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VIDEO: Ottawa Startup Plantaform Hopes To Harvest Profits From Indoor Gardening Technology
Ottawa biotech startup Plantaform's system, dubbed Rejuvenate, uses a concept called fogponics to grow herbs and leafy vegetables indoors
Ottawa biotech startup Plantaform's system, dubbed Rejuvenate, uses a concept called fogponics to grow herbs and leafy vegetables indoors.
A Carleton University business grad says his new startup is planting the seeds of a flourishing global horticulture enterprise with a soil-free system that grows herbs and leafy vegetables in a container small enough to sit on a kitchen countertop.
Alberto Aguilar launched fledgeling biotech startup Plantaform last spring with longtime friend Kiwa Lang, an industrial designer who attended high school with Aguilar in Dubai and now lives in Australia.
Lang was looking for sustainable alternatives to traditional horticulture and discovered a concept called fogponics, a technique pioneered by NASA that nourishes plants with nutrient-enriched water vapour rather than soil. He immediately reached out to his old pal, and a truly international startup was born.
“It’s extremely efficient,” Aguilar says of the technology, explaining that it uses 95 per cent less water than traditional soil-based horticulture operations.
Unlike more well-established hydroponics systems, Plantaform’s product – dubbed Rejuvenate – doesn’t submerge plant roots in water. Rather, it circulates a fine mist loaded with nutrients throughout an egg-shaped device roughly 60 centimetres high by 60 centimetres wide.
The high-tech indoor garden can grow up to 15 plants at a time, ranging from herbs such as basil and oregano to leafy greens including lettuce and kale.
35-day growing cycle
Customers set the proper lighting and nutrient mix on a smartphone app. Aguilar says the system can effectively run itself for up to three weeks before the water supply needs to be replenished, and it takes roughly 35 days to harvest a crop from the time seeds are “planted” in the device.
Plantaform’s own growth path has been a little rockier.
Backed by about $100,000 in funding from the founders’ family and friends as well as investors in Aguilar’s previous startups, the company stumbled out of the gate early last year.
The initial design for Rejuvenate failed, and it’s taken about half a dozen iterations to get the concept just right. In addition, Aguilar notes ruefully, the firm’s original team “collapsed” after several employees quit last summer because the founders couldn’t afford to pay them full-time salaries.
Supply-chain disruptions
Meanwhile, the pandemic wreaked havoc with the startup’s supply chain, forcing Aguilar and Co. to abandon foreign suppliers in China and elsewhere and manufacture the bulk of the components for the prototypes in their own homes on 3D printers.
But the plucky grow-op persevered, overhauling its development staff and bringing on veteran Ottawa-based engineer Georges Hamoush as chief operating officer. Plantaform eventually signed a Chinese contractor to manufacture most of the components, which will be assembled locally at Stittsville’s L-D Tool & Die.
If all goes according to plan, the first units will be shipped to customers this fall – and Aguilar plans to personally deliver as many as he can.
“We’ve made a lot of mistakes, but you know what? We’re not giving up,” says the budding biotech magnate, who grew up in Barcelona, spent some of his teenage years in Dubai and moved to Ottawa in 2014 to finish high school at Lisgar Collegiate before studying international business at Carleton.
"I’m really trying to put Ottawa on the map."
Alberto Aguilar - CEO and co-founder of biotech startup Plantaform
“We’re confident that if we keep trying, it’ll eventually work out.”
The 24-year-old Aguilar boasts an accomplished entrepreneurial resume. Plantaform is already his third startup, and he earned spots in Invest Ottawa’s pre-accelerator and Ottaw’’s Startup Garage with his previous ventures.
He’s hoping to secure additional seed funding for Plantaform later this year, with an eye to landing a series-A round early in 2022. The company also has its sights set on even bigger markets – it’s currently working with the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, a non-profit organization based near Niagara Falls, on a system to grow cannabis using fogponics technology.
The worldly Aguilar says he’s hoping his venture can elevate his adopted hometown on the international biotech stage.
“I’m really trying to put Ottawa on the map,” he says. “We want to go global.”
Singapore Shows What Serious Urban Farming Looks Like
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how susceptible countries are to turmoil in the global food supply
MAY 3, 2021
As recently as 1970, nearly one in 10 Singaporeans was engaged in farming or fishing. Now, most of the island is urbanized. The vast majority of apartment complexes in Singapore are public housing, which allows the government to designate their rooftops as agricultural spaces in the public interest.
From what was once Singapore’s largest prison complex — the Queenstown Remand Prison, housing about 1,000 inmates at its peak — an 8,000 square meter urban farm, Edible Garden City (EGC), now bursts with colorful vegetables and fragrant herbs. Co-founded by local resident Bjorn Low in 2012, EGC is one of Singapore’s first urban https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/singapore-shows-what-serious-urban-farming-looks-like initiatives and is located inside the former prison compound. It is one of several efforts in the city-state to strengthen the island’s food security at a grassroots level. “Our goal was and is to encourage more locals to grow their own food and thus help strengthen the city’s food resilience,” says Sarah Rodriguez, EGC’s head of marketing.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how susceptible countries are to turmoil in the global food supply. This is an issue of particular concern to Singapore, which imports almost 90 percent of its food from more than 170 countries. For several years now, the city authorities have been preparing for just such a crisis. The Singapore Food Authority (SFA) launched its ambitious “30 by 30” initiative in 2019, with the objective of producing 30 percent of Singapore’s nutritional needs locally by the year 2030. Supported by a mix of government grants and incentives, 30 by 30 will test the limits of urban food production. At last count in 2019, the city had 220 farms and was meeting 14 percent of its demand for leafy vegetables, 26 percent for eggs, and 10 percent for fish.
Vertical farms feed an island
As recently as 1970, nearly one in 10 Singaporeans was engaged in farming or fishing, either directly or indirectly. Orchards and pig farms dotted the island, and many residents grew fresh vegetables and raised backyard chickens. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, however, most of these occupations disappeared from the rapidly urbanizing city-state. Competing demands for land use led to agriculture being limited to about one percent of the land. Singapore’s food supply grew increasingly reliant on imports.
That began to change about a decade ago amid serious concerns about Singapore’s heavy reliance on imports. In response, the government backed efforts to shore up the nation’s food security with urban farming. In 2014, the authorities announced a SG$63 million (USD$47 million) Agriculture Productivity Fund to support farms in increasing their outputs by using innovative technologies. Over 100 local farms have benefitted so far.
But with COVID-19 threatening to disrupt the city’s imports, the fear that essential food items may not be available became very real. “People have started to resonate with the need for reliable access to food in their own homes and neighborhoods,” says Cuifen Pui, co-founder of the Foodscape Collective, which works with local communities and natural farming practitioners to transform underutilized public spaces into biodiverse edible community gardens. “Many Singaporeans are connecting with the concept of food security at a personal level.”
EGC, which has designed and built over 260 small produce farms for restaurants, hotels, schools and residences in Singapore, also experienced an increased interest in their foodscaping service. “Our foodscaping team saw a 40 percent increase in inquiries from homeowners between April and June last year,” says Rodriguez.
Pre-pandemic, EGC supplied produce to about 60 restaurants in the city and shipped produce weekly to 40 local families that had signed on to their Citizen Box subscription service. When restaurants shut in April last year, EGC quickly converted its restaurant-supplying beds and systems to grow crops for Citizen Box instead. “A bed that was previously used to grow tarragon for restaurants was repurposed to grow something like kang kong (water spinach) that is more suitable for home cooking,” explains Rodriguez. “We were able to supply three times more households through Citizen Box.” EGC uses natural farming methods like composting for soil regeneration and the use of permaculture techniques, to ensure that the impact on the environment is minimal and the soil remains healthy and productive for future generations.
Currently, EGC also grows kale and chard using hydroponics and microgreens in soil, all of it in a climate-controlled, indoor environment. “We strongly believe that there should be a balance between agritech and natural farming,” says Rodriguez. “We prefer to focus on the wide variety of veggies that grow well in our climate.”
EGC’s focus on natural farming is shared by the Foodscape Collective. It’s co-founder Pui had the opportunity to start a community edible garden in 2013, along with her neighbors. More recently, at the invitation of the National Parks Board and The Winstedt School, the Foodscape Collective, together with the local community, is transforming land in two locations using permaculture techniques. “These gardens are multi-functional spaces — to grow edibles, to grow plants for biodiversity, to nature watch, to enhance the soil ecosystem by composting food scraps, or simply just spaces to relax in a busy city,” says Pui.
Edible Garden City, once the largest prison in Singapore, is now an urban farm helping to bolster the city-state’s food security. (Photo courtesy of Edible Garden City)
But with less than one percent of Singapore’s land available for agriculture, 30 by 30 is increasing demand for tech-based solutions that can produce large volumes of food in small spaces. “Technology plays a huge role in Singapore’s food security,” says Prof. Paul Teng, food security expert and Dean of the National Institute of Education International. Rooftop farms like Comcrop — one of the recipients of the government’s SG$30 million (USD$22 million) 30X30 Express grant — and Citiponics are growing greens hydroponically on rooftops.
