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Join Harry Duran, Host of Vertical Farming Podcast, As He Welcomes To The Show Founder of Heron Farms, Sam Norton
It is the mission of Heron Farms to create a sustainable agricultural system and restore the marsh using earth’s most abundant resource: seawater
Season 2 Episode 25 Description
Join Harry Duran, host of Vertical Farming Podcast, as he welcomes to the show Founder of Heron Farms, Sam Norton. It is the mission of Heron Farms to create a sustainable agricultural system and restore the marsh using earth’s most abundant resource: seawater.
In this episode, Harry and Sam talk all about sea beans, Sam’s fact-finding mission to Bangladesh to learn more about how seawater crops are grown, and the work Heron Farms is doing with other brands to help rebuild salt marshes across the globe.
VERTICAL FARMING PODCAST
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Is Controlled Environment Agriculture Addressing The Issues Facing The Agriculture Industry?
As chairman of the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee, Paul Lightfoot at BrightFarms is looking for ways to make major improvements in food production, sustainability and consumption
BrightFarms founder and president Paul Lightfoot, who is chairman of the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee, said controlled environment agriculture could play a major role in helping to solve some of the significant issues facing the ag industry and U.S. Photos courtesy of BrightFarms
As chairman of the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee, Paul Lightfoot at BrightFarms is looking for ways to make major improvements in food production, sustainability, and consumption.
When Paul Lightfoot founded BrightFarms in January 2011 he had no experience in commercial food production. Ten years later he is president of one of the fastest-growing controlled environment agriculture companies in the United States. Starting with one 54,000-square-foot greenhouse facility in Pennsylvania in 2013, BrightFarms has expanded with greenhouse operations in four states with a total production area of 700,000 square feet.
“I had a background in retail supply chain improvement,” Lightfoot said. “I was running a supply-side software company for about nine years and was thinking about whether I could create an opportunity that would combine my career with my personal interest in healthy sustainable food. I studied different opportunities and came across the leafy greens supply chain as one that was ripe for destruction.
“At the time, all salads in North America basically came from the West Coast, either Salinas, Calif., in the summer or Yuma, Ariz., in the winter. I identified a very centralized, very industrialized supply chain that wasn’t benefitting consumers.”
Paul Lightfoot said an increasing amount of growth in the leafy greens market is coming from controlled environment agriculture.
Lightfoot said the concentrated field production locations and long-distance shipping required to deliver leafy greens to East Coast markets was not good for the product.
“Most leafy greens are five to seven days old when they arrive at retailers’ distribution centers, and that shows in the quality, nutrition, and taste,” he said. “I also thought field food production had some Achilles heals’ in terms of food safety and sustainability, which I thought would become more important, providing BrightFarms with a terrific market opportunity.
“I knew that consumers would continue to focus on healthy eating and that the demand for salads was going to rise. I grew confident that BrightFarms could disrupt a supply chain that was fragile and vulnerable.”
After opening its first greenhouse facility in 2013, Lightfoot said by the end of 2014 the company had figured out its operating model.
“We began to raise serious capital,” he said. “We graduated from venture capital to private equity in 2016 as we hit the national stage. We opened much larger greenhouses, one in Virginia to serve the Washington, D.C., market and one in Illinois to serve the Chicago and Milwaukee markets. Those were in partnership with Ahold Delhaize and Kroger.
“Before then I don’t think the produce industry had taken controlled environment salad production seriously. After 2016 we established ourselves as a contender to continue winning market share.”
Lightfoot said just about every major retailer in the U.S. now has an indoor-grown salad program on its shelves.
“There are billions of dollars of market share to be captured with leafy greens,” he said. “It’s a big and growing segment and by far the lion’s share of the growth is coming from controlled environment local production like ours.”
Helping to solve ag industry, societal issues
In October 2020 Lightfoot was elected chair of the USDA’s Fruit & Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee (FVIAC). Formed in 2001, the purpose of the committee is to examine issues that impact the fruit and vegetable industry and to provide recommendations and ideas to the Secretary of Agriculture on how the USDA can tailor programs to better meet the needs of the produce industry. FVIAC currently has four working groups: food safety, production, labor and trade.
“During our committee meetings the members develop a series of recommendations on the matters that are within the preview of the USDA,” Lightfoot said. “These recommendations are relevant to fruit and vegetable companies in the U.S., including growers, shippers, distributors, retailers and other organizations that have a stake in this space.”
Controlled environment vegetable production could be instrumental in providing consumers with healthier, more nutritious, better-tasting produce that is locally grown.
Lightfoot said the U.S. agriculture industry has an opportunity to help tackle some of the most pressing issues facing the U.S., including climate change and nutrition.
“We have a society where the majority of Americans are obese or nearly obese and an extremely high percentage is diabetic or pre-diabetic,” he said. “The leading cause of death in the U.S. is from chronic diseases that are a result of our diets.
“We don’t need fancy technology to see the solution. Only about one in 10 Americans eat the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. Shifting our diets away from highly processed foods and toward more fruits and vegetables would reduce diet-related chronic diseases, reduce the costs of healthcare, and even improve our military readiness.”
Another area where Lightfoot said the agricultural industry could help resolve issues is related to climate change.
“It is well understood that the energy and transportation sectors are huge contributors to climate change,” he said. “In general, as a world, we are making progress on those fronts. I’m not alone in driving an electric car and powering my home with wind-powered electricity.
“Less well understood is that the U.S. agriculture industry emits 10 percent of our country’s greenhouse gases. It is also one of the most vulnerable sectors to more volatile weather that results from climate change.”
Lightfoot is particularly concerned about the impact the agriculture industry is having on the country’s top soil and water resources.
“We’re mining our soil,” he said. “If we continue to degrade our soils, we only have about 50 seasons of soil left in the Midwest. Farming practices in the Midwest and California have also had a major impact on waterways, reducing sources of potable water.
