Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
USA - VIDEO: Founder And CEO Jonathan Webb, Recap Business Update
Jonathan Webb appeared on Fox Business program Claman’s Countdown to discuss the company’s quarterly earnings report and how agriculture is ripe for disruption
FOUNDER AND CEO JONATHAN WEBB
TALKS DISRUPTING
AGRICULTURE, FOOD SECTOR ON
CLAMAN’S COUNTDOWN
Jonathan Webb appeared on Fox Business program Claman’s Countdown to discuss the company’s quarterly earnings report and how agriculture is ripe for disruption.
“We are focused on bringing food production back to the U.S.,” Jonathan said. “We’ve pushed most of our fruit and vegetable production down to Mexico and we have got to bring it back to the U.S., and we can do it through controlled environment, growing indoors.”
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USA - FLORIDA: St. Pete’s Brick Street Farms Gets Multi-Million-Dollar Investment From Lykes Bros
Lykes Bros., one of the oldest and largest agribusinesses in Florida, is putting a big bet on the future of farming as it invests in Brick Street Farms, an urban farm, and market in St. Petersburg
May 20, 2021
Photo credit: Brick Street Farms
Lykes Bros., one of the oldest and largest agribusinesses in Florida, is putting a big bet on the future of farming as it invests in Brick Street Farms, an urban farm and market in St. Petersburg.
Lykes is making a “significant” investment in Brick Street Farms, the two companies announced at a news conference Thursday. The amount of investment was not disclosed, but a news release described it as “multi-million dollar” investment. Lykes will take a 20 percent ownership stake in Brick Street Farms because of the deal, Mallory Dimmitt, vice president of strategic partnerships at Lykes, told the St. Pete Catalyst.
Brick Street Farms will use the investment to accelerate the expansion of Brick Street Farms hubs, an all-inclusive onsite farming and retail shopping experience in urban cores, said Shannon O’Malley, founder and CEO. The company has self-contained, environmentally sustainable THRIVE containers that will be placed in each hub. Each hub will grow between 16 to 20 acres of farmland on one-third acre lots.
Mallory Dimmitt, vice president at Lykes Bros., announces investment in Brick Street Farms while Nikki Fried, Florida Ag Commissioner, looks on.
The first new hub will open in St. Petersburg’s Warehouse Arts District in late 2021, with an expansion to Tampa in early 2022 followed by more hubs on the east coast, O’Malley said.
“We are the future of farming, and our new investors have the perfect expertise to help us take our successful business model in sustainable farming to feed more people healthy food,” O’Malley said.
The two companies first connected in November at the Florida-Israel Agriculture Innovation Summit, hosted by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said Nikki Fried, Florida Department of Agriculture Commissioner.
The collaboration meets several goals, including feeding people in urban locations, fighting urban food deserts and food insecurity, bringing farm-to-fork produce closer to people and bringing cutting edge agriculture technology to everyone.
From left, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman and Shannon O’Malley, founder and CEO, Brick Street Farms
Brick Street Farms is a hub of innovation and creativity and is the only female-founded and led company in the vertical farming industry, said St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman. He also highlighted the work of the company’s non-profit Desert Farms Foundation.
“Not only is Brick Street Farms working to make us healthier by providing us some of the best and freshest food around, but through its 501c3, Brick Street Farms is working to end food deserts through the Tampa Bay area,” Kriseman said.
Every urban environment struggles with food deserts, said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.
“The problems that occur from those food deserts are often times for many communities insurmountable. This is a solution to so many problems,” Castor said.
She also praised the company’s business model. It is financially successful by providing produce to a number of restaurants, Castor said.
While an urban focus might seem like an unusual fit for company like Lykes, which owns hundreds of thousands of rural acres throughout the state, “We know from our experience that innovation is what moves the agriculture industry forward,” said Dimmitt, who will join the Brick Street Farms board of directors.
“In addition to innovations in sustainable production and the technology it uses, the job opportunities and related job training and skills are key to Florida’s future and to our health and wellness,” Dimmitt said. “What could be better medicine than high-quality nutrient-dense greens grown close to the consumer where they have direct access, all while creating community.”
Brick Street Farms, at 2233 3rd Ave. S. was founded in 2016 by O’Malley and her husband, Brad Doyle. Read more about O’Malley in St. Pete Catalyst‘s Hustle profile.
VIDEO: California Farmers Leave Fields Fallow As Drought Grows More Dire In West
Northern California reservoirs contain only half the water they normally do in late spring.
Both the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project have announced they intend to deliver only 5% of requested supplies this year
By TYNE MORGAN May 28, 2021
As rains drop needed moisture for areas of the country dealing with drought and in need of relief, the situation is growing more dire in the West.
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows improvement in the Plains, especially in the Southern Plains. Heavy rains also falling across western portions of the High Plains this week, lessening the drought conditions in the western Dakotas. Those moisture improvements also pilling over into western Nebraska and Kansas.
The drought has become a mainstay in California. The Drought Monitor released Thursday shows exceptional drought growing, including Kern County, one of the top ranked counties for ag production in the nation.
Northern California reservoirs contain only half the water they normally do in late spring.
Both the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project have announced they intend to deliver only 5% of requested supplies this year.
As California farmers rely on Mother Nature and ground water this year, one farmer says it won't be enough to even grow a crop, with some farmers choosing to not plant at all. Some producers are even pulling out trees.
"There are land areas out here that are going to get one acre foot of water from the ground. That's what they're allocated," says Tyler Ribeiro, a dairy farmer in Tulare, California. "Good luck growing cactus on one acre foot. You're not going to be able to feed with that you can't grow trees out there. And we align with a lot of these tree guys in a sense of we feed their byproduct, I need those all almond hulls, I need those orange peels. I need a lot of those things. That's how we stay efficient [as a day farmer]."
USDA meteorologists telling AgDay there's not much relief in sight for California and the West. Forecasters expect the drought west of the Rockies to only get worse.
Vertical Farming: Disrupting Agriculture
A New Agricultural Revolution Could Forever Change The Planet
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.
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?
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
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.
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
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
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..
VIDEO: Vertical Farms Could Take Over The World
As the global population continues to increase, vertical farming is becoming a more widely recognized and viable solution to our food production problem
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."
Ohio State Graduates Find Success With Hydroponic Farming
The small hydroponic farm grows fresh exotic and artisan greens from around the world
By Dennis Biviano, Columbus
May 18, 2021
COLUMBUS, Ohio — James Hu and Andrew Herczak attended Ohio State, both starred on the fencing team and now the friends are business partners, co-owning Columbus Artisan Growers.
What You Need To Know
The OSU grads said there were a lot of challenges in growing their business
The farm grows fresh exotic and artisan greens
The vegetables are harvested for seven Columbus restaurants
The small hydroponic farm grows fresh exotic and artisan greens from around the world.
Although the start-up has experienced some ups, downs, and pivots during the pandemic, past experience taught them there's no quitting in this team.
“There's a lot of things that we learned at Ohio State, especially on the fencing team, is I think really, is really a driving factor of why we are doing what we are, especially how we survived through the pandemic, just fighting through everything. That was one of the things our coach really drilled into us,” said Hu.
Herczak, who is originally from Poland, said he's always grown up with a passion for plants and gardening.
He said everyone is looking for quality and organic these days.
The best part for him harvesting for seven local restaurants for edible foods and garnishes.
'These are native to South and southern America. We also harvest them for their flowers as well — has a little kick of spice. A lot of restaurants like that, that unique flavor, plus the unique texture on it,” said Herczak.
Even though hydroponic farming is their new labor of love, Herczak still practices fencing during his downtime at their downtown Columbus facility.
Just like many competitors and competitions both have faced in the past, Herczak and Hu said they have aspirations of advancing well beyond the Buckeye State.
“We definitely want to reach everywhere in the United States, even go international. We think the business model of a small hydroponic farm is more viable then we see some of the larger, big players in the field,” said Hu.
For more information on Columbus Artisan Growers, click here.
