Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
Power Generator With Battery Allows Growers To Go Off-Grid
Rolls-Royce offers with its MTU microgrids the company's first eco-friendly and on-site power generation solution suitable for agricultural applications
Rolls-Royce offers with its MTU microgrids the company's first eco-friendly and on-site power generation solution suitable for agricultural applications. These autonomous power grids combine renewable energy sources with battery storage and gas and diesel generators using a microgrid control system developed by Rolls-Royce, thereby reducing CO2 emissions in power generation. Farmers also lose their dependency on the public grid and can integrate existing energy sources such as photovoltaics or biogas plants, which offers financial benefits. Rolls-Royce will be presenting its microgrid solutions for farming applications at the agricultural trade show Agritechnica from 10 to 16 November.
“Many farmers already have large-scale photovoltaic or biogas plants and are therefore ideally equipped to use a microgrid. Our MTU EnergyPack, the battery container, and a smart energy management system allow the various energy sources to be optimally deployed – both technically and in terms of cost,” explains Cordelia Thielitz, Vice President Microgrids at Rolls-Royce.
The components of a Microgrid can be adapted according to the requirements. The possible applications in agriculture are manifold and offer advantages in terms of return-on-investment (ROI), decentralization and decarbonization. Here are three examples:
Prime power from biomass
Instead of continually pumping all the electrical power won from a biogas plant into the public grid, it can be stored in the MTU-EnergyPack. The smart energy management system then ensures that this energy is only fed into the public grid at times of peak demand when prices are at their highest.
Self-sufficient greenhouses
To flourish and grow, crops cultivated in greenhouses need temperature levels and light exposure to be kept as constant as possible. The heat and power required to achieve that constitute major cost factors for any farmer.
But with combined power generation using a photovoltaic installation and MTU generator linked up to a battery and master controller, the greenhouse can operate independently round-the-clock without recourse to the public grid. Electrical energy generated by photovoltaics and a gas-powered CHP module during the day can be fed into the batteries, where it is subsequently available for lighting the crops and other electrical consumers. Heat from the CHP module is used to heat the greenhouses while CO2 recovered from its exhaust emissions promotes plant growth.
Profitability in times of change
For farmers in Germany who generate power for the public grid using photovoltaics and biogas plants and are subsidized under the German Renewable Energies Act (EEG), the microgrid can be a very worthwhile investment. This is because subsidy rates are falling, with many subsidy schemes soon to reach the end of their twenty-year term. Furthermore, operators of larger-scale PV plants also have to pay an EEG levy on the power they consume themselves.
Integrating these systems with batteries and a smart controller creates new cost benefits for farmers, who reduce their CO2 output at the same time.
“Integrating existing renewable energy sources as a microgrid creates an independent, reliable supply of energy which is gentle on the environment and saves money. For a not inconsiderable number of farmers, microgrids can open up new earning potential,” said Armin Fürderer, head of customer solutions in the power generation section at Rolls-Royce.
For more information:
www.rolls-royce.com/bergen
Publication date: Thu 7 Nov 2019
Second Chances Farm Launches In Wilmington With New Trainees And A Hemp License
Ajit George and his team had a lot to announce at the launch of social impact startup Second Chances Farm, where it celebrated the official opening of its 47,500-square-foot facility in Wilmington with a “ladybug dedication.”
The 47,500-square-foot facility in Riverside is bringing on 17 returning citizens to help run the indoor urban farm.
By Holly Quinn / STAFF
Ajit George speaks next to one of the hydroponic towers that will soon fill the warehouse space in Riverside. (Photo by Holly Quinn)
Ajit George and his team had a lot to announce at the launch of social impact startup Second Chances Farm, where it celebrated the official opening of its 47,500-square-foot facility in Wilmington with a “ladybug dedication.”
That’s like a ribbon-cutting, but instead of wielding oversized scissors, the governor, New Castle County executive, mayor and City Council president (among others) released tiny bags of live ladybugs into a floor-to-ceiling vertical “fields” of hydroponic lettuce and herbs.
The urban farm in Riverside will soon also be growing hemp, which is processed into CBD oil, after receiving approval for a license to grow it. (Hemp, a strain of cannabis that has an extremely low level of THC — the substance that gets you high — was made legal in all 50 states with the passage of the 2018 Federal Farm Bill.)
The farm will also offer a few free services to people who live in the neighborhood, including a Crossfit gym and wireless WhyFly service via a connection on the top of the building.
Seventeen returning citizens who have completed their sentences of incarceration have been selected as the first trainee cohort and will receive 16 weeks of paid training.
“We believe those nearest to the solution have also been affected nearest to the problem,” said Saad Soliman, executive director of Peace by Piece, the organization that assists with the reentry program at Second Chances Farm. “Borrowing from my own experience having served 15 years in prison and overcoming boundaries, overcoming barriers, overcoming obstacles, I believe in the leadership of every single man and woman that we’re bringing in here. Let’s humanize the components of who these men and women really are.”
In addition to Second Chances Farm launch, George is also celebrating the launch of his new book, “The Magic of the Red Carpet,” which follows his journey from the founding of TEDxDelaware to Second Chances Farm. All proceeds of the book will go to Peace by Piece.
Watch Soliman introduce the new team members here:
Vertical Farming, A Growing Industry?
Vertical farming is at root a simple concept – instead of spreading out, you spread up. Where previous agricultural innovations have tended to focus on intensity, vertical farming solves for density
MOIRA BENIGSON
6 APRIL 2018
Vertical farming is at root a simple concept – instead of spreading out, you spread up. Where previous agricultural innovations have tended to focus on intensity, vertical farming solves for density. And it needs to – while the number of malnourished people in the world has fallen from one in four in 1970 to one in ten today, the global population is set to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050.
Moreover, industrial development and urbanization mean that even as the human population grows ever larger, there is less arable land today than there was yesterday, and there will be less tomorrow than there is today. The earth has in fact lost 40% of its farmland since 1970.
There have so far in human history been three major agricultural revolutions. The first, around 12,500 years ago, was the shift from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of our forebears to the sedentary, agrarian system that enabled mass societies to grow. The second, which began in Britain in the 18th century, gave the industrial revolution the workforce it needed to transform the world. The third, in the 1950s and 60s, saw the development of high-yield disease-resistant crop varieties that massively increased the world’s agricultural output and has been credited with saving more than a billion lives. Could vertical farming be the fourth?
Growing crops and plants in stacked layers indoors, vertical farming uses far less water than its conventional counterpart (some estimates put it at one-twentieth) and, theoretically, produces a radically greater yield. By using aeroponic (spraying the roots of plants with a nutrient-rich solution) or hydroponics (growing the plants in a shallow bath of water containing their nutrients) methods, vertical farming reduces the reliance on the soil. It is in short a way to maximize the productive capacity of every square foot while minimizing waste and ecological damage.
Investors have taken note of the method’s potential value. Plenty, a San Francisco-based vertical farming startup that aims to build a large-scale indoor vertical farm outside of every major city in the world last year secured the largest agro-tech investment in history, a $200m funding round involving Softbank, Jeff Bezos, and Eric Schmidt among others. In 2017 the company announced plans to build a 100,000-sq. ft. facility just south of Seattle.
But mass vertical farming may not be the most important change to be brought about by this technology in the near future. For that, we must look to Berlin, where a startup called InFarm is creating modular vertical farming units that can be scaled easily and effectively.
The idea is to have a farm in every store. Imagine going into your local supermarket and instead of aisle after aisle of carefully packaged herbs and fresh-ish vegetables that have travelled hundreds if not thousands of miles, there’s a vertical farm where you can pick your own. It doesn’t get much more ‘experiential retail’ than that.
It’s not just effective marketing or something pretty to look at – InFarm’s clever use of data and monitoring means that yields per square foot can be multiples higher than from conventional farming. Importantly, the proximity of the farm to the consumer allowed by InFarm’s modules means that a different set of incentives can govern the growing process – taste and flavour can be prioritised over shelf life and durability.
When a new plant is added to the system, the company’s team of data scientists and engineers write a new algorithm designed to ensure that the module is perfectly calibrated to every plant. Each of their units is, in essence, an individual ecosystem. A world in miniature that uses machine learning and data to mirror the perfect growing environment of a plant in its natural environment. All modules are monitored and operated using the cloud from a central control centre. As they call it, it’s ‘farming as a service’.