Paul Lightfoot said just about every major retailer in the U.S. now has an indoor-grown salad program on its shelves.
“More biodiversity needs to be introduced into the areas of the West Coast that currently grow our salads. It has become a monoculture, which has removed the life from the soil and disrupted the water cycles. One idea would be to provide incentives to those farmers to “re-wild” some of that land, adding biodiversity to restore the soils and water cycles. That lost production capacity could be offset with the growth in high intensity indoor farms.”
Taking the CEA industry seriously
Lightfoot said his participation with FVIAC is beneficial to BrightFarms and to the CEA industry.
“It is important to remember that I am representing the entire fruit and vegetable industry in my role with FVIAC,” he said. “I care about BrightFarms like I care about a child, but in this role I will be speaking for the entire industry.
“The U.S. should be doubling the per capita annual consumption of fruits and vegetables. Because Americans are not eating enough fruits and vegetables, our country is suffering.”
Lightfoot said his participation with FVIAC, along with being a board member of the United Fresh Produce Association, reflects the changes occurring in the CEA industry and how it is viewed overall by the agriculture industry.
“The CEA industry was considered fairly new and only recently has it become a bigger player,” he said. “These ag organizations recognize that and want our representation. We are glad to have it. We think we have an important voice and I’m glad to be able represent the CEA industry.”
For more: BrightFarms, Farm Support Center, Irvington, NY 10533; (866) 857-8745; info@brightfarms.com; BrightFarms
This article is property of Urban Ag News and was written by David Kuack, a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas.
Meet The Advisory Board - Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit, June 24-25
The virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit on June 24-25 will explore how controlled environment agriculture and vertical farming can reach greater profitability and scale, both in the US and globally
The virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit on June 24-25 will explore how controlled environment agriculture and vertical farming can reach greater profitability and scale, both in the US and globally.
Demand for fresh, local, nutritious and pesticide-free production has never been higher. But how can growers drive down energy consumption as they scale up to meet this demand? Which new crops can be optimized for an indoor environment? And how do we bridge the gap between producer and consumer?
We're putting together a powerful two days of interactive sessions and breakout discussion groups, steered by our valued Advisory Board of internationally recognized farm operators, food retailers, investors, seed companies, and technology providers.
MEET THE ADVISORY BOARD
More than 30 of the biggest names in the indoor agriculture and CEA community are helping to shape this June’s program:
SEE OUR ADVISORY BOARD
OUR EXPERTS SAY
"Indoor agriculture is booming as consumers continually demand the quality, variety and flavor that indoor-grown produce can bring. I look forward to the summit bringing together thoughtful content and expertise in the world of Indoor AgTech."
Liliana Esposito
Chief Communications Officer
WENDY'S, USA
"It's time for growers and the sales community to support the data and technology requirements throughout the supply chain that will enable complete product transparency and timely traceability. Data aggregation as in GS1 and technology such as QR codes on packaging have proven to be value-added for growers, distributors, and consumers."
Sean Walsh
North America Director of Fruits, Vegetables, and Dairy
GORDON FOOD SERVICE, USA
"Our capabilities are increasingly driven by AI, machine learning, internet of things, and blockchain, which all enable greater visibility and clarity on how to improve our products and services. We look to intentionally combine human and technological capabilities, so that our tech investments empower our employees and all our partners and customers along the supply chain."
Elyse Lipman
Chief Strategy Officer
LIPMAN FAMILY FARMS, USA
"I'm interested to see a significant dispersion of the food systems so quality produce becomes more affordable by removing all the friction between the producers and actual consumers. This will resolve a significant level of problems and issues we face such as food wastage, supply chain issues, food safety, and costs."
Jessica Naomi Fong
General Manager & Co-Founder
COMMON FARMS, HONG KONG
The program is coming together quickly, so if you’d like to be involved by showcasing your technology or sharing your experiences in a panel discussion, please get in touch with me now!
We look forward to hosting the indoor agtech community again in June.
Best wishes,
Oscar Brennecke
Conference Producer
Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit
oscar.brennecke@rethinkevents.com
+44 (0)1273 789989
SUMMIT PARTNERS
Platinum Partner:
HOSTED ALONGSIDE
Gold Partners:
Webinar: Works To Overcome The Challenges of Food Production
February’s webinar will be chaired by Agri-TechE’s Fiona Rust, with presentations from Dan Hewitt, Head of Agriculture and Sustainability from Kettle Foods UK, and Steven Winterbottom, Managing Director of Tozer Seeds
Writtle University College is delighted to announce the next installment within its popular webinar series, produced in partnership with Liberty Produce.
‘Examining food production systems and identifying skills gaps’ takes place on February 24th.
It is the second of three virtual events, all focusing on major issues facing global food production systems and the transformations we can expect to see in the immediate future.
February’s webinar will be chaired by Agri-TechE’s Fiona Rust, with presentations from Dan Hewitt, Head of Agriculture and Sustainability from Kettle Foods UK, and Steven Winterbottom, Managing Director of Tozer Seeds.
Fiona Rust works as Agri-TechE’s Events and Young Innovators’ Forum Co-Ordinator. She promotes cooperation between farmers, researchers, and tech developers to accelerate innovation.
Fiona explained: “Collaboration and idea-sharing offers us a way forward as we are able to bring together people and organizations to help further develop our sector and find the answers to challenges that we are facing. From experience, we see how small conversations can lead to the big things.”
Benita Rajania, Product Director at Liberty Produce, said: “The aim of teaming up with WUC for this webinar series was to bring together stakeholders from across food production to start a conversation around the transformation of the industry. We are delighted to host Dan Hewitt of Kettle Chips and Steven Winterbottom of Tozer Seeds, both pioneering companies, as they share their thoughts on collaboration and the agricultural/horticultural revolution."
The webinar will investigate challenges faced by the industry and discuss strategies for training and recruiting skilled personnel. A Q&A session with the speakers will take place at the end of the presentations.
Sponsorship is provided by EIRA, a groundbreaking project that supports innovation in the East of England.
Visit Writtle University College’s website to book your place:
Register
The event will be free-of-charge, in line with WUC and Liberty Produce's ongoing commitment to education and knowledge-sharing.
About Liberty Produce
Liberty Produce is a farming technology company founded in 2018 to drive innovations that will enable us to meet our global crop requirements over the next century, without harming the planet. As experts in the development of technology (from advanced lighting systems to machine learning for integrated control systems) for the breadth of indoor agriculture (from glasshouses to Totally Controlled Environment Agriculture systems), Liberty delivers research and products that consistently push boundaries. Liberty Produce develops and builds systems that reduce operational costs with enhanced resource efficiency, improve yields and increase sustainability for greater food security through the growth of local produce year-round. www.liberty-produce.com
Media enquiries:
Claire Apthorp
media@liberty-produce.com
+44 (0) 7920403068
General enquiries: info@liberty-produce.com; +44 (0)20 7193 2933
About Writtle University College (WUC)
Writtle University College (WUC) has been at the forefront of the agrifood sector since 1893. In 2020, it was named the highest-rated university-sector institution in England for student satisfaction by the National Student Survey, also receiving 100% satisfaction for its horticulture course. Industry-focused programmes offer the skills, expert theory, and qualifications required to enter a fast-moving sector. WUC recently launched a degree in regenerative agriculture, which is the first of its kind in the UK. https://writtle.ac.uk/
Media enquiries:
Sara Cork: press@writtle.ac.uk
About EIRA
EIRA is a collaborative project between seven universities and colleges in the East of England. Driving economic growth in the region, EIRA connects businesses with academic expertise, consultancy, facilities, and funding opportunities. Led by the University of Essex, EIRA is also supported by the University of East Anglia and the University of Kent. Backed by £4.7 million of Research England’s Connecting Capability Fund, EIRA delivers activities across three themes: digital creative, artificial intelligence and biotechnology. EIRA has opportunities to work with businesses of all sizes through Innovation Vouchers, Research and Development Grants, i-Teams, Hothouse events, Start-up Microfinance and Innovation Internships.eira.ac.uk
General enquiries: eira@essex.ac.uk
Twitter: @EIRA_eARC LinkedIn:
Indoor Farms Gaining Investors As Pandemic Disrupts Food Supplies
Seed money from investors is helping indoor farms to position themselves as one of the solutions to climate change and pandemic-induced disruptions to the harvesting, shipping, and sale of food
BY KAREN GRAHAM
BY KAREN GRAHAM | 02-19-21
IN TECHNOLOGY
Seed money from investors is helping indoor farms to position themselves as one of the solutions to climate change and pandemic-induced disruptions to the harvesting, shipping, and sale of food.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, it also exposed major issues with our food supply chain, including some issues that have already been attributed to climate change-related impacts.
The COVID-19 pandemic created shipment delays, and with inadequate demand forecasting, store produce departments suffered. This is when local vertical farms and indoor growing operations were able to step in and "fill in the gaps in a way that was unprecedented," writes GreenBiz
Water scarcity has been exacerbated in recent years by growing urbanisation and increasing demand from agriculture and industry. Fethi Belaid, AFP/File
There is a whole list of companies that are planning to build on their newfound momentum in 2021. And indoor farming is expected to grow. In 2019, revenue from vertical farming alone was estimated at $212.4 million. Forecasts now call for the industry to hit $1.38 billion by 2027, a compound annual growth rate of 26.2 percent from 2021 to 2027.
There are a number of established key players in the indoor and vertical farming industry, including Amazon-backed BrightFarms, AeroFarms, and Plenty reports Reuters.
An acceleration in funding for this industry lies ahead, after pandemic food disruptions - such as infections among migrant workers that harvest North American produce - raised concerns about supply disruptions, said Joe Crotty, director of corporate finance at accounting firm KPMG, which advises vertical farms and provides investment banking services.“The real ramp-up is the next three to five years,” Crotty said.
First developed around a decade ago, vertical farms have taken off in Asia and the United StatesThibault Savary, AFP
Vertical farming saves space
Vertical farms are a type of controlled-environment agriculture, which aims to optimize plant growth using soilless farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics. Vertical farms grow leafy greens indoors in stacked layers or on walls of foliage inside of warehouses or shipping containers.
The main advantage of utilizing vertical farming technologies is the increased crop yield that comes with a smaller unit area of land requirement.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), says urban farming increases food security at a time of rising inflation and limited global supplies. And the USDA is seeking members for a new urban agriculture advisory committee to encourage indoor and other emerging farm practices.
More about indoor farms, food supply, technology, food security
Read more:http://www.digitaljournal.com/tech-and-science/technology/indoor-farms-gaining-investors-as-pandemic-disrupts-feeo-supplies/article/585761#ixzz6mwBqwKxt
2021 GLASE Webinar Series
The production of high nutrient density crops in controlled environments (such as greenhouses and plant factories) allows for high density, local, year-round food production
Urban CEA: Optimizing Plant Quality,
Economic And Environmental Outcomes
Date: February 25, 2021
Time: 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. EDT
Presented by: Dr. Neil Mattson (Cornell University)
Click Here To Register
The production of high nutrient density crops in controlled environments (such as greenhouses and plant factories) allows for high density, local, year-round food production. Mattson leads a National Science Foundation project that seeks to better understand the benefits and constraints of urban CEA including: economics, natural resource use, carbon footprint, and nutrition. Mattson will discuss research that seeks to optimize crop performance, nutrition, and resource use through strategic LED lighting and CO2 supplementation. Finally, Mattson will discuss efforts of the NSF project to define workforce development needs by the nascent urban CEA industry and a new USDA workforce development project to expand training opportunities in CEA for 2-year colleges and lifelong learners.
Special thanks to our Industry partners
Join today
If you have any questions or would like to know more about GLASE,
please contact its executive director
Erico Mattos at em796@cornell.edu
Training Artificial Intelligence To Track Greenhouses in Antarctica and Mars
Modern technology has long become a fixture in all spheres of human life on Earth. Reaching out to other planets is a new challenge for humankind
FEBRUARY 17, 2021
Credit: Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology
Scientists from the Skoltech Center for Computational and Data-Intensive Science and Engineering (CDISE) and the Skoltech Digital Agriculture Laboratory and their collaborators from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that enables processing images from autonomous greenhouses, monitoring plant growth and automating the cultivation process. Their research was published in the journal IEEE Sensors.
Modern technology has long become a fixture in all spheres of human life on Earth. Reaching out to other planets is a new challenge for humankind. Since greenhouses are likely to be the only source of fresh food for Mars space crews and settlers, development of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer-vision-based technologies for plant growth automation is perceived as a priority research target. A test site is already in place for developing and testing advanced life support systems: An autonomous plant cultivation module is operating at the Antarctic Neumayer Station III near the South Pole. Right now, scientists are focusing on creating an AI system that could collect information about all the plant growth factors and seedling health and control greenhouses in autonomous mode without human involvement.
"One cannot maintain continuous communication with Neumayer III, and training computer vision models onboard requires too many resources, so we had to find a way to send a stream of plant photographs to external servers for data processing and analysis," Skoltech Ph.D. student Sergey Nesteruk explains.
As a conclusion to their research, the Skoltech team processed a collection of images from remote automated systems using their new approach based on convolutional neural networks and outperforming popular codecs by over seven times in reducing the image size without apparent quality degradation. The researchers used the information from the reconstructed images to train a computer vision algorithm which, once trained, is capable of classifying 18 plant varieties according to species at different stages of development with an accuracy of 92%. This approach makes it possible to both visually monitor the system operation and continuously gather new ML model training data in order to enhance the models' functionality.
There are plans to deploy and test the new systems right on Neumayer III, which will mark an important step towards automation of plant growing modules, thus removing yet another roadblock on the way to Mars.
Lead photo: Plant cultivation module in Antarctica. Credit: Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology
Take A Virtual Tour of The New CEA Center
“What OHCEAC is unique about is that we are integrative, interdisciplinary, and inclusive team conducting collaborative research to respond to CEA stakeholder needs
18-02-2021 | Urban Ag News
US, Ohio- Dr. Chieri Kubota, the Director of the new center focusing on controlled environment agriculture and protected cultivation hosted this event to introduces the programs and membership at The Ohio State University.
“What OHCEAC is unique about is that we are integrative, interdisciplinary, and inclusive team conducting collaborative research to respond to CEA stakeholder needs. Our focus inclusively covers various production systems and crop types. We use the terminology of CEA as having a very broad meaning including soil-bassed or soilless systems under various types of climate control or modification structures.”
Source and Photo Courtesy of Urban Ag News
US - COLORADO: Urban-Gro Closes $62 Million Public Offering
The Company intends to use the net proceeds to support organic growth, to expand in the European CEA market
urban-gro has closed its previously announced public offering of 6,210,000 shares of the Company’s common stock at a public offering price of $10.00 per share, which includes 810,000 shares sold upon full exercise of the underwriter’s option to purchase additional shares. The gross proceeds from the offering, including the exercise of the over-allotment option, were $62,100,000 before deducting underwriting discounts, commissions, and offering expenses.
The Company intends to use the net proceeds to support organic growth, to expand in the European CEA market, for general corporate purposes, including to fund potential future investments and acquisitions of companies that the Company believes will complement its business and growth strategy and to repay certain outstanding indebtedness.
ThinkEquity, a division of Fordham Financial Management, Inc., acted as sole book-running manager for the offering.
For more information:
urban-gro
720-390-3880
marketing@urban-gro.com
urban-gro.com
18 Feb 2021
Natufia Labs Raises $3.5M For Its Indoor Garden Appliance, Relocates To Saudi Arabia
Natufia makes an automated home gardening appliance about the size of a refrigerator that automatically controls elements such as lighting, as well as water and nutrient dispensing
Natufia Labs, the Estonia-based automated kitchen garden startup, announced today that it is relocating to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). KAUST is also leading a $3.5 million investment round in Natufia, awarding $2 million through the KAUST Innovation Fund. This brings the total amount of money raised by Natufia to $4.7 million.
Natufia makes an automated home gardening appliance about the size of a refrigerator that automatically controls elements such as lighting, as well as water and nutrient dispensing. The $13,000 Natufia cabinet uses seedpods that are placed in a special unit to germinate before being transferred to pots to grow and be harvested. Right now, Natufia’s appliance can grow leafy greens, herbs, and flowers.
In a press announcement sent to The Spoon, Natufia Labs CEO and Founder Gregory Lu said, “From Estonian icy-snow winters to the arid climate of Saudi Arabia, sustainable access to food supply is a global issue, so it is more than natural that this technology is thriving from Saudi Arabia.”
Problems with our existing food supply chain were revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, causing a surge of interest in consumer indoor agriculture products. A new wave of high-tech appliances automate all the “hard” parts about growing food, allowing people to more easily grow and control their own food supply. Other players in the space including Gardyn, AeroGrow and Click & Grow have all seen demand increase during the pandemic.
With its new funding, Natufia said it will accelerate the development of its next models, hopefully bringing the price down to something more affordable for even more people.
FILED UNDER: CONNECTED KITCHEN FUNDING NEWS SMART GARDEN
Vertical Farming ‘At a Crossroads’
Although growing crops all year round with Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) has been proposed as a method to localize food production and increase resilience against extreme climate events, the efficiency and limitations of this strategy need to be evaluated for each location
Building the right business model to balance resource usage with socio-economic conditions is crucial to capturing new markets, say speakers ahead of Agri-TechE event
Image from: Fruitnet
Although growing crops all year round with Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) has been proposed as a method to localize food production and increase resilience against extreme climate events, the efficiency and limitations of this strategy need to be evaluated for each location.
That is the conclusion of research by Luuk Graamans of Wageningen University & Research, a speaker at the upcoming Agri-TechE event on CEA, which takes place on 25 February.
His research shows that integration with urban energy infrastructure can make vertical farms more viable. Graamans’ research around the modelling of vertical farms shows that these systems are able to achieve higher resource use efficiencies, compared to more traditional food production, except when it comes to electricity.
Vertical farms, therefore, need to offer additional benefits to offset this increased energy use, Graamans said. One example his team has investigated is whether vertical farms could also provide heat.
“We investigated if vertical farms could provide not just food for people living in densely populated areas and also heat their homes using waste heat. We found that CEA can contribute to stabilizing the increasingly complex energy grid.”
Diversification
This balance between complex factors both within the growing environment and wider socio-economic conditions means that the rapidly growing CEA industry is beginning to diversify with different business models emerging.
Jack Farmer is CSO at vertical producer LettUs Grow, which recently launched its Drop & Grow growing units, offering a complete farming solution in a shipping container.
He believes everyone in the vertical farming space is going to hit a crossroads. “Vertical farming, with its focus on higher value and higher density crops, is effectively a subset of the broader horticultural sector,” he said.
"All the players in the vertical farming space are facing a choice – to scale vertically and try to capture as much value in that specific space, or to diversify and take their technology expertise broader.”
LettUs Grow is focussed on being the leading technology provider in containerised farming, and its smaller ‘Drop & Grow: 24’ container is mainly focussed on people entering the horticultural space.
Opportunities in retail
“This year is looking really exciting,” he said. “Supermarkets are investing to ensure a sustainable source of food production in the UK, which is what CEA provides. We’re also seeing a growth in ‘experiential’ food and retail and that’s also where we see our Drop & Grow container farm fitting in.”
Kate Hofman, CEO, GrowUp agrees. The company launched the UK’s first commercial-scale vertical farm in 2014.
“It will be really interesting to see how the foodservice world recovers after lockdown – the rough numbers are that supermarket trade was up at least 11 per cent in the last year – so retail still looks like a really good direction to go in.
“If we want to have an impact on the food system in the UK and change it for the better, we’re committed to partnering with those big retailers to help them deliver on their sustainability and values-driven goals.
“Our focus is very much as a salad grower that grows a fantastic product that everyone will want to buy. And we’re focussed on bringing down the cost of sustainable food, which means doing it at a big enough scale to gain the economies of production that are needed to be able to sell at everyday prices.”
Making the Numbers Add Up
The economics are an important part of the discussion. Recent investment in the sector has come from the Middle East, and other locations, where abundant solar power and scarce resources are driving interest in CEA. Graamans’ research has revealed a number of scenarios where CEA has a strong business case.
For the UK, CEA should be seen as a continuum from glasshouses to vertical farming, he believes. “Greenhouses can incorporate the technologies from vertical farms to increase climate control and to enhance their performance under specific climates."
It is this aspect that is grabbing the attention of conventional fresh produce growers in open field and covered crop production.
A Blended Approach
James Green, director of agriculture at G’s, thinks combining different growing methods is the way forward. “There’s a balance in all of these systems between energy costs for lighting, energy costs for cooling, costs of nutrient supply, and then transportation and the supply and demand. At the end of the day, sunshine is pretty cheap and it comes up every day.
“I think a blended approach, where you’re getting as much benefit as you can from nature but you’re supplementing it and controlling the growth conditions, is what we are aiming for, rather than the fully artificially lit ‘vertical farming’.”
Graamans, Farmer and Hofman will join a discussion with conventional vegetable producers, vertical farmers and technology providers at the Agri-TechE event ‘Controlled Environment Agriculture is growing up’ on 25 February 2021.
Investors Seed Indoor Farms As Pandemic Disrupts Food Supplies
Proponents, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), say urban farming increases food security at a time of rising inflation and limited global supplies. North American produce output is concentrated in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, including California, which is prone to wildfires and other severe weather
Wausau, WI, USA Stevens Point
Feb 18, 2021
By Rod Nickel
(Reuters) - Investors used to brush off Amin Jadavji's pitch to buy Elevate Farms’ vertical growing technology and produce stacks of leafy greens indoors with artificial light.
"They would say, 'This is great, but it sounds like a science experiment,'" said Jadavji, CEO of Toronto-based Elevate.
Now, indoor farms are positioning themselves as one of the solutions to pandemic-induced disruptions to the harvesting, shipping, and sale of food.
"It's helped us change the narrative," said Jadavji, whose company runs a vertical farm in Ontario, and is building others in New York and New Zealand.
Proponents, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), say urban farming increases food security at a time of rising inflation and limited global supplies. North American produce output is concentrated in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, including California, which is prone to wildfires and other severe weather.
Climate-change concerns are also accelerating investments, including by agribusiness giant Bayer AG, into multi-storey vertical farms or greenhouses the size of 50 football fields.
They are enabling small North American companies like BrightFarms, AppHarvest and Elevate to bolster indoor production and compete with established players AeroFarms and Plenty, backed by Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos.
But critics question the environmental cost of indoor farms' high power requirements.
Vertical farms grow leafy greens indoors in stacked layers or on walls of foliage inside of warehouses or shipping containers. They rely on artificial light, temperature control and growing systems with minimal soil that involve water or mist, instead of the vast tracts of land in traditional agriculture.
Greenhouses can harness the sun's rays and have lower power requirements. Well-established in Asia and Europe, greenhouses are expanding in North America, using greater automation.
Investments in global indoor farms totaled $394 million in 2020, AgFunder research head Louisa Burwood-Taylor said.
The average investment last year doubled in size, as large players including BrightFarms and Plenty raised fresh capital, she said.
