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Thriving Needs for New Ways to Cultivate Crops Is Likely To Foster The Controlled Environment Agriculture Market At 16.9% CAGR During 2019 & 2024
Land use across the globe is shifting from agriculture to urban and industrial uses. Changing climate has also resulted in lower production yields, loss of arable land and reduced resilience
Global controlled environment agriculture market accounted for USD 57,656.6 Million in 2018 and is estimated to reach USD 1,42,222.6 Million in 2024, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.9% between 2019 and 2024.
Rising Global Demand for Food
The world’s population is expected to grow to almost 10 billion by 2050. It is becoming increasingly difficult to satisfy the rising global demand for food in a sustainable manner. Due to this, in order to meet the food demand of an increasing population, the government and farmers are adopting more advanced farming techniques such as Hydroponics, Aeroponics, Aquaponics, soiled based and other hybrid methods.
The farmers are majorly growing leafy greens, tomatoes, cannabis, flowers, microgreens, strawberries, herbs, cucumbers, peppers, mushrooms, onions, leeks, hops, figs, sweet corn, eggplant, fish, insects, carrots, and shrimp. This rising popularity of controlled environmental agriculture techniques is resulting in an increase in the number of small and large indoor farms across the globe and these farms are also encouraging the consumption of other supplies such as nutrients, growing media, and others.
Loss of Agricultural Land
Land use across the globe is shifting from agriculture to urban and industrial uses. Changing climate has also resulted in lower production yields, loss of arable land and reduced resilience. Further, growing scarcities of natural resources have been encouraging the adoption of CEA since controlled environment farming an efficient way to produce more food with fewer resources than conventional farming, without being dependent on arable land availability and external climate conditions.
Strong Demand for Local Foods
Today, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. Yet, the population living in urban areas are demanding locally grown foods such as fruits, vegetables, meat, etc. CEA producers across the globe are setting up their production centers near to urban consumers to take advantage of this trend due to their proximity to urban centers. Other advantages of CEA such as the requirement of less time and expense in the transportation of crop products and better product quality are also expected to strengthen the growth of global controlled environment agriculture market in upcoming years.
Remarkable Advantages of CEA
Conservation of water and nutrients is one of the many advantages of controlled environment agriculture over conventional farming methods. These advanced farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and other soilless farming methods are effectively preventing wastage of water and overuse of nutrients. In a controlled environment, the plants have better health and faster growth, which reduces the need for pesticides and other supplements. Owing to their good health, CEA grown produces are noticeably better in both size and quality then soil-grown crops.
Barriers in CEA Market
The high cost of Nutrients used in Hydroponics
Although, CEA allows faster plant growth throughout the year, allowing larger yields. In order to do this, like any form of agriculture, CEA production is a high-risk, low margin enterprise. Establishing a CEA hydroponic vegetable operation requires considerable capital investment. Depending on the size of the operation and the level of technology involved, the investment can run into the tens of millions of dollars. This high required investment, high operating cost and high risks a huge challenge for growers and for the controlled environment agriculture market.
Lack of Awareness & Low Adoption Rate
The awareness regarding controlled environmental farming methods in underdeveloped countries is other countries which are restricting the growth of global controlled environment agriculture market. The dominance of traditional farming methods in low-income countries such as India is slowing down the growth of CEA market.
The need of skilled labors & Operational Complexity
CEA industry is witnessing a shortage of skilled labors, also the labor cost is considerably high in the case of hydroponics farming. The labor cost accounts for almost 15% of the total operation cost of hydroponics farming. Controlled environment agriculture requires great precision in monitoring. Growing in controlled environments and providing proper plant nutrition requires quality farm education. High level of operating complexity is also a major restraining factor in the growth of CEA market.
The Only Way Is Up: Will Vertical Farms Tackle The World's Growing Food Crisis?
In an unassuming white shed on the outskirts of Dundee lies what could be the most futuristic farm in the world. It’s not reached by trundling down miles of country roads, but by going through a pressurised air lock designed to keep the uncontrolled outside out
David Farquhar inside his vertical farm CREDIT: STUART NICOL/STUART NICOL PHOTOGRAPHY
15 AUGUST 2019
In an unassuming white shed on the outskirts of Dundee lies what could be the most futuristic farm in the world.
It’s not reached by trundling down miles of country roads, but by going through a pressurised air lock designed to keep the uncontrolled outside out.
And the crops - towering stacks of vegetables and fruit grown in metal trays under coloured LED lights - are not tended to by rugged farmers in overalls.
Instead they are overseen by robots, who carefully manage every environmental parameter: from light to temperature to CO2 to humidity, in a totally closed system without a handful of soil or ray of sunlight.
It might sound like a dystopian scene from science fiction, but this demonstration farm, run by Scottish technology firm Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), is not a vision of the future. It’s a look inside one of a growing number of indoor vertical farms sprouting up around the world in old factories, skyscrapers, warehouses and disused highway tunnels.
Plants grown under LED lighting CREDIT: STUART NICOL/STUART NICOL PHOTOGRAPHY
But why are we growing upwards rather than outwards? The answer lies mostly in our dwindling natural resources and growing population, particularly in Africa which is undergoing a youth boom.
According to the United Nations, by 2050 the amount of arable land per person could be one third of the amount that was available in 1970. The earth’s population meanwhile will have more than doubled to 10 billion in the same period.
While there’s still more land that could be brought under cultivation doing so would also mean destroying more forests and wild areas.
The farmland that is available is not evenly distributed. That’s why densely-packed places like New York, Hong Kong and Singapore are looking at farming upwards. It’s why China too, which has to feed one-fifth of the world’s population with one-tenth of its farmland, is turning to vertical farms.
The challenge is complicated by an increasingly unpredictable climate that can take out a crop in a matter of days.
“If you can have a system that’s independent of the climate, the weather and availability of land you’ve got a very disruptive new food supply system and that’s what indoor vertical farming can potentially do,” says Professor Colin Campbell of the James Hutton Institute, a Scottish research centre that works alongside IGS to build technology for vertical farms. “It takes the weather and puts it inside a box.”
But it is not cheap and it is why most vertical farms are currently in wealthy countries despite the fact that most of the additional people the planet will need to feed by 2050 will live in the developing world.
According to proponents of vertical farming such as David Farquhar, the serial entrepreneur who runs IGS, while the technology is still at the starting gate, the potential global environmental and societal benefits of vertical farming are huge.
“It can do a huge amount of good. You can help to feed people, improve the quality of produce people get, reduce food miles and reduce the use of chemicals,” he says.
Those in favour of vertical farms argue that if you keep pests and diseases locked out, there’s no need for pesticides and other toxic chemicals.
Vertical farms also use a fraction of the water of conventional farms. It takes just two to four litres of water to grow a kilogram of vegetables in a vertical farm compared to 16 litres in a Dutch greenhouse and 60 litres in a Mediterranean field.
By bringing food production to cities, close to where most of it is consumed, you avoid gas-guzzling transport. And by growing upwards, land is saved.
And the benefits are not just environmental. Taking out the variability of light, soil, rainfall and everything else that can’t be controlled outdoors, also takes out the variability out of the crop.
“All the plants are exactly the same height - there’s no wonky veg in there,” says Prof Campbell.
By experimenting with light scientists can change how a plant tastes and feels without any genetic modification.
“By changing the wavelength of light you can change the chemistry of the plant,” says Prof Campbell. “You can increase things like flavour and taste, and you can increase the concentration of health promoting chemicals.”
Others maintain however, that recreating nature indoors comes at a cost.
Andrew Jenkins, a researcher at Queen's University Belfast believes vertical farming has potential for countries like the UK that import a lot of food, but cautions that the current high energy costs of artificial lighting could outweigh the benefits.
“Growing crops that require four to five times the energy means we [in the UK] are in a worse position than with imports,” says Dr Jenkins.
A technician tends to plants in a vertical growing facility CREDIT: STUART NICOL
Vertical farming’s champions are nevertheless, confident that scientists are already cracking the energy question. Among them is Mr Farquhar, who says IGS’s technology has reduced the typical energy use in a vertical farm by 50 per cent.
Dickson Despommier, emeritus professor of microbiology and public health at Columbia University, is something of a vertical farm visionary. When he published his seminal book on the subject in 2010 there were no such farms in existence.
“Now everyone is into vertical farming,” says Prof Despommier.
Mr Farquhar agrees. He says there’s been more media interest in his vertical farm in the year since it launched than in all the other enterprises in his more than 25-year career in technology.
Leo Marcelis, an expert on indoor farms at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, agrees that interest in vertical farming is global but believes that the high cost is stopping the spread of the technology to poorer countries, where it is needed most.
“In developing countries, there’s a lot of interest in this but it’s too early for them as it’s a relatively expensive system,” says Prof Marcelis. “At the moment high investment and running costs will stop it expanding faster.”
Plants growing under LED lighting at the vertical farm in Dundee CREDIT: STUART NICOL
Although most interest in his technology is from richer countries Mr Farquhar says that in the last few weeks alone he has received inquiries from places including the Ghana, Botswana, Ethiopia and India.
