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Automated Vertical Indoor Farming Set To Sprout
Vertical farming, which utilizes vertically-stacked layers of crops grown in climate-controlled facilities, utilizes significantly less water and soil than traditional agriculture
Vertical Farms Could Make Use of Abandoned Professional
Spaces As The Pandemic Grinds On
By Greg Nichols for Robotics
August 20, 2020
A Finish startup has been climbing the walls during the pandemic. At least the crops it helps grow in vertical gardens have been, including greens, berries, and vegetables in areas like the Middle East.
Vertical farming, which utilizes vertically-stacked layers of crops grown in climate-controlled facilities, utilizes significantly less water and soil than traditional agriculture. Increasingly we're seeing examples of the concept scaling to industrial-levels, which is good news with populations booming, arable land in ever-shorter supply, and waning interest in agriculture among city-bound youth.
iFarm has figured out a smart value proposition in the still-nascent market as a developer of vertical farm management technology, essentially an operating system that utilizes tremendous volumes of sensor data to fine tune automated crop growing. The company believes it's entering a market primed for steep growth.
"Investors can participate in the worldwide network of vertical farms and receive a rate of return well above bank deposit rates.", says Alex Lyskovsky, co-founder and President of iFarm. "We already have a group of financial partners involved in the development of our farms, and now there is a direct opportunity for this type of investment in Finland, UK, Switzerland, Netherlands, Russia and UAE."
One of the interesting advantages of vertical farming, particularly in a pandemic when so many professional spaces stand empty, is that it's possible to utilize the urban environment to facilitate crop growing. By growing crops closer to city dwellers, the company can offer logistics efficiencies and unparalleled freshness.
This at a time when traditional farming is less and less viable. Global agricultural productivity is suddenly slowing for the first time in decades. No one is quite sure why, but it's likely a systemic problem related to the rise of monocultures and the overuse of fertilizers, which add harmful salts to soils. Farmers are also aging globally as younger generations migrate to cities. That's largely because a productivity boom over the last century has kept food prices low, which makes farming unattractive economically. It's a double whammy now that that productivity can no longer be taken for granted without major rethinks to the food supply chain.
Vertical farming and other smart agriculture innovations may offer realistic alternatives, and they've captured imaginations due to novel use of space and cutting edge technologies. iFarm's Growtune tech platform allows growers to leverage technologies like computer vision, machine learning, and huge volumes of data. The system can enable farming operations to spread vertical farms across distributed networks while still maintaining centralized control. And if there's any doubt that farming has changed, the level of control is staggering. The Growtune platform can determine the plant's weight, as well as growth deviations or pathologies, and build a system that improves crop quality and characteristics on its own. According to iFarm, the optimization will reduce labor costs for crops like strawberries, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, radish, and others.
"The 2020 pandemic exposed the problems of the global food system – food supplies, sowing and harvesting were disrupted across the globe", says Mikhail Taver, Managing Partner at Gagarin Capital. "iFarm is taking a novel approach to agriculture, offering an automated solution to grow crops close to the consumer and ensure food security. We believe that the future of the food market lies in modern technologies and are excited to support the project on its way."
Dubai's Green Revolution Starts At Its Vertical Farms in The Middle of The Desert
Dubai is determined to start its green revolution through its ultra-modern vertical farm in the middle of the desert
Erika P. August 18, 2020
Dubai is determined to start its green revolution through its ultra-modern vertical farm in the middle of the desert. The country decided on this project, hoping to end its dependency on food imports. One of the vertical farms in Dubai, Al-Badia market garden farm, grows a range of vegetable crops in a multi-story set-up. Inside the facility, they make sure that the plants get proper lighting and irrigation while recycling 90% of the water the facility uses.
Basel Jammal, the farm's director, said that their project is a green revolution located in the middle of the desert. It is as if the crops were a guest in a five-star hotel complete with amenities essential for its survival: the right amount of light, humidity, heat, and water.
Inside the futuristic indoor farm that could revolutionize agriculture in the UAE Screenshot from YouTube ( Photo: YouTube)
Dubai's Vertical Farm
The United Arab Emirates relies heavily on food imports, and Dubai is no exception to that. However, food security is of concern, especially in a region where geopolitical tensions may arise unexpectedly.
The UAE started buying and leasing agricultural lands in east Africa and in other countries to prevent food shortages even in times of crisis more than ten years ago, . But they aim to eradicate dependence on food imports, giving birth to different agricultural strategies, such as stockpiling and ultra-modern agriculture.
Jammal said that his farm is the "choice for the future" as high-tech computers control the facility. They aim to produce their own crops all year round without relying on imports, or worrying about climate change, drought, or rainfall.
Several vertical farms have also started in Dubai in the past years, such as in less-developed areas in Al-Ain and the mountainous Ras al-Khaimah.
Abdellatif al-Banna uses the hydroponics technology in growing his pineapples that he sells online. He experimented with growing fruits, vegetables, and wheat on his farm. Even in colder months, he was able to produce enough grain for his family in what he hopes as a prototype.
Meanwhile, in an area not far from the skyscrapers of Dubai is a farm that cares for cows in air-conditioned sheds, helping the local market to produce dairy products. They were also rearing salmon in large tanks overseen by a control room despite the scorching heat outside the farm.
Dubai Has More Than Enough Food for the Entire Country
Although these vertical and high-tech farms are privately owned, the government is even encouraging such innovations, said Dubai's Food Security Committee chair Omar Bouchehab.
The Emirati government has launched a plan to raise agricultural production in Dubai by 15% in 2021 and boost using agricultural technologies, Bouchehab said.
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PANDEMIC, Dubai did not experience shortages in food supplies, unlike other countries that saw shelves stripped of tinned goods, pasta, and toilet papers. It's all thanks to the airborne cargo services of the giant carrier Emirates. The country even promised to re-export various goods to its neighboring countries."
Dubai has an adequate infrastructure and a stock capable of meeting the needs of the United Arab Emirates, and even the needs of neighboring countries," said Fresh Market Executive director Redha al-Mansouri.
Indoor Growing vs. Traditional Greenhouse Growing
Indoor growing offers some sustainability benefits because considerable savings can be made on water, nutrients and use of pesticides
Today, in theory, there is enough food on the planet to feed approximately 12 billion people, but the way it is distributed around the world is inefficient and unsustainable. As food is transported across the entire globe, its shelf life or freshness tends to deteriorate considerably and a lot of food often goes to waste. Indoor growing is a step closer to a new situation – one in which it is possible to grow locally produced, fresh food all year round, regardless of the weather and external conditions. It may even enable us to change the face of the food industry.
However, this requires a different way of thinking. “Indoor growing is different from growing in a greenhouse in several ways,” says Fred Ruijgt, Market Development Indoor Growing. “In an automated, glass greenhouse you have to deal with external influences such as wind, rain, and sun. These variables need to be managed as effectively as possible, with or without additional technology. The grower is constantly working to achieve a stable climate for the crop. Indoor growing allows you to create your own optimal climate. The grower determines the growing conditions, from light level to air circulation.”
Fred Ruijgt
Comparing apples with oranges
According to Fred, many investors try to compare indoor growing with traditional horticulture. “In terms of investment and profitability, it is difficult to compare them,” he says. “It’s like comparing apples with oranges. It’s important to understand the differences between traditional horticultural practices and indoor growing. You can’t simply calculate what a greenhouse yields per square meter and compare it to an indoor farm. In a greenhouse you have to consider the crop cycle and in which months you can harvest and thus what you can supply to your customers. With indoor growing you can supply all year round, creating more opportunities to reach supply agreements with customers. But you also need to invest.
Indoor growing offers some sustainability benefits because considerable savings can be made on water, nutrients and use of pesticides. But, compared to a traditional greenhouse, much more artificial lighting is required. Also, the location and local sales potential should be included in the comparison. After all, a traditional greenhouse is not even an option in some countries, whereas in the Netherlands, for example, it probably costs two to three times more to grow fresh produce in an indoor farm than it does in a greenhouse.” Another difference is that traditional horticulture has traditional sales channels such as auctions, traders and cooperatives. That’s not the case with indoor growing – it’s more important to understand and collaborate with the entire chain.
Food security and food safety
The fact that indoor growing doesn’t have traditional sales channels is precisely what makes it special. “Indoor growing is clean and pesticide-free, resulting in high-quality and plannable production. An indoor farm can also be built in urban areas, which means that there’s always fresh, locally grown produce available for consumers. The product is often shipped directly from the indoor farm to, for example, the supermarket, so the route to the consumer is shorter. Therefore, in the case of indoor growing, it is important that the facility is an integrated part of the total chain: from suppliers to customers. That keeps the route nice and short,” continues Fred.
An indoor farm can be situated anywhere in the world and in any type of climate, whereas it is often not possible to build a greenhouse in certain areas. Fred: “In Singapore, for example, no more greenhouses can be built because there’s no agricultural or horticultural land available. An indoor farm offers a solution because it can be set up inside an existing building. This is an efficient alternative and it greatly reduces the dependence on food imports.”
Down to the consumer
The technology has already been proven in a number of large-scale indoor growing projects. So why isn’t this way of growing more common? “That’s because of several factors,” explains Fred. “Right now, indoor farms are mainly being integrated into existing retail chains. In addition, the demand largely comes from areas with a high average income. The existing retail chains have a vision and they always want to deliver good-quality products, so it makes sense for them to invest in this. But what are consumers prepared to pay for a fresh head of lettuce, for example,? If consumers start to value fresh and good-quality food more, entrepreneurs will be more willing to invest in a more sustainable way of producing food.”