A big funding acceleration lies ahead, after pandemic food disruptions - such as infections among migrant workers that harvest North American produce - raised concerns about supply disruptions, said Joe Crotty, director of corporate finance at investment bank KPMG, which advises vertical farms.
"The real ramp-up is the next three to five years," Crotty said.
Vegetables grown in vertical farms or greenhouses are still just a fraction of overall production. U.S. sales of food crops grown under cover, including tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, amounted to 790 million pounds in 2019, up 50% from 2014, according to the USDA.
California's outdoor head lettuce production alone was nearly four times larger, at 2.9 billion pounds.
USDA is seeking members for a new urban agriculture advisory committee to encourage indoor and other emerging farm practices.
PLANT BREEDING MOVES INDOORS
Bayer, one of the world's biggest seed developers, aims to provide the plant technology to expand vertical agriculture. In August, it teamed with Singapore sovereign fund Temasek to create Unfold, a California-based company, with $30 million in seed money.
Unfold says it is the first company focused on designing seeds for indoor lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, spinach and cucumbers, using Bayer germplasm, a plant's genetic material, said Chief Executive John Purcell.
Their advances may include, for example, more compact plants and an increased breeding focus on quality, Purcell said.
Unfold hopes to make its first sales by early 2022, targeting existing farms, and start-ups in Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Greenhouses are also expanding, touting higher yields than open-field farming.
AppHarvest, which grows tomatoes in a 60-acre greenhouse in Morehead, Kentucky, broke ground on two more in the state last year. The company aims to operate 12 facilities by 2025.
Its greenhouses are positioned to reach 70% of the U.S. population within a day's drive, giving them a transportation edge over the southwest produce industry, said Chief Executive Jonathan Webb.
"We're looking to rip the produce industry out of California and Mexico and bring it over here," Webb said.
Projected global population growth will require a large increase in food production, a tough proposition outdoors given frequent disasters and severe weather, he said.
New York-based BrightFarms, which runs four greenhouses, positions them near major U.S. cities, said Chief Executive Steve Platt. The company, whose customers include grocers Kroger and Walmart, plans to open its two largest farms this year, in North Carolina and Massachusetts.
Platt expects that within a decade, half of all leafy greens in the United States will come from indoor farms, up from less than 10% currently.
"It's a whole wave moving in this direction because the system we have today isn’t set up to feed people across the country," he said.
'CRAZY, CRAZY THINGS'
But Stan Cox, research scholar for non-profit The Land Institute, is skeptical of vertical farms. They depend on grocery store premiums to offset higher electricity costs for lighting and temperature control, he said.
"The whole reason we have agriculture is to harvest sunlight that’s hitting the earth every day," he said. "We can get it for free."
Bruce Bugbee, a professor of environmental plant physiology at Utah State University, has studied space farming for NASA. But he finds power-intensive vertical farming on Earth far-fetched.
"Venture capital goes into all kinds of crazy, crazy things and this is another thing on the list."
Bugbee estimates that vertical farms use 10 times the energy to produce food as outdoor farms, even factoring in the fuel to truck conventional produce across country from California.
AeroFarms, operator of one of the world's largest vertical farms, a former New Jersey steel mill, says comparing energy use with outdoor agriculture is not straightforward. Produce that ships long distances has a higher spoilage rate and many outdoor produce farms use irrigated water and pesticides, said Chief Executive Officer David Rosenberg.
Vertical farms tout other environmental benefits.
Elevate uses a closed loop system to water plants automatically, collect moisture plants emit and then re-water them with it. Such a system requires 2% of the water used on an outdoor romaine lettuce operation, Jadavji said. The company uses no pesticides.
"I think we're solving a problem," he said.
(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; additional reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Lisa Shumaker)
Living Greens Farms Ramps Up Midwest Expansion
Living Greens Farm has upped its retail distribution with the addition of UNFI Produce Prescott, a division of United Natural Foods, Inc (UNFI)
Feb. 18th, 2021
by Melissa De Leon Chavez
FARIBAULT, MN - Living Greens Farm (LGF) has upped its retail distribution with the addition of UNFI Produce Prescott, a division of United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI). This new retail partnership will help LGF expand its product reach to independent, specialty, and co-op retailers throughout the upper Midwest.
According to a press release, LGF’s proprietary vertical indoor farming method yields high-quality, fresh produce. No pesticides or chemicals are used during the growing process. Throughout the growing, cleaning, and bagging process, LGF reduces handling and time to the retail shelf. All of these benefits continue to attract new users and new retail distribution.
Living Greens Farm has upped its retail distribution with the addition of UNFI Produce Prescott, a division of United Natural Foods, Inc (UNFI)
Beginning this month, LGF’s full line of products featuring ready-to-eat bagged salad products, such as Caesar Salad Kit, Southwest Salad Kit, Harvest Salad Kit, Chopped Romaine, and Chopped Butter Lettuce will be carried by UNFI Produce Prescott (formerly Alberts Fresh Produce).
Across the nation, UNFI has eight warehouses, and LGF’s products will be carried by its upper Midwest location, located just across the river from the Twin Cities in Prescott, Wisconsin.
As indoor farming becomes more popular, who will Living Greens Farm partner with next?
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we cover the latest.
COMPANIES IN THIS STORY
We believe in revolutionizing how produce is grown throughout the world. Our products are fresh, local, and pesticide-free....
UNFI
UNFI is the leading independent national distributor of natural, organic and specialty foods and related products...
How This Vertical Farm Grows 80,000 Pounds of Produce per Week
To some, the pristine growing conditions and perceived mechanical interference of a vertical farm can seem unnatural, but at Bowery Farming “interference” is actually not the goal at all. “We don’t really think about how people are involved in the growing process, but how to take people out of the growing process”
Bowery Farming uses technology to prioritize accessibility and sustainability in their produce growing operations
To some, the pristine growing conditions and perceived mechanical interference of a vertical farm can seem unnatural, but at Bowery Farming “interference” is actually not the goal at all. “We don’t really think about how people are involved in the growing process, but how to take people out of the growing process” says chief science officer Henry Sztul. “Our goal is actually to have as few people walking around our plants as possible.”
