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Bowery Farming Adds Executives As It Expands To Sell Produce In 650 Stores
To help Bowery sell its greens, the company has brought on a group of new senior management and executive staff, including the former global chief supply chain officer for Walgreens Boots Alliance, Colin Nelson
September 24, 2020
Bowery Farming has added to its executive team as it expands its retail footprint to 650 stores, the company said.
From three indoor farms in Kearny, New Jersey, and Nottingham, Maryland, the New York-based company is pitching a smattering of leafy greens and herbs. Irving Fain, Bowery’s chief executive, and founder declined to disclose the company’s revenues or production capacity from its facilities.
To help Bowery sell its greens, the company has brought on a group of new senior management and executive staff, including the former global chief supply chain officer for Walgreens Boots Alliance, Colin Nelson. Nelson will serve as Bowery’s chief supply chain officer and joins a group of new executives including: Carmela Cugini, chief revenue officer (formerly head of merchandising & curation at Jet.com and VP and general manager of Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce team) and Katie Seawell, chief marketing officer (formerly the senior vice president of product and marketing for Starbucks).
Image Credits: Bowery Farming
The company has also added Sally Genster Robling (the former executive vice president of Pinnacle Foods and founding president of its $1.1 billion Birds Eye Division) and Michael Lynton (chairman of Snap Inc., and former chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment).
Fain said the company is currently well-capitalized and has not raised any cash since its last round of funding, led by Temasek in 2019. Bowery Farming has raised more than $172.5 million from leading investors, including Temasek, GV (formerly Google Ventures), General Catalyst, GGV Capital, First Round Capital, Henry Kravis, Jeff Wilke, and Dara Khosrowshahi, and celebrity chefs including Tom Colicchio, José Andres and David Barber of Blue Hill.
Pricing Soars On Iceberg Lettuce
Prices have spiked on California iceberg lettuce. “The supply of iceberg is low at the moment industry-wide. Yields are lower than normal this time of year due to disease issues,” says Pete Georgalos, Sales for D’Arrigo California
Prices have spiked on California iceberg lettuce. “The supply of iceberg is low at the moment industry-wide. Yields are lower than normal this time of year due to disease issues,” says Pete Georgalos, Sales for D’Arrigo California. “We’ve also been through a couple of long heatwaves this summer.”
Currently, supplies are coming out of the Salinas Valley, CA. “Canada has lettuce but supplies are winding down there. Iceberg lettuce out of Huron CA start in mid to late October for shippers that still produce there. Our next district will be Yuma, AZ which starts in early November,” says Georgalos. “Supplies will likely not increase until Yuma gets into full swing on production.”
Along with Canada, competing product currently comes from Colorado and New Mexico.
Pressures on demand
Meanwhile, solid demand is coming from both domestic retail and foodservice business as well as Canadian demand. “The biggest challenge is producing enough lettuce. It’s difficult this time of year and it’s late in the season to keep up with demand,” says Georgalos. Of course, this is forcing prices to spike significantly. “The lettuce market is three to four times higher than last year at this time. This year the lettuce market has been $40,” says Georgalos.
He adds that in the next few weeks, not much is expected to change in terms of volume or quality. “Rain and other inclement weather can be factors impacting quality and yield as we move into October,” says Georgalos.
For more information:
Claudia Pizarro-Villalobos
D'Arrigo California
Tel: +1 (831) 455-4315
cvillalobos@darrigo.com
https://www.andyboy.com/
Publication date: Mon 28 Sep 2020
Author: Astrid Van Den Broek
© HortiDaily.com
Farming In The Desert: Are Vertical Farms The Solution To Saving Water?
"When I told people I was going to grow tomatoes in the desert, they thought I was crazy," Sky Kurtz, founder of Pure Harvest Smart Farms, told DW
With high temperatures and water scarcity, the Emirates might seem an unlikely place for a farm. Yet, as coronavirus and climate change heightens the desire for food security, could vertical farms be the solution?
"When I told people I was going to grow tomatoes in the desert, they thought I was crazy," Sky Kurtz, founder of Pure Harvest Smart Farms, told DW.
With just an average 12 days of rain a year, less than 1% arable land, a desert location, and an 80% import rate for food, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) seems an unfavorable place to set up a farm.
Read more: World needs 7 planets to eat like a G20 nation, food report finds
Kurtz is one of several entrepreneurs using high-tech farming techniques to boost crop production in the Emirates. Pure Harvest built the first climate-controlled greenhouse in Abu Dhabi in 2017.
Prompted by arid conditions and a desire for greater food security, the country is investing millions in technologies — such as vertical farming — that could make it an unlikely agricultural pioneer.
Read more: Goodbye to fields: What food production may look like tomorrow
Sky Kurtz says people thought he was crazy when he said he would grow tomatoes in the desert
Vertical farms can grow a rich variety of different crops by stacking them in layers under LED lighting in climate-controlled greenhouses and watering them with mist or drip systems. The process is tailored to each crop's specific needs, resulting in high-yield, year-round harvests.
"It takes 30 to 40 days to grow leafy greens out in the field. We can grow that same crop in 10 to 12 days," says Marc Oshima, co-founder of Aerofarms. The company received funding from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office to build the capital's largest indoor vertical farm, with 800 different crops, by 2021.
With vertical farming, crops can flourish year-round, far from traditional regions of production
Water scarcity and fossil-fuel reliance
The technology uses minimal land and up to 95% less water than conventional agriculture.
The hydroponics system places the plants' roots directly into a water-based and nutrient-rich solution instead of soil. This "closed-loop" system captures and recirculates all the water, rather than allowing it to drain away — useful for a country like the UAE suffering from extremely high water stress.
Read more: Blue Gold: The dwindling resource of water
Globally, agriculture accounts for 70% of freshwater withdrawals, and UAE is extracting groundwater faster than it can be replenished, according to the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA).
"Water is very expensive over in the UAE, but energy is cheap as it is subsidized," says Jan Westra, a strategic business developer at Priva, a company providing technology to vertical farms.
The artificially controlled environment is energy-intensive because the air conditioning and LED lights need a constant source of electricity.
This bringing forth of life in the desert could come at a high environmental cost. Most of that energy comes from carbon-emitting fossil fuels, even as the Middle Eastern country feel the effects of climate change.
By 2050 Abu Dhabi's average temperature is predicted to increase by around 2.5°C in a business-as-usual scenario. Over the next 70 years, patterns of rainfall are also expected to change.
Aerofarms has received funding from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office to build the capital's largest indoor vertical farm, with 800 different crops, by 2021
Integrating renewable energy
Although Pure Harvest is building a solar-powered farm in neighboring Saudi Arabia, its UAE operations get electricity from the carbon-intensive national grid.
Investing more in renewables "is a goal of ours," Kurtz told DW. He said the company has not set a clean energy target but is working on various green power projects, including a plan to integrate solar power generated in UAE into its operations.
However, Willem van der Schans, a researcher specializing in short supply chains at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, says sustainability and clean energy should be "inherent in the technology and included in plans when starting a vertical farm."
He argues that many vertical farming companies are not sustainable in terms of energy as they still view clean power as an optional "add-on."
Read more: Innovative clean water technologies
Ismahane Elouafi, director-general of the government-funded ICBA in Abu Dhabi, acknowledges that vertical farming has some way to go before achieving "real sustainability," but she believes the innovations are "promising."
Improved battery storage, increasingly efficient LED lights and cheaper solar panels will help, she adds.
Local solutions
By 2050, the UAE government wants to generate almost half its energy from renewable sources.
Fred Ruijgt, a vertical farming specialist at Priva, argues that it's important to factor transport and refrigeration into the energy equation. Vertical farming uses more energy to grow crops than traditional agriculture, but because crops are grown locally, they do not have to be transported by air, sea or truck over long distances.
Vertical farming installations come in all shapes and sizes, meaning food can grow where land and water are scarce
"The energy-saving is difficult to calculate exactly, but the advantages of locally grown crops are huge," he says, adding that those grown in vertical farms not only use less water and pesticides but that they also have a longer shelf life due to minimal transportation time.
Read more: Dubai: Can the city of black gold go green?
Food security and coronavirus
In 2018, the UAE set out its vision to become a hub for high-tech local food production.
Companies and investors have flocked to the region, attracted by the 0% corporate tax rate, low labor costs, and cheap energy. With their help, UAE aims to reduce its reliance on imports and make its food system more resilient to shocks like climate change and pandemics.
Oshima from Aerofarms says the coronavirus pandemic has brought "greater appreciation of how fragile the supply chain is and raised questions about food safety and security."
When the UAE went into lockdown in April, imported supplies of perishable goods like vegetables fell and business boomed for local suppliers.
ICBA's Elouafi said they have helped keep the UAE well-stocked during the pandemic.
"With the help of local food production and adequate imports, there has been absolutely no shortage of food in the UAE," Elouafi told DW.
Climate change, however, poses an altogether more complex threat to the country in the long-term. Given climate change's likely impact on food production, she says vertical farming has shown it is "an economically viable proposition even with harsh climatic conditions."
How Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect Technology Makes Growing Hydroponically Brain-Dead Simple!
If you are a new hydroponics grower … or even if you have years of experience under your belt … one thing that’s very important for all indoor growers to understand is the importance of pH in hydroponics.
If you are a new hydroponics grower … or even if you have years of experience under your belt … one thing that’s very important for all indoor growers to understand is the importance of pH in hydroponics.
In short, if you don’t understand how to monitor and achieve the best pH level for hydroponics, then you can seriously hurt your results and even drastically reduce your harvests.
What is pH and why is it so important?
pH is the measure of the level of acidity or alkalinity of your entire garden which consists of your nutrient solution and growing medium. It ‘s a scale that’s represented by figure 1 showing pH values from most alkaline to most acidic using common materials.)
