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The Humble Veggie Patch Just Went Hi-Tech
Growing vegetables and herbs is set to get a whole lot easier with big tech companies creating indoor 'vertical farms'
Forget battling insects and having to remember to water your veggie patch, growing herbs and vegetables at home is set to become hi-tech with new indoor farms.
by Tanya French
9th Jan 2020
Growing vegetables and herbs is set to get a whole lot easier with big tech companies creating indoor 'vertical farms'.
Samsung and LG have both spruiked their answer to the humble vegetable patch - creating indoor gardening appliances that enable people to have their own veggie garden, even if they don't have a backyard.
Samsung's Chef Garden technology integrates with its next-generation Family Hub refrigerator and automatically regulates light wavelengths to enable users to grow and enjoy fresh, pesticide-free fruit and vegetables all year round.
Samsung's vertical farm.
"There is a growing interest in healthy food," said Samsung LED technology centre's Chohui Kim.
"Horticulture LED is playing a key role in vertical farming and indoor crop cultivation, and we are looking to expand its applications in various fields."
The indoor farm integrates with the Family Hub fridge.
While Samsung's offering can easily fit into an existing kitchen, LG's version needs to be in-built into new or renovated kitchens.
The LG vertical farm consists of 24 pods which all have seeds and fertiliser in-built.
The machine recognises the amount of light and water it requires for optimum growth.
The farm - which takes 4-6 weeks to grow - will produce enough leafy vegetables to feed a family of four.
LG’s vertical farm solution. Photo: Tanya French
There's no word yet on when the technology will be available in Australia or what it will cost but an LG spokeswoman said it was 'very high end and part of a bigger kitchen solution'.
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Kitchens Get Smarter At CES Tech Show, Not Yet In Many Homes
Tell your refrigerator about your dietary preferences and it'll concoct a recipe plan for the coming week, sending a shopping list to your smartphone when it notices you've run out of the right ingredients
By MATT O'BRIEN and JOSEPH PISANI
Associated Press
JANUARY 8, 2020
LAS VEGAS — Tell your refrigerator about your dietary preferences and it'll concoct a recipe plan for the coming week, sending a shopping list to your smartphone when it notices you've run out of the right ingredients.
Counter-top robotic arms help chop veggies. Artificially intelligent oven cameras and internet-connected meat thermometers keep track of what's cooking. And then — voila! — a stove-top camera can show off your culinary creations on Instagram.
These are some of the new "smart kitchen" tech features on display this week at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas. Appliance-makers are competing with one another to show off futuristic kitchen innovations they hope might resonate with younger consumers, knowing that once these appliances squeeze themselves into a home, they could stay for a while.
Just don't expect to get much help at your local Home Depot anytime soon. There's also the challenge of getting consumers interested and keeping up with rapid changes in technology.
"The problem is that refrigerators are 10-year devices," said food technology analyst Michael Wolf, who hosts a podcast on smart kitchens. "The sales personnel haven't really asked about smart features and consumers really aren't asking for them."
That hasn't stopped big appliance-makers like Samsung, LG Electronics, GE Appliances, Whirlpool and Bosch from trying to reinvent the kitchen around internet connectivity.
Their mission: Appeal to consumers who are comfortable with smartphone apps. Target consumers include those looking to discover new step-by-step digital cooking instructions and consider themselves foodies even if they're not necessarily expert chefs with a lot of free time.
"Food and food culture is just really one of the dominant things that Millennials and 'Gen Z' put on their social media," Wolf said.
GE Appliances added a third, AI-powered oven camera to its Kitchen Hub system, which includes a 27-inch touch screen for interacting with friends and family or tuning into Netflix or Spotify while a watchful computer helps make sure you don't burn dinner.
Bosch is using its partnership with startup Chefling to send recipe commands to appliances such as refrigerators, which have cameras inside to keep track of inventory. Bosch is one of several companies using computer vision inside refrigerators to recognize items and how long they've been sitting there.
Whirlpool unveiled its Yummly smart thermometer, which can be pierced into a raw chicken. As your meal roasts, your phone will get alerts when the thermometer reaches the right temperature. Later this year, the $129 thermometer will also be able to follow recipes on the Yummly app and automatically adjust the temperature of Whirlpool's smart ovens.
LG showed off an entire "smart" restaurant at its CES booth, complete with a robot to cook and make coffee, one to greet customers and a tabletop robot to take orders. The rounded, expressive robots are part of LG's CLOi line announced at CES in 2018. The South Korean company debuted the cooking Chefbot robot in November at a restaurant in Seoul.
Samsung also emphasized an artificial intelligence-laden kitchen that could help plan meals and monitor nutrition. The company also has a robotic kitchen aid — Bot Chef — a mechanical arm that can chop, whisk, stir and otherwise help prepare food.
As with all internet-connected home devices, some of them raise privacy and security concerns. The devices record audio and video as they listen for your cooking commands and watch from your stove-top or from behind the milk cartons. Hackers could spy inside homes if the apps or devices have security flaws, as many do.
But even if appliance-makers are able to address those risks, some experts say they're still focusing too much on what's technologically possible and not on the improvements in the food experience that consumers might actually want.
"It fits the old school way they've been thinking about this — that every year or two they update the physical models," said Frank Gillett, a tech analyst for Forrester Research. "They're not thinking in terms of outcomes, which are meals. How do you shift the thinking from delivering the best stove to giving people the meal experience they want to have?"
Gillett predicts big structural changes in the food tech industry in the coming years. One far-out possibility: subscription services enabling consumers to commit to a favored supermarket, tech company or other provider. This company would deliver groceries and help run the appliances that work with its system.
Wolf is not as excited by all these AI-enabled bells and whistles as he is about other food tech innovations such as indoor hydroponics, the practice of growing plants without soil.
A few big appliance-makers like LG are now experimenting with indoor gardening technology. Previously, the products were confined to startups like Indiana-based GroPod, which showed off a prototype that can sustain 60 plants that just need water and small nutrient pods.
But none of these smart appliance features and hydroponic gadgetry have taken off with consumers as much as simpler kitchen tech innovations that sit on counters and don't need internet connections.
"Two counter-top appliances have become mainstream: Instant Pot and air fryers," Wolf said. "Five years ago, no one was using those."
GE Appliances Shows Off Future Kitchen Technology At CES
Louisville-based GE Appliances, a Haier Company, will reveal its reimagination of the home at CES 2020, which comes in the form of two new kitchen concepts: “Shift,” and “Home Grown.”
The Home Grown Kitchen employs three different gardening systems for consumers to cultivate their own trees and produce in-home. It additionally comes with guides to assist the user from seeding, harvesting, and preparation of produce.
By Sarah Shadburne – Reporter, Louisville Business First
Jan 8, 2020
Louisville-based GE Appliances, a Haier Company, will reveal its reimagination of the home at CES 2020, which comes in the form of two new kitchen concepts: “Shift,” and “Home Grown.”
"At GE Appliances, our driving force is to eliminate the distance between what we make and what our consumers need, and it propels us to imagine what's to come," said Shawn Stover, vice president of SmartHome Solutions, GE Appliances, in a news release.
CES, the brainchild of the Consumer Technology Association, hosts its annual event this week as tech trailblazers from around the world make the pilgrimage to Las Vegas for a three-day showcase of their innovations.
GE’s thesis statement is one of personalized kitchen convenience for all members of the home, the release said.
As many homes become multigenerational and house people with varying physical abilities, GE said it sought to create kitchens that empower their users.
“Shift” is a technological kitchen which utilizes face and voice recognition technology to determine features applicable to its user, which include height adjustments for wheelchair users, to update the space in real-time.
The “Home Grown” offering features three different gardening systems so users can grow foods directly in their homes. The gardening system utilizes aeroponics, hydroponics, and soil to enable in-kitchen growth for trees and produce and is regulated by a user interface which guides the user from growth to harvest to food preparation.
At the conference Tuesday, GE was named Smart Appliance Company of the Year for the second year in a row through the IoT Breakthrough Awards program. The program attracted 3,700 nominations this year and seeks to recognize innovators, leaders, and visionaries in internet-of-things (IoT) categories such as industrial and enterprise, connected home and home automation and more.
“GE Appliances was the first manufacturer to offer a full suite of connected products for the home and they continue to define what’s possible, responding to consumer needs and preferences with “breakthrough” products that deliver real-world results,“ said James Johnson, managing director at IoT Breakthrough, in a news release. “GE Appliances is redefining the appliance industry by creating appliances that get smarter over time with software updates and upgrades. Making continued investments in research and development of compelling and useful smart appliance features and products, GE Appliances proves it is the leader year-after-year in the smart appliance segment. We congratulate them once again and look forward to continued leadership and innovation in the smart appliance arena.”
