USA - ALABAMA: Auburn College of Agriculture Using High-Tech Shipping Containers To Grow Produce For Campus Dining

High-tech Horticulture

Unique ‘Vertical’ Farms part of Planned 16-Acre Transformation Garden On Campus

June 10, 2021

Josh Woods | College of Agriculture

Recycled shipping containers have gained popularity in recent years, being converted into everything from houses to small stores—but the Auburn University College of Agriculture, in partnership with Campus Dining, is using them as self-contained “vertical” farms to grow produce to serve to students.

In April, the college acquired two Freight Farms shipping containers that have been converted into technologically advanced hydroponic growing stations in which plants grow vertically indoors without soil, getting their nutrition from water and light energy from powerful LEDs.

Now, the farms are producing the first crop of lettuce.

“This is state of the art,” said Desmond Layne, head of the Department of Horticulture. “We're talking growing from seed to fork in four to six weeks, depending on whether it is lettuce, arugula or another vegetable crop that can grow in there. And we can produce 15 times as much per year as we could outside in the same exact spot.”

Associate Professor of Horticulture Daniel Wells taught a vertical farming course this spring and leads operations of the vertical farms.

Wells said the containers are outfitted with a complete climate control system, which includes air conditioning and humidity control. Because they are highly insulated, the system ensures the same climate 365 days a year.

The converted containers also have an elaborate lighting system, giving all the light the plants need from two color LEDs.

“We can do any number of colors of lights,” he said. “But it turns out for photosynthesis, plants use mostly red and blue light. What’s neat about that is you can cut out a lot of the other color spectrum, creating far less heat energy. That's very efficient. It means more of the energy used is turned into light than heat.”

The containers also allow for controlled carbon dioxide levels, which accelerates plant growth.

“Ambient CO2, what you and I are exposed to every day, is about 400 ppm [parts per million],” he said. “And that’s fine, plants can grow there. But if we boost the CO2 to 1,000 ppm, they’ll grow faster. And because we’re containing the CO2, the plants can really use it. And it’s not dangerous for humans at all.”

Wells and Director of Dining and Concessions Glenn Loughridge first initiated a partnership between the College of Agriculture and Campus Dining five years ago through the Auburn Aquaponics Project, which uses hydroponics and aquaculture technologies to provide a system in which nutrient-laden wastewater from fish production is used as a food source for plant growth. Today, fish from this effort are served in dining facilities on the Auburn campus.

The new vertical farms build on that effort.

“We're in the process of finishing a $26 million dining hall in the center of campus,” Loughridge said. “It has always been foremost in my mind that we would have the opportunity to feature produce grown here on campus in that dining hall. In our biggest location, our biggest asset, we want to bring our A-game.

“This is hyper-local, on-campus sourcing,” he added. “Can you imagine being a potential student coming to tour, seeing where these products are grown, and then going to eat there? It’s incredible. We truly believe this elevates our dining experience.”

The converted shipping containers were manufactured by Freight Farms, a Boston-based company operating in 45 states and 28 countries.

“There are a few different companies out there doing this,” Layne said. “But Freight Farms is the most sophisticated. They’re the ones who have both the best product on the market and the largest production of these containers. It’s really a best-case scenario.”

Adam Lenhard, a rising senior majoring in biological agricultural technology management, said Wells’ course has been one of the most influential courses he’s taken at Auburn.

“It has been very helpful, not just in preparation for the arrival of the freights, but also in learning all about new hydroponic technologies and growing techniques,” Lenhard said. “Post-graduation, I plan to continue to work with these types of indoor, LED hydroponic systems. My primary goal after college is to normalize urban hydroponic farming, provide large, consistent yields of fresh vegetables and provide food to those in need who do not have as much access to fresh produce.”

Transformation Garden

The vertical farms are located on the College of Agriculture’s planned 16-acre Transformation Garden on the south end of the university’s campus, near the intersection of Lem Morrison Drive and Duncan Drive. The goal of the garden is to encompass every aspect of plant-based agriculture, including everything from fruits and vegetables to ornamentals to grow crops and more.

The Transformation Garden will showcase new technology and the history of agriculture, as it envelops Auburn’s Old Rotation, a single-acre research plot created in 1896. Continuously since that year, the historic landmark has been the site for testing and advancing transformative ideas that are now commonplace—ideas like crop rotation, cover crops, and low- and no-till farming.

(Written by: Kristen Bowman)

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HELP DEVELOP THE TRANSFORMATION GARDEN

To help develop the new Transformation Garden, you can give online or contact Phillip Cowart, College of Agriculture director of development, at poc0001@auburn.edu or 334-844-1198.

Auburn University is a nationally ranked land grant institution recognized for its commitment to world-class scholarship, interdisciplinary research with an elite, top-tier Carnegie R1 classification, life-changing outreach with Carnegie’s Community Engagement designation and an undergraduate education experience second to none. Auburn is home to more than 30,000 students, and its faculty and research partners collaborate to develop and deliver meaningful scholarship, science and technology-based advancements that meet pressing regional, national and global needs. Auburn’s commitment to active student engagement, professional success and public/private partnership drives a growing reputation for outreach and extension that delivers broad economic, health and societal impact.

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Squamish Nation Grows Plans For Food Security With Hydroponic Farm

Noah Hilton

May 22, 2021

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USA - COLORADO: Sedalia-Based FarmBox Foods Sending Container Farms All Over The World

Posted by Chris Michlewicz

May 28, 2021

With increasingly unpredictable weather patterns impacting crops and a continuing global food crisis affecting millions, a Colorado company is using tech-based indoor farming to make sure no one goes without a reliable, secure source of nutrient-rich food.

FarmBox Foods, based in Sedalia, has spent the last four years developing automated farms in shipping containers to grow organic leafy greens, culinary herbs, tomatoes, and now pine tree seedlings. The company also has a first-of-its-kind gourmet mushroom farm that produces around 400 pounds of mushrooms per week.

The mission-driven company is focused on helping feed those living in food deserts while empowering local communities and providing jobs and educational opportunities. FarmBox Foods’ patented vertical hydroponic watering systems use 90% less water than traditional farms and yield the equivalent of 2 – 2.5 acres of farmland. The repurposed shipping containers that house these systems can be placed virtually anywhere in the world — from island nations to college campuses to the frozen reaches of Alaska — and produce food year-round.

The fully controlled enclosed growing environment is protected from pests and pathogens, which reduces and can eliminate entirely the need for pesticides, allowing people to harvest and eat untainted farm-fresh produce. Setting up containers in or near populated areas also reduces food waste, as the food is able to get to the table more quickly and can better retain its nutritional value.

“The real mission in this whole thing is to be able to feed the world in places that ordinarily wouldn’t be able to grow food,” said Rusty Walker, CEO of FarmBox Foods.