To achieve optimal growing conditions, you want to achieve and maintain the best pH level for plants.
Here is why it’s so important to get the perfect ph balance …
Living, growing organisms such as your high-value plants are essentially chemical machines. One of your most important jobs as a grower is to keep those chemicals in balance. This means avoiding a shift in the pH toward either pH extreme: excessive acidity or excessive alkalinity.
The pH level makes the difference between having a grow room full of nutrient-healthy, thriving plants and seeing your time, effort, and money end up as little more than a compost waste pile!
Here’s what happens when pH gets out of balance
When the pH of your hydroponic system gets out of balance—which can happen quickly if some kind of stabilizing agent or mechanism is not put in place—the ability of your plants to absorb macro, secondary, and micronutrients, as well as vitamins, carbohydrates, and other beneficial sources, is limited.
For example, when the nutrient solution has a high (alkaline) pH, iron and manganese are locked out. That’s because they form poorly soluble chemical compounds. Adding chelators to compounds helps to keep them in bio-available form. However, chelation itself is a pH-dependent process.
Another reason why pH is so important for the absorption of nutrients is biochemistry. Nutrients cannot enter the plant roots on their own because plant cells are protected by membranes that are difficult for water soluble ions to penetrate. To overcome this barrier, nutrients are carried inside the plant by special transporters. These transporters are big protein molecules in the cell membranes. They recognize nutrient ions and let them enter the plant cells. Since proteins are rich in ionizable chemical compounds, their function is dependent on pH. Thus, every transporter protein has an optimal pH range where it works best.
In addition, the beneficial bacteria and fungi included in sophisticated hydroponic supplements need a consistent pH. These microorganisms thrive at pH 5.5–7.0 (Perry, 2003). A more acidic pH can foster an environment that allows the growth of pathogenic microorganisms, which may pose a risk to plant health.
Here’s what happens when pH gets out of balance
When the pH of your hydroponic system gets out of balance—which can happen quickly if some kind of stabilizing agent or mechanism is not put in place—the ability of your plants to absorb macro, secondary, and micronutrients, as well as vitamins, carbohydrates, and other beneficial sources, is limited.
For example, when the nutrient solution has a high (alkaline) pH, iron and manganese are locked out. That’s because they form poorly soluble chemical compounds. Adding chelators to compounds helps to keep them in bio-available form. However, chelation itself is a pH-dependent process.
Another reason why pH is so important for the absorption of nutrients is biochemistry. Nutrients cannot enter the plant roots on their own because plant cells are protected by membranes that are difficult for water soluble ions to penetrate. To overcome this barrier, nutrients are carried inside the plant by special transporters. These transporters are big protein molecules in the cell membranes. They recognize nutrient ions and let them enter the plant cells. Since proteins are rich in ionizable chemical compounds, their function is dependent on pH. Thus, every transporter protein has an optimal pH range where it works best.
In addition, the beneficial bacteria and fungi included in sophisticated hydroponic supplements need a consistent pH. These microorganisms thrive at pH 5.5–7.0 (Perry, 2003). A more acidic pH can foster an environment that allows the growth of pathogenic microorganisms, which may pose a risk to plant health.
In fact, pH affects every function of the root zone
For example, carbohydrate transporters in the roots require the right pH in order to perform their job of absorbing carbohydrates. These carbs are assimilated from decaying organic matter or carbohydrate supplements, which the plant uses as food.
Maintaining the normal pH of the nutrient solution and growing medium as close as possible to your plant species’ unique pH “sweet spot” is critical to obtaining a rich harvest.
The sweet spot is the optimal pH range where all the plant essential nutrients are readily available for absorption. For high value plants, the sweet spot is pH 5.5–6.3.
Why is maintaining a stable, consistent pH so difficult?
Three major factors tend to disrupt the pH balance for plants. Learning to control these influences is essential for a successful harvest.
* pH Problem #1: Your Water.
The truth is that there’s no such thing as pH perfect water. Here’s why …
Freshly distilled or deionized water has a pH of 7. However, the pH of the water may fall to as low as 5.5 within hours of preparation because water absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air.
The behavior of tap water is even more complex. It contains dissolved and slightly alkaline calcium and/or magnesium salts. In this case, absorption of CO2 from the air makes predicting the pH even more challenging.
Because the calcium and magnesium salts in most tap waters (not to mention even more chemically complex well and spring waters) create such serious problems, many hydroponic growers, from hobbyists to huge commercial greenhouses, prefer using treated water.
Although a number of water treatment systems exist, reverse-osmosis (RO) is considered the most economical. Water obtained from an RO system is almost as good as expensive distilled water.
Another option is to adjust the pH of tap water before using it. This can be done with so-called pH up or pH down additives. However, this task is demanding and often done incorrectly—and what’s worse, the acidic and alkaline chemicals used in these products, and the resulting sudden fluctuations in pH when they are added to the reservoir, can be hard on your plants.
* pH Problem #2: Your Nutrients.
Many pH changes are caused by the nutrients themselves. Many growers don’t realize there is a relationship between pH and ppm. Here’s what that means …
The more compounds in the water— measured in parts per million (ppm) or by the nutrient solution’s electroconductivity (EC)—the greater their influence on pH.
For example, the urea used in many fertilizers is broken down by enzymes into one molecule of CO2 (a slightly acidic compound) and two molecules of ammonia (a slightly alkaline compound). This can cause erratic changes in pH.
In addition to urea, any compound containing an amide chemical bond
(e.g., the proteinates used in many fertilizers) can, when broken down, affect the pH in unpredictable ways.
Nutrient absorption also leads to changes in pH. When a plant absorbs a lot of potassium ions, it gives out hydrogen ions in return. The result is a net decrease in pH. The situation reverses when the plant absorbs a lot of nitrate ions and gives out hydroxyl ions to compensate, thus increasing the pH (Bar-Yosef, Ganmore- Neumann, Imas, and Kafkafi, 1997; Ryan, P.R. and Delhaize, E., 2001).
In short, the higher the rate of nutrient absorption, the more dramatic the change in pH.
* pH Problem #3: Your Growing Medium.
The growing medium (also called the substrate) affects pH as well.
For example, coco-based growing media undergo subtle changes during your crop’s life cycle that affect the pH of the nutrient solution.
In fact, every chemical or biochemical process that goes on in the growing medium changes the pH of the nutrient solution. Each additional factor drives it further from the sweet spot.
In nature, the volume of surrounding soil—teeming with microbes, humates, and other pH stabilizing agents—does a good job of offsetting pH changes. Natural soils act as natural pH buffers. That’s why, in outdoor gardens, where the soil itself contributes to a more stable, consistent pH, changes in pH are more gradual than in hydroponic gardens.
In hydroponics, however, pH stability is a challenge. It is an intense gardening method where the concentration of nutrients and their absorption rate by plants are much higher than in soil. As a result, chemical and biochemical processes influence the pH to a much higher degree than in natural soils or traditional agriculture. The natural stabilizers and buffers in the nutrient solution, mainly phosphates, are weak, so indoor gardeners have to constantly be adjusting pH in hydroponics and adjust it when it goes below or above the sweet spot.
What a hassle!
Enter Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect® Technology – Automatically Balances Your pH For You.
The fact is that Advanced Nutrients has spent many thousands of man-hours developing a technology that automatically balances your pH for you — putting it in the “sweet spot” and holds it there for weeks.
And the technology is so “smart” it can account for many of the aforementioned variables in your grow room.
For example, they wanted to find pH stabilizers and buffers that would allow growers to use any source of low-mineralized water. The resulting proprietary pH buffering agents and stabilizing mechanisms became the foundation of a new system aptly called pH Perfect® Technology.
But developing a groundbreaking pH buffer and stabilizer wasn’t the whole answer. It required many years of field testing to determine the proper concentration for pH Perfect base nutrients.
How Does pH Perfect Technology Work?
The general answer is that pH Perfect Technology is a proprietary system, so the exact details cannot be shared with the public at this time.
However, Michael Straumietis, the founder and CEO of Advanced Nutrients has graciously shared detailed information about how the technology works …
First, the technology uses its proprietary and primary mechanism to quickly bring the nutrient solution into the “sweet spot” for growing–which is 5.5 to 6.3 pH (usually holding it at a rock-solid 5.6 pH). And it is able to do this across a wide range of pH ranges.
In addition to this main mechanism that quickly brings your pH into range, you have three chemicals that work synergistically to make sure the pH stays in that “sweet spot”. In lab experiments, Advanced Nutrients scientists have had pH Perfect Technology lock down the pH in this “sweet spot” for 10-14 days.
Then, there are a number of chelates used …
In particular, there is a type of chelate called “Zwitterionic” used — which simply means that this chelate can swing both towards more acidic or more base. That reinforces that stability of the pH column because it can go either way as needed to maintain the proper pH.
Then, heavy ‘cation’ elements are used that–after the plant takes them in–helps the plant to exude acid. This produces a more acidic growing medium.
So now your plants are working for you, not against you … But that’s still not enough …
Because the technology has a built-in “safety net” in the form of the chelates that are used. That’s because the extensive matrix of chelates that are utilized have a theoretical absorption range from pH 1 to pH 10.
Now, at pH 2.5 the plant’s roots are burning back faster than they can produce, and at pH 9.5 your plants are dying too. But the point is that … even if … the entire pH Perfect mechanism were to completely fail …we have this built-in “safety net” with the extensive amount of chelates used to protect the plant and make sure it feeds and stays healthy.
But Does Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect Work?
But the question is “Does it actually work?”
And the answer is a resounding yes!
Check out the YouTube video below for a demonstration of the pH Perfect Technology in action:
pH Perfect Technology VS The Competition
You can also visit the website pHShootout.com to see proof of the technology’s effectiveness. In short, they put pH Perfect Base Nutrients and supplements head-to-head against all the other top hydroponics brands and filmed it live for you.
