greenhouses and vertical farms,” says Sonia.
Image from: Sensei Ag
According to Sonia, open data in the vertical farming industry may currently be restricted by the dominance of venture financing, which has its own return mandates to fulfill and sometimes wants a “winner takes it all” mentality for the ventures it chooses to back. While such financing has allowed the vertical farming industry to emerge, it may ultimately hinder the industry’s scalability and information sharing.
“There is definitely a capital model in Silicon Valley and in venture capital world in general which is not focused on profitability but is focused on technological achievement and market penetration. We saw this in solar and in the renewables industry when multiple venture capital funds invested in solar assets. Then, the bottom fell out because government subsidies fell away in certain jurisdictions.
I hope that agricultural infrastructure currently financed by venture capital will not necessarily follow the same pathway as solar, but will instead find a public-private partnership model. At some point, these farms need to demonstrate a profit for the debt capital markets to allow scale to occur.”
Image from: Sensei Ag
By embracing open data and transparency, Sonia explains that the vertical farming industry can further mature and iterate with technology to continue lowering costs. By continuously collecting and sharing data from different farm forms, the vertical farming industry would have better insights into the true costs which, according to Sonia, “helps drive scale because it enables the finance community to understand how the farms can be risk assessed and financed.”
Looking ahead, Sensei Ag hopes to form partnerships around the world to bring its innovative, data-driven growing systems across the globe. Taking the Middle East, China and Japan as examples, Sonia explained that the goal would be to choose strategic partners in each region whose local knowledge and business prowess would allow Sensei Ag to iterate its technologies appropriately and serve local markets, bringing cost-competitive farming techniques and nutritious, local produce around the world.
NASA's Challenge To Grow Food In Space Can Win You Up To $500,000
There are thousands of bizarre challenges doing the rounds on the internet. These unique challenges soon go viral on the internet, with countless participants hopping on board. A number of these challenges also involve some form of food. If you're a food innovator who's looking for the next interesting challenge to take up, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) may have something for you. The NASA, in collaboration with Canada's CSA (Central Space Agency), has launched a 'Deep Space Food Challenge'. The one-of-a-kind competition seeks to find food production technologies which are sustainable in long duration missions to outer space.
NASA has launched a 'Deep Space Food Challenge' to prompt innovation of food production techniques and technologies viable in outer space.
Image from: Deep Space Food
There are thousands of bizarre challenges doing the rounds on the internet. These unique challenges soon go viral on the internet, with countless participants hopping on board. A number of these challenges also involve some form of food. If you're a food innovator who's looking for the next interesting challenge to take up, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) may have something for you.
The NASA, in collaboration with Canada's CSA (Central Space Agency), has launched a 'Deep Space Food Challenge'. The one-of-a-kind competition seeks to find food production technologies which are sustainable in long duration missions to outer space.
Our cargo resupply missions can only go so far! That's why we need your help to design a food system to keep our astronauts feed during long duration space exploration.
— NASA Wallops (@NASA_Wallops) January 30, 2021
Check out the @NASAPrize Deep Space Food Challenge: https://t.co/9mxtZXbwaC pic.twitter.com/izU8nSqPDc
A short video explaining the purpose behind the challenge was shared by the official handle. The 56-second clip elaborated on how astronauts embarking on lunar space exploration missions usually rely on pre-packaged meals or resupply of food through shuttles from Earth.
Thus, creating a brand, new food production system with minimal input and nutritious output with minimal wastage can go a long way in fuelling longer duration space explorations. The challenge's focus is on identifying food production technologies that can help feed a crew of four astronauts and help fill food gaps for a three-year round-trip mission with no resupply required from Earth.
These innovative food production methods may also help communities on Earth living in harsh conditions and extreme climates. This could also help tackle food insecurity in the future, which is one of the biggest issues that loom large today. "Solutions identified through this Challenge could support these harsh environments, and also support greater food production in other milder environments, including major urban centres where vertical farming, urban agriculture and other novel food production techniques can play a more significant role," stated the Deep Space Food Challenge's official website.
.@NASA & @csa_asc are launching a Deep Space Food Challenge to develop food production tech in space.
— NASA STI Program (@NASA_STI) January 28, 2021
Hey @GuyFieri, how about Diners, Drive-Ins, Dives & Deep Space? #STIdocs #Flavortown 🚀🥘
Read about it: https://t.co/fnz80uwpJT
See research: https://t.co/18q6RG3L2G pic.twitter.com/lSRTiiAFes
Registrations for the challenge close on 28th May, and submissions are due 30th July, 2021. Winners of Phase 1 of the challenge will be announced in the month of September this year. The prize money for winners of Phase 1 can go up to USD 500,000 (Rs. 3.64 crores approximately). So, if you have an exciting idea to produce food which could help future space missions - you know what to do!