FarmBox Foods’ short-term goals include partnering with institutions that help provide the biggest possible impact for the most people, including food banks, schools, and hospitals.

Learn more at www.farmboxfoods.com.

Posted in Arapahoe County, Douglas County, Douglas County Business, Douglas County Front, Featured, Jefferson County, South Jeffco

Tagged agtech, climatecontrolledfarming, Colorado, coloradobusiness, containerag, containerfarms, eatorganic, farmboxfoods, farmboxfoodscolorado, farming, farmtotable, fooddeserts, foodinequality, foodinsecurity, foodsecurity, growyourownfood, indoorfarming, indoorfarms, mushroomcultivation, mushroomfarm, mushrooms, organic, sedalia, urbanfarming, verticalhydroponicfarm, verticalhydroponics

About the Author: Chris Michlewicz

USA - FLORIDA: St. Pete’s Brick Street Farms Gets Multi-Million-Dollar Investment From Lykes Bros

May 20, 2021

By Margie Manning

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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.

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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.

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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.

Indoor Vertical Farming Grows Up

Bryan Walsh, author of Future

Indoor vertical farming, where crops are raised in automated stacks, often in or near cities, offers a way to sustainably meet the growing demand for food — if its energy demand can be reduced.

Why it matters: With the global population still rising — albeit more slowly — and more people moving to urban areas, the world needs ways to produce more food without clearing land for conventional farms.

Driving the news: New York-based vertical farming startup Bowery Farming on Tuesday announced a new $300 million funding round — the largest in the industry's history — that values the company at $2.3 billion.

• The deal accelerates the momentum in venture capital funding for vertical farming companies, which hit nearly $1.9 billion globally in 2020, almost tripling investment from the year before.

• "We're going to need 50–70% more food over the next 30 years, according to the UN," says Irving Fain, the CEO, and founder of Bowery Farming, which has two commercial vertical farms in New Jersey and Maryland and sells its leafy greens to 850 grocery stores. "Indoor farming is not the only answer to that challenge, but it's part of the solution."

How it works: Food has been grown indoors in greenhouses for decades, and it's industrialized to the point that the Netherlands has become the second-largest vegetable exporter in the world chiefly through greenhouses.

• Vertical farming takes greenhouses to the next level —literally — with crops grown in tower-like walls of plant-holding cells that require no soil. Like an apartment tower versus a suburban tract, that means more food can be grown on a smaller footprint, which is ideal for cities.

• Water and nutrients are delivered to crops either aeroponically — via the air through misting — or hydroponically, in which the plants are grown in nutrient-rich water. "You get high density and high output, while using 90% less water" than conventional farming, says Micki Seibel, VP of product at the vertical farming startup Unfold.

• Growing light is delivered via LED lamps. While more expensive than sunlight — which currently remains free — the LED lamps aren't weather-dependent, and like water, nutrients and temperature in the vertical farms, the light can be controlled precisely, vastly enhancing yield and reducing grow times.

• Because vertical farming uses so little space, "we can move the farm to the people rather than the food," says James Woolard, chief marketing officer at Freight Farms, which develops mobile hydroponic freight containers modified for indoor farming.

By the numbers: There are more than 2,000 vertical farms in the U.S. Most are run by small growers with a few bigger players, including Bowery Farming, Newark-based AeroFarms, and Wyoming-based Plenty.

• Internationally, says Seibel, "Japan has looked at vertical farming as a way to increase food security and reclaim production lost during the tsunami, while Singapore — which imports 90% of its food — is making significant investments in the sector to increase its own food security."

• A recent report pegs the size of the vertical farming market at $240 million in 2019 and projects it will grow to over $1 billion by 2027.

The catch: Even with that growth, vertical farming will likely still remain a niche player — the output of U.S. farms alone was worth $136 billion in 2019.

• In part because of the price of supplying artificial light, vertical farms have struggled to break even in the past, and they chiefly produce comparatively priced leafy greens rather than the commodity crops that make up the backbone of the food system.

What's next: Second-generation vertical farms are taking advantage of efficiency advances in LED technology, as well as automation and sensors that can reduce labor and setup costs and enhance yield.

• The ability of vertical farms to maintain the ideal environment for high-quality crops like tomatoes or lettuce anywhere in the world at any time of the year is turning agriculture into a high-tech industry.

• "All the externalities that have been uncontrollable [in farming] historically are now very much controllable," says Bowery's Fain.

What to watch: The development of AeroFarms's 136,000-square-foot Model 5 facility in Virginia, which is set to be the largest and most technologically advanced vertical aeroponic farm when it is scheduled to be completed in mid-2022.

The bottom line: Agriculture made cities possible. Now vertical farming holds out the possibility that cities could become farms themselves

Lead Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About CubicFarms

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

For more information, please visit www.cubicfarms.com

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

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

Media Contact:

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

Investor Contact:

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

Squamish Nation Grows Plans For Food Security With A Hydroponic Farm

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

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

May 19, 2021

By: Elisia Seeber

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hydroponic farm idea sprouts 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“We thought, ‘wow, that's amazing.’”

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

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

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

How does the modular hydroponic farm work?

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

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

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

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

“We’re all really excited.”

Squamish Nation to open Food Pantry and Community Kitchen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leading European Vertical Farming Company Retains Strategic Advisor to Explore Strategic Options

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Contain Inc

May 19, 2021

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Urban Crop Solutions Tech

Vertical farm & contract research co Urban Crop Solutions has retained Contain to explore strategic options to elevate its status as a tech leader in indoor ag.

We have long realised that we would need to decide between remaining independent and joining a larger organization to scale...this is the optimal time to make this move.”— Frederic Bulcaen, Chairman and founder of UCS

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Urban Crop Solutions Container Farm

RENO, NV, UNITED STATES, May 19, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Award-winning Belgian vertical farming and contract research company, Urban Crop Solutions (“UCS”) has retained Contain, Inc., to explore strategic options to elevate its status as a leading European technology player in the fast-emerging global indoor farming space.

“We are delighted to have been awarded this mandate by UCS”, says Nicola Kerslake, founder of Contain. “It is a mark of the UCS management’s professionalism and dedication that they are open to exploring options from merger or acquisition to adding strategic investors to take this industry-leading firm to the next level.”

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Urban Crop Solutions Grow System

UCS’ clients range from global billion-dollar companies to research institutions and start-ups across multiple industries in Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia. The growth of the business is attributed to a strong management and scientific team who have created best-in-class products and services made possible by application expertise and trade secrets. UCS expects to more than triple its revenues and reach breakeven profitability this year.