They set up three diverse pH ranges of 4.5, 6.5, and 8.5 – then tested all the top brands against Advanced Nutrients to answer the ultimate question …
Does pH Perfect Technology really work? And how does it stack up against the competition? You can visit pHShootout.com to see the video results.
What’s the bottom line?
If you use any pH Perfect base nutrient as directed, you will never again have to monitor and adjust your pH. The pH Perfect Technology automatically brings the pH of the nutrient solution into the sweet spot for optimal growth and flowering—and keeps it there for at least one week.
You no longer have to hassle with pH meters and pens. Relax and rest assured that the pH of the nutrient solution and growing medium is right on target, providing optimal growing conditions and nutrient absorption for your plants. pH Perfect lives up to its name, making hydroponics easier and safer for any type of grower.
Here Are The Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect Nutrients lines
There are three main lines of Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect Base Nutrients.
* For 3-Part base nutrients, growers can use pH Perfect® Grow, Micro, Bloom.
* For 2-part base nutrients, growers can choose between The Sensi Series (pH Perfect® Sensi Grow Parts A & B and pH Perfect® Sensi Bloom Parts A & B) …
* Or Advanced Nutrients flagship 2-part base nutrient formulation pH Perfect® Connoisseur Grow Parts A & B and pH Perfect® Connoisseur Bloom Parts A & B.
* And for coco coir growers, Advanced Nutrients has separate Coco Base Nutrients formulations of their 2-part base nutrients made specifically for the challenges of growing with coco.
In short, it’s up to the individual grower as to whether they want to use a 2-part or 3-part base nutrient.
Many times, these days, it comes down to personal preference of the grower and making a fully informed choice is beyoned the scope of this article. Either way, choosing pH Perfect Base Nutrients ensures that you won’t have to worry about balancing and adjusting your pH throughout the process!
The Advanced Nutrients ph Perfect Feeding Chart
It’s important when using any 2 or 3-part base nutrient to follow the correct feeding chart.
If you are looking for the pH Perfect feeding chart then you are in luck because it can be found on this page here:
https://www.advancednutrients.com/nutrient-calculator/
On that page, you’ll find the official Advanced Nutrients ph Perfect Calculator and the official Advanced Nutrients ph Perfect Feeding Schedule can be found on every bottle of pH Perfect Nutrients.
References
Bar-Yosef, B., Ganmore-Neumann, R., Imas, P., and Kafkafi, U., 1997. Release of carboxylic anions and protons by tomato roots in response to ammonium nitrate ratio and pH in nutrient solution. Plant and Soil, 191 (1), pp. 27–34.
Nye, P.H., 1981. Changes of pH across the rhizosphere induced by roots. Plant and Soil,
61 (1–2), pp. 7–26.
Olsen, C., 1958. Iron uptake in different plant species as a function of the pH value of the nutrient solution. Physiologia Plantarum, 11 (4), pp. 889–905.
Perry, L., 2003. pH for the garden. University of Vermont Extension, Department of Plant and Soil Science, [online] available at: http://www.uvm.edu/pss/ppp/pubs/ oh34.htm [accessed 12 January 2012].
Ryan, P.R., and Delhaize, E., 2001. Function and mechanism of organic anion exudation from plant roots. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology, 52, pp. 527–560.
By Advanced Nutrients | December 2, 2016
Food Insecurity Rates Vary Across States
USDA monitors the extent of food insecurity in U.S. households at the national and State levels through an annual U.S. Census Bureau survey
USDA monitors the extent of food insecurity in U.S. households at the national and State levels through an annual U.S. Census Bureau survey. Food-insecure households are defined as those that had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all of their members due to a lack of resources.
Food insecurity rates vary across States because of differing characteristics of the population, State-level policies, and economic conditions. Data for 2016-18 were combined to provide more reliable State statistics than one year alone would provide.
The estimated prevalence of food insecurity during 2016-18 ranged from 7.8 percent of the households in New Hampshire to 16.8 percent in New Mexico with a national average of 11.7 percent. In 12 States, the prevalence of food insecurity was higher than the 2016-18 national average, and in 16 States, it was lower than the national average. In the remaining 22 States and the District of Columbia, differences from the national average were not statistically significant.
This map appears in the Food Security and Nutrition Assistance section of the Economic Research Service’s Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials.
Horti Daily | Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Hort Americas Expands Services With Canadian Branche
Supported by GE Current’s grow lights, designed and engineered in Montreal, Hort Americas Canada has the resources and knowledge to enhance production capacity in vertical farms and greenhouses
Speaking French and English
An exciting new step for Hort Americas. Since 2009 the company, headquartered in Bedford, Texas, has been providing leading knowledge in commercial hydroponic production, vertical farming, greenhouse production, urban agriculture specifically on topics like engineered substrates, fertilizers and LED grow lights.
Now they cross borders and expand their business with a Canadian branche. The new local team in Montreal will help Canadian growers out. "We're providing local support on horticultural lighting, growing systems and whatever growers might be dealing with. Either in French or in English", the team says.
The team explains how the Quebec expansion and their physical presence in Canada is their effort to deliver the best personalized service for growers across the border. "Our Canadian team will offer the same value-added services and products while bringing to the table deep technical skills in horticulture lighting solutions", they say.
Supported by GE Current’s grow lights, designed and engineered in Montreal, Hort Americas Canada has the resources and knowledge to enhance production capacity in vertical farms and greenhouses. "Our team advises and supports growers with their projects through light plans, design optimization, energy savings evaluation and crop-specific DLI and spectrum selection."
Hort Americas Canada also partners with Grodan by distributing their stone wool growing media solutions. "We are pleased to work with a team who is dedicated to creating the optimal environment for roots resulting in healthy and strong plants. In fact, most recently, Grodan launched the new NG2.0 substrate technology optimizing yield growth while using less water, nutrients and space," says the team.
"We're passionate about horticulture and strive to assist growers in their quest for hydroponic solutions enhancements and technology advancements. If that is in English, or if it is in French!"
For more information:
Hort Americas Canada+1 438 521 3752
canada@hortamericas.com
www.hortamericas.com
Publication date: Mon 25 May 2020
VIDEO: Growing Healthy Food Indoors
How many of us live in apartments or townhomes and long for a big backyard to start a garden?
How Many of us Live in Apartments or
Townhomes And long For a Big Backyard to Start a Garden?
Well with new technology, indoor herb growers give anyone the chance to grow their own food. You don't even need a backyard anymore to grow healthy foods.
Now, you can do it all from the comfort of your home. In this article, we're going to talk about our favorite indoor herb grower right now and why you should try it for yourself!
Read more
COVID-19, Agriculture Re-Awakened
The COVID-19 Pandemic is a current reality that is forcing the global population to reassess affected industries, and plan a future that will be less dependent on the weak links in our current supply chain facing unprecedented disruptions
The COVID-19 Pandemic is a current reality that is forcing the global population to reassess affected industries, and plan a future that will be less dependent on the weak links in our current supply chain facing unprecedented disruptions. Travel restrictions imposed to limit the virus’s spread have resulted in migrant laborer shortages to harvest produce as mentioned in Essential, but Unprotected.
Leafy green vegetables will be the first affected due to their early spring harvest, while already facing consumer scrutiny over food safety concerns for being highly prone to foodborne diseases when grown outdoors. To make matters worse, these vegetables are a critical part of a nutritious diet needed to support the immune systems of people fighting off viral infections. With many resorting to nonperishable foods and little exercise, there will likely be a spike in obesity which statistically makes the virus even deadlier.
Social distancing and self quarantining have become daily routines for nearly everyone in the US. The concept of decentralized agricultural production, or more commonly known as indoor gardening, enables people to grow safe and nutritious produce within their homes to minimize exposure from crowded grocery stores while shopping for highly perishable goods that require frequent visits.
Gardening has the benefit of educating children who are out of school about agriculture and technology. It also improves the psychological well being of the individuals by being around aesthetically pleasing plants as well as improving indoor air quality according to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Over the past few years, we’ve seen e-commerce aggressively challenge brick and mortar stores across industries. Despite this market trend, the food and grocery industries still heavily rely on in-store experiences, led by big-box chains such as Walmart, Target, and Costco.
This is attributed to the high perishability of produce, two-thirds of which are grown in California which requires an extensive supply chain and energy-intensive refrigeration sections to constantly account for losses. However, in recent times, the value proposition of grocery delivery has seen a meteoric rise in response to consumer viral transmission fears. This is true for one such company, Heliponix, which has built their own direct-to-consumer supply chain for growing food that has been unphased by current events.
Heliponix© provides consumers with the GroPod© Smart Garden Appliance with a Seed Pod™ subscription that could be described as "Keurig for food." Their automated, hydroponic hardware combined with smart, cloud software allows anyone to become a farmer regardless of their climate, space, or existing knowledge of agriculture. Consumers enjoy Pure Produce™ that is better for their health, and the environment by reducing water consumption and food waste through local production while maintaining social distancing. Keeping the plants alive until the moment of consumption will maximize the nutritional content and taste for the user.
Co-Founder and CEO, Scott Massey stated, “We have experienced an explosion of inquiries in light of the pandemic from consumers who want control of their own produce supply. Consumers want food that tastes better, while being healthier for them from a trusted source. The GroPod makes them self-sufficient in production from our convenient seed pod subscription, and automated appliance that doesn’t require agricultural knowledge. Not only is it environmentally sustainable by avoiding the harmful pollutants of industrial agriculture, but it is also financially sustainable for the consumer who will generate a profit from the premium quality produce when all hardware, subscription, and even negligible water and energy costs are accounted for.”