Among the countries pursuing vertical farming with a vengeance is China where a 250-acre district of urban and vertical farms is being planned in Shanghai.
Africa is also growing and rapidly urbanising. Vertical farming advocate, Dr Esther Ngumbi, a Kenyan researcher at the University of Illinois, is pushing the idea of growing upwards in Africa - albeit with smaller, cheaper, lower tech versions that borrow some of the land and water saving principles from vertical farms in the wealthy world.
Although from the point of view of the science almost any crop could be grown in a vertical farm, it’s currently only cost-effective to grow leafy greens and herbs - light, high value crops that don’t need long periods of time under costly artificial lights to mature. They are also short enough to stack in many layers.
Given the energy costs, Prof Marcelis is doubtful that vertical farming will be used to grow the cheap, non-perishable crops such as corn, rice and wheat that form the bulk of our diets.
“I don’t think that staple crops will be grown. That’s just not economically feasible,” he says. “What we see most is fresh vegetables where there is an advantage of having it near consumers”.
Since the leafy greens and herbs on which most commercial vertical farms are focusing only make up a tiny proportion of our daily calorie needs, skeptics argue that such farms will play a limited role in meeting food security needs, particularly in poorer countries.
Others also question the claims that growing fresh produce near urban populations will make us healthier, even for those who can afford it. A recent study of indoor vertical farms in New York found that the typically grown crops of lettuce and basil did little to improve diets and nutritional intake.
Prof Marcelis is however, optimistic that more nutritious crops, even though lacking in calories, will eventually be grown in vertical farms. “More and more initiatives are coming up with growing tall crops like tomatoes and peppers that are grown over a long duration so we’ll see it gradually expanding,” he says.
One way vertical farms might be able to help produce energy dense staples is by allowing quicker production of better seedlings for things like potatoes.
According to Prof Campbell this is one way field agriculture and indoor vertical farms can work together. The Dundee facility is working on “speed breeding” better varieties of basic crops in half the time it would take outdoors.
“Conventional field agriculture will continue to be the main way to provide staple crops for the future but indoor vertical farming can help with that as you can use indoor vertical farms to mass propagate the plants you plant out in the field,” he says.
Growing efficiently indoors what’s grown inefficiently outdoors also frees up valuable land for things like rice and wheat, says Mr Farquhar.
“There’s a lot of land being used inefficiently at the moment. If we can bring that inside and make that land available for growing staple crops then surely that’s a good thing,” he says.
But growing fruit and vegetables indoors is not just a way of helping us grow more energy rich foods outdoors. For Prof Despommier indoor vertical farming is one of the keys to addressing climate change.
“Farming is the worst thing we’ve ever turned loose on nature,” he says. “If you grow your food indoors and grow your trees outdoors it slows down climate change.
“Farming outdoors is failing, so indoor farming has to succeed.”
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Signify Helps AppHarvest To Increase Yields In 25-Hectare Greenhouse
Eindhoven has partnered with AppHarvest to help the company increase efficiency and boost yields using significantly fewer resources in their 25 hectare greenhouse in Morehead, Ky., USA
AppHarvest Improves
Efficiency Through Combining LED And Conventional Lighting
Eindhoven has partnered with AppHarvest to help the company increase efficiency and boost yields using significantly fewer resources in their 25 hectare greenhouse in Morehead, Ky., USA. The greenhouse will be fitted with a hybrid LED lighting system, utilizing Signify’s Philips GreenPower LED toplighting compact and Agrolux high pressure sodium lighting. AppHarvest will grow tomatoes and cucumbers in its facility, which will be completed in the second half of 2020.
“This LED installation reinforces how we use proven technology to grow more fresh food with fewer resources,” said Jonathan Webb, Founder and CEO of AppHarvest. “With this cutting-edge hybrid system, we will dramatically reduce energy usage in the greenhouse. Working with Signify has given us the benefit of leveraging on a decade of growing knowledge and expertise.”
The facility uses a unique LED and High-pressure sodium (HPS) hybrid lighting system, to significantly reduce energy while increasing yield over the year. The LED lighting system is 40 percent more energy efficient than traditional greenhouse lighting, while it disseminates less radiant heat. During fall and spring, LED lighting will be used to grow more produce. HPS lamps will be used during colder months, in addition to the LED system. The heat from the HPS system will help warm the greenhouse and reduce natural gas usage.
AppHarvest is partnering with Equilibrium, a leading greenhouse investment firm. The LEDs will be installed by Dalsem Complete Greenhouse Projects, which is overseeing construction of the greenhouse.
“We’re very excited about our collaboration with AppHarvest and Equilibrium,” said Bill Bien, CEO of Signify Agriculture Lighting. “It’s great to work with partners just as committed to sustainable horticulture as we are, and we’re looking forward to helping them increase growth predictability, crop quality and yields, while improving their energy efficiency.”
The LED toplighting compact delivers high light output of 1,800 µmol/s and an efficacy of up to 3.0 µmol/J and helps growers effectively optimize crop growth, enhance crop quality and cut operational costs. Compared to a 1,000 W HPS fixture, the Philips GreenPower LED toplighting compact produces the same amount of light, has a similar light distribution, while consuming 40% less power and emitting considerably less radiant heat. By separating heat and light, this product gives growers independent control over their greenhouse climate.
Is CEA-Grown Produce REALLY Better For You?
As a lifelong farmer - one who has grown commercially using conventional field techniques, organic soil methods, as well as Controlled Environment ("CEA") technologies, I hope to shed a bit more light on the subject. Maybe you'll like what you hear, maybe you won't. But in either case, I'd love to hear from you
August 18, 2019
Joe Swartz
Vice President/Lead Horticulturalist at AmHydro
I get this question a lot.
More than you might think!
Strong opinions are plentiful.......and misinformation abounds.
As a lifelong farmer - one who has grown commercially using conventional field techniques, organic soil methods, as well as Controlled Environment ("CEA") technologies, I hope to shed a bit more light on the subject. Maybe you'll like what you hear, maybe you won't. But in either case, I'd love to hear from you.
In recent years, the general public has been inundated with media stories about the various Controlled Environment Agriculture ("CEA") technologies. Stories of monumental financial investments and "futuristic" growing technologies seem to have permeated every news cycle and public interest storyline. A quick online search of terms such as "food miles," "climate change," "sustainability," or "urban farming" will likely fill your screen with headline after headline about the latest quest to produce more and better quality food. In fact, if that weren't true......you'd likely not be reading this now.
"Indoor food factories? Shipping container farms? Automated greenhouses? Outdoor fields?..........So what really does grow the best food for myself and my family?"
The simple fact is this:
Whether a crop is grown using CEA techniques in a greenhouse, outdoors in a field, or on the Moon, for that matter, is NOT what will determine it's nutritional value.
The actual nutritional content of any crop is simply a function of 3 basic parameters -
3 and only 3!
They are:
- 1. The particular crop/cultivar - Every plant has a genetic predisposition and physiology - the grower has control of external parameters, but not the internal ones.
- 2. The physical environment the plant was grown in - This is either supplied by nature and/or the grower and includes light quantity and quality, temperature, humidity/ VPD, C02 levels, air movement, etc etc)
- 3. The nutritional/microbial environment available to the plant's root zone - This includes not only the nutrients readily available to the plant, but also root temperature, pH, dissolved Oxygen and the beneficial microbial life in the root zone. This microbial flora is constantly stimulating plant growth, metabolizing waste products, breaking down chemical compounds, and inhibiting harmful pathogens. People tend to underestimate the importance of managing the rooting environment and developing and maintaining these microbes.
That's it! Nothing more and nothing less.
However, even a slight deviation (be it a natural occurrence of an error in your growing) can have HUGE consequences in your crop performance.
This is why many high value producers are moving into using Controlled Environment Ag (“CEA”) growing techniques. CEA allows them to produce crops that are undoubtedly more nutritious and flavorful than many of their conventionally grown counterparts. The ability to optimize these 3 factors is unmatched in appropriate CEA growing techniques - mind you, there are some amazing growers out there on conventional farms, growing fantastic and nutritious food too!
Proper design and application make all the difference in the world!
Using CEA, we can select appropriate varieties (selected for taste and nutrition, rather than the ability to ship thousands of miles and sit on supermarket shelves for days!), provide a near-perfect growing environment, and manage both nutrition and biological activity in the root zone to a very high degree. This also underscores the need to utilize APPROPRIATE CEA technologies! Greenhouse hydroponic, indoor vertical, shipping container farming and more are NOT created equal! Each situation is different, so the choices of the correct technologies are of critical importance.
So, when I am asked, "Is CEA-grown produce really better for you?" I always answer - "It's not quite as simple as that." However, when considering the above-mentioned factors, it is certainly MY preferred method to grow the highest quality, most nutritious and best tasting produce.
There are many ways to grow nutritious, healthy, and sustainable food. This is just one of the many great techniques we use. The more that we can do to support and nurture the PLANT........the better that it will provide for US!
