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Indoor Urban Agriculture Is Growing Up Thanks To These Cities
At this point, the benefits of indoor urban farming are common knowledge: fresher food, fewer transportation emissions, and less spoilage thanks to shorter transit distances.
NYC’s Gotham Greens highlighted those and other benefits this week with the announcement that it had closed a $29 million Series C equity funding round led by Silverman Group and Creadiv. This latest round brings the company’s total funding to $45 million, and will help them “finance the expansion trajectory,” which covers 500,000 square feet currently under development in five different states.
Gotham is one of several major success stories for NYC-based urban indoor farming companies, many of which we’ve covered extensively at The Spoon. But the Big Apple’s not the only city making indoor urban farming widely available and, in the process, changing the way we think about farming.
In fact, today marks the opening of the Farm on Ogden in Chicago, a massive facility and project aimed at providing fresh, local food to an undernourished (literally and figuratively) part of the Windy City.
With those two pieces of news in mind, here’s a brief look at a few other cities and companies where the indoor farming movement is thriving:
The Farm on Ogden
Chicago
Though the enormous vertical farming operation FarmedHere shuttered in 2017, Chicago is still seeing plenty of developments from other urban agriculture players. Gotham Greens operates a facility in the Pullman area. And generating quite a bit of buzz of late is the aforementioned Farm on Ogden, a partnership between the Lawndale Christian Health Center and Chicago Botanic Garden. The $3.5 million year-round project will provide both jobs and local, sustainably produced food to the struggling North Lawndale area, where unemployment soars, over 14 percent of the population has diabetes, and one in four adults suffers from PTSD. The multi-use facility will offer year-round food production, teaching kitchens, and job training for everyone from teenagers to those with criminal backgrounds. The project is also in the midst of building a 50,000-gallon aquaponic system that will raise lettuce and tilapia.
Grove
Boston
Like Chicago, Boston’s urban landscape and often-grim weather make it a prime candidate for the indoor urban farming movement.
Dorm-room project turned full-fledged business Grove takes a slightly different approach, trading enormous warehouses for compact pieces of furniture in which to place its “farms.” As my colleague Catherine noted recently, Grove has teamed up with furniture and appliance companies to create custom hardware, while it supplies seed pods and ag software to cultivate the crops.
If, on the other hand, you’re after a more utilitarian means of growing your produce, Freight Farms can provide you with one of its vertical farms housed in 40-square-foot shipping containers. Each Leafy Green Machine container is a fully climate controlled environment with vertical crop columns, LEDs, and a closed-loop hydroponic irrigations system. The accompanying farmhand platform, meanwhile, lets users automate many of the growing tasks, and generates real-time data for crop analysis. Freight Farms counts multiple universities, as well as big names like Google, among its customers.
Detroit
Of course, if any city stands poised to benefit from the urban agriculture revolution, it’s Detroit; its 78,000 empty/abandoned spaces are prime real estate for potential farming endeavors.
Artesian Farms is a great example: the company’s current warehouse facility sat abandoned from the late ’90s to when the company moved in around 2014. Now, thanks to a collaboration with Green Spirit Farms, Artesian has turned the warehouse’s 7,500 square feet of traditional space into one gigantic vertical farm. The company is also a community builder: 100 percent of current employees are from the surrounding Brightmoor neighborhood, which also benefits from access to the food produced.
RecoveryPark Farms, meanwhile, is another effort to transform urban blight via indoor and urban farming practices. The project grows produce, root vegetables, and herbs in hydroponic greenhouses that’s then shipped out to restaurants within a 300-mile radius.
Like many other companies listed here, RecoverPark provides as much community outreach and employment as it does homegrown food. Which, at the end of the day, is really what “eating local” should be all about.
Jenn is a writer, editor, and ghostwriter based in NYC. At The Spoon, she covers agtech, sustainable food issues, and restaurant tech. She is obsessed with IKEA.
US (PA): COE For Indoor Agriculture Feasibility Study Completed
US (PA): COE For Indoor Agriculture Feasibility Study Completed
Barisoft Consulting Group has just released a feasibility study to establish a Center of Excellence (COE) for Indoor Agriculture in the Kennett region of Pennsylvania. This region, located near Philadelphia, PA, has long been considered the “Mushroom Capital” of the U.S. The proposed Center of Excellence would serve as an international hub and knowledge base for investment, production, operations, distribution, research & development, training and workforce development for all forms of indoor agriculture.
Indoor agriculture is a means of growing crops year-round under tightly controlled conditions. Kennett's massive mushroom growing infrastructure, which produces nearly half a billion pounds yearly, has fit that definition for over one hundred years. Over the past five years, more than $500 million dollars of venture capital has been invested nationally in efforts to grow other crops such as leafy greens indoors on a commercial scale, which is predicted to become a multi-billion industry according to the study.
The Kennett COE feasibility study was commissioned by Kennett Township with additional support from neighboring New Garden Township and Kennett Square Borough. It is part of a larger initiative to leverage the Kennett area’s extensive mushroom industry infrastructure to support a variety of other indoor crops.
This two-hundred-page feasibility study report is grounded in extensive primary data and is not another “white paper.” Methods of data collection included over 35 hours of interviews with industry executives, senior university administrators, and local and state officials. An online survey was distributed to select segments of industry and to local leaders by invitation only. Over sixty high-quality responses were received.
Dr. Eric W. Stein, who conducted the study, is an Associate Professor of Business at Penn State and CEO of Barisoft Consulting Group. He also runs an indoor vertical farm named e3garden for R&D and local production. According to Dr. Stein, “Our findings show strong support for the Center’s feasibility according to multiple criteria and for locating it in the heart of mushroom country. We expect the Center to accelerate commercialization of indoor agriculture and to help businesses reach profitability sooner.”
Michael Guttman, Director of Sustainable Development for Kennett Township (the town which commissioned the study), states, “This study represents a milestone in the evolution of indoor farming and will validate our position that Kennett can serve as a future home for both the Center and for all kinds of indoor agriculture facilities. It’s a win-win for the industry and the Kennett area.”
For more information:
Publication date: 6/27/2018
Works Credit Union Launches Aquaponics Facility
Works Credit Union Launches Aquaponics Facility
June 21, 2018
Green Works for healthy, wealthy living
A view of growing plants at the Green Works aquaponics facility of Works Credit Union at its Spring Garden compound.
Works Credit Union has started on a journey to feed Tobagonians with its Green Works initiative for sustainable food production – an aquaponics system which was launched on Monday night at its compound in Spring Garden.
The Green Works aquaponics system will utilise waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic creatures as nutrients for plants grown hydroponically – that is fish and plants will be grown together in one integrated system. It is seen as safe, uses 90 percent water less than soil farming, is less labour intensive, virtually operating itself, uses less space and can reduce the food import bill.
Speaking at the launch, President Fitzroy Ottley said the initiative was focused on strengthening the livelihood of Tobago families, especially members of the credit union.
The project envisages nonchemical, healthy produce for Tobagonians as well as exports to Trinidad and the wider Caribbean in the future.
Ottley said Green Works was particularly relevant for Tobago with the continuing increase in the cost of food on the island.
“Tobago has been challenged in many ways to put food on the table and to rely on it coming from Trinidad. What we are about is to ensure that we reach out, connect and supply the needs of our people,” he said.
Sean Austin of Sean’s Rabbitry & Aquaponics presented the idea to the credit union two years ago as an income boosting project.
Guests marvel at the fish farm at the Green Works Aquaponics facility of the Works Credit Union at its Spring Garden compound at the launch of the Works Credit Union’s Green Works aquaponics facility on Monday night.
“The idea of aquaponics is a stepping stone for diversification…to provide our members with the opportunity to provide food for themselves. The board of Works Credit Union took a decision to build a structure in Tobago, turning it into a thriving aquaponics production area.
“This facility will not only contribute to the economic development and wealth of Works Credit Union, but it will also contribute to the wealth to the members of Works Credit Union,’ said Ottley.
He said the facility will be managed by a team and after a cycle, that team will go into its own project, being replaced by another team drawn from credit union members.
“This will continue until we are at the place where every single member of Works Credit Union who have a piece of land and want to go into agriculture production - that is safe from pesticides, safe from all the ills and chemicals that unknowingly contribute to our death - has had an opportunity to participate in the project.
“Until that time we are now on a mission to encourage our members to eat the right foods,” Ottley said, adding that members can save $350 weekly if they begin to plant their own non-chemical produce.
He said another event will be hosted to celebrate the first harvesting of the produce grown at the facility in the coming weeks - seasonings, lettuce and kale.
“We are going to make contact with all the hotels, guest houses and we expect if you want a safe product, you will visits the credit union on a daily basis and purchase some. It makes no sense that there are members who belong to a credit union who boast of an asset base of in excess of $260 million, and is bountiful and wealthy, but you haven’t figured out how can you personally become wealthy too.
“As the tide turns and the economy turns, we cannot lead if when we look behind, all our members are stumbling. We cannot survive if we continue to lend money to only buy fridge and car. We have to face the challenges, move forwards and make it work,” he said.
Why Hydroponic Grow Boxes Are The Future Of Growing
Why Hydroponic Grow Boxes Are The Future Of Growing
From the time I start writing this article to the time I finish the world's population will have increased by approximately 10,000 people. That not only means 10,000 more mouths to feed. It also means a decrease in the space that we have left on this earth.
There is no denying that the worlds increasing population is putting pressure on food supplies and available living and agriculture spaces. A decrease in growing spaces means a decrease in area for farms and agriculture to produce food for the world's population creating a vicious cycle that only leads to a more difficult problem to solve.
But what if everyone could produce their own food? A world where everyone produces the food that they eat within their own living space means there would be no need for massive agricultural spaces. We could then use those previous agricultural spaces for additional living space or natural reserves. What’s the most exciting part? This isn’t just a fantasy.
A hydroponic system means growing in an entirely water-based system instead of the traditional soil-based system. If you live in a high rise apartment in the middle of downtown Toronto, New York, Tokyo or any large urban center then growing your own food with soil isn’t a very viable option. Furthermore, even if you could have a room full of soil in your apartment you still might not have the horticultural touch to grow your own food. But luckily there is an answer.
Fully automated hydroponic grow boxes allow their users to grow their own food in their house without having to constantly tend to their crop like a farmer. The Canadian-based Company Grobo has created a hydroponic grow box that constantly monitors and adjusts its own ecosystem’s lighting, EC and pH levels.
Hydroponic grow boxes are launching us towards a world where traditional farming and agricultural systems are merely a memory. Each person can grow their own fresh food from the comfort of their own home. I’m excited to live in a world where I can grow my own strawberries, tomatoes, and lettuce while sitting in my apartment watching TV or playing baseball at the park.
Now that’s smart farming!
The World’s Most High Tech Indoor Farm Doesn’t Grow Food or Cannabis
The World’s Most High Tech Indoor Farm Doesn’t Grow Food or Cannabis
“The real transfection of plants to make biopharmaceuticals was hatched in Palo Alto in a bar called the Sundance Mining Company in 1987,” Barry Holtz, CEO of iBio CDMO, the world’s most high-tech indoor farm, told delegates at the recent Indoor Agtech Innovation Summit in Brooklyn, NY.
Transfection is the introduction of foreign DNA into plant cells in order to instruct them to create specific proteins. Essentially, iBio turns plants into bioreactors, Holtz explained.
iBio uses highly automated indoor farming methods to manufacture pharmaceutical drugs and, according to Holtz, it already has much of the technology that today’s food-growing indoor farms are just starting to develop.
“A lot of the things being discussed today, we’ve already done, but we’ve done it in a vacuum,” said Holtz of the automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics discussed by other speakers at the conference.
The thought may have begun in a bar, but the company got started in earnest when the US Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA) – think Q branch from a James Bond Film – posed a challenge to Holtz in the 1990s; what he called a “live fire test.”
“We received a gene in the mail – a sequence. We knew it was a vaccine against some form of influenza,” said Holtz, creating tension as if he was pitching a movie. “Our charge was to make 50 million doses in 12 weeks, and we did that.”
Now, the company’s products are used to treat fibrotic diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, systemic sclerosis, and scleroderma.
By all measures, iBio passed the test of time as well. The New York Stock Exchange-listed company (IBIO) recently filed for an expected $16 million underwritten public offeringand is in the process of expanding to Brazil and Japan.
iBIO’s Texas facility houses laboratory and pilot-scale operations, as well as large-scale automated hydroponic systems capable of growing over four million plants and delivering over 300 kilograms of recombinant protein pharmaceutical active ingredient per year.
So what does the farm looks like? Well first of all, it’s underground. Holtz said that when DARPA approached him about building the facility, it needed to be “hardened.” Being in Texas that meant tornado proof and hurricane proof. Holtz joked that the farm could probably “take an RPG.”
The farm has 13-inch thick concrete walls, and its growing compartments are 150 feet long and 50 feet high. The growing and harvesting happen without any human interaction.
“We’ve probably over-engineered everything,” Holtz joked. He went on to explain that the farm has the same capacity as 32 12,000-liter bioreactors and would cost $600 million- $700 million to build in “today’s money.”
The level of security and fortification is due to the immense responsibility of making vaccines and treatments.
“When you license a drug, you have an implicit responsibility to deliver it and once a patient population grows they become dependent on that drug. So the FDA looks at ‘can you supply?’” explained Holtz.
The reward is high in pharmaceuticals, but so is the risk. Not only is operating to a pharmaceutical standard expensive, but licenses for active ingredients are granted by formulation and not by facility, said Holtz, so the regulatory burden doesn’t get relatively lighter with scale.
Holtz said he had come to the conference to collaborate with the growing industry of indoor food farms. But with a $200 per gram cost of goods for one of Holtz’s pharmaceutical products, the distance between the two industries seems to be miles rather than feet.
Photo: Barry Holtz on stage at Indoor Agtech Summit with Nate Story from Plenty and Jessica Kristof from Phylos Biosciences.
Basic Microgreens Materials
Basic Microgreens Materials
June 5, 2018
Growing microgreens requires only a few materials. A bit of these things you might have laying around the house, although others will be just a small investment. We started our microgreens business with a 100 dollar bill.
Seeds
High-quality seeds are a very important part of growing microgreens. Factors that will affect the growth of your seeds are storage, seed source, handling, and age of seeds. If you would sow a thousand seeds, the difference between a 95 - percent germination rate and a 50 - percent germination rate is quite visible. It can be disappointing to have gone through the hard work of sowing and caring for your microgreens trays only to see a small percentage of your seeds sprouting up. When it comes to storing and handling your seeds, you will want to store them in a cool and dry location. Keep away from great fluctuation in temperature and humidity. During hot, muggy summer days, be careful not to leave them in the sun or let them get caught in a summer rainfall. Accurately caring for your seeds will maintain their viability for a long period of time. Your seed packages offer you valuable information such as lot number, seed variety, germination rate, germination test date, and age of seeds. Unless kept in a special environment, your seeds will last two to five years depending on a variety of vegetable. The amount of time your seeds will stay viable depends on whether you keep them stored in proper conditions.
With access to the wild wild web, you have hundreds of seed companies at your fingertips. For the purpose of growing microgreens, you are looking for seed companies selling in bulk. When trying a new seed company, start with a small quantity of seed. If you ask nicely, many companies will mail you out samples. When you have found the varieties you like, you probably want to move up to buying one pound bags. If you notice yourself using seed quickly,
most companies offer discounts at 5 to 10-pound bags. Seed quality also play a role after your seeds have come up. We have grown arugula that had great germination but had terrible-looking cotyledons. We have had purple radish, which is normally a purple stem microgreen, comes up with white stems.
Trays
We find that heavy duty 10 x 20-inch black plastic trays work the best. These trays are often available at hydroponic stores selling gardening supplies for around $2.50 per tray. Whether you decide to use the 10 x 20 or 10 x 10 black trays, proper drainage is very important. Although often overlooked, drainage is one of the keys for a plant to thrive. While being very important in the garden, it's even more important in your trays. If you are buying or collecting plastic trays, they will probably already have holes cut in the bottom. If you're making your own trays, be sure to create slits or holes to allow excess water to flow through. If there is a lack of drainage, you will find stunted growth, rot, and mold in your microgreens.
Soil
The core of any indoor or outdoor farm is its soil, and microgreens are no exception. Choosing the proper soil to grow your microgreens in is vital. A rich, fertile soil is filled with biological and mineral interactions necessary for vibrant, nutrient rich plants. During the beginning of our first rounds of growing microgreens, we used several brands of potting soil, looking for the ultimate one. Throughout these trials we were overwhelm to see the differences between them. The soil that stood out the most in both quality and performance had additional ingredients derived from the ocean such as kelp, crab meal, and shrimp meal. Using a high quality soil, you will enjoy strong, even growth and an increase in yield. While yield per tray is less important for the home grower, a commercial grower must pay close a attention to this detail. The cost of higher quality soil is often absorbed by the yields you will reap from your trays. We recommend Ocean Forrest for growing microgreens commercially or at home.
Humidity Dome
If you don't have a greenhouse to grow in, you will need to invest in or invent humidity dome to cover your trays. This creates a mini-greenhouse effect and keeps temperature and moisture at a more consistent state than if your germinating seeds were exposed to open air. This is especially important in dry climates or in seasons when there is a larger fluctuation between the night and day temperatures. If humidity domes are not used, you may find your seed germination is greatly reduced, uneven, and much slower than covered trays. Any local hydroponic store should carry them. The average price seems to be around $4.00.
Water Sprayer
If you have a small garden or houseplants, you may already have some of the supplies you'll need to water your microgreens. Make sure you can adjust the sprayer head. Out of all the settings provided on your sprayer, a medium shower has been the most effective. If you are going to be grown indoors, you'll need a watering can. Make sure it has an attachment that allows the water to sprinkle out rather than pour out in one stream. Since you are growing the microgreens so densely, air circulation is very important. You don't want to water them so hard that they fall and mat. If this happens, the lack of air and excess water will cause them to rot. If you find that your microgreens have fallen, you can try gently brushing them upright with your hand. The key to good watering is to be gentle while watering.
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Tags: microgreens microgreensfacts microgreensmaterials microgreensgrower
Purdue Grad Wants His Invention To Reduce Food Deserts
Purdue Grad Wants His Invention To Reduce Food Deserts
May 24, 2018, by Randy Spieth
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – A new appliance for the home could soon get mass produced, allowing owners to grow fresh fruits and vegetables without ever leaving their homes. Scott Massey, the CEO and co-founder of Heliponix, has just unveiled his first GroPod and wants to see it become an appliance to tackle hunger.
A GroPod is a little smaller than a standard dishwasher or oven. It uses hydroponic technology to grow seed pods, similar to single-serve coffee containers.
“When you buy a pod for it, and you plug it in, your GroPod already knows what you put in," Massey said. "Different plants have different environmental preferences and the unit will find the average temperature, light cycle, humidity for your variety, among many other variables, and give you specifically the best growing conditions based of what you like to eat.”
Massey first worked on self-sufficient plant growing while on a NASA project as a student at Purdue. He has also used hydroponic technology to start farms in the western Africa country of Togo. Today, he has help start one of the largest farm systems in the region, with space at two Togo universities, a co-working space, and at the U.S. Embassy compound.
“One system for $300 can grow about 500 pounds of vegetables, annually," said Massey. "That’s enough to feed a family.”
Massey said once you see a child suffer from malnutrition, it's a difficult image to get out of your head. That's why he wanted to help.
The creator of the GroPod said he'd like to see the appliance come hand-in-hand with federal housing assistance programs. He came up with the idea after an internship on the El Paso, Tex. and Juarez, Mexico border. There he was building Section 8 housing and saw what a food desert can do to people.
