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New Raft For Hydroponic Crops Such As Basil
"They are designed to optimize processes, logistics, maintenance, cleaning operations and, most of all, to increase productivity per square meter."
Rosa Plast has introduced a new raft to grow basil hydroponically. Developed in collaboration with Cammelli, the companies claim that the productivity increases by 25%. "They are designed to optimize processes, logistics, maintenance, cleaning operations and, most of all, to increase productivity per square meter."
Using the panel leads to a 25% increase in productivity, 10% less time used for harvesting, a 15% drop in transplant time and a 30% drop in cleaning time. Its long-lastingness was assessed at +400%."
"Thanks to our lengthy experience and our collaboration with Cammelli, we developed a panel for the cultivation of basil. The great performances were confirmed by both agronomists and producers," explains plant manager Attilio Cattaruzza.
"In addition, no sanitation is required and the material used is entirely recyclable. The panel was designed to be used with an automated system and can be stacked."
Rosa Plast was set up in the 1960s and specializes in the construction of plastic component molds and equipment for the processing of plastic materials. A few years ago, it also started focusing on the indoor forming sector, with particular attention to designing rafts for soil-less hydroponic crops.
"Our recent experiences and the collaboration with expert producers of highly-automated systems meant we could develop a few products for hydroponic crops. We registered two patents for salad and basil rafts."
Contacts:
Rosa Plast Srl
Z.I. Nord- Via Valcellina 1,
33097 Spilimbergo (PN) Italy
Tel.: (+39) 0427 595311
E-mail: attilio.cattaruzza@rosagroup.com
Website: www.rosagroup.com
Publication date: 7/1/2019
© HortiDaily.com
Want Chemical-Free Vegetables? Vertical Farming Might Be The Answer
These vertical farming towers developed by the Telangana State Centre of Excellence may be the answer to the increasing demand for chemical-free leafy green vegetables
JULY 01, 2019
The Telangana State Centre of Excellence (TSCoE) in Jeedimetla feels like an oasis, in contrast to the barren highway that leads to the area and the humble residential colony in its vicinity. The 10.35-acre facility managed by the department of horticulture is a hub of experiments for cultivation of vegetables and flowers.
In one of the poly houses covered by a UV-stabilising film, more than 800 PVC pipes have been converted into vertical farming towers. Each of these pipes have been filled with a mix of coco peat, red soil, neem cake, vermicompost and micronutrients that help plant growth. Each pipe has more than 20 slots from which small branch-like extensions emanate, it is in these that green leafy vegetables are grown.
The CoE designed and tested such prototypes in December 2018, approved by the department of horticulture authorities and a technical committee of agriculture experts; it has so far grown coriander, amaranthus, bacchali (Malabar spinach) and palak (spinach). At the moment, the 800-plus towers grow spinach, some of them ready to harvest.
A retail counter near the entrance of the premises sells fresh greens and vegetables grown at the centre and it’s a big hit with the neighbourhood. Palak is sold at ₹40 per kg, double the price of wholesale market, but there are many takers since these greens are free of chemical pesticides. There have been days when the centre sold 400 to 600 bunches of leafy greens.
Around the world
Singapore: The vertical urban farm called Sky Greens, located in Lim Chu Kang, harvests 500kg of green leafy produce every day. According to a Straits Times report, the yield in this farm is 10 times that of traditional farms, as it uses tiered metal towers up to nine metres tall. The rotation of these towers in glass buildings allows all the plants to get uniform sunlight.
San Francisco: Tigris, a hydroponic vertical farm in San Francisco, is a futuristic project focusing on growing leafy greens. The new farm reportedly can grow one million plants at a given time.
While vertical ornamental gardens add aesthetics to premises, vertical farming is more utilitarian. CoE intends to encourage residential colonies in urban areas and farmers at the district and zilla parishad levels to grow more greens using vertical farming.
The CoE feels that having several small crop colonies in urban pockets and rural areas might help meet some of the growing demand for vegetables in the state. Leafy greens, tomatoes, brinjals, chillies and okra, for instance, can be cultivated in balconies and terrace gardens to meet individual home needs.
In addition, enterprising farmers in both urban and rural areas can do vertical farming to grow greens that meet the needs of their neighbourhoods, believes the CoE. “Green vegetables are the need of the hour. They perish easily and don’t withstand long-distance transport. A lot of greens available in the market are also laced with chemical pesticides. There’s an increasing awareness today about safe food. Growing your own greens will ensure safe food and reduce food miles,” says K Latha, assistant director of horticulture, CoE.
Traditional farmers can use vertical farming towers to step up the yield. “In flat-surface farms, it’s tough to harvest green leaves during monsoon. Leafy vegetables can be harvested every 25 to 30 days, so ideally you can aim for 12 harvests a year. In flat cultivation farmers only manage eight or nine harvests. Using these towers and a poly film roof, greens can be grown all round the year,” she says.
K Latha, additional director of horticulture, COE, with agriculture engineering students at the vertical farming polyhouse | Photo Credit: K V S Giri
The coco peat and nutrient mixture in these towers can be replenished after three or four harvests to get quality produce. To counter weeding, the CoE uses a weeding mat on the ground. Small outflow pipes from each of the towers drain excess water.
To make vertical farming economical, the CoE uses non-ISI mark PVC pipes that cost ₹400 to 500 each, as opposed to ISI-certified ones that cost around ₹5000. However, the non-ISI pipes stand the risk of damage when exposed to prolonged heat. The UV-stabilising poly film roof counters this problem.
Latha points out that there are several smart vertical farming methods worldwide, including those that use hydroponics and aeroponics. “There are various designs of vertical farming towers too, across the world. The indigenous technology we developed is one of the methods,” she says, signing off.
Planet Healers celebrates eco-conscious initiatives. If you know an eco warrrior, write in to hydmetroplus@thehindu.co.in
Barbados: Teachers' Training College Opens Aquaponics Farm to Staff and Students
The Erdiston Teachers’ Training College is on its way to becoming a green campus. After three months of construction, the institution officially opened its aquaponics farm to the staff and students.
The farm which is being facilitated by the school’s Climate-Smart Aquaponics for a Sustainable Future project, attempts to integrate the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) into the primary school science classrooms. The project was planned by a group of third-year University of the West Indies, Bachelors in Education students.
“There are some deficiencies as it relates to the application of STEM [in the schools]. This Climate-Smart Aquaponics initiative bridges the gap. It allows persons to have a sense of how to go about teaching STEM, particularly at the primary level in Barbados,” said aquaponics consultant and project facilitator Rozanne Walrond.
The College science lecturer revealed the facility accommodates 460 plants and small-scale fish farming. It will be chiefly utilised by Erdiston Teachers’ Training College students but will also be open to primary and secondary school students for use. Walrond insists that exposure to aquaponics from an early age would educate students on the importance of sustainable and renewable energies.
“One of the benefits of aquaponics is that… where there is a deficiency in arable land and you have a system of this nature, the opportunities are endless in how much you can actually reap,” she continued.
Walrond disclosed that the opening of the aquaponics farm was the first phase of the college’s plan to become fully sustainable and promote renewable energy. The facility will be using recycled water and will be sustained by solar energy, thanks to the support of Williams Solar which has donated photovoltaic panels.
“We want to become iconic in terms of having this college be promoted as a smart and sustainable institution,” commented Walrond.
US (WV): Good Hot, Dry Weather Helpful in Aquaponics Facility's Construction
The recent hot, dry summer weather has been good as the project moves forward.
Construction work is underway on the aquaponics facility which will be located at Kermit. The recent hot, dry summer weather has been good as the project moves forward. The facility is located on the old Burning Creek Mine property inside the Kermit City limits.
