Building Resilience Into The Vegetable Supply Chain Using Container Farming

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Canada’s food supply chain is robust and reliable - even in times of the COVID-19 crisis - but there is an opportunity to become more self-sufficient. Container farming can provide your food supply with some autonomy and reduced reliance on external food supply chains.

THE SUPPLY CHAIN DURING COVID-19

Empty shelves at the outbreak of the pandemic were a shock to many as grocery store retailers have experienced shortages, or delays, in their supply chain during this adjustment period. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) wrote in a special COVID-19 report that “supermarket shelves remain stocked for now [...] but a protracted pandemic crisis could quickly put a strain on the food supply chains, a complex web of interactions involving farmers, agricultural inputs, processing plants, shipping, retailers and more.” The FAO emphasizes that there is enough supply, but transportation is lacking to help get the crops where they are needed most.

FOOD PRICES ARE RISING

Even before COVID-19 struck, food prices in Canada were predicted to rise between 2 and 4 percent, especially vegetables and bakery items. Now, according to a new forecast by the University of Guelph and Dalhousie University, researchers say the factors contributing to the rise have changed but they still expect prices to rise nonetheless. Plus, grocery stores are now spending more to ensure the proper protection protocols are in place on top of paying their essential workers more. These costs won’t be changing soon, so what ways can more resilience be built into the grocery store model?

Students in Kugluktuk, Nunavut help run their Growcer system which provides produce to the school and community.

EVERYONE IS IMPACTED DIFFERENTLY

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It is important to note that not every community’s food supply is going to be impacted the same way. In a Food Secure Canada webinar about Food Policy and COVID-19, the speakers spoke to how rural and Indigenous communities will be impacted differently than cities. One of the speakers, Jessica McLaughlin with the Indigenous Food Circle, said, “What has become very evident to us is the vulnerability of communities on that big industrial food supply chain and the lack of autonomy to self-determine their own food systems.” However, Mclaughlin added that despite this, communities are working together. “In this crisis, communities have been really resilient . . . you really see how communities pull together and they are taking this into their own hands,” McLaughlin said.

WHAT COULD A SOLUTION LOOK LIKE?

Each community has different needs, but one possible solution is container farming. With container farms, communities and grocery stores can grow a variety of produce year-round, no matter the weather, and even customize what’s being grown to match the demand of the community. You’re also not stuck to growing one crop. A grower can grow multiple types of produce at a time and switch out what’s being grown regularly. Having a local, year-round, consistent supply of produce allows the community not to rely solely on external sources and can provide a buffer when the supply chain experiences delays. 

The Yellowknife Co-op's Growcer unit is operated by its existing employees who see it as an opportunity to serve their community.

Now, hydroponic growing might sound technical but operating one of Growcer’s systems is extremely simple. It only takes one week of on-site training to have employees comfortable with the system. Justin Nelson, general manager for The Yellowknife Co-op, shared that their employees love working in the Grower unit. “On a cold dark day in Yellowknife there’s no better place to be than inside the Growcer unit,” Nelson said. “When you’re actually harvesting the product that you’re selling it’s a great feeling.” You can read more about The Yellowknife Co-op’s story to see how they integrated a container farm with their store.
Food sovereignty and the ability for communities to decide how their food systems run has been brought to the forefront during COVID-19. It’s impossible to predict what lays ahead, but we do know that this could be a time for a reset for some of us.

Stephanie

April 27, 2020

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Swedish Startup Receives Funding For AI-Run 'NeighbourFood' project

A newly established innovation cluster will develop the groundbreaking service-model for urban farming, AgTech startup SweGreen’s ‘Farming as a Service’, to contribute to a sustainable food supply chain. The 2MSEK-project called ‘NeighbourFood’ is granted by Vinnova as an initiative to support innovations in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The project NeighbourFood aims to upgrade a modern Urban Farming solution to an optimized smart and digital model for system monitoring and remote-control process steering. 

Farming as a Service (FAAS)
"We have developed cutting-edge technology with high technical readiness level for food production indoors. With this project we address the last limitation factor towards a remote farming management model: A cloud-based service that enables a physical food production unit to become available as a service to our customers – as we refer to as ‘Farming-as-a-Service’," Swegreen Chief Innovation Officer Sepehr Mousavi highlights. The vision is to create a realistic alternative to the highly global, and to a certain degree fragile and resource inefficient, food production chains that currently dominate the marketplace. The innovation cluster behind the project, besides AgTech company Swegreen, includes also Research Institute of Sweden (RISE), Mälardalen University and high-profile Swedish chefs Paul Svensson and Tareq Taylor’s newly established restaurant Paul Taylor Lanthandel.

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Local food
The demand for year-round urban food production has never been more relevant than now, under the crisis of Covid-19. Production of food is down at 50% in Sweden, which shows our society's exposure, Paul Svensson, top-notch chef and founder of Paul Taylor Lanthandel says. Our aim is to contribute to and increase the trust in and desire for locally produced food near our customers, Paul Svensson continues. We see us as a perfect channel for locally produced food at Paul Taylor Lanthandel we provide both a small general store and a restaurant, and thereby nurse a close relationship to producers and our local neighborhood community. The core of the innovation will take place in Swegreen’s production facility, called CifyFarm, which is an indoor vertical farm for production of nutritious leafy greens, salad and herbs, with a yield of approximately 200 times yield/area compared to traditional farming. The CityFarm uses minimal resources all year round and is isolated from the outside environment and is located on floor -3 of Dagens Nyheter tower in central Stockholm.

Digitally monitored farming units 
The Farming as a Service concept of Swegreen’s enables Urban Farming technology to integrate with e.g. supermarkets or restaurants by digitally monitored farming units at the customer’s facility, which will produce food with minimal logistics and almost zero human intervention in a plug-and-play format. This farm management system empowers any entrepreneur with little or zero farming knowledge to grow high-quality food in an optimal environment while reducing risks and elevating the decision-making process, using dedicated decision-support systems and process optimization through the use of artificial intelligence, adds SweGreen’s CEO Andreas Dahlin. The NeighbourFood was one of the few selected projects by Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova, out of 287 applications filed in response to the call ‘Innovation in the track of crisis’. 

Innovative business model
The project will also make use of the sharing economy, innovative business models, and digital twins to speed up a coping strategy towards the Covid-19 crisis and addresses the need for climate transition and secure circular and resilient food supply chains. The project is intended to be integrated into a national Shared Economy platform, Sharing Cities Sweden, financed by the Swedish Innovation Agency and the Swedish Strategic Innovation Program for smart and sustainable cities, Viable Cities. Neighbourfood is an example of the green deal and how the sharing economy in cities can trigger innovative business models for resilient food supply chains – a sharing platform for neighbours, by neighbours! mentions Dr. Charlie Gullström, a senior researcher at RISE and head of Sharing Cities Sweden, Stockholm Testbed.

Collaborations
Swegreens Sepehr Mousavi who will be the project’s coordinator and lead also adds: "We are proud of our collaboration with RISE through one of the most prominent researchers in Sweden when it comes to digitalization and use of sharing economy solutions", Dr. Charlie Gullström and the platform of Sharing Cities Sweden alongside Dr. Alex Jonsson from RISE Prototyping Societies. This service introduces FaaS to our national platform for sharing economy as a new vital function. Sepehr Mousavi continues: "Also having Dr. Baran Çürüklü from Mälardalen University, a vibrant academic center for development of AI-related technologies’ and his team of PhD students onboard adds the competence needed for us to be able to hack the query and guarantee the success of the NeighbourFood project." Dr. Baran Çürüklü adds: "Food production can suddenly be a mission-critical factor as we can see now. Orchestration of production facilities through artificial intelligence may be decisive in managing such a crisis."

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For more information:
SweGreen
Andreas Dahlin
andreas.dahlin@swegreen.se
www.swegreen.se

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Publication date: Mon 11 May 2020

Shipping Container Farm, Vertical Roots Hires Displaced Restaurant Workers To Help Fill Growing Retail Demand

Vertical Roots hires displaced restaurant workers to help fill growing retail demand

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 Eat Your Greens

May 13, 2020

By Parker MilnerRuta Smith

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Ruta Smith

Vertical Roots grows leafy greens in hydroponic gardens inside custom-outfitted shipping containers