Vertical Farming: Sustainable Food Never Tasted So Good
Vertical farming enables the ability to grow food closer to large population centers and also reduces the “food miles” associated with distribution thus reducing the carbon footprint
Richard Howells | Brand Contributor
May 5, 2021
There’s a lot of good press these days about the potential of vertical farming to help address climate change. The idea is to use hydroponics and other techniques to grow food “soil-lessly” (if that’s a word) in vertically stacked layers.
Vertical farming enables the ability to grow food closer to large population centers and also reduces the “food miles” associated with distribution thus reducing the carbon footprint.
But not so fast.
Mark Korzilius from &ever GmbH – a vertical farming startup with a farm in Kuwait and one coming in Singapore – disagrees with the food miles argument. Here’s why.
Quality first: Iceberg no more!
In a recent interview on the Climate21 podcast with Tom Raftery, Korzilius urges us to “forget about transportation in order to justify vertical farming.” Instead, the focus needs to be on bringing the best product to the consumer. Quality, in this case, means healthy, leafy greens.
“You want to have high nutrients, high in secondary metabolites, everything that is extremely valuable for your body,” said Korzilius.
To most of us, the antithesis of healthy leafy greens is iceberg lettuce. However, as Korzilius explained, it tends to be cut, bagged, and refrigerated for distribution.
“This is where a lot of the carbon footprint comes from,” said Korzilius. “And let’s be honest, iceberg in foul-smelling bags is less than appetizing.”
Instead, &ever follows a “harvest on demand” process. It distributes its leafy greens as potted plants – like you might see with basil or other herbs in your grocery store. Korzilius claims that the customer receives the best-tasting, locally grown leafy greens available, without plastic or refrigeration needed. The chef at the Four Seasons in Kuwait, reportedly, thinks the coriander is the best he’s ever tasted!
Greater control and higher yield, too
&ever’s operations are entirely indoors, where the climate is controlled. This is crucial for successful yields. Growing spinach, for example, is notoriously difficult with vertical farming. But by experimenting with the right seeds, lighting, and temperature, &ever has found the right recipe.
One key advantage is that &ever can grow without pesticides – which, in the end, is just another form of energy. It can also optimize light spectrums to achieve desired results. Many of its crops run on 18 hours of light and six hours of darkness.
The result is higher yields over the course of a year. &ever can grow 18 cycles a year, compared to maybe seven for a traditional greenhouse. And, says Korzilius, it can do it with 85% less water.
Complexity managed
Korzilius also makes the point that tracking all the variables – such as light, temperature, water, production cycles, energy costs, growing recipes, and more – makes for a lot of complexity. SAP is working with &ever to help manage it all. Vertical farming is a high-tech endeavor where control is the key to success. We’re proud to help be part of the solution. Hopefully, this approach to growing food will help minimize carbon output while also delivering delicious food – from (vertical) farm to table.
Listen to the podcast here and be sure to check out the latest research from Oxford Economics on how to “Build a Resilient and Sustainable Supply Chain.”
I've been working in the supply chain management and manufacturing space for over 25 years, and I'm responsible for driving the market direction and positioning of SAP’s Supply Chain Management and IOT solutions. Prior to joining SAP in 2004, I spent 15 years with Marcam Solutions where I was VP of Marketing for the companies Process ERP solutions. I have also implemented ERP and SCM systems at companies such as Nestle, Gillette, Colgate Palmolive, Rohm & Haas, Wyeth, Royal Worcester Spode and Dairy Crest. I hold a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Mid Glamorgan in the UK. Follow me @howellsrichard
Lead photo: Vertical farm and its employees taking care of plant growth. Plant food production in vertically stacked layers. GETTY
USA-VIRGINIA: New Moneta Farm Redefines Method of Growing Fresh Produce
A new veteran-owned farm in Moneta is revamping traditional farming with advanced technology to serve up the freshest greens all year long
Its Growing 6,000 Greens A Month In A 40-Foot Box
MONETA, Va. – A new veteran-owned farm in Moneta is revamping traditional farming with advanced technology to serve up the freshest greens all year long.
Ditching the soil and bringing in a laptop, there’s a new hydroponic farm in Moneta.
Using selective lighting, balancing pH and nutrient levels, and releasing water through a bar of foam, Vittone Farms is growing 6,000 greens a month in a 40-foot box.
“365 days a year is what we can do,” Jeff Vittone, owner of Vittone Farms, said. “Which is also busting some paradigms. Like, ‘how do you do this and why is it ready and why is it so green?’ And it’s like well, it’s all grown here.”
The farm also uses green power by using a solar panel to produce a variety of foods stemming from lettuce to radishes to even carrots.
A lover of salads, Vittone said he got into hydroponics after noticing major food waste after E. coli scares.
After serving eight years active duty in the Air Force and a total of 12 years in the Virginia Air National Guard, Vittone turned his hobby into a business to put more fresh food on local tables.
“I believe if you ask any veteran they will say that after my duty to my country was served,” he said. “It’s like going without water. You still want to serve to some capacity.”
Now, he is calling on other veterans to get into the business.
By using only about five gallons of water a day, he encourages people to try container farming if they don’t have much land.
“If you have two, three acres of land that is just not enough to produce to make money but that’s enough for this to be there…small local communities and food deserts need this kind of technology.”
Hosting the Smith Mountain Lake Farmer’s Market, Vittone plans to highlight other local businesses from now till the week before Thanksgiving.
The farmer’s market is open on Fridays from 2 p.m to 6 p.m and Saturdays from 10 a.m to 2 p.m.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Alexus Davila
Alexus joined 10 News in October 2020.
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AppHarvest Hopes To Build A Garden Of Eden In America's Appalachia
AppHarvest (NASDAQ:APPH) is building large commercial greenhouses in Kentucky to primarily grow tomatoes indoors
May 15, 2021
Summary
AppHarvest is building out commercial indoor farms in Appalachia.
APPH, which recently went public via a special purpose acquisition company, has seen its stock price collapse on the back of the flight of capital from growth to value.
With revenue growth increasing, the company's next challenge is growing into its valuation profitably.
Photo by IP Galanternik D.U./E+ via Getty Images
AppHarvest (NASDAQ:APPH) is building large commercial greenhouses in Kentucky to primarily grow tomatoes indoors. The benefits of this approach would see the company use up to 90% less water than traditional farms, have the ability to attain harvests year-round, use no chemical pesticides, and attain at least 30x more food per acre than conventional farming methods. Essentially, indoor farms allow modern farmers to carefully control the environment to indefinitely allow for near-perfect growing conditions.
This has brought the future of farming forward, a critical need in a world still facing significant population growth rates while beset by the uncertainties of climate change.
However, while AppHarvest's ESG credentials are undoubtedly strong with the company using recycled rainwater for its circular irrigation system, there remains uncertainty over whether its business will be able to profitably grow commodity fruit and vegetable produce. This would be against a domestic market increasingly dominated by Mexico. Imports of tomatoes from Mexico to the USA grew by 125% from 1.6 billion pounds to 3.6 billion pounds between 2002 and 2017. This subsequent decline in US production of tomatoes is a trend AppHarvest hopes to reverse with its indoor farm in Kentucky. This is able to reach 70% of the US population within a day's drive.
This means produce should not only arrive at grocery stores fresher, but they would also do so with a lower carbon footprint. AppHarvest longs would consider this an important point as consumers become increasingly aware of the importance of the food chain to managing climate change and the damaging impact of pesticide use on the natural environment. For example, surface runoff from farms into lakes and rivers have potentially damaging effects on aquatic ecosystems.
AppHarvest September 2020 Investor Presentation (Source)
While AppHarvest inaugural 60-acre Morehead facility primarily grows tomatoes, the company expects to be able to produce leafy greens and cucumbers in the near future with two new facilities planned for 2022.