The SNAP program could serve as financial assistance to have seed pods mailed to the homes of low-income families.
"The only thing they had was a McDonald's and a convenience store," Massey said. "After time, you just get obese."
Massey unveiled his first finished GroPod Thursday. He's using it as part of a demonstration to people and organizations working to improve food options in the city at the Flanner House. Some investors were also expected to be on hand.
The finished product is being given to his customer later Thursday night. He added he has many more orders in for the appliance.
Massey, who is from Evansville, is discussing selling the invention to a mass producer of kitchen and household appliances. He said he believes his creation could be on shelves everywhere in a little over a year.
“This is designed to be a common appliance that can be integrated into any home," said Massey. "It does not to be plumbed in. It does not need a special outlet. It only requires Wi-Fi and a standard 110-volt outlet.”
Filed in: News
Montreal-Based Start-Up Motorleaf Enables Greenhouse Farmers to More Accurately Forecast Their Future Harvests Using Artificial Intelligence
Montreal-Based Start-Up Motorleaf Enables Greenhouse Farmers to More Accurately Forecast Their Future Harvests Using Artificial Intelligence
It all started in 2016 in rural Sutton (Quebec) when Ramen Dutta, now CTO of Motorleaf, had trouble finding friends to water his plants while he was away on vacation.
With a US$2.85 million round of financing, artificial intelligence start-up Motorleaf can revolutionize greenhouse growers’ crop planning, achieving major productivity gains and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The financing round comprised notably Radicle Growth, Desjardins Capital, Real Ventures, Fluxunit and BDC Capital. With their support, Motorleaf can be a game changer in this agri-food sector niche in industrialized countries.
Motorleaf develops yield-predicting algorithms and indoor growth sensors. Using these advanced technologies that monitor plant growing conditions, greenhouse vegetable and tomato producers can make better business decisions and reduce costs, energy in particular, as well as water consumption, a critical factor in many regions around the world.
“We’re ready to distribute our technology so farmers can meet their fullest potential and acquire an innovative cost-cutting tool within the controlled-environment agriculture sector,” said Alastair Monk, co-founder, and CEO of Motorleaf.
Predicting the amount of vegetables from a harvest is currently a time-consuming process. Agronomists count samples of vegetables, leaves, and flowers in a small area and that sample then serves to estimate the expected yield of the entire grow operation. Often imprecise, farmers are unsure if they will produce enough vegetables to meet contract obligations or know how much labour they will need to package their produce. If they produce too much, farmers try to sell their perishable goods quickly at rock-bottom prices. Using Motorleaf’s artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms, the digital agronomist software can acquire data from indoor growing conditions. In turn, the algorithms learn growing patterns in the greenhouse, which then can predict the size of future harvests.
Cutting harvest prediction errors by half
Harvest yield-predicting algorithms are the latest technology born from Montreal’s booming artificial intelligence sector. With this financing round, Motorleaf aims to further develop its software and sensors so that its equipment can acquire additional data from common indoor climate control and irrigation systems. Farmers can now adopt this technology with a small addition of Motorleaf equipment but without the need for dramatic changes to their greenhouse infrastructure.
“Better yield prediction is only the beginning for Motorleaf’s added value to this sector,” says Alastair Monk. “We’re ultimately producing dynamic grower protocols, which help manage everything from light and nutrients to predicting greenhouse diseases before they happen, and optimized growing conditions that increase return on investment – all based on real-time data.”
Initial trials of the technology since October 2017 in a 70-acre California greenhouse cultivating tomatoes demonstrated its value to farming. Client SunSelect reduced its error in predicting weekly tomato yield by half, resulting in significant cost savings for the grower. As a result of the improved predictability using Motorleaf’s technology, SunSelect has since abandoned manual yield predictions in favour of Motorleaf’s algorithms. See the SunSelect case study at https://bit.ly/2IxxeF9.
The province of Quebec has 900 greenhouses, half of which have an area of under 999 square metres
Data compiled by the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation (MAPAQ) shows 900 greenhouses in 2016, including 356 specialized in vegetables, 388 in flowers and 156 mixed greenhouses, for a total area of 297.2 hectares (ha). The same data shows that the three regions with the largest greenhouse areas were Montérégie (77.8 ha or 26%), Laurentians (54.3 ha or 18%) and Laval(34.8 or 12%). As for the number of farms, Montérégie had 226 (or 25%), Laurentians 117 (or 13%), Chaudière-Appalaches 72 (or 8%), Centre-du-Québec 59 (or 7%), Laval and Lanaudière with 55 each (or 6%) and the Eastern Townships 51 (or 6%).
Inspired by dead plants
The idea for Motorleaf stems from the heartbreak of returning home to find your prized plants dried out. Living in rural Sutton, Ramen Dutta, CTO of the Montreal start-up, had trouble finding friends that could drive to his home and water his indoor plants while he was away on vacation. Being an agricultural engineer, he built an automated, sensor-controlled irrigation system that would become the foundation of Motorleaf’s technology.
SOURCE Desjardins Capital
After Soilless Babyleaf, Here's Hand-Less Babyleaf
After Soilless Babyleaf, Here's Hand-Less Babyleaf
Little Leaf Farms, one of the largest growers of hydroponic baby greens in North America, has officially opened its expanded greenhouse in Devens, Mass this week. The expansion doubles the size of the greenhouse from 2.5 acres to 5 acres, and more than doubles its annual production of baby greens. Thanks to their innovative growing system the greens are grown fully automated, without any chemicals and without any human hand touching the produce. Little Leaf Farms also announced it has purchased adjacent land for a third expansion project set to begin in 2019, which will further increase the size of the greenhouse to approximately 10 acres.
Baby lettuce
Opened in 2016, Little Leaf Farms produces locally grown, fresh baby greens year-round that are delivered to New England consumers within hours of being harvested. Little Leaf Farms grows multiple varieties of baby lettuce at its greenhouse. “Our ability to deliver fresh, great tasting and safe baby greens to consumers that can be easily traced back to the Massachusetts greenhouse has led to our rapid growth and expansion”, said Paul Sellew, CEO and founder of Little Leaf Farms. “We are passionate about transforming the way food is grown. Our process is clean from the start, so consumers can be confident they’re purchasing a safe product, grown in an environment that employs the most advanced food safety practices.”
For doing so, Little Leaf Farms is using a fully automated growing system. The system is optimized for growing of baby leaf lettuce and makes it possible to grow leafy greens fully automated without any human hand touching the produce from medium filling and seeding to harvesting. The seeding is done directly into the gutters to avoid the need of transplanting. Germination takes place under the growing line. After germination the gutters are lifted up to the growing line. During the growing process the gutters are moved automatically through the greenhouse toward the harvesting area. As plants grow the distance between the gutters continuously is adjusted - giving each plant as much space as necessary, but as little as possible. Once ready for harvesting the gutters are transported per conveyor belt to the harvesting area and guided into the cutting machine for a fresh cut.
The system is developed by Green Automation and has recently been upgraded and updated. “The growing lines are now even more robust, offers more precise and easier operations resulting in reduced maintenance needs as well as noise levels”, Patrik Borenius of Green Automation explains. Making the system more durable with increased frame thickness and additional steel components also allows for longer greenhouse growing lines to be designed and for increased gutter capacity.”
Seeding directly into the narrow gutters – eliminating the need for transplantin
Electric lift moving the gutters from the germination level to the growing line in one smooth movement.
New generation harvesting end with more space efficient conveyor design
Sustainability
The system is an important part of the Little Leaf hydroponic growing process, using mineral nutrient solutions in water without soil. “We incorporate principles of sustainability in everything we do, all to provide consumers with delicious, local baby greens at a fair price”, Paul explains. “The growth is completely sustainable, utilizing natural sunlight, a computer-controlled growing environment and a rainwater-based irrigation system that uses 90 percent less water than field-grown lettuce companies”, Paul shows. “The system enables the baby greens to be seeded, grown, cut and packaged without ever being touched by human hands. The production system is free from chemical pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, ensuring that what customers purchase is safe.”
LED lighting
The greenhouse is to be lighted with LED and the company opted for Oreon Grown Light 2.1, water-cooled fixtures by Lemnis. The complete installation of both water and electricity was provided by PB Techniek, Sellew’s installation partner for many years.
Salad mixes
Little Leaf Farms grows multiple varieties of baby lettuce at its greenhouse that are blended into salad mixes and sold in more than 1,000 Northeast grocery stores and to many restaurants, Universities and institutional customers. “More than 98 percent of the lettuce we eat in this country is grown on the West Coast and shipped for days, which means customers in New England are not receiving the highest quality or freshest product,” said Andrew W. Kendall, executive director of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation, an organization focused on creating a resilient and healthy food system in New England to increase the production and consumption of local, sustainably produced food. “Little Leaf Farms has cracked the code on providing the region with fresh baby greens within hours of being harvested. It’s exciting to see that consumers appreciate the value of the product, which will drive the company’s growth for years to come.”
For more information:
Little Leaf Farms
Green Automation
Patrik Borenius
Publication date: 5/25/2018
Author: Arlette Sijmonsma
Copyright: www.hortidaily.com
Controlled Environments: The Future of Small-Scale Agriculture
Controlled Environments: The Future of Small-Scale Agriculture
April 25, 2018 | By Ted Tanner, CEO and Co-Founder | Agriculture, Technology
Many experts believe small-scale agriculture is the future of growing. For those who choose that path, success may be closely tied to controlled environments and the use of agricultural technologies.
To understand how ag-tech drives success in small-scale farming, it's important to first take a closer look at small-scale agriculture: what it is, how it works, and why some envision it as the logical next step for the agricultural industry..
Thinking Small
For decades, agriculture has been dominated by a push toward larger farms with bigger grow operations that leverage various means to produce massive yields at low costs. But this kind of farming, sometimes called “factory farming,” has come with a price.
This mode of agriculture is devouring resources such as land and water. In the U.S. alone, agriculture accounts for 80 percent of ground and surface water usage, according to the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Economic Research Service. In many Western states, that number is as high as 90 percent. Big farms require a lot of labor, at a time when available farm labor is shrinking. Big farms also tend to be geographically removed from consumers, which increases food costs and the level of greenhouse gases produced because goods are trucked long distances to consumers.
Small-scale farms offer an attractive alternative.
With smaller farms, there are more options available. Farming can happen all over the world—even in more densely populated areas. With small-scale farming, food is fresh and grown locally year-round. Smaller agricultural systems are also more flexible, adapting to changing climate conditions and showing a greater resilience than large farms, according to small-scale farmers like California farmer Nikiko Masumoto.
A smaller grow enterprise can bring a new economic dimension into play, making agriculture a more commercially viable endeavor.
“Since small scale farmers tend to sell their products directly to consumers, they manage to avoid the middlemen. This means they can offer locally-grown, affordable, fresh, and sustainable food anywhere year-round,” according to Farming Solutions, a site that champions sustainable farming solutions for the future
How Ag-Tech Helps
Although big farms generate vast quantities of agricultural goods, small farms are making inroads. Globally, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that farms of less than one hectare account for 72 percent of all farms. The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Census of Agriculture, which occurs every five years, revealed in 2012 that small-scale family farms account for 88 percent of all U.S. farms.
Technological innovation can be a key driver of success for the small-scale farm, because a smaller grow space is inherently more controllable than a vast span of acreage. By applying agricultural controls, the grower can drive bigger yields with less effort at a lower cost.
A controlled environment allows for a small-scale farmer to manage a range of variables that might otherwise prove a detriment to productivity. Nutrients and irrigation, soil quality, and pest control all can be managed effectively using sensors for environmental monitoring and app-based smartphone systems for automation and 24/7 remote access.
Using the latest ag-tech, a grower can keep a watchful eye on variables such as heat, light, humidity, and soil conditions—without being present on-site. The grower can adjust conditions remotely and program automated routines to maximize efficiency and predictability in agricultural activities.
Smart systems take advantage of the small-scale farm’s inherent advantages: its smallness and self-contained nature. The small-scale farm is by design a manageable space, and growers who implement ag-tech solutions to manage the land can drive dramatically enhanced results.
There is a trend to break away from industrial agriculture. Consumers have grown skeptical of the factory farm, with its weighty environmental impacts and commoditization of the agricultural process. There is a call for something more authentic, something simpler and closer to home.
Growers who tap into that trend can find a valuable niche among consumers. By going small and using technology to maximize profitability, savvy growers can establish a unique position for themselves in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Meet The Indoor AgTech Advisory Board
On June 20-21, Brooklyn will host the inaugural Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit, presenting new opportunities for investment and collaboration in the fast-growing fields of vertical and indoor farming.
Meet The Indoor AgTech Advisory Board
On June 20-21, Brooklyn will host the inaugural Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit, presenting new opportunities for investment and collaboration in the fast-growing fields of vertical and indoor farming.
Created with an Advisory Board of industry leaders, the program will explore the commercial strategies, business models and partnerships needed to scale this emerging industry, and showcase the latest innovations in automation, lighting, environmental control, and plant science.
