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June 1st Tuesday 11:00 AM Eastern

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"All Season Oishii Berry:

America's first vertical strawberry farm"

by Hiroki Koga
Oishii

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Purpose At Work: How Square Roots Is Growing A Sustainable Food Movement

May 24, 2021

Simon Mainwaring Contributor

CMO Network

I write about how to drive growth for purpose-driven brands.

Purpose At Work: How Square Roots Is Growing A Sustainable Food Movement

PHOTO PROVIDED BY SQUARE ROOTS

How can we reduce the climate impacts of our food system? How can we get the freshest produce to people in urban areas? How can we offer fulfilling jobs to today’s youth? These are all issues that Square Roots is working to address. 

“The mission of the company is to bring locally grown food to people in cities, all across the world while empowering the next generation of leaders in urban agriculture,” Tobias Peggs, Co-founder, and CEO of Square Roots, tells We First.

The agriculture startup’s modular and technology-first design is transforming how food is grown and distributed in amazing ways. The scalability and data-driven approach make Square Roots an excellent example of a company demonstrating how to scale business growth and impact.

Founding story

Before Square Roots, Tobias received a Ph.D. in machine learning and had worked for a number of successful startups, one of which was acquired by Walmart. “I worked as a data scientist there for a year. One of the projects they had me do was study global grocery buying behaviors.”  With around 300 million customers, Tobias had a massive amount of data to pull insights from.

“That's a lot of bananas flying all over the world,” he says. “You begin to think about the impact of transportation on the planet. “As food is traveling, nutrients are breaking down and maybe the quality of food isn't as good at the end of long supply chains as it would be for local food. Customers don't have any idea of where that food comes from. The sense of community around food was just lost.”

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Vertical Indoor Farms Make Sense

The insights Peggs was having lit a spark in his entrepreneurial engine. “People want food from all over the world. That's not going to change,” he says. “Instead of shipping food, how about we ship environmental data from one part of the world to the other?”  By collecting data on the best growing conditions, Tobias could hypothetically grow anything at any time of year in a controlled indoor environment made from repurposed shipping containers and deliver that to a nearby retail store on the day it’s picked. “It looks and smells amazing, which also means all the nutrients are intact,” he says. “That was the idea behind Square Roots.”

Peggs cofounded the company with Kimbal Musk, “He would say, ‘Can it feed the world? And are we going to make a massive positive impact? If so, let's figure out how to get this done,’” Peggs recalls. The two innovators began by working together in a WeWork office. “With the experience of being involved in a number of startup companies before—some successful, some failure—I know for sure that if you don't get started, you're going to fail.”   

In the two-man brainstorming sessions, Peggs and Musk would visualize the business at scale. “We saw these modular farms in every city across the world. That is the way that we're able to think about feeding every consumer on the planet with locally-grown food,” Peggs says. “There was a missing piece of the puzzle. There wouldn't be enough farmers to hire to staff all of those farms.” That realization was the foundation of the second pillar of Square Roots’ purpose, “To provide pathways for young people to come into the farming industry and become the future leaders,” he shares. 

Leading with purpose

Purpose At Work: How Square Roots Is Growing A Sustainable Food Movement

PHOTO PROVIDED BY SQUARE ROOTS

Square Roots’ core business was structured to address some of the world’s biggest challenges. Food is interconnected with climate, which also poses risks on outdoor crops. It is also fundamental to public health and prosperity. As the global population rises, our planet’s carrying capacity will be tested. We need to innovate to meet that rising global demand for food. 

The model relies on able-bodied young people to tend to the crops. The talent pool of skilled farmers in the U.S. is aging. The average farmer is 58 years old. “Who the hell is going to grow all the food when our current farmers retire in five or 10 years’ time? ” Tobias proposes. “We had to figure out a way to bring young people into the industry and train them quickly so they could be not just productive farmers, but feel infused about a career in a completely new industry.”

To overcome the hurdle, the founders developed hardware, software and teaching methods. “We had an investment banker who was bored sitting behind a spreadsheet all day. He quit his job to join Square Roots because he wanted to make an impact on the world. He was growing the most delicious kale, you've ever tasted in your life,” Peggs says. “That was six months after making the transition, it was magic to see that.” Within a year they trained 10 people, many with no previous farming experience.

In addition to creating purpose-driven employment opportunities, Square Roots is addressing climate through transportation and waste. “Forty percent of food from industrial systems is wasted. We waste around 3%,” Tobias says. A significant portion of wasted food is discarded before it even hits the shelf, due to damages during shipping or spoiling quickly.  “Because we're indoor, there's a lot of precision, a lot of control. We can grow food for demand.”

Modular design

Square Roots’ structure allows it to be replicated and optimized from a systems approach. It's a distributed model.  “We deploy clusters of these modular farms together so there's some operational scale and the business economics work,” Peggs explains. “Each farm serves its local market and runs its own independent business entity, set on top of a standard technology platform.” Every compound grows, harvests packages and delivers produce to local retailers. “We look after everything from seed to shelf.” 

The growing startup has set up operations in Brooklyn, New York, and Grand Rapids, Michigan with plans for expansion across the Midwest, the North East in cities around the world where demand is large enough. People can see inside the shipping containers and when Covid-19 is under control, you can schedule a farm tour.  “While its a very scalable platform, the consumer experience is a hyper-local one.”

Leveraging data & technology

When it comes to deciding what to grow, Square Roots focuses on crops that require the least amount of energy. “Walk into a supermarket. Lineup every single fruit and vegetable from the lightest to the heaviest. And that's essentially our product roadmap for the next 20 years,” Peggs says. 

They also choose crops based on economic yields based on competitive market prices. “This is where data science and technology marry,” Tobias says. “Outdoor farmers can’t suddenly look at the sun, make it twice as efficient and reduce costs or double their yield. Indoor farmers can.”

Integration of AI machine learning empowers Square Roots to optimize at scale. “We're building a network of cloud-connected modular farms,” Tobias says. The company monitors and collects data from each of those farms every second. “We’re looking at temperature, humidity, nutrients, yield, taste and texture,” Peggs says. “ If in one particular box, a farmer did something or we changed an environmental parameter that increased yield or improves efficiency, we can spot that information from the data and push that new instruction out across the whole network. The whole network is learning how to farm better as we go about building the business.”

Building community

Food has the potential to unite people.  While Square Roots farms are indoors, they connect and share knowledge with outdoor farmers. “ I'll give you an example,” Tobias says. “A good technique in organic farming is known as integrated pest management, where a farmer might release beneficial insects onto the crop, essentially ridding the nasty insects that we don't want. We use that technique inside the farm.”

“The farmers that we work with are very much on the same mission, which is how do we get people more connected with where their food comes from? How do we build that sense of community around food? And I think the common enemy is the industrial food system,” Peggs says. That common enemy also resonates with employees, consumers and other key stakeholders who join together around a set of core values.

“I know pretty much every founder or CEO of every indoor farming company. There's remarkable alignment around that mission,”  Tobias says. “Everybody understands that we've got to change the food system and if we're helping each other out, it's better for all of us,” Tobias mentions companies like Gotham Greens and Oishii that are also innovating in the indoor farming space.

Purpose also informs Square Roots’ investor strategy. “We’re a venture-backed company. When we're talking with investors, we want to make sure that they're mission aligned. I can’t tell you how many investors have talked to me about considering cannabis. It’s not aligned with our mission.” A lot of people don't realize that the power of purpose is just as compelling in terms of what you don't do, as opposed to what you do.

The takeaway here is that building your community around shared purpose fosters goodwill amongst team members and customers. It also presents collaborative opportunities with other brands and organizations working towards the same goal.

Challenges and opportunities

With the opaque information in the industrial food system and increased health consciousness, consumers are looking for transparency.  In addition to its open invitation to check out the farms, the company includes a QR code on each product. You can scan the code and learn all about where it's made and the value chain.

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Purpose At Work: How Square Roots Is Growing A Sustainable Food Movement

PHOTO PROVIDED BY SQUARE ROOTS

Covid-19 has also presented challenges for businesses across sectors and Square Roots is no exception. Before the pandemic, they trained new hires to be farmers in classrooms. “If we didn't have our mission, it would have been easy to say, ‘We got to keep growing, forget this farmer training stuff. We're just going to go hire experienced people.’ Or we could have developed a robot to do part of the job of a farmer,” Tobias says.

“The mission allowed us to focus on solving issues with our current business model,” he continues. “It was already misaligned. Everyone was able to get behind it very quickly. And we were actually able to solve problems and put in place new programs and new policies ridiculously quickly. Never waste a good crisis.”

Despite adversity, the startup has started true to its mission and transitioned to digital and socially distanced training, and built a more robust system than before.

The future of food

Technology and data are a critical aspect of emerging agriculture trends. “Food is a $12 trillion industry,” Peggs states. “There's about 20 companies that have raised a bunch of money and are doing this stuff in America.” 

“Indoor farming actually reminds me of the internet in the early '90s,” he says. “We know this thing is inevitable, but no one can quite yet tell you what shape it's going to take in the future. Indoor farming is like that. We're all helping each other figure out how this eventually feeds every consumer in the world.”

While innovation is budding, “The food system has to become a lot more responsible and sustainable,” Peggs says. “The current food system cannot feed the new future world, which has 10 billion people, 70% living in urban areas that are not near these industrial farms.” 

We’ve seen changes over the last two decades with the organic food movement, which now grosses $25 to $30 billion annually, Tobias says.  He thinks that Covid-19 will accelerate the shift towards healthy and sustainable food. “People were forced to stay at home and cook. You get more curious about the food that you're buying, and you observe how long it lasts in your refrigerator. You get more educated,” Tobias says. “We are in the first inning of indoor farming. We're just getting started.”

Lessons for entrepreneurs

With his experience from Square Roots and beyond, Tobias Peggs’ insights offer valuable lessons for entrepreneurs looking to Lead With We. Here are three teachings from Peggs on how to build a successful startup.

1. “Be prepared to be told, "No, we're not interested."

2. “You have to be a bit of a missionary and sign up for having a lot of stamina. Just be consistent with the drumbeat that this idea—no matter how crazy it might seem—you can do it.”

3. “There are going to be bumps in the road, there are going to be things that don't go quite right. If there's a shared purpose articulation of what the mission is, you move through those things and you make it happen. Purpose is a very powerful multiplier.”