Strong Geographic Reach And Improved Revenue Visibility
AppHarvest expects revenue to ramp up materially over the next four fiscal years from 2021 on the back of an expansion of its indoor greenhouses. The company has guided revenue to reach $376 million in 2025, a four-year compound annual growth rate from 2021 of 97%. To achieve this, AppHarvest expects to hit 12 active facilities across Appalachia by 2025. The company also expects to attain greater diversification by expanding into growing other fruits and vegetables.
AppHarvest September 2020 Investor Presentation (Source)
Of course, the main barrier to an investment in AppHarvest would be its ability to scale revenue growth profitably. Capital expenditure in new greenhouses should very well see the company increase total acreage and annual production, but its ability to do this profitably would be challenged by the unique costs of indoor growing. From increased electricity consumption to the use of more skilled and variable labour.
Hence, AppHarvest's focus on robotic harvesting emphasised with its recent acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Root AI points to a potentially profitable scale-up.
Virgo, Root AI's Tomato Picking Robot (Source)
AppHarvest does not expect Virgo to entirely eliminate its use of labour. However, the robot can evaluate crop health, precisely predict yield and optimise overall operations by handpicking tomatoes. This will be a material factor in efficient and profitable operations especially if it can work without a high degree of human intervention.
Indeed, the company expects to reach EBITDA profitability in its fiscal 2023, generating positive free cash flow during the same year. With its shares currently trading at $11.91, AppHarvest holds a $1.12 billion valuation. This would place its forward 1-year market cap to sales at 45x. While still high for a farming company, it is down from 162x when it reached all-time highs in February. Further, this multiple drops to 19x using revenue guided for its fiscal 2022. Investors would be right to be wary about paying almost 20 times revenue for a greenhouse farming company so might be prudent to wait for any further potential pullback in shares.
Turning Appalachia Into America's Own Modern Farm
AppHarvest will not be immune to the gyrations of selling a commodity product to a domestic market that has tilted towards cheaper imports over the last decade. The company will not only have to compete adequately on price with traditional farmed fruits and vegetables, but it would also have to do so with a high-tech setup that while big on ESG credentials offers up avenues for increased costs that could eat into any potential profits.
AppHarvest is a long-term somewhat speculative play on a better more modern method of farming. Hence, just as the green revolution of the mid 20th century saw increased agricultural production worldwide. This more modern ESG-focused method of farming promises to usurp the old order.
This article was written by
'Food As Medicine Should Play A Larger Role In Society's Health'
TAMU Urban Farm United (TUFU) is a small-scale farm project based at Texas A&M University (TAMU) and uses vertical aeroponic techniques to demonstrate the benefits of hyperlocal food production. TUFU is located in a 20 ft by 50 ft greenhouse that was built in the 1980’s
Although Lisette Templin has long understood the benefits of healthy living, she immersed herself into local food production after a family illness highlighted the importance of micronutrients and macronutrients in fresh produce. Lisette, an instructional assistant professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Texas A&M, then began her research into local food production. One thing led to another, and Lisette discovered vertical aeroponic gardening and applied for Aggie Green Fund Grants to bring the concept to Texas A&M. Thus, TAMU Urban Farm United was created.
TAMU Urban Farm United (TUFU) is a small-scale farm project based at Texas A&M University (TAMU) and uses vertical aeroponic techniques to demonstrate the benefits of hyperlocal food production. TUFU is located in a 20 ft by 50 ft greenhouse that was built in the 1980’s. The greenhouse is equipped with a wet wall and shade cloth to moderate temperatures on Texas’ 100°F days, instead of keeping the greenhouse around 90°F. The greenhouse is also equipped with a heating system for cooler days.
With respect to TUFU’s vertical aeroponic system, the farm uses Juice Plus+ Tower Garden systems. According to Lisette, producing through vertical aeroponics reduces space and water requirements by 90% when compared to traditional agriculture, while also reducing labor requirements. Tower Gardens are individual aeroponic towers, which allows Lisette and her students to treat each tower as its own microcosm.
Lisette Templin
“Each tower is in its separate microcosm of growing; if one tower is contaminated with something, we can address the issues within that tower and know with certainty that it will not contaminate other towers,” explains Lisette.
The same is true for both pest and nutrient management, as each tower can be managed separately according to the specific crop. However, Lisette mentioned that the major challenge with TUFU’s current set-up is the distribution of light between the top and bottom of the tower. To address this, TUFU is looking to work with lighting companies to create more uniform light conditions along the tower’s length and provide lighting on cloudy days.
TUFU has many goals, all centered on demonstrating the use of sustainable food production methods to improve personal and community health.
Health impact of local food production
Lisette explains urban farming’s benefits first in respect to physical health, with hydroponic farming allowing growers to deliver highly nutritious, fresh products to the immediate local community. Moreover, Lisette believes that “food as medicine” should play a larger role in the health of children and society as a whole.
“Micronutrient- and macronutrient-dense food grown locally can effortlessly replace food that is highly inflammatory to the human body while providing the phytochemicals necessary to health. This way, indoor hydroponic farms can play a pivotal role in transitioning people off of medication from chronic diseases and in strengthening their immune systems,” says Lisette.
Urban farming can also benefit mental and emotional health, the domain in which Lisette specializes. According to Lisette, the food that we eat significantly affects both our physical and emotional heart, which both seem to people increasingly strained throughout society.
“The burden of sickness in the United States is leading to high suicide rates among adults, young adults, and children. I truly believe that bringing the community together to grow food while creating entrepreneurial potential can play a huge role in shifting people’s consciousness towards health and happiness with purpose,” explains Lisette.
The same is true for both pest and nutrient management, as each tower can be managed separately according to the specific crop. However, Lisette mentioned that the major challenge with TUFU’s current set-up is the distribution of light between the top and bottom of the tower. To address this, TUFU is looking to work with lighting companies to create more uniform light conditions along the tower’s length and provide lighting on cloudy days.
TUFU has many goals, all centered on demonstrating the use of sustainable food production methods to improve personal and community health.
Further development ahead for TUFU
Moving forward, the vision is to build a new greenhouse that is 100% off-grid and self-sustaining. Once built, the greenhouse would be two-storied with Tower Gardens on the top floor integrated with a meditation space. The first floor would include a seeding area, commercial kitchen, and community classroom. This, according to Lisette, will allow TUFU to have a greater impact both locally and on a larger scale.
Envisioning a sustainable urban farm model
Lisette’s work with TUFU is centered on her personal vision for sustainable living, which she hopes will drive urban farm models. Her vision includes having a livelihood model that she truly feels good about and that is environmentally sound. On the business side, Lisette explains that she envisions a business large enough to support a growing community and build connections within said community by providing training, creating jobs, and fostering personal growth and spiritual transformation.
For more information:
Lisette Templin, assistant professor Health and Kinesiology
Texas A&M, Texas Urban Farm United
lisettetemplin@tamu.edu
www.agrilifetoday.tamu.edu
Publication date: Thu 6 May 2021
Author: Rose Seguin
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
USA: INDIANA - CASS Housing Is Growing, In More Ways Than One
A local organization keeps growing, in more ways than one. CASS Housing is adding CASS Gardens, an opportunity for residents to grow produce and create jobs
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A local organization keeps growing, in more ways than one. CASS Housing is adding CASS Gardens, an opportunity for residents to grow produce and create jobs.
The mission of CASS Housing is to create and maintain customizable, affordable, sustainable, and safe living arrangements for individuals with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities that promote independent living skills.
These residents will now have the opportunity to work in shipping containers transformed into a garden. Each container will grow 2.5 acres of leafy greens and herbs. The idea was grown from a parent of a future resident and the partnership with Freight Farms was developed. The containers can grow produce year-round and only use 5 gallons of water a day, saving 95% over traditional farming. The LED technology grows the plants on panels inside the containers.
Currently, CASS Housing has two containers and has plans to add 15 in the future. Each container will supply two part-time jobs that residents with CASS Housing are able to walk to.
Planting begins Thursday. The produce will be harvested, processed and sold or distributed to customers individually or through wholesale.