Since the vast majority of apartment complexes in Singapore are public housing, the government can designate their rooftops as agricultural spaces in the public interest. In 2020, the rooftops of nine multistory car parks in public housing estates were made available for farming by the government.
Other farms like Sustenir are using climate-controlled agriculture to grow their greens entirely indoors. “Singapore will always have to maximize its land and labor productivity for self-production, and this means technology,” says Teng. “It doesn’t make economic sense to produce food in Singapore when there is no comparative advantage, such as with rice and other large area-requiring crops.”
In line with its focus on highly-productive farming, SFA plans to redevelop Lim Chu Kang — an area in the northwest of Singapore covered with traditional farms — into a high-tech agri-cluster, which would triple the output of the area. The redevelopment work is expected to begin in 2024.
Egg production and aquaculture are also being ramped up. Chew’s Agriculture, a household name in Singapore for its farm-fresh eggs, received a 30X30 Express grant to build additional hen houses equipped with technologies to minimize egg breakage and maximize production.
As of 2019, Singapore had 122 sea- and land-based fish farms, with the majority of its offshore fish farms located in the Johor Strait to the north of the island. With these fish farms reaching maximum production levels, potential sites in the southern waters of Singapore are being assessed for suitability and environmental impact. Vertical aquaculture on land is also being viewed as an alternative to increase fish production. Land-based fish farm Apollo Aquaculture recently made news with its upcoming eight-story, state-of-the-art farm.
On the public-facing side, the SFA is encouraging citizens to buy locally farmed food, emphasizing its freshness and nutritive value. A new logo SG Fresh Produce was launched to make all locally grown produce easily identifiable in supermarkets.
As Singapore moves ahead with its 30 by 30 plans, it will still need to import the majority of its food. Not far from Lim Chu Kang is Sungei Kadut, one of Singapore’s oldest industrial estates, which will be redeveloped in a phased manner into an agri-tech innovation hub. “The government is hoping to develop the country into a regional agrifood tech hub for innovations that can offer technology exports to the region,” says Teng. “By helping other producing countries with technologies that can up their production, they will have more for Singapore to import.”
This story was originally published in Reasons to Be Cheerful. It is reprinted here with permission.
Next City is one of few independent news outlets covering urbanism’s efforts to achieve a more equitable city; including how to bring people out of poverty, empower business owners of color, connect us with sustainable technology, center community-based cultural knowledge, house the homeless, and more. Ultimately, it’s about how we care for each other, and we need your support to continue our work.
Anne Pinto Rodrigues is a Netherlands-based freelance journalist, writing on a broad range of topics under social and environmental justice. Her work has been published in The Guardian, The Telegraph, CS Monitor, Yes!, Ensia, and several other international publications.
Lead Photo: (Photo courtesy of Comcrop)
This Weeks Episode - Season 3 Episode 32
Join Harry Duran, host of Vertical Farming Podcast, as he welcomes to the show co-founders of Vertical Harvest, Nona Yehia, and Caroline Croft Estay
Join Harry Duran, host of Vertical Farming Podcast, as he welcomes to the show co-founders of Vertical Harvest, Nona Yehia, and Caroline Croft Estay. An architect and entrepreneur, Nona conceptualized and built Vertical Harvest, the first vertical hydroponic greenhouse in the world. Combining her expertise in behavioral health and experience in training and case management, Caroline crafted and implemented the innovative “Grow Well” employee model at Vertical Harvest.
In today’s episode, Harry, Nona, and Caroline discuss the inspirational work they are doing to bring architectural, economic, and social innovation to communities nationwide. Their mission is to bring meaningful employment to underserved populations and educate communities on how good jobs help differently-abled individuals to thrive.
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AeroFarms Breaks Ground on World’s Largest Aeroponic Indoor Vertical Farm
AeroFarms, a certified B Corporation and leader in indoor vertical farming, today announced the groundbreaking of its second commercial indoor vertical farm in Danville-Pittsylvania County, Virginia
April 30, 2021
Coming online in the second quarter of 2022, AeroFarms’ next-generation Model 5 farm will be the largest and most technologically advanced aeroponic indoor vertical farm in the world.
NEWARK, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AeroFarms, a certified B Corporation and leader in indoor vertical farming, today announced the groundbreaking of its second commercial indoor vertical farm in Danville-Pittsylvania County, Virginia.
Elected officials from Pittsylvania County and the City of Danville, along with Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture Bettina Ring and other state and community leaders, will join AeroFarms representatives for a groundbreaking ceremony this morning to celebrate the beginning of construction of the 136,000 square foot farm.
“We congratulate AeroFarms on launching construction of its state-of-the-art facility in Cane Creek Centre,” said Governor Ralph Northam. “The Commonwealth’s history is rooted in agribusiness, and the completion of the world’s largest and most advanced indoor vertical farm will enhance this booming industry. We thank AeroFarms for choosing Southern Virginia, and look forward to supporting its success.”
“Innovation and new technologies have always been the driving forces behind the success of Virginia’s largest private sector industry, agriculture,” said Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Bettina Ring. “By choosing to establish their largest production facility to date here in the Commonwealth, AeroFarms is ensuring that Virginia is a leader in indoor vertical farming.”
Coming online in the second quarter of 2022, AeroFarms’ next-generation Model 5 farm will be the largest and most technologically advanced aeroponic indoor vertical farm in the world. Strategically located in close proximity to more than 1,000 food retailers in the region, the Danville farm will provide access to approximately 50 million people located within a day’s drive. The new farm will advance AeroFarms’ leadership in plant science and technology and expand its leafy greens business to the Mid-Atlantic region with brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce partners, building upon existing relationships that include Whole Foods Market, ShopRite, Baldor, Amazon Fresh and FreshDirect.
Danville, Virginia, near the North Carolina border
“The science, technology, and innovation that underpin our platform allows us to drive superior unit economics and scale up our business to deliver on our mission of growing the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity,” said David Rosenberg, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AeroFarms. “Our customers love our leafy greens, which consistently win on quality, flavor, taste and texture. We are excited to break ground on our new farm, expand our retail presence in the region and bring our exceptional, great-tasting products to more customers.”
The Danville farm will feature AeroFarms’ proprietary and cutting-edge agSTACK technology, creating a fully connected and digitally controlled farm that integrates hardware, automation, intelligent controls and sensors, machine learning, machine vision, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and manufacturing execution systems to create a powerful data loop. By collecting and analyzing data through its 26 crop turns per year, AeroFarms’ team of engineers, plant scientists, and programmers gather insights about plants and apply these learnings for the continuous improvement of its farms, which yield annual productivity up to 390 times greater than traditional field farming, while using up to 95% less water and zero pesticides.
An AeroFarms vertical farm. - File photo
Rosenberg continued, “Danville-Pittsylvania County is the perfect location to introduce our next-generation Model 5 farm that will be able to serve the more than 1,000 food retailers in the region. Our new farm will deepen our established retailer partnerships even further and make our sustainably-grown, pesticide-free, and always fresh leafy greens available throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, while also creating high-quality jobs in the area. This new facility represents an inflection point in our growth trajectory as we scale our technology and expand our retail distribution footprint and customer reach.”
About AeroFarms
Since 2004, AeroFarms has been leading the way for indoor vertical farming and championing transformational innovation for agriculture. On a mission to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity, AeroFarms is a Certified B Corporation Company with global headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, United States. Named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company two years in a row and one of TIME’s Best Inventions, AeroFarms patented, award-winning indoor vertical farming technology provides the perfect conditions for healthy plants to thrive, taking agriculture to a new level of precision, food safety, and productivity while using up to 95% less water and no pesticides versus traditional field farming. AeroFarms enables local production to safely grow all year round, using vertical farming for elevated flavor. In addition, through its proprietary growing technology platform, AeroFarms has developed multi-year strategic partnerships ranging from government to major Fortune 500 companies to help uniquely solve agriculture supply chain needs. For additional information, visit: https://aerofarms.com/.