Joe Swartz
VP AmHydro Joe @Amhydro.com
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Published by
Joe Swartz Vice President/Lead Horticulturalist at AmHydro - 35 years as Controlled Environment Ag Consultant and Commercial
#hydroponics #sustainability #green #urbanfarming #urbanag #farming #food #CEA #indoorag #indoo
HAREDI HYDROPONICS: Technology And Sustainability Meet At The Diaspora Yeshiva
“Probably many of these guys have never had kale before,” comments Robin Katz, founder and CEO of Start-Up Roots, the nonprofit that runs hydroponic gardens here and at two haredi (ultra-Orthodox) schools in Jerusalem
JACOB SCHONZEIT checks the roots of greens growing in the hothouse. (Photos: Jordana Benami)
• JORDANA BENAMI
AUGUST 16, 2019
In the courtyard of a 2,000-year-old stone building on Mount Zion, a sign taped to a tiny black door announces the unlikely scene found within: The Diaspora Yeshiva Hydroponic Garden.
Inside, two agronomists in white shirts and black kippot tend tiers of vibrant kale, basil and romaine lettuce. The strings of their tzitzit gently sway as they climb up and down, adjusting nutrient and pH levels, preparing new seedlings and checking lights and filters.
The hyper-local and hyper-fresh greens, grown in a soil-less medium bathed in nutrient-enriched water, will be harvested and carried across the courtyard to the yeshiva’s kitchen to find their way into a variety of dishes.
“Probably many of these guys have never had kale before,” comments Robin Katz, founder and CEO of Start-Up Roots, the nonprofit that runs hydroponic gardens here and at two haredi (ultra-Orthodox) schools in Jerusalem. “I’ve had some kids look at let- tuce and say, ‘Are you sure this is kosher? I’ve never seen it in my house.’”
Katz, a Chicago émigré, is a lawyer and teacher by profession. Since 2015, her organization has been installing hydroponic systems in schools and providing a multidisciplinary curriculum that teaches how to care for the produce, how to incorporate it into nutri- tious meals and how to monetize the bounty. A photo-journalism element allows the students to create visual documentation of the growth process.
The Diaspora Yeshiva setup was donated by Irving Backman of Massachusetts, an international benefac tor of sustainability and advanced technology initiatives through his DATT (Developers of Advanced Technology Today) group. Backman’s grandson, Rabbi Yaakov Kent, is the son-in-law of the Rosh Yeshiva of the Diaspora Yeshiva and the study partner of Katz’s son, Rabbi Zechariah Kaplan, at the nearby Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah.
“Irving Backman & Associates sent over the equipment for a hydroponic garden at the Diaspora Yeshiva, and Mr. Backman’s assistant, Ameth Alzate, asked me to help shepherd it through customs,” says Katz, who had worked with him previously.
With Backman’s blessing, she took the project under the wing of Start-Up Roots, and the garden was inaugurated on her birthday, June 12.
The site is professionally managed by Ari Waldman, chief operating officer of Start-Up Roots, with daily assistance from Jacob Schonzeit, another study partner of Katz’s son at Bircas HaTorah. “Jacob had a background in permaculture, so we trained him in hydroponics,” says Katz.
Diaspora Yeshiva students, who range in age from 17 to 70-plus, may choose to spend an hour or two every day helping to tend the system.
Daniel Levin, 36, found out about the garden when he saw Katz carrying supplies in the courtyard and offered to help. Now he volunteers regularly.
“When Robin showed me what was happening here, I thought it was cool because in South Africa I lived on a farm where we tried growing different plants and trees. It also combines other experiences I’ve had working with electricity and water pumps and salts and nutrients. We’re looking at what works well and could be most viable to grow efficiently and that would most benefit the yeshiva menu,” says Levin.
SEEDLINGS ARE started in a growing medium called rock wool, and incubated before being planted in the trays.
RABBI YOSEF GOLDSTEIN: Spending time in the hydroponic garden ‘helps our students get close to God.’
KATZ SEES all the Start-Up Roots projects as a strategy toward ensuring a healthier future.
“Chemical pesticides are killing us,” she says. “Israel has the highest chemical pesticide usage in the OECD.
We also have a high poverty rate and a high malnutrition rate, and we’re right behind America with a rising obesity rate. I really believe that schools can be a great agent for change.”
Katz discovered hydroponics several years ago and realized it could solve multiple problems at once: The veggies provide vitamins, minerals and fiber often missing in impoverished families’ diets; the plants don’t leave carbon footprints since they are grown on premises and aren’t trucked in; and the students work- ing in the enterprise gain valuable skills they could use to earn a living.
Moreover, during the shmita (agricultural sabbatical) year, when most haredi Israelis buy only imported pro- duce, the greens raised in the school gardens can be cultivated, harvested and consumed without worry because they don’t grow in the ground. The absence of soil and the indoor environment adds another benefit year-round in keeping the plants largely insect-free.
START-UP ROOTS CEO Robin Katz with the greens growing in the hydroponic garden at the Diaspora Yeshiva.
“You don’t need chemical pesticides. The idea is to control the environment so that insects aren’t such a problem,” says Katz. Before entering the growing area, all visitors cover their shoes with paper booties so as not to track in bugs or other contaminants.
She also explains that in a water-stressed region, growing in water actually makes good ecological sense.
“Hydroponics saves 90% of the water of regular agriculture because the water goes directly to the roots and not into the ground,” explains Katz.
Speaking of roots, the word in the name of the organization has more than one layer of meaning. “Many children think that lettuce comes from the grocery store. They have no concept of the chain behind it. So we try to connect kids with the source of their food,” says Katz.
Beyond that are the roots of Torah teachings involving agriculture. Religious schoolchildren learn the laws of tithing, for example, but rarely or never have the opportunity to pick fresh produce and perform the ceremony. It’s all been done at a distant packing house.
And on a more spiritual level, Katz adds, “By watching how the tiny seeds develop, kids learn that the universe is more complicated and bigger and more awesome than they ordinarily take time to stop and think about. They learn that if they don’t put in the effort nothing will grow, but there are also aspects that are beyond their control.”
Rabbi Yosef Goldstein, spiritual adviser at the Diaspora Yeshiva and son of its founder, says spending time in the hydroponic garden “helps our students get close to God.
It’s a way to clean their minds and to be surrounded by nature. Even learning next to the plants for an hour in the morning helps them grow spiritually. I love to come in here and see what’s growing and breathe in all the oxygen. And afterward, we get to eat this healthy nutritious food.”
GOLDSTEIN, WHO is also a practitioner of Chinese medicine, hopes the garden will raise herbs in the future. In only a few months, the site has produced vegetables including cucumbers, radishes, green beans and chard.
“We have 200 students from all over the world from many different backgrounds, and I believe this project can also be a way to build a future source of parnassa [income] especially in the shmita year,” adds Goldstein. “It will be nice for religious people to go into agriculture.”
Levin says that volunteering in the garden “gives me a new dimension of looking at what I am learning in the Torah.”
The connection between faith and farming is entrenched in Judaic sources. The 13th century Tosafist Talmudic commentators expressed it like this: “The farmer who sows seeds places his faith in the life-giver of all the worlds, for he trusts that God will provide all that is needed for his crops to grow.”
The Torah also admonishes against waste, Levin points out. “When you know where food comes from and how much goes into growing something that takes five minutes to eat, you are motivated not to waste anything.”
Katz extracts additional lessons from the hydroponic growing experience.
“In an indoor controlled environment, we’re putting nutrients directly into the water exactly what the plant needs – and we measure it every day along with the pH of the water because that affects how the plants absorb the nutrients,” she says.
“We use that as a metaphor for absorbing information in the learning environment. We encourage kids to think how they can optimize their own ‘pH level.’ They see that if you take care of something it thrives, and they can apply the same principle to themselves.”
Aside from the project at the Diaspora Yeshiva, Start-Up Roots has established hydroponic gardens at two haredi girls’ schools in Jerusalem. The schools’ science teachers present the science part of the curriculum, while a Start-Up Roots dietitian presents hands- on sessions to enable students to discover the impact of the food choices they can make.
“The students enjoy the nutritious food that they are growing, which enables them to incorporate the greens into their own diets in tasty ways,” says Katz.
Shiran Iluz, vice chairman of the IDC Entrepreneurship Club, came to one of these schools to help the students develop a viable business plan around the veggies.
“One girl thought of selling a green drink. Initially, the others thought it sounded awful but when they tried making it with our nutritionist, they discovered that they loved it. Then they named it and learned how to pitch it and sell it to their classmates. They had to learn how to network with kids outside their social circles, and this project totally changed the social dynamics of the school.”
In the fall, Start-Up Roots will implement a hydroponic garden at a pluralistic school in the Sharon region.
“Food is a great unifier and our environment is a great unifier,” says Katz. “I’m very happy that every segment of Israeli society is embracing our initiative and our curriculum.”
Many Have Tried And Failed To Make Vertical Indoor Farming Work. One Chicago Entrepreneur Thinks He Can Do It
Leafy greens typically don’t get kids excited. So Jake Counne knew he’d grown something special in his indoor vertical farm when his children, aged 5 and 7, were snacking on fresh spinach “like it was a bag of chips.”
August 07, 2019
Jake Counne, 31, founder of Backyard Fresh Farms, an indoor vertical farming facility located inside The Plant that houses food and agricultural startups in the Back of the Yards neighborhood of Chicago on July 11, 2019. The farm grows lettuce, kale, arugula and and other greens using innovative manufacturing processes to make the operation more efficient and profitable. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Leafy greens typically don’t get kids excited. So Jake Counne knew he’d grown something special in his indoor vertical farm when his children, aged 5 and 7, were snacking on fresh spinach “like it was a bag of chips.”
Other, more refined palates also have been impressed by Counne’s spicy wasabi arugula, tart red sorrel and horseradish-tinged red mizuna — all grown under the purple glow of LED lights in a windowless office in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood.
“The flavors coming out of these leaves were unbelievable," said Steve Lombardo III, chairman of Gibsons Restaurant Group, one of Counne’s first customers. "We were talking about them like we were talking about fine wines.”
Counne, a real estate investor before his interest turned to agriculture, is launching Backyard Fresh Farms during a period of heightened consumer and investor interest in produce grown locally in controlled environments that are less subject to contamination, waste and unpredictable weather.
High costs have killed similar ventures attempted in Chicago. But as he prepares for a significant expansion to bring his greens into stores, Counne said he believes his hydroponic farm has the technology to succeed where others have failed to make large-scale indoor vertical farming a profitable business
“The ey to what we’ve done here is being able to scale it to a point that not only can we grow it, we can grow it at an affordable price,” said Counne, 31.
Farm technician Sergio Arroyo tends to the vertical farm at Backyard Fresh Farms on July 11, 2019. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Counne currently operates a pilot farm in a 250-square-foot space at The Plant, a food business incubator housed in a former meatpacking factory in the shadow of the old Union Stockyards. There, he is testing cameras and artificial intelligence software to improve the quality and quantity of produce grown, as well as robotics to reduce the amount of time workers spend climbing ladders to tend to plants. For example, an automated lift collects trays of ready plants and brings them to an assembly line of workers for harvest.
The process has reduced labor costs by 80% compared with a first-generation vertical farm, Counne said. Combined with lower energy costs from other efficiencies, and a farm-to-retailer model that cuts out the distributor, he said he can price his product to compete with high-quality organic greens grown in the field — which are typically priced at about $3 to $3.50 for a five-ounce package of lettuce, he said.
Counne is in discussions with landlords in Chicago and Calumet City, where he hopes to lease 35,000 square feet in which he says could yield 6 million pounds of produce a year, in towers stacked 21 feet high, with only six laborers. His long-term vision is to open 100-square-foot facilities near major metropolitan areas around the country.
“We wanted to treat this more like a manufacturing process rather than a farming process," Counne said.
A sample of red mizuna greens at Backyard Fresh Farms on July 11, 2019. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Growing produce in controlled environments, including greenhouses and indoor vertical farms, has gained steam as a sustainable solution to the food needs of a growing population because it uses less land and far less water than traditional farming and can be done year-round near cities, reducing the distance the food travels.
Food safety is another benefit. Controlled environments protect against contaminants from air, runoff or insects that can lead to recalls in field-grown greens, such as the mass romaine recall last year after E. coli exposure sickened more than 40 people. In addition, such produce is pesticide-free, has a longer shelf life and tends to be high quality because growers can control the variables.
Commercial-scale production of indoor- and greenhouse-grown produce has ramped up as growers gain capital and retail distribution, and as technological advancements make it more cost-effective.
More than $300 million in venture capital has been invested in greenhouses and indoor vertical farms during each of the last three years, up from $100 million in 2016, according to CleanTech Group, an industry market research and consulting firm based in San Francisco.
But the farms are expensive to set up and take a long time to expand, so many are unprofitable. In search of viable business models, some growers partner with distribution firms or grow produce inside of supermarkets themselves, said CleanTech associate Chris Sworder.
In Chicago, Gotham Greens grows lettuce and herbs in a 75,000-square-foot rooftop greenhouse in the Pullman neighborhood, while BrightFarms greens and MightyVine tomatoes grow in greenhouses in suburban Rochelle.
Indoor vertical farms, which take up a smaller footprint than greenhouses, don’t rely on sunlight and generally are more expensive to operate, are rarer in the Midwest. Most of the large operations — California-based Plenty, Ohio-based 80 Acres and Bowery and Aerofarms, both based in New Jersey — don’t sell their products in Chicago.
FarmedHere in suburban Bedford Park was the world’s largest indoor vertical farm when it shuttered in 2017 because of high labor costs and inconsistent yields. Its co-founder and former chief operating officer, Steve Dennenberg, is on the board of advisors of Backyard Fresh Farms.
Dennenberg compared the technology his company had to “Gordon Gekko’s phone,” referring to the giant block of a 1980s cell phone carried by Michael Douglas’ character in “Wall Street.” Much has changed in just two years to make indoor farming commercially viable, and he believes Counne can make it profitable.
Farm technician Sergio Arroyo works with red mizuna greens at Backyard Fresh Farms on July 11, 2019. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
“Everybody has the artificial technology now, but Jake (Counne) has the robots,” said Dennenberg, who is working on a medical marijuana greenhouse in Michigan. “We had neither.”
Counne has nine patents pending for the software and hardware he is testing at his pilot space, where he has grown 100 different varieties of vegetables from bok choy to radishes.
Currently, six types of lettuce for a spring mix are stacked on a four-level tower, growing under the watchful eye of mounted cameras that lock into the center of each plant and watch for signs of stress twice per minute. An algorithm analyzes the data the camera has gathered and prompts the environment — temperature, humidity, water nutrients, light intensity, carbon dioxide levels — to automatically adjust to optimize the plants’ healthy growth. A supervisor can watch on a monitor and is alerted when something is wrong.
“Instead of a human looking at the plant and trying to adjust parameters, it’s the plant itself talking to the system, the plant itself becomes the sensor,” he said. “We like to call this plant-based intelligence.”
Counne has developed a roving camera that travels from level to level by itself, which cuts down on the need for multiple cameras, as well an automated lift system that collects trays of ready plants and brings them to an assembly line of workers, who are able to harvest in a fraction of the time it takes where workers must travel to the plants. The empty trays, traveling on a conveyer belt, continue through an automated sanitation tunnel before an another robot transplants new plugs and another lift transfers the newly planted tray to the nursery.
Backyard Fresh Farms is one of six vertical farms operating in The Plant, which houses a variety of businesses including a brewery and a coffee roaster, but it is the most technologically advanced, said John Edel, founder of the incubator. Though several local indoor farms have failed as they tried to scale, Edel thinks technology and lighting have improved to the point where Counne can make it economically viable.
“Oh, I think it will work,” Edel said. “He has a lot of things figured out.”
Sergio Arroyo, a farm technician at Backyard Fresh Farms who used to work at an aquaponics greenhouse, said the efficiencies make a big difference. One worker can produce the same amount of lettuce in the 250-square-foot space as three people could in a 10,000-square-foot greenhouse, in the same amount of time, he said. And unlike greenhouses, which in summer could reach 115 degrees, causing plants to grow too fast, indoor farms can be controlled to a more precise degree, he said.
The high level of control allows Counne and his team of four to grow greens with distinct flavor profiles. For example, they have found that giving arugula more light than it needs makes it spicier.
Eventually Counne expects he can grow exclusive greens like red mizuna and red sorrel, currently available only to chefs, for food stores. He also hopes to create chef-sponsored mixes that play with different flavors.
Bob Mariano, founder and former CEO of the Mariano’s grocery store chain, said Counne’s focus on cutting costs so he can sell the greens at a reasonable price will broaden the appeal of what he said is an “outstanding product.” He is also on the board of Backyard Fresh Farms.
“I’ve tasted a lot of food in my career — it’s difficult to explain,” Mariano said about sampling Counne’s greens. “It was so fresh, refreshing and tasty. It was very unusual.”
“People don’t eat enough greens because they don’t taste very good,” Mariano said. “The process that he has creates such a fresh product that people have never had that taste in their mouth.”
Counne, who has mostly self-funded the seed money for his company and is in the process of raising $10 million, came to indoor farming through his interest in real estate.
A Miami native and orthodox Jew, he was living in Israel when he decided to move to Chicago in 2011 to help areas hit hard by the housing crash by buying homes people had lost to foreclosure, renovating them and renting them back to the community. His company, Medallion Properties, now manages 600 units, mostly single-family homes on the South and West sides of Chicago.
Hoping to invest in commercial or industrial properties, Counne was touring the massive former Libby, McNeill and Libby canning plant in Blue Island when the property owner mentioned a potential tenant had considered opening a small vertical farm inside. Counne researched the idea and it struck him that vertical farms could be a productive use for vacant old buildings in Chicago.