The Philippines: Congress OKs Bill Promoting Urban Agriculture
Benitez headed the technical working group that produced the consolidated bill, which will mainstream vertical farms, indoor farms, and community gardens in cities and urbanizing areas
January 29, 2021
THE House of Representatives approved on second reading, Wednesday, January 27, 2021, House Bill No. 8385, consolidating several bills promoting urban agriculture authored by Third District Representative Francisco Benitez.
Benitez headed the technical working group that produced the consolidated bill, which will mainstream vertical farms, indoor farms, and community gardens in cities and urbanizing areas.
The bill stated that about 2.5-million Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months based on the 2019 second-quarter survey of Social Weather Station, of which the higher hunger incidence was recorded in Metro Manila, with 520,000 families experiencing hunger.
According to the Expanded National Nutrition conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, 53.9 percent of Filipino households are food insecure.
To address this, Benitez said it is imperative to introduce game-changing solutions, increasing production by maximizing available spaces and utilizing emerging agricultural technologies and methods, particularly in urban areas where hunger incidence is prevalent.
Sino Group Presents City-Wide Integrated Green Community Project Farm Together
Ms. Nikki Ng, Group General Manager of Sino Group, says, 'With a vision of Creating Better Lifescapes, the Group focuses its efforts on three interconnected pillars, namely Green Living, Community Spirit, and Innovative Design
January 28, 2021
ACROFAN=PRNewswire | mediainquiries@prnewswire.com | SNS
Dedicated to Creating Better Lifescapes for the community
HONG KONG, Jan. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The year 2021 marks the 50th Anniversary of Sino Group (the 'Group'), commemorating its effort in community-building and dedication to building a more sustainable society. Sino Group today presents Farm Together – an integrated green community project that promotes urban farming and brings the community closer to nature, in keeping with the Group's Sustainability Vision 2030 commitment of Creating Better Lifescapes. With six farms currently operating across its properties in Hong Kong that span over 23,000 square feet, the Group has one of the largest urban farming footprints in the city.
Ms. Nikki Ng, Group General Manager of Sino Group, says, 'With a vision of Creating Better Lifescapes, the Group focuses its efforts on three interconnected pillars, namely Green Living, Community Spirit, and Innovative Design. In collaboration with our green partners and NGO partners, Farm Together aims to encourage our community to re-establish a connection with nature. We promote sustainable living and wellness while celebrating local biodiversity in alignment with the mission of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Through Farm Together, we seek to plant the seeds of sustainability and grow a greener future with our colleagues, residents, tenants, and the wider community.'
Sino Group sees sustainability as the core of its business and has introduced many green initiatives over the past 50 years, including the 'Mission Green Top' that has brought green inspiration to commercial buildings since 2008 and Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel's outdoor organic farm, launched in 2018, which pioneered the industry. Over 5,000 tenants, hotel guests, students, and colleagues have participated in a variety of green tours, workshops, and educational programmes over the years, and more than 1,000 kg of vegetables have been harvested from rooftop farm that has generated over HK$2 million of sales proceeds for the not-for-profit Hong Chi Association. These meaningful experiences and networks laid a solid foundation for the city-wide Farm Together project.
Urban farming footprint across the city
Farm Together currently operates six farms city-wide, across the Group's commercial and residential properties as well as hotel. The largest farm in the portfolio, spanning 11,840 square feet, is Sky Farm at the Skyline Tower, located in Kowloon Bay. Featuring a wide range of seasonal plants from Romaine lettuce to sweet potatoes as well as being Hong Kong's first rooftop farm at a commercial building to grow indigo plant for tie-dyeing, the farm is managed in collaboration with sustainable social enterprise Smiley Planet and local NGO Hong Chi Association.
Other farms include 148 Farm (1,300 square feet) on 148 Electric Road that is a lush urban garden with mesmerising views of the Victoria Harbour. The Group's Hong Kong Gold Coast is home to four farms: Gold Coast Eco Farm (2,500 square feet), bringing the joy of urban farming to residents at Hong Kong Gold Coast Residences; Gold Coast Fun Farm (1,600 square feet), a green oasis where families and neighbours meet and share wonderful moments together; Gold Coast Farm (3,680 square feet), the first farm within a hotel in Hong Kong using organic farming practice to grow a variety of crops; and Butterflies and Herbs Farm (3,700 square feet) at the Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel, which features more than 20 types of butterflies and 40 types of flower and plant species.
These farms together grow over 150 plant and crop species including the seasonal plants snow jade cabbage and taro winter melon. Farm Together aims at promoting a more sustainable urban lifestyle through vertical farming practices and farm-to-table experiences. It is expected to generate a total of around 1,000 kg of produce annually to be shared with residents, tenants, and charitable organizations to support the local community.
Following this success, Farm Together has been extended outside of Hong Kong. The Fullerton Farm (2,152 square feet) at The Fullerton Hotel Singapore has been launched to promote the concept of sustainability and biodiversity to the Singapore community.
