Dairy Container Costs "Going Crazy"

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30 Jul 2021

Andrew Miller

@journoandy26

CONTAINER PAIN: Wimpak, Minyip, general manager James French says margins are being squeezed by the price of containers.

The skyrocketing cost of shipping containers is hitting the margins of Victorian pulse, grain, dairy and meat processors and exporters.

Thomas Elder Markets analyst Andrew Whitelaw said containers (boxes) were used to export pulses, grains, meat, and wool from Victoria.

"The box market has gone crazy this year," Mr. Whitelaw said.

Rates were at their highest since 2001, with the cost of hiring a 40-foot container to export products to India now sitting at $4000, (A$7700).

That compared with the first week in June 2019 when the rate was US$1300.

The top five agricultural containerized export destinations are China, Japan, the USA, Vietnam, and South Korea.

READ MORE: Rising port costs being passed back to the farmer

Port of Melbourne figures show wheat accounts for 10 percent of all agricultural exports, with hay, chaff and fodder coming in a close second.

Other cereals, barley, lentils, and chickpeas comprise nearly 20 percent of all exports.

Dried milk and processed dairy products make up more than 12pc of exports.

Huge demand

Mr. Whitelaw said part of the problem was the huge demand for containers, from Chinese manufacturers.

"Everyone seems to have much more disposable income, and most of the western world isn't able to spend that money on leisure or travel activities," Mr Whitelaw said.

"This has resulted in huge volumes and gadgets and gizmos shipped out of China."

Sea freight broker Anchor Logistics director Bob Brittles said a combination of factors had resulted in supply and demand pressures.

The blockage of the Suez Canal, when the Ever Given ran aground earlier this month, had a massive effect.

"When the Ever Given was freed, 350 ships followed her through and dumped about 350,000 containers in Europe and just after that there were unloading delays in China.

"Those delays held up 650,000 containers."

He said the Australian market was serviced by about 12 major shipping lines.

"They have been influenced by the coronavirus situation and closures of various ports, over the last year and a half."

That had resulted in congestion and delays in unloading in many south-east Asian ports, which was contributing to the container shortages.

"The containers are in the wrong place, the ships are in the wrong place," Mr Brittles said.

Rising prices

Grain cleaning and packing service Wimpak, Minyip, general manager James French said container prices to ship to most overseas ports had risen dramatically.

"The Bangladesh rates are very similar to India and the shipping lines are making a move (on prices) every four to six weeks," Mr. French said.

He said grower pricing might have to reflect the freight cost.

"Normally we are putting work on, six to eight weeks out, but we are struggling to do that, knowing what our freight rates are going to be," he said.

"It makes us more reluctant to buy more product when we don't know what the price will be at the other end."

READ MORE: Food-grade container shortages hitting Victorian exporters hard

Burra Foods exports most of its dairy products and chief executive Stewart Carson said there was a direct container cost, as well as timing and availability.

"You might have a vessel booked to leave on Friday, then you're told the vessel won't be available until Tuesday or Wednesday," Mr. Carson said.

"What do you do with that container? In some cases, you have to put it on power, which costs you money."

Mr. Carson said the company carried the cost or sought to recoup it from the market.

"Everyone is paying a competitive milk price, you can't say sorry I'll pay 10 cents less because the container price has gone up," Mr. Carson said.

Companies could not pass the cost back to the farmer, which was only right.

"I think that's great, it gives an assurance to the farmer," he said.

He said Burra was in the same position as all other processors.

Southern Grain Storage director Campbell Brumby said his company was fortunate that his company had finished its export program before the price increases hit.

"I was speaking to a colleague who was paying $1750 for a box to a particular destination, and was now looking at $4250 if they can get the container," he said.

He put the price increase down to the state government's lease of the Port of Melbourne.

"We've been doing containers for about 10 years and when we first started, charges were negligible," he said.

"Since the lease was sold to DP World, the rates have gone through the roof - we just have to pay them and the market absorbs the cost.

"As long as all our competitors and all the people we are trying to trade with are working on the same cost basis, the market tends to absorb it.

"Whether its pulses or cereals, the market will be the market."

Dairy

Investors Eye Growth In Vertical Farms

Source: Streetwise Reports  (7/29/21)

AeroFarms grows leafy greens in vertical farms using data science and technology; its upcoming acquisition by SPAC Spring Valley could grow its equity value.

Vertical farming is taking root. The market share of large-scale farms was estimated at $3.3 billion by Precedence Research in 2020 and is anticipated to increase nearly ten-fold, reaching $31.6 billion by 2030.

One vertical farm enterprise, AeroFarms, plans to go public in a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) business combination in mid-2021. The company got started in 2004 and was cofounded by CEO David Rosenberg along with Chief Marketing Officer Marc Oshima and Chief Science Officer Ed Harwood, PhD. It is a certified B Corporation and public benefit corporation and has earned spots on Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies, Time Inc.'s Best Inventions, INC magazine's 25 Most Disruptive Companies, and a first-place ranking on the FoodTech 500 list.

Click here for more information on SPACs.

A pioneer in the vertical farming space, AeroFarms is on a mission "to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity," with a focus on doing more with less by growing produce using fewer resources, zero pesticides, and less spoilage. "We look for inefficiencies and solve them using data science. We use our proprietary, fully controlled technology platform to better understand plants, optimize farms, improve quality and reduce costs," Rosenberg said.

AeroFarms leafy greens are grown in an approximately 70,000 square-foot facility—a former steel mill—in Newark, New Jersey. Its wide variety of greens are sold throughout the Northeast U.S. at major retailers, including Whole Foods Market, ShopRite, Amazon Fresh, and FreshDirect. In April 2021, AeroFarms broke ground in Danville, Virginia, on a new 136,000 square foot commercial farm that, according to the company, will be the world's largest indoor aeroponic vertical farm of its kind.

According to the company, it has a $1.9 trillion total addressable market and is expanding that through strategic partnerships, such as one with Chile's Hortifrut S.A. Together, the two companies will explore blueberry and cranberry production. "New Jersey is where blueberries were first domesticated in 1910," Rosenberg said. "With Hortifrut, we will be pioneering the next chapter by domesticating blueberries again in New Jersey—this time in a fully controlled environment."

International interest is demonstrated by AeroFarms' inclusion in Abu Dhabi Investment Office's $150 million investment in agricultural technology. AeroFarms' research center in Abu Dhabi will feature an advanced speed-breeding center and laboratories dedicated to R&D in precision phenotyping—studying the observable characteristics of an organism—machine vision and machine learning, robotics, and automation.

AeroFarms is also doing more with less in its entry into the public market. Rather than a time- and resource-consuming IPO, it will go public through a business combination with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. (SV:NASDAQ), a SPAC. Click here for more information on SPACs.

Vertical Farming Attracts Investor Interest

"Our banker at J.P. Morgan introduced us to Spring Valley. A SPAC made sense for us because it gives us an easier platform to tell our story to investors," said Rosenberg. "We share a long-term vision regarding sustainability and align in our concern for environmental issues." In addition, he notes that Spring Valley has a track record of bringing other companies public at a stage similar to AeroFarms.

Spring Valley (NASDAQ:SV), sponsored by Pearl Energy Investments, was formed for the purpose of acquiring a $1+/- billion enterprise value company in the sustainability sector. The total gross proceeds of Spring Valley's own IPO in 2020 were $230 million (23 million units at $10 per unit). J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is acting as the exclusive financial advisor to AeroFarms, while Cowen & Co. is the financial advisor to Spring Valley. It would not be unusual for these firms to initiate coverage on AeroFarms after the completion of the SPAC transaction.

AeroFarms has roughly $75.5 million in cash and will be 65% owned by existing shareholders after the merger. Revenue of $13 million is anticipated in fiscal 2022, jumping to $553 million by fiscal 2026, when EBITDA is expected to reach $193 million. All stockholders will roll 100% of their equity holdings into the new public company, according to Investor Place.

The business combination with Spring Valley is expected to provide up to $357 million in gross proceeds to AeroFarms, composed of Spring Valley's $232 million cash held in trust (assuming no redemptions by its shareholders) and a $125 million fully committed public investment in private equity (PIPE) at $10 per share. This includes investments from leading institutional investors, AeroFarms insiders and Pearl Energy Investments, Spring Valley's sponsor.

The "de-SPACing" is expected in summer 2021, at which point AeroFarms will have an estimated pro forma equity value of $1.2 billion. It will remain listed on Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol ARFM.

Lake Street Capital Markets initiated coverage on AeroFarms on June 15 with a Buy rating and $20 price target. Senior research analyst Ben Klieve wrote, "Representing a leader in next-generation production methods with a significant sustainability benefit, we view AeroFarms as a high conviction Buy opportunity for investors targeting investments redefining food production for decades to come."

The analyst noted that AeroFarms "will enter the public market following a SPAC merger with considerable upside potential from the current level. We see multiple expansion and capacity ramp as alpha drivers."

Venture capital interest in the controlled environment agriculture space—which includes greenhouses or container farms, in addition to vertical farms—has exploded. The Food Institute estimates, using data from PitchBook, that global VC investments in the sector tripled from 2019 to 2020, nearing $2 billion. Investor Place recently named several leading stocks in the space, including Kalera (OTCMKTS:KSLLF), Appharvest (NASDAQ:APPH), Hydrofarm Holdings (NASDAQ:HYFM), Village Farms International (NASDAQ:VFF), GP Solutions (OTCMKTS:GWPD) and Cubicfarm Systems (OTCMKTS:CUBXF), as well as Spring Valley–AeroFarms.

Cutting Edge Technology

AeroFarms grows plants using aeroponics, where a plant's roots are misted with water, nutrients and oxygen. Instead of dirt or water, the plants are grown on a cloth that can be sanitized and reused. Grown indoors under LED light, the controlled environment stymies pests, eliminating the need for pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. Rosenberg says the company can harvest in one acre what would require up to 390 acres outdoors by a farm in New Jersey, using up to 95% less water.

"We are the most vertically integrated tech company in the space," Rosenberg said. "Our proprietary agSTACK technology creates a fully connected and digitally controlled farm that integrates hardware, automation, intelligent controls and sensors, machine vision, supervisory control and data acquisition, and our manufacturing execution system to create a powerful data loop." The company holds 15 patents and has 38 more pending. "The result is clean, nutritious, flavorful produce grown year-round that is ready to eat with no washing needed."

