Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
UK Food Technology Company, Vertical Future, Completes Its £4m Seed Round To Accelerate Growth Plans In London
Vertical Future, a London-based food technology company, announced the completion of its Seed Round, raising £4m of equity finance, with further investment expected in the coming months. The company uses technology to produce high-quality, ethical food (primarily baby leaf vegetables and herbs), in controlled environments
Funds will be used to build additional ethical plant factories in London Fields and Mayfair, expanding from its existing site in Deptford
The move will also see improvements in technology, primarily in automation, data, and nutrition
Earthworm, lead investor, and High-Net-Worth-Investor-base invest in high-yield food production for urban environments
The company’s long-term objective is better urban health
Today (7th October 2019), Vertical Future, a London-based food technology company, announced the completion of its Seed Round, raising £4m of equity finance, with further investment expected in the coming months. The company uses technology to produce high-quality, ethical food (primarily baby leaf vegetables and herbs), in controlled environments. They also develop efficient and sustainable methods of food production and supply systems, with a long-term commitment to improving health and reducing CO2 emissions in cities.
“Following several years of hard work, today’s raise validates our growth strategy and strong position in the London market, furthering our mission to improve the food and health of urban inhabitants, starting in London,” said Jamie Burrows, Founder, and CEO of Vertical Future.
The capital raised will be used to support the first phase of Vertical Future’s long-term, ambitious growth strategy. The company will see a 25x increase in crop production capacity across its London operations, aided by the development of two new ethical plant factories” in London Fields and Mayfair, as well as further developing its existing site in Deptford. Despite significantly more automation, this heightened production is expected to lead to 30 or more permanent local jobs, with more specialist roles focusing on the development of in-house growing tech, robotics, and process management.
The investment round was led by Earthworm – a fast-growing impact investor with a portfolio across food, energy, and waste – and supported by corporate finance adviser, Acceleris Capital. Also supporting the raise was Amberley Advisory and Gateley.
Ben Prior, CEO of Earthworm said: “Vertical farming offers huge potential in solving one of the biggest issues of our time – how to feed a growing population sustainably. We are really impressed with Jamie’s vision and work ethic, and the team at Vertical Future has a very special business poised for growth.”
Lord Nigel Crisp, Former Head of the NHS and Non-Executive Board Member at Vertical Future, added: “This is our first major move in this sector, enabling us to direct our work more towards health, in addition to purely producing food, in future years. Sustainable food will be one of society’s biggest health challenges and we aim to be at the forefront of the effort for better, long-lasting, tangible solutions”
Vertical Future’s ability to produce significantly more food will target a 10x increase in its Business-2-Business (B2B) restaurant, home cooks, and food brand customers – sold under the “MiniCrops” consumer brand. Current customers include Tom’s Kitchen, Mindful Chef, Chop’d, Kaleido, Sartoria, Lahpet, and Quaglino’s, to name a few.
Simon Thorn, CEO of Acceleris said: “We are delighted to complete this transaction with Jamie and the team at Vertical Future. We believe that we have secured an excellent investment partner in Earthworm and we look forward to supporting the company’s growth over the coming years. The team has attracted an impressive customer base so far and we see plenty of areas for growth.”
About Vertical Future
Vertical Future is a privately-owned technology company focused on improving health in cities through developing a better, more efficient food production and supply system.
About the Founder
Jamie Burrows previously worked as a consultant specializing in healthcare and life sciences strategy. Before founding Vertical Future in 2016, he worked at numerous top-tier consulting firms including EY and Deloitte, and also undertook a secondment to the Office for Life Sciences at the Department of Health. Educated to Ph.D. level in Economics, Jamie believes that much of the Vertical Future business directly relates to the central theme of health economics - resource scarcity.
About Earthworm
Earthworm is an environmental fund manager which only backs projects that will have a positive social or environmental impact.
We work closely with industry professionals from food, energy and waste to source, develop and nurture start-up and scale-up businesses with significant commercial potential. Although it is vital for the companies within the Earthworm community to make a return for our investors, it is equally important that they are ethically driven and they contribute to the circular economy. Members of the Earthworm community share expertise and best practice to support each other and achieve the best return for investors.
Earthworm now manages over £100m of investor capital. 10% of Earthworm profits go to charitable causes and 10% is invested directly in the environmental technologies of tomorrow.
About Acceleris Capital
Acceleris Capital are an FCA regulated corporate finance boutique that focus on advising early-stage technology SMEs.
Since incorporation in 2000, Acceleris have advised and managed fundraisings for over 50 UK businesses and raised over £120m, with a track record including start-up to IPO, trade sale and private equity exits.
Acceleris primarily source external funding directly from their network of High Net Worth investors and major UK investment institutions.
For more information and interviews, please contact:
Jess@ha-lo.co
+44 7789102402
Video: A Look Inside The Vertical Farming Industry In Paris
Paris is not a place where you'd expect to find rows of neatly planted fruit and vegetables, but urban farming is flourishing in the French capital. The Down to Earth team takes a closer look in this video
Paris is not a place where you'd expect to find rows of neatly planted fruit and vegetables, but urban farming is flourishing in the French capital. The Down to Earth team takes a closer look in this video.