This model of vertical farming might also be the ultimate form of vertical integration, offering grocers the chance to simplify their supply chains, reduce cost and increase yield while at the same time bringing food to shelves that is fresher than ever before. InFarm has already signed deals to place its units in the stores of two of Germany’s largest retailers, Metro and EDEKA.
Not incidentally, InFarm’s system, and vertical farming in general, avoids the use of pesticides. A clear selling point as more and more consumers turn to products which tout their environmentally friendly credentials, minimal waste and chemical-free production processes.
“Rather than asking ourselves how to fix the deficiencies in the current supply chain, we wanted to redesign the entire chain from start to finish; Instead of building large -scale farms outside of the city, optimising on a specific yield, and then distributing the produce, we decided it would be more effective to distribute the farms themselves and farm directly where people live and eat,” Erez Galonska, co-founder & CEO of InFarm
Vertical farming businesses are also budding up in the direct-to-consumer market. Several, such as neoFarms, offer in-home farming modules with built-in ease-of-use technology. neoFarms’ model is about the size of a fridge and can handily fit into a kitchen. CityCrop has already brought a mini-unit to market.
Vertical farming still has a way to go yet. While the industry is predicted to be worth $5.8bn by 2022, that pales in comparison to the $300bn value of the indoor farming market in general, or the estimated $3.1trn global agricultural industry. For the vast majority of producers, distributors and retailers vertical farming will for the time being at least be an attractive addition, rather than a sufficient replacement, to the conventional supply chain.
In the developed world, we have largely been freed from the need to think about where our food has come from, how it was grown, and who grew it. But, perhaps counterintuitively, the increasing urbanisation of much of the world’s landmass may also involve the farmification of our cities. Urban spaces may be eating into our farmland, but farms have already started to eat into our urban space.
The grocers and retailers of the future may become our farmers as well. Combining the technologies of firms like InFarm with their own customer data they’ll be able to produce the food that customers want in the places they want it at a higher quality and with lower impact. Previously farm-to-table has been about bringing the table closer to the farm. Now it’s about putting the farm right next to the table.
Why Do Vertical Farms Fail In India? Stop Copying The West
In this series starting today, we will share with you a few insights (specific to Indian context) that we have gained over time. These insights are based on our understanding and the inferences we have drawn. These may not be directly applicable in your specific set of circumstances
During our journey in CityGreens, we have met many Consultants, Competitors, Collaborators, Govt. Dignitaries, Investors, Entrepreneurs, Aspirants, and so forth. These encounters have helped us develop deep insights into the industry. It will not be an understatement to say that the Vertical Farming industry in India is still in its infancy. The way this industry shapes up will depend upon a lot of factors, primarily being the establishment of a few successful commercial models at a scale that can help the fence-sitters to make an informed leap of faith.
In this series starting today, we will share with you a few insights (specific to Indian context) that we have gained over time. These insights are based on our understanding and the inferences we have drawn. These may not be directly applicable in your specific set of circumstances. However, we do hope that these will help you think more in-depth about the issues that you may face in your journey of Urban Growing.
The first insight that we will cover today is the one that we have observed most commonly and has the potential to inflict the maximum damage on the success potential of a farm.
Aping the West
Agriculture in India, per se, is way behind the western world, when it comes to using technological advancements. One such technology that was promoted and supported by various Governments and vehemently abused by some unscrupulous Farmers (to misuse the subsidy system and make undue financial gains) was that of Greenhouse.
The reason for failure – aping the west. If you consider polyhouse or greenhouse technologies, their roots are in Europe. The primary reason these were created was to protect the crops from cold weather. The climate/weather profile in India is very different. Blindly copying the technology to tropical parts of the country resulted in disastrous consequences in many states. (the technology does work well in the colder climatic regions of the country)
When it comes to Vertical Farming, one can observe a similar phenomenon is taking place. Most of the vertical farming aspirants we talked to had two things in common:
1. They wanted to use LEDs
2. They wanted to grow Lettuce
The reason? Because that is what they have seen everyone doing the world over. Let us evaluate both of these in the Indian context, one by one.
1. Use of LEDs:
Take a step back and look at the problem that LEDs solve, they help you grow indoors. And why do you want to grow indoors?
a. the land cost is too high.
b. The temperature outdoors is not conducive of growing (its either sub-freezing or too hot).
c. one wants to grow in multiple vertical layers (say 10 – 15 levels at least).
In the Indian context, the first two will not hold. What LEDs will result in, in such a scenario, will be a manifold increase in the Cap-Ex and the Op-Ex, thus pushing away the break-even period further, or increasing the input cost so much that the output product becomes uncompetitive in the market.
The third reason may still be the right reason for someone to set-up an LED-based farm in India. But it is cap-ex heavy and should be pursued if one is willing to wait for a long gestation period to break-even.
2. Growing Lettuce:
It is surprising that we rarely come across any Urban Farming aspirant who does not want to grow Lettuce. The questions we like to ask is, after all, how much lettuce can Indian’s consume? People in the west grow lettuce because they eat lettuce day in and day out (as a part of salads, or sandwiches which form their staple diet). Indian’s just don’t.
If one observes carefully, one will see that the palate preferences that get developed over time, do so based on the demographic dividends. In semi-arid and desert regions of western India, when our ancestors had to travel long distances they needed the food that can stay edible for long periods in the hot environment. And you see a lot of gram flour based snacks in those cuisines (think Gujarati / Rajasthani cuisines). Similarly, in the economically lesser developed eastern parts of the country, potato served as one of the cheapest sources of quick energy, and you can see that influence even today (think Bengali Chicken biryani) in most of the eastern cuisines. Similarly, when it comes to greens, Indian palate prefers the one that can be grown in tropical regions. Lettuce is definitely not the one.
Unless India transforms into a salad eating nation or lettuce becomes a part of mainstream Indian cuisines, (think lettuce paneer instead of Palak Paneer), the market for lettuce will remain limited. In such a scenario, if all the vertical farms start producing lettuce, it will flood the market and lead to price erosion.
In order to grow lettuce or other exotics not native to Indian weather, one needs to make a significant investment in temperature control infrastructure which makes the cost excessive. You can save on those investments and keep both your Cap-Ex as well as Op-Ex considerably lower if you grow the Indian greens like spinach. (You can still grow lettuce in the winter season and command market price). Having said that, In case, you do have an assured market for the supply of lettuce that comes out of your farm (through B2B rate contracts or otherwise), please go ahead and set-up a lettuce factory. But if you are doing it just based on the assumption that you will find the market later, better go small and test the hypothesis first.
This brings us to our second observation which we will cover in the next part of this series.
Till then,
Happy Growing!
Gaurav is an entrepreneur whose first Start-up was focused on providing services to patients suffering from Chronic Diseases. While researching about the causes of lifestyle diseases and the ways to reduce their incidence, he chanced upon the idea of growing healthy and nutritious food using advanced farming techniques.
He founded CityGreens with a mission to enable City Dwellers to access Safe, Healthy and Fresh food.
US: Alabama - Container Will Grow Food For Montgomery Restaurants
The future of Montgomery fine dining scene is growing inside a freight container in a parking lot off Decatur Street. Dropped into place by a crane earlier this week, the Freight Farm container is full of vertical hydroponics farming equipment and environmental controls
Brad Harper, Nov. 20, 2019
Vintage Year owner Jud Blount, left, and Executive Chef Eric Rivera show their new hydroponic container garden that is being set up to grow fresh vegetables for the Vintage Year restaurants in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday, November 19, 2019. (Photo: Mickey Welsh)
The future of Montgomery fine dining scene is growing inside a freight container in a parking lot off Decatur Street.
Dropped into place by a crane earlier this week, the Freight Farm container is full of vertical hydroponics farming equipment and environmental controls — everything you need to grow produce inside. Another crate is on the way and will be stacked on top of the current one.
“We’ll have two different climates, one primarily to (grow) our lettuce and some of our greens, and another climate that’ll be more conducive to growing all of our fresh herbs,” Vintage Year Executive Chef Eric Rivera said. “We should be able to come out and harvest that day for the produce we need that night.”
Everything can be controlled via a phone app.
Workers lower a Freight Farm container into place on South Decatur Street in Montgomery. (Photo: Contributed)
They’ll be up and running in a few weeks, with the first harvest around the end of the year. The team behind Cloverdale’s Vintage Year plans to use the crates as the source for food at its Cloverdale restaurant, the neighboring Vintage Café, and, eventually, at the Ravello Italian restaurant that’s now under construction downtown.
The production capacity in each crate is “huge,” Rivera said. A single crate can produce 700 heads of lettuce a week, for example. They plan to send some of the food to local farmers’ markets and sell more to other restaurants here.
