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Japan: Spread will focus on the cultivation and sales of strawberries

Spread realized a major funding round in August. The company, which was founded in 2006, is planning on investing raised funds in the development of new products and technologies while also preparing the company for future business expansion, explains Masaru Iwase, Senior Manager at the company.…

Element Hotels partners with LettuceGrow adding towers to properties

Element Hotels, part of Marriott Bonvoy’s extraordinary portfolio of 30 hotel brands, today unveils an innovative collaboration with Lettuce Grow, a nationally recognized leader in hydroponic gardening. Together, they are providing travelers with direct access to free, farm-fresh produce while on the…

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Specialty crops, water quality monitoring technology, and USDA grants

Anytime a food safety concern becomes nationally significant, like a large recall of a product due to E. Coli or Salmonella contamination, the efforts and programs in place to ensure the safety of our food supply come under increased scrutiny. Usually, these programs operate quietly in the background,…

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US (NC): Aquaponics make a vegetable donation at UNC Charlotte

UNC Charlotte's Aquaponics Club built an aquaponic system to grow their food inside Cameron Hall. On Nov. 14, Sophia Ritter, Sophie Barnett, and their team of 26 volunteers from the club harvested 18 heads of lettuce and 443 grams of arugula that were then donated to the Jamil Niner Student Pantry. This…

Dose of blue and white light takes cultivation to higher level

During the so-called Hessische Piltztage a fortnight ago, a group of German and Dutch mushroom growers and suppliers visited the companies VEME Specials in Gemert and Verbruggen Paddestoelen in Uden. One of the two growers recently started working with FloriLed's light bars, while the other is currently…

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"Food shortages need local discussions"

Rising costs across the country and limited supplies of lettuce are shifting and changing what consumers are able to buy. The food shortage, coupled with the impact of inflation and the overall price increase in day-to-day living, doesn’t seem to be making life easier for many Lakeland residents, writes…

Upward Farms unveils new resealable packaging design

Upward Farms has unveiled a resealable packaging design for its line of USDA-certified organic microgreens. Upward Farms' new resealable packaging is now available at Whole Foods Market locations across New York and New Jersey, as well as DeCicco's & Sons, Westside Market, Union Market, Foodtown, Morton…

Coco substrate: a sustainable choice

"The future of sustainably produced coco substrate has received a new boost thanks to current economic developments," says Jelte Veenstra, director of Coco Substrates at Van der Knaap Group. In recent years, Van der Knaap has experienced a growing interest in coco. This year, they have witnessed an…

New EU project wants to develop inclusive data economy for Europe’s food systems

Launched in Lisbon on September 29th, Data4Food2030 is equipped with 10 million euros of funding to discover the value of the data economy in European food systems. The…

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India: Rise Hydroponics organizes a 2-day workshop on hydroponics and soilless farming in Ahmedabad

Rise Hydroponics organizes a 2-day workshop on hydroponics and soilless farming in Ahmedabad.  The two-day workshop was attended by business people, entrepreneurs, scientists, IT professionals, and students. More than 50 participants visited from around 17 different cities in India in order to learn more about…

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US (NE): School to table: RC plant science class grows hydroponic lunchtime lettuce

At Raymond Central High School, students enjoy a salad bar stocked with greens sourced from a classroom a few doors down the hall, and the farmers are their classmates. In Katie Donahue’s plant science course, students oversee the production of vegetables — from germination to harvest — using a…

CubicFarm Systems announces resignation of team member

CubicFarm Systems announces its animal feed division, HydroGreen, is entering into a wholesale program and support agreement with DLL Finance to provide floor plan financing…

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Supplementing commercial media with shrimp fecal waste enhances productivity in Salicornia

The aim of this work was to evaluate the use of shrimp waste as a bioavailable source of nutrients for the growth of Salicornia europaea before and after a cavitation process and either in combination with or without commercial fertilizer. Fecal wastes were collected from the drum filter in a…

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European food producers vexed by energy price increases

In 2019, energy had a 2% share in the total costs of food manufacturers in the EU. Given the sharp increase in energy prices, that share currently ranges between 7.5-10% (without price caps or compensation). There are also many signals that some food manufacturers have seen their energy bills rise to up…

United Natural Foods and Square Roots to co-locate farms at distribution centers across North America

United Natural Foods, Inc. and Square Roots have made a new agreement to co-locate Square Roots' indoor farms on-site at select UNFI distribution centers. The first Square Roots farm, approximately 20,000 square feet in size, is planned for UNFI’s Prescott, Wis. facility and is scheduled to open in 2023.…

Poland: "We keep researching new ways to provide the most cost-effective solutions"

"Rising energy prices are a challenge for all food producers. Energy costs can be one of the crucial barriers for many potential users of our technology, and we are aware of it. Therefore, to give the right outlook on future profits, we consider energy prices for several years ahead, thus providing…

“Farming should happen behind a layer of software”

“We want to enable growers from the software side of things, allowing them to benchmark themselves with every harvest and forgo bringing in plant experts by focusing on their own historical data,” says David Ahmed, founder of hexafarms.  hexafarms is a technology company that has been working diligently since…

US (AL): Auburn University campus kitchen awarded funding for hydroponic towers

The Campus Kitchen, or CKAU, was founded on Auburn University’s campus with two goals in mind—minimize food waste and eliminate food insecurity in the Auburn community. Recently, that effort was bolstered with a big boost of funding for the creation of hydroponic towers on campus, allowing the…

Photo courtesy of NYPA

US (NY): Astoria Queens Energy Tech High School welcomes new hydroponic greenhouse

Astoria Energy Tech High School students and their families joined the New York Power Authority (NYPA) on November 15 to celebrate the school’s new hydroponic lab that will grow herbs and vegetables year-round in a soil-less garden and be supplemented by a sustainability and food justice curriculum.  NYPA…

South Africa: Western Cape's first urban rooftop farm launched

Redefine Properties has unveiled the first retail urban rooftop farm in the Western Cape at its Kenilworth Centre in Cape Town’s southern suburbs. The HandPicked CityFarm, developed in partnership with Mr. Price Foundation’s HandPicked program and other key partners, aims to create community-based…

IOWA University visits Bustanica

Patricia M. Hakim, Program and Project Manager at Emirates CropOne LLC, wrote that the team was delighted to have a visit from a large group of students from IOWA University in the USA. It was great to see the students so engaged and asking many questions about vertical farming and how we use the technology to grow crops.

Czech Republic: Building more farms domestically with new partnerships

"Next year, GreeenTech has a lot of projects planned and will be pretty big in this small vertical farming industry," says Dmitrij Lipovskij, CEO of GreeenTech, a vertical farming company based in the Czech Republic. Dmitrij Lipovskij GreeenTech produces leafy greens and sells turnkey systems to enable…

New perspectives on the protein transition: a role for the public sector

To help the public sector resolve barriers in the protein transition, Wageningen University & Research (WUR) launches the campaign ‘Protein Transition: from pain points to perspectives’. In 4 sessions (from November 2022 – February 2023) a multidisciplinary team of WUR experts zooms in on the 4 biggest…