Publication date: Tue, 08 Oct 2019
VIEDO: How To Make Cupcake Microgreens At Home With A Cupcake Container And Lid
How to make cupcake microgreens at home with a cupcake container and lid.
Bootstrap Farmer Announces The Urban Farm Academy in NYC
Online Platform for Business & Workforce
Development is Evolving Local Food & Agriculture
New York, NY, September 23, 2019 -- Bootstrap Farmer, a company known for supplying small and medium-sized farms, announced the launch of the Urban Farm Academy during the NYC Agtech Week, a collaboration with entrepreneurs across food and agriculture.
The collaboration consists of entrepreneurs, teachers, and farmers rebuilding local food systems through the business they’ve created. The classes teach frameworks for developing, running & scaling a business or career inside of the hyperlocal food economy using their own businesses as the proof of concept.
“We’re people who came from other careers,” said Brandon Youst, a co-founder. “But we didn’t want to be commodity farmers. We wanted to leverage our past experiences to do something different within food & ag.”
This isn’t a typical academy with a typical curriculum. “These are self-guided courses for creating within a hyperlocal food economy. That means zero-waste supply chains, businesses built on relationships and lean-startup principles” said Youst.
There are future classes in development for addressing food deserts, teaching STEM through aquaponics and urban farm manager training.
The goal of this collaboration is to provide a low-cost education option outside of the traditional educational system. With higher education becoming increasingly expensive and less relevant in many areas, the Urban Farm Academy looks to provide an online option for those not needing a degree for the business they want to start, or the job they seek to get.
“As a business owner, I’d rather see what someone has accomplished rather than seeing what school they went to before I work with them. It’s just a better filter” said Jeff Bednar, co-founder, and owner of Profound Microfarms. “Through this academy, we want to help those who want to join the local food movement in a more practical way, and it doesn’t involve sitting in a classroom.”
The first courses are available through the website
www.urbanfarmacademy.com.
For all inquiries, please contact admin@urbanfarmacademy.com.
VIDEO: What Is Vertical Farming? And What Are The Benefits?
Higher yields, fresher food, smaller carbon footprint: This is the potential of vertical farming.
World Economic Forum
Higher yields, fresher food, smaller carbon footprint: This is the potential of vertical farming.
Read more about the inspiring pioneers finding creative solutions to climate catastrophe here:
https://wef.ch/pioneersforourplanet
About the series:
Each week we’ll bring you a new video story about the people striving to restore nature and fighting climate change. In collaboration with @WWF and the team behind the Netflix documentary #OurPlanet. #ShareOurPlanet
Want to raise your #VoiceForThePlanet? Life on Earth is under threat, but you can help. People around the world are raising their voice in support of urgent action. Add yours now at www.voicefortheplanet.org
Square Roots & Gordon Food Service Open Michigan Indoor Farm
The modular indoor farm, sited on less than two acres of the Gordon Food Service headquarters property, was almost immediately in production following construction completion earlier this month
September 30, 2019 - General News
(PHOTO: Square Roots) Meet the Square Roots Michigan Cohort (left to right): Rebekah Box, Winn Hermanski, Katie LaRue, Savie Sonsynath, Jacob Smaby, Jarad Jaent, Joshua Van Kleeck, Alyssa Patton, Amal Jennings.
PRESS RELEASE: Wyoming, MI, September 30, 2019
Gordon Food Service® BB #:100172, North America’s largest privately held and family-managed foodservice distributor, and Square Roots, the technology leader in urban indoor farming, today celebrated the opening of their strategic partnership’s first co-located farm at a ribbon-cutting event on the campus of Gordon Food Service’s headquarters in Wyoming, Michigan. In addition to executives and staff from both companies, guests included customers and local, state, and federal government officials. Attendees learned more about the facility, the first of its kind hosted by a broadline foodservice distributor, including a tour of the indoor farm’s operations.
In his remarks, Rich Wolowski, President and CEO, Gordon Food Service said, “We’re building exciting relationships with change agents that are helping to reshape how food is produced, prepared, and served – and Square Roots is a great example of leading-edge thinking and technology driving new solutions. We know it’s imperative that we participate in the future, today, to ensure we are relevant tomorrow, and this is a model that could help revolutionize our food systems. And it’s great that we can prove the concept in our own backyard.”
The modular indoor farm, sited on less than two acres of the Gordon Food Service headquarters property, was almost immediately in production following construction completion earlier this month. The ten cloud-connected growing units, employing sophisticated, digitally-controlled hydroponics and LED lighting systems, are projected to produce more than 50,000 lbs. of premium herbs and greens annually, or roughly the equivalent production of a traditional 50-acre farm. However, unlike more typical agriculture, the Square Roots produce will be non-GMO, pesticide-free, and harvested all year long. Initial crops will include basil, chives, and mint. The herbs will be sold to local foodservice customers in Grand Rapids as well as throughout Michigan, northern Indiana, and Ohio.