“That (Libby) building was the inspiration for everything we built,” Counne said. “We want to take existing buildings and fit our technology into it.”
Though the goal is to sell in retail stores, Counne’s first step was to prove his product to discerning tastebuds in the restaurant scene.
At Gibsons Restaurant Group, which owns the classic Gold Coast steakhouse as well as Hugo’s Frog Bar, LuxeBar and Gibsons Italia, corporate executive chef Daniel Huebschmann said he was “blown away” by a test run of Backyard Fresh Farm’s lettuces. He left a bag of kale and romaine in his refrigerator for 10 days and it was still high quality at the end. Counne said his greens can last for a month without spoiling.
“To acquire a product of that quality, you have to order from somebody like Chef’s Garden,” said Huebschmann, referring to a specialty grower for professional chefs based in Ohio. “You pay crazy dollars to get the stuff shipped to you.”
Gibsons, which goes through some 30 to 40 cases of romaine a day, only buys such high-end produce for special events because it’s so expensive. The bulk of its lettuce travels some 2,000 miles to its doorstep from California’s Salinas Valley.
“If this can be scaled on a cost effective basis, it is a game changer for the industry, for sure,” said Lombardo, whose restaurants have been serving Backyard Fresh Farm’s microgreens, baby kale and mixed greens in its salads and garnishes for the past six months. “Not just restaurants but the food industry.”
aelejalderuiz@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @alexiaer
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
CONTACT
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz covers the food industry for the Chicago Tribune's business section. Prior beats include workplace issues, the retail sector and lifestyle features, plus stints at RedEye, the Daily Herald and the City News Service. Alexia grew up in Washington, D.C., and has her degree in international relations from Brown University.
FOR SALE - Custom Built 20' Container Greenhouse - St. Petersburg, Florida
Description of Container Greenhouse
This greenhouse is constructed of a converted 20’ solid steel shipping container.
The roof has been vaulted to provide for rain/snow runoff.
The side panels and roof are covered in Solexx 3MM greenhouse panel material that diffuses light.
Material details can be found at solexx.com
One standard greenhouse door
2 Gable vents for airflow
1 Vortex Greentek fan
2 Cyclone fans
Garden hose water hook up
Extra 10’ of spare solexx included
Greenhouse will be cleaned and power washed prior to pick up
$8,500 *
Purchaser responsible for shipping
TERMS & CONDITIONS
All information is from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, prior sale or withdrawal without notice.
No representation is made as to the accuracy of any description.
All measurements, yields and square footages are approximate and all information should be confirmed by the customer.
Disclaimer of Warranty - The custom built 20’ hydroponic farming container is being sold “as is” and the Seller disclaims all warranties of quality, whether express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
Coventry, UK: Vertical Farming Training Instructor Needed
Funding is now in place for the VF training academy in Coventry. UK and we are looking for a suitable person who can take on the role of trainer
Funding is now in place for the VF training academy in Coventry and we are looking for a suitable person who can take on the role of trainer.
The academy is aimed at teaching the multitude of engineering technologies as well as the plant aspects that are integrated to produce a holistic system design.
The curriculum includes the following:
*Project and risk management *Process engineering design *Environment control
*Material handling & robotics *Ergonomics
*Phenome systems and AI *Plant physiology
* AR & Intelligent Vision systems
*Light & Nutrient recipes. *Pest and disease management
*Water treatment and renewable energy usage
The course is in collaboration with the Assoc for Vertical Farming and we are currently in the process to be a Lantra service provider.
We are looking for a quick start in September and the location is in Coventry. Anyone interested please contact me.
They must be able to work in the UK and be a good english speaker.
hashtag#agtech hashtag#verticalfarming hashtag#avf hashtag#trainingInstructor hashtag#jobvacancy hashtag#agritech hashtag#futurefarming
Please Contact:
Peter Lane: pl@vertical-farming.net
STEM Education & Community Discount
This year’s Aquaponics Association Annual Conference theme is “Putting Out Fruits”. Putting Out Fruits will take place in Frankfort, Kentucky at Kentucky State University on September 20 – 22nd, 2019.
Aquaponics Association
August 1, 2019
Check Out The Community & Non-profit
Discount For Putting Out Fruits!
Nature Inspires Some of The Coolest Things
Unlike many other vertical farms, which are located in artificially lit warehouses and cut off from the outside world, Vertical Harvest makes use of natural sunlight and ventilation
By Chip Giller on August 3, 2019
Hey there,
I know what you’re thinking. Reading a nature-themed climate change newsletter from a guy who shows up to business meetings looking like he’s just finished up a hike is a little on-the-nose.
But hear me out. Nature’s got a lot more to offer us than a great place to eat trail mix.
Very Smart People everywhere are learning that natural processes and ecosystems offer great models for the world that we create: Think a biodegradable Michelin tire based on coral growth, Adidas shoes meant to one day be recycled into a new pair, even a flood-friendly courtyard tile dreamt up by a group of middle schoolers and inspired by … potatoes. (Weirdos like me sometimes call the concept biomimicry.)
Read on to learn more about nature-inspired design — how can you resist the allure of a kelp-based tank top or a seed-inspired monocopter you can make yourself?! You don’t need a pair of hiking boots to find inspiration in what already works.
— Chip, Grist Founder
1. Your New Hero
Nona Yehia is CEO and co-founder of Vertical Harvest in Jackson, Wyoming. The company produces Bumble Bee tomatoes, rainbow chard, butterhead lettuce — as much bounty as a 10-acre traditional farm, all in a state-of-the-art, hydroponic greenhouse that takes up only one-tenth of an acre of land. And it does it with a lot of help and inspiration from nature.
Unlike many other vertical farms, which are located in artificially lit warehouses and cut off from the outside world, Vertical Harvest makes use of natural sunlight and ventilation. The company even uses “bug-on-bug warfare” to fend off insect pests, Yehia says.“We have parasitic wasps that are right now patrolling to take care of white flies and aphids.”
Vertical Harvest’s design and business model — many of the company’s employees are people with disabilities— have garnered attention from around the globe.
Check out our recent conversation with Yehia, a 2016 Grist 50 Fixer.
Profits From Roots To Shoots
Today’s culinary consumer is looking for small, easy ways to add fresh, healthy ingredients to their daily lifestyle
Step Up Profits With Living Herbs And Greens.
May 28, 2019
Leslie F. Halleck
Fresh herbs and greens packaged with roots attached last two to three times longer than packaged fresh cut herbs — sometimes even longer.©ArtCookStudio | Adobe Stock
When it comes to the definition of “fresh,” it’s easy to get a wide variety of answers if you ask consumers. Some consumers consider prepared refrigerated foods as fresh, while others reserve the idea of freshness for the bulk produce aisle. For some, only organic produce qualifies as fresh, while others are happy to qualify anything green added to their diet as such — even if it’s conventional frozen produce. Varying definitions aside, there’s no denying the freshness of living herbs, greens and microgreens with roots still attached.
It used to be that fresh herb producers sought to garner market share from consumers purchasing dry packaged herbs. Now, there is new business to be captured in the fresh produce aisle. When it comes to positive sales trends, living herbs and lettuces offer many producers a way to grow.
Small steps to fresh
Today’s culinary consumer is looking for small, easy ways to add fresh, healthy ingredients to their daily lifestyle. That might mean a sprinkle of fresh basil on their pasta or a sprig of fresh thyme in their evening cocktail. These may seem like tiny steps for those of us who grow a lot of fresh produce, but they represent meaningful solutions for many consumers. There are just as many definitions of “cooking” as there are of “fresh” for that matter.
Fresh flavors
Why roots? Fresh herbs and greens packaged with roots attached last two to three times longer than packaged fresh-cut herbs — sometimes even longer in my experience, depending on how quickly you harvest all the foliage. This is a big benefit to both the retailers and the consumer.
For fresh herbs, recipe-ready varieties such as basil, rosemary, thyme and mint generally lead the pack. There isn’t much prep work needed to use these common herbs and most consumers are at least faintly familiar with how to use them. But as home cooks become more adventurous in their cooking styles, they’re open to more pungent and spicy flavors found in herbs such as cilantro and tarragon.
Well-rooted
Looking for a great example of how to make a go of packaged living herbs and greens? No need to look further than North Shore Greenhouses (northshore.farm). Under their trademarked North Shore Living brands, this southern California-based company hydroponically produces a wide array of living herbs and greens packed with roots attached. Using certified sustainable methods, North Shore has developed some seriously savvy packaging options for consumers, including self-watering mini-greenhouse packaging as well as “potted” options, which are essentially hydroponic baskets to support the plant roots. The potted options can be suspended in a jar or other water-holding containers, which make for a nice temporary windowsill herb garden.
North Shore has also done a great job on their website of providing instructions for how to store their living herbs and greens, as well as a bevy of tasty recipes to keep the end-user engaged. Their basil ice cream recipe is to die for. Yes, basil ice cream. Personally, I like to add a bit of lemongrass to brighten the flavor.
Not convinced?
A common knee-jerk concern with selling living fresh herbs and greens — roots attached — is that the consumer will just plant it up and not buy more. While you may have a few motivated gardeners who’ll take up the DIY task, most culinary customers will be very happy to maintain their living herbs or greens in the refrigerator, or in a glass jar on the countertop (or refrigerator) for a week or two — until it’s fully harvested. That’s more green than they usually get to have in their kitchen. When they’ve harvested it all, they’ll buy it again. Many apartment or small home dwellers may not have the option of permanently planting up their living herbs and greens, but are happy to have a fresh living specimen even temporarily.
Also, herbs and greens grown hydroponically, without soil, don’t always transition to containers or the garden successfully. So, your less-experienced or brown-thumb customers won’t always be successful with planting living greens and herbs. They really are better off keeping them in the fridge or on the countertop or windowsill.
More basil please!
I think packaged living basil is the ideal way for most culinary consumers to buy and use fresh basil from the grocery store, specifically since it’s damaged at temperatures below 40° F. That means most home refrigerators are a death zone for fresh basil (roots or no roots). I’m sure many customers have given up on fresh-packed cut basil after sticking it in the refrigerator, only to find that it has blackened and wilted the next day. Rooted plants on the countertop are the way to go.
If you already grow fresh-cut produce or herbs, or you’re a hydroponic grower who’s looking to expand your offerings, now is a great time to survey your local or regional market for opportunities. Living herbs and greens could be the perfect way to freshen up your produce profits.
Leslie (CPH) owns Halleck Horticultural, LLC, through which she provides horticultural consulting, business and marketing strategy, product development and branding, and content creation for green industry companies. lesliehalleck.com
Herbs Basil Root health Root crops Rosemary
Scientists Now Know How Cilantro Works Against Seizures
New research uncovers the molecular action that enables cilantro to effectively delay certain seizures common in epilepsy and other diseases
JULY 29TH, 2019 BY ANNE WARDE-UC IRVINE
(Credit: UC Irvine)
New research uncovers the molecular action that enables cilantro to effectively delay certain seizures common in epilepsy and other diseases.
Herbs, including cilantro, have a long history of use as folk medicine anticonvulsants. Until now, many of the underlying mechanisms of how the herbs worked remained unknown.
The study in FASEB Journal explains the molecular action of cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) as a highly potent KCNQ channel activator. This new understanding may lead to improvements in therapeutics and the development of more efficacious drugs.
“We discovered that cilantro, which has been used as a traditional anticonvulsant medicine, activates a class of potassium channels in the brain to reduce seizure activity,” says Geoff Abbott, professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine and principal investigator on the study.
“Specifically, we found one component of cilantro, called dodecenal, binds to a specific part of the potassium channels to open them, reducing cellular excitability. This specific discovery is important as it may lead to more effective use of cilantro as an anticonvulsant, or to modifications of dodecenal to develop safer and more effective anticonvulsant drugs.”
Researchers screened cilantro leaf metabolites, revealing that one—the long-chain fatty aldehyde (E)-2-dodecenal—activates multiple potassium channels including the predominant neuronal isoform and the predominant cardiac isoform, which are responsible for regulating electrical activity in the brain and heart. This metabolite was also found to recapitulate the anticonvulsant action of cilantro, delaying certain chemically-induced seizures. The results provide a molecular basis for the therapeutic actions of cilantro and indicate that this ubiquitous culinary herb is surprisingly influential upon clinically important potassium channels.
Documented use of botanical folk medicines stretches back as far as recorded human history. There is DNA evidence, dating back 48,000 years, that suggests the consumption of plants for medicinal use by Homo neanderthalensis. Archaeological evidence, dating back 800,000 years, suggests a non-food use of plants by Homo erectus or similar species. Today, evidence of the efficacy of botanical folk medicines ranges from anecdotal to clinical trials. In many cases, people consume these “medicines,” often on a large scale, as foodstuffs or food flavoring.
Cilantro, called coriander in the UK, is one example. Humans have consumed cilantro for at least 8,000 years. It was found in the tomb of Tutankhamen and is thought to have been cultivated by the ancient Egyptians.
“In addition to the anticonvulsant properties, cilantro also has reported anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antibacterial, cardioprotective, gastric health, and analgesic effects,” says Abbott. “And, the best part is it tastes good!”
The National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medicine Sciences, and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke supported the work.
Source: UC Irvine
Original Study DOI: 10.1096/fj.201900485R
Hong Kong Start-Ups Are Using Hydroponic Technology And Vertical Farming To Bring Fresh And Healthy Food To Citizens
The green movement is a growing revolution across the world and particularly Hong Kong. A part of this change is the ground-breaking farming technology that cuts lengthy supply chains to allow easy access to fresh produce rich in nutrients and bursting with flavour
Hong Kong Growing Urban Farming Tech
The green movement is a growing revolution across the world and particularly Hong Kong. A part of this change is the ground-breaking farming technology that cuts lengthy supply chains to allow easy access to fresh produce rich in nutrients and bursting with flavour.
A Hong Kong-based urban farming technology company launched in January 2018, has been offering herbs, microgreens, and edible flowers to restaurants, hotels and home cooks. It will take things to the next level in a couple of weeks with the launch of its first “mobile farm”.
Using hydroponic technology, the greens will grow in-store so that consumers know exactly where their food is coming from – they can actually see their vegetables as they grow. The pilot mobile farm will be launched in mid-August at an organic convenience store in Sai Kung.
Hydroponic basically refers to the way that the plants absorb nutrients, which is through water instead of soil. The start-up uses organic nutrients bought from the United States which has US Federal Drug Administration approval and adds it to water. An advantage of indoor farming is that it is extremely sanitary and water-saving.
Soil-based farming often sees the loss of a lot of water (which goes underground), hydroponic farming saves 90 per cent more water.
Hong Kong imports an astounding 98.3 per cent of its vegetables, with 70 per cent of the imports coming from China and 28 per cent flown in from around the world. All the emissions involved in getting our greens into Hong Kong is a massive black mark in terms of sustainability – and it’s also bad for health.
Another issue is that as soon as produce is harvested, the roots stop supplying water to the leaves and stem and the plant start losing their nutrient content. A benefit of a mobile farm is the ability to buy greens with the roots still intact, take the produce home and use it while it’s still fresh.
The start-up’s team have been using the Causeway Bay operation for research and development and a base in Cyberport to develop the mobile farm technology.
Beyond the hydroponic technology, the team is developing even more sustainable and efficient farming technology, but they’ve taken it slow the first year to develop their understanding of the crops they are growing.
According to an earlier report, a hi-tech vegetable farm in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district is thriving inside a converted factory building and produces four tonnes of lettuce, wild rocket, endive and cabbage for salads each month.
Its workers, most of them in their 20s and 30s, tend to neat rows of racks, each 30cm tall and 10 tiers high, filled with potted greens lit by low-energy light-emitting diode (LED) lamps and connected to fish tanks on the floor.
Instead of shovels and hoes, they work with computers and drones. The farm’s co-founder noted that they farm with technology, not ploughs. This is farming 4.0.
This start-up offers a glimpse of the future of farming by harnessing technology and using less space than traditional, long regarded a sunset industry in Hong Kong.
Primary industries, mainly comprising farming, fishing, mining and quarrying, accounted for HK$502 million last year, a tiny fraction of the city’s total gross domestic product of HK$2.65 trillion.
But the start-up’s co-founder, who is optimistic about the prospects for aqua-farming, said that Hong Kong is a service-based city, but still needs healthy food. This is a viable business in Hong Kong because of the demand for healthy produce and the growing awareness of food safety.
The Surprising Effects Trees Versus Grass Have On Your Mental Health
Everybody knows that being around nature can make us happy, healthy, and even improve our mental well-being – but we’re human, and we’re inexplicably picky. Not all foliage is created equal when it comes to having a positive effect
July 31, 2019
Everybody knows that being around nature can make us happy, healthy, and even improve our mental well-being – but we’re human, and we’re inexplicably picky. Not all foliage is created equal when it comes to having a positive effect.
In a study published last week in JAMA Open Network, researchers at Australia’s University of Wollongong attempted to figure out what sort of green space in any given city would provide the biggest mental benefit. Would it be a giant park? A small little patch of grass with a bench? A community garden? Rooftop gardens?
For the study, the researchers compared three types of green spaces: tree canopy (mature trees whose leaves and branches provide coverage of the ground when viewed from above), grass, and low-lying vegetation (like shrubs).
Almost 47,000 Australian adults over 45 reported whether or not they lived near these different types of green spaces, but also their self-reported mental and general health. They were surveyed twice, with the second survey six years later.
Researchers found that exposure to nature can definitely have positive mental health benefits – but it depends on the type of greenery.
Tree canopy was the best. Exposure to 30% or more total green space that included tree canopy is associated with 31% lower rates of psychological distress. The people who reported living near tree canopy reported living one mile from it.