With the restaurant and hospitality industry under duress and thousands out of work, container farm company Vertical Roots stepped up to the plate, offering jobs to displaced employees.Since launching in 2016, Vertical Roots has expanded from a single hydroponic garden container to a current operation of more than 130, each filled with leafy greens. For co-owners Andrew Hare and Matt Daniels, their mission is two-fold: delivering a local, pesticide-free product and developing community relationships to serve those in need."I have been in the restaurant industry for most of my adult life, including eight years right here in Charleston," said Hare. "It really hits close to home for me, witnessing this incredible industry turned upside down so quickly by this pandemic."According to Hare, Vertical Roots hired about two dozen chefs, cooks, dishwashers, servers and managers since the COVID-19 pandemic began. In all, employees displaced by the outbreak made up about 25 percent of their 100-employee team split between their two locations in Charleston and Columbia when we spoke in April."We are helping these people get a paycheck and they are helping us get product out of the door," said Hare. "They have been eager, fast learners, which has made the whole process seamless."Many of the new hires have worked with the non-GMO produce in the past. Vertical Roots supplies many local kitchens with their one- or two-day old living baby Romaine, arugula, bibb and butter lettuces.After a food safety course, most new employees started in the "pack room," where Hare said "all the harvested products flow to cool down and be processed for each customer, whether it's making a spring mix of cut leaves or taking living heads of lettuce to clamshell or case."Many of Vertical Roots' newcomers will return to their kitchens as restaurants reopen, but at least one downtown chef currently working with the company said some workers may continue to work at the container farm.For Vertical Roots, the growing season never ends inside their compact, LED-lit shipping containers. The company currently supplies more than 400 stores, mostly in the Southeast. And the customer base is growing, Hare reports."We are 98 percent focused on retail right now," said Hare, who points out that the closure of restaurants in the Charleston area led to an influx of large retail orders.With a hand in every part of the supply chain, Hare knows exactly what's going on with each crop at any given time, and the farm sites' geographic positioning allows the greens to arrive at their final destination within 24 hours of harvesting. Large-scale commercial farms, on the other hand, must contend with corporate concentration, leading to less quality control in a practice where several uncertainties such as soil contamination and water runoff already exist.According to Hare, 95 percent of the leafy greens in grocery stores come from two areas, Yuma, Arizona and Salinas, California. "These products can sometimes have three weeks of travel time," Hare said. "With us, you are dealing with a young, vibrant product filled with calcium and potassium. I would definitely stress how important it is to eat something clean right now."Hare said he feels fortunate for the added business, and they were in need of some help prior to the arrival of their new crew. "What a mutually beneficial thing for us to be able to go out and hire some of our customers who are familiar with our products," Hare said. Having people on staff who know how to use the product is enabling Vertical Roots to meet the growing demand for their seven lettuce varieties," he added.

May 6th, 2020 16:00 CEST Webinar Series 'Eat This' by World Horti Center

World Horti Center and NethWork collaborate in giving a follow up to the exhibition ‘Countryside – The Future’ initiated by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, that was opened on February 20 in the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The exhibition among others features the current and future developments in food production, especially what is happening in greenhouses.

Webinar sessions
The exhibition is currently closed, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the production of cherry tomatoes in a closed, high tech production unit, situated in front of the museum on Fifth Avenue, continues. Right in the center of the world and the epicenter of the pandemic. The unit, therefore, is a great metaphor and catalyst in the discussion on the consumption of healthy food, produced in a sustainable and affordable way. Therefore, World Horti Center (WHC) took the initiative to facilitate, in cooperation with foundation NethWork, a new series of online events.

Thought leaders
During weekly webinar sessions, thought leaders in the field of food will share their vision on (the future of) healthy food. The kick-off takes place on Wednesday 6 May, 16.00 hrs CEST and features architect Rem Koolhaas, initiator of the exhibition ‘Countryside – The Future’. He will be assisted by Clemens Driessen, a philosopher at Wageningen UR. Both gentlemen will share their vision on current developments and the future of horticulture in the Netherlands and beyond. You can register for the first webinar here. 

Eat This
This webinar series, named ‘Eat This’ is a close collaboration between NethWork and World Horti Center. Both organizations want to connect the horticultural sector with the world beyond horticulture. Renee Snijders and Ed Smit of NethWork will present these weekly webinar sessions. After the inaugural session with Rem Koolhaas, 9 webinars will follow. Additional details on guests and themes will follow soon.

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For more information:
World Horti Center Europa 1
2672 ZX  Naaldwijk
Netherlands
+31 (0)174 385 600
info@worldhorticenter.nl
www.worldhorticenter.nl

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NethWork 
www.nethwork.info

Publication date: Wed 29 Apr 202

Is Vertical Farming The Future of Agriculture?

We’ve seen the rise of numerous innovations designed to improve our world and mitigate issues that come with a rapidly expanding global population. Vertical farms are part of a rising influx of ‘urban agriculture,’ which allows food to be grown closer to large population points. Now more people are recognizing the value of vertical farming, although few people understand what it really is. It’s got a ton of benefits, but we still have to weigh those against other factors to really determine if vertical farming can take over the future of agriculture.

What is vertical farming?

Vertical farms can take many different shapes and sizes, but they operate the same at their cores. First of all, in vertical farm crops, they aren’t grown horizontally (which you may have gleaned from the name), but in a stacked or tower formation. In tower-style vertical farming, plants are grown upward, intertwining into the lattice or supporting structure. In the stacked method, the vertical ‘stacks’ are basically growing trays, supported by shelves on top of one another. Vertical farms are maintained in indoor areas using Controlled Environment Agriculture, or CEA, techniques, and technology. This means that the farmer can control everything from heating to humidity, to light and watering cycles.

Vertical farms don’t use soil to provide sustenance to the plants. Instead, they rely on hydroponics to deliver nutrients to the plants. In hydroponic growing, water is saturated with a nutrient solution and cycled through the growing trays that hold the plants. Some vertical farms use aeroponics to provide nutrients to the plants. Aeroponics is a form of hydroponics, but rather than using a ‘flow’ of water, the water is pushed through pressurized nozzles. This creates small droplets that are delivered directly to the plants’ roots. 

Many vertical farms are being established in homes, warehouses, multi-storied buildings, and specially designed constructions. In a lot of urban areas, vertical farms are being constructed and used as the new ‘rooftop garden’. The idea is to create a more ecological, accessible, and economical approach to mass food production.

What can be grown in a vertical farm?

Some crops, like grains, can be difficult to grow in closed, indoor systems such as a vertical farm. So for instance, wheat is not something that’s likely to thrive in a vertical farm. That being said, there are tons of plants and crops that flourish in vertical farms. The most common are leafy greens like spinach, kale, and lettuce because they grow quickly and produce large harvests without taking up much space.

Other vegetables (‘bulkier’ ones, if you will) can grow well in vertical farms if the environment is set up properly. Tomatoes have long been a favorite in vertical farms, and many vertical farms are also beginning to produce squash, peppers, and more.

Why choose vertical farming over traditional agriculture?

Vertical farming has plenty of advantages over traditional agriculture that makes it an attractive solution for food sourcing. First, and one of the biggest draws for the common populace toward vertical farming is how little space is needed in relation to the amount of crops that can be produced. By producing so much food in so little space, we’re able to free up a lot of land.

A company in Wyoming has even developed a vertical farm that produces the same amount of produce as a traditional farm while using only 1/10 of the space.

If we’re already using that land for farming, why should we convert to vertical farming?

We allow the soil to turn over more easily. Certain crops can be extremely draining on the nutrient contents of soil and have to be rotated with other crops simply to reinvigorate the soil. And depending on how quickly you see the population growing, that land just might come into high demand for housing or energy production. Just for reference, according to the UN, the population will be 9.7 billion by 2050, that’s up by 2.4 billion. And if you’re also paying attention to rising sea levels (you may have heard of certain states that will be losing some valuable coastline), arable land at higher elevations could become prime real estate.

Vertical farms also leverage more ecological techniques for farming.

Since almost all vertical farms use either hydroponics or aeroponics to sustain plants, there’s very little water usage (certainly in comparison to field agriculture). To put it into perspective, vertical farms typically use about 90% less water than soil farms. Some vertical farm innovators have even claimed that their farms use up to 98 or 99% less water.

Thanks to their inside locations, vertical farms have another advantage. They’re more or less protected against the threat of pests and contamination. That means a few things:

First, an entire crop won’t be destroyed as a result of pests and infestation. Second, pesticides and chemicals aren’t necessary since being indoors will eliminate the threat of pests. And third, since harmful chemicals aren’t being used, we’re protecting the surrounding ecosystem. Field agriculture can have a lot of negative impact on the environment around it when pesticides are used, and runoff goes into natural water sources. Vertical farms don’t have the possibility of creating this collateral damage.

Vertical farms also provide the possibility of a more centralized food production system. Right now, most food is transported across great distances to reach the stores where consumers then purchase it. That makes food more expensive, but it also means that we have to rely on fossil fuels. In turn, that means the ‘footprint’ on our food is higher since we’re producing more emissions to deliver it.

They can produce consistently, regardless of the season

Field agriculture is primarily a seasonal endeavor. There are summer crops, autumn crops, and so on, but you can’t grow it all at once. If you’re farming indoors with Controlled Environment Agriculture, as you’d do with a vertical farm, this becomes a non-issue. Farmers using CEA can consistently produce plentiful harvests year-round, without natural events disrupting their farm. Not only that, the harvests are predictable and reliable. This makes it easier to plan food production and deliver on the demand.

What does it take to make a vertical farm?

Vertical farms are different than other at-home farming and gardening systems. The way that vertical farms are being used today is mostly as large, commercial-scale food production sites. You can always implement vertical growing techniques at home, but to get a large scale facility built it takes a bit more to get it going. Some companies specialize in creating vertical farm systems, while others self-establish theirs. In either case, it can be a large (but worthy) endeavor. Plants aside, here are the main components of a vertical farm:

Space

Finding a large space to support a vertical farm is the first step in establishing one. Whether created out of a government initiative or by an entrepreneur, finding a space can be a process. While there are plenty of empty buildings around, they have to find one that can be converted with minimal cost. That means checking for structural damage, damp, proper insulation, proximity to reliable power, etc.

The equipment

Depending on the level of automation, the equipment will vary a bit. However, a vertical farm still needs plenty of supports to hold the plants, which will take up the bulk of the space alongside the plants. Then there need to be ventilation systems in place to prevent rot, fungus, and disease. In almost every instance there’s also going to be a heavy amount of artificial ‘grow’ lighting needed.

Then, hydroponic or aeroponic systems need to be set up to provide sufficient nutrients to the plants. The ways of setting the watering systems up can be very different. Some vertical gardens even use rotating racks (upon which the plants are held) that alternate plants through aeroponic cycles. Other vertical gardens use a more traditional hydroponic method, leaving the plants in place and putting them through ‘flood and drain’ cycles. 

