The Global Food Innovation Summit

Eat Better, Eat Less, Food For All: Barilla Center International Forum

Innovation, Farming, World

1 December 2016

Eat Better, Eat Less, Food For All: Barilla Center International Forum

At the 2016 BCFN Forum, the conversation will focus on developing a food model that protects the health of individuals, communities, and the planet.

Greetings from Milan!
The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition's (BCFN) Seventh International Forum on Food and Nutrition takes place in Milan December 1st. The Forum will focus on the major global themes and challenges included in the Milan Protocol, established in 2013. 

Watch live now from Milan on www.foodtank.com and join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook using #BCFNForum.

The Milan Protocol sets three objectives: to promote healthy lifestyles and fight obesity, to promote sustainable agriculture, and to reduce food waste by 50 percent by the year 2050. And BCFN invites experts, opinion makers, and young researchers to come together for this interdisciplinary event to share findings, scientific data, and best practices to meet the United Nations Global Goals for food and agriculture-related issues.

The theme of the Forum is “Eat Better, Eat Less, Food For All,” and will bring together researchers, civil society, and policymakers to discuss the future of the food system. The conversation will focus on developing a food model that protects the health of individuals, communities, and the planet through practical proposals and effective measures to tackle hunger and obesity, the use of natural resources, food waste, the environmental impact of agricultural production, and climate change.

The Forum will also include a ceremony to announce the winners of the BCFN YES! Award. The BCFN Young Earth Solutions! (YES!) program was established in 2012 to encourage young people—specifically, university students under the age of 35—to develop innovative solutions to problems within the global food system. This year’s finalists hail from eleven different countries around the world, including Colombia, Cuba, Brazil, Taiwan, Mexico, Uganda, Jamaica, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Benin, and cover topics ranging from electronic management of beehives to the potential of edible insects to control food production.

Last year, the award went two projects. Nadia Ndum Foy and Oko Archibong Ukeme won for their work empowering minority Mbororo women in Cameroon through developing eco-friendly gardening systems. “With firsthand understanding of the plights of the deprived, we are driven by a belief that nobody, regardless of social status needs to suffer food deprivation.” Francesca Recanati of Milan, Italy also won for her work on strategies for productive conservation to fight deforestation and support local farmers. 

Luca Virginio, Director of External Relations at BCFN said of BCFN YES! program, "To me, food heroes are all the young researchers and activists who are working hard to build a better food system—and there are many out there! We need to celebrate and encourage their commitment and energy."

The 2016 Forum is open to the public, and visitors can attend the daylong event and listen in on debates and round tables for free. BCFN will also live stream the event on its website, the BCFN Facebook page, as well as the Food Tank website.

The Forum will also introduce the Food Sustainability Index and report, "Fixing Food." The Index, written in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit provides a ranking of 25 countries across the three pillars of the Milan Protocol: sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and food waste. “Fixing Food” analyzes the findings of the Index and features interviews with experts and leaders from across the food system. 

Speakers and panelists include Food Tank Advisory Group Members David Katz, Founding Director, Yale University Prevention Research Center and Hans Herren, President and CEO of the Millennium Institute.

The Forum also features the following speakers and panels:

• Stefano Zamagni, Adjunct Professor, Johns Hopkins University, SAIS Europe and Member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences delivers the opening keynote address, “The call for an integral ecology and food systems sustainability: suggestions for action.”
• Livia Pomodoro, Chairman Milan Center for Food Law & Policy will dive into “Food & Rules.”
• Kanayo F. Nwanze, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) President, will discuss “Sustainable Food Systems: What needs to change.”
• Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Earth Institute, Columbia University and Director, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, will outline a “2017 Outlook in the framework of Sustainable Development Goals.”
• David Eisenberg, Adjunct Associate Professor of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan. School of Public Health – Director Culinary Nutrition, will discuss “Teaching kitchens as catalysts of personal and social change.”
• Elizabeth Rasmusson, Assistant Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme

For more information please visit The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition website.

How Machine Learning And Big Data Are Driving Progress In Indoor Agriculture

How Machine Learning and Big Data Are Driving Progress in Indoor Agriculture

DECEMBER 5, 2016 MALIKA CANTOR AND MICKI SEIBEL

Editor’s Note: Malika Cantor is a partner at Comet Labs, a venture capital firm and research lab focused on artificial intelligence, and Micki Seibel is head of product at Orange Silicon Valley, part of French telecommunications giant Orange. The two organizations recently partnered on the publication of a report entitled: Bringing Digital Intelligence to Indoor Farming — urban agriculture in the age of AI.

Here Cantor and Seibel write about some of the report’s key takeaways and data points.

Since 2013, the number of new indoor agriculture facilities in the United States and Canada has risen sharply as the cost to build and operate them has decreased. These operations are not your father’s greenhouse. This indoor ag is highly automated and data intensive. It is more akin to manufacturing than farming, and it has an important role to play in our food system. Growing more nutritious food closer to the point of consumption is something for which most consumers are willing to pay a premium. With global warming, it’s imperative.

Consumers want it. The environment needs it. So our teams at Orange Silicon Valley and Comet Labs have set out to investigate the technology stack for next generation Indoor Agriculture.

The ability to move crops into controlled indoor environments means that food can be grown independent of arable land. Around 90% of leafy greens in North America are grown in California and Arizona, but 75% of the North American population lives east of the Rocky Mountains. In the United States and Canada, the average leafy green travels more than 2,000 miles (3,200km) before it is consumed.

The advantages that indoor agriculture brings to food production are enormous:

• Uses less water
• Uses fewer pesticides or none at all
• Year-round production
• Ability to move production closer to the point of consumption
• Opportunity to drop genetic traits focused on outdoors — pest resistance, drought tolerance, etc. — in favor of traits for nutrient density and flavor.
• Higher nutrient density and less food spoilage due to shorter distance traveled
• Opportunity to broaden the crop portfolio as economies of scale are reached with current crops -(mostly leafy greens, cannabis, and vine crops like tomatoes).

To make indoor agriculture economically viable, technological innovation is needed. We developed an 8-part technology stack to identify opportunities. It spans the type of structure at the bottom (i.e. greenhouses that uses some ambient light from an outside or fully enclosed structure, such as a building) to the intelligence layer gleaned from massive data sets at the top. We divided the stack into CAPEX (the one-time capital expenditures) and OPEX (the ongoing operating costs).

Advances in intelligent machine infrastructure –- namely the development of cheaper electronics and sensors collecting new data sets, as well as faster computing power and new algorithms –- have laid the foundation for a supplementary source of agriculture. In the indoor controlled context, the farmer works with all sorts of autonomous systems to optimize for nutrition, flavor, and yield given the smaller, more isolated environment. Robots assist with many functions like planting, optimizing fertilizer distribution, identifying and eliminating seedlings that need to be terminated, and the picking, cleaning, packaging, and transportation of crops. These autonomous systems are particularly efficient because they act on data and insights derived from the sensors deployed in the indoor environment that are more effective than in an unpredictable outdoor setting.

How does it work? First, distinct sensors collect different data sets. For instance, a camera collects high-quality pictures of the crop over time that are fed to computer vision analysis software to collect information about the color, shape, and size of the crop. In parallel, a sensor measures relative humidity levels around the crop over time. Finally, a machine learning model is built by fusing the separate datasets (even including external datasets of consumer preferences collected by a retailer) with time as the primary variable. All of these “events” are logged by the model that begins to learn the optimal conditions under which to grow a certain type of crop that the farmer can use. For example, the farmer might learn that when the crop turned a certain color, the humidity levels were particularly low, so a specific amount of water is added to yield a more healthy, dark green, and tasty head of lettuce.

We should emphasize that machine learning does not result in the automation of the farmer’s job. On the contrary, the farmer spends less time guessing things that are best assessed by an intelligent machine and more time identifying new ways to produce cost-effective, nutritious, and sustainable crops.

While all of these advances have enabled us to get this far, there is still a long way to go. At Orange Silicon Valley and Comet Labs we are particularly excited about entrepreneurial developments around cheaper artificial lighting. We are also looking forward to the increased modularity and adaptability of indoor agriculture systems, with the view of empowering more people to grow more nutritious and sustainable food.

On a global scale, the indoor growing industry is developing at a revolutionary pace. Following Japan and The Netherlands that have well developed indoor growing industries, a nascent industry is forming in North America. The CAPEX and OPEX of growing indoors is decreasing, and opportunities exist along the entirety of the technology stack. Although growing indoors may never meet cost parity with outdoor growing and will surely never replace it, we don’t think those are the objectives. Rather, in a world of global warming, moving some crops indoors decreases pressure from ever shrinking arable land, allowing the opportunity to grow more nutritious food and create jobs closer to where consumers live: in urban environments.

To read the full report, click here.

AURAK Students Successfully Implement Vertical Farming

AURAK Students Successfully Implement Vertical Farming

December 05, 2016 02:30 AM Eastern Standard Time

RAS AL KHAIMAH, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Students at the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK) have successfully implemented vertical farming for the first time within the context of the harsh climate of the United Arab Emirates.

“We bought all of these plastic containers at our local supermarket. Then it is just a case of assembling the pieces and buying soil and seeds.”

The project, which was prepared by two junior biotechnology students, Najath Abdulkareem and Nada Anwar, was one of several submitted by the university as part of the UAE’s second annual Innovation Week, an initiative mandated by the prime minister of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Dr. Abdul Gafoor Puthiyaveetil, chair of the university’s biotechnology program, supervised the two students. Discussing the significance of the research, Dr. Abdul Gafoor stated, “With the rapidly increasing population of the planet, we expect the earth’s population to reach 8.5 billion by 2050. Food production is more important than ever. The students have adapted the idea of vertical farming as an innovative method of dealing with this ever-increasing demand.”

Vertical farming allows plants to be grown indoors, using a tiered platform, with a combination of sunlight and LED lights. Dr. Abdul Gafoor was quick to list off the advantages of such a system, explaining, “As all the growth takes place indoors, this strategy of self-sustainability does not require the use of herbicides and pesticides, effectively making this a source of healthier food for individual homes.”