UCS offers two key solution and product channels:
-Plant biotechnology research: capabilities to simulate any growth environment and create growth recipe applications to address business and market opportunities in all crop verticals for use across numerous industries. UCS has developed innovative research applications such as growth performance of wheat, tobacco and cotton plants in controlled environments, growth recipe for green roof succulent plants on substrates and use of residual flows from waste to grow food.

-Vertical farming technology: indoor growing installations of hydroponic modules with growing surface areas ranging from 70 to over 5,000 square meters with an end-to-end customer support model. UCS has 4 different classes of product size that can be customized to meet the size or configuration requirements of any customer.

Maarten Vandecruys, founder and CTO of UCS, comments, “Now that we have our solutions and services in place, it is important that we pursue the best strategic options for the future of our organisation and team.”

“As a Board, we have long realised that we would need to decide between remaining independent and joining a larger organization to scale. There is such great momentum in indoor farming that this is the optimal time to make this move”, explains Frederic Bulcaen, Chairman and founder of UCS.

Contain Contact info:
Marilyn Jentzen
marilyn@contain.ag
+1.404.353.3754

About Urban Crop Solutions
Urban Crop Solutions BV is a privately held Belgian company founded in 2014. It offers end-to-end solutions for indoor hydroponic vertical farming via full-service customized and scalable solutions to multi-industry customers in two key product and service areas. Plant research products and services help customers select the right plant varieties or create new growth recipes for specific client needs or market opportunities. Indoor plant growing solutions and services range from concept design through business planning, manufacturing, installation, training, and after-sales servicing and support.
https://urbancropsolutions.com

About Contain, Inc.
Contain Inc is a US-based fintech platform dedicated to indoor agriculture, growing crops in warehouses, greenhouses and container farms. The Company serves the controlled environment agriculture industry in several capacities; it works with leading equipment vendors and with a wide pool of lenders to aid indoor growers in finding funding for their farms. It is also home to microlearning platform Rooted Global, which works with majors such as Danone and Dole to enable employees to grow a little of their own food at home. Most recently, the Company launched a used equipment trading platform, Equipped, to take the drama out of buying and selling used indoor farming equipment. The Company graduated from the 2019 Techstars Farm to Fork program, backed by Cargill and Ecolab.
https://contain.ag

Marilyn Jentzen
Contain Inc
marilyn@contain.ag
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Modular Hydroponic Growing Spaces In Freight Containers For Local Food Production

May 17, 2021

Art Petrosemolo

Southeastern Pennsylvania Correspondent

A Massachusetts company has developed a unique, hydroponic growing environment in closed 40-foot freight containers that are being used world-wide to grow produce in areas with bad soil or weather conditions not conducive to outdoor growing.

Bay State natives Jon Friedman and Brad McNamara were developing rooftop greenhouses in the early 2000s when they realized a modular, hydroponic container might be a more viable solution.

Hydroponics wasn’t something new. Historians believe this soilless gardening can be traced back to hanging gardens of Babylon in Iraq built by King Nebuchadnezzar about 600 BC. Nutrient-rich water was pumped to the gardens from the Euphrates river to sustain its plants. A water-based growing thread continued through history and in the 1930s a University of California scientist, William Gericke, coined the term from the Greek word “hydro” (water) and “ponics” (work).

Friedman and McNamara, who were building outdoor, roof-based gardens on older residential buildings, looked outside the box, and turned their focus to widely available shipping containers.

They thought they could provide the equivalent of 2 acres of growing space in traditional 40-foot-by-8-foot containers and extend growing seasons year-round everywhere — especially in areas that couldn’t support traditional outdoor agriculture or in parts of the world affected most by climate change.

They named their company Freight Farms and placed their first container less than a decade ago. Now the concept is catching on worldwide.

View Photos From Freight Farms

Freight Farms’ design was the first containerized vertical growing environment using hydroponic technology. It was initially funded by a Kickstarter campaign in 2012, where they raised the funds to build a prototype to allow local food production to be available to everyone, anywhere.

The first commercial unit was installed at Boston Latin School, the oldest public school in the U.S., to produce fresh produce for the school cafeteria as well as serving as a teaching classroom for high school students.

“The company has placed 350 units in 48 states and 32 foreign countries,” Friedman said.

The company also introduced proprietary software called “farmhand” to help automate many farm processes, and is manufacturing its 10th generation container, the Greenery S, incorporating the latest technology and automation for vertical, hydroponics growing.

Growing Strong

SOUTHERN REGION

Hydroponic Operation Supplies High-End Restaurants

• Art Petrosemolo, Southeastern Pennsylvania Correspondent

Although the Freight Farms container units are capable of growing a variety of produce, leafy greens are its specialty and the best choice for farmers looking to sell their harvests year-round.

Containers also have been embraced by educational institutions to supply fresh vegetables for cafeterias and serve as learning and teaching space.

St. Joseph College in Standish, Maine, has been operating a Freight Farms unit for years to both supply fresh vegetables to its dining facilities as well as for student employment.

The site also has been a tool for community involvement with St. Joseph students working with a town Institute for Local Food System Innovation utilizing the Freight Farms container in partnership with a large hydroponic farm and commercial processing kitchen for events and agritourism.

With a decade head start in the business, Freight Farms does not have major competition in hydroponics container gardening production, although, in recent years, it has seen significant growth in multiple indoor soil- and water-based farming formats including warehouses, greenhouses and pods that are addressing growing produce year-round.

Climate change has increased concern about food production for growing populations worldwide with extreme weather conditions and higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Friedman and McNamara have always been aware that the challenge to expansion for stand-alone, container gardening is the cost of power and each new rendition of their growing units has addressed both power consumption and automation to be more efficient.

Their latest Greenery S model uses growing lights that are 50% more efficient than previous models and the technology allows farmers to choose pre-set growing modes to maintain higher yields — 20% higher than earlier models — while prioritizing energy use.

Addressing affordable and clean power for customers, Freight Farms recently partnered with Arcadia, a Washington, D.C., energy company to offer affordable, renewable power options for customers.

Going forward, Friedman said growing container units will continue to become more efficient, allowing owners to increase their growing yield while having more control of their energy use to power the unit.

Slide Show Photos:

Lights and plant arrangements in Freight Farms new Greenery S model container.

• Photo provided by Freight Farms

Leafy greens grow in Freight Farms’ own Greenery Farm container.

• Photo provided by Freight Farms

This Freight Farms container is ready for shipment.

• Photo provided by Freight Farms

Freight Farms' containers under construction in their Vermont facility.

• Photo provided by Freight Farms

Lexy Basquette, Freight Farm’s on-site farmer, checks on some of her growing plants.

• Photo provided by Freight Farms

MAIN EDITION

Greenhouses, Vertical Farming and Urban Ag: Controlled-Environment Agriculture Has Growth Potential

• Paul Post, New York Correspondent

Czech Startup Introduces New Container Farm To The Market

Delivering To Prague, Dubai, And Shanghai

A container farm supplied by GreeenTech will soon be parked in Prague's Smíchov district. The hydroponic container farm will grow herbs, vegetables, and small fruits. The other two containers will go to Dubai and Shanghai. 