The labor

This is by far the most neglected consideration of a vertical farm. Now, vertical farms are sustainable, efficient systems and a lot of automation contributes to their success. But no matter how advanced the automation and machine monitoring is, we can’t leave them unattended.

Vertical farms still need a set of human eyes (or several sets, ideally) keeping a lookout for plant health and potential machine errors. Workers often have to dress in protective clothing to prevent contamination to the plants, keeping that benefit of indoor agriculture. In some vertical farms the workers are responsible for more manual tasks (such as examining roots or testing samples), but all require at least some human help in their maintenance.

In fact, human labor is one of the largest components of a vertical farm. In comparison to soil agriculture, the amount of labor required still ranks as minimal. That being said, human labor is currently one of the top expenses in maintaining a vertical farm. Lighting is still number one, but the cost of human labor comes in as a close (and critically important) second.

Planned and Established Vertical Farms

Not everybody’s there yet, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t already successful vertical farms being created around the world. Just to add a little perspective, we should talk about a few really innovative ones worldwide. First, let’s talk about the next big up-and-comer, Dubai:

Dubai

Dubai is a country wherein a gross majority of its foodstuffs have to be imported (currently about 75%). In an effort to mitigate this costly but necessary process, a new vertical farm is in the works. The facility will be called Crop One, and feature 130,000 square feet (yes, that’s correct) of vertical farm space. The size is more than double any previously seen, and plans are in the works to develop solar energy programs to power it eventually.

Sunqiao, Shanghai

Sunqiao is an urban, agricultural district being planned in Shanghai, China. This project incorporates vertical gardens on a massive scale, showcasing agriculture that looks like a forested skyscraper. Plants will be grown in tall towers, floating greenhouses and gardens, green walls, and basically any other type of vertical or hydroponic growing you can imagine. These systems are becoming a popular solution to the growing demand of food production in China’s densely populated urban areas.

DakAkker, Rotterdam

This vertical farm is a rooftop system that began in 2012. The unique thing about this vertical farm is that not only does it support the urban area’s plant biodiversity, it also considers the issue of diminishing bee populations. It uses technology in an innovative solution called a ‘smart roof.’ Basically, the smart roof holds a greater water capacity than most vertical rooftop gardens, and employs a sensor to ensure plants receive an adequate water supply. Because bees are not only facing a survival crisis, but are also critical to pollination, there are six beehives also located on the roof.

What’s holding back the development of vertical farms?

The uptake on vertical farming is growing, although there are critics of the systems. Depending on the level of automation especially, vertical farms can have a fair cost with their set up. That being said, they don’t have to be expensive endeavors. A small, start-up vertical farm (we’re talking around 100 square feet or so) can cost a few thousand dollars to begin and run for a year. Even still, for the hobbyist gardener that can seem like a lot. 

While vertical farms do a good job of using only a small percentage of the water used in field agriculture, they have a lot more energy costs. Being indoor, these farms need supplemental heat, lighting (almost guaranteed to be the highest expense of a vertical farm), and plenty of regulation. Electric costs can be cut, but only if the farmer invests in solar technology to help power the vertical farm.

It’s also important to recognize that while we love innovation, as humans we’re pretty much creatures of habit. That means that outside of agriculture, infrastructure, and public works professions, a lot of people don’t see the need to construct new vertical farms. That’s especially true when we realize that no matter the source, they’re still getting their produce at the supermarket. Plus, a lot of people just plain don’t ‘get’ the point of vertical farms. As with anything else, unfamiliarity often breeds hesitancy.

What’s in the future of vertical farming?

Like anything else that uses technology, the future is likely to bring a lot of innovation and improvement. We can expect to see even greater efficiency, larger-scale farms, more technological additions, and (hopefully) a more widespread understanding of the value of vertical farms.

There are already systems in place that allow a high level of monitoring and control of these farms, even remotely. From apps to advanced computer programs that detail everything from humidity levels to expected crop production, the technology exists. What we can certainly expect is to see greater accuracy, and a greater influx of its use.

Vertical farms and hydroponic growing systems are much more common in some urban areas (such as cities in Asia) than in others (such as the United States). We can expect to see more vertical farms being established as time goes on. Some regions will adopt these farms more quickly, but worldwide they will gradually become more commonplace.

While vertical farms are already quite efficient compared to soil farming, the future of vertical farming is heavily invested inefficiency. As we innovate more with technology, efficiency naturally follows. For example, even our LED lighting (while already pretty efficient) is more advanced and efficient than only a few years ago. Our current LED lights are up to 40% more efficient than those produced in 2014. That’s a notable improvement for a few years’ time.

The next big increase in efficiency is likely to be in the overall energy consumption. Although still in the works, many companies are developing energy systems for vertical farms that either rely on solar energy or use solar energy to supplement power to the farms. 

So, can vertical farming takeover for traditional agriculture?

Well, that answer is kind of a mixed bag. In some ways, it already has. People are starting to recognize that the future of food production is changing. The future of food production is a great many things. And yes, vertical farming is one of them.

Here’s the thing:

We have a global situation where we’re faced with an inevitable ultimatum: evolve and flourish, or become obsolete. As we humans are pretty driven for survival, evolving and flourishing seems to be an attractive option. When we’re talking about the future of our agriculture, it’s far better to get ahead early rather than start too late. That means adopting new farming methods, like vertical farming, is going to be critical to our global well-being.

The Hydroponics Planet | By Oscar Stephens | March 7, 2019

World’s First Vertical Farming Congress

By urbanagnews 

April 8, 2020

The first Vertical Farming World Congress will be held from 22nd to 24th September at London’s Heathrow Airport. Eminent industry-leading speakers have confirmed their participation from North America, the Middle East, and Asia as well as Europe. The chosen theme is ‘Shaping Food’s Future’.

“Vertical farming really can help shape the future of food production,” explained Richard Hall, Chairman of the food and drink experts Zenith Global and the event’s organizer. “By being indoors and with completely controlled conditions, there are no floods, droughts, winds or pesticides. You can grow 30 crops a year locally, right next to a supermarket or city distribution centre. Growing to perfection in a stress-free environment means greater freshness, better nutrition and a longer storage life.”

Topics on the program include: market opportunity; an industry leadership panel; strategic alternatives between aeroponic, aquaponic and hydroponic systems; technology briefings ranging from lighting and robotics to overall system design; a nutrition briefing; a funding panel; and key innovator
case studies.

Among the speakers are:

• Industry leaders, such as AeroFarms, Intelligent Growth Solutions, Jones Food Company, Root AI and Square Roots

• Association heads from Germany and Japan

• Investment experts from Ashfords, S2G Ventures and Innovate UK

• Technology developers, including GE and Wageningen University.

There will also be a visit to Vertical Future’s vertical farm operation in East London and a reception with vertically farmed fresh produce tasting.

The event has also attracted sponsorship from GE, LED lighting experts, and YesHealth, which has pioneered vertical farming in Taiwan.

Full program details and booking information are available at www.zenithglobal.com/events/vfwc2020 or contact the events team at events@zenithglobal.com.

• TAGS Conference LED Grow Lights Vertical Farming

Is Containerized Blackberry Production-Ready For Prime Time? By e-GRO

By urbanagnews

April 6, 2020

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Ryan Dickson and Leala Machesney  
University of Arkansas

Blackberries and other small fruits are increasingly being grown in soilless substrate and containers versus field soil.

Growing small fruit crops in containers requires additional capital and effort compared to field production, but has some potential benefits.

e-gro Edible Alert: Containerized Blackberry Production

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Indoor Micro Farming: Benefits, Costs, And Profits

Pure Greens Arizona LLC

March 7, 2020

Indoor micro-farming is a trendy alternative to outdoor farming.

Outdoor, or field, farming is declining as land costs and soil erosion make it increasingly harder to start a farm. In its place, small indoor farms are popping up to meet the increasing demand for locally produced food.

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Did you know small farms produce more than 70 percent of the world’s food?

Micro farms are versatile. They can be created in any small room like shipping containers, bedrooms, and garages.

In this article, you’ll learn all about indoor micro-farms including its benefits, costs, and how to profit from one.

Basics of Indoor Micro farming

Indoor micro-farming refers to small-scale farms in urban or suburban areas.

The ability to control environmental factors like lighting, humidity, and temperature is the biggest advantage that indoor farming has over outdoor farming.

Indoor alternatives to field farming, like greenhouses, have been around for thousands of years, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that controlled environment farms emerged.

Farmers use a variety of different systems to grow plants indoors. Aquaponics, hydroponics, and aeroponics are a few of the most popular systems after using traditional soil.

Aquaponics refers to using fish to grow plants. In these systems, fish fertilize water that’s fed to the plants. The plants, in turn, purify the water, which is fed back into the fish tanks.

Hydroponic systems grow crops by watering plants with a nutrient-rich solution. Instead of soil, plants are grown in a nutrition-less growing medium that allows plants to absorb the nutrients from the water easier than if they were grown in soil.

In aeroponic systems, plants are grown with their roots exposed in highly misted environments. The mist is created using a nutrient solution.

We use hydroponic systems to cultivate crops in our Pure Greens container farms, which are made out of shipping containers.

Indoor micro-farms are often started using spare space like an unused basement, guest room, or garage in the farmer’s home. But they can also be started in any small, indoor area like a shipping container.

The ability to use a small space to grow produce is only one of indoor micro-farming’s many benefits.