Leasha Johnson, executive director for the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority, said, "With the delivery of the greenhouse expected in early July, we're getting more and more excited about the completion of the aquaponics project. Barring any unforeseen delays, we expect the facility to be completed by late August or early September."
"Sprouting Farms, our operating partner, is starting to put together job descriptions. Together with Sprouting Farms, we've engaged a marketing consultant to create a brand identity, logo and core messaging for the facility in order to expand the market that it will serve and to establish the facility's role in the community. We've gotten excellent cooperation and assistance from Mayor (Charles) Sparks and the Town of Kermit, and we're looking forward to the start of an innovative economic development and agriculture project in their community," Johnson added.
The multi-million-dollar project is to be developed on abandoned mine land just in northern Mingo County. When completed it is initially projected to employ about 12 people. The project was originally announced in 2016. It is part of the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Pilot Program and the W.Va. DEP.
When operational, the aquaponics facility and training center will provide 150 kilowatts of solar power, provide healthy and fresh food for local and regional consumers, and represent a model that can be implemented in other coalfield communities, according to Johnson.
Source: Williamson Daily News (Kyle Lovern)
Publication date: 7/1/2019
Ag Foundation Funds Groundbreaking Indoor Farming Research
April 08 , 2019
The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) is pushing the boundaries of traditional agriculture with a new public-private partnership that will develop crops specifically suited for indoor environments.
To achieve this, the Precision Indoor Plants (PIP) Consortium is studying the environmental and genetic factors that help agriculture thrive indoors, says FFAR’s executive director Sally Rockey.
According to Rockey, this research will provide unique insight for the industry as most other studies on this type of farming focus on design elements for indoor systems, such as vertical productions facilities and lighting, rather than the plants themselves.
The PIP collaborative has joined together world-class indoor growers, breeders, genetics companies, and agricultural equipment leaders, including AeroFarms, BASF, and Benson Hill Biosystems, among others. These participants are pooling resources to fund research on the best means to present nutritious, flavorful crops that can grow anywhere, year-round, profitably.
Specifically, PIP says its research will explore how to improve nutrient content and yields, decrease the amount of energy needed for production, and help crops perform their best in indoor conditions.
So far, FFAR has committed to investing US$7.5 million in PIP, and with matching funds from participants, the consortium will grant a minimum of US$15 million to its studies.
This move is just part of the growing trend of indoor agriculture, also called controlled environmental agriculture (CEA).
The “booming” interest in this type of agriculture has been attributed to the new needs of our growing world. The challenge of feeding a rapidly rising global population in a sustainable way has influenced researchers to examine innovative food production approaches, says PR Newswire.
Producing crops indoors could also be a solution for challenges arising from a changing climate, adds the company.
Today, lettuce and other leafy greens have successfully become profitable CEA, while PIP’s research seeks to expand this to include a variety of other crops, such as herbs, tomatoes, strawberries and blueberries.
Initial PIP projects will focus on increasing nutritional content and changing the size and shape of the plant.
“This research has implications for a wide variety of agricultural environments, including outdoor agriculture and space,” the entity said.
“For farmers planning outdoors, PIP’s research has the potential to reduce strain on the environment, make crops more resilient to stresses, bolster food and nutritional security and shorten the supply chain for producers.
“The research is also useful for government agencies and corporations interested in growing food in space for long-term space exploration.”
Precision Indoor Plants (PIP) Consortium to Revolutionize Agriculture
Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) is launching the Precision Indoor Plants (PIP) Consortium, a public-private partnership that transcends the bounds of traditional agriculture to develop flavorful, nutritious crops specially intended for indoor agriculture
First-of-its-Kind Consortium Develops Crops Intended for Indoor Agriculture
WASHINGTON (April 3, 2019) – The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) is launching the Precision Indoor Plants (PIP) Consortium, a public-private partnership that transcends the bounds of traditional agriculture to develop flavorful, nutritious crops specially intended for indoor agriculture.
Sustainably feeding a growing global population requires researchers to examine innovative food production approaches. One approach gaining traction is controlled environment agriculture (CEA), also known as indoor agriculture. Worldwide, interest in indoor agriculture is booming. Yet, CEA research largely focuses on design elements for the indoor systems, such as vertical productions facilities and lighting, not the plants themselves.
“The majority of the crops grown indoors have been developed over thousands of years for outdoor production,” said Sally Rockey, FFAR’s executive director. “While understanding the indoor system’s design elements is important, PIP seeks to understand which environmental and genetic factors help crops thrive indoors.”
The PIP collaborative convenes a diverse array of participants representing aspects of the indoor agriculture industry. The collaborative pools resources to fund joint research that produces nutritious, flavorful crops that can grow anywhere, year-round, profitably. PIP’s research will explore increasing nutrient content and yields, growing crops with less energy and understanding how crops perform best in CEAs.
“Do you remember the taste of tomatoes from your childhood? If you’re like me, every summer you complain that commercial tomatoes today are not the same. Commercial tomatoes are abundant, shelf-stable and disease resistance – but not perceived as tasty as they once were,” noted John Reich, FFAR Scientific Program Director. “However, PIP’s research could produce a tomato plant that grows quickly indoors, tastes great and is highly nutritious. This plant would require less energy to grow indoors, potentially increasing affordability, and could be grown anywhere regardless of environmental constraints.”
With a growing population, shifts in consumer demand for healthier, tastier food and challenges arising from a changing climate, producing crops indoors can mitigate these challenges and meet demand. CEA is successfully growing lettuce and other leafy greens profitably. PIP’s research seeks to make CEA an option for growing a variety of crops, including leafy greens and herbs, tomatoes, strawberries and blueberries. Initial PIP projects will focus on improving nutritional content and changing the size and shape of the plant.
This research has implications for a wide variety of agricultural environments, including outdoor agriculture and space. For farmers planning outdoors, PIP’s research has the potential to reduce strain on the environment, make crops more resilient to stresses, bolster food and nutritional security and shorten the supply chain for producers. The research is also useful for government agencies and corporations interested in growing food in space for long-term space exploration.
FFAR is investing $7.5 million in PIP, and with matching funds from participants, the consortium will invest a minimum of $15 million to develop flavorful, nutritious crops for indoor agriculture. PIP’s participants represent world-class indoor growers, breeders, genetics companies and agricultural equipment leaders, including AeroFarms, BASF, Benson Hill Biosystems, Fluence Bioengineering, Intrexon, Japan Plant Factory Association and Priva.
About the Precision Indoor Plants Consortium
Precision Indoor Plants (PIP) is a public-private partnership created by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) to produce new flavorful, nutritious crops specially intended for indoor agriculture. By focusing on innovative science and technology, the consortium’s research efforts will increase our ability to produce crops that are high-value, of consistent quality, and desired by consumers. Ultimately, PIP can help food producers grow flavorful, nutritious food indoors.
FFAR’s initial $7.5 million investment is matched by the PIP participants for a total investment of $15 million to develop flavorful, nutritious crops for indoor agriculture. PIP’s participants include AeroFarms, BASF, Benson Hill Biosystems, Fluence Bioengineering, Intrexon, Japan Plant Factory Association and Priva.
Fluence Bioengineering - Quote From Dave Cohen, CEO
Fluence is proud to be a founding member of the Precision Indoor Plants Consortium. Our cultivation and engineering teams are aggressively innovating how growers use LED lighting solutions to cultivate nutritious, high-quality produce. PIP is an important initiative to verify research into photobiology for commercial applications and enable more growers to profitably cultivate plants for people that do not normally have access to fresh vegetables, herbs and fruits,” said Dave Cohen, CEO, Fluence Bioengineering.