On March 26, 2021, AeroFarms announced a definitive business combination agreement with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SV). Upon the closing of the business combination, AeroFarms will become publicly traded on Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol “ARFM”. Additional information about the transaction can be viewed here: https://aerofarms.com/investors/
No Offer or Solicitation
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction in connection with a proposed potential business combination among Spring Valley and AeroFarms or any related transactions, nor shall there be any sale, issuance or transfer of securities in any jurisdiction where, or to any person to whom, such offer, solicitation or sale may be unlawful. Any offering of securities or solicitation of votes regarding the proposed transaction will be made only by means of a proxy statement/prospectus that complies with applicable rules and regulations promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or pursuant to an exemption from the Securities Act or in a transaction not subject to the registration requirements of the Securities Act.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements included in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook,” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this presentation, regarding Spring Valley’s proposed acquisition of AeroFarms, Spring Valley’s ability to consummate the transaction, the benefits of the transaction and the combined company’s future financial performance, as well as the combined company’s strategy, future operations, estimated financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, and on the current expectations of the respective management of AeroFarms and Spring Valley and are not predictions of actual performance. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction, or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of AeroFarms and Spring Valley. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political, and legal conditions; the inability of the parties to successfully or timely consummate the proposed transaction, including the risk that any regulatory approvals are not obtained, are delayed or are subject to unanticipated conditions that could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the proposed transaction or that the approval of the stockholders of Spring Valley or AeroFarms is not obtained; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction; risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to AeroFarms; risks related to the expansion of AeroFarms’ business and the timing of expected business milestones; the effects of competition on AeroFarms’ business; the ability of Spring Valley or AeroFarms to issue equity or equity-linked securities or obtain debt financing in connection with the proposed transaction or in the future, and those factors discussed in Spring Valley’s final prospectus dated November 25, 2020 under the heading “Risk Factors,” and other documents Spring Valley has filed, or will file, with the SEC. If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that neither Spring Valley nor AeroFarms presently know, or that Spring Valley nor AeroFarms currently believe are immaterial, that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect Spring Valley’s and AeroFarms’ expectations, plans, or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this press release. Spring Valley and AeroFarms anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause Spring Valley’s and AeroFarms’ assessments to change. However, while Spring Valley and AeroFarms may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Spring Valley and AeroFarms specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Spring Valley’s and AeroFarms’ assessments of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.
Tagged aerofarms, indoor farm, indoor farming
PODCAST: The Future of Vertical Farming
In this conversation, we talk about whether indoor-grown food is equally healthy? How has the space of vertical farming merged?
An excerpt from Futurized:
In this conversation, we talk about whether indoor-grown food is equally healthy? How has the space of vertical farming merged? We discuss the demand for organic food, environmental concerns, soil quality depletion, groundwater depletion, and chemical pollution. Eddy explains the main distinctions and concepts, including Greenhouses, Hydroponics, Aeroponics, Aquaponic, Vertical farming, and the various growth vectors, such as a greenhouse, shipping container, skyscraper, or warehouse. We discuss sensors, climate control, LED lighting.
How do you define the vertical farming market? Who are the players? Which disruption forces are most actively influencing the field of vertical farming right now? How does he stay up to date? How does he recommend my listeners (and I) stay up to date? Looking at the next decade, I ask Eddy what he thinks will happen to vertical farming? We discuss high yield local food production in inner cities, near deserts, on islands, on in space, and beyond.
Read more >>
More about Futurized
Futurized - thought leadership on the future
Futurized goes beneath the trends, tracking the underlying forces of disruption in tech, policy, business models, social dynamics, and the environment. Join Trond Arne Undheim, futurist, author, investor, and serial entrepreneur, as he discusses the societal impact of deep tech such as AI, blockchain, IoT, life science, and robotics, interviewing smart people with a soul: founders, authors, executives, and other thought leaders. Futurized—a bi-weekly show, preparing YOU to deal with the next decade's disruption.
Sustainably Goals Urges Architect To Build A Greenhouse Around Former Fruit Farm
As decided by the municipality of Gooik, visitors can now see the refurbished agricultural buildings enclosed within a greenhouse-like structure, this way learning more about the countryside of Belgium
Is it a greenhouse, is it an educational center, is it a former fruit farm? It is all in one. A former fruit farm in Gooik, Belgium, is now functioning as an educational center. As decided by the municipality of Gooik, visitors can now see the refurbished agricultural buildings enclosed within a greenhouse-like structure, this way learning more about the countryside of Belgium. Architect Jo Taillieu: "We wanted a generous building that could provide the necessary comfort to all users of the center, even in bad weather, and provide an anchor point for exploring the Pajottenland.”
The old farmhouse had been used as an education center already for years, but the project became to big to be run by volunteers completely. That’s why the municipality bought it and realized further expansion plans.
Interwoven
"Paddenbroek is by no means inconspicuous. In the hilly Pajottenland region, landscape, nature, heritage, and culture have been closely interwoven for centuries. Maintaining that balance was one of the major goals," architect Jo Taillieu explains. "The farmstead and especially the outbuildings were in a bad state and unsuitable for achieving the intended objectives. The link with the context was almost non-existent. The first idea - a classic renovation - was discarded, as was a new building, because it was unrealistic and did not meet the task that could be expected of an educational and tourist center. We, therefore, opted for a roof that would cover the farmstead, the historic baking oven, and the space around it."
Photo courtesy Jo Tailleu
Sustainability was one of the main goals of the construction. The dilapidated outbuildings were dismantled and the farmstead and the baking oven incorporated, restored, and insulated with moisture-regulating wood-wool cement boards and loam. Only these rooms and the offices can be heated. Thus, heating costs are sustainably limited to a few cores in the building and not everything needs to be air-conditioned. Inside the unheated greenhouse, therefore, there is an intermediate climate. Visitors are sheltered from rain and wind and can still enjoy the magnificent view of the surroundings. Upstairs are two more multi-purpose rooms that can be used as meeting rooms.
According to Stefan De Clerq, one of the business managers of the greenhouse construction company, the challenge was mostly the size and complexity of the project, as the features of this construction did not allow for a basic model. We created a unique truss and steel construction where each step was carefully monitored. All steel components were produced in our own workshops. This challenge was brought to a successful conclusion by the close cooperation between our draftsmen, our production team, and the external architects. Our own typical aluminum profiles and glass, applied in the roof and wall, also contribute to the elegant appearance of this nevertheless quite robust realization."
The construction of a complex like that of Paddenbroek in a rural area is not obvious and initially met with the necessary reservations, as could be expected. The fact that the municipality was prepared to go along with the story of architect Jo Taillieu and project manager Dries Deleye, therefore, shows vision and insight. Now that the construction is complete, everyone agrees that Gooik has gained a valuable multipurpose center that responds to ecological sustainability and from which the residents can also derive maximum benefit.
Lead photo: Photo courtesy Jo Tailleu
Publication date: Thu 29 Apr 2021
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Vertical Farmer LettUsGrow Sets Sights on Commercial Greenhouse Market With New Harper Adams Partnership
New research project to explore how vertical farming approaches could be applied to the greenhouse sector to boost yields and curb environmental impacts
Jessica Rawnsley
29 April 2021
EXCLUSIVE: New research project to explore how vertical farming approaches could be applied to the greenhouse sector to boost yields and curb environmental impacts.
Vertical farming technology is poised to branch out into the commercial greenhouse sector, after indoor farming specialist LettUsGrow announced a major new partnership with Harper Adams, the UK's leading specialist agri-food university.
The partnership will enable a long-running trial to span across most of 2021, which will explore the environmental impact and compare growth data from two irrigation systems, aeroponics and hydroponics, in different settings: an aeroponic vertical farm and greenhouse, and a hydroponic greenhouse.
"Our food supply chain needs to be diversified to achieve productivity and stability, which means maximising the benefits of new technologies in different horticultural environments," said Charlie Guy, co-founder and CEO of LettUsGrow. "The advanced greenhouse industry is a huge part of modern food production and is entering an exciting new phase of growth to help meet global production and sustainability targets. We want to help this industry to grow more, sustainably."
According to company figures, vertical farms use 95 per cent less fertiliser and 95 per cent less water than open field farming. LettUsGrow has evolved a system for utilising aeroponics where rather than soak plant roots in water and nutrients, they are suspended and sprayed with mist. The company claims the approach consumes 30 per cent less water than a conventional hydroponic system, while produce grows an average 70 per cent faster. While a wide range of crops can be grown with the tech, the initial focus will be on growing kale and pea shoots.
The company has also developed Ostara, a smart control and farm management software systems, that will be used within the greenhouse and vertical farm trials. Ostara can be used to tailor lighting, irrigation, nutrient doses, and environment to individual crops within the same farm, as well as being used to collect a wide range of data sets, the company said.
To date vertical farms have been hampered by the considerable ongoing costs of generating artificial light. As such a key feature of the trials will be to identify whether an increase in energy use is balanced by an increase in farm productivity.
However, LettUsGrow is optimistic the application of its advanced aeroponics and Ostara technologies can deliver benefits for commercial greenhouses as well as vertical farms.
"Bringing aeroponics into a greenhouse setting is really exciting, as traditionally they run on hydroponics," said Ricardo Lopes, research scientist at LettUsGrow and the project's research lead. "There has been little research into this before so we're starting from scratch. There is huge potential in the opportunity to combine the precision of high-tech greenhouses with optimised aeroponic irrigation - meaning we could offer the plant the exact amount of water it needs, when it needs it, alongside the unique environmental control of greenhouse technology. The prospect of using aeroponics to decrease water usage within greenhouses could be a very important step in making greenhouse production even more sustainable and less energy demanding."