Benefits of Indoor Micro farming

Indoor micro-farming is beneficial because it fills the demand for certain produce while saving money and stress.

As far as selling goes, demand for locally produced food across the United States is increasing.

Nielsen, a data and measurement firm, found that 48% of consumers prefer ingredients and food that have been produced locally.

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Indoor micro-farming fills this demand by being produced in the center of commercial areas, guaranteeing locality.

Purchasing land or buildings big enough for large-scale operations are expensive. Indoor micro-farming allows people to use the buildings they already live in to start growing.

Capital expenses are also lower because you don’t have to purchase new land. Plus, equipment isn’t as expensive for microforms due to the availability of ready-for-installation systems and “Do It Yourself” (DIY) tutorials.

With smaller capital expenses comes a lower-stakes environment.

When you’ve put less money into a project, there’s less pressure to succeed. Feel free to experiment with systems and crop types to find what works best for your farm.

Indoor micro-farming also allows you to develop a local customer base and specialize in a niche market.

Having already secured customers and perfected a crop will help when you’re ready to expand.

Indoor micro-farming also allows restauranteurs to grow their own produce onsite, reducing food waste by being able to harvest only what’s needed rather than buying in bulk. Customers will also appreciate the fresher tasting food!

Another benefit of indoor micro-farming systems is that there isn’t just one way to do it.

Micro farming Systems

Because micro-farming can be done using virtually any size of space, there’s a wide variety of systems to pick from.

Our Pure Greens container farms are an excellent choice for those with yard space for a 40-foot shipping container.

Our farms come outfitted with a recirculating hydroponic system, providing a low water consumption rate, and an automated controlled environment system that can be monitored via your smartphone.

For farmers with less space to work with, there are a few smaller purchasable and DIY options out there as well.

Ready-to-use hydroponic systems can be purchased online or from a local hydroponic equipment store.

One popular DIY hydroponic system for beginners is the Kratky method.

The Kratky method is easy as it doesn’t require pumps or changing the nutrient solution. In this system, plants are placed in a netted pot with a growing medium, such as coconut coir or clay balls, and then placed into a reservoir filled with water and nutrient solution.

While this method is good for farmers with very little experience, it’s only effective for growing leafy greens. Anything with flowers or fruits will need a more involved process.

The Kratky method also requires close attention to the water’s pH levels because it’s not replaced or adjusted during the growing cycle.

Aeroponic systems are also buildable but require a little bit more expertise with construction. Plants grown in these systems receive maximum nutrients.

But aeroponic systems are less common than hydroponic systems when it comes to home-growing because they require special attention to nutrient ratios and pH levels, making them not very beginner-friendly.

Scott Dekarske of Wet-Werk Hydroponics in Memphis, TN, and Master Gardener, Stephan Leonard, show how to assemble an inexpensive aeroponics system. It only t...

Aquaponic systems are a good choice for people interested in fish farming. If you raise healthy enough fish, you can sell them along with your produce.

Keep in mind aquaponic systems require more maintenance than hydroponic or aeroponic systems and they’re a little trickier.

With these systems, you have to keep both the fish and the plants happy. Doing so requires finding the delicate balance of water flow between the two.

Deciding on which system to use can be tricky, but your expenses will depend heavily on the system you decide to use.

Indoor Micro farming Costs

Capital and operating expenses of indoor micro-farming varies depending on the type of system and size of the operation.

The first expense is going to be buying the system itself or any materials needed to construct it. You may need to purchase tubs, pumps, and pipes.

You’ll also need to purchase light fixtures, so your plants have a light source to use for photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, plants absorb energy from light to produce glucose out of carbon dioxide and water.

There are plenty of LED lights in the market aimed specifically toward growing plants. Look for bulbs with high efficiency to conserve energy usage.

Because indoor micro-farming typically relies on artificial light rather than sunlight, energy costs can be high. A 2017 survey of indoor farms found that small farms spent about $3.45 per square foot on energy alone, which was about 12% of the total budget.

Take into consideration water usage as well. Systems like recirculating hydroponics and aeroponics use considerably less water than aquaponics and soil-based systems.

Hydroponic and aeroponic systems typically require 4 gallons of water per square foot per year. Meanwhile, aquaponic systems use about 10 gallons of water per square foot per year.

Be sure to also factor in any fish costs such as a tank, food, and the animals themselves when using aquaponic systems.

Once your indoor micro-farm is ready to grow, you’ll need to buy planting materials.

Planting expenses will be recurring so be sure to keep them in mind while budgeting. Purchase seeds, growing mediums, and nutrient solutions online or in stores.

Growing mediums and nutrient solutions replace the soil in hydroponic and some aeroponic systems. The growing medium acts as a support for the plants’ roots while the solution provides essential nutrients for strong, healthy plants.

While indoor micro-farming can be costly, there are plenty of strategies for growing your business.

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Profiting from your Microfarm

The first step to making a profit from indoor micro-farming comes before you even plant a single crop: Research.

Find demand for a product in the local market that isn’t being met. Meet with potential customers like chefs, grocery stores, and farmers’ market patrons and ask what they’d like to be able to purchase fresh.

Focus on growing specialty crops rather than common produce like lettuce.

Specialty crops can be things that are out of season, hard to grow in your climate or something trendy such as microgreens or adaptogens.

Consider selling your products at farmers’ markets, to vendors, to wholesale distributors, and to local restaurants.

The number of farmers’ markets in the country has tripled since 2000, making it an easy choice for finding customers.

Research popular farmers’ markets in your area and learn how to set up shop. Keep in mind that some markets will charge a fee to set-up a booth.

Alternatively, approach a different produce vendor and let them sample your product. If all goes well, they will sell your product for you!

Find a middleman by selling to wholesale distributors. Distributors will find shops to sell your products for you, giving you more time to focus on growing.

Or sell your produce directly to local restaurants.

Research chefs who focus on crafting dishes using locally sourced greens. Set up an appointment with chefs to pitch your business to them and be sure to bring along your best samples.

Try to establish a rapport with the restaurant. Find out whether they’d prefer a range of products or a specific good.

After you’ve established your clientele, your indoor micro-farm will blossom.

Now that you’re familiar with indoor micro-farming, it’s time to get started.

Visit our website or call us at 602–753–3469 to learn more about how you can start your own container farm.

Vertical Farming Indoor Farming Farming Farming Technology

WRITTEN BY

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Pure Greens Arizona LLC

Pure Greens’ container-based grow systems offer a variety of interior layouts, sizes, and options so customers can create a farm that meets their needs.

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Vertical Farming: The Advantages of Growing Up, Not Out

We share this planet with more than 7 billion people, and the UN forecasts that by 2050 we will need to feed over 9.7 billion. If you’re like me, you’re wondering what we can do to scale farming to meet the needs of the future. That’s where vertical farming comes in, along with innovative technologies that make growing up, not out, a more viable option.

by Ali Ahmadian, CEO Heliospectra

Vertical farming refers to growing crops in multiple vertical layers in controlled indoor environments, such as repurposed buildings, growth chambers, and even shipping containers. While growing crops in the greenhouse have its own merits, depends on the crop and technology used vertical farming has advantages over single-layer crops grown in a field or greenhouse:

1. Vertical farming enables growers to optimize their costs per square meter and produce more within the same footprint. A vertical format could potentially produce a harvest that is 3- to 4-times larger (or more!) than a field the same size could produce. 

2. Vertical farming is done in an automated, controlled environment, which eliminates many of the risks involved with traditional field farming. Variables such as seasonal weather and environmental issues are taken out of the mix to produce a thriving crop year-round – no matter what’s happening outdoors.

3. Crop yields are standardized in vertical farming, with every harvest cycle producing the same quantity, quality, flavor and appearance that customers expect.

4. Vertical farming enables growers to meet changing market demands, by easily introducing new crops or varieties based on consumer or retail preferences. 

5. Due to its smaller footprint, vertical farming is a viable and environmentally sound solution for feeding cities. The UN predicts that close to 70% of the population will be living in urban areas by 2050. To reduce the carbon footprint of our food, we need to think of ways to bring food production closer to the dining table. A LCA is necessary to weigh in such decision making.

While we continue to build larger and larger cities to accommodate our growing population, arable farmlands will be pushed further out. Vertical farming can ensure our cities have plentiful locally grown food – food that has a predictable harvest, optimizes costs per square meter, looks beautiful, fresh and tastes delicious. 

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Source: LinkedIn

Publication date: Fri 6 Mar 2020

US: Texas - Personal Growth As Well As Leafy Greens Thrive in San Antonio Nonprofit’s New Hydroponic Farm

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Sara Cline 

March 7, 2020

A group of people crowded around a shipping container in the parking lot of the San Antonio Clubhouse, a community and resource center for adults with mental illness.

Inside the 40-foot long container is a hydroponic farm, which produces as many crops as a three-acre farm, simply with water and lights.

But the best part of Clubhouse Grows — the new indoor water-based, high-tech farm — isn’t that it sprouts an abundance of leafy greens. It’s that it also serves as a recovery-oriented volunteer opportunity for the people the nonprofit serves.

“We are working together as a Clubhouse community on this farm,” said Mark Stoeltje, the executive director of San Antonio Clubhouse. “It is providing meaningful work for our members, but it is also providing a product.”

Clubhouse Grows, which was unveiled Friday, was made possible with a $100,000 grant from Impact San Antonio, a women’s philanthropic non-profit that awards grants to local organizations.

Jennifer Bennett, president of Impact SA, said one of the reasons the group chose to award Clubhouse a grant was “because of the multilayered benefits that it delivers to the community.”