"We bring a unique and modern approach to agriculture. With vertical hydroponics we will start food self-sufficiency not only in the Czech Republic," promises co-founder of GreeenTech Karolína Pumprová, who three years ago was at the birth of the Prague urban hydroponic farm HerbaFabrica, which supplies herbs to Prague restaurants. 

The co-founders of Greeentech

She was later joined by entrepreneur Dmitrij Lipovský, who, after a year-long working stay in China, where he focused on ecology and sustainability issues, saw a TV report about the HerbaFabrica farm, and was so intrigued by it that together with Karolína Pumprová and technology director Milan Souček, they created the concept of GreeenTech, a technology, and cultivation company that was officially established last July. Dmitry Lipovsky invested six million crowns of his own money in the start-up and became CEO of the company. 

Modular solution
GreeenTech currently has three divisions, each with its own unique product and business and marketing direction. Urbanio is a modular system whereby the company builds an urban hydroponic farm according to the customer's requirements. The price in this case starts at one and a half million crowns and depends on the number of modules purchased and the environment where it will be built. The technology was to be officially launched at Expo 2020 in Dubai.

GreeenBoxes are containers coming with GreeenTech's technology. The price for the smallest size supplied, 13 x 3 x 3 meters, is in the lower units of millions of crowns. The third division is HerbaFabrica, which sells crops to distributors and end customers. The company intends to offer its franchise in the future.

These containers make it possible to grow crops practically anywhere and anytime, even in the desert. According to Lipovský, the company will produce three containers this year, the first of which will be located in Prague's Smíchov, while the others will also be presented at the EXPO in Dubai. It is to Dubai and also Shanghai that the company wants to expand in the medium term.

"The goal is to build full container farms and to continuously improve our technology. But we are a startup, so we are constantly in a turbulent process," smiles the CEO of the company over the next plans and reveals that the final investment round with external investors is also now underway.

Everything from the container design to the software solution is being developed in-house. Some of the technical equipment is supplied by Siemens CR, which is also a long-term technology partner.

GreeenTech wants its technology to contribute to a sustainable solution to a potential future crisis around food shortages. The founders of GreeenTech promise a recurring harvest of local vegetables full of vitamins and intense flavor. Since the crops do not undergo protective spraying, they are suitable for children and allergy sufferers. 

The business model for GreeenBox and Urbanio technologies work on both a sales and rental basis. "For both options, there is an 'after-sales service, where we supply seeds, substrates, fertilizers, as well as spare components for the technology and remote farm management," Lipovský explains.

He adds that GreeenTech also started offering the HerbaShare service to businesses, shops and restaurants a month ago. This is a structure with a cold box for preserving produce, where the company regularly delivers microgreens and vegetables. "Now we want to focus more on businesses as people come back to the office. We believe this is a really interesting employee benefit and a way to have a vitamin bomb right in the workplace," he concludes. 

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Source: StartupJobs

For more information:
Greeentech
info@greeen.tech 
www.greeen.tech 

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18 May 2021

N.Thing To Export Smart Farms To UAE After $3 Million Deal

By Kim Byung-wook

May 17, 2021

South Korean agriculture technology company N.Thing said Monday that it has recently inked a $3 million deal with Sarya Holdings in the United Arab Emirates to export smart farms.

The contract, set to proceed next month, will allow the firm to construct vertical smart farming containers in the UAE by December this year. The container can reduce the use of water up to 98 percent compared to a typical farm and cultivate crops in any environment, whether that is in Siberia, the Middle East, or Seoul.

“The UAE reached out to N.Thing as food security emerged as a key issue amid the coronavirus outbreak,” a company official said.

In February last year, Sarya Holdings conducted a proof of concept test on N.Thing’s container to verify the technology. During the test, Sarya planted four different vegetables -- batavia, kale, Boston lettuce, and oakleaf -- in eight test containers and observed their growth cycles, nutrients, quality, and more.

The test proved that N.Thing’s smart farm containers built in the UAE can produce up to 1.5 metric tons of crops per container, which was 42 percent more than initial estimates.

N.Thing received the best innovation award at the Consumer Electronics Show last year.

Lead photo: The interior of N.Thing’s smart farm container (N.Thing)

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)

Florida Native Brick Street Farms Takes On Global Agriculture With Multi-Million Dollar Investment

The Ag Tech Innovator Scales its Local Approach to More Sustainably Feed Urban Communities

St Petersburg, FL (May 19th, 2020)- Brick Street Farms announces their new investors, Lykes Bros., a milestone championed by Florida Department of Agriculture Commissioner Nicole “Nikki” Fried, Mayor Rick Kriseman, St. Petersburg, FL, and Mayor Jane Castor, Tampa, FL. With Lykes Bros financial commitment to Brick Street Farms, the AgTech leader will scale its mission to lead the way in disrupting agriculture and reinventing possibilities to sustainably feed more people from urban locations, offer Brick Street Farm’s expertise so we can bring farm to fork in cities and contribute to healthier lives.

COVID-19 and climate change have accelerated existing strains in global food accessibility and supply chains, highlighting the need to rethink the world’s agriculture systems, particularly in dense city areas. In response to this crisis, Crunchbase News has cited that agriculture technology investments have grown 250% in the past 5 years alone. Brick Street Farms has been at the forefront of this industry because of their unique experience in both design and manufacturing of their THRIVE Containers as well as the operation of those farms for financial sustainability.

The AgTech’s ground-breaking approach is to bring to life cultivation centers, also known as Brick Street Farms hubs, which will serve as an all-inclusive onsite farming and retail shopping experience in urban cores. Brick Street Farms is reinventing urban farming with our self-contained, environmentally sustainable THRIVE Containers placed in Hubs. These hubs will grow between 16-20 acres of farmland on 1/3 acre lots. This Climate-Controlled Agriculture (CEA) maximizes output and minimizes water resources.

Brick Street Farms Founder and CEO, Shannon O’Malley observed “We could not be more honored to have Lykes Bros. as our newest investor. Brick Street Farms hubs will be the first of its kind and we can’t wait to share this innovation with the world. Our farming expertise combined with Lykes 121 years of experience in agriculture brings unparalleled leadership to feed more people ‘farm to fork’.”

“Lykes Bros. is excited to be advancing and investing in the future of agriculture. We see Brick Street Farms’ leadership and innovation in the controlled environment sector as the perfect fit for our company. They share our commitment to pioneering the future, and their hub innovation is a bold blueprint for producing healthy food locally and sustainably,” says Mallory Dimmitt, VP of Strategic Partnerships, Lykes Bros.