MEET THE ADVISORY BOARD
The summit will bring together a unique mix of operators, food producers, technology developers, plant scientists, retailers, financiers and city planners to share best practice in building sustainable, profitable and healthy food systems.
TAKE A LOOK AT THE AGENDA
There are lots of opportunities to get involved in the debate. If you have a great story to tell, a game-changing solution to showcase, or would like to share your expertise on one of our panels, please call us on +44 1273 789989 or email Senior Conference Producer, Abigail Ryder for more information.
Best wishes,
Jennie Moss
Founder & MD, Rethink Events
jennie.moss@rethinkevents.com
The Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit will be held June 20-21 in the contemporary venue of New Lab in Brooklyn, New York. The event runs immediately after the Future Food-Tech Summit on June 19-20 at the same venue, offering delegates the opportunity to attend both summits with a joint pass.
Hosted by:
Organizers of:
Copyright © 2018 Rethink Events, All rights reserve
LAST DAY To Bid - Online Auction to Offer Surplus Growing Equipment
Last Day To Bid - Online Auction to Offer Surplus Growing Equipment
Green Sense Farms is transforming its Portage, Indiana farm into a state-of-the-art research and development center to advance its indoor vertical growing systems and test new cultivars.
It will test LED horticultural lighting, HVAC systems, automation controls and sensing devices, along with modern conveyance and packaging automation equipment, announced Robert Colangelo, CEO and Founding Farmer of Green Sense Farms.
“We continue to discover so many opportunities to pioneer new techniques in vertical farming. We’re committed to pushing the envelope to learn how best to efficiently grow nutritious food in an energy-efficient and sustainable manner,” he said.
Green Sense Farms will sell surplus growing equipment, including 3,300 Phillips LED horticultural grow lights, HVAC equipment, grow tubs and water purification equipment through an online auction which ends March 28th at 10; 00 am CST.
For details and to register for the auction, managed by Auction Consultants, Inc., Click Here
How Urban Farmers Are learning To Grow Food Without Soil Or Natural Light
How Urban Farmers Are learning To Grow Food Without Soil Or Natural Light
February 13, 2018
Mandy Zammit/Grow Up, Author provided
Author
- Silvio Caputo
Senior Lecturer, University of Portsmouth
Disclosure statement
Silvio Caputo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Partners
University of Portsmouth provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.
Growing food in cities became popular in Europe and North America during and immediately after World War II. Urban farming provided citizens with food, at a time when resources were desperately scarce. In the decades that followed, parcels of land which had been given over to allotments and city farms were gradually taken up for urban development. But recently, there has been a renewed interest in urban farming – albeit for very different reasons than before.
As part of a recent research project investigating how urban farming is evolving across Europe, I found that in countries where growing food was embedded in the national culture, many people have started new food production projects. There was less uptake in countries such as Greece and Slovenia, where there was no tradition of urban farming. Yet a few community projects had recently been started in those places too.
Today’s urban farmers don’t just grow food to eat; they also see urban agriculture as a way of increasing the diversity of plants and animals in the city, bringing people from different backgrounds and age groups together, improving mental and physical health and regenerating derelict neighbourhoods.
Many new urban farming projects still struggle to find suitable green spaces. But people are finding inventive solutions; growing food in skips or on rooftops, on sites that are only temporarily free, or on raised beds in abandoned industrial yards. Growers are even using technologies such as hydroponics, aquaculture and aquaponics to make the most of unoccupied spaces.
Something fishy
Hydroponic systems were engineered as a highly space and resource efficient form of farming. Today, they represent a considerable source of industrially grown produce; one estimate suggests that, in 2016, the hydroponic vegetable market was worth about US$6.9 billion worldwide.
Hydroponics enable people to grow food without soil and natural light, using blocks of porous material where the plants’ roots grow, and artificial lighting such as low-energy LED. A study on lettuce production found that although hydroponic crops require significantly more energy than conventionally grown food, they also use less water and have considerably higher yields.
Growing hydroponic crops usually requires sophisticated technology, specialist skills and expensive equipment. But simplified versions can be affordable and easy to use.
They grow up so fast. Mandy Zammit/Grow Up, Author provided
Hemmaodlat is an organisation based in Malmö, in a neighbourhood primarily occupied by low-income groups and immigrants. The area is densely built, and there’s no green space available to grow food locally. Plus, the Swedish summer is short and not always ideal for growing crops. Instead, the organisation aims to promote hydroponic systems among local communities, as a way to grow fresh food using low-cost equipment.
The Bristol Fish Project is a community-supported aquaponics farm, which breeds fish and uses the organic waste they produce to fertilise plants grown hydroponically. GrowUp is another aquaponics venture located in an East London warehouse – they grow food and farm fish using only artificial light. Similarly, Growing Underground is an enterprise that produces crops in tunnels, which were originally built as air raid shelters during World War II in London.
The next big thing?
The potential to grow food in small spaces, under any environmental conditions, are certainly big advantages in an urban context. But these technologies also mean that the time spent outdoors, weathering the natural cycles of the seasons, is lost. Also, hydroponic systems require nutrients that are often synthesised chemically – although organic nutrients are now becoming available. Many urban farmers grow their food following organic principles, partly because the excessive use of chemical fertilisers is damaging soil fertilityand polluting groundwater.
To see whether these drawbacks would put urban growers off using hydroponic systems, my colleagues and I conducted a pilot study in Portsmouth. We installed small hydroponic units in two local community gardens, and interviewed volunteers and visitors to the gardens. Many of the people we spoke to were well informed about hydroponic technology, and knew that some of the vegetables sold in supermarkets today are produced with this system.
A simplified hydroponic frame in Portsmouth. Silvio Caputo/University of Portsmouth, Author provided
Many were fascinated by the idea of growing food without soil within their community projects, but at the same time reluctant to consume the produce because of the chemical nutrients used. A few interviewees were also uncomfortable with the idea that the food was not grown naturally. We intend to repeat this experiment in the near future, to see how public opinion changes over time.
And while we don’t think hydroponic systems can replace the enjoyment that growing food in soil can offer, they can save water and produce safe food, either indoors or outdoors, in a world with increasingly scarce resources. Learning to use these new technologies, and integrating them into existing projects, can only help to grow even more sustainable food.
As with many technological advancements, it could be that a period of slow acceptance will be followed by rapid, widespread uptake. Perhaps the fact that IKEA is selling portable hydroponic units, while hydroponic cabinets are on the market as components of kitchen systems, is a sign that this technology is primed to enter mainstream use.
GrowLife, Inc. Launches Line of Eco-Friendly Products to Meet Growing Demand for Sustainability in Indoor Cultivation Practices
GrowLife, Inc. Launches Line of Eco-Friendly Products to Meet Growing Demand for Sustainability in Indoor Cultivation Practices
March 14, 2018
KIRKLAND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GrowLife, Inc. (PHOT) (“GrowLife” or the “Company”), one of the nation’s most recognized indoor cultivation product and service providers, today announced the launch of a new line of sustainable eco-friendly products for the indoor cultivation market. These new products will allow GrowLife’s customers to play a role in providing a greener economic footprint compared to traditional indoor cultivation methods while remaining efficient on output and profitability.
The new product line was strategically curated by the Company’s expert growing consultancy team to offer products that are not only high quality and affordable, but also offer significantly decreased environmental impacts compared to traditional products.
The product line, which features products from all categories of indoor growing, includes items such as lighting, nutrients and growing mediums, climate control devices, and overall plant care products. The Company saw an unmet need in the indoor cultivation market, which faces consistent criticism for its environmental footprint, for high-quality, sustainable products that yield similar output results as traditional products. The Company understands the demand for these types of products will continue to increase as end consumers’ demand for green practices increases following national trends toward sustainability.
“GrowLife is committed to offering its customers innovative technologies and products that help them to achieve maximum efficiency and profitability while satisfying their end consumers,” said GrowLife CEO Marco Hegyi. “The launch of this product line assists in that commitment by offering a sustainable solution with all of the efficient production benefits our customers expect. These green products will enable our customers to make the important shift to more sustainable indoor growing practices that will garner more trust from their customers while preparing them for any further regulatory and social obligation placed on this industry with respect to sustainability.”
In addition to the product line, the Company will offer eco-friendly growing tips and resources to its customers through its renowned support and education platform. For more information on the GrowLife ECO line or to purchase products, please visit Shopgrowlife.com/ECO.
For more information about GrowLife Inc., please visit the company’s website.
About GrowLife, Inc.
GrowLife, Inc. (PHOT) aims to become the nation’s largest cultivation service provider for cultivating organics, herbs and greens and plant-based medicines. Our mission is to help make our customers successful. Through a network of local representatives covering the United States and Canada, regional centers and its e-Commerce team, GrowLife provides essential goods and services including media, industry-leading hydroponics and soil, plant nutrients, and thousands more products to specialty grow operations. GrowLife is headquartered in Kirkland, Washington and was founded in 2012.
Contacts
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Future Of Farming: Bowery Takes Urban Agriculture To New Heights
Future Of Farming: Bowery Takes Urban Agriculture To New Heights
March 16, 2018
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The future of local farming is here and it probably doesn’t look like anything you’ve ever seen before.
As CBS2’s Jessica Moore reported, this urban agriculture doesn’t involve soil, sunlight or rolling acres of land.
Inside the high-tech Bowery Farming greenhouse in Kearny, New Jersey, farm-to-table takes on a whole new meaning.
“First of all, we’re able to grow 365 days a year, totally independent of weather and seasonality. So these crops are growing no matter the season,” Co-Founder and CEO Irving Fain told Moore. “I became obsessed with this question of, how do you provide fresh food to urban environments? And how do you do that in a more efficient and sustainable way?”
The answer for the techie-turned-farming pioneer was to build vertical farms in the skyscraper-saturated land near big cities that aren’t threatened by rain, snow or drought.
Fain co-developed a software that anticipates and provides a plant’s every need.
“They have the perfect environment, the perfect nutrient profile for the certain stage of the plant and the different type of crop. So in many ways, it’s emulating the absolute perfect environment at any moment for a plant all the time,” he said.
Lush, leafy greens and herbs grow without pesticides with the help of robotics, under LED lights that mimic the exact spectrum of sunlight crops would get outside on a good day. But where’s the soil?
“The plants actually have their roots dangling down and they dangle not only into the water but water that’s filled with all the nutrients that the plants actually need,” said Fain.
Bowery Farming is located eight miles from New York City, which he says speeds up the time from harvest to purchase to one day, versus the typical transit time of two to three weeks.
Because of its vertical orientation, Fain says they can produce 100 times more greens than a traditional outdoor farm occupying the same footprint.
Right now, Bowery Farming only produce leafy greens and herbs, but Fain says the company is hoping to broaden its product line to include a variety of produce.
Filed Under:Bowery Farming, Jessica Moore, Kearny, Local TV, New Jersey
Vertical Farms Have Nailed Leafy Greens. Next Up: Tasty Peaches
Vertical Farms Have Nailed Leafy Greens. Next Up: Tasty Peaches
San Francisco-based Plenty already supplies produce for Google's kitchens. Now it's on a mission to expand what hydroponic farms can grow
bulentozber/iStock
By DAVID BAKER
19 March 2018
Of the many crops that Matt Barnard has developed, he has a particular fondness for his kale. "If you think about what most people imagine when then they think of kale, think again," he says. "It's nothing like the tough, bitter leaf we're used to. It's sweet and velvety. People say we should find another name for it."
Barnard is CEO of Plenty, the agtech startup he founded in 2014 after a career in tech and finance. The San Francisco-based firm grows crops, not in fields or polytunnels but indoors on six-meter-high vertical poles. Their roots are fed by a slow trickle of nutrient-rich water. There's no soil and no pesticides (there are no pests). And there's no sunlight is provided by LEDs.
The idea is that indoor farms like this can be built close to population centers, cutting the length of the supply-chain and leaving farmers to concentrate on growing crops for flavor rather than durability. City-centre hydroponic farms aren't a new idea – but Plenty is making progress on that toughest of nuts: tasty peaches.
"Right now," says Barnard, "produce often has to travel 3,000 miles from the farm to consumer, which is why so many farms grow iceberg lettuce, which tastes of nothing. Our salads are spicy and citrusy and sweet at the same time. People are amazed they can eat it without salad dressing."
As well as kale and that dressing-optional salad, Plenty currently supplies strawberries, carrots, tomatoes and watermelon to a number of local retailers (and the Google kitchens) from a single farm in San Francisco. But it is trialing about 400 crop varieties at its test center in Wyoming and has plans, Barnard says, to expand the range "quarter by quarter".
"We can pretty much grow everything," he says. "The problem is cost. Anyone can buy some shelves, some lights, irrigation. The challenge is to get your produce down from $40 per pound to $1. At the moment, for example, we have an expensive peach".
His strategy for reducing costs (and improving taste) is to add data and machine learning to the traditional hydroponic mix. Throughout the farm, arrays of infrared sensors monitor how the crops are growing and feed that information back into algorithms that adjust light, heat and water flow accordingly.
"The best-tasting crops are finicky," he says. "They need one thing on day one and something else on day seven." The result is a closed system that controls itself, though the crops are, so far, picked by humans. "We couldn't have done this, say, ten years ago. But now we are having what I like to all a 'Google moment'. Just like Google benefited from the simultaneous combination of improved technology, better algorithms and masses of data, we are seeing the same."