His comments were echoed by Dr Laura Vickers, senior lecturer in plant biology at Harper Adams, who said: "This is a particularly exciting project, greenhouses provide the half-way house between field based production and total controlled environment agriculture. They are excellent systems to apply to urban spaces, such as building rooftops. Quantifying the performance of technologies developed by LettUsGrow in our campus greenhouses, opens up the ability to assess resource efficiency, and evaluate how crop production could work in a variety of landscapes that could bring an array of stakeholders that we just don't see at the moment."
The hope is the partnership could represent a further step forward for a vertical farming sector that advocates maintain could make a huge contribution to efforts to bolster food production as climate impacts escalate. "Indoor farms can be deployed in areas without any fertile land," India Langley, LettUsGrow communications lead, told BusinessGreen. "That could be deserts, cities. There's one currently in the South Pole. As well as providing food, it takes the pressure off land that's already so stretched."
Lead photo: Credit: LettUsGrow
HECTAR Offers Free Design Plans For Open Source Hydroponics Unit
Felix Wieberneit from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London imagined a way for U.K. citizens with a limited amount of indoor space to build their own vertical garden and is now making the design free for anyone to download
Among all of the new hobbies picked up during the COVID-19 lockdowns, gardening has to be one of the most popular. Felix Wieberneit from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London imagined a way for U.K. citizens with a limited amount of indoor space to build their own vertical garden and is now making the design free for anyone to download.
Described as an open-source hydroponics unit, the HECTAR vertical farm is designed especially for interiors to help more people grow healthy food from home. Sponsored by multinational technology company Huawei, the unit is inspired by open-source electronic and 3D printing companies. Open-source describes a type of computer software that’’s released under a special license made to be accessible to the public. HECTAR has since been selected as one of 25 companies in the Imperial College Venture Catalyst Accelerator, a competition for local entrepreneurs.
It looks like a simple shelf, but the innovative hydroponics unit can grow a whopping 120 plants confined to a space the size of a cupboard. Even better, the design is fully modular and can be built using standard parts found in almost any hardware store. Wieberneit hopes the free plans will educate and empower regular people to grow their own food at home, without relying on pricey smart growing systems or seed subscription services. In theory, the unit can save users money in the long run as they cultivate their own edible plants like arugula, lettuce or herbs.
Plans include an instructional video, a bill of materials, and suggestions on where to find the parts. There is also a dedicated forum where users can ask questions if they get stuck or connect with others. The plans officially launched on March 16, and the company is still looking for U.K.-based beta testers to try the designs out for themselves. Those who are interested can download the plans from the HECTAR website, linked below.
How COVID-19 Fed The Dream of Growing Food At Home
Sales of hydroponic gardens boomed during the pandemic, but do high-tech solutions like those only further fuel inequality?
04-28-21
Sales of hydroponic gardens boomed during the pandemic, but do high-tech solutions like those only further fuel inequality?
This story is part of Home Bound, a series that examines Americans’ fraught relationship to their homes—and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hit the reset button. Read more here.
When COVID-19 struck the United States, people rushed to grocery stores to stock up on food, only to find that many shelf-stable items like beans, rice, and flour were sold out. It was the first time many of us were forced to consider where our food comes from—and how vulnerable the global food system really is.
These food shortages spurred many Americans to consider growing their own food for the first time. Some planted vegetables in their backyards and windowsills, while others went for high-tech hydroponic gardens.
In the years before the pandemic, startups developed these compact self-watering, self-fertilizing, gardening machines that were aesthetically pleasing, to boot. During the lockdowns, sales of these products—which start around $800—spiked, prompting venture capitalists to pour millions into the industry.
But as the COVID era comes to an end, it remains to be seen whether these high-tech gardens have staying power or whether they were just a short-lived novelty. And more broadly, it’s worth asking whether these devices can be a tool for making agriculture more sustainable and equitable, or whether they’re just another toy for the Whole Foods class.
![[Photo: courtesy of Freight Farms]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c8695d5016e11e71be1d83/1619629069957-K99MSQGYKS81T6DJFPUV/i-2-future-of-home-hydroponics.jpeg)
[Photo: courtesy of Freight Farms]
THE HYDROPONICS REVOLUTION
Hydroponics, which simply means growing plants in a solution of water and nutrients instead of soil, have been around since at least 600 BCE. But in the late 1920s, William Gericke of the University of California modernized these techniques, creating farms that require less space and up to 95% less water than soil-based farms but yield much bigger harvests by optimizing light, water, and nutrients. During World War II, the U.S. military built hydroponic gardens to grow vegetables for troops in locations that weren’t suited to traditional agriculture, such as Ascension Island, a refueling station in the Atlantic Ocean, where soldiers grew thousands of pounds of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, and radishes each month, staving off malnutrition.
COVID-19 prompted some countries to use hydroponics to deal with disruptions in the global supply chain. The Netherlands and Singapore, which have limited agricultural land and rely largely on imports, invested billions during the pandemic to build industrial hydroponics farms on rooftops and parking lots. In the United States, hydroponics are still a small business, with about 3,000 businesses generating around $800 million in revenue, a small sliver of the $451 billion from traditional farming. But analysts are banking that the industry is poised to grow.
Over the last five years, a bevy of startups—including Rise Gardens, Gardyn, Lettuce Grow, Aerogarden, and Click-and-Grow—have launched to create hydroponic systems that can fit inside a home. That’s a departure from the focus over the past century on large-scale hydroponics farms.
The devices are expensive, and before the pandemic, it was a tough sell convincing consumers to spend nearly $1,000 on a machine that might take years to pay off. But COVID-19 changed the game, as people around the world worried about food shortages. “The pandemic made people pay attention to where their food comes from and accelerated their interest in producing their own food,” says Nina Ichikawa, executive director of the Berkeley Food Institute, which promotes food equity. “This new awareness is a good thing.”
Many of these startups doubled or tripled their sales over the past year, and some investors are capitalizing on this interest. True Ventures, which funds Peloton and Blue Bottle, invested $2.6 million in Rise Gardens; Gardyn raised $10 million from JAB Holding Company, the largest shareholder in Keurig. And right before the pandemic, Estonia-based Click & Grow received $11 million in funding from Y Combinator and Ingka Group, which operates 367 Ikea stores in Europe.
[Photo: courtesy of Lettuce Grow]
A PERSONAL HYDROPONIC GARDEN
Despite my lifelong black thumb, I decided to test Lettuce Grow, a six-foot tall hydroponic garden that looks like a white sculpture with plants artfully growing on it. I’m shocked by how much food I’ve grown: My family of three now eats freshly plucked lettuces with each meal and yet our harvest is so plentiful, we’ve had to share our veggies with neighbors.
The beauty of hydroponic systems is that they’re designed to run on their own, with minimal intervention from the owner. My machine automatically waters and fertilizes the plants by pumping a nutrient-rich solution through the system for 15 minutes every hour. The high-efficiency LED light rings control how much light the plants receive, adding only a few dollars to our monthly electricity bill. All I have to do is top up the water in the base and add a few spoonfuls of plant food every week.
When it comes to seeds, all of these hydroponic startups are also, effectively, subscription programs. You need to buy seeds or seedlings from the company for about $2 apiece to replace the plants you’ve fully harvested. This takes anywhere from three weeks to several months depending on their growth cycle. “You get to enjoy the beauty of watching living things grow, without needing any expertise in farming,” says Jacob Pechenik, who co-founded Lettuce Grow in 2019 with the actress Zooey Deschanel.
And these startups aren’t just focused on making the machines smaller, they’ve also made them beautiful. Lettuce Grow, for instance, worked with the designer Pip Tomkins—who previously designed the Nokia M Series—to create a stand with vegetables and herbs cascading from the sides, much like you’d see on a plant wall. Rise Gardens partnered with TBD Innovations, a firm made up of former IDEO designers, to create a system that looks like a white cabinet with rows of plants above it. “We knew that our garden needed to look attractive for people to consider bringing them into their homes,” says Hank Adams, founder and CEO of Rise Gardens. “We wanted it to be beautiful and minimalist, so you’d be happy to have it whether you live in your studio apartment or large home.”
Rise Gardens, Gardyn, and Lettuce Grow all created modular systems, so customers can start with just a few levels of plants and expand over time. Pechenik says his goal was for Lettuce Grow to replace up to a fifth of a household’s produce. (I can attest that our 24-plant unit easily achieves this for a family of three.) For those who can afford it, these machines generate fruits and vegetables that are far tastier and more nutritious than what you’d normally buy at a store. Studies show that most produce loses 30% of its nutrients three days after harvest, and much of what we find in the grocery is much older than that.