Demonstrating their project during the innovation exhibition at Ras Al Khaimah’s Exhibition Center, Najath and Nada showed how the tiered platform minimizes the space required to grow herbs and vegetables, while maximizing efficient water-use; once the top layer is watered, the water filters down to lower levels. It was also pointed out that the controlled indoor environment led to quicker growth.

The students went on to emphasize the low-cost nature of the project, commenting, “We bought all of these plastic containers at our local supermarket. Then it is just a case of assembling the pieces and buying soil and seeds.”

Najath and Nada have successfully grown the likes of basil, parsley, rosemary and mint within their own homes. It is hoped that further research could lead to this system becoming popular among individual households, as well as being implemented for large-scale food production.

*Source: ME NewsWire

Contacts

American University of Ras Al Khaimah
Eóin Brown, +9717-221-0900 Ext: 1325
Marketing and Public Relations Department
eoin.brown@aurak.ac.ae

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A Sunny Solution To The Problem Of Food Waste

A Sunny Solution To the Problem of Food Waste

KinoSol harnesses the sun to create dried fruits, vegetables, and other items.

DEC 1, 2016

Sarah McColl has written for Yahoo Food, Bon Appétit, and other publications. She's based in Brooklyn, New York.

What’s it like to launch a social enterprise start-up during your senior year in college? Ask Mikayla Sullivan, a global resources major at Iowa State University, who is part of a four-person team that has logged thousands of miles and as many hours working on a way to feed the one in nine people around the globe who suffer from chronic undernourishment.

“There are a lot of late nights,” she said, “and sometimes not a lot of sleep.”

This is not your average all-nighter; coffee helps, but so do international accolades. In November, the students won $35,000 in the Global Citizen Waislitz Award for the KinoSol, a food dehydrator that could provide a promising solution for the postharvest losses they saw traveling in places such as India, Ghana, and El Salvador.

“We already make enough food to feed everyone,” Sullivan said. “We wanted to focus on the food that’s already being produced.”

More than 40 percent of food loss in developing countries happens at the postharvest and processing stage—during drying, storage, processing, and in transportation—according to the FAO. In many communities, the team has observed that there’s sufficient food, but without refrigeration or storage, no means to make it last.

“People could not consume it fast enough, especially fruits and vegetables. So much of it was going to waste,” Sullivan said.

Her team’s solution is both low-cost and low-tech, and when she says it’s solar-powered, she doesn’t mean panels. The lightweight dehydrator looks a bit like a cupcake stand and functions like a mini greenhouse. Using the sun’s rays and air circulation in a process of natural convection, the collapsible design can dry fruits and vegetables in about six to eight hours. It can also dehydrate insects, beans, and grains, and features a storage compartment.

Right now, the KinoSol costs $250, though the team is hoping to bring that down, and it could be shared by a number of families. The team is collecting field data from NGOs, churches, and aid organization partners in Uganda, El Salvador, Haiti, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia, the U.S Virgin Islands, Brazil, South Africa, and Japan. They plan to have a fully functioning prototype by the beginning of 2017 based on survey responses and dehydration data sheets filled out with vital information: the communities where the units are being used, the kinds of foods being dehydrated, how efficient the unit was, and what those using the device would change. The goal is to help the KinoSol team identify any local adaptations that need to be made—such as increasing or decreasing air flow, or modifying the size of the storage compartment.

The Driest Way to Reduce Food Waste Also Happens to Be Delicious

“We understand climates and environments are so different around the world, it’s not necessarily a one-size-fits-all solution,” Sullivan said. “We really want it to be region-specific and meet the needs the communities have.” Nor does the team want to thrust the technology on people who have no use for it.

“That’s important to us—that we’re working with organizations that are focused on sustainable development,” she said—improving communities by addressing their needs and following their lead. It had not occurred to the team, for example, that they could dry spices and flowers in the unit, or that dehydrated insects would be so popular, Sullivan said.

While dried foods are common, they’re not always widespread in every region where KinoSol is being tested, Sullivan said. That has meant adding an additional educational component in places such as South America, to emphasize the nutritional benefits for children in particular when they consume more fruits and vegetables.

Development of the units was going so well, friends and family of team KinoSol asked about a dehydrator of their own. Stateside, we have our own food waste problems, though they look slightly different. More than 40 percent of food loss in in industrialized countries occurs at the retail and consumer level. The 222 million tonswe toss annually is nearly equivalent to the total net food production of sub-Saharan Africa, according to the FAO.

Now in its third iteration, the consumer model looks more like a toaster oven and will also work with the sun’s rays. The team imagines it could be hung from a window or porch, or placed on a roof or porch. The Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for research and development for that model ended on Nov. 18 and will allow them to optimize the dehydrator for domestic use.

“Our units that we’ve designed for developing countries function extremely well along the equator, but there you have 12 hours of sunshine pretty much all year round,” Sullivan said. “In the U.S., in Iowa, we still have those cold days and less direct sun, so that’s one of the things we’re trying to figure out.”

Hence the late night and the little sleep—though Sullivan is happy to invest in a project that could provide not only a post-graduation livelihood for her but a change in the way developing nations are able to preserve the food people labor hard to sow, cultivate, and harvest.

“I think what we’ve all kind of realized is that what we’re working on could have a really big impact,” she said. “At least we’re hopeful that it will.”

Eat Better, Eat Less, Food For All: Barilla Center International Forum

1 December 2016

Eat Better, Eat Less, Food For All: Barilla Center International Forum

At the 2016 BCFN Forum, the conversation will focus on developing a food model that protects the health of individuals, communities, and the planet.

Greetings from Milan!
The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition's (BCFN) Seventh International Forum on Food and Nutrition takes place in Milan December 1st. The Forum will focus on the major global themes and challenges included in the Milan Protocol, established in 2013. 

Watch live now from Milan on www.foodtank.com and join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook using #BCFNForum.

The Milan Protocol sets three objectives: to promote healthy lifestyles and fight obesity, to promote sustainable agriculture, and to reduce food waste by 50 percent by the year 2050. And BCFN invites experts, opinion makers, and young researchers to come together for this interdisciplinary event to share findings, scientific data, and best practices to meet the United Nations Global Goals for food and agriculture-related issues.

The theme of the Forum is “Eat Better, Eat Less, Food For All,” and will bring together researchers, civil society, and policymakers to discuss the future of the food system. The conversation will focus on developing a food model that protects the health of individuals, communities, and the planet through practical proposals and effective measures to tackle hunger and obesity, the use of natural resources, food waste, the environmental impact of agricultural production, and climate change.

The Forum will also include a ceremony to announce the winners of the BCFN YES! Award. The BCFN Young Earth Solutions! (YES!) program was established in 2012 to encourage young people—specifically, university students under the age of 35—to develop innovative solutions to problems within the global food system. This year’s finalists hail from eleven different countries around the world, including Colombia, Cuba, Brazil, Taiwan, Mexico, Uganda, Jamaica, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Benin, and cover topics ranging from electronic management of beehives to the potential of edible insects to control food production.

Last year, the award went two projects. Nadia Ndum Foy and Oko Archibong Ukeme won for their work empowering minority Mbororo women in Cameroon through developing eco-friendly gardening systems. “With firsthand understanding of the plights of the deprived, we are driven by a belief that nobody, regardless of social status needs to suffer food deprivation.” Francesca Recanati of Milan, Italy also won for her work on strategies for productive conservation to fight deforestation and support local farmers. 

Luca Virginio, Director of External Relations at BCFN said of BCFN YES! program, "To me, food heroes are all the young researchers and activists who are working hard to build a better food system—and there are many out there! We need to celebrate and encourage their commitment and energy."

The 2016 Forum is open to the public, and visitors can attend the daylong event and listen in on debates and round tables for free. BCFN will also live stream the event on its website, the BCFN Facebook page, as well as the Food Tank website.

The Forum will also introduce the Food Sustainability Index and report, "Fixing Food." The Index, written in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit provides a ranking of 25 countries across the three pillars of the Milan Protocol: sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and food waste. “Fixing Food” analyzes the findings of the Index and features interviews with experts and leaders from across the food system. 

Speakers and panelists include Food Tank Advisory Group Members David Katz, Founding Director, Yale University Prevention Research Center and Hans Herren, President and CEO of the Millennium Institute.

The Forum also features the following speakers and panels:

• Stefano Zamagni, Adjunct Professor, Johns Hopkins University, SAIS Europe and Member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences delivers the opening keynote address, “The call for an integral ecology and food systems sustainability: suggestions for action.”
• Livia Pomodoro, Chairman Milan Center for Food Law & Policy will dive into “Food & Rules.”
• Kanayo F. Nwanze, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) President, will discuss “Sustainable Food Systems: What needs to change.”
• Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Earth Institute, Columbia University and Director, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, will outline a “2017 Outlook in the framework of Sustainable Development Goals.”
• David Eisenberg, Adjunct Associate Professor of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan. School of Public Health – Director Culinary Nutrition, will discuss “Teaching kitchens as catalysts of personal and social change.”
• Elizabeth Rasmusson, Assistant Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme

For more information please visit The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition website.

The BCFN Reveals The Results Of The Food Sustainability Index (FSI)

1 Dec 2016

The BCFN Reveals The Results Of The Food Sustainability Index 

France, Japan and Canada: the countries where people eat best around the world. 
Italy comes sixth.
India and Saudi Arabia face the greatest food challenges.

• Taste is not the only thing that makes food “good ”
• The Barilla Foundation, in collaboration with The Economist Intelligence Unit, publishes a new Index measuring the sustainability of the food system focused around three pillars: nutrition, agriculture and food waste. 
• France leads the index, followed by Japan and Canada.
• Italy is in sixth position: it has the lowest greenhouse emissions from agriculture in Europe. Its principle challenges relate to over-nutrition; childhood obesity, in particular, is a growing problem.
• India, Nigeria and Ethiopia face significant nutritional challenges, while the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the USA have the highest levels of obesity and food waste per person.
• City Monitor: an Index for the world’s biggest cities is coming soon. 