GE will also host Tech Talks at its booth #16006 daily through the conference from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Haier section of the booth will highlight its work to create a fully connected IoT living space, from Smart Kitchen to Smart Living Room to Smart Closet.
Locally, GE is the second largest manufacturer in Louisville, with 6,000 full-time employees and 12,500 companywide. They operate the Appliance Park at 4000 Buechel Bank Road.
Miele Acquires Consumer Indoor Vertical Farm Company Agrilution
Agrilution’s Plantcubes look like wine fridges that are meant to be built directly into home kitchens. The automated systems regulate the lighting, climate, and water levels plants receive, all key parts of delivering the right “recipe” of nutrients to crops grown in vertical farms
Miele announced today that it has acquired the assets of the German company, Agrilution, makers of the Plantcube indoor vertical farm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Agrilution’s Plantcubes look like wine fridges that are meant to be built directly into home kitchens. The automated systems regulate the lighting, climate, and water levels plants receive, all key parts of delivering the right “recipe” of nutrients to crops grown in vertical farms. Plantcubes cost €2,979 (~$3,300 USD) and are capable of growing a number of different greens including kale, leaf lettuce, basil and more.
According to the press announcement, Miele came on board after Agrilution failed to raise more financing and filed for insolvency on Dec. 1. Agrilution will become a subsidiary of Miele, and almost all of Agrilution’s employees will be transferred over to Miele.
Having an in-kitchen grow system makes a lot of sense for people wanting to reduce their carbon footprint as well as have more transparency into and control over the food that they eat. These small farms could be especially appealing to those that don’t have the space, inclination or talent to grow their greens outside. In fact, building hydroponic grow systems directly into cabinets was a trend predicted during a panel on the future of the kitchen at our recent Smart Kitchen Summit.
The acquisition of Agrilution also seems like a smart play for Miele. Since Agrilution was in insolvency, the assets for the company probably weren’t that expensive. Miele has also shown that it isn’t afraid to shake up the traditional kitchen with new appliances like its solid state RF oven, its own meal delivery service, and investments in digital recipe startups like Plant Jammer and KptnCook.
A big player like Miele could also help push indoor farming systems more into the mainstream. Miele has the market muscle other in-home farming startups like Seedo, SproutsIO, or Ponix just can’t match. The only question remains is whether in a world of on-demand food delivery, people will have the patience to grow their own greens.
Grow Lettuce Indoors All Winter
There’s nothing better than biting into a nice, crunchy salad made with homegrown lettuce leaves, but with frost covering the backyard garden, you’re going to need to move production indoors. Luckily, lettuce is one of the easiest crops to grow inside, even if you’re new to indoor gardening
Kathleen Marshall | November 11, 2017
Takeaway: There’s nothing better than biting into a nice, crunchy salad made with homegrown lettuce leaves, but with frost covering the backyard garden, you’re going to need to move production indoors. Luckily, lettuce is one of the easiest crops to grow inside, even if you’re new to indoor gardening. Just follow these simple steps.
Buying fresh salad greens in the winter can be a pretty pricy endeavor. Fortunately, you can easily grow your own indoors, even if you’ve never tried indoor gardening before.
Choosing the Right Variety of Lettuce to Grow Indoors
You might think that lettuce is all the same, but loose-leaf varieties grow best in indoor gardens, especially in colder temperatures. This is important because even though you can control the temperature when you are growing indoors, the less heat you have to add to the grow space, the more economical your growing endeavor will become.
Varieties especially suited for growing indoors include black seeded simpson and tom thumb. Mesclun mixes, arugula, and baby spinach also do well but don’t be afraid of experimenting with other varieties or you might miss out on a special favorite you haven’t discovered yet. Loose-leaf lettuce grows quickly, can produce multiple yields and comes in a variety of colors to create a colorful salad.
Selecting the Right Location
If you can, choose a room that gets lots of natural light, but even if the room you choose has lots of natural light, your plants will need the help of artificial lights.
Lighting isn’t your only consideration when choosing where to grow your lettuce. Choose a room that isn’t too hot or freezing cold. Make sure you have easy access to water, as running from one end of the house to the other transporting water loses its fun-factor quickly.
Easy access to electricity is also important. You don’t want extension cords running through the house to power your supplemental heat or light sources.
Heat and Light Considerations for Growing Lettuce Indoors
To successfully grow lettuce, you’ll need a minimum of 12 hours of light, with 14-16 hours of light being ideal for most plants. If you are relying heavily on windows for some of your lighting needs, you’ll need to rotate your growing containers or your plants will lean towards the light as they grow
Keep in mind there are fewer daylight hours in the winter, so a supplemental lighting source is necessary. A wide array of grow lights will provide full-spectrum lighting, but some of the more advanced systems may seem pricey to novice indoor growers.
To start out your indoor gardening adventures, you can opt for a simple T5 grow light from your neighborhood hydro store. As you gain more experience and confidence in your abilities, you can always upgrade your equipment to match your needs. Make sure your light source is adjustable and keep it 4-6-in. above your plants. As the plants grow, you’ll need to raise the lights.
Most types of lettuce thrive in cooler temperatures and go to seed when it gets hot, but there are several varieties bred to be slow to bolt. Lettuce thrives in temperatures between 60 and 70˚F during the day, and about 10 degrees cooler at night. You can grow lettuce in cooler temperatures than these, but it will grow more slowly.
Picking the Right Medium
A seed-starting mix is ideal to use when you are growing lettuce indoors. It is lightweight, which makes it easy for seedlings to pop through the surface of the soil. A soilless potting mix is also a good choice. You can make your own with equal parts peat moss or coir, vermiculite or perlite, and sand.
Growing containers can be shallow, as lettuce does not have a deep root system. You can use growing trays from your local garden center or even recycle containers from home, like empty yogurt cups or egg cartons.
If you have an assortment of flowerpots or planter boxes, those will work just fine, too. It isn’t necessary for each plant to grow in its own container.
Fill your containers with moist potting mix and you are ready to plant.
Planting Lettuce
Plant your seeds about an inch apart, or about four seeds per pot if you are growing in seed-starting trays. Lettuce seeds are small, but if you sow seeds a little thicker than desired, you can simply pull any excess seedlings.
Once your seeds are in place, cover lightly with potting mix and mist with a spray bottle. It’s important to water gently so you don’t wash away the tiny seeds.
If you have a seed-starting tray, put the cover on it and keep it moist until the seedlings sprout. You can achieve the same effect by covering containers with plastic to create a greenhouse effect.
Moisture from the soil accumulates on the plastic and then drips onto the seeds. Once seeds have germinated, remove the plastic covering.
Fertilize when the first real leaves appear on your plants. I like to use an organic fertilizer that’s diluted by half. Avoid getting fertilizer on the leaves so you don’t burn your plants.
Harvesting Your Indoor Lettuce
You can expect to start enjoying the fruits of your labor within several weeks—in 20-30 days, your lettuce will have grown to about 4-in. tall. To harvest, cut the larger outer leaves. If you cut what you need just above the soil and allow the smaller parts to grow, you can extend your harvest to 2-3 cuttings.
For a continuous harvest all year, sow seeds every two weeks. You might have plans to grow lettuce outside when the weather warms up, but if you continue growing indoors, you won’t have to worry about slugs and rabbits eating your salads. And no one says you can’t do both! Experiment and decide what fits your needs the best.
Growing lettuce indoors is a rewarding project for beginners because it offers quick results with little effort. It’s also an excellent learning opportunity for children.
Once you’ve enjoyed a fresh, homegrown salad in the middle of winter, you may be inspired to try other indoor gardening projects like culinary herbs. Start small and add more as your experience allows.
Read More: Winter Lettuce Production Tips
Written by Kathleen Marshall
Kathleen Marshall has been gardening since she was old enough to hold a shovel. She is a master gardener through the University of Florida and likes to experiment with various types of growing, indoors and out. Her passion is self-reliance. Currently, she resides on a 100-acre homestead with her family, where she works on growing as much of her family's food as possible. Full Bio
Rise Gardens Helps You Grow The Perfect Tomato In Your Living Room
After becoming frustrated with growing fruits and veggies outdoors, Hank Adams tried his hand at building his own in-home hydroponic system, a device that grows plants in a reservoir of moving water and organic materials
October 31, 2019
Maintaining a garden in Chicago is difficult. Not only is the region plagued with a short growing season and unpredictable weather, but figuring out how to provide fruits and vegetables with the perfect amount of water, sunlight and nutrients can be confusing.
After becoming frustrated with growing fruits and veggies outdoors, Hank Adams tried his hand at building his own in-home hydroponic system, a device that grows plants in a reservoir of moving water and organic materials.