Massey then went on to say, “Our company had a unique founding while my Co-Founder, Ivan Ball and I were both undergraduate students at Purdue University. We met while working as coworkers and worked as research engineers on a NASA funded project to design targeted LEDs to grow food on the ISS (International Space Station) under Dr. Cary Mitchell. We became familiar with many leading experts in this growing industry destined for mass adoption and were very fortunate to receive our first pre-seed and seed investments from Purdue Ventures Ag-celerator fund which focuses on innovations within the AgBioScience realm. I view the adoption of the distributed farming model as inevitable as global food output needs to increase by 70% as we exceed 9 billion people in 2050 according to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), but we’re not making anymore farmland. Vertical, indoor agriculture is the most viable solution, however, energy, labor, and facility infrastructure are the most expensive costs resulting in low margins. This is why we chose a direct-to-consumer model; to decentralize the facility into consumer appliances, developed a more energy-efficient design, and are not dependent on labor to plant/harvest/process the crops since they are grown directly at the point of consumption, the household.”
Ivan Ball explains, “We are now deep into the fourth industrial revolution with blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and IoT connecting everything in our homes to our phones. Development of these systems will provide the architecture we need to begin connecting biological organisms to our digital world.” Computer vision and machine learning are the tools needed to understand a plant's response to a given environment and enable our automated device to adapt the environment to a plant’s preference in real-time. Additionally, a user will be able to input their preferred taste preference of a plant, for example, a “sweeter basil”, so that their GroPod can cultivate a garden of plants with a personalized taste. Already we are seeing indoor vertical farming move closer to people by growing it directly in the grocery stores. This trend from dirt to fork is compared to the ice industry of highly perishable goods being decentralized and produced within the home. It is our goal to decentralize agriculture to eliminate food waste, save water, reduce energy consumption, and become the world’s largest farming company without owning a single acre of land.
Heliponix, LLC recently won the Leyton International Startup Sustainability Challenge which landed them a booth within Eureka Park at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2020 in Las Vegas. They received a phenomenal amount of press from the likes of The Associated Press among others.
Source: Minnesota Historical Society/Getty Images. A poster from the Minneapolis Defense Council urged planting.
However novel the GroPod Smart Garden Appliance’s innovative design improves efficiencies, the concept of consumers growing their own food has been accomplished before. A similar mass, consumer gardening experiment was successfully orchestrated in 1943 when war-time Victory Gardens produced close to 40 percent of the country’s fresh vegetables, from about 20 million gardens in homes, schools, and community gardens. Our dependence on grocery stores will be greatly reduced by consuming produce directly from the source of a personal farm. Perhaps people may re-adopt the agrarian lifestyles of our ancestors through these automated farming appliances at a consumer level in the new gig economy.
Peloton Meets Greengrocer: Farmshelf Launches Home Version of Indoor Farming System
The latest high-tech offering: a fully-automated indoor farm for greens and herbs, all housed within a sleek case the size of a bookshelf
John Jannarone
IPO-Edge.com April 28, 2020
From Peloton Interactive Inc. to Netflix, Inc., companies offering at-home technologies to keep people busy, healthy, and entertained during the lockdown have thrived. The latest high-tech offering: a fully-automated indoor farm for greens and herbs, all housed within a sleek case the size of a bookshelf.
Farmshelf, which currently sells a professional device popular with celebrity chefs like José Andrés, has launched Farmshelf Home, a slightly smaller version designed specifically for home use. Farmshelf Home, which is available for pre-order, features a remotely-controlled hydroponic system and an app that monitors the miniature crop with cameras and sensors. Everything from hydration to airflow to nutrients are controlled by the machine, with owners simply needing to occasionally refill water and harvest plants.
“Our mission has always been to make it easy for people to grow their own food where they live, work, and eat. We started where they work and eat at restaurants and corporate cafes, now we are coming to the home,” said Andrew Shearer, founder, and CEO of Farmshelf. “Giving people the opportunity to harvest food as it’s needed will not only elevate the idea of ‘farm to table but help reduce the ongoing cycle of food waste.”
Farmshelf Home is truly the first of its kind. While other contraptions exist such as a tabletop system from The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, they are relatively small. Farmshelf Home produces enough to cover a meaningful part of a weekly shopping list: a sample harvest includes 8 heads of lettuce, 8 bunches of herbs, and 8 bunches of greens.
View photos
“The food we eat was not designed to ship 1500 miles,” Mr. Shearer said. “We are going from shipping food miles to shipping food a few feet. It really changes the equation.”
Users can choose from a diverse menu of over 40 different herbs, leafy greens, and edible flowers. Choices include staples like romaine lettuce along with more exotic plants such as shiso and viola flowers.
The system also reduces food waste because users simply trim whatever ingredients they need for a meal. Farmshelf estimates the system, which sells for $4,950 on pre-order and has a $35 monthly fee for seeds and other essentials, can save users up to $2,500 a year in grocery bills.
The system also has advantages over normal gardening. Thanks to the controlled atmosphere and technology, plants grow three times as fast and need 90% less water. There’s also no need for pesticides or herbicides, meaning users technically can eat greens without washing them.
While away from home, users can keep an eye on their plants through the mobile app. It features live camera views and sends alerts for needs such as a water refill.
The success of the professional model suggests Farmshelf Home will be a hit. Farmshelf is very popular with superstar chefs like Mr. Andrés, who actually has a professional version in his own home. He recently tweeted a video of one of his Farmshelf units, raving about romaine lettuce.
Farmshelf also serves large groups of diners at schools and corporate cafeterias. American Express Company, for instance, uses multiple Farmshelf systems to serve 3,000 people per day.
To date, Farmshelf has raised over $8 million privately. Mr. Shearer said the company may seek more capital in the future as it continues to grow.
Contact:
John Jannarone, Editor-in-Chief
editor@IPO-Edge.com
Nature Fresh Farms Hires New Marketing Director
Nature Fresh Farms has hired seasoned marketer Stephanie Swatkow as its new director of marketing
MAY 07, 2020
Nature Fresh Farms has hired seasoned marketer Stephanie Swatkow as its new director of marketing.
Beginning her career in advertising with Young and Rubicam, Swatkow worked with global agencies, including MacLaren McCann and JWT (Enterprise Creative Selling) before joining the design firm Mamone & Partners. Bringing over 20 years of advertising and marketing experience to Nature Fresh Farms, Swatkow has worked with many brands including Ford, Kraft, Kool-Aid, Jell-O, Airmiles, LCBO, Fairmont, HomeSense, and Birks. Through her experience in consumer-packaged goods, automotive, and retail sectors, Swatkow has a deep knowledge of brand development and management.
“I am happy to welcome Stephanie to our management team and look forward to working together in further developing the Nature Fresh brand. The depth of her marketing knowledge and leadership will benefit our entire organization,” said Director of Business Development Ray Wowryk. “We have experienced some tremendous growth recently, and we are excited to have Stephanie guide us toward continued success in growing the Nature Fresh Farms market.”
With its recent growth, Nature Fresh Farms identified the need to reinforce its marketing team with the addition of seasoned leadership. In her role as director of marketing, Swatkow will work strategically alongside the senior management team to redefine marketing plans and drive major marketing initiatives.
“Stephanie is a welcomed addition to our marketing team and has proven to be a wonderful asset to our company,” said Vice President John Ketler. “We look forward to her sharing her insight and creativity, so we can continue to enhance our operations and exceed our customer’s expectations.”
About Nature Fresh Farms
Continuously expanding, Nature Fresh Farms has become one of the largest independent, vertically integrated greenhouse vegetable farms in North America. As a year-round grower with farms in Leamington, ON, Delta, OH, and Mexico, Nature Fresh Farms prides itself on consistently delivering exceptional flavor and quality to key retailers throughout North America, while continuing to innovate and introduce more viable and sustainable growing and packaging solutions.
Have You Thought About Growing Your Own Produce?
Have you thought about finally growing your own produce? Especially in times of uncertainty, I needed to know that I have access to healthy, nutritious, and flavorful produce all year long. My answer to this burning question came in the form of a Tower Garden. Have you heard of them yet?
By WALTRAUD UNGER
April 23, 2020
Zucchini and Zucchiniflowers growing on Waltraud's Tower Garden
Credits: Waltraud Unger
1 YOU CAN GROW YEAR-ROUND
Tower Gardens are a state-of-the-art vertical aeroponic growing system, allowing you to grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers in less time than it takes to grow in soil. Because they don’t require any soil you can grow plants anywhere. With the addition of sun-spectrum LED grow lights, it’s easy to have your garden indoors close to your kitchen or outside on the patio. Depending on the configuration you will be able to have up to 36 different plants at your fingertips. There is nothing better than picking fresh, beyond organic herbs right when you need them.
Health and transformation coach, Waltraud Unger, holding Swiss Chard harvested from her Tower Garden
Credits: Waltraud Unger
2. IT SAVES YOU MONEY QUICKLY
Have you ever gone produce shopping with the intention to prepare it within a few days and then had a change of plans? Days and weeks go by and you finally find a bag of wilted greens or rotten cauliflower hiding in the back of your refrigerator. Well, you are not alone! It’s not only costly to toss expensive produce, but it’s also aggravating to find a spoiled bag of herbs or produce when you finally want to use it
When I decided to buy my first Tower Garden, I saved enough money from buying expensive organic produce that my Tower Garden had paid for itself within six months. Now I not only get to eat fresh produce right off my tower, but I also save money.
Once the Tower Garden was paid for, I only needed to replace nutrients, seeds, and rock wool once or twice a year. The total yearly cost is less than my former monthly produce bill! I call the Tower Garden my “Giving Tree” as it keeps on giving me produce for next to nothing.