Simon Mainwaring

Simon Mainwaring is the founder and CEO of We First, a strategic consultancy that accelerates growth and impact for purpose-driven brands by putting 'We' first. I specialize in brand strategy, culture building and impact storytelling for startups, high-growth companies, and Fortune 500 corporations. My national podcast is LeadWithWe.com on Spotify, Google and Apple. My book, We First: How brands and consumers use social media to build a better world is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon bestseller, and strategy+business named it the Best Business Marketing Book of the Year. I deliver keynotes, training, and workshops that help brands define, integrate and activate their purpose to drive growth and scale impact.

Visit SimonMainwaring.com for speaking and WeFirstBranding.com for consulting

Vertical Farming: Disrupting Agriculture

A New Agricultural Revolution Could Forever Change The Planet

ROBBY BERMAN

24 May 2021

• Vertical farming leverages cutting-edge technology to grow food in a new and better way.

• One of its many benefits is that it can increase crop yield by 700 percent.

• Vertical farming can help relieve pressure on scarce resources and boost Earth's biodiversity.

One day soon, you could eat bananas grown in downtown Manhattan.

It's a way of growing food that turns traditional agriculture on its head. With the required technologies now rapidly maturing, vertical farming is sprouting across the globe.

While there are still unresolved issues with this marriage of technology and agriculture, its promise may be irresistible. If it gets off the ground — literally — in a major way, it could solve the problem of feeding the Earth's 7.9 billion people. And that's just one of the benefits its proponents promise.

Vertical farms could take over the world | Hard Reset by Freethink www.youtube.com

Agriculture through time

When humankind began planting crops for nutrition about 12,000 years ago, the nature of our hunter-gatherer species fundamentally shifted. For the first time, it's believed, people began staying put.

With agriculture as their central mission, communities formed, with the now-familiar arrangement of residential areas surrounded by land dedicated to growing food. Even today, with modern transportation making the widespread consumption of non-local foods common, this land-allocation model largely survives: population centers surrounded by large areas for growing vegetables and fruit and raising livestock.

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Credit: Genetics4Good / Wikimedia

Challenges facing traditional agriculture

As our population has grown, traditional agriculture has begun facing some big challenges:

• Farmland takes up a lot of space and destroys biodiversity. Our World in Data reports that half of all habitable land is used for agriculture. As Nate Storey of Plenty, Inc., a vertical farming startup, puts it, "It is probably one of the most defining acts of humanity: We literally changed the ecosystem of the entire planet to meet our dietary needs."

• The demand for farmland — both for produce and livestock — has led to a dangerous deforestation in several parts of the world. This also results in biodiversity loss and contributes to an increase in the greenhouse gases that drive climate change.

• Degradation of farmland, such as through soil erosion, poses a threat to agricultural productivity.

• Agriculture consumes copious amounts of water, which exacerbates water shortages. (Obviously, water shortages also reduce agricultural productivity.)

• Fertilizer run-off causes substantial environmental damage, such as algal blooms and fish kills.

• Pesticides can degrade the environment by affecting non-target organisms.

• The effects of climate change are already making agriculture more challenging due to significant shifts in weather, changes to growing seasons, and realignment of water supplies. Our climate is continuing to change in unexpected ways, and the only predictable aspect of what lies ahead is unpredictability.

Vertical farming proponents expect that a re-think of how we grow food can ultimately solve these problems.

What is vertical farming?

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Credit: Freethink Media / Plenty, Inc.

Vertical farming is a form of agriculture that grows plants indoors in floor-to-ceiling, tower-like walls of plant-holding cells. Instead of growing plants in horizontal fields on the ground, as in traditional farming, you can think of vertical farming's "fields" as standing on the edge and extending upward toward the ceiling. The plants need no soil or other aggregate medium in which to grow; their roots are typically held in a cell lining, often composed of coconut fiber.

Vertical flora is grown either aeroponically, in which water and nutrients are delivered to plants via misting, or hydroponically, in which plants are grown in nutrient-rich water. These are incredibly efficient systems, requiring 95% less irrigation than soil-grown plants. With vertical farming, Storey says that 99 percent of the moisture transpired by plants can be recaptured, condensed, and recirculated.

Plants, of course, also need light to grow, and vertical farms use increasingly efficient LED bulbs to keep plants thriving.

Vertical farms can increase crop yields by 700 percent

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Credit: pressmaster / Adobe Stock

If vertical farming takes off the way its supporters believe it should and will, it may solve many of the aforementioned challenges facing agriculture.

Crop yields with vertical farming far exceed what's possible with traditional agriculture. Plenty, Inc.'s Shireen Santosham notes that the highly controlled growing environment of vertical farming has allowed her company to reduce the growing time for some crops to as little as 10 days. Without needing to consider whether or even sunlight, combined with the ability to operate 365 days a year, their system increases the potential annual yield by about 700 percent.

The land requirement for vertical farming is a mere fraction of that for traditional agriculture. Santosham says it can be done in a building the size of a big-box retail store that can be built pretty much anywhere that has adequate utilities, including within major urban centers. The tightly controlled environment of a vertical farm should also eliminate the need for applied pesticides.

Yet another benefit of vertical farming is the return of land currently needed for food production back to the planet. This could help facilitate Earth's recovery from deforestation and return much-needed habitat to threatened or endangered species. Of course, if we ever colonize the moon or Mars, vertical farming will be the go-to option for feeding the colonists.

Several vertical farming company pioneers are already getting their high-quality crops into the hands, and mouths, of consumers. Plenty, Inc. has an eponymous line of greens, and Aerofarms has their FlavorSpectrum line. Both companies claim that their products are exceptionally tasty, a result of their carefully controlled growing environments in which computer-controlled lighting can be optimized to bring out the most desirable qualities of each crop.

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Credit: Alesia Berlezova / Adobe Stock

The history of vertical farming

The idea of vertical farming isn't new, and experts have been questioning its viability since the term was first coined in 1915 by Gilbert Ellis Bailey, who was obviously way ahead of the available technology at the time. The first attempt to grow produce in a constructed environment was a Danish farmhouse factory that was built to grow cress, a peppery green related to mustard, in the 1950s.

The modern concept of a vertical farm arose in the New York classroom of Columbia University's Dickson Despommier in 1999. He presented the idea as a theoretical construct, a mental/mathematical exercise imagining how to farm in an environmentally sound manner. His class began with the notion of a rooftop garden before considering a "high-rise" version that might theoretically be able to grow enough rice to feed two percent of Manhattan's population at the time. The eureka moment was a question Dispommier asked: "If it can't be done using rooftops, why don't we just grow the crops inside the buildings? We already know how to cultivate and water plants indoors."

With the technological advances of the last few decades, vertical farming is now a reality. Our sister site, Freethink, recently paid Plenty, Inc. a visit. (See video above.)

Vertical farming today

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Credit: Nelea Reazanteva / Adobe Stock

Today, growers across the globe are developing vertical farms. While the U.S. has more vertical farms than any other country, the industry is blooming everywhere.

There are currently over 2,000 vertical farms in the U.S. While more than 60 percent of these are owned by small growers, there are a few heavyweights as well. In addition to Wyoming's Plenty, Inc. and Newark's Aerofarms, there's also New York's Bowery Farming. There are also companies such as edengreen, based in Texas, whose mission is to help new entrants construct and operate vertical farms.

Japan comes in second, with about 200 vertical farms currently in operation. The largest vertical farming company there is SPREAD. Across Asia, vertical farms are operating in China, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Taiwan. In Europe, vertical growers are in Germany, France, Netherlands, and the U.K. Germany is also home to the Association for Vertical Farming, "the leading global, non-profit organization that enables international exchange and cooperation in order to accelerate the development of the indoor/vertical farming industry."

In the Middle East, whose desert land and scarcity of water present a particularly challenging agricultural environment, vertical farming is taking root, so to speak. The United Arab Emirates' Badia Farms is now producing more than 3,500 kilograms of high-quality produce each day and expects to increase that yield going forward. In Kuwait, NOX Management launched in the summer of 2020 with plans to produce 250 types of greens, with a daily output of 550 kg of salads, herbs, and cresses.

The economics of vertical farming

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Credit: meryll / Adobe Stock

Building and operating a vertical farm is a costly endeavor, requiring a substantial initial investment in state-of-the-art technology, real estate, and construction. AgFunderNews (AFN) estimates that it can cost $15 million to construct a modern vertical farm. Fortunately, investors see the potential in vertical farming, and the industry has attracted more than $1 billion in investments since 2015. That includes $100 million for Aerofarms. Plenty, Inc raised $200 million in 2017 from a fund backed by such respected forward-thinkers as Jeff Bezos and Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt.

AFN is particularly excited by the potential of what they call second-generation vertical farming technology. They cite advances in LED technology — expected to increase energy efficiency by 70 percent by 2030 — and increasingly sophisticated automation that can streamline the operation of vertical farms. AFN anticipates operating cost reduction of 12 percent due to improvements in lighting and another 20 percent from advances in automation.

BusinessWire says that the vertical farming produce market was valued at nearly $240 million in 2019, and they expect it to grow 20 percent annually to over $1 billion by 2027.

A welcome disruption

Vertical farming will be disruptive.

Vertical farming would eliminate the need for the arduous work of harvesting crops by hand from vast tracts of farmland. Current picking jobs, the company says, can be replaced by better-paying, full-time jobs available 365 days a year in better working conditions — and in the variety of geographic locations in which vertical farms can operate.

There are two caveats, however. First, the number of people needed to manage and harvest vertical farm crops will be far fewer than the many farmworkers required for less efficiently planted traditional fields. Second, with automation becoming ever-more capable — and perhaps a key to eventual profitability — one wonders just how many new jobs ultimately will be created.

But the societal benefits far outweigh any costs. As Plenty's Storey muses, "Like most everything in the world, we can only save our species if it makes economic sense." Thankfully, it does make economic sense

Lead photo: Credit: Freethink Media / Plenty, Inc..

A Lot of Promise’: Vertical Farming Takes Root In Virginia

By Sarah Vogelsong

May 24, 2021

Imagine a field of lettuce. 

Say the lettuces are all buttercrunch, and they dot the field like crisp rosettes. Each has been seeded by a farmer, kept free of pests, watered for weeks, and finally cut at the base before being rinsed and packed for transport. Each is destined for a different meal: a lazy evening salad on the porch, an artfully arranged plate at a restaurant two-top, the vegetarian alternative at grandma’s 80th. 

Now imagine six of these fields, all stacked on top of one another. 

The idea isn’t far-fetched. In fact, it’s already a reality in Virginia, where a new, more technologically oriented form of agriculture known as vertical farming is quietly taking root. 

“There’s a lot of promise,” said Tony Banks, senior assistant director of agriculture, development, and innovation for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. “As we continue to watch urban encroachment and we have this demand to have food produced closer to where people actually live, we’re going to see more and more of it.” 

