The race is on to bring ‘red gold’ to Israelis

Platinum, gold, saffron - some of the most valuable materials in the world continue to be in high demand across markets all over the world. Saffron, which is the most valuable spice available in the world market, is ripe for disruption - and this company has set out to make it more accessible than ever.…

YouTube: MEED

"There’s still a lot to do before we transform our food systems together"

“The past months have been an experience with many lessons learned,” said Her Excellency Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, Minister of State for Food Security at the UAE, during the Agritech – Enhancing food security in the UAE, today. While Her Excellency addressed the keynotes of the webinar,…

Hometown Debate

Toledo high school students finalists in hydroponics contest

Toledo Middle School students have been named as a finalist in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest for hydroponics. They have received $15,000 for their accomplishments and could garner even more money if they go farther in this amazing competition. Asking the students a few questions, they stated…

Enza Zaden

Enza Zaden expects breeding will play an important role in the future of indoor farming

“In general, at Enza Zaden we see a difference between genetics for greenhouses and vertical farming, especially for high yielding required products,” says Anh Nguyen, Portfolio Manager at Enza Zaden. “It depends on the growing setting of the crops. We think that improved varieties, specifically for…

Spread Co., Ltd.

Japan: Spread acquires world’s first certificate for vertical farms

Spread Co., Ltd. has acquired “JAS 0012” certification, established by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The certificate is acquired for evaluating hygiene and cultivation management of a vertical farm, at its Kameoka Plant (Kameoka, Kyoto) and the large-scale automated Techno…

Hungary: Bedrock.farm to take its farming concept across borders

“At this point, we’re at an operative level, however, we’re aiming to create a new commerce, namely a franchised model where others can start their own indoor farm,” says Endre Szucs, co-founder of bedrock.farm. “We’re in contact with a large Hungarian supplier to build an urban farm next to their…

UAE: minister of climate highlights efforts to enhance food security

Dr. Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, participated in the first UAE Regional Climate Dialogue, hosted by the UAE in the presence of US…

More UAE residents prefer locally-grown fruits and vegetables

When Covid-19 struck, it brought one factor into sharp focus: immunity. It was found that people with weak immunity suffered severely from the virus. The message was clear,…

The star

Malaysian government calls for more indoor farms

The Federal Territories is looking at big-scale and indoor precision farming to produce high-quality vegetables as ways to enhance food security in the city. Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said he also planned to start a commercial-sized urban farm project in Putrajaya to help grow, collect, distribute and…

"The number of micro-growers/home growers is exploding"

While the rest of the world seemed to stand still in 2020, newly established Houweling-Dutch Plantin Ltd. did anything but that. Formed as a joint venture between two Dutch companies (Houweling Group and Dutch Plantin) in 2019, Houweling Dutch Plantin Ltd. (H-DP) is an Ontario-based company currently…

NBC29.com

Babylon Micro-Farms expands with new partnership

A company that started at the University of Virginia is hoping to expand its impact. Babylon Micro-Farms makes indoor growing aimed at providing more farm-fresh options for college students. It is now partnering with Harvest Table Culinary Group to bring fresh produce to more colleges. “Self-contained…

www.qz.com

Three ways Singapore is designing urban farms to create food security

Securing food during a crisis and preserving land for a livable climate is changing the focus of farming from rural areas to cities. At the forefront of this shift is Singapore, a city-sized country that aims to produce 30% of its own food by 2030. But with 90% of Singapore’s food coming from abroad, the…

Goverment issues vertical farming call for Bermuda

Government has urged companies interested in bringing vertical farming to Bermuda to step forward through a new request for information. The RFI calls for expressions of…

Newfoodmagazine.com

Can urban agriculture provide enough food for big cities?

While urban agriculture can play a role in supporting food supply chains for many major American cities, contributing to food diversity, sustainability and localizing food systems, it is unrealistic to expect rooftop gardens, community plots and the like to provide the majority of nutrition for the…

Call for 2021 CEA Award Nominations

To recognize distinguished individuals and organizations in the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry, Artemis today launched the 2021 CEA Awards. Nominations will…

Middle East weighs agri-tech solutions as pandemic underscores urgency of food security

In an age of plentiful food, it is often easy to forget just how fragile supply chains are until disaster strikes. One bloc taking stock of its pantry is the GCC, whose…

Securing food supply for the long term

While officially classified by the United Nations as ‘food secure’, its arid climate and widespread desert conditions, mean that the GCC is heavily dependent on food imports to meet local demand. In the UAE for instance, near­ly 90 percent of demand is met through imports. The region’s depend­ence on…