The lure of vertical farming—the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers, typically in a controlled environment—has both economic and environmental benefits. Traditional field agriculture produces significant greenhouse gases, takes up half the U.S. landmass, and accounts for more than half of the country's fresh-water usage. A recent report by EY highlighted some of the economic reasons for the sector's growth, ranging from higher yields per acre to reduced transportation costs for crops grown closer to consumers in cities, to the availability of consistent supply at predictable prices.

A recent report by McAlinden Research Partners contends that efficient vertical farming is poised to surge as an increasingly popular investment as a result of the mounting pressures on traditional agriculture. "A report from Big Think recently found that vertical farms are incredibly efficient when it comes to water usage, requiring 95% less irrigation than soil-grown plants. Nate Storey, co-founder of vertical farming startup Plenty, Inc., has highlighted the efficiency of vertical farming, noting that 99% of moisture transpired by plants can be recaptured and reused in a vertical farming system. . . As climate shifts continue to affect the global agriculture industry, indoor farming provides an efficient and sustainable way to produce more crops with fewer resources," the report stated.

McAlinden noted that AeroFarms is "rapidly expanding its distribution operations in the Northeast, collaborating with Whole Foods Market, Amazon Fresh, and FreshDirect, according to Supermarket News."

"It will likely be several years before vertical farming technologies begin tapping their true potential, but a scaling of the industry is becoming increasingly likely as a counter to climate change and diminishing water availability," McAlinden concluded.

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Disclosure:
1) Diane Fraser compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. She and/or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She and/or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. Her company has a financial relationship with the following companies referred to in this article: None.
2) The following companies mentioned in this interview are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.
3) The interview does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services, or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
4) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees, or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees, or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the decision to publish an article until three business days after the publication of the article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of AeroFarms, a company mentioned in this article.

Additional Disclosures:

Lake Street Capital Markets, AeroFarms, June 15, 2021.

RESEARCH DISCLOSURES
Lake Street Capital Markets, or its affiliates, intends to seek or expects to receive compensation for investment banking services from the subject issuer in the next three months.
The authoring analysts who are responsible for the preparation of this investment research are eligible for compensation based on the total revenue and general profitability of Lake Street Capital Markets, which includes investment banking revenue.
However, such authoring analyst will not receive compensation that is directly based on or linked to specific investment banking transactions.

ANALYST CERTIFICATION – REGULATION AC
Each authoring analyst of Lake Street Capital Markets whose name appears on the front page of this investment research hereby certifies that (1) the recommendations and opinions expressed in this investment research accurately reflect the authoring analyst's personal, independent, and objective views about any and all of the subject investments or issuers discussed herein; and (2) no part of the authoring analyst’s compensation was, is, or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed by the authoring analysts.

Lake Street Capital Markets may effect transactions as a principal or agent in the securities mentioned herein.

McAlinden Research Partners:
This report has been prepared solely for informational purposes and is not an offer to buy/sell/endorse or a solicitation of an offer to buy/sell/endorse Interests or any other security or instrument or to participate in any trading or investment strategy. No representation or warranty (express or implied) is made or can be given with respect to the sequence, accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information in this Report. Unless otherwise noted, all information is sourced from public data.
McAlinden Research Partners is a division of Catalpa Capital Advisors, LLC (CCA), a Registered Investment Advisor. References to specific securities, asset classes and financial markets discussed herein are for illustrative purposes only and should not be interpreted as recommendations to purchase or sell such securities. CCA, MRP, employees and direct affiliates of the firm may or may not own any of the securities mentioned in the report at the time of publication.

Vertical Farming: Growing Up After The Pandemic

July 29, 2021

The Top 5 Benefits of Vertical Farming for Building a Sustainable and Resilient Fresh Food Supply Chain

“The COVID-19 crisis has really shown the cracks in the system. And I think that it was a test by Mother Nature to say, ‘Humanity, get your act together because your food systems are pretty fragile.’" This was an observation made by Dr. Nate Storey, co-founder and Chief Science Officer at Plenty, one of America’s leading indoor farming companies. Dr. Storey participated in a recent vertical farming webinar, co-presented by Heliospectra and the Association for Vertical Farming (AVF). Its purpose was to discuss the road ahead for vertical farming and building a sustainable blueprint to supply food to the world.

 The global response to the pandemic had an impact on all industries, and the food supply chain was not exempt:

• Laborers were unable to tend to the crops.

• Farmers were unable to get their produce to market.

• Restaurants, schools, and independent stores were shuttered.

• Consumers had to adapt to different ways to source their food.

As COVID-19 restrictions are easing around the globe, one of the things we have learned from the pandemic is that it is time to redesign and reengineer the food supply chain. Vertical farming may be the answer. Here are the top 5 benefits of vertical farming for building a sustainable and resilient fresh food supply chain:

1.) Proximity to Markets Results in Efficient Distribution

Transportation channels were disrupted as governments responded to the pandemic, which made it difficult for rural farmers to get their fresh produce to market. Vertical farms have a much smaller footprint compared to traditional field farms, which means they can be established inside, or closer to, urban areas. Heliospectra’s CEO, Ali Ahmadian, remarked during the webinar that “Urbanization is increasing, and by 2050 we're going to have close to 70% of the world’s population concentrated in urban areas. The population is growing, and COVID-19 has shown us that current food supply logistics are not sustainable when under stress. Going forward, we need to find ways to produce more food locally, where the population lives.” Proximity to market should also help reduce transportation costs and CO2 emissions, while time to market and produce freshness should improve.

2.) Innovative Technology Boosts a Growing Industry

Vertical farming is still in its infancy, but Dr. Storey noted, “We’re on the cusp of huge growth and expansion as an industry. In the next 10 to 15 years, vertical farming will rise as one of the dominant forms of agriculture.” He continued, “Technology has caught up with the vertical farming vision, and we're going to start to see tremendous growth over the next decade. I'm pretty excited about that.”  

Some of the fundamental technologies available to vertical farmers today include the ability to control and monitor:

• Lighting

• Irrigation

• Nutrients, PH, and CO2 levels

• Air temperature and humidity

• AI, big data, and intelligent controls

Vertical farms address many of the shortcomings of traditional field farms. Dr. Joel Cuello, a Professor of Bio-Systems Engineering at the University of Arizona, noted that “Vertical Farming is where artificial intelligence (AI) really has a big role to play. A lot of folks have already done optimizations in terms of lighting, temperature, relative humidity, but they are really done in a very limited scale. With big data and then applying AI, that is really a breakthrough waiting to happen in terms of vertical farming.”  

LED grow lights and recent advances in AI and intelligent control technology have been catalysts for sustainable year-round growing, enabling vertical farmers to maximize crop yields, refine crop quality, and standardize production with no seasonal downtime. By providing the light spectra that plants need and a controlled growing environment in which they flourish year-round, commercial vertical farming equipment can provide a sustainable and resilient way to feed the ever-changing world.

3.) Modern LED Systems Increase Energy Efficiency and High-Quality Crop Yields

The quantity, quality, duration, and distribution of light that each plant receives can be optimized. Innovative lighting technology developments have enabled vertical farmers to produce more quality food with less. Dr. Storey commented, “At Plenty, the primary tech inputs are LEDs and semiconductor technologies. As the cost of LEDs goes down and the efficiencies go up, we reap the benefits with very little investment on our part.” He continued, “We have created our own technology cost curve around indoor agriculture, which shows costs going down and quality going up. An illustration of that would be yield at Plenty has gone up 12X in the last 18 months. We have improved yield to the same unit of energy by 12X.”

4.) Labor Profile Shift Reduces Operational Overheads

There has been more recognition since COVID-19 of the inherent benefits of indoor/vertical farming, which can produce more with fewer hands. Lack of labor, particularly in times of global crisis, is a big contributor to food insecurity. The promise of vertical farms is that they could become a factor for resilience in any food supply chain. Dr. Storey commented, “With vertical farming, the supply chain is less complicated. It changes the shape of the labor profile of the business, from employing many workers in the field, which is a source of instability for field production, to employing much smaller numbers of very highly trained people that are operating robotics and managing production lines.”

5.) Modular and Scalable Design to Meet Changing Market Demands

Another benefit of vertical farming is its ability to quickly respond to food demand. Vertical farms can be modularized, and the modules can be shipped on pallets and quickly set up where the demand lies. They can also be added to and scaled to accommodate the rotation of crops according to market needs. This scalability enables farmers to establish vertical farms quickly and anywhere there is a need for food. It can also help farmers meet latent market demands. Storey commented, “When we look at the market, we see a world that consumes only 30% of what it should in terms of fresh fruits and vegetables. So, as we talk about scaling farms, we also have to talk about latent demand, like how much demand is out there that isn't being accessed because of low quality or just the lack of access to fresh food.” The potential for scalable, modular farms to fill this market need is enormous.

The COVID-19 crisis revealed weaknesses in the food supply chain. Storey commented, “We already had a system under stress that was beleaguered by rising labor prices, by the extended supply chains, and the fact that most of the consumers have been separated from the producers.” He continued, “The places where we produce the food and the places where we consume the food have been stretching out further and further and further. In many cases, it's a global supply chain now. We've been pushing the field to its max.”  

Want to know more? Watch the entire webinar: The Road Ahead for Vertical Farming Building Tomorrow's Industry Blueprint Today. WATCH NOW  

BrightFarms Recall Expands To Include Baby Spinach

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July 28, 2021

ROCHELLE, Ill., July 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — JULY 28, 2021 RECALL EXPANSION: BrightFarms today initiated a voluntary recall expansion of additional packaged salad greens that are past the expiration date and were produced in its Rochelle, Illinois (Ogle County) greenhouse farm sold in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan due to potential contamination with Salmonella.

The recall includes the below salad products packaged in clear, plastic clamshells with “best by” dates through 7/26/2021:

1. BrightFarms Baby Spinach (4 oz. and 8 oz. package)

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The affected BrightFarms-branded products were sold by retailers listed in the July 15 recall notice below.

JULY 15, 2021 RECALL:

BrightFarms today initiated a voluntary recall of packaged salad greens produced in its Rochelle, Illinois (Ogle County) greenhouse farm sold in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Indiana because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.

The affected BrightFarms-branded products were sold by the following retailers:

1. Illinois: Mariano’s Fresh Markets, Walmart (select stores), Strack Van Till, Sullivan’s Foods, Caputo’s, Jewel-Osco
2. Wisconsin: Pick ‘n Save, Metro Market, Copps, Tadych’s, Walmart (select stores)
3. Iowa: Walmart (select stores)
4. Indiana: Strack Van Till
5. Michigan: Tadych’s

Additional retailers may be affected.

Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis, and arthritis

The recall includes the below salad products packaged in clear, plastic clamshells with “best by” dates through 7/29/2021:

6. BrightFarms NutrigreensTM (3 oz. package)
7. BrightFarms Butter Crisp TM (4 oz. Package)
8. BrightFarms Harvest Crunch ® (4 oz. package)
9. BrightFarms Mighty Romaine TM (4 oz. and 8 oz. package)
10. BrightFarms 50/50 Spring & Spinach (4 oz. package)
11. BrightFarms Spring Crunch (4 oz. package)
12. BrightFarms Spring Mix (4 oz. and 8 oz. package)
13. BrightFarms Sunny Crunch ® (4 oz. and 8 oz. package)
14. 7/28/21 Update: BrightFarms Baby Spinach (4 oz. and 8 oz. package)

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The recall is limited to these specific products grown at the company’s Rochelle, Illinois indoor farm. BrightFarms products from other BrightFarms greenhouses are not affected.

BrightFarms is taking this action out of an abundance of caution after being notified of illnesses among eleven consumers, some of whom purchased or consumed the above products during the month of June.

Affected retailers have been instructed to remove all affected products from store shelves.

BrightFarms is committed to providing wholesome products, and the health and safety of consumers is the company’s number one priority. In addition to today’s voluntary recall, the company has already begun taking steps to enhance their already rigorous food safety protocols, including testing all products produced in its Rochelle facility for exposure to Salmonella prior to distribution.

Consumers who have purchased the affected products should discard them or return them to their place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions are encouraged to call 1-866-857-8745 8 am – 11 pm EDT. Consumers can also email info@brightfarms.com with the subject line: Recall.

Consumers contact:
BrightFarms
info@brightfarms.com
1-866-857-8745

Tagged brightfarms, food safety, outbreak, salad, salmonella, spinach

AppHarvest Taps Amazon Veteran Mark Keller To Operationalize AI-Informed Farm Operating System

July 26, 2021

Keller joins the AppHarvest technology group as SVP, Software Applications Platform, with a proven track record of building AWS services and high-performing teams

AgTech leader AppHarvest (NASDAQ: APPH, APPHW), a public benefit company and certified B Corporation focused on farming more sustainably using 90% less water than open-field agriculture and only recycled rainwater, has named Amazon veteran Mark Keller as its SVP, Software Applications Platform. Keller joins the AppHarvest technology group as it works to operationalize its Project TalOS platform to make fresh fruit and vegetable production as reliable as consumer goods manufacturing.

To create the Farm of the Future, AppHarvest is investing in robotics, artificial intelligence, tele-operation, and proprietary seed genetics. With robots roving through the facility alongside the company’s human labor force, interacting with and caring for the crops, the company will be collecting data continuously on plant production to feed into AI and then using software to align facility operations with sales and logistics.

“We are massively expanding our team to build out our digital operating model for farming, which has AI at its core that can manage a global network of facilities and effortlessly execute complex supply chain strategies intelligently and autonomously,” said Josh Lessing, AppHarvest chief technology officer. “Adding an industry veteran like Mark will be a true game-changer for this growth phase of our business, and his strong, people-centric leadership skills will be a key enabler for the AppHarvest technology group.”

Keller has a proven record spanning more than 25 years of turning ideas into full-featured technology solutions, such as launching Amazon’s first four large-scale Kiva robotics sortable warehouses and the PrimeNow Warehouse Management Software used to run the company’s one-hour fulfillment centers.

“The Holy Grail in agriculture is predicting and managing yield and quality,” said AppHarvest founder and CEO Jonathan Webb. “Having Mark join will accelerate our efforts as we train our intelligent robot, Virgo, to harvest multiple crops—ranging from tomatoes and cucumbers to more delicate fruits such as strawberries—as we move toward more AI-informed growing. These insights collected and analyzed, then fed into AI, will be the true game-changer for us since every piece of fruit is an outcome that resulted from the many variables in the growing process.”

“Two of the most pressing global concerns are water scarcity and creating resilient food supply, and AppHarvest is solving for both,” said Keller. “As a father of four, I want to leave a strong legacy for my children and leverage technology for good. The foundation AppHarvest is building will give controlled environment agriculture the opportunity to restructure the food landscape to mirror the hyper-efficient e-commerce landscape.”

Keller is a Hispanic Gulf-War veteran who brings a unique perspective to employee engagement programs being an early driver of the Amazon Warriors veterans employee group and having participated in the Latinos @ Amazon employee group. Keller also was an early adopter of the Military Apprentice Software Development Engineer program to improve diversity hiring in technology, which he expects to continue at AppHarvest.

About AppHarvest

AppHarvest is an applied technology company in Appalachia developing and operating some of the world’s largest high-tech indoor farms, designed to grow non-GMO, chemical pesticide-free produce, using up to 90 percent less water than open-field agriculture and only recycled rainwater while producing yields up to 30 times that of traditional agriculture on the same amount of land without agricultural runoff. The company combines conventional agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology including artificial intelligence and robotics to improve access for all to nutritious food, farming more sustainably, building a domestic food supply, and increasing investment in Appalachia. The company’s 60-acre Morehead, Ky. facility is among the largest indoor farms in the U.S. For more information, visit https://www.appharvest.com/.

These Big Food Companies Get Failing Grades On Political Spending Transparency

A new index highlights how Tyson, Cargill, Coca-Cola, and others are largely failing to disclose what they spend on policy advocacy, donations, and research, and how their lobbying shapes public health and climate regulations.

BY GRETA MORAN

JULY 28, 2021

Op-ed: We Need to Get Food Industry Dollars Out of Politics to Save Our Democracy

Big Food is Spending Millions to Lobby for Less Transparency

Questions Remain about Big Food's Influence on the New Dietary Guidelines

Precisely what role do companies like Tyson, Nestlé, and Coca-Cola play in shaping policies that regulate junk food advertisements to children, maintain a low tipped minimum wage, and limit carbon emissions? No one knows for sure, including their shareholders.

While advocacy groups have long gathered evidence about to the ways the world’s largest food companies spend money influencing politics, back powerful trade groups, and fund research that makes it into mainstream discussions about food, just how much influence they really have in shaping food policy is notoriously hard to pinpoint, partially due to lax disclosure requirements on corporate spending.

According to Feed the Truth, a new organization aimed at addressing corporate control of the food system, this lack of transparency “means that corporations can sell us a family-, worker-, and environmentally friendly image even as they spend heavily to block policies that would improve public health, cut down on inequality and poverty, and help prevent the climate breakdown.”

Now, an index just released from the organization draws attention to just how much remains out of the public view—the spending left undisclosed by major food and agricultural corporations.

The Food and Agriculture Corporate Transparency (FACT) Index scores the world’s 10 largest food producers’ level of disclosure across four categories of spending: electioneering, lobbying, charitable donations, and the funding of scientific research. The corporations, selected based on highest reported 2020 revenue, were ranked from most to least transparent, as follows: the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Mars, ADM, Unilever, JBS, Cargill, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, and Bunge. The index specifically counts disclosure as publicly posting information on their websites, easily accessed by the public and investors.

Coca-Cola earns the relatively highest marks for transparency with just 39 out of 100 points, and it goes down from there, with Tyson Foods (the second-largest meat processor in the world) and Bunge (a massive agribusiness and ingredient supply company that many in the U.S. have never heard of) coming in at 3 and 2 points respectively.

Lucy Martinez Sullivan, the executive director of Feed the Truth, hopes that by sharing these low scores, her group can shed light on the gap between what these companies profess to do publicly and where their money is actually going.

“If these companies are going to be talking about what they see as priorities for private-sector engagement in food systems and really shaping the narrative and discourse around food, then they have a responsibility to be more transparent about how they are engaging in the policy process,” said Sullivan.

Civil Eats contacted Tyson Foods, Bunge, Coca-Cola, and Cargill for comment, but none had responded by press time.

Low Scores and a Lack of Accountability

Bunge and Tyson Foods, which are both publicly traded corporations, disclosed almost nothing about their political spending. In the lobbying and electioneering categories, they both scored zero, indicating that they reveal nothing about money spent on these engagements.

“It’s really shocking that two publicly held corporations just do not put out any information for investors, shareholders, and the general public to be able to understand how they are using their power,” said Sullivan. Both companies earn upward of $40 billion dollars per year, granting them the potential for significant influence, noted Sullivan.

Even Coca-Cola, the highest scorer, does not have a good track record of accountable public spending. Earlier this year, an investigation by Popular Information revealed that the company funded 29 of the co-sponsors of Georgia’s voter suppression bills, likened to Jim Crow-era laws, which were written to target Black voters. At the same time, the investigation found that “Coca-Cola, through its Sprite brand, ran a series of ads prior to the 2020 election stressing the importance of voting in the Black community.”

Today’s food system is complex.

The lack of spending disclosure enables corporations to take public positions concerning the social good, while quietly financing opposing interests. This also makes for risky investments, a realization that Sullivan hopes will lead investors to push for more transparency. “It’s a brand liability. It’s a reputational liability, and therefore it’s a risk to investors,” said Sullivan.

Already, there is momentum among shareholders across industries to demand greater transparency, including pushing Tyson Foods to increase its disclosure on lobbying and labor practices. And as cited in the report accompanying the index, one of the world’s largest investors, Vanguard, recently warned of the financial and reputational risks of “poor governance of corporate political activity, coupled with misalignment to a company’s stated strategy or a lack of transparency.”

U.N. Summit in the Background

Feed the Truth released the index to coincide with the start of the United Nations Food Systems Pre-Summit, an event that is setting the stage for a larger summit that will be convened in September. As global leaders come together to develop commitments to reform how the world produces and consumes food, a separate conversation is underway about the level of corporate influence over the global food system, led by scientists, advocates, and Indigenous and peasant groups boycotting the event.

At the heart of the boycott is concern about the duplicity highlighted by the FACT Index. For instance, the summit included an event in which the CEOs of PepsiCo, Nestlé, and Unilever, among others, convened to discuss their companies’ approach to solving hunger and malnutrition. And yet critics have long argued that the makers of soda and other highly processed foods often use philanthropy to advance their corporate agenda and deflect calls for government programs or laws aimed at reducing consumption of the foods they make.

And, ultimately, it’s unclear how food corporations’ representation at the U.N. Food Systems Summit squares with their spending in other countries, given that almost none of this is disclosed.