148 Farm on 148 Electric Road is a lush urban garden with mesmerizing views of the Victoria Harbour.
Wide range of activities to bring the community closer to nature
Committed to creating a better community that thrives in harmony by embracing green living and wellness, the Group's Farm Together project offers a range of community workshops, programmes, and tours – that teach participants everything from the farm-to-table concept to expert farming tips – in collaboration with urban farming experts including Smiley Planet, Rooftop Republic, Fung Yuen Butterfly Reserve and NGO partners including Hong Chi Association, New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, Warehouse Teenage Club and The Providence Garden for Rehab.
The first round of community activities will open to public this April. Popular workshops that utilize the plants and herbs grown at the farms include the Tie-Dying Workshop where participants can create their own tie-dyed fabrics and accessories with indigo, and the Herb Soap Making Workshop in which participants can create their own sustainable soap using a traditional cold processing method with herbs and flowers. Those who wish to learn more about farming techniques and harvesting can enjoy the Mixed Farm Tour and Urban Farm Tour. Please visit the Farm Together website https://www.farmtogether.com.hk/ for details and fee of the workshops, with online registration starting mid -February on a first-come-first-serve basis. Proceeds from the workshops (deducting administrative cost) will be donated to New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association.
About Sino Group
Sino Group is one of the leading property developers in Hong Kong. It comprises three listed companies – Sino Land Company Limited (HKSE: 083), Tsim Sha Tsui Properties Limited (HKSE: 0247), and Sino Hotels (Holdings) Limited (HKSE: 1221) as well as private companies held by the Ng Family.
The Group's core business is developing residential, office, industrial, and retail properties for sale and investment. In addition to an extensive portfolio in Hong Kong, the Group has footprints in mainland China, Singapore, and Australia. The Group has developed more than 250 projects, spanning a total plot ratio area of over 84.6 million sq ft. Our core business is complemented by the gamut of property services encompassing management, security, and environmental services to ensure a seamless Sino Experience. We are also a key player in hotel and club management.
The Group employs more than 10,000 committed staff members, who share the vision of creating better lifescapes. Lifescape is our vision – to build a better life together, where the community thrives in harmony by embracing green living and wellness, by engaging with all and pursuing meaningful designs, and by seeking innovation while respecting heritage and culture. Committed and together, we create a better community where people live, work, and play. In the year 2021, the Group celebrates its 50th anniversary, commemorating our five decades of community-building and dedication to Creating Better Lifescapes.
The Group focuses its sustainability efforts on three areas, namely Green Living, Innovative Design, and Community Spirit. Sino Land Company Limited (083) has been a constituent member of the Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index Series since September 2012 for its continual efforts in promoting sustainability.
About Farm Together
Farm Together is Sino Group's integrated green community project for planting the seeds of sustainability and bringing the community closer to nature.
Farm Together currently comprises 6 farms in Hong Kong and 1 farm in Singapore, spanning over 26,000 sq. ft. and including the Sky Farm at Skyline Tower, the 148 Farm at 148 Electric Road, Gold Coast Fun Farm, Gold Coast Eco Farm, Gold Coast Farm and the Butterflies and Herbs Farm at the Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel, the Fullerton Farm at the Fullerton Hotel Singapore.
Creating a sustainable future is at the heart of what we do, and Farm Together is one of the ways we are bringing this vision to life. Let's Farm Together!
Related Links :
Lead photo: The Farm Together project currently operates six farms city-wide, across Sino Group’s commercial and residential properties as well as hotels.
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Seattle Architect Is Helping The Fast-Growing Field of Indoor Ag Take Root
Seattle architect Melanie Corey-Ferrini is launching a controlled-environment business with assists from Sabey Corp., and Microsoft. The multifaceted, to-be-named enterprise includes a training program at Alan T. Sugiyama High School at South Lake in Seattle, where she is pictured in the cafeteria with a grow tower. Anthony Bolante | PSBJ
By Marc Stiles – Senior Staff Writer, Puget Sound Business Journal
January 16, 2021
Seattle architect Melanie Corey-Ferrini’s kiosk-style lobby pop-up concept called G2 is the ultimate in farm-to-fork dining. Protein-rich grains and greens are grown on-site in the unmanned, transparent kiosk and combined with other veggies, roots, spices and dairy to make custom bowls ordered on a mobile app. G2 last summer was named best pioneering food service concept in a national contest.
It’s one small example of the possibilities of controlled-environment agriculture (CEA), which is at the heart of Corey-Ferrini’s latest endeavor: a multifaceted, urban ag project largely centered in Tukwila, where Sabey Corp. is providing warehouse space for hydroponic growing equipment that Microsoft donated.
Corey-Ferrini will use space at Sabey’s Intergate East data center campus to build and launch CEA education and business development programs this year.
CEA is a technology-based approach to food production that allows indoor farmers to maximize use of water, energy and labor. Worldwide in the third quarter, venture capitalists invested $1.6 billion in ag tech companies, bringing the 2020 total to $4.2 billion, according to PitchBook. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, a developer of life science office and lab space, offers early-stage companies move-in-ready space at its Center for AgTech in Durham, North Carolina.