Since its inception at the turn of the millennium, vertical farming — which in its simplest form is any system where plants are grown in vertical stacks — has promised to revolutionize yields by allowing producers to multiply their crop outputs by six to eight or even more times without expanding their footprint.  

“You’re trying to use an area more intensively. Because you’re limited by horizontal space, you want to maximize vertical space,” said Leonard Githinji, a professor of sustainable and urban agriculture at Virginia State University who also works with Virginia Cooperative Extension. 

The concept is flexible and scalable. The stacks can be small, nothing more than a narrow shelf installed at a restaurant or in a convenience store to grow produce within a customer’s reach. Or they can fill a warehouse, bringing an industrial dimension to agriculture. 

“There’s a wide range. On one end, it’s almost you have a greenhouse that’s highly automated,” said Banks. “On the other end, you could be in a warehouse and everything is grown on huge assemblies of racks and you have complete artificial lighting and hydroponics.” 

The latter type of vertical farming is “high-tech manufacturing, essentially,” said Scott Lowman, director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville, where scientists and other experts are exploring the promise of various types of indoor agriculture can hold for Virginia. 

Hopes are high, particularly in the historic tobacco region of Southside, where state officials have been working for several decades to encourage farmers who once depended on the golden leaf to diversify their enterprises. It’s no accident that the Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center was sited in a region with a rich agricultural history and an abundance of old warehouses once devoted to tobacco and now empty. 

Nor was it an accident that in 2019, Gov. Ralph Northam’s office announced that vertical farming company AeroFarms had decided to build a $42 million facility in an industrial park jointly operated by Danville and Pittsylvania County. Virginia aggressively courted the project with some $1.5 million in state grant funds and incentives. In exchange, AeroFarms promised to build the facility, employ 92 people and purchase roughly $20 million of Virginia agricultural or forest products. 

But while AeroFarms’ Virginia location will be the largest vertical farm in the state once built, it won’t be the only one. Over the past few years, other operations have quietly been putting down roots. Shenandoah Farms in Rockingham operates a large-scale facility that grows herbs and lettuces. In Lorton, Beanstalk grows a range of greens. Fresh Impact Farms in Arlington, which grows herbs, greens, and edible flowers, announced an expansion this spring in conjunction with the governor’s office. Babylon Micro-Farms in Richmond is developing sophisticated technology to spread small-scale vertical farms around the country. Other efforts are underway.   

“We’re in a great position on the East Coast in terms of population centers,” said Lowman. “And it’s a friendly environment for business, and we have a legacy of hard-working labor.” 

Controlled environment agriculture

While vertical farming is relatively new, its lineage is much longer, nesting within the family tree of controlled environment agriculture, which encompasses any type of production that takes place within a structure. 

From Roman orangeries to modern-day greenhouses, controlled environment agriculture offers the advantage embedded in its first descriptor: control. 

Outdoors, farmers are at the whim of the weather, plagued by pests and disease, and caught in a never-ending struggle to keep water and fertilizer confined to their fields. 

Indoors, the equation changes. Because of the precision-engineered systems, controlled environment agriculture tends to require less water, less fertilizer, and few or no pesticides compared to conventional agriculture. And, depending on a particular system’s design, it can allow producers to grow crops 24/7, 365 days a year. AeroFarms has said that its technology allows it to produce leafy greens “at a rate 390 times more productive than field-grown plants.” 

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A vertical micro-farm known as a cropbox. (Virginia State University)

 “I can now schedule my crops,” said Michael Evans, director of Virginia Tech’s School of Plant and Environmental Sciences. “I can basically optimize the environment for that crop.” 

There are, of course, drawbacks. Everything nature once provided to a plant must now be provided by a human — or a machine. 

“With a greenhouse, you’re taking advantage of natural sunlight. You’re not paying for that,” said Evans. “But you’re paying quite a bit for heating and cooling. When you flip to an indoor vertical system, the disadvantage is that now you have to supply the light.” Other costs diminish at the same time: without the translucent walls of a greenhouse, “your heating and cooling can go down because it’s better insulated.” 

For years, prohibitively high energy costs boxed out vertical farming as a viable option for producers working in controlled environment agriculture. What would change the playing field was a technological innovation: the high-powered and highly efficient LED.

“The thing that really changed that made indoor vertical farming work and become an economic possibility was really the development of LED lighting, because that changes the energy equation a lot,” said Evans. “It makes providing the light the crops need much economically viable.” 

A new generation of farmers

Despite its promise, vertical farming won’t replace conventional agriculture, experts say. Many of Virginia’s biggest commodity crops — soybeans, corn, hay — are grown at such a large scale that trying to transport them indoors would be an exercise in absurdity. 

Where controlled environment agriculture has found a growing niche is in the produce most familiar to the average Virginian: lettuces, herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, herbs, microgreens, and more. Experiments in growing strawberries indoors are also underway, and Evans pointed out that once legalized, marijuana may not be far behind, although the federal government’s continued classification of the plant as illegal will keep institutions like Virginia Tech from working with it. 

For consumers of these products, the idea of local food grown only a short distance away is increasingly appealing. That can be an argument in favor of controlled environment agriculture and vertical farming, said Banks. 

“When we import food into this country, what we import is fruits and vegetables that require a lot of hand labor,” he said. “So there’s opportunity there to offset some of those imports and reduce our reliance on food produced overseas.” 

Both Banks and Evans also noted an unusual aspect of vertical farming: its allure for younger and often more urban Virginians. 

“It’s getting a whole new generation of folks interested in agriculture. It’s a different type of agriculture, but it’s getting a lot of students,” said Evans. At Virginia Tech’s School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, he added, “we have to change our curriculum for what we’re teaching to prepare students interested in controlled environment agriculture.” 

For a younger generation increasingly concerned with social and political justice, the opportunity offered by controlled environment agriculture and vertical farming to fill food deserts and involve local workers in local food systems is an attractive prospect. Many students are eager to look beyond the existing agricultural structures, said Githinji, who recently received a $600,000 grant from the U.S. National Institute of Food and Agriculture to explore the use of “micro-farms,” which incorporate vertical farming systems, as a way to address food deserts in urban neighborhoods. 

It’s not unusual for extension agents to get calls in which people are saying, “‘As much as I want to grow more food, I can’t afford to buy even another quarter acre,” he said. “So you get people asking what they can do with what they have.” 

The other draw is the technology. While vertical farming can be small- or large-scale, its larger applications rely on evolving and increasingly sophisticated technology that has piqued interest among the startup community. 

“This is a really exciting industry that’s rapidly entering the mainstream,” said Alexander Olesen, CEO, and co-founder of Babylon Micro-Farms, a Richmond-based startup that develops indoor growing systems for institutional food service settings, such as hospitals, schools, and universities. Babylon, which in 2020 was the recipient of a $75,000 grant from the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund that aims to support small businesses in emerging research and technology sectors, builds small-scale vertical farms “as a sustainable amenity for these locations.” 

The field’s growing popularity is also driving a need for more workers, more expertise, and more training, said many of the people interviewed for this story. The Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center in Danville, itself a recipient of $365,000 in state grant funds in 2020, is key to that effort. So too are plans announced by the governor’s office last month that will see hydroponic greenhouse startup Sunny Farms build a 1.2 million square foot greenhouse in Virginia Beach — one of the largest on the East Coast — and work with Virginia Tech and the Virginia community college system to develop educational training in controlled environment agriculture. 

“Our goal is really to support the controlled environment agriculture industry in Virginia, but we’re also working on creating an innovative controlled environment agriculture ecosystem in Virginia,” said Evans. 

These enterprises may be only the beginning. 

“Once people see that it’s working, we’re going to see them flourishing all across the commonwealth,” said Githinji. 

Lead photo: Controlled digital lights help produce high-density feed grass in a Grov Olympus vertical farming machine in Utah. The Olympus Tower Farm uses a controlled environment to grow sprouted wheat and barley grass in 857 square feet of space and uses 95 percent less water to produce 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of grass per day, replacing 35-50 acres of land. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

Sarah Vogelsong

Sarah covers environment and energy for the Mercury. Originally from McLean, she has spent over a decade in journalism and academic publishing. Most recently she covered environmental issues in Central Virginia for Chesapeake Bay Journal, and she has also written for the Progress-Index, the Caroline Progress, and multiple regional publications. In 2017, she was honored as one of Gatehouse’s Feature Writers of the Year, and she has been the recipient of numerous awards from the Virginia Press Association. She is a graduate of the College of William & Mary. Contact her at svogelsong@virginiamercury.com

Blue Radix & Ecoation Join Forces With The World's 1st Autonomous Find & Fix Solution

May 19, 2021, Rotterdam, Netherlands and North Vancouver, Canada

Blue Radix, an independent Dutch AI-tech specialist for the international greenhouse industry, and Ecoation Innovative Solutions Inc. (ecoation), a Canadian developer of automated greenhouse management and crop health monitoring technologies, have signed an agreement.

The collaboration aims to identify new ways to automate decision-making and action in the greenhouse, using vision technology and algorithms. ecoation and Blue Radix are using the data collected by ecoation’s OKO and platform to enhance the impact of Blue Radix’ algorithms for autonomous growing. By combining data sets, algorithms, and analytical efforts the companies are able to create new insights and applications that help growers worldwide to improve their crop strategy, quality and yield.  

Blue Radix and ecoation look forward to ongoing collaborative efforts where the duo explores the multitude of innovation opportunities that become available when you combine ecoation’s OKO and platform with Blue Radix’ Crop Controller. Collaborating across data and algorithms has the potential to create value across many avenues, including optimizing crop strategy, autonomous steering, IPM enhancement, and understanding spatial climate distribution.

The World’s 1st Autonomous Find & Fix Solution

The first project the duo is working on is enhanced autonomous growing with crop data visualization. ecoation’s OKO collects sensory data and information about climate, integrated pest management, and crop work at every row and post to an SqM granularity. These insights greatly contribute to a complete and accurate view on the state of the crop. The broad range of data points, including fruit count, fruit colouring, and stem density, will be combined with the smart steering algorithms of Blue Radix’ Crop Controller. Crop Controller will actively, continuously and autonomously control the greenhouse conditions with the grower’s crop strategy as its starting point and the optimal crop status as its goal. E.g. by optimizing the plant load, plant stress is reduced avoiding weak plants that are vulnerable to pests and diseases. In this way ecoation and Blue Radix find and fix imperfections before they impact yield or crop quality. 