Hydroponics provides an alternative to industrial agriculture, which has dominated our food system since the 1960s. Factory-like farms are bad for the planet because they deplete the soil, consume a lot of water, spew toxic pesticides into the environment, and contribute to deforestation. Transporting food around the country also generates carbon emissions and creates a lot of waste, since produce goes bad along the way. Half of all U.S. produce is thrown out. For me, one of the best parts about having a hydroponic garden at home is that we’ve virtually eliminated waste and have to make fewer trips to the grocery store.
FOOD INEQUITY
For now, most of these devices have gone to people interested in small-scale gardening. But the founders believe their products have the ability to disrupt our broken food system, if they’re able to scale. “We are not in the gardening business,” says FX Rouxel, Gardyn’s founder and CEO. “We’re trying to reinvent how people can grow their own food at scale. If we have solutions that are compelling enough, we believe we can change people’s food habits and reduce their dependence on the grocery store.” Gardyn launched in early 2020, and in its first year, Rouxel says its hundreds of customers grew 70,000 pounds of produce.
But Berkeley Food Institute’s Ichikawa argues that we should be skeptical about whether these high-end hydroponic systems can actually change the food system. Most people don’t have the money to invest hundreds of dollars in this hardware, and those are exactly the people who could most benefit. A tenth of households experience food insecurity and more than 23.5 million Americans live in neighborhoods without easy access to a supermarket. “Rich people are willing to spend their money on many new-fangled technologies that don’t necessarily impact the rest of the industry for better or for worse,” she says. “It’s just a new business opportunity for these startups.”
She points out that hydroponics don’t have to be so expensive or complicated. In fact, a lot of innovation around cost-effective small-scale hydroponics came from cannabis growers, many of whom were people of color operating underground. Entrepreneurs and scientists have been developing affordable DIY hydroponics in Africa, particularly Kenya. Startups like Hydroponics Africa have built systems that don’t require electricity and use inexpensive, locally available materials, including fungi-resistant aluminum trays. “These [U.S.] startups are creating a flashier, fancier version of systems that have actually been around for a long time,” Ichikawa says. “There are a lot of low-cost solutions that have emerged from the ground up, from the communities that depend on these technologies to survive.”
For now, Pechenik tries to make his technology available to more people by donating one Lettuce Grow machine for every 10 sold to schools, nonprofits, and community organizations. He says they’ve distributed several hundred already, along with $1 million in donations. Rise Garden, meanwhile, has launched a smaller machine that starts at $279. “I compare this to the early days of personal computing when a laptop was very expensive, and yet now, laptops are widely available,” Adams says. “As hydroponic gardens scale, the cost of manufacturing will go down.”
One answer might come from systems that are large enough to feed a community, rather than a single family, and thus are more cost-effective. Take, for instance, Freight Farms, which debuted the first hydroponic farm inside a shipping container in 2012. The company sells $130,000 containers that can generate the same amount of food as three and a half acres of farmland, enough to feed hundreds of people. Long-term, these systems are more economical given their scale and could help solve food insecurity problems. The city of Boston, for instance, bought five Freight Farm systems in Mattapan, where 20% of the population lives below the poverty line, to create a high-tech farming co-op. “Our farms are being used as part of community redevelopment,” says Rick Vanzura, Freight Farms’ CEO.
[Photos: courtesy of Freight Farms]
During the pandemic, Freight Farms’ sales tripled, and the company expects business to triple again in 2021. Last year, it landed $15 million in Series B funding, bringing its total to $28 million. Vanzura believes that for hydroponics to have an impact on agriculture, there will need to be farms of different sizes, ranging from individual gardens to industrial farms. In fact, Freight Farms advised Lettuce Grow about growing techniques, drawing from its decade-worth of data. “We need to cooperate as an industry to take the best of what we each do and help each other get better,” he says.
As hydroponics grow in popularity, Ichikawa says that it’s important to remember that it is not the only, or best, solution to cultivating food for a community. The poor tend to be most impacted by problems in the food system and suffer from health issues due to lack of access to nutritious food. This is why organizations like hers advocate for food sovereignty, which means empowering communities to take charge of their own food supply through things like local ownership of grocery stores and backyard or community gardening.
While midsize hydroponic systems could be a tool for tackling food insecurity, she worries that it could create a new barrier to entry, making access to fresh food seem even more out of reach. “Food sovereignty can absolutely protect us from the instabilities from pandemics or climate change, so any way that folks can feel autonomy over their food supply is a good thing,” Ichikawa says. “But you don’t need a fancy hydroponic system to do this. You could do it just as easily with a bucket of soil by a window.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth Segran, Ph.D., is a senior staff writer at Fast Company. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts
[Source Images: courtesy of Lettuce Grow]
Vertical Farming On The Rise: Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station And 80 Acres Farms Enter Research Agreement
Utilizing world-class technology and analytics to offer customers a wide variety of pesticide-free food with a longer shelf-life that exceeds the highest food safety standards
80 Acres Farms enters into a master research agreement with the Experiment Station at The University of Arkansas with scientists to propose collaborative vertical farming research projects aimed to advance the science of vertical farming
NEWS PROVIDED BY 80 Acres Farms
HAMILTON, Ohio, April 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vertical farming business 80 Acres Farms has entered into a collaborative research agreement with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station to advance the science of vertical farming.
Scientists with the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, will coordinate with 80 Acres Farms researchers to pursue a variety of vertical farming research topics, said Bryan Renk, director of commercialization for the division's Technology Commercialization Office.
Utilizing world-class technology and analytics to offer customers a wide variety of pesticide-free food with a longer shelf-life that exceeds the highest food safety standards.
"Vertical farming is growing and trending," Renk said. "There are multiple companies forming across the U.S. that are trying to take advantage of that trend."
Jean-François Meullenet, senior associate vice president for agriculture research and director of the experiment station, said the agreement provides a unique opportunity for research.
"We are very excited about this new research partnership with 80 Acres Farms," Meullenet said. "Protected farming is a strategic research direction for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, and 80 Acres Farm is a leader in this area."
Renk said that the initial round of proposed and current research includes a project analyzing the chemical components of 80 Acres produce, an exploration into new protocols for vertical farming, and evaluation of novel blackberry variety selections that are suited for the vertical farming environment.
"We have a great multidisciplinary team of faculty that can make great contributions to the development of vertical farming technology," Meullenet said. "I look forward to seeing the impact we can have through this research."
"80 Acres is expanding its vertical farming R&D facility in Springdale, Arkansas to develop the growing recipes for multiple leafy and fruiting produce crops," said Victor Verlage, senior vice president for operations, agronomy, and research and development at 80 Acres Farms. "We are calibrating and aligning all the growing conditions, incorporating several proprietary AgTech capabilities that were not available until recently, to bring hyper-fresh fruits and vegetables loaded with taste and nutrition so our consumers can indulge in healthy diets," he said.
Margaret Worthington, assistant professor of fruit breeding and genetics in the horticulture department for the experiment station and Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, is evaluating blackberry varieties that may perform well in these novel growing conditions.
"We hope to identify blackberry breeding selections that perform well in fully-controlled indoor environments and vertical farms," Worthington said.
"Fruit breeding is a long-term effort," she said. "We need to be forward-thinking and consider how the potential varieties moving through our breeding pipeline are going to fit into new markets and productions systems that are just beginning to develop.
"The Arkansas Fruit Breeding Program has a history of mutually beneficial public-private research collaborations and I am looking forward to working with this new partner," she said.
In addition to collaborating on research, 80 Acres Farms also plans to create internship opportunities for Bumpers college students.
"80 Acres Farms is eager to provide opportunities for the next generation of farmers where they will have access to best-in-class vertical farming technology," said Verlage. "The students will have immersive training right here in Northwest Arkansas, minutes from the university campus."
To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uark.edu. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch and Instagram at ArkAgResearch.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation's historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
About 80 Acres Farms
80 Acres Farms is a vertical farming leader providing customers with the freshest and most nutritious fruits and vegetables at affordable prices. Utilizing world-class technology and analytics, the Company offers customers a wide variety of pesticide-free food with a longer shelf-life that exceeds the highest food safety standards.
For further information, please contact us at:
Rebecca Haders / rebecca.haders@eafarms.com / +1 513-910-9089
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80 Acres Farms' Vertical Farming Technology
Utilizing world-class technology and analytics to offer customers a wide variety of pesticide-free food with a longer shelf-life that exceeds the highest food safety standards.
SOURCE 80 Acres Farms
High Tech And Ancient Methods Meet At The Vertical Fields of Nabo Farm
In a former auto repair shop in the outskirts of Copenhagen, a farm has found its unlikely grounds. Fresh coriander, pea sprouts, and edible flowers are grown at the vertical farm – and sold to some of the finest restaurants in Denmark
21 April 2021
In a former auto repair shop in the outskirts of Copenhagen, a farm has found its unlikely grounds. Fresh coriander, pea sprouts, and edible flowers are grown at the vertical farm – and sold to some of the finest restaurants in Denmark.