The sector has struggled to put down roots in the Seattle region, where there has been one unsuccessful attempt. Now comes not only Corey-Ferrini’s to-be-named enterprise but also Kalera, a Florida-based company that plans to open a facility in 70,000 square feet of leased space in Lacey this year.
Several years ago, Corey-Ferrini consulted with Microsoft on a CEA project in Redmond. Contract farmers used Microsoft’s PowerBI and Azure platforms to grow in hydroponic towers lettuce and micro-greens for company cafeterias.
“I was like, why aren’t more people doing this? It seems like it should be a programmatic feature in all food-related spaces,” said Corey-Ferrini. “I’ve learned it’s really a little bit of robotics, a little bit of AI, a little bit of automation.”
As a member of Soroptimist Seattle, which works to empower women and girls, she is establishing a program at Alan T. Sugiyama at South Lake, an alternative public high school in the Rainier Valley. She is working with other groups like New Roots, an International Rescue Committee program that provides land and other support in South King County to around 150 immigrant and refugee families.
Deepa Iyer, senior program coordinator for New Roots, said a pilot indoor ag tech and business class will be offered at the Sabey building through Corey-Ferrini’s enterprise. She said it will provide pathways not only to a year-round growing platform but training for tech careers.
The experience of a Seattle indoor ag business, UrbanHarvest, shows the challenges of such an endeavor. Six years ago, it worked with Seattle’s Millionair Club Charity (now Uplift Northwest) during its launch, but the program shut down after about a year when it couldn’t raise additional funds, said founder Chris Bajuk.
Corey-Ferrini is approaching it with a long-term view and plans to build a multipronged enterprise with multiple income streams. Kara Anderson, director of architecture at Sabey, said Corey-Ferrini has a good shot at pulling this off.
“She’s got endless energy,” said Anderson, who added that, like Sabey, Corey-Ferrini is known for outside-the-box thinking.
“She’s not afraid to pick up an idea without knowing really how she’s going to pull it together. She just starts marching down the path to get partners and grab people into her extensive network to brainstorm,” said Anderson.
Sabey, a developer and operator of data centers nationwide, sees opportunities in the project for both its business and community.
“We’re interested in what’s going on in our backyard and opportunities to help out and make some lives better if we can,” Anderson said “At some point these indoor facilities will be monitored by computers and that, in turn, ends up feeding into the data center world.”
Melanie Corey-Ferrini
Position: Chief experience architect
Company: Dynamik Space, a design and branding company
Founded: 2000
Career: Also currently CEO of 3.14DC, which programs food and retail spaces
Lessons Learned
Use your sense of humor.
Be curious.
Don’t fear failure.
International Webinar On Urban Farming - Soilless Cultivation
27th January 2021, between 9 am to 1 pm IST
organised by the
Department of Botany, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA
in collaboration with
Universitas Bengkulu, Indonesia
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Malaysia
Industrial Technology Institute (CISIR), Sri Lanka
With the support of
CropG1 ,dFarms USA, Hydrilla, SAM Agro Biotech, SRC Malaysia, Sujay Biotech, Veggitech UAE and Urban Kisaan
on 27th January 2021, between 9 am to 1 pm IST.
Speakers are
1. A perspective of Hydroponics by Mr Vijay Bhaskar Noti, dFarm Inc., USA
2. Sustainable Farming with Multiloop Aquaponics by Mrs Mamatha, Hydrilla
3. Aeroponics: A versatile research tool in modern Agriculture by Dr Jagadeesh, SAM Agro Biotech
4. Diversity in Hydroponics by Prof. G. Sudarsanam, Sri Venkateswara University
5. Application of ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI In Hydroponics and Aeroponics by Dr M. Lakshmi Prasad, Sujay Biotech
6. Hydroponics Scope and Opportunities by Bhaskar Rao, VeggiTech, UAE
7. Plant Health in Soilless Cultivation: Management of Deficiencies, Diseases and Pests By Dr Purushottam Dewang, CropG1
8. Hydroponic Urban Farming in Malaysia under MITRA by Chandrasekar, Sai Ram Capital, Malaysia
9. Entrepreneurship in Urban Farming by Dr P. Sairam, Urban Kisaan
Please fill Free Registration form and submit using the following link
https://forms.gle/52WaVECrqpEFQh4w8
*eCertificates & webinar link will be provided to the registered participants only
*Organisers are not responsible for network failures
For more information please contact
Prof.G.Sudarsanam
Convener of the Webinar
Head, Department of Botany
Sri Venkateswara University
Tirupati -517503
E-mail: sudarsanamg@gmail.com
WhatsApp: +91-9989053632
From A Landfill Site To An Urban Farm: The Transition That Kept A Thai City Fed During COVID-19
Many residents of Chiang Mai, where the farm is based, lost their tourist-dependent jobs during the start of the pandemic
15 Jan 2021
Rina Chandran Correspondent, Reuters
An urban farm in Thailand, built on a former landfill site, has been helping feed nearby residents during the COVID-19 crisis.