For more information about Brick Street Farms visit www.brickstreetfarms.com.

About Brick Street Farms

Brick Street Farms produce is grown and sold out of its St. Petersburg, Florida headquarters with a mission to ignite a sustainable farm revolution by dramatically reshaping the global population’s ability to access to clean, healthy food. Built for farming in all environments, Brick Street Farms provides healthy, fresh greens, year-round.

About Lykes Bros.:

Founded by Dr. Howell Tyson Lykes and his seven sons in 1900, Lykes Bros. Inc. is a leading Florida-based agribusiness with cattle, citrus, farming, forestry, hunting, and land and water resources operations as well as major landholdings in Florida and Texas. www.lykes.com.

Vertical Future And Crate To Plate Plot Fleet of Shipping Container Farms In London

Jessica Rawnsley

14 May 2021

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Credit: Vertical Future

Each of The 'Container Farms' Will Be Able To produce Up To Five Tonnes of Leafy Greens And Veg Each Year With Zero Carbon Footprint, The Firms Claim

Urban farming specialists Vertical Future and Crate to Plate are together gearing up to rollout a fleet of indoor container farms in London, with each capable of producing zero carbon fresh salad and vegetables for swift delivery across the UK capital city, they announced yesterday.

Crate to Plate, an urban farming start-up, plans to use the 'container farms' designed by Vertical Future - a technology company focused on controlled-environment-agriculture (CEA) - across several new sites in London's Bermondsey and Stratford.

By using the container farms, Crate to Plate said it would be able to produce up to five tonnes of fresh produce - including lettuce, kale, and rocket - per year, and then deliver it to customers within 24 hours with a zero-carbon footprint, all without any use of pesticides or toxic chemicals. The firm counts Ollie Dabbous, chef-patron of Michelin-starred restaurant, HIDE, as well as independent grocers such as The Notting Hill Fish Shop and Artichoke in Hampstead among its customers.

Vertical Future's innovative farms, built within 40ft shipping containers, allow for highly-controlled indoor growing conditions, harnessing LED lighting, full climate control, and dual irrigation in order to create the optimal conditions for cultivating leafy salad and vegetables. 

Proponents of vertical farming argue producing crops in such circumstances can reduce the amount of countryside land used for farming, better protect crops against the impacts of increasingly volatile outdoor climate conditions, and cut down on transport and logistics typically needed to ferry food from farms to urban centres. They also require far less water and zero pesticides. 

"Our Container Labs create the optimal growth environment for growing fresh produce and can be deployed close to point of consumption, using minimal space," said Jamie Burrows, Vertical Future's CEO. "Using zero chemicals and growing crops in a controlled environment enables our partners to meet demand all-year-round, as opposed to regular food production systems which are reliant on seasonal limitations."

By shifting towards using Vertical Future's 'Container Labs', Crate to Plate's founder Sebastien Sainsbury said the firm would be able to scale up its systems across the UK while offering more efficient growing capabilities to improve both output and product quality.

"It's been incredibly encouraging and exciting to align with other dynamic, innovative, and enterprising British business, which will help us to scale up our vision and execute our exciting opportunities both nationally and internationally," Sainsbury said.

USA - ILLINOIS - Tasty, Fresh And Sustainable

Glenview Man's Hydroponic Farm

Uses Technology To Grow Garden Variety Produce

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5/12/2021

By Dave Oberhelman
doberhelman@dailyherald.com

This is not your grandfather's farm.

It's not Aviad Sheinfeld's grandfather's farm, either -- but Wiseacre Farm is a bridge between childhood days spent on grandparents Yechezkel and Hadassah Gluzman's farm in an Israeli moshav and Sheinfeld's modern training.

That combination has resulted in some of the best greens his customers have ever tasted, grown indoors by futuristic, sustainable methods.

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Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

"I don't know if it was a goal. I never thought about becoming a farmer. I was always good with computers, so working with computers was kind of the assumed path," said Sheinfeld, 49, of Glenview.

"I think my childhood experiences on the farm really gave me more of an ingrained appreciation for what it takes to grow food. The thing I remember most is the apple orchards and the peaches my grandparents grew, but they also grew roses and sheep, so also animals."

There are no animals, roses, or peaches at Wiseacre Farm, a rectangular, 320-square-foot container farm inside a warehouse Sheinfeld rents in an industrial area at 1975 N. Lake Terrace, Glenview.

Wiseacre's specialty, available by 10-week subscriptions through www.wiseacre.farm, is leafy greens. A recent delivery included six heads of lettuce of differing varieties. Another package will offer the lettuce plus herbs and other greens -- things like parsley, chives, Thai basil, red-veined sorrel, curly kale with chard.

Sheinfeld sometimes delivers his produce the day it's harvested. Reviews are strong.

"Most of our customers have remarked that they had no idea that lettuce, basil -- fill in the blank, whatever produce -- tastes that way," said Sheinfeld's daughter, Yael, who is finishing her last semester at Northeastern University in Boston, but also handling Wiseacre marketing and communications.

"I think it's hard to understand just how much the taste disappears with travel, with chemicals, herbicides, and pesticides, with just time, honestly, and sitting on a grocery store shelf," she said.

Growing crops indoors in Wiseacre Farm's controlled hydroponic environment eliminates the need for herbicides and pesticides. Serving customers within about a 10-mile radius also lends a neighborly appeal.

"It's not just buying your food from anonymous company X," Aviad said.

His father, Sam, also works on the farm. Yael -- and occasionally Aviad and Kari Sheinfeld's two teenage boys, Rahm and Lev -- are fourth-generation farmhands.

Finalizing financing and incorporation in 2018, in November 2019 Sheinfeld received his container farm from Freight Farms of Boston. He said there's a couple hundred of these repurposed shipping container farms worldwide. When he needs advice he reaches farmers in Alaska, Minnesota, Tennessee, even Tasmania.

The interior includes vertical panels about 10 feet tall in which the plants soak up rays of LED lights embedded into opposing panels. The plant panels can be removed and placed horizontally when the plants are ready for harvesting.

The media is not soil but water, to which nutrients are added automatically, manually controlled by computer. Hydroponic methods are 98% more water-efficient than traditional farming, Yael said. Through recycling irrigation water and capturing the water transpired by the plants, on average the farm uses less than 5 gallons of water a day. On very humid days, the farm will capture more water than it uses.

Nutrients, drip irrigation, temperature, humidity, lighting -- all are computer-controlled.

"As farming goes, it's kind of posh," Aviad Sheinfeld said.

"The thing about this farm is it's very technically advanced, so it kind of marries my initial interest in agriculture and my insatiable appetite for technological gadgets all into one big toy," he said.