Milan, 1 December 2016 – France, followed by Japan and Canada are the top three countries in a new index measuring food and nutrition sustainability across 25 countries, representing two thirds of the world’s population and 87% of global GDP. These three nations achieved the best scores for the production, distribution and consumption of food. Their agriculture is the most sustainable, food waste is lowest (including thanks to innovative policies to combat food) and where diets are the most balanced, without excesses or deficiencies, mindful of people’s health and the planet’s wellbeing. France takes first place above in part due to its innovative policies to fight food waste and the balanced diets of its population. Japan and Canada come second and third by virtue of their policies regarding sustainable agriculture and the widespread adoption of healthy balanced diets. 

Countries that score lowest are India, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and India and Egypt face a double challenge of obesity and malnutrition. Their use of resources (especially water) is also considered unsustainable, and they are losing food at the pre-consumer level. India is in last place in part because of its unsustainable management of water resources and the inadequacies in Indian people’s diets: it has the highest percentage of malnutrition among children aged under 5 years. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are 24th and 23rd in the ranking respectively, largely due to their excessive food waste and high levels of obesity.

The Food Sustainability Index (FSI) was, commissioned by the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (BCFN) Foundation and carried out by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) – the research arm of The Economist Group. It is the only index of its kind and revolutionises the way we look at food. For the first time, it provides an analysis of the world’s food choices not simply based on “taste”, but also on the overall sustainability of the food system . This in-depth analysis culminated in a ranking of countries around the world which the food system is most sustainable based on 58 criteria across three pillars: sustainable agriculture, nutritional challenges and food waste. The objectives of the FSI are to highlight the performance of various countries, establish comparable measurement criteria, provide examples of best practice and measure progress over time. 

“The slogan chosen for this BCFN Forum is ‘Eat Better. Eat Less. Food for All’ because it epitomises our view extremely concisely: if we eat better, not only will our health benefit as a result, but so will the wellbeing of the planet,” explains Guido Barilla, BCFN President. “The Food Sustainability Index will help us to understand where people eat the best around the world, not in terms of how good something tastes, but in terms of the sustainability of the food system, helping researchers and decision makers to understand where to focus research and policy choices.” "In my view, Italian food is the best in the world in terms of taste, but in terms of the food system, even though we are quite high up, we still need to do better,” concludes Barilla.

Italy ranks sixth: the best EU country for greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector, but childhood obesity is a problem
Our country ranks a respectable sixth place, and is among the top 10 countries for sustainable agriculture – with positive scores for diversification in agriculture and management of water resources – and it is the best European country when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions in the agriculture sector. Moreover, Italy is one of the leading countries in the fight against food waste, as shown by the law passed in August (along with France, Italy is one of the few countries to have passed a law to tackle this problem).

Nutritional outcomes are less positive. We eat too much: our country comes third last in the ranking for overnourishment and second last for the proportion of overweight and obese children aged between 2 and 18 years. We score positively, however, on how well-informed Italian citizens are on the importance of having a balanced and healthy diet, such as our Mediterranean diet. And yet, just as the rest of the world acknowledges this diet as the best in the world, data shows that Italians themselves are abandoning it, especially among the younger generations.

Germany, Canada and Japan: the best countries for the development and promotion of sustainable agriculture
It is estimated that the global population will grow to 8.1 billion people by 2025, and that 95% of this growth will take place in developing countries. Meanwhile, our planet’s cultivable land is becoming increasingly scarce. Satisfying the global need for food means reducing waste, developing more sustainable production methods and techniques, improving the efficiency of the food system and making considered and careful choices about the use of land. 
The three countries with the most sustainable agriculture sector in the Food Sustainability Index are Germany, Canada and Japan. Germany takes first place for sustainable agriculture, with excellent results in the management of water resources and the relatively low use of pesticides and fertilisers. Canada comes in second thanks to the high scores it achieved in the quality of its subsidies, the diversification of agricultural production and high productivity levels. 
At the other end of the scale are India, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. The United Arab Emirates suffer from scarce water resources, low levels of environmental biodiversity and a significant environmental impact of agriculture on the soil. The biggest challenges for India include improving the management of water and finding a solution to the negative impact of agriculture on water resources.

Nutritional challenges: France, Japan and South Korea lead the index, while India, Nigeria and South Africa score lowest.
Today, 795 million people around the world are undernourished, while 2.1 billion people are obese or overweight, and these figures continue to grow. The world is now faced with two key nutritional challenges: solving the problem of hunger and malnutrition around the world and at the same time tackling the increase in the numbers of overweight and obese people. Both of these factors have long-term consequences such as higher costs for health services, but also mortality, life chances and economic productivity. 

France, Japan and South Korea are at the top of the FSI for nutrition quality. France owes its high ranking to the quality of policy response to dietary patterns, such as tax on sugar in drinks. On the other hand, the countries which face the biggest nutritional challenges are India, Nigeria and South Africa. India is in last place mainly because of the inadequate diet of large sections of its population, with extremely high levels of malnutrition, while South Africa has seen a significant increase in the consumption of junk food along with continued challenges of under-nourishment among the poor. But while poorer countries try to combat hunger and malnutrition, rich countries are seeing an increase in the number of overweight and obese people. Indeed, on a global level, the number of overweight people has tripled since 1965. More specifically, there has been an increase from 3.2% to 10.8% among men and from 6.4% to 14.9% among women. This situation could also be duplicated in developing countries which are going through what is defined as “premature obesity”: here the percentage of overweight children and teenagers has risen from 8.1% to 12.9% among boys and 8.4% to 13.4% among girls. Indeed, obesity rates are constantly increasing in developing countries, especially in the smaller nations, even though hunger continues to be a very real problem. There is where the two issues – obesity and malnutrition – collide, with a significant increase in illnesses connected to obesity such as Type 2 diabetes, strokes and cancer. 
The United Arab Emirates is currently ranked last for overweight and obesity, followed by Saudi Arabia and the USA. In the United Arab Emirates, 74% of the population is obese or overweight (BMI above 25), followed by Saudi Arabia (69.6%) and the USA (67.3%).

The FSI also highlights the frequent micronutrient deficiencies in medium and high income countries. Turkey, Mexico, Argentina, Russia and Brazil are in the last eight places for micronutrient deficiencies, even ranking behind lower income countries (such as South Africa, China, Indonesia and Colombia). Even Italy, Australia and Germany rank below poorer countries when it comes to iodine deficiencies. The problem of micronutrient deficiencies is currently underestimated, despite being responsible for a series of conditions such as anaemia, stunted growth and night blindness.

France, Australia and South Africa are adopting the most innovative solutions to tackle food waste (but Italy is also one of the best) 
France’s top ranking on food waste was achieved thanks to its holistic approach based on food education and new commercial practices. Italy is also in the top ten for providing incentives to companies and producers which donate food to those who need it most. This is a simple but innovative idea which could be copied in other countries looking to tackle the problem of food waste. 
According to the World Wildlife Fund, a third of all food produced is wasted (1.3 billion tonnes of food either goes bad in storage, is lost or becomes inedible during distribution, or is thrown away by retail food stores, restaurants and kitchens). This represent around four times the quantity of food needed to feed the 800 million people around the world who do not have enough to eat.
Developed countries produce huge quantities of waste, mainly due to the fact that food is relatively cheap. Every year, the USA throws away around 46 million tonnes of food, with an average of around 40% represented by household waste. Europe ranks slightly better: according to data from the FAO, the food wasted in our continent could feed around 200 million people. However, food waste is also a problem in developing countries: in low and medium income countries, food represents a higher percentage of household expenditure, but in this case, food waste is lower. 
The countries where the most food is wasted are Saudi Arabia (427kg per person per year), Indonesia (300kg), USA (277kg) and the United Arab Emirates (169kg).

An index for the world’s biggest cities is on its way
The Economist Intelligence Unit, in collaboration with the BCFN Foundation, has also launched a new pilot project looking at the urban food system, called City Monitor. This new index is intended to identify a series of indicators in order to understand the dynamics of the urban food system by evaluating data and consumption habits. In the initial stage, the 16 cities chosen were selected on the basis of their geographical location, the availability of data and their efforts to implement a sustainable food policy. The cities are: London, Milan, Paris, Toronto, Belo Horizonte, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Kyoto, Mexico City, Berlin, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Dubai, San Francisco, Lagos and Mumbai. 

A prize for highlighting food paradoxes: the Food Sustainability Media Award is here
During the 7th International Forum, in order to keep the paradoxes in our food system in the global spotlight, the BCFN Foundation presented the Food Sustainability Media Award – an international journalism competition, created in collaboration with the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The objective is to raise awareness among the media of the key global issues regarding food, including food waste, climate change and the rights of farmers. The competition has three different journalism categories – written reports, video accounts and photography – and the winners will be those who are best able to highlight the food paradoxes as well as offering solutions on how to combat them.

PRESS OFFICE CONTACTS

Luca Di Leo, Head of Media Relations, luca.dileo@barilla.com, +39 0521 2621
Caterina Grossi, Media Relations Manager, caterina.grossi@barillacfn.com, +39 0521 2621

BCFN PRESS OFFICE c/o INC ISTITUTO NAZIONALE PER LA COMUNICAZIONE

Simone Silvi, Senior Account Media Relations, s.silvi@inc-comunicazione.it, +39 335.10.97.279
Francesca Riccardi, Media Relations Consultant, f.riccardi@inc-comunicazione.it, +39 335.72.51.741

About the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition Foundation
The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) Foundation is a think-tank, founded in 2009, with the aim of analysing themes linked to food and nutrition globally. Through a multidisciplinary approach, BCFN analyses the cause and effect relationships between food and economic, scientific, social and environmental factors. For more information: For more information: www.barillacfn.com; www.protocollodimilano.it

Tundra to Table: Vertical Farming In The Arctic

Tundra to Table: Vertical Farming In The Arctic

 December 1, 2016  lsuter

The vast Arctic territory is rich in resources including minerals, hydrocarbons, and wildlife. However, high latitudinal regions receive little sunlight for several months each year, which severely limits the region’s ability to grow fresh produce. Many Arctic urban centers rely on long, complex supply chains to receive shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables from their southerly neighbors.

Alaska imports about 95% of its fresh produce, moving about $2 billion per year of grocery spending out-of-state. Produce destined for the Arctic has to be picked early and ripened in-transit to minimize rot during the long journey from farm to table. Such practices affect the quality of produce polar consumers can buy and drive up prices. Arctic residents often pay exorbitant prices for items as simple as a head of lettuce.

These problems have spurred interest in alternative farming methods in the Arctic, such as indoor farming using hydroponics and artificial lighting systems, sometimes called vertical farming 

In recent years, the use of vertical farming has grown in many urban areas, where land is scarce and people have become more aware of the environmental impact of long-supply chains. Urban indoor farms, or ‘plant factories with artificial light’ (PFAL) are expected to play a large role in agriculture during the coming decades, garnering interest from countries around the world. Recently a team of Japanese and American researchers published a comprehensive 400-page volume on the benefits and limitations of indoor farms in different climatic and economic environments.

The ability of PFALs to produce quality produce has been proven in a low cost and resource effective manner. For example, low-heat light emitting diode (LED) fixtures have been around since the 1980s, but recent studies have shown that advances in this technology have enhanced their brightness and energy-efficiency to the point where they are viable in commercial crop agriculture. As these global investments in urban farming continue, the resulting technological innovations could have a revolutionary effect on how Arctic communities source their fresh produce.

The unique environmental and economic conditions of the Arctic make it an attractive region to develop PFALs. Prices for imported fresh produce are high, while environmental conditions for local farming are poor. Moreover, communities in the Arctic are usually isolated, and their inhabitants tend to welcome innovations that increase self-subsistence and decrease reliance on imports.

Several start-ups have begun to fill this niche in the North American Arctic, among them Vertical Harvest Hydroponics. This company, founded in 2011 and based in Anchorage, Alaska, has designed and developed a “Containerized Growing System” in repurposed shipping containers using cutting edge technology. These containerized systems cost about $110,000 each to build and deploy. They are designed to withstand the harsh Arctic conditions, and are mobile—giving Arctic communities the ability to grow produce anywhere with potable water and power. Each unit can produce about 23,000 to 39,000 heads of lettuce per year.

Another Alaskan company, Alaska Natural Organics,has retrofitted an old dairy in Anchorage to house an indoor farm, which can produce up to 20,000 plants per month. The potential for expansion seems strong, as these companies are still young and operate on a relatively small scale compared to the mega-PFALs running in Japan, which can produce up to 10,000 plants a day 

Vertical farming in the Arctic has gained recent media attention due to its success. In 2016 several mainstream media outlets, including the New York Times, local CBS news stations, and farming magazines featured articles on indoor farming in the Arctic. Unfortunately, there is a lack of academic literature analyzing the practicality of PFAL systems and vertical farming in an Arctic-specific context, a subject which should be explored given the massive potential applicability of this technology in the region.

Interest in biological preservation and the development of agriculture in the Arctic is nothing new. In Svalbard, the Global Seed Vault is safeguarding a repository of all global plant seeds in an attempt to secure the genetic diversity of flora on this planet in case of a devastating disaster. The Norwegian government, which runs and administers the storehouse, has also taken steps toward increasing the study of sustainable agriculture in the region through the year 2021 with the BIONAER program. In Kirovsk, Russia, the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden has been active since 1931, as a nursery, biological research institute, and tourist attraction. Interest in these new techniques is growing, with representatives of the city of Murmansk, Russia citing a planned project to convert abandoned industrial buildings into hydroponic farms during an interview. The Russian Arctic has many relatively isolated industrial and post-industrial urban centers, where the development of efficient PFAL systems could usher in a new era of sustainable agriculture. In all of these Arctic regions, the interest in using PFALs to increase the local quality of life is high, however there has been a lack of project feasibility studies and academic literature which could validate increased policy support for PFAL and urban indoor farming methods.

Given the interest in indoor-farming across the circumpolar region, PFAL systems could play an important role in the future life of Arctic communities. The success of the Alaskan start-ups shows the potential for the organic growth of the industry. These systems have the potential to benefit Arctic communities by cutting out expensive and unreliable supply-chains and increasing self-reliance. Indoor farming greatly improves the quality of life for Arctic residents by giving them a realistic path towards regular access to fresh high quality produce. Additionally, localized food production and research in PFAL technology has the added benefit of creating jobs and opportunities for innovation in the region. Nevertheless, the PFAL industry faces significant challenges, including high initial investment costs, which could hamper growth in the coming decades. Hopefully, this hurdle will not be insurmountable.

Indoor Harvest Corp Appoints New CEO As Company Growth Accelerates

Indoor Harvest Corp Appoints New CEO As Company Growth Accelerates

By GlobeNewswire,  November 30, 2016, 02:50:00 PM EDT

HOUSTON, Nov. 30, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Indoor Harvest Corp (OTCQB:INQD), through its brand name Indoor Harvest®, is a solutions provider to the vertical farming and indoor agriculture industry. The Company is pleased to announce that its Board of Directors has appointed John Choo as Chief Executive Officer/President effective January 1, 2017. Chad Sykes Founder and current CEO will assume the role of Chief Innovation Officer and will continue to serve as Chairman of Indoor Harvest's Board of Directors. 

"There is no better time for John, our co-founder, to become Indoor Harvest's next Chief Executive Officer. Since joining the team he has been instrumental in developing our partnerships and building our sales pipeline. He quickly learned and identified many of the operational challenges our industry faces and drove our rebranding efforts to address those challenges. John taking on the role of CEO will free me to focus on the technology side of our industry, where my true strengths lie. In my new role as CINO, I will be charged with driving research and development through change management, innovating new platforms in-house while simultaneously working with current and new partners at deploying effective, transparent, and efficient innovation process," stated Chad Sykes
founder and CEO of Indoor Harvest Corp.

"Indoor agriculture has moved at an exponential pace of change over the last five years, it reminds me of the early days of the mobile software industry," stated John Choo
, President and co-founder of Indoor Harvest Corp. "Over the last twelve months we have accelerated what was working well and disrupted portions of our business that needed to improve. The results have kept us deeply vested across North America and Europe in supporting strategies for commercial scale cultivators including our pharmaceutical and academic relationships," stated John Choo, Co-founder and President of Indoor Harvest Corp.

"As the company moves into execution on some of our planning, we have begun working with a multinational accounting firm on tax strategies to ensure our activities in Canada, The United States and Europe are standing on a strong foundation. We are expanding our executive and operations team as well, the excitement around the industry growth across the globe is infectious, we're seeing pools of investment and executive talents moving in quickly," further stated Mr. Choo.

Indoor Harvest has evolved as a commercial cultivation hardware designer to a single trusted source providing engineering, facilities construction centrally designed to support indoor agriculture including development financing for clients. The company has an extensive R&D and partnership network with some of the world's most recognized names in Academia and technology leaders in the space.

Management will host a conference call tomorrow, Thursday, December 1, 2016, at 2:00 PM EST, to discuss third quarter results, provide guidance and conduct a Q&A session for investors and analysts. Individuals interested in participating may dial in using the information below:

Dial In: (855) 551-1031

Conference ID: 23475012

A recording will be made available to investors who cannot attend shortly after the call and will be posted to the Company Facebook and Twitter pages.

Consistent with the SEC's April 2013 guidance on using social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to make corporate disclosures and announce key information in compliance with Regulation FD, Indoor Harvest is alerting investors and other members of the general public that Indoor Harvest will provide weekly updates on operations and progress through its social media on Facebook and Twitter. Investors, potential investors and individuals interested in our company are encouraged to keep informed by following us on Twitter or Facebook. 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/indoorharvest

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/indoorharvest

ABOUT INDOOR HARVEST CORP

Indoor Harvest Corp, through its brand name Indoor Harvest®, is a full service, state of the art design-build engineering firm for the indoor farming industry. Providing production platforms and complete custom designed build outs for both greenhouse and building integrated agriculture (BIA) grows, tailored to the specific needs of virtually any cultivar. Our patent pending aeroponic fixtures are based upon a modular concept in which primary components are interchangeable. Visit our website at http://www.indoorharvest.com for more information about our Company.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release contains certain "forward-looking statements" relating to the business of Indoor Harvest and its subsidiary companies, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates," "believes," "anticipates," "intends," "expects" and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or will be described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on Indoor Harvest's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on Indoor Harvest. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting Indoor Harvest will be those anticipated by Indoor Harvest. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the control of the Company) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Indoor Harvest undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

Contacts:
Indoor Harvest Corp
CEO, Mr. Chad Sykes

713-410-7903
ccsykes@indoorharvest.com

 

Vertical Farming – The Latest Trend For Producing Food !

Vertical Farming – The Latest Trend For Producing Food !

ASHWIN KUMAR

NOVEMBER 29, 2016

Nowadays, agriculture and food production are under great risk. The major factors for this are as follows

• The land under food cultivation is dwindling so as to give way for real estate activities owing to increase in urban population and their standards of living.

• Climate change is making our food systems vulnerable. Weather has become unpredictable and as a result farmers, especially small and marginal ones suffer from huge crop losses. At some places there are droughts due to delayed or scanty monsoon. At others there are more cyclones and untimely rains flooding the farms.

• The traditional agricultural techniques and practices are getting lost. Aspiring for more profits, farmers are doing mono-cropping and using chemicals in the form of fertilizers and pesticides extensively. This has taken a toll on our soils and has rendered it infertile. Moreover the crop thus raised is harmful for consumption.

Health conscious urban dwellers are switching to organic crops. Few others have gone to the next level of growing their own veggies in their rooftop or kitchen gardens. Demand for healthy and organic food is growing. To cope up with the limitation of land resources and the unpredictability of the weather conditions, scientists and entrepreneurs are developing modern agricultural techniques and technologies. One such innovation is Vertical Farming which is a type of precision farming. The goal of precision farming is to optimize returns on inputs while preserving resources. Vertical farms can produce more crops in less space with minimal environmental damage.