“The most notable thing is these truly global corporations don’t give any information for their international markets,” said TJ Faircloth, Feed the Truth’s program and research director. “Coca-Cola, as good as they do on some levels of disclosure, operates in almost 200 countries, but only [shares] information based in the U.S.”

Ashka Naik, the research director of Corporate Accountability, notes that while she finds the index to be “systematic and comprehensive” in its methodology, there are some forms of influence that it doesn’t capture, such as revolving doors with governments, recruiting corporate to advisory boards, and advertising.

Faircloth envisions FACT as an “inaugural index,” which he hopes to expand and refine in the future, including by improving their assessments of foreign markets. The index builds upon the Center for Political Accountability-Zicklin Index, which looks more narrowly at corporate spending on elections. FACT expands on this by including lobbying, philanthropy, and scientific funding, as within the scope of its analysis, while also narrowing the scope to food-producing corporations.

Over half of the food and agriculture corporations listed in the FACT index—PepsiCo, Unilever, ADM, JBS, Tyson, Bunge, and Mars—didn’t disclose any funding of scientific research. This can shield how major food corporations shape the field of nutrition and food science. Faircloth points to McDonald’s funding The Scripps Research Institute to study childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes. “On paper, it looks really great for the corporation, but then you’re like, ‘Wait a minute, this is a corporation that is a driver of childhood diabetes,’” said Faircloth.

An accompanying report to the index provides recommendations for how to increase transparency around corporate giving. This includes requiring the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to require “political giving disclosures—including lobbying, charity, science, and indirect spending—across the jurisdictions in which these corporations do business.” It also recommends the U.S. Senate passing the “For the People Act” to improve campaign finance transparency; the bill already passed in the House of Representatives in March. Currently, the SEC does not require reporting on political activities; however, there are regulations that require quarterly lobbying reports and the mandatory disclosure of Political Action Committee (PAC) spending.

Lisa Graves, the executive director of True North Research and board president of the Center for Media and Democracy, was impressed by the index and its methodology. She points to the importance of accessible and public disclosures of the corporations’ lobbying activity at the state and federal level. “[This] would be important to be made publicly available, easily findable on the website, versus relying on someone to go through state by state to decipher it,” said Graves.

Of course, improving transparency is only the first step to curbing corporate influence over the global food system. “Greater transparency of political spending is surely necessary and the lowest hanging fruit for greater corporate accountability,” wrote Naik, in an e-mail. “That said, we must be vigilant that such indices are not exploited by corporations to sugar-coat their progress on real accountability.”

Greta Moran is a Senior Reporter for Civil Eats based in Queens, New York. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Grist, Pacific Standard, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, The New Republic, The New York Times, The Intercept, and elsewhere. Greta writes narrative-based stories about public health, climate change, and environmental justice, especially with a lens on the people working toward solutions. Read more >

Nature Fresh Farms Featured in an Episode of YTV’s Kid Food Nation: The Show

July 20, 2021

Nature Fresh Farms joins YTV’s Kid Food Nation: The Show to educate children on greenhouse growing and fresh vegetable production.

Nature Fresh Farms will be featured in an episode during the second season of Kid Food Nation: The Show, giving the cast and the viewers at home a peek inside greenhouse and packaging facilities while exploring the many processes it takes to grow, package, and ship fresh food. Hosts Spencer and Tyra interview members of the Nature Fresh Farms team as they answer questions and share their knowledge about all things inside the greenhouse.

Kid Food Nation: The Show is in partnership with Kid Food Nation and President’s Choice Children’s Charity. The series follows Spencer, Tyra, and kid food nation heroes as they embark on culinary missions and answer questions like, "Should I eat crickets?" or "Are dandelions edible?" The jam-packed 8 episode run for Season 2 will be fun, informative, and inspirational to chefs both young and old. Like the show, the Kid Food Nation project aims to encourage Canadian kids to explore food through online recipes, activities, and videos. Founded by President’s Choice Children’s Charity, BGC Canada and Corus Entertainment, and now in its fifth year, the initiative celebrates a selection of junior chefs from every corner of Canada, featuring their family recipes in an annual contest and cookbook.

“Kid Food Nation is an amazing initiative that aligns completely with our vision of inspiring children and their families to learn about where their fresh fruits and vegetables come from while encouraging nutritional eating,” said Marketing Director, Stephanie Swatkow. “This was a great opportunity to share how we deliver fresh produce from seed to table in a fun interactive way that the program offers.”

Committed to educating consumers and helping to build healthier communities, Nature Fresh Farms believes in cultivating healthy, life-long eating habits through education and teaching important food skills so families can continually develop a healthier relationship with food.

The second season of Kid Food Nation: The Show will premiere on YTV this summer on July 28th at 6:30 pm EST. Each episode will also be uploaded on the Kid Food Nation YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/kidfoodnation.

About Nature Fresh Farms

Continuously expanding, Nature Fresh Farms has become one of the largest independent, vertically integrated greenhouse vegetable farms in North America. As a year-round grower with farms in Leamington, ON, Delta, OH, and Mexico, Nature Fresh Farms prides itself on consistently delivering exceptional flavor and quality to key retailers throughout North America, while continuing to innovate and introduce more viable and sustainable growing and packaging solutions.

About Kid Food Nation

Kid Food Nation is a five-year project to excite the inner foodie in every Canadian kid. Created in partnership with President’s Choice Children’s Charity, BGC Canada, and Corus Entertainment, with the support of the Government of Canada, the Kid Food Nation online hub on YTV.com features cooking videos with kids, celebrity chefs, and local talent, tips for nutritious foods, as well as games and quizzes. In addition, topics related to the Kid Food Nation curriculum will also be available on the online hub.

The annual Kid Food Nation recipe contest encourages kids between the ages of seven and 13 from across the country to share their love of good food by submitting original, healthy recipes that highlight their culture or their Canadian pride. Each year, 26 young winners are chosen, representing every province and territory in Canada, to have their recipes and chef profiles published in the Kid Food Nation cookbook.

About Corus Entertainment

Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX: CJR.B) is a leading media and content company that develops and delivers high-quality brands and content across platforms for audiences around the world. Engaging audiences since 1999, the company’s portfolio of multimedia offerings encompass 33 specialty television services, 39 radio stations, 15 conventional television stations, a suite of digital assets, animation software, technology, and media services. Corus is an established creator of globally distributed content through Nelvana animation studio, Corus Studios, and children’s book publishing house Kids Can Press. The company also owns an innovative full-service social digital agency so.da, and lifestyle entertainment company Kin Canada. Corus’ roster of premium brands includes Global Television, W Network, HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, HISTORY®, Showcase, Adult Swim, NationalGeographic, Disney Channel Canada, YTV, Global News, Globalnews.ca, Q107, Country 105, and CFOX. Visit Corus at www.corusent.com.

SOURCE: Nature Fresh Farms | info@naturefresh.ca

T: 519 326 1111 | www.naturefresh.ca

Center To Announce First Winners of Its “Best In Class” Awards

By July 23, 2021

The Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture, a U.S. based company that supports the growth and development of the vertical and indoor farming industry, will announce the first winners of its Center of Excellence “Best in Class” TM Awards for indoor farm manufacturers at a virtual event scheduled for August 4th with Indoor Ag-Con. The goal of the “Best in Class” Awards is to recognize operational excellence in the indoor agriculture industry through an analysis of KPI’s on indoor farm operations and the supporting equipment.

The announcement will take place in the context of a virtual panel discussion on the importance of metrics to indoor farm sustainability and future investment in indoor agriculture. Finalists and industry thought leaders will sit on the panel. Those interested may register for the event at: indoor.ag/webinar.

The winners will be announced virtually in two categories: commercial indoor production systems and indoor farm lighting fixtures. Indoor production systems are turnkey systems that are optimized for the production of leafy greens and other vegetables in indoor vertical farm facilities. The top systems use the least amounts of water, energy, labor, and other resources to produce the greatest yield. The top lighting fixtures are energy-efficient, affordable, and yield-optimizing.

“We are really excited to recognize excellence among the Agtech manufacturers supporting the indoor and vertical farming industry. Our finalists offer solutions that help indoor farms achieve operational efficiency and sustainability. We believe the awards can help spur innovation in this space,” stated Eric W. Stein, Ph.D., founder and Executive Director of the Center of Excellence.

The winning products were selected through a process that includes being nominated and then evaluated according to technical and operational merits in several categories. The Center performs a quality check on the data before being input into a proprietary weighted multi-criteria model. Products are also evaluated based on interviews and an analysis of online data.

More Info: More detailed information on the Center’s awards can be found at https://indooragcenter.org/awards. Growers and manufacturers are invited to become nominated and begin the application process. Winners receive several benefits including industry recognition, social media exposure as well as participation in future panel discussions and conferences.

About the Center

The Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture provides insights about the economics of indoor farming based on a careful analysis of industry data and from thought leaders in industry and academia. As the first U.S.-based Center of Excellence dedicated to indoor farming, it promotes best practices, benchmarking, networking, knowledge development, and research. Its annual Best in Class Indoor Farming Awards (TM) recognizes top indoor growers and manufacturers. The Center is located in the Philadelphia metro region.

About Indoor Ag-Con

Indoor Ag-Con is an organization that hosts premier events centered around building the indoor agriculture community. They unite growers and engineers alike to create a prime networking opportunity through discussions, workshops, and exhibits enhancing the participants’ knowledge of growing crops in indoor systems.

Media Contact Information

Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture

indooragcenter.org

team@indooragcenter.org

They Left The City To Start A Farm, And This New Wave of Farmers Is Urban-Raised, University-Educated And Committed To Environmental Practices

By Cristina Petrucci

July 20, 2021

Many have chosen to leave the city to improve work-life balance, have more space or find more affordable housing. Choosing to leave the city to switch careers and become farmers? Yes, this is also happening.

Going from urbanite to full-fledged farmer is one giant leap of faith. A 2018 Statistics Canada report said that the proportion of younger people and women taking up farming has increased.

The profile of the typical Canadian farmer is changing. These new farmers are typically urban-raised, university-educated, and have a strong commitment to environmental and sustainable practices. And many do not have a family history or background in farming.

“I never had a green thumb,” said Aminah Haghighi. “I could barely keep houseplants alive.” Haghighi is the founder and head lettuce of Raining Gold Family Growers, established in January 2021 and based in Hillier, Prince Edward County. She is currently farming a quarter of an acre and has a direct-to-consumer sales approach. Starting in January, Haghighi had to be quick on her feet to determine what she could sell at that time.