Jud Blount, one of the people behind Vintage Hospitality, said he was sold on the idea after talking about the problems of outdoor gardening with Auburn University Horticulture Dean Desmond Layne. It was a way to work around issues like extreme weather and pests. “This is something where 365 days a year we’ll be growing,” Blount said.
Vintage Year owner Jud Blount, left, and Executive Chef Eric Rivera show their new hydroponic container garden that is being set up to grow fresh vegetables for the Vintage Year restaurants in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday, November 19, 2019. (Photo: Mickey Welsh)
Launching the container farming business, called MGM Greens, will give them the chance to work with interns and graduate students from the Auburn horticulture department. Those students, in turn, will have “an opportunity to use a full, functioning facility, which they don’t currently have,” Rivera said.
It also opens new menu options for Rivera. He said they’ll be able to grow herbs that are entirely new to Montgomery, and they can start growing something in the container just a few weeks before it pops up on the menu at one of the restaurants.
Vintage Hospitality announced this fall that they’re opening an upscale Italian eatery in the former City Federal Savings & Loan Building at 36 Commerce Street downtown. The 1925 structure is still being redesigned and restored. Plans call for marble floors, an event space, a ballroom, a courtyard, and a wine cellar.
That opening is still more than a year away.
Vintage Year's new hydroponic container garden that is being set up to grow fresh vegetables for the Vintage Year restaurants in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday, November 19, 2019. (Photo: Mickey Welsh)
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brad Harper at bharper1@gannett.com.
Workers Grow Food And Develop Skills At Arnold Center’s Plant Factory
Arnold Center President Craig Varterian, who began this hydroponic business, called Arnold Farms after growing plants in his basement, likens the facility to a ‘plant factory’.
CHERYL WADE | NOVEMBER 07, 2019
Agencies serving people with disabilities often have piecework projects with workers packaging materials in large quantities. Locally, the Arnold Center is in their second year of a new effort to grow plants in a process that combines recycled water and gravity.
Arnold Center President Craig Varterian, who began this hydroponic business, called Arnold Farms after growing plants in his basement, likens the facility to a ‘plant factory’.
Craig Varterian, Arnold Center President.
For several years before starting Arnold Farms, Varterian read plant journals, consulted experts and grew plants in his basement, often using simple equipment and bins to hold the soil and greens. By the time Arnold Farms launched in 2018, he had done enough background research to design the hydroponic system with help from a couple of other staff members.
“We brought in parts from all over the world – China, Korea,” Varterian says, noting the necessary LED bulbs give off very intense amounts of heat and light. “With some of the parts, you can’t buy in the U.S.”
Walk down the hall toward the large indoor growing area and one quickly breathes air with notes of basil, including a sweet variety that has a little whiff of licorice. There is Genovese, an Italian basil that’s excellent for pesto, and a spicy variety from Thailand that has red stems. Arnold Farms also grows varieties of lettuce and kale, plus edible flowers such as Mexican mint.
Multiple varieties and sizes of plants means the prospect for growth and a diversity of crops that Arnold Farms can produce.
The indoor farm has approximately 6,000 square feet of space and capacity for 26,000 plants. Varterian believes the farm is one of the most advanced, high-tech facilities in Michigan. Unlike many other plant farms with much higher startup costs, Arnold Farms was built for about $500,000, primarily from grants but also from private gifts in order to provide training in a specified field for workers.
Arnold Farms also produces microgreen whicg grow just 10 to 12 days before being harvested. These plant varieties carry many more nutrients than full-grown plants, says Chandra Jewel, the intake coordinator at Arnold Center. Some of the more unusual products include amaranth, green and purple shiso – an Asian member of the mint family -- and a spicy green mix for salads. More common herbs grown include wasabi, cilantro and mint.
The indoor farm has approximately 6,000 square feet of space and capacity for 26,000 plants.
Jewel has found at least one use for the corn shoots the farms grows. She mixes the wispy, grass-like plants with taco seasoning, salsa and sour cream. “They are great to add to Mexican dishes, because they provide the corn taste,” she says.
Jewel remembers when the fledgling hydroponics business began in a room about 14 feet square, a brick-walled space that was a classroom. There were just a few trays for plants and a couple of employees. “Now we can do so much more.”
Varterian explains this experimentation with multiple varieties and sizes of plants has meant the prospect for growth and a diversity of crops that Arnold Farms can produce.
Arnold Farms also produces microgreen whicg grow just 10 to 12 days before being harvested
“We have a great opportunity to explore agricultural sustainability and we’ve got a great opportunity to create jobs for people with disabilities,” Varterian says.
Varterian didn’t get his start in the disability field. First, he owned a factory. Then, he was president of Reclaim Detroit, a blight remediation program that started with 77,000 abandoned houses. The program trained people to make furniture from the recycled wood of houses that had been torn down.
Workers wear protective suits at Arnold Farms.
“I’d been thinking of doing some version of hydroponic farms,” he says, contrasting his new profession with the old. “Life as we did it (working with demolished houses and used wood) was unsustainable.”
Varterian spent years working to employ people, but knew nothing about running a disability-related organization. Still, he says, he’s always been up to a challenge. Recycling practices, which had been a practice for decades, would provide the renewable resource of plants and possibilities for expansion.
“How many times in your life do you get the chance to take over an organization where you could do something meaningful and make something exciting happen?” he says.
Microgreens are harvested after 10-12 days.
Facilities that traditionally provided supported employment or ‘sheltered workshops’ as they are sometimes described are moving away from piecework for large companies and toward providing people with jobs that pay at least minimum wage and give them training that also prepares them to eventually work outside the facility.
As employment needs change, sometimes the amount and type of work changes for people whose work is confined to a rehabilitation facility, leading to a drop in the amount of work contracted. Varterian said 60 to 70 percent of Arnold Center workers are working at jobs outside the center, and that also means their employers are required to pay them minimum wage.
Racks of produce inside Arnold Farms.
Another 12 to 14 full- and part-time employees work at the indoor farm. They monitor the pumps, which dispense nutrients as they are needed. They transfer plants from germination to seedling stage and later to the area where plants grow to their desired size and are harvested.
Plants are then packed into bags or clam shell containers for delivery to stores and restaurants that will use them. Local restaurant customers include Midland Country Club, Gratzi, Pizza Baker and Whine. Stores include Jack’s Fruit and Meat Market and LaLonde’s Market as well as several Bay City businesses.
“Arnold Farms staffers have sold their products at the Midland Area Farmers Market but now have ceased for the season”, Varterian says.
12 to 14 full- and part-time employees work at the indoor farm.
Although he’s aware that individuals might want to buy produce throughout the year, this is a farm and it’s not set up for individual orders.
“We’re focused mainly on training rather than commercialization,” he says.
At some point, the farm might have its own market day apart from the Midland Area Farmers Market, when staff could sell the products.
Joe Allen, who used to work on the Arnold Center’s floor, says he loves his job at the farms. Not only does he harvest and plant, but he helps with accounting tasks.
“They gave me employment and a safe, secure environment,” he says. “I like working with something that grows, something that’s planted, something to watch. And we’re always learning.”
Arnold farms supplies many area restaurants and stores as well as the farmers market.
Robert Goulette has worked at the farm for 10 months. Although he can use just one hand due to his cerebral palsy, Goulette says his disability doesn’t hold him back and he does everything he can. Varterian calls him “one of our rock stars” because he works hard and fast.
Workers need to keep close eyes on the plants, transferring them as they grow and making sure trays and other equipment are washed. Plants are stacked in trays up to five or six levels high. Gravity takes water down through the stacks; then it’s pumped back up to begin the process again.
“I’d like to see people with disabilities as leaders around the country in this type of farming."
Arnold Farms uses no pesticides, and Varterian likes to call the facilities plants ‘purer than organic’. Plants are germinated in a something called a clean room, which requires workers to use gowns so germs don’t come into the facility on their clothes.
What’s Varterian’s dream for the future of Arnold Farms? He’d like to employ this kind of farming around the country, especially in ‘food deserts’ where food isn’t easily accessible.
“I’d like to see people with disabilities as leaders around the country in this type of farming,” he adds.
