How Hydroponics & Vertical Farming Can Improve Food Safety

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Our greenhouse team member utilizing food safety best practices at our R&D facility.

The United States Department of Agriculture sometimes refers to vertical farming as “controlled-environment agriculture” and there’s a good reason for this moniker. 

Viraj Puri, co-founder, and CEO of a hydroponic vertical farm told Food Safety News that the hydroponic vegetable industry has a built-in food safety advantage over open-field farming. He believes that this advantage comes from its “physical infrastructure and higher levels of environmental controls.”

In recent years, the safety of our food supply has been called into question. Numerous food recalls are a regular part of news broadcasts across the country. Recently, it was found that fruit and vegetables failed import safety checks at a rate of 12.5%. At the same time, other categories such as meat, fish, and eggs, achieved compliance rates over 95%.

National producers of fruit and vegetables have also had problems. The recent outbreak related to contaminated romaine lettuce originated in California. This year’s recalls of onions and peaches also originated domestically. 

Vertical farms using hydroponic technologies could usher in a revolution in food safety. Hydroponic growing has a plethora of food safety benefits. Year after year, pathogens are found in traditionally-grown (or soil-grown) crops. This is because the soil itself contains naturally-occurring pathogens, and traditional farms are open to contamination from outside sources such as animal droppings and tainted run-off. Hydroponic farming has the potential to drastically reduce the number of people who get sick via foodborne illness every year by eliminating these pathogens from the growing process. 

Foodborne illnesses have originated from traditionally grown crops over and over, and the problem is growing. It’s important to understand the dangers of these foodborne illnesses, as well as what “food safety” is and how every individual along the food supply chain has a role to play. Fortunately, recent food safety news gives us hope that hydroponics can improve food safety. 

Why We Need A Culture of Food Safety: The Dangers of Foodborne Illnesses               

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 48 million people get sick (1 in 6), 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from foodborne illnesses each year in the U.S. Food can be contaminated by many different disease-causing germs. There are many different types of foodborne illnesses (sometimes described as food poisoning or foodborne disease). Over 250 types of foodborne illnesses have so far been identified. The majority are infections caused by bacteria, parasites, and viruses. Food can also be contaminated with harmful toxins and chemicals. 

Food may become contaminated during any stage of the food supply chain; from production, distribution, processing, preparation, to storage. Germs can spread to food from unclean utensils, surfaces, or equipment. And it’s not uncommon for these contaminated foods to make it to market and into kitchens and restaurants before anyone knows there is a problem.

What is Food Safety? 

“Food safety” describes all operations and practices that are utilized to keep food safe. Keeping food safe is a joint effort involving everyone in the food supply chain. All along the food supply chain—from producers and farmers to wholesalers and retailers— there are standardized regulations and controls in place to reduce the risk of food contamination. 

Part of food safety practices involves growing, handling, preparing, packaging, and storing food in a way that best reduces the risk of people getting ill from foodborne diseases. Food safety is a concern all over the world and one that we should take great care to address.

The fundamental principles of food safety focus on preventing food from becoming contaminated and causing food poisoning. This is achieved through several different methods, some of which include:

• Understanding food allergies, food intolerance, and food poisoning

• Keeping up high standards of personal hygiene (i.e hand-washing) when handling food at any step in the food supply chain

• Storing, heating, and cooling food properly with regard to temperature, environment, and equipment

• Using effective and adequate pest control measures

• Cleaning and sanitizing all surfaces, utensils, and equipment

How Hydroponics Can Improve Food Safety

Unlike in traditional farming, wildlife and livestock can’t contaminate produce grown in a vertical farm’s greenhouses. It’s almost impossible to prevent such contamination in traditional agriculture where wide open fields are susceptible to bird droppings and animal encroachment. 

Although there aren’t industry-wide food safety standards for hydroponic growers, the vast majority of companies have rigorous processes in place. Joel Cuello, Vice-Chair at the Association for Vertical Farming, said “vertical farms are, in fact, generally and significantly safer than conventional agriculture”. He believes that the reason many vertical farms don’t have internationally recognized food safety certifications is because their stellar food safety reputation is proof enough.

Since vertical farms use a hydroponic system for watering, there’s very little chance that contamination from water will infect the produce. Hydroponic systems add nutrients to tested or purified water and then apply that water directly to the plants’ roots. The system completely bypasses the use of soil, which is a possible contaminant with a lengthy history of getting people very sick. Hydroponic technology also avoids the problem of runoff from nearby sources of toxic chemicals or biological waste.

Food Safety News: Soil and E. coli  

In recent food safety news, the major E. coli outbreak that started in September of 2019 and related to romaine lettuce seems to be over. Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback evidence conclusively showed where the contaminated romaine lettuce came from. The produce that made people sick in September of last year is no longer available for sale. However, it was grown in soil and harvested in the Salinas Valley growing region. 

A total of 167 individuals from across 27 states were infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7. Eighty-five people were hospitalized due to this outbreak, including 15 who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome—a kind of kidney failure. Luckily, no deaths were reported.

Some think E. coli results in little more than an upset stomach, but outbreaks can be very serious affairs and in some cases have caused death. At best, it causes vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps; let alone an long-term aversion to lettuce after getting sick. 

Hydroponic Greenhouses Are Safer Than Soil-Based Farming 

The Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and public health officials investigated the most recent E. coli outbreak in the United States. Their recommendation said that hydroponic-grown lettuce was not related to the current outbreak. In their words, “there is no recommendation for consumers to avoid using romaine harvested from these other sources.”

Hydroponic Growing Offers Many Food Safety Benefits 

• Hydroponic growing does not require high levels of pesticides and uses less water, land, and fertilizers than conventional farming.

• Vertical farms also use a soilless medium for growing their plants. This means that food products are not infected by pathogens that can sometimes contaminate soil and be passed to traditionally grown crops.

• Greenhouse vertical farms are highly controlled environments in which the light intensity, temperature, and humidity are closely monitored and controlled and the growing solution is strictly regulated. With so many levels of checks and controls, it is far less likely that pathogens and toxins could be introduced into these closed environments.

• 
  Eden Green Technology offers hydroponic systems that can help create a healthier food supply. Learn more about how to safely grow delicious produce here.

Can Vertical Farming Grow Beyond Herbs And Leaves?

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BY CONNOR BILBOE 

20 OCTOBER 2020

In the early 20th century German-Jewish scientist Fritz Haber and his colleague Carl Bosch worked out a way to synthesise ammonia, making it possible to create industrial amounts of fertiliser for the first time. It’s said that two out of five humans on the planet today owe their existence to the discovery, which led to an explosion in the amount of food the world could produce.

Today there is a new revolution going on in agriculture.

Vertical farming divorces crops from the land entirely, which is in many cases more sustainable than traditional farming and allows previously dead areas to be repurposed for growing food. All across the world, disused underground bunkers and empty shipping containers are being jazzed up with high-tech equipment — like flashy pink LEDs and environmental control sensors — to grow a new style of crop on stacked trays indoors.

This alternative process has gained a lot of attention — and money — in recent years. The global vertical farming market is expected to reach a promising $12.77bn by 2026, up from $2.23bn in 2018. Prominent European VC investors like Atomico and in the US the Footprint Coalition (Robert Downey Jr’s sustainability initiative) have jumped on the vertical farming train.

Many European startups are leading the way. Berlin-based Infarm, which builds and installs vertical farming systems for crops in supermarkets,  raised $170m last month. Earlier this year, Finnish startup iFarm, which has developed a vertical farming SaaS solution, bagged a $4m funding round. 

Retailers also seem enthusiastic, with online grocery supermarket Ocado recently increasing its stake in the UK vertical farming startup Jones Food Company.

There is just one problem with the vertical farming “revolution”, however. Unlike the Haber-Bosch process of fixing nitrogen to allow all crops to grow bigger and faster, vertical farming at the moment only really makes sense for a small number of expensive crops (like basil and parsley) — and that’s hardly going to feed the world. 

So the battle is now on to expand what vertical farming can do. Can the vertical farming pioneers pull it off? And what is getting in their way?

Why do people like vertical farming at all?

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A vertical farm uses high-tech LEDs as an alternative light source to grow crops. Credit: diephotodesigner.de

Consumer demand for organic produce has shot up in recent years, with total retail sales hitting €40.7bn in 2018, up from €26.3bn four years before. The idea of vertical farming is appealing for many who have become increasingly conscious about buying products that are sustainably produced.

So far, the usage of water, pesticides, fertilisers and herbicides have been drastically reduced in vertical farming. 

Professor Leo Marcelis, the head of horticulture and product physiology at Wageningen University, and an expert in vertical farming, points out the vast water reduction capabilities of the system. “When growing tomatoes in the Mediterranean climate, you would do a very good job using 60 litres of water per kilogram of tomatoes. In the Netherlands, a regular greenhouse grower would use around 15-17 litres of water and in a vertical farm around 2-4 litres,” he tells Sifted. The European agriculture sector alone accounts for more than 50% of Europe’s total water usage.

What’s more, European startups operating vertical farms are drastically reducing resource usage. Guy Galonska, cofounder of Infarm says: “Compared to outdoor agriculture, our water usage is 90-95% more efficient, we use 70-75% less fertiliser and no pesticides, fungicides or herbicides at all.”

“This is not a VC trend. “[Vertical farming] is going to have an actual impact.”

On top of resource savings, vertical farming has also been recognised as a way to simplify the global food supply chain, by growing crops in urban settings. This allows products to travel a considerably shorter distance to reach supermarkets, restaurants, distribution centres and people’s homes, increasing freshness and reducing transport emissions.

And while it’s been a hotspot for investors in recent years, Galonska believes that it’s more than that: “This is not a VC trend. “[Vertical farming] is going to have an actual impact,” he tells Sifted. 

The future of vertical farming seems pleasant, but there’s a catch. Some elements — like cost and energy — are weighing down the sector and threatening its chance to scale further.