Dreamstime.com

‘Green leafy vegetables are essential for muscle strength’

According to new Edith Cowan University (ECU) research, eating just one cup of leafy green vegetables every day could boost muscle function. The study was published in the Journal of Nutrition; it found that people who consumed a nitrate-rich diet, predominantly from vegetables, had significantly better…

"Continued expansion into European market"

urban-gro, Inc. has signed agreements with two European companies, one in France and one in the Netherlands, experiencing quick inertia with opportunities throughout the European market. These representation agreements are the Company’s first outside of the US. Additionally, the Company is readying final…

Indoor AgTech 2021, an evolving landscape

Since the initial release of our Indoor AgTech Landscape in 2019, indoor agriculture has continued to garner tremendous attention and investment because of the compelling benefits of growing food in a controlled indoor environment. Here you can find the updated Indoor AgTech Landscape for 2021 (download…

foodandfarmingtechnology.com

Crate to Plate begins home delivery service of farm-to-table boxes

Bringing sustainable, local production of leafy greens to urban communities, Crate to Plate, a London-based (Docklands) urban farming business harnessing hydroponic technology and eco-friendly innovation to grow the freshest possible ‘made in London’ produce, has begun a home delivery service. Customers…

Contain ag

The stock market discovers indoor ag in a big way

Robinhood antics aside, there’s no hotter topic in finance right now than SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies), and even indoor agriculture has become caught up in the buzz. SPACs, or special purpose acquisition corporations, are a shell company that lists itself on a stock exchange and then…

Deccanherald.com

Bengaluru women grows 200 varieties in her garden

What started as a survival instinct during last year’s national lockdown, has now become a blooming garden amidst the hustle and bustle of Bengaluru. Jincy Samuel has grown over 200 types of fruits and veggies in a year, in her soil-free 500-square-foot terrace garden. She is growing her plants using…

Techcrunch.com

"Huge opportunity to bring new water technology to water scarcity in the Middle East"

Waterfund, an investment and trading firm that specializes in acquiring and managing water-related infrastructure assets, today announced a deal with Israel-based crowdfunding platform OurCrowd that will see the Waterfund team commit $50 million to build a water- and agtech-focused portfolio of 15…

Adage.com

From seasoned worms to vertical farms: plenty of food trends for 2021

Personalized nutrition bars, dried worms, and at-home vertical farms are just some of the products that ad agency McKinney is tracking as it keeps tabs on food trends that have the potential to break into the mainstream.  The agency, which works with brands such as Little Caesars and Stop & Shop, isn’t expecting…

Qatar marketed 3,700 tonnes of local veggies through two programmes in February

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment has stated that, in February 2021, locally produced vegetables marketed through the Premium Qatari Vegetables and Qatar Farms…

Pakistan invests in aeroponic potato growth

Pakistan is poised to become self-sufficient in potato seed by mid-2022. The country is going to start producing high-quality, virus-free, third-generation potato seed. It…

jpost.com

Japanese agricultural giant to partner with Israeli firms

Japanese agricultural equipment giant Kubota announced on March 14 that it will be partnering with Israel's leading agtech innovation hub Kinneret Innovation Center (KIC), and Impact Innovation Israel, the strategic advisory firm working with multinational companies on identifying and implementing…

Borneo post online

Statos partners with Singapore’s Sky urban solutions to introduce new farming methods into Sarawak

Sarawak’s Trade and Tourism Office in Singapore (Statos) is partnering with Singapore’s vertical farm founder, Sky Urban Solutions, to introduce their unique farming methods into Sarawak. Statos stated that Sky Urban’s patented cultivation system had won several local and international design awards and…

Wales: Newtown to become 'crop circle' centre

Newtown's Cultivate is to be part of a trial Wales-wide project producing sustainable food for the local community. The Welsh Government has revealed four locations in Wales, including Newtown, where the 'Crop Circle' project will take place. It is part of its new Foundational Delivery Plan which sets…

How the COVID-19 pandemic has changed investing in food

Among people steeped in the food space, there is a lot of technology  that they find truly exciting. But cell-based meat, compostable plastic, massive smart greenhouses and meat…

Ljusgårda

H&M backs vertical farms in Sweden

It is sprouting in the Swedish salad sector. Several fast-growing startups are currently scaling up their vertical salad factories and 20-fold production. At vertical farm Ljusgårda in Tibro, the factory is now being expanded for SEK 130 million. "We will grow from a cultivation area of ​​300 square…