“A lot of our citizens who have mental health challenges do not get the degree of support that they need to help them live lives that feel good to them,” Bennett said. “Clubhouse is really unique to doing that in our community.”

The plants in the 320-square-foot freight container do not rely on soil. Instead, they grow on 88 black foam and metal panels, which have water pumped through them. Powerful LED red and blue lights that emulate the sun are on 18 hours a day. And the climate-controlled space remains stable between 65 and 68 degrees.

“The extra sunlight, combined with the fact that it’s never cloudy and we don’t have to worry about different seasons, really helps accelerate the plants’ growth,” said Brandon Wagner, a staff member and project lead for Clubhouse Grows.

On ExpressNews.com: South San Antonio elementary students growing food with a larger goal in mind

Crops planted include five types of lettuce, kale, beets, arugula, basil, oregano, and even some flowers.

Wagner, who has been prepping the new farm and working with it for around a month, said he has found it to be very therapeutic.

“You zone out and just concentrate on the work,” he said. “You are planting 300, 400 or up to 500 seeds at a time, so there is a very meditative workflow.”

While the farm only uses about 25 gallons of water a month, Wagner said, it can grow 550 small and crisp heads of lettuce alone each week.

“I love lettuce, but that is more lettuce than we can eat,” Stoeltje said.

So, in addition to using the produce at the Clubhouse facility, the organization plans to donate some to local non-profits.

Stoeltje said while healthy eating is important, the farming process — seeding, maintaining, relocating and harvesting crops — is also a chance for Clubhouse members to work hard, work together, hone new skills, reach goals and ultimately feel a sense of accomplishment.

San Antonio Clubhouse, which was founded in 2003, operates under a national model that's based on the belief that everyone deserves to be part of a caring community and has talents to share.

The non-profit helps its more than 2,000 members gain work experience through volunteering at the center, job training, résumé building, job-search assistance and advocating to potential employers.

“This is the perfect project for us because we are founded on two principles,” Stoeltje said, “meaningful relationships and rewarding work.”

sara.cline@express-news.net

Sara Cline

Follow Sara on: https://www.facebook.com/sara.cline.5494SaraLCline

Sara Cline is a staff writer for the San Antonio Express-News through the Hearst Fellowship Program.

She previously worked at the Times Union under the program. She also worked at the Brockton Enterprise, in Massachusetts, as a general assignment reporter. She has also contributed to newspapers and magazines in Arizona, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Sara graduated from the University of Arizona in 2016 with a B.A. in journalism.

Past Articles from this Author:

• San Antonio City Council says men's, women's public bathrooms must have baby changing stations

• San Antonio City Council mandates baby-changing stations in men’s and women’s restrooms

• Justin Rodriguez wins Precinct 2 seat on Bexar County Commissioners Court

CropKing Partners With Urban Crop Solutions To Grow Vertical Container Farm Showcase

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By Janeen Wright

March 4, 2020

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CropKing and Urban Crop Solutions have announced plans to collaborate on a controlled-environment agriculture project in the U.S., leveraging the extensive hydroponic experience of CropKing with the high-quality controlled-environment technology in vertical farming of Urban Crop Solutions.

CropKing, a full-service hydroponic company located in Lodi, OH, specializing in controlled-environment agriculture and hydroponic growing, will operate the Urban Crop Solutions’ FarmPro vertical container farm as a showcase, continued research, and testing facility. The first FarmPro container arrives in March at the Lodi headquarters, where CropKing will start testing it with the help of in-house plant scientists.

“We are excited to be working with Urban Crop Solutions and for the opportunity to validate the effectiveness of automated container farming,” said CropKing President Paul Brentlinger in a press release from Urban Crop Solutions. “

Their personal and custom-made approach could fulfill the needs of many clients. The shipping container system offers advantages like climate control, irrigation system, and automated growing process, which has captured our interest for the past few years.”

Urban Crop Solutions, a turn-key solutions provider that offers biological know-how in the indoor vertical farming industry, recently celebrated its 5th anniversary and already has 28 active projects across the world. In the last five years, it has developed more than 200 plant growing recipes, for a variety of industries, through its in-house research center.

Paulina Murrath, Business Development Manager of Urban Crop Solutions, will serve as a point of contact for the North American market at the company’s offices in Miami, FL.“

It’s a great honor to start a collaboration with CropKing and Paul Brentlinger, who is a controlled-environmental agriculture expert with extensive knowledge of growing high-quality food products,” Murrath said in the press release. “CropKing shares the same values that we consider as important, like bringing higher yields, nutritional value, food security, local production, and consumption, to different industries. That’s why we believe our collaboration will be rewarding.

”The Vertical Farming Industry Needs Proven Technology

CropKing will put the FarmPro vertical container through a rigorous testing process, which includes assessing items such as plant pathology and system yield, as well as validating the true return on investment (ROI) of the unit, according to Brecht Stubbe, Global Sales Director at Urban Crop Solutions.

The FarmPro vertical container CropKing will receive is a fully automated and climate-controlled 40-foot freight container with a four-layer, state-of-the-art growing system for leafy greens and herbs. The insulated container includes features such as climate control and an irrigation system, continuous monitoring, custom-made LEDs, a handling area and technical room, as well as online crop and process management. Plants grow in a nutrient film technique (NFT) hydroponic system.“

Technological failures and resulting bankruptcies have been a problem in the vertical farming industry,” Stubbe says. “With CropKing’s 30 years of experience in the greenhouse industry, we can prove that this technology and our growing recipes can provide the ROI to growers. We don’t want this technology to fail for our clients.”

Collaboration a Strong Match for Exploring New Markets, Including Floriculture

This collaboration is only phase one for CropKing and Urban Crop Solutions. Stubbe says the companies hope to work together on more projects to explore new markets and opportunities in the vertical farming sphere

.Urban Crop vertical farming technology is already being used for research into medical plants for compound extraction. On the floriculture side, Stubbe says Urban Crop Solutions is currently conducting some promising research in Belgium. The latest growth trials with strawberries, for example, resulted in sweet fruits with a Brix value averaging between 11 and 16.“

They are growing azaleas at the trialing facility and now to a very high extent can control the temperature and bring crops just to the point of flowering, which helps increase their shelflife when they go to retail,” Stubbe says. “This type of technology could allow flowers to be grown across the globe, instead of shipped internationally to supply those markets.”

When asked about how the unit might be integrated into a controlled-environment greenhouse operation, Stubbe said he sees several applications and benefits, two being maximizing germination space with multilayer growing and eliminating risk factors involved with plant handling. For people growing in high tunnels or the field, the unit could help them diversify their operation into new crop segments. A grower could also use the unit to provide products locally on a year-round basis.

Janeen Wright is managing editor for Greenhouse Grower. You can email her at jwright@meistermedia.com. See all author stories here.

8 Keys To Getting Funding Through Contain

Nicola Kerslake

February 28, 2020

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Figuring out financing is one of the big challenges every new indoor farmer faces. Like death and taxes, it’s nearly inevitable. According to research from software provider Artemis, indoor farmers’ greatest challenge is finding funding.

Contain’s mission is to change that, and in our work using tech to better connect growers to vendors and lenders, we always get the same question: how do you up your odds of securing equipment leases? Well, we’ve got answers.

We put together this guide to help anyone considering working with Contain up their odds of funding. We hope it helps demystify the funding process in general, too.

1. Where are you based?

We work with growers across the U.S. and Canada, but our best lender coverage is in the lower 48.

2. How long have you been farming?

We work with lots of startup farms. They’re great. But those with at least a two-year history of operations are more appealing to lenders. They’re viewed as a safer bet. Occasionally, lenders are willing to consider the track record of a different kind of business as you finance your farm.

3. Is your farm profitable?

Naturally, lenders prefer to work with profitable farms. That said, they also understand that increasing a farm’s scale will transform its economics, too. Don’t count yourself out if you’re still building towards the black.

4. What lease size are you looking for?

For a startup farm, we’ve found that it’s best to start small, sell out your produce and then scale to meet your customers’ demand. A common mistake we see is new growers trying to launch with a large setup, more than $1 million in equipment. Lenders rarely back farms like this at the get-go.

5. How much deposit will you put down?

Lenders generally want at least 20% down, and up to 50%. Of course, higher deposits often mean lower interest rates and, generally, better funding odds.

6. Do you have other collateral?

Lenders like to see other collateral for the lease, such as land or an existing property—especially if you’re a new grower. It’s not always necessary, but it definitely helps.

7. Do you have agreements with customers?

We know that most farmers sell produce without a prior written agreement but — at least where it makes sense for your business — lenders always appreciate letters of intent or even letters of support from customers. No bank has ever been mad because it got too many documents vouching for you.

8. How does your credit look?

A good credit rating with no recent bankruptcies usually translates into better leasing offers.

So that’s what you need to get started! Want to calculate your own odds of finding lease-funding? Take our quiz here.

Photo credit: Steve took it on VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA

Tags: Startup Funding Agriculture Sustainability Small Business

WRITTEN BY

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Nicola Kerslake

We’re Contain Inc. We use data to improve access to capital for indoor growers, those farming in warehouses, containers & greenhouses.

Elon Musk's Brother Wants To Transform Farming

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February 28, 2020

By Alexis Benveniste, CNN Business

New York (CNN Business)Plant-based foods are all the rage right now, and vertical farms are capitalizing on the trend.

Vertical farming is an indoor farming method in which crops are grown in stacked layers, often without soil. The practice is becoming more popular and important as urban populations grow dramatically and available farmland decreases.