Exposure to only low-lying ground vegetation, however, has no effect. Sorry, shrubs.
Grass wasn’t especially helpful – exposure to 30% or more of grass was associated with 71% higher odds of psychological distress. The researchers noted that the study was based on self-reported surveys that did not show the full spectrum of participants’ mental health. They warned that “this finding not to be interpreted as evidence for removing existing grassy areas or defunding the planting of new open grassy areas.”
Yes, let’s please leave the grass alone. As poet Walt Whitman wrote in Leaves of Grass, “Do anything, but let it produce joy” – the true lesson for spending time in nature.
Meanwhile, in a related study just released, researchers have began to create a framework for how city planners and municipalities worldwide can measure the mental health benefits of nature, then merge those into plan and policies for cities and residents.
The study was led by the University of Washington and Stanford University.
“Thinking about the direct mental health benefits that nature contact provides is important to take into account when planning how to conserve nature and integrate it into our cities,” said Greg Bratman, lead author and an assistant professor at the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.
Lead Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK
Lawsuit Over Keurig Coffee Pod Recyclability Moves Forward
A federal judge in California recently ruled that a class action lawsuit against Keurig Green Mountain Inc. — one with interesting implications for recyclability claims about new product streams — can move forward
The Company Had Hoped A California Judge Would Dismiss A
Complaint Claiming its "Recyclable" Labels Are Misleading
AUTHOR Katie Pyzyk@_PyintheSky
July 15, 2019
A federal judge in California recently ruled that a class action lawsuit against Keurig Green Mountain Inc. — one with interesting implications for recyclability claims about new product streams — can move forward.
The lawsuit was proposed by a California consumer who says the company (now Keurig Dr Pepper) made false claims about its coffee pods' recyclability, namely that their size, composition and lack of an end market renders them unrecyclable. The suit points out that while the pods are made of polypropylene — a plastic (#5) accepted for recycling in about 61% of communities nationwide — most domestic MRFs aren't capable of capturing such small, light materials from the recycling stream.
According to the lawsuit, Keurig adds to the problem by telling consumers they need not remove the pods' paper filters before recycling. This creates a source of contamination, as it does for numerous other products made from multiple materials that are recyclable only when segregated, including paper envelopes lined with bubble wrap and aluminum cans with plastic shrink wrap sleeves.
Keurig had hoped the lawsuit would be dismissed on the grounds that advertising and labels for the coffee pods encourage consumers to "check locally" about whether the pods are recyclable. It claimed consumers would understand the items aren't recyclable in all markets, despite being labeled as recyclable. The judge, however, found this defense to be lacking because consumers allege the pods aren't recyclable through any MRF in the country, so telling them to "check locally" doesn't make Keurig's recyclability claims true.
"[C]ommon sense would not so clearly lead a person to believe that a package labeled 'recyclable' is not recyclable anywhere," U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam wrote in the ruling. "[A]lthough Keurig argues that its labeling is sufficient under the Green Guides... the complaint alleges facts that indicate the opposite."
The Green Guides are the Federal Trade Commission's advice on the types of marketing claims manufacturers can make about their products' recyclability. The goal is to prevent manufacturers from making deceptive or overtly false claims. A key part of the Green Guides is a section commonly referred to as the "60% access rule" – companies can make unqualified claims about a product's recyclability only when a substantial majority (60%) of customers or communities where the item is sold have access to recycling facilities accepting the material. In other words, while a product may technically be recyclable, it won't necessarily be considered as such in regions without adequate processing or sorting infrastructure.
Concerns over coffee pods' contribution to the waste stream have circulated for years following the product's growing mainstream popularity. Even the pods' inventor weighed in on the issue in 2015, saying he regretted inventing them due to their lack of recyclability.
But in the years since, manufacturers have made concerted efforts to create products that can be diverted from disposal. For example, Nespresso periodically expands its coffee pod mail-back recycling program. It partnered with Sims Municipal Recycling and New York's Department of Sanitation earlier this year to devise better strategies for recovering single-serve pods from the curbside recycling stream.
Two years ago, Keurig Green Mountain announced all of its Canada-made coffee pods would be recyclable by the end of 2018. The company released updated sustainability goals last month, including using 100% recyclable or compostable packaging and sending no waste to landfills by 2025. It also reiterated its previous goal of making all coffee pods recyclable by 2020.
Keurig Green Mountain was among the Association of Plastic Recyclers' (APR) initial group of Recycling Demand Champions, a campaign to expand market demand for recycled resins and improve plastic recycling in North America. According to APR, the two entities have "worked extensively" with one another to transition to a recyclable coffee pod container, and Keurig faced the same technological challenges as other companies that manufacture small, light, difficult-to-sort containers.
"Their efforts have led to the creation of technology and protocols that will be used by all brand owners that will allow more containers to be captured from the waste stream, thereby increasing the amount of material available for recycling while reducing contamination," APR President and CEO Steve Alexander told Waste Dive in a statement. "There have been few, if any, companies who have undertaken the vast array of efforts that Keurig has to address the sustainability of their products."
Keurig did not respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit prior to this story's publication.
In 2017, a company representative spoke at an event hosted by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) MRF Council about the company's strategy to make the pods recyclable by 2020. Some of ISRI's core work centers on creating products with end-of-life recycling principles in mind, and through its Design for Recycling program presents an annual award to a company that embodies these principles.
A Keurig representative also spoke about coffee pod MRF tests during a session at WasteExpo 2017. The company tracked the pods at facilities using RFID chips and determined 90% of them made it through the container line. That study prompted the Sustainable Packaging Coalition to name Keurig Green Mountain a 2017 Innovator Award Winner for Breakthrough Process, citing factors such as full traceability, non-disruptive testing and in-depth data capture.
The class action lawsuit underscores the difficulty manufacturers face with making accurate recyclability claims. Recycling is a regional practice, and materials that are accepted in one market can be rejected in others. While efforts to standardize national messaging are gaining traction, an increasingly complex material stream will continue to present recycling challenges.
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Filed Under: Corporate Marketing Sustainability
UK: Sausage Making Company Heck Food Plans Vertical Farm
North Yorkshire sausage making company Heck Food has revealed plans for a new vertical farm as part of the latest phase of its innovation programme
Stephen Farrell Senior Digital Staff Writer
2 Jul 2019
HECK FOOD PLANS VERTICAL FARM
North Yorkshire sausage making company Heck Food has revealed plans for a new vertical farm as part of the latest phase of its innovation programme.
The company is aiming to create a 'Silicon Valley of Food in the Vale of York'. The 'Foogle' project, builds on Heck's entrepreneur programme, expanding into agritech and sustainability.
As part of the launch, Heck will build a new vertical farming facility, initially to grow basil and other herbs to be used in its Chicken Italia range.
Heck will also open a new facility alongside its visitor centre, showcasing the latest in food and farming innovation.
Rishi Sunak, minister for communities and MP for Richmond, visited Heck to hear of its plans. He said: "It's companies like Heck that are really putting Yorkshire on the map as a county of excellence for food and growth.
"I was very excited to hear about all their plans for innovation and sustainability and believe that Heck really are at the forefront of food and future farming in the UK, while creating an massive innovation and income boost to Yorkshire.
"The plans for vertical farming is hugely exciting as this method is precise, time-efficient and waste-free method of growing and will provide inspiration for other producers looking for future food innovation."
Debbie Keeble, co-founder of Heck Food, added: "We are farmers turned producers but now we are able to look to the future of agriculture and how we drive our business forward.
"There are huge benefits to vertical farming – no pesticides or herbicides, less water, no transport, less food waste, higher production, better shelf life – the list is endless.
"Our aim is to be able to produce a wide range of leafy veg and herbs that we can use across the range, delivering tasty flavours from farm, to factory, to plate."
Heck is applying for an innovation grant to fund part of the £500,000 needed to set up the project.
The Aquaponics Association 2019 Board of Governors Is Proud To Present The Tentative Program For The September 20-22 Putting Out Fruits Conference
This year’s Aquaponics Association Annual Conference theme is “ Putting Out Fruits”. Putting Out Fruits will take place in Frankfort, Kentucky at Kentucky State University on September 20 - 22nd, 2019
Conference Program!
Buy Your Tickets At The Putting Out Fruits homepage
The program features over FIFTY individual sessions and presenters from across the globe.
And a special thanks to Conference Chair Tawnya Sawyer for all the hard work putting such a great program together!
Hope to see you there!
Brian Filipowich, Chairman
Aquaponics Association
EPA Moves To Block California’s Roundup Cancer Warning
This announcement follows a move by California regulators in 2017 to add glyphosate to a state-maintained list of cancer-causing chemicals
The Agency Will Not Approve Labels That Indicate
A Link Between Glyphosate And Cancer.
August 12th, 2019
by H. Claire Brown
The Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that it will not approve product labels linking the herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, with cancer.