Creating agtech campuses in Kansas that use renewable energy

Previously, Kansas Freedom Farms, a technology company based in Overland Park, Kansas announced its plans to build multiple state-of-the-art agtech “campuses” as commercial real estate developments across the state. Planned for 2021 to 2026, the construction will typically occur in five phases with each…

Qatar: MME official affirms Ministry's efforts to support local products

Assistant director of the Agricultural Affairs Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) Adel al-Kaldi al-Yafei affirmed that Qatar’s Ministry of…

Perthnow.com.au

AU: Deebo Burger and Beer Bar’s aquaponics nursery plan dead in the water

An O’Connor burger bar’s novel vision to construct a two-storey aquaponics nursery from shipping containers appears dead in the water despite having the backing of Fremantle planners. The owners of Deebo Burger and Beer Bar, on the corner of South Street and Plane Tree Grove, had proposed building the…

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Philippines: government inaugurates first urban aqua farm in Taguig city

The first urban aqua farm of the technical education and skills development (Tesda) of the Philippine government has been inaugurated in its compound in Taguig City on March 15. Tesda secretary Isidro Lapeña said the project signifies the importance of “farming in our urban areas, particularly to our…

Lake County News - Sun

Hydroponics a growing trend for raising food in Lake County

"On a cold, windy day, Win Goodridge went to his basement to get some fresh chard and lettuces from his garden. His is an indoor hydroponic garden, which can yield fresh veggies even in January.“It’s pretty successful,” said Goodridge, standing in a small space in his Hawthorn Woods basement as lettuces,…

Stockholm to become leading food-tech hub

Some buildings in Stockholm incorporate artificial intelligence and eco-friendly methods into indoor farming. Indoor farming in Stockholm uses LED lighting and hydroponic watering systems. Food, especially vegetables, is grown indoors all year round. Growing vegetables indoors not only cuts reliance on…

Charleston farmer introduces Americans to sea beans with first indoor saltwater farm

Sea beans, otherwise known as sea asparagus and pickleweed, belong to the genus Salicornia, marsh plants that thrive in salty soils.  Last November, Norton realized his vision when he delivered his first harvest of sea beans to local restaurants and produce distributors and opened up direct online sales. The…

Photo by KCUR

Kansas city's green acres fish farms offers healthy food to families in need

As more Americans go without enough food during the coronavirus pandemic, one East Community nonprofit is trying to fill a gap in the city's urban core. It's the brainchild of the late local lawmaker Carol Coe. It doesn’t take long to realize Bill Coe is passionate about what he does in the greenhouse at…

Alabama indoor vertical farm finds Delaware soulmate

Lee Harrison and his wife, LeeAnn, are the founders of Gardens on Air, an indoor vertical farm located in Rainbow City, Alabama. Operating in 3,000 sq. ft. of a 20,000 sq. ft. former grocery store, Gardens on Air grows chemical-free produce and herbs harvested and sold locally. They are a Certified…

"Ensuring availability of food and water at all times is my mission," says UAE minister

"The UAE is one of the top exporters of dates in the world, however, it still imports up to 90 percent of its food needs and that is a reality, which is going through a paradigm shift", says the Minister of State for Food and Water Security. Mariam Almheiri mentions agriculture, aquaculture and the…

AeroFarms

“It’s going to be our most advanced research and development farm so far”

In the previous year, there has been a large series of investments going into the Middle East with the UAE standing out. Throughout the pandemic, the country has seen what a fragile food system it has and is therefore very welcoming towards local produce solutions that are resilient. “It’s going to be…

Photo by BFAR-7

Philippine government donates 5,000 Tilapia fingerlings to development program

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Central Visayas (BFAR-7) gave over 5,000 tilapia fingerlings to Cebu Province as a gesture of support for its Enhanced Countryside Development (ECD) program that was formally launched on March 5, 2021. Dr. Allan Poquita, BFAR-7 director, said that the…

Growing lettuce in-store with &ever's Grow Tower

Who has not experienced it; just bought a salad in the supermarket, but due to the long transport routes and packaging, it is already a bit off when it gets to your home. With…

Private online trading platform for fresh produce launches

Fresh produce can ‘trade smarter’ through the release of the industry’s online marketplace. ProduceIQ is a business-to-business platform for qualified growers and buyers to negotiate directly. The marketplace provides opportunities to transact with new trading partners in an efficient and safe trading…

"Sustainable agriculture technology can help Egypt’s water crisis"