For more information:
Priva
www.priva.com
contact.priva@priva.nl
Publication date: Tue 18 Aug 2020
Vertical Farming Growth Accelerated by Coronavirus
Vertical farms utilize indoor growing facilities that leverage artificial light, reduce dependency on synthetic chemistry and other crop inputs, optimize water use, and allow food growth in challenging environments with limited arable land
August 14, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the traditional U.S. food and agriculture supply chain, providing a potential growth opportunity for vertical farms.
One recent deal made in the space involves Singapore-based Temasek Holdings Pte and Bayer AG forming a new company called Unfold, which will develop seeds for vertical farms.
Unfold raised $30 million in an initial funding round and entered into an agreement for certain rights to germplasm—the genetic material from which plants grow—from Bayer's vegetable portfolio, according to the two firms. By utilizing the germplasm from vegetable crops, Unfold will focus on developing new seed varieties coupled with agronomic advice tailored for the unique indoor environment of vertical farms.
The venture will focus on innovation in vegetable varieties with the goal of lifting the vertical farming space to the next level of quality, efficiency, and sustainability.
"The investment in Unfold is a great example of a transformative, creative approach to developing agricultural products that meets the needs of consumers, farmers, and the planet by increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables, supporting sustainably grown, hyperlocal production, and addressing food security challenges faced by growing urban populations,” said Jürgen Eckhardt, MD, head of Leaps by Bayer, which was built to drive fundamental breakthroughs in the fields of health and agriculture through new technologies.
Vertical farms utilize indoor growing facilities that leverage artificial light, reduce dependency on synthetic chemistry and other crop inputs, optimize water use, and allow food growth in challenging environments with limited arable land. They also help crops grow quicker, enabling the reliable growth of fresh, local produce anywhere and at anytime by utilizing less space and fewer natural resources while reducing the need for food logistics and transportation.
In July, vertical farming company Kalera announced it will open a state-of-the-art growing facility in Houston, TX, during spring 2021. The Houston facility will be the largest vertical farming facility in the state.
The new facility was introduced just two months after Kalera revealed it will be opening a new facility in Atlanta in early 2021—an announcement that took place less than two months after it opened its second Orlando, Florida farm. The Houston facility will be even larger than the Atlanta one, which is slated to be the highest production vertical farm in the Southeast.
“In light of the global pandemic and seemingly endless food safety recalls, today, more than ever, consumers are demanding food that is local and that they can trust, said Daniel Malechuk, CEO of Kalera. “Houston presents Kalera with a wonderful market for our produce, as it allows us to not only supply one of the largest cities in America, but also service cities throughout the region including Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and New Orleans." Kalera’s lettuce from the Houston farm will be available at retailers and foodservice distributors.
Meanwhile, Greenswell Growers will invest $17 million to open a hydroponic greenhouse in Goochland, VA, reported Richmond Times-Dispatch (Aug. 11). The facility will reportedly produce 28 times more product per acre than a traditional growing operation, and the company expects to yield about 3.7 million-lbs. of leafy greens, which it will distribute throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.
“Greenswell Growers is proud to bring our large-scale indoor growing facility to Goochland where we will provide delicious, safe, and sustainably grown leafy greens that are good for our community," said founder Chuck Metzgar.
In Scotland, indoor agritech specialist ISG completed a deal with vertical farming operator Vertegrow to build the first commercial vertical farm in the country. This is the first move into vertical farming for Vertegrow, diversifying alongside existing agricultural operations, currently growing crops including barley and rye in open fields.
The towers, which are expected to be operational in early 2021, will grow a variety of crops that are intended to service the local food supply chain. Vertegrow will work with a range of local customers including retailers, caterers, restaurateurs, and other local services, to deliver produce all year round.
The four-tower system will be built in Aberdeenshire in Scotland later this year.
To listen to The Food Institute's webinar featuring AeroFarms, a leader in indoor vertical farming, click here.
About the Author
Victoria Campisi
The Food Institute
Victoria writes for the biweekly Food Institute Report, the daily Today in Food updates, and the Foodie Insider daily newsletter for consumers. She graduated from Montclair State University with a B.A. in Journalism and has a background in Nutrition and Food Science. Victoria can be reached through her email at victoria.campisi@foodinstitute.com.
Temasek Backs US $30m Firm For Vertical Farming Innovation to Boost Singapore's Food Supply
Called Unfold, it is a tie-up between Singapore state investment firm Temasek and a unit of German pharmaceutical and life sciences giant Bayer
Temasek Is Partnering With A Unit of Bayer To Form A US $30 Million
Company To Develop Breakthroughs In Vertical Farming.
August 12, 2020
SINGAPORE - A new US $30 million (S$41.2 million) company has been formed to develop breakthroughs in vertical farming, a move that will help to further reinforce Singapore's food supply.
Called Unfold, it is a tie-up between Singapore state investment firm Temasek and a unit of German pharmaceutical and life sciences giant Bayer.
The Straits Times understands that they will have an equal share of the company, which is incorporated in the United States.
Its primary focus is on improving the quality and variety of food as well as boosting the efficiency of its production, including that of popular vegetables such as lettuce and spinach.
In doing so, it will ensure the safe and reliable supply of food, something that is vital for countries with little arable land and in times of crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic, said Bayer on Wednesday (Aug 12), when announcing the union between its investment unit Leaps by Bayer and Temasek.
Temasek's head of agribusiness, Mr. John Vaske, noted that food security is a priority for Singapore, pointing to the country's "30 by 30" goal, which is to produce 30 percent of its nutritional needs locally by 2030.
He also told The Straits Times that Singapore has been formative in developing vertical farming. "So, we have insights and knowledge of the industry that Unfold can benefit from through the set-up of its commercial, research, and development operations here."
These operations will also be established in California, where Unfold will be headquartered in the city of Davis.
The focus on the genetic potential of vertical farming also sets the company apart from most vertical farming start-ups, which invariably concentrate on developing more efficient infrastructures, Bayer said.
The aim of the venture is to improve the quality and variety of food as well as boost the efficiency of its production. PHOTO: BAYER STOCK PHOTOS
Unfold has already entered into an agreement for specified rights to germplasm, or seed genetics, from Bayer's vegetable portfolio, a move that will enable it to develop new varieties of seeds. It also plans to come up with agronomic advice that is tailored for growing crops in the unique indoor environment of vertical farms.
These farms, also known as indoor farms, leverage on artificial light to grow crops, are less dependent on man-made chemicals, and optimize the use of water.
The company's chief executive officer is Dr. John Purcell, who was previously Bayer Crop Science's head of vegetable seeds research and development, said Bayer in its statement.
Dr. Purcell said that Unfold's investment in germplasm and crop growth models is timely as the two fields are "largely underserved"."
Some technology companies do not have access to germplasm resources. The power of Unfold is that we will combine the expertise and 100 percent focus on the genetics for vertical farming, with access to the best in class germplasm of the Bayer vegetable seed business," he added.
www.bayer.com
www.leaps.bayer.com
www.temasek.com.sg
unfold.ag
Lead Photo: PHOTO: BAYER STOCK PHOTO
Temasek, Bayer Form Joint Vertical Farming Venture In California
Temasek Holdings is partnering with German multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company Bayer AG to create a new vertical farming venture headquartered in California, as part of Singapore’s plans to boost the city-state’s supply of sustainable, locally grown produce
Jovi Ho
August 12, 2020
Temasek Holdings is partnering with German multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company Bayer AG to create a new vertical farming venture headquartered in California, as part of Singapore’s plans to boost the city-state’s supply of sustainable, locally grown produce.
The joint venture between Temasek and Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm of Bayer AG, will be a US entity with commercial and research and development operations in both California and Singapore.
The new venture, Unfold, will focus on innovation in vegetable varieties with the goal of lifting the vertical farming space to the next level of quality, efficiency, and sustainability.
Instead of focusing on external infrastructure to support plant growth, Unfold will look within the plant itself.
“By utilizing seed genetics (germplasm) from vegetable crops, Unfold will focus on developing new seed varieties coupled with agronomic advice tailored for the unique indoor environment of vertical farms,” says Bayer.
Unfold has raised US $30 million (S$41.19 million) in its initial funding round and entered into an agreement for certain rights to germplasm from Bayer’s vegetable portfolio.
Global food challenges are forcing countries to rethink traditional farming practices, says John Vaske, Head of Agribusiness at Temasek.
“We need to ensure secure farm-to-fork supply chains in urban settings while we also work to reduce the overall environmental impact of farming. Reducing food waste and improving the safety, traceability and nutritional value of food are all the more important as populations grow and demand for food expands. Investments in companies such as Unfold allow us and our partners to support innovative, sustainable solutions that will benefit all of us over the long term,” says Vaske.
Back in 2018, Temasek acquired a 3.6% stake in Bayer for 3 billion euros (S$4.85 billion), bringing its total stake to about 4% with 31 million new shares. The share sale to Temasek was part of Bayer's efforts to fund its planned US$62.5 billion takeover of seed maker Monsanto.
However, according to the latest Bloomberg data, Temasek no longer appears to own a substantial stake in Bayer.
Unfold’s President and CEO Dr. John Purcell will move from his role as Head of Vegetables R&D, Crop Science at Bayer.
“As a company fully focused on the vertical farming industry, Unfold will combine leading seed genetics with the best agtech experts in order to dramatically advance productivity, flavor, and other consumer preferences,” says Purcell.