“I came up with the idea of selling microgreens as that is something you can grow indoors under lights on shelves,” she said. Her efforts paid off. She had a total of 80 CSA (community-supported agriculture) subscribers and raised just under $10,000 in revenue. “That was the first time I felt connected with the community, because they wanted to see me succeed,” she says.

Ultimately, what led her to become a farmer is her keen ability to solve problems and to do it as quickly as possible.

Oh, and the pandemic also played a major role.

“A few weeks before the first lockdown in Ontario, my second daughter was born,” she explained. “Everything was slowly coming to a halt all over the world, and I didn’t really know what grocery stores would look like and we all thought the world was basically ending.” That’s when Haghighi decided to rip up the grass in her Toronto home and start growing in her small backyard garden.

Providing food security for her family during the whirlwind that was the first few months of the pandemic, and having something of her own, was why she started gardening. “As a mom who had no control over my body or control over my time, this was sort of a way to regain control in my life.”

Questions of food security and sustainability also crossed Judy Ning’s mind during the initial months of the pandemic. Along with her husband Hans and their two children, they left Montreal to pursue their dream of having a homestead.

“Our hospitality business took a major hit, and we made the decision to give that up, sell our house, and chase our dream 10 years ahead of time,” Ning writes.

Paper Kite Farm was born in February 2021 with their first seedlings and, in June, they started selling their garden veggies and ready-made meals and beverages at the Picton Farmers’ Market every Sunday.

Their farm is situated in North Marysburgh, Prince Edward County, and the Ning family are currently farming a quarter of an acre while also raising laying hens.

Ning had a rural upbringing and is ethnically Hmong, a hill tribe people. “We are found all over Southeast Asia and my parents were born in Laos,” said Ning. “Farming was and still is a huge part of the Hmong culture. While I didn’t always appreciate the garden in my youth, I’m now doing my best to tap back into my heritage.”

Her husband, Hans, is of Tawainese heritage and, as such, the Ning family are growing several Asian varietals in their row beds, such as bok choy, mizuna, napa cabbages and yard long beans. They are also growing berries and fruits in their food forest and permaculture beds.

The path to farming is not easy. The uncertainties and lack of control when dealing with crops have created pangs of self-doubt. “I want to quit everyday,” said Haghighi. “Ten times a day I’m like ‘Oh my God, what am I doing?’ but then 25 times a day I think this is totally what I’m supposed to be doing.”

On the operational front, issues like tackling insects without the use of pesticides, choosing the right soil for seedlings and managing the upfront costs of equipment are hard to ignore.

“In the early days getting financing was one of the biggest hurdles that we faced,” said Stephanie Laing. Laing and her partner, Heather Coffey, founded Fiddlehead Farm in 2012 and grow more than 50 types of vegetables year-round in their market garden of 10 acres in Demorestville, Prince Edward County.

Laing found that most lending institutions were used to farms that were “hundreds to thousands of acres” in size, not the smaller operations such as Fiddlehead.

Fortunately, Laing and Coffey could rely on the assistance of their families to co-sign the mortgage on their farm. They also relied on grants, which they’ve taken advantage of for some early infrastructure, such as their wash station, irrigation pond and some equipment.

It had always been a goal for Laing and Coffey to start a farm. With their respective environmental studies and landscape ecology background, as well as “WWOOF-ing” (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) for two years, they felt ready. They decided to settle in Prince Edward County to be midway between their families in Newmarket and Montreal.

“I think for our first six to eight years we didn’t take a single vacation; we just worked non-stop,” said Laing. She recalled how “overeager” they were initially, adding a flock of laying hens and a handful of pigs along with turkeys and ducks. Financially that was not viable, so they focused solely on their market garden and increasing their CSA membership.

Despite the hurdles in their early years, Laing is satisfied with where they are now. “I am happy with what I do for a living,” she said, “I would love it if it paid a bit better, but I really enjoy the work.”

With almost 10 years running their farm, Laing’s advice for new farmers, or those looking to become farmers, is to treat it as a business. “One of the reasons we have been successful is because we have always paid really close attention to our finances.” They’ve always “planned down to the penny,” ensuring that their farm is both survivable and sustainable.

They are now able to enjoy the fruits of their labour and set money aside to invest for things down the road, like getting the farm to be as off grid as possible.

She encourages new farmers to ask themselves what they want from the farm: to either work full- or part-time for it. “It’s a business and it’s also really involved with your life, and you need to think of those two things together,” she adds.

“I have a crazy amount of people that message me all the time saying that I’m living the dream and they wish they could do what I’m doing,” said Haghighi.

BASF Venture Capital Invests In Indian Hydroponics Pioneer UrbanKisaan

July 13, 2021

Hyderabad, India, and Ludwigshafen, Germany – BASF Venture Capital GmbH (BVC) is investing in the Indian startup UrbanKisaan, which specializes in hydroponic cultivation of various types of vegetables, greens and herbs in tropical urban environments. This is BVC’s first investment in an early stage business focusing on India. Conceptualized in 2017, UrbanKisaan operates several suburban greenhouses and vertical indoor farms in Hyderabad and Bangalore. The company sells the fresh produce, some of which is grown directly in the shops, in its franchise-owned brick-and-mortar stores and via an app and website. Both parties agreed not to disclose financial details of the investment.

UrbanKisaan has optimized hydroponics technology for use in tropical climates such as India. With only one tenth of the costs, the proprietary technology is significantly more efficient than conventional global standards in hydroponics cultivation. The company is also capitalizing on the trend of online food retailing, which is booming on the subcontinent. “Our approach in hydroponics enables us to produce our food cost-effectively and with relatively little effort,” said Vihari Kanukollu, co-founder and CEO at UrbanKisaan. “Our produce also contributes towards sustainability as it is grown in clean, hygienic farms in and around the city, thus minimizing the total carbon footprint. Use of IoT (Internet-of-Things)-enabled technology for monitoring the farms ensures pesticide-free produce. The growing demand from our customers shows that our idea is well-received,” he added.

UrbanKisaan’s farms are managed through their proprietary technology. Nutrient content, pH levels, atmospheric humidity, CO2 concentration, light concentration and other important parameters are controlled and adapted to the needs of the particular plants with an app. “UrbanKisaan, as a pioneer in the hydroponics space, has developed a unique growing method and combines this with a compelling business model for sales,” commented Markus Solibieda, Managing Director of BASF Venture Capital GmbH. He added: “AgTech is one of our key investment focus areas worldwide. This includes, in particular, our goal of supporting innovative agricultural and food-related businesses in Asia. We look forward to learning more about hydroponic farming and exploring its potential through a close collaboration between UrbanKisaan and BASF’s agriculture experts.”

With the investment from BASF, UrbanKisaan plans to further expand its market presence in India, deploy its farming technology to work with thousands of farmers, and bring fresh, local, sustainable produce to urban dwellers.

Hydroponic farming – an efficient way to use limited resources.

The world’s population is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050 1 while the area available for farming and freshwater reserves are becoming increasingly scarce. Hydroponics offers a sustainable way to grow crops without soil and using vertically stacked layers while reducing water usage by about 90 percent 2 . Especially in densely populated urban areas, this presents a more efficient way to use limited resources like water, space and manpower. Water that is not absorbed by the plants is captured, purified and fed back into the farm’s water circulation system, minimizing wastage significantly.

India is the second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, with a production value of about $64 billion 3 . It is also a large consumer of fruits and vegetables, and while much of this is through unorganized channels (local vegetable markets, hand-pulled carts and neighborhood stores), organized channels (modern trade and online retail) account for a little over 20 percent of the market 4 . Thus, hydroponics is a fast growing and efficient alternative to traditional supply chains in the organized fresh produce market.

About UrbanKisaan

UrbanKisaan was conceptualized in 2017 in Hyderabad, India. The company began as a farming enterprise but wanted to grow more than just fresh and nutritious food. They wanted to create a sustainable future for farming and feed the world in a way that is good for both people and planet. Today, with its hyper-local urban farms the company is creating a transparent supply chain with a low carbon footprint, leveraging on proprietary growing technology that helps save 90% of water yet grow 30 times more crops compared to traditional farms of similar area. Further information at www.urbankisaan.com.

About BASF Venture Capital

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF Venture Capital GmbH (BVC) also contributes to this corporate purpose. Founded in 2001, BVC has offices in Europe, the U.S., China, India, Brazil, and Israel. BVC’s goal is to generate new growth potential for current and future business areas of BASF by investing in young companies and funds. The focus of investment is on new materials, AgTech, Digitization and new, disruptive business models. Further information at www.basf-vc.com.

About BASF

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. More than 110,000 employees in the BASF Group contribute to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of €59 billion in 2020. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at www.basf.com.

Converting Urban Areas Into Indoor Pesticide-Free Farms For Year-Round Food

By Li Yap

July 14, 2021

Concerns With Traditional Farming

Traditional farms typically rely on herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers to grow crops, which can pollute the environment if used in excess. Up to 98% of a chemical spray will bounce off a crop instead of staying on the plant, resulting in chemicals accumulating in the soil and, eventually, waterways.

Biodiversity loss is another concern of conventional farming as the conversion of wild spaces to farmland has resulted in less space for wild plants and animals to live in. With the global population predicted to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, the agriculture industry is under pressure to scale up to meet these demands, which could potentially affect the natural environment further if nothing is done to rethink current farming practices.

With 40% of available global land already occupied by fields of crops and pastures for animals, it would be difficult to completely eliminate the impact that farms have on the natural environment. However, part of the answer could lie in indoor farming where growing conditions can be better managed, reducing the environmental impact of growing produce. 

Indoor Farming Technology Market

The indoor farming technology market was valued at $14.5 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $24.8 billion by 2026.

The contained facilities used in indoor farming allow farmers to better control and optimize growing conditions. This results in higher yields compared to traditional farming methods whilst using less land area. For example, the average yield of tomatoes grown using traditional methods was reported in 2016 to be 1.85 pounds per square foot, while the average yield of tomatoes grown from greenhouse hydroponics was 10.59 pounds per square foot. By increasing the growing area by stacking additional planting layers, the overall crop yield can be increased.

Indoor farming addresses the concern of limited arable land and water wastage. In vertical farming, the need for land can be reduced by a hundred-fold, and by recirculating and reusing water, an average of 95% less water is required for growing the same crops when compared to outdoor farming.