“We believe that this employment program could change the national discussion for people with disabilities, starting here in Fort Wayne,” Executive Director David Buuck says.
This is the second Freight Farm in the state of Indiana.
To find out more or to donate, visit casshousing.org.
VIDEO: Singapore’s Urban Farmers Seek High-Tech Solutions To Turn Waste Into Resources
With the challenges of climate change and a growing population, research and development have become critical in helping overcome threats to sustainability with the help of technology
MAY 11, 2021
KEY POINTS
Singapore’s first urban insect farm, Insectta, is a biotech start-up extracting valuable biomaterials from the black soldier fly.
With the challenges of climate change and a growing population, research and development have Nessa Anwar become critical in helping overcome threats to sustainability with the help of technology.
Farmers in typically traditional environments are also tapping into technology to bring added value to their fields of specialty, such as Singapore fish farm Eco-Ark.
Farmers are popping up in major cities - here’s why
SINGAPORE — Thousands of wriggling larvae won’t deter this self-declared “urban farmer.”
Chua Kai-Ning is one of the founders of Singapore’s first urban insect farm, Insectta — a high-tech farm that rears the black soldier fly to help turn food waste into biomaterials for industrial use.
“The black soldier fly is a way to contribute to what we call the circular economy, where we produce things without anything going to waste,” said the 26-year-old, who has a background in English linguistics.
Some in Singapore are turning to urban farming in this land-scarce city, as they look for high-tech ways to turn waste into useful resources.
Chua is one of them.
We are not only reimagining what we farm, but what we get out of the farming process.
Chua Kai-Ning
CO-FOUNDER, INSECTTA
“Their superpower is their ability to consume food waste,” she said of the black soldier fly, regularly scooping up a handful of writhing insects with her bare hands throughout the farm visit.
“A kilo of larvae can go through four kilograms of waste in just 24 hours,” she said, explaining that pre-consumer food waste — primarily soybean leftovers and spent grain from the beer-brewing industry — is fed to the larvae.
But the work doesn’t stop there.
Insectta’s co-founder and chief technology officer Phua Jun Wei demonstrating water-soluble melanin derived from their black soldier fly larvae.
From the insect farm, the trays of larvae are transported to a laboratory on the other side of the island state. There, biomaterials are extracted from the larvae and used to produce valuable substances for electronics, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, such as chitosan and melanin.
The future of urban agriculture, Chua maintained, is in deep technology. Deep tech companies are often start-ups founded on scientific and engineering breakthroughs, aimed at harnessing technology to address environmental or societal challenges.
“We are not only reimagining what we farm but what we get out of the farming process.”
Pioneers such as Insectta are not the only ones coming up with high-tech ways of farming to cater to a world with evolving needs. Farmers in typically traditional environments are also tapping into technology to bring added value to their fields of specialty.
Eco-Ark is one such example. The closed-containment floating fish farm located in the eastern side of Singapore uses seawater that has been optimally treated to farm fish.
The farm — an area slightly smaller than two basketball courts — also uses green energy tapped from its solar roof to power about 20% of its farming activities, the company said.
The Eco-Ark is a closed-containment floating fish farm located off a Singapore coast, yielding more than 160 tonnes of fish a year.
“We produce our own oxygen, we produce our own ozone,” said Leow Ban Tat, CEO of Aquaculture Centre of Excellence, which built Eco-Ark.
Open-net fish farms are vulnerable to environmental threats such as plankton blooms, oil spills and warmer waters due to climate change. Unlike these traditional farms, fish on the Eco-Ark are contained in seawater that is filtered and treated to kill pathogens.
“As fish grow, they produce a lot of ammonia and nitrates,” he explained, adding that water discharged back to the sea is treated and free of waste.
In addition to a water filtration system that improves the mortality of fish reared, the high-tech floating farm is the first in the country to have post-harvest facilities, said Leow.
After cleaning and preparing ready-made fish for consumption, the fish bones and fish heads left behind are turned into pellets that can be used as plant fertilizer, ensuring no unnecessary waste.
Singapore sets its sights on high-tech farming
Traditionally, urban farms are not known to be energy efficient. Critics say that growing food with the help of high-tech systems to boost artificial farming environments, such as in climate control, raises energy costs.
With the challenges of climate change and a growing population, research and development have become critical to overcoming threats to sustainability with the help of technology.
In its latest budget, Singapore set aside 60 million Singapore dollars (about $45.2 million) to encourage farmers to utilize technology. The Agri-Food Cluster Transformation Fund was established in February to help farmers better apply technology to local food production.
The goal of sustainability has drawn people like aquaculturist Nick Goh to fish farms like Eco-Ark.
“This is actually what I wanted to do. It is not sustainable if we keep on doing fish-netting outside, fishing, fish trawling,” he told CNBC. “So if we have aquaculture in the field, we can actually first sustain the ocean, and second, sustain ourselves in terms of food security-wise.”
Black soldier fly larvae eating through a tray of pre-consumer food waste.
Insectta’s Chua admits it’s not been easy.
“Pioneering anything, especially in a deep tech industry, is definitely scary,” Chua said. “But it’s also empowering because you know that you’re the first mover for change.”
“If we don’t go out there and look for new solutions to current problems such as the food waste crisis, dwindling natural resources, we’re never going to make any headway.”
Were Medieval Cities Greener? Urban Agriculture In The Middle Ages
Cities have grown so rapidly in the past century that we tend to forget that, until the late nineteenth century, the vast majority of people actually lived in rural settings
By Lucie Laumonier
Cities have grown so rapidly in the past century that we tend to forget that, until the late nineteenth century, the vast majority of people actually lived in rural settings. Even just one hundred years ago, most of the suburbs of large modern cities were completely rural.
In the Middle Ages, cities comprised a large population of farmers, ploughmen, and agriculturalists who worked in close vicinity to urban spaces. Most cities’ outskirts included an important portion of estates dedicated to agriculture where urban peasants laboured. However, one of the key characteristics of any city is that the food it produces does not suffice to feed its population. Medieval cities thus had to import most of the foodstuff required to sustain their citizens, even if a portion of it was produced locally.
Medieval cities were also full of gardens and vegetable beds that people cultivated for their own sustenance or for extra revenues. This preoccupation with urban agriculture is evident in Le Ménagier, a housekeeping guide written by a fourteenth-century gentleman from Paris for his young wife which included several sections about gardens. This was done in part so that his wife would “have some knowledge on horticulture and gardening, grafting in the proper season, and keeping roses in winter.”
This article looks at the urban farmers of medieval France and discusses the roles of the gardens that were found throughout medieval cities.
Urban peasants: How Many Were There?
Medieval population estimates depend on the nature of available sources, few of which were drafted for demographic purposes. Wills and fiscal sources are often the main indicators of a population’s stratification. In the town of Manresa, Catalonia, 13.5% of fifteenth-century taxpayers were farmers. This proportion is relatively low, especially compared to the large city of Montpellier, Languedoc, which counted more than 30,000 inhabitants on the eve of the Black Death. There, 22% of the 1380-1480 taxpayers were farmers or gardeners.
The data thus suggests that one in five late medieval urban dwellers in Montpellier practised agriculture. But, except for the gardeners, we have no concrete information about the actual work the farmers performed. We do not know for instance what proportion specialized in cattle or sheep rearing; how many were mainly producing wine or cereals. We do not know either how many owned the fields they tilled, how many farmed the estates of others, or how many had no land and no job security, and hopped from farm to farm looking for work.
A gardener from around the year 1425, depicted in the Housebooks of Nuremberg – Amb. 317.2 fol. 8v
Part-Time Urban Farmers
Few work contracts were made by the urban peasantry. In Marseille, Provence, 10% of the fourteenth-century work contracts analysed by Francine Michaud concerned farming and agriculture. The figure is low but compares to the data I collected for Montpellier in Languedoc. The reason for such a small figure is that agriculture, in general, seldom prompted the drafting of a work contract, even in rural settings where it was the primary occupation of workers. Since agricultural work was seasonal in nature, it rarely called for the legal guarantees long-term work contracts required.