“We look forward to serving the market through partnerships with vertical farming operators, technology providers, and others across the produce supply chain.”
Prior to joining the food and agriculture industry, Purcell was a post-doctoral researcher at the United States Department of Agriculture from 1987 to 1989. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Massachusetts. Purcell is also part owner of a family ranching operation in Montana.
Vertical farms, also known as indoor farms or plant facilities with artificial light (PFAL), help crops grow more quickly while using less space and fewer natural resources.
Investment in the vertical farming market has increased significantly in recent years mainly due to decreasing arable land, increasing market demand for local, sustainable produce, and migration towards mega-cities.
Singapore’s "30 by 30" agriculture goal aims for 30% of our nutritional needs to be produced locally by 2030, though this figure is smaller than 10% currently.
According to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), the 77 leafy vegetable farms here accounted for 14% of total consumption in 2019.
Lead Photo: Credit: Bayer stock photo
Blue Nalu, Aero Farms Highlight Sustainable Food Technology
Entrepreneurs are utilizing new technologies to bridge the gap between where food is grown and where it is consumed
Photo: AeroFarms
08.03.2020
By Sam Danley
NEW YORK — Entrepreneurs are utilizing new technologies to bridge the gap between where food is grown and where it is consumed.
San Diego-based BlueNalu, Inc. is pioneering cellular aquaculture, a process by which living cells are taken from fish and grown using culture media to create seafood.“
(Seafood) is one of the most vulnerable supply chains on the planet,” said Lou Cooperhouse, co-founder and chief executive officer at BlueNalu, during a virtual Town Hall hosted by accounting and consulting group Mazars. “Global demand for seafood is at an all-time high. The problem is that our supply is increasingly diminishing.”
Lou Cooperhouse, co-founder and chief executive officer of BlueNalu, Inc.
A variety of overlapping factors, including illegal fishing and overfishing, warming oceans, plastic pollution, habitat damage, toxins, contaminants, and inconsistent quality of freshness have contributed to the diminishing supply, Mr. Cooperhouse said. Other issues like mislabeling, occupational hazards, and price volatility add to an already stressed system.“
Prices are going higher over time and are anticipated to grow increasingly higher in the years to come,” Mr. Cooperhouse said, adding that BlueNalu has been working to bring down the cost of its formulation to reach price parity with conventional seafood products.
As it scales, the company could potentially offer a price discount, he said.BlueNalu recently expanded its production and R&D capabilities with a new, 38,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in San Diego that includes a pilot-scale production plant. Eventually, it aims to build similar plants around the world, each with the capacity to produce enough cell-based seafood to feed millions of residents.“
Today we might be importing seafood 7,000 miles, 9,000 miles from Southeast Asia to New Jersey, and that's a 30% bycatch with a 60% yield at the foodservice operator level,” Mr. Cooperhouse said. “In our case, we're making a product with no head, no tail, no bones, and no skin. It’s just the filet.”
The pilot plant will help BlueNalu bring its first products to test markets within the next 12 to 18 months. The company currently is focused on several species that typically are imported, overfished or difficult to farm-raise, including mahi-mahi, tuna, red snapper, and yellowtail amberjack
The idea is to complement or supplement rather than disrupt the current supply, Mr. Cooperhouse said.“
Why would we disrupt an industry that’s doing well or focus on a species that currently isn’t an issue?” he said.
A similar mindset is behind Aero Farms, a Newark, NJ-based sustainable indoor agriculture company.“
Seafood is traveling thousands of miles, and it’s the same for produce,” said Marc Oshima, co-founder, and chief marketing officer at AeroFarms. “How can we bring farms closer to where people are and bypass what is a very complex supply chain?”
The company repurposes unused industrial spaces into indoor farms that use 95% less water than conventional agriculture and a fraction of the land space.
Marc Oshima, co-founder and chief marketing officer at AeroFarms“
We're misting the roots with the right amount of water and nutrients in a very targeted way,” Mr. Oshima said. “It leads to a faster-growing process and is much more efficient.”
AeroFarms’ main focus is baby greens, which are supplied to foodservice operators and sold to retailers under the Dream Greens brand.
Because they are grown independent of season and weather, the products offer more consistent quality, price, and year-round availability, Mr. Oshima said.
The company also is collecting data to optimize crops for taste and nutrition.“
We’re thinking about what the consumer is looking for and delivering on a lot of those benefits,” Mr. Oshima said.
Along with keeping transportation to a minimum, increasing yield, and offering more nutritious produce, indoor farming may complement traditional agriculture by accelerating seed development.“
Typical seed breeding is about a seven-year process,” Mr. Oshima said. “With our growing process, we can have up to 30 harvests in a year. Each one is a learning opportunity.”
Are Automated Indoor Growing Facilities The Future For Fresh Produce?
Can growing veg in urban units scale up to meet demand, or is vertical farming a cottage industry focussed on leafy greens? Interest in Controlled Environment Agriculture is increasing internationally. Agri-TechE bring together Controlled Environment Agriculture technologists, producers and investors to discuss the current landscape and promising developments
CEA-Lite is an online debate on precisely that question,
taking place on 10th Sept.
Agri-TechE bring together Controlled Environment Agriculture technologists, producers and investors to discuss the current landscape and promising developments
Can growing veg in urban units scale up to meet demand, or is vertical farming a cottage industry focussed on leafy greens? Interest in Controlled Environment Agriculture is increasing internationally. In the UK autonomous growing systems have attracted funding from the Government’s Transforming Food Production program and tens of millions are being invested in a new training and demonstration facility; but the industry still has many challenges.
Agri-TechE is hosting an event “CEA-lite”, which is discussing the drivers for innovation and investment with leading entrepreneurs, producers, and investors on 10th September 2020.
Are new business models emerging?
Dr Belinda Clarke, Director of Agri-TechE says new models of food production are gaining traction. “Year-round intensive cropping of high-value crops becomes economically viable if the technology can scale. The Transforming Food Production call focussed on big, inspirational projects and this will help de-risk the technology, particularly around automating the monitoring and harvesting, which are so problematic for open field production.”
Jock Richardson of Growpura agrees: “A lot of operators have some great technology but to grow bigger means a linear (or worse) growth in costs. Scale-up is vital but there are operational challenges of how we grow plants at scale and at low cost.”
Could scaled-up vertical farms create economic value in vacant retail units?
“I have seen repurposing of buildings for CEA but location remains vitally important”, says Investor Kiryon Skippen of Capital Agri International, “landlords of these buildings need to be realistic in their rent demands and preferably have a real interest in the vertical farming business and work with it, taking the longer term view.”
Jock has seen uplift in interest in localised crop production, but as their system requires cleanroom conditions, refitting an older building could be too costly. “We’ve been talking to major retailers and its clear there is real interest in the use of hydroponics (growing in water) to fulfil the demand for fresh produce but of course it has to be at a competitive cost and offer a reliable supply,” he says.
The company will announce funding for a large training and demonstration facility in the coming days, which may provide over 200 jobs and internships in the South East Midlands area. “A vibrant hydroponics industry is essential in the UK. On the licensing front there has been interest from a number of countries particularly in the UAE and Asia and also for non-food products which we are progressing keenly,” Jock continues.
Can the industry look beyond leafy greens?
This international interest is a trend David Farquar, of Intelligent Growth Solutions, has also seen. He says; “Interest from NW Europe, the Middle East, and SE Asia is increasing the diversity of the food grown under secure conditions to reflect local diets and cuisine; encouraging the CEA industry to look beyond leafy greens and salads. For example, we have seen more demand for roots and fruits over recent months and interest in re-localizing as much of the food supply chain as possible.”
Phytoponics has recently raised £0.5M to develop its next-generation deep-water culture modules that offer a sustainable more profitable alternative to hydroponics substrates, such as rock wool and coir, and the company has started a series of strawberry trials with Total Produce. CEO Andy Jones, says the funding environment is challenging but that investment is there for companies with the right solutions.
He continues: “For growers, costs remain the big issue and one of the biggest is labor. New approaches need to give growers an economic advantage by reducing those costs.”
Are we swapping a labor shortage for a skills shortage?
However Max McGavillray of Redfox Executive says Brexit, and then COVID-19, has resulted in a marked increase in protected cropping roles as the UK adapts to a new normal: “We’re seeing individuals with plenty of cash establishing vertical farms but with very little experience in agriculture and foods, so there’s a real need for those with growth expertise in controlled environment agriculture.”
CEA Lite is an online event being held
on 10th September 2020 15:00 – 17:00.
Register your interest at bit.ly/ATEeEvents
About Agri-TechE – www.agri-tech-e.co.uk
Agri-TechE is a business-focused membership organization that is supporting the growth of a vibrant agri-tech cluster of innovative farmers, food producers and processors, scientists, technologists, and entrepreneurs.
Agri-TechE brings together organizations and individuals that share a passion for improving the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of agriculture. It aims to help turn challenges into business opportunities and facilitate mutually beneficial collaboration.