Vertical farming is one of the techniques used to grow crops within indoor environments. By using artificial light and vertical growing systems such as aeroponics, aquaponics and hydroponics, crops such as kale, lettuce, strawberries and herbs can be grown within a clinically clean indoor system without the need for soil, sunlight and pesticides. This technology allows vertical farms to be set up close to populous areas or urban hubs, where harvests can be distributed locally.  

80 Acres Farms

80 Acres Farms operates vertical farms in eight locations across four states. Its farms produce crops using zero pesticides and consume 97% less water compared to traditional farms.

Using 100% renewable energy and being completely indoors, 80 Acres’ operation is capable of producing various crop varieties all year without the need to rely on favorable weather.

Sophisticated technologies, including AI sensors, are incorporated into its operation to ensure that growth environments are optimized according to the plants’ genetics and that harvests are at the peak of ripeness. By relying on a smaller delivery radius, customers are able to access the produce within a day of picking.

“80 Acres' farms are, on average, 300 to 400 times more productive than field farming”, says co-founder Mike Zelkind. This is due to the vertical structures used for growing produce, which allows room for more crops in less space as well as faster-growing produce.

Current Limitations of Indoor Farming

Apart from the high energy costs associated with operating vertical farms, there are also high investment costs for urban land and for the technologies and devices needed to carefully control and monitor the growing environment – these include aspects such as temperature, lighting, and pollination.

The high initial investment compared with traditional farming is a drawback for indoor farms, but this also invites the opportunity for innovation and the development of more cost-effective technologies.

Transforming Agriculture for the Future

Transforming farming in a way that does not affect the natural environment will be no small task, given the sheer scale of the world’s agriculture. With a growing demand for food, there is an ever-increasing pressure for high-yielding and sustainable farming techniques.

In addition to being a great use of spaces not traditionally utilized for agriculture, the high yields of pesticide-free indoor farms show great promise. Although indoor farming is unlikely to completely replace traditional field farming right now, it still has the potential to answer, at least in part, the question about food security in the years to come. 

Lead Photo: With the ever-growing demand for food placing increased pressure on the Earth’s resources, innovators are re-examining the fundamentals of farming to create a new and sustainable food system. With the hopes of potentially transforming global food systems, many emerging start-ups have identified urban indoor farming as a viable alternative to conventional farming.

mage Credit: Nikolay_E/Shutterstock.com

Video Credit: 80 Acres Farms/YouTube.com

80 Acres Farms CEO Mike Zelkind Joins CEO Keynote Line-Up For In-Person Indoor Ag-Con In Orlando Oct. 4-5, 2021

July 23, 2021

80 Acres Farms CEO Mike Zelkind will lead the Day Two CEO Keynote Address for the in-person October 4-5, 2021 edition of Indoor Ag-Con at the Hilton Orlando. Themed “Growing Your Business,” the trade show and conference for indoor |vertical farming | controlled environment agriculture will give attendees the opportunity to explore new resources on the expo floor and hear from Zelkind, other CEOs, thought leaders and industry experts from today’s cutting-edge farms and innovative companies.

“80 Acres has been making headlines this year in a number of areas – from plans to expand its produce offerings to new research initiatives. We are so excited to be returning to our live, in-person format in October and offering a platform for forward-thinking industry leaders like Mike Zelkind to share the indoor farming innovations he and the 80 Acres team are working on,” says Brian Sullivan, co-owner, Indoor Ag-Con LLC.

Scheduled for day two, October 5, 2021, Mike Zelkind’s address will be held from 11:30 am – 12:20 pm. In addition to his CEO role with 80 Acres Farms, Mike is also Board Member of Infinite Acres (est. 2019), a vertical farming leader providing customers with fresh, nutritious fruits and vegetables at affordable prices. 

Utilizing world-class technology and analytics, 80 Acres Farms offers customers pesticide-free food with a longer shelf-life and the highest food safety standards while using fewer natural resources to produce over 300x more food on less than 1% of the footprint. Winner of Fast Company’s eighth “Most Innovative Company in North America,” 80 Acres was also a finalist for Red Herring’s Top 100 North America award, featured two years in a row on Forbes “Best Start-up List,” and awarded the eleventh spot on the “FoodTech 500” list.

For more than 25 years, Mike has been working with top-tier food companies such as General Mills, Del Monte, Bumble Bee, and ConAgra Foods and top-tier consultancies and start-ups AT Kearney and ICG Commerce, focusing on the food industry. Over the last 15 years, he has worked with Private Equity (such as Oaktree Capital and Bain Capital’s Sankaty) to drive over $2.5B of shareholder value.

In addition to headliner keynote sessions from leaders like Mike Zelkind, other 2021 event highlights include:

ROBUST 2021 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE NOW IN DEVELOPMENT

The 2021 conference will include a full roster of keynote sessions, panel discussions, fireside chats and presentations offering a deep dive into three core tracks – Business & Marketing, Science & Technology and Alternative Crops. Other keynotes will be led by David Rosenberg, CEO, AeroFarms and Sonia Lo, CEO, Sensei Ag.

The extensive educational conference will be joined by other new initiatives and show highlights, including:

NEW LOCATION: HILTON ORLANDO – DISCOUNTED HOTEL RATES, TOO

Indoor Ag-Con’s Hilton Orlando venue makes it the perfect opportunity for a business vacation. Centrally located to all major theme parks and attractions, it is just minutes from the eclectic dining scene and entertainment of International Drive. What’s more, the Hilton Orlando resort sits on more than 26 acres of lush landscaping and tropical inspirations making it a true destination of its own. Indoor Ag-Con has arranged for discounted hotel rates for attendees and exhibitors starting as low as $129/night. Complete details are available on the show website.

EXPANDED EXHIBIT FLOOR & NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES

The Indoor Ag-Con team is working to bring even more resources for farmers/growers to explore across all sectors – everything from IT, energy, AI and lighting solutions to substrates, vertical farming solutions, business services and much more. Attendees and exhibitors alike will also have even more networking opportunities with daily luncheon sessions and receptions on the show floor.

QUICK FACTS:

WHEN: Monday, October 4 – Tuesday, October 5 , 2021

WHERE: Hilton Orlando, 6001 Destination Pkwy, Orlando, FL 32819

INFO: For information on exhibiting or attending www.indoor.ag or e: suzanne@indoor.ag

ABOUT INDOOR AG-CON LLC

Founded in 2013, Indoor Ag-Con has emerged as the premier trade event for vertical farming | indoor agriculture, the practice of growing crops in indoor systems, using hydroponic, aquaponic and aeroponic techniques. Its events are crop-agnostic and touch all sectors of the business, covering produce, legal cannabis |hemp, alternate protein and non-food crops. In December 2018, three event industry professionals – Nancy Hallberg, Kris Sieradzki and Brian Sullivan – acquired Indoor Ag-Con LLC, setting the stage for further expansion of the events globally. More information:www.indoor.ag

ABOUT 80 ACRES FARMS

80 Acres Farms is a vertical farming leader providing customers with the freshest and most nutritious fruits and vegetables at affordable prices. Utilizing world-class technology and analytics, the Company offers customers a wide variety of pesticide-free food with a longer shelf life that exceeds the highest food safety standards. More information: www.eafarms.com

Philips LEDs Contribute To A Higher Winter Production of Excellent Quality Cucumbers

July 21, 2021

LED systems clearly add value to year-round growth concepts for cucumbers. Jan Biemans of Tielemans Groentekwekerij from Boekel, the Netherlands and Eric van den Eynde from Kontich, Belgium have determined this after their first growth under a hybrid grow light solution. In 2020, they both upgraded their existing HPS installations with Philips LED toplighting systems from Signify. Despite the differences in their greenhouses, installations, and goals, their conclusions were unanimous: LED contributes to an efficient, high winter production of excellent quality.

Uniform distribution

Eric and Lander van den Eynde’s company close to Antwerp consists of 2 ha of unlit tomatoes and 2,1 ha of lit, high-wire cucumbers. “We have been growing under HPS lights for two years already, which complemented the natural light with 180 µmol/m²/s”, says Eric. “However, in winter the fruits did not reach the desired weight of 350 to 400 grams. Therefore, light had to be added and LED is the most efficient solution for that. Our question to Signify was how we could fulfill that in the smartest way.” Multiple light plans were calculated in consultation with their installer and the plant specialists from Signify. Because of the limited height of the greenhouse (gutter height 5 meters), the Philips GreenPower LED toplighting linear was chosen, because that gives the most uniform light distribution.  

Half of the HPS lamps were removed, and for each removed lamp 2,9 linear LED modules were installed. This brought the total light intensity to 223 µmol/m²/s, divided between 87µmol/m²/s HPS and 136 µmol/m²/s LED in red, blue and a bit of white working light. The total installation gives 24% more PAR-light, while the energy usage (at equal lighting hours) is about 7% less.

 “The light division is nice and equal, even when only the LED lights are on”, the grower continues. “The latter is the case every now and then in the Spring and Autumn especially, when the heat radiation from the HPS lights is not always wanted.”

More and heavier fruit

The new installation was ready in September of 2020. To take maximum advantage of the higher light level, a planting distance was chosen of 50 cm (2,5 plant/m2). Lighting was begun directly after planting on October 2nd. Van den Eynde: “The plants reacted well. Our goal is to have a growth speed of six new leaves per week, and we could keep up with that pace effortlessly. The higher density of the stalks did ask for an altered pruning policy, but that did not have any effect on our labor planning. The most important goal was a higher average fruit weight. That was realized right away. Furthermore, we cut more cucumbers and they were of a good color. Our customer is very satisfied, and therefore so are my son and I.”  

Winter production

Tielemans Groentekwekerij consists of 12 ha of greenhouses at two locations in Boekel. Cucumber is the most important crop. The company realizes two high-wire growths per year, from the beginning of January till the end of November, which formerly received 95 µmol/m²/s extra PAR-light from HPS lamps during the lighting season.

“In 2020 we received the request from our producers’ association to adapt 3,0 ha for winter production”, says growth manager Jan Biemans. “In order to realize sufficient production, weight, and quality in the darkest period, quite some additional light had to be installed. We looked at different options and made calculations. The choice was made for Signify’s Philips GreenPower LED toplighting compact, in combination with the GrowWise control system. With that we can dim the LED installation and tune the light level even better to the crop’s needs.”

Longer light in the evening

According to the light plan, the toplighting compact grow lights (providing 2.600 µmol in red and blue for optimal efficiency) were attached to the trellis in between the rows of HPS lights, raising the light level with 144 µmol/m²/s to 240 µmol/m²/s. The stalk density was chosen at 2,25 stalks per m2. Biemans: “We are content with the achieved winter production, and I am happy with this hybrid solution’s flexibility. The LED installation enables us to continue lighting longer in the evening without the additional heat. The plants did fine and got through the winter well.”