The companies noted that this first farm installation serves as a template, with ambitions to see additional indoor farms on or near Gordon Food Service’s more than two dozen distribution centers across Canada and the eastern U.S.
Tobias Peggs, Square Roots Co-founder and CEO, noted, “This partnership reflects our shared commitment to local, real food and at a scale that will serve people and communities across North America. But it’s also Square Roots’ mission to empower the next generation of leaders in urban farming. Through our Next-Gen Farmer Training Program, we train future farmers in all aspects of local food systems—from seed to shelf. And with each new Square Roots farm, the Next-Gen Farmer Training Program opens doors for more young people to start exciting careers in the agriculture industry.”
The new farm is tended by a cohort of Next-Gen Farmers selected by Square Roots as part of their unique Next-Gen Farmer Training Program. The paid, full-time and year-long commitment has attracted thousands of diverse applicants eager to be change-makers at the forefront of urban agriculture and contributing to the local, real food movement. Half of the Michigan team hails from in-state while others come from as far away as Texas and New York.
Rich Wolowski, North American President and CEO of Gordon Food Service, stated, “We are excited to be the first broadline foodservice distributor to host an urban farm, with the ability to bring fresh, hyper-local produce to our customers year-round. It’s an important example of our pursuit of innovation to better serve our foodservice customers, and our customers’ customers while answering the growing demand for fresh, nutritious and local food.”
About Gordon Food Service
Since 1897, we have delivered uncompromising quality and heartfelt service for our customers. We began as a simple butter-and-egg delivery service, and have grown to become the largest family business in the foodservice industry by upholding the same approach for over 120 years—remaining passionately committed to the people we serve. Today we serve foodservice operators in the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest regions of the United States and coast-to-coast in Canada. We also operate more than 175 Gordon Food Service Store® locations in the U.S., which are open to the public and provide restaurant-quality products and friendly, knowledgeable service without a membership fee. By partnering with organizations from across industries—healthcare to education, independent and chain restaurants, and event planners—we help our customers create food experiences that people choose, enjoy and remember. To learn more about Gordon Food Service visit gfs.com.
About Square Roots
Square Roots is the technology leader in urban indoor farming. Its scalable “farmer first” technology platform brings fresh, healthy food to urban areas year-round, while simultaneously training future generations of farmers. Founded in 2016 by serial entrepreneurs Tobias Peggs and Kimbal Musk, Square Roots has a mission to bring local, real food to people in cities across the world while empowering the next generation of leaders in urban farming.
Central to the Square Roots mission is a “Next-Gen Farmer Training Program”—a year-long program that puts participants at the forefront of the indoor urban farming industry while they are growing food as part of the Square Roots farm team. Using a unique and scalable technology platform, these young farmers are armed with intuitive tools, enabling them to quickly learn how to grow food that is delicious, responsible, healthy, and profitable. During their year at Square Roots, they’re also educated on plant science, food entrepreneurship frameworks, and engaging local communities—preparing them for successful subsequent leadership roles in urban agriculture. To learn more about Square Roots visit squarerootsgrow.com.
Tagged container farm, indoor farming
VIDEO: What Grows Inside The Leafy Green Machine?
The LGM allows for immediate growing of a variety of crops regardless of weather conditions, resulting in year-round access to local and fresh produce
The Leafy Green Machine, is a complete hydroponic growing facility built entirely inside a shipping container outfitted with environmental controls and indoor growing technology.
The LGM allows for immediate growing of a variety of crops regardless of weather conditions, resulting in year-round access to local and fresh produce. Learn more about container farming at www.freightfarms.com.
US: CHICAGO - Indoor Farm of The Future Uses Robots, A.I. And Cameras To Help Grow Produce
For the last three years Jake Counne, the founder and CEO of Backyard Fresh Farms, has been pilot testing vertical farming using the principles of manufacturing
September 27, 2019
By: Ash-har Quraishi
Farm of the future uses robots and A.I. to help grow produce
CHICAGO – According to the USDA, the average head of lettuce travels 1,500 miles from harvest to plate. That transport leaves a heavy carbon footprint as flavors in the produce also begin to degrade. While many have looked to vertical farming as an Eco-friendly alternative, high costs have been a challenge.
But inside a warehouse on Chicago’s south side, one entrepreneur hopes to unlock the secret to the future of farming.
For the last three years Jake Counne, the founder and CEO of Backyard Fresh Farms, has been pilot testing vertical farming using the principles of manufacturing.
“Being able to have the crop come to the farmer instead of the farmer going to the crop,” said Counne. “That translated into huge efficiencies because we can start treating this like a manufacturing process instead of a farming process.”
It’s a high-tech approach – implementing artificial intelligence, cameras, and robotics that help to yield leafy, organic greens of high quality while reducing waste and the time it takes to harvest.