Photos:
1 – Credit: Growpura / Caption: Growpura is set to create a hydroponic farm, training and demonstration facility in Bedford, UK
2 – Credit: IGS / Caption: IGS has seen more demand for root vegetables and fruits in recent months as vertically farmed crops diversify
3 – Credit: IGS / Caption: Phytoponics has recently won funding and is undertaking commercial trials of its deep-water hydroponics modules
It’s Not Just Meat: Covid-19 Puts All Food-System Workers in Peril
Stan Cox on Building a More Humane, Robust Way of Putting Food on The Table
By Stan Cox
June 10, 2020
Covid-19 outbreaks are now reaching far beyond the meatpacking industry. Migrant farmworkers in fruit orchards and vegetable fields, long the targets of intense exploitation, are seeing their health put in even greater jeopardy as they’re pushed to feed an increasingly voracious supply chain in pandemic-time.
The crisis has come to a produce farm in Evansville, Tennessee, where every one of the 200 farmworkers has tested positive for the virus, with harvest season about to get underway. With the pandemic rolling on unchecked, the fragility of the entire US food system and the vulnerability of its workforce is coming into stark relief.
Eliminating that fragility—a result of the industry’s single-minded pursuit of profit—will require shifting the priority to the lives of the people who produce our food, the landscapes where they live and work, and, ultimately, to resolving the global ecological emergency.
Southern New Jersey, for example, is seeing hundreds of migrant farmworkers become infected with the virus.
According to WHYY radio in Philadelphia, many of the 20,000 to 25,000 seasonal workers who arrive in South Jersey each year to harvest fruits and vegetables sleep in cramped dormitories and eat in crowded cafeterias. Yet state guidelines allow farm managers, if they find their operations shorthanded, to keep infected workers on the job; they can forget paid sick leave.
As in meatpacking, confined workplaces of all kinds are being hit hard. A complex of hydroponic greenhouses in upstate New York was an early focus of coronavirus spread. A single Southern California city, Vernon, has seen outbreaks in nine food facilities processing coffee, tea, frozen foods, deli meats, seaweed, baked goods, and other products.
A state “pandemic strike team” deployed in mid-May to help long-term care facilities in Washington’s Yakima Valley quickly redeployed when they found even more dire situations on the valley’s farms and in food processing plants. It had gotten bad enough that workers there have been walking out on strike over lack of health safeguards.
The town of Immokalee, which lies at the center of the most intensive winter-vegetable growing area in southwest Florida, now has the densest concentration of Covid-19 cases in the region.
We’ll no longer have access to every type of fresh vegetable and fruit any day of the year. Eating what’s in season will make a comeback.
State officials say that’s largely because of increased testing. But medical researchers beg to differ. They see fertile ground for the coronavirus to flourish in the densely packed buses and vans that take workers to the fields, as well as in worker housing, which consists mostly of mobile homes, each with numerous occupants.
Gerardo Chavez, speaking for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which has long pushed for the rights of the area’s migrant labor force, told a local TV station, “This is not something that happened just because. It happened because people there are poor, they live overcrowded. They travel to work under not very safe conditions many times, and that makes them the perfect place for Covid-19 to spread.”
The “farmworker paradox”
The current public-health crisis in food production and processing has grown directly out of the drive for profit. In recent decades, the overriding goal of the agriculture and food industry—a sector whose pace and production were once strictly dictated by the seasons and the weather—has been to turbocharge profits by maximizing output per hour per worker.
It doesn’t have to be like that. In a system motivated by nutritional goals rather than profit, a much more widely dispersed workforce producing at non-exploitative rates of output could easily produce enough food to meet this country’s needs.
Instead, under the protection awarded to businesses producing essential goods, the industry is loosening the screws of exploitation only slightly, further threatening the health and lives of workers and their families.
This treatment of an essential workforce is in keeping with what the economist Michael Perelman has called the “farmworker paradox” in which he asks, “why those whose work is most necessary typically earn the least” (in pandemic-time, we can add, “…and are most compelled to risk their lives and their families’ lives.”)Done right, localizing vegetable production would not reduce the total output.
The paradox exists, observes Perelman, because of the circular logic of capitalism. Economists argue that farmworkers earn low wages because they are not highly “productive”; that is, collectively, they generate low profit per worker. But that’s because everyday food sells cheap, and it’s cheap largely because many of those who produce it earn near-starvation wages.
Now workers are forced to risk infection by a debilitating, often deadly, virus in order to keep production costs down and profits up.In contrast, coronavirus infection rates have been low so far among the older, largely white independent farmers who produce staple foods like wheat, oats, rice, and dry beans. But their protective isolation in sparsely populated areas of the country has come at a terrible price: the decline of small family farms and the consolidation of land into fewer and fewer hands over the past four decades.
Such rural areas—where depopulation of the countryside and small towns has meant a withering of local economies, culture, and health care—are now highly vulnerable to the pandemic when, inevitably, it reaches them.
Reversing the destruction
The changes needed to reduce the vulnerability of the food system and its workers to infectious diseases have already been needed for decades on humanitarian and environmental grounds. Addressing the climate emergency, in particular, requires such deep changes.
The imperatives are clear:
Abolish feedlots and other confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Convert the tens of millions of acres now being used to grow dent corn and soybeans (for feeding confined cattle) to pasture and hay production, and eventually, perennial food-grain/pasture crops. Then cattle can eat what they were born to eat: grasses and forage legumes.
Break up the meat-industry behemoths and ban foreign ownership. Decentralize meat production and processing and regulate much more strictly for health and safety.
Such measures would result in better but smaller national supplies of meat and poultry. No problem. Deep reductions in consumption of animal products—especially feedlot- and CAFO-raised meats—have long been needed for nutritional and ecological concerns, most prominently their heavy climatic impact.
For fruits and vegetables, reduce the velocity of production in fields and factories to a humane, ecologically supportable pace that can meet the highest standards for workers’ rights, safety, and economic security. Grow those crops close to the populations who will be eating them—as much as possible in backyard or community gardens and greenhouses.
Done right, localizing vegetable production would not reduce the total output. Vegetables currently occupy only three percent of national cropland, so they could easily be dispersed among myriad small plots of land in every state, every community.
What we’ll no longer have, however, is access to every type of fresh vegetable and fruit any day of the year. Eating what’s in season will make a comeback.
Adaptation will be necessary. In northerly regions, vegetables can be grown in simple, inexpensive, unheated greenhouses almost year-round (a practical alternative to the fanciful idea of urban “vertical farming,” which envisions raising crop plants indoors without soil, under artificial light—that is, in botanical intensive care units).In summer and fall, home and community canning operations could make locally grown produce available all year, as they did in the war years of the 1940s. That would diversify the northerly vegetable diet in winter and spring.
Supplies of staple grain and bean crops, in contrast, come to us from hundreds of millions of acres across vast swaths of rural America. Only a tiny fraction of that production could be localized, but that’s not a problem. Those crops (and products like flour that are made from them) are dry, have long shelf lives, and can be efficiently shipped to every part of the country by rail.
More near-term policies could come through federal legislation. It has been proposed that farmworkers’ right to organize should be guaranteed, and a path to citizenship should be available for all essential workers who need one; there should be opportunities for farmworkers to become independent farmers; and rural transportation and communication systems need improvement.
Now is the time to build a new, more humane, more robust food system on the ruins of the one that has failed us. This nation can have an ample, nutritious food supply without exploiting and endangering the people who produce and process it
Stan Cox is a research fellow at The Land Institute and the author of The Green New Deal and Beyond: Ending the Climate Emergency While We Still Can (City Lights, 2020).
Rooftop Farming: Another Contribution To The Modern-Day Green Revolution
Green roofs are a growing trend in urban areas because of their unique ability to address several urban challenges at once
This article was written by Camilla Stanley, a guest writer for Green Roofs for Healthy Cities
Green roofs are a growing trend in urban areas because of their unique ability to address several urban challenges at once. These benefits include lowering a building’s energy costs, reducing the urban heat island effect, improving air quality, boosting urban biodiversity, having a positive impact on mental health, and, for businesses, strengthening a company’s marketing and increasing property value. But there is one co-benefit that is rarely taken advantage of… food production! In particular, rooftop farms and gardens provide the added benefit of being a source of locally grown produce.
The demand for locally and sustainably grown food is a growing trend as consumers become more interested in knowing where their food is coming from. There are growing concerns around the distance food travels before it reaches our plates (on average fruits and vegetables travel 1,500 miles / 2500 km), and the usage of hormones, pesticides, and GMOs in meat, dairy products and eggs. What the grocery industry is seeing now is a wave of consumers more willing to ‘vote with their dollar’ to ensure that food companies take the necessary steps to effectively reduce their environmental impact.
Rooftop urban farming is a great way to meet these growing demands as consumers are beginning to understand the importance of reconnecting and taking care of nature and the many ecosystem services that nature provides. Green roofs utilized to produce food present a great opportunity for property managers and community leaders to transform the built environment and better serve their communities. This is why Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) has put together an informative course on rooftop farming – Introduction to Rooftop Urban Agriculture – a comprehensive review of the benefits, importance, and potential of rooftop agriculture. GRHC is also hosting an Urban and Rooftop Agriculture Virtual Symposium on Thursday, July 23 from 1:00 to 4:30 pm est. The event is bringing together professionals from diverse backgrounds involved in mainstreaming urban agriculture.
The increase in events and resources are coming at a good time as urban agriculture is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the agricultural industry. Rapid technological innovation in areas like vertical farming is allowing entrepreneurs to take advantage of underutilized spaces in cities for food production. This is great for produce that is not well-suited for long-distance transport like leafy greens. Fruits and vegetables that travel long distances also lose flavor and nutrients the longer they are in transit. Urban agriculture helps reduce food waste along the supply chain, supports the growing demand for local and transparent supply chains, and improves the quality of the food available at supermarkets!