“It was a really frustrating experience,” Adams said. “It actually took a fair amount of research to figure it out. And what I ended up with was a system that really belonged in my basement.”
The system was “ugly,” he said. “It was nothing I wanted to show off.”
A Rise Gardens system (Photo via Katherine Davis)
But the experience led to Adams launching Rise Gardens, a Chicago startup creating an indoor, IoT-connected hydroponic system that is attractive enough to put in your living room and simple enough for anyone to grow a perfect head of lettuce.
Adams began making prototypes for Rise Gardens in 2017, working out of Chicago startup incubators 1871 and mHub, and began selling the final product in August. Adams is a board member of 1871 and also the former CEO of Sportsvision, a Chicago-based graphics company best known for inventing the yellow first-down marker in football broadcasts.
Rise Garden systems can be bought online or in the startup’s pop-up shop at 20 W. Kinzie St., which opened in early October.
The modular system is made out of hardwood and heavy-gauge, powder-coated steel. It has a built-in water pump, seed sockets and a programmed LED light system that automatically shifts on and off to give plants the perfect amount of light.
Once consumers purchase their hydroponic system, they are encouraged to subscribe to Rise Gardens’ subscription service, which sends them seed pods every month and gives them access to the company’s mobile app that reminds users when to add water or nutrients. The startup sells seeds for a range of vegetables and herbs, including kale, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, basil, and rosemary.
“We’ve made it simple,” Adams said. “If you follow the instructions, it grows really robustly.”
Adams said plants grow 20 percent faster in his system than they could in soil or outdoors, adding that users can expect to grow arugula in 14 days and a head of lettuce in 25 days.
A Rise Garden system (Photo via Katherine Davis)
Though small, counter-top hydroponic systems are common, Adams says Rise Gardens’ large size allows for users to actually grow a significant amount of fresh food.
Since launching, Adams said he has sold 70 systems and is now working with retailers to sell the device in more locations. The system starts at $549 for one level and goes up to nearly $950 for three.
In his own Rise Gardens system at home, Adams grows lettuce, carrots, beets, tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries. Often times, he says he uses his produce in homemade salads, pastas and pizzas.
“It’s really nutritious and it tastes great,” Adams said. “Compared to a lot stuff that we’re used to getting in grocery stores, you’re surprised by the taste.”
Hank Adams, founder of Rise Gardens, with his hydroponic system (Photo via Rise Gardens)
AIPLUS, A Developer of Smart Home Farming Appliance
Just as every home has a refrigerator, all households may have a smart home farming appliance in the future. AIPLUS is seeking to open a new frontier in agriculture and create another blue ocean in the home appliance industry.
#Power of Businesses l 2019-10-21
© AIPLUS
The 2019 Korea Electronics Show was held at COEX, in southern Seoul, from October 8th to 11th. To mark the 60th anniversary of Korea’s electronics sector, this year’s event was joined by 750 companies both from Korea and abroad to showcase prospective products and technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with 16 brilliant products receiving the “2019 KES Innovation Award.” For this week’s show, we’ll talk about one of the innovative products and companies that shined at this year’s KES. The company we’ll introduce is called AIPLUS. Let’s hear from its co-founder and CEO, Kwon Oh-yong.
Our home farming appliance, PLANTBOX, can be described as a kitchen garden in the form of consumer electronics. Those who have ever tended a vegetable patch will certainly understand how difficult the job is. It is necessary to learn about vegetables and take great care of them constantly. Many people just give up on the onerous work, so we wondered how to come up with a convenient and stylish tool to ease the hassle. We developed a smart home farming appliance and displayed it at this year’s KES.
© AIPLUS
PLANTBOX is a smart indoor veggie farming solution that won the Best Design award at this year’s KES. It looks like a small refrigerator, unlike conventional vegetable-growing boxes that typically take up a lot of space in apartment balconies. Once users plug in the seed capsules, the machine automatically sets the optimal level of light, temperature, moisture and nutrition for the plants so the users can grow vegetables easily. AIPLUS, a startup that was founded last year, is a spin off from Samsung Electronics’ in-house venture nurturing program.
I entered Samsung Electronics in 2004 and worked at the wireless business department to develop mobile phones. The co-founder of AIPLUS, Choi Seon-muk(최선묵), also worked at Samsung Electronics from 2006, but his job was related to consumer electronics. We thought that my experience in the Internet of Things or IoT and his expertise in home appliances could be combined to create something new.
The idea began to take shape when Choi went to a weekend farm with his children. As I said before, farming is laborious work. They had to work hard, catching bugs, in the hot sun. Exhausted, he stopped visiting the farm. He wondered how to grow vegetables in an easier way. Having heard about his story, I recalled my parents who used to cultivate vegetables and herbs on a rooftop garden.
We thought it would be interesting and meaningful to ease the inconvenience of home farming by using our own respective technology.
So, the idea of the new home farming appliance started from Choi’s painful experience at a local farm. Many people visit weekend farms or grow vegetables in a small patch in their apartment balconies in the hopes of eating fresh vegetables they have cultivated themselves. But most of them give up after some time because it is quite challenging for urban farmers to invest large amounts of time and control the damage caused by harmful insects.
To resolve the problems of home farming effectively, Kwon and Choi used their own knowledge about IoT and consumer electronics, respectively, and developed a new product.
© AIPLUS
In addition to adjusting the temperature and moisture, PLANTBOX uses light-emitting diode or LED lighting to ensure the best wavelengths of light for photosynthesis.
Just like humans, leafy greens need to sleep when the sun sets. In the box, artificial lights appear slowly, just as the sun rises, so the indoor environment can be as similar to nature as possible. Apart from the physical conditions for greens to grow, human touch is also needed. Of course, this is the most challenging part. First, users stick smart seed capsules inside the box, which automatically identifies what kinds of vegetables are put in and sets the best environment for the plants. The indoor environment is connected to the users’ smartphone app through IoT. An alarm will sound on the app to remind them to water the veggies or replace some supplies. That’s all the users have to do, and PLANTBOX will do everything else.
PLANTBOX, a combination of agriculture, home appliance and IoT technology, enables people to raise veggies at home easily without special knowledge or extensive experience in vegetable cultivation.
The inside of the machine consists of three compartments. The bottom part is for watering, replacing consumables and checking the overall conditions. It is the other two compartments in the upper section where plants grow. We call them trays, which serve as a field. When smart seed capsules are put in the trays, nutrients are automatically mixed with the culture fluid on the trays. The plants absorb the nutrients and keep growing on the two trays. Of course, the machine ensures appropriate levels of temperature, moisture and LED lighting. The door can be opened and closed, just like a refrigerator, and is tightly sealed to block the vegetables from outside contaminants. So, users can grow fresh veggies regardless of the season or the weather.
Some companies have produced home farming tools before. But the market response was not very good since they were rather inconvenient to use. Also, there were design and flavor issues.
AIPLUS, a late starter, took a different approach by using a hydroponic cultivation method in a refrigerator-shaped electric appliance and adopting IoT technology. PLANTBOX enables people to enjoy delicious vegetables in their freshest state without using any pesticides. It only occupies 0.2 square meters but produces the same amount of veggies grown in a 3.3 square-meter garden. Users can water the plants just four or five times a month, and some vegetables are fully grown in 25 days. The company has applied for eight patents for the product.
Numerous people who visited AIPLUS’ booth at the recent electronics show were amazed to see the remarkable product. AIPLUS plans to commercialize next year to take the first step in bringing about a major change in the industry.
Currently, refrigerators, air conditioners, TV sets and washing machines comprise a major axis in the home appliance market, while air purifiers, clothing-care systems and body massage chairs are becoming popular these days as well. When a new product is released, market observers generally expect that the market will expand to invigorate the economy.
But what we really want is for PLANTBOX to help people change their lifestyle in a healthier way. Users of the product will realize that vegetables can be so fresh and even tasty, although they may not like veggies very much. They will then consume more vegetables and enhance their nutritional balance. After all, good nutrition and a balanced diet will keep them healthy, possibly preventing and curing high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity over the long term. We hope to provide a product that will bring about a positive change in people’s lifestyles.
Just as every home has a refrigerator, all households may have a smart home farming appliance in the future. AIPLUS is seeking to open a new frontier in agriculture and create another blue ocean in the home appliance industry. We’ll have to wait and see how the company’s innovative product will perform in the market.