Bowery Farming is a network of vertical farms working to reengineer the growing process. Using a system of light and watering technology, Bowery is able to use 95 percent less water than a traditional outdoor farm, zero pesticides and chemicals, and grow food that tastes as good as anyone else’s.
Bowery Farming uses vertical farm-specific seeds that are optimized for flavor instead of insect resistance and durability. Seeds are mechanically pressed into trays of soil, and sent out into growing positions, or racks within the building that have their own lighting and watering systems. Each tray gets its own QR code so that they can be monitored and assigned a customized plan for water and light until they’re ready to be harvested.
Irving Fain, Bowery Farming’s founder and CEO contemplates the prediction from the United Nations that 70 to 80 percent of the world’s population will be living in and around cities in the next 30 years. “Figuring out ‘how do you feed and how do you provide fresh food to urban environments both more efficiently as well as more sustainably?’ is a very important question today, and an even more important question in the years to come.”
USA - SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - Pure Green Farms Launches New Website
The announcement of the new website falls in line with Pure Green Farms’ recent expansion plan, as the company announced back in December that it would be entering the leafy greens sector
February 15th, 2021
by Peggy Packer
SOUTH BEND, IN - The internet has surely become one of the most powerful tools shoppers are using these days to stay up to date on all the new ingredients that could be making their way to their kitchens. On the heels of a recent announcement to expand its offerings, Pure Green Farms has announced the launch of a new website, just in time for the rollout of four new SKUs set to hit retailers this March.
Joe McGuire, Chief Executive Officer, Pure Green Farms“We’re excited to be getting closer to our products being in stores and look forward to the future of our growth,” said CEO Joe McGuire. “We’ve got an excellent production team and have worked hard to get ready for our official release date. The launch of the website is just one of the important steps in getting ready for next month.”
The new website highlights the advanced technology and growing practices used at Pure Green’s hydroponic indoor farm, as well as the products that will be available, according to a press release.
Just in time for the rollout of four new SKUs, Pure Green Farms has announced the launch of a new website
The announcement of the new website falls in line with Pure Green Farms’ recent expansion plan, as the company announced back in December that it would be entering the leafy greens sector. Optimizing its state-of-the-art technology, including automatic seeding, harvesting, and packing technology, the brand will make its debut in the sector with the launch of four lettuce varieties.
AndNowUKnow will continue to report on all the latest news in the fresh produce industry.
TURKEY: The Goal Is To Establish a Million Square Meters of Agriculture Factory
Vertical farming practice is a method of soil-free farming, unlike traditional methods. Agriculture can be done completely with water without using any soil
The rapidly increasing world population causes an increase in the demand for food. People expect to consume fresh fruits and vegetables throughout their lives. It is getting harder every year to meet the fresh food demand of people due to the declining fertile lands due to the increasing urbanization and industrialization, the climate changes, and the inadequate irrigation of agricultural lands. While more production is made with the hormone drugs and other pesticides used to meet this demand, the yield and quality of the fresh foods produced decrease.
HGT Tarım, a Pimtaş establishment, started the works to establish an agricultural factory of 1 million square meters in order to prevent all these problems and to meet the increasing demand for fresh and organic food. All necessary work is underway for the Vertical Agriculture project, which is carried out jointly with PİMARGE and Gebze Technical University.
Smart Agricultural Investment
Vertical farming practice is a method of soil-free farming, unlike traditional methods. Agriculture can be done completely with water without using any soil. Thanks to the Vertical Farming system, there is no need for agricultural land, and the water used is used continuously by using the recirculation system. It allows us to obtain more efficiency with less water usage.
The products that meet our mineral needs in water will be made efficient by lighting with special LEDs without using any fertilizer drugs. While lettuce soil yields 60 crops in 1 day in our latest works, this period is reduced to 15 in 1 day with the Smart Agriculture system.
Products that are constantly working and controlled by automation with special software are indispensable for customers who want to buy fresh products at affordable prices, apart from being 100% organic.
Our project will stimulate the economy
The arable land requirements of traditional farming are too large and invasive to remain sustainable for future generations. With rapid population growth rates, arable land per capita is expected to decrease by approximately 2050% in 1970 compared to 66. Vertical farming allows more than ten times the crop yield per acre compared to traditional methods. Unlike traditional farming in non-tropical areas, indoor farming can produce crops year-round. All seasonal farming increases the productivity of the field surface 4 to 6 times depending on the crop.
All processes are environmentally friendly
All products that will be used in the system are completely recycled. Environmental problems are becoming less dangerous for the agricultural industry with vertical farming. Farmers do not use chemicals such as pesticides, so the whole process runs environmentally friendly. Vertical farming has an important role in a sustainable environment. In addition, it enables the production of fresh and healthy products and production for 365 days without the need for agricultural knowledge.
Speaking about the project, our Chairman of the Board of Directors Şamil Tahmaz said, 'Thanks to this project, which we will implement with 100% domestic and national means, we will protect our country's natural resources and ensure that our nation can access the food products they need most whenever they want. He said to produce what our country needs most and to produce more. ''
Urban Edible Spaces Public Forum / Sustainability / Community Wellbeing
You are cordially invited to join this public forum on the potential of Urban Edible Spaces. We hope to raise awareness on the values that urban edible spaces can bring about, both on sustainable development and community wellbeing
Dear friends,
You are cordially invited to join this public forum on the potential of Urban Edible Spaces. We hope to raise awareness on the values that urban edible spaces can bring about, both on sustainable development and community wellbeing. Please help share with your friends who may be interested too.