Egyptian student Nada Ayman's project dubbed the Cultural Desert Gravity Center uses the Sinai environment as its main agricultural tool. It also won the 36th Cycle at the 2020 World Architecture Festival. The project, designed to be built as a cultural center in Wadi el-Weshwash in the town of Nuweiba…

Photo by Timothy David, Strait Times

Prawn farm scales new heights with high-tech vertical system

Fish and vegetable farming has already gone high-rise in land-scarce Singapore. Now, another type of farming has gone vertical. When the first harvest from Universal Aquaculture's Tuas South Link facility is ready come June, the sweet, juicy flesh of live vannamei prawns will be much easier to get hold…

"Urban farms can make our cities more livable"

In Bridgeport, the crown jewel is Green Village Initiative’s Reservoir Community Farm, a couple of acres of abandoned pavement that were transformed into a green oasis growing food for city residents. The farmers, a diverse team of students and adults, have worked the land for nine years to improve the…

Photo 17690284 © Panpote | Dreamstime.com

EU: "Hydroponics should be labeled as organic"

Earlier this year, many vertical farms, especially hydroponic farms and their investors received a cold shower after an EU decision. Although hydroponic farming offers high-quality, pesticide-free, green, nutrition products it hasn’t been acknowledged by the European Parlament’s Committee on Agriculture…

Hyderabad's agri-startup using modern tech for pesticide-free vegetables

A Hyderabad-based techie who had returned from Australia after a span of 20 years, has recently set up an agri-startup that offers modern technology such as machine learning,…

Bergen county partners to provide families in need

The Bergen County Food Security Task Force has joined with a Hackensack vertical farm to provide ongoing healthy food options to families in need throughout the county. Greens Do Good, a four-season hydroponic, vertical farm in Hackensack, NJ and the Bergen County Food Security Task Force have partnered…

"Are online marketplaces the future trading platform for fresh produce?"

Selling via online marketplaces offers many advantages for farmers, buyers and sellers. It overcomes time and space constraints, provides inclusive market access, cuts costs,…

UK: Derby council urged to agree £17m support package to secure 5,000 job scheme

Derby City Council’s Cabinet is being asked to agree a package of support, worth up to £17.5 million, to enable the development of a new food production campus, which could bring 5,000 jobs to Derby. SmartParc wants to create the innovative £300m food manufacturing and distribution park on the former…

Photo's by Archdaily

Vertical greenery: impacts on the urban landscape

With the increase of urban density and the decrease in the availability of land, the verticalization phenomenon has intensified in cities all over the world. Similar to the vertical growth of buildings, which is often a divisive issue for architects and urban planners, many initiatives have sought in the…

European Commission seeks feedback on future plan to ensure food supply

Today, the European Commission launched a targeted consultation on a contingency plan to ensure food supply and food security across the EU in times of crisis. This…

Photo by Analytics India Mag

The status of AI in hydroponics in India

Currently, AI in Hydroponics in India may be in a fledgeling state. Although a few successful Hydroponics startups have managed to raise capital and innovate with AI, there is still a lack of general awareness about the potential of AI-driven Hydroponics farming.  AI in Hydroponics in India is currently restricted…

Dreamstime: Airubon & MartinBergsma (f.l.t.r.)

Creating agtech campuses in Kansas that use renewable energy

Kansas Freedom Farms is a technology company based in Overland Park, Kansas with a goal to build multiple state-of-the-art agtech “campuses” as commercial real estate developments across the state. Planned for 2021 to 2026, the construction will typically occur in five phases with each including an…

How vertical farms are revolutionizing agribusiness

Nigeria is one of the most promising African nation because of its age pyramid. But with a large young population comes questions around food and water access and today, more than 170 million Nigerians need prolonged and sustainable access to these resources. Nigeria currently imports $3.5 billion worth…

The food sustainability dream in the Gulf countries

Food Security is everyone’s responsibility in the GCC. According to Satvik Jaitly, Consultant for Food & Nutrition at Frost & Sullivan in a special report to SME10x, the volatility in oil demand and trade disruptions due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about the current status quo…

Photo by Arlnow.com

Arlington's commercial farm to double production

Since recently, Arlington County has a working commercial farm. The farm, which is located in a commercial building along Lee Highway, uses hydroponic technology to grow a variety of edible plants indoors. And it’s about to expand. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced this afternoon that Fresh Impact…

Swegreen’s new in-store farming service "Scandinavia’s biggest"

Swegreen's innovative in-store service will make the Ica Maxