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New Infographic From Ultimation Industries Shows
“How to Optimize Vertical Farming,” a new infographic created by Ultimation Industries LLC, highlights the benefits of vertical farming and ways to maximize the production of an indoor farming system. Ultimation has designed, manufactured, and installed conveyor systems for over 30 years and is a leader in vertical farming material handling
How To Optimize Vertical Farming
ROSEVILLE, Mich. (Jan. 6, 2021) – “How to Optimize Vertical Farming,” a new infographic created by Ultimation Industries LLC, highlights the benefits of vertical farming and ways to maximize the production of an indoor farming system. Ultimation has designed, manufactured, and installed conveyor systems for over 30 years and is a leader in vertical farming material handling.
Vertical farms can potentially achieve higher yields for the surface area dedicated to production by controlling the light, temperature, humidity, water, and nutrients the plants receive. They also reduce “food miles,” the distance food items travel from the point of production to the table and can reduce CO2 emission from transport while delivering fresher and better-tasting products.
As sustainable agricultural operations such as vertical and indoor farms become more prevalent, conveyor technology systems can be part of the solution. “Conveyors are essential to vertical farming because they can make use of all the available vertical space of a facility and can move plants through automated systems as they grow,” said Richard Canny, president, Ultimation Industries LLC. “How to optimize vertical farming is the challenge that the industry faces as it scales up.”
In addition to creating customized products for assembly operations, Ultimation offers food safe grade systems and material handling solutions for the vertical farming industry. The company has recently expanded into smaller, ‘quick ship’ products and systems that are sold through their website and in Amazon’s stores.
For more information about Ultimation Industries, visit https://www.ultimationinc.com.
About Ultimation:
Ultimation Industries, LLC is a woman-owned leader in the conveyor technology and automation industry. Founded in 1989, Ultimation designs manufactures, and installs machinery and equipment, automation devices, tire and wheel processing lines, and conveyor systems for customers throughout the Americas. The company offers a line of proprietary automation systems and is also a leading integrator of Jervis Webb Conveyor Systems. Ultimation’s e-commerce channel sells Ultimation, Interroll, Itoh Denki, Jervis Webb, and a wide range of other conveyor equipment. In 2020, Ultimation was recognized as one of Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing private companies in America. The company was a finalist for Amazon’s 2019 Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year and earned honors as one of “2019 Metro Detroit’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For®.”
Visit https://www.ultimationinc.com/ for the latest product information and news about Ultimation.
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For further information please contact:
Nancy Sarpolis
248-219-5651
Israel’s Vertical Field To Deploy Smart Vertical Farms In Ukraine
Vertical Field’s agreement with the Czech Republic-based Moderntrend SRO, one of the largest agricultural distributors in Ukraine, will see the Israeli company’s solutions set up at Varus, a local grocery chain with 95 stores across 25 cities nationwide
Vertical Field's farms are grown on 'green walls.' Garu Nalbandian
Israeli company Vertical Field, the developer of smart vertical growing solutions for fresh produce, announced a new agreement on Wednesday to deploy its vertical farms in Ukraine, starting with a pilot program with one of the country’s largest supermarket chain.
Vertical Field’s agreement with the Czech Republic-based Moderntrend SRO, one of the largest agricultural distributors in Ukraine, will see the Israeli company’s solutions set up at Varus, a local grocery chain with 95 stores across 25 cities nationwide.
Founded in 2006, the Ra’anana-based Vertical Field uses advanced IoT software, embedded sensors, and in-house monitors to ensure its indoor vertical farms, which grow fresh vegetables, greens, and other plants, are nurtured in controlled conditions regardless of geography, physical location, weather, and climate conditions. The company says its soil-based vertical growing systems make the most efficient use of spaces, both indoors and outdoors, for both agricultural and smart landscaping.
Vertical Field CEO Guy Elitzur said the company’s solutions are ideal for urban environments where land is scarce and access to fresh produce may be more limited. He also indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for reduced contact and a more efficient supply chain.
“One of the realizations that have surfaced during the COVID-19 crisis is the need to develop solutions that allow urban residents access to healthy food, with minimal human handling and without depending on transportation and shipping from remote locations,” Elitzur said in a company statement. “We are delighted to be able to provide – and expand access to – healthy, and high-quality vegetables grown right outside the consumer’s door.”
Elitzur said the agreement with Moderntrend SRO will lead to partnerships with additional chains in the future.
Moderntrend SRO Director Bondar Denis said the pilot project introduces “innovative and proprietary technologies for vertical cultivation of products for the urban ecosystem by Vertical Field” and represented “a new level in the Ukrainian market.”
Last month, Vertical Field finalized a multi-million-dollar agreement with Israeli grocery chain Rami Levy to install vertical farms at dozens of the supermarket company’s branches across the country over the next five years.
By NoCamels Team January 06, 2021
SEE ALSO: Israeli Grocery Chain To Offer Fresh Produce Grown On-Site
Grower To Flexible Packaging
Forward Greens' vertically farmed edible plants packaging was changed twice before finding the best metrics-based sustainable option, an OPP pillow pack
Forward Greens' vertically farmed edible plants packaging was changed twice before finding the best metrics-based sustainable option, an OPP pillow pack.
January 04, 2021
Sometimes the best of intentions doesn’t turn out as expected, which is why the phrase “if at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again” was crafted for those whose persistency pays off.
Taking that to heart was Forward Greens, an indoor “vertical farm” brand in Vancouver, WA, that went from PET clamshell packaging to tetrahedral-shaped oriented polypropylene bags to OPP pillow-pack bags. The final iteration was part of a major rebrand this year that centered on using the most sustainable packaging. Ken Kaneko, the company’s founder, and CEO provides answers regarding the packaging and decision-making process.
How did your sustainable journey begin?
Kaneko: Forward Greens’ process for developing a sustainable packaging solution for our greens started with researching waste stream management with local municipalities to understand how we could integrate with the existing infrastructure. Along with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Portland Metro, we ran a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to understand the impact of production, logistics, and disposal for available packaging options. From this, we learned that material mass was the largest driver in carbon emissions and that most plastics, even compostable ones, are not accepted by the municipalities. After synthesizing all the information, we concluded that flexible plastic packaging demonstrated the lowest material mass and thus the lowest carbon emissions.
Forward Greens
It would be helpful to know more about your products and customers.
Kaneko: Forward Greens currently has 9 products across baby greens and microgreens, all delivered from farm to market within 48 hours of harvest. We’re unique in that it takes about 19 days from seed to market shelf for our baby greens and about 9 days from seed to market shelf for our microgreens.
Our target customer is anyone who is interested in locally grown, healthy greens — to use for salads, as ingredients, or toppings. We hope we attract those who are especially conscious of their impact on the environment, knowing that with our products, customers are not extraneously stressing the planet. That of course includes our packaging, but also in how we grow the plants themselves. Our sustainable indoor farming practices use 95% less water and 99% less land than outdoor agriculture. We skip the use of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, and use only non-GMO seeds.
Why was the polymer choice made?
Kaneko: When we rebranded to Forward Greens this summer, we shifted from PET clamshell packaging to OPP flexible packaging to better reflect our mission. The OPP film uses 92% less plastic than traditional clamshells, 12 times less plastic, and produces eight times fewer carbon dioxide emissions compared to, for example, a recycled polypropylene tub.
Forward Greens
Comment on the tetrahedral design (seen above).
Kaneko: Forward Greens initially decided to adopt a tetrahedral shape for our packaging to help the product stand out, but also for two primary logistical reasons. First, the tetrahedral shape allows for more volumetric space for the greens with the same amount of plastic material. Second, the tetrahedral shape uniquely helps our greens stay safe and avoid getting crushed throughout the distribution process from farm customer’s plates.
Why didn’t that work and what was behind the change to the pillow pack?
Kaneko: There are a few reasons why Forward Greens decided to switch from the tetrahedral shape to the pillow pack. The primary reason is that retailers merchandise based on existing shelving units, which are often paid for by incumbent or slotted brands. Trying something new in that environment is very difficult, both for new brands and the retailers. Even though Forward Greens did receive initial buy-in from our retailers and staff, when it came time for the new packaging to rollout, it was more complicated to accommodate the new shape on the shelf than expected, so we adopted the pillow pack to streamline that process for everyone involved.
Forward Greens
Also, we used to be known as West Village Farms, but changed our brand to Forward Greens this summer to better reflect our dedication to sustainable practices and our hope to move the entire industry forward. The packaging change from our clamshells to the tetrahedral packaging shape was part of that brand launch. The most-recent package change from the tetrahedral shape to the pillow pack uses the same look that debuted this summer, but in the pillow-pack shape.
As an indoor farm, Forward Greens is constantly trying to improve yields and reduce production costs. Our recent switch from the tetrahedral packaging design to the pillow pack shape increased our content volume and net weight by 33%.
Talk about the timeframe for these changes.
Kaneko: The process for developing both our new packaging and rebrand as Forward Greens from West Village Farms was a huge undertaking. We began the initial planning and development for the new brand in late 2019. The new packaging and brand officially launched the summer of 2020 in the midst of the pandemic.
Switching from the tetrahedral shape to the pillow pack took about four months.
Can you credit the other companies involved?
Kaneko: We worked with Grady Britton, a Portland, OR-based marketing agency, to develop our new brand and packaging design. We wanted the new look to bring to life what we stand for, so the packaging reflects a love of community, food, and the planet while sparking joy. The new-look is vibrantly colorful, and part of that is because bagged greens is a crowded market. The new brand design stretches accepted notions of produce packaging design while ensuring the product still looks appetizing. The bag also offers a windowed look inside so customers can see how fresh the greens are.
What feedback have you received?
Kaneko: Forward Greens’ customers and retailers appreciated the effort and unique look of the new packaging shape. We may have just been a little bit ahead of the curve for the greens industry with the tetrahedral packaging shape.
What lessons did you learn in the past months?
Kaneko: Brands need to be selective about trying new things at retailer sites. There is a certain speed at which retailers move and it’s very different from the speed at which a company, like Forward Greens, moves. Regardless of the change back to the original pillow pack packaging shape, our fundamental goal is that our packaging has one of the lowest environmental impacts available, all while helping retailers merchandise our greens to the customers who want to buy our products.
TAGS: SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES SUSTAINABILITY EXTRUSION: FILM & SHEET
Iron Ox Announces Next Robotic Farm In Lockhart, TX
Iron Ox has purchased nearly 25 acres of land and plans to build a new, state-of-the-art facility on the property
November 6, 2020
LOCKHART, TX, — Iron Ox, a leader in robotics and AI-enabled farming with a mission to solve food insecurity, and the City of Lockhart, Texas today announced that Iron Ox will expand their operations to the city with plans to break ground on a new facility this December, bringing new tax revenue and jobs to Lockhart.
Since 2015, Iron Ox has developed hybrid robotic greenhouses that support a range of produce offerings. To bring those produce offerings to new communities, the company identified Texas as the next state in their national expansion plan with its favorable business environment and rich history of agriculture.
“We’re proud to make Lockhart our next farm outside of California,” said Brandon Alexander, Iron Ox CEO & Co-founder. “Lockhart’s city government, as well as their planning and development staff, worked diligently with us throughout this process and made us feel right at home. In addition, the city's central location within the Texas triangle and short drive from Austin, allows for strong distribution lanes of same-day grown and harvested products throughout the entire state of Texas, making the city the ideal choice for our robotic greenhouse growing platform”.
Iron Ox has purchased nearly 25 acres of land and plans to build a new, state-of-the-art facility on the property. This new facility will house the company’s natural light greenhouses, processing operations and AI-enabled robots to bring fresh, clean and healthy food to new customers and communities throughout Texas.
“The addition of Iron Ox to the Lockhart business community represents synergy between our city’s storied history in agriculture and our growing technology sector,” said Lockhart Mayor Lew White. “The food and beverage processing industry is one of four business sectors Lockhart has targeted in its 5-year economic growth plan because our city’s unique advantages align perfectly with the needs of companies like Iron Ox.”
Mike Kamerlander, Director, Economic Development, represented the Lockhart Economic Development Corporation (CEcD) on this project.
“As Lockhart continues to grow, Iron Ox and companies like it are essential to our economic vitality and future. We thank them for their investment and commitment to Lockhart.”
About Iron Ox
Iron Ox launched the world’s first autonomous farm in October 2018, leveraging advancements in plant science, machine learning, and robotics. The Iron Ox team develops AI-enabled, autonomous technology that enables fresher, more consistent produce to be grown and distributed globally. The company’s goal is to service thousands of communities with the freshest and healthiest products, while establishing global reach and impact on food security.
For more information, visit www.ironox.com.
About Lockhart Economic Development Corporation
The Lockhart Economic Development Corporation, a department within the City of Lockhart, is designed to provide a range of business and economic development assistance. To learn more about opportunities in Lockhart, visit www.lockhartedc.com.
Contact Info:
Taylor Aldredge
570-534-4754
What 8 Indoor Farming Companies Plan For 2021
By Jesse Klein
January 6, 2021
When the pandemic exposed major issues with our lengthy food supply chain — in the form of shipment delays and inadequate demand forecasting — local vertical farms and indoor growing organizations were called upon to fill in the gaps in a way that was unprecedented.
With 2020 in the history books and hopes for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic rising, these companies seek to build on their newfound momentum in 2021. With revenue for vertical farming alone estimated at just $212.4 million in 2019, one forecast calls for the industry to hit $1.38 billion by 2027, a compound annual growth rate of 26.2 percent from 2021 to 2027.
Here are what eight indoor-growing leaders are planning in the year ahead. The list is presented alphabetically and represents a slice of the marketplace activity cropping up in late 2020.
AeroFarms
The Aerofarms facility in Jersey City, New Jersey. Photo courtesy of Aerofarms
AeroFarms’ four New Jersey vertical farms produced 2 million pounds of produce in 2020. And this year that number likely will skyrocket with the company’s April announcement of construction on a 90,000-square-foot indoor vertical farm in Abu Dhabi, the world’s largest vertical farm.
In 2021, Aerofarms is taking on the issue of food waste more explicitly. It invested in Precision Indoor Plants (PIP) to help understand and prevent lettuce discoloration, experiment with ways to increase lettuce yield, and level up leaf quality.
AppHarvest
AppHarvest's farm in Morehead, Kentucky. Photo courtesy of AppHarvest
Appalachian company AppHarvest has launched three indoor farms in Kentucky. It chose the state specifically because it’s within a day's drive of 70 percent of the U.S. population.
In early 2021, AppHarvest will harvest its first crop of tomatoes, a move meant to help reduce reliance and emissions from imported tomatoes. In 2019, 60 percent of America’s tomatoes were imported. The farms use a closed-loop system that runs entirely off recycled rainwater to eliminate agricultural runoff and reduce water usage.
Bowery Farming
Bowery Farming's second farm in Kearny, New Jersey. Photo courtesy of Bowery Farming
Bowery Farming, based in New York City, plans to invest its 600 percent increase in sales last year into a new vertical farm in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 2021.
By working with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and the Governor’s Action Team, Bowery is turning an arid industrial site into 8.7 acres of modern farmland that also should help the economic recovery of the area. Bethlehem once was a thriving steel town with Bethlehem Steel Corporation once employing around 60 percent of the local workforce at its peak before shutting down in 1998.
Since then, the city has had to transition into different sectors. Bowery Farming hopes to be part of that evolution. Its farm will create 70 jobs and feature LED lighting, recapture water from the plants using a water transpiration system, and collect data on a massive scale to inform future farming choices.
BrightFarms
This BrightFarms greenhouse produces more than two million pounds of leafy salad greens per year. Photo courtesy of BrightFarms
With $100 million in new funding raised in 2020, BrightFarms plans to construct indoor farms in every major market by 2025. This year marks the start of that journey with the construction of two new facilities in North Carolina and Massachusetts.
Both farms will be six to seven acres, or almost double the company’s current facilities in Ohio, Illinois and Virginia. In 2021, BrightFarm, which makes its headquarters in Irvington, New York, also plans to roll out its proprietary AI System, Bright OS, which will use machine learning and analytics to make operations from seed to shelf more efficient.
Gotham Greens
Gotham Greens operates a network of greenhouses across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, New England, Mountain West, and beyond. Photo courtesy of Gotham Greens
Gotham Greens has been at the forefront of urban farming for over a decade. After starting in New York and expanding across the northeast, 2021 will be the year Gotham tries to take over the rest of the country.
As the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered so many businesses, Gotham Greens was able to expand into Aurora, Colorado, just outside of Denver. The Colorado location is Gotham’s eighth indoor farm. It also expanded to Baltimore.
Finally, in December, the company announced an $87 million funding round. The funding will support Gotham Greens products in Whole Foods Market, Albertsons Companies, Meijer, Target, King Soopers, Harris Teeter, ShopRite, and Sprouts.
Infarm
An Infarm installation at French retailer, Metro. Photo courtesy of Infarm
In 2021, Infarm is hopping on a hot industry trend — bringing the vertical farm to the grocery store.
In late December, the Berlin-based company announced a partnership with Sumitomo, a Japanese company that owns Summit Store, one of Tokyo’s leading supermarket chains. The partnership will bring Infarm’s modular vertical farm directly to grocery stores.
With this move, Infarm is expanding on its in-store strategy first experimented with Kroger in Berlin in 2020. Brick Street Farms also partnered last year with Publix to bring its vertical farms closer to the consumer.
Infarm will install its first farm at Summit’s Gotanno location and products are scheduled to be ready for sale at the end of January.
Kalera
Kalera's new farm in Houston will be the largest such facility in Texas. Photo courtesy of Kalera
Kalera also plans a rapid expansion in 2021. The Orlando-based vertical farm company is pushing into Atlanta, Denver and Houston this year. This will be the company's third, fourth and fifth farms and the first ones outside Florida.
The Houston facilities will be the largest vertical farm in Texas while the Atlanta location will be the highest production volume vertical farm in the Southeast. The Atlanta one will be more than double the size of the company's Orlando facilities — able to produce 11 million heads of lettuce.
And in December Kalera announced it is expanding into the Pacific Northwest in Seattle. These new facilities will help Kalera support partnerships with grocers and restaurants in the area.
Plenty
Most vertical farms, including Plenty, have initially focused on leafy greens like kale. Photo courtesy of Plenty
Plenty, based in San Francisco, had an eventful final quarter of 2020 and is riding that momentum into 2021.
In August, the indoor farming company announced a partnership with Albertsons to expand into more than 430 stores in Southern California. It followed up that move in October with a $140 million funding round led by Softbank and a historic partnership with Driscoll's to give consumers fresh sweet strawberries year-round.
This year, Plenty plans to begin construction on the world's largest output vertical farm in Compton, California. Upon completion, the farm will be the size of a big box retail store and will grow over 700 acres of leafy green crops.
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Jesse Klein
Contributor
Signify Adds Artechno To Its Philips Horticulture LED Partner Network To Lower Bar For Future Vertical Farmers
“Partnering with Signify is a logical choice for us,” said Art van Rijn, Owner of Artechno
January 4th, 2021
Signify Chooses Artechno As its New Philips
Horti LED Partner For The Unique Modular
Turnkey Vertical Farming Solutions That it Provides
· Lowers bar for growers and entrepreneurs to start a new vertical farm
· Helps to automate the production process for diverse crops from seed to harvest
Eindhoven, Netherlands – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, has signed a partnership agreement with Artechno, global provider of scalable Automated Vertical Farming systems, to make it easier for growers and entrepreneurs to start a state-of-the-art vertical farm using Philips GreenPower LED lighting. Artechno, headquartered in De Lier, the Netherlands, is an engineering company that develops and realizes unique automated cultivation systems based on hydroponic substrates for clients across the globe.
“Partnering with Signify is a logical choice for us,” said Art van Rijn, Owner of Artechno. “We’re a winning combination as we offer our customers the highest efficiency and highest reliability, while Signify provides energy-efficient lighting solutions that perform 24/7, 365 days a year. Together this will help our customers to grow tasty, high-quality produce year-round.”
Artechno has channeled 100+ years of combined experience in horticulture into its flagship product, Automated Vertical Farming, or AVF+. It offers a fully automated solution for producing a variety of crops from seed to harvest. Artechno has automated all processes to ensure low labor costs and consistent crop production. AVF+ is a modular system that can be customized to the needs of the crop, available space, or desired production volume. Growers and entrepreneurs can start with a few key components and scale up their automation and operation as they grow.
“We’re proud to expand our partnership network with the knowledge and expertise of Artechno,” said Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture at Signify. “They share our values of innovation, quality and reliability. This partnership will help us lower the barriers for growers and entrepreneurs who are considering a vertical farm by enabling us to offer Philips GreenPower lighting within fully modular and automated systems for every aspect of their operations.”
Signify continues to expand its horticulture partner network, further demonstrating its commitment to lead the horticulture industry as the innovative LED lighting systems provider for the indoor farming industry.
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For further information, please contact:
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value, and transform life in homes, buildings, and public spaces. With 2019 sales of EUR 6.2 billion, we have approximately 37,000 employees and are present in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for four consecutive years, and were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018 and 2019. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
Indoor Ag Fintech Startup Contain Raises Investment Round, Adds Industry Veteran To Team
We have plans to introduce new ways to support the burgeoning indoor agriculture industry in 2021, and this funding round will allow us to do just that.”— Nicola Kerslake, Founder, Contain Inc
NEWS PROVIDED BY Newbean Capital
January 04, 2021
Image from Contain Inc
A Techstars graduate, Contain Inc works with industry vendors and more than 20 lenders to facilitate access to capital for North American indoor growers.
We have plans to introduce new ways to support the burgeoning indoor agriculture industry in 2021, and this funding round will allow us to do just that.”— Nicola Kerslake, Founder, Contain Inc
Image from Rooted Global
RENO, NV, UNITED STATES, January 4, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Contain Inc, a fintech platform dedicated to indoor agriculture, today announced that it has closed a round of funding from investors in the US and Europe. They represent investments from indoor agriculture, food and beverage, entertainment, and financial industries. The funds will enable further technology development as well as new initiatives that support indoor agriculture. The industry has become ever more relevant in the time of COVID as consumers and produce buyers alike recognize the benefits of local secure produce supply.
Image from Contain Inc
A Techstars graduate, Contain Inc works with industry vendors and a pool of more than 20 lenders to facilitate access to capital for North American indoor growers of all sizes. In 2020, Contain collaborated with Singapore family office ID Capital to introduce a microlearning platform, Rooted Global, that enables corporate employees to grow a little of their own food at home. Its clients include tech and food majors, such as Danone and Dole. Nicola Kerslake, founder of Contain Inc, added: “We have plans to introduce new ways to support the burgeoning indoor agriculture industry in 2021, and this funding round will allow us to do just that.”
In addition, Chris Alonzo, President, and CEO of Pietro Mushrooms, will join Contain Inc to provide consulting services to future leasing clients. Chris brings a wealth of experience in planning, constructing and managing indoor farms across two continents. He is a third-generation mushroom farmer in Kennett Township, PA, an area that supplies half of the US’s mushroom supply. Nicola Kerslake said: “we’re frequently approached by indoor farmers planning large new projects and are delighted to be able to offer the services of such an experienced grower to those looking to bolster their plans before seeking financing.” Chris Alonzo added: “I’m excited to bring my expertise to Contain Inc’s fast-growing team and to engage with a startup that has long supported indoor farmers”.
The Company will also be expanding its team in business development, marketing and product development over the coming weeks, and encourages those seeking roles in this exciting space to visit its website at contain.ag for more details.
About Contain, Inc.
Contain Inc is a US-based fintech platform dedicated to indoor agriculture, growing crops in warehouses, greenhouses, and container farms. The Company works with leading equipment vendors and with an expanding pool of lenders to aid indoor growers in finding funding for their farms. It is also home to microlearning platform Rooted Global, which works with majors such as Danone and Dole to enable employees to grow a little of their own food at home. The Company graduated from the 2019 Techstars Farm to Fork program, backed by Cargill and Ecolab.
More information: https://contain.ag, https://rooted.global
Nicola Kerslake
Contain Inc.
+1 7756237116
email us here
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Who Will Win In Indoor Agriculture?
According to Allison Kopf, CEO of Artemis, there are five ways big players will enter indoor agriculture. "The indoor agriculture (both greenhouse and vertical farming) market is one of the fastest-growing industries
According to Allison Kopf, CEO of Artemis, there are five ways big players will enter indoor agriculture. "The indoor agriculture (both greenhouse and vertical farming) market is one of the fastest-growing industries. Big companies in agriculture and technology are trying to figure out ways to capitalize on the rapid growth of the industry."
"Artemis, the leading software infrastructure company in the industry, which allows us to have a front-row view of how the industry is growing and what the industry needs," says Allison. "Our market has historically been fragmented, where legacy companies have been growing for decades and new players have emerged more recently with innovative models to stake their ground as market leaders. Most of the growers are trying to displace traditional field-grown commodities and increase domestic (i.e. in their local country) production of fresh produce; and we’re seeing this shift, as well."
Allison says that in the 1990s in the United States, the number of tomatoes consumed grown in greenhouses was negligible. Now, only 20 years later, close to 40% are grown indoors. This shift isn’t just happening with tomatoes, it’s happening with crops best suited for indoor growth, such as lettuce, herbs, cucumbers, peppers, and increasingly berries.
"In this industry, unlike more traditional commodity markets, we have no dominant suppliers (inputs, chemicals, finance, technology) yet. Bigger companies have largely left the market open for smaller specialized companies and startups. But this is about to change. The indoor market has shown it’s a lasting and major component of our agricultural supply chain and someone will enter this market with a goal of winning. So, who will it be?"
"I believe the winner will own one or more of the areas below," says Allison.
Data
Companies who understand grower workflow, farm financials, operational data, and biological data will have a distinct advantage in the battle for the market. This creates an opportunity for folks like lighting, breeding, climate control, greenhouse manufacturers, lenders, and others.
According to Allison this isn’t just about getting closer to the farmer, it’s also an opportunity to develop technologies faster and to have commercial R&D capacity at your fingertips. "Lighting, for example, is one of the most impactful components for growing indoors. Yet, lighting companies have no access to yield information or quality information from the growers."
With access to on-farm information, lighting can become proactive and intelligent, rather than the PLC technology of the past. Signify and Osram are already leaders in horticultural lighting and are likely in a strong position to start offering intelligent lighting solutions. "Watch out for breeding companies here too. Unfold recently launched with $30m in funding from Bayer to breed indoor crops. I would expect others like Syngenta and Rijk Zwaan to follow with similar initiatives," Allison affirms.
Finance
There is an estimated $20 billion gap in project finance over the next 3-5 years for greenhouse and vertical farm construction in the United States alone. Agricultural companies who have lending capabilities, like ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Dreyfus, and others will find indoor agriculture opportunities less risky from a growing standpoint than traditional commodity investments. Lenders will need to get comfortable with the relationship-heavy buying market and the lack of offtake contracts in produce but should be able to underwrite with growers who sell to known retailers, like Costco, Walmart, and Target.
"Many growers also have a need for an operating line of credit, often needing to buy in bulk for consumables like seeds, growing media, and chemicals to obtain better pricing. With some buyers, growers face long receivables periods, which also hurt operating cash flow," says Allison.
Ultimately, legacy agriculture companies who lend to agricultural producers will win by creating financial products for the indoor agricultural space and by partnering with the technology producers who can help de-risk the investment. This opportunity will open up billions of dollars in new revenue for someone on a relatively short timeframe.
Traceability
Product recalls and supply chain blind spots hurt everyone in the ecosystem. Bigger agricultural companies have started adding traceability to their strategic plans. Many are testing out blockchain-based technologies. Allison says that others are focused on digital workflow platforms. For the most part, companies haven’t yet figured out how to stretch all the way back to the farmer and this is where the most opportunity lies with indoor agriculture, in particular.
Because indoor agriculture is more predictable, companies who can track product from input to crop to finished good and all the way through the supply chain will have a critical advantage over others. Retailers like Walmart and Target are making this a priority and have the potential to disrupt their supply chains dramatically with indoor agriculture.
"Let’s say Walmart partnered with indoor producers for 100% of their salad greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and berries. While implementing this, they set traceability standards for producers and required compliance with those standards. This would not just ensure safe products that are normally high-risk for consumers, it would also enable stable year-round supply of products (with accurate forecasting) for Walmart and would lay the groundwork to move the needle dramatically on sustainability. This means less food waste, more efficient production, stable year-round products, safer, and more sustainable production," says Allison.
It’s not just retailers who can set the bar when it comes to traceability. Large technology companies like Schneider Electric who have their technology in the hands of all the components of the supply chain, from grower to retailer, are also in a unique position to offer end-to-end traceability products.
Consumables
Consumables are another exciting opportunity for more traditional players entering the indoor agriculture market. Today, growers buy products from many individual suppliers. This drives the price up and makes reliability difficult. If one supplier is out of a product, growers are forced to buy new untested products or find another supplier on short notice.
Large greenhouse growers are often importing products from other countries and buying in bulk just to try to reduce price. And there’s a severe lack of transparency for both pricing and performance. Because the industry is moving so quickly, growers are left to buy based more on marketing claims than on actual performance.
Allison adds: "Indoor growers spend a lot of money on inputs each year and are willing to do so because quality has a direct impact on pricing. This is a drastically different approach from traditional commodity markets where yield is the prime, if not only, driver for financial performance. Because of this, growers tend to pay a premium for inputs to impact not just yield but quality as well."
Farmer’s Business Network has created a marketplace to solve for exactly this type of challenge in the inputs space. This market is ripe for an offering like this. Large chemical companies like OCP and ICL should also be paying attention to this market as specialty products will likely emerge as one of the largest product categories over the next few years.
Digital workflow
Companies like Trimble, John Deere, Syngenta, and Corteva have started making inroads in digital workflow products. None of the products designed for workflow in the field cover the workflow of indoor agricultures.
"In indoor agriculture, you need to couple the traditional cultivation processes and biology of growing with a manufacturing mindset. In indoor agriculture, the growth times are dramatically shorter than in field, so the challenges are more aligned with a factory. You’re thinking about how to manage space, time, and throughput on a continuous basis. It’s just-in-time inventory management," Allison states.
Understanding this workflow is critical to all of the other items listed above. This is what drives proper data collection, ensures traceability, and enables models like financing or a consumables marketplace. Companies who have a deep understanding of inventory management, like NetSuite, Sage, SAP, and Microsoft might do well capitalizing on this new industry. Other agricultural companies who also work in the construction and manufacturing space, like Trimble, might also win here.
For more information:
Artemis
Nathalia Delima
ndelima@artemisag.com
www.artemisag.com
Publication date: Mon 4 Jan 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
Université de Sherbrooke Students Create Greener Greenhouse
Three engineering students at l'Université de Sherbrooke spent three years designing and building their perfect greenhouse
Off-Grid VG360 Greenhouse Project Can Feed
A Family of Four For A Year
Spencer Van Dyk · CBC News · Dec 28, 2020
Three engineering students at l'Université de Sherbrooke spent three years designing and building their perfect greenhouse.
They set out to build a smart green building, which would be entirely off-grid, and a model for future construction projects, while also promoting food autonomy.
The three-by-six-meter structure — called VG360 — is made of cedar, with an inclined south-facing window wall, solar panels, and a red metal roof.
And it does not need a power source.
"We believe it is possible to build greenhouses — and other houses — using less power," said Valerie Pouliot, one of the students on the project. "We want to build green to be better for the environment."
The angled south-facing window wall is designed to bring heat from the sun into the greenhouse, while thick insulated walls keep it in, so the structure can stay warm throughout the cold winter months. (Spencer Van Dyk/CBC)
The team started by excavating five feet into the ground, and then added insulation using rocks and sand, essentially creating an underground cooler, into which the greenhouse will pump hot air, explained building engineering student Raphael Boisjoly-Sallafranque.
The double-beamed walls and roof each have more than a foot of insulation, so all the heat that's brought into the building thanks to the window and solar panels will stay inside, keeping the greenhouse warm during the cold winter months.
"It's gonna be our first test winter, so we're gonna be able to see the performance of it," Boisjoly-Sallafranque said. "Which is why we haven't released the plans yet, because we want to make sure the concept is viable."
The solar panels generate electricity, which can be stored and used for at least three days in the event of inclement weather, Pouliot explained.
"Just with the sun coming in, you can do all that, so it's not harder than being aligned with the sunlight," she said.
A hot air collector near the ceiling of the greenhouse will then push all the hot air down into the soil, where all the plants will grow directly in the ground.
Building engineering student Raphael Boisjoly-Sallafranque says the greenhouse's battery acts as its grid, and it stores energy in the event of inclement weather. (Spencer Van Dyk/CBC)
The group intends to release the plans for the greenhouse, including the structure itself and the technology, via open-source, so anyone can have access to it.
The prototype, which was built over four months this summer at a farm in Durham-Sud, 50 kilometres northwest of Sherbrooke, cost about $25,000.
But Pouliot says future builds will cost less because anyone hoping to have their own off-grid greenhouse wouldn't have the same data collecting costs the students had.
She said especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, people seem to be working toward being more self-sufficient and sustainable, and she thinks an off-grid greenhouse aligns with those goals.
The greenhouse's mechanical system, which includes its solar panel controls, battery, and a pump to send hot air into the soil to help plants grow. (Spencer Van Dyk/CBC)
While energy-efficient buildings are fairly common, the team wanted the food security and food autonomy elements of the project highlighted.
"Our grid is like the battery system, so it's like a typical off-grid with a battery bank system," Boisjoly-Sallafranque said. "There are a bunch already out there, but the thing is to put it inside of a greenhouse."
The team plans to get seeds in the ground in the next few weeks and will spend the winter months tracking the greenhouse's efficiency.
"Now it's the hard part, and the fun part for myself, particularly because I love the control world and the data collecting part of this," Boisjoly-Sallafranque said.
The students hope to release the open-source plans by late Spring 2021.
Lead photo: CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News
Future of Agriculture Grows Under Seoul’s Subway Stations
The Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul Metro, and the agriculture company Farm8 have come together for this project
Experts introduce the facility during the opening showcase of Metro Farm at Sangdo Station in September 2019. (Farm8)
Walking down the stairs from exit No. 2 of Sangdo Station in southwestern Seoul, its not easy to miss a white and green signboard that reads “METRO Farm.”
A method of what‘s known as “smart farming,” Metro Farms can create nature-friendly environments while being located inside urban subway stations, using AI and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.
Sangdo Station’s exit No. 2 was originally left unattended, merely serving its purpose as a meet-up plaza. Since September 2019, the space is now a farm full of sprouts and herbs.
The 394-square-meter cultivation facility is a complex space consisting of an “Auto-Farm,“ where robots manage basic sowing and harvesting, a “Farm Cafe,” which sells fresh salad and juice, made from crops harvested on the same day, and “FarmX,” a zone where visitors can learn about the future of agriculture.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul Metro, and the agriculture company Farm8 have come together for this project. In 2004, Farm8 started out as a firm that produced and distributed vegetable salads. Over time, the company shifted gears to conduct research on indoor farming as a method of sustainable agriculture that can operate regardless of weather conditions and has succeeded in developing high-tech distribution centers.
The three organizations worked together to enhance the ecological sensitivity of Seoul as a city, and allow young people living in urban districts to experience agriculture with their own eyes.
Children line up in front of a Metro Farm to experience and learn about agriculture in January 2020.(Farm8)
“We tried our best to make Metro Farms a lively experience, where visitors can get a grasp of its possibilities and to be recognized a place where technology meets nature,” senior manager of Farm8 Yeo Chan-dong told The Korea Herald.
Since the very first showcase of Metro Farm at Dapsimni Station in eastern Seoul in May 2019, Yeo explained that they have made progress in creating urban agricultural jobs and expanded Metro Farms across the city.
An average of 7.5 million people take the subway each day in Seoul, according to Seoul Metro. This means that passersby will naturally encounter Metro Farms on their way to work, home or to meet family and friends.
“Our assignment for the new year is to make Metro Farms more popular and sustainable,” Yeo spoke with confidence, “In other words, not only presenting the experience but eventually making a system for the crops grown to be made a competitive quality to suit the needs of the public.”
By Kim Hae-yeon (hykim@heraldcorp.com)
VIDEO: Havecon Introduces Havelettuce Projects: Standardized Turn-Key Lettuce Greenhouses Make Entering Greenhouse Industry Easier
Havelettuce will not only take on the build of a greenhouse but the complete project realization, offering a plug and play concept for starting a lettuce greenhouse enterprise. With this new initiative, the door into the horticultural industry will open more easily, CEO Henk Verbakel explains
Havecon has been known as a turnkey greenhouse supplier for many years now, but as of now they'll take turnkey to a new level under the name of “Havelettuce Projects”. Havelettuce will not only take on the build of a greenhouse but the complete project realization, offering a plug and play concept for starting a lettuce greenhouse enterprise. With this new initiative, the door into the horticultural industry will open more easily, CEO Henk Verbakel explains.
Reduce food miles
"Growing hydroponic vegetables closer to consumers will reduce food miles and help reverse the trend of foreign produce imports. Together with our partners and suppliers we bring over 100 years of combined experience in developing large-scale hydroponic greenhouses for several kinds of fruit, vegetables and medicinal cannabis. With Havelettuce Projects, we're using this knowledge to offer 1-2 and 2-4 hectare standardized, turn-key hydroponic lettuce greenhouses," says Henk.
With this new concept, they're answering to the growing demand for local food production and helping investors and other newcomers to the industry find an easy entrance. "We'll manage the entire project from start to finish. This means you only deal with one company," says Jon Adams, Vice President North America. "Furthermore, we provide project anonymity to our customers to provide a competitive edge by being the face of the project until it goes live."
Investors
The horticultural industry has become of interest for many investors and according to the Havelettuce team, it's not difficult to see why. "It is a proven method of growing plants in a soilless environment by relying on a nutrient-rich water solution," Jon explains. "Hydroponics can rapidly help serve unmet demands for fresh vegetables by being grown close to their markets. And it's a sound investment: with investment sizes of 20-50 million dollars for a 1- 4 ha projects we can show a 10-year average EBIDTA of 30 – 45%."
Hydroponic advantages
He adds how growing produce in a hydroponic greenhouse has many advantages. "Greenhouse temperatures and inputs can be precisely controlled, allowing plants to grow faster and face fewer diseases than their outside soil counterparts. Furthermore, a closed-loop irrigation system results in major water savings and uses less fertilizers. This prevents pollutants from entering soil and groundwater as seen with open-field production."
And it's not just the existing industry players anymore that see these opportunities. Many new people are entering the industry. To make it easy for them to do so and to avoid reinventing the wheel, Havelettuce has been created. "Our team has built over 400 greenhouse facilities throughout the world from project as small as 0.1 to over 100 hectares. And now we combine our expertise in hydroponic farming with that of our partners. With the standards we created, Havelettuce Projects makes lettuce cultivation in greenhouses possible for everyone in any climate," he shows.
This means that location, climate, utility load studies, feasibility studies, and all other things you can think of like the community outreach and education, the permitting and incentive procurement will be taken on by our team and by doing so relieve the investors, just as of course the engineering and constructing, project management, crop and harvest advice, and grower consulting and training. "We will provide all of the necessary tools needed to succeed in this industry."
For more information:
Havelettuce
info@havelettuce.com
www.havelettuce.com
Linkedin
Twitter
Publication date: Mon 4 Jan 2021
Author: Arlette Sijmonsma
© FreshPlaza.com
PODCAST: Harry Duran - 2020 Year End Review
A 2020 wrap up by podcast
Be Sure To Check Out
Harry Duran's
Year-End Review Here!
VERTICAL FARMING PODCAST
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Pilot Project To Recycle Crypto Mining Farm Energy Waste Into Energy For Greenhouses
The pilot project's objective is to address concerns about the excess energy waste generated by crypto mining facilities while also supporting the government's objective to become more self-sufficient in food production, rather than relying on imports
Genesis Mining has announced the launch of a new pilot project that will focus on recycling excess energy waste from crypto mining facilities into sustainable heat and energy to power greenhouses.
The pilot project's objective is to address concerns about the excess energy waste generated by crypto mining facilities while also supporting the government's objective to become more self-sufficient in food production, rather than relying on imports.
Commenting on this potential, Mattias Vesterlund, Senior Researcher at RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), said, "A 1 MW data center would have the ability to strengthen the local self-sufficiency up to 8% with products that are competitive on the market."
The project is a private-public partnership between Systemair, Lulea Technical University, RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), Boden Business Agency, the local Boden municipality, and Genesis Mining's philanthropic arm, Hashpower For Science. It's located in Boden, Sweden, and has been in development for over one year.
Boden Business Agency's Nils Lindh, said, "This project is exciting because there is an opportunity to contribute in scaling up the food industry and at the same time meet the national energy efficiency targets. It's the first of many projects within the Energy Symbiosis, and hopefully, the results will show that it's very possible to scale up into large commercial production."
For the initial pilot project, one of Genesis Mining's custom-built crypto mining storage containers will be placed near the greenhouse. The greenhouse and container are connected via a custom-built air duct system that carries the excess energy directly from the crypto mining storage container into the greenhouse.
Andreas Johansson, a Senior Lecturer from Lulea Technical University, who is making the calculations for designing the system for air flow from the datacenter to the greenhouse, said, "For the cold climate in the north of Sweden, our calculations show that a 300 m2 greenhouse can easily be heated with a 550 kW container, even with outdoor temperatures reaching almost -30℃. But the potential is much bigger than that. The temperature difference over the greenhouse is in this calculation only 10 degrees since we assume a DC output temp of 35℃ and a GH temp of 25℃. If the DC output is increased to 55℃, then the GH area can be tripled to 900 m2."
Genesis Mining's CEO and co-founder Marco Streng said, "Crypto mining is the backbone that makes decentralized cryptocurrencies and applications possible, and we strongly believe the benefits of this decentralization will transform the world, but all those benefits can't come at the cost of the environment."
As one of the world's largest crypto mining companies with over a dozen data centers spread across the globe, Genesis Mining's R&D team has been actively working on different solutions and collaborations to enable more sustainable crypto mining facilities.
"Genesis Mining has always preferred locations that offered 100% renewable energy sources, that's why we've focused so much on the Nordics. But as the industry leader, we view it as our moral and ethical responsibility to push the industry forward, and finding a way to convert our excess energy has been a major priority. We look forward to scaling this project and bringing it to not only more of our own datacenters — but to others as well."
Vertical Field Has Signed A ‘Multi-Million Dollar’ Deal With Rami Levy Supermarkets To Offer Customers Fresh Produce Picked From Vertical Farms
The startup creates unique vertical plant installations made up of separate blocks of plants that can be rearranged at will
You’ve got kale: Grocery chain to sell salad leaves, herbs grown on ‘green wall’
12-13-20
Israeli startup Vertical Field has signed an accord with one of Israel’s largest supermarket chains to provide its stores with vertical farm installations, enabling customers to buy freshly grown produce such as lettuce and parsley.
Vertical Field, formerly called GreenWall Israel, said on Sunday that the “multi-million dollar agreement” with Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing 2006, a low-cost supermarket chain, will see the vertical farms installed at locations over the course of five years. The deal will enable the chain to sell produce grown locally, in Vertical Field’s proprietary soil-based container technology.
The startup creates unique vertical plant installations made up of separate blocks of plants that can be rearranged at will. This green wall of vegetation is suitable for growing vegetables in stores, offices and apartment buildings, or anywhere in urban areas, which have little space but many walls.
Produce grows vertically on the container’s walls, and according to the firm, minimizes both water consumption and use of soil. The plants are initially grown on tabletops and then planted into walls, where the soil is held via a special method.
The produce sold is grown in a sterile indoor environment without chemical pesticides or fertilizers, the statement said, and in controlled conditions, ensuring product consistency and yield throughout the year with no seasonality or weather effects.
An example of a vertical garden at the Vertical Field (formerly called GreenWall) greenhouse during a tour on March 23, 2016. (Melanie Lidman/Times of Israel)
Vertical gardens are part of a worldwide trend looking for ways to marry technology and agriculture in an attempt to feed an ever-expanding global population.
The deal with Rami Levy was signed after a successful pilot was held with the supermarket chain, the company said in a statement on Sunday.
The crops, which include lettuce, basil, parsley, kale, and mint, will be sold daily, directly to clients after harvest, “at competitive prices,” the statement added.
The walls will be in containers stationed outdoors, on the premises of the supermarkets. Customers will be able to buy the produce on the spot from a seller who will pick the produce from the container and hand it over, with payment happening on the spot.
Customers will also have the option of purchasing the produce with the soil bedding that it was grown in, “allowing the customers to enjoy all the nutritional benefits of a freshly harvested crop and a longer shelf life,” the statement said.
Lettuce and parsley grown by Vertical Field (Courtesy)
The containers are already stationed at Rami Levy stores in Bnei Brak, Ashdod, and Modiin, a spokeswoman for Vertical Field said.
The “vertical farm” was developed at the company’s research headquarters in Ra’anana, Israel.
“The portable urban farm that we have developed is designed to be located in indoor and outdoor spaces at supermarkets, restaurants, shopping malls, rooftops, and other on-premise locations,” said Guy Elitzur, the CEO of Vertical Field. “Over the past year, we conducted a number of successful pilot projects, and installed vertical farms adjacent to supermarkets and restaurants in the United States and Israel.”
This is the first supermarket chain that with the startup has reached an agreement, a spokeswoman said.
“Our customers bought Vertical Field’s produce during the pilot, and returned to purchase more,” said Yafit Attias Levy, VP Marketing at Rami Levy, said in a statement. “Therefore, we have decided to expand the partnership with Vertical Field to additional branches of the supermarket, and to offer fresh, high-quality, and pesticide-free produce in a way that increases shelf-life for our customers.”
Vertical Field was founded by Guy Barness in 2006.
Lead photo: A Vertical Field container stationed at the Tel Aviv port (Courtesy)
Agtech Attracts Celebrities
Food and farming are attracting celebrity investment including from Meghan Markle, Oprah, and Katy Perry to name a few
January 3, 2021
Amy Wu Contributor
I report and write about food, farms, and farm tech.
Food and farming are attracting celebrity investment including from Meghan Markle, Oprah, and Katy Perry to name a few.
While food and farming are increasingly in the limelight in part driven by the pandemic. COVID-19 has catapulted food and farming to the forefront of the minds of ordinary folks who have had first-hand experiences related to food shortage, food supply, and food safety surfaced.
Now the sector has piqued the interest of investors too including celebrities.
In 2020 there was a steady stream of investments in a sector that has traditionally struggled to attract investors especially venture capitalists who seek fast returns.
Agtech has seen robust investment in recent years. Growers are increasingly seeking solutions for challenges including a severe labor shortage and water and land management issues, and open to adopting innovations that increase yield and efficiency.
A growing number of investors are also banking on companies that support sustainability and promote conservation. In 2020, venture capitalists invested $4 billion in startups in the agtech space, according to Crunchbase a research company. This is up significantly from the $2.8 billion that venture capital investors placed in agtech startups across the globe in 2019.
Little surprise that public figures are jumping on the bandwagon too.
“Celebrities have access to tech thought leaders and see what they are excited about and want to be in on the new trend,” says Jaleh Daie an entrepreneur and seed investor with a focus on agtech. Daie observes that the agrifood tech sector is climbing and has yet to see its peak.
Pam Marrone, the founder of Marrone Bio Innovations and investor in agtech start-ups, notes: “More than ever, consumers care about how their food is produced and processed. Celebrities are tuned into this trend and see that they can help shift us along to a more transparent and sustainable food system that reduces food waste and improves people’s health.”
Below are a few high profile investments by household personalities in 2020:
Meghan Markle invested in Clevr Brands a Santa Barbara, California-based company that specializes in instant oat milk latte. The company, led by CEO and founder Hannah Mendoza, asserts that its products are green-friendly and ethically sourced.
Meghan Markle (Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
Oprah Winfrey and Katy Perry invested in Apeel Sciences a California-based foodtech company that produces coasting for fruit that is edible. Among her various properties, Winfrey also owns and lives on a farm.
Perry, Serena Williams, and Jay-Z invested in Impossible Foods a company in Redwood City, California that develops plant-based substitutes in lieu of meat.
Finally, tech magnates Bill Gates the founder of Microsoft, and Eric Schmidt the former CEO of Google have been expanding their investment in agtech. In 2020 Microsoft announced that it had launched Azure, a suite of tch tools and resources to help agtech start-ups in India. The Schmidt Family Foundation made food and agriculture one of the four areas of investment.
A visitor takes a picture of vegetables growing under artificial light on a Grow Stack vertical farm at the 2019 RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London on May 20, 2019. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images)
Coming in 2021
Marrone forecasts that agtech and food tech will continue gaining momentum in 2021 when it comes to interest and investment. Consumers are becoming more focused on eating healthier and interested in where their food comes from. On a global scale, there is a growing interest in food supply chain transparency through blockchain technology.
Vertical farms and indoor agriculture, plant-based protein substitutes, and companies tackling food waste attract significant attention.
“There is a burgeoning startup ecosystem of B2B agbio and agtech companies getting funded that are focusing on tackling the problems and inefficiencies of chemical fertilizers and pesticides,” Marrone says.
I am award-winning writer and documentary filmmaker for the women’s ag and agtech movement, and previously covered agriculture for The Californian in Salinas, Calif. I am also the founder of From Farms to Incubators, an online platform that profiles minority women entrepreneurs in agtech and includes an award-winning documentary that has screened at SXSW and Techonomy. I have over 24 years of experience working as an investigative journalist including at Time magazine, the USA Today Network, and The Deal. I earned my master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
Lead photo: FUJI CITY, JAPAN - A worker inspects lettuce plants at the hi-tech Innovatus farm. Sensors collect information on all the factors that affect the development of plants. (Photo by Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Terramera Deploys New Industry-Leading Technology To Speed Discovery of Sustainable Crop Solutions For Farmers
New customized growth chambers and liquid handling robot already delivering better, faster research results
December 3, 2020
New customized growth chambers and liquid handling robot already delivering better, faster research results
Where many crop protection products fail in the field because testing doesn’t accurately replicate on-farm conditions, Terramera’s new growth chambers are customized to simulate wide-ranging weather as climate change leads to even more extreme conditions for farmers
Fully automated and uniquely retrofitted for experimental use, Terramera’s growth chambers will reduce the trial time from weeks to days while strengthening the connection between the lab and the farm and paving the way for the future of food
New liquid handling robot, “Enzing,” is a best-in-class design that is rapidly screening active ingredients with Terramera’s Actigate™ technology
VANCOUVER, BC – December 3, 2020 – Terramera, the global agtech leader fusing science, nature, and artificial intelligence to transform how food is grown and the economics of agriculture, today announced the launch of six custom, state-of-the-art plant growth chambers, showcasing Terramera’s industry-leading technological capabilities and redefining indoor agriculture’s contribution to field-based production.
Many crop protection products fail in the field because labs and greenhouses do not accurately replicate real-world conditions. Each chamber offers precise control over temperature (ranging from 5 to 40 degrees Celsius), humidity, and light to simulate many possible field conditions, from cool nights and morning mists to desert and subtropical conditions, and will be outfitted with a Terramera-built automation system for end-to-end integration. Automation will enable experiments to run entirely without human intervention including watering, spraying, nutrient dosing, and imaging of the plants throughout their lifecycle, dramatically accelerating data collection for product performance and increasing accuracy with Terramera’s industry-leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) platform.
“Customized growth chambers allow us to simulate weather to study disease and insect infestations with integrated treatment and imaging systems in one automated system -- replicated six times for parallel studies,” said Annett Rozek, Terramera Chief Scientific Officer. “This is as close as we can get to real-world conditions in a research environment and will deliver solutions as rapidly and efficiently as possible.”
The new growth chambers bring Terramera’s total to 12 and are part of a larger technological scale-up for the company, which also brought a new best-in-class liquid handling robot on board. Terramera’s own machine learning (ML) model named the robot, “Enzing,” which is integrated into Terramera’s fully automated in-vitro screening and data analysis pipeline. The robot has already enabled Terramera’s largest in-vitro screening project yet, testing the company’s Actigate™ library against numerous plant disease pathogens.
“This marks an exciting milestone for Terramera and a step-change in the industry by adding a new, essential capacity,” said Karn Manhas, Terramera Founder, and CEO. “Simulated environment studies are the missing link between controlled environments like the lab or greenhouse and field trials since many products fail because lab and greenhouse conditions are too different from the outside world on a farm. This technology increases our throughput, allowing us to predict outcomes more accurately, allowing us to quickly scale our knowledge and technologies to make farming healthier, more sustainable and productive while turning back the clock on climate change.”
About Terramera
Terramera is a global agtech leader fusing science, nature, and artificial intelligence to transform how food is grown and the economics of agriculture in the next decade. With its revolutionary Actigate™ technology platform, which was recognized by Fast Company as a 2020 World Changing Idea, Terramera is committed to reducing the global synthetic pesticide load 80% by 2030 to protect plant and human health and ensure an earth that thrives and provides for everyone. The privately held, venture-backed company was founded in 2010 and has grown to include a world-class bench of engineers, scientists, advisors, and investors. Terramera is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with integrated operations in Canada, the US and India that include research labs, a greenhouse and farm, and more than 240 patents in its global IP portfolio.
For more information, please visit Terramera.com
Media Contact
Valerie Martin
VP Strategic Communications – Terramera
612-743-4013
PODCAST: An Interview With Henry Sztul - Chief Science Officer At Bowery Farming
In this episode, Harry and Henry discuss the promise that vertical farming provides to the world and why it resonated so soundly with Henry
Season 2 Episode 18
Join Harry Duran, host of Vertical Farming Podcast, as he welcomes to the show physicist, entrepreneur, and self-proclaimed tinkerer, Henry Sztul. Henry is the Chief Science Officer at Bowery Farming, a modern farming company on an ambitious mission to transform the future of food and change the face of agriculture.
In this episode, Harry and Henry discuss the promise that vertical farming provides to the world and why it resonated so soundly with Henry. Henry shares his personal career journey, his thoughts on the current state of agriculture, and what excites him most about the future of hydroponics and the AgTech industry in general.
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US: 17 Things You'll See In Every Grocery Store in 2021, According To Experts
2020 rocked the grocery store scene as we know it. Here are the new changes you can expect to stick around
2020 rocked the grocery store scene as we know it. Here are the new changes you can expect to stick around.
JANUARY 1, 2021
FACT CHECKED BY FAYE BRENNAN
Although we wish things in the grocery store like empty shelves, plexiglass shields, and capacity limits could stay behind in 2020 as we begin the new year, the coronavirus and its effects are still ravaging how we shop for food. Masks will still be required for a while, and senior shopping hours, Clorox disinfecting wipe shortages, and even social distancing are here to stay.
There are some intriguing supermarket changes to look forward to, though, says the Supermarket Guru, Phil Lempert. For over 25 years, he has been an author, speaker, and analyst on grocery store consumer behavior, marketing trends, new products, and more. We spoke with him and gathered other data to prepare you for what grocery stores will look like in 2021. (And before your next trip, check out the 100 Easiest Recipes You Can Make so you can add the ingredients to your list.)
VIDEO: Click Here: Grocery Store Tricks of the Trade
1 - Less Delivery Options
Courtesy of Walmart
Grocery delivery saw a huge increase in popularity this year because it is safer than shopping in-store. Chains updated their websites, apps, and click and collect services (like pickup lockers!). Some grocers even added pickup for the very first time.
Lempert believes this trend is temporary because some people simply prefer picking their own items, even if going inside the grocery store is considered to be more dangerous. With that said, the various types of grocery delivery options may be reduced.
For more on how to stay safe should you decide to go to your local supermarket, here are 10 Grocery Store Safety Tips From a Health Expert.
2 - More Robots
Shutterstock
Meatpacking plants saw the number of coronavirus cases among workers skyrocket in 2020. Over 10,000 Tyson employees tested positive between March and July. Smithfield was fined thousands of dollars for outbreaks at its meatpacking plants, and other companies like Hormel, Cargill, National Beef, and more also saw employees get sick. Lempert believes this will pave the way for robots to have larger jobs in these types of facilities. But, you may also potentially see more robots working inside your local grocery store.
3 - Reservation Slots For Shopping Times
Expect to approach grocery shopping like going to a restaurant: You'll go to a reservation making website, then pick your preferred time to shop. Next, Lempert predicts that you'll be asked to select any non-produce grocery store items ("the stove-top stuffing, the Heinz ketchup," Lempert says) that you'll need during your trip so that those can be retrieved, bagged, and ready for you once you arrive for your reservation. At that point, you can peruse the produce aisles, then checkout.
All of this, of course, will be in an effort to reduce crowding and encourage social distancing. (Related: The Worst Grocery Stores of 2020.)
4 - New Grocery Store Sites
Shutterstock
Because of the previous prediction, Lempert says grocery store websites are going to be significantly more detailed than they are now. "The data that's on most retailer's websites is horrible and outdated," he says. "The ingredients are typically wrong. The nutritional information is wrong. The product gets updated probably about once every nine months. That's not right."
One way some grocery chains are already using their platforms to help inspire change is by highlighting minority-owned food brands inside their stores.
5 - Less Space
Shutterstock
Another huge change you can expect? A new layout! "The size of your grocery store will likely be cut in half, Lempert says. "The back half of the store will be fully robotic, and those robots will now be picking the items that you ordered online."
The front of the store will be all the fresh items you can shop for yourself, as well as the baker, butcher, and produce sales associates whom you can still ask for help. But this way, "You're going to be able to pick all those fresh foods that you want, and you're going to have a much better shopping experience," Lempert says.
6 - Less Time In-Store
Shutterstock
Because of his new prediction about the way we will shop, customers will spend a lot less time inside shopping, Lempert says. One trip will consist of about 10 minutes picking out fresh produce and deli items, grabbing the bags of items from the center of the store that the robots packed up for you, and simply checking out.
Before 2020, Lempert thought it would take about three to five years for this change to happen, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, he says it will only take six or seven months.
In the meantime, know that More Grocery Shoppers are Making These Dangerous Mistakes, Survey Finds.
7 - More Comfort Foods
Shutterstock
Kroger also released its predictions for what's in store for 2021, and one trend is the continued rise of comfort foods. Things like quick-cook risotto, white cheddar macaroni and cheese, and even brown butter truffle ice cream will be on shelves for you and your family. This trend dominated 2020, too. But as you shop, keep in mind The Shocking Side Effect of Eating Comfort Food.
8 - More Fresh And Prepared Foods
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Convenience is key, especially during—and after—a pandemic. "We're buying frozen foods and more convenient offerings," Lempert says. "And if you look at the prepared foods offerings in the supermarket—the freshly prepared ones—they're going through the roof because people just want to microwave or put food in the oven."
That said, here are 12 Frozen Dinners to Always Leave on Grocery Store Shelves.
9 - Fewer Items To Choose From
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Some of your favorite companies have downsized this year. Coca-Cola announced it's discontinuing 200 drink brands, Kraft-Heinz is cutting 20% of its products, and quite a few more are cutting down. Even if products return ever so slightly to normal production, the way factories are built now doesn't quite allow for safety measures to be implemented (that Lempert believes are here to stay).
For more, here are All of the Beloved Grocery Items That Are Secretly Being Discontinued.
10 - More Sustainable Products And Transparency
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For the products that do make it to grocery store shelves in 2021, transparency about their ingredients and where they were grown or made will be important. Lempert says companies want to keep sustainability in mind with their products, and that will be reflected because, now, "we really don't have a choice" about whether or not to care about the environment. For more on this prediction, here are 20 Ways to Be More Sustainable When It Comes to Food.
11 - More Immune-Supporting Foods
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Thanks to the influx of safety rules and regulations COVID-19 gave us, the experts at Kroger believe foods that help keep us healthy and support the immune and digestive system will see more popularity in 2021. On your next trip to one of the grocery store chain's almost 3,000 stores, look out for products like almond butter, organic sparkling kefir water, caffeinated water, and even elderberry gummies. (Related: The 7 Healthiest Foods to Eat Right Now.)
12 - More Self-Driving Trucks
Walmart started to test driverless trucks in Arkansas in 2019, and so far, those vehicles have driven more than 70,000 miles on their own (but with a safety driver inside), the grocery store chain says. Now, the initiative is moving to Louisiana.
Lempert believes this trend will expand next year because of the increased importance of sustainability, the cost, and much more. But, it's not just driverless grocery chain trucks you may see out and about: Walmart is also testing drone delivery.
13 - Fewer CBD Food Products
All the CBD items you saw sprouting up in your local supermarket this year may not have the same luck in 2021, Lempert says. This is because these products aren't regulated, so the amount of CBD in them ranges based on the manufacturer. Lempert does believe they will come back, though, once the government gets involved and forces companies to show the total CBD percentage and other information on labels. (Related: What Happens to Your Body on CBD.)
14 - Cleaner Ingredients In Alternative Meats
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The number of meat alternative products that entered the market in 2020 has given shoppers tons of options. But, new options will contain a few other things besides just plant-based protein. "What we're really seeing is flexitarianism will be much more important," Lempert says. "It's not about extremes; being all-vegan or an omnivore."
This means you may see blended meat options, featuring both mushrooms and beef or cauliflower and pork. Until then, here are 33 Easy Plant-Based Recipes Even Carnivores Will Love.
15 - More ItemsFrom Restaurant Chains
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"I think we're going to see a lot more restaurant-supermarket partnerships," Lempert says of grocery stores in 2021. "Prepackaged foods made fresh from the restaurant and delivered to the supermarket on a daily basis."
This is a win-win for both—especially as the restaurant industry continues to struggle because of the pandemic.
16 - A Bigger Emphasis On Health
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Right now, the most super of supermarkets, aka Walmart, is starting to healthcare workers in New Mexico, with plans distribute one of the FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines to supply it at over 5,000 stores and pharmacies across the country. The Supermarket Guru says Walmart will continue to promote and grow the health clinics in their stores.
(Related: 8 Ways to Shop Safely at Walmart Right Now.)
17 - More Indoor And Verticle Farming
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You may not see these in your local grocery store, but they may be popping up just down the street thanks to now-empty office buildings that can be converted into indoor farms. "That's the perfect place to put in vertical farms because you can serve the population closer," says Lempert. "Produce also grows three times faster because it's in a controlled environment. Right now, most indoor farming is either tomatoes or leafy greens. But that's about to change."
VIDEO: IRELAND: Could Vertical Farming Help Avoid Brexit Supply Issues?
Ireland's network of disused mushroom houses could be the ideal infrastructure to develop a hydroponic farm system which could in turn reduce our dependence on imports of herbs, salads and small greens
11 Dec 2020
Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Ireland's network of disused mushroom houses could be the ideal infrastructure to develop a hydroponic farm system which could, in turn, reduce our dependence on imports of herbs, salads, and small greens.
Hydroponic farming uses water rather than soil to grow plants.
It uses much less water than conventional growing, a tiny amount of space, and is immune from adverse weather conditions because it is indoors.
One farm in Tipperary has started the transition. Near Ballyporeen, one of eight mushroom tunnels is now converted into a vertical farm.
Brian O’Reilly had been growing mushrooms for almost two decades, but tight margins and anxiety over the potential impact of Brexit made him change course.
"The risks were too high so we decided to step back. Tighter margins were number one and Brexit was the number two reason, and labour was a problem too," he said.
Now, he has turned to basil. His first crop will be harvested in the coming days and will be sold into the catering industry.
Mr. O'Reilly said the process of growing herbs and small greens is similar to mushrooms. There is a cycle and within 32 days from planting a seed, the basil is finished.
It is grown in tiny pods on shelves with the roots stretching down to nutrient-rich water. Bright LED lights encourage the growth, as does hot air blowing into the tunnel.
A wind turbine nearby generates the electricity and a hot humid house means the plant thrives. But the lights are also powered down for hours in order to let the plants sleep.
It looks a million miles from any conventional farm. The tunnel is filled with rows of white plastic shelves, with tiny holes through which the plants appear. Water is circulating under the shelves and overhead there are strips of lighting; white, red, and blue.
It is bright and humid with the constant hum of air being pumped in and there is a gentle trickle of water flowing through the system.
Farmony, an Irish technology company, has developed the technology being used in Ballyporeen.
It has built farms in several countries and said the system could make Ireland self-sufficient in herbs and small greens within a few years.
Farmony's John Paul Prior said the range of plants that can be grown is vast and goes way beyond herbs.
He said: "In Ireland, we grow between May and September/October. Imagine if you could recreate that perfect summer's day all-year-round.
"That is what we are doing with controlled environment farming, so we could come close to self-sufficient with all your leafy greens, all your microgreens, and all your herbs."
Ireland imports the vast bulk of those products and the development offers a huge opportunity to expand the horticulture sector in Ireland.
It is environmentally positive too. If mushroom houses are used, it is utilizing something that has limited suitability for anything else. Farmony claims that the system uses 90% less water than conventional farming methods and is pesticide-free too.
The tunnel in Ballyporeen is part-funded by the Department of Agriculture as a pilot project and Mr O'Reilly is already testing crops other than basil.
"We are growing microgreens, peashoots and coriander at the moment. We are experimenting with them, we can change our model at any time and grow to what the customer wants," he said.
"When you think of it, this basil which we are growing would normally be imported, sometimes from thousands of miles away, from Morocco, Kenya, Israel, Spain or the UK. We are replacing that. The food miles are being dramatically reduced and we can do it without worrying about the weather outside."
Abandoned mushroom farms are dotted all over the country. There were more than 400 growers at one point, now there are just a few dozen. It is a tight margin business, which is dominated by a few companies and is almost entirely export-dependent.
Last year, Ireland exported €102m worth of mushrooms. Up to September this year, we exported more than €82m worth of mushrooms.
Any delays at ports after Brexit could have a huge impact on delivering fresh product to supermarkets in the UK. The possible imposition of tariffs is also an issue.
The Government wants to expand Ireland's horticultural offering. It is lower-emitting than sectors such as beef and dairy and there is huge scope for expansion.
Often, our climate is an issue. We have a shorter growing season than other countries and they can also offer scale and a cheaper cost base.
There are some areas of Ireland that grow high-quality vegetables, but it is a sector in decline over recent years.
The dominance of the big multiples as the primary buyers has tightened margins and many growers complain that the sector is controlled by too few buyers. Up to September this year, Ireland imported €146m worth of vegetables alone.
Its dependence on UK imports of potatoes and other vegetables could be a problem after Brexit, but it is something which the sector is aware of.
Farmony hopes that developing a network of vertical farms could dramatically reduce our food miles, reduce reliance on imports, and also create jobs and revitalize a declining sector.
Lead photo: Hydroponic farming uses water rather than soil to grow plants
The Salad Days of AI
Many courses in computer science are heavy on theory, so having a course grounded by growing plants makes it more interesting and relatable, he said
Nidhi Jain has never had much luck growing plants. "I've tried to work with plants, but they didn't want to work with me," said the senior computer science major from California. "So I've stuck to succulents."
Green thumb or no, Jain and her classmates in the School of Computer Science's "Autonomous Agents" course this fall-applied their knowledge of artificial intelligence, including machine learning and computer vision, to grow lettuces and radishes in small, automated greenhouses. Without ever seeing or touching their plants in person, they worked in groups of three to nurture their sprouts, writing programs that made all of the decisions on adjusting light, humidity, and soil moisture based on sensor data.
Reid Simmons, who teaches the course with Stephanie Rosenthal, said using AI to grow vegetables is a good way for students to put the knowledge of AI-based autonomous agents that they learned in class into practice. Agents have applications in many areas, such as self-driving cars, intelligent factories and smart homes. Another — automated greenhouses — proved a good match to the need for a course exercise.
The autonomous farm
"We wanted something that was physical, that would have to interact with the environment," explained Simmons, a research professor in the Robotics Institute and Computer Science Department (CSD) who directs SCS's undergraduate AI degree program. And they wanted these agents to run for two weeks at a time. "Most of the alternatives were robots and the likelihood that a robot would work for two weeks was very low."
Plants grow — and die — slowly, so they don't provide the immediate, dramatic feedback of, say, a robot running into a wall. But students said they nevertheless learned a lot about the pitfalls of autonomous agents during the two growing periods during the semester.
"Deployment isn't as easy as you think," said Vicky Zeng, a senior artificial intelligence major from Singapore. The autonomous agents receive input from temperature, humidity, soil moisture, and light sensors, which they interpret to make adjustments on light, watering, and fan operation. Faulty soil moisture sensors, however, plagued all of the teams, resulting in plants going without needed water. "Even if your agent is running fine, it can end up making poor decisions if it's getting bad sensor data," she said.
"Some of what they're learning is that relying only on your sensor values can be problematic," said Rosenthal, an assistant teaching professor in CSD. During the second growing period, she noted, moisture sensors showed there was plenty of water in the soil despite most teams never having watered, "but after a week we know the plants probably need water." In that case, the students were allowed to make a one-time adjustment to prevent all their plants from dying.
Autonomous agents thus must be designed to cope with errors, Zeng said. More than that, "we can't be waiting to see errors; we have to have methods for predicting errors. Sometimes things are out of your control but you try to prevent them from getting into that state." One solution: setting a maximum number of days that the plants can go without watering.
The harvest
Arthur Dzieniszewski, a senior computer science major from New Jersey, comes from a family of gardeners and was immediately intrigued by the "Autonomous Agents" course when he heard about it. Many courses in computer science are heavy on theory, so having a course grounded by growing plants makes it more interesting and relatable, he said.
Overall, the teams had great success in the two growing periods. Though they were graded based on the first two weeks of growth, Simmons and Rosenthal allowed the plants to grow an extra two weeks so they had a chance to grow big enough for harvesting.
The vegetable-growing exercise proved popular with the students, Rosenthal said, and several chose to take the course, in part, because of it. Dzieniszewski has even created his own automated greenhouse that is functionally equivalent to what the class used. Though he doesn't have any plants growing yet, he can control the greenhouse remotely and use an autonomous agent to run it.
After each growing period, the teams would make presentations to the class, summarizing their experiences and lessons learned. Jain said this was one of her favorite parts of the class. Another highlight, she said, was when Simmons harvested some of the vegetables from the first growing period and ate the radishes during class.
"This was really exciting because I was finally able to have some success at growing some plants," Jain added.
For more information:
Carnegie Mellon University
www.cmu.edu
21 Dec 2020