While vertical farming isn't a new concept, these eco-friendly indoor farms are now rapidly expanding.

Elon Musk's younger brother, Kimbal Musk, who was named "Global Social Entrepreneur" of the year by the World Economic Forum in 2017, started Square Roots, an indoor urban farming company based in Brooklyn, in 2016. Square Roots' mission is to bring fresh, local food to cities around the world by empowering younger generations to participate in urban farming.

"When I was a kid, the only way I could get my family to sit down and connect was by cooking the meal," Musk, co-founder and executive chairman of Square Roots, told CNN Business in an email.

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Kimbal Musk teaches students how to plant a vegetable garden in California.

"Getting involved with the internet, especially in the late '90s, was very exciting and I wouldn't change anything about those experiences, but my passion has always been food," Musk said. "The moment Elon and I sold Zip2, our first internet company, I knew I wanted to pursue food and become a trained chef." He moved to New York and enrolled at the International Culinary Center.

Musk said the company plans to open a Square Roots "Super Farm" — with 25 climate-controlled shipping containers, cold storage, biosecurity infrastructure and everything else needed to run a vertical farm at scale — in less than three months.

Since its inception, Square Roots has grown more than 120 varieties of crops, including greens, vegetables, and strawberries.

The company isn't the first of its kind. Startups like Silicon Valley's Plenty, which was founded in 2013 and is backed by Jeff Bezos, are also beginning to dominate the space.

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"Environmentalists, urban farmers, architects, agronomists, and public health experts, among others, have been joining this mini-revolution as they partner to work out a way to salvage a food-scarce, ultra-urbanized future," Kheir Al-Kodmany, a professor of sustainable urban design at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said in a report.

It involves various techniques, such as hydroponics, which uses mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent; aquaponics, which uses aquatic creatures -- such as fish and snails -- and cultivates plants in water; and aeroponics, which grows plants in the air.

As for job creation, rapid climate change will put millions of traditional farmers out of business, but vertical farmers won't be affected, according to microbiologist Dickson Despommier, an emeritus professor of public and environmental health at Columbia University.

Although vertical farming was first introduced in the early 1900s, it was recently popularized by Despommier. More than 20 years ago, he began teaching a class at Columbia called Medical Ecology.

Despommier spent a decade growing crops indoors with his students. "Ten years ago, there were no vertical farms," he said, noting that LED grow lights have vastly improved farming efficiency over the last five years, making indoor growing cheaper and more reliable.

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Basil growing at the Square Roots farm in Brooklyn.

"People want local food because they've lost trust in the industrial food system that ships in high calorie, low nutrient food from thousands of miles away with little transparency as to who grew the food and how," said Peggs, the Square Roots CEO.

At the same time, the world population is growing and urbanizing rapidly. Peggs said climate change is threatening existing supplies of food, forcing the industry to figure out new ways to grow food quickly.

Peggs is optimistic about raising money for vertical farming. "A lot of smart money and capital is entering the space," he said. "The quality of food that can now be produced in these indoor systems is at least on par with the best organic field-grown food you can buy."

Despommier said that cities will eventually be able to grow "all they can eat" from indoor farms located within city limits. "If an outdoor farm fails, the farmer has to wait until next year to start again, he said. "Indoor farms fail too, but the indoor farmer can start again within weeks."

Harvest Fresh Canteen Vegetables On-Site

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by Frauke Brodkorb-Kettenbach

February 15, 2020

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In the container greenery of the US company Freight Farms, Sodexo grows fresh vegetables for its cafeterias directly on campus. CAROLINE KATSIROUBAS / FREIGHT FARMS

In schools and universities in America, the catering and service provider Sodexo plans to produce fresh vegetables all year round via indoor farming. To this end, the company is cooperating with the US hydroponics provider Freight Farms. The salad should grow vertically in containers on campus.

Over 500 vegetables, such as Salanova Green Butter Salad (pictured), can be grown on a commercial scale in Freight Farm’s containers with 320 square meters of vertical acreage - regardless of the season and without pesticides or herbicides. Delivery routes are also eliminated with this type of vegetable cultivation.

Save resources

With the cooperation, Sodexo is pursuing its strategy of operating as sustainably as possible and at the same time being precisely informed about the origin of its food for customers in the education segment.

In addition, students could monitor the stages of growing their food. For example, schools could integrate hydroponic farming into interactive curricula or school subjects such as technology, agriculture, nutrition, and economics, according to Freight Farms' approach. The vertical farming provider also sees similar advantages for employees when using the containers in companies.

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CAROLINE KATSIROUBAS / FREIGHT FARMS

So far, vegetables grow in freight farm containers in 25 countries and 44 states in the US - in small and medium-sized businesses, hospitals, as well as in retail and non-profit organizations, the information says. 35 school facilities now work with the hydroponics system. By working with Sodexo, the number should grow rapidly. 

SODEXO, USA

Sodexo USA offers building management and catering services to schools, universities, hospitals, senior citizens' communities, venues, and other key industries. The parent company Sodexo Quality of Life Services,  with headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, was founded in 1966. According to its own statements, the group offers Benefits and Rewards Services and Personal and Home Services daily for 100 million people in 72 countries. In 2019, it had an annual turnover of 22 billion euros with 460,000 employees worldwide. The portfolio includes reception, security, maintenance and cleaning services, catering, facility management, restaurant, and gift vouchers and fuel passes for employees. 

Shipshape Urban Farms $1 Million Financing, K Dale Speetjens Submitted Nov 29 D Filing

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Posted by Jean Kramer on November 29, 2019

Shipshape Urban Farms Financing

Shipshape Urban Farms, Inc., Corporation just had published form D announcing $1 million equity financing. This is a new filing. Shipshape Urban Farms was able to sell $150,000 so far. That is 15.00 % of the round of financing. The total offering amount was $1 million. The offering form was filed on 2019-11-29. The reason for the financing was: unspecified. The fundraising still has about $850,000 more and is not closed yet. We have to wait more to see if the offering will be fully taken.

Shipshape Urban Farms is based in Alabama. The firm’s business is Agriculture. The form D was signed by K Dale Speetjens President and CEO. The company was incorporated in 2019. The filler’s address is: 600 Clinic Drive, Mobile, Al, Alabama, 36688. Kenneth Dale Speetjens is the related person in the form and it has the address: 600 Clinic Drive, Mobile, Al, Alabama, 36688. Link to Shipshape Urban Farms Filing: 000179551019000001.

Analysis of Shipshape Urban Farms Offering

On average, firms in the Agriculture sector, sell 63.30 % of the total offering amount. Shipshape Urban Farms sold 15.00 % of the offering. The financing is still open. The average fundraising size for companies in the Agriculture industry is $287,000. The offering was 47.74 % smaller than the average of $287,000. Of course, this should not be seen as negative. Firms raise funds for a variety of reasons and needs. The minimum investment for this financing is set at $1. If you know more about the reasons for the fundraising, please comment below.

What is Form D? What It Is Used For

Form D disclosures could be used to track and understand better your competitors. The information in Form D is usually highly confidential for ventures and startups and they don’t like revealing it. This is because it reveals the amount raised or planned to be raised as well as reasons for the financing. This could help competitors. Entrepreneurs usually want to keep their financing a ‘secret’ so they can stay in stealth mode for longer.

Why Fundraising Reporting Is Good For Shipshape Urban Farms Also

The Form D signed by K Dale Speetjens might help Shipshape Urban Farms, Inc.’s sector. First, it helps potential customers feel safer to deal with a firm that is well-financed. The odds are higher that it will stay in the business. Second, this could attract other investors such as venture-capital firms, funds, and angels. Third, positive PR effects could even bring leasing firms and venture lenders.

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Can You Fit A 2-Acre Garden In A Shipping Container?

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WRITTEN BY SAM BURNS

As the bustling streets of Brooklyn, New York rumble nearby, most passersby have no idea there’s a bountiful garden just steps away. It may have something to do with the fact that this garden’s not in a field or in someone’s lawn but in a parking lot, with acres and acres of fresh food growing inside shipping containers! 

When people can’t go to the farm, why not bring the farm to the people? That’s what Square Roots is doing by growing fresh, nutritious food in cities to feed the communities around them.

Tucked away inside your everyday shipping container is the equivalent of a two-acre farm. Leaves from a variety of herbs and greens line the walls in columns, as purple lights shine on them and young farmers are hard at work tending to their needs. Let’s take a look at how this all works and what it means for our future with food!

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Courtesy of Square Roots

As we face growing populations and changing climates, our ability to grow enough food to support everyone’s health remains in question. But this fascinating look into the future of food with Square Roots gives us the inspiration to keep pushing the barriers on our definitions of what “farming” is, where it happens, and who does it.

On a mission to bring nutritious food to people living in the city and counteract the nutrient loss that happens in our typical food system (when produce is shipped many, many miles), Square Roots is perfecting a sustainable model of farming that can change what we can eat in our growing cities.

To give us an introduction to their work, here’s BEME News:

Dive deeper into Square Roots!

Square Roots has sure been up to a lot in the two years since that video was released! Not only are they continuing their awesome Next-Gen Farmer Training Program to help young people get started in the industry, but they’ve also taken major steps to increase the transparency of information about our food and access to it with some amazing new launches!

Since Square Roots has data collection and technology in their DNA, they’ve decided to let the public in on it. In late 2018, they started putting QR codes on the back of all of their produce packaging so consumers can read the life story of their food; where it was grown, when, how, and by whom! Think about that: when was the last time you knew who picked that bag of spinach you just plucked off the shelf? Or what sort of environment it’s coming from? Square Roots Transparency Timeline lifts the curtain on the stories of our food system and hands the consumer more power. (Read more about their Transparency Timetable here!)