Related Read: The Tense In AgriTech: Past, Present And Future In India !

The characteristics of vertical farming are

• It involves producing crops in vertical stacks of plant beds one above another. This reduces the need for more land and eliminates the need for tilling.

• It is done indoors and environmental conditions are controlled, thus effectively isolating it from the outdoor weather conditions.

• This soil less farming is achieved either by hydroponics or aeroponics. Hydroponics uses water as medium for conveying nutrients to the roots. Mineral nutrients are dissolved in water, pumped and fed directly to a plant’s root system without any involvement of soil. In aeroponics, the roots are exposed to nutrient rich mist. The benefits associated with these technologies are quicker growth, faster harvest, higher yield and low nutrient and water wastage.

• Here, sunlight is replaced by light from LEDs. When plants photosynthesize they convert light of certain wavelength into chemical energy which is not necessary to come from sun. LEDs which are having high acceptance in replacing traditional lights, have been evolved to provide optimum electromagnetic spectrum for photosynthesis, consume less energy and have minimal heat signatures which keeps the energy requirement for temperature maintenance at a minimum.

Crops generally grown in this method are green leafy vegetables. The vertical farming market is estimated to reach USD 3.88 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 30.7% between 2015 and 2020.

In some developed countries, vertical farms are on the verge of starting the next green revolution. The first ever commercial vertical farm was setup in Singapore in 2012. The world’s largest vertical farm is coming up in Newark, New Jersey by a company called Aerofarms which aims to produce about two million pounds of leafy greens a year using aeroponics techniques.

In Japan vertical farm technology gained traction after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown exposed the susceptibility of arable land getting contaminated. Closer home, start-ups such as Futurefarms based in Chennai has setup such farms and has begun promoting it.

Vertical farms can be setup in abandoned factories or warehouses. It promises to create more jobs and attracts public-private investment. The vegetables can be locally grown and thus the cost and emissions due to their transportation can be significantly cut down. These farms also give us the option of year-round harvest. And of course, huge swathes of land can be returned to their natural state by reforestation.

Nevertheless, some scientists are sceptical about this technology. They consider it to be a factory rather than a farm almost like a broiler producing plant. Further, the whole system is vulnerable due to human error and technological malfunction. Considering that these systems use huge number of LED lights, motors and sensors the demand for power increases substantially which can make it unsustainable. Detailed research work has to be done before it gets commercialised in India.

Rising Need For Nursery, Indoor And Vertical Farming

Rising Need For Nursery, Indoor And Vertical Farming

by Frank Tobe

November 28, 2016

To meet rising food demands from a growing global population, over 250 million acres of arable land will be needed – about 20% more land than all of Brazil. Alternatively, agricultural production will need to be more productive and more sustainable using our present acreage. Meeting future needs requires investment in alternative practices such as urban and vertical farming as well as existing indoor and covered methods.

Ray Kurzweil, futurist, inventor and Google’s Director of Engineering, said in an interview in The Times in 2013:

There will be a new vertical agriculture revolution, because right now we use up a third of the usable land of the world to produce food, which is very inefficient. Instead we will grow food in a computerized vertical factory building (which is a more efficient use of real estate) controlled by artificial intelligence, which recycles all of the nutrients so there’s no environmental impact at all.

Fully automated regional vertical farms for leafy greens and other commodity crops has long been a vision of the future. Capital costs and other vagaries have prevented such development to date, but lower costs for technology and automation plus higher costs for labor, land and other resources, are making Kurzweil’s predictions come true. There are dozens of vertical farms around the world today with more being built.

Spread, a Japanese factory farmer with a large facility near Kyoto that serves the two metropolitan areas of Kyoto and Osaka, is nearing completion of a fully automated 52,000 sq ft facility where 98% of water will be recycled and seeding, watering, applying fertilizer and harvesting will all be automated. No earth; just shelves on top of shelves from floor to ceiling. They predict 30,000 heads of lettuce can be harvested and delivered daily throughout the year.

Propelling this indoor and vertical farming movement are three influential trends. The Boston Consulting Group, in 2015, produced a study entitled “Crop Farming 2030, the Reinvention of the Sector,” and cited (1) the steady global movement toward precision farming, (2) the availability of economical automation and robotics, and (3) the growing labor shortage as the drivers of the movement.

Vertical farming:

Food grown year round in buildings near urban centers provides many advantages: being close to the point of consumption reduces both distribution costs and spoilage. Outdoor farming is vulnerable to pests and disease, which in turn means intensive use of pesticides and herbicides causing problems with runoff as well as food safety. Vertical farms protect crops from weather and pests and reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides and herbicides. Hydroponic and aeroponic water methods save massive amounts of water compared to outdoor farming. Consequently, as these farms become more prevalent, they could provide a major new role for the ag industry to produce a wide range of commercial crops with major savings in space and water use. In the case of Spread, cited above, they are able to grow lettuce indoors using less than 1% of the water that California Central Valley growers use to grow the same product!

Agriculture accounts for around 70% of water used in the world today according to the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). As population and climate change progress, food needs will grow, and more efficient use of water in ag must happen as well. Vertical farms reduce water usage through recirculating hydroponics, evaporative cooling, control of in- and out-airflow, and other methods. Urban Crops, a Belgian factory farmer and technology provider uses this chart to show the benefits of vertical factory farms versus other methods:

Greenhouse and wholesale nurseries

Greenhouse technology is ideal to protect plants from adverse climatic conditions, insects and disease and to nurse, propagate and grow plants to usable and/or harvestable size. Greenhouses can be framed or inflated structures covered with glass or transparent or translucent material. Greenhouse yields are often 10-15% greater that outdoor yields, consistency and quality tend to be greater, and the growing season is longer.

Similar to vertical farms, greenhouses have high upfront costs and operating expenses, and crop selection must not require pollination. Whether plants are grown in the field or indoors, nurseries transplant, graft, or germinate plants to create seedlings for resale. Their processes are quite complex on two levels: (1) the technical aspects of growing plants which require management of the environment, plant nutrition, propagation, transplanting, irrigation, and pest and disease control, and (2) the business aspects of managing production, labor, customers, distribution and other activities associated with a business. Many nurseries use automation and some level of robotics. Harvest Automation and their mobile robots rearranging potted plants and Urbinati and Visser and their robotic transplanting devices are all examples of the levels of automation utilized in nursery operations.

Commercial and emerging providers:

• AeroFarms – A NJ indoor farmer that is marketing their technology to other prospective vertical farmers. AeroFarms grows a wide variety of leafy greens without sun or soil in a fully-controlled indoor environment using a system of aeroponic misting of the roots for faster harvest cycles, predictable results, food safety and less environmental impact.
• Aris – is a Dutch engineering and systems provider. Many of their projects are integrated with vision and robotics that identify, grade, sort and analyze everything from orchids to chickens, from potted plants to seedlings. Using their systems, nursery clients can then grade and robotically cut branches which can then be potted.
• ALCI Visionics & Robotics – A French integrator of vision and robotics technologies for meat and fish slicing and packaging and for nurseries and growers for potting plants and seed germination, analysis and classification for corn, rice and wheat.
• Conic Systems – a Spanish provider of greenhouse equipment including robotic and software-controlled grafting, seeding and planting systems.
• Demtec – A long established Belgium-based maker of a wide range of horticultural machinery including potting machines, seeders, planters and transplanters. Many of these processes have integrated industrial and mobile robots into their systems. Demtec robotics also play a big part in flat and shelf handling, packaging, palletization, and shipping.
• Egatec A/S – a Danish integrator of end-of-line packaging, boxing and palletizing systems for the ag and food processing industries.
• Harvest Automation – a Boston-area mobile robotics provider with nursery applications for spacing, a task that involves bending over, picking up one or two containers often weighing up to 22 pounds each, walking a few steps and then bending over again to place them in a predefined pattern.  The company recently divested a warehousing variation on their mobile robot to better focus on ag industry applications.
• Helper Robotech – a Korean manufacturer of robotic grafting, smart seeding and other smart devices. They also make a wide range of nursery products to nurture seedlings to maturity.
• HETO Agrotechnics – a Dutch manufacturer of horticulture machines including robotic potting systems and pick and place systems for potted plants.
• Hortiplan – a Belgian integrator, reseller and provider of nursery equipment, supplies and mobile gully systems – which move in an automated way from the planting side to the harvesting station. Hortiplan also designs and sells lighting, irrigation and handling systems.
• Irmato Jentjens – An established Dutch builder of systems for automating food handling and packaging. Irmato also makes the Rombomatic, a robotic cutting system for nurseries that examines, assesses, cuts, powders and inserts cuttings into pots and other mediums. Jentjens is a funding partner in a variety of sensing and manipulation projects under the EU’s Clever Robots for Crops program. These include a sweet-pepper harvesting robot, an apple harvesting robot, precision and canopy-optimized spraying robots and other AI-based ag systems.
• Iron Ox – A Silicon Valley startup presently in stealth mode but hiring with a plan to provide a fully robotic, fully controlled environment for ag in a greenhouse growing leafy greens (lettuce, basil and bok choy) using natural light but mobile bots to move plants through each stage of development to harvesting, packaging and palletizing.
• ISO Group – a Netherlands-based supplier of automation solutions for nurseries. They adapt industrial robot technology for horticulture uses such as grafting, planting, vision inspection and replanting.
• Logiqs BV – a Dutch manufacturer of internal transport and logistics systems for greenhouses for growers of cut flowers, tree nurseries, flower bulbs, potted plants and vegetables. Their new modular GreenCube vertical cultivation system uses trays sensors and vertical transporters, also with sensors, for movement between layers and movement to and from the various stages of nursery growing operations.
• CMW Horticulture – a UK integrator and reseller of a whole range of greenhouse and nursery automation products including Logiqs mobility and handling systems
• Mirai Group – A Japanese farmer that, in 2009, became a member and leader of the Japanese government public-private consortium to develop low-cost plant factories. Today Mirai provides R&D and design-build services to grow leafy plants for farmers interested in vertical farming similar to what Spread is doing. Mirai is also producing and wholesaling leafy vegetables from a large plant factory located near Chiba, Japan.
• Photon Systems Instruments – An established Czech Republic provider of ag instruments including high throughput conveyor and robotic nursery phenotyping systems.
• Priva Group – a Dutch engineering, design and systems integrator for greenhouse nurseries. Recent projects include developing a leaf-removing robot for tomato plants. The lowest leaves of tomato plants are regularly removed to promote ripening (this process is called de-leafing).
• QUBIT Phenomics – a Canadian provider of conventional and robotic plant screening systems for nurseries and growers. The company’s PlantScreen™ Field Phenotyping System allows growers an automated non-invasive measurement of photosynthesis, leaf biochemical status, water status and canopy temperature. Greenhouses are the primary marketplace but the company hopes to break into field operations as well.  Many major biotech companies and universities have partnered with Qubit in the study of plant responses to various stresses.
• Spread – A Japanese lettuce grower, is constructing the world’s largest plant factory near Osaka and Kyoto. The new factory, scheduled for mid-2017, will be as robotically automated as possible. Spread’s existing facility, from which they are learning what tasks can be automated, produces 21,000 heads of lettuce per day using LED lighting, controlled air conditioning and recirculating water. Spread is planning to construct and operate 20 new factories in the next 5 yearsin addition to selling the technology for others to build their own plant factories.
• Urban Crops – A Belgium startup pioneering the distribution of robotized vertical farming and plant factories.  The company offers two types of products, one fits into a 40’ container and can be fully automated or not, and another is custom built for larger spaces. Currently the company has made a small number of sales and has partnered with companies such as Belgocatering, a Belguim based catering company, and a UAE group of investors.
• Urbinati – an Italian manufacturer of nursery technology including automated, and in some cases robotic, seeding, pot filling, transplanting, handling and irrigation devices. They also sell backroom processing robots such as palletizers.
• Transplant Systems – a NZ integrator and reseller of nursery machinery and robots from Urbinati and others.
• Visser – a Dutch provider of horticulture automation systems and complete production lines for large and small nurseries and greenhouses including a robot seeder, transplanter and packing and palletizing robots.

Agricultural Robotics: 160+ profiles

Working together with Tractica, a Colorado research firm, my team and I compiled a list of over 200 global businesses and agencies involved in developing robotic solutions for the ag industry. From that list, I was able to interview and profile over 160 companies and 16 research labs as follows:

• Academic and research labs (16)
• Backroom and post processing (5)
• Dairy and milking (10)
• Drones, analytics and data service providers (26)
• Farm equipment manufacturers (23)
• Harvesting, weeding and thinning robots (21)
• Hobby farming (2)
• Indoor and vertical farming (23)
• Integrator, distributor and reseller (20)
• Self-driving vehicles (15)
• UAS/UAV vendors (15)

This research report will be published in the next few weeks and will contain the whole list, the profiles, and the conclusions drawn from the research, interviews and analyses. The report will be $4,200 for a Basic License (1-5 users) or $6,300 for an Enterprise License.

Note: the link to the report is to the previous report with the same title and will be updated with new information just as soon as the new report is published.

Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series...read more 
 

agriculture roboticsrobohub focus on agricultural roboticsTractica

Glorious Green Office In Tokyo A Showpiece For Urban Agriculture

• Glorious Green Office In Tokyo A Showpiece For Urban Agriculture

The Pasona Group’s blooming headquarters doubles as a promotional tool for farming

BY PATRICK SISSON  NOV 28, 2016, 11:23AM EST

Tokyo’s streetscape typically leans towards the modern and mechanized, crowded with bright signs, busy neon lights, and new office towers. But a few blocks from the city’s main train station, the nine-story office of a progressive human resources firm presents a more pastoral addition.

The headquarters of the Pasona Group, one of the country’s largest staffing and talent agencies, literally blooms, a garden in the sky that provides Tokyo with a striking display of foliage. More than 100 types of roses grow on the building’s “green curtain” exterior during the late springtime, and in autumn months, vines growing on the trellised facade display fall colors. And that’s just the outside. The ground floor entrance, lined by citrus plants such as limes and kumquats, leads to a lobby with a functioning rice paddy and urban farm.

“We’re trying to broadcast what you can do in a metropolitan environment,” says Yukie Yoneyama, who works for the company’s urban farm division, which began seeding and planting the midcentury office building in 2010.

Pasona’s investment in a greener office isn’t just about creating a better environment for the company’s more than 1,500 Tokyo employees, though the plant-filled tower does create a less-stressful workplace and cut the building’s annual carbon emissions by 7-8 tons. The living office is part of a larger strategy by the self-described “social solutions company” to help catalyze rural economies and live up to its mission to provide jobs where they’re needed. It’s a physical manifestation of Pasona’s philosophy.

Company founder Yasuyuki Nambu started the staffing agency in 1976 to help provide jobs to mothers looking to re-enter the workplace. As the company grew over the last few decades, Nambu’s social justice focus has expanded to embrace numerous issues in Japan via an array of subsidiaries (Pasona Heartful, for instance, provides jobs for the disabled).

Over the last few decades, the combination of an aging population, a long-term recession, and unemployment has hit the Japanese farming sector hard. Nambu’s proposed solution to the crisis is to “make farming cool again,” investing in ornate projects like the urban farm, which seeks to re-connect city dwellers with agriculture, and funding community-focused businesses in rural areas.

The Pasona HQ certainly offers a sleek, camera-ready model of urban agriculture. With 43,000 square feet of space dedicated to growing more than 200 kinds of crops, nearly every corner of the Kono Designs-created office features some spin on urban agriculture. One of the conference rooms features overhead trellises holding ripe, red tomatoes, while apples and blueberries grow on the grass-covered rooftop. The indoor rice paddy, built from scrap wood and harvested multiple times a years, anchors an employee lobby, which hosts regular concerts during lunch hour. A floor of open meeting spaces includes hydroponic growing systems for herbs—small containers for sprouting seeds are hidden inside benches—offering aromatherapy between appointments. Rows of lettuce plants, raised in a “vegetable factory” along with other produce, help provide more than 10,000 meals a year in the employee cafeteria.

“One of the biggest benefits growing indoors is that we don’t need to worry about seasons,” says Yoneyama, while pointing out the special lighting and watering systems that run throughout the building. “Under normal conditions, lettuce takes 60 days from seed to harvest. We can grow it here in about 45 days.”

In a country where produce prices can by sky-high, Yoneyama says the aim of the company’s agriculture program isn’t to cut costs—rather difficult, when factoring in the cost of indoor lighting—but to spur development. Regional development has been a high priority for many companies, and Nambu believes spurring entreprenurial opportunities is the solution.

“The agricultural industry was hit by all these forces at the same time, so the question is, how do you help the agriculture and tourism industries they depend on?” she says.

In effect, Pasona’s green office is a commercial for regional development, turning normally staid downtown commercial space as a promotional tool. The rice strains planted in the lobby all come from areas hit hard by the 2011 tsunami. The company also supports a farm on Awaji Island, in south-central Hyogo Prefecture, that helps train future farmers and promote local agriculture (products such as dressings and sauces are sold in the company’s lobby).

Long-term, the company plans to continue supporting and promoting small-scale, regional farms and companies, and offer its expertise on urban farming to interested companies or architects. With a renewed focus on corporate social responsibility and healthier workspaces, Pasona fields inquiries from around the world.

“This is something that can really take off and provide a lot of benefits,” says Yoneyama. “We want to look outward.”

Green Acres Are Flourishing On Campus Rooftops Across The Country

Green Acres Are Flourishing On Campus Rooftops Across The Country

Sustainability-minded green roof projects are appearing from Montreal’s Concordia to the University of Saskatchewan

Leanne Delap

November 28, 2016

Rooftop gardens are having a moment at Canada’s universities. The eco-benefits of green roofs cycling storm water away from the sewage system, combined with the health and social benefits of growing fresh food for consumption right on campus, make the concept a win-win.

Ryerson has been ahead of the urban farming curve. About 10 years ago, says Mark Gorgolewski, a professor in the department of architectural science, CarrotCity.org was formed. “A group of architecture students were interested in food issues,” he says, “and wanted to do thesis projects that addressed the relevance of architectural design to urban food growth, preparation and enjoyment.”

From this student work flourished a website database, a book, a symposium and a travelling exhibition. By 2011, the group was involved in early efforts at growing food in various underutilized spaces around campus. In 2013, production was centralized on (and elevated to) the 10,000-sq.-foot Ryerson Urban Farm atop the George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre. The rooftop had been built as a green space, and from its opening in 2003, when it was known as the Andrew and Valerie Pringle Environmental Green Roof, it has been planted with day lilies and some 80 varieties of local weeds.

All those weeds created “rich, organic life” in the soil, says Arlene Throness, the Urban Farm manager, which they sheet-mulched and deepened for food production.

The Urban Farm now operates on a five-year crop rotation; there are 30 different crops and hundreds of cultivars. Members from the student body, staff and surrounding community all tend to the space and take home a basket of food a week as return on investment. Some produce is sold on campus at a farmers’ market; some is sold to campus kitchens. The yield, says Throness, is some 8,000 lb. a year.

The architecture connection still stands, though Urban Farm also crosses over into other faculties at the school, including nutrition, as well as environmental sciences.

The green is spreading: At OCADU there is a greenhouse that operates with no electricity and can produce lettuce in the dead of winter. Trent, the University of Toronto and Concordia all have greenhouse gardens in the sky.

And at the University of Saskatchewan, an opportunity arose on top of the phytotron (a research greenhouse). The condensers were moved, leaving a bare expanse visible from an open walkway.