He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania and added DePaul University master's degrees in network communications and information security and in computational finance.

First working as a software engineer with Motorola, he veered into stay-at-home dad mode after he and Kari, an attorney, started having children. The couple sent their kids to the Science & Arts Academy in Des Plaines, where Aviad served three years as board chairman. During that time, the academy explored hydroponics as part of the curriculum.

"That's kind of where I caught the bug, so to speak," he said.

No bugs at Wiseacre Farm. There is lots of energy consumption.

"We have lights that are powered by electricity and we use a lot of technology, so that is one resource that we use a lot of," Yael Sheinfeld said.

And still ...

"What's wonderful is, due to our partnership with Arcadia (Power, a renewable energy company out of Washington, D.C.) all of the electricity that we consume now is 100 percent offset with wind-generated, renewable energy. So it sort of allows us to keep that focus, knowing that's the main resource we still need to use, but doing that in a more sustainable way," she said.

For lettuce, from seed to harvest it takes only 8 weeks for the container farm to grow the equivalent of 2 acres of traditional farmland, Aviad said. He plans on about six annual growing cycles.

His first crop came through last March, right at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially targeting restaurants for his produce, he shifted to a farm-to-table model. Customers also can now pick up goods at the farm itself on Saturdays, though preordering is a must. All packages and purchasing options are available at www.wiseacre.farm.

In its short time, Wiseacre Farm has gained acclaim beyond consumer taste buds. It won Silver for innovation in the Glenview Natural Resources Department's 2020 Environmental Sustainability Awards, and on March 28 the farm was featured in a segment of the History channel's "Modern Marvels" series highlighting "The Future of Food."

After a year, Aviad Sheinfeld said the process has become "a little less magical," but he still gets a kick out of it. Imagine what Hadassah and Yechezkel Gluzman might think.

"You put seed in a plug, and even a few days later when it pops out, I'm amazed," Aviad said.

"I do understand it, but I still don't believe how amazing it is that a plant grows out of this little, tiny seed and a few weeks later you have a head of lettuce or arugula."

Lead Photo: Wiseacre Farm owner Aviad Sheinfeld looks over some of the plants grown at his hydroponic farm in Glenview. Brian Hill | Staff Photographer

AmplifiedAg Increases Better Fresh Farms Production 50% With New Indoor Farm And AmpEDGE Operating System

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.

Freight Farms Releases Next Generation of Container Farming

 4 May 2021

Freight Farms released the 10th generation of their container farming system – Greenery S, which has several key improvements on its predecessors.

Since its founding in 2013, Freight Farms has been dedicated to making modular vertical farming technology accessible to more communities around the globe in a sustainable fashion. Their systems use a hybrid of hardware, software and services to make food production possible for anyone of any background, anywhere in the world.

“Greenery S represents the apex,” Jon Friedman, COO and co-founder tell Future Farming, “leveraging the excellent design and intuitive automation to streamline workflow while driving up yields.”

LED technology

Greenery S has several key improvements on its predecessors. This includes the new Dynamic Lighting Control, which uses LED technology that allows farmers to customize the lighting spectrum, intensity and duration for optimal plant yields. It also features a brand new user-centric Workstation design making for a sleek, self-contained and multi-functional farm command center.

Text continues underneath image

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LED technology allows farmers to customise the lighting spectrum, intensity and duration for optimal plant yields. - Photo: Freight Farms

More consistent harvests

This new generation also brings with it an update to Freight Farms’ farmhand software that includes a new feature called “Recipes.” This update allows farmers to obtain more consistent harvests.

“Operators simply choose the crop they wish to grow and farmhand automatically adjusts in-farm settings for that crop production,” explains Friedman. “In-farm cameras and sensors gather information and continuously improve the precision of the recipes over time, aggregating data from the entire farmer network to determine patterns that lead to exceptionally successful harvests.”

Of all their systems, Greenery S combines Freight Farms’ most optimized combination yet to allow farmers the highest possible yields at the highest quality with the fastest rates.

Lower startup costs

With lower startup costs, Freight Farms reports that their Greenery S farm system can grow an equivalent of 2.5 acres of traditional farmland with 12 harvests per year. According to Friedman, it typically takes their farmers two to three years to see returns on their initial investments.

Greenery S is now available for purchase worldwide.

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Jaclyn Krymowski

Correspondent for North America

Read more about: Vertical Farming Indoor Farming Container Farming

What Is A Container Farm?

30-04-2021 LettUs

Container farming, vertical farming, indoor farming… What do they all mean? Are they all the same thing? In this blog, we’re going to explain exactly what a container farm is and what the benefits of growing crops in this way are.

The controlled environment agriculture club

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is a term for using different technologies to grow food indoors. In CEA, these technologies ensure the best growing conditions and protection for specific crops. This is slightly different to just indoor farming - by nature, indoor farms simply protect crops from external forces such as weather and pests. A container farm would be an example of CEA, as would other indoor farms such as vertical farms and high-tech commercial greenhouses.

A container farm is usually a vertical farming system built inside a shipping container. The benefits of placing a farm within a container, rather than a building, are that it is transportable and can be squeezed into existing spaces, such as in car parks or on farmland. 

Since it is classified as a temporary structure, you typically don’t need planning permission for a shipping container. This can be particularly useful for those who rent their farmland. However, there are always exceptions and the necessary checks should always be made before making arrangements. As long as there is level ground, access to electricity, water & wifi, a shipping container can fit into a range of different settings.

Serving communities, big or small 

Since they’re easy to transport, container farms can be easily deployed as and when they are needed. This means they could be used for research or social-impact projects, without needing to build a permanent facility. Shipping containers are also modular, which means multiple containers can be used to build a larger facility and businesses can scale their operations appropriately. They also have the potential to be bedded into existing container parks - these are dotted around the UK and are usually shipping containers made up of independent shops, cafes, and restaurants. One container farm could supply fresh produce to all of these.

In this way, container farms have the potential to be a positive disruptor within our food supply networks and strengthen our local food security by reducing our dependence on imported produce. Food waste and carbon caused by food transportation would also be reduced by strategically placing containers in key locations within communities.

The DROP & GROW container farm

LettUs Grow’s container farms are powered by aeroponic technology. This is a soil-less system that uses a nutrient-dense mist to irrigate crops - boosting oxygen levels and encouraging healthy root stock. Whilst hydroponic container farms are more common, DROP & GROW uses aeroponics to optimise crop health and increase growth rates.

Our container farms have also been designed with the grower in mind. DROP & GROW:24 includes a separate preparation area, providing ample space for the grower to do their job. Our farms have also been designed to be easy to maneuver within and check on your crops.

Celebrating vertical farming technology

DROP & GROW wasn’t designed to be inconspicuous. Quite the opposite! We think urban farming, new technologies and feeding local communities is something to shout about, so a DROP & GROW on your site is an opportunity to start a conversation and encourage your customers to learn more about the benefits of vertical farming.

If you want to take a positive step towards a more sustainable and resilient food supply chain in the UK, then talk to LettUs business development team about why a container farm might be in the right choice for you. Find out more...

Source and Photo Courtesy of LettUs Grow

How COVID-19 Fed The Dream of Growing Food At Home

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04-28-21

BY ELIZABETH SEGRAN

Sales of hydroponic gardens boomed during the pandemic, but do high-tech solutions like those only further fuel inequality?

This story is part of Home Bound, a series that examines Americans’ fraught relationship to their homes—and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hit the reset button. Read more here.

When COVID-19 struck the United States, people rushed to grocery stores to stock up on food, only to find that many shelf-stable items like beans, rice, and flour were sold out. It was the first time many of us were forced to consider where our food comes from—and how vulnerable the global food system really is.

These food shortages spurred many Americans to consider growing their own food for the first time. Some planted vegetables in their backyards and windowsills, while others went for high-tech hydroponic gardens.

In the years before the pandemic, startups developed these compact self-watering, self-fertilizing, gardening machines that were aesthetically pleasing, to boot. During the lockdowns, sales of these products—which start around $800—spiked, prompting venture capitalists to pour millions into the industry.

But as the COVID era comes to an end, it remains to be seen whether these high-tech gardens have staying power or whether they were just a short-lived novelty. And more broadly, it’s worth asking whether these devices can be a tool for making agriculture more sustainable and equitable, or whether they’re just another toy for the Whole Foods class.

[Photo: courtesy of Freight Farms]

THE HYDROPONICS REVOLUTION

Hydroponics, which simply means growing plants in a solution of water and nutrients instead of soil, have been around since at least 600 BCE. But in the late 1920s, William Gericke of the University of California modernized these techniques, creating farms that require less space and up to 95% less water than soil-based farms but yield much bigger harvests by optimizing light, water, and nutrients. During World War II, the U.S. military built hydroponic gardens to grow vegetables for troops in locations that weren’t suited to traditional agriculture, such as Ascension Island, a refueling station in the Atlantic Ocean, where soldiers grew thousands of pounds of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, and radishes each month, staving off malnutrition.

COVID-19 prompted some countries to use hydroponics to deal with disruptions in the global supply chain. The Netherlands and Singapore, which have limited agricultural land and rely largely on imports, invested billions during the pandemic to build industrial hydroponics farms on rooftops and parking lots. In the United States, hydroponics are still a small business, with about 3,000 businesses generating around $800 million in revenue, a small sliver of the $451 billion from traditional farming. But analysts are banking that the industry is poised to grow.

Over the last five years, a bevy of startups—including Rise Gardens, Gardyn, Lettuce Grow, Aerogarden, and Click-and-Grow—have launched to create hydroponic systems that can fit inside a home. That’s a departure from the focus over the past century on large-scale hydroponics farms.

The devices are expensive, and before the pandemic, it was a tough sell convincing consumers to spend nearly $1,000 on a machine that might take years to pay off. But COVID-19 changed the game, as people around the world worried about food shortages. “The pandemic made people pay attention to where their food comes from and accelerated their interest in producing their own food,” says Nina Ichikawa, executive director of the Berkeley Food Institute, which promotes food equity. “This new awareness is a good thing.”

Many of these startups doubled or tripled their sales over the past year, and some investors are capitalizing on this interest. True Ventures, which funds Peloton and Blue Bottle, invested $2.6 million in Rise Gardens; Gardyn raised $10 million from JAB Holding Company, the largest shareholder in Keurig. And right before the pandemic, Estonia-based Click & Grow received $11 million in funding from Y Combinator and Ingka Group, which operates 367 Ikea stores in Europe.

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[Photo: courtesy of Lettuce Grow]

A PERSONAL HYDROPONIC GARDEN

Despite my lifelong black thumb, I decided to test Lettuce Grow, a six-foot tall hydroponic garden that looks like a white sculpture with plants artfully growing on it. I’m shocked by how much food I’ve grown: My family of three now eats freshly plucked lettuces with each meal and yet our harvest is so plentiful, we’ve had to share our veggies with neighbors.

The beauty of hydroponic systems is that they’re designed to run on their own, with minimal intervention from the owner. My machine automatically waters and fertilizes the plants by pumping a nutrient-rich solution through the system for 15 minutes every hour. The high-efficiency LED light rings control how much light the plants receive, adding only a few dollars to our monthly electricity bill. All I have to do is top up the water in the base and add a few spoonfuls of plant food every week.

When it comes to seeds, all of these hydroponic startups are also, effectively, subscription programs. You need to buy seeds or seedlings from the company for about $2 apiece to replace the plants you’ve fully harvested. This takes anywhere from three weeks to several months depending on their growth cycle. “You get to enjoy the beauty of watching living things grow, without needing any expertise in farming,” says Jacob Pechenik, who co-founded Lettuce Grow in 2019 with the actress Zooey Deschanel.

And these startups aren’t just focused on making the machines smaller, they’ve also made them beautiful. Lettuce Grow, for instance, worked with the designer Pip Tomkins—who previously designed the Nokia M Series—to create a stand with vegetables and herbs cascading from the sides, much like you’d see on a plant wall. Rise Gardens partnered with TBD Innovations, a firm made up of former IDEO designers, to create a system that looks like a white cabinet with rows of plants above it. “We knew that our garden needed to look attractive for people to consider bringing them into their homes,” says Hank Adams, founder and CEO of Rise Gardens. “We wanted it to be beautiful and minimalist, so you’d be happy to have it whether you live in your studio apartment or large home.”

Rise Gardens, Gardyn, and Lettuce Grow all created modular systems, so customers can start with just a few levels of plants and expand over time. Pechenik says his goal was for Lettuce Grow to replace up to a fifth of a household’s produce. (I can attest that our 24-plant unit easily achieves this for a family of three.) For those who can afford it, these machines generate fruits and vegetables that are far tastier and more nutritious than what you’d normally buy at a store. Studies show that most produce loses 30% of its nutrients three days after harvest, and much of what we find in the grocery is much older than that.

Hydroponics provides an alternative to industrial agriculture, which has dominated our food system since the 1960s. Factory-like farms are bad for the planet because they deplete the soil, consume a lot of water, spew toxic pesticides into the environment, and contribute to deforestation. Transporting food around the country also generates carbon emissions and creates a lot of waste, since produce goes bad along the way. Half of all U.S. produce is thrown out. For me, one of the best parts about having a hydroponic garden at home is that we’ve virtually eliminated waste and have to make fewer trips to the grocery store.