Support growers

“Collaborating with Blue Radix means pioneering the future of ag more effectively, at a pace that would be difficult to reach if we carried on separately,” shared ecoation CEO Dr. Saber Miresmailli. “Both teams are committed to the same goal: to support growers in making the best possible decisions. Working together means unlocking new ways to get the most from the data and providing better insights to our customers that inform their decisions.”

“Ecoation offers solutions which are important components in a fully autonomous greenhouse. Optimization and steering with algorithms depends on high quality data and a robust crop strategy. Vision technology and enhanced analytics from ecoation provides this data and the necessary input to improve the grower’s crop strategy even further,” emphasizes Blue Radix CEO Ronald Hoek. “We strive for open collaboration and partnerships. Growers should always be able to choose freely what they want to do with their data and benefit from the best combination of services & products for their greenhouse.”

The duo will only work with greenhouse data retrieved from the customers of ecoation and Blue Radix who provide full consent. Transparency and data security is paramount, and this collaboration will rely on growers who are looking to optimize their greenhouse operations with autonomous processes and are interested in contributing to the future of ag with their facility data and insights.

About Blue Radix

Blue Radix is an independent Dutch AI-tech specialist for the international greenhouse industry. Blue Radix creates solutions with artificial intelligence for daily decisions and actions in greenhouses. Greenhouses offer an efficient way to produce food and flowers in a sustainable manner. But the number of skilled people with expertise of growing crops in greenhouses is declining every year. This has a direct and negative impact on yield, costs, continuity, and product quality. Blue Radix offers solutions for these challenges: smart algorithms which optimize and steer climate, irrigation, and energy continuously and autonomously, supported by off-site

Autonomous Greenhouse Managers. Blue Radix offers growers a digital brain for their greenhouse. More information at blue-radix.com. Find Blue Radix on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

About ecoation

ecoation is an award-winning grower-centric platform that combines Human knowledge and experience with Machine precision and automation to increase operational visibility, assist growers, and enhance their decisions. Commercially available since September 2019, ecoation products can be found in greenhouses across the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. With an experienced team of 60+ growers, scientists, engineers, and business professionals from all over the globe, ecoation is passionate about enabling a cleaner future and supporting growers in making the best possible decisions. At ecoation, we are on a mission to empower growers because we believe in doing so, we win together.

More information at ecoation.com. Find ecoation on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Blue Radix
Marijke van Rongen

Manager Global Marketing & Communications
marijke.vanrongen@blue-radix.com

+31 6 53 43 38 39

 ecoation

Marketing and Media Contact

Cameron Lust

cameron.lust@ecoation.com

USA - VIRGINIA: Fairfax Hydroponic Farm Expanding, Creating 29 Jobs In Herndon

Beanstalk Plans To Invest $2 Million In Project

MAY 24, 2021

BY KATE ANDREWS

Beanstalk, an indoor hydroponic farm in Fairfax County, plans to expand its operation, investing $2 million and creating 29 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Monday.

Owners Mike and Jack Ross, brothers from Alexandria, started the business in 2018 and sell fresh salad mixes and fresh herbs to grocery stores and at farmers’ markets. The new facility, to be built in Herndon, will produce specialty herbs and pesticide-free leafy greens year-round with its proprietary hydroponic technology, Northam’s office said in a news release. In 2018, Jack Ross won the state’s STEM Catalyst Award for developing an automated indoor growing prototype, which later led to Beanstalk’s automated production system.

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“Fairfax County is the perfect place for a startup like Beanstalk to put down roots and grow their company,” Northam said in a statement. “We are pleased to support a project that blends agriculture, Virginia’s oldest and largest industry, with technology, one of the fastest-growing sectors of our economy. Innovative entrepreneurs like Mike and Jack Ross are demonstrating how STEM fields can help cultivate new techniques like hydroponics that make fresh produce more accessible.”

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) worked with Fairfax County and the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) to secure the project for the commonwealth. Northam also approved a $100,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, which Fairfax County will match with local funds. The Virginia Jobs Investment Program will support job creation and training at no cost to the company.

“Jack and I are incredibly proud to be developing our technology and growing local produce in Virginia,” Michael Ross said in a statement. “Being ‘Virginia Grown’ ourselves, we are excited to be bringing new technology to the industry and new jobs to our home state.

Bowery Farming Unveils Research And Breeding Hub, Farm X

May 18, 2021

NEW YORK, May 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Bowery Farming, the largest vertical farming company in the United States, today announced the opening of Farm X, its newest state-of-the-art innovation hub for plant science in Kearny, N.J., adjacent to Bowery’s original R&D Center of Excellence and first commercial farm.

Farm X is one of the largest and most sophisticated vertical farming R&D facilities in the world, and will further accelerate the commercialization of products specifically designed for Bowery’s indoor system.

From the cultivation of strawberries, root vegetables, tomatoes, peppers and beyond, to the discovery of the next generation of wildly flavorful leafy greens, Farm X expands Bowery’s R&D capacity by nearly 300%.

“We’re proud to be the largest vertical farming company in the United States that is consistently and reliably delivering our customers a wide variety of high quality, flavorful produce that’s local, safe and sustainable,” said Irving Fain, founder, and CEO of Bowery Farming.

“From day one, our R&D team has been working tirelessly to unlock the next frontier in agriculture, and Farm X enables us to expedite the discovery of new vibrant crops and pioneering technological advancements that will further accelerate our momentum as the category leader.”

Bowery’s world-class team of plant breeders, plant physiologists, biochemists, and more, are constantly innovating from seed-to-shelf. At Farm X, they will be able to test more, faster—ultimately accelerating the discovery of new crops, growing recipes, and efficiency improvements that can be replicated at scale across the company’s network of commercial farms.

Featuring proprietary, highly customizable, modular growing environments managed and monitored by new technology developed in-house, Farm X will further unlock the next phase of Bowery’s growth.

Farm X also features a sensory lab where Bowery will continue its quest for the perfect cultivars for indoor growing, as well as launch the first-ever on-site breeding program at a vertical farming company.

Under the new breeding program, Bowery’s team will be able to develop varieties that thrive in its unique growing conditions and evaluate each one for optimal taste, quality and yield, rather than to survive outdoors, pest-resistance, and long-haul transportation. While a traditional breeding program takes up to ten years, Bowery’s controlled indoor environment and 24/7 monitoring of crops will enable the company to bring new groundbreaking products to market at scale in a fraction of the time.

Bowery’s R&D team works year-round to uncover flavor-packed produce and bring new and exciting culinary experiences to consumers. Beyond the cultivation of new fruits and vegetables at Farm X, they are also developing the next generation of greens.

The Farmer’s Selection category, which launched in January 2021, emerged as a way to let consumers in on the process, bringing the thrill of discovering a new ingredient at your local farm stand to the grocery store. Bowery is launching a new small-batch green every four months under this new category.

The first greens released, Bowery Mustard Frills — hearty mustard greens with a tingly start and a fiery, wasabi-style finish — were available through April 2021. Green Sorrel, bright, tart baby greens with a zing and the next release in the series, is now available from May through August 2021.

Farm X also serves as an experimental space for innovation in farm design, data science, computer vision, autonomous robotics, hardware, and software that can be deployed in Bowery’s growing network of commercial farms.

As Bowery continues to advance the integration of proprietary smart farming technology, it recently announced Injong Rhee (formerly VP at Google and CTO of Samsung Mobile) as its Chief Technology Officer. Rhee will ensure that every farm continues to benefit from the collective intelligence of the BoweryOS, the company’s proprietary operating system which integrates software, hardware, sensors, computer vision systems, machine learning models and robotics to orchestrate and automate the entirety of operations.

Rhee’s team is ensuring the advanced technological learnings discovered at Farm X will be seamlessly integrated and applied at scale across Bowery’s network.

Bowery has experienced more than 750% brick-and-mortar sales growth, and more than quadrupled sales with e-commerce partners, including Amazon, since early 2020. Bowery’s newest commercial farm in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, will bring local, pesticide-free produce, harvested year-round at peak freshness, to a surrounding population of 50 million people within a 200-mile radius, and will be its largest and most technologically-advanced commercial farm yet, further automating the growing process from seed to store.

About Bowery Farming
Bowery Farming, the Modern Farming Company, was founded in 2015 with the belief that technology and human ingenuity can grow better food for a better future. Propelled by its proprietary software system, the BoweryOS, Bowery builds smart indoor vertical farms that deliver a wide variety of Protected Produce — in little time, near cities they serve, for a truly local approach.

Bowery’s farms are growing the next generation of vibrant and flavorful produce. With BoweryOS, farms are 100 times more productive on the same footprint of land than traditional agriculture and grow traceable pesticide-free produce with a fraction of the water and land.

The largest vertical farming company in the U.S., Bowery’s produce is available in more than 850 grocery stores and via e-commerce platforms serving the Tri-state and Mid-Atlantic region, including Amazon Fresh, Giant Food, Walmart, Weis, Whole Foods Market, Albertsons Companies and specialty grocers.

Based in New York City, Bowery has raised more than $172.5 million from leading investors, including Temasek and GV (formerly Google Ventures), General Catalyst, GGV Capital, First Round Capital, Henry Kravis, Jeff Wilke, and Dara Khosrowshahi, as well as some of the foremost thought leaders in food, including Tom Colicchio, José Andres, and David Barber of Blue Hill.

Tagged greenhouse, research, technology, vertical farming

5 Things To Check When Comparing Lighting Designs For LED Grow Lights

May 17, 2021

·       When you compare different lighting designs, make sure to compare apples with apples.

·       These are the 5 things to check when comparing lighting designs for LED grow lights.

Eindhoven, the Netherlands – As a grower, you invest in supplemental LED grow lights because they power the yield and quality of your crops. In fact, the rule of thumb is that 1% light output equals 1% crop yield. So, it is vital that your LED lighting investment delivers the full performance you paid for.

The performance is determined by the light intensity and light uniformity of the LED grow lights you use. If the installed light intensity is lower than what has been designed, there will be less yield. If the uniformity is inconsistent, individual plants will grow and develop at different rates and there will be uneven production in your greenhouse.

Before you start

When you compare different lighting designs, make sure to compare apples with apples. This means taking 3 things into account:

1.     Verify the credibility of the performance claims that manufacturers make

2.     Make sure that DIALux calculation software is used for the lighting design. This calculation software is independent and commonly used in the horticulture market.

3.     Check which input parameters have been used for each lighting design. It is easy to tweak the input parameters and give the impression of a more positive light level and uniformity within the lighting design. So which parameters are crucial?

Most important input parameters to check

•     Is the right product specified? Check if the exact product that you have selected for your project has been used in the lighting design; with the right light output (PPF in µmol/s) and spectrum (blue/red/white/far red/…)

•     Are your specific design values used like the average light level at your crop (PPFD in µmol/m2/s) and the overall light uniformity?