In the Montpellier sources, some self-identified urban peasants juggled different jobs, suggesting that agriculture was not, in fact, their full-time occupation. Some men described themselves as “agriculturalist and gardener”. Two men were “carpenter and ploughmen;” one taxpayer worked as “musician and ploughman and public crier;” one was a “glove maker and ploughman;” while another was listed as a “ploughman and fishmonger.” It is possible that agriculture was their primary occupation but that they had a side activity to make ends meet.
But it is also possible these workers took on agricultural work during harvest season as a way to supplement their earnings coming from their other activity. Medieval city dwellers often owned small pieces of land they rented out or cultivated in their free time. In the town of Castelnaudary, near Toulouse, 95% of the fourteenth-century taxpaying inhabitants owned at least some agricultural land. The rate was 91.5% in the fifteenth century. Most of these landowners held very small estates (less than 2 hectares), which would not have sufficed to sustain their families. Nonetheless, these lands did offer the guarantee of some sustenance to their owners.
Urban Gardens for the Poor and the Wealthy
Vegetables, fruits, and various herbs had always been cultivated in cities for practical and sustenance purposes. Cities were covered with backyard vegetable beds in which people planted cabbage, carrots, peas, and other products they would eat. Historian Jerry Stannard dubbed such vegetable beds “kitchen gardens” and underlines that “the produce of the smallest, most crudely tilled plot was preferable to nothing at all,” in that they provided “free” food to their owners. Besides vegetables, artisans and workers also planted (grew) medicinal plants.
However, the existence of kitchen gardens often depended on the population density of cities and on the demographic context. At times of demographic pressure, when cities were full, the spaces taken up by the gardens and vegetable patches of the poor were used for housing. The size and number of such gardens therefore decreased. But when the population declined, such as after the Black Death, unoccupied lots and abandoned houses were turned into vegetable beds to help sustain more modest households. Today still, depopulation in cities sometimes prompts the reconversion of available lands into gardens and parks.
Unthreatened by demographic changes were the patrician gardens that belonged to the wealthier inhabitants of cities. These gardens were usually of the mixed type, containing edible and medicinal plants as well as ornamental species cultivated for their beauty and delightful scents. Ornamental gardens were heavily featured in medieval literature (which teems with scenes unfolding in gardens), where protagonists engaged in all sorts of activities — preferably courting a lady or discussing philosophy with allegorical figures. The Romance of the Rose is a fitting example of such.
An illustration from Roman de La Rose, depicting a fountain and a stream pouring outwards from the centre of the garden – Wikimedia Commons
Ornamental Gardens: Aromatherapy and the Pleasure of the Senses
Ornamental gardens gained traction (in popularity) after the devastations of the plague and its ulterior episodes. The scientific belief that nasty vapours carrying miasmas had caused the disease, as the airborne transmission of plague through droplets had been acknowledged by medieval physicians, fuelled the idea that gardens had the power to clean up the air. Gardens, in short, had a curative power one should not ignore. Through their odour, wrote Italian physician Marsilio Ficino in the second half of the fifteenth century, flowers and plants “restore and invigorate you on all sides, as if by the breath and spirit of the life of the world.”
The curative virtues of gardens worked in two ways, notes historian Carol Rawcliffe. On the one hand, the smell of flowers restores health by strengthening the heart, while on the other it works as a prophylactic agent. Medieval scientists recommended the scent of roses and violets as a form of protection against the plague. The perfume of violets was also prescribed to treat headaches, fevers, and skin diseases. Fourteenth-century physician John of Burgundy therefore recommended “to smell roses, violets, and lilies” before leaving one’s home in times of plague to avoid catching the disease.
Even more ambitious was physician Ibn Khatimah, who had witnessed the devastations of the Black Death in Andalusia. He argued that cities should protect themselves from the plague through the intensive cultivation of sweet-smelling plants around their boundaries. This physical barrier against the disease could then be enhanced by the stockpiling of plants to prevent its vapours from reaching the cities’ dwellers. In their homes, town dwellers could scatter freshly cut herbs and flowers on the floor to clear the air; and “refresh” their straw mattresses with the addition of lavender and other plants.
Besides the curative virtues listed above, medieval physicians also believed flowers to be beneficial to mental health. Walking in gardens, smelling and looking at flowers uplifted people’s morale, which in turn had positive effects on their general health. Moderate exercise and strolls in gardens or, when possible, in the countryside, cured both the soul and the body. The reason why medieval hospitals kept gardens in their precincts were both practical (cultivating the medicine and food they needed) and philosophical, thus enabling the sick to breathe some fresh air and engage in light yet invigorating activities.
Medieval cities were surrounded by agricultural estates. Within their walls, the urban space was partly covered with gardens that belonged to the wealthy, to hospitals and convents. In humbler neighbourhoods, the extent land was taken up by private gardens depended on the period of time and the density of the city in question. The fewer the inhabitants of a city, the more numerous its gardens tended to be. Besides their role in alimentation, gardens, ornamental ones especially, also had medicinal virtues for the soul and the body. In the Middle Ages, smelling the roses was to be taken literally.
Lucie Laumonier is an Affiliate assistant professor at Concordia University. Click here to view her Academia.edu page or follow her on Instagram at The French Medievalist.
US: INDIANA - Indianapolis Indoor Farm Packages Leafy Greens To Uplift East Side
An indoor-farming facility using cutting-edge technology is bringing new food options to the city’s east side
by: David Williams
May 7, 2021
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An indoor-farming facility using cutting-edge technology is bringing new food options to the city’s east side.
Uplift Produce grows, harvests, and packages leafy greens in a renovated 60,000-square-foot facility in Indianapolis.
“We say that we’re fresh-to-market in hours and the reason for that is we actually harvest, pack, and ship within a matter of a few hours into distribution channels,” Chris Arnold, CEO of Uplift Produce, said Friday.
Keith Cooper, Uplift Produce location manager, said depending on the product, they grow from seed to finish in 14-21 days, with a “100% controlled environment. So, we’re controlling the CO2, the humidity, and temperature to be exactly at the set points that the plant needs.”
The business is a joint venture with a Dutch company called PlantLab. The first product launched from the Indianapolis facility in October. Arnold said the company is committed to uplifting the community.
“It’s working well here in Indianapolis to have that partnership, meaning that every dollar that’s ever made here, a portion of those goes directly right back here into the community,” Arnold said.
They’ve got 11 employees right now. Uplift produce donates about 150 pounds of food a week to places that include Second Helpings hunger relief and the Cafe Patachou Foundation. This area is in the midst of revitalization.
“Everything that we do is really centered around, ‘How do we uplift people and the whole community support?’ Really that partnership with Englewood and the work that the folks at the Englewood Community Development Corporation are doing here in the community, we’re really just trying to equip them to continue to do the work that they do,” Arnold said.
Arnold said he is called to do this work — not only to feed people but also to help this area.
“Our desire is that people would be able to just live, work and play in this neighborhood. Be able to directly walk into work and never have to get in a car,” Arnold said.
The Englewood Community Development Corporation is an ownership partner, Arnold said. The facility is housed at the historic P.R. Mallory campus, inside the Bunker Building.
Arnold told News 8 there are plans to expand the facility even more by the end of this year and bring an additional 20 jobs to Indianapolis.
Uplift Produce has facilities in seven different states and several cities. You can find their products online at Green Bean Delivery and hope to sell on retail shelves in Indianapolis soon.
© 2021 Circle City Broadcasting I, LLC. | All Rights Reserved.
USA: INDIANA - 5 Acres of Food In 80 Feet: Urban Farmer Grows A Garden In The Heart of Indianapolis
An unassuming plot of land sits on the eastside of Indianapolis on 30th Street. From the outside, it looks like an empty lot with a couple of shipping containers on it. But inside those containers is an entire garden
May 6, 2021
An unassuming plot of land sits on the eastside of Indianapolis on 30th Street. From the outside, it looks like an empty lot with a couple of shipping containers on it. But inside those containers is an entire garden.