The growth manager thinks he can get even more out of it by decreasing the width of the row distance. “In the future I think we can benefit even more by adding far-red light”, he adds. “One variety showed some contracted leaves in darker periods, but the other variety did not do this at all. Overall, we are happy with the results.” Erik Stappers, plant specialist at Signify adds: “Full LED with far-red has proven itself by now. The role of far-red light in a hybrid installation with more LED than HPS is being investigated at the moment. Indeed, we do see differences between the varieties there.”

Let me know in case you have any questions.

Infarm Expands Relationship With Sobeys In Canada

July 26, 2021

Infarm and Sobeys Inc. BB #:116615 have announced a new agreement to accelerate the availability and distribution of fresh produce to an additional 4 of Canada’s 10 provinces by 2023.

The agreement builds on the success of a partnership launched in 2020 – the first of national scope between a Canadian retailer and a vertical farming company – to offer locally grown, Infarm produce to Sobeys Inc. consumers Canada-wide.

As part of the deal, Infarm will construct new Infarm Growing Centers – growth, production and distribution hubs with high-capacity vertical farms – at sites in Calgary, Halifax and Winnipeg, with Hamilton, Ontario, near Toronto planned to host the location for the largest Infarm Growing Center in North America with a growing capacity of 37,000 ft2.

In combination with existing Infarm Growing Centers in Vancouver and Victoria/Vancouver Island, the agreement allows the company to increase production volume in Canada more than sevenfold. The deal comes in response to the increasing demand by retailers, including Sobeys, Safeway and Thrifty Food for fresh Infarm produce, and will supply more than 1000 stores in the retailer’s network alone.

With 97 employees on the ground today, Infarm’s Canadian team will grow by more than 50% to 160 by the end of the year, working from locations in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Manitoba.

“We’re delighted with what has been an extremely positive and successful partnership with the Sobeys family of retailers,” said Erez Galonska, CEO at Infarm. “This expansion deal represents one of the largest rollouts of any vertical farming company in North America to date as we aim to offer local, high-quality produce to people everywhere.”

Niluka Kottegoda, Vice President Customer Experience at Sobeys Inc. said, “We are passionate about bringing Canadian families the best, freshest, most delicious produce every single day. The expansion of our exclusive partnership with Infarm demonstrates our commitment to delivering that in a technologically advanced and sustainable way.”

Reflecting on the current offer and expansion plan, she said, “We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from our customers and our store teams about the current Infarm product grown in our stores. We are thrilled to expand into the Infarm Growing Centres as they allow us to exponentially offer these great local products to a multitude of communities across Canada all year-round.”

Infarm’s growing centers integrate farming units that can each save up to 10,000,000 liters of water per year compared to soil-based agriculture for similar crops, while producing the equivalent of up to 100,000 ft2 of land. In line with the company’s goal of utilizing 100% renewable or green-certified energy, 90% of electricity used throughout the Infarm network will be from green-certified sources by September 2021.

Over the next five years, Canadian consumers can expect to select from a range of new Infarm produce to the current selection of herbs, leafy greens and microgreens now available in the retailer’s grocery aisles including tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, mushrooms, convenient cut salads and even potted plants. By 2025 Infarm plans to scale to 100 growing centers with a growing capacity of 3 million ft2.

For further information, please visit here.

About Infarm

Infarm was founded in Berlin in 2013 by Osnat Michaeli and the brothers Erez and Guy Galonska. Passionate to become self-sufficient and eat better, they were growing their own food, enjoying all the flavor and nutrients, without the chemical pesticides and transport kilometers. With the aim to share the goodness of self-grown produce with everyone, they developed a smart modular farming system that allows distribution of vertical farms throughout the urban environment, growing fresh produce in practically any available space and fulfilling practically any market demand. Today, with cutting edge R&D, patented technologies and a leading multi-disciplinary team, Infarm is growing a worldwide farming network helping cities become self-sufficient in their food production, while significantly improving the safety, quality, and environmental footprint of our food.

With a multinational team of 1000 people globally, Infarm has partnered with more than 30 major food retailers including Aldi Süd, Amazon Fresh, Auchan, Carrefour, Casino, E.Leclerc, Edeka, Empire Company Ltd (Safeway, Sobeys, ThriftyFoods), Farmdrop, Intermarché, Irma, Kaufland, Kinokuniya, Kroger, Marks & Spencer, Metro, Migros, Selfridges, Selgros and Whole Foods Market in Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States and Switzerland, deployed more than 1300 farms in stores and Infarm Growing Centers, saved more than 16,000,000 gallons of water and 600,000 square feet of land, while harvesting 1,000,000+ plants monthly and growing.

Lead Photo: An Infarm Growing Center (IGC) with multiple state-of-the-art production modules

Agrify Announces Launch of Innovative, Project-Based Learning Program, Agrify University

July 19, 2021

Introduces immersive program to assist Agrify customers and next-generation growers in cultivating high-value cannabis with efficiency at scale

Agrify Corporation (NasdaqCM:AGFY) (“Agrify” or the “Company”), a developer of highly advanced and proprietary precision hardware and software cultivation solutions for the indoor agricultural marketplace, today announced the opening of Agrify University, a brand new 3,500 sq. ft. state-of-the art indoor vertical farming facility featuring Agrify’s latest technology and advanced cultivation methods. We believe this new immersive, hands-on project-based learning experience will empower Agrify customers and next-generation growers with the knowledge and education to successfully cultivate cannabis with efficiency at scale by leveraging the power of Agrify’s vertical farming units (“VFUs”) and the Agrify Insights software solution.

Located in Billerica, MA, Agrify University, led by David Kessler, Agrify’s Chief Science Officer, and a team of industry experts, horticulturists, and scientists, will provide participants with in-classroom, on-site, and on-demand learning options. The immersive, multi-sensory curriculum will enable customers and growers to expand their knowledge of how to apply novel scientific research, interpret cultivation data, and leverage Agrify’s technology to improve their indoor cannabis cultivation practices.

“The cultivation methods used by many operators have not evolved as quickly as the industry itself, and we see an opportunity to use the power of data and cutting-edge techniques to dramatically improve the quality and yields from indoor cultivation,” said Mr. Kessler. “Agrify University utilizes our vast cannabis research data sets and technological innovation to provide a curriculum that we believe will support the long-term growth of our industry. We’re proud to add this valuable resource to our comprehensive Agrify ecosystem, and we look forward to welcoming our first cohorts.”

Agrify University classes are available now to all customers. For more information on how to apply and on available program resources, please contact Agrify at info@agrify.com.

About Agrify (NasdaqCM:AGFY)
Agrify is a developer of premium grow solutions for the indoor agriculture marketplace. The Company uses data, science, and technology to empower its customers to be more efficient, more productive, and more intelligent about how they run their businesses. Agrify’s highly advanced and proprietary hardware and software solutions have been designed to help its customers achieve the highest quality, consistency, and yield, all at the lowest possible cost. For more information, please visit Agrify’s website at www.agrify.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, concerning Agrify and other matters. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding Agrify University. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "intends," "targets," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this press release are only predictions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events as well as the curriculum and plans that have been developed for Agrify University. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties that affect our business, including those described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 filed with the SEC, which can be obtained on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this communication. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise. You are advised, however, to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our public announcements and filings with the SEC.

Freight Farm To Teach Youth About Sustainable Agriculture

by Nicole Weaving

July 24th, 2021

To View The Video, Please Click Here

LINCOLN, Neb. — Beyond School Bells is partnering with the Bay in Lincoln for a new after-school program that will teach students about sustainable ag technology.

"We really see Freight Farm as kind of that key, climate-change impervious tool that young people need to know about as we face an uncertain future," said Jeff Cole, Network Lead for Beyond School Bells.

An old shipping container in the parking lot of the Bay has been transformed in a self-contained hydroponic farm.

Using red and blue LED lights, this Freight Farm, known as the Greenery, creates a climate-controlled environment, where the plants grow vertically without a need for soil.

"We enrich the water with nutrients that would normally be in the soil," said Colton Harper, Organizing Manager for The Greenery. "And then in these grow walls, we've got spickets that come right through these foam and it's directly onto the roots of the plants."

Inside of the Greenery with the red and blue LED lights on. (KHGI)

According to Harper, there are currently about 6,000 plants growing in the Freight Farm, but at full capacity, it can hold 13,000 plants between the seeding area and that walls. That would produce the equivalent of a 2.5-acre farm year-round.

"Even in the winter, if there are shortages anywhere, we can turn on a dime, 7-week grow cycle and be able to provide those crops for local markets," said Harper.

The Greenery arrived in Lincoln in April, and Harper has led to two teams to get it up and running. They are currently preparing for their first harvest with items like basil, lettuce, and radishes.

"We're at about Week 7, and in 2-3 weeks, we'll have our produce at a farmer's market," said Harper.

After a few more grow cycles, the program will open to local students to teach them all aspects of sustainable farming.

"From the electrical side, the growing, the programming, computer science to the irrigation, the HVAC system, there's so many elements," said Harper. "And we're particularly well-placed with the Bay and their digital design area of focus, the students will also be able to design the packaging, design the labeling, so it's really a full-circle, interdisciplinary opportunity for the students to get involved."

The Greenery plans to hold a Harvest Party to celebrates the farm's success in the coming weeks

Bringing Energy Management And Automation Opportunities To Indoor Farming

By Rebekka Boekhout

July 14, 2021

“We can’t be the most sustainable company in the world if we don’t work on the world’s biggest sustainability challenges,” says Travis Graham, international account manager at Schneider Electric. Schneider provides a vast array of digital technologies to multiple sectors, including horticulture. However, the company recently decided to strategically address the indoor farming segment and partner with growers to improve energy efficiencies within the sector.

As a global specialist in energy management and automation, Schneider’s goal is to empower the global population to improve their energy and resource use efficiency. This purpose, coined “Life is On”, aligns strongly with the spirit of indoor agriculture whose goal is to produce food and medicinal crops in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Named the world’s most sustainable company in 2021 by Corporate Knights, Schneider holds sustainability at its core and uses its century-long experience in energy management to help growers improve the energy efficiency of their facilities.