•     What are the standard settings? The height of the grow light and crop (free height), reflection factors, and size and position of the area that is used in the uniformity calculation have an impact on the average light level and overall uniformity.

#1 Check the free height

The first input parameter to check is the free height specifying the distance between the LED module and the head of the crop. The free height can seriously impact the overall uniformity value. In case of high-wire tomato crops, with a limited free height of 1.50 to 2.50m, realizing a good overall uniformity value can be a challenge. An optimistic free height or calculating uniformity on floor level as if there is no crop will positively impact the overall uniformity value.

The free height is calculated by measuring the eventual top of the crop and the mounting height of the LED grow light.

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#2 Check the reflection factors

Another important parameter to check, are the reflection factors used in the lighting plan. A reflection factor indicates the amount of light that is reflected by walls and other objects in a space. DIALux calculation software has originally been designed for indoor spaces like offices, where you will get reflection off the walls, ceiling, and floors that impact the light level on your desk. To avoid being too optimistic about the outcome, the reflection values in DIALux are set at 0% for a greenhouse lighting design, because the glass in a greenhouse does not reflect the light from the grow lights.

#3 Check the area that has been used to make light intensity calculations.

The next thing to check is the defined calculation surface. The size of the calculation area and the position of the grow lights within that area will seriously impact the average amount of active photons that reaches the surface of the crop (PPFD value in µmol/m2/s). When comparing lighting design results from different manufacturers, make sure that the calculation surface shows an equal number of maximum (peaks) and minimum (dips) light intensity values. Only then you receive a realistic average PPFD value in the lighting design.

In the below example, you will see two positions of a calculation area within the same light plan, which will generate far better average light intensity values in the B situation, because the light intensity is calculated with an area that shows more grow light (peaks), and consequently less areas with the minimal amount of grow lights, which will not represent the reality after installation

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Position of measurement grid defines the outcome of average light intensity

#4 Check the size of the calculation surface

Another important factor is the size of the calculation surface that will impact the overall uniformity value. When comparing lighting design results from different manufacturers, make sure the same calculation surface has been applied.

To represent a real-life situation, a calculation for the full compartment area should be made that includes the edges of the greenhouse. In case of a typical production area, a centred area is used. You may understand that a full compartment will generate lower uniformity levels, because of the lower light intensities at the edges. So, make sure you always compare either full compartments or smaller areas.

#5 Check the used uniformity

The final parameter to check is the uniformity being used. Uniformity can be expressed in different ways. When you run the DIALux lighting design software, it provides you with different types of uniformity. When comparing lighting design results from different manufacturers, make sure the same type of uniformity is applied. For a horticulture application, we prefer to express uniformity as the average light intensity divided by the maximum light intensity, which represents real-life situations best.

 In Summary

When comparing lighting designs there are lots of tweaks that suppliers can possibly make to finetune their plan. In case you want to make a proper comparison, you have to take a few parameters into account.

-       Is the specified product with the right spectrum and efficiency used in the calculations?

-       Is the right light level for your crop used and the right overall light uniformity?

-       Are the settings comparable:

o   Is the free height correctly defined?

o   Are the reflection factors set to 0%?

o   Does the measurement grid have an even number of light and dark spots in it.

o   Are you comparing full compartment or small centered area numbers?

o   And is the defined uniformity similar in the lighting designs?

 Read our other blog and learn how to evaluate the performance claims of an LED grow light.

 Grow with the pros

You want to be sure to get a rapid return on your investment and have all aspects of your project carried out professionally. With Signify, your project is in experienced hands. Signify is the global leader in the lighting sector and has built up a substantial track record in more than 1000 projects in the horticultural lighting market since 1995. This includes over two decades of dedicated experience developing tailor-made, LED-based light recipes that help growers speed up growth, increase yield and improve the quality of plants. With cutting-edge LED innovations at our command, we can custom-build a science-based solution for you.

Pascal van Megen is an application engineer at Signify with a background in mechanical engineering. As an application engineer, Pascal ensures that growers are provided with high-end horticulture lighting designs. He is providing internal and external training to customers and partners in the application of the Philips LED Horticulture products and systems. He acts as a consultant to customers and engineers, to drive continuous improvement of Philips LED lighting solutions. 

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 For further information, please contact:

Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify

Daniela Damoiseaux

Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69

E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com

www.philips.com/horti

About Signify

Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems, and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings, and public spaces. With 2020 sales of EUR 6.5 billion, we have approximately 37,000 employees and are present in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for four consecutive years, and were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018, and 2019. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.

VIDEO: Vertical Farms Could Take Over The World

By JACK BERNING

May 22, 2021

Vertical Farming Offers Better Tasting,

More Sustainable Produce.

Will It Take Over Farming

As We Know It?

As the global population continues to increase, vertical farming is becoming a more widely recognized and viable solution to our food production problem. Vertical farming is a type of indoor farming where crops are grown in stacked layers, rather than spread out across large plots of land.

To View The Video, Please Click Here

These futuristic farms aren't just going to have an impact on how we survive here on Earth; they could also enable us to create a food source beyond our planet, without a dependence on the outdoor climate or arable land.

Although the task sounds unimaginable, developments in controlled environment agriculture are proving that it is very much possible. Adopting these sustainable farming practices could lead to a monumental shift in how we produce food, both for today and the future of humanity. 

Vertical Farming Advantages

Vertical farms offer many benefits over traditional farming practices — an increased crop yield with a smaller land requirement, more control over the resulting flavor and cleanliness of crops, and the prospect of better access to healthy foods in underserved communities, to name a few.

Because these farms are constructed completely indoors using LED lights, their output isn't subject to the natural elements that typically affect plant production such as adverse weather, insects, and seasons.

Vertical farms offer more control over the resulting flavor and cleanliness of crops, and the prospect of better access to healthy foods in underserved communities.

They're better for the environment because they require less energy and put out less pollution, without a need for heavy machinery, pesticides, or fertilizers. Vertical farms often use soil-less farming methods like aquaponics, hydroponics, and aeroponics, which requires just 10% of the amount of water consumed by conventional outdoor farms.

Think of a vertical farm as a plant factory — one that enables farmers to predictably grow anything, anywhere, from strawberries to kale. The idea was first introduced in 1999 by Dickson Despommier, a professor at Columbia University. Despommier and his students came up with designs for a "skyscraper farm" that could feed 50,000 people. Though the structure has yet to be built, they successfully managed to popularize the ideology behind vertical farming systems.

Output isn't subject to the natural elements that typically affect plant production such as adverse weather and insects.

So, why wasn't the skyscraper farm ever built? The answer sheds light on one of the most prominent vertical farming disadvantages — cost. A single farm can cost a hundred million dollars to construct, and a lack of data surrounding the long-term economic feasibility of vertical farms has caused some investors to shy away.

However, this hasn't stopped vertical farmers from persisting to disrupt the food production industry. Vertical farming has already been adopted in countries like China, Japan, and other parts of Asia. In fact, the market for vertical farming in that region is expected to increase 24% by 2026. And in the U.S., some vertical farming companies are already selling their produce in stores.

More Produce With Less Resources

One of those companies is Plenty, headquartered in San Francisco, California. Plenty was founded in 2014 by Matt Barnard and Nate Storey with a simple yet powerful mission to improve the lives of plants, people, and the planet.

Plenty already has established vertical farms in the San Francisco Bay Area, Wyoming, and Washington. These farms supply fresh produce including kale, arugula, and lettuce to major grocery stores like Whole Foods and Safeway.

The team at Plenty recently began construction on a new farm in the Bay Area that they call Tigris. Tigris will be its largest and most efficient farm yet, capable of growing a million plants at a time.

With Plenty's vertical farming technology, 700 acres of farmland can be condensed into a structure the size of a big-box store. Plenty's farms harvest 365 days per year and shrink growth cycles to about 10 days for many of their products.

This results in a yield increase of about 700% as compared to traditional farming, all while saving about a million gallons of water per week and using just one percent of the land that traditional farms use.

The secret to this astronomical efficiency lies in the technology. Plenty's farms are equipped with air handling units that capture transpired water, allowing them to recirculate 99% of the water back into the system. They also use LED light bulbs and, seeking to be as efficient as possible, the bulbs are designed in a grid format that maximizes the amount of energy absorbed by the plants.

These systems allow farm operators to have more control over their crop yield — all the way down to a plant's flavor profile. Blue LED lighting, for example, can create a crispier crunch in kale leaves. Additionally, without a need for pesticides, their products are completely organic.

Plenty's farm saves about a million gallons of water per week and uses just 1% of the land that traditional farms use.

"When you grow things outside, the elements are much more unpredictable," Shireen Santosham, the head of strategic initiatives for Plenty, explains. "If you grow indoors, you can control a lot of those factors in ways that are accessible to outdoor growers. And the result is that our produce can be hundreds of times cleaner."

Not only is the produce cleaner, it's also higher quality. Because Plenty's products are grown in urban areas and don't have to be shipped across the country, the brand doesn't have to prioritize shelf life. Less transportation needs also reduces their carbon footprint.

What could all of this mean for the future? That every place in the world, regardless of climate, could sustainably grow the same nutrient-rich and flavorful crops. And it could someday result in the colonization of other planets, as well.

"We can give the world back — a lot," says Storey. "We can give the world back land. We can give back the jungles of Borneo to the orangutans. We can give back the Amazon to the planet. We can give back the midwest to the buffalo. We can give back the things that we've taken. And we can be a lot less extractive."

Agriculture

Sobeys Expanding In-Store Vertical Farms Across Canada

By Mario Toneguzzi

May 2, 2021

Grocery store chain Sobeys is expanding its unique Infarm vertical farming units to more stores across the country as it takes advantage of the growing consumer appetite for made local products.

Niluka Kottegoda, Vice President Customer Experience, Sobeys, said Infarm is a vertical farming company based out of Germany.

Niluka Kottegoda

“We searched far and wide to find a really great best-in-the-world, unique, innovative solution for our customers as we were looking for a vertical farming solution,” she said.

“Infarm provided us with an opportunity to get farms into our stores, with end-to-end service. So they made it very easy for our stores and most importantly our customers’ best experience when it came to vertical farming globally. Each unit that you’ll see in the stores is a farm unto itself. The plants grow right in that module and they control all of the nutrients, the amount of water, the amount of food our plants get, and the amount of light that they get from a central farming platform.