And among the plants, you can find DeMario Vitalis.
Vitalis is the first in Indiana to own a hydroponic farm inside of a shipping container. The unique method involves planting seedlings of plants such as herbs and lettuces on vertical panels and feeding them controlled levels of water, nutrients, and light — no soil required.
It’s a mode of farming uniquely suited for urban environments. Vitalis is able to produce almost 5 acres of food a year from two 40-foot shipping containers. It also uses 99% less water than traditional farming, according to the company that makes the containers.
Vitalis sells his fresh herbs, lettuces, and more to people in the community through online platforms such as Market Wagon.
The climate control is a huge advantage for Vitalis, who set up his farm, called New Age Provisions, in the latter half of last year. Regardless of the outside weather, he can grow anything he wants.
“It can be 30 degrees outside and raining,” he said, “but inside it’s 65 degrees. In here I’m watching Netflix and planting seeds.”
Even though he now spends much of his time dedicated to plants, Vitalis wasn’t a farmer when he started all of this. He was just an entrepreneur looking for his next project, and farming — which connected to his history as a descendent of enslaved people and Southern sharecroppers — felt like the right choice.
“It was just a way to become an entrepreneur,” he said, “and also get back into the type of occupation my ancestors once had.”
‘It’s in his blood’
Vitalis was looking for something that would put a piece of property he owned to use, and he had a hunch shipping containers were key.
At first, he thought he would set up some modular tiny homes built out of containers. But then he came across Freight Farms, a Boston-based company that could cram 2.5 acres of production into one shipping container, and the decision was made.
Although born in San Francisco, Vitalis’ family is originally from the South, and he moved around quite a bit before settling in Indiana.
“Three of my four grandparents started off from the South,” Vitalis said, “So we were part of that Black migration when we moved eventually from the South to San Francisco on the West Coast.”
After living in Germany, Kansas, and other places as his stepfather moved around with the military, Vitalis’ mother decided to move him to Indianapolis, where he stayed and attended Arlington High School and Purdue University.
Vitalis’ mother Barbara Johnson is a cook, so food has always been important to the family. And the herbs and vegetables grown by her son, she said, are “absolutely wonderful.”
“I just believe that you can always inspire a person with a good meal,” she said.
Even so, farming or food production was never anything they did at home, she said. But she knows it’s something he feels close to because of the family’s history.
“I guess it was just in his blood,” she said.
Vitalis was one of the first Black owners of a Freight Farms shipping container in the country, said Caroline Katsiroubas, marketing, and communications director for the company.
“He, in particular, wanted to be a catalyst for more Black farmers to join the Freight Farming community,” she said, “and I’ve definitely seen the impact.”
Overcoming learning, funding hurdles
It wasn’t easy learning how to grow food.
Despite two degrees from Purdue University, Vitalis doesn’t have a background in farming and had to put himself through some education before diving into his urban farm. He took online classes and even visited Freight Farms in Boston to learn about the equipment and process.
“It does take a learning curve,” he said. “It’s not easy to learn how to farm; you have to learn how to react to the plants.”
Sometimes his daughter will help him with the planting. Johnson, too, will help out and trim plants, clean or help with planting, and occasionally brings her grandson along. Understanding how the farm works was a learning curve for her, too.
“I didn’t know anything about hydroponic farming,” she said. “When I saw that wall of plants, I didn’t think it was possible.”
Funding was another obstacle. The farms cost $100,000 each.
After some research, Vitalis found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will supply loans for these types of businesses, so he requested $50,000 to help him pay for one container and was promptly denied.
The people evaluating the profitability of these containers simply didn’t understand how it worked or how much it could produce, he said. But instead of giving up, he pushed back. Black farmers have historically been discriminated against when trying to obtain USDA loans, and he was motivated to make sure his business plan was being fairly evaluated.
“There’s a history behind that,” he said. “I was just one of many.”
Vitalis appealed the decision and won. Then, he turned around and asked for $200,000 instead — and got it.
Finally one day, a semi-trailer pulled up outside his property with the containers, picked them up with an enormous crane, and plopped them right down behind the nearby building.
“It was pretty interesting to see a big old 40-foot container fly over a building,” Vitalis said. “It was not easy, but you know, God was on my side and I was able to get through the hurdles that were put in my way.”
How hydroponics works
In a hydroponic farm, everything is vertical — and everything is controlled.
At first, the plants start as seedlings or seeds and are placed on shelves under LED lights, and water flushed with nutrients is dispensed to them with attached machines.
After a few weeks, the plants are large enough to transfer to a series of vertical panels that roll along tracks. These panels are also connected to machines for dosing water and nutrients and placed in between LED lights. The water circulating through the plants is saved and re-cycled through the system, conserving water and nutrients.
Although space may seem tight, one container can output the equivalent of 1,000 heads of lettuce each week, Katsiroubas said.
And throughout the whole process, Vitalis controls the light, temperature, nutrients, and water. The plants live in a perfectly contained ecosystem that’s never under threat from drought, flooding or pests.
“It has its own brain,” Vitalis said.
It’s a big advantage, he said, because he can grow food year-round and he doesn’t have to worry about pesticides or herbicides. It’s also “hyper-local,” he said. When he gets an order, the food comes from the planter into the customer’s hands within a matter of hours.
David Bosley, Vitalis’ former boss at Cummins, Inc., used Vitalis’ greens for his Thanksgiving meal and said he was impressed by the packaging and freshness. At first, he said, the idea of a hydroponics farm was surprising.
“I thought it was rather novel,” he said, “but I also thought, well that’s just like DeMario.”
Nobody was surprised that Vitalis made New Age Provisions happen.
He’s always been one to tackle a project without giving up, Bosley said. And he’s always been a trailblazer and hard worker, his mother said. She thinks it’s something he may have picked up from her, since she worked multiple jobs and attended school while caring for him and his siblings.
“I’m even more amazed with my son,” Johnson said. “He‘s satisfying a need in the community and following a dream. It was his vision and he brought it to fruition.”
Contact IndyStar reporter London Gibson at 317-419-1912 or lbgibson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @londongibson.
Connect with IndyStar’s environmental reporters: Join The Scrub on Facebook.
IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
USA: CONNECTICUT - Killingly High School Breaks Down How Adding A ‘Hydroponics’ And ‘Aquaponics’ Class Encourages Sustainability
Beth Knowlton is a plant science teacher at Killingly and has been for about fifteen years. She tells News 8 hydroponics is a fairly new career in the AG industry, “The future holds us growing plants in warehouse buildings and things in inner cities so we can provide a local food source.”
May 6, 2021
KILLINGLY, Conn. (WTNH) — At Killingly High School over the past few years, they’ve truly enhanced their Agriculture Education Program. They’ve added a hydroponics and aquaponics class to help encourage sustainability.
Beth Knowlton is a plant science teacher at Killingly and has been for about fifteen years. She tells News 8 hydroponics is a fairly new career in the AG industry, “The future holds us growing plants in warehouse buildings and things in inner cities so we can provide a local food source.”
It’s a unique way of agriculture, that relies solely on the light and water in the greenhouse, using no soil at all.
They grow everything from cucumbers to tomatoes and kale.
They’re hoping to add to their hydroponics greenhouse, a misting system. They’ll be able to plant strawberries and have their roots continually misted from the inside, helping them grow.
Just down the hall, Courtney Cardinal teaches her aquaponics students the ways to use fish waste to grow plants.
The setup for aquaponics is a little different, plants grow in gravel beds connected to a water source that comes from pools full of tilapia. As the gravel beds fill and drain, the nutrients are brought to the roots of the plants.
They use hundreds of tilapia fish to water the plants. Cardinal says, “One input of the fish food is actually growing two products. So we’re growing both the fish, the filets of the fish, and then the waste is being reused to grow plants.”
The major nutrient the plants need is Nitrogen, and they get that from the fish waste. Non-traditional but efficient ways to grow food and adjust to the advancing industry.