3. YOU CONTROL HOW YOUR PRODUCE IS GROWN AND HANDLED
I found that the plants in my Tower Garden are much healthier and stronger than the same plants in my organic garden beds. They also seem to be much less affected by bugs and diseases than their dirt growing siblings. There is hardly any need for pest or disease control. If I occasionally find some bugs on my plants, I can easily take them out of the towers and treat them organically without affecting the other plants. It gives me peace of mind that my family and I are the only ones handling the produce in my Tower Garden. I have full knowledge of who planted the seeds, cared for the plants, and harvested our food. I know exactly what came in contact with my food and what did not. I feel the same reassurance and comfort I did when growing up with my grandma’s vegetable garden right outside our kitchen door; this time just a little updated.
4. THE PRODUCE HAS MORE FLAVOR AND GROWS FASTER
I enjoy experimenting and often plant the same seeds in my Tower Garden as I do in my organic soil beds. The consensus from friends and family has been that the produce from my towers has more flavor than from my garden beds. It’s sad to admit, but true. All the hours and pain working the soil, pulling the weeds, and watering my crop doesn’t yield better produce.
The University of Mississippi did a scientific comparison of Tower Garden farming to conventional growing and found a much higher yield and more flavor in produce harvested from Tower Gardens. Check out this link to the research results. I can definitely agree with their findings.
5. IT USES LESS WATER THAN CONVENTIONAL OR ORGANIC FARMING
The Tower Garden is a closed system without soil. It uses aeroponic technology to deliver water and nutrients directly to the roots of the plants. There is hardly any evaporation or wasted water. Some tests at NASA show that you can save up to 98% of water with these towers. With water being such a precious resource, this is a wonderful ecological benefit as well as significant cost savings. Plus, it aligns with my sense of sustainable living!
If you are like me you will enjoy all the other cool and nerdy benefits of Tower Gardens. Check out these research-based benefits of growing your produce with a Tower Garden in this blog post.
6. KIDS EAT MORE PRODUCE IF THEY GROW IT THEMSELVES
Kids are naturally inquisitive and want to participate in whatever others are doing. Tower Gardens bring the farm to the child. They get to witness firsthand the life cycle of plants from planting seeds to growing healthy plants and harvesting food.
My children love to watch the seedlings grow and pick greens and herbs for their lunch sandwiches. They take on roles such as refilling the tank to care for the tower and harvest the plants we grow. In return, they can’t wait to eat their greens.
Waltraud Unger grew up learning from her mother and grandmother how to grow delicious organic food and embraced Tower Gardens a few years back when she struggled with growing her own organic produce on a shady suburban plot. Now she enjoys fresh and delicious produce all year long as she grows indoors as well as outdoors with her Tower Gardens.
Join her Inner Circle Tower Garden community to receive more information on tower Gardens, a planting guide, FAQs, and periodic informative updates and gardening inspiration.
Food Safety And E. coli in Aquaponic And Hydroponic Systems
This document is The Aquaponics Association’s response to a recent publication on E. coli in Aquaponic and Hydroponic systems
This document is The Aquaponics Association’s response to a recent publication on E. coli in Aquaponic and Hydroponic systems.
PDF Version: Food Safety and E. Coli in Aquaponic and Hydroponic Systems
April 27, 2020
By Tawnya Sawyer; Nick Savidov, Ph.D.; George Pate; and Marc Laberge
Overview of the Study
On April 6, 2020, Purdue Agriculture News published a story about a study related to the contamination risk of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) in Aquaponic and Hydroponic production. The full study was published in MDPI Journal Horticulturae in January 2020.
Researchers conducted the study from December 2017 through February 2018. The Study consisted of side-by-side aquaponic and hydroponic systems in a controlled environment lab growing lettuce, basil, and tomatoes with tilapia. The purpose of the study was to identify the food safety risks associated with soilless systems. The study indicates that both the aquaponic and hydroponic systems contained Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) at the time of sampling. It did not find the presence of Listeria spp., or Salmonella spp.
The authors contend that the aquaponic system and specifically the fish feces were likely the sources of E. coli. However, we believe that there is no evidence to prove that this was the actual source of contamination since the authors admit traceback was not performed, and there were several other possible introductions.
The pathogen was present in the water and on the root system of the plants. The researchers did not detect it in the edible portion of the plants. However, if the water is positive for a contaminant, and it accidentally splashes onto the edible portion of the crop throughout its life, or during harvest, this could still result in a food safety concern.
History of E. coli in Soil-less growing systems
Until now, researchers have only discovered environmental E. coli in soilless growing systems. It is essential to note that there are hundreds of types of non-fecal coliform bacteria in the air, water, soil, as well as the fecal coliform bacteria represented mostly by E.coli in the waste of all mammals, humans, and some birds. A vast majority of these coliforms are perfectly harmless.
The E. coli found in this Study — Shiga toxin-producing O157:H7 — historically has been associated with warm-blooded mammals, more specifically bovine fed corn in feedlots (Lim JY et al. 2007), as well as swine and turkeys. Further research must be performed to prove that cold-blooded, non-mammal aquatic species such as tilapia can harbor this strain of pathogenic E. coli. A wide group of studies, university professors, and industry professionals currently refute the possibility that tilapia can harbor this strain. The lack of evidence detailing the ability of aquatic animals to harbor E. coli makes the fish contaminated with this specific strain of bacteria very rare and suspect.
Many foodborne illnesses from fresh produce such as romaine lettuces, green onions, herbs, and sprouts, are traced back to the soil; the irrigation water used in these crops (Solomon et al. 2002); the seed stock; or poor sanitation in handling facilities.
There are a wide variety of community and commercial aquaponic and hydroponic growing facilities that routinely perform pathogen testing and have not identified this pathogen present. If it was present, traceback procedures would be followed to identify and remove the source, as well as any necessary food safety precautions and recalls performed.
Our Position
The Aquaponic Association and its members agree that food safety and proper handling practices are critical to commercializing our industry and the safety of our customers. One thing that the study points out is that a contaminant can occur in a soilless system, which creates a potential food safety concern. We agree on this; however, we have numerous concerns with the procedures and statements made in the publication.
We have reached out to the professional investigator on this study Hye-Ji Kim to get answers to essential questions that the study publication does not adequately address. There are significant gaps and questions with the study.
Concerns About the Study Findings and Publication
Lack of Traceability
The study group is unsure how the pathogen was introduced into the two systems. They admit that no traceback was performed to identify the source of contamination. They speculate both in the study and in their email response that this pathogen was:
1) Accidentally introduced
2) That it is from the fish feces in the aquaponics system that splashed into the hydroponic system through the open top of the fish tank during feeding,
3) that it was from contaminated fish stock (which were provided by the Purdue Animal Sciences Research and Education Center)
4) That it was human contamination from visitors or operator handling issues.
A traceback was not conducted as it was not within the scope of the study (Kim personal communications). We disagree; the discovery of O157:H7 strain in the university greenhouse with the suspicion of fish being contaminated should have resulted in immediate action in order to track down the source of contamination and prevent infection of the university students and staff. Outside of a University setting, traceback would have been mandatory in a commercial facility. It is questionable that the University did not perform these procedures because it was “out of the scope of the study”.
Questioning Fish Feces as the Source of Contamination
Blaming fish feces as the contaminating source seems incredibly misleading when so many other options exist, and no traceback proved that as the source. The contents of the fish intestines were tested for the presence of E. coli, and none was found (Kim personal communications). It seems that if the fish does not have STEC E. coli inside its gut, then it is more likely the fish feces being positive would be related to the contaminated water that the feces was floating in.
In wild fish species, levels of E. coli appear to follow trends similar to ambient water and sediment concentrations; as concentrations in their environments rise, so do concentrations within the fish (Guillen et al., 2010).
Furthermore, it seems very suspect that a two-month-old system in a controlled environment lab could have been so quickly contaminated. It is well-known that E.coli cannot survive in a biologically-active environment, such as an anaerobic digester or aquaponic system (T.Gao et al., 2011). E. coli are outcompeted by other microorganisms, which adapted to survive in the environment outside animal guts much better than E. coli. Thus, E. coli O157:H7, which is specially adapted to live in cattle guts, will inevitably be replaced by other microorganisms.
As for the hydroponic system showing positive results, this also seems suspect if the nutrients were synthetic, as there would be very little chance for the E. coli to survive without a biological host or continuous contamination source being present. An accidental exposure in the hydroponic system would have become diluted over time, or the pathogen died off to the point that they would have been undetectable. The fact is the organic matter in hydroponics is virtually absent and, therefore, provides a poor environment for E. coli growth and propagation (Dankwa, 2019). Therefore. one would need a continuous source, not an accidental one (like splashing), in order to maintain the E. coli population in hydroponics.
Since both systems were contaminated, we suggest that there is a more likely common pathogen source that the researchers did not correctly identify and remove. The source of contamination could be from source water, filtering system, repurposed equipment, airborne in the greenhouse or HVAC system, human vector, lab equipment, the seed stock, nutrients, or other inputs.
The Purdue Animal Research and Education Center, where the researchers sourced the fish, is an operation that also has swine, cattle, and poultry production. Research suggests that pathogenic E. coli can travel 180 m through airborne exposure (Berry et al., 2015). Airborne exposure poses a more significant risk to controlled environments as pathogens can persist in the HVAC system (Riggio et al., 2019). STEC has the potential to live in dust particles for up to 42 weeks, which can act as a possible vector of contamination if there is a continuous source. Therefore, even a slight possibility of the pathogenic Shiga-producing O157:H7 strain of E. coli transfer from the Animal Research and Education Center resulting in the uncontrolled cross-contamination of other research labs and facilities certified below Biosafety level 2 not designed to work with the pathogenic bacteria would raise a serious concern about the existing safety practices (Boston University).