How To Rank Agtech's Top 50, According to SVG-THRIVE
Several “next-gen” farming operations made the Top 50, including the New Jersey-based vertical farm operation Aerofarms and Bright Farms, an indoor farming company based out of New York.
How To Rank Agtech's Top 50, According to SVG-THRIVE
Jenny Splitter Contributor
Food & Drink I cover the intersections of technology, farming and food.
Farmers work at the Bowery Farming Inc. indoor farm in Kearny, New Jersey, U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018. Photographer: David Williams/Bloomberg© 2018 BLOOMBERG FINANCE LP
The agtech landscape is littered with disruptors, but when “everyone is either disrupting or being disrupted,” as Jill Lepore wrote in a 2014 New Yorker piece entitled “The Disruption Machine,” how can you tell the difference between hype and a company that could bring about real change? “It’s a good question,” says John Hartnett, CEO of agtech investment firm SVG Partners, and it’s one he’s prepared to answer. As part of its THRIVE AgTech platform, SVG has just released its Top 50 Report ranking the best growth stage companies in the industry.
“If I look at the last five years,” says Hartnett, “investment in this whole category has increased 500% plus.” Across all of that investment, Hartnett acknowledges “there’s been quite a bit of hype across the digital side,” but he believes the top 50 have earned their ranking for a reason.
Hartnett offers Farmers Business Network as an example. The online network is kind of a central information hub for farmers, where they can analyze data collected from farm machines and find up-to-date pricing for things like seed and fertilizer. “Farmers Business Network [came] in...out of nowhere and [now] they’re disrupting the biggest companies,” he argues. “I kind of look at that as a real live example of a company making big traction.”
Infographic representing SVG-THRIVE Top 50 Ranking SVG-THRIVE
Robotics companies also made the list, says Hartnett, because the technology could help solve problems like labor shortages or demand for herbicide alternatives. And the technology is being put to the test in the field, which is an important data point for Hartnett. “Somebody like Driscoll’s berries, largest berry company in the world,” he says, is now beginning to use robot fruit pickers combined with artificial intelligence to ensure the berries are being picked when they’re actually ripe.
“There’s [also] a company that came to our accelerator called Farmwise,” says Hartnett, “[who uses] AI in conjunction with robotics automation solutions to be able to identify what’s a weed and what’s a plant to be able to target and get rid of the weed.” Farmwise made THRIVE’s “Ones To Watch” list, a list of contenders that fell just shy of making the Top 50.
Several “next-gen” farming operations made the Top 50, including the New Jersey-based vertical farm operation Aerofarms and Bright Farms, an indoor farming company based out of New York. Though vertical farms were initially met with skepticism by the industry, Hartnett says these days the technology looks far more scalable. “Vertical farming is still a small percentage of the overall pie of farming, but...there’s significant investment going into these companies,” which helped these startups become serious contenders.
Biotech—long a leading category in the overall agtech field—grew even more exponentially over the last year. The category captured 62% of the funding pool, a feat Hartnett suspects was helped along by an activity-driving boost from last year’s mega-mergers between agriculture giants like Bayer and Monsanto as well as DuPont and Corteva. Biotech companies like Indigo Ag and Gingko Bioworks made the Top 50 Report, due in part to this funding boom.
MicroGen Biotech, an Irish biotech company founded by a Chinese scientist with funding from both Chinese and Irish investors, is another company that made the “Ones To Watch” list. Hartnett, who is originally from Ireland, was intrigued by the company when he first came across it a few years ago. “They’re taking an interesting approach to reducing [impact from] metals in the soil [by] using their technology to protect the seed” rather than treat the soil directly.
Brad Goehring, owner and operator of Goehring Vineyards Inc., stands for a photograph at one of his vineyards in Lodi, California, U.S., on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016.Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg© 2017 BLOOMBERG FINANCE LP
“This year’s awardees are developing incredible solutions that enable the agriculture and food industries to respond...to urgent environmental challenges, labor shortages, food security and human health concerns” says Hartnett of the rankings. “Top 50 companies are critical assets to the industry and we are proud to highlight the incredible spectrum of innovation.”
Jenny Splitter Contributor
I’m a food, science and health writer whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Slate, Mental Floss, SELF and the Breakthrough Journal. Since 2015, I’ve been fascinated by the intersection of technology and food, from cutting edge cattle feedlots to new formats like cellular agriculture and lab meat. I especially enjoy writing about genetically engineered crops, food and agriculture policy, and sustainability in agricultural and food technologies. I grew up in Northern California, not too far from the farms of the Salinas Valley “Salad Bowl,” and now live in Washington, D.C. with my husband and two kids. You can find me on Twitter at @jennysplitter.
Living Greens Farm Becomes One of the Largest Indoor Farms in the World
On Feb. 22, Living Greens Farm Will Open Their Third Grow Room In Faribault, Minn.
FARIBAULT, MINN. (PRWEB) FEBRUARY 13, 2019
With the opening of a new grow room, Living Greens Farm, a vertical, indoor aeroponic farm that provides year-round fresh salads, microgreens and herbs, is set to become the largest vertical plane aeroponic farm in the world on February 22, 2019. This brings their farming operation to 60,000 square feet – allowing Living Greens to offer produce that’s better for you and the environment. Unlike most produce, Living Greens Farm never uses pesticides, herbicides or GMOs – delivering the highest standards in food safety. Because Living Greens’ products are fresher, they contain more vitamins and nutrients than conventional produce.
While aeroponics has been around for decades, Living Greens Farm has discovered a way to successfully transition and improve this technology for commercial production. Aeroponics is the practice of suspending a plant’s roots in the air and spraying them with a nutrient-rich solution, instead of burying them in soil. Living Greens Farms’ patented vertical plane design allows one acre to produce the equivalent of hundreds of conventional acres. A high-tech computer system manages the plants growing conditions for variables such as light, temperature, humidity and CO2 to grow year-round produce. Overall, Living Greens Farms’ system uses 200 times less land and 95 percent less water than traditional growing methods. While other vertical aeroponic farms are larger in square footage, Living Greens Farms’ vertical plane design is the first of its kind and is more efficient than other aeroponic growing methods which decreases labor by up to 60 percent.
“Our patented growing technology has changed the game of aeroponics, within one year our new farm will save 24 million gallons of water and several hundred thousand miles of shipping – saving over 35,000 gallons of diesel and nearly a million pounds of CO2 emissions," said Dana Anderson, Chairman and CEO of Living Greens Farm. “With our third grow room, Living Greens Farm will nearly triple its capacity, move into major market segments and position the company for even stronger growth in 2019. The expansion places Living Greens as the world’s largest vertical plane aeroponic farm in the world.”
Living Greens Farm’s new grow room will allow an expansion of their consumer product line into new states including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota by February 2019.
ABOUT LIVING GREENS FARM
Headquartered in Minnesota, Living Greens Farm is the world’s largest vertical plane aeroponic farm. Living Greens Farm produce requires 95 water and 99 percent less land to grow year-round and all products are grown without pesticides or GMOs. Living Greens Farm has a full product line that includes salads, microgreens and herbs available throughout the Midwest. For more information, please visit http://www.livinggreensfarm.com
Modern Farming, A Must To Boost Local Food Supply: UAE minister
Hydroponic farming is cost-efficient and it yields more vegetables and herbs in a shorter time.
Angel Tesorer
February 13, 2019
Combatting climate change also means embracing modern farming practices to diversify food sources and achieve sustainable development in the agricultural sector.
This was given emphasis by Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, in an interview with Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the World Government Summit in Dubai on Tuesday.
Al Zeyoudi said: "We at the ministry have developed a policy for food biodiversity where we encourage a change in the behaviour of our local farmers - towards more resilient agricultural practices - to produce the right crops."