USA: WASHINGTON - Lacey Is Home To The Largest Vertical Farm On The West Coast
Here they can grow 6 million heads of lettuce a year, using just 2 percent of the water an outdoor farm would need
The Future of Farming Is Happening
Right Now In This 25,000 Square Foot Warehouse.
Author: Saint Bryan
May 6, 2021
LACEY, Wash. — Though it looks like the set of some far-out science fiction fantasy, with bright walls of light and characters dressed in medical gowns, this is actually a farm growing six different kinds of lettuce inside a 25-thousand square foot warehouse located in a Lacey Business Park.
“In the beginning, it was always our goal to find a better way to grow healthier and more nutritious food for families,” says Bryce Clemmer who owns NW Farms with his wife Andrea. It’s the largest vertical farm in the Northwest.
Here they can grow 6 million heads of lettuce a year, using just 2 percent of the water an outdoor farm would need.
“This is a unique combination of robotics, software but also hardware that ultimately makes growing food at large scale possible,” says Clemmer, who is an engineer. He’s invented a few proprietary systems that make this vertical farm unlike any other.
“We've created a perfect environment for plants to grow,” he says.
Everything is monitored here: the temperature, the humidity, the light, the nutrients that go into the water. The result is produce that grows three times faster indoors than outside. The lettuce needs just 20 days from planting to be ready for your table.
“We have experimented with growing everything from strawberries and blueberries to edamame and any type of herbs that you can imagine,” says Clemmer. The only produce he can't imagine growing here are pineapples and pumpkins.
A NW Farms employee prepares to plant lettuce. Credit: KING TV
There are no overalls or John Deere caps here. All farmhands are gowned up, with hairnets and food handling gloves.
“So food safety, the handling, and the overall environment is the cleanest in which it can be,” says Clemmer.
“It's all-natural and healthy,” adds Andrea Clemmer.
She says other farms may rely on pesticides. And with farms so far away from our supermarkets, half of all produce gets thrown out. That doesn’t happen here.
“When our product is pulled off the towers it goes right into the bag, and it's in the store the same day so it's fresh same day and it is still living,” she says.
As the world’s population grows and more pressure is put on natural resources vertical farmers say they may have the key that prevents hunger and famine in the future.
“We have to figure out how to grow reliably and sustainably fresh food that's nutritious for everybody,” says Bryce Clemmer.
KING 5's Evening celebrates the Northwest. Contact us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email.
CANADA: Startup Bets 'Vertical Farms' Can Boost Quebec's Winter Berry Output
Standing about six metres tall, the indoor Vaudreuil facility will cover about 1,250 square metres and eventually produce 15 to 18 tons of strawberries a month, according to founder and chief operating officer Yves Daoust
Brossard-Based Ferme d’Hiver Has Just Raised $5 million
In A So-Called "Seed Round" To Help Accelerate Its Expansion.
Frédéric Tomesco
May 05, 2021
Ferme d'Hiver president Alain Brisebois, right, and founder and COO Yves Daoust in the vertical farming grow room at their operation in Brossard. PHOTO BY JOHN MAHONEY /Montreal Gazette
A South Shore startup is going live with a technology it says will help Quebec growers produce tasty strawberries year-round and reduce the province’s wintertime reliance on imports.
Brossard-based Ferme d’Hiver said Wednesday it has begun building a “vertical farm” in Vaudreuil to produce pesticide-free berries starting in October. The three-year-old company has just raised $5 million in a so-called “seed round” from investors such as Investissement Québec to help accelerate its expansion, while the Quebec government chipped in with $1.7 million in loans and loan guarantees.
Standing about six metres tall, the indoor Vaudreuil facility will cover about 1,250 square metres and eventually produce 15 to 18 tons of strawberries a month, according to founder and chief operating officer Yves Daoust. That would double Quebec’s current winter berry output, he said.
Known as precision farming, Ferme d’Hiver’s technology optimizes climate conditions for indoor gardening, resulting in production and crop density per square metre that’s 15 times greater than that of a traditional greenhouse, the company says.
“This is a game-changer for the growers,” chief executive Alain Brisebois said in an interview Wednesday. “Instead of only producing seven months a year, they can now produce year-round. Our goal in Vaudreuil is to prove to the industry that our technology is not only viable, but profitable and that it can work on a large scale.”
While most growers typically use propane to produce fruits and vegetables, Ferme d’Hiver’s technology relies on electricity. As a result, the company says its solution is 30 percent more energy efficient than a typical greenhouse, which cuts capital costs by 40 percent.
When it strikes a deal with a grower, Ferme d’Hiver commits to buying 100 percent of the production and acting as a wholesaler. It has a long-term contract with IGA in Quebec to deliver at least 25 tons of strawberries every week, Daoust said.
Ferme d’Hiver has signed partnership agreements with about a dozen Quebec growers thus far, and talks are underway with additional producers to buy their output, according to Brisebois.
Within three years, the company is aiming to replace 10 percent of Quebec’s strawberry imports with the production of its grower partners.
Premier François Legault has singled out food production as one of the areas in which he wants Quebec to become self-sufficient to better insulate the province from disruptions in the global supply chain — such as the current pandemic. His government unveiled plans to invest $157 million to increase the province’s “food autonomy” in November.
“The government was very clear when they started financing us two years ago: the goal here is not to become the Amazon.com of strawberry production, but rather to create an industrial cluster around agri-foods,” Daoust said. “We want to help create a nexus of Quebec growers with specific skills in the production of winter fruits and vegetables.”
Although it’s currently unprofitable, Ferme d’Hiver plans to break even when it hits 5,000 square metres of total production capacity, the CEO said.
“Given all the discussions we’re having with producers, we’re very confident of getting to 5,000 square metres next year. Then we can start covering our expenses,” said Brisebois, a former Metro Inc. and Alimentation Couche-Tard executive. “As a startup, I would say we’ve just finished childhood. Now we’re entering adolescence.”
AmplifiedAg Increases Better Fresh Farms Production 50% With New Indoor Farm And AmpEDGE Operating System
AmplifiedAg hydroponic container farm and technologies increased leafy green production over 50% for Better Fresh Farms
By AmplifiedAg
May 6, 2021
AmplifiedAg hydroponic container farm and technologies increased leafy green production over 50% for Better Fresh Farms.
AmplifiedAg, Inc. is an agtech visionary on a mission to provide global access to safe food. (PRNewsfoto/AmplifiedAg)
CHARLESTON, S.C., May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AmplifiedAg, Inc.®, holistic indoor farming leader with a mission to provide global access to safe food, has increased leafy green production over 50% for Metter, Georgia-based Better Fresh Farms with its automated hydroponic container farm and AmpEDGE™ proprietary Operating System.
AmplifiedAg farms sustainably grow consistent yields of 800-1000 pounds of full head leafy greens per harvest every 3 weeks.
Founded in 2016 by Grant Anderson, Better Fresh Farms is expanding its hyperlocal produce throughout Georgia with the addition of its first AmplifiedAg farm, the company's exclusive producer of leafy greens.
Anderson said, "Our AmplifiedAg farm replaced two existing models that were fairly inefficient for our goals. The new system has optimized our production in the same square footage,"
"The software is going to help us get our arms around the whole operation; there's nothing out there really like it," added Anderson. "To have tracking processes that follow produce from growth all the way through to the sale is huge. It's been cumbersome up until now, and it will save us money in the long run to have one efficient system instead of multiple programs."
AmpEDGE uniquely combines farm production and business management for an end-to-end system. 24/7 environment controls, detailed analytics, and traceability features allow farmers to easily optimize crop growth, mitigate risk, while also tracking sales forecasts, revenue streams, and daily operations. Multi-tenant software with data-driven learning capabilities, AmpEDGE can operate any type of controlled environment.
"We grow 52 weeks a year in Georgia where the majority of the time weather is extremely hot and humid," added Grant. "We're constantly trying to adapt our systems to work in an environment that they weren't designed for. AmplifiedAg understands how to adapt their containers to different weather."