“Just before COVID hit, I had the opportunity to go and see their office. And it’s really very special. On a screen, you can see every farm that they have around the world. They know exactly the condition of that plant and what it needs and if there’s a problem they can quality control. It’s all managed through the cloud and each one of the farmers has a tablet and information is passed on to the units and the farmers through their central platform.”

Local farmers manage the vertical farming at the individual grocery stores, where a variety of herbs, microgreens, leafy greens, and lettuces are grown year-round. Produce is grown directly in-store in a controlled energy-friendly environment and harvested sustainably.

Sobeys first unveiled its partnership with Infarm in 2020 and began its national rollout by unveiling Infarm vertical farming units in Safeway and Thrifty Foods stores in Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.

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Kottegoda said generally there are two units per store but in larger stores, more units can be added.

“Right now we have them across Vancouver and Victoria. We have one installed in Halifax with 25 more coming. We have two installed in Calgary with 22 more coming. And one installed in Edmonton with 18 more coming,” she said.

“Once these latest ones are installed we’ll be closing in on 100 stores across the country. At the moment, we’re probably about 55 percent of the way there. We’re expanding across seven cities in the country.”

Kottegoda said the company does an assessment of all of its stores across the country to see whether it’s viable to put a farm into certain locations.

“The reason we’re going city by city is to make sure that we have the farmers ready. You just can’t put a unit in the store and hope for the best. You have tons of farmers there to support it. We have to make sure the local infrastructure is there and then we can expand across the country which is why you see us going city by city,” she added.

The company said these crops are harvested using 95 percent less water, 90 percent less transportation, and 75 percent less fertilizer than industrial agriculture.

“One of the great appeals of them is you can get fresh herbs, and leafy greens, all year round even through the winters as fresh as possible in our stores,” said Kottegoda.

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“We can change up the assortment every five weeks. So the five-week cycle is from when our herbs and leafy greens and plants grow from seedlings until they’re ready to harvest. We can switch up the assortment anytime we need to. We can be really relevant to all of our local customers which is pretty exciting.”

She said locally-grown products are very important for consumers these days and the company has seen the importance of partnering with local producers in its stores.

“It’s also about the freshness and the taste experience. All of our customers are always looking for the best in terms of food and we pride ourselves in being able to give that to them. This is the freshest possible product, locally grown all year long,” added Kottegoda.

“And it’s been an interesting journey because we have been expanding during the pandemic and we have seen incredible trends in terms of at-home cooking, getting more and more popular. Going along with that people are getting more adventurous with the ingredients that they use, and the different herbs that they use.”

Lead photo: Exterior of Sobeys grocery store. Photo: Supermarket News

Article Author

Mario Toneguzzi

Mario Toneguzzi, based in Calgary, has more than 40 years experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald covering sports, crime, politics, health, faith, city and breaking news, and business. He now works on his own as a freelance writer and consultant in communications and media relations/training.

Upward Farms Opens New Aquaponic Operation In Brooklyn, New York

May 19th, 2021

by Jenna Plasterer     

BROOKLYN, NY - Innovation and sustainability are two facets of the fresh produce industry that are growing like wildflowers, and one company seeing the effects of this expansion is Upward Farms, the aquaponics vertical farming company. The New York-based grower has announced the opening of a cutting-edge new headquarters that will continue to support Upward’s commercial production, research, and development.

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Jason Green, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder, Upward Farms“Upward Farms’ new facility successfully scales our vertical farming model. Controlled environments and ecological farming are not at odds but are powerful compliments for the next generation of farming. We’re delivering higher yields, disease resistance, safety, and sustainability in a platform that can be deployed anywhere in the world, regardless of climate,” said Jason Green, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder. “The pandemic underscores the importance of shoring up supply chains to be more local for transparency, safety, and efficiency. Localized produce is especially important from a food safety standpoint. As vertical farms scale, we can create a supply chain that’s fundamentally more resilient than shipping produce around the country, if not around the world.”

The new facility is located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York, and utilizes Upward’s next-generation technology to advance the company’s growth. According to a press release, the operation is powered by end-to-end automation and is USDA Certified Organic, making it one of the first Certified Organic vertical farms in the Northeast region of the U.S.

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Upward Farms has announced the opening of a cutting-edge new headquarters that will continue to support the company's commercial production, research, and development

In addition to its state-of-the-art technology, the new headquarters includes a fishery that is Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch “Best Choice” rated, and sustainably farms mercury-free, antibiotic-free, and hormone-free striped bass.

Upward Farms’ ready-to-eat microgreen mixes are currently available in all Brooklyn Whole Foods locations and are anticipated to be available in all New York City Whole Foods stores within the next few months.

The new operation is powered by end-to-end automation and is USDA Certified Organic, making it one of the first Certified Organic vertical farms in the Northeast region of the U.S.

As consumer trends continue to shift toward fresh, organic produce and online purchase of groceries, Upward Farms is offering consistent product availability, quality, and scalability for locally grown greens. The grower is expecting further expand as demand increases and has already raised approximately $150 million to date from investors to spark growth.

For more news regarding vertical farming and other growing practices gaining traction across the industry, stick with AndNowUKnow.

[Upcoming Webinars] Communicating Sustainability, Financing Indoor Ag

Indoor Ag-Con

SUSTAINABILITY, FINANCING HEADLINE

MAY | JUNE INDOOR AG-CONVERSATIONS SCHEDULE  

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MAY 26, 2021 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EDT

 Indoor Ag-Con  & Agritecture invite you to join us for this important session.

Despite a decade of innovation and funding in vertical farming, many businesses do not communicate accurate information about the sustainability of their technology or operations. Whether it's unsubstantiated claims of water savings, carbon reduction, circularity, or overall sustainability, many companies do not avoid greenwashing in their marketing. This panel will explore the best practices for communicating and reporting on sustainability with the hopes of encouraging the industry to mature.

Moderator:

Henry Gordon-Smith, Founder & CEO, Agritecture

Panelists:

Sara Segergren, Project Portfolio Leader, Sustainability Innovation and Development,

Ingka Group | IKEA

Sam Norton, Founder, Heron Farms

Lisa Causarano, International Accounts Manager, Schneider Electric 

SAVE YOUR FREE SPOT!

JUNE 8 & 9, 2021 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM EDT EACH DAY

Join Indoor Ag-Con, Brad McNamara & FarmTech Society for this
 2-day SPECIAL EDITION of Indoor Ag-Conversations.

DAY 1 | JUNE 8, 2021 -- 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM

SEED TO SERIES B

HOSTED BY BRAD MCNAMARA

During 3 in-depth panel discussions with successful entrepreneurs and their investors, host Brad McNamara will push for first-hand accounts of each round to pull back the curtain on what it takes to fund an idea and create an investment-grade business in CEA.

DAY 2 | JUNE 9, 2021 -- 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM

CROSSING THE CHASM

HOSTED BY FARMTECH SOCIETY

2020 was a big year for Controlled Environment Agriculture -- and the next two years are likely to see unprecedented growth and change in the sector.

On day 2 of our Indoor Ag-Conversations 'Seed to Scale' event, the host FarmTech Society will focus on the maturing of the industry as CEA "crosses the chasm" into mainstream adoption.

LEARN MORE & SAVE THE DATE

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INDOOR AG-CON - IN PERSON! 

OCTOBER 4-5, 2021

We can't wait to see our industry colleagues again in October! We've got an incredible program lined up from you. Check out our expo hall floor, which is filling up quickly. And, explore our educational offerings, including keynotes from top indoor ag CEOS, panel discussions diving deep into 3 tracks - business & marketing; science & technology; alternative crops & growing methods.

And, of course, a full roster of networking opportunities, too!

JOIN US!

SPECIAL THANKS TO INDOOR AG-CON 2021 SPONSORS & MEDIA ALLIES

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Indoor Ag-Con, 950 Scales Road, Building #200, Suwanee, GA 30024, United States

CubicFarm Systems Corp. Appoints Technology Industry Executive Janet Wood to the Company’s Board of Directors

VANCOUVER, B.C., May 14, 2021 – CubicFarm® Systems Corp. (TSXV:CUB) (“CubicFarms” or the “Company”), a local chain agricultural technology company, announced today that Janet Wood has been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors.

Janet Wood is recognized globally as a leader in the technology sector and as a successful executive who retired from a rewarding career with several major technology companies including IBM, Crystal Decisions, Business Objects, and SAP. Her success in building global channel partnerships and alliances with leading technology companies will bring invaluable insight to CubicFarms’ Board of Directors.

“It’s clear that the automated indoor growing technologies developed by CubicFarms will empower farmers to grow produce and livestock feed locally, directly addressing critical food security issues,” said Wood. “CubicFarms’ unique patented technologies use less land, less water, and no pesticides or herbicides, using our natural resources respectfully and sustainably.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome Janet Wood, a strong Canadian technology leader, to our Board of Directors. Janet is a trailblazer in the tech industry and an influential leader within every organization fortunate enough to benefit from her vision and expertise,” said Jeff Booth, Chair, CubicFarms. “Her significant experience with large software and technology companies will help CubicFarms continue to grow, innovate, and expand internationally.”

“Janet has been instrumental in contributing to the impressive growth of several large multi-national tech giants like SAP, and her experience will be critical as we enter into the high-growth phase of our business in 2021 and beyond,” said Dave Dinesen, CEO, CubicFarms. “Janet is a proven leader and the exact type of person we need to guide our company as we scale our business globally.”

After joining SAP in 2008, Wood's executive roles included Global Human Resources leader for the Office of the CEO, Global Head of Talent and Leadership, Executive Vice President (EVP) of Global Strategic Partners, and EVP of Global Maintenance Go To Market. At Business Objects, she worked as Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships. Wood also served as Vice President of Business Development at Crystal Decisions and held various management positions during her 16-year tenure at IBM. Wood holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Alberta, graduating with distinction.

Wood has been recognized with a YWCA Women of Distinction Award and is a past recipient of the Canadian Women's Executive Network Top 100 Women Award.

An active member of the technology community and known for her leadership skills, Wood served for a year as the interim President and CEO of Science World shortly after retiring from SAP in 2019. Science World is a world-class science centre in Vancouver, B.C., that typically welcomes

over 800,000 visitors annually and connects with an additional 140,000 students throughout B.C. to advance STEAM learning for science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics.

Wood is active in her community as a partner in B.C. Social Venture Partners, a not-for-profit organization that supports children and families at risk. She is a Board member of ICBC, Pureweb Technologies, and Junior Achievement of B.C. She sits on the University of Alberta Business School Advisory Committee and is the Canadian Regional Member Engagement Officer for Young Presidents Organization – Gold.