He noted that employing modern technology and tools will bring about a two-pronged result: increased food production and lesser carbon footprint.
Al Zeyoudi cited hydroponic farming as an example of a more sustainable option as it uses around 90 per cent less water than regular farming. It also requires less space for plants and vegetables to grow, making it the best solution to the challenges presented by the UAE's limited arable land.
On the economic side, he noted that hydroponic farming is cost-efficient and it yields more vegetables and herbs in a shorter time. And more importantly, its carbon footprint is minimal as the greens are grown locally.
The UAE imports 85 per cent of its food requirement and some studies show that food importation is set to rise from $100 billion in 2014 to $400 billion in 2025.
Al Zeyoudi said they are urging small-scale farmers to move to commercial agriculture and embrace modern cultivation practices to increase their contributions to the local food supply.
"We are subsidising farm materials, including seeds that can grow in an environment with high temperature, humidity and salinity," he said.
While the technology is available, the minister cautioned farmers against utilising it on their own.
"There are many experts and engineers at the ministry who can provide them with trainings. They should not just use hydroponics or build greenhouses without first understanding them."
Last week, Al Zeyoudi visited several farms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi where he inspected various water and energy-saving technologies, including greenhouses.
"The results are amazing," he said. "Farmers are happier because the technology is tailored-fit to the conditions of the UAE."
Greenhouse Co2 Measurements For Higher Productivity And Higher Quality
We have collected the essential facts for you to take into account when selecting an instrument or searching for the optimal instrument location.
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Tips for transmitter placement in the greenhouse
Fill in the form given in the link below to download the PDF document and learn about greenhouse CO2 measurements to optimize plant growth.
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Plant Factory With Artificial Lighting: Toyoki Kozai's Brilliant Research On An Interesting Practice
According to AgriGarden, 'Plant factory is a highly efficient agriculture system which uses high precision control facilities in the continuous production of crops."
1/9/2019 9:16:19 AM
(MENAFN - GetNews) Dr. Toyoki Kozai's research work is on ' Opportunities and Challenges for Plant Factory with Artificial Lighting (PFAL) (or vertical/indoor farming). Dr Kozai graduated from Chiba University, Japan in 1967. He obtained a Master's degree in 1969, and a PhD degree of Agricultural Engineering in 1972 from the University of Tokyo in 1972. He served as Dean of Faculty of Horticulture and Director of Center for Environment, Health and Field Sciences of Chiba University. He was inaugurated as the President of the prestigious Chiba University in 2005. He resumed his career in research as a professor emeritus in an endowed chair position at the Center for Environment, Health and Field Sciences during 2009-2012. He established Japan Plant Factory Association (non-profit organization) in 2010 together with his colleague, and served as the president until 2018, and is serving as the honorary president to date.
Furthermore, Kozai's academic excellence and his scientific interest can be gauged from the multiple books he has written, namely, 'Smart Plant Factory: The next generation indoor vertical farms (2018), 'LED Lighting for Urban Agriculture (2016), 'Plant Factory: An indoor vertical farm for efficient quality food production (2015), and 'Photoautotrophic (Sugar-free) Micropropagation as a New Micropropagation and Transplant Production System (2005).
His early work on greenhouse light environments, energy savings, ventilation, computer control, knowledge engineering, integrative environment control using a heat pump, fogging and null-balance CO2 enrichment systems, and closed systems with artificial lighting for transplant production in the fields of greenhouse horticulture earned him great recognition in his field.
Kozai has recently been working on 'plant factory with artificial lighting (PFAL) and has been leading the R & D of PFAL. His continuous quest in this field allowed him to dive deeper into this subject. He has been invited as a keynote speaker on the PFAL to more than 20 international symposia during 2015-2018.
According to AgriGarden, 'Plant factory is a highly efficient agriculture system which uses high precision control facilities in the continuous production of crops."
According to Kozai, it is believed that PFAL is expected to contribute to solving the food-environment-resource-health issues concurrently. Kozai has further described the six major components of the PFAL viz., thermally well-insulated, almost closed structure, multi-tier unit with lighting and hydroponic cultivation devices, air conditioners and fans, CO2 supply unit, nutrient solution supply unit and environmental control unit. Furthermore, he has mentioned that relatively large automated PFALs have been built in Japan in the year 2018, and the number of profit-making PFALs has been increasing in Japan since 2016. Besides, there are ongoing large-scale projects in the world hence stressing the fact that this concept is gaining prominence not only in Japan but globally as well.
In addition to the above, Kozai's study throws light on the essential benefits of PFAL as well. First, that PFAL offers a high degree of freedom of environment control and that any environment can be created at minimal costs, thereby making it highly cost-effective. Second, all rates of resource supply, plant production and waste production can be measured and controlled. Then, Resource Use Efficiency (RUE) (amount ratio of resource fixed or kept in plants to the resource supplied to the PFAL) can be estimated online for each resource element including electricity, water, CO2, fertilizer and seeds. This shows the convenience and the hassle-free process.
Currently, compared to the greenhouse, the PFAL can save water consumption for irrigation per kg of produce by 95% by recycling use of transpired water vapor from plants (The transpired water vapor is condensed and collected at the cooling coil of air conditioners and returned to nutrient solution tank). The productivity of leafy lettuce per unit land area is more than 100 times higher in the PFAL than in the open field. Thanks to this high productivity per unit land area, the PFAL can be built in urban areas with non-fertile or contaminated soil, resulting in the reductions of CO2 footprint, loss of produce during transportation, and delivery time of fresh vegetables to citizens.
However amongst all the benefits, there is one issue which still remains unresolved i.e., a methodology to find an optimal set of environmental factors automatically to maximize the CP (or productivity) under given conditions is yet to be developed. To maximize the CP, unit economic value, plant growth rate, percent marketable portion, cost of each resource element, consumption and RUE of each resource element needs to be measured or estimated online, and be integrated to calculate the CP.
Kozai's excellent research suggests how the CP can be more than doubled and the impact and the expected increase this will have on the PFAL market. He has therefore proposed the reduction in cost per kg of produce, an increase in sales per m2 of cultivation space by introducing recent advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence. Currently, costs for electricity, labour and depreciation for the initial investment account for about 20%, 20% and 30%, respectively. The rest (about 20%) is for seeds, fertilizer, water, containers, maintenance, etc.
Further, Kozai has the discussed the idea of next-generation PFAL (n-PFAL) and the associated requirements, scheme for R & D, challenges and opportunities. According to him, n-PFAL needs to create unique environments for plant production to produce high-quality plants with high yields using minimum resources and minimum emission of waste by introducing advanced but inexpensive technologies. He has suggested different technologies, which can be of great use in the same. However, he has submitted some challenges and opportunities, for example, smart LED lighting, phenotyping (plant trait measurement), production management including seed processing and circadian rhythm, efficient use of resources with minimum waste, breeding using DNA markers of plants suited to PFALs, et cetera. He has defined plant phenotyping and has given a detailed account of its usage in n-PFAL. Plant traits include plant architecture, chemical components, physiological status and response, etc.
In the n-PFAL, a huge time-series dataset of plant phenotype (traits), environment and management (human and machine interventions including seed processing) is automatically accumulated in a data warehouse. The data warehouse is connected with a related genome database and other n-PFALs' data warehouse via Internet. This global and local network of n-PFALs each with semi-open database will bring about a paradigm shift of plant/food/agricultural production and breeding of plants suited to PFALs. For example, breeding of plants suited to PFALs can be speeded up using the n-PFAL. Kozai has further recommended four types of models to be implemented in the PFAL: 1) mechanistic models for photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration and growth, and for substance, energy and monetary balance, 2) multi-variate statistic models, 3) behaviour (or surrogate) models, and 4) AI (or deep learning) models.