“Aha,” said Grant Wood, a professor of urban agriculture, who worked with the university’s office of sustainability to come up with “the rooftop.” After getting the engineering students to check on load-bearing weights, and “a lot of paperwork,” says Wood, pallets and recycled containers were moved onto the roof. The team started with 500 sq. feet of planting, for a yield of about a thousand pounds of produce this past year; the goal is to double that next year.

The garden is being used as a teaching space for both university classes in various disciplines and agricultural camps for school kids over the summer. Crops are sold to campus food services, which advertise the fresh bounty the way restaurants point to local suppliers on their menus.

“We grow the veggies, sell them to culinary services,” says Woods. “They feed students and staff and then put the waste into a dehydrator that goes back into compost. It all takes place in less than a mile. We are working in food feet: sustainability at its ultimate.”

Container Farms Add Local Flavor To Fresh Fruit Production

Container Farms Add Local Flavor To Fresh Fruit Production

Stu Robarts

November 24th, 2016

Agricool focuses on growing fruit in its shipping container farms, rather than leafy greens(Credit: Tony Trichanh)

French startup Agricool believes the fruit flown around the world and stacked onto supermarkets shelves ain't what it used to be, so it has hatched a plan to recapture the authentic flavors of yesterday's fresh produce. The company has just raised €4 million (US$4.2 million) in funding to develop specialized shipping containers that can be used to grow full-flavored fruit a little closer to home.

The firm's fresh fruit approach sets it apart from similar shipping container farm outfits like Cropbox and Freight Farms, which typically focus on leafy greens. The first fruit that Agricool is focusing on is the strawberry, a produce it says is the poster-boy for tasteless supermarket fruit.

Agricool kits out its shipping containers as hydroponic growing units, designed to optimize growing conditions like nutrient levels, irrigation, LED lighting and CO2. The air drawn in from outside is filtered in an effort to minimize the possibility of pollution entering the containers. 

"We have 30 engineers in house, working all day to improve the technology," company co-founder Guillaume Fourdinier explains to New Atlas. "If you don't do that, you are only able to grow leafy greens. Our mission is to bring back taste in our fruits and vegetables, and we don't feel that it has been lost for leafy greens."

Vertical grow-walls, rather than stacked trays, are used as this is said to make it possible to grow more per square meter, with each container able to house more than 4,000 strawberry plants. Agricool says each container can produce 120 times more than would be the case on the same area of a field. The crops produced are also claimed to be more vitamin-rich, free of harmful chemicals and pesticides and conveniently, don't need washing before they're eaten.

The closed loop system employed for water and nutrients uses 90 percent less water than would be required for conventional cultivation and only electricity from renewable sources is used. What's more, the basic tending of the containers can be done by people with no experience in farming, while Agricool actually monitors the health of the crop and controls water and nutrient feeds remotely.

Only 30 sq m (323 sq ft), or the area of two car parking spaces, is required for each container. It is hoped that this distributed mode of growing can ultimately serve whole urban areas, while also helping to cut transportation time, costs and emissions.

Agricool was founded last year by Fourdinier and his colleague Gonzague Gru, both children of farming parents, because they couldn't find high-quality fruit and vegetables in cities. This, they say, is because crops are harvested too soon so that they don't spoil during transport and because they're chosen for their ability to travel, rather than for taste.

The firm's first prototype was installed in Bercy, in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France, late last year and there are now three prototypes in operation. It has spent this year conducting research and development, and the new funding will be used to speed up Agricool's growth, with the goal for next year to roll-out 75 containers, distribute 91 tons of strawberries and begin work on two new types of crop.

Source: Agricool

Why Vertical Farming Is More Than Just Growing Indoors

CitiesNews

Why Vertical Farming Is More Than Just Growing Indoors

Nicolette Maio · November 22, 2016

As part of Circulate’s collaboration with the Disruptive Innovation Festival, we’re featuring insight from some of this year’s Open Mic contributors in advance of their performance at the DIF. Find out more at thinkdif.co, and don’t forget to catch up on this session with a panel of vertical farming experts. 

Feeding urban populations is especially challenging in a linear system. We need to grow food as close as we can to the people who need it. Instead of transporting foods from every corner of the earth, we need to grow food directly in the cities and create more local economies based on necessity. Where we do that can vary: from a vacant lot, a rooftop, in a greenhouse, or even inside of a building.

Farming indoors has its fans and its critics, but it becomes a practicality as the populations of cities increases. Many people are thinking into the future for what food production hubs should look like for sustainable cities of the future.

Could we be on the verge of creating hybrid forms of food production? Can the indoor farmer and the bio-nutrient farmer find common ground? Will Allen is a key figure in knowing how to farm for the future. His revolutionary ways as an urban grower demonstrate the brilliance of a closed-loop system. His organisation, Growing Power, based out of Milwaukee, WI, has implemented greenhouses with stacked functions. The bottom level is an aquaponics system, which feeds the fish poop to the plants’ roots, then circulates back to the fish tank as clean water. It is not just about growing indoors, it is about creating a closed loop that reuses and eliminates waste.

Let’s think bigger. It’s also about incorporating alternative energy instead of fossil fuels wherever possible into the indoor growing system. In Suwan, South Korea there is a three-story 450 metre squared building that the Rural Development Agency is utilising for vertical farming. They have sourced nearly 50% of their heating, cooling and artificial lighting requirements to renewable resources, such as geothermal and solar power. More experimental models like this one are urgently needed.

Permaculture enthusiasts would say, “the problem is the solution.” Where does the potential for growing indoors lie? Could empty warehouses and abandoned buildings be repurposed as mushroom farms? Can sustainable energy be a bigger part of the closed loop? As crazy as it may sound, can harvesting insects provide a new source of protein and reduce the demand for factory-farmed meat? How we grow, what we grow, and where we grow will be shaped by the innovators of today.

Visit thinkdif.co to find out more about the Disruptive Innovation Festival. Don’t forget to create My DIF account to build your own schedule, get session recommendations based on your interests, and 30 days of bonus catch up time after the DIF has ended.

Agricool Harvests $4.3 Million To Grow Fruits And Vegetables In Containers

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Agricool Harvests $4.3 Million To Grow Fruits And Vegetables In Containers

Posted Nov 22, 2016 by Romain Dillet (@romaindillet)

French startup Agricool has raised $4.3 million (€4 million) from newly launched VC firm Daphni as well as Parrot founder Henri Seydoux and Captain Train (acquired by Trainline) co-founder Jean-Daniel Guyot. Agricool’s product is quite unusual as the company wants to grow strawberries and later other fruits and vegetables inside shipping containers.

With many people moving to mega-cities, it has become increasingly difficult to provide good food to people living in these cities. In just a few decades, there will be many, many cities with tens of millions of people living there. It’s a logistical and environmental challenge.

That’s probably one of the reasons why processed foods have taken off. It’s so much easier to ship across great distances instead of relying on perishable goods.

And yet, many cooks are trying to reverse this trend, looking for fresh and local ingredients for their recipes. It’s a good trend, but it also means that you’re limiting your options, especially in places with a hostile weather.

Why do we keep seeing the same bright red tomatoes that never go bad and don’t taste like anything? Intensive farming has been great to fight hunger issues, but it’s time to look further — in this case, it means going back to what makes food tastes great in the first place.

Agricool is trying to do something about this and started with strawberries. Instead of relying on trucks filled with strawberries coming from Turkey, Germany, Spain or Italy, the startup tried to produce strawberries right where they were, in Paris.

If you can control the light, the water, the substrate and other factors, the startup noticed that you can grow strawberries anywhere — including in a shipping container.

Then, it’s a matter of optimizing all these factors so you can produce more strawberries from a single container, or cooltainer as the company calls them. The company doesn’t want to use any pesticide and my guess is that it’s going to take a while to make these strawberries as cheap as existing strawberries.

The company is now renting a big warehouse to fill with containers. There’s probably a fair share of A/B testing going on, but with fruits and not website designs. With today’s funding round, Agricool wants to create 75 containers in 2017 and install them around Paris — the goal is to produce 91 tons of strawberries.

The startup also wants to test other crops soon. Maybe some vegetables and fruits will be harder than others when it comes to growing them in a container. It’s going to be a long, capital-intensive venture to iterate on those containers. But it’s an interesting take on the food industry.

Vertical Farming: The Future of Agriculture?

Can This Modern Cultivation Practice Of Growing Plants In A Closed Environment Meet Our Food Demands In A More Sustainable Way?

For those of you unaware of the quiet revolution going on in agriculture, vertical farming is shaping the future of food.

World population is expected to reach a colossal 11 billion by 2100 (though it varies depending on whose model you use). As a result, many have begun to askhow are we going to feed even more hungry mouths? The answer, at least in part, comes in the form of vertical farming, a new, revolutionary, and sustainable way to grow our food that can also help to reduce the carbon footprint of food production.

Vertical farming involves growing plants in stacks of hydroponic towers, lit with LED lamps, in a strictly controlled environment. The towers of crops are fed with water laced with nutrients, the strict control of the environment allows for optimum yield from the crops every time. Global Vertical Farming market was worth 600 million USD in 2014.

Vertical farming has numerous advantages over the practices of regular farming. As well as producing a consistent and high yield crop 365 days a year, the crop can be grown in a compact and protected environment — one that is not affected by weather patterns or climate change. All with the added bonus of zero waste (through water recycling) and zero net energy use. All the water used in the hydroponic stacks is recycled and reused — urban waste water can even be recycled for use in vertical farms.

Green Sense Farms in Portage, Indiana, is in the process of building a network of indoor vertical farms across the globe. Their goal is to not only reduce the carbon footprint and environmental consequences associated with traditional farming, but to provideconsumers with locally produced, fresh, leafy greens, to try to foster healthier and more environmentally friend communities. Green Sense Farms is using LEDs built by Dutch tech giants Philips to cut power costs through cheaper LED light, as well as tweaking light wavelengths to try to grow the perfect crop. The Economist praised their farms for the innovative work that they are doing to provide new ways to better feed the planet:

“The crops grow faster, too. Philips reckons that using LED lights in this sort of controlled, indoor environment could cut growing cycles by up to half compared with traditional farming. That could help meet demand for what was once impossible: fresh, locally grown produce, all year round.”