Community leaders seeking to address challenges such as poverty, environmental degradation, air and water quality, waste production and disposal and energy consumption would greatly benefit from integrating urban agriculture into their strategies as it is a proven solution in which communities can improve their ecological footprint while garnering social benefits.
Property managers would be interested to know that rooftop urban farming is a great way to earn LEED credits and maintain peak LEED performance. Sites that have on-site vegetable gardens are eligible for up to 6 LEED credits in the following categories: local food protection (1 credit), social equity within the community (1 credit), heat island reduction (2 credits) and site development: protect or restore habitat (2 credits).
Municipalities are taking initiative and investing in the development of sustainable communities and repurposing unused spaces. For example, in New York City on April 18, 2019, the city council passed The Climate Mobilization Act to reduce greenhouse emissions from buildings and includes a requirement for the installation of green roofs and/or solar panels on newly constructed buildings. A similar by-law was passed in Toronto, Canada back in 2009 where all buildings over 2,000 sq. meters must install a green roof. The city now has over 700 green roofs! Other cities that have adopted green roof mandates in recent years include San Francisco, Portland, and Denver! On a larger scale, initiatives such as the C40 Good Food Cities Declaration where fourteen cities around the world committed to achieving the “‘Planetary Health Diet’ by 2030 which aims to address both environmental and human health through better food choices.
For examples of some rooftop urban farms around North America, check out the list below:
- Brooklyn Grange in Brooklyn, NY
- Ryerson Urban Farm in Toronto, ON
- Boston Medical Center Rooftop Farm in Boston, MA
- Chicago Botanical Gardens in Chicago, IL
- Uncommon Ground in Chicago, IL
- STEM Kitchen Garden in San Francisco, CA
- Top Leaf Farms in Oakland, CA
Tagged: urban agriculture, rooftop farm, Brooklyn Grange, Ryerson Urban Farm, Uncommon Ground, C40 Cities, green infrastructure, urban farming, green roof benefits, Toronto Green Roof By-law, climate mobilization act, LEED
10 Projects From KADK Graduates Offer "Solutions to The Major Challenges of Our Time"
Dezeen staff | July 9, 2020
Students from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design, and Conservation (KADK) are sharing projects that aim to create a healthier, more sustainable, and democratic society as part of their VDF school show.
They were created as part of the school's graduate programmes in Architecture and Design, which are focused on addressing the UN's Sustainable Development Goals as a means of considering "how we should design and build in the future".
The 10 projects showcased below were selected from a pool of 280 students and include a modular timber school, bacteria-dyed textiles, and a "hydroponic cultural landscape".
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design, and Conservation
University: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation
Course: MA Architecture and MA Design
KADK Graduation 2020 – Solutions to the major challenges of our time:
"Climate. Health. Democracy. Sustainability. 280 MA Architecture and MA Design graduates have addressed a number of the challenges we face as a global community today. How do we ensure a sustainable cooling of our cities and how can we use carbon-neutral building materials? Or how can design solutions help accelerate a better recovery for the benefit of each individual and society in general?
"The curriculum at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture Design and Conservation (KADK) is rooted in research, practice, and artistic development. For the past four years, KADK has added a strategic focus on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). We believe that the SDGs can inspire our students to consider how we should design and build in the future, using a holistic perspective to provide new, original, and necessary global solutions to these pressing concerns.
"Their projects demonstrate how architecture, design, and conservation can create visions, new knowledge, and solutions to complex problems in compelling and attractive designs. Future generations of architects and designers – like those we educate at KADK – must be capable of releasing this vast potential."
The Green Structure of Copenhagen by Agnes Josefin Hekla, MA Architecture
"What would Copenhagen look like if the city had to be self-sufficient in terms of its food supply? This project creates solutions for a scenario in which the city is forced to feed itself, due to changed global conditions caused by changing climate and food shortages.
"A hydroponic cultural landscape is established across the city's rooftops, between blocks of flats, across car parks and railway beds for raising vegetables in water without soil. Besides supplying the city with vegetables and collecting large volumes of precipitation, the urban landscape is ideal for movement, recreation, and working together to grow vegetables."
Studio: CITAstudio – Computation in Architecture, Institute of Architecture and Technology
Tutor: Paul Nicholas
Press contact: Inge.Henningsen@kadk.dk or hbay@kadk.dk
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US - ILLINOIS - Vertical Farm Adaptive Reuse Headed To Former Target location In Calumet City
Wilder Fields will begin construction this fall, repurposing a former Target location located at 1717 W. East Road in Calumet City, Illinois. Once completed, the 135,000-square-foot former big box store will serve as a vertical farm
JULY 21, 2020
Wilder Fields will begin construction this fall, repurposing a former Target location located at 1717 W. East Road in Calumet City, Illinois. Once completed, the 135,000-square-foot former big box store will serve as a vertical farm.
“When I learned about the possibility of acquiring a Super Target store in Calumet City, I knew it would be the perfect choice for building Wilder Fields’ first full-scale commercial vertical farm,” said Jake Counne, founder of Wilder Fields. “From the very beginning, we have developed our system to be flexible enough to fit existing buildings, including anchor retail spaces like this one.”
The majority of space will house 24 separate cleanrooms for growing dozens of varieties of greens. The site will also include a retail store and education center, a research laboratory, and a large loading dock which will serve as a hub for distributing produce to supermarkets and select restaurants within 100 miles of this next-generation vertical farm.
“To my knowledge, converting a big-box space to a farm has never been done before,” Counne said. “We are creating the blueprint for this transformation.”
Construction is planned for two phases. Phase one, to be completed in early 2021, includes building critical infrastructure and an initial group of cleanrooms. Each 105,000-cubic-foot cleanroom will house eight levels of growing space along with the proprietary technology created by Wilder Fields’ experts to provide a safe and efficient growing environment. The second phase will be completed in early 2023.
The enterprise is funded by Counne and a group of strategic private investors. The total cost for the Wilder Farms’ first facility is estimated at $40 million.
“We made vertical farming profitable by looking at industries outside of farming for inspiration to reduce the costs of labor and energy. We have improved the ways plants are grown, harvested, and shipped,” said Counne. “By negotiating mutually beneficial relationships with city leaders, we can convert abandoned big box stores—currently blighting commercial real estate markets—into profitable, tax-paying businesses.”
In Paris, The Pandemic Gave A Boost To Urban Farms
Nature Urbaine’s initial plan was to sell produce to restaurants and local businesses in the surrounding area. When France imposed stay-at-home orders, those restaurants and cafés closed overnight. But lettuce and tomatoes don’t stop growing during a global pandemic
The largest urban rooftop farm in Europe opened its doors to the public at the beginning of July – two months behind schedule. Stretching the length of two football fields, Nature Urbaine sits on top of a convention centre in the south-west corner of Paris. The farm began growing herbs, fruit, and vegetables just weeks before Covid-19 hit Europe.
Nature Urbaine’s initial plan was to sell produce to restaurants and local businesses in the surrounding area. When France imposed stay-at-home orders, those restaurants and cafés closed overnight. But lettuce and tomatoes don’t stop growing during a global pandemic.
“We had to rethink our entire model, just as we were having our first harvest,” says Sophie Hardy, the farm’s site manager.
The farm began instead to sell directly to consumers. The small team of farmers were the only people allowed on the rooftop during the lockdown, and every morning they would harvest fruit and vegetables grown from seeds sown in March. They sold the resulting food baskets to residents in front of the 15th arrondissement’s town hall the same day.
For Hardy, the pandemic actually helped urban farms to find a new relevance.
“The crisis marked a moment when people living in the city wanted to opt for healthy, quality products found locally,” she explains. “There was a boom in producers selling their produce directly, and a new awareness that local producers were in danger – and, in echo of that, that France’s own position as a leader in the food industry was in danger”.
This fact did not go unnoticed by the French government. President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech on 12 March that delegating the nation’s food supply to other countries was “madness” and called to “take back control”.
As Covid-19 spread across Europe that month, European countries re-erected invisible internal borders, slowing down or even halting entirely cross-border food supply chains. Storage vehicles piled up at borders and seasonal farmworkers, hunkered down in lockdown, couldn’t get to fruit-picking jobs. Some lorry drivers refused to drive across a continent in the grip of a pandemic.
Fearing seeing fruit and vegetables rot in the fields, the government told businesses and consumers to focus on stocking and buying French food products.
In Paris, where residents weren’t allowed to go further than 1km from their homes, some local producers thrived.
Paris’s Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo has long championed urban agriculture. In 2016, Paris’s city hall unveiled Parisculteurs, a call for ecological and agricultural projects that would receive start-up money. Since then, the platform has funded 38 new urban farms, which produce 800 tonnes of fruit and vegetables every year.
One of Hidalgo’s principle ideas in her recent, successful re-election campaign was the idea of the '15-minute city', a way to rethink urban proximity. The concept aims to turn one of Paris’s drawbacks, its density, into its strength: residents should be able to access every conceivable service within 15 minutes of their homes, from health centres to bars, restaurants, and schools. The city wants to make everything more accessible – including locally grown produce.
La Caverne is one local producer that saw a financial benefit from the lockdown. On the other side of the city from Nature Urbaine and ten metres underground, mushrooms and endives flourish in a former car park that has been transformed into an urban farm.
“For the first time people realised the value of local agriculture,” explains La Caverne’s co-founder Jean-Noël Gertz. “Local producers were able to sell their products at a fair price. They didn’t have a problem finding places that would sell their products, nor did they have to compete with tomatoes from Morocco”.