Manufactured from upcycled shipping containers, AmplifiedAg's enterprise-scale farms are built to the highest global food safety certifications. The resilient architecture allows for farming in any region regardless of resources and climate. A compact 320-square feet container design promotes ultimate segmentation and risk mitigation for reliable production.
AmplifiedAg farms sustainably grow consistent yields of 800-1000 pounds of full head leafy greens per harvest every 3 weeks. The company deploys farms 70% faster and at a fraction of the cost of other CEA implementations
"This has given us a chance to start exploring larger and more legitimate sales opportunities," added Anderson.
David Flynn is the General Manager of AmplifiedAg and leader behind the company's farm and technology production. He and his team have built and deployed over 180 farm containers that services farms across the country. This includes AmplifiedAg's Vertical Roots hydroponic container farm, with produce in nearly 1,500 stores nationwide.
"We've spent the last five years developing a platform that proves our technology and shipping container farms can be used to operate a profitable produce business at scale," said Flynn.
"We're excited to share our technologies and farms with other indoor farming experts like Grant and Better Fresh Farms, and continue to refine the indoor farming process for the future."
Learn more at www.amplifiedaginc.com.
Myths Surrounding ‘White Light’ Part 2 – Do You Need ‘White’ Light To Grow Better Crops?
This article is the second in a series of interviews with Signify’s Esther de Beer, manager of the team of plant specialists at Philips Horticulture
May 6, 2021
Myths surrounding ‘white light’ – Do you need ‘white’ light to grow better crops?
An interview with our plant specialist
· There are several myths surrounding the specific light spectra used for growing crops and, more specifically, the use of white, green, or broad-spectrum light.
· This article is the second in a series of interviews with Signify’s Esther de Beer, manager of the team of plant specialists at Philips Horticulture.
· In this interview, we asked the question: Do you need ‘white’ light to grow better crops?
Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Light is perhaps the most important consideration for optimizing plant growth in a greenhouse or vertical farm. There are several myths surrounding the specific light spectra used for growing crops and, more specifically, the use of white, green, or broad-spectrum light. This article is the second in a series of interviews with Signify’s Esther de Beer, manager of the team of plant specialists at Philips Horticulture. In this interview we asked the question: Do you need ‘white’ light to grow better crops?
Interested in the first interview with Esther, where she answers the question if green light penetrates deeper into the canopy? Read it here.
First of all, what do we mean with white and green light?
When talking about light for plants, we often distinguish four basic colors: blue (400-499nm), green (500-599nm), red (600-699nm), and far-red (700-799nm). Purple light is actually a combination of red and blue light. Basically, you will get white light when you add enough green light to this red/blue light. Therefore, we will focus on the question of whether you need green light to grow better crops.
How efficient does a plant use green light for growth?
In the first interview it is explained that blue, red and green light are absorbed equally by a plant canopy and only far-red light is absorbed significantly less. But are all these colors used equally for growth?
In the early 1970’s, McCree measured the photosynthetic efficiency as a function of wavelength for a large number of plants. These data show a large commonality between the plants and has been averaged to what is now known as the “McCree curve”, see figure 1 below.
Figure 1 McCree curve: the photosynthetic efficiency of light as a function of wavelength
This shows that green light is used for photosynthesis, but at a lower efficiency when compared to red light. Since this early work, many researchers have found similar results. [Hogewoning 2012, Paradiso 2011]
For overall plant growth, not only the process of photosynthesis is important, but also other processes which, for instance, influence the shape of the crop. Therefore, for practical applications it is relevant to evaluate the total crop growth rather than only zooming in on photosynthesis.
So, what is the effect of green light on the crop?
We have found that several crops have significantly higher fresh weight when actually grown without green light. For other crops, however, the amount of green light has no effect on the fresh weight. Also, we have found that to steer the shape of the crop, blue and far-red light are far more effective than green. Let me share some examples from our research.
At the Philips GrowWise Center, we have run a trial where we have grown eight RijkZwaan Salanova lettuce varieties under light spectra with both 0 and 20% green light, but with the same photon flux and percentage of blue light. The graph below shows the relative fresh weight of these crops, comparing the growth under both spectra with 0% green and 20% green light.
As you can see in this graph, not all lettuce varieties react the same. There are two varieties (RZ1 and RZ2) that grow slightly better under the spectrum with 20% green. However, most varieties have significantly higher fresh weight (even up to 20% more fresh weight for RZ8) when grown without green light.
Figure 2 Significantly higher fresh weight for lettuce varieties when grown without green light
The small effect which green light has on the growth of a crop is confirmed by an extensive academic study by Snowden, who compared the growth of 7 diverse plant species under 8 different spectral compositions: “In contrast to the significant effects of blue light, increasing green light in increments from 0 to 30% had a relatively small effect on growth, leaf area and net assimilation at either low or high PPF”. [Snowden 2016]
A second example from our own research is related to medicinal cannabis. In this trial, two different cultivars were grown under three different light spectra with 0%, 6% and 36% green at the same supplemental light level (600 µmol/m2/s). Here, in addition to looking at the flower weight, we also looked at the quality of the crops.
The graph on the right in Figure 3 below shows the dry flower weight for two different cultivars, whereas the graph on the left shows the percentage of active compounds, which are the key factor in determining the product quality for medicinal cannabis.
Figure 3 Higher active compounds of medicinal cannabis with lower percentages of green light.
The graph on the right shows that the dry weight remains the same for all three spectra, again confirming that the amount of green light has little effect on growth. However, the active compounds reduce substantially when the green content increases. Since these crops are grown specifically for their medicinal compounds, this leads to a preference of light spectra which contain little or no green.
To summarize: in our studies, we find that different crops require different light spectra for optimal growth. However, in most cases there is no benefit in adding more than a few percent of green; both for the yield and for the quality of the crop.
So, if green light has so little benefits, why use it?
That needs some further clarification; all of the above results describe the use of light by the crop, comparing yields at the same photon flux. However, they do not take into account how much electrical energy is needed to create this light. Since there are big differences in efficacy (mmol/Joule), this of course has a huge impact on the total energy usage.
Red LEDs give far more photons per electrical Watt (μmol/W) compared to blue and green LEDs.
Our research shows that a spectrum with approximately 6% green light is sufficient for good color recognition by people and is 30% more energy efficient when compared to a ‘sun-like’ spectrum, which contains approximately 40% green light.
At Signify, we want to provide our end customers with the optimal lighting solution to grow their crops in the most sustainable way. Green light is much less efficient than blue and red LEDs. Only a limited amount of green can be considered for most lighting applications as only a small amount of green light is required for good color recognition by people and as crops do not need a high amount of green light to grow well.
Esther de Beer is the manager of the plant specialist team at Signify horticulture LED solutions. She spends her days trying to make LED grow lights more effective. In this series of articles, she explains facts and fiction with regards to white light and how research has shown which light spectrum helps crops grow better.
References:
Hogewoning S.W., Wientjes E., Douwstra P., Trouwborst G., Van Ieperen W., Croce R. and Harbinson J., 2012.
Photosynthetic Quantum Yield Dynamics: From photosystems to Leaves. The Plant Cell 24: 1921-1935.
Paradiso, R., Meinen, E., Snel, J.F.H., De Visser, P.H.B, Van Ieperen, W., Hogewoning, S.W., Marcelis, L.F.M., 2011.
Spectral dependence of photosynthesis and light absorptance in single leaves and canopy in rose. Scientia Horticulturae 127: 548-554.
McCree, K.J., 1972.
The action spectrum, absorptance, and quantum yield of photosynthesis in crop plants. Agricultural Meteorology 9: 191-216.
Snowden, M.C., Cope, K.R, Bugbee, B., 2016
Sensitivity of seven diverse species to blue and green light: interactions with photon flux. Plos One 11(10): e0163121. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163121
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For more information:
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
Email: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems, and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings, and public spaces. With 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.