The versatility of location is the greatest strength of vertical farming, especially in the fight against climate change. The farms can be located at, or nearby to, distribution centres, supermarkets, or anywhere that sells or serves large volumes of food, and thus reduce the carbon footprint associated with transporting food from farms to tables – it is the antithesis of globalization.

One of the most globally renowned vertical farming start-ups is Urban Crops, whose headquarters are located in Waregem, Belgium, (though they have recently launched a US division in Miami that will be responsible for the entire American continent, North and South). They don’t see vertical farming as a radical departure from traditional farming, rather they see it as a more refined and efficient evolution of farming. Urban Crops grow their produce under a purple light delivered by red and blue LED lamps that create the perfect conditions for growth; the plants are fed via a hydroponic system of water infused with special minerals and nutrients. Their set-up can turn 50 square meters into 500 square meters of usable farm space and their 30 square meter space produces 220 lettuce plants every day with only five percent of the water that would be needed in traditional farming.

Despite all of these perceived benefits, there have been some who have rejected the idea of vertical farming as a realistic way forward for humanity. TreeHugger has had trouble digesting the concept of vertical farming for a number of years, supporting the belief held by Stan Cox of Alternet that:

“Although the concept [of vertical farming] has provided opportunities for architecture students and others to create innovative, sometimes beautiful building designs, it holds little practical potential for providing food.”

Cox’s main gripe with vertical farming is with the logic (or lack of it) at the heart of the technology; that using renewable energy to power indoor lighting to grow plants with is nothing but a waste of energy a resources. The transfer of energy from sunlight, to solar arrays, to power lamps that feed plants with light energy, is, in his eyes, nothing but a waste of energy (due to transmission losses) and infrastructure. He argues that it is much better to:

“Let crop plants do what they do best: capture cost-free, emissions-free sunlight for themselves, directly.”

Although much of the loss in terms of infrastructure cost could be accounted for if the farms were powered by solar panels on-site – for example by Elon Musk’s solar roof.

Cox also forwards the idea that traditional farming is still viable, that they are simply ploughing the wrong land as it’s become more economically viable to ship produce long distance. The solution is to grow more crops locally, rather than relying on huge sprawling farms and cattle ranches that are not sustainable. Since world hunger is ultimately a result of poor distribution, not a lack of resources, the sensible option seems to be to localize food production as much as possible — whether through vertical farming or more traditional farming techniques.

In contrast to these two polarized opinions Paul Mahon, from Ontario Farmer Publications, doesn’t believe that vertical farming in its more extreme form is how farming is going to develop (at least not in the immediate future).

“Horizontal Farming [a self-coined term] is moving towards that sort of idea, farmers are using hydroponics to ensure a constant supply of water to the roots and crops. GPS and modern technology is allowing farmers to be much more precise in their measurements and their use of land. They are moving to smaller and smaller plots of land for the same yield, and are now able to match nutrients with soil types and capability.”

So the future of farming could marry traditional techniques with some of the small space advancements made with vertical farming to produce higher yields from smaller plots of land. This marriage of techniques has been adopted by Green Living Technologies in their Mobile Edible Wall Unit, which allows users to grow produce outside on an A-Frame mounted flowerbeds to allow for more economic use of space. This could be viewed as a validation of Stan Cox’s opinion that traditional farming isn’t as flawed as many are suggesting.

However, these solutions do not deal with the massive carbon footprint associated with traditional farming, or have the advantages of being immune to climate change and weather conditions in the way that vertical farming is. Although Polyculture farming has offered a way to reduce the carbon footprint of horizontal farming, in a way that is easy for everyone to adopt, it still requires large areas to grow substantial quantities of food. This is where vertical farming truly outstrips more traditional techniques  —in urban and more highly populated areas where space is a valuable resource.

With plans in Sweden to build a 16 story “plantscraper” in the works, and MIT working with Target to produce their own greens in-store using vertical farming techniques, there doesn’t seem to be any dispute that vertical farming is going to play a role in the future of agriculture. We will just have to wait to see the extent to which it will dominate agriculture in the future. In the meantime, there are numerous ways that we as individuals can reduce the carbon footprint of agriculture. For example, instead of planting lawns you could grow your own produce, or try to incorporate polyculture farming into your garden. We all need to be responsible for the future of our food, rather than consider it to be someone else’s job.

Josh Hamilton is an aspiring journalist from Belfast, Northern Ireland, living in London, Ontario. Lover of music, politics, tech, and life.

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Developments In Fresh Produce

 Developments In Fresh Produce

The first in-store Farming unit in the Netherlands has opened it's doors three weeks ago at the renovated AH XL store in Purmerend. The XL store is completely refurbished and implemented some new innovative concepts. The very first "self service herb garden" where the customer can harvest their herb of choice by using the pair of scissors provided at every herb garden module and a bag to put their freshly cut herbs in. There are 13 herbs to choose from. Customers will only take as much as they need so this will eliminate unnecessary food wastage. All herbs have one price so customers can mix the herbs to their liking. 

The herb garden is divided into two sections "one more week" and "ready to cut". The herbs arrive as semi finished products and grow their last week with the help of Led grow lights. This way the customer can see the growth with their own eyes. The low maintenance watering system makes sure all the herbs receive the right dosage of water at all times.

We keep getting positive feedback from our customers and so far our concept of the "self service herb garden" has been shared more than 600 times world wide! Freshness adds to any food experience and you can't get any fresher than this!

Governor Of West Flanders Visits Urban Crops

On Monday the governor of the Belgian province West Flanders, Carl Decaluwé, visited the headquarters of the agtech company Urban Crops in Beveren-Leie (Waregem). Urban Crops combines the farming knowledge on cultivation of the region that is situated in the heart of the Western European vegetable industry with the technical knowledge of some of the global leading machine building companies of this region to develop innovative agricultural plant growth solutions for its international portfolio of customers.

On Monday the management of Urban Crops welcomed the governor of the Belgian Province West Flanders, Carl Decaluwé, together with a delegation of the leadership of the city of Waregem for an extensive visit of the plant research labs, the pilot installation of its plant factory technology and the offices of the Urban Crops headquarters. The different technologies and techniques Urban Crops uses for its innovative solutions were explained and demonstrated during the visit. Urban Crops has international patent applications pending for several of these techniques. The diverse challenges Urban Crops faces as a young and ambitious company were also discussed in an open conversation with the provincial leadership.

“Having our roots in this knowledge-rich region is an enormous advantage compared to many companies that want to take up a role in the closed environment vertical farming industry by mainly pursuing their goals from a sole scientific point of view.”, says Maarten Vandecruys, founder and managing director of Urban Crops. “We are proud having created some kind of micro climate for all kinds of local companies and local educational institutions that want to invest further with us in innovation and knowledge in this newest level of farming.”

“Our province has a history of many international companies active in the agriculture, machine building and food industry and of which the knowledge centre has been situated in our province for years”, says governor Decaluwé. “It gives me great pleasure to see that Urban Crops uses all these local competencies to become a global leading player as a turnkey solution provider in their fast emerging international market of the closed environment indoor farming.”

Urban Crops was also pleased at the occasion of this visit to announce the plans for the extension of its research lab infrastructure in the following months with eight new units. This extension has to be realized by the summer of 2017 and will be built in two phases at the same site of the currentUrban Crops headquarters in Beveren-Leie (Belgium). The extra research lab capacity will be used for further optimizing the plant growth recipes and to test and validate additional (special) crops. The additional lab capacity will also be used to perform tests with own developed automation software and hardware components, such as its newest series of plant growth LED lights or its own developed robotics.

First Freight Farm Up And Running In Holland

Today's farmer only needs a smartphone:

First Freight Farm up and running in Holland

He did not go to horticultural college, doesn't have a green thumb and has no clue about produce marketing. Yet Dutchman Patrick Stoffer is about to harvest 1,000 heads of lettuce every week. He is the proud owner of the first Freight Farm in the Netherlands.

Stoffer is the first European that has bought the Leafy Green Machine from Dutch greenhouse supply company Horticoop. The container farm has been developed in the U.S. by Freight Farms and comprises of a shipping container (12.2 x 2.44 x 2.6m) that has 256 ZipGrow cultivation towers for the hydroponic cultivation of leafy greens and herbs. The vertical farms allows a total of 7,000m2 of production.

Stoffer is a proud owner of the idiot-proof farm. He is using an app that keeps him up-to-date on the conditions in the container and through the app he receives tips about what kind of actions to take during cultivation.

Freight Farms has about 150 of these containers installed in the U.S. and the popularity of the system is steadily growing. Kimbal Musk, brother of Paypal and Tesla founder Elon Musk, recently bought 20 to start his own vertical farm. In his blog,  he explains the importance of cultivating in urban locations and being in contact with the consumer.

Leafy Green Machine

Stoffers has no knowledge of the traditional fresh produce trade, and did not attend horticultural college. The youngster is studying Facility Management and uses his entrepreneurship with the Leafy Green Machine as part of his final thesis.

The container is installed near residential care centre Humanitas in the town of Deventer. “Part of the lettuce ends up in the salad bar at the home,” the young entrepreneur explains. “The idea is to also involve residents in the project, to show how the lettuce grows and what happens in the container. At a later time it will become a part of the community as a social project.”

Cost price
Stoffer finds other buyers in local restaurants. “Salad bars and food service companies are intersting parties.” says Stoffer. He needs such companies which see the added value of this, because the cost price of the Leafy Green Machine means he cannot compete with traditional greenhouse horticulture. “We can not compete with the lettuce you find in a Dutch supermarket. However, our product has a story to tell and comes fresher and healthier.”

Horticoop offers the Leafy Green Machinefor a few months now. Interest has already been expressed from countries such as Norway, Sweden and the UK. Freight Farms expects sales will increase in the US next year and also hopes to find a good market in Europe.  

Publication date: 11/16/2016
Author: Arlette Sijmonsma
Copyright: www.hortidaily.com