Although the Covid-19 crisis didn’t entirely rupture traditional supply chains, urban agriculture professionals are hoping that the last few months have proved the importance of a diversified local food supply.
“Urban farms are an essential way of rethinking the cities of tomorrow,” says Anouck Barcat, the president of the French Association of Professional Urban Agriculture (AFAUP). “It’s one of the tools to make a city more resilient. They have so many benefits – we don’t make monofunctional farms”.
There are a number of environmental advantages to urban farms, not least of all their carbon footprint. An urban farm can sell fresh strawberries just metres from where they were grown, rather than having them travel hundreds of miles in a refrigerated container.
Another advantage of urban agriculture is its flexibility: it can slot into the negative spaces of the city, like abandoned railways, empty metro stations and even up the sides of buildings.
“We don’t need to be Haussman,” Barcat jokes, referencing Paris’s most notorious urban planner, who sliced up the city in the 19th century to create its wide avenues and tree-lined boulevards. “We’re not cutting through the city to make way for farms. They can go wherever there’s space: on roofs, in polluted areas, in car parks. We already have the solution for these spaces.”
One criticism levelled at urban farms is that the small yields don’t justify their expense. But both Barcat and Hardy are keen to insist that urban farms should not compete with nor try to replace traditional rural agriculture, but exist in parallel with it.
“We can’t cultivate every type of crop, and anyway, we’re not able to produce enough to feed the entire city. But the crisis has shown that urban agriculture has its place in the city and that this model works,” says Hardy.
France began to ease its lockdown on 11 May. Paris’s restaurants and cafés have reopened, and the city’s open-air street markets are once again selling peaches from Portugal and strawberries from Belgium. The farmers at Nature Urbaine now only have to walk a few metres to deliver their produce to Le Perchoir, the chic cocktail bar and restaurant sharing the same rooftop.
Barcat is philosophical about the slow rise of urban farms, but says that France’s capital has already seen a shift in thinking.
“Of course, some people will go back to their old habits. But others won’t. [The pandemic] has opened up new possibilities. My hope is that the ordinary Parisian will start to introduce more food grown locally in their consumption habits. We’re not going back to zero.”
Catherine Bennett is a journalist based in Paris.
Lead Photo: The largest urban farm in Europe, Nature Urbaine, had to pivot its model due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Stephane de Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images)
Vertical Agriculture - Fresh Greens From The Wall Straight to The Plate
There is no doubt that one of the biggest challenges of the next years will be feeding the massive growing population all over the world
There is no doubt that one of the biggest challenges of the next years will be feeding the massive growing population all over the world.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF JULY 12, 2020
(photo credit: Courtesy)
There is no doubt that one of the biggest challenges of the next years will be feeding the massive growing population all over the world. In 50 years, the world’s population is expected to grow by another 2 billion people and due to urbanization one of the problems would be a lack of arable lands.
In recent days where the world pandemic is impacting global food systems, disrupting regional agricultural value chains, and posing risks to household food security there is a heightened awareness of food safety for producers, businesses, governments, and consumers. With border closures and quarantines, supply chain and trade disruptions could restrict people’s access to sufficient and nutritious sources of food.
Vertical agriculture is one of the hottest trends which aim to solve these problems. "Vertical Field" an Israeli company, developed vertical urban farms and active living walls, functioning as growing solutions for smart cities. Vertical Field was established by Mr. Bar-Ness in 2006, motivated by his green thumb and ambition to bring sustainable nature-based solutions into the urban lifestyle. "We understood people’s need to surround themselves with a green, healthy environment" explains Guy Elitzur, the company's CEO.
Vertical Field has developed soil-based solutions, for green cities but mainly for vertical urban food supply. One of the main solutions that the company is focusing on is a vertical, soil-based system for urban farming in any indoor or outdoor space. Vertical Field geophonic growing method has a unique platform comprised of a container with its own sensors, irrigation, and lighting systems and in-house monitoring software which automatically manages all growth phases allowing for less human handling and a more sterile environment in order to grow fresh, healthy and free of pesticides produce all year long.
VIDEO: Vertical Farming Offers Solutions
Vertical farming has long been seen as a solution to rising populations and increasing urbanisation, but its efficiency may make it key to sustainability in general
BY TOM JOYCE
23rd June 2020
Vertical farming has long been seen as a solution to rising populations and increasing urbanization, but its efficiency may make it key to sustainability in general
Finland-based Novarbo, part of the Biolan Group, is helping growers to adapt to the concept of vertical farming and all the benefits that come with it, according to project engineer Arttu Lammensalo.
A specialist in greenhouse technology, Novarbo’s Vertical Farming Concept is able to solve the challenges of various operations, he said.
According to Lammensalo, a facility equipped with climate control and heat re-use systems is an extremely energy-efficient way of cultivating high-quality plants indoors.
Any surplus heat energy is stored for reuse, while food transportation is decreased by moving production closer to the consumer, reducing the carbon footprint. A large amount of transpiration from the crop is captured from the air and returned to the irrigation system.
In addition, with Novarbo Growisor software, the grower is able to optimise the plant growth factors of the fully automated facility, Lammensalo said, enabling long-term production planning and wireless tracking.
“Our first vertical farm serves as our laboratory for climate control experiments,” he explained. “We want to help people to adapt to vertical farming. We have collected data for over a year and a half, working on more than ten products, determining the effect of LED lights at different times and for different periods of time. The climate control system allows us to improve irrigation efficiency by 90 per cent.”
According to Lammensalo, vertical farming is quite expensive initially, but after five years, you can expect to get your investment back. “Some are a little afraid of this technology,” he said. “If there is a power cut, for example, you need a backup energy source. Herbs and salads can be quite expensive in the winter, though, so the costs can sometimes balance out.”
Vertical farming is also gaining considerable attention as a solution to feeding the large numbers currently crowded into the world’s cities.
“Vertical farming will be useful anywhere there isn’t much growing area,” Lammensalo stated. “In Singapore, they import most of their herbs and vegetables from abroad, so they are very keen on vertical farming to avoid any supply issues. It also significantly reduces the carbon footprint, as well as the water footprint, so it’s a good solution in countries that suffer from water shortages.”
Farm to Fork: This Millennial Urban Farmer Grows Vegetables On Carpark Rooftops in Singapore
The ongoing battle against the COVID-19 outbreak and the resultant lockdowns imposed in many countries worldwide have put the spotlight on Singapore’s dependence on food imports and its vulnerability to global supply shocks.
Singapore Announced New Measures in April Aimed At Speeding Up Local Food Production Over The Next Six Months To Two Years.
By Vulcan Post
June 25, 2020
The ongoing battle against the COVID-19 outbreak and the resultant lockdowns imposed in many countries worldwide have put the spotlight on Singapore’s dependence on food imports and its vulnerability to global supply shocks.
The government has repeatedly assured its citizens that Singapore has sufficient food supplies, amid bouts of panic buying that gripped the country when Singapore raised the DORSCON level to Orange.
Although the panic buying has now eased, another cause for concern is that Singapore has a population of about 5.7 million people but it only produces about 10% of its food needs.
To tackle this food crisis, Singapore announced new measures in April aimed at speeding up local food production over the next six months to two years.
This includes providing a SGD 30 million grant to support production of eggs, leafy vegetables, and fish in the shortest time possible, and identifying alternative farming spaces, such as industrial areas and vacant sites.
As part of that project, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and the Housing Development Board (HDB) have launched a tender in May for rooftop farms on public housing car parks.
This means that the rooftops of a handful of multi-story carparks in Singapore will be converted for use to farm vegetables and other food crops from the later part of this year.
Farming hits the roof
The move to find alternative farming space in land-constrained Singapore is part of their strategy to meet the country’s 30 by 30 goal, which is to produce 30% of its nutritional needs locally by 2030.
Local agritech startup Citiponics did not take part in the tender this time round, though it piloted SFA’s multi-story carpark rooftop farm project in Ang Mo Kio last year.
According to Danielle Chan, co-founder of Citiponics, its 1,800 square metres farm atop the carpark at Block 700 in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 can grow between three and four tonnes of vegetables a month.
They grow up to 25 different types of vegetables naturally without the use of pesticides.
“We currently specialize in growing our own crossbreed of lettuces—Georgina Lettuces—and have also been growing other varieties such as nai bai, Italian basil, and Thai basil based on customers’ requests,” said Danielle.
Sharing more about the Ang Mo Kio site, she said they have been steadily producing pesticide-free vegetables on a monthly basis, supplying to nearby residents and consumers islandwide.
Rooftop farm in Ang Mo Kio. Photo courtesy of Citiponics via Vulcan Post.
Beyond contributing to local food production, this pilot project has also generated “positivity,” which stems from community involvement when visitors get to know and see their food source.
“It brings us great joy to see the senior citizens enjoying their time as they work on farming activities as well as the support we have received from visitors who come to our community markets to self-harvest their produce,” said Danielle.
She added that they hire senior citizens from AWWA Community Home as well as part-time workers to help with farm maintenance.
“We believe that even if one does not have the technical agriculture know-how, they should be able to contribute to food production as well.”
Citiponics is a Singapore-grown urban farming company that started in 2016, which aims to grow safe produce through its zero-waste farming process.
It is co-founded by Danielle and her family friend Teo Hwa Kok, who has a “rich experience in agriculture.”