There is no soil at Nabo Farm. And the Sun never shines on the crops. Layer upon layer of sprouts are growing in the purple fluorescent light. Rocket sprouts, pea sprouts, coriander, red mustard, nasturtium, and dill all thrive at the vertical farm specialized in microgreens – in the outskirts of Copenhagen.
For almost three years Nabo Farm has been a so-called vertical farm. Technology is at the core of the production. LED lights make sure that the plants get the perfect sunny day every day without ever seeing the sun. A hydroponic watering system makes soil superfluous and saves 90 percent of water consumption at the same time. This technology combined makes it possible to grow multiple layers of crops. To create a farm in the middle of the city. And to save valuable farmland for other crops.
The name “Nabo Farm” can loosely be translated to “the farm next door”. And during the relatively short time, Nabo Farm has existed the company has managed to get customers such as Aamands and Denmark’s first and only two Michelin starred restaurant Alchemist. All products are grown specifically to order – and delivered by bicycle.
Cucumbers on the fourth floor
It all started with a home-built watering system for a few vegetables grown on Jens Juul Krogshede’s fourth-floor balcony. He was going away on holiday for a few weeks and didn’t want to see all his hard work amount to nothing.
“I had worked in the tech industry for many years and had burned out a bit. That’s when I started growing tomatoes and cucumbers on my balcony. When we had to go away for a few weeks – I build my own watering system in the living room. And that started all of this,” says Jens Juul Krogshede.
“One thing quickly led to another, and I learned about hydroponics – how to grow plants without soil. A core element of vertical farming. That took me to the next level – and I no longer had to carry big bags of soil up five flights of stairs,” he tells.
Hydroponics is a technique that dates back to the Hanging Gardens in Babylon, he adds.
At about this time Jens Juul Krogshede meets the soon-to-be co-founder of Nabo Farm, Sebastian Dragelykke, who was already working with developing the future of foods at a think tank in Copenhagen.
“Together we saw the technology – the opportunity – and went with it,” says Jens Juul Krogshede.
Sustainability is the driving force
From the very beginning, sustainability has been at the core of Nabo Farm. On several levels. The two founders want to be a part of the solution when it comes to feeding the growing population on planet Earth. They want to be a part of the solution to the climate challenges we all face.
“There are more and more people on the planet who eat more and more food. With vertical farming we can create a fundamental change in the way we produce food. A great addition to traditional farming. With vertical farming we can produce food in old basements, inside old factories and on rooftops in the cities without causing further damage to the climate. This is something we have to do. In the long run we might even be able to take out traditional farmland to develop biodiversity,” says Jens Juul Krogshede.
“Nabo Farm helps to solve a different sustainability issue as well. In the food supply chain. The first year we existed we found out that many restaurants in Copenhagen have a demand for fresh coriander during the winter. At this time of the year, coriander must be imported from Spain or The Netherlands. By growing crops our way, we can supply local coriander all year round – and we deliver by bicycle – not by truck.”
Rapidly developing technology
Every day is a perfect summer day inside Nabo Farm thanks to the fluorescent LED lights. The conditions are optimal for the microgreens.
It’s all possible because the LED technology has been going through a rapid development in the last couple of years. Where the lights used to be extremely expensive, the technology is now affordable.
“Not that many years ago, the only products you could grow this way with a profit were of a shadier kind. However, the rentability is still the main challenge for vertical farming, and a lot of vertical farms still struggle to make a profit. There are still many unknowns, and the technology is still developing rapidly,” says Jens Juul Krogshede.
Next step in Copenhagen
Vertical farming is a part of the future of food production. Therefore Food & Bio Cluster Denmark is now establishing a new network for vertical farming. Here the high-tech farmers can meet, share knowledge, hear from industry experts and scholars. Nabo Farm is already a part of that network.
“Denmark is a farming country by tradition. We are great farmers. We also have a great tradition for knowledge and academia. If we can bring the two together, I believe Denmark can be an industry-leading country in vertical farming. That’s why we’ve joined the new network,” says Jens Juul Krogshede.
As for Nabo Farm, the company has just received a new investment that will take the company to the next level and scale the business to turn it into a franchise that can thrive sustainably in other Northern European cities.
Square Roots Opens New Indoor Farm, Produces First Harvest
The farm’s first locally grown harvest of herbs and greens that includes basils, arugula and radish microgreens will be available for consumers to purchase on e-commerce platforms, restaurants and grocery stores across the Great Lakes region in the coming weeks
April 15, 2021
New York-based Square Roots, an urban indoor farming company, opened a two-story indoor farm located at Gordon Food Service headquarters in Wyoming.
The farm’s first locally grown harvest of herbs and greens that includes basils, arugula and radish microgreens will be available for consumers to purchase on e-commerce platforms, restaurants and grocery stores across the Great Lakes region in the coming weeks.
Construction on the indoor farm began in December and the first seeds were planted in March. The farm is cloud-connected and is managed by Square Roots’ farmers and in-house software.
“COVID-19 exposed major weaknesses in the industrial food supply chain and accelerated the already fast-growing local farming movement,” said Kimbal Musk, co-founder and executive chair of Square Roots. “Square Roots can now deploy commercial-scale, controlled-climate farms, fast, in locations across America to meet the demand for local food, all year-round. My wider mission is to bring responsibly grown, local food to everyone in America.”
A farmer harvest basil. Courtesy Square Roots
The farm’s proprietary OS, otherwise known as The Square Roots Farmer Toolbelt, provides day-to-day guidance to farmers while capturing millions of data points throughout growing cycles. The data can then be analyzed to determine how changes in certain environmental parameters impact factors like yield, taste, and texture.
In addition to the technology that drives its operation, there also are cold storage, biosecurity, climate-controlled packaging space, and distributor loading docks, among other things in the farm that ensures food safety.
The new indoor farm is Square Roots’ third commercial facility.
Lead photo: Construction on Square Roots' indoor farm began in December and the first seeds were planted in March. Courtesy Square Roots
How To Be A Hydroponic Farmer: Expert Advice From Agricultural Entrepreneur
For a decade, Sharaff worked in the finance, nonprofit, and hospitality industries, struggling to find a calling
“Everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned the hard way,” laughs Hassan Sharaff, BE’07, gesturing to, well, everything: the polyethylene greenhouse walls with a soaring aluminum frame, torqued by last year’s derecho winds, and tray after tray of arugula, basil, kale, and lettuce shoots, drinking in diffuse winter sunlight, tropical humidity and ever-flowing water.
“Water is fascinating. We still understand so little about it,” says Sharaff, the owner of HydroHouse Farms, a commercial hydroponics business in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, that supplies leafy greens to many restaurants and businesses in Nashville—including Vanderbilt Campus Dining. He’s a man with many interests. As a boy growing up in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and New York, Sharaff loved car engines, airplanes, and spaceships. At Vanderbilt, he studied mechanical engineering. Then he headed home to New York to start a career in finance—following in his dad’s professional footsteps.
For a decade, Sharaff worked in the finance, nonprofit, and hospitality industries, struggling to find a calling. After college, he’d prioritized making money. But as he got older, his values began to shift. “I wanted to make a positive contribution to society,” he says. “I believed in kindness and philanthropy, things my parents instilled in me.”
A hydroponic farming enterprise ticked all the boxes of what he considered a calling: “Provide a valuable service, work on my feet, make a decent income and be proud of what I’m doing,” he says. Ten years after graduation, Sharaff, who’d never sowed a seed before, built a greenhouse with his dad in his parents’ backyard in suburban New York. He launched a mini hydroponic operation there to experiment with horticulture while he plotted his agribusiness venture. Location was a problem: He needed to plant himself on the fertile ground near a city full of chefs who wanted quality produce, but where real estate prices weren’t sky-high. New York was a non-starter. Portland, Oregon, didn’t feel right.
In early 2016, Sharaff flew to Nashville, his first trip back since college. He found a thriving culinary scene and affordable land east of the city. That September he closed on 17 acres in Mount Juliet, and he launched operations in May 2017. His business has survived hard-won lessons from nature and the marketplace. He shares a few of these here for prospective farmers—or for anyone who dreams of “providing more than you’ve taken” from the world.
For more information:
Vanderbilt University
www.vanderbilt.edu
26 Apr 2021
When We Started Freight Farms In 2010, There Was No Such Thing As An “Ag Tech” industry
Freight Farms has a passionate customer base of small businesses, entrepreneurs, traditional farmers, hotels, restaurants, corporate campuses, universities, and non-profits
We weren’t even sure how to explain what we were trying to do to our own friends and family! But we knew that there was a need for urban agriculture to emerge as a competitive industry in the food landscape. That’s why Freight Farms was born—to build the infrastructure and technology that would allow local food to thrive around the globe.