Homefarm In 2019
In August, Homefarm had the privilege of partnering with South African premier kitchen design firm Slavin at the Decorex Johannesburg Design show. It was an opportunity to showcase another example of a built-In Homefarm 'double-stack' in a stunning kitchen
In August, Homefarm had the privilege of partnering with South African premier kitchen design firm Slavin at the Decorex Johannesburg Design show. It was an opportunity to showcase another example of a built-In Homefarm 'double-stack' in a stunning kitchen
The Homefarm+Slavin stand really looked incredible, and the organizers agreed; awarding the stand as Best Kitchen Stand of Decorex 2019. The show was a fantastic opportunity for Homefarm and served as the public unveiling of our new Anthracite Grey product edition.
Homefarm also developed an Exclusive Black edition in 2019 when it partnered with another premium kitchen design company; Blu_Line. Homefarm now offers 3 color SKUs; White, Grey, and Black. This means that the Homefarm appliance can now seamlessly fit into your kitchen's color scheme.
Homefarm Product Development in 2019
At Homefarm, we never stop innovating and improving our product.
So far in 2019, since launching the product, we have released major improvements to the Homefarm App and on-board software. We have launched an improved watering system, various gardening merchandise, and the Homefarm Grow Pod System.
Homefarm Grow Pod System
The Homefarm Grow Pod System enables Homefarm users to grow, propagate and clone a variety of different garden crops. Some of our users are using the System to germinate and grow out-of-season, while others are using it to clone their prized plants.
A single Homefarm can grow up to 24 individual plants. Depicted above is a Homefarm growing basil clone cuttings as well as basil seedlings (in the foreground) grown from seed.
Homefarm is currently available for only R8499 from the Homefarm website.
If you enjoy eating fresh, healthy, home-grown food every day or you enjoy gardening; Homefarm is the product for you. It makes a great gift for family and loved ones. Why not treat yourself to one of the most gratifying products on the South African market today.
If you order now, your Homefarm can be delivered to your door, anywhere in South Africa within 1 week. You can email us at info@myhomefarm.io with any queries or to request a product catalog.
The Homefarm Team
This Planter System Instantly Transforms Chain Link Fences Into Vertical Gardens
Kingston, New York, based designer, Bryan Meador released his latest product, the Sead Pod, an invention that uses recycled plastic to convert chain link fencing into lush vertical gardens in one easy step
Designer Plant Seads
Kingston, New York, based designer, Bryan Meador released his latest product, the Sead Pod, an invention that uses recycled plastic to convert chain link fencing into lush vertical gardens in one easy step. Sead Pods give people a quick and easy way to transform any urban space into a green haven while embracing a cyclical plastic economy that cleans our environment of single-use plastic waste.
Design Team
Bryan Meador
"The Sead Pod represents a new way of thinking about green design in an urban context," said Bryan Meador, Plant Seads' Founder and Chief Design Officer. "By reimagining existing architectural elements like chain link fencing as a tool in the fight against climate change, we're able to leap into the green movement immediately, fighting climate change at the grassroots level and making our cities cleaner, healthier, and more livable—right now."
Taking its name from the acronym 'Sustainable Ecology, Adaptive Design,' Plant Seads was founded as a reaction to the sluggish response of government and multinational companies to address the emergency of climate change. As a young, creative, and somewhat impatient person, Sead's founder Bryan Meador was frustrated by the lack of urgency surrounding this issue. " Our generation is the first to be born into Climate Change. This crisis is not hypothetical to us, and we're tired of waiting around for others to address this issue in a meaningful way."
Using 3d printing and rapid prototype development, the Sead Pod was designed, manufactured and released in less than 9 months. "We're inspired to take up this fight by young people like Greta Thunberg, who said, 'I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is,' That quote is printed large in our studio to serve as a daily reminder of what is at stake. Plant Seads is a brand with a mission; to create long term sustainable solutions for life in an environment that's changing more quickly than it ever has.
From those first drawings, we went through months of iterations to hone the design into its final form. We needed something that would be rigid enough to support the weight of a plant, along with the soil it needed, while hanging onto a fence. Something that could be manufactured at an industrial scale and look refined enough to fit in someone’s home. And most importantly, it had to be suitable for as many plants as possible.
"By harnessing the CO2 conversion that plants accomplish naturally, Sead Pods enable people to begin the larger process of CO2 sequestration at the grassroots level while governments and multinational companies figure out how to scale this process up to an industrial scale. Sead Pods also cool and clean the air we breathe by introducing more plants into our polluted urban spaces.
Sead Pods were conceived, designed, and manufactured in New York's beautiful Hudson Valley, eliminating the need for international shipping in its manufacturing supply chain.
True to its mission as a provider of grassroots solutions to a global problem, Plant Seads is funding its initial wide release of the Sead Pod through a Kickstarter campaign.
Process
Initial prototypes were 3D printed and sent out across the country for field testing, but the results were pretty poor. The basins in these initial prototypes were far too small to support something growing. Also, because there was so little space for soil, they dried out almost immediately, killing anything that managed to gain a foothold. Lastly, they looked great, but the hyper organic form was impossible to manufacture as one part, creating a prohibitively high cost for production. Our final planter accommodates more than 3 times as much soil as these first planters, allowing the soil to hold onto more water and roots to grow. They're also designed to be manufactured using injection molding, enabling a significantly lower price point and the capacity to fulfill large orders.
Materials were also a major concern. We worked with a local plastics manufacturer with decades of experience to determine what recycled material would be well suited for this project. It needed to be many things at once; durable enough to endure years of exposure to the elements, chemically stable enough to be safe even for someone wanting to grow food, and ideally it could be recycled again, re-entering and reinforcing the cyclical plastics economy. We decided that HDPE (high-density polyethylene) would be best. The material's excellent heat history (meaning that it can be heated up, molded, melted down and reformed again and again without losing structural integrity), non-toxic nature and easy recyclability were perfect for our needs.
To purchase your own Sead Pods, go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/plantseads/sead-pods-shapeshift-plastic-waste-into-vertical-gardens or just Google 'Plant Seads Kickstarter'
You can also sign up for our newsletter at PlantSeads.com and follow us on Instagram at @PlantSeads
Learn More About This Project
Agrihood Development Brings Urban Farming to Denver
The Westfield Company development has teamed up with Altius Farms to bring urban farming to the whole community.
By Tori Mason
October 11, 2019
DENVER (CBS4) — An urban agrihood community in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood is providing a greener lifestyle, for residents and the public. The condominiums in S*Park, or Sustainability Park, have environmentally-friendly features like solar power, recycled brick, and compost valet.
S*Park, an urban greenhouse in downtown Denver, promotes sustainable food year-round. (credit: CBS)
The Westfield Company development has teamed up with Altius Farms to bring urban farming to the whole community.
”Companies are trucking produce from 1,500 miles away into Colorado. Here we can grow more efficiently and much more close to our city centers, where restaurants and grocery stores and urban life is thriving,” said Sally Herbert, CEO of Altius Farms.
Credit: CBS
The S*PARK development features a 7,200-square-foot greenhouse operated by Altius Farms. It’s one of the largest rooftop aeroponic gardens in the country. Currently, there are 23 different varieties of product growing. The majority are sent to local restaurants and markets.
“It’s Colorado. We have 6 or 7 months of growing time outside. Here was have the whole year. We have 320 days of sunshine every year in Colorado. Why not take advantage of that?” said Herbert.
Herbert spent Wednesday morning harvesting produce in S*PARKS’s outdoor garden that wouldn’t survive Thursday’s freeze.
Soon, the public will be able to take advantage of Herbert’s year-round produce. Altius Farms launched a Community Supported Agriculture program this week. Subscribers will receive produce and flowers from the greenhouse for a fee.
“On a weekly or monthly basis, they’ll get a little basket or bag of produce like lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, all grown locally,” said Herbert.
S*PARK residents will be the first to test the CSA program, then Altius Farms will open it up to the public.
Grow A Farm Right Inside Your Kitchen In UAE
For those who have dreamt of growing their own vegetables and herbs - but are limited by the fact that they don't have a garden - a solution is being presented at Gitex Technology Week in Dubai. And it's aptly called 'Kitchen Garden'
Rohma Sadaqat /Dubai
(KT/ M sajjad)
October 10, 2019
Seeds come in a 'seedpod' and are all non-GMO and certified organic.
For those who have dreamt of growing their own vegetables and herbs - but are limited by the fact that they don't have a garden - a solution is being presented at Gitex Technology Week in Dubai. And it's aptly called 'Kitchen Garden'.
Kitchen Garden, developed by Natufia Labs, is a fully automated indoor garden system, which allows chefs to grow anything from basil to lemongrass or a seed packet of nutrient-rich microgreens.
Seeds come in a 'seedpod' and are all non-GMO and certified organic.
Speaking to Khaleej Times, Lauri Kapp, co-founder of Natufia Labs, shared details on the technology and how it is relevant to a region such as the UAE.