Some have called it Old McDonald meets Henry Ford. Large pallets of vegetables are run down conveyor belts under LED lights.
“The system will be queuing up trays to the harvester based on where the plants are in their life-cycle,” explains Counne.
It’s the automation and assembly line he says that makes this vertical farming model unique. Artificial intelligence algorithms and cameras monitor the growth of the crops.
Lead research and development scientist Jonathan Weekley explains how the cameras work.
“They’re capturing live images, they’re doing live image analysis,” he said. “They’re also collecting energy use data so we can monitor how much energy our lights are using.”
“So, what essentially happens is the plant itself is becoming the sensor that controls its own environment,” Counne added.
Another factor that makes the process different is scaleability. Right now, Backyard Fresh Farms can grow 100 different varieties of vegetables with an eye on expansion.
“There’s really no end to the type of varieties we can grow and specifically in the leafy greens,” said Counne. “I mean flavors that explode in your mouth.”
And it’s becoming big business.
The global vertical farming market valued at $2.2 billion last year is projected to grow to nearly $13 billion by 2026.
Daniel Huebschmann, Corporate Executive Chef at Gibson’s Restaurant Group, says the quality of Backyard’s produce is of extremely high quality.
“We’ve talked about freshness, but the flavors are intense,” he says. “It’s just delivering an unbelievably sweet, tender product.”
Counne says he has nine patents pending for the hardware and software system he and his team have developed in the 2,000 square foot space. But, he says the ultimate goal is to have the product make its way to grocery shelves nationwide.
“The vision is really to build 100 square foot facilities near the major population centers to be able to provide amazing, delicious greens that were grown sustainably,” he said.
If he succeeds where others have failed, his high-tech plan could get him a slice of the $63 billion U.S. produce market. At the same time, he hopes to bring sustainable, fresh vegetables to a table near you.
BREAKING NEWS: Gordon Food Service-Square Roots Partnership’s First Indoor Farm Campus, Next-Gen Farmers
Gordon Food Service and Square Roots, the technology leader in urban indoor farming, today celebrated the opening of their strategic partnership ’s first co-located farm at a ribbon-cutting event on the campus of Gordon Food Service’s headquarters in Wyoming, MI
SEPTEMBER 30, 2019
Gordon Food Service and Square Roots, the technology leader in urban indoor farming, today celebrated the opening of their strategic partnership ’s first co-located farm at a ribbon-cutting event on the campus of Gordon Food Service’s headquarters in Wyoming, MI. In addition to executives and staff from both companies, guests included customers and local, state, and federal government officials. Attendees learned more about the facility, the first of its kind hosted by a broad-line foodservice distributor, including a tour of the indoor farm’s operations.
An artist's rendering of the new Square Roots' indoor farm at Gordon Food Service, Wyoming, Mich. ( Courtesy Square Roots )
In his remarks, Rich Wolowski, president and chief executive officer of Gordon Food Service, said, “We’re building exciting relationships with change agents that are helping to reshape how food is produced, prepared, and served — and Square Roots is a great example of leading-edge thinking and technology driving new solutions. We know it’s imperative that we participate in the future, today, to ensure we are relevant tomorrow, and this is a model that could help revolutionize our food systems. And it’s great that we can prove the concept in our own backyard.”
The modular indoor farm, sited on less than two acres of the Gordon Food Service headquarters property, was almost immediately in production following construction completion earlier this month. The ten cloud-connected growing units, employing sophisticated, digitally-controlled hydroponics and LED lighting systems, are projected to produce more than 50,000 pounds of premium herbs and greens annually, or roughly the equivalent production of a traditional 50-acre farm. However, unlike more typical agriculture, the Square Roots produce will be non-GMO, pesticide-free, and harvested all year long. Initial crops will include basil, chives and mint. The herbs will be sold to local foodservice customers in Grand Rapids as well as throughout Michigan, northern Indiana, and Ohio.
The companies noted that this first farm installation serves as a template, with ambitions to see additional indoor farms on or near Gordon Food Service’s more than two dozen distribution centers across Canada and the eastern U.S.
Tobias Peggs, Square Roots co-founder, and CEO, noted, “This partnership reflects our shared commitment to local, real food and at a scale that will serve people and communities across North America. But it’s also Square Roots’ mission to empower the next generation of leaders in urban farming.
Through our Next-Gen Farmer Training Program, we train future farmers in all aspects of local food systems — from seed to shelf. And with each new Square Roots farm, the Next-Gen Farmer Training Program opens doors for more young people to start exciting careers in the agriculture industry.”
The new farm is tended by a cohort of Next-Gen Farmers selected by Square Roots as part of their unique Next-Gen Farmer Training Program. The paid, full-time and year-long commitment has attracted thousands of diverse applicants eager to be change-makers at the forefront of urban agriculture and contributing to the local, real food movement. Half of the Michigan team hails from in-state while others come from as far away as Texas and New York.