Best regards,
Celeste Shai
Senior Programme Officer
Centre of Development and Resources for Students
The University of Hong Kong
HKU Edible Spaces
Exploring the potential of urban farming initiatives in
raising sustainability awareness and community building
探討都市種植如何提升可持續發展的關注及建構社區
22 Feb 2021 (Mon) | 18:30 - 20:30 | Conducted online 網上進行
Language 語言: English with simultaneous interretation in Cantonese 英語，設廣東話即時傳譯
Details 詳情：https://t.ly/t96e
Registration 報名連結
HKU Students & Staff 港大學生及職員：https://t.ly/9t8b
Alumni & Public 校友及公眾人士：https://t.ly/UrmY
Exploring the potential of urban edible spaces in
enhancing wellbeing in the community
探討都市可食空間對社區身心靈健康帶來的幫助
3 Mar 2021 (Wed) | 18:30 - 20:30 | Conducted online 網上進行
Language 語言: Cantonese and Mandarin with simultaneous interretation in English 廣東話及國語，設英語即時傳譯
Details 詳情：https://t.ly/Q2gV
Registration 報名連結
HKU Students & Staff 港大學生及職員：https://t.ly/JZj7
Alumni & Public 校友及公眾人士：https://t.ly/FcuC
This programme is part of the Impact Project "Urban Edible Spaces Initiative: Growing Food and Happiness in a Sustainable Community" under the Knowledge Exchange (KE) Funding Scheme 2020/21.
此活動為香港大學知識交流項目2020/21：「都市可食空間倡議：可持續發展社區中的食物種植與快樂提升」的一部分。
www.ediblespaces.hku.hk | Social Media: IG / FB | Enquiry:gened@hku.hk
VIDEO: A Visit To The ZipFarm - Join The Virtual Farm Tour
Recently, ZipGrow has opened its doors for a virtual farm tour to demonstrate 'how all things are put together'
Recently, ZipGrow has opened its doors for a virtual farm tour to demonstrate 'how all things are put together'. The tour was kicked off at the germ chamber, then, after passing through the vestibule viewers are lead to the indoor farm.
In ZipGrow's seedling station plants the crops are propagated until they are suitable for transplantation to the growth section. The plants are given 16-18 hours of light per day. The crops are penetrated through an up-down, siphon system that allows for three times watering a day.
The Atom Doser is the 'brain of the farm' as it controls most growing parameters. It monitors, tracks and controls the hydroponic reservoir with customized recipes and irrigation settings. The 1000 sq. ft. farm allows for several crops to be grown, such as leafy greens.
Have a look at the video below to 'join' the tour.
For more information:
ZipGrow
hello@zipgrow.com
www.zipgrow.com
Publication date: Tue 16 Feb 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
Living Greens Farm Adds Former Senator To Advisory Board
Living Greens Farm (LGF), the largest vertical, indoor aeroponic farm in the US that provides year-round fresh salads, salad kits, microgreens, and herbs, has announced that Joe Donnelly, former Congressman and Senator from Indiana has joined their Advisory Board, effective January 2021
February 16, 2021
FARIBAULT, MN (February 2021) Living Greens Farm (LGF), the largest vertical, indoor aeroponic farm in the US that provides year-round fresh salads, salad kits, microgreens, and herbs, has announced that Joe Donnelly, former Congressman and Senator from Indiana has joined their Advisory Board, effective January 2021.
In his new position, Senator Donnelly will be providing LGF’s leadership critical insights related to their planned national rollout, which is scheduled to begin later this year. Senator Donnelly served on several committees during his tenure in Congress, including the Federal Agriculture committee, so he is an enthusiastic supporter of sustainable controlled environment agriculture.
“Living Greens Farm’s business model has a lot going for it,” says Senator Donnelly. “It is a huge step forward for the environment, great for the retailer, and provides incredibly fresh, premium quality products for the consumer. It helps bring us into the future of farming.”
LGF has been successfully serving customers in the upper Midwest for the past two years. Their growth in this area has led to expansion plans to other parts of the country.
“Adding Senator Donnelly to our Advisory Board serves our expansion plans well,” said George Pastrana, President, and CEO of Living Greens Farm. “He will serve as a key partner as LGF promotes its vision and commercial know-how through the various markets we will serve.”
For more information on why Living Greens Farm products are the cleanest, freshest, and healthiest farm salads and greens available, go to www.livinggreensfarm.com.
About Living Greens Farm
Headquartered in Minnesota, Living Greens Farm is the world’s largest vertical plane aeroponic farm. Living Greens Farm produce requires 95% less water and 99% less land to grow year-round and all products are grown without pesticides or GMOs. Living Greens Farm has a full product line that includes salads, microgreens, and herbs available throughout the Midwest. For more information, please visit Living Greens Farm
February Indoor Ag Science Cafe - February 23rd Tuesday 11 AM Eastern Time - "Indoor Farming In Mexico: Current Status And Opportunities"
Karla Garcia Microgreen FLN & HortAmericas
Karla Garcia
Microgreen FLN & HortAmericas
Please sign up so that you will receive Zoom link info.
Indoor Ag Science Cafe is an open discussion forum, planned and organized by OptimIA project team supported by USDA SCRI grants.
Sign Up Here
Cafe archive & QA forum
Our archived Indoor Ag Science Cafe page in OptimIA website now has a forum function! Please click on presentations of your interest and ask your quick questions. Notifications come to us and we should be able to respond promptly.
Submit Your General Questions
For 'Indoor Ag Sci Queries'!
Please submit your questions (anonymously if you wish) about sciences and technologies of indoor farming to this submission site. Any questions are welcome! The site is always open for your questions. Selected questions will be discussed in our future Indoor Ag Science Queries series.
Indoor Ag Science Cafe is organized by the OptimIA project team funded by USDA SCRI grants program.
Previous café recordings are available in the OptimIA project website.
Please contact for more info: kubota.10@osu.edu