Kozai's study has won great acclaim amongst the researchers and his brilliant research on PFAL, an upcoming innovation will be of great use not only nationally but internationally as well.
The Investment Company The World Needs
March 9, 2019
Kyle Baldock
Setting a Higher Standard in AgriTech Investment
Neon Bloom is a venture capital firm that focuses on acquiring innovative agriculture and ancillary technology products and services across the globe. With a suite of flagship investments in Holland and one in South Korea, Neon Bloom has made a strong start for a company that only began in January of this year. Of central importance to their investment strategy is a keen understanding of the holistic nature of the industry: they invest in complimentary companies in order to bring various parts of the value chain under a single umbrella. I interviewed Company Director Werner Huisman about this “Seed to Sale,” approach to investing. He told me:
“The big advantage is bringing knowledge together from many different parts of the world. Having the opportunity to bring so many talented individuals under one brand with the same mission and vision empowers each company within the portfolio.”
Read on to learn more about Neon Bloom’s mission to advance the industry for the betterment of mankind.
Getting to know: Neon Bloom
When did Neon Bloom start operating and why is it focused on AgriTech?
WH: Neon Bloom started the operation beginning this year. We are focused on the three pillars of water, power and food. We believe in “the zero hunger” mission and want to be a part of this mission. After learning about the importance of technology to improve sustainability and reduce the cost of goods we realised the importance of innovation to help with “The Zero Hunger” mission.
What technologies and trends are you most interested in for the coming decade?
WH: I believe in technologies based on natural and sustainable solutions. By the year 2050 the world population is expected to grow to 10 Billion people. This is over a 56% increase of food needed compared to 2010. It is going to take innovative technologies and a group effort to meet the demand. Looking at the solutions we bring in from Holland, they are all natural and sustainable.
Within HollandPlug we produce 100% organic substrates based on jute and PLA. This should replace the environmentally-unfriendly stonewool substrates.
Within Holland Pulse Light we are able to extend the expiration date for food by generating an enormous amount of energy through our pulse light technology- the pulse light flash has a power of 1850 Joule. With the electronic magnetic field and the enormous number of photons we are able to generate we are able to flash the food with the light and eliminate bacteria, fungi and viruses with all-natural products. Our machine utilises mainly UV-A which is able to rupture the cell membranes; whereas UV-C light impacts the DNA which changes the texture and taste of the food.
Within Holland2O we sell water machines which are able to produce HOCl water with a very low ppm value! (<30 ppm). This water has a redox value of around 1000 Orp(V) and an pH of 6.6 which is able to remain stable for a long period of time. With this water, we are able to kill all sorts of bacteria, fungi and viruses using only natural substances.
Where in the world are you seeing the most innovation in your three pillars of power, water and food?
WH: In principle, all around the world. In each part of the world there is a shortage of water; in each part of the world they grow fruit and vegetables and in each part of the world there are problems with fungi, viruses and bacteria. We believe that it will take a global effort to help meet the needs of the world over the next several decades.
Which volume are you in the market for- what is a normal project volume?
WH: Depends on which product you are talking about, but talking about % in the substrate market, we think we can take over 30% in 3 years’ time. We also believe our other technologies will have the capabilities to capture a significant amount of the market share. It is important to us that sustainable technologies lead the way in vertical farming.
What does Neon Bloom look for in potential acquisitions/investments?
WH: The requirements are in general as follows:
Product should have a relation to power, water or food;
The product should have a sustainable character;
It should have international potential;
The company must share our core values and vision
Does your company do VC or corporate finance? Debt or equity financing? Does Neon Bloom invest its own money?
WH: Neon Bloom is a VC with a focus on sustainable companies operating in power, water or the food industries. Our firm will provide debt or equity financing depending on our clients need. Yes, Neon Bloom invests its own money and is always searching for innovative companies to help us meet the “Zero Hunger” mission.
What advice would you give to AgTech companies that are looking to attract capital?
WH: You can attract capital from anywhere, so I would advise them to take a substantial amount of time defining their mission and vision statements. If your company’s core values and mission don’t align with an investment partner; then I would recommend finding a better fit. Secondly, see how their network and skill set can help grow your company’s footprint as well as impact in the world.
Why did Neon Bloom choose to become a member of the National Cannabis Industry Association?
WH: We decided to become a member of the National Cannabis Industry Association because of our first-hand experience of seeing the medical benefits the plant provides. This can help veterans dealing with PTSD or individuals with serious diseases. Cannabis is grown naturally and we believe it is a much better medicine than the drugs provided from pharmaceutical companies. It also has had a huge impact on slowing down the opioid crisis.
Why is there no visible investment in any cannabis related tech or producer?
WH: Our substrate technology can be utilised directly when growing cannabis along with our water. Both of these innovative technologies will allow for a product that is free of pesticides. It is the company’s goal to begin working with hemp producers this year. This will help provide food to the world as well as numerous other benefits to other industries.
Why did Neon Bloom join AVF?
WH: We don’t define success based on how much money a company is able to generate. Our firm determines success based on the impact and legacy we can leave on the world. It is crucial for humanity that we begin to implement many of the policies and beliefs of the AVF if we plan on having a sustainable future and to be able to meet the food demand for the ever-growing world population.
Want to find out more?
Visit Neon Bloom on the web: neonbloominc.com
KYLE BALDOCK
Farming On The Roofs of Shopping Malls In Singapore
Agriculture, takes up only about 1% of its land area.
Amidst the luxurious commercial setting of Singapore's Orchard Road, filled with fancy malls, department stores and food courts, there is a farm.
Reuters reports that the 6,450 sq ft Comcrop farm utilises vertical racks and hydroponics to grow leafy greens and herbs such as basil and perppermint, which are sold to nearby bars, restaurants and stores.
Allan Lim set up the rooftop farm five years ago, and recently opened a 4,000-square-metre farm with a greenhouse on the edge of the city.
The goal, in Singapore where land is at a premium, is to tackle food security.
“Agriculture is not seen as a key sector in Singapore. But we import most of our food, so we are very vulnerable to sudden disruptions in supply,” Lim said.
“Land, natural resources and low-cost labor used to be the predominant way that countries achieved food security. But we can use technology to solve any deficiencies,” he said.
In the country where 5.6 million people are densely packed in, land reclamation, moving transport utilities and storage underground, and clearing cemeteries for homes and highways have been undertaken.
Agriculture, takes up only about 1% of its land area.
Last year, Singapore topped the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Food Security Index of 113 countries for the first time, scoring high on affordability, availability and safety.
However, importing more than 90% of its food, food security is susceptible to climate change and natural resource risks.
As climate change makes its impact felt across the world, the scarcity of water, shifting weather, and population growth will require better ways to feed the people.
A study published last year, cited by Reuters notes that urban agriculture currently produces as much as 180 million metric tonnes of food a year - up to 10% of the global output of pulses and vegetables.
From what was once an agrarian economy that produced nearly all of its own food, from pig farms, vegetable gardens and durian orchards and chicken in the kampongs, to government is now pushing to relocate over 60 farms in the countryside by 2021, to reclaim land for the military.
Speaking to the publication, Chelsea Wan, a second-generation farmer who runs Jurong Frog Farm said: “It’s getting tougher because leases are shorter, it’s harder to hire workers, and it’s expensive to invest in new technologies.
“We support the government’s effort to increase productivity through technology, but we feel sidelined,” she said.
Korean Company Starts Building Hydroponic Greens Houses in Northern Tajikistan
The use of the hydroponic system will help increase productivity, according to the Sughd regional administration.
8 January 2019 14:39 (UTC+04:00)
South Korea’s Myung Sung Placon Ltd has begun building hydroponic greenhouses in the northern Sughd province. The hydroponic system has an ancient history and was reportedly used for building of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Trend reports referring to news.tj.
The use of the hydroponic system will help increase productivity, according to the Sughd regional administration.
The building of the hydroponic greenhouses began in the Somgor area of the Bobojon-Ghafourov district on January 7.
An official source at the Sughd regional administration says local “Bars” Company is a contractor and specialists from South Korea are implementing the project.
Sughd authorities have invited Myung Sung Placon Ltd to build greenhouses in the province, taking into account the company’s experience of work in the neighboring Uzbekistan, the source added.
Hydroponic growing is growing a plant without using soil - usually in an inert substance like rockwool or perlite, which hold the roots for easy water and nutrient absorption. Hydroponics systems back several hundred years, and there is evidence that ancient civilizations grew plants in water. Nutrients are vital to hydroponic success: there are sixteen essential elements that a plant needs to grow, and the right balance of these nutrients must be maintained for each specific variety of plants. Equally as important as nutrition are the factors of light, temperature (heating and cooling), and carbon dioxide. Insects play a key role in pollination and pest management.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and were described as a remarkable feat of engineering with an ascending series of tiered gardens containing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and vines, resembling a large green mountain constructed of mud bricks, and said to have been built in the ancient city of Babylon, near present-day Hillah, Babil province, in Iraq. Its name refers to trees being planted on a raised structure such as a terrace.
According to one legend, the Hanging Gardens were built alongside a grand palace known as The Marvel of Mankind, by the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II (who ruled between 605 and 562 BC), for his Median wife Queen Amytis, because she missed the green hills and valleys of her homeland. The construction of the Hanging Gardens has also been attributed to the legendary queen Semiramis, who supposedly ruled Babylon in the 9th century BC, and they have been called the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis as an alternate name.
Edeka and Metro are Joining the Growers
In the farm, seedlings of various plants are being used. They are not growing in soil, but have been dipped in a thin layer of liquid that provides the necessary nutrients.
Vertical farming is a way to put an end to the climate-compromising import of vegetables from all parts of the world. Fruits and vegetables can also be grown in the supermarket, some manufacturers promise. But we are not there yet.
There is a large black box with Plexiglas windows, standing in the middle of the vegetable department of the Edeka market in Oberhausen. This is the "greenhouse of the future," explains Pascal Gerdes. In fact, it is a digitally networked herbal farm in which plants are to grow under optimal conditions.
After a critical appraisal of the plants and a smell test, a customer decides to buy some of the coriander, which she places in her almost empty shopping basket. Price: 1,29 Euro. The Gerdes family is not pleased with the customer's choice. This lady is the first buyer of the plants that are grown in the supermarket.
Only a few weeks ago, the futuristic-looking farm was set up in the store of the Gerdes family. It came from Berlin start-up Infarm, which is one of the major suppliers in the field of vertical farming. Infarm also cooperates with other retailers. The 'farm' is to be tested in the Edeka market for a whole year. If the mint, Greek basil, mountain coriander and the like prove to be worthwhile, the farm may remain there. It is, however, still too early to do away with the entire vegetable counter - that would be relying too much on this nascent technology.
Digital farms in Oberhausen, London and Paris
In the farm, seedlings of various plants are being used. They are not growing in soil, but have been dipped in a thin layer of liquid that provides the necessary nutrients. From above, LED lamps provide continuous lighting. Everything can be individually adjusted so that the optimal climate conditions can be created for every plant. Vertical farming promises efficient and, above all, rapid growth.
"Temperature and light intensity are adjusted completely autonomously," explains Martin Weber from Infarm. "We control the state and the growth of the plants via infrared cameras." An employee from Infarm will go to the Edeka stores to harvest. He or she will set the plants that are ready for sale apart, immediately inserting new ones in their place. Supermarket operators like the Gerdes family do not have to worry about anything. But that should change over time. With more experience, sowing and harvesting can be taken over by the supermarket operators.
Until now, Vertical Farming is limited to herbs, as in the Edeka store in Oberhausen. But one can grow any kind of fruit and vegetables, promises Infarms CFO Weber: "We would like to offer everything, without exception."
This optimism has apparently convinced some retailers: The incubators of Infarm are there at numerous German Edeka markets, including stores in the Swiss supermarket chain Migros and in metro markets - including a metro market in the suburb of Nanterre, Paris. And the internationalization is to go on: "In Paris and Zurich, we have already inaugurated the first farms outside Germany. And in early 2019, London will follow," said Weber. In the USA there is potential for the Berlin start-up as well.
Source: Wiwo.de
Publication date : 1/4/2019
"Cheap Lighting Can Become Really Expensive"
"In situations where lack of access to working capital or financing for startup costs exist, it can be very tempting to make a lighting choice that is less expensive initially, but this almost assuredly is going to end up causing you problems and costing you more money in total down the road"
Indoor growing has seen tremendous growth in the past few years, including the addition of new players, particularly in the vertical growing space. However, according to Agrilyst, glass or poly greenhouses still account for 47% of indoor growing facilities. "Regardless of whether a greenhouse or an indoor vertical farm is the right choice for your grow operation, a critical factor to understand is how the right choice in lighting can help address what may otherwise become hindrances to your long-term growth and profitability", the team with LED lighting company Violet Gro says. The company has developed various grow lights.
"In situations where lack of access to working capital or financing for startup costs exist, it can be very tempting to make a lighting choice that is less expensive initially, but this almost assuredly is going to end up causing you problems and costing you more money in total down the road", the team with Violet Gro says. "Lighting is a critical component of indoor farms and seems to be growing in popularity for supplemental use in greenhouses (since mother nature isn’t as consistent and reliable as the electrical grid), though estimates even just a few years ago said only 15-20% of growers used supplemental lighting."
Many growers have historically turned to high-intensity HPS lighting as their supplemental lighting solution. "While HPS lights may appear less expensive upfront, they require extensive amounts of electricity to operate (up to 1000W each), including a large electrical infrastructure to handle such an amp load", Violet Gro explains their choice for LEDs. "HPS lamps run hot and can raise room temperatures 15-30 degrees (which then has to be managed through large and expensive air conditioning infrastructure). And most of them require pretty regular bulb replacement. All of this downstream cost really needs to be part of the decision making, not just the upfront capital cost."
According to Violet Gro, LED lights have recently been growing in popularity due to their potential for lower energy costs. "Many of the early options available suffered from poor design and an LED technology that wasn’t nearly as developed as it today (and it just keeps getting better). As such, most of the early LED solutions did not produce the results that growers wanted and were still at the high end of energy requirements."
The Violet Gro team has developed LED grow lights answering to these problems. "We have demonstrated the ability to grow healthy plants, while keeping energy costs down (100-135W for a 4’ light bar) and producing substantially less heat, often requiring no external cooling infrastructure to keep the grow environment at the right temperature."
The patented technology behind Violet Gro enables direct contact between their specialized lens material and the LED light source. "Thus allowing more photonic energy to transmit to the plants versus being lost as heat. Many of the traditional lenses on the market would actually burn if placed in direct contact with the LED or other light source. Projected cost savings for our lights over traditional lighting can be as high as 70% while still providing the spectrum and intensity of light needed to produce optimal plant growth and vibrancy."
One of the major advantages to indoor growing is to protect your plants from environmental factors such as extreme heat, cold, and rain that could damage or prevent crops from being grown during certain time periods. However, this same protection is also offered to respective plant pests. Relative humidity inside greenhouses can also lead to mold and mildew issues. With limited pesticides available for safe use in greenhouses and increasing fungicidal and herbicidal resistance, it is increasingly difficult to protect plants against these threats. Unfortunately, noticing a problem too late can mean lower yields for your crops, or even complete crop loss to stop the spread.
"UV light, in addition to its proven ability to drive positive benefits like increased production of flavonoids in plants, has also been shown as an effective tool in promoting healthy growing environments", the Violet Gro team continues. "The UV-absorbing compounds produced by plants to protect them from receiving too much UV can aid in defending plants against infection, injury, and certain pests. Research suggests that, in addition to the direct killing power of UV, the increases in these UV-absorbing compounds might actually be able to change the “attractiveness” of the plants to these pests."
While more and more lights on the market are starting to claim that they include UV, most of them are only producing near-UV (400nm) in their spectrum, more akin to the old black lights used for posters.
"However, research suggests that UV-B (280-320 nm) light, which is invisible to the human eye, is the most effective in treating powdery mildew and spider mites. Dosages of UV-C (200-280 nm), which is also invisible, have been proven best for targeting Botrytis cinerea, or gray mold. So if you can see the “UV” light – it is probably not really UV. Violet Gro lights, because of the unique ultraviolet transmissive lens in their patented technology, are able to be configured to specifically deploy any of these targeted wavelengths in their lights. And unlike many of these other lighting solutions, the Violet Gro lights will not be subject to the degradation or destruction that comes with trying to combine UV light with traditional lens material such as acrylics or polycarbonates. Learn more about the benefits of UV in agriculture."
"Ultimately, investing in high-quality energy-efficient lighting can be one of the most important decisions you can make for the long-term success of your operations", the Violet Gro team concludes.
In Q1, Violet Gro will be at the INDO Expo in Denver, January 26-27 and the Michigan Cannabis Business Expo, February 26-27.
For more information:
Violet Gro
407-433-1104
info@violetgro.com
www.violetgro.com
Re-Nuble is 100% Committed to Plant-Based Only Technologies
Re-Nuble is 100% committed to plant-based only technologies that help us meet the growing fertility, and pest and disease suppression challenges in agriculture.
We have a few new tools and solutions underneath our belt that we'll soon be releasing. Most recent is a topical solution that can be directly applied to plants to help mitigate, and, if wildly successful, eradicate the common pest and disease issues that both indoor and outdoor farms currently manage using alternative such as, microbes, genetically modified enzymes, and/or traditional pesticides and herbicides.
If you are a farmer interested in testing a product to help with managing aphids, thrips, powdery mildew and/or fungus gnats, to name a few, email us at wecare@re-nuble.com and drop us an email with the subject line: "We're Interested".
In the next 4 weeks, we plan to engage farmers for feedback on this new product and you may be the first to receive it before its formal public release. Your feedback makes us better.
With Farms Atop Malls, Singapore Gets Serious About Food Security
The farm's small size belies its big ambition: to help improve the city's food security.
January 09, 2019 5:11 PM
SINGAPORE —
Visitors to Singapore's Orchard Road, the city's main shopping belt, will find fancy malls, trendy department stores, abundant food courts — and a small farm.
Comcrop's 600-square-meter (6,450-square-foot) farm on the roof of one of the malls uses vertical racks and hydroponics to grow leafy greens and herbs such as basil and peppermint that it sells to nearby bars, restaurants and stores.
The farm's small size belies its big ambition: to help improve the city's food security.
Comcrop's Allan Lim, who set up the rooftop farm five years ago, recently opened a 4,000-square-meter farm with a greenhouse on the edge of the city.
He believes high-tech urban farms are the way ahead for the city, where more land cannot be cultivated.
"Agriculture is not seen as a key sector in Singapore. But we import most of our food, so we are very vulnerable to sudden disruptions in supply," Lim said.
"Land, natural resources and low-cost labor used to be the predominant way that countries achieved food security. But we can use technology to solve any deficiencies," he said.
Singapore last year topped the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Global Food Security Index of 113 countries for the first time, scoring high on measures such as affordability, availability and safety.
Yet, as the country imports more than 90 percent of its food, its food security is susceptible to climate change and natural resource risks, the EIU noted.
With 5.6 million people in an area three-fifths the size of New York City — and with the population estimated to grow to 6.9 million by 2030 — land is at a premium in Singapore.
The country has long reclaimed land from the sea, and plans to move more of its transport, utilities and storage underground to free up space for housing, offices and greenery.
It has also cleared dozens of cemeteries for homes and highways.
An aerial view shows Citiponics' urban farm located on the rooftop of a multi-story garage in a public housing estate in western Singapore, April 17, 2018.
Agriculture makes up only about 1 percent of its land area, so better use of space is key, said Samina Raja, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University at Buffalo in New York.
"Urban agriculture is increasingly being recognized as a legitimate land use in cities," she said. "It offers a multitude of benefits, from increased food security and improved nutrition to greening of spaces. But food is seldom a part of urban planning."
Supply shocks
Countries across the world are battling the worsening impacts of climate change, water scarcity and population growth to find better ways to feed their people.
Scientists are working on innovations — from gene editing of crops and lab-grown meat to robots and drones — to fundamentally change how food is grown, distributed and eaten.
With more than two-thirds of the world's population forecast to live in cities by 2050, urban agriculture is critical, a study published last year stated.
Urban agriculture currently produces as much as 180 million metric tons of food a year — up to 10 percent of the global output of pulses and vegetables, the study noted.
Additional benefits, such as reduction of the urban heat-island effect, avoided stormwater runoff, nitrogen fixation and energy savings could be worth $160 billion annually, it said.
Countries including China, India, Brazil and Indonesia could benefit significantly from urban agriculture, it said.
"Urban agriculture should not be expected to eliminate food insecurity, but that should not be the only metric," said study co-author Matei Georgescu, a professor of urban planning at Arizona State University.
"It can build social cohesion among residents, improve economic prospects for growers, and have nutritional benefits. In addition, greening cities can help to transition away from traditional concrete jungles," he said.
Singapore was once an agrarian economy that produced nearly all its own food. There were pig farms and durian orchards, and vegetable gardens and chickens in the kampongs, or villages.
But in its push for rapid economic growth after independence in 1965, industrialization took precedence, and most farms were phased out, said Kenny Eng, president of the Kranji Countryside Association, which represents local farmers.
Organic cilantro seedlings sprout from growing towers that are primarily made out of polyvinyl chloride pipes at Citiponics' urban farm on the rooftop of a multi-story garage in a public housing estate in western Singapore, April 17, 2018.
The global food crisis of 2007-08, when prices spiked, causing widespread economic instability and social unrest, may have led the government to rethink its food security strategy to guard against such shocks, Eng said.
"In an age of climate uncertainty and rapid urbanization, there are merits to protecting indigenous agriculture and farmers' livelihoods," he said.
Local production is a core component of the food security road map, according to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) of Singapore, a state agency that helps farmers upgrade with technical know-how, research and overseas study tours.
Given its land constraints, AVA has also been looking to unlock more spaces, including underutilized or alternative spaces, and harness technological innovations to "grow more with less," a spokeswoman said by email.
Intrinsic value
A visit to the Kranji countryside, just a 45-minute drive from the city's bustling downtown, and where dozens of farms are located, offers a view of the old and the new.
Livestock farms and organic vegetable plots sit alongside vertical farms and climate-controlled greenhouses.
Yet many longtime farmers are fearful of the future, as the government pushes for upgrades and plans to relocate more than 60 farms by 2021 to return land to the military.
Many farms might be forced to shut down, said Chelsea Wan, a second-generation farmer who runs Jurong Frog Farm.
"It's getting tougher because leases are shorter, it's harder to hire workers, and it's expensive to invest in new technologies," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"We support the government's effort to increase productivity through technology, but we feel sidelined," she said.
Wan is a member of the Kranji Countryside Association, which has tried to spur local interest in farming by welcoming farmers' markets, study tours, homestays and weddings.
Small peri-urban farms at the edge of the city, like those in Kranji, are not just necessary for food security, Eng said.
"The countryside is an inalienable part of our heritage and nation-building, and the farms have an intrinsic value for education, conservation, the community and tourism," he said.
At the rooftop farm on Orchard Road, Lim looks on as brisk, elderly Singaporeans, whom he has hired to get around the worker shortage, harvest, sort and pack the day's output.
"It's not a competition between urban farms and landed farms; it's a question of relevance," he said. "You have to ask: What works best in a city like Singapore?"
Republic Polytechnic Launches Course to Groom High-Tech Farmers
A new course here aims to train the next generation of high-tech farmers so that Singapore can produce more of its own food.
PUBLISHED
JAN 11, 2019, 5:00 AM SGT
A new course here aims to train the next generation of high-tech farmers so that Singapore can produce more of its own food.
The Diploma in Applied Science in Urban Agricultural Technology, launched by Republic Polytechnic (RP) on Wednesday, is the first full-qualification diploma course in agricultural technology in Singapore.
The course was developed by RP, in consultation with the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore, to develop a local core agriculture workforce with modern agricultural knowledge and techniques to drive the sector's growth and transformation.
Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Koh Poh Koon spoke at the launch of the diploma, which was held together with the opening of the polytechnic's Agriculture Technology Laboratory.
Dr Koh highlighted the need for a new generation of talent in agricultural technologies, to turn Singapore into a leading Asia hub for urban agriculture and aquaculture technologies.
The growth of the Republic's urban agriculture and aquaculture sector is also an essential pillar in upholding Singapore's food supply resilience, he added.
"As a small country where land is a scarce resource, Singapore has always had limited land space for domestic food production," said Dr Koh, adding that Singapore might be affected by global food supply developments and disruptions.
He added that Singapore's local farms produce just 10 per cent of food fish, 13 per cent of vegetables and 27 per cent of eggs consumed here. But he is confident that these percentages will continue to grow, with technological developments and more young farmers joining the industry through avenues such as RP's urban agriculture diploma.
The first batch of 25 students will start the part-time diploma course in June. These students will be taught five modules, with a focus on agricultural technologies for food production, farming process and management, urban farming technology and systems, agribusiness, and sustainable farming.
The programme's first run also involves eight local farms: Citizen Farm, ComCrop, Farm 85 Trading, Koh Fah Technology Farm, Liteleaf, Nippon Koi Farm, Sustenir Agriculture, and Vegeponics.
The farms will give students in the course on-the-job training opportunities and internships.
The course comes in two formats - one for fresh Institute of Technical Education graduates to build on what they have learnt in school, and the other for adult learners who want to switch to, or further their careers in, the agro-technology and agri-business sector.
RP's new Agriculture Technology Laboratory will give students in the diploma course in-house, hands-on training. The laboratory will also be used as a platform for workshops, industry-relevant projects and research in agriculture technology to incubate solutions to enhance productivity in farms.
It features technologies used in the farming industry today, including vertical farming towers irrigated by a nutrient tank and a horizontal hydroponic system irrigated by shallow tubes.
The laboratory also displays the hydroponic deep water culture system, where the roots of plants are submerged in a nutrient solution, and an energy-efficient substrate growing system.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 11, 2019, with the headline 'Republic Poly launches course to groom high-tech farmers'. Print Edition | Subscribe
NMSU Helps Bring Hydroponic Gardens into Las Cruces Schools
The initiative involves placing hydroponic plant systems in classrooms, which brings gardens indoors and eliminates the need for soil — the biggest challenge in school gardens.
Carlos Andres López, For the Sun-NewsPublished 11:17 a.m. MT Dec. 28, 2018 | Updated 12:35 p.m. MT Dec. 30, 2018
LAS CRUCES - Even as the days were colder last fall and winter, the tomato garden in Adrian Gaytan’s classroom at Zia Middle School in Las Cruces continued to thrive, a feat that would have been impossible more than a year ago but is now a reality – thanks to an initiative launched by New Mexico State University’s Cooperative Extension Service in Doña Ana County.
The initiative involves placing hydroponic plant systems in classrooms, which brings gardens indoors and eliminates the need for soil — the biggest challenge in school gardens. Hydroponic plant systems use water-based, nutrient-rich solutions to cultivate plants without the use of soil, resulting in better quality plants and higher yields, among other benefits.
In Gaytan’s classroom, the hydroponic plant system, at less than six feet in length, takes up minimal space and has been outfitted with overhead lights and an automatic timer, which enable it to operate on its own, a feature that allows for year-round gardening (even when students are out of school for extended periods of time).
Jeff Anderson, an agent for NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service in Doña Ana County who specializes in agronomy and horticulture, believes hydroponic plant systems may be the answer in helping schools boost the number of gardens in classrooms.
“It’s hard to send teachers and students outside in the winter to pick weeds and water plants,” Anderson said, noting that conventional outdoor gardens in local schools have declined in recent years. “So, I thought to myself: How are we going to bring agriculture into the school system?”
The answer finally came to Anderson when gardeners began calling the Doña Ana County Extension Master Gardener Program to inquire about starting hydroponic plant systems in the Las Cruces area, he said. As Anderson researched the system, he determined it could a practical solution for school gardens — but only if he could develop a cost-effective system. He then turned his efforts to building an affordable structure.
By sourcing material locally, Anderson was able to build a system for just under $300.
“We were able to figure out the cost and developed the program from there,” he said.
A pilot system underwent testing for about a year at the Cooperative Extension Service office in Las Cruces before similar systems were constructed for five local middle schools — Lynn, Vista, Sierra Vista, Picacho and Zia — which began using the gardens at the start of the 2017-18 school year, with assistance from the Master Gardener Program.
Zia and Vista had very successful first years, Anderson said.
“When I heard there was going to be an opportunity to have a hydroponics system in my classroom, I said, ‘Yes,’” said Gaytan, a Project Lead the Way and Technology, or PLWY, teacher at Zia. “We got it, and I used it for sixth-graders. They were immediately hooked; every day they tended the garden, checking the water and testing the pH levels. They took complete ownership of it.”
The hydroponics garden in Adrian Gaytan's classroom at Zia Middle School started with assistance from New Mexico State University’s Cooperative Extension Service in Doña Ana County in 2017. (Photo11: Photo courtesy of Adrian Gaytan)
Those students are now seventh-graders, Gaytan said, and continue to maintain the garden. This semester, they’re focused on growing tomatoes — the type that’s used to make ketchup. Last month, their tomato seedlings started to sprout, an indication the students were weeks away from enjoying fresh-from-the-vine tomatoes.
For Anderson, the gardens offer many opportunities for “direct teachable moments.”
“You can bring in science, technology, engineering and math,” he said, “and teach healthy eating, energy efficiency, energy use, water recycling and other life science skills.”
He added: “The schools have had successes and failures, all of which have provided valuable lessons. When you have a failure, the kids have to learn — why did we fail, why did the plants die? The kids have to do research and they have to apply that research to their garden.”
The students also become more caring individuals, Anderson said. “There’s a big thing about caring for a plant and that translates to caring for anything when you’re older,’ he said.
Now, Anderson said he is exploring ways in which to expand the program, not just throughout Las Cruces and Doña Ana County, but also statewide.
“We’re trying to get more of this type of agriculture in schools across the state,” he said.
To learn more about the program, visit https://aces.nmsu.edu/county/donaana/.