Wood will replace John de Jonge, a founding member of the Company’s Board of Directors. He will continue providing guidance in a different capacity by joining the Company’s newly-formed HydroGreen Business Advisory Board.

“We would like to thank John for his many years of service and contributions to the Board of Directors,” said Dinesen. “The HydroGreen Business Advisory Board will benefit from his significant agriculture and dairy experience with Artex and his commitment to our automated indoor growing technologies for farmers and ranchers to produce fresh, nutritious green livestock feed for their animals.”

About CubicFarms

CubicFarms is a local chain, agricultural technology company developing and deploying technology to feed a changing world. Its proprietary ag-tech solutions enable growers to produce high quality, predictable produce and fresh livestock feed with HydroGreen Nutrition Technology, a division of CubicFarm Systems Corp. The CubicFarmsTM system contains patented technology for growing leafy greens and other crops onsite, indoors, all year round. CubicFarms provides an efficient, localized food supply solution that benefits our people, planet, and economy.

For more information, please visit www.cubicfarms.com

. On behalf of the Board of Directors
“Dave Dinesen”
Dave Dinesen, Chief Executive Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain statements in this release may constitute “forward-looking statements” or “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements.

Media Contact:

Andrea Magee
T: 236.885.7608
E: andrea.magee@cubicfarms.com

Investor Contact:

Tom Liston
T: 416.721.9531
E: tom.liston@cubicfarms.com

RUSSIA: A Unique Vertical Farm Can Produce 10 Times More Seed Potatoes A Year

Less than a year after the opening of the World-class Scientific Center "Agrotechnologies for the Future", Russian scientists had a breakthrough: the first-ever vertical farm with dynamic LED lighting.

FEDERAL RESEARCH CENTRE «FUNDAMENTALS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY» OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE

The pandemic has interfered with technological production chains in many areas of agriculture, making the restoration of the Russian seed bank a priority of national food safety. Furthermore, pests and weather conditions prevent the production of standardized raw materials in needed quantities every year. It is only economically efficient to grow high-value crops such as berries or herbs in automated greenhouses. Potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, and oilseeds which are needed much more do not fall into this group.

A team from the Federal Research Center for Biotechnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences rose to the challenge and presented the first pre-production prototype of a vertical farm. The prototype was developed in the framework of the "Smart City Farm" project initiated by the World-class Scientific Center "Agrotechnologies for the Future" that was opened in 2020. Scientists have grown healthy potato for further multiplication in the field.

The crop rapid seed reproduction facility combines state-of-the-art digital technology with organic farming techniques. The vertical City Farm has controlled conditions: dynamic lighting, an automatic irrigation system, pathogen-free air, and nutrients supplied to the plant from a special substrate. A unique feature of the innovative farm is the individually adjustable LED lighting with different spectral composition preferred for specific varieties and for different periods of plant growth.

The complex makes it possible to grow products with specified properties under controlled conditions on an industrial scale with more than ten times the productivity from 1 m2 per year. It has also managed to achieve six harvests a year on the City Farm. This is because of unlocking the natural potential of varieties under controlled vertical farm conditions that do not depend on climate, weather or seed contamination risks.

"Our goal was to develop a universal multifunctional tool that would tap into the natural potential of different varieties, increase their productivity, and improve quantitative parameters. We used nature-like technologies and adjustable LED lighting without adding any genetic modifications. Our complex is based on the extensive researches of the RAS Biotechnology Research Centre. It is economically viable for industrial cultivation of the crops in demand. In addition, it is completely environmentally friendly and waste-free," said Vasiliy Zotov, a Candidate of Biological Sciences, and the head of the project.

The vertical farm consists of module stands with automated watering and multichannel LED lighting systems, as well as a set of microclimate and substrate sensors. Currently, the team is developing databases and analyzes the effect of adjustable lighting on various crops at different stages: from in vitro to nursery plants and final products. In particular, the team studies the influence of adjustable lighting on the morphogenesis and production process (including the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites) in different varieties of plants, including future generations.

"Another important feature of the vertical farm and the controlled vegetation technology developed for it is their flexibility and universal nature. The system can be easily changed to fit a particular task. For example, lighting can be chosen and automatically adjusted to secure the growth of other plants: flowers, berries, potatoes, beetroots, or even wheat", said Dmitry Kravchenko, a Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, a senior researcher at the Federal Research Center for Biotechnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a development and agricultural support specialist in the project.

The team has already received the first commercial orders from major agricultural producers and potato processing companies. In the future, the scientists plan to develop a technology for controlled vegetation of essential-oil-bearing plants and vegetables, such as tomatoes and peppers.

Lead Image: IMAGE: THE MODULE STAND WITH AUTOMATED WATERING AND MULTICHANNEL LED LIGHTING SYSTEMS. view more 

CREDIT: FEDERAL RESEARCH CENTER FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

###

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

VIDEO: Indoor Farming Biz AppHarvest Delivered Sales In First Earnings As Public Company

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May 17, 2021

AppHarvest, the tech-forward indoor vertical farming company that went public in February, released its first earnings report showing Q1 net sales of $2.3 million for its tomato harvest. The stock ($APPH) was up on the news, rising to more than $13 a share in morning trading, but still well short of its closing high of $38.

Founder and CEO Jonathan Webb spoke to Cheddar about the company's challenges in building a facility and harvesting its product amid a pandemic and pointed to expanding in the future. "Our thesis is that controlled-environment agriculture will be growing almost all fruit and vegetable production at scale indoors," Webb said.

Vertical Harvest Maine, Sodexo Pair For Local Produce On College Campuses

Indoor Farming Partnership Will

Increase Local Produce Served

On Maine’s College Campuses

May 18, 202|

Source: Sodexo SA

Westbrook, Maine, May 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sodexo, a global foodservice provider and one of Maine’s largest employers, today announced that it will source as much as 80-percent of its lettuce products from Vertical Harvest Maine, the State’s newest hydroponic urban farm, and the first vertical greenhouse in the United States. The produce will be served at all fourteen Sodexo partners, including collegiate campuses from Fort Kent to South Portland. Earlier this year, Sodexo pledged to spend at least $1M at local Maine farms and food producers in 2021.

“We are a global company that is committed to spending locally,” says Varun Avasthi, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Sodexo. “One challenge we face when sourcing local food is Maine’s short outdoor growing season. The partnership with Vertical Harvest will be a game-changer for Sodexo’s ability to buy fresh produce twelve months per year,” Avasthi added.

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In August 2021, Vertical Harvest Maine (VHM) will break ground on a 70,000 square foot, four-story farm in downtown Westbrook. Developer TDB LLC says that the master plan integrates residential apartments, commercial space, and four stories of parking. The company plans to grow over 1-million pounds per year of local produce, create 50 jobs, and hire Mainers with physical and intellectual disabilities, in coordination with State and local agencies. This year, Fast Company recognized Vertical Harvest in their annual “World Changing Ideas” awards, which honors businesses that are innovating solutions to world problems.

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“VHM’s output will displace out-of-state produce and will not compete with local, traditional farms,” says Nona Yehia, Vertical Harvest founder. With the majority of Maine’s produce imported, VHM founders say indoor farming will have a positive impact on Maine’s agricultural output. “VHM is extremely proud to grow local food, and to create meaningful jobs for Maine’s underemployed,” Yehia says. The Westbrook location is the second for Vertical Harvest, the first is in Jackson Hole, WY.

“This partnership illustrates how strategically the Maine business community works together,” says Glenn Cummings, President, University of Southern Maine. “The partnership between Sodexo and VHM enforces our commitment to serving Maine-grown food whenever possible – it is a win-win,” Cummings said.

“This project exemplifies the goals and vision of Maine’s 10-Year Economic Development Strategy,” said Heather Johnson, Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development.

Sodexo is one of Maine’s largest employers, with 760 employees and a $21M payroll. It serves 13,000 meals daily at colleges and hospitals across Maine, including Central Maine Medical Center and Southern Maine Community College. In 2015, Sodexo founded The Maine Course, a local organization with a mission to increase the company’s local food spend annually.  Sodexo and VHM will prepare for the first harvest, which is planned for the Fall 2022 academic year.

# # #

About Sodexo North America” Sodexo North America is part of a global, Fortune 500 company with a presence in 64 countries. Sodexo is a leading provider of integrated food, facilities management, and other services that enhance organizational performance, contribute to local communities and improve quality of life for millions of customers in corporate, education, healthcare, senior living, sports and leisure, government, and other environments daily. Sodexo is committed to supporting diversity and inclusion and safety while upholding the highest standards of corporate responsibility and ethical business conduct. In support of local communities across the U.S., in 2020, the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation mobilized 10,000 Sodexo volunteers to distribute 4.1 million meals to help 5.9 million children and adults meet their immediate food needs. Since 1996, the Stop Hunger Foundation has contributed $36.7 million to help feed children in America impacted by hunger. To learn more about Sodexo, visit us.sodexo.com, and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

Photo Credit: Harriman and GYDE ArchitectsPhoto Credit: Harriman and GYDE Architects

Contact Data

Dasha Ross-Smith
Sodexo
Dasha.Ross-Smith@sodexo.com

Squamish Nation Grows Plans For Food Security With A Hydroponic Farm

While The Outside of This 40-Foot Container Is Rather Striking,

It’s What’s On The Inside That Counts. 🌱

May 19, 2021

By: Elisia Seeber

A big bright orange container has just landed in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) community of X̱wemelch'stn in North Vancouver.

While the outside of the 40-foot container is rather striking, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

The container is a Growcer hydroponic modular farm that will support the community's wellness by allowing them to grow a year-round supply of fresh produce, including leafy greens, herbs and traditional medicinal plants.

Creating a sustainable healthy source of produce and increasing food sovereignty has long been a goal for the Squamish Nation, and the hydroponic farm is another piece of the puzzle, said Kelley McReynolds, director of Squamish Nation’s Ayás Méńmen Child and Family Services.

“Part of the reason that we started to look at ways that we could [provide food] was working from our values as Squamish people and our values around food sharing,” she said.

“Traditionally, we as a community, and as families, would go out and hunt and we would gather out on the lands and the waters and we’d bring it back to our community and people would only take what they need, and the rest of it would be shared.”

Through the launch of a food distribution program about four years ago, McReynolds said the team began breaking down the stigmas and fears around food insecurity and shifting back to their traditional ways, to ensure everyone in the community felt comfortable receiving food.

“We didn't want to look at the food as being a form of charity, or only for those who don’t have food,” she said.

Hydroponic farm idea sprouts 

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, McReynolds said food security worries increased for some members and the team started thinking further outside of the box about how they could address future food scarcity. 