Lack of 3rd Party or Peer University Test Verification
It has also been recognized that there is a high frequency of false-positive signals in a real-time PCR-based “Plus/Minus” assay (Nowrouzian FL, et al., 2009). Hence the possibility that the PCR verification method may have resulted in inaccurate results. The pathogen was not verified by a 3rd party lab to be actual STEC E.coli O157:H7. Only positive or negative results were obtained for this study.
We recommend several other universities and third-party labs to run samples and validate the results. However, no samples have been provided, which may be impossible to obtain based on the study being conducted in early 2018. Without this verification, there are questions about the possibility of false-positives due to the presence of environmental E.coli, fecal coliforms, or a wide variety of other bacteria commonly found in nutrient-rich environments (Konstantinidis et al., 2011).
Impact of Sterilization
The study conclusion suggests that sterilization efforts are critical. “Our results indicated that contamination with bacterial pathogens could likely be reduced in aquaponic and hydroponic systems if the entire systems were thoroughly sanitized before each use and pathogen-free fish were used for the operation.” This statement is inaccurate and could be detrimental to proper food safety practices. As the microflora of the system develops, it creates an environment that can suppress phytopathogens (Bartelme et al., 2018) and other zoonotic pathogens as a result of antibiotic compounds released by beneficial bacteria (Compant et al., 2005). In Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS), some microbial communities take over 15 years to develop (Bartelme et al., 2017), resulting in greater stability over time.
Many papers support this hypothesis with regards to probiotics in wastewater treatment, aquaculture, and hydroponics. Microbial community analysis also depicts a greater microbial diversity in aquaponics over decoupled or aquaculture systems (Eck et al., 2019), indicating a more significant potential for suppression of pathogens in coupled aquaponic systems over RAS or decoupled aquaponic system. No pathogens were discovered in a mature coupled aquaponics system during 18 years of continuous research in Canada since 2002 (Savidov, personal communications).
These findings support the argument that more biologically mature systems are less likely to develop pathogens and that periodic sanitation should not be done outside of initial start-up unless a zoonotic pathogen (Henderson 2008), is detected. If a pathogen is found, producers should follow proper sanitation and recall procedures.
Conclusion
Overall, this and other research into food safety are ongoing, and new information becomes available continuously to help shape the best practices for proper greenhouse management. As the Aquaponic Association, we hope to provide the most accurate and reliable resources for this purpose. At the same time, we hope to reduce the possibility of studies like this creating unnecessary fear, or unsubstantiated claims that could harm the growth of the aquaponic (and hydroponic) industry. When a document like this is published, it will be quoted by the media, and referenced in other studies as if it is an absolute. Other research must be performed to validate or negate this study’s outcomes.
Our findings conclude that while there is a low chance of the persistence of a pathogen in properly designed aquaponic and hydroponic systems, there is still a potential concern. No agricultural system is immune to this. Compared to soil production, soil-less crops grown in a controlled environment are far less likely to become infected pathogens from mammals, birds, and other creatures which are difficult to prevent in field crop production. Human contamination or poor handling practices are of significant concern (Pattillo et al., 2015). The best way to avoid risk is to adhere to food safety guidelines set forth by the USDA, GlobalGAPs, the Aquaponic Association, and other accredited organizations.
contact: info@aquaponicsassociation.org
References
Bartelme, R.P., McLellan, S.L., Newton, R.J., 2017. Freshwater Recirculating Aquaculture System Operations Drive Biofilter Bacterial Community Shifts around a Stable Nitrifying Consortium of Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea and Comammox Nitrospira. Front. Microbiol. 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.00101
Bartelme, R.P., Oyserman, B.O., Blom, J.E., Sepulveda-Villet, O.J., Newton, R.J., 2018. Stripping Away the Soil: Plant Growth Promoting Microbiology Opportunities in Aquaponics. Front. Microbiol. 9, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.00008
Berry, E.D., Wells, J.E., Bono, J.L., Woodbury, B.L., Kalchayanand, N., Norman, K.N., Suslow, T.V., López-Velasco, G., Millner, P.D., 2015. Effect of Proximity to a Cattle Feedlot on Escherichia coli O157:H7 Contamination of Leafy Greens and Evaluation of the Potential for Airborne Transmission. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 81, 1101–1110. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02998-14
Compant, S., Duffy, B., Nowak, J., Clément, C., Barka, E.A., 2005. Use of Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria for Biocontrol of Plant Diseases: Principles, Mechanisms of Action, and Future Prospects. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71, 4951–4959. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.71.9.4951-4959.2005
Dankwa, A.S., 2019. Safety Assessment of Hydroponic Closed System 127. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4052&context=etd
Eck, M., Sare, A., Massart, S., Schmautz, Z., Junge, R., Smits, T., Jijakli, M., 2019. Exploring Bacterial Communities in Aquaponic Systems. Water 11, 260. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11020260
Guillen, Wrast, Environmental Institute of Houston, 2010, Fishes as Sources of E. coli Bacteria in Warm Water Streams, https://www.uhcl.edu/environmental-institute/research/publications/documents/10-015guillenetalfishreport.pdf
Henderson, H., 2008. Direct and indirect zoonotic transmission of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli. J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 232, 848–859. https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.232.6.848
Konstantinidis, Chengwei Luo, 2011. Georgia Tech Institute, Environmental E. coli: New way to classify E. coli bacteria and test for fecal contamination, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110411152527.htm
Lim JY et al., Escherichia coli O157:H7 colonization at the rectoanal junction of long-duration culture-positive cattle. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2007;73:1380–1382 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1828644/
Boston University Agent Sheet E.coli EHEC or STEC) (https://www.bu.edu/researchsupport/safety/rohp/agent-information-sheets/e-coli-0157h7-agent-information-sheet/).
Nowrouzian FL1, Adlerberth I, Wold AE., 2009 High frequency of false-positive signals in a real-time PCR-based “Plus/Minus” assay. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19161539
Riggio, G., Jones, S., Gibson, K., 2019. Risk of Human Pathogen Internalization in Leafy Vegetables During Lab-Scale Hydroponic Cultivation. Horticulturae 5, 25. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae5010025
Solomon et al., Effect of Irrigation Method on Transmission to and Persistence
of Escherichia coli O157:H7 on Lettuce Journal of Food Protection, Vol. 65, No. 4, 2002, Pages 673–676 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11952218
Gao*, T. Haine, A. Chen, Y. Tong, and X. Li, 2011, 7 logs of toxic strain of E. coli were removed by mesophilic AD process while ~ 5 logs increase of the strain were seen in water control with the same condition for 7 days
Pattillo*, Shaw, Currey, Xie, Rosentrater, 2015, Aquaponics Food Safety and Human Health, https://southcenters.osu.edu/sites/southc/files/site-library/site-documents/abc/aquaponics_workshop/AquaponicsFoodSafetyandHumanHealthAllenPatillo.pdf
Abu Dhabi Investment Office Announces Funding For LED Vertical Farm R&D
AeroFarms, Madar Farms, RNZ, and Responsive Drip Irrigation will receive AgTech-centric funding to further develop vertical farming techniques that can help feed the UAE region
AeroFarms, Madar Farms, RNZ, and Responsive Drip Irrigation will receive AgTech-centric funding to further develop vertical farming techniques that can help feed the UAE region.
Investment in LED-supported vertical farming begins to bloom in the UAE. (Photo credit: Image by Nattanan Kanchanaprat via Pixabay; used under a free license for commercial or noncommercial purposes.)
Apil 23, 2020
The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) has announced $100 million in funding for what it calls “AgTech [agricultural technology] Pioneers,” each of which will build new research and/or growing facilities. The four recipients of the funding are AeroFarms, Madar Farms, RNZ, and Responsive Drip Irrigation (RDI), each of which will build new facilities in the Abu Dhabi emirate. The effort will leverage LED-based horticultural lighting and other technologies in an attempt to solve food supply issues in the UAE region and indeed around the globe.
AeroFarms, based in Newark, NJ, is a vertical farming specialist that we first encountered back in 2016. The company uses what it calls aeroponic technology to spray a mist of water and nutrients on the roots of plants. The company has been the beneficiary of other investment capital including $100 million from retailer Ikea’s investment fund.
In Abu Dhabi, AeroFarms will build a 90,000-ft2 facility that the company said will be the largest of its kind in the world. The company didn’t completely explain that statement, but we have noted of late that vertical farms come in different configurations. AeroFarms utilizes racks or shelves of plants stacked high, each with LED lighting directly over the cultivars. Others such as Plenty rely on plants grown in a vertical series of holes in a plastic pipe of sorts where water and nutrients flow top to bottom. Such a configuration has also been adopted by Freight Farms in shipping-container-based installations.
The UAE AeroFarms facility will grow commercial crops and serve in research. The company will focus on:
Advanced organoleptic research and precision phenotyping laboratory
Advanced seed breeding center
Phytochemical analysis laboratory
Machine vision and machine learning laboratory
Robotics, automation, and drones laboratory
“Our mission is to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity, and this new cutting-edge R&D facility leverages our agriculture expertise and science-driven roots,” said David Rosenberg, co-founder, and CEO of AeroFarms. “We will be conducting leading research in plant science, vertical farming, and automation, accelerating innovation cycles and commercializing a diverse range of products. We will be partnering with major international companies, local universities, and AgTech startups to help solve some of the most pressing agriculture needs of our time, and AeroFarms is proud to play a pivotal role to help establish the Emirate of Abu Dhabi as a global hub for AgTech innovation.”
Tomatoes and microgreens
Moving to Madar Farms, months ago the company revealed plans to build an indoor LED-lit farm for tomatoes and microgreens in the Abu Dhabi industrial area near the port called Kizad. The grower will presumably turn to vertical farming techniques with tomatoes — an unusual choice. But we learned at our HortiCann Light + Tech Conference last year that cannabis yields have been shown to increase with shorter, more compact plants. Biomass has typically been the goal for both cultivars, which have traditionally been grown very tall — meaning they were not amenable to stacking in layers as they would in a vertical farm arrangement. However, the evaluated vertical farming techniques applied to those high-yield cannabis grow operations might produce similar results for tomato plants.
The remaining two firms will work more in an R&D capacity. RDI is perfecting a water delivery system designed to minimize water usage in sandy soils and on non-arable land. Meanwhile, RNZ, which is based in the region, will build a new R&D center hoping to increase yield.
Our HortiCann Light + Tech Conference is slated for Oct. 20, 2020, in San Jose, CA. Bruce Bugbee of Utah State University will deliver the keynote.
For up-to-the-minute LED and SSL updates, why not follow us on Twitter? You’ll find curated content and commentary, as well as information on industry events, webcasts, and surveys on our LinkedIn Company Page and our Facebook page.
Sobeys, Safeway To Produce Produce In, In-Store Farms
Empire’s family of brands is partnering with Infarm, one of the world’s most advanced and fastest-growing in-store farming platforms, to grow and harvest a range of fresh produce in select Sobeys, Safeway and Thrifty Foods stores across Canada
MARCH 10, 2020
Empire’s family of brands is partnering with Infarm, one of the world’s most advanced and fastest-growing in-store farming platforms, to grow and harvest a range of fresh produce in select Sobeys, Safeway and Thrifty Foods stores across Canada. Each vertical farming unit is a stand-alone ecosystem, enabled by machine learning and AI technology, that creates the optimum environment required for plants to flourish.“
Our goal at Empire is to be the fastest-growing and most innovative retailer in Canada. As we strive to achieve that goal, we continuously seek out first-to-market opportunities,” said Niluka Kottegoda, vice president of customer experience for Sobeys Inc. “Our partnership with Infarm is unique in Canada and offers our customers a world-leading urban farming solution. The products we will offer in-store are unique to customers in urban communities. We’re excited to test and learn with our customers along the way.”
Launching this Spring, the first fresh produce harvests will include a range of herbs at two Safeway stores in Vancouver. Empire will place farms in stores across seven cities in Canada, (Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg) growing millions of hyper-local plants for our customers.“
Our partnership with Empire builds upon our vision to grow a resilient ecosystem that can help feed people living in cities around the world by 2050 while improving the environmental footprint of our food,” said Erez Galonska, co-founder and CEO of Infarm. “For example, through vertical farming, we can introduce plants to markets that were previously unavailable because they were too delicate to be transported. We’re proud to partner with Empire to share the Infarm revolution with Canadians.”
The in-store farms produce fresh, nutritious and flavourful produce all year round without the use of chemical pesticides. The vertical farms use 95 percent less water, 90 percent less transportation and 75 percent less fertilizer than industrial agriculture.
How it works:
Infarm has developed the world’s most advanced, sustainable, easily scalable and rapidly deployable modular farms.
Each in-store farm has a controlled energy-friendly environment designed to bring out the natural flavour and properties of each plant.
The plants are all grown in-store, dramatically reducing carbon emissions that result from transportation.
The individual farms are connected and remotely controlled from a central farming platform that gathers up-to-the-minute information about the growth of each plant and learns, adjusts and improves the growing conditions.
The Booming Indoor Gardening Movement
LG’s indoor farm appliance is an example of how a built-in, columned indoor garden using lighting, temperature and water control can change the way consumers obtain their kitchen ingredients
Sarah Buckley
22/01/2020
The booming indoor gardening movement, prominently explored at CES 2020 earlier this year, is allowing consumers to grow their greens indoors, all year-round.
LG’s indoor farm appliance is an example of how a built-in, columned indoor garden using lighting, temperature and water control can change the way consumers obtain their kitchen ingredients.
LG’s offering of all-in-one seed packages and a growth monitoring app makes the one-stop-shop capable of feeding a family of four with home-grown produce.
The appliance replicates optimal outdoor conditions by matching the temperature inside the insulated cabinet to the time of day.
The LED lights, air circulation, and wick-based water management system allows the produce to quickly grow, alongside the automated gardening solution’s non-circulating water supply technology.
The core technology, which evenly distributes the precise water required for the plant’s to healthily flourish, prevents algae and odors for a hygienic, green enclosure.
Much like LG, n.thing, a South Korean agriculture start-up has developed ‘planty cube’ which is an automated vertical farming system, to a more elaborate effect – allowing consumers to maintain crops from anywhere, at any time.
Cubes, blocks, cells – the hydroponic farm, presented in a shipping container, has each square evenly stacked with rows of shelves of plants.
A computerized system controls the environment by monitoring the plants’ health, adjusting the environment accordingly.
These alternatives to glasshouse production are presenting solutions to production, health, convenience, pollution, water-use, but most notably, are finally brought to the consumer’s arena.
The Humble Veggie Patch Just Went Hi-Tech
Growing vegetables and herbs is set to get a whole lot easier with big tech companies creating indoor 'vertical farms'
Forget battling insects and having to remember to water your veggie patch, growing herbs and vegetables at home is set to become hi-tech with new indoor farms.
by Tanya French
9th Jan 2020
Growing vegetables and herbs is set to get a whole lot easier with big tech companies creating indoor 'vertical farms'.
Samsung and LG have both spruiked their answer to the humble vegetable patch - creating indoor gardening appliances that enable people to have their own veggie garden, even if they don't have a backyard.
Samsung's Chef Garden technology integrates with its next-generation Family Hub refrigerator and automatically regulates light wavelengths to enable users to grow and enjoy fresh, pesticide-free fruit and vegetables all year round.
Samsung's vertical farm.
"There is a growing interest in healthy food," said Samsung LED technology centre's Chohui Kim.
"Horticulture LED is playing a key role in vertical farming and indoor crop cultivation, and we are looking to expand its applications in various fields."
The indoor farm integrates with the Family Hub fridge.
While Samsung's offering can easily fit into an existing kitchen, LG's version needs to be in-built into new or renovated kitchens.
The LG vertical farm consists of 24 pods which all have seeds and fertiliser in-built.
The machine recognises the amount of light and water it requires for optimum growth.
The farm - which takes 4-6 weeks to grow - will produce enough leafy vegetables to feed a family of four.
LG’s vertical farm solution. Photo: Tanya French
There's no word yet on when the technology will be available in Australia or what it will cost but an LG spokeswoman said it was 'very high end and part of a bigger kitchen solution'.
5 Things You Need To Know About Financing Your Farm
More producers are turning to indoor farming today to meet the demand for locally-grown produce, for its environmental benefits, and as a sustainable way to transform the food system
By urbanagnews
December 11, 2019
By Chris Rawley, CEO of Harvest Returns
More producers are turning to indoor farming today to meet the demand for locally-grown produce, for its environmental benefits, and as a sustainable way to transform the food system. Building a new greenhouse or equipping a vertical farm can require significant amounts of capital. Indoor growers are faced with an agriculture finance system in the United States that is anything but innovative and hasn’t changed significantly in 50 years. USDA guaranteed loans and similar debt vehicles are optimized for land loans and operating agreements for row crop farmers, because that’s where the most significant amount of money is to be had for lenders.
Equity investments can be an alternative for indoor growers. According to PitchBook, about 15% of the $2.1 billion invested by Venture Capital firms in AgTech in 2018 was in indoor agriculture. That said, very few companies actually receive VC investments. Investments of a hundred million dollars or more like that in AppHarvest are the rare exception, not the rule. For a producer who needs to raise between say $200,000 to a few million dollars, the options are much more limited.
How to Finance your Farm
Here are five things indoor producers should know about financing their farm:
1. What’s your purpose?
The first step in any project is to ask yourself why you are doing this? Are you simply in it to make money? If investors understand that you have a vision that goes beyond yourself, they are more likely to trust you with their funds. Without a doubt, investors want to make a good decision based on the math and how it increases their returns, but more and more investors are putting their money into things they believe in. A mission driven opportunity shows that you are thoughtful, focused, and determined – all aspects of a good investment.
2. What’s your plan?
You need to develop a concise, articulate business plan or pitch deck that clearly explains how you will develop or expand your farm, and how investors will benefit from it if they trust you with their money. What is your exit strategy for investors in terms of time line and sources of liquidity? There are several resources online or consultants that can help you put together a professional business plan for your controlled environment agriculture project. In most cases, a 50 page business plan with appendices is not necessary, at least at this stage. A good start is a well-structured slide deck and maybe a one page offering summary. Investors are inundated with opportunities so its better to be short and memorable, then long and complex.
3. Build your team.
People invest in people, not just ideas, or projects, or companies. Investors want confidence that they are entrusting their money with a capable, trustworthy team who can successfully execute a plan. No one is an expert at everything. You may be able to make tomatoes grow on an iceberg, but if you or someone on your team doesn’t know the difference between a balance sheet and an income statement, you’re going to have a hard time running a successful company. So if you are lacking in farming skills, or accounting skills, or marketing skills, you need to surround yourself with people who make up for your shortfalls. A team doesn’t have to be partners or employees. It can be an advisory board, consultants, or contractors. But build a team and ensure your investors know about it.
LET US HELP YOU BUILD YOUR TEAM:
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4. Understand and control your risks.
Above all, investors are afraid of losing their money. They want to understand the ways they could possibly get burned. Indoor farms face market risks, technology risks, and agronomy-related risks. It is crucial to identify, disclose, and explain the ways you are going to reduce the impact of these risks on investor returns.
5. Engage your network.
Before even thinking about approaching an equity funding source, be it a VC or a funding platform, you should run your plan by your internal network. Building a network of industry experts is important, and can be jump-started by attending any of the large number of agriculture or food related conferences. Share your idea and practice pitching it to your friends, family members, or business savvy colleagues. Have a short “elevator pitch” ready to go to talk enthusiastically for whomever you meet about how your new farm is going. Start building your network by attending industry events and conferences. Ask your contacts for honest feedback and referrals to people who may be looking into investing what are doing. Also, don’t be afraid to ask friends and family to take a chance on investing in your farm. Many great companies were started because of these types of early stage investments.
These five items apply to pretty much any type of agriculture business, including the increasing numbers of legal cannabis growers. A solid strategy is required to raise capital whether you are producing hemp or tomatoes and no matter what type of production method you are using.
Green Walls Can Purify Indoor Air And Even Grow Veggies
Want to insulate your office from the heat and cold outside, while purifying the air inside from potential toxins? Israeli startup Vertical Field is accomplishing that with sensor-controlled indoor and outdoor “green walls” installed by the likes of clients such as the Israeli offices of Google, Apple, Intel, and Facebook
Israeli startup Vertical Field sensor-controlled smart planters allow customers to place hundreds of greens up and down a wall, indoors or outdoors.
By Brian Blum OCTOBER 6, 2019
Green walls purify indoor air. Photo courtesy of Vertical Field
Want to insulate your office from the heat and cold outside, while purifying the air inside from potential toxins? Israeli startup Vertical Field is accomplishing that with sensor-controlled indoor and outdoor “green walls” installed by the likes of clients such as the Israeli offices of Google, Apple, Intel, and Facebook.
Indoor air pollution is an invisible but serious problem. High levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in offices, classrooms, homes, trains, and planes could be affecting our cognitive performance and in more severe cases may trigger inflammation or even kidney calcification and bone demineralization, according to a recent study published in Nature Sustainability.
Guy Elitzur, Vertical Field’s CEO, tells ISRAEL21c that one solution to “sick building syndrome”is to bring healthy and natural elements inside.
Plants work their magic by transforming carbon dioxide (CO2) into oxygen via photosynthesis. Installing a Vertical Field living biofilter in your home or office can remove about 95 percent of the pollutants in a building, the company claims.
Vertical Field’s green walls are not static. Sophisticated sensors measure fluctuating air quality in the building, while cameras track how many people are in a room bumping up the amount of CO2.
When the CO2 level goes above a certain threshold, Vertical Field can “manipulate the plants in an active way,” Elitzur says, by adding precise amounts of water, fertilizer and other nutrients through drip irrigation into the planters’ soil in order to increase absorption of CO2 and other allergens.
The result is “a wall that reacts to the indoor environment,” Elitzur explains. “It’s not just for beauty” — although a vertical wall of plants is that, too.
A typical Vertical Field installation contains between five and 15 types of plants. Software and big data drive the system’s customization.
“We have a characterization for each type of plant – its soil needs, the vitamins it requires to be more efficient, plus data coming from outdoors,” Elitzur notes. “This creates the best-growing program for each specific plant.”
A vertical forest on the exterior of a building creates a protective ecological shell. Photo courtesy of Vertical Field
Vertical Field also installs “vertical forests” on the exterior of buildings. Israeli cybersecurity leader Check Point, for example, has a green wall outside floors 12 to 15 of its Tel Aviv offices.
Elitzur says the vertical forest creates an ecological shell that protects the building against direct radiation from the sun and enables a more stable internal temperature with less artificial cooling.
The cost for installing a vertical green wall starts “from a couple of thousand shekels per square meter,” Elitzur tells ISRAEL21c. The outdoor ones “are less sophisticated so they cost a bit less.”
Urban farming
Purifying the air and insulating buildings is only part of the Vertical Field story. The company also specializes in urban farming: a green wall growing lettuce and other leafy greens.
One such customer isTel Aviv chef restaurant L28, which grows organic pesticide-free vegetables in a vertical farm on the building’s roof.
A vertical wall growing edible greens. Photo courtesy of Vertical Field
In New York, Vertical Field has a project installed “in a shipping container in the parking lot of a hotel and another one at a senior living facility,” Elitzur says. In the latter, the seniors take an active part in planting and harvesting.
An urban farm on the roof of a supermarket could provide the store’s customers fresher produce with no carbon footprint since the vegetables do not have to be trucked in from a far-off farm.
“The technology we’re creating can help bridge the way we live today with the complexity of nature,” Elitzur says.
Vertical Field CEO Guy Elitzur. Photo: courtesy
Vertical Field was founded in 2006 by Guy Barness. Guy no. 2 (Elitzur) came to Vertical Field from Bio Ag Technology, a startup that has developed eco-friendly biological pesticides.
“It was the same concept of doing something better for the globe and lowering the chemical footprint,” Elitzur says.
Vertical Field already has hundreds of projects, mainly in Israel through its Israeli subsidiary, Green Wall. Vertical Field is the entity that’s expanding beyond the Middle East, with the United States as its first target market.
While Vertical Field is focused on corporate clients, it can install a green wall in a private home thanks to a cadre of trained subcontractors, Elitzur says.
Vertical Field is not alone in offering vertical farming and green walls. Other companies include Germany-based InFarm, Freight Farm (which specializes in container farming) and Florida-based Live Wall and GSky. The latter is the biggest of the bunch with more than 800 green walls installed in 19 countries.
We asked Elitzur what makes Vertical Field different.
“All of us are great,” he says. “But we’re the only ones using soil to grow. Most of the others are based on hydroponics. Soil is a better way to grow plants. It provides a better ecosystem and is healthier. But there’s a place for everyone. We’re all serving a very good cause.”
For more information, click here
UK: Heliospectra To Supply New Technology For John Innes Centre
This order of Heliospectra’s fully controllable Elixia LED lights complements the previous orders made by the customer and will be part of a project retrofitting glasshouses automated by Heliospectra’s helioCORE light control software
Heliospectra, an intelligent lighting technology provider for greenhouse and controlled plant growth environments, announces a new order from the John Innes Centre in the United Kingdom. This order of Heliospectra’s fully controllable Elixia LED lights complements the previous orders made by the customer and will be part of a project retrofitting glasshouses automated by Heliospectra’s helioCORE light control software. The order value is SEK 2.4 million (£ 200,000).
The John Innes Centre is an independent, international research center of excellence in plant science, genetics and microbiology. To meet the challenge of feeding a growing population, plant breeders and scientists are continuously looking for ways to increase genetic gain in crop production. As a result, the John Innes Centre has become one of the world’s leading research centers on speed breeding which is a cultivation technique allowing researchers to shorten the breeding cycle and accelerate research studies through rapid generation of crops.
“A growing human population and changing environment have increased the concern regarding food security. We desperately need crops better suited to today’s climate. At the John Innes Centre, we are well-known for our speed breeding research and are conducting ongoing crop research on a range of different crops. For that, we need a solution that allows for complete control of all environmental parameters, such as light, temperature, and humidity,” said John Lord, Horticulture Manager at John Innes Centre. “Heliospectra’s ELIXIA lights enable us to upgrade our lighting environment to market-leading lighting standards with spectrum-based control. We have the capability to program each individual wavelength to adapt to individual crop needs.”
”The John Innes Centre is one of Europe’s leading research institutions with critical speed breeding expertise as the world is accelerating food production to support an additional two billion people by 2050. Heliospectra continues to work with the John Innes team to expand their large-scale helioCORE installation. We look forward to supporting their work and significant advancements in crop performance with our pioneering horticulture lighting, automation, and light control solutions,” said Peter Nyberg, Head of Technology and Development at Heliospectra.
Heliospectra's ELIXIA light creates clear business benefits for cultivation teams and researchers around the world. The fully adjustable LED lighting solution is compatible with Heliospectra's helioCORE light control software, enabling growers to improve the quality of plants and accelerate harvest and production cycles while providing consistent and standardized returns 365 days a year.
The order will be delivered in Q3 and visible in the accounts for Q4 2019.
For more information:
Heliospectra
Box 5401 SE-402 29 Göteborg Sweden
Phone: +46 31 40 67 10
Fax: +46 31 83 37 82
info@heliospectra.com
www.heliospectra.com
Publication date: 9/19/2019
VIDEO: Bibb Schools Install Hydroponic Gardens For Students To Grow Produce Indoors
Many Bibb County Schools have agriculture programs that use outdoor gardens, but at SOAR Academy, there isn't really enough space for one, so school leaders decided to install the district's first hydroponic gardens for students to farm inside
SOAR Academy students can grow vegetables and herbs year-round with a new indoor garden system.
Author: Pepper Baker
PSeptember 23, 2019
MACON, Ga. — Many Bibb County Schools have agriculture programs that use outdoor gardens, but at SOAR Academy, there isn't really enough space for one, so school leaders decided to install the district's first hydroponic gardens for students to farm inside
9th grader Z'nyiah Henderson and 10th grader Imani Ross haven't had a lot of experience gardening before.
"I know my grandma, she likes plants, so I always help her water her plants and stuff, but it's really a journey for me to start at school on something I ain't really ever did before," Henderson said.
Dalia Kinsey, a registered dietitian, says Bibb Schools' new hydroponic indoor garden units make it easy for students to learn how to grow their own produce.
"They're being watered all the time, and there is artificial sunlight being administered really consistently, so it's basically like you're growing plants in ideal conditions," Kinsey said.
Students can grow vegetables like lettuce and bok choy, or herbs like sage and cilantro, and they monitor its progress right from their phone.
"It's a smart unit, so on the app, it shows us when it's time to harvest when it's time to fertilize, when it's time to add water," Kinsey said.
The two units cost about $300 each.
School Nutrition Director Timikel Sharpe says students are seeing the farm to table process firsthand.
"We're teaching students where food comes from and how it's harvested and how it's used and we'll go as far as to use it in the cafeteria when it's done," Sharpe said.
Kinsey says they received the indoor garden units from a joint-partnership grant between a company, called Miracle Gro and the No Kid Hungry charity organization.