Last year, Square Roots opened its first farm campus outside of New York City!

Gordon Food Service, one of the United States’ leading foodservice providers, has signed on to have Square Roots campuses of indoor farms built on or around their distribution and retail centers around the country. Square Roots wrote in their blog that:

“It’s been exciting for us to witness a company as large as Gordon Food Service move so fast to address the increasing consumer demand for locally-grown food. It’s also very clear that Gordon Food Service takes its role as a responsible member of the food supply chain seriously. They recognize that, at their scale, adoption of innovative solutions like Square Roots can drive significant positive change throughout the entire foodservice industry.” 

We couldn’t agree more! When the goliaths in any industry shift their practices, they can begin a huge ripple effect. And this first farm is surely a big one. Read more about the farm–which they opened in September 2019 (congrats, y’all!)–in this blog post!

You can learn more about Square Roots by visiting their website or touring one of their farms in person! And subscribe to their blog to receive updates from them directly in your inbox. (They post great stuff! I highly suggest taking a look.)

Give them a follow Instagram and Twitter to stay connected!

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View of the Square Roots Brooklyn Farm Campus | Courtesy of Square Roots

Can you imagine what it’d be like if your family had access to fresh food all year round?

How would that impact your lives? As our societies and populations have grown steadily over the years, it seems like we’ve been scrambling to establish a food industry that can accommodate our needs. But something else has been happening as humanity grows: our innovations have adapted. We’ve developed new technologies and uncovered more secrets from the natural world, meaning, we have an immensely better grasp on how plants grow and the tools needed to help them. Every year inches us closer and closer to a solution.

Square Roots is a really great piece of the puzzle, but of course, they aren’t the only ones using their knowledge to make a dent in this problem.

What can you do?

Well first, if you live in New York City you can use this locator to see if Square Roots is selling their produce at a market near you. (And make sure you scan those neat QR codes on the back of their produce—they’ll give you all of the information about who grew the food and where it comes from!)

But for the rest of us without a shipping container garden in a parking lot nearby, what can we do? I’ll just give you one piece of advice (and trust me, I’m giving it to myself as well): grow a plant inside! Any plant! Basil, thyme, spinach, tomatoes, strawberries, I don’t care. If you can avoid buying one product at the market, that’s a great start. Plus, you’ll know exactly where that wonderful basil on your hunk of mozzarella came from. This article can give you some ideas.

If that doesn’t seem like something that’s possible, there are also great directories to find farmer’s markets and CSA’s near you! A simple Google search should suffice in pulling up your local options. But for those living in the United States, the Department of Agriculture’s farmer’s market and CSA directories are a really great resource. Just click those respective links and enter your zip code to see what’s happening near you!

Do you have any other tips? Share with us on Twitter or Facebook!

Stay open to new possibilities!

• Sam

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” —Albert Einstein 

Partnership Bringing Vertical Farming Opportunity To U.S. Colleges

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By AGDAILY Reporters 

January 29, 2020

Many colleges and universities are getting access to some of the most advanced hydroponic vertical farming technology around, thanks to a partnership between vertical-farming innovator Freight Farms and food/facilities management company Sodexo. The collaboration will usher in the implementation of Freight Farms’ 320-square-foot Greenery containers on campuses, enabling the onsite growth of fresh, traceable produce year-round.

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The hope is that having food that would travel zero food miles will help reduce these schools’ environmental impacts. In a news release, the companies said the benefits include:

Food miles and waste reduction

• Food is harvested steps from the plate, eliminating food miles

• Harvested onsite, food lasts significantly longer, reducing spoilage waste

• The Greenery uses 99.8 percent less water than traditional agriculture, and in some humid areas, operations can be water-positive

Peak freshness and nutrition, year-round

• Unlike food that has to travel great distances between harvest and plate, freshness and nutrient density does not degrade during transit

• Pesticides won’t be used

• The farms grow at commercial scale and maintain the perfect environmental conditions every day of the year

Safety, transparency, and data-driven traceability

• The hydroponic container farms are soil-free and are decentralized from the mass supply chain

• Campus communities can get to know their own farmers and witness every growing stage of their food

• Proprietary IoT technology, farmhand, tracks produce from seed to plate, even down to the hour

Student and employee engagement

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• Schools can choose to integrate their farms into interactive curricula across disciplines like science and technology, agriculture, nutrition, business, and social impact

• Corporate businesses can integrate their onsite farms into employee wellness and benefit programs

Freight Farms’ customers are located in 25 countries and 44 U.S. states and range from small business farmers to corporate, hospitality, retail, education, and nonprofit sectors. To date, 35 educational and corporate campuses use Freight Farms’ technology, and together with Sodexo, implementation will rapidly expand across the U.S.

Images courtesy of Freight Farms

For In-Store Farms To Succeed, Finding The Right Balance Is Key

High-tech growing operations promise to efficiently supply retailers with greens. But the bigger payoff may be in offering shoppers a bit of food theater.

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Credit: Jeff Wells

AUTHOR: Lauren Stine

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Feb. 6, 2020

To appeal to consumers' growing desire for transparency and to know where their food came from, retailers across the country have brought local products into their aisles. They've also created informational web pages, integrated with nutrition apps and encouraged suppliers to tell their story to customers.

With 95% of consumers saying they'll pay more for locally grown products and 21% saying they eat local at least twice a week, though, companies are feeling the pressure to up the ante. Some, like Kroger and Whole Foods, have taken that step by bringing high-tech produce farms into their aisles — a budding movement that's made possible by advancements in growing technology.

Discover how to improve engagement among hourly employees by providing predictability and flexibility.

“Across the indoor farming industry, there have been dramatic decreases in cost when it comes to the physical hardware, advanced LED lighting and technology platforms automating a lot of the growth cycle,” Alexander Olsen, founder of automated mini-farm purveyor Babylon Micro-Farms, told Grocery Dive.

As more and more retailers discuss shifting center store operations online and accentuating the store perimeter, miniature produce farms promise to offer a supply line as well as a touch of food theater.

“We are also seeing a lot of traditional goods that grocers stock being purchased online and it’s freeing up a lot of space in-store,” Olsen said.

Retailers have been bringing cultivation to their stores for several years now. As early as 2012, Rouses sought to dazzle shoppers with an aeroponic garden on the rooftop of one of its New Orleans store locations. Hy-Vee and H-E-B's Central Market stores have also experimented with growing operations, with the latter adding a 53-foot modified shipping container full of greens to one of its Dallas stores.

Whole Foods has established a few different store growing operations. In 2018, it added an in-store mushroom growing display inside its Bridgewater, New Jersey store. The system was provided by Smallhold, a Brooklyn-based indoor farming company that also sells its mushrooms to local restaurants. A few years earlier, the chain partnered with urban greenhouse operator Gotham Greens to open a growing facility on top of a Brooklyn store location.

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Credit: Kroger

The trend has gained momentum in Europe and Japan. Founded in 2013, Berlin-based InFarm has placed its in-store farms, which grow leafy greens, herbs, and vegetables, in hundreds of European stores, while Amazon Fresh sells its produce in Germany, France, and Switzerland. Last year, the company raised $100 million in Series B funding. 

InFarm recently made its U.S. debut with two Kroger-owned QFC stores in Seattle and will bring its sprigs of kale, mint, cilantro, and dill to 13 more banner locations this year. The greens are initially planted at a nearby distribution center before being transferred to the store, where each plant's growth is monitored remotely by the company. The price points for the greens are competitive at $2.99 per bunch. 

Grocery Dive reached out to Kroger and Whole Foods for comment but did not hear back by press time.​

InFarm has lofty ambitions for its in-store farms, hoping to significantly impact grocery and restaurant supply chains, according to co-founder and CMO Osnat Michaeli. 

“By growing produce on-demand and as close to possible to where it’s consumed, retailers are able to reduce food waste and sunk costs typically linked to industrial farming,” Michaeli wrote in an email to Grocery Dive. “We find that when retailers are able to understand the value, quality and flexibility of our business model they are more than enthusiastic to enter into conversations to explore our farms.”

Retail attraction or real action?

Although in-store farm displays and gardens are attractive additions, farming is no small feat even at a micro-scale. 

“I think this trend is going to be closer to food theater and closer to a niche that engages the public and excites them about fresh produce,” Neil Mattson, associate professor at Cornell’s School of Integrative Plant Science, told Grocery Dive. Through his research, Mattson specializes in controlled environment agriculture systems such as hydroponics. 

Operating an in-store farm is not for the novice beginner, he adds, noting that a retailer or its farming partner will have to allocate employees to monitoring the in-store farm to ensure it’s working properly. This requires intensive training, adds labor hours and could take the employee away from other tasks that still need doing.

If an in-store farm is not operating properly, the plants could fall victim to unsightly mold, disease and other issues that would make the display unappetizing to shoppers. Should a situation like this arise, the plants must be stripped out immediately and all surfaces must be sanitized, leaving an empty display, said Mattson.

Even for high-tech farming systems that are remotely monitored, Mattson has concerns about long-term success.

"Plants are biological systems so sometimes they don’t grow as fast as you think they should or some other factor becomes limiting and you have to adjust," he explained. 

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Credit: Pixabay

Mattson also questions whether an in-store farm could supply enough produce to be more than just an interesting display for consumers. Produce sales in the U.S. totaled $60.8 billion during 2018, representing a 1.7% increase over the prior year. The input costs for indoor farming systems, namely water, and around-the-clock electricity to power LED lights, are also substantial barriers even for large-scale indoor growing operations.