Plenty says its technology can achieve yields up to 350 times greater than open fields, using just one percent of the water. (There has been no external verification of this and the company won't disclose details of its technology or processes.) And, by growing plants vertically, its farms will take up far less land than traditional agriculture.
But perhaps the biggest efficiency comes from that fact that indoor farms can be located on the doorstep of the markets they serve. "Today, with field-grown produce, 30 to 45 percent of the final value at shelf is attributable to trucks and warehouses," he says. By cutting this journey to almost zero, Barnard says he can reduce retail prices and increase product shelf-life as produce goes straight from the farm to shop.
"I grew up on a farm with a family that had a constrained weekly grocery budget," he says. "You can't afford to throw your money away and that means buying fewer or no fresh fruits and vegetables from the store [because they perish too quickly]. We believe we will enable more people to introduce fresh fruits and vegetables into their diets."
Plenty is not alone in the indoor-farming sector. There a dozens of similar companies, including London-based Growing Underground and Aerofarms in the US, that use LEDs instead of sunlight and produce fresh greens indoors. And there have been casualties. Atlanta's PodPonics, LocalGarden in Vancouver and Chicago-based FarmedHere, all of which began with a similar vision to Plenty's, have closed down, unable to make the businesses viable.
But what marks Plenty out is its ambition and its backing. It has so far raised $236 million in venture capital funding, including, last July, $200m in a round led by SoftBank's Vision Fund, and which included funds investing on behalf of Eric Schmidt (formerly of Alphabet) and Amazon's Jeff Bezos.
And it is using the cash to expand. This year, it will open its first full-scale farm on a 9,000 square-meter site just south of Seattle and it has plans to move into China where Barnard sees a big market for produce that is fresh and safe.
"In China, the pesticide load is two times that of the rest of the world," he says, "so many consumers don't have the opportunity to eat fresh produce. They have to boil their veggies to feel safe eating them."
Softbank's interest in Plenty - the company is known for picking what it sees as startups that may develop a monopoly - has resulted in some hyperbole, with talk of "revolutionizing" agriculture. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, food production across the world will need to increase by 70 percent by 2050 to feed a global population of 9.1bn. And Masayoshi Son, SoftBank's chairman and CEO, has said he believes Plenty will "remake the current food system".
But others are not so sure
"It's a useful sideline but it's not going to solve world hunger," says Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University in London. "I can show you books from the 1950s where people were saying that the future of food is hydroponics but it hasn't happened. It's simply very expensive to run."
Barnard is, publicly at least, more modest about Plenty's ambition. But he rejects that suggestion that he's simply in the "hipster salad" business, producing premium products for wealthy customers.
"Our goal is to fit perishable produce into as many people's budgets as possible," he says. "Year after year, more and more fresh fruit and vegetable production will be localized. More people will be able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables than ever before. And those people will be amazed at how great those fruits and vegetables taste."
There's New Life At The Former Buffalo China Factory
There's New Life At The Former Buffalo China Factory
By Maura Christie | March 17, 2018
In 2003, Buffalo China was shut down abruptly because of competition overseas. A couple years after, Kevin Callahan, Managing Partner of Hayes Place Management Group, purchased the former factory with a vision to restore it to what it once was.
"It was hard walking around because peoples' lives were here and I was the only one in here. And it was eerie, you know there were generations of people that had worked here and it just stopped in an instant," he said. "I'd like to see people use it and be here, it's exciting to see hundred or a thousand people here on an individual day using the building. It's been here since 1903 and I'd like to bring as much life back to it as possible."
The 285,000 square foot building is already being used by five local companies, including Callahan's company, 716 China, which sells off the 350,000 plates that was left behind. Some products are original while others are printed with a special roaming buffalo design.
In addition, there's also Buffalo Curling Club, a cryptocurrency mine, hydroponics farming and a women operated distillery. Some of the businesses even teaming up with their products. Yoga Pants Distillery using the wheatgrass grown on site from Growtech to make their vodka.
"The distillery was really a result of growing microgreens and the wheatgrass in the containers outside. And you know, what're you gonna do with this product. And we were going to do either one of two things we were gonna make doggie biscuits or we were gonna make booze," Callahan said.
He said people in the area are excited to have something exciting happening near them.
"This side of town doesn't get a lot of attention for the development so yeah they're super excited especially a lot of former employees and people that grew up with their parents or grandparents working here, they come in and they go to the curling club or come into the store, and it just brings back a lot of memories for people."
Green Sense Farms To Convert Portage Farm To R&D
Green Sense Farms To Convert Portage Farm To R&D
Green Sense Farms is transforming its Portage, Indiana farm into a state-of-the art research and development center to advance its indoor vertical growing systems and test new cultivars. It will test LED horticultural lighting, HVAC systems, automation controls and sensing devices, along with modern conveyance and packaging automation equipment, announced Robert Colangelo, CEO and Founding Farmer of Green Sense Farms. “We continue to discover so many opportunities to pioneer new techniques in vertical farming. We’re committed to pushing the envelope to learn how best to efficiently grow nutritious food in an energy-efficient and sustainable manner,” he said.
The R&D center will also be dedicated to testing new cultivars for vegetable production, and to test what botanicals can be grown indoors for nutraceuticals, and medical/biopharmaceutical production.
In addition to the R&D Center in Portage, Green Sense Farms has several new farms in development worldwide, including a working commercial farm and training center in South Bend, Indiana where students will earn while they learn; and a commercial production farm in Las Vegas dedicated to providing fresh greens to the Las Vegas Strip.
Green Sense Farms also licenses its technology and builds farms for operating partners abroad, including farms in China and an upcoming project in the South Pacific.
“It’s exciting to be leading the way in a new industry. Our facility in the Midwest is an ideal spot to test emerging technologies for cold weather climates and farms in Las Vegas and the South Pacific allow us to perfect our climate control systems to cost-effectively grow both in arid and humid climates. With our extensive network of industry and academic contacts, we can continue to advance the industry.
As long as there’s a need for locally grown, nutritious and sustainable food sources, Green Sense Farms will continue to innovate to be a market leader,” said Colangelo.
Green Sense Farms’ innovative indoor, vertical growing system means their farms can grow 365 days per year, creating perfect growing conditions, without using pesticides, or GMO seeds. Popular Science recently named Green Sense Farms to its list of the year’s 100 Greatest Inventions for the farm’s innovative sustainable farming.
For more information about Green Sense Farms, visit greensensefarms.com or contact Robert Colangelo at robert@greensensefarms.com.
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