A Better Use For Sprawling, Big-Box Store Parking Lots? Urban Farms
A typical parking lot at a big-box store, sprawling over several acres, is empty most of the time. With a new design called Car Parks 2.0, the French design firm Studio NAB shows how that space could be reimagined as an urban farm, with a little room left at the side for charging electric cars from onsite solar panels
11.11.19
This Conceptual Design Reimagines The
Parking Lot As Something More Productive
1/12 [Image: Studio NAB]
A typical parking lot at a big-box store, sprawling over several acres, is empty most of the time. With a new design called Car Parks 2.0, the French design firm Studio NAB shows how that space could be reimagined as an urban farm, with a little room left at the side for charging electric cars from onsite solar panels.
“To tackle the problems facing humanity, we must attack the symbols that made us presently in this situation,” says Studio NAB founder and creative director Nicolas Abdelkader. “The parking lot, and especially [supercenter] parking, is one of these symbols, with all that that entails: automotive activity, overconsumption, irrational urbanism.”
[Image: Studio NAB] - To View Video, Please Click Here
The design strips away asphalt to bring life back to the soil trapped underneath it. In one section, greenhouses and fruit trees grow produce that can be supplied directly to the neighboring store—a little like the model used by the urban farming company Gotham Greens, which grows produce in a greenhouse on a Whole Foods rooftop at one of its locations.
Abdelkader also envisions produce being delivered to nearby homes by cargo bike. In another section, former parking spaces are converted into shared garden plots for people living in the area. In the final section, some parking spaces remain—but even here, the asphalt has been replaced by green space that can help sequester CO2 and absorb rainwater. An algae-filled awning over the cars sequesters more carbon and generates electricity for car chargers.
The idea might be appealing to retailers—losing business to Amazon and other online retailers—that want to give customers more reasons to visit. In the U.S., some big-box retailers are realizing that their parking lots are oversized and are starting to carve out room on some of the sprawl for “town hall” developments. People who might otherwise avoid Walmart or Target might be drawn to the gardens.
For cities, it’s clearly a better use of space for multiple reasons, from the mental health benefits of green space and the health benefit of freshly grown food to the potential for gardens like this to help mitigate problems like flooding and the urban “heat island” effect, where vast stretches of concrete make hot days in cities even hotter. While it’s a concept now, Abdelkader hopes to partner with cities and stores that want “to change sterile spaces into ‘living’ and productive spaces,” he says.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adele Peters is a staff writer at Fast Company who focuses on solutions to some of the world's largest problems, from climate change to homelessness. Previously, she worked with GOOD, BioLite, and the Sustainable Products and Solutions program at UC Berkeley, and contributed to the second edition of the bestselling book "Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century." More
The Cube Root of Farming - Freeport Company Grows Crops In Containers
Homegrown, totally organic crops is the vision Freeport-based Cube Root has for transforming TT’s agricultural sector by using technology to develop indoor farms. Cube Root recently held an exposition for investors and customers at its headquarters, where it introduced the concept of a specially constructed container featuring an enclosed, climate-controlled environment
Thursday 7 November 2019
Homegrown, totally organic crops is the vision Freeport-based Cube Root has for transforming TT’s agricultural sector by using technology to develop indoor farms.
Cube Root recently held an exposition for investors and customers at its headquarters, where it introduced the concept of a specially constructed container featuring an enclosed, climate-controlled environment.
Managing director Hamlyn Holder said each farm container is capable of producing kale, strawberries, lettuce or 100 different types of crops.
The investment required is an estimated $350,000, which can be paid off in instalments as a farmer simultaneously produces crops for sale.“A $350,000 investment is a high capital investment, but if you look at the operational expenditure and the returns you will get once you sell the produce, it becomes an economical model at that point,” he said. “If you look at the engineering, there is a consistency in growth, and if you compare the economics package to that of imported technologies, ours is very economical.”
Cube Root Farms’ managing director Hamlyn Holder checks on crops in the Cube Root container farm in Freeport. - MARVIN HAMILTON
Financing, he said, is available from institutions such as the Agricultural Development Bank.
In an interview with Business Day, Holder said there are many benefits to using this type of technology, including its being in an environment where farmers can control the impact of the elements and theft.
“In an open farm there are things like pests, weather, praedial larceny and other...factors. But here it is totally enclosed and controlled and you are able to see how your plants are growing remotely – also over the net, through an app on the phone.
“This type of technology offers a much more controlled environment to avoid any uncertainty when it comes to diseases and pests that may wreak havoc on your plants or fields."
The interior of a Cube Root container. According to the company, each farm, which is enclosed and can be controlled, is capable of producing a variety of crop, even those not usually grown in the region. - MARVIN HAMILTON
It also allows farmers to grow crops that are not local to the region.
“Technically there aren’t many indoor farms in 100-per-cent closed-environment agriculture. We are probably, in the Caribbean, the only manufacturer to manufacture from scratch our own container farm. We can grow from kale to strawberries to cherry tomatoes.
"We have done many trials throughout the last year, so we are comfortable at this point that the technology can give that consistency, so it’s basically limitless.
"The only thing we can’t grow is big trees at this point – but seasonings, flowers, fruits: we can do that.”
According to Cube Root managing director Hamlyn Holder, the farm container can produce kale and lettuce among as well as many other crops. - MARVIN HAMILTON
Holder said one of the company's goals for 2020 is the manufacture of seven container farms for new investors. He said it would also work alongside customers to ensure that events such as a glut of the produce do not take place.
“We also market the product so there is no glut on the market. We are trying to work with customers so that everybody grows and it is sustainable for the business model.”
He said a single farm can produce over 2,000 heads of lettuce twice monthly or once a month depending on demand.
Holder said the technology also ensures that no pesticides are used in the farming process, which instead uses an organic-based nutrient called Azomite and LED lighting systems.
Azomite, according to online sources, is a natural mineral substance that is mined from the desert in Utah and can be used as an agricultural fertilizer and/or soil amendment product.“We are striving for zero pesticides. Our technology is offering the option of zero pesticides (and) protection against bacteria, aphids, and fungus.”
Thursday 7 November 2019 Richardson Dhalai
The Ultimate Farming Tool Is Data
The agricultural food production mechanisms and their tight dependency on nature have always left little room for operational agility. Now, thanks to Agritech, and more specifically, data, farmers can meet supply and demand efficiently, and reduce losses and uncertainty from plagues and bad weather
Data Is Shaking Up The Current Food Production Mechanisms
The agricultural food production mechanisms and their tight dependency on nature have always left little room for operational agility. Now, thanks to Agritech, and more specifically, data, farmers can meet supply and demand efficiently, and reduce losses and uncertainty from plagues and bad weather.
When we look at Agritech, there are broadly two ways in which startups are making farmers’ life easier: reengineering the products or optimizing the creation of the existing products. The first is more focused on R&D — what the Beyond Burger has been doing — and the latter is more focused on data processing and analytics.
By now, everyone is quite aware of the existence of food substitutes for meat and so on, thanks to the news coverage of the Beyond Burger lucrative IPO and its controversial nature — meatless meat, everyone! What people are not as aware of are data-intensive companies aiming at solving modern food supply problems in creative ways.
Farming is becoming data-intensive
Agritech software is allowing farmers to utilize data to boost their sales, predict the value of their crops before harvesting, and remove the uncertainty that plagues and lousy weather brings to plants; software puts the farmer in control. By gathering farming data, AI models allow farmers to understand the value and opportunities of their crops better.
Which are the companies that are empowering farmers all around? There’s a big chunk of them coming from Israel — a country characterized by their solvency when faced with agricultural adversities. One of the most notorious is Taranis, a four-year-old Tel Aviv based startup utilizing the data pulled from drones surveilling fields to predict and prevent crop diseases and pest losses. It can envision the health of the crops, detect insects and weeds early, growth problems, and many other actionable quandaries.
Also, coming from Israel, we got Prospera Technologies. The company pulls data from the farmer’s crops and also uses macroeconomic data pulled from the web. The software manipulates this data so that the farmer can visually track supply and demand balances, and in this way, plan ahead of the market. This solution enhances the sales team of farmer companies, with an outstanding 95% of accuracy. The company was founded in 2014 and has already raised a total of $22M after its recent Series B.
Guy Galonska, CTO and Co-Founder at Infarm (left) & Erez Galonska, CEO and Co-Founder at Infarm (right) — Picture originally posted at Freunde von Freunden
Startups are also tackling the adverse effects of transport of these short-lived products. Coming from Berlin, we got Infarm, an urban farming services company that develops farming tech in grocery stores, restaurants, and local distribution centers.