Grown with expensive taste

The problem is that, to date, the majority of vertical farms have cracked how to make money off growing and selling a range of herbs and leaves like basil and parsley, rosemary and thyme, and… well, that’s about it. 

Marcelis points out that it’s not because growing other crops like potatoes and carrots is tricky. Instead, the high operational costs of running a vertical farm forces a lot of cheaper crops to become unprofitable. “Technically, we can grow any crop very well in a vertical farm. The question is how can we do it in an economically feasible way?” he says.

“[Vertical farming startups] are invariably forced into growing only high-margin, niche products to survive.”

Jamie Burrows, chief executive of London-based vertical farming startup Vertical Future says that a common factor blocking startups from optimising their vertical farms is a lack of capital access. “Ultimately, the key for the future of vertical farming will come through full automation, data, fair pricing and a focus on the lifetime performance of the project. One reason some vertical farms fail is that they have inadequate capital to build an installation that will allow this. They are invariably forced into growing only high-margin, niche products to survive,” he says.

Galonska says Infarm plans to roll out more products, such as chillies and tomatoes, soon. “[At Infarm], we’re investing a lot in innovation and growing new crops and root vegetables. We are going to release some of those products very soon, first in Berlin and then scaling out to other locations.”

The idea is to grow — and price — products that ‘normal’ people can afford. “We are aiming for it to be accessible to average consumers. We don’t want it to be elite,” says Galonska.

Marcelis, on the other hand, thinks that it’s imperative that operational costs drop before cheaper products can be grown and sold at prices for the everyday consumer. “I don’t expect that cheaper products that can be easily stored will be grown in vertical farms… it will be for herbs and leafy products, for strawberries and perhaps cucumbers and tomatoes,” he says. 

A huge factor causing these mammoth operating costs comes from the vicious energy usage that comes from technology powering the farms — like LEDs and climate control technology — but there are some vertical farming startups with a few tricks up their sleeves in an effort to tackle this problem.

Going greener

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Jamie Burrows, chief executive and founder of Vertical Future

Vertical Future claims that it’s up to 60% more energy efficient compared to other vertical farms, which make its economics more attractive as well. 

Burrows says that this is made possible by its unique approach to LED lighting, which he tells Sifted is tackled “through geometry and some very clever engineering. Also, our growing patterns allow for a flatter distribution of energy across any given day and fewer peaks.”

Climatisation control technology, which monitors a vast array of elements in vertical farms to optimise the growth of crops — such as CO2 emissions and temperature — is also proving to be a good option. &ever, a German startup which has a vertical farm running in Kuwait, says that its methods allow up to 40% more energy efficiency in comparison to its counterparts, due to its unique approach to climate cells (the stacked trays in which the crops grow). 

Its farms are highly automated with little manual labour involved, meaning that the vertical farms are smaller, allowing more control and concentration for crops. But what does this do for energy efficiency? “Due to &ever’s high level of automation, there are no walkways needed at all and climatisation [heating, venting, air conditioning] takes place in the grow space only,” the startup’s chief executive Henner Schwarz tells Sifted.

Galonska also mentions that Infarm is working on strategies to improve the energy problem in vertical farming. “We are investing a lot into making farms more efficient, both on a hardware level with things like LEDs and on a software level with growing recipes by optimising quality and yield while looking at exactly how much light each plant needs,” he says. Currently, 90% of its network is powered by renewables.

Room for improvement

Despite vertical farming’s challenges, there’s still a lot of enthusiasm around improving the sector. But what needs to be done for it to reach the next level?

“The real question is how can we scale cheap clean renewable energy? That’s what the industry needs,” says Galonska. A potential game changer, according to the cofounder, that could be cheaper and more efficient is solar energy. “If you look at the demand and supply curve of solar panels, they supply energy in the day, but energy demand is in the night. That’s a place where vertical farming could go quite nicely.”

“LEDs will become more efficient in converting electricity into light.”

Marcelis agrees that improved efficiency with LED lights is needed and he predicts that “LEDs will become more efficient in converting electricity into light.” 

There are big bets on data being a vital component to steer the sector down the right path in the future. Marcelis, Burrows and Galonska believe that data collected from the AI sensors monitoring and controlling the treatment of plants in vertical farms will help provide valuable information on how to improve the system dramatically in the future. “This data is going to be useful in building AI and machine learning models that can predict growth, quality, and in turn can be also used to optimise other crops,” Galonska tells Sifted.

Looking decades into the future, if vertical farming can break through these barriers, supply chains might look much smaller and automated, thinks Marcelis. “It’s hard to predict what the sector will become in the next few decades, but I think that chains will get smaller due to systems like vertical farming where production becomes increasingly localised.”

“Computers will control farms globally, and manual labour will be reduced, mainly to monitor and maintain these farms remotely from control rooms,” he adds.

Progress is being made to push the sector to new heights while improving elements like cost, energy, technology and sustainability, but startups will have to get through quite a few growing pains to get there first.

Connor Bilboe is Sifted’s editorial assistant. He tweets from @connorbilboe

CANADA: Automated Guelph Vertical Farm Supplies Retailers With Local, Leafy Greens

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By Lilian Schaer
October 14, 2020

The Newly Opened Farm Grows Crops

40 to 50 Percent Faster Than Traditional Crops

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There are 50 workers employed at the GoodLeaf Farms facility in Guelph. Photo: Lilian Schaer

An automated vertical farm in south Guelph is now fully operational. GoodLeaf Farms has the capacity to produce 800,000 units of locally grown leafy greens for Ontario retailers — including Loblaw banners, Longo’s, and Whole Foods — 12 months of the year.

“It’s really unique for Canada that we can grow 365 days of the year, and we can fill a gap in the market without going up against traditional farming,” said account manager Jacquie Needham during a tour of the facility on Sept. 15.

Why it matters:

The pandemic has heightened demand for locally grown foods less dependent on sometimes fragile global supply chains.

GoodLeaf’s crops include baby arugula and baby kale, along with four types of microgreens: pea shoots, Asian blend, spicy mustard medley, and arugula. While consumers are familiar with “baby” leafy greens, they’re less comfortable with what to do with microgreens, admits Needham.

“Micros are a learning curve for consumers, but they can be used to add nutritional elements to meals as garnishes, in salads or sandwiches, or as something you add to a smoothie,” she said.

“People are cooking more at home right now and experimenting more.”Vertical farming is an innovative process that naturally grows plants with hydroponics under specialized LED lights designed to maximize photosynthesis. In the GoodLeaf facility, carbon dioxide, water, nutrition, and light are carefully programmed and monitored for each specific crop.

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Jacquie Needham, of GoodLeaf Farms, talked about the company’s products during a recent tour at the facility.’ photo: Lilian Schaer

According to Needham, that makes their growth cycles an estimated 40 to 50 percent shorter than traditional crops. From seed to store takes about 12 days for the microgreens and about 22 days for the baby leafy greens. That includes testing every crop for contaminants before shipping to ensure they’re safe — important at a time when North American produce recalls make headlines and can have far-reaching economic and health consequences.

Needham also pointed to the sustainability of vertical farming production. The GoodLeaf facility uses 95 percent less water than a traditional farm, doesn’t use pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides, and has no run-off issues that could impact local water supplies. The production is not organic, however.

“We are not certified organic because our production does not use soil, but we feel we have a cleaner product than organic because, in addition to being pesticide-free, it’s not exposed to wind or rain, for example,” she said. “It’s an education piece for consumers.”

GoodLeaf Farms was founded in 2011 in Nova Scotia by Gregg Curwin. That original Nova Scotia farm has now been converted into a research and development centre for the company.

The new Guelph facility employs about 50 people who work seven days a week and it’s the city’s research expertise and proximity to the Greater Toronto Area that brought GoodLeaf to the region.

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The GoodLeaf building is located in an industrial area in south Guelph. photo: Lilian Schaer

“Ontario is a big hub for consumers, retail and foodservice, so we were looking for a place close to the market so we can get product to people as quickly as possible,” said Executive Director of Operations Juanita Moore. “And the University of Guelph has been a great help with research.”

Research conducted in controlled environments

GoodLeaf is working with university researchers on a number of horticulture and food safety projects, including studies on controlled environments and light spectrums. The company received $4.4 million in start-up innovation funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s AgriInnovation Program.

“I’ve been the mayor (of Guelph) for six years now and this is one of my “wow” moments,” said Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie following the tour. “Guelph is embracing the circular food economy and we are seeing it in action here. It’s a testament to what Guelph has to offer.”

Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield, who was also on the tour, pointed to vertical farming’s potential to help address climate change and food security issues in both urban and northern or Indigenous communities.

“This type of agriculture is consistent and gives predictability to the producers and it would be interesting to see if it could be used more widely,” he said.

CombaGroup SA Reveals Rebrand With New Name, Logo, and Products

Molondin, Switzerland – 21 October 2020 : CombaGroup SA announced today the company's complete rebranding and launch of its new website.

Last year, the company realized it was time to leverage its unique position in the field of mobile aeroponic growing solutions. This year, they've rebranded to solidify their stance, offering, and direction within the industry.

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The new name, CleanGreens, is synonymous with powering clean, sustainable solutions in the agrotech space. It also reflects the company's mission to represent more directly what they are bringing to the table: fresh, healthy, premium quality yields of their customers’ favorite crops.

The rebranding is a response to accelerated company growth and a renewal of its corporate vision, subtly captured by its new logo with the notion of interaction and connectedness. These are core to the capabilities of scalable mobile aeroponic technology platforms that are a priority for both CleanGreens and its clients and partners.

With six years of R&D and technology breakthroughs in mobile irrigation and agronomy expertise, CleanGreens is proud to offer CleanGreens Pro, a system designed to be as simple as A-B-C, with immediate support and maintenance as well as a technical hotline available in addition to the built-in resources.

As a platform, CleanGreens is expanding to welcome new communities of users and has gone even further in solidifying its global position going forward. It has released new product packages and features that allow its clients to build, manage, and deploy custom applications quickly with its own intuitive, integrated, cloud-based operating application, GURU by CleanGreens. The platform gives clients the ability to grow exactly what they want with the support they require whenever they need it.

Based on the experiences and feedback from CleanGreens’ agronomist team and customers, this new app assists in key tasks like sowing, harvesting, and preventive maintenance and also features built-in reminders, alerts, and real-time records. It’s like having your own personal CleanGreens agro-expert assistant at your fingertips.

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Currently, there are seven cultivation lines in operation in three locations: Molondin and Geneva in Switzerland, and Châteauneuf-sur-Loire in France. More are in the pipeline for the future. The new improvements have allowed CleanGreens to meet elevated customer demands for more of its innovative products and technologies.

"Our complete solution is different from any system in the market and our re-branding is largely driven by our effort to reflect this for our products, mission, vision, and of course, our customers and consumers,” says Serge Gander, CEO.

He adds: ”We've taken a clean, modern approach to the name, the website's design and the user experience in our new look and rebrand. We purposefully set out to challenge the status quo in all aspects of our business and this redesign reflects that."

Please visit the revamped website www.cleangreens.ch to explore the new website and learn more about the products and services offered.

About CleanGreens

CleanGreens is a Swiss agro-technology company that provides farmers and industrialists with innovative mobile aeroponic farming solutions for growing fresh, environmentally-friendly, nutrient-rich vegetables. A certified B Corp company CleanGreens’ patented technology significantly reduces water consumption and contamination risks while offering maximum productivity per square meter and minimizing environmental impact. Automated irrigation and mechanized spacing system produce clean, quality, pesticide-free salads, aromatic herbs, and medicinal plants all year round, thus providing consumers with healthy, responsible products.

For more information

info@cleangreens.ch

+41 21 545 99 25

www.cleangreens.com

Indoor Ag-Con And The COE Hosting, "Building Sustainable Triple Bottom Line Farms" Oct 29, 2020

Center of Excellence Members

Indoor Ag-Con Webinar

Webinar Topic

The Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture presents:

"Building Sustainable Triple Bottom Line Farms"

October 29, 2:00 pm EDT

Description:  During this insightful and inspiring 60-minute session, our moderator and panelists will discuss:

• The concept of the Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet and Profits
• The B-Certification process and reporting
• The contributions indoor farms can make according to the Triple Bottom Line
• Lessons learned from sustainable indoor farms that apply to all forms of indoor farming
• And more!

Moderator: Eric W. Stein, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture and Associate Professor of Business at Penn State

Panelists:
• Dave Nichols, Director of Strategy, AppHarvest
• Alexander Rudnicki, Senior Project Manager/Plant Manager, Aerofarms
• Grant Vandenbussche, Chief Category Officer, Fifth Season

By registering, you submit your information to Indoor Ag-Con, who will use it to communicate with you regarding this event and our other services. See Indoor Ag-Con Privacy Policy --https://indoor.ag/privacy-policy-2/

Time

Oct 29, 2020 02:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

About the Series

Indoor Ag-Con LLC, producers of the premier event for the indoor|vertical farming industry, offers a free monthly webinar series to share content originally planned for its in-person annual conference that was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Indoor Ag-Conversation webinars are free to industry members. To register, visit www.indoor.ag/webinar

Register Now

About Indoor Ag-Con

Indoor Ag-Con is a showplace for robotics, automation, AI, breaking technology trends and product innovation – offering educational programming, exhibit floor space and a networking forum for idea exchange, investment opportunities and profitable partnerships.
 

Become a Member of the Center of Excellence for Indoor Ag

Know an organization or an individual who would like to join the Center? Please forward this email.

Anyone can sign up for our mailing list or a free or paid membership by going to: 

https://indooragcenter.org

We are dedicated to providing unbiased

insights on indoor and vertical farming

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VIDEO: With Backing From Hollywood, French Startup Ÿnsect Plans To Bring Edible Insects To America

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BY VIVIENNE WALT

October 12, 2020

This Startup Wants to Fix the Bug in the Food Chain Ÿnsect will supply livestock farmers with powder made from insects.

With the pandemic changing age-old consumer habits, there might be one more taboo headed for extinction: Edible insects.

After decades of squeamishness, we might finally be ready to allow creepy-crawlies into our food supply chain. Bugs, it seems, are having a moment. Last week (just a day before a fly gained global fame during the Vice-Presidential debate) the French insect-farming startup Ÿnsect announced it had raised $372 million, hugely ramping up the niche industry, and accelerating the company’s plans for large-scale production in the U.S. The investments even had a touch of Hollywood stardom: Robert Downey Jr.’s eco-focused FootPrint Coalition invested $224 million in debt and equity into the startup.

“I dig it,” Downey said on the fund’s site, announcing his investment in the company with the inevitable insect pun. “Ÿnsect’s process produces no waste and complies with the U.N.’s sustainability goals.”

Indeed, the dire squeeze on the world’s land and oceans makes a strong case for farming insects. About 26% of the Earth’s arable land is used to graze animals, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, and at least one-third of all the crops grown are devoted to manufacturing animal feed, a $500-billion-a year industry, which relies on staples like soybeans and corn, which are far lower in protein than simple insects, and far more expensive to grow. The oceans fare no better: About 22 million tons of fish caught in the wild in 2018 were ground up for fish meal, rather than served to humans, according to FAO statistics.

Even so, it has taken years for Ÿnsect to win over the industry. “Three years ago, we were more pushing and advocating our technology,” says CEO and co-founder Antoine Hubert, who launched the company in 2011. The shift appeared to begin with the pandemic, as the world languished through months of lockdown, sending global supply chains into disarray. “In the past few months, more companies are coming to us,” Hubert says. “Agricultural companies want to aggregate their waste.”

High in protein

The contrast with Big Ag could hardly be starker. Ÿnsect breeds the larvae of the Tenebrio Molitor beetle inside a vertical factory, which Hubert opened in 2016, in a modest-sized industrial building in Dole, a town in eastern France near the Swiss border. When Fortune visited the factory in 2018, we watched conveyor belts with trays containing millions of squirming mealworms, all fed with agricultural waste collected from the area's farms. From that, Ÿnsect produces high-protein pet food and livestock feed—all without using a single acre of land or hauling fish from the ocean. Ÿnsect believes it will take time for we humans (at least in Western countries) to feel comfortable eating insects themselves. But until we do, bugs are likely to become a growing, key part of the meat, chicken, and fish we eat.

Hubert says Ÿnsect has signed about $105 million worth of contracts with feed and fertilizer companies. He claims the company has raised a total of about $425 million in investments, more than the funding of all his insect-farming startup competitors combined, including Canada's Enterra. But big money is flowing in from established players as well. In January, NYSE-listed Darling Ingredients acquired a 100% stake in the Ohio-based EnviroFlight. They're all eyeing a big market for high-protein insect-based feed—and, eventually, food-products.

For this latest round, Ÿnsect’s lead investor was Asatnor Ventures in Belgium. There have also been investments from French banks, the deeptech fund Supernova in France, the Armat Group in Luxembourg, plus Hong Kong’s Happiness Capital.

For Hubert, an agricultural scientist, the success has been a long time coming. He spent years researching insects as a source of protein. Back in the late 2000s, he began showing school children how to raise worm farms in boxes, by feeding them organic waste like banana peels. Realizing he could do the same on a large scale, he found a farmer who was breeding insects for fish bait and recruited him to help launch Ÿnsect.

Hubert is now building a far bigger factory, which is set to open a year from now in French President Emmanuel Macron’s hometown of Amiens. The company is also scouting for a location to open a U.S. plant, perhaps as soon as 2022. Hubert says it is likely to be a joint venture with a Big Ag company, several of which are already in private discussions with Ÿnsect. “It will be easier for us to rely on them for permitting, subcontracting for building, and so on,” Hubert says.

Hubert says he plans to start selling insect-based pet food in the U.S. before next summer, after completing trials with the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In fact, insect-farming faces complicated regulatory hurdles in both the European Union and the U.S. In Europe, farmed insects fall under the same regulations as other farm animals, and it has taken Hubert years to be cleared for selling his fish-meal products. Next will come poultry and livestock, and finally humans; he expects to have E.U. clearance for human consumption sometime next year. In the U.S. too, he has spent nearly two years working to get permission to sell pet food, which he believes is close.

"Just the beginning"

That is just the start. As shareholders press agricultural companies to cut their carbon emissions, several have begun considering how to recycle the mammoth amounts of byproducts and waste generated by large-scale production. “There is a lot more consciousness among investors about Earth issues,” says food entrepreneur Nicolas Bernadi in San Francisco, who sits on Ÿnsect’s board. “I am convinced this is just the beginning,”

Bernadi says he foresees huge growth in the U.S., where the market is wide open. As the agricultural industry begins focusing on insects, there will likely be plenty of competitors, but Ÿnsect’s head start gives it a marked advantage. “The learning curve is long,” Bernadi says. “You are talking about farming species that no one really knows.” What is more, he says, Ÿnsect’s appeal could grow as companies focus more on sustainability. “Investors will want to put their money where there is a good effect on the planet,” he says.

That good effect seems indisputable, according to the data.

Right now, the world is able to feed itself. But to keep pace with population growth, agriculture will need to shift drastically, and quickly, especially as floods and wildfires are destroying crops with greater frequency. The FAO's prediction is grim. “There is enough cropland to feed 9 billion in 2050 if the 40% of all crops produced today for feeding animals were used directly for human consumption,” it says. "This is crucial in the context of climate change.”

With available land squeezed, there might soon be no better way to feed all the world’s farm animals, than farming insects in huge quantities--all indoors. That is something movie stars can dig.

April 7, 2020: This article has been updated to include the names of Ÿnsect’s non-U.S. investors.

Lead photo: A Antoine Hubert, co-founder, and CEO of Ynsect, in 2018 with a handful of mealworm beetle larvae, fresh off the production line. Photograph by Veronique de Viguerie

VIDEO: Vertical Farming To Prevent Food Loss In A Disaster

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October 17th, 2020

Indoor vertical farming startup Plenty Inc. is working to deliver year-round produce from its controlled, resilient farms to avoid food loss during disastrous flooding, droughts, or fires.

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Matt Barnard, co-founder, and chief executive officer of Plenty, Inc. discusses the company's series D funding round on "Bloomberg Technology." (Source: Bloomberg)

Tech-Magnate Jack Ma Visits Dezhou Greenhouse

The Chinese horticultural industry might get ready to rumble as two major business magnates found their way into the greenhouse. Last week Jack Ma (Ma Yun), founder and CEO of Alibaba, and Sun Hongbin, CEO of Sunac, visited the Kaisheng Haofeng Facility. This is the largest greenhouse in the Shandong Province in the Lingcheng District, Dezhou City. They were joined by representatives of the Dezhou Financial Investment Group, Qingdao Haofeng Food Group, and Kaisheng Haofeng (Dezhou) Intelligent Agriculture. 

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Photograph source: Kaisheng Haofeng (Dezhou) Intelligent Agriculture Co., Ltd.

Technology in the greenhouse

With Alibaba Jack Ma has created one of the biggest technology multinationals in the world, specializing in e-commerce, retail, internet, and technology. Now he took a peek at the "high-quality" scientific and technological content behind a small tomato.

The committee members of the Dezhou Financial Investment Group and vice-CEO Yu Ruihua introduced the modern greenhouse, in what the control over temperature, light, water, carbon dioxide, and fertilizer is integrated via the automatic environmental-control system. The process, including seed selection, seedling raising, planting, pest control, irrigation, picking, packaging, etc., is designed based on the growth requirements of the tomato plants. Besides, standardized management is strictly implemented. The greenhouse uses an automatic screening line with the spectral system, the automatic weighting and screening can be carried out according to the color, weight, and defect degree of tomatoes, ensuring uniform product quality and uniform gram weight.

"The tomatoes planted in this way are not only high in value but also good in taste full of seeds, juice, and rich vitamins", the team explained. After that, the technical operation team reported in detail the variety selection, research, development, plant model construction, digital management, and standardization system of the smart greenhouse.

Second season

The smart greenhouse's second planting season has just finished. The intelligent farm is buzzing with energy and the plants flourish. Jack Ma paid close attention to the growing conditions of the tomato plants, including the coconut coir growth medium, drip irrigation, liquid fertilizer, and other innovative plantation technologies. The bumblebee pollination attracted particular attention. During the period when the tomato plants blossom, the farmers use bumblebees to pollinate the flowers. They do not add hormones, but improve fruit ratio naturally. The tomatoes are juicy and plump, and the flavor is excellent.

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Photograph source: Kaisheng Haofeng (Dezhou) Intelligent Agriculture Co., Ltd.

The inspection tour was followed by a conference where the technical operation team provided a detailed report on the development and selection of product varieties in the smart greenhouse, plantation installations, digital management, and standardized systems.

Jack Ma congratulated China on its achievements in the development of smart agriculture and said: At present, the modern agricultural industry, is similar to the Internet at the beginning of the 21st century, is undergoing tremendous changes, and there is still much room for future development. The development of agriculture should pay attention to the input of talents and technology. He hopes to discuss more development possibilities about agriculture with everyone and jointly promote the progress of farmers, industries, and the whole society.

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19 Oct 2020

We Control The Entire Growing Process From "Seed To Store"

Edible Garden Advances Sustainable Produce Category

With Patented Greenhouse Technology

Edible Garden, an agriculture-technology company that operates advanced environmentally controlled greenhouses and indoor hydroponic farms under stringent food safety protocols, announces its commitment to a sustainable future of next-generation farming with Zero-Waste Inspired innovation. The company's proprietary farming management software system monitors plants 24/7 along with all supply chain variables to optimize growth, traceability, and food miles.

"Our expansive indoor facilities are interconnected nationwide to reduce the company's carbon footprint and plastic waste while maximizing access to our USDA-Certified Organic salad greens and culinary herbs," said Jim Kras, CEO of Edible Garden. "Since we control the entire growing process from 'seed to store,' our farms exceed produce category profitability with minimal product loss."

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An aerial view of Edible Garden headquarters. The company operates thousands of acres of sustainable greenhouses and hydroponic farms.

Zero-Waste Inspired innovations feature recyclable micro-perforated bags with micro-cap laser packaging that optimize atmosphere transfer rates within the bag and keep it free of contaminants. Edible Garden's patented self-watering in-store displays, designed to extend the life of the plant, are available exclusively at Meijer stores. 

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Edible Garden's advanced agriculture technology and environmentally controlled crops ensure food safety and quality.

Headquartered in Belvidere, New Jersey, Edible Garden operates additional farms nationwide through cooperative farming efforts that transcend the company's social mission to bring fresh produce and jobs to local areas. Edible Garden is a key contributor to Project Gigaton, a Walmart initiative to avoid one billion metric tons (a gigaton) of greenhouse gases from the global value chain by 2030.

Edible Garden produce includes USDA-Certified Organic Premium Fresh Cut Herbs, Hydro Fresh Basil, Organic 4" Living Herbs, and Premium Organic Living Lettuces that are currently available at major and local retailers including Meijer, Walmart, Wakefern/ShopRite, Hannaford, Target, Sweetgreen, among many others.

Lead photo: Edible Garden's patented self-watering in-store displays extend plant life for a better product and minimal loss.

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For more information:
Edible Garden
283 County Road 519
Belvidere, NJ 07823
(844) 344-3727
www.ediblegarden.com

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Publication date: Thu 8 Oct 2020

Farm.One Launches Latest NYC Vertical Mini-Farm At Whole Foods Market, Manhattan West

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 Blog, News from Fluence by monique

Establishes A New Distributed Urban Agriculture Model To Support

Onsite Farms For Grocers, Restaurants,

And Other Businesses In The Greater

New York City Area

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NEW YORK (September 9, 2020) — Farm.One, Manhattan’s only vertical farm, launched its latest mini-farm at the newly opened Whole Foods Market Manhattan West. Farm.One custom-designed the farm for the Manhattan West store and maintains the on-site mini-farm to supply the in-store prepared food and beverages with freshly grown and harvested Blue Spice Basil. The basil is used as an ingredient for a variety of delicious menu items, including freshly made pizza and the Whole Foods Mule, a specialty cocktail.

With a mission to surprise and delight with fresh, local, specialty ingredients grown at innovative farms in city centers, Farm.One’s mini-farm represents a major shift in urban food production and supply chains. With mini-farms, businesses have continual access to the highest quality, most flavorful, and consistent professional-grade ingredients. Further, the distance between production and consumption is now mere footsteps, eliminating any carbon emissions associated with the delivery of the produce.

“Every kitchen knows the difference that freshness and quality of ingredients can make to the food they serve,” said Rob Laing, founder and CEO of Farm.One. “When we started in 2016, it wasn’t financially feasible to build and operate small farms profitably in cities like New York. We’ve now been able to decrease the cost of building a farm and have developed a model where a larger farm, like our TriBeCa flagship, can support small farms for grocery stores, restaurants and the hospitality industry all over the greater New York City area. This marks a real inflection point for what people can expect in their meals and the economy of urban food production.”

Farm.One’s mini-farm at Whole Foods Market Manhattan West takes up just thirty two square feet and features a hundred and fifty plant sites on three growing levels. The hydroponic system was designed and built by Farm.One’s engineering and technology team to optimize crop productivity, minimize intrusiveness to the store experience, and require minimal maintenance. The facade of the mini-farm was customized to match the familiar brushed stainless steel aesthetic of Whole Foods Market. The mini-farm is capable of supplying at least 8 pounds of basil every month, including harvesting the fragrant basil flowers for use in the Whole Foods Mule.

“The first thing our customers notice when they enter the prepared food section of the store is the incredible fragrance of the basil,,” said Chris Manca, local forager, Whole Foods Market Northeast Region. “As soon as our chefs, and even our mixologist, had access to the basil they were inspired to create menu items that highlight the freshness and flavor of Farm.One’s blue spice basil. This collaboration with Farm.One has really impacted the way we think about fresh ingredients in our kitchens and we can’t wait for customers to come by and experience it.”

Farm.One’s Distributed Agriculture Model
Farm.One has taken a distributed approach to scaling indoor farming in cities, an alternative to the large, expensive warehouse farming models. By establishing a Farm.One flagship as a hub in a city, the company is able to centralize farming and business operations, engineering, training, and support, to build and maintain on-site ‘spoke’ farms throughout a city for its customers. This results in lower investment requirements, a faster path to profitability, and the flexibility to grow a diverse range of crops that meet a variety of customer needs.

“Our hub-and-spoke model of distributed agriculture proves that indoor agriculture doesn’t need tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to be viable and achieve scale,” added Laing. “Also, by putting farms in visible places around the city we’re ensuring openness and transparency never before achieved in the industry. Whether you visit a Farm.One flagship for a tour or class, when it’s safe to do so, or experience a mini-farm in the middle of a grocery store, you’ll see and learn about how your food is grown.”

The company has plans to build flagships and mini-farms in major cities around the United States and globally over the next twenty four months.

Farm costs are further reduced through its relationship with leading LED lighting company Fluence by OSRAM. The cost of lighting and electricity remains one of the highest cost centers for building and operating indoor farms. By collaborating with Fluence, Farm.One is leveraging innovative LED technology to ensure its growing environments are optimized by crop type and for operational efficiency.

“In a vertical farming environment, efficiency isn’t a perk, it is paramount to the farm’s success,” said David Cohen, CEO of Fluence. “Farm.One is tapping into the world’s most advanced cultivation technology to deliver beautiful, delectable plants in the heart of one of the busiest metropolitan areas in the world. Their ability to localize high-quality crop production illustrates how exploring the interaction between light and life will yield a healthier and more sustainable world.”

The mini-farm at Whole Foods Market Manhattan West adds to several mini-farms Farm.One has built out of its flagship farm in TriBeCa, including at OCTOBER, a restaurant in Nolita which features a 100% plant-based menu, Eataly NYC Flatiron, and at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), the site of Farm.One’s original prototype farm. Farm.One also maintains a farm at Project Farmhouse at Union Square.

For more information about purchasing a Farm.One mini-farm for restaurants, grocery stores, and other businesses in the greater New York City area, visit: https://www.farm.one/vertical-farms/custom-units.

For more information about bringing a Farm.One flagship to a city, visit https://www.farm.one/vertical-farms/flagship-farm.

Farm.One Press Inquiries:
Rob Laing
rob@farm.one

How Indoor Farming Is Shaping The Future of The Agriculture And Curbing Climate Change

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October 14, 2020

Irving Fain - Bowery Farming Founder & CEO joins Yahoo Finance’s On The Move panel to discuss how the vertical farming company has expanded into more than 650 U.S. stores as well as break down how consumer demands are changing our food systems.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Farming revolution under the way. Sustainable farming, but the kind of farming that takes place indoors and on rooftops. To talk about this, we bring in Irving Fain. He's Bowery Farming founder and CEO.

Years ago, I got to see an indoor marijuana farm, essentially, where they grew everything in a ground coconut shell, but it was incredibly efficient the way the nutrients and the water were recycled. And I would imagine that's part of what you do.

But what's even cooler about this is, you're already supplying, what, is it 600 plus stores in the tri-state area with your produce. So how does someone who's got their start in software and finance go into farming?

IRVING FAIN: Yeah, it's a good question, Adam. Thanks for having me. I think I've been a believer since I was a young kid that the technology and the innovation economy could be used to solve hard problems and important problems.

And when you look at what's happening with the climate crisis right now, you look at the fires in California, you look at the storms we've been seeing, you look at just the droughts we've been going through for the last decade-plus, there is no greater cause of climate harm than agriculture. It is the largest consumer of resources globally. 70% of the world's water goes to ag every year. And we use about 6 billion pounds of pesticides annually across the world.

And so, in the last 40 years alone, we've lost 30% of all of our arable farmlands. And you look at the fact that the world population is increasing. We need more food to feed that growing population. And we are urbanizing at a faster and faster rate. I just got really obsessed with this question of, how do you get fresh food to urban environments, and how do you do that more efficiently and more sustainably?

JULIE HYMAN: Irving, it's Julie here. Thank you for joining us. You know, this has seemed to be a trend. We spoke with a company recently that was going public through a SPAC that was a big indoor farming company. That person, too, was not necessarily a farmer, right?

As Adam mentioned, you're from a banking and tech background. And so I'm curious, is the farming industry, so to speak, onboard? We have talked a lot on this show about how family farms are dying, in many cases. The economics are really tough there. So I'm wondering how much this new part of the industry is incorporating the old, and how much those people might be on board?

IRVING FAIN: Yeah, you know, I think what's so exciting to see right now, Julie, is just the fact that technology is penetrating all areas of agriculture right now. So you're seeing precision agriculture on the farms. So we can give crops much more precise amounts of water or fertilizers versus just dumping from planes or spreaders like you can see on the photo right now.

You're seeing the use of satellite imagery and drone imagery. So I think when you look at innovation in agriculture, we've got to look at indoor farming as a part of a larger puzzle. We are a piece of this puzzle, a very important piece of it because the fresh produce industry is so critical.

But in order to solve a problem where agriculture is consuming so many of these resources, where our climate is being stretched in the way that it is, we're going to need cooperation from outdoor farmers and indoor farmers alike.

MELODY HAHM: And Irving, I think the company that Julie was mentioning was AppHarvest. Also news today that SoftBank is leading a $140 million funding round for Plenty, of course, your counterpart there. And actually, Driscoll's, the berry company, is going to be an investor.

I want to think about the idea of vertical farming. Speaking with folks who are in very saturated cities or very cosmopolitan areas, as I understand it, vertical farming was another way to provide fresh fruits, fresh veggies to perhaps lower-income students, many of whom depended on their schools for breakfast, lunch, and even dinner sometimes.

How have you been navigating this space, if at all? And what's your vision therein allowing a lot of these fresh produce items to reach the masses and perhaps those who wouldn't be able to afford some fresh things at Whole Foods?

IRVING FAIN: Yeah, no, it's a great question, Melody. And so, you know, at Bowery, we're building the modern farming company. And, you know, we're really proud to be the largest indoor vertical farming company in the United States right now. And we are building smart farms that are close to the cities that we're serving. And we really take the responsibility of the community members seriously.

And so that, for us, means a number of things. We're engaging with nonprofit partners in the mid-Atlantic, where we are, as well as in the tri-state area. We're actually the largest donation partner for fresh produce in the Maryland Food Bank right now.

We're actually selling a wholesale product to the DC Central Kitchen Healthy Corners Program right now. And what they then do is they take that produce and they bring it into corner stores in food deserts across the Baltimore and the DC area. And they sell that at a subsidized price inside coolers to get fresh, healthy produce to consumers who may have a difficult time achieving that.

That's a really critical piece, but also, we have just built Bowery under the belief that we want to democratize access to high-quality fresh food. Everybody should be able to eat great produce. And the produce we're growing is, it is like the produce you remember from your grandparents' garden.

And so you can find Bowery products everywhere from Whole Foods or a Giant, all the way to retailers like Walmart and then online retailers as well. And so we really believe in spreading the access to what we're growing at Bowery.

ADAM SHAPIRO: I am curious because I think a lot of people, there's a passion about what you're doing with this farming revolution. But it's all about yield when you talk about crops. So can you give us a perspective of where the indoor farming market stands with its yield? And potentially, we're talking about feeding, at least this country, with things that are grown in this manner, or is that really a pipe dream?

IRVING FAIN: No it's the right question to ask. I think it's one of the reasons why, at Bowery, we've invested really heavily in the technology side of what we're building. And so, we're building warehouse-scale indoor farms. We stack our crops from the floor to the ceiling. And we grow under lights that mimic the spectrum of the sun.

And so we can grow year-round, independent of weather and seasonality. It is pesticide-free, protected produce. We're 100 times plus more productive than a square foot of farmland. And we use only a fraction of water compared to traditional agriculture. And what really makes that possible is innovation that we've been driving in robotics and automation, as well as innovation around the software side.

So we've built something called the Bowery OS, Adam, which is, it's the brains of our farm. It's a proprietary system, and it uses software, computer vision, machine learning to both monitor and manage our crops to ensure they're getting exactly what they need when they need it. They're as flavorful as possible. And they're harvested at that peak yield and peak freshness.

So it really is where technology marries traditional growing and traditional agriculture, which comes together. And it creates an enormous opportunity. I mean from our view, this is a $100 billion a year opportunity in the US and probably about a trillion dollar a year opportunity globally.

And that's not for every crop. We don't look at staple crops, for instance, corn and wheat and soy, as areas that we're necessarily focused in today. Could you do that eventually? You know, technology has a nice way of surprising us. But that's not something where we're focused or counting on right now. And you don't need that to build a big business.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Look, I tried to grow tomatoes on the 18th floor, the terrace out here. And I refer to them as the toxic tomatoes because it was a disaster. I want to thank you for joining us, Irving Fain, Bowery Farming founder, and CEO.

Plenty Bags $140m In Funding For Its Indoor Farming Tech

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by Kelly Earley

10/14/20

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Image: Plenty

Californian Indoor Agriculture Business Plenty

Has Raised $140m In Its Latest Funding Round,

Bringing The Total Raised By The Start-Up To $500m

On Wednesday (14 October), San Francisco vertical farming business Plenty announced that it has raised $140m in Series D funding.

The Series D round was led by existing investor, SoftBank Vision Fund 1, with participation from new investor Driscoll’s, a California-based agriculture business that claims to control around one-third of the $6bn berry market in the US.

Plenty, which was previously listed as an urban agriculture start-up to watch on Siliconrepublic.com, plans to use the latest round of funding to fuel growth and execute new commercial collaborations with Driscoll’s and US grocery business Albertsons.

Plenty’s technology

Plenty was co-founded by Matt Barnard, Jack Oslan, Nate Mazonson, and Nate Storey in 2014. The company’s vertical farming technology can grow produce all year round, and Plenty claims that it uses 99pc less land and 95pc less water to grow crops than traditional methods.

Plenty’s San Francisco farm uses 100pc renewable energy and according to the company, the firm can grow 1,500 acres of produce in a building the size of a big-box grocery store.

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To date, Plenty has raised more than $500m from investors including Bezos Expeditions, Innovation Endeavors, and DCM Ventures. Plenty is currently developing a new indoor farm in Compton, California, which the start-up believes could become the world’s highest-output vertical farm.

Jeff Housenbold, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, said: “In just 30 years’ time, the world will need 70pc more food than we currently produce, requiring more efficient use of land and water. Without innovation in agriculture, this demand will be impossible to meet.

“We believe Plenty is transforming the way food is made and are pleased to continue supporting their mission to build sustainable, intelligent farms that deliver healthy, safe produce with a focus on premium flavour.”

Plenty’s agriculture platform uses data analytics, machine learning, and customized lighting to iterate at high speeds, using 200 years’ worth of growing data. The company said that it has seen a 700pc yield improvement in leafy greens over the last 24 months by using this data.

Barnard, who serves as chief executive of Plenty, said: “The recent disruptions in the global supply chain caused by the west coast wildfires and Covid-19 have highlighted how quickly our access to quality produce can be thwarted.

“Plenty’s controlled and resilient farms and local distribution made it easy for us to scale quickly, even during the pandemic, demonstrating that our indoor, vertical farm flourishes under environmental pressures and delivers delicious greens along with the sales that come with it.”

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Kelly Earley is a journalist with Siliconrepublic.com

editorial@siliconrepublic.com

RELATED: ANALYTICS, FOOD, AGRITECH, FUNDING AND INVESTMENT, SAN FRANCISCO, AGRICULTURE

US - ORLANDO, FLORIDA - Tech-Driven Vertical Farming Company Announces Two New VP’s

14-10-2020  |    Global News Wire

The Appointment of These Executives Coincides With

Kalera’s Expansion Into New Markets Nationwide

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Mark Gagnon, VP of Sales for Retail Accounts at Kalera, has over three decades of experience in the produce and grocery industries.

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Kalera's newly appointed VP of Foodservice Sales, Marc Jennings, brings with him over 20 years of experience in the foodservice industry.

On October 13th, technology-driven vertical farming company Kalera (NOTC: KALERA, Bloomberg: KSLLF) announced that it has hired two new executives to fill the positions of Vice President of Foodservice Sales and Vice President of Sales for Retail Accounts.

The newly appointed VP of Foodservice Sales, Marc Jennings, brings with him over 20 years of experience in the foodservice industry. Mark Gagnon, VP of Sales for Retail Accounts, has over three decades of experience in the produce and grocery industries.

Prior to joining Kalera as VP of Foodservice Sales, Marc Jennings spent his career building networks of strategic partners in the food industry, both domestically and internationally. Most recently, Jennings worked as the Chief Commercial Officer at Martin Preferred Foods, where he worked to expand into new geographies through strategic alliances.

He previously spent four years as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Food Services of America and four years as the Vice President of Foodservice at Cargill, a company with reported revenues of almost $115 billion. Jennings has received recognition as a Leader of Sales & Marketing from the International Food Distribution Association and the International Food Manufacturing Association, where he has held advocacy positions on the industry board.

His primary goal as Kalera’s VP of Foodservice Sales is to build a coalition of strategic partners who share the vision of delivering Kalera’s fresh, locally produced greens to consumers across the planet.

“I’ve always been passionate about finding a sustainable, healthy solution to feeding the world’s growing population, and Kalera does that efficiently and effectively,” said Marc Jennings, new Kalera VP of Foodservice Sales. “I believe my wide range of experience makes me uniquely qualified to establish the diverse network necessary to deliver Kalera’s solution globally.”

Kalera has also named Mark Gagnon as VP of Sales for Retail Accounts. An accomplished executive, Gagnon brings with him over 30 years of sales and leadership experience with three major produce brands, Chiquita, Dole, and Del Monte. Before his six-year tenure as the VP of Sales at Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc., he led the East Coast sales team for Chobani, where he focused on account development, retail expansion, increasing market share, creating brand awareness, and developing a new sales team.

He previously worked for nine years as the National Director of Sales for Chiquita, where his main focus was growing market share in both pineapple and banana business, as well as leading the Kroger Team for all Chiquita products. Gagnon was also the National Account Manager for Kroger at The Dole Food Company and held various other sales leadership roles over a 14-year period with Dole.

“Over the last 30 years, I’ve developed strong partnerships and relationships with the top retailers in the country through strategic planning and customer engagement at the top levels of each retail organization,” said Mark Gagnon, Kalera’s new VP of Sales for Retail Accounts. “I’m extremely eager to bring my experience and learnings in the produce industry to Kalera, and join a first class company with an incredibly bright future.”

“Having this strong and unified sales team will be crucial to Kalera’s growth and development as we expand globally,” said Daniel Malechuk, CEO of Kalera. “With Mark’s proven track record of account development with key retailers, and Marc’s international manufacturing and distribution background, I have confidence in their ability to continue Kalera’s momentum in building our network of strategic partners as we grow Kalera’s reach. We’re truly thrilled to have them join the team.”

Quickly becoming a world leading company in indoor vertical farming, Kalera has the ability to deliver fresh, locally grown greens, nationally thanks in large part to its streamlined design process and technological advancements. By the end of 2021, Kalera will have five commercial growing facilities open and operating across the US. The company’s recent major milestones include:

• Its first commercial vertical farm, the HyCube growing center, currently operates on the premises of the Orlando World Center Marriott, bringing fresh, local produce to the hotel’s visitors and customers.

• In March 2020, Kalera opened its second facility in Orlando, providing produce to the area’s top retailers, leading foodservice distributors, resorts, hospitality groups, and theme parks.

• The Atlanta facility is the third farm in Kalera’s portfolio and when it opens early next year, will be the largest vertical farm in the Southeast.

• Its fourth facility is slated to open in Houston in spring 2021 and will be the largest of its kind in Texas.

• In 2021 Kalera will open its fifth and most western location in Colorado, which will serve the greater Denver area.

• As Kalera accelerates its growth over the next few years, it will continue to open additional facilities, expanding production capacity throughout the US and internationally.

With indoor facilities situated right where the demand is, Kalera is able to supply an abundance of produce locally, eliminating the need to travel long distances when shipping perishable products and ensuring the highest quality and freshness. Their cutting-edge technology allows plants to reach their maximum potential, and the facilities produce yields at 300-400 times that of traditional field farming. In addition to maximizing production, Kalera’s growing methods and cleanroom technology eliminates the need for chemical pesticide use, and their plants consume 95% less water than field-farmed plants.

About Kalera

Kalera is a technology-driven vertical farming company with unique growing methods combining optimized nutrients and light recipes, precise environmental controls, and cleanroom standards to produce safe, highly nutritious, pesticide-free, non-GMO vegetables with consistently high quality and longer shelf life year-round. The company’s high-yield, automated, data-driven hydroponic production facilities have been designed for rapid rollout with industry-leading payback times to grow vegetables faster, cleaner, at a lower cost, and with less environmental impact.

Source and Photo Courtesy of Global News Wire

How Vertical Farming Helps Save Water

Generally, vertical farming uses 95% less water than traditional farming. At iFarm we have improved this indicator.

In many places around the world, for example in the Middle East, water resources are limited and their price is high. Reducing water consumption on a vertical farm in such regions can have a very positive economic and environmental impact. iFarm engineers have recently developed and patented a dehumidification system allowing to reuse the water that farm plants evaporate during growth.

How does it work? Let's take a look at a vertical farm with a cultivation area of ​​1000 m2. It produces 2.5 tons of fresh salads and herbs every month. To get such a yield, you need 2020 liters of water daily, most of which — 1400 liters — is used for plant nutrition. However, the daily actual water consumption is almost three times less. 2020 liters are poured into the system once, and then the "engineering magic" begins.

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At iFarm vertical farms, we use flow hydroponics, i.e the roots of plants are constantly placed in the nutrient solution and consume it whenever they need, getting all the macro- and microelements in the right ratio and concentration.

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From 1400 liters of the water, plants use only 80 liters for weight gain (consumption of nutrients from a larger volume is a prerequisite). The remaining 1 320 liters the plants simply evaporate. In the process of transpiration, a lettuce leaf can evaporate an amount of water that exceeds its own weight many times. We collect this water with air conditioners and dehumidifiers, purify it and reuse it in production, maintaining the optimal humidity inside at 70%.

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The second "source" of water on the farm is the water supply system — another 700 liters are collected from it and then run through a special filtration unit, resulting in 560 liters of purified and 140 liters of untreated water. The latter is collected in a special tank for technical needs (washing hands, pallets, floors, etc.).

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Thus in order to save water, we started collecting it from air conditioners and dehumidifiers that were originally designed to maintain optimal moisture on the farm. This approach allows the production to use only 700 liters of tap water per day, which is three times less than growing plants in conventional hydroponic greenhouses.

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We are currently improving the automation of the nutrient solution replacement. The system will determine what macro- and microelements are missing in the trays at a given time and adjust them. According to the calculations of engineers, this will reduce the number of times the sewerage has to be drained completely and almost halve its consumption — from 360 liters to 150 liters. The amount of tap water required by a vertical farm to produce delicious and reach yields then will be just 440 liters, which is five times less than what a hydroponic greenhouse needs.

16.10.2020

UNITED KINGDOM: Whole Foods Joins List of Infarm Customers

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E KNOWLES

@mikefruitne

15th October 2020, London

The Berlin-Based Urban Farming Specialist

Continues Its Meteoric Rise

With The Addition of One of London's Leading Retailers

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Whole Foods Market customers in the UK will soon be able to purchase a range of fresh produce grown by Infarm, which claims to be the world’s fastest-growing urban farming network.

As part of its continued UK expansion, the Berlin-based company will install its modular vertical farming units in two of the retailer’s London stores – High Street Kensington and Fulham – so shoppers can buy fresh produce that has been grown in-store.

Infarm produce will also appear in Whole Foods Market stores in the capital at Piccadilly Circus, Stoke Newington, Richmond, Clapham Junction, and Camden at the end of October and during November.

These stores will be supplied with produce from a local Infarm growing centre in Tottenham, the company said, providing flexible supply as and when required.

For Whole Foods Market shoppers, the Infarm range will include herbs such as coriander, parsley, basil, mint, dill, and Thai basil, as well as a number of different fresh lettuce varieties.

“The partnership between Infarm and Whole Foods Market aims to satisfy increasing consumer demand for sustainably grown products with a smaller environmental footprint, helping customers to both make healthy choices and reduce their food waste,” said a spokesperson for Infarm.

Growing and Growing

The company recently raised US$170m in series C funding, further boosting an expansion strategy that has seen it land retail partnerships in the UK, US, Canada, France, and Germany. Fruitnet understands it will soon be making its market debut in Japan.

The expansion comes as retailers look to find innovative ways to combat climate change. “Infarm units use 95 percent less water and 90 percent less transport than traditional agriculture, as well as 75 percent less fertiliser and no pesticides,” the spokesperson added.

The first harvest from Whole Foods Market Kensington is scheduled for 19 November.

Daniel Kats, vice-president of corporate sales at Infarm, commented: “Whole Foods Market felt like a perfect fit for Infarm. Its commitment to providing customers with vibrant, sustainable food aligns with our goal of growing produce locally and, in the process, substantially reducing food waste and the environmental impact of what we consume. We hope that in installing our modular farms in Kensington and Fulham, we can help to educate shoppers about the future of food.”

Jade Hoai, director of purchasing and operations at Whole Foods Market, said: “We are excited to partner with Infarm to offer a truly hyper-local selection of greens and herbs across all of our London stores. Whole Foods Market customers can expect to find fresh, unique herbs from Infarm’s vertical growing units like Boudreaux purple basil, that are grown locally, have no pesticides, and use a fraction of the traditional resources required to grow. We are excited about this relationship for its joint commitment to environmental stewardship and for the delicious, nutritious meals our customers will be crafting at home.”

Super Local

Founded in Berlin in 2013 by Osnat Michaeli and the brothers Erez and Guy Galonska, Infarm is dedicated to creating a future where local super fresh produce is available for everyone. The farms are placed in various locations in the city, like supermarkets, restaurants, and distribution centres, so that vegetables grow and are harvested close to the moment of purchase or consumption.

Infarm farmers visit the store after each growth cycle to add new seedlings to the farm. According to the company, the plants retain their roots post-harvest to maintain exceptional flavour and freshness, meaning they’re still alive when harvested.

“These controlled, growing environments are connected to a central cloud-based farm-brain which gathers more than 50,000 data points through a plant’s lifetime, allowing the platform to learn, adapt and improve itself constantly so that every plant grows better than the one before,” it adds.

“This modular, data-driven, and distributed approach — a combination of big data, IoT, and cloud analytics, in addition to rapid growth at a global scale — sets Infarm apart from any other urban, farming solution.”

During last week’s FPJLive conference organised by the Fresh Produce Journal, Infarm’s UK operations director Jeremy Byfleet confirmed the company was investigating the possibility of expanding its product offer beyond leafy salad vegetables and herbs to include a number of other fresh fruit and vegetables.

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US - AppHarvest Expands Educational Container Farm Program For Eastern Kentucky Students

Rowan County Senior High School Students

To Receive Hands-On, High-Tech Growing Experience

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October 13, 2020

Morehead, Ky.  — AppHarvest announced today the expansion of its educational high-tech container farm program for Eastern Kentucky students, unveiling a new container farm unit in Rowan County. The program demonstrates the company’s ongoing commitment to fostering interest in high-tech farming, as it seeks to create America’s AgTech capital from within Appalachia.

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The retrofitted shipping container will serve as a hands-on agricultural classroom for students at Rowan County Senior High School, allowing them to grow and provide fresh, nutritious fruits and vegetables to their classmates and those in need in and around Morehead. The county is home to AppHarvest’s first controlled environment agriculture facility, a massive 2.76-million-square-foot farm that opens later this month. The facility will employ more than 300 and grow tomatoes to be sold through the top 25 grocers nationwide.

The educational container farm’s arrival will be formally celebrated at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13, with live music and refreshments, as acclaimed Kentucky muralists Often Seen Rarely Spoken (OSRS) work with the high school’s art students to paint the container farm’s exterior. Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the container farm and learn about its high-tech tools, as well as see butterhead lettuce starters growing on the container’s vertical columns.

The container farm is 2,880 cubic feet, weighs 7.5 tons, and includes space to grow up to 3,600 seedlings and 4,500 mature plants all at once using 256 vertical crop columns. The container’s unique design utilizes cutting-edge LED lighting and closed-loop irrigation systems to allow students to grow far more than traditional open-field agriculture. For instance, they can grow up to 500 full heads of lettuce, or 1,000 miniature heads, as part of a single crop if they desire.

The Rowan County container farm joins AppHarvest’s inaugural container farm serving Shelby Valley High School students in Pike County. Both are part of AppHarvest’s high school AgTech program, which provides Eastern Kentucky students with knowledge about the importance of eating healthy and hands-on experience growing fruits and vegetables in high-tech environments.

Students at Shelby Valley High School have grown leafy greens, donating them to those in need through a backpack program and food pantry. Guests in attendance will include Rocky Adkins, senior adviser to Gov. Andy Beshear; Rowan County Schools Superintendent John Maxey; Rowan County Judge-Executive Harry Clark; Rowan County High School Principal Brandy Carver; and Morehead Mayor Laura White-Brown. All social distancing protocols will be strictly followed, with all in attendance wearing face masks and remaining at least six feet apart while enjoying festivities.

The Rowan County Senior High School container farm program will be led by agriculture teacher Bradley McKinney. The program’s curriculum combines existing agricultural education with six new units focusing on leading AgTech advancements. McKinney said the container farm will allow students to be competitive in the national Supervised Agricultural Experience Program, which, along with Future Farmers of America (FFA) and traditional classroom instruction, is an integral part of agriculture education.

The program requires students to gain hands-on experience through agriculture-based entrepreneurship, placement programs, or research. “The container farm is the exact type of hands-on tool that excites students and shows first-hand the excitement of modern farming,” McKinney said. “Students can have their own projects and learn all about entrepreneurship, as they make decisions about what to grow and how to distribute it.”

About AppHarvest
AppHarvest is building some of the world’s largest indoor farms, combining conventional agricultural techniques with today’s technology to grow non-GMO, chemical-free fruits and vegetables to be sold to the top 25 U.S. grocers.

The company has developed a unique system to reduce water usage by 90% compared to typical farms, as a 10-acre rainwater retention pond pairs with sophisticated circular irrigation systems. The system also eliminates agricultural runoff entirely.

By locating within Appalachia, AppHarvest benefits from being less than a day’s drive to 70% of the U.S. population. That lowers diesel use in transportation costs by 80%, allowing the company’s fresher produce to compete against low-cost foreign imports.

Ultra-Local Brooklyn-Based Aquaponics Operation Upward Farms Has National Agenda

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October 14, 2020   

By Cliff White

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Originally founded in 2013 as Edenworks and previously known as Seed & Roe, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.-based Upward Farms takes an ecosystem-based approach to its aquaponics operation, which produces microgreens and “mercury-free, antibiotic-free, and hormone-free” striped bass, rated as a “Best Choice” by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program. In an interview with SeafoodSource, Upward Farms CEO Jason Green described the company’s whole ecosystems as “a paradigm shift in productivity and scalability compared to status quo production methods dependent upon synthetic chemicals.”

The company has had success selling its greens into Brooklyn grocery outlets including Whole Foods Market but has not yet sold any fish commercially. Green said the company has a “20-year vision to create a sustainable future for the food system by advancing the importance of the microbiome in both indoor and outdoor agriculture.” Upwards Farms recently closed on more than USD 15 million (EUR 12.8 million) in new funding, led by an investment from Prime Movers Lab.

SeafoodSource: 

Why was striped bass chosen as the complementary species in Upward Farms’ integrated aquaponics system?

Green: 

We’re an aquaponic farm – we grow fish and plants together in a closed ecosystem. It’s important for us to use a freshwater species instead of saltwater so we can directly utilize the waste from the fish as fertilizer for our leafy greens production. The striped bass hybrid that we use is a freshwater fish that retains the quality and character that eaters of striped bass love – clean, firm flesh with just the right amount of richness and skin that crisps up beautifully. Striped bass is also a fish that has a strong local following in the New York area, so there’s a baseline level of consumer awareness.

So while chefs and consumers in New York are already familiar with striped bass as a wild local fish that is available seasonally, we sought to complement that with a sustainably farmed alternative that can be sourced year-round.

SeafoodSource: 

Can you say more about the company’s new facility and your other expansion plans?

Green:

 Our new headquarters facility is based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and will be a fully automated vertical farm with aquaponic production. It will serve as our commercial facility, distributing leafy greens and fish to grocers across the New York City area. Our new headquarters is also where we’ll continue to conduct research and development to advance our technology and develop new products.

Longer-term goals include opening a farm outside every major metropolitan area, near distribution centers that serve the grocers for that area. This will enable us to cut down on how far food travels. This is a key objective of ours, given that 95 percent of U.S. leafy greens are trucked in from California or Arizona, and 90 percent of fish is imported from other countries. All those miles between farm and form compromise quality, safety, and cost. In cutting down food miles, we can create a more transparent, stable, and safe supply chain.

The importance of local production is something that COVID has really underscored. Add on top of that the risks posed by climate change, especially this year with record wildfires in the American West. In agriculture, as we’ve seen in medicine and other industries related to the public health response, the importance of short, stable supply chains is being recognized now more than ever.

SeafoodSource: 

What role will the fish side of things play in the company’s future development?

Green: 

The fish play an important and symbiotic role in our process. The fish are the source of fertilizer for our plants and the fuel for the microbiome that drives our competitive advantage. Our microbiome allows us to deliver higher produce yields, a disease resistance product, and superior food safety by preventing the growth of foodborne bacteria like E. Coli. In the long term, we anticipate our fish being a major source of revenue in and of itself.

Given that fish farming is the largest and fastest-growing food segment globally, and that local fish is the number-one consumer demand, yet 90 percent is imported and 40 percent is mislabeled, we see this as a blue ocean opportunity, pun intended.

SeafoodSource:

 What is the fish-growing capacity at the farm?

Green

 We’d like to pass on this as we’re not currently sharing this information publicly.

SeafoodSource: 

When will they be commercially available?

Green:

 Our fish will be commercially available in New York City by mid-2021.

SeafoodSource:

 Has the company’s Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Best Choice” rating been affected at all by the changes being made to the Seafood Watch Program?

Green:

According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program, striped bass continues to be a “Best Choice” when farmed in indoor recirculating tanks with wastewater treatment, like our aquaponic production.

SeafoodSource:

 How will the recent hiring of former RBC Capital Markets Managing Director and Co-Head of Real Estate Investment Banking John Perkins as Upward Farms’ new chief financial officer affect your company’s goals and fundraising efforts?

Green:

 With our purpose of enabling everyone to nourish their body, family, and the planet, we are fortunate to have John join our team and together achieve massive scale and impact. John's unparalleled talent and experience, particularly in capitalizing the real estate and infrastructure that transformed the American food supply chain, will help Upward Farms attract the right capital partners, grow rapidly, and realize the full potential of our vision and technology platform.

Photo courtesy of Upward Farms

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Cliff White

Executive Editor

 cwhite@divcom.com

 @CliffWhiteNews

Amazon’s Alexa Fund Invests In At-Home Vertical Farming Company Rise Gardens

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by Jennifer Marston

OCTOBER 13, 2020

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Rise Gardens announced today it has received an investment from the Amazon Alexa Fund that builds upon a $2.6M seed round Rise closed in May. The amount invested by the Amazon Alexa Fund was not disclosed.

According to a press release sent to The Spoon, the deal is both a collaboration and a cash investment that will “fuel new products, accessories and further R+D” for Rise Gardens.

The Chicago-based Rise is best known for its standalone console (roughly the size of a standard bookcase) that contains a hydroponic grow system for consumers at home. The system does most of the hard work—calculating nutrition and pH levels, knowing when and how much to water the plants—for the user, whom it notifies via a corresponding app.

Rise’s system is also modular, so it can be added to or subtracted from over time depending on how many greens your household consumes each week. Users can also grow beets and tomatoes in addition to leafy greens and herbs.

Rise raised $2.6 million in seed funding earlier this year; Amazon’s new investment is an extension of this seed funding, according to today’s press release.

Amazon’s investment in Rise sounds promising, not just for the company but for the entire vertical farming sector. To start, Rise CEO and founder Hank Adams hinted today at Alexa functionality for the Rise system: “Collaborating with the Alexa Fund will better enable us to integrate our smart, connected garden with Alexa, making indoor gardening even easier. We are also excited about the opportunity to work with Amazon to evolve and expand how we reach consumers with our device and consumables business concept,” he said. The details of that Alexa integration are scant as of now, but one imagines being able to ask Alexa about your plant’s pH levels or tell the speaker to adjust the light mixture. On the flip, Rise could notify users via Alexa when it’s time to water the plants.

There’s no question that consumer-grade vertical farms are still a pretty niche product right now since many of them cost more than the average person can easily afford. (Rise’s single unit console starts at $549.) But the pandemic and accompanying disruptions to the food supply chain have undoubtedly increased folks’ desire to control more of what they eat, which has led to an influx of new devices. From Gardyn’s stylish take on at-home farming to consumer electronics companies like LG building them into the kitchen, vertical farming is definitely making its way into the home. 

Amazon, of course, wants to control your entire home, including your kitchen, so it’s not surprising the Seattle tech giant would partner making at-home vertical farming products. As well, the company has made forays into the gardening space before, like this patent from 2017. Amazon knowing what types of plants you are growing can fuel its selling machine to recommend recipes and other groceries.

Like it or not, Amazon’s moves in food tech tend to influence others, which means the collaborations and products that come out of the Rise partnership will influence the future of at-home vertical farming for everyone

Filed Under: AG TECH BUSINESS OF FOOD CONNECTED KITCHEN FEATURED FOODTECH FUNDING SMART GARDEN VERTICAL FARMING

Kalera Contemplates Private Placement

Kalera has engaged ABG Sundal Collier ASA and Arctic Securities AS to advise on and effect a contemplated private placement of up to 31,000,000 new shares in the company to raise gross proceeds of up to NOK 930 million (equivalent to approx. USD 100 million).

The completion of the Private Placement would bring the company’s total equity funding in 2020 to around USD 160 million and would be used to maintain and fuel its rapid US and international expansion. Specifically, Kalera intends to use the net proceeds from the private placement to finance the construction of new facilities, in both the US and internationally, as part of the company's rollout plan for 2021, as well as for general corporate purposes.

"In a short time, we have proven that our model allows us to provide produce at industry-leading yields and unit economics that enables rapid facility expansion and provides our end-user customers the opportunity to purchase our premium quality greens at stable, conventional pricing,” said Daniel Malechuk, CEO of Kalera. “This private placement will allow Kalera to take the next step in its rapid US domestic and international expansion and become a true global leader in vertical farming of fresh, clean and nutritious leafy greens in close proximity to urban centers.”

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For more information:
Kalera
info@kalera.com
www.kalera.com 

22 Oct 2020

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UNITED KINGDOM: Underground Farm Based In Former Clapham Air Raid Shelter To Open New Site In Suburbs

Growing Underground cultivate micro herbs and salad leaves in its 65,000sq urban farm located 33m below the streets of London.

It is now pushing for new investors in a bid to expand its operations and revolutionize Britain’s agriculture

REBECCA SPEARE-COLE 
The Evening Standard

A massive underground farm in Clapham is set to open a new site on London’s outskirts in a bid to ramp up its sustainable agriculture operations.

Growing Underground cultivates micro herbs and salad leaves in a former Second World War air-raid shelter, 33 metres beneath the streets of the capital.

Using LEDs, hydroponics, data analytics, and 100 percent renewable energy, the 65,000sq farm has been delivering fresh produce to hundreds of restaurants and supermarkets since 2015.

Now, it is looking to open a new site, at an undisclosed location in the city suburbs, to grow produce next to distribution centres that supply supermarkets across the UK.

Growing Underground

The farm’s corresponding push for investors comes at a time when the pandemic has exposed systemic problems and vulnerabilities in global supply chains.

It also chimes with David Attenborough’s recent warning about the critical importance of moving away from exhaustive farming practices to innovative solutions, in his new film A Life on Our Planet.

Growing Underground’s COO Richard Ballard told the Standard: “Any business starting today has got to think about its impact on the environment and society, and that is one of the key drivers for us.”

Growing Underground is farm in WW2 air-raid shelters under the streets of Clapham (Growing Underground)The underground farm has become a pioneer in the UK’s controlled environment agriculture industry (CEA) — a technology-based approach towards food production.

Mr. Ballad said: “Technology around LED lights has really evolved so it has become possible to grow an enormous amount of produce in a small space.“

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We also recirculate water with a hydroponic system so we reduce our impact on resources. We don’t use pesticides and in terms of transportation we grow very close to the point of consumption, so we reduce food miles and food waste.

We use recycled products for our substrates and the carpets that hold the seeds, so we are working within a circular economy concept,” he added.

The farm also uses only renewable energy from the provider Good Energy, and Mr. Ballad said they plan to become entirely carbon neutral by 2021.

But what distinguishes Growing Underground from other CEA operations is that they chose a redundant underground space, which does not require them to use up resources on air movement and temperatures like a greenhouse would.

“Being underground we get a consistent temperature all year round so we don’t need a lot of electricity and power for controlling the environment,” he said.

The farm is run on operation shifts seven days a week, with at least seven people working a day, harvesting greens like Thai basil, coriander, pea shoots, rocket, and mustard leaf. The produce is also grown to be very high in nutrition.

Clapham underground is home to 'Growing Underground', the UK’s first underground farm. (Getty Images)

Besides selling the produce and (before the pandemic struck) running tours of the underground farm, Growing Underground has also amassed a huge amount of valuable data over the last five years.

The environment is measured with data points around the farm, which is used to find “the perfect temperature, perfect yield, pH of the water, oxygenation of the water and the spectrum of the lights” for growing a product.

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For example, in the last five years, Growing Underground has reduced the number of days for cultivating coriander by 50 percent as well as increasing its yields by 25-30 percent.

"The data has meant we can tailor environment recipes for the products, giving us a very efficient method”.

Mr. Ballad also said that technology and innovation behind CAE is making agriculture a more attractive industry for young people in developed economies, citing research that found the average age of farmers across the world is 60-years-old.

He said: “This is a new trained way of agriculture — looking at data, looking at the science of growing and intensifying yields and getting the most of a small space as opposed to traipsing across fields and pulling things out.”

Now, after five years of building and growing under Clapham North, Mr. Ballard said it is the “right place and the right time to take agriculture to the next level”.

Growing Underground is taking a “two-pronged” approach, Mr. Ballard said.

“We already have our first London site and Clapham is big enough to supply a huge amount to the capital’s foodservice market through places like New Covent Garden Market,” he added.“

But we want to get out there to the wider market as well and we feel that building a second site that supplies into the retail markets and the wider foodservice is where we want to be.”

This new second site, which is still in the final stages of negotiations, will be on the outskirts of London in order to easily supply the rest of the country.

The company is also looking at other sites where they can build fully automated production lines with seeds in at one end and products out the other.

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Mr. Ballard said: “We have a few potential sites in our sights and we are just in negotiations at the moment.”

“The plan is to use space close to a current distributor of produce so we are building a proximity farm that feeds directly to that customer.“

And we only need a small space within the current infrastructure of a building to grow produce.”

Upscaling will also mean that the farm can start producing a wider range of crops, that are too costly to grow in CEA at the moment, he said.

For Mr. Ballard, Growing Underground is not just about making a profitable and sustainable method of agriculture but it's about building a business that tunes into a changing world.

Growing Underground is looking to expand

(Photo: Paul Marc Mitchell)

“We are facing massive problems with the global food production system and we have seen empty fresh product shelves in supermarkets,” he said.“

We’ve had Brexit, the pandemic, and many more once-in-a-lifetime extreme weather events than we used to see. In the UK, there have been more storms and extreme weather affecting crops as well as hotter summers.

“And all related to this is climate change. Statistics from the UN saying we have got 40 harvests left due to soil degradation and intensive farming practices.“

So this is a really good time to be looking at alternative sustainable agriculture methods to take us into the middle of this century.“

This probably going to be one of the most disruptive things that has happened in Agriculture since the Agricultural Revolution itself,” he said. 

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More about: | Growing Underground | Clapham | Controlled Environment Agriculture | farm