This announcement follows a move by California regulators in 2017 to add glyphosate to a state-maintained list of cancer-causing chemicals. Under the state’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, commonly known as Proposition 65, businesses have to provide warnings when their products contain chemicals that appear on this list. The glyphosate cancer warnings were scheduled to start appearing in summer of 2018, but a judge delayed the rule while Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) challenged the decision in court. Now, the federal government has stepped in to ensure the warnings will not appear.
“This is just a small piece of a big fight about whether or not Roundup is carcinogenic.”
“The State of California’s much criticized Proposition 65 has led to misleading labeling requirements for products, like glyphosate, because it misinforms the public about the risks they are facing,” EPA announced in a statement.
This isn’t the first time California has adopted stricter carcinogen disclosure rules than the federal government. Memorably, in 2018, the state moved to require cancer warnings on coffee. With glyphosate, the difference of opinion between the state and federal government can be traced back to the assessments regulators relied on in making their determinations. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment made its decision based on a 2015 finding from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organization. That agency’s most recent evaluation concluded that glyphosate is “probably” carcinogenic to humans.
By contrast, the United States Environmental Protection Agency found in its most recent assessment that glyphosate does not pose a public health risk when used as directed. The agency, predictably, cited its own review when it announced it will not approve California’s cancer warnings.
So why the difference of opinion? Both assessments have seen their fair share of controversy. The chair of the IARC was accused of ignoring data that found no link between Roundup and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The EPA, on the other hand, did not initially reach internal agreement over glyphosate’s potential to cause cancer, the New York Times reported last year. The agency’s Office of Research and Development, using epidemiological research, determined that “either glyphosate was likely to cause cancer or that there was at least some evidence suggesting a problem,” according to the Times investigation. By contrast, the agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs determined that glyphosate is not a carcinogen, and that was the view that ultimately won the day.
Ironically, glyphosate’s future may lie in the hands of juries, not scientific assessments.
Environmental advocates have expressed dismay over EPA’s decision last week. “This EPA in particular has gone out of its way to satisfy pesticide industry demands,” says Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity. At the same time, Hartl isn’t convinced this new decision will have lasting impact when it comes to the public’s ever-evolving perception of glyphosate. “This is just a small piece of a big fight about whether or not Roundup is carcinogenic.”
Ironically, glyphosate’s future may lie in the hands of juries, not scientific assessments. Three times, California juries have ruled in favor of plaintiffs suing Monsanto after developing cancer, decisions that initially totaled billions of dollars. (They have since been reduced to millions.) Under pressure from parent groups, Costco agreed not to sell Roundup this year. And a judge recently postponed a jury trial that was scheduled to take place in St. Louis, on Monsanto’s home turf, prompting speculation that a settlement may be on the horizon.
Simply put, it may become too expensive for Bayer to keep Roundup on the shelves for much longer. And if that’s the case, neither the EPA nor the IARC assessments will matter.
We reached out to EPA and California’s Office of the Attorney General for comment. We will update this story if and when we receive response.
Jesse Hirsch contributed reporting to this story.
Fresh Out of The Box
Shipping containers, the vectors of globalisation that were forged in the first instance to ferry goods thousands of miles around the earth, are now being used to grow fresh produce that will be consumed in their immediate vicinity
Wednesday 14th August 2019, London
As interest in urban farming continues to grow, modular, closed-loop production units could spark a horticultural revolution
A growing phenomenon that is reshaping fresh produce supply chains. Shipping containers, the vectors of globalisation that were forged in the first instance to ferry goods thousands of miles around the earth, are now being used to grow fresh produce that will be consumed in their immediate vicinity. What’s more, having made international markets more accessible to all, the containers now house technology so advanced that even someone with the most basic, rudimentary knowledge of horticulture can control and oversee the cultivation within.
Excitement about the potential of urban farming continues to build, with the idea of producing closer to market – using fewer resources and arguably boosting quality in the process – attracting plenty of interest, not to mention investment. Earlier this year, Italian start-up Planet Farms unveiled a plan to build Europe’s largest and most advanced vertical farm by spring 2020 in Cavenago, halfway between Milan and Bergamo. The farm will eventually extend across 9,000m2 and supply 40,000 packs of residue-free produce per day.
It’s a trend that is by no means confined to Europe or North America. In Shanghai, a group called Orisis is working with joint venture Infinite Acres – comprising British online retailer Ocado, Dutch horticultural tech specialist Priva and US plant science firm 80 Acres Farms – to build what it says will be the city’s first indoor vertical farm, producing lettuce and other leafy greens.
However, it’s the arrival of closed-loop, container-based systems, which theoretically allow anyone to become a grower, that could really revolutionise this area of the fresh produce business. In June 2019, furniture retail giant Ikea revealed it was preparing to harvest its first hydroponically grown lettuces and serve them to customers at two of its in-store restaurants in Helsingborg and Malmö. The vegetables are grown under led lights inside specially retrofitted shipping containers using a so-called circular farming system developed by partner company Bonbio. Days later, Swedish supermarket chain ICA announced a similar venture at its Maxi Högskolan store in Halmstad, between Gothenburg and Helsingborg, using a container system called Greenery configured by Boston-based vertical farming start-up Freight Farms.
In this exclusive interview, fresh focus tech speaks to Freight Farms co-founder Brad McNamara about the company’s recent dramatic growth, about the trends he says are driving that expansion and about a future that might eventually see fresh produce cultivation become something that practically anyone with access to a laptop or smartphone can manage and control.
Brad, can you tell us what inspired you and co-founder Jon Friedman to create Freight Farms?
Brad McNamara: We were originally looking at how we could bring food production closer to the urban centre. We were looking at greenhouses, but really it came down to a better way to create accessibility and transparency in the food system. So for us, the idea was to move away from the constraints of a rooftop greenhouse to a more user-friendly model that allows a wider population to grow locally in a particular place. That’s really where it all came from.
Were you involved in horticulture in any way prior to that?
BM: Not specifically, although I had been growing on my own for some time. I got an undergrad degree from Northeastern University in Boston, then an MBA in sustainability and environmental science. Jon’s background was industrial design, so the two kind of married well. The big thing for us was, when we first started the market potential for local, transparent, sustainable, chemical-free was just at the beginning. Everybody was talking about it, but no-one had a solution for how to produce in those ways while increasing the quality and consistency of the supply chain.
The business you created, was it a fairly large operation from the start?
BM: No, at the start it was Jon and I plus a small team, very much your classic startup, starting in a simple parking lot. We knew we needed to build the technology from the ground up with the market and the farmer in mind, and we knew it had the potential to empower anyone to grow food anywhere. We built our first prototypes in 2012 and went into commercial manufacturing in 2014.
To whom did you show this original proof of concept?
BM: Well, anyone that would look in the early days! What we did was grow a wide variety of crops to test the stability and the flexibility of the system, as well as some of the concepts within it. I was constantly bringing people from the produce industry by, so we made a lot of connections with cold supply chain, produce distributors, regional specialists, as well as some of the markets around us. We talked to a lot of the wholesalers and asked them, ‘Is this product ready? or ‘Is this crop specifically what you would look for, or maybe something different?’ That was really the guiding light, to know what the market would accept. The feedback was phenomenal. Much of the time they would say ‘this is fresher, brighter, crisper than anything I’m getting now’ and they got very excited about that.
Were there any areas in which you needed to improve?
BM: Well, once we got the plants in their mouths, there weren’t really any doubts left. You know when you eat something and it’s really good? I think in the early days it was more about general education in the market, in terms of growing crops indoors, hydroponics and all of the more technical pieces which by now have been more established. On the institutional side, the concept of needing to supply more locally grown food was not something we had to explain. They were getting hammered by their customers to provide higher quality, locally sourced, clean, healthy and consistent produce.
Brad McNamara (left) with Freight Farms co-founder Jon Friedman
Around 2012, there was a lot of talk about vertical farming as a concept that might eventually see production centres constructed as entire buildings in cities. Were you aware of this trend bubbling away?
BM: We were right there at the early stage of vertical farming, so we had the benefit of building systems while seeing those conceptual drawings of space-age technology. That was great, because it was almost like watching a sci-fi movie while you’re doing it in real life. Some of those concepts did apply but we had that functional knowledge we needed to satisfy.
Many people at the time said it was science fiction, but we kept very quiet about the fact that we were already accomplishing it with our unit. That made us feel like we were on to something. We were early enough that we were growing, we had customers and we had market insight. Technology for technology’s sake wasn’t going to serve our customers appropriately.
With any transition to a new technology, there can be resistance from certain quarters. Did you encounter any concerns about bringing traditional horticulture into an urban, indoor environment?
BM: What people want to understand is about traceability – where exactly did it come from, who grew it, how was it grown. That’s been the driving question in the conversation, and less about whether it’s grown in soil or not. Indoor-grown, whether in a greenhouse, warehouse or decentralised module is pretty much mainstream at this point.
The full interview with Brad McNamara of Freight Farms is published in Fruitnet's annual fresh produce technology supplement Fresh Focus Tech.
To order your copy, contact subscriptions@fruitnet.com or +44 20 7501 0311.
Part two of this interview will be published on Monday 26 August.