Infarm is developing smart farms in cities: vertical farms inside of supermarkets, restaurants, and so on, from where customers can get fresh vegetable produces. Each of these farms connects to the cloud allowing Infarms biologists, agronomists, and engineers to understand the growth and health of plants and use the data to continually adjust and improve the conditions under which the plants grow in real-time. The results are healthy and fresh grown plants that have removed the negative externalities of transport.
According to Infarm, given that 7 billion people will be living in urban centers by 2050, the ability to use the city landscape for vibrant, sustainable agriculture will be a fundamental step to ensuring sustainable cities and a sustainable future.
I spoke to the co-founders of Infarm, the Galonska brothers. Guy Galonska, CTO at Infarm, gave me his take on why data is a game-changer in the agricultural and food production space. “Data is providing an unbiased look into the inner workings of how crops grow, and it gives valuable insight into what can be done better.” As he puts it, infrastructure has been the leading enabler. “The combination of increased computing power & mobile connectivity have an immense potential to drive much-needed optimization across the entire supply chain.”
Software is now feeding the world.
— Guy Galonska, CTO & Co-Founder at Infarm
After raising a $100M Series B funding round this past June, led by Atomico, Infarm is now expanding globally, to bring smart and quality-efficient farming to a global scale. As Guy Galonska puts it, “Software is now feeding the world.”
What’s next
Some may argue that Agritech and Foodtech look more impressive on the food R&D-intensive side — it’s thrilling to envision new products that replace the traditional ones; it allows business processes to leap exponentially. Nevertheless, agricultural automatization and data analytics can have a positive impact by turning farming smart. Even though the advances may seem at first marginal, taking the uncertainty of climate change or plagues out of the equation and having a better knowledge of the state of their product is a big game-changer for farmers.
The Second Generation of Vertical Farming Is Approaching. Here’s Why It’s Important
Current market prices for 1 kg of leafy greens are around $33 for vertically-grown produce and $23 for organic produce. As vertical farms invest and employ higher levels of technology, they will be able to increase their competitive advantage by driving down costs and prices
November 4, 2019
Editor’s Note: Boaz Toledano is a business consultant specializing in vertical farming and other agtech markets. His website is: www.EconoMind.co. Here he writes about how vertical farming is progressing into its next stage. Disclosure: Toledano independently included mention of one of the AgFunder’s portfolio companies IGS (Intelligent Growth Solutions).
Vertical farming practitioners claim to be pioneering the third agricultural revolution.
Vertical farming is the practice of growing produce in vertical stacks using soil, hydroponics or aeroponics to deliver water and nutrients to the plants.
With seemingly higher-quality produce that is grown efficiently, locally and with a potentially lower environmental footprint, the industry appears to be a promising answer to the rising need for sustainable farming methods.
The market was valued at $2.3 billion in 2018 and investments grew significantly from $60 million in 2015 & 2016 to $414 million in 2017 & 2018. What’s less commonly known, however, are the challenges vertical farming companies face and the prospects of overcoming them in order to establish the viability of this industry.
Want to invest in the foodtech and agtech revolution?
Join Us! Sign up for our Asia fund here.
Not surprisingly, capital expenditure (CAPEX) is high. A smallscale, low-tech vertical farm employing 1st generation technology (more on this later) can cost around $280 thousand to start. However, when we consider the more complex operations, those that employ 2nd generation technologies, the setup costs may surpass $15 million.
In order to understand why these figures are so high, we must first understand the difference between the two generations of vertical farming technologies, and why the transition between the 1st and the 2nd is the most important process in this industry’s short history.
First-generation technology enables the basic functions of a vertical farm to occur without the constant intervention of human operators. Second-generation technology enables the growing process to not only be automated but also be continuously optimized to the requirements of the plants being grown. These two generations can be further divided into five levels, detailed below. Generally, the more a company has advanced down these levels, the better its competitive advantage.
When vertical farms were being established around the world about a decade ago, they employed 1st generation technology. These operations showed it was possible to grow food — and other plants — in vertical structures, thus enabling a more efficient use of land. On average, 2nd generation vertical farms yield 55 times more produce per unit of area compared with conventional farms. For the first time in modern history, food could be grown in cities, where it is eaten.
It has also become possible to remove problematic sections of our food supply chain, for instance, transportation and the pollution that goes with it, excessive packaging and preservatives. Also, we could finally reconnect to the source of (some) of our food, a privilege that was removed from our lives around the 17th century, when the Second Agricultural Revolution — also known as the British Agricultural Revolution — sparked the industrial revolution that led to mass urbanization.
Next, vertical farms had to prove their economic viability. Virtually the only way companies were able to become profitable is by using technology to cut down on the high operating expenses (OPEX), which mainly consist of lighting and labor (~30% of OPEX each).
Enter 2nd generation technology.
In a vertical farm, LEDs (light-emitting diodes), which provide light to the plants, are more efficient than other forms of artificial lighting that were used in the past (fluorescent and incandescent), resulting in lower operating costs. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), LED lighting efficiency is expected to increase by an extra 70% by 2030. The pricepoint also continues to drop.
Labor expenses will be tackled by automation. Many startups and some capital-backed growers are developing technologies to help vertical farms reduce their dependence on human labor, with remarkable achievements. A noteworthy example is IGS (Intelligent Growth Solutions), which has developed an automated system that enables highly efficient production using modular structures. The company claims to have reduced labor by up to 80% and power by up to 50%. Its plan is to sell its technology to companies that want to improve the efficiency of their vertical farms’ operations.
Another example is Plenty, an industry leader and one of the best-funded vertical farming groups globally, which was able to improve the energetic efficiency of its newest facility, Tigris Farm, fivefold, compared with its previous facility. Though quite secretive, we now know that the company uses plant management automation to transfer its growing towers around the warehouse, as well as harvesting automation.
These are examples of the OPEX reduction trends the industry is seeing. Lighting improvements should reduce OPEX by 12%, and automation should cut OPEX by a further 20%+.
Since vertical farms have thus far introduced mediocre returns on investment (ROIs), these reductions in OPEX are crucial for the industry to prove itself to investors, governments, and companies considering entering the market. Although CAPEX will remain high compared with conventional and organic farming, the 30%+ expected reduction in OPEX makes a compelling case for vertical farming.
Current market prices for 1 kg of leafy greens are around $33 for vertically-grown produce and $23 for organic produce. As vertical farms invest and employ higher levels of technology, they will be able to increase their competitive advantage by driving down costs and prices. Eventually, I believe, they will be able to compete with organic producers, who last year operated in a $100 billion market.
Chinese Farmers Pursue Dream of Gobi Farming
Despite the harsh environment, farming in the Gobi desert has its advantages: The extended amount of sunlight provides adequate energy for crops, a significant temperature difference between day and night helps crops accumulate nutrients and the Gobi's hot and dry air means fewer pests and crop disease
Source: Xinhua| 2019-11-02 Editor: huaxia
A Gobi farming program has proved to be both productive and eco-friendly in the face of environmental adversity in northwest China.
LANZHOU, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Fan Lide, 42, used to be a taxi driver. He is now the owner of 36 greenhouses producing organic vegetables in the barren Gobi desert in northwest China's Gansu Province, and his business has been expanding over the past 10 years.
"Being a taxi driver, you have to work long hours every day. In the end, you have to pay a bulk of the revenue for renting the car. Now I'm even busier, but I work for myself and am much better off," Fan said.
Fan is one of the beneficiaries of the Gobi Farming Program of the Gansu Province that is building rows of greenhouses in the desert to help transform local farming and alleviate poverty.
Grain production in Gansu, which has more than 6.7 million hectares of Gobi desert and 12 million hectares of sandy land, is greatly affected by the climate and the output is unstable.
Agricultural production there relies heavily on rivers, oases and groundwater irrigation. If traditional extensive agricultural production continued, it could gradually narrow the living space.
Fan Lide examines the growth status of cucumbers in the greenhouse at Jiuquan city, northwest China's Gansu Province, Oct. 22, 2019.(Xinhua/Ma Ning)
In 1995, Song Younian, an entrepreneur of the city of Zhangye in central Gansu, ventured to use Israeli technologies to build greenhouses for vegetables growing in the desert.
Such individual pilot projects encouraged the Gansu government to launch a provincial-level Gobi farming program in 2017 with a target to build up controlled-environment agriculture of about 20,000 hectares by 2022. Some cities in the province, such as Zhangye and Jiuquan, where Fan's village is located, have already been experimenting with Gobi farming for several years.
Despite the harsh environment, farming in the Gobi desert has its advantages: The extended amount of sunlight provides adequate energy for crops, a significant temperature difference between day and night helps crops accumulate nutrients and the Gobi's hot and dry air means fewer pests and crop diseases.