Wolowski said, “We are excited to be the first broad-line foodservice distributor to host an urban farm, with the ability to bring fresh, hyper-local produce to our customers year-round. It’s an important example of our pursuit of innovation to better serve our foodservice customers, and our customers’ customers while answering the growing demand for fresh, nutritious and local food.”
VIDEO: Bibb Schools Install Hydroponic Gardens For Students To Grow Produce Indoors
Many Bibb County Schools have agriculture programs that use outdoor gardens, but at SOAR Academy, there isn't really enough space for one, so school leaders decided to install the district's first hydroponic gardens for students to farm inside
SOAR Academy students can grow vegetables and herbs year-round with a new indoor garden system.
Author: Pepper Baker
PSeptember 23, 2019
MACON, Ga. — Many Bibb County Schools have agriculture programs that use outdoor gardens, but at SOAR Academy, there isn't really enough space for one, so school leaders decided to install the district's first hydroponic gardens for students to farm inside
9th grader Z'nyiah Henderson and 10th grader Imani Ross haven't had a lot of experience gardening before.
"I know my grandma, she likes plants, so I always help her water her plants and stuff, but it's really a journey for me to start at school on something I ain't really ever did before," Henderson said.
Dalia Kinsey, a registered dietitian, says Bibb Schools' new hydroponic indoor garden units make it easy for students to learn how to grow their own produce.
"They're being watered all the time, and there is artificial sunlight being administered really consistently, so it's basically like you're growing plants in ideal conditions," Kinsey said.
Students can grow vegetables like lettuce and bok choy, or herbs like sage and cilantro, and they monitor its progress right from their phone.
"It's a smart unit, so on the app, it shows us when it's time to harvest when it's time to fertilize, when it's time to add water," Kinsey said.
The two units cost about $300 each.
School Nutrition Director Timikel Sharpe says students are seeing the farm to table process firsthand.
"We're teaching students where food comes from and how it's harvested and how it's used and we'll go as far as to use it in the cafeteria when it's done," Sharpe said.
Kinsey says they received the indoor garden units from a joint-partnership grant between a company, called Miracle Gro and the No Kid Hungry charity organization.
VIEDO: Interview With Two Partners At True Leaf Market
For almost forty years, True Leaf Market Seed Company has proudly offered the best non-GMO seeds on the market
Wheat Grass Business Turns Into A Seed Company
Interview with two partners at True Leaf Market, and a behind the scenes of a live photoshoot with Jordan.
About True Leaf Market:
Website: https://www.trueleafmarket.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trueleafmar...
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/trueleafmarket
Twitter: https://twitter.com/trueleafmarket
For almost forty years, True Leaf Market Seed Company has proudly offered the best non-GMO seeds on the market. All seeds are not equal and you can count on us for super-premium quality. We love hearing from our customers that report improved vigor and health from growing their own sprouts, wheatgrass, microgreens, and fruits and vegetables.
The Pinke Post: Vertical Farms Have Nowhere To Go But Up
There are empty buildings and warehouses everywhere that could become home to vertical farming, bringing fresh produce to areas often labeled as food deserts — areas where it is difficult to access fresh, quality food
Written By: Katie Pinke | Sep 16th 2019
Lettuce Abound Farms grows seven varieties of lettuce and basil at their indoor vertical farming facility in New London, Minn. Katie Pinke / Forum News Service
What is vertical farming? It is an agricultural practice of vertically growing food on an inclined surface. I have heard the term and considered vertical farming to be more for urban populations and city centers, but to get a look at vertical farming I didn’t travel to a city. Instead, my AgweekTV colleague and I went to New London, Minn., pulled off a rural road and, in between corn and soybean fields, walked into what was once an empty building.
Today the building is home to 180 acres of vertical lettuce farming and headquarters of Lettuce Abound.
Lettuce Abound Farms grows seven varieties of lettuce and basil. They produce inside, using no natural sunlight and just 4% of the water typically used in lettuce farming, according to Lettuce Abound founder and CEO Kevin Ortenblad.
Ortenblad gave a tour to a group of Minnesota Farm Service Agency managers and I was able to join. “This is a great way to grow food, and I think this is the farm of the future,” Ortenblad said.
After seeing Lettuce Abound’s facility I have a clearer vision of how it can grow and supplement established farms and create opportunities for a vertical farm to pop up anywhere globally. Ortenblad once was a corn and soybean farmer, but no more, “we are the only aeroponic organic facility, so we did the trial and error method, which is very painful and it takes a long time,” he said
I also appreciate the ingenuity and vision many farmers have to step out and find a new way — a different path in agriculture. I think Ortenblad and his family are those types of farmers.
Lettuce Abound Farms is harvesting 2,000 heads of lettuce a week and distributing across Minnesota and now into Hornbacher’s grocery stores in North Dakota. It’s better than any lettuce I’ve grown or purchased recently.
There are empty buildings and warehouses everywhere that could become home to vertical farming, bringing fresh produce to areas often labeled as food deserts — areas where it is difficult to access fresh, quality food. “It’s something that can be taken anywhere that it wants to go to. Instead of I don't have any land here, I can’t farm. Well, you can build a building.” Ortenblad said.
Of course, it takes capital to make it happen.
I learned on the tour that vertical farms like Lettuce Abound are not classified as a farm because they are not farming 10 or more acres of tillable land, limiting the farm programs or loans they could qualify for. Can this change? I hope so.
We need all kinds of farms to feed a booming global population. With more people, there is less land to farm. Vertical farms are a part of a bigger solution for agriculture. I am grateful for farmers in Mexico, South America, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Florida, who provide fresh produce when it can’t be grown in the Upper Midwest.
But Lettuce Abound Farms is changing that. Fresh lettuce from central Minnesota in the dead of winter is a reality.
I hope to see more vertical farms get established and grow from our rural areas to urban centers.
Pinke is the publisher and general manager of Agweek. She can be reached at kpinke@agweek.com, or connect with her on Twitter @katpinke.
VIDEO: How One Boston Hospital Is Feeding Patients Through Its Rooftop Farm
Carrie Golden believes the only reason she’s diabetes free is that she has access to fresh, locally grown food. A few years after the Boston resident was diagnosed with prediabetes, she was referred to Boston Medical Center’s Preventative Food Pantry as someone who was food insecure. The food pantry is a free food resource for low-income patients
Boston Medical Center’s rooftop farm spans 2,658 square feet.
Photography Matthew Morris
Carrie Golden believes the only reason she’s diabetes free is that she has access to fresh, locally grown food.
A few years after the Boston resident was diagnosed with prediabetes, she was referred to Boston Medical Center’s Preventative Food Pantry as someone who was food insecure. The food pantry is a free food resource for low-income patients.
“You become diabetic because when you don’t have good food to eat, you eat whatever you can to survive,” Golden says. “Because of the healthy food I get from the pantry… I’ve learned how to eat.”
Three years ago, the hospital launched a rooftop farm to grow fresh produce for the pantry. The farm has produced 6,000 pounds of food a year, with 3,500 pounds slated for the pantry. The rest of its produce goes to the hospital’s cafeteria, patients, a teaching kitchen and an in-house portable farmers market.
The hospital joined a handful of medical facilities across the country that have started growing food on their roofs. The initiative is the first hospital-based farm in Massachusetts and the largest rooftop farm in Boston. The facility’s 2,658-square-foot garden houses more than 25 crops, organically grown in a milk crate system.
“Food is medicine. That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing,” says David Maffeo, the hospital’s senior director of support services. “Most urban environments are food deserts. It’s hard to get locally grown food and I think it’s something that we owe to our patients and our community.”
Lindsay Allen, a farmer who has been managing the rooftop oasis since its inception, says her farm’s produce is being used for preventative care as well as in reactive care. She says 72 percent of the hospital’s patients are considered underserved, and likely don’t have access to healthy, local organic food.
What people put in their bodies has a direct link to their health she says, adding that hospitals have a responsibility to give their patients better food.
“I generally feel that hospital food is pretty terrible and gross, which I always find ironic since that’s where we are sick and at our most vulnerable and we need to be nourished,” she says.
In addition to running the farm, Allen teaches a number of farming workshops to educate patients, employees and their families on how to grow their own food. The hospital’s teaching kitchen employs a number of food technicians and dieticians who offer their expertise to patients on how they can make meals with the local produce they’re given.
This is part of the medical center’s objective to not only give patients good food, but also provide them the tools to lead a healthy life.
Golden, who has used the pantry for the last three years, says the experience has changed the way she looks at food.
“I’ve gone many days with nothing to eat, so I know what that feels like when you get something like the food pantry that gives you what you need to stay healthy,” she says. “I appreciate all the people that put their heart into working in the garden. If only they knew how we really need them.”
Hydroponic Farming Option For Veterans, Senator Told On Tour
U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., toured a farm operation Monday that is largely immune to the weather, to pests and to trade wars. Vet Veggies provides fresh leafy green vegetables and herbs year-round to Northwest Arkansas restaurants and grocers by growing the plants indoors in climate-controlled conditions with artificial light
by Doug Thompson | August 27, 2019
U.S. Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) is shown in this file photo. - Photo by Sarah D. Wire
SPRINGDALE -- U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., toured a farm operation Monday that is largely immune to the weather, to pests and to trade wars.
Vet Veggies provides fresh leafy green vegetables and herbs year-round to Northwest Arkansas restaurants and grocers by growing the plants indoors in climate-controlled conditions with artificial light.
Boozman, the son of a veteran, is a member of both the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.
The Vet Veggies farm was the first stop on a tour of businesses Boozman said could provide opportunities for veterans.
Jerry Martin, founder of Vet Veggies and host for the tour, said a veteran or someone else could start a similar one with an initial investment as low as $350,000. Martin is a local businessman and veteran of the Vietnam War.