That’s when the idea for the hydroponic farm sprouted.

Squamish Nation has looked at more traditional styles of farming, and also has 19 garden boxes set up outside of their office where they grow fruit and vegetables and a traditional medicine garden.

“We plant every year and we harvest that to give to community,” McReynolds said. “We do a lot of training with our youth and our families to help them understand the plants, gardening and harvesting."

She said a thought they always had was, “think what we could do if we had farmland, we could feed so many more people.”

“But, you know, we live in a city and you don't have access to that kind of open space,” McReynolds said.

“So, when we looked at this option of the hydroponic farm and saw that it's the size of a shipping container, we thought, ‘that's pretty cool.’ It comes with all the equipment you need inside there. And, you can get it set up and within five to six weeks you are ready to make your first harvest and it yields approximately 450 heads of produce per week. That's a lot.

“We thought, ‘wow, that's amazing.’”

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To View The Video, Please Click Here

 The founders of the ingenious technology and social enterprise came up with the idea based on their firsthand experience of food insecurity in Nunavut in 2015 and wanted to create a system that allowed communities to grow fresh produce anytime, anywhere, in any climate.

The growing technology was first deployed in food insecure, remote communities, but has since expanded to partner with schools, non-profits, and non-remote communities who see value in growing food locally – like Squamish Nation.

The electronically run hydroponic farms cost around $180,000 to set up and will produce fresh food for around 30 years, according to Growcer.

How does the modular hydroponic farm work?

Hydroponics is a soil-free growing method that uses nutrient-rich water to grow plants using less space, time, and crop inputs.

“The modular farms are automated to provide full environmental control,” Growcer’s website states, adding that plant growth factors such as light, nutrients, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, and water are monitored in real-time.

Once set up, a range of 140 leafy green plants can be grown in as little as six weeks.

“It's all brand new to us,” McReynolds said, adding that Growcer would be training staff this week and continue to provide support through their hydroponic farming journey.

“We’re all really excited.”

Squamish Nation to open Food Pantry and Community Kitchen

Produce from the new farm will be shared with families serviced by Ayás Méńmen, the youth centre and the future Smeḵw'ú7ts (Food Sharing) Community Kitchen and S7ílhen (Food) Pantry, which is hoped to be up and running by the summertime.

“We will continue to do monthly food distribution, but we will also have food on our shelves and in the freezers for any of our members who are in need … whatever the situation may be,” McReynolds said.

The hope for the community kitchen is to build a healthy community by providing a safe place for members to learn and improve their food preparation and cooking skills through workshops, which may start on Zoom during the pandemic. Ayás Méńmen also plans to host a six-week program for community members to meet once a week to cook and take a meal home for their families.

“I think what excites me about that is we are such relational people,” McReynolds said. “To be able to come together and learn and share and grow and laugh and tell stories, that's so healthy and therapeutic and it brings joy to your heart just being able to be together.”

While there’s still a bit of work to be done before the hydroponic farm starts producing the goods, McReynolds has more big plans.

“I have this vision of us being able to do a Friday night or Saturday afternoon market where we can have the fresh produce, we can have music, we can maybe have food trucks and we can gather together,” she said.

“I just think it's just a great opportunity for us to celebrate who we are as farmers and come together as a community.”

Elisia Seeber is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

"Together We Are Expanding Our Facility In Sweden"

"Our expansion will enable us to offer our sustainably-grown salads to more Swedish households throughout the year, so we are looking forward to an exciting time," says Andreas Wilhelmsson, CEO of Ljusgårda. 

In April, the first batch of salads was harvested in the company's new premises – and already now, Ljusgårda can deliver significantly more locally-grown salad to Swedish households, all year round. When the new 7000-m2 indoor farm, of which 2500 m2 growing area, is completed in the summer, Ljusgårda will become one of Europe's largest vertical farms. 

"We are delighted to help Ljusgårda to produce local, climate-smart salads, says Henrik Nørgaard, Nordic Commercial Director of Agriculture at Signify[1]. "Ljusgårda shares our vision of a sustainable transformation within agriculture and is focusing in particular on quality and flavor."

Supporting the expansion 
Andreas continues, "Signify has extensive experience of advanced lighting solutions and works with other large-scale indoor farms. They provide us access to lighting experts who can help us to continuously improve production. Signify is also one of the few suppliers with the capacity to deliver in line with our growth plan. Together we are expanding our facility in Sweden. Signify’s controllable light spectrum enables us to optimize the light for cultivation and produce the highest quality crops," Andreas continues.  

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Andreas Wilhelmsson

More than 70% of the fruit and vegetables consumed in Sweden today are imported by truck, ship, or plane from other countries. With the aim of making food production more sustainable, Swedish vertical farmer and salad producer Ljusgårda plans to increase its production 20-fold and expand its cultivation capacity to produce at least 60 tons of salads a month, which is the equivalent of around 1 million bags.

Signify is helping the Swedish vertical growers to expand their production facility in Tibro. By expanding its cultivation area from 300 m2 to 2500 m2, Ljusgårda will be able to supply fresh, locally produced salad all year round. Signify is providing the company with its latest high-tech solutions: Philips GreenPower LED production modules and the Philips GrowWise control system. These allow the light spectrum and lighting levels to be controlled, resulting in improved quality and higher yields per square meter.

As a result, Ljusgårda can ensure that its salads are tasty and nutritious. LED lighting also makes it simpler to predict growth levels, which means that it is easier for Ljusgårda to adapt its production to market demand during the season. The lighting is managed by the Philips GrowWise control system to schedule growth cycles well in advance and to allow for greater automation. 

Making an impact
Henrik adds, "This is important to Signify because of our strategic goal of helping our customers accelerate the use of sustainable farming to improve agriculture’s impact on climate change. By using the latest lighting systems in vertical farming, Ljusgårda can supply salads that meet the highest food safety standards. The right lighting also results in plants of a higher quality and a higher percentage of crops being consumed, reducing food waste.'

"Additionally, by helping Ljusgårda to grow locally we contribute to significantly reducing the food miles these salads have to travel before making it to Swedish consumers. We are therefore proudly taking part in the journey from the first green shoots to more consumers being able to enjoy Swedish salads all year round," Henrik states. 

Today, Ljusgårda's salads are sold in more than 60 ICA supermarkets, mainly in the Swedish regions of Västra Götaland and Småland. With the expansion of the facility and production on a much larger scale, Ljusgårda aims to supply sustainable Swedish salads to stores throughout Sweden.

Supporting food availability through horticulture LEDs illustrates Signify's commitment to supporting good health and wellbeing (SDG3). It is key to Signify's commitment to doubling the percentage of our revenues for brighter lives, which benefit society, to 32%. "This is part of our Brighter Lives, Better World 2025 program, which was launched in September 2020." 

For more information:

Signify

Daniele Damoiseaux, Global Marcom Manager Horticulture

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daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
www.philips.com/horti

For more information:
Ljusgårda
info@ljusgarda.se 
www.ljusgarda.se 

Sources used: 
[1] Climate-smart agriculture is an integrated approach to managing landscapes—cropland, livestock, forests, and fisheries—that addresses the interlinked challenges of food security and accelerating climate change.

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11 May 2021

Latest Research On Indoor Farming Now Just A Click Away

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By Brian Sparks

May 19, 2021

Greenhouse growers now have access to a new online resource to help make their indoor farming businesses more productive and profitable. OptimIA is a website featuring research results from six horticulture, engineering, and agricultural economics professors and Extension specialists, and their graduate students and technicians, at Michigan State University, The Ohio State University, Purdue University, and the University of Arizona. Born from a four-year, USDA grant-funded project, the website is one tool researchers are making available to anyone interested in overcoming the technological, environmental, and financial challenges common to indoor farming.

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In addition to the latest published research, the website offers trade articles authored by OptimIA project scientists, indoor production research highlights, recorded webinars presented by top national and international indoor farming experts, upcoming events related to indoor farming and the OptimIA project, and FAQs.

The OptimIA project’s ultimate goal is to define the environmental parameters within which leafy greens such as lettuce perform best in indoor vertical farms. While the work of each project researcher is unique, it all centers around the effects of light, carbon dioxide, humidity, temperature, air movement, and economics (operating, labor, equipment, etc.) on the sustainability and profitability of using indoor farms to produce leafy greens and microgreens.

The site will be frequently updated with new research results, as they become available.

To access the OptimIA project website, click here.

OptimIA is funded by the USDA‘s Specialty Crop Research Initiative.

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Crisis Looming In Trucking And Shipping; Here Is What’s At Stake for Horticulture

By American Trucking Associations

May 12, 2021

American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear told the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee this week that growing pressures on the U.S. supply chain are fast approaching crisis levels, and that immediate action from Congress is needed to ensure our economic recovery is not derailed by further disruptions.

In testimony before the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, during a hearing titled “Freight Mobility: Strengthening America’s Supply Chains and Competitiveness,” Spear outlined the trucking industry’s key priorities on infrastructure, workforce, safety, and the environment, detailing specific legislative steps lawmakers must take to ensure the integrity and longevity of the nation’s supply lines as the economy climbs out of the COVID-19 crisis.

“Investments in our supply chain are desperately needed, including the roads and bridges that connect our ports, rail yards, and airports to the National Highway System. Do that, and you will witness measurable efficiencies, including gains in productivity and safety, job growth, and sustainable employment, and historic reductions in carbon emissions,” Spear told members of the committee in his opening remarks.

The trucking industry moves more than 72% of the nation’s freight tonnage, and over the next decade, trucks will be tasked with moving 2.4 billion more tons of freight than they do today. Breakdowns in surface transportation infrastructure, as well as a severe and widening truck driver and diesel technician shortage, threaten the industry’s ability to keep goods moving safely and on time.

Freight bottlenecks and congestion on the National Highway System already cost the trucking industry an annual 1.2 billion hours of lost productivity, which is equivalent to more than 425,000 drivers sitting idle for an entire year — adding $75 billion to the cost of freight transportation. In addition, the industry currently faces a shortfall of nearly 61,000 drivers and will need to hire roughly 1.1 million new drivers over the next decade to keep pace with the economy’s increased freight demands.

Spear called on the Senate panel to advance a bipartisan surface transportation infrastructure bill this year, focused on roads and bridges, that’s responsibly funded with a modernized user-fee system. He also called on lawmakers to pass the DRIVE-Safe Act, legislation to remedy the driver shortage by promoting opportunity and enhancing safety training for emerging members of the trucking workforce. The bipartisan bill is backed by more than 117 organizations representing all levels of the U.S. supply chain.

A transcript of his opening remarks is available here.