“It’s hard to foresee this producing the quantities of produce at the price points needed to become the widespread way that most Americans would buy their lettuce," Mattson said. "I think it is an expensive way to grow produce in a supermarket.” 

High-tech farming operations have struggled to overcome high costs in the past, but the new crop of companies like InFarm and Babylon claim their systems are much more cost-effective and scalable. 

To the extent that a retailer could overcome these challenges, benefits to having an in-store farm would include cutting out distributors and other middlemen, who often hike up the price of produce, and increasing store traffic, Mattson said. He believes the success of in-store farms may depend on balancing production needs and efficiency with the desire to amuse consumers.

Mattson said a larger-scale operation like Whole Foods' rooftop farm in Brooklyn offers the benefits of a customer draw with a more viable supply line. In recent years, retailers have also turned to large greenhouse and vertical farming operations to supply stores. Gotham Greens operates greenhouses in five states while BrightFarms operates greenhouses in four states and supplies to retailers like Giant Food, Acme and Food Lion. 

Finding the middle ground

For Brooklyn-based grower and Whole Foods partner Smallhold, providing mushrooms first and in-store farms second has been a recipe for success. The duo behind the operation started out in a shipping container offering locally grown mushrooms to restaurants. They began asking their buyers whether they could fit a mini mushroom farm on-site and were encouraged enough to start modeling a prototype. 

Whole Foods Local Forager Elly Truesdell ate lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant where one of Smallhold’s mushroom farms is located and promptly contacted the company to see about locating one at a Whole Foods store, according to co-founder Adam DeMartino. 

“We didn’t intend to start a produce brand, it just sort of happened and a lot of that was because of Whole Foods,” DeMartino told Grocery Dive.

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Today, Smallhold maintains mini mushroom farms in restaurants and retail locations, including two Whole Foods stores. It also sells mushrooms under a branded label. 

Smallhold visits retail locations where its mini-farms are located once a week to swap out materials and harvest mushrooms. To achieve the volume that a retailer like Whole Foods demands, the company breaks up the growth process, completing the final stages, or fruiting, in-store. Mushrooms have an advantage over other crops grown indoors because of the high weight per square foot that mushrooms usually yield, according to DeMartino.

“Is it right for everyone? I’m not sure. That’s why it’s not the only thing we do,” co-founder Andrew Carter added. “How we look at it is we are offering a bunch of different tools to accomplish the task of getting mushrooms into the hands of everyone in the U.S. and hopefully the world. One of these tools is increasing the visibility of farming by growing on-site.”

US: Washington, DC - A Sommelier's Foray Into Urban Agriculture Starts With Mushrooms In Shipping Containers

Barry Farm resident Calvin Hines Jr. launched EightFold Farms to address food deserts and underemployment.

LAURA HAYES

JAN 29, 2020

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COURTESY OF CALVIN HINES JR.

“This started out with me being pissed off that I had to go to the grocery store far away,” says Calvin Hines Jr. The D.C. sommelier and bartender, who has been mixing drinks most recently at Hank’s Oyster Bar in Dupont Circle, grew up in Hillcrest in Ward 7. Later in life, he lived off the U Street Corridor as the neighborhood rapidly developed. Recently, he moved back east of the river and settled in Barry Farm in Ward 8.

“I forgot that you used to have to travel to go get food,” Hines says. “There’s no place we can walk.” He drives to the Harris Teeter on M Street SE for groceries. “The Safeways that are closer to me don’t have great food.” There are only three full-service grocery stores for the more than 150,000 people living in Wards 7 and 8, though others broke ground in 2019. 

This got Hines thinking about food deserts and socioeconomics. “What can I do that would be most effective in solving the problem or multiple problems?” he asked himself before diving into urban agriculture research. 

Havana, Cuba emerged as a source of inspiration. When the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba entered a phase known as the “Special Period” in the early 1990s, residents had to work quickly to find new and sustainable ways to feed themselves. “They were able to build urban agriculture in Cuba to help them with their food shortage and also increase employment,” Hines says. 

The Cubans did so with great success. As of 2014, Havana, a city of two million people, had dedicated more than 87,000 acres to urban agriculture. “If they’ve been doing it for this long, why can’t we do it in D.C.?” Hines asks. “I live here.”

Hines is launching a for-profit urban agriculture company of his own—EightFold Farms. The name is a nod to Hines' Buddhism practice. The Eightfold Path consists of eight directions, including mindfulness and effort, that are supposed to lead to liberation.

“We can build these small sustainable intensive farms through the city and throughout Wards 7 and 8,” Hines says. “Through these farms, we can sell to restaurants, which I’m linked into. We can start farmers’ markets in Ward 7 or 8 or any other area that lacks food in D.C.”

He’s starting small with one or two shipping containers that he will convert into mobile mushroom farms in partnership with the Phillips Collection, Non-Stop Art, and developer MidCity. The containers will be temporarily housed at 1325 Rhode Island Ave. NE "just until we find space on the other side of town,” Hines says. He went to high school with Non-Stop Art founder Nehemiah Dixon. 

“We’re starting with oyster mushrooms and maybe some lion’s mane and shiitake,” Hines says. “Oyster [mushrooms] will be the bulk of it. They’re easy to grow and there’s more of a demand.” 

EightFold Farms aims to have an educational component Hines calls “From Farm to Table” that will teach young Washingtonians both practical urban agriculture skills and the business side of restaurants. He hopes to accept them into the program as early as elementary or middle school and keep them through high school when they would potentially be ready to attend the University of the District of Columbia’s College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences. 

“There are not enough people that are into urban ag,” Hines says, noting this is particularly true for people of color. “We’re creating a workforce that can bridge that gap. They’ll already have a good foundation, a practical education.” 

Hines has even bigger goals down the line, including launching an all-encompassing space that would have indoor and outdoor farming areas, a market, and food vendors. For now, he’s just hoping to have a quarter to a half-acre of space planted the first year EightFold Farms gets off the ground.

He estimates he’ll need about $125,000 to buy and refurbish the shipping containers and purchase equipment. Omar Hakeem from buildingcommunityWORKSHOP, a Texas-based nonprofit community design center, is helping with the design of the containers. Hines launched a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe today.

“We’re trying to attack the problem through food,” Hines says. He hopes EightFold Farms grows healthy food that can lead to better health outcomes while also creating pathways to employment for his neighbors. 

Freight Farms And Sodexo Are Bringing Vertical Farming to U.S. Schools

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by Jennifer Marston

JANUARY 29, 2020

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Freight Farms, a major player in the world of containerized vertical farms, announced today a partnership with food service and facilities management company Sodexo. Together, the two aim to bring Freight Farms’ hydroponic vertical farms into school campuses across the U.S., according to a press release sent by Freight Farms

In North America alone, Sodexo serves over 13,000 client sites, many of them school cafeterias and university dining halls. The new partnership means Boston-based Freight Farms will be able to implement its Greenery container farms in more locations. At the moment, the company has 35 of these farms set up at educational and corporate campuses. The Sodexo partnership will expand that number “rapidly,” according to the press release, as the two companies implement more farms at both K-12 schools and university campuses that are Sodexo customers. 

The 320-sq-foot Greenery farm uses hydroponics to grow leafy greens and herbs inside climate-controlled shipping containers. Users control watering and nutrient schedules and access data on their plants via the company’s proprietary Farmhand software, which can be accessed via the user’s smartphone. The idea is to equip growers with a turnkey offering they can flip on from anywhere in the world and use to grow food with relatively little hassle.

For schools in particular, that means outfitting students and teachers with not just freshly harvested food for the cafeteria but also potential new curriculum around technology, agriculture, and business, if students are allowed to work directly with the farms. Co-founder and CEO of Freight Farms Brad McNamara told me last year that the Greenery “allows us the opportunity to not only feed a demographic and teach them how to farm.”

Still, vertical farming has yet to prove itself in terms of scale and economics. Part of determining the success of the Freight Farms-Sodexo partnership will lie in getting more data on how well the vertical farms function in an institutional environment. Many vertical farms geared towards institutional levels of food production promise simple “plug in and grow” solutions. Not all of them deliver as promised.

And beyond basic functionality of the farms, we also need more information about whether or not its truly cost-effective to bring these farms into schools and cafeterias in place of greens transported across the country. Will the reduction in water usage and food waste translate into money saved for these institutions? Freight Farms noted in the press release that in some parts of the country, those using the Greenery can actually make their operations water positive. We don’t, however, have any numbers on how beneficial being water positive is to these organizations’ overall margins, and if it offsets, say, the electricity required to run the farms.  

This isn’t the first food-tech-focused initiative Sodexo has embarked on in the recent past. In 2019, the company partnered with Starship to bring wheeled food delivery robots to college campuses in the U.S. The company also launched an Impossible Burger menu at 1,500 of its U.S. locations.

Sodexo’s sheer reach (it’s a multi-national corporation with services all over the world) gives it a certain amount of influence over the educational sector’s meals many others wouldn’t have. If the partnership with Freight Farms can showcase both the health and economical benefits from hyper-local, hyper-traceable, longer-lasting greens onsite, it could open the door to more schools and institutions considering some form of indoor farming onsite.

Related

Freight Farms Is Rearchitecting the Concept of Vertical Farming

Ford Motors Is Using Vertical Farming to Feed and Educate Detroit

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Kroger Partners with Infarm to Grow Greens in Grocery Stores