Although Vet Veggies is profitable, its real purpose is to refine techniques of hydroponic farming, he said. The idea is to come up with a business model that can spread nationwide.
"Veterans like to work outside and be their own boss," he told Boozman. "Also, to run this kind of business, you have to be involved with your community, with other people."
That would help returning veterans re-enter civilian life more successfully than many other options, Martin said.
"We're profitable now, but we could be a lot more profitable with more investment or a government grant or low-interest loan," he said. This capital would allow the business to improve the farming techniques quicker, he said.
A traditional farm requires hundreds of acres along with tractors and other farm equipment, Martin told the senator. Hydroponic farming by Vet Veggies' method can start with equipment in one 40-foot long conventional storage unit and as little as 1 acre of land. The units take up little space and can be stacked, he said.
No business enterprise is risk free, but hydroponic farming -- growing plants without soil by feeding them the needed nutrients mixed in with water -- has far fewer risks and variables, according to Martin.
Boozman noted during the tour 2018 and now 2019 have been bad years for the state's traditional farms. Rain in autumn last year ruined crops at harvest time statewide, he said.
"The weather's been absolutely terrible," he said.
As for the trade war underway in China, including tariffs, Boozman said there is no easy way out. The federal government has paid billions to farmers this year to offset lost trade opportunities for farmers.
"The Chinese government lies, cheats, steals and manipulates," he said. "This situation started years ago and won't end easily, but it is happening at a bad time for the farm sector. We should be supportive of our farmers as a country."
VIDEO: The Microgreens Show | Episode 9 | Farmers Market
Our mission to invigorate lives and transform communities through fresh food resonated and we developed a loyal following. Ever grateful to live our passion, we're eager to keep expanding and sharing our harvest
September 12, 2019
Emerald Garden Microgreens talks about the benefits of participating in Denver farmers markets.
About Emerald Garden Microgreens:
https://www.emeraldgardens.farm/
While a grad student at MIT, health and personal challenges led me to leave school. I moved to Colorado when Dave, a childhood friend, pitched it as the ideal place to regroup. After landing a landscaping job, I envisioned cultivating communities by increasing access to delicious fresh food; inspired, I started planting microgreens. The more micros I grew, the more of them I ate; the more I ate, the better I felt! My health improved dramatically—even my outlook and mood shifted.
I finally experienced the renewal I had been seeking. With Dave as co-founder, we took a huge leap of faith and established Emerald Gardens Microgreens in 2017. Our mission to invigorate lives and transform communities through fresh food resonated and we developed a loyal following. Ever grateful to live our passion, we're eager to keep expanding and sharing our harvest.
Indoor Vertical Farming Discovers A New Company That Is Not Sheepish About Its Wool Insulation
The company’s insulation is made using wool imported from sheep-farming operations in New Zealand. He says wool is used widely across the residential building sector both in that country and Australia
While fiberglass and mineral wool have been around for decades, a new generation of manufacturers is looking to new materials that might be less manufacturing-intensive. One of these, Havelock Wool, is drawing on what founder and CEO Andrew Legge sees as a more sustainable option.
The company’s insulation is made using wool imported from sheep-farming operations in New Zealand. He says wool is used widely across the residential building sector both in that country and Australia.
Legge explains that wool insulation offers multiple advantages for environmentally oriented homeowners. The material has evolved over millennia to be a natural insulator, he notes, and it incorporates a protein called keratin which doesn’t support mold growth. Additionally, he says, wool absorbs a number of airborne toxins, including formaldehyde.
Havelock Wool’s batts and blown-in insulation come at a premium; Legge says they’re priced similarly to closed-cell spray-foam products. However, he adds, wool is very easy to handle, requiring no extra experience for anyone familiar with fiberglass installation.
Sustainability is at the heart of the value proposition Legge puts forward as a wool-insulation advocate. The manufacturing process requires no heat and is centered around 60-year-old wool carding machines, as opposed to large-scale industrial plants. And when asked about the methane produced by the sheep supplying the company’s wool, Legge has a response quickly at hand.
“We’re a byproduct of a different industry—you’re raising those animals to eat them, so we’re very comfortable with the argument that the methane isn’t attributable to the insulation,” he says. “If people stop eating sheep and lamb, we won’t have a business.”
This Company Grows Crops Inside, Stacked on Top of One Another
Is it an agriculture or a tech venture? AeroFarms is blurring the lines between the two with its vertical farm. Crops are grown inside, under lights, one on top of the other
These crops grow all year and have less environmental impact than traditional farming.
Image: Our Planet, Netflix
Image: Our Planet, Netflix
The advantages are numerous: higher productivity in a much smaller area; shorter growing times; lower water use; fresh produce grown much closer to where it’s eaten; and, AeroFarm executives say, improved food taste.