Less than a decade later, we are proud to be on the forefront of the fast-growing Agriculture Technology industry. Freight Farms has grown into a platform that anyone can use to supply their communities with fresh produce year-round, regardless of background or geographic location. We’ve had the pleasure of launching our container farming system in over 44 states in the US and 24 countries around the globe, creating the largest network of connected farmers.
Freight Farms has a passionate customer base of small businesses, entrepreneurs, traditional farmers, hotels, restaurants, corporate campuses, universities, and non-profits. We’d love to welcome you into our community of Freight Farmers, and our team is ready to help you get started.
Jon Friedman and Brad McNamara
Freight Farms Co-Founders
VIDEO: One Sure Way To Save Our Soil – Don’t Use Any
The advantage of container farming is the ability to create commercial-scale production within a small space the size of your standard 40-foot shipping container through vertical farming techniques
In the push for regenerative agriculture and soil rehabilitation, container farming has an important role to play.
The idea behind regenerative agriculture isn’t new, but this year it is front and center as one of the key initiatives of the official Earth Day 2021 campaign: Restore Our Earth™.
According to the Earth Day organization, overfarming has caused soil capacity in the U.S. to decline dramatically, losing soil 10 times faster than it can be replenished. The result is that in many places, the land has as few as 60 harvests left before it is completely depleted. Unfortunately, with ownership of farms increasingly concentrated in the hands of industrial or foreign producers, the promise of short-term profits wins out over long-term solutions that would prioritize soil health.
What is regenerative agriculture?
Regenerative farming takes an opposite position. As a school of thought, it is a method of farming that actively fights soil degradation by restoring carbon to the soil, which has a double benefit of renewing the viability of the land while simultaneously removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. There are many different types of regenerative agriculture, here’s a helpful video to explain the main three:
But between destroying the soil and saving the soil, there’s a third option: not using any soil at all. This is the premise behind container farming.
Container farming to save soil.
Container farming is a subset of the indoor farming industry, which includes everything from greenhouses and warehouses to at-home tabletop setups. The advantage of container farming is the ability to create commercial-scale production within a small space the size of your standard 40-foot shipping container through vertical farming techniques. Inside the container, plants are protected from the external elements and nurtured using nutrient-enriched water, powerful red and blue light, and optimal temperatures.
Notice anything missing? Oh yeah–soil!
Container farming with hydroponics completely eliminates the need for soil to grow food, which is great news for the whole regenerative agriculture movement. Since regenerative farming is based on the idea of protecting soil, container farming is able to take the whole idea to the logical extreme by not using any soil–period.
Not only does container farming prevent the further degradation of soil, but it actually frees up land to be actively regenerated. At Freight Farms, our containers (each capable of growing an average of 2 acres of food) have already saved 700 acres of land… which’s equal to about 530 football fields!
Additional sustainability benefits
Beyond regenerative agriculture, which is primarily focused on soil, container farming brings many additional sustainable benefits. The Greenery S is able to save:
Water: 99% less water than is used in conventional agriculture.
Food miles: we move the farms, not the food. Instead of trucking/shipping food from a centralized location, we put the farm as close to the final consumer as possible.
Carbon emissions: in addition to reducing food miles, we’ve partnered with Arcadia to make it easy and effective for our farmers to get onto the renewable energy grid and make their carbon footprint just one-quarter of what it would be if they were farming using industrial farming methods.
Regenerating communities
While regenerative agriculture may start with soil, the implications on climate change, food access, and food security are clear. In the same way, container farming is also more than just improving the sustainability of our agriculture system. In addition to saving soil, land, water and reducing food miles and carbon emissions, container farming unlocks many important social gains:
Independence: when we are not reliant on soil, land, and climate, we can make any place a farm. This makes it possible for us to create the distributed system we need to combat the harmful effects of industrial farming and centralized food systems.
Equality: independence from soil and land also creates more food equality, since individuals and communities need fewer resources (money & land) to create commercial-scale farms.
More farmers: Soil is complicated and nuanced, it takes huge amounts of experience and education to know how to do regenerative agriculture properly. With container farming, everyone can be a low-impact farmer.
More varieties: Conventional agriculture is beholden to monocropping, which improves the unit economics of growing food but also increases the risk of crop failure, blight, and soil degradation. Container farming makes it possible to grow hundreds of plant varieties, introducing people to new types of plants and growing public perception of the diversity you can have with fresh greens. This can have an overall positive effect on market demands and help move the whole system away from relying on mono-cropping.
Learn more about the Earth Day Restore Our Earth™ campaign and check out how Freight Farms is helping support the regenerative farming movement with container farming!
Freight Farms
Empowering anyone to grow food anywhere. Freight Farms makes local food accessible in any climate with the Greenery™ container farm.
April 23, 2014
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Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit June 24-25
We can’t wait for the virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit! From 65+ global speakers to 1-1 video networking opportunities and live-streamed panel discussions, this is one event you don’t want to miss on June 24-25
We can’t wait for the virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit! From 65+ global speakers to 1-1 video networking opportunities and live-streamed panel discussions, this is one event you don’t want to miss on June 24-25.
Find Out More
Join iGrow News at the virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit (June 24-25) and connect with global farm operators, retailers, and investors for two days of insights into how CEA and vertical farming can reach greater profitability and scale
Find Out More
Global farm operators, retailers, investors, and technology providers will host live panel sessions and interactive roundtable debates on new trends and technologies at the virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit (June 24-25):
REGISTER
The virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit will focus on CEA and vertical farming reaching greater profitability and scale in the USA and overseas.
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On June 24-25?
VIDEO: Tortuga Raises $ 20m To Build Hundreds of Harvesting Robots
Last year Tortuga launched a strawberry harvesting robot. This platform is flexible, according to Tortuga it can be adapted to work on other crops like indoor-grown tomatoes or outdoor table grapes
23-04-2021
Harvest automation start-up Tortuga completed a $ 20 million Series A funding. The money will be used to build hundreds of robots to deploy in 2022.
Last year Tortuga launched a strawberry harvesting robot. This platform is flexible, according to Tortuga it can be adapted to work on other crops like indoor-grown tomatoes or outdoor table grapes.
Picking robots
“For many years, the story behind harvesting robotics has been a lot of promise but really companies have struggled to deliver on that promise for the customer. That’s because this is one of the hardest problems there is to solve,” Eric Adamson, co-founder of Tortuga AgTech told AgFunder News. “Not only are we doing autonomous robotics but we are also doing picking robotics and we are doing them together in really unstructured environments.”
Robots-as-a-service
The $ 20 million in new capital will be used to build hundreds of robots to deploy in 2022. Some of the funding will also go towards building out the operating model and making sure there are enough employees to operate the robot fleets.
Tortuga currently offers its technology through a robots-as-a-service model, getting paid by the kilo for the produce that its robots pick.
Additional services
“On top of that, as we provide other services that are close to harvest, like data-driven forecasting and other types of cultivation services, those will also be service-based although they may not be quite so specific to a kilogram. We are charging for some of these additional services on a monthly or per-hectare basis,” Adamson told AFN.
Web editor for Future Farming
INDIA: VIDEO - University Student Runs Farm In Kuala Lumpur
Ah Pa, a well-known YouTube cook recently visited Sean, a university student living in Kuala Lumpur who runs his own farm. As Sean calls it, his E-farm is located in the middle of the city
Ah Pa, a well-known YouTube cook recently visited Sean, a university student living in Kuala Lumpur who runs his own farm. As Sean calls it, his E-farm is located in the middle of the city.
The self-built foil-greenhouse comprises 1000 sq. ft. and is filled with vertical growing towers and an aquaponic system. Currently, the farm has 1000 tilapia that are fed by the plants grown in Sean's greenhouse. "We're growing more than 20 plants here," says Sean, whereas we can grow up to 60 different plants and herbs."
Click on the video below to hear Sean's story.
23 Apr 2021
How Can 'Aquaponics' Farming Help Create Sustainable Food Systems?
Millions of people around the world go hungry every year, due to lack of access to healthy food and the effects of climate change on agricultural development
By Jaxx Artz
APRIL 23, 2021
Aquaponics has the potential to help people who are food insecure take control of the food system
Why Global Citizens Should Care
Millions of people around the world go hungry every year, due to lack of access to healthy food and the effects of climate change on agricultural development. Aquaponics is a sustainable growing method that has the potential to put food production into the hands of the people who experience food insecurity, giving them autonomy in controlling their access to safe and nutritious produce. Join us by taking action to strengthen our food systems and protect the planet here.
Global Citizens everywhere are increasingly recognizing the need for more sustainable career options to increase global food security.
According to a 2020 report from UNICEF on the state of food security and nutrition in the world, almost 690 million people went hungry in 2019, or 8.9% of the world population. This is due, in part, to the high costs associated with eating nutritiously, the lack of access to healthy food, and the effects of climate change devastating agricultural production systems.