Read the rest of the article here

For more information:
Schneider Electric
www.se.com

Swedish Construction Faces "Crisis Situation" As Environmental Court Shuts Down Cement Factory

By Marcus Fairs

July 14, 2021

Construction in Sweden could grind to a halt after the country's biggest cement factory was stripped of its licence to mine limestone on environmental grounds.

The ruling by the Swedish Supreme Land and Environmental Court last week means that the Cementa plant at Slite in Gotland could be forced to end production on 1 November.

Matilda Hoffstedt, manager of the plant, said the ruling would create "a crisis situation for Swedish cement supply" while Cementa said work on Foster + Partners' Slussen masterplan in Stockholm (top image) could be impacted.

However, Greenpeace campaign manager Carl Schlyter welcomed the decision.

"It is wonderful that the court chooses to comply with the environmental laws we have, not to aggravate the species crisis and that incomplete environmental impact assessments are not accepted," Schlyter told Swedish news organisation Dagens PS.

Sweden's second-largest CO2 emitter

The plant produces around three-quarters of all the cement used in Sweden. It is also the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country, responsible for three per cent of all CO2 emissions.

The court ruling overturns an earlier decision by a lower court to grant the factory a licence to continue mining limestone, an essential ingredient in cement, for another 20 years.

"They tossed out their application to keep on mining limestone," said Daniel Jacobs, a journalist working at Dagens PS. "Now the construction industry is saying they're not going to be able to build anything in Sweden."

The licence was refused due to concerns over the impact on groundwater in the environmental assessment the factory had submitted. Greenpeace has also accused the plant of using its kilns to incinerate toxic waste without a permit.

Major construction projects at risk

Cementa, which is owned by giant German producer HeidelbergCement, said the decision would jeopardise construction projects in Sweden including major projects including the Slussen and Förbifart infrastructure projects in Stockholm and the Västlänken tunnel in Gothenburg.

“A renewed mining permit in Slite is a prerequisite for a long-term cement supply in Sweden, including for large construction and infrastructure projects such as Slussen, Förbifart Stockholm and Västlänken," the company said.

Cementa is the only cement producer in Sweden. It has a second, smaller factory Skövde in the south of the country.

Cement production is responsible for an estimated eight per cent of global carbon emissions. The emissions are largely due to the way that limestone, which is the main ingredient in cement, is processed.

The rock is crushed and burned to extract calcium, which is the binding agent used in cement, releasing the carbon into the atmosphere in the process.

Several companies are investigating ways of producing emissions-free concrete that does not require traditional cement including Carbicrete, which has developed a way of using industrial slag instead of cement as a binding agent.

The image of the Slussen masterplan is by Foster + Partners.

Drought Signals Need For Sustainable Agriculture

By Lucas Edmond

July 20, 2021

As Winnipeggers funnel into air-conditioned buildings to stave off record-breaking heatwaves, Manitoba’s farmers are facing a much deeper crisis.

For avid small talkers who love to discuss the weather, the low river and empty floodways during flood season were the first indications that Manitoba was going to have a summer of extreme conditions. Then the aphids appeared — a small insect that thrives in hot, dry weather — lathering Winnipeg’s canopy with sticky gunk. Finally, reality of the drought’s devastation struck when the West Coast of North America erupted in flames following a heatwave that stretched across several borders earlier this summer.

On July 5, just days after the heatwave, St. Laurent, Man. declared an agricultural state of disaster as potential crop yields continued to dwindle in the face of high aridity and soil exhaustion. Armstrong, Man. was the second rural municipality to declare a state of agricultural disaster on July 9, but it is likely not the last.

As Manitoba’s farmers fight to stay afloat with the support of only 40 per cent of Manitoba’s natural rainfall, a grasshopper infestation — produced by the dry conditions — has begun eating away at the limited vegetables, grains and oats farmers have managed to grow.

Due to the heat and the grasshoppers, a significant portion of crops that are often recycled as feed for cattle have been lost. Many farmers are being forced to cut their losses and sell their herds. Some have decided to prematurely cut their crops to bundle their feed in order to keep their livestock through the winter — forcing them to lose large portions of their annual incomes.

The ecological disaster and its consequential financial impact has stimulated discussions with the provincial government about financial aid to keep the province’s large agricultural sector healthy. However, subsidies for lost incomes should go a step further.

Although droughts have been prevalent across North America throughout the 21st century, this year is shaping up to be the driest in the last century. Record-breaking heat and inconsistent rain due to global warming — compounded by exhaustive industrial agriculture — are destroying the soils, stripping them of nutrients at a rate incomparable to any other period in modern history. Humanity and our methods of production, accumulation and distribution has spurned a new geological epoch now visibly discernable in the stratigraphic record. If the weather continues to become increasingly unpredictable due to our ecological impacts, then something must be done to create a more sustainable and predictable agricultural sector.

The provincial government should take time to consider the benefits of establishing a fund dedicated to farmers who want to transition their efforts away from the unsustainable methods of industrial monoculture cropping that have proven to be unstable during this perilous drought. Although much more expensive and labour intensive, permaculture cropping adopts a land management system dedicated to farming based on a balanced ecosystem that can thrive through tough environmental conditions without the assistance of expensive and detrimental inputs of herbicide, pesticide and artificial fertilizer.

In other words, instead of planting one cash crop that is easy to harvest but tough on the environment, the agricultural sector should look toward planting crops and vegetation that mutually complement each other in their ecological contexts.

Monoculture industrial farmers typically try to avoid using pesticides due to their damaging effects on the ecosystems that surround their plots. However, if the dry conditions and the infestations persist, many farmers — without the capacity to produce natural solutions to the crisis — may have to bite the bullet to protect their livelihood in the short term.

As many biologists from around the world have concluded, killing back pests with artificial products stunts local ecology and the environment’s natural ability to balance itself. Using pesticides kills off vital food sources for various predators, thus unintentionally killing various other species and reproducing the conditions for much worse infestations in the future. Destroying biodiversity is exactly what farmers need to avoid during these periods of agricultural crisis.

By adapting to living with pests and drought, farmers will be investing in the longevity of their yields while simultaneously reducing their industrial emissions. Transitioning into a labour-intensive permaculture system will be a crucial step in making the future of the planet green, but the transition must start with incentives and funding from federal and provincial coffers.

Fundamentally, it is up to farmers to make their decisions in conjunction with government bodies. However, the world is not fixing itself, and sustainable agriculture is a good first step at mitigating the public calamities that lie ahead.

Lead Photo: Climate challenges lie ahead, but governments can reduce risks by investing in food

USA - VIRGINIA - Urban Farm In Newport News Aims To Reduce Food Insecurity. It’s Not A ‘Handout,’ It’s A ‘Hand Up.’

By Sonia Rao

July 20, 2021

NEWPORT NEWS — Judge Graham knelt over a row of bare soil and the occasional yellow marigold, planting seeds. In a little over a month, he hopes, the bed near Zion Baptist Church will be bursting with ripe tomatoes. The tomatoes, and the rest of the food Graham and other volunteers are growing, will go to the surrounding community.

Graham was gardening on a recent Saturday morning in a farm run by Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture, which wants to create a healthy, sustainable food system in the neighborhood. The farm is a partnership between the church and the Newport News-based nonprofit, which is working to reduce food insecurity through farming and educational programming.

On Aug. 14, the farm will open its first farmers market, which will take EBT and SNAP payments.

“The ones that can afford to pay, fine, but I’m not gonna turn anybody away,” said Graham, who helped start the group. “Anybody that shows up is gonna go home with some groceries.”

The area around Zion Baptist is a food desert, said Renee Foster, founder of Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture. It has only one grocery store, a Piggly Wiggly, and many residents are low-income and don’t have transportation to drive elsewhere.

The garden has been around for four years and Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture has managed it for two. All of its workers are volunteers, including high school students, veterans and service members. This year, the farm is expected to grow about 3,500 pounds of produce. Graham and Foster also deliver food to older adults who can’t come out because of health concerns or a lack of transportation.

Graham said the farm is also a teaching garden, so he treats it as a place for visitors and volunteers to get hands-on experience.

On June 25, a group from the Coast Guard came to volunteer. This was the first time Petty Officer 2nd Class Stacey Maine gardened. But by the end of the hour, she was explaining how to weed and cut asparagus.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Stacey Maine weeds a vegetable bed in the urban garden near the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and 21st Street in Newport News. (Kaitlin McKeown/Virginia Media)

Some people drive from Norfolk, Chesapeake or Virginia Beach to volunteer.

On the left of the 34-by-100-foot garden is an orchard of peach, plum, apple, fig, pear, cherry and nectarine trees. Next to the orchard are rows of tomatoes, butternut squash, strawberries, asparagus and radishes, and a garden of herbs with basil, sage, lemongrass and stevia. At the back is a collection of chili, tabasco, habanero and ghost peppers. A sign says “Judge’s ’HOT Pepper Zone’ ” with an image of a skull and crossbones to warn children away. Children, Graham said, often mistake the peppers for strawberries.

Interspersed between the crops are bright pink, purple, red and yellow flowers. They bring in pollinators like bees and hummingbirds, Graham said.

The farm also has more than eight types of sweet potatoes, all donated by Clifton Slade, who owns Slade Farms in Surry. Slade donated 270 slips of sweet potatoes. Other donors include The Virginia Small Farm Resource Center, Tidewater Community College’s horticultural program and the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center. The farm gets the rest of its supplies from Norfolk Feed and Seed or Slade Farms. Everything the garden grows is organic, Graham said.

Foster said she’s excited to start hosting more events now that more people are vaccinated and pandemic restrictions have been lifted. The farm has been having movie nights when children can come to have fun and learn about the garden.

She hopes the market will turn enough of a profit so that she can put more food back into the ground. She’s also raising $10,000 to start a “Drones in Agriculture” program to introduce children to careers in agriculture, science, technology, engineering and math. Children will learn how to code and fly drones, which will be used for agriculture scanning — mapping out the layout of the garden and recording plant health.

Foster hopes eventually to raise enough money to hire a part-time farm manager and create more urban farms across Hampton Roads. She and the other board members of her group work full-time jobs, so managing even one is difficult.

“It takes many, many hands,” she said.

At the end of the day, the goal is to empower food-insecure communities to create and maintain access to healthy food.

“We don’t want to give them a handout,” Graham said. “We want to give them a hand up.”

Lead Photo: Volunteers weed a vegetable bed in a garden on Friday, June 25, 2021, near the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and 21st Street in Newport News, Va. The garden is a partnership between Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture and Zion Baptist Church. (Kaitlin McKeown/Virginia Media)