The Gobi greenhouses popping up in Gansu use drip and spray irrigation, which can cut water consumption by almost 50 percent compared to a normal farm, according to Yan Shengjun, an agricultural adviser who serves as a consultant for local farmers such as Fan.
The greenhouses are also eco-friendly, as they use substrates for soilless cultivation recycled from rotten leaves, straw and cow and sheep feces.
A staffer checks the status of vegetables in the greenhouse at Jiuquan city, northwest China's Gansu Province, Oct. 22, 2019.(Xinhua/Ma Ning)
"Each hectare of the greenhouses can recycle around 600 cubic meters of agricultural waste," Yan said, "The waste serves as organic fertilizer, helping improve the quality of the vegetables."
With the greenhouses, Fan earns around 70,000 yuan (9,950 U.S. dollars) annually.
"Vegetables produced in the greenhouses are harvested twice or three times a year. As organic food gets more popular in the market, our income also increases," Fan said.
Data from Suzhou District of Jiuquan showed the greenhouse program has helped bring an average revenue of about 72,300 U.S. dollars per hectare to local farmers.
Large-scale greenhouse farming is an investment-intensive project and cannot be sustained only by government financial support. Therefore, the local government has been encouraging villagers such as Fan to take the lead to rent greenhouses or build their own, supported by financing packages provided by financial institutions.
It is not an easy task, and many villagers still want to wait and see. However, more and more are starting to join in, either to run their own greenhouses or work as hired workers for greenhouse owners.
Starting from managing four greenhouses in 2009, Fan now is also a partner of a greenhouse farming cooperative running 120 greenhouses.
Aerial photo taken on Oct. 22, 2019 shows greenhouses at the foot of Qialian Mountain, Jiuquan city, northwest China's Gansu Province.(Xinhua/Ma Ning)
The relatively low cost of large-scale land use in the Gobi desert, as well as government financial support, have also encouraged large firms to start their Gobi farming pilot projects in Gansu, forming a promising partnership of government, enterprises, cooperatives, and local villagers.
Local officials said if the Gobi farming proves successful, it could provide experiences for countries in Central Asia linked with Gansu both by the Ancient Silk Road as well as its modern version of the Belt and Road Initiative. ■
Bowery CEO: Building Tech Is Expensive, Takes Time But Has Direct Impact On Economics of Vertical Farming
Bowery Farming, the New York-based vertical farming startup that counts Google, First Round Capital, and famous chef Tom Collichio as investors, has just raised an extra $50 million as an extension to its Series B. Temasek, Singapore’s state fund, led the extension with participation from Henry Kravis, the founder of private equity giant KKR
November 12, 2019
Bowery Farming, the New York-based vertical farming startup that counts Google, First Round Capital, and famous chef Tom Collichio as investors, has just raised an extra $50 million as an extension to its Series B. Temasek, Singapore’s state fund, led the extension with participation from Henry Kravis, the founder of private equity giant KKR.
Temasek invested in the first tranche of the Series B and was taking advantage of its seat at the table to preemptively invest more into the company on the back of Bowery’s growing commercial success, said CEO Irving Fain, adding that he wasn’t looking for more funding; the company has raised $172.5 million to date. “To their credit, they are phenomenal partners and this deal closed at a nice place from a valuation perspective for us. They have a very strong conviction about this space, both because of the macro trends but also after spending a lot of time looking at [vertical farming] before choosing to invest in us.”
The big piece of news coming with the funding announcement was the launch of Bowery’s third farm, a facility in Baltimore that is 3.5 times larger than its last in New Jersey. The farm is already operational and will be selling greens in the New Year, Fain told AFN.
Why Baltimore? From a population perspective, it can serve 26 million people within a 150-mile radius from its location, which is a transportation hub. And the company will be able to hire a workforce from within the community, which Fain says has always been important to them.
Fun fact: the exact location, White Marsh, used to have a farm many moons ago, so Fain likes the idea that Bowery is bringing the area back to its agricultural roots but in a modern way.
This round also coincides with a step-change in Bowery’s commercial activities, which Fain said have been less of a focus until now in favor of the company’s technology platform. As part of this, the company has hired Carmela Cugini as EVP of sales. Cugini comes from Walmart where she led its online grocery business after it acquired Jet.com, and also spent time leading sales divisions at Pepsi. “She’s been both a seller and a buyer at some point and that’s a unique set of skills to find,” said Fain.
Having said that, Bowery has still managed to expand its retail footprint to Whole Foods Markets, Ahold, Amazon Fresh, Jet, Westside Market, among others and recently significantly increased its deal with Whole Foods, Fain told AFN. Bowery’s greens will now appear in Whole Foods stores in all of Manhattan, Westchester, and Connecticut. Fain puts the growth in demand for Bowery produce down to two critical consumer trends that are gathering pace rapidly: the demand for local food and food grown with sustainable farming practices.
Tell us about the tech!
Meeting the growing demand for indoor-grown food has been a challenge for many in the vertical farming industry; the high costs associated with building new facilities and the struggles to find the right talent have been some of the key challenges in scaling this industry. For Bowery, building its internal technology platform has been key to its strategy of “thoughtful scaling,” said Fain.
“With each new farm we’ve opened, we’ve made meaningful improvements and steps forward in the technology, taking time to learn and understand what’s working well and what needs to improve,” he said.
Dubbed BoweryOS, the firm’s technology platform combines sensors, control systems, computer vision, robotics, and machine learning to optimize many of the processes around the farm, making the overall operation more efficient in terms of labor and costs. Not only can it do some of the tasks humans would have previously done such as monitoring and altering the environment or moving plants around the facility, but its machine learning and software platform can also guide workers on what to do and when such as identifying plants ready for harvest and harvesting.
“This means the workforce can look and resemble an Amazon fulfillment center; they don’t need to have grown a crop or have familiarity with farming,” said Fain. The company recently hired Caralyn Cooley as chief people officer, who was also previously with Jet.com, Amazon, and Pepsi. Cooley has deep experience working with an hourly workforce and the types of workers Bowery will be looking for in its farms in terms of experience and salary, said Fain.
Bowery wouldn’t disclose how much of the $170 million-odd raised has been spent on its technology platform — although we know it to be significant — but Fain said its a critical part of the company’s success.
“Building technology is hard, it’s expensive, and it takes time, but the tech you use in indoor ag has a direct and clear impact on the economics of the business you’re creating, the varieties you can grow, and the efficiencies you can generate and we realized this early on,” he said.
As Boaz Toledano recently wrote in a very popular AFN post, this type of second-generation indoor ag technology can enable vertical farms to yield 55 times more than first-generation vertical farms where tasks such as controlling lighting, heat and Co2 were automated to some extent but not optimized with data analysis.
Asked why they decided to build it in-house instead of deploying third-party technology that would have been cheaper, Fain said the ability to control and own the technology meant they could iterate on it and optimize at a very fast rate, unreliant on other vendors to make changes and updates. “The ability to create tech specifically for our system and ecosystem provides enormous efficiencies from farm to farm,” he said of the benefits of internal tech in scaling the company to multiple farms.
But Bowery emphasized that technology is still just one piece of the business; “scaling for Bowery is more than just evolving technology or rapidly opening new farms in new cities – it also means investing in agricultural science and R&D, and hiring top talent across the organization to support this continued growth. All of these factors (and more) ensure the brand can continue expanding their farm network and distribution footprint in 2020, and beyond,” the company said in a statement.
The agricultural science team, under Susan McIsaac, a plant biology Ph.D., is looking at optimizing and improving the varieties of vegetables the company grows today and researching new ones including new species across root vegetables, vine crops, and fruiting crops. Using BoweryOS data, it also suggests detailed tweaks to how to grow different crops and is looking at “how to push the boundaries in conjunction with the farm design team.” It’s not considering gene editing at this stage though, unlike some others in the space that recently created the Precision Indoor Plants (PIP) Consortium.
The Importance of Using Organic Fertilizers For Plant Nutrition In Contemporary Agriculture And Gardening
Currently, many people are using containers such as pots, flower boxes, raised garden beds, window boxes, and others to grow fruit-bearing plants, salad, and root vegetables and herbs, both in agriculture and urban gardening
October 24, 2019
António Rodrigues
CEO at Minigarden, Join the Urban Green Revolution
Currently, many people are using containers such as pots, flower boxes, raised garden beds, window boxes, and others to grow fruit-bearing plants, salad, and root vegetables and herbs, both in agriculture and urban gardening.