Many residents of Chiang Mai, where the farm is based, lost their tourist-dependent jobs during the start of the pandemic.
It could provide model of how to turn unused spaces into places that benefit the whole community.
Urban farming is an important tool in promoting sustainability and tackling food insecurity.
An urban farm developed on a former landfill site in northern Thailand boosted the food security and livelihoods of poor families during the coronavirus pandemic, and can be a model for unused spaces in other cities, urban experts said on Thursday.
The farm in Chiang Mai, about 700 km (435 miles) from the capital Bangkok, took shape during a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus last year, when many of the city's residents lost their tourism-dependent jobs.
Supawut Boonmahathanakorn, a community architect who works on housing solutions for Chiang Mai's homeless and informal settlers, approached authorities with a plan to convert the unused landfill into an urban farm to support the poor.
"We had previously mapped the city's unused spaces with an idea to plant trees to mitigate air pollution. The landfill, which had been used for 20 years, was one of those spaces," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"Poor families spend more than half their earnings on food, so when their incomes dried up, they were struggling to feed their families. This farm has been a lifeline for some of them," he said, pointing to neat rows of corn and morning glory.
Coronavirus lockdowns worldwide have pushed more city dwellers to grow fruit and vegetables in the backyards and terraces of their homes, and forced authorities to consider urban farming as a means to boost food security.
In Chiang Mai, after authorities approved the farm plan, an appeal on social media resulted in donations of plants, seedlings and manure from residents, Supawut said.
With diggers loaned by the city, Supawut and his team cleared some 5,700 tonnes of rubbish on the 4,800 square-metre (0.48 hectare) plot that lies next to a canal and a cemetery.
The land was levelled, and a rich topsoil added to offset the degraded soil. The farm opened to the community in June.
About half a dozen homeless families, students from a public school and members of the public grow eggplant, corn, bananas, cassava, chilli, tomatoes, kale and herbs, Supawut said.
"In cities, we have lost our connection with food production, but it is a vital skill," he said.
"Urban farms cannot feed an entire city, but they can improve nutrition and build greater self-sufficiency especially among vulnerable people. They are important during a pandemic - and even otherwise," he added.
Supawut Boonmahathanakorn stands by the urban farm he helped create.
Image: Thomson Reuters Foundation/Rina Chandran
Come together
Urban agriculture can potentially produce as much as 180 million tonnes of food a year - or about 10% of the global output of pulses and vegetables, according to a 2018 study led by Arizona State University.
Rooftop farms, vertical gardens and allotments also help increase vegetation cover, which is key to limiting rising temperatures and lowering the risk of flooding in cities.
While land in cities is scarce and expensive, rooftops and spaces below expressways and viaducts can be repurposed, said landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom, who designed Asia's largest urban rooftop farm in Bangkok.
"We need imagination and greater flexibility in our laws to turn such spaces into urban farms," she said.
"The Chiang Mai farm is a sandbox - it shows it can be done in even the most unlikely of spaces if the government and the community come together," she added.
For Ammi, a homeless indigenous Akha woman who has lived at the farm since July, the corn, melons and cabbage that she grows have fed her and her husband, and provided a small income.
"It gives people like me an opportunity to be self-sufficient," she said. "We need more such farms in the city."
Lead photo: The farm provides a model of how to turn unused spaces into places that benefit the whole community. REUTERS
This article is published in collaboration with Thomson Reuters Foundation trust.org
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Growing Crops In Cities Will Put An End To Food Waste
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, empty supermarket shelves prompted people to ask – sometimes for the first time – where their food comes from
Coronavirus showed how vulnerable our global food supply chains are, but growing closer to home could also solve our waste problem
23 December 2020
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, empty supermarket shelves prompted people to ask – sometimes for the first time – where their food comes from. In 2021 we will see more food in cities provided by producers who are less vulnerable to the disruptions of long supply chains we experienced during 2020.
The pandemic caused consumers around the world to turn to smaller, local, and regional food providers that could secure access to food during lockdowns. In the UK, the Farmers to Feed Us digital platform created new ways for small-scale food producers to provide fresh produce directly to consumers. Sales of food from community-supported agriculture (CSA), where consumers subscribe to receive in-season harvests from groups of UK farmers, increased by 111 percent from February to April, with this trend also being apparent in the US and China. The 105-acre Eatwell Farm in California saw such a big spike in demand that it had to cease new subscriptions – and the waiting list is still growing. These demonstrate how producers can provide consumers with food security and, in return, how consumers have supported their businesses.
At the same time, accessing food hasn’t been easy for everyone. Countless people around the world have been forced to turn to food donations. Meanwhile, when restaurants, schools, and workplaces closed, food producers were hit with a lack of demand that saw tonnes of edible food go to waste. As income for smaller farmers was supported by consumer demand, a decline in business from food-service providers has made their futures uncertain. With the food system’s vulnerabilities exposed, the question has become: how can we better connect communities and food producers to make sure we are more resilient to future shocks? In 2021, the relationship between food and our cities will be drastically reimagined to answer this question.
Half of the world’s population currently live in cities and, by 2050, 80 percent of the world’s food will be eaten in densely populated urban environments. But, as cities strive to become more resilient, they will become much more than centres of consumption. To become stronger in the face of unplanned disruptions, our cities, and their surrounding areas will increasingly supply food and make use of valuable nutrients, creating thriving local, regional, and international food networks. This will be a pivotal step towards a circular economy for food, in which nothing becomes waste, everything has value, and the way we produce food regenerates natural ecosystems.
Increasing the amount of food grown in and around cities will also help to secure supply to residents without access to CSA schemes in nearby fields. Singapore, for example, imports a large proportion of its food, with only one percent of its land being dedicated to agriculture. When the country’s food supply chain was disrupted during its coronavirus outbreak, consumers in Singapore turned to urban farms and the government began to identify unused spaces in its cities for agricultural development. Similar developments to produce food locally will also be seen elsewhere in 2021. In Detroit, plans for a CSA program are currently being shaped, while in France, the remaining two-thirds of Europe’s largest urban farm, Nature Urbaine, will be planted in Paris, while 50 plots in Nantes that once grew flowers will provide vegetables for 1,000 households in need.
Food producers will also adopt regenerative practices, which focus on outcomes such as healthy soil and carbon capture that tackles climate change, to build resilience into their operations. And cities will have a key role to play in this.
In the current food system, when food flows into cities, organic waste is created in the form of discarded produce, by-products, and sewage. This waste is full of nutrients that can be used to grow new food and create biomaterials, but in today’s system, it is more likely to end up in landfills or go untreated. However, there are more viable – and greener – alternatives. In Italy, paper is already being made from pasta by-products, while orange peels, grape skins, and excess milk are being turned into fabrics. In the UK, London has committed to ensuring that by 2026 no biodegradable or recyclable waste will be sent to landfill.
This shift will not only be driven by a need to address waste and pollution. As we look to recover from the economic shock of Covid-19, our analysis has shown there is an economic opportunity worth $700 billion (£538 billion) for cities to reduce edible food waste and use by-products. Less than two percent of organic waste in cities is currently returned to the soil, yet the more organic matter that’s within soil, the more water it can hold and retain, making crops resilient to disturbances such as droughts and floods. This applies whether food is grown in the city, its peri-urban surroundings, or on rural farmland.
As part of the European Green Deal, the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy is aiming to reduce use of synthetic fertilisers by at least 20 per cent and triple the amount of land farmed organically by 2030, as well as promising legally binding targets to reduce food waste. To meet these targets, cities will be expanding their organic waste collection schemes in 2021 and ensuring it is used effectively, putting it back on the land as a replacement for synthetic fertilisers, using it as compost to build organic matter in soil and to feed livestock.
These kinds of initiative will give cities a surer footing for the future. In 2021, we will begin to build a resilient circular economy for food.
Ellen MacArthur is founder and chair of trustees of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Lead photo: Bertand Aznar
OUR NEW FUTURE: German Firm Says Indoor Vertical Farm in Singapore Will Produce 1.5 Tons of ‘Leafy Greens’ Every Day
New indoor vertical farm in Singapore is expected to produce 1.5 tons of fresh leafy greens per day.
stock photo/ @rebecca_lee_creative
KEY POINTS
Henner Schwarz, CEO of German firm &ever, said that his company’s new indoor vertical farm in Singapore will produce 1.5 tons of “leafy green” produce per day.
Schwarz said he expects produce from his firm’s new research and development facility in Changi will reach a lot of Singaporeans over time and “make a small contribution to food security in Singapore.”
&ever already has an operational indoor farm in Kuwait, which has become a testing ground for indoor vertical farming.
The boss of German firm &ever has said that his company’s new indoor vertical farm in Singapore will produce 1.5 tons of “leafy green” produce every day when it is up and running in the fourth quarter of next year.
Henner Schwarz, Chief Executive Officer at &ever, told CNBC on Monday that he expects produce from his firm’s new research and development facility in Changi will reach a lot of Singaporeans over time and “make a small contribution to food security in Singapore.”
The company, which competes with more conventional food producers, sells living plants to customers that can then be harvested at home as and when they’re needed. As a result, it tastes better and fresher, Schwarz said.
Schwarz said Singapore is “not the easiest market for indoor vertical farming” as electricity is fairly expensive and there are “lots of cheap imports.”
However, &ever has been awarded a grant by the Singapore government, which decided to speed up plans to increase locally produced food after seeing how the coronavirus pandemic impacted food supplies.
Singapore’s land scarcity makes conventional farming a real challenge and the country is keen to embrace solutions that don’t have a large footprint.
In terms of price, Schwarz said: “We think that we’re pricing our products similar to existing premium organic produce that you can find on the Singapore market today.”
He added: “The price point for indoor vertical farming products in many markets in the world, for example in the U.S., is very expensive. Our system is really geared towards making a meaningful contribution and we have taken quite some time to get things right, and to have the most energy efficient solution on the market.”
In order to reduce energy consumption at its Singapore site, &ever plans to use a combination of sunlight capture systems and LED lights. It is teaming up with lighting producer Signify to carry out a number of experiments.
Wikimedia | Valcenteu
Kuwait farm
&ever already has an operational indoor farm in Kuwait, which has become a testing ground for indoor vertical farming as it has similar, but different food security issues.
“We launched our farm in Kuwait just when Covid really hit in March,” said Schwarz. “It has been quite difficult to ramp production capacity up. However, the reception in the market has really been great thus far, and the Kuwaiti people really like our produce.”
When it comes to farming, access to fresh water is a problem in many areas of the world. “We need 95% less fresh water than traditional farms,” said Schwarz.
He added: “We expect that over time, as our efficiency becomes better and better, the price points can become lower and lower.”
PUBLISHED TUE, DEC 22 2020 - 2:11 AM EST | UPDATED TUE, DEC 22 2020 - 2:12 AM EST
Agrifood Tech Firms Are Flocking To Singapore, With Perfect Day The Latest To Land
US alt-dairy startup Perfect Day revealed today that it will set up an R&D facility in Singapore, with the city-state’s minister for trade and industry predicting “many other companies” will be joining it to take advantage of the growing agrifood tech ecosystem there
December 20, 2020
US alt-dairy startup Perfect Day revealed today that it will set up an R&D facility in Singapore, with the city-state’s minister for trade and industry predicting “many other companies” will be joining it to take advantage of the growing agrifood tech ecosystem there.
A*STAR's headquarters in Singapore. Image credit: A*STAR
California-based Perfect Day is establishing the joint R&D center in collaboration with Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR.)
This center will bring together A*STAR’s expertise in areas such as taste analytics, cell biology, and protein biotech. The aim of the collaboration is to “build analytical platforms to characterize and quantify the key components in dairy food products that provide their distinctive taste and feel,” the startup said in a statement.
Founded in 2014, Perfect Day produces ‘animal-free’ dairy products using microflora to ferment sugars to create the same proteins, casein, and whey present in animal milk.
The startup is just the latest international agrifood tech company to set up shop in Singapore.
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Last month, German indoor farming firm &ever said it would establish its global R&D center in the city-state to carry out research into energy efficiency and yield optimization for indoor vertical farms. It’s also constructing a “mega-farm” in the east of Singapore with an annual production capacity of over 500 tons that is set to open by the end of 2021.
In October, US alt-protein startup Eat Just announced it would invest a total of $100 million with investor Proterra to build Asia’s first plant-based protein factory in Singapore. Earlier this month, the city-state handed Eat Just the world’s first regulatory approval for a cell-based, cultured meat product, clearing its ‘lab-grown’ chicken bites for sale to the public.
Swiss food industry majors Buhler and Givaudan announced the launch of a joint innovation center in Singapore in February to explore textures and tastes for plant-based protein products. French animal feed firm Adisseo set up an aquaculture R&D center in Singapore back in December 2019 to research aquatic animal health and nutrition.
Citing data from AgFunder, Singapore Minister of Trade & Industry Chan Chun Sing said that the global agrifood sector is “primed for growth” with investment into agrifoodtech startups growing 47% year-on-year in 2018 and a further 17% in 2019 to reach $19.8 billion. [Disclosure: AgFunder is AFN‘s parent company.]
With its “unique farm-to-fork ecosystem and track record for technical capabilities, quality branding, and intellectual property [IP] protection, Singapore aims to capture a significant share of the wave of economic opportunities in agrifoodtech,” Chan told reporters at a press conference announcing Perfect Day’s partnership with A*STAR.
Alt-protein products like those being developed by Perfect Day, Just Eat, and local players including Shiok Meats and TurtleTree Labs — which announced its $6.2 million pre-Series A round last week — have a critical role to play in feeding countries and cities like Singapore, where arable land is minimal and primary food sources are typically located far away.
“Alternative proteins will add to the suite of options we have without being restrained by factors like the [amount] of land and other natural resources we have. Overall, [they provide] a much more efficient, sustainable way to feed the population, across Asia, where demand will go up proportionally with the growth of the middle class,” Chan said.
But the buck doesn’t need to stop at Singapore securing its own nutritional needs, he added.
“We are not limiting our aspirations just to the domestic market. The larger market for this sector is really [the] growing needs for the Asia-Pacific, that we hope to capture. Look at China, Indonesia, India – as people become more affluent, as they seek higher quality food products, there will be a bigger market for these kinds of products. How do we feed a growing population in a sustainable manner that is also good for the environment? So our sense is not just how big the local market is, but how big the global market can be.”
“We want to make sure the core IP, the core R&D happens here – so the high-value part of the value chain is housed in Singapore, and we can attract the investment and the people to come here,” Chan said.
He noted that in addition to the arrival of foreign startups and corporates, as well as the growth of local players, a variety of domestic and international investors are contributing to the development of Singapore’s agrifood tech ecosystem.
“We are also building a vibrant cluster of financing firms across various stages, for example, New Protein Capital, EDBI, Temasek, and Proterra, as well as a base of global agrifood accelerators [such as] Big Idea Ventures‘ alternative proteins accelerator and GROW Accelerator […] Our eventual aim is to build up the talent pool with the expertise to deploy more than S$90 million [$67.5 million] of capital.” [Disclosure: GROW Accelerator is operated by AgFunder, AFN‘s parent company.]
Returning to Perfect Day’s R&D center announcement, Chan said it is another “milestone in our ongoing journey.”
“There will be many other companies joining us to build up our ecosystem,” he continued. “We’re optimistic this can become a new pillar of our economic development, providing us with greater [economic] diversity, food security for Singapore, and new opportunities in countries beyond Singapore.”
Singapore sovereign fund Temasek led Perfect Day’s $140 million Series C round in December 2019.
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alt dairy, asia, Europe, Germany, indoor agriculture, indoor farming, singapore, United States, urban agriculture, urban farming, vertical farming
After The Chaos of 2020, Will Indoor Farming Be In Our Future?
“Rather than growing out in an outdoor field, we’re growing up,” says Forward Greens CEO and Founder, Ken Kaneko. “We’re able to control the temperature, the humidity, the airflow, as well as the lighting,” he says
VANCOUVER, Wash. — The year 2020 has forced a number of disruptions to our daily lives, so what if we have more years like it in the future? How will we make sure our communities can survive by getting vital resources, like food?
The answer may be growing inside an old Hewlett Packard plant at the Vancouver Tech Campus in Washington.
Forward Greens is probably not what you picture when you think “farm”: vertical floor to ceiling stacks of planters filled with microgreens and baby greens, growing under LED lights
Forward Greens, Vancouver, Wash.
“Rather than growing out in an outdoor field, we’re growing up,” says Forward Greens CEO and Founder, Ken Kaneko. “We’re able to control the temperature, the humidity, the airflow, as well as the lighting,” he says.
From arugula to kale to broccoli, everything growing inside this urban, indoor farm wouldn’t be growing outside on a chilly November day in the Pacific Northwest.
From start to finish, the whole process of farming is essentially done in one room. In just a week or two, the greens are on their way to grocery stores in Portland, Vancouver, and Seattle.
Kaneko, who had worked for Intel and more recently, Apple, founded Forward Greens in 2017 after a trip to Japan. There, he stumbled upon his first vertical farm.
“I thought, ‘man, it would be great if I can bring this back to the Pacific Northwest and essentially do it better, cheaper, and more efficiently,'” said Kaneko.
Kaneko says Forward Greens never uses any pesticides, fungicides or herbicides and it uses 95% less water and 99% less land than traditional outdoor farming. But, he says, it uses a lot of energy to power the lights.
“Any engineering problem has a balance of cost, time, environmental impact, but the whole mission of this business is to balance those in a positive way towards the environment,” Kaneko said.
So could this be the farming of the future?
OSU Professor of Horticulture, Gail Langellotto, is pretty certain that it’s not. “In the near future, I can’t imagine a future where only agriculture is indoor agriculture,” she says, pointing to the high start-up costs, the higher cost of labor, and the expensive and taxing energy use.
She says traditional, outdoor farming will be difficult to replace because of the efficiency, precision and scale the industry has mastered and is constantly improving.
But Langellotto adds that if we have more years like 2020, with the pandemic and destructive wildfires on top of climate change, indoor farming will be an asset. She says urban farming is robust to disruptions in the local food system.
“If there are some supply and transport issues that delay or limit the amount of food that can be brought into urban areas from more rural, further out regions, then you already have an urban food production system in the proximity of where the majority of people live,” Langellotto said.
After the chaos of 2020, will indoor farming be in our future? (KATU video){ }
Kaneko is encouraged by the fact that urban farms can be a huge asset, saying, “we don’t know what’s going to happen with respect to the wildfires, the pandemic, the climate, so we’re able to provide local and sustainable food regardless of all those parameters.”
And that may be why Kaneko says demand for indoor farms is increasing. In fact, he’s expanding and doubling production at the Vancouver location in the next couple months. But he’s looking even further ahead to an even brighter future.
He hopes to put a Forward Greens in every metropolitan area, so we don’t fall to the fate of those HP printers that used to be built where his plants now grow.
KATU2 ABC Forward Greens
by Wesleigh Ogle, Thursday, December 3rd 2020
Published by Dani Kliegerman, iGrow News