When agriculture meets tech
The 26-year-old is a National University of Singapore (NUS) graduate, who has worked in technology startups across Singapore and New York, as well as technology consulting companies such as IBM.
But with her tech background, why did she choose to be a ‘farmer’?
“I grew up in an agricultural environment and as such, the farm was always my playground. Growing up, I never had to worry about buying vegetables from the supermarket or doubting my food source. I had the blessing of getting all my vegetables supplies directly from the farm,” explained Danielle.
“Having personally witnessed the wastage as well as the inefficiencies in the traditional farming industry, I knew I wanted to go back to the farming industry to change the way farming is done traditionally as well as to share the blessing of the farm-to-table experience with others.”
Her tech background didn’t go to waste though. She made it a point to integrate technology into Citiponic’s farming processes.
Citiponics at NTUC FairPrice. Photo courtesy of Ministry of Trade and Industry via Vulcan Post.
They have a proprietary vertical farming technology called Aqua-Organic System (AOS). It falls under a solid-based soilless culture, which is different from the likes of traditional farming and hydroponic farming system.
As every drop of water is kept in a close loop within the growing system, it helps to minimize water consumption, using one-tenth of hydroponics water consumption and one-hundredth of traditional farming water consumption.
Due to its vertical nature, it is also able to be seven times more productive than traditional farming.
As it is specially designed to provide a natural farming environment in order to preserve the nutrients value and natural taste of the vegetables, the technology is also pollutant-free and pesticide-free. It’s also anti-mosquito breeding, which makes it very suitable for farming within community and neighborhood areas.
“The AOS farming technology removes the complex technicalities of farming and we wanted to keep it that way to allow people of all ages and backgrounds to have a great experience when they get to farm with our systems,” said Danielle.
COVID-19 does not pose a huge business challenge
All of Citiponic’s farmed produce are segmented to home deliveries, nearby residents, and selected NTUC FairPrice outlets.
Despite their limited farming space, Danielle said that they see a constant stream of supply and sales.
It’s not so much a business challenge, she added, but the need to adapt to the new normal, hence the introduction of home deliveries and engaged logistics channel.
Although COVID-19 does not greatly impact its business, it serves as a timely reminder on the importance of accelerating our local food production.
This pandemic serves a time for us to reflect on how we can enhance our food resilience strategies.
Singapore steps up to be more food resilient
As Singapore is still largely dependent on food imports, the rooftop farming tender and local food production grants are definitely the right steps forward.
According to SFA, Singapore currently secures food supply from about 170 countries.
For instance, Singapore now imports oranges from Egypt, milk powder from Uruguay, eggs from Poland and shrimps from Saudi Arabia as part of its efforts to broaden food supplies.
Danielle is well-aware that food security, food sustainability and food safety are global issues, so she hopes to bring Citiponics’ farming solution to more countries.
Citiponics’ Georgina lettuce sold at NTUC FairPrice. Photo courtesy of Citiponics via Vulcan Post.
“We are not only focused on food production, but also becoming an agritech solution provider. We have developed agriculture technology and designed farming solutions that are suitable for tropical countries, and hope to extend the applicability of our expertise and farming technology to temperate countries as well,” she added.
Citiponics is also looking at scaling its operations to enhance its contribution to local food resilience and grow more communities through the introduction of hyperlocal Citiponics urban vertical farms in various neighborhoods of Singapore.
“We envision Citiponics as a supportive environment that is able to cultivate the next generation of urban farmers and agritech innovators.”
This article was first published by Vulcan Post.
VIDEO: Can Sweden's 'Vertical Farms' Solve Global Food Shortages
The coronavirus crisis has disrupted global food supply chains, leading to shortages in some countries
Al Jazeera takes a look at an intricate farming operation (SweGreen) within Stockholm’s city walls.
by Paul Rhys
July 6, 2020
The coronavirus crisis has disrupted global food supply chains, leading to shortages in some countries.
The World Bank warns 130 million people could be at risk of starvation.
But an increasingly popular urban farming system could provide a solution.
Al Jazeera’s Paul Rhys reports from Sweden's capital Stockholm.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS & SWEGREEN
Florida Indoor Farming Firm Turns Pandemic Disruption Into Opportunity
Orlando, Fla.-based Kalera had to give away an entire harvest in March when the company's commercial customers closed amid stay-at-home orders. But, like some other greenhouse operations around the country, Kalera found other customers and avoided layoffs or going out of business
JULY 9, 2020
A large greenhouse operated by Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Gotham Greens helped produce food as the coronavirus pandemic cut supply chains in March.
Photo courtesy of Gotham Greens
ORLANDO, Fla., July 9 (UPI) -- A Florida company that grows lettuce in greenhouses turned a desperate situation during the coronavirus pandemic into new opportunities, thanks to a nationwide upswing in produce purchases from indoor farms.
Orlando, Fla.-based Kalera had to give away an entire harvest in March when the company's commercial customers closed amid stay-at-home orders. But, like some other greenhouse operations around the country, Kalera found other customers and avoided layoffs or going out of business. Indoor farms like Kalera produce food close to their customers, in clean, hygienic facilities. The process also is called vertical farming because produce is grown on racks, using hydroponics -- raising crops with water and nutrients, but without soil.
Good hygiene and a local supply are more important than ever during supply chain disruptions and waves of panic buying during the pandemic, said Daniel Malechuk, Kalera's chief executive officer.
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It was literally the day of our first harvest at a new facility when the state announced stay-at-home orders and many of our food-service customers closed overnight," Malechuk said about what the company faced in March."
My reaction at first was massive disappointment. That would be an understatement. But we rolled up our sleeves and were determined to make the best of it," he said.
Kalera has developed its farm technology over the past 10 years and had built a demonstration farm and production facility in Orlando. To the CEO's dismay, the crops in the new greenhouse became ready for harvest just as Gov. Ron Desantis ordered all restaurants closed to indoor dining.
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That meant Kalera -- and other farmers who faced similar closures around the nation -- had nowhere to sell their crops. Some growers buried their produce rather than shoulder the expense of harvesting crops without having buyers waiting.
Among the customers Kalera lost were Marriott Orlando World Center, the Orlando Magic basketball team, and area theme parks, Malechuk said.
Kalera had built a large grow house on the grounds of the Marriott resort to supply fresh lettuce and micro-greens to the kitchens there. But the resort has been closed for months and does not plan to reopen until Aug. 1.
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Instead of destroying the food, Malechuk donated his crop directly to local residents and food banks. That's also when he reached out to Florida-based Publix, one of the nation's largest grocery chains with more than 1,200 stores in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
At first, Publix paid Kalera for some crops and donated the produce to food banks.
Worried about possibly laying off his workforce of about 100, Malechuk wrote a heartfelt email to a Publix executive with whom he previously corresponded. His subject line was "Humble Plea."
The email asked Publix to make Kalera a permanent supplier. It worked, and Kalera produce now is sold in hundreds of Publix stores."
I knew Publix wasn't accepting new suppliers at that point, and I didn't think it would work," Malechuk said. "But I had to try, and I told Publix that.
"Unexpectedly, Publix expedited its process for accepting new products because of Kalera's crisis, said Curt Epperson, the company's business development manager for produce and floral.
“We were not only able to help their business -- and all the people who depend on them -- but our customers and our community," Epperson said in an email to UPI.
Kalera was not alone in turning a dismal outlook to a brighter future. Other indoor farm companies overcame difficulties during the pandemic and saw new opportunities.
Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Gotham Greens opened new greenhouses in several states as the pandemic spread around the world, CEO and co-founder Viraj Puri said.
His employees already had been wearing masks in growing areas before the pandemic struck. As coronavirus advanced, management added more levels of safety. "We started detailed health screening calls, temperature checks, increased distancing. It was a hard time for everyone. We all knew people who tested positive, and we saw people lose their jobs," Puri said.
Gotham Greens soon saw increased demand from retail merchants for its greenhouse produce as other farmers around the country struggled to find labor for harvests and had difficulties shipping food across the country during the pandemic, the CEO said."
The pandemic altered life around us, unfortunately, but it also showed that we can help ensure food security with indoor farming in controlled environments," Puri said. "These local supplies for growing produce are going to be important."
A number of other indoor farming operations found new customers -- and appreciation for their products -- during the pandemic, said Joel Cuello, a professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at the University of Arizona and vice-chair of the Association for Vertical Farming, based in Munich, Germany.
“In the future, customers want to make sure they have reliable access to food nearby. Vertical farming can be hyper-local, with a facility next to your restaurant or inside your grocery market if wanted," Cuello said.
As people value their health more during a global pandemic, nutrient-packed leafy greens are the most likely food that will be produced indoors, especially in remote areas with harsh environments, said Krishna Nemali, assistant professor of controlled environment agriculture at Purdue University in Indiana. "In northern places, like Iceland or Alaska, or in desert regions, like the Middle East, they struggle to grow food outdoors, so they are turning more to hydroponics," Nemali said. "That's where we will see more demand."
Another vertical farm company, Indiana-based Green Sense Farms, also reported an increase in calls and inquiries to its sales staff from potential customers about its technology, said Robert Colangelo, a founder, and CEO.
Colangelo's company provides contract research, design, and construction of indoor, controlled-environment agriculture facilities. Green Sense charges a little under $1 million to provide a system that includes an automated germination room, grow room, equipment room, and cooled packinghouse room."
What we found is the COVID virus caused people to look at the length of their supply chains. Long complex supply chains can really be disrupted," Colangelo said.