"This indoor growing technology gives the power back to the consumer. Restaurants and households can now grow fresh products without worrying about seasons or pesticides and chemicals in their greens.
"This is critical for countries like the UAE that rely mostly on imports," he said.
Kitchen Garden is equipped with 32 ceramic pots, a number that can be increased to 64.
Alternatively, it can be easily fitted with 128 microgreen plates.
It was designed to allow for the full flexibility of a mix between ceramic pots and microgreen plates to suit the user's preferences.
Currently, over 100 seeds of different herbs and plants have been tested and can be grown in the indoor garden.
The technology builds upon the use of hydroponics, but requires less maintenance and less space and offers much more variety in the plants that can be grown.
This garden is just a little bigger than the average single-door fridge and can easily be installed in a home kitchen or a small professional one.
Selma Abualia, project manager at Madar Farms, the local distributor for Natufia in the UAE, revealed that the technology has already found a home in the country, with many different parties expressing their interest.
Currently, one Kitchen Garden is already installed and operational at Radisson Blu Dubai Deira Creek Hotel.
HOW IT WORKS
. Get your seeds that come in 'seedpods'
. Place your seeds into a 'nursery tray', which provides the necessary light for the plants to grow
. Transfer your seedlings into cups. The system's two pull-out racks hold 32 handmade ceramic cups and a total of 165 microgreen plates, or a combination of both
. Don't worry about watering them - it's fully automated
. Monitor your plants' growth and adjust the controls via an app
. Harvest for mealtime
rohma@khaleejtimes.com
Rohma Sadaqat
I am a reporter and sub-editor on the Business desk at Khaleej Times. I mainly cover and write articles on the UAE's retail, hospitality, travel, and tourism sectors. Originally from Lahore, I have been living in the UAE for more than 20 years. I graduated with a BA in Mass Communication, with a concentration in Journalism, and a double minor in History and International Studies from the American University of Sharjah. If you see me out and about on assignment in Dubai, feel free to stop me, say hello, and we can chat about the latest kitten videos on YouTube.
MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito Resigns Amid Epstein Funding Fallout
The director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab stepped down on Saturday after a New Yorker magazine article revealed the lab tried to conceal donations from disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein, the university said
REUTERS September 7, 2019
Former MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito - Image Credit: MIT Media Lab
(Reuters) — The director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab stepped down on Saturday after a New Yorker magazine article revealed the lab tried to conceal donations from disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein, the university said.
“This afternoon, Joi Ito submitted his resignation as Director of the Media Lab and as a professor and employee of the Institute,” MIT President Rafael Reif said in a letter posted online.
Ito could not be reached for immediate comment. The New York Times and New Yorker reported he said in an internal email, “After giving the matter a great deal of thought over the past several days and weeks, I think that it is best that I resign as director of the media lab and as a professor and employee of the Institute, effective immediately.”
Last month, Reif said the elite university would review its process for accepting donations after taking about $800,000 from foundations controlled by Epstein, who committed suicide while in jail awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The New Yorker article uncovered deeper fundraising ties between the Media Lab and Epstein and said the institution had actively tried to conceal the extent of its connections with the disgraced financier.
On Saturday, Reif described the acceptance of contributions from Epstein as a “mistake of judgment” and said he had instructed MIT’s general counsel to bring in a prominent law firm to investigate the matter.
“Because the accusations in the (New Yorker) story are extremely serious, they demand an immediate, thorough and independent investigation,” Reif said.
Ito previously apologized for having accepted donations from Epstein and had said he would raise an amount equivalent to the donations the lab received from foundations controlled by Epstein and “direct those funds to nonprofits that focus on supporting survivors of trafficking.”
The New Yorker said Ito disclosed this week he received a further $1.2 million from Epstein for investment funds under Ito’s control and $525,000 for the lab. Epstein also secured $7.5 million in donations for the lab from other wealthy individuals.
On Saturday, Ito also resigned from the board of directors of The New York Times Co and of PureTech, a biotechnology firm, according to statements from the two companies.
Mini Greenhouse For Microgreens
The fully automated "Plantcube" greenhouse from Munich-based company Agrilution offers a closed ecosystem for plants and, according to the manufacturer, optimal growth conditions. Irrigation is done automatically
Automated Ecosystem From Agrilution
The fully automated "Plantcube" greenhouse from Munich-based company Agrilution offers a closed ecosystem for plants and, according to the manufacturer, optimal growth conditions. Irrigation is done automatically.
The fully automated greenhouse "Plantcube" / Image: Agrilution
The high nutrient density ensures an intense aroma and pronounced textures. Currently, 17 different lettuces, microgreens and herbs can be selected from the Agrilution range, among which there are unusual varieties such as red Pak Choi or Wasabina leaf mustard. The system is controlled by the Agrilution Cloud and a user-friendly app provides insight into the growth process and notes on maintenance and harvesting. The "Plantcube" is the size of a small refrigerator.
For more information:
Agrilution GmbH
Centa-Hafenbrädl-Str. 61
81249 München
Telefon: +49 89 230 292 92
E-Mail: info@agrilution.com
www.agrilution.com
Publication date: 9/19/2019
MIT Built A Theranos For Plants
The prestigious multidisciplinary MIT Media Lab built a “personal food computer” that worked so poorly that demos had to be faked Theranos-style, per a weekend report in Business Insider
September 8, 2019
The MIT Media Lab’s failed “personal food computer.” Screenshot: Seeker (YouTube)
The prestigious multidisciplinary MIT Media Lab built a “personal food computer” that worked so poorly that demos had to be faked Theranos-style, per a weekend report in Business Insider. Word of the project’s troubles comes as the Media Lab’s attempts to cover up its extensive financial ties to late financier and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein have seriously damaged its credibility and led to resignation of its director, Joichi Ito.
According to Business Insider, the project—a plastic hydroponic grow box filled with “advanced sensors and LED lights” that would supposedly make it possible to replicate crop conditions from any part of the global—was a sham, with MIT’s Open Agriculture Initiative director Caleb Harper resorting to faking demos:
Ahead of big demonstrations of the devices with MIT Media Lab funders, staff were told to place plants grown elsewhere into the devices, the employees told Business Insider.
In another instance, one employee was asked to purchase herbs at a nearby flower market, dust off the dirt in which they were grown, and place them in the boxes for a photoshoot, she said... The aim was to make it look like the devices lived up to Harper’s claims, the employees said. Those claims, which included assertions that the devices could grow foods like broccoli four times faster than traditional methods, landed Harper and his team articles in outlets ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Wired and National Geographic.
All told, Business Insider’s sources said, the “personal food computers” amounted to hydroponic boxes that don’t work. Dietitian and former Open Agriculture Initiative project manager Paula Cerqueira told the site that the devices she worked on were “glorified grow boxes... with some sensors for collecting data,” and that on multiple occasions staff filled them with store-bought plants that had to be washed of dirt before presentations with funders. The boxes also weren’t air-tight, Cerqueira added, meaning that users couldn’t control for things like carbon dioxide levels or temperature and humidity.
Cerqueira told Business Insider that out of dozens of units sent to schools in the Boston region, only a handful ever worked. On one occasion, the Media Lab sent 30 of them to schools, and “It’s fair to say that of the 30-ish food computers we sent out, at most two grew a plant,” Cerqueira told the site. On another, the Media Lab couldn’t make the boxes work in time for a demo with a representative from the Bezos Family Foundation, something Cerqueira told Business Insider was “super embarrassing.”
In other words, this sounds a hell of a lot like Theranos, the disastrously failed startup that also promised a magical technology box (though in their case, it was fake blood-testing technology that helped the company achieve a valuation of $9 billion.) The food computer certainly doesn’t come anywhere the scale of Theranos, but Harper touted it with similarly grandiose claims: In a March 2019 video by Seeker, Harper stated that “You think Star Trek or Willy Wonka, that’s exactly what we’re going for.”
According to Business Insider, Harper directed an email requesting comment to an MIT spokesperson, who “didn’t provide a comment.”
Explore Future of Food In Virtual Reality At University of Cambridge Festival of Ideas
Did you know that only 20 per cent of the fish we harvest each year actually ends up in our stomachs? Now Natural Machines is using its Foodini 3D printing technology to create an edible product from offcuts that would otherwise be wasted
By Paul Brackley- paul.brackley@iliffemedia.co.uk
08 September 2019
Did you know that only 20 percent of the fish we harvest each year actually ends up in our stomachs?
Now Natural Machines is using its Foodini 3D printing technology to create an edible product from offcuts that would otherwise be wasted.
Future Kitchen VR workshop in the Botanic Garden's classroom, Esme Booth with a device being placed on Emanuel Bernardo. Picture: Keith Heppell. (15994444)
And, in an immersive virtual reality video that you can see at the University of Cambridge’s Festival of Ideas, you can go inside the 3D printer as it operates.
It is one of an extraordinary series of food technology videos released on FoodUnfolded.com, created by an international team involving the university.
Designed to show how food tech can improve the sustainability of our food and transform ways it is produced, the series of videos in the ‘Future Kitchen’ project gives viewers a 360-degree, fully immersive experience that makes them feel like they are part of the story
.Dr Holly T Kristinsson, consultant for innovation and market analysis at Matis and co-ordinator of the Future Kitchen project, says: “We are trying to explore the potential of virtual reality to connect people with food tech more effectively.
“With consumer trust in the food system at an all-time low, we need to step up, reconnect with people and inspire them.”
Another video explores how farmers in Iceland are able to grow tomatoes despite the sub-zero temperatures outside. Viewers get to look around the greenhouses, powered by geothermal or hydropower energy. Bees are brought in to pollinate the tomato plants - and no pesticides are required.
“When we are using the bees, we get something like a 90-95 per cent yield from the plants, which is an enormous increase from a farmer’s point of view,” horticulturalist and biologist Guðríður Helgadóttir tells viewers.
A third video explores Plantcube, an intelligent vertical farming system for the home, created by Agrilution.
The German company was founded by Max Loessl and mechatronics engineer Philipp Wagner to bring the freshest vegetables, salads and herbs to the home, grown without pesticides and as close and to the place of consumption as possible. The Plantcube - which will set you back 2,979 euros - provides an indoor garden for growing lettuce, microgreens and herbs on eight ‘fields’, with automated watering, optimal LED lighting and sensor-based climate control.
Future Kitchen VR workshop in the Botanic Garden's classroom, Esme Booth with a device. Picture: Keith Heppell. (15994450)
This vertical farming system even notifies you via an app of the perfect time to harvest to your food.
The VR project is funded by EIT Food, Europe’s leading food innovation initiative, and is a response to the need to connect, and reconnect, people with food.
While technology in a food context tends to have negative connotations among the public, the series aims to show how it can be used to improve sustainability.
The makers believe it could act as a pilot for the food industry to help engage consumers as well as entice those interested in food-related careers.
Further videos are coming, which will introduce viewers to future kitchen devices, explore the origin of food, robotics, metabolomics, personalised nutrition, macro and micro algae processing and novel food processing, including how alternative proteins are made.
Regular focus group lunchtime sessions are being held in Cambridge where visitors can view the videos and share their thoughts.
After watching the Foodini video, one University of Cambridge student said: “I never knew how 3D printing food worked, and to be immersed in the whole process is fascinating.”
And at the Festival of Ideas - supported by the Cambridge Independent once more this year - two sessions will be held at the Alison Richard Building on West Road on Saturday October 19 to introduce members of the public to the videos. Bookings open on September 23.
The Epstein-Funded MIT Lab Has An Ambitious Project That Purports To Revolutionize Agriculture. Insiders Say It's Mostly Smoke And Mirrors
An ambitious project that purported to turn anyone into a farmer with a single tool is scraping by with smoke-and-mirror tactics, employees told Business Insider
September 7, 2019
Insiders told Business Insider that MIT Media Lab faked key elements of its "personal food computer" project, which aimed to grow plants without soil.
An ambitious MIT project that purported to turn anyone into a farmer with a single tool is scraping by with smoke-and-mirror tactics, employees told Business Insider.
Ahead of big demonstrations with MIT Media Lab funders, staff were told to place plants grown elsewhere into the devices, the insiders said.
In other instances, devices delivered to local schools simply didn't work.
"It's fair to say that of the 30-ish food computers we sent out, at most two grew a plant," one person said.
MIT didn't provide a comment. The original version of this story misidentified an MIT Media Lab manager who allegedly instructed staffers to place store-bought plants in the devices. It has been corrected.
An ambitious project that purported to turn anyone into a farmer with a single tool is scraping by with smoke-and-mirror tactics, employees told Business Insider.
The "personal food computer," a device that MIT Media Lab senior researcher Caleb Harper presented as helping thousands of people across the globe grow custom, local food, simply doesn't work, according to two employees and multiple internal documents that Business Insider viewed. One person asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation.
Harper is the director of MIT's Open Agriculture Initiative and leads a group of seven people who work on transforming the food system by studying better methods of growing crops.
The food computers are plastic boxes outfitted with advanced sensors and LED lights and were designed to make it possible for anyone, anywhere to grow food, even without soil, Harper has said. Instead of soil, the boxes use hydroponics, or a system of farming that involves dissolving nutrients in water and feeding them to the plant that way.
"We design CO2, temperature, humidity, light spectrum, light intensity, and the minerality of the water, and the oxygen of the water," Harper said.
On Saturday, Joi Ito, the director of the MIT Media Lab, resigned following a lengthy expose in the New Yorker about the Media Lab's financial ties with late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein died by suicide while in jail and faced sex-trafficking charges.
Staff placed food grown elsewhere into the devices for demos and photoshoots, they say
Ahead of big demonstrations of the devices with MIT Media Lab funders, staff were told to place plants grown elsewhere into the devices, the employees told Business Insider.
In another instance, one employee was asked to purchase herbs at a nearby flower market, dust off the dirt in which they were grown, and place them in the boxes for a photoshoot, she said.
Harper forwarded an email requesting comment on this story to an MIT spokesperson. The spokesperson didn't provide a comment.
The aim was to make it look like the devices lived up to Harper's claims, the employees said. Those claims, which included assertions that the devices could grow foods like broccoli four times faster than traditional methods, landed Harper and his team articles in outlets ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Wired and National Geographic.
Harper's vision for the personal food computer is bold: "You think Star Trek or Willy Wonka, that's exactly what we're going for," he said in a March 2019 YouTube video produced by the news site Seeker.
Harper's coworkers told Business Insider a different story. They said the devices are basic hydroponic setups and do not offer the capabilities Harper outlines. In addition, they simply don't work, they said.
MIT Media Lab's Caleb Harper speaks at TEDGlobal Geneva. James Duncan Davidson/TED
'They were always looking for funding'
Paula Cerqueira, a researcher and dietitian who worked as a project manager at the Open Agriculture Initiative for two years, told Business Insider that the personal food computers she worked with were "glorified grow boxes."
Cerqueira was part of a team that, on several occasions, delivered the personal food computers to schools. She also helped demonstrate the boxes to big-name MIT Media Lab investors.
During the organization's "Members Weeks" — once-a-semester events that drew donors including Google, Salesforce, Citigroup, and 21st Century Fox — Cerqueira and her coworkers would show investors how the technology worked.
On one occasion, Cerqueira said, her coworkers were told to fetch basil grown from a nearby location and place it into the personal food computers to make it look like it had been grown inside the boxes.
"They wanted the best looking plants in there," Cerqueira told Business Insider. "They were always looking for funding."
Cerqueira said in another instance, she was told by another MIT Media Labs manager to buy edible lavender plants from a nearby flower's market and place them in the boxes for a photoshoot, she said. Before any photos were taken, she carefully dusted off the tell-tale soil on the plants' roots.
The boxes simply didn't work, one employee told Business Insider
The central problem with the personal food computer was that it simply didn't work, Cerqueira and another person with knowledge of the matter told Business Insider.
"It's essentially a grow box with some sensors for collecting data," Cerqueira, a dietitian who worked as a project manager at the Open Agriculture Initiative for two years, told Business Insider. Cerqueira left her post after becoming increasingly frustrated with working conditions at the Media Lab, she said.
The boxes were not air-tight, so staff couldn't control variables like the levels of carbon dioxide and even basic environmental factors like temperature and humidity, Cerqueira and the other person said.
Other team members were aware of these issues, according to several internal emails that Business Insider viewed.
One email, on which Harper is copied, also said that team members weren't given the chance to test the devices' functionality for themselves. Another person with knowledge of the matter also described these issues to Business Insider.
'Of the 30-ish food computers we sent out, at most two grew a plant'
In the Spring of 2017, Cerqueira was part of a pilot program that delivered three of Harper's devices to local schools in the Boston area. Initially, the idea was for the students to put the devices together themselves. But Cerqueira said that didn't work — the devices were too complex for the students to construct on their own.
"They weren't able to build them," Cerqueira said.
In response, Cerqueira's team sent three MIT Media Lab staff to set up the computers for them. Of the three devices the staff members tried to setup, only one was able to grow plants, she said. That one stopped working after a few days, however.
When Cerqueira and her coworkers would visit the school, students would joke that the plants they were growing in plastic cups were growing better than the ones in the personal food computers, she said. The pilot ended shortly thereafter.