Nowadays there are many plant-growing solutions for spaces where there is no soil, such as balconies, terraces, and roofs, indoors in homes and offices, or in areas where soils are contaminated.
It is good to see that the growing of plants in such spaces is increasingly becoming a reality worldwide; this is the “Urban Green Revolution” in motion.
As an alternative to traditional soil, potting soil is now making an appearance as a medium in which to grow plants. It is available on the market in increasingly specialized formats in terms of its physical, chemical and organic qualities. This means that, unlike normal soil, we can choose the most appropriate growing medium for the roots of the plants we want to grow, directly influencing their growth, health and even their taste.
However, both potting soil and normal soil need care to remain productive. One of the most important steps is fertilizing the soil since this ensures plant nutrition. This is where I would like to talk about our latest product, the Minigarden Grow Up Pure Organic 1 L.
It is a high-quality concentrated liquid universal plant fertilizer, certified for use in organic farming. Produced from organic farm manure by vermicomposting using red Californian earthworms, this new fertilizer provides a response to the growing demand for 100% natural products.
It can be used in a wide range of circumstances and is just as suitable as a soil fertilizer for professional organic farmers as it is for home gardeners growing plants in an ordinary pot on a balcony.
In any case, whether you are using Minigarden Grow Up Pure Organic 1 L in normal soil or potting soil, the recommended dilution ratio is 5 ml of concentrate for each litre of water for watering.
This ensures that the nutrients consumed by the plant in the meantime are replenished in the form of a natural blend of nitrogen (N), phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5) and potassium oxide (K2O). However, nutrients are of little use if there is no replenishment of organic matter and this is precisely where this fertiliser makes all the difference. The Minigarden Grow Up Pure Organic 1 L contains organic matter in the form of humic substances (10g / litre). By replenishing organic matter, whether in normal soil or potting soil, we are directly or indirectly promoting the absorption of nutrients by the plant, thereby fostering its growth and development.
Humic substances in both normal soil and potting soil bring many other benefits too, such as increasing water retention capacity and reducing the tendency for compaction, to name just two examples.
Remember, as well as watering, quality nourishment is also essential for plants to grow strong and healthy. Try Minigarden Grow Up Pure Organic 1L now! Available from Minigarden’s official online shop or from Amazon.
Published by
António Rodrigues CEO at Minigarden,
Organic Fertiliser hashtag#organic hashtag#fertiliser hashtag#organicgrowth hashtag#organicfarming hashtag#soil hashtag#minigarden hashtag#urbangreenning
US (PA): State-Funded Aquaponics Lab Teaches Students About Science And Leadership
West Shore School District students led Governor Tom Wolf on a tour of a new aquaponics lab at Cedar Cliff High School. Funded with a $250,000 grant awarded by the Wolf administration, the new lab provides hands-on learning for students across the school district to develop skills in science, business, and leadership
West Shore School District students led Governor Tom Wolf on a tour of a new aquaponics lab at Cedar Cliff High School. Funded with a $250,000 grant awarded by the Wolf administration, the new lab provides hands-on learning for students across the school district to develop skills in science, business and leadership.
“This new lab goes beyond teaching students about aquaculture and hydroponics to creating opportunities to learn about leadership, technology, and marketing,” said Governor Wolf. “This is another example of the workforce development strategies my administration is supporting to prepare future generations with the knowledge and skills to succeed and make Pennsylvania an attractive place for growing and emerging industries to do business.”
The indoor lab constructed at the high school last summer combines conventional aquaculture, such as raising fish and other aquatic animals in tanks, and hydroponics, the production of plants in water rather than soil, into a symbiotic system used to grow fish, fruits, vegetables, feedstock, and other plant products all year.
Students from all 14 West Shore School District schools will use the lab to learn about plant propagation, food production, and hydroponic plant growth. High school students are also using the lab for research in plant lighting manipulation, propagation techniques, crop rotation studies, and fish breeding and rearing practices.
The aquaponics lab was one of 16 projects that received a total of $3.5 million in Strategic Innovation grants from the Department of Labor & Industry. The grants are awarded through Local Workforce Development Boards.
“The Aquaponics Lab at Cedar Cliff High School is a catalyst for district-wide STEAM experiences and hands-on learning opportunities,” said West Shore School District Superintendent Dr. Todd Stoltz. “The investment made by the Department of Labor & Industry in our students’ future extends beyond aquaponics. We now have a variety of opportunities available not only to those students interested in a career in science, but also communications, education, technology, marketing, and finance. The impact this program is having on students individually and collectively, and in our local community, perhaps even global community, is a great source of district pride.”
Investing in science and technology education is a priority for Governor Wolf. In addition to Strategic Innovation Grants, the governor launched the PAsmart workforce development initiative and secured $70 million over two years. PAsmart is providing $40 million for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning and computer science programs, and $30 million for apprenticeships and job training programs.
Pennsylvania now ranks second in the nation for investments in computer science education and is third in the number of nationally recognized STEM ecosystems.
For more information:
www.governor.pa.gov
Publication date: Thu 14 Nov 2019
€5 Million For Dutch Vertical Farming Research
"The increasing world population needs to be fed, while more and more people live in cities, there is often too little water, and we want our vegetables to have more and more nutritional value”
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) is to receive more than €8 million from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and participating bodies for two major research programs, one involving tower garden systems using LEDs and the other focusing on improvements in the welfare of pigs and chickens. A third project, with WUR as a partner, is about sustainable freshwater management in the Dutch delta.
The recipients of the so-called Perspectief round 2019 funding were announced during the annual ‘Teknowlogy’ event hosted by NWO’s Applied and Engineering Sciences domain.
Tower gardens using LEDs
Sky High, a research program led by Professor of Horticulture & Product Physiology Leo Marcelis, which aims to bring about a revolution in vertical farming, received a total grant of €5 million.
"The increasing world population needs to be fed, while more and more people live in cities, there is often too little water, and we want our vegetables to have more and more nutritional value. By growing plants in layers on top of each other and illuminating them with special LED lights, you can produce fresh vegetables all year round, anywhere in the world, and under all weather and climate conditions," says program leader Prof. Leo Marcelis.
Researchers working on the Sky High program will cooperate with lighting specialists, plant breeding companies, growers, horticultural technology companies, architects and food suppliers to make vertical agriculture systems cheaper and more energy-efficient. Another aim is to produce vegetables and herbs that taste better, have longer shelf lives and provide more nutritional value, while using the absolute minimum of water and fertilizers and no pesticides.
Other participants
Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS), Bayer, Bosman Van Zaal, Certhon, Fresh Forward, Grodan, GrowX, HAS University of Applied Sciences, OneFarm, Own Greens, Priva, Signify (Philips Lighting), Solynta, TU Delft, Eindhoven University of Technology, Unilever, Leiden University, Utrecht University, University of Amsterdam, and Van Bergen Kolpa Architecten.
Source: Wageningen University & Research
Publication date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
From Bomb Shelter To farm: The Latest Food Revolution
When you think of growing anything ‘underground’, the first thing you may envisage is some kind of criminal activity. But, there’s a food innovation gaining traction around the world, specially in London, and while it might be coming from beneath the streets, it’s all above board
14 Nov 2019
Sponsored by KETTO
Food for thought
When you think of growing anything ‘underground’, the first thing you may envisage is some kind of criminal activity. But, there’s a food innovation gaining traction around the world, specially in London, and while it might be coming from beneath the streets, it’s all above board.
Here's what you need to know about the latest underground food revolution...
Growing Underground
The fully-working Growing Underground farm is located 33 metres beneath the busy streets of Clapham, in the abandoned tunnels of a former World War II air-raid shelter.
The urban farm covering 65,000 square feet lie 120 feet under Clapham High street and are home to 'Growing Underground', the UK’s first underground farm. The farms produce includes pea shoots, rocket, wasabi mustard, red basil and red amaranth, pink stem radish, garlic chives, fennel and coriander, and supply to restaurants across London.
Salad without soil?
Urban farmers, Richard Ballard and Steven Dring are using the latest hydroponic systems and LED technology to grow fresh microgreens and salad leaves, in a stable, sustainable and pesticide-free environment.
A spigot supplies nutrients and water to the roots of the plants and artificial light and warmth is provided by LED lighting. The site is powered with renewable energy.
Instead of using soil, seeds are planted into mats made out of old carpet offcuts. Once the seeds germinate, they are put under lights to mimic sunlight.