He said he has spoken to officials in various cities who want to learn more about setting up vertical farms."
If you have a food desert [an area with few grocery stores] or a school or hospital in a remote area, you could produce greens right on your property or right next door for that," he said.
Future of Indoor Vertical Farming With Microgrids
Schneider Electric’s Don Wingate discusses how microgrids can help the indoor vertical farming movement realize its full potential
09-07-2020 | Microgrid Knowledge
Schneider Electric’s Don Wingate discusses how microgrids can help the indoor vertical farming movement realize its full potential.
While indoor agriculture has steadily gained traction in recent years as the world seeks alternative ways to feed growing populations, the uncertainty of today’s global pandemic has accelerated a rethinking of the way we obtain our food. In the last few months, modern supply chains experienced volatility like never before and it wasn’t long before we started to see the impact beyond medical gear and personal protective equipment and began to affect food production. According to the Institute of Supply Chain Management, 75% of companies reported some kind of supply chain disruption due to COVID-19.
Indoor vertical farming is emerging as an alternative to conventional farming because it both requires lower land-use and introduces the opportunity to bring agricultural production closer to consumers — shortening supply chains and increasing footprint productivity. This is especially important during times of turmoil, which is broader than the current pandemic as weather events and changing climate patterns continue to put constant strain on traditional farming practices. In addition to shortening supply chains, indoor farming has many other advantages in comparison to traditional agriculture such as using zero pesticides, employing 95% less water, and reducing food waste. Health benefits also include fresher food, increased urban availability, and pollution reduction.
Despite the major advantages, there is one looming barrier to mainstream adoption: the process is very energy-intensive.
Solving for the energy intensity problem
Vertical farming presents a unique opportunity to grow food on already developed land and increase domestic food production, but the energy demand required to power these facilities is much higher than other methods of food production. In fact, we’ve identified indoor agriculture as one of the four major drivers that will increase electricity consumption in the next decade, along with electric vehicles, data centers, and the electrification of heat. This is why more of today’s modern farming companies are turning to microgrids as a possible solution to ease their energy challenges.
Although most of today’s facilities are not equipped to meet the electricity needs of an indoor agriculture operation, microgrids can provide dynamic energy management and the resources required to support maximum productivity, sustainability, and energy efficiency. They can provide localized power generation and utilize renewable distributed energy resources to help deliver power and reach clean energy goals, while also allowing users more control and reliability. Additionally, microgrids can capture and repurpose CO2 emissions to help in crop production.
Moreover, microgrids provide resilience from unexpected outages that could result in a loss in production. A key advantage of vertical farms is their ability to allow crops to grow year-round, and communities rely on their ability to deliver on this promise. Microgrids not only have several clean energy benefits, but they also increase business continuity that maximizes output. Given their ability to operate either in conjunction with or as an island from the utility grid, they can keep the farm producing even when the grid goes down.
The case for investment: Securing an affordable solution
Building and operating a vertical farm requires various technologies that can translate to high startup cost and design complex processes. At the same time, it is more expensive to maintain a vertical farming operation than traditional field farming. Microgrids offer a compelling value proposition, but they’re inherently complex machines and not many companies have the upfront capital or in-house expertise needed to make the investment. Fortunately, innovative business models such as energy-as-a-service (EaaS) help provide price certainty and make the investment attainable.
For example, a modern farming company, Bowery Farming, created a facility wherein crop production is 100 times more efficient than traditional farmland. This generated a need for a greater need for reliable, efficient power. Thus, the company made the decision to integrate a hybrid microgrid system that would feature a rooftop solar array, natural gas generator, and a lithium-ion battery energy storage system through an EaaS business model. Through EaaS, Bowery Farming saved upfront capital that can be used toward additional operational investments.
By 2050, the world’s population is expected to grow by another 2 billion people, and feeding it will be a major challenge. According to the projections of the Food and Agriculture Organization, we have to increase overall food production by 70% by this timeline. Coupled with new concerns that have surfaced as a result of today’s global pandemic and unstable weather, vertical farming will play a key role in future food production and institutions will take notice. However, the technology that will help ease some of the industry’s ongoing energy challenges will be just as important to aid the transition.
Don Wingate is the VP of utility and microgrid solutions at Schneider Electric.
Source: Microgrids Knowledge
Photo Courtesy of Microsoft News
Pandemic Gardening Moves Indoors With a Smart Garden in The Kitchen
It’s not hard to see why. Even as public spaces begin to open up, many people remain leery of winding through the narrow aisles of their grocery stores
By Mandy Behbehani | July 3, 2020
The Click and Grow Smart Herb Garden uses “smart soil” to provide everything the plants need. The company has seen huge increases in orders because of the coronavirus.
Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle 2016
In April, after the shutdown had made going to the grocery store a risky proposition, Jon Lechich plunked down nearly $1,000 for a three-tier, indoor smart garden. Living on a hill in Lafayette, the entrepreneur and his physician wife had limited outside space and could only grow plants in pots.
When the kit arrived, Lechich dropped a dozen pods that look like coffee capsules into a “nursery” container. After a couple of weeks, when the pods had grown roots and leaves, he transferred them into a sleek white unit that evokes a tropical bookcase. He added water, plugged in the system, and sprinkled in some nutrients. Already he’s harvested basil, kale, lettuce, peppers, and strawberries. Soon, says Lechich, “the only thing we’ll need to get at the grocery store will be meat.”
Indoor smart gardens are having their moment in the sun — er, under the LED lamp — with companies reporting unprecedented sales and even backorders. Rise Gardens, which made Lechich’s system, received a $2.6 million, ahem, seed round in May. Across the United States, Google searches for “smart garden” reached an all-time high the second week of April.
It’s not hard to see why. Even as public spaces begin to open up, many people remain leery of winding through the narrow aisles of their grocery stores. A springtime of understocked supermarket shelves reminded us not to take food-supply chains for granted, and shelter-in-place orders made spring planting season more stressful than usual. Besides, when every day feels the same, the prospect of something blossoming before our very eyes, and within the walls of the home we’re mostly confined in gains appeal.“
It’s very aesthetically pleasing,” Lechich says of his unit. “I love the light, it’s very quiet and has a great green look to it.” He and his wife have been discussing whether to move the unit from the spare room into the living room. She seems open to it, he says.
To be sure, the promise of the smart garden is not new. Neither is the indoor garden and, in fact, people throughout the Bay Area have long embraced the idea of growing their own fresh produce in micro greenhouses on their kitchen counter, a bookshelf or on a ladder up against a wall, without battling pests, contaminants or their friendly neighborhood rabbit.
Or their own non-green thumbs.“
I pretty much kill everything that is not a succulent,” says Michelle Leigh, who lives in a loft in an industrial area of Oakland where she has been advised not to grow food outdoors. She got the coronavirus in March, ordered a Rise Garden in April and received it May 20.
She planted basil, lettuces, cilantro, bananas, peppers, tomatoes, and green beans.“
My partner and I were also nervous about food shortages,” says Leigh, 43. “My diet is meat and vegetables, and I thought, ‘Oh my God if I get stuck having to eat canned or frozen food in some (economic) depression, I’m going to be screwed.’”
To reduce the chances for mishaps, Leigh wanted a hydroponic system, which grows plants using nutrients and water rather than soil and sunlight. So far, so good: All she’s had to do so far is fill the water once a week, and she’s already harvested her lettuce, basil, and cilantro.
Rise Garden says 50 percent of orders come from the Bay Area. But hydroponics are not the only game in town. Units from Click and Grow, one of the older purveyors, use a proprietary “smart soil.” The fluffy substance keeps the levels of oxygen, water, pH, and nutritional ingredients at optimal levels. You insert plant pods (biodegradable, natch) into the mix, add water, and plug the thing in.
Click and Grow, which is based in Estonia but does most of its business in California and New York reports huge increases in orders because of the coronavirus. In March, April and May, revenues were three to five times higher than in the same months last year, says Martin Laidla, a company spokesman. He attributes the jump in sales to fresh-food shortages and fear of them. “Leafy greens are not things you can stockpile,” he says. “You have to have them fresh.”
That’s exactly why Ken Lamb, 60, ordered his unit in April. “I use a lot of basil and oregano,” says Lamb, who lives in San Francisco and co-founded an early-stage VC firm. “I knew they would be useful during a time when there might be trouble having access to fresh herbs for a while.” He’s growing herbs, piri piri chile peppers, and more. “They’re so easy,” he says. “You get the package, which took five minutes to put together, fill with water, open the capsules, stick them into the holes and all you have to do is to fill it with water.”
Worth noting: Major appliance-makers are sowing their own indoor gardening dreams. At the annual Consumer Electronics Show in February, Samsung unveiled its prototype BeSpoke Plant Fridge, while LG showed off an indoor gardening appliance.
Might such technology be used on a much larger scale for commercial farming indoors? Not yet, says Hank Adams, CEO, and founder of Rise Gardens. “There are plenty of empty buildings out there, but it’s not the space, it’s the cost of electricity and of labor to harvest,” he says. The economics just aren’t favorable, he says.
But the “counter-to-table” model has plenty of appeal, he says. There’s a lot of food you can’t grow year-round outside, Adams notes. Besides, he says, plants lose half their water-soluble vitamins within 48 hours of harvest.“
My vision is that in the same way we never envisioned dishwashers and washing machines in everybody’s house and now we can’t live without them, I’d like that for indoor gardening.”
Mandy Behbehani lives in San Francisco. Email: Culture@sfchronicle.com