As more government leaders commit to becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and more people choose to change their habits (like eating less meat) to reduce their carbon footprint, methods of food production that promote a harmonious relationship between humans and the environment are becoming more common.
One of these methods involves fish.
Aquaponics farming is a method of sustainable agriculture that forms a symbiotic relationship between fish and plants. It involves the use of a fish tank placed below a grow bed for plants, where the main input to the system is fish food.
When the fish produce waste, it is cycled out of the fish tank into the grow bed, where bacteria transform ammonia into nitrates that plants need to grow. The water is then filtered and returned to the fish tank, aiding in the highly optimized, zero-waste process of farming fish and plants together.
Yemi Amu, founder and director of Oko Farms in Brooklyn, New York, working on the outdoor aquaponics farm. Photo courtesy of Oko Farms.
The practice of aquaponic gardening can be traced back centuries. In central Mexico around 1000 AD, the Aztec people developed a technique known as chinampa to expand their growing efforts to the surface of lakes and ponds, according to the Permaculture Research Institute. By weaving together logs and sticks to create a “floating farm,” the Aztecs used water from the lakes and waste produced by fish to nourish crops.
Aquaponics also has roots in Southeast Asia, where farmers cultivated rice and fish concurrently, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. The practice of raising fish in rice fields became one of the best examples of polyculture farming as a method of sustainability.
Photo courtesy of Oko Farms.
In recent years, aquaponics has increasingly been chosen as a growing option for urban farmers, or those who practice agriculture in cities and must rely on vertical farming techniques when faced with less land area. Many of these aquaponics farmers choose to produce food for their communities, particularly in areas where economic inequalities threaten household food security.
Around the world, the environmental impacts of climate change are preventing low-income people from accessing sufficient, safe, and nutritious foods. To improve global food systems and decrease food insecurity, it is more important than ever for people to practice sustainable agricultural development.
To learn more about how aquaponics can aid in the production of sustainable food systems, Global Citizen spoke to Yemi Amu, founder, and director of Oko Farms, an aquaponics farm and learning center in Brooklyn, New York.
Global Citizen: Tell me a little about your background and how you became interested in agriculture.
Yemi Amu: My background is in nutrition and behavior modification. I spent a lot of my time at the beginning of my career really using a hands-on approach to guiding people to adopting healthy dietary habits and trying to understand what the barriers are. Things like knowing how to cook ... can be a barrier for people, and knowing what food to buy from the grocery store.
I also happened, at one point, to be working with a formerly homeless population, and for that particular group going out into the world — like leaving the neighborhood, going to the grocery store to shop — it was not practical for them. They are dealing with anxiety, and [going from] being chronically homeless to living in an apartment [is] a huge adjustment that most people don’t understand.
After working with them, I found that they were only eating well when I was preparing the food for them. When I wasn’t involved, they weren’t going on their own to get healthy food. And so after going back and forth with my colleagues, who were social workers, we decided, hey, you know what, the roof of the building where the residents lived would be a great place to grow food because it was intended to be a green roof. We decided, “Why not turn that into a farm?” and really that’s how my farming career started.
So how did your interest in aquaponics specifically come about?
I discovered aquaponics while I was on the roof. I learned how to farm along with the residents and had to learn about seasonal growing, what it’s like to grow in a soil-less environment, and how to grow in raised beds. I’m from Nigeria. I grew up in a city, in Lagos, and so the idea of people farming in a city wasn’t weird. But farming in New York City? It seemed so different, and so learning about aquaponics and how you don’t have to worry about watering plants, I just found it fascinating.
I started visiting farms around the country just to see how aquaponics works in practice and make sense of it. I saw how it could play a really big role in not just feeding people but also raising awareness about alternative agricultural methods. Around 2011, hydroponics [using nutrient-rich water for agriculture instead of soil] was becoming popular, and I thought it was so great to throw aquaponics in the mix. The system can work indoors or outdoors, it saves water, and Oko Farms was built a couple of years later.
Aquaponics is also a throwback to other cultures that have used it in the past. In Peru, in China — so many cultures around the world had these models that were rooted in the idea of raising animals and plants together. It was industrial agriculture that saw people no longer raising animals and plants in tandem, so it’s great that we can bring this centuries-old model back to the urban environment.
For people who experience drought, or live in an urban environment — can aquaponics improve food access, or be used in conjunction with other methods of sustainable agriculture?
I mean, this isn't a one-size-fits-all model. Aquaponics can absolutely be used in conjunction [with other methods of sustainable agriculture].
It’s not that there is anything wrong with soil, but we are living in a very complex environment. There are barriers for many communities to access food, like not having space to grow food, and aquaponics systems can be set up to address these barriers and ecological issues.
Aquaponics, in my experience, lends itself better to small-scale production. And I think that we can ultimately guarantee food security for those of us that live in urban areas. It doesn’t require a lot of land, it saves water. Water access is limited for a lot of people around the world, and we use a lot of water in agriculture specifically. Aquaponics can address this problem because it requires very little input of water.
Your work at Oko Farms emphasizes education, specifically around helping people learn to grow their own food, in food sovereignty. Can you speak to why that is important in the production of sustainable food systems?
I haven’t seen our current system support people, empower people, or ensure food security. Giving people the tools to [control their access to food] is important. Our workshop model supports people in building their own aquaponics system, and in an urban environment, it is important for us to have a space to teach the public about food systems.
At Oko, we donate some of the produce we grow, and then we sell some of it at farmers’ markets in the area. Sometimes people come to the farm and buy produce off the farm — they know it’s grown here. Aquaponics has helped us develop that system as we look to feed ourselves sustainably, or just feed ourselves, period.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Peroxide UltraPure™ Produced Directly On-Site Improves Growth And Yield In Super-Intensive Olive Plantation
HPNow addresses growing global challenges in clean water and sanitation through its range of on-site, autonomous, safe and sustainable hydrogen peroxide generation solutions
Successful Implementation of HPGen™
At 160 ha Olive Plantation In Alentejo, Portugal
The Alentejo region in Portugal is known for its long sunny days, which create ideal conditions for the growth of high-quality olives. Irrigation water in the region is sourced from the Alqueva dam, and especially in the summer months, it accumulates a high quantity of organic matter (algae, bacteria). This caused a problem for growers in the region specifically with drippers clogging, irrigation uniformity, and soil oxygenation. To address this situation, one of the largest olive plantation companies in the region, with more than 2000 ha, turned to NaanDanJain Ibérica and HPNow for help in a super-intensive plantation of young olive trees (2 years old) of 160 hectares.
HPNow, together with its channel partner NaanDanJain Ibérica, were able to identify this accumulation of organic matter from the dam in the drip irrigation lines which led to two main issues:
1. Organic matter was blocking a substantial amount of drippers, and as a consequence, the trees did not receive all water and fertilizer that they should.
2. The organic matter consumed dissolved oxygen in the water, another essential nutrient for proper tree development.
These two issues led to a slower tree development, which was very visible in this young plantation and threatened the viability of the operation.
To correct this situation, an HPGen™ system was installed at the plantation, producing Peroxide UltraPure™ that was injected in the drip lines of half of the plantation (80 ha). The other 80 ha did not receive any dosing.
Peroxide UltraPure™ had a dual effect in the olive field:
1. Oxidation of organic matter in the lines, which kept the drippers free of clogging and allowed plants to receive all the required water and fertilizer.
2. After Peroxide UltraPure™ is used for oxidation of organic matter, it becomes water and oxygen. This extra oxygen increases levels of dissolved oxygen in water, which acts as a nutrient and has a positive impact on the development of the root system and plant health.
The response of the trees was monitored for a full growing season. The trees in the section with Peroxide UltraPure™ clearly had more vegetative growth, and the coloration on the leaves was also deeper, indicating improved nutrient absorption. When comparing yields, Peroxide UltraPure™ resulted in higher production.
The farm manager expressed his enthusiasm about the solution: “With the HPGen system the olive trees look better, healthier, and all drippers are working. I noticed a much better irrigation uniformity, which translates to higher production”.
Better growth, higher yields
With those results, the olive trees are well irrigated and receive the nutrients they require, which clearly contributes to better growth and higher olive yields. The results are explained by the oxidizing power of Peroxide UltraPure™, which will keep irrigation lines clear, while oxidizing organic matter in the irrigation lines and making extra oxygen available to the crop. This ensures irrigation lines are clean and drippers flowing, getting water and fertilizer uniformly throughout the field while at the same time improving plant nutrition.
About HPNow
HPNow addresses growing global challenges in clean water and sanitation through its range of on-site, autonomous, safe and sustainable hydrogen peroxide generation solutions. Headquartered in Copenhagen, and with representation across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, they address their clients’ water treatment needs in market segments ranging from agriculture and aquaculture, to industrial and drinking water treatment. HPNow is a technology and market leader in the on-site generation of hydrogen peroxide and is continuously striving to further advance its technology and products in order to meet growing market needs and rising global demand.
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