Science behind the sprouts
So what is hydroponics? According to the Royal Horticultural Society, it is “the science of growing plants without using soil, by feeding them on mineral nutrient salts dissolved in water.”
Hydroponics does not use soil, instead, the root system is supported using an inert medium such as perlite, Rockwool, clay pellets, peat moss, or vermiculite.
Location, location, location
Its central London location is convenient to distribute the vegetables to hotels, restaurants and shops, reducing the food miles for businesses and consumers. The farm also boasts using 77% less water than conventional agricultural methods.
The system is completely unaffected by the weather and seasonal changes, which means they can be grown 356 days a year.
All photos: Getty Images
BREAKING NEWS: Another Multistate E. coli Outbreak is Linked To Lettuce
The FDA is warning consumers against eating any romaine lettuce harvested from Salinas, California. The CDC is now reporting 40 people infected with the outbreak strain from 16 states, hospitalizing 28 of them
AUTHOR Cathy Siegner
Nov. 22, 2019
UPDATE: Nov. 22, 2019: The FDA is warning consumers against eating any romaine lettuce harvested from Salinas, California. The CDC is now reporting 40 people infected with the outbreak strain from 16 states, hospitalizing 28 of them.
Dive Brief:
Another E. coli outbreak linked to lettuce has sickened 17 people in eight states, hospitalizing seven of them, according to a Nov. 21 Investigation Notice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC said Maryland Department of Health officials found E. coli O157 in an unopened package of Ready Pac Foods Bistro Chicken Caesar Salad taken from a sick person’s home. Some of the sickened people in Maryland reported eating that product, while those in other states have not, the agency said.
On Nov. 21, Missa Bay, LLC, of Swedesboro, New Jersey, recalled 75,233 pounds of salad products sold under various brand names due to possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination. The CDC said the recalled products, which have "Use By" dates ranging from Oct. 29, 2019, to Nov. 1, 2019, contained lettuce from the same lot used to make the contaminated salad found in Maryland.
Higher education is a great way to enhance your skills, earn more money and stay competitive in the business world. Discover five reasons why pursuing an advanced degree can help you launch forward and boost your career at any level.
Dive Insight:
The CDC announced this latest outbreak more quickly than the last major incident — an E. coli outbreak associated with romaine lettuce that sickened 23 people in 12 states between July 12 and Sept. 8. Illnesses were reported from Sept. 24 to Nov. 8, the CDC said, and the agency's announcement came Oct. 31.
The FDA posted its own announcement Nov. 21, noting it was tracing back the supply of romaine lettuce in the Caesar salad product and had identified possible farm sources in Salinas, California. The agency also said it was sending investigators to determine the source and extent of contamination and would provide more information as it is uncovered.
Most of the recalled salad products were made with romaine, but a few also contained iceberg lettuce. The contaminated Ready Pac Foods Bistro Chicken Caesar Salad in Maryland only contained romaine. The CDC said Maryland health officials are using whole-genome sequencing to determine whether the pathogen they found is closely related genetically to the one that has sickened people.
Bonduelle Fresh Americas, which owns the Ready Pac brand, said in a Nov. 21 statement posted on its website the recalled salad products are already significantly past their use-by dates, and the company is working with retailers to make sure they're no longer on store shelves. Bonduelle also said it had taken immediate action to trace the origin of the problem.
"We test all of our leafy greens (including romaine) in the fields prior to harvest, including screening for E. coli O157:H7. During the relevant time frame, we did not have any positive test results for E. coli O157:H7," the company said.
As federal and state health officials conduct this outbreak investigation, they would be wise to keep the public fully informed, and quickly. Romaine lettuce has now been linked to five E. coli outbreaks in the past two years, including this latest one and the one announced in late October. If regulators and producers don't get a handle on the problem soon, romaine could become an unwanted commodity. The industry has already been hit by decreased sales following previous outbreaks, so this development is likely to bring further scrutiny to their operations.
The FDA recently said it will start sampling romaine for E. coli and salmonella bacteria this month in the California and Arizona growing regions and during the next year. Since the agency said contaminated lettuce in the most recent outbreak could have come from farms in the Salinas, California, area, that region could see additional sampling and testing as the investigation proceeds.
Previous romaine testing by the FDA — which collected 118 samples starting last December in the Yuma area and tested them for E. coli and salmonella — found a non-pathogenic type of E. coli in one, but no salmonella, the agency reported.
The leafy greens industry has recently taken steps to improve production processes. Producers have tightened up grower requirements and recently embarked on a multi-year food safety initiative involving government, academia, and industry to better understand the impact of pathogens on leafy greens in areas including Yuma County, Arizona, and the Imperial Valley in California.
While these steps may help narrow down the problem's source, they clearly haven't been enough to keep E. coli outbreaks linked to lettuce from happening. Until that occurs, consumers are likely to avoid romaine — and possibly other lettuce types — in stores or restaurants until they can be sure the product is safe.
Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Recommended Reading:
U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION Investigation Notice
Texas A&M Controlled Environment Agriculture Conference
This year, exclusive sponsorship opportunities are available for the 2019 Texas A&M Controlled Environment Agriculture Conference, December 5 at Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension, the Dallas Center (17360 Coit Rd, Dallas, TX 75252) at the Water and Land Resources Building
By urbanagnews
November 18, 2019
Texas A&M AgriLife Research and AgriLife Extension invite you attend our first annual ‘Controlled Environment: Urban Agriculture’ conference designed for new and prospective growers interested in specialty crop production under controlled environment (high tunnels, greenhouses, indoor vertical farms) and for experienced growers who want to learn more about the nuts and bolts of crop production in a controlled environment.
When: December 5, 2019
Where: Water and Land Resources Building at Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, 17360 Coit Rd, Dallas, TX 75252
Register at 979-845-2604 or https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/horticulture
Topics
Urban agriculture – current production systems and technologies
Mastering environment control in indoor farming: How to improve crop performance with CEA technologies
Urban agriculture in the City of Dallas
Temperature control for container-grown plant production – A grower’s perspective
Nutrients/Fertilizers
Light management
More grower’s perspective!
Speakers
Dr. Joe Masabni, Assoc. Professor, Extension Specialist-Horticulture
Dr. Genhua Niu, Professor-Urban Horticulture
Dr. Mengmeng Gu, Assoc. Professor, Extension Specialist-Horticulture
Ms. Ling Sun, Technical Manager, Denise Farms
Ms. Karla Garcia, Technical Support, Hort Americas
Mr. Robert Curry, Special Projects Manager, City of Dallas
Mr. Drew Demler, Greenhouse Manager at State Fair of Texas
November registration fee $105
Onsite registration fee $125
TNLA members— $20 discount
TOFGA members—$20 discount
AgriLife Employees—$40 discount
CEA Conference Agenda Download
Sponsorship Program
Our sponsorship program recognizes donors who support initiatives of Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
This year, exclusive sponsorship opportunities are available for the 2019 Texas A&M Controlled Environment Agriculture Conference, December 5 at Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension, the Dallas Center (17360 Coit Rd, Dallas, TX 75252) at the Water and Land Resources Building.
Event details and registration are available at https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/Horticulture.
This conference is designed for new and prospective growers interested in specialty crop production under controlled environment (high tunnels, greenhouses, indoor vertical farms) and experienced growers who want to learn more about the nuts and bolts of crop production in a controlled environment. Contact Dr. Genhua Niu at gniu@ag.tamu.edu, Dr. Joe Masabni at jmasabni@ag.tamu.edu or Dr. Mengmeng Gu at mgu@tamu.edu for details.
Contact:
Dr. Joe Masabni at jmasabni@ag.tamu.edu or
Dr. Mengmeng Gu at mgu@tamu.edu with AgriLife Extension
Dr. Genhua Niu at gniu@ag.tamu.edu with AgriLife Research
Bowery Expands Indoor Farming To Baltimore Area With An Eye Towards More Sustainable Production Globally
18-Nov-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford
Uncomfortable with the idea that agriculture is a necessary evil with the demand for food outweighing the negative environmental impact of traditional farming and ranching, the co-founder and CEO of Bowery is expanding his revolutionary approach to food production through indoor farms that use proprietary technology to improve sustainability and produce quality.
To Read The Entire Article, And View The Video, Please Click Here
Nick Greens Explains The Importance of Food Safety While Growing Microgreens Indoors
CCEA 2019, is the place to commit, learn and apply the bases of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) for owners and operators of greenhouses and vertical farms, and was held in Panama City from November 06 to 08, 2019