FOOD INEQUITY

For now, most of these devices have gone to people interested in small-scale gardening. But the founders believe their products have the ability to disrupt our broken food system, if they’re able to scale. “We are not in the gardening business,” says FX Rouxel, Gardyn’s founder and CEO. “We’re trying to reinvent how people can grow their own food at scale. If we have solutions that are compelling enough, we believe we can change people’s food habits and reduce their dependence on the grocery store.” Gardyn launched in early 2020, and in its first year, Rouxel says its hundreds of customers grew 70,000 pounds of produce.

But Berkeley Food Institute’s Ichikawa argues that we should be skeptical about whether these high-end hydroponic systems can actually change the food system. Most people don’t have the money to invest hundreds of dollars in this hardware, and those are exactly the people who could most benefit. A tenth of households experience food insecurity and more than 23.5 million Americans live in neighborhoods without easy access to a supermarket. “Rich people are willing to spend their money on many new-fangled technologies that don’t necessarily impact the rest of the industry for better or for worse,” she says. “It’s just a new business opportunity for these startups.”

She points out that hydroponics don’t have to be so expensive or complicated. In fact, a lot of innovation around cost-effective small-scale hydroponics came from cannabis growers, many of whom were people of color operating underground. Entrepreneurs and scientists have been developing affordable DIY hydroponics in Africa, particularly Kenya. Startups like Hydroponics Africa have built systems that don’t require electricity and use inexpensive, locally available materials, including fungi-resistant aluminum trays. “These [U.S.] startups are creating a flashier, fancier version of systems that have actually been around for a long time,” Ichikawa says. “There are a lot of low-cost solutions that have emerged from the ground up, from the communities that depend on these technologies to survive.”

For now, Pechenik tries to make his technology available to more people by donating one Lettuce Grow machine for every 10 sold to schools, nonprofits, and community organizations. He says they’ve distributed several hundred already, along with $1 million in donations. Rise Garden, meanwhile, has launched a smaller machine that starts at $279. “I compare this to the early days of personal computing when a laptop was very expensive, and yet now, laptops are widely available,” Adams says. “As hydroponic gardens scale, the cost of manufacturing will go down.”

One answer might come from systems that are large enough to feed a community, rather than a single family, and thus are more cost-effective. Take, for instance, Freight Farms, which debuted the first hydroponic farm inside a shipping container in 2012. The company sells $130,000 containers that can generate the same amount of food as three and a half acres of farmland, enough to feed hundreds of people. Long-term, these systems are more economical given their scale and could help solve food insecurity problems. The city of Boston, for instance, bought five Freight Farm systems in Mattapan, where 20% of the population lives below the poverty line, to create a high-tech farming co-op. “Our farms are being used as part of community redevelopment,” says Rick Vanzura, Freight Farms’ CEO.

[Photos: courtesy of Freight Farms]

During the pandemic, Freight Farms’ sales tripled, and the company expects business to triple again in 2021. Last year, it landed $15 million in Series B funding, bringing its total to $28 million. Vanzura believes that for hydroponics to have an impact on agriculture, there will need to be farms of different sizes, ranging from individual gardens to industrial farms. In fact, Freight Farms advised Lettuce Grow about growing techniques, drawing from its decade-worth of data. “We need to cooperate as an industry to take the best of what we each do and help each other get better,” he says.

As hydroponics grow in popularity, Ichikawa says that it’s important to remember that it is not the only, or best, solution to cultivating food for a community. The poor tend to be most impacted by problems in the food system and suffer from health issues due to lack of access to nutritious food. This is why organizations like hers advocate for food sovereignty, which means empowering communities to take charge of their own food supply through things like local ownership of grocery stores and backyard or community gardening.

While midsize hydroponic systems could be a tool for tackling food insecurity, she worries that it could create a new barrier to entry, making access to fresh food seem even more out of reach. “Food sovereignty can absolutely protect us from the instabilities from pandemics or climate change, so any way that folks can feel autonomy over their food supply is a good thing,” Ichikawa says. “But you don’t need a fancy hydroponic system to do this. You could do it just as easily with a bucket of soil by a window.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth Segran, Ph.D., is a senior staff writer at Fast Company. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts

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[Source Images: courtesy of Lettuce Grow]

Square Roots Opens New Indoor Farm, Produces First Harvest

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By Danielle Nelson

April 15, 2021

New York-based Square Roots, an urban indoor farming company, opened a two-story indoor farm located at Gordon Food Service headquarters in Wyoming.

The farm’s first locally grown harvest of herbs and greens that includes basils, arugula and radish microgreens will be available for consumers to purchase on e-commerce platforms, restaurants and grocery stores across the Great Lakes region in the coming weeks.

Construction on the indoor farm began in December and the first seeds were planted in March. The farm is cloud-connected and is managed by Square Roots’ farmers and in-house software.

“COVID-19 exposed major weaknesses in the industrial food supply chain and accelerated the already fast-growing local farming movement,” said Kimbal Musk, co-founder and executive chair of Square Roots. “Square Roots can now deploy commercial-scale, controlled-climate farms, fast, in locations across America to meet the demand for local food, all year-round. My wider mission is to bring responsibly grown, local food to everyone in America.”

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A farmer harvest basil. Courtesy Square Roots

The farm’s proprietary OS, otherwise known as The Square Roots Farmer Toolbelt, provides day-to-day guidance to farmers while capturing millions of data points throughout growing cycles. The data can then be analyzed to determine how changes in certain environmental parameters impact factors like yield, taste, and texture.

In addition to the technology that drives its operation, there also are cold storage, biosecurity, climate-controlled packaging space, and distributor loading docks, among other things in the farm that ensures food safety.

The new indoor farm is Square Roots’ third commercial facility.

Lead photo: Construction on Square Roots' indoor farm began in December and the first seeds were planted in March. Courtesy Square Roots

When We Started Freight Farms In 2010, There Was No Such Thing As An “Ag Tech” industry

We weren’t even sure how to explain what we were trying to do to our own friends and family! But we knew that there was a need for urban agriculture to emerge as a competitive industry in the food landscape. That’s why Freight Farms was born—to build the infrastructure and technology that would allow local food to thrive around the globe.

Less than a decade later, we are proud to be on the forefront of the fast-growing Agriculture Technology industry. Freight Farms has grown into a platform that anyone can use to supply their communities with fresh produce year-round, regardless of background or geographic location. We’ve had the pleasure of launching our container farming system in over 44 states in the US and 24 countries around the globe, creating the largest network of connected farmers.

Freight Farms has a passionate customer base of small businesses, entrepreneurs, traditional farmers, hotels, restaurants, corporate campuses, universities, and non-profits. We’d love to welcome you into our community of Freight Farmers, and our team is ready to help you get started. 

Jon Friedman and Brad McNamara

Freight Farms Co-Founders