On another occasion, her team sent two dozen of the devices to classrooms across greater Boston as part of a curriculum being designed by one of MIT Media Lab's education partners.
"It's fair to say that of the 30-ish food computers we sent out, at most two grew a plant," Cerqueira said.
No one knew exactly what was wrong, but in general, the team was aware that the devices weren't functioning as they should be. In a last-ditch attempt to make the devices deliver, Cerqueira's team sent new packages of fresh seedlings to the school. When that didn't work, they tried it again. No matter what, the plants just kept dying, according to Cerqueira.
At one point, a representative from the Bezos Family Foundation, a private nonprofit foundation cofounded by Jackie and Mike Bezos, stopped by the school for a visit, Cerqueira said. Harper had been hoping to entice the group to help fund a new foundation that he was just getting off the ground. Even then, the devices wouldn't work.
"It was super embarrassing," said Cerqueira.
Correction, September 9, 2019: This story initially reported that Cerqueira said Caleb Harper instructed her to place store-bought lavender plants in a food computer for a photo shoot. It has been updated to reflect the fact that Cerqueira says another MIT Media Lab manager, and not Harper, issued the instruction. Business Insider regrets the error.
Want to tell us about your experience with MIT Media Lab? Email the author at ebrodwin@businessinsider.com.
Lead photo: Shutterstock
This Brilliant Hydroponic System Puts A Whole Garden On Your Countertop
Growing your own food is one of life’s great pleasures—plus it’s good for you and for the environment. But in increasingly tight, urban homes, we don’t all have room for gardens
08.19.19
It’s Not Just A Garden—It’s A Work of Art
[Photos: courtesy Bace]
Growing your own food is one of life’s great pleasures—plus it’s good for you and for the environment. But in increasingly tight, urban homes, we don’t all have room for gardens. And hydroponic systems, as appealing as they may be, often appear to be a whole lot of hardware for only a bit of actual green. Some fresh arugula would be nice for dinner, but who wants giant plastic box taking up half their kitchen to get a few leaves?
[Photo: courtesy Bace]
The Rotofarm, by an Australian company called Bace (which appears to have produced skincare products in a past life), is a space-friendly hydroponic system, and it doubles as a beautiful sculpture in your home. With a circular design, which rotates plants like a Ferris wheel through the day, the Rotofarm is able to fit nearly five feet of growing area inside a countertop footprint of just 11 inches. Water is dispersed through the nutrient and water reservoir in the stainless steel base, and a bright LED grow light lives in the middle like a tiny sun. Then to harvest, you can tilt the farm 180-degrees and pull off its clear cover. You take what you want (kale, mint, lettuce, spinach, or, yes, marijuana), and close it back up.
Of course, you might be wondering, will it work? Can you grow plants upside down? In fact, you can. NASA has discovered that root systems understand how to grow just fine in zero gravity. Meanwhile, existing rotary systems like the Omega Garden contend that moments of flipped gravity can actually help plants grow and flower, but you wouldn’t want the Omega Garden’s giant drums in your apartment. “The rotary design has been around in agriculture for a while, but these are things that take up a whole room with giant troughs of water underneath,” says Bace’s founder Toby Farmer (yes, his name is “farmer”). “Rotofarm is the first concept that really belongs inside the home.”
[Photo: courtesy Bace]
The Rotofarm is supposed to debut on Kickstarter next month. Despite connecting with Farmer on email, we’re left with all sorts of questions about its true feasibility. Will you need to buy the special, potentially expensive fertilizer packets for the machine seen in the teaser video? What’s the monthly power usage like? How will some teased automation features—from misting to overgrowth sensors—actually work? And of course, what will the whole thing cost?
As a prototype, the Rotofarm is intriguing. As a product, it has all sorts of everyday execution details that need to be just right for the system to be a productive joy rather than a big, annoying, green lamp. That said, so far, so good. Rotofarm offers a convincing thesis on the future of urban gardening. Now we’ll see if the Bace product team can deliver it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Wilson is a senior writer at Fast Company who has written about design, technology, and culture for almost 15 years. His work has appeared at Gizmodo, Kotaku, PopMech, PopSci, Esquire, American Photo and Lucky Peach
The Epstein-Funded MIT Lab Has An Ambitious Project That Purports To Revolutionize Agriculture. Insiders Say It’s Mostly Smoke And Mirrors
Ahead of big demonstrations with MIT Media Lab funders, staff were told to place plants grown elsewhere into the devices, the insiders said. In other instances, devices delivered to local schools simply didn’t work. “It’s fair to say that of the 30-ish food computers we sent out, at most two grew a plant,” one person said
Erin Brodwin, Business Insider US
September 7, 2019
Shutterstock
Insiders told Business Insider that MIT Media Lab faked key elements of its “personal food computer” project (not pictured), which aimed to grow plants without soil.
An ambitious MIT project that purported to turn anyone into a farmer with a single tool is scraping by with smoke-and-mirror tactics, employees told Business Insider.
Ahead of big demonstrations with MIT Media Lab funders, staff were told to place plants grown elsewhere into the devices, the insiders said.
In other instances, devices delivered to local schools simply didn’t work.
“It’s fair to say that of the 30-ish food computers we sent out, at most two grew a plant,” one person said.
MIT didn’t provide a comment for this story.
An ambitious project that purported to turn anyone into a farmer with a single tool is scraping by with smoke-and-mirror tactics, employees told Business Insider.
The “personal food computer,” a device that MIT Media Lab senior researcher Caleb Harper presented as helping thousands of people across the globe grow custom, local food, simply doesn’t work, according to two employees and multiple internal documents that Business Insider viewed. One person asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation.
Harper is the director of MIT’s Open Agriculture Initiative and leads a group of seven people who work on transforming the food system by studying better methods of growing crops.
The food computers are plastic boxes outfitted with advanced sensors and LED lights and were designed to make it possible for anyone, anywhere to grow food, even without soil, Harper has said. Instead of soil, the boxes use hydroponics, or a system of farming that involves dissolving nutrients in water and feeding them to the plant that way.
“We design CO2, temperature, humidity, light spectrum, light intensity, and the minerality of the water, and the oxygen of the water,” Harper said.
On Saturday, Joi Ito, the director of the MIT Media Lab, resigned following a lengthy expose in the New Yorker about the Media Lab’s financial ties with late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein died by suicide while in jail and faced sex-trafficking charges.
Staff placed food grown elsewhere into the devices for demos and photoshoots, they say
Ahead of big demonstrations of the devices with MIT Media Lab funders, staff were told to place plants grown elsewhere into the devices, the employees told Business Insider.
In another instance, one employee was asked to purchase herbs at a nearby flower market, dust off the dirt in which they were grown, and place them in the boxes for a photoshoot, she said.
Harper forwarded an email requesting comment on this story to an MIT spokesperson. The spokesperson didn’t provide a comment.
The aim was to make it look like the devices lived up to Harper’s claims, the employees said. Those claims, which included assertions that the devices could grow foods like broccoli four times faster than traditional methods, landed Harper and his team articles in outlets ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Wired and National Geographic.
Harper’s vision for the personal food computer is bold: “You think Star Trek or Willy Wonka, that’s exactly what we’re going for,” he said in a March 2019 YouTube video produced by the news site Seeker.
Harper’s coworkers told Business Insider a different story. They said the devices are basic hydroponic setups and do not offer the capabilities Harper outlines. In addition, they simply don’t work, they said.
MIT Media Lab’s Caleb Harper speaks at TEDGlobal Geneva. James Duncan Davidson/TED
‘They were always looking for funding’
Paula Cerqueira, a researcher and dietitian who worked as a project manager at the Open Agriculture Initiative for two years, told Business Insider that the personal food computers she worked with were “glorified grow boxes.”
Cerqueira was part of a team that, on several occasions, delivered the personal food computers to schools. She also helped demonstrate the boxes to big-name MIT Media Lab investors.
During the organization’s “Members Weeks” – once-a-semester events that drew donors including Google, Salesforce, Citigroup, and 21st Century Fox – Cerqueira and her coworkers would show investors how the technology worked.
On one occasion, Cerqueira said, her coworkers were told to fetch basil grown from a nearby location and place it into the personal food computers to make it look like it had been grown inside the boxes.
“They wanted the best looking plants in there,” Cerqueira told Business Insider. “They were always looking for funding.”
Cerqueira said in another instance, she was told by another MIT Media Labs manager to buy edible lavender plants from a nearby flower’s market and place them in the boxes for a photoshoot, she said. Before any photos were taken, she carefully dusted off the tell-tale soil on the plants’ roots.
