


Announcements
"Tweeting Growers"
Top 5 -yesterday
- US (KY): Somerset 30-acre indoor farm receives $50M funding
- 11 ways to reduce vertical farm operating costs
- Japan: Spread raises $30 million to accelerate R&D in berries and alternative meat
- Bowery and Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station to develop disease-resistant spinach
- Singapore: Soft opening of 650m2 vertical farm
Top 5 -last month
- "Hydroponic fodder is more nutritious than conventional fodder"
- The “AirBnB” of indoor farms: Modern fresh food distribution using indoor farm as a service
- Scotland: Strong synergies between vertical farming, renewables and energy storage
- CAN: Fieldless Farms raises $17.5 million to expand operations
- US (NY): Asian greens are booming in New York
Tuesday, August 9, 2022

In collaboration with Siemens Financial Services
Urban Crop Solutions launches financing option for its clients
Urban Crop Solutions and Siemens Financial Services have launched a program whereby, under certain conditions, customers of Urban Crop Solutions can benefit from a financing option offered by Siemens Financial Services. Customers that have a sound financial track will be able to benefit from this new…

Photo 48998858 © Prasit Rodphan | Dreamstime.com
Carbon footprint of importing food could be 7.5x higher than thought
A new study in Nature Food has found that food’s transport emissions, once thought to be a negligibly small proportion of food systems emissions, are much higher than previously estimated and that the carbon footprint estimates of imported fruits and vegetables will be particularly impacted. If you work in…
Applications close on 3 October 2022
UK: £15,000 vouchers available for horticultural, food and drink research
A voucher scheme offering food and drink businesses 75% funding towards projects worth up to £20,000 with leading research organizations has been launched by Growing Kent &…

Surna Cultivation Technologies
Demystifying the complex process of MEP retrofitting for CEA
One of Surna Cultivation Technologies' core offerings is its HVAC equipment, which is designed to minimize energy consumption while providing optimal growing conditions for plants. In addition to HVAC equipment, Surna also offers MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) engineering services to help…

Madar Farms introduces new rPET packaging
Many probably thought that brown boxes made of cardboard are more sustainable than plastic containers. However, Madar Farms is here to demonstrate the other side of the story with its new packaging. It's been a long two-year journey until they landed its new packs. The company has investigated all the…
Climate control more »

Moleaer expands nanobubble generator portfolio
Over the weekend, Moleaer made its U.S. debut of Lotus, the newest addition to its nanobubble generator product suite. The patented nanobubble system joins in good company…
Grower in the Spotlight more »

US (CT): Bridgeport group offers vertically farmed vegetables for the ones in need
An indoor farm in Stratford is helping the group nOURish Bridgeport to provide fresh produce for those who are food insecure.The group feeds 1,500 people a week through its North Avenue pantry. Founder Rev. Sara Smith says she wanted to provide something better than secondhand produce. "I'm tired of…
Farming systems more »

innovationorigins.org
Berlin: fog for growing crops and plants faster and more efficient
How do you grow food in – or next to – a city without using soil? It’s exactly that question that Berlin-based start-up Lite+Fog is trying to answer. The company uses fog to grow plants more efficiently. In this episode of start-up of the day, Martin Peter, co-founder of this company, speaks about the…
Hydroponics more »

Kenya: Center to educate youth on new agricultural technologies
The Rain-forest Alliance has set up an incubation center to educate the youth on new agricultural technologies they can adopt to make money. Paul Orangi, the alliance’s…
Aquaponics more »

Call for research needs in aquaponics
The Aquaponic Association is putting out a research opportunity for aquaponic farmers, either vertical- or greenhouse growers. Aquaponic Association's research director Paul…
Investments more »

Japan: Spread raises $30 million to accelerate R&D in berries and alternative meat
Spread Co., Ltd. has secured $30 million (4 billion yen) in a Series A round, which will be used to develop new technologies for its automated Techno Farm Fukuroi *1. Besides that, Spread will also invest in strawberry and alternative meat R&D. Plus, global business development. And the marketing of its…
Lighting more »

Netled and Global Point partnership
Leafy greens are set to grow
At the end of 2021, Netled signed a deal to deliver one of its Vera® vertical farming systems to Global Point, a multi-brand group based in Poland. Construction, testing, and commissioning of the Vera vertical farming system are now complete, and Global Point is ready to begin cultivation. “We have had our Vera vertical farming…
Market information more »
input asked from Dutch, Mexican, and Moroccan growers
What is the added value of Software-as-a-Service for growers?
Even though many benefits have been defined about Software-as-a-Service for the horticultural industry, Annelot Schmeitz sees there is still a disappointing low utilization…
Packaging more »

OASIS Grower Solutions
New packaging for hydroponic fertilizer launched
As many know, the process of growing leafy greens hydroponically can be filled with challenges. However, OASIS® Grower Solutions doesn't think fertilizing should be one of them. That's why it has developed its one-bag solution for fertilizing leafy greens. "We're not only excited about how effective our hydroponic…
Substrates more »

How to propagate seedlings in Jiffy Peat
Hoocho Shows us how to propagate seedlings in Jiffy Peat/Coco Pellets Hoochos explores the worlds of Hydroponics, Aquaponics, Permaculture, Homesteading, Fermentation, Technology and DIY Builds to look at the world through a larger lens that can incorporate the best of everything into a rich and…
Technique more »

Peroxyacetic acid a safe and effective alternative to chlorine-based hygiene programs
“As operators are trying to get away from using chlorine products, we have a patented method of creating peroxyacetic acid on-site without producing the peroxide by-product. We can do this at any pH and any strength,” says Eric Smith, National Sales Manager of the Horticulture Division at BioSafe…
Events more »
On-site workshop on 3 September, NL
Deep diving into the metabolics of aquaponics
Aquaponic greenhouse grower de Ceuvel is organizing an on-site workshop on 3 September at their production facility in Amsterdam. Program: Aquaponics basics and principles The…
Company news more »

© Billa / Harson
Billa tests "Vertical Farming" in Vienna"Optimal crop yields in the smallest area and only a few meters from the shelf"
In cooperation with Israeli agricultural technology company, Vertical Field, herbs and lettuces are grown and harvested from local seedlings in a shipping container in front of the Billa Plus store at Wienerberg Straße 27 in Vienna-Favoriten. The plants are grown above each other on several levels, and…
Education and Research more »

Photo 77128826 © Teerawat Winyarat | Dreamstime.com
Survey on determinants affecting public intention to use micro-vertical farming
Research by Yiming Shao, Zhugen Wang, Zhiwei Zhou, Haojing Chen, Yuanlong Cui and Zhenghuan Zhou highlights the determinants affecting public intention to use micro-vertical farming. This study aims to investigate the influence of public acceptance on micro-vertical farming based on the deconstructed theory of…
Energy more »

Increase horticulturalist's role in energy market with energy storage systems
Hortipower.nl is a new initiative by KG Greenhouses and offers a number of innovative battery systems. Horticulture already plays an important role in the energy market, and with the option of installing battery systems, this role can be further expanded. Marco van Trigt is now conducting initial discussions…
Retail more »

VFD at Future Crops
The “AirBnB” of indoor farms: Modern fresh food distribution using indoor farm as a service
Operating a vertical farm can be particularly financially intensive. This means that little to no room for mistakes goes beyond cultivation, and that also includes hitting the market strategically. The main two questions growers oftentimes ask indeed are: what do I grow next? And where do I sell it?…
Technology more »

"New ppm target feature for fertigation provides unparalleled nutrient control"
“If growers focus only on a target conductivity, they may think that they are getting a certain nutrient level but are not. This is why we are now introducing ppm targets into our Fertigation Manager™,” says Ian Morrell, Head of Sales at Climate Control Systems. The Fertigation Manager™ was first developed…
Product information more »

Setting the new standard of vertical food production
Standards and regulations for food and food production are designed to contribute to food safety, health and social justice. There are various certificates on the food market…
Cultivation more »

Asia’s new agricultural revolution: planting a high-tech future
Pham Thi Huong went from the back-breaking job of coaxing coffee out of Vietnam’s central highlands to an inconceivable one: growing strawberries on rocks. Huong and her husband threw in the shovel on their days of toil at the mercy of volatile commodity prices in 2019 and joined vertical agriculture…
Today on social media more »

Meanwhile at Urban Harvest's test facility ...
Container farms more »

US (MA): Grant-funded farm supplies school with large range of greens
“Essentially, this 8-by-40-foot footprint of a farm is growing the equivalent of an intensively harvested, full acre of conventional farmland,” explained Jason Yeagle, the nutrition director at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School. “It’s a very compact, efficient way of growing a lot of…