Here at AeroFarms, our aeroponic technology is a closed loop system, recycling water and nutrients with virtually 0 waste, resulting in 95% less water use than field farming. That also means no soil contamination and no toxic runoff into our waterways - https://aerofarms.com/environmental-impact/ …
“On one hand we’re a farming company,” explains Chief Executive David Rosenberg. “On the other hand, we’re a technology company.”
The perfect growing conditions
Technology is central to making a vertical farm work.
AeroFarms uses an aeroponic system to provide the right amount of water and nutrients, with temperature and humidity constantly fine-tuned, so that each crop has the perfect growing conditions.
Image: Our Planet, Netflix
As a result, they can grow a variety of produce all year round, defying the seasons.
All of this adds up to farms that use 95% less water than traditional ones, while yielding up to 390-times more crops per-square-foot.
Circular and nutritious
And all these wins start with recycled bottles.
That’s how AeroFarms make the cloth on which the crops grow, which is also completely reusable.
There are benefits both for the environment – including lower carbon emissions as a result of growing crops right in the centre of a city rather than having them transported – and for our health.
“One of the most exciting opportunities about changing the environment is improving nutrition,” says Dr. April Agee Carroll, Vice President of Research and Development at AeroFarms.
“We know if we can really improve that with different environmental conditions, then we can have a product that’s more nutritious, that can bring a better value to people in their diets as well as really improving human health.”
Food for thought.
About the series: Each week we’ll bring you a new video story about the people striving to restore nature and fighting climate change. In collaboration with @WWF and the team behind the Netflix documentary #OurPlanet. #ShareOurPlanet
Want to raise your #VoiceForThePlanet? Life on Earth is under threat, but you can help. People around the world are raising their voice in support of urgent action. Add yours now at www.voicefortheplanet.org
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Written by
Joe Myers, Writer, Formative Content
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
US (NJ): Mobile Greenhouse Gives Residents Education In Healthy Eating
Onboard the mobile greenhouse and cooking school is a registered dietitian, whose guests on one particular day included the students of Barringer High School
RWJBarnabas Health’s Wellness on Wheels van is traveling around New Jersey, equipping everyone from kids to seniors with knowledge about nutrition, gardening and how healthy foods like fruits and vegetables affect their health. In a country where millions of people don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables, it’s an important service.
Onboard the mobile greenhouse and cooking school is a registered dietitian, whose guests on one particular day included the students of Barringer High School. They were tasked with carrying fresh romaine lettuce from the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center’s Hydroponic Greenhouse to the van, where it was prepped, cooked and eventually eaten.
Source: NJTV News (Lauren Wanko)
A Look Inside The First Certified Organic Rooftop Farm In The Country
"A small working farm that provided food for a restaurant, provided a community center and place for people to learn how to grow food and a place for us to teach people about local food and why that's so important," Co-Owner Helen Cameron said
To View The Video, Please Click Here
For eleven years, Devon St. has been home to the first certified organic rooftop farm in the country.
By Jalyn Henderson
July 12, 2019 CHICAGO (WLS)
On the corner of Devon and Glenwood Ave. in Edgewater, sits Uncommon Ground.
"A small working farm that provided food for a restaurant, provided a community center and place for people to learn how to grow food and a place for us to teach people about local food and why that's so important," Co-Owner Helen Cameron said.
A restaurant with an all-natural, organic farm, you can find on the roof. The first of its kind in the country, certified by the Midwest Organic Services Association.
"You know, we're a zero spray farm so we're not killing the good bugs or the bad bugs, we kind of let them battle it out so we're working with nature instead of working against nature," said Allison Glovak-Webb, Uncommon Ground's Farm Director.
The farm grows a variety of crops including peas, carrots, peppers, garlic and hops.
"I mean we just are growing all manner of goodies here," Cameron said.
But running a farm takes a lot of work, work that Cameron couldn't handle on her own.
"Then we decided we were going to create an internship program," Cameron said. "In exchange for interns coming to help us with this, we would teach them about urban agriculture, sustainable food systems, organic farming and try to give them as much input as we could to make this kind of thing happen."
More than 100 students have interned at Uncommon Ground from all across the city, some interns even travel internationally.
Cameron's goal is to make her businesses as sustainable as possible. So the restaurant is solar-powered, locally sourced, and everything that comes out of the kitchen is organic.
"We don't use any conventional fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides. We don't use anything that's genetically modified," Cameron said.
"We about the furthest thing from a monoculture you can possibly get. A lot of farms focus on one crop and we focus on a diverse amount of crops. That's not just because that's what our kitchen prefers, but it's also because it's what's best for the environment and the ecosystem. We kind of have our own little ecosystem here," Glovak-Webb added
VIDEO: Indoor Vertical Farming Praised As Future Source of Produce
With drought gripping much of the country, there are calls for the government to support new and emerging methods of agriculture
July 9, 2019
With drought gripping much of the country, there are calls for the government to support new and emerging methods of agriculture. Indoor vertical farming is being touted as a future source of fresh produce, but fledgling companies in Australia are struggling to move beyond the startup phase.