The boxes simply didn’t work, one employee told Business Insider
The central problem with the personal food computer was that it simply didn’t work, Cerqueira and another person with knowledge of the matter told Business Insider.
“It’s essentially a grow box with some sensors for collecting data,” Cerqueira, a dietitian who worked as a project manager at the Open Agriculture Initiative for two years, told Business Insider. Cerqueira left her post after becoming increasingly frustrated with working conditions at the Media Lab, she said.
The boxes were not air-tight, so staff couldn’t control variables like the levels of carbon dioxide and even basic environmental factors like temperature and humidity, Cerqueira and the other person said.
Other team members were aware of these issues, according to several internal emails that Business Insider viewed.
One email, on which Harper is copied, also said that team members weren’t given the chance to test the devices’ functionality for themselves. Another person with knowledge of the matter also described these issues to Business Insider.
‘Of the 30-ish food computers we sent out, at most two grew a plant’
In the Spring of 2017, Cerqueira was part of a pilot program that delivered three of Harper’s devices to local schools in the Boston area. Initially, the idea was for the students to put the devices together themselves. But Cerqueira said that didn’t work – the devices were too complex for the students to construct on their own.
“They weren’t able to build them,” Cerqueira said.
In response, Cerqueira’s team sent three MIT Media Lab staff to set up the computers for them. Of the three devices the staff members tried to setup, only one was able to grow plants, she said. That one stopped working after a few days, however.
When Cerqueira and her coworkers would visit the school, students would joke that the plants they were growing in plastic cups were growing better than the ones in the personal food computers, she said. The pilot ended shortly thereafter.
On another occasion, her team sent two dozen of the devices to classrooms across greater Boston as part of a curriculum being designed by one of MIT Media Lab’s education partners.
“It’s fair to say that of the 30-ish food computers we sent out, at most two grew a plant,” Cerqueira said.
No one knew exactly what was wrong, but in general, the team was aware that the devices weren’t functioning as they should be. In a last-ditch attempt to make the devices deliver, Cerqueira’s team sent new packages of fresh seedlings to the school. When that didn’t work, they tried it again. No matter what, the plants just kept dying, according to Cerqueira.
At one point, a representative from the Bezos Family Foundation, a private nonprofit foundation cofounded by Jackie and Mike Bezos, stopped by the school for a visit, Cerqueira said. Harper had been hoping to entice the group to help fund a new foundation that he was just getting off the ground. Even then, the devices wouldn’t work.
“It was super embarrassing,” said Cerqueira.
Want to tell us about your experience with MIT Media Lab? Email the author at ebrodwin@businessinsider.com.
Want To Grow Food On Your Terrace? This Startup Has Helped Over 400 Homes Do So!
Archana Mishra, 65, was first inspired to grow her own food when her friend from Germany spoke to her about it. The former school teacher wanted to eat healthy but organic produce in the market was considerably expensive
Turning your terrace into a thriving farm doesn’t just help your family eat healthy food, it also helps save the planet. And this Jaipur man can help you do this, one step at a time! #LiveGreen #GrowOrganic
August 16, 2019,
Archana Mishra, 65, was first inspired to grow her own food when her friend from Germany spoke to her about it. The former school teacher wanted to eat healthy but organic produce in the market was considerably expensive.
Want to try your hand at farming? Check out these gardening accessories and start your own vegetable patch at home now!
When she visited her daughter in the US, she was amazed by the concept of a farmer’s market where her daughter would frequently go to buy fresh produce.
Archana Mishra gardening with her granddaughter
She came across Living Greens, a company which provides portable farming systems to customers living in urban spaces. In addition to working with individuals, they also work with corporates in developing green walls (vertical green spaces) in office spaces.
It has been six years since, and now, Mishra grows her vegetables at her home terrace in Jaipur.
Speaking to The Better India, the delighted septuagenarian says, “My entire family is now involved in this process of growing food and it makes me so happy. Even my granddaughters join me while I am tending to my garden.”
In the backdrop of widespread land clearing for agriculture leading to at least 22 per cent of the overall greenhouse gas emissions, it has become imperative that we make efficient use of space. Living Greens was founded by Prateek Tiwari in 2013 with seed-funding from NRI investors living in the Silicon Valley.
Prateek is an Agricultural Engineer and an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi. After serving in blue-chip companies like M&M, Reliance Fresh, ITC (Agri Business Division) and Walmart India, he decided to take the plunge to revolutionise urban farming. He resigned from Walmart in May 2011 but had to put in two arduous years of experimentation to create a do-it-yourself portable farming system.
How it began
Although the Living Greens was officially founded in 2013, it had its modest beginnings in July 2012.
Prateek Tiwari with his team receiving a leadership award for his services
“We launched our concept not as a product but as a service i.e. anybody interested in experimenting with this idea could take our Portable Farming Systems on rent. This attracted many people to experiment. As most of them subsequently decided to purchase the equipment, we scrapped the rental scheme,” says Prateek.
He had a deep and strong conviction that cities must grow their own food. “There is a strong sense of fear that we are eating a bit of cancer everyday in our vegetables, which have been grown using lethal pesticides and effluent water containing carcinogenic heavy metals,” he says.
He discusses several benefits of developing a rooftop farming system. “Covering the rooftops with lush green organic farms not only cools the building but also generates tonnes of fresh oxygen in cities suffocating in their own pollution besides making use of under-utilised urban spaces,” says Prateek.
Along with a profound sense of responsibility to utilise his agricultural education and knowledge, he had a strong desire to convert under-utilised urban spaces like rooftops, plots, gardens, and farmhouses into food-growing urban spaces.
After the idea gained traction, the team of Living Greens focused on offering an A-Plus service experience to clients. “As they [customers] enjoyed growing their vegetables on their rooftops, we encouraged them to spread their ‘joy of farming’ among their friends and on social media. We thus expanded our client base through referrals from happy customers,” says the founder.
Since then, over 400 houses have become organic homes where people grow fresh vegetables on their rooftops. Mishra was one of their first ten customers and she still gets in touch with them when she needs help with anything related to her garden. For this, she pays a nominal fee.
How it works
The Living Greens has a range of services. The portable farming system (PFS) service is available for Rs 14,500 for two units. The prices go down per unit when purchased in bulk. The installation takes between 48 to 72 hours.
A terrace garden belonging to a client
They also provide a set of organic sprays for pest, disease and nutrient management of plants being grown in the PFS. One organic inputs kit can be applied to two PFSs for four months.
There are also four kinds of root fertilisers that must be used regularly by the client.
Prateek points out that the pesticides for an organic garden also need to be free of chemicals.
He believes that a focus on a prophylactic approach instead of a symptomatic one is better for the overall health of plants. For this, they developed seven sprays for seven days which must be applied on the plants for four months. These bio-pesticides are made of organic materials like neem oil which reduces the egg-laying capacity of pests.
Another example is a liquid fungus called Beauveria bassiana which is used to control pests like whiteflies among other insects in agriculture.
Onsite support system is another service they offer. This comprises of weekly and monthly visits once the unit is installed. After the 4-month support period, customers can pay per visit for additional guidance.
They also provide the services of an online support system.
“Our team of agri experts can receive the problem-pics from the client, identify the pest/disease/nutrient issue and give precise recommendations from within the organic inputs kit, for solving the problem,” says Prateek. This facility is free.
“After offering a basic training to the client at the time of installation, we continue to support them online, by sending all required information in the form of charts/diagrams/videos/video-chats,” he adds.
Expansion and challenges
The Living Greens helps transform terraces into urban farms
The road to success was not easy. When Living Greens first began, a lot of people did not know much about urban farming and believed that it was practiced by farmers on open lands in rural areas. There was also a dearth of quality and well-tested organic inputs, says Prateek.
He also started with a very small team who did not have much knowledge of organic farming. There was a need for a collaborative effort between the client and employees on site, with a constant exchange of expertise.
Now, the company tries to employ people who have some background in agriculture. Hardayal Shefma, 24, is one such employee who has a diploma in agriculture from the Krishi Vigyan Kendra.
“I have learnt so much about organic farming and its health benefits. I help in installation, provide support, and expertise for the maintenance of these gardens,” says the employee who has been working in the company for over three years now.
The Living Greens has also expanded its operations from Jaipur to New Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. They transport their PFSs with one person from their installation team who then arranges for local labour for installation on site.
The Living Greens also has its franchisees in Lucknow, Bhopal, and Pune.
So, what is on the cards for the Living Greens now? “We want to become the largest urban organic farming company in the world, apart from creating greener and more breathable cities for future generations,” says Prateek as he signs off.
Also Read: 42-YO Breathes Life Into Ghost Villages With Natural Farming, Rural Tourism!
Picture Courtesy: The Living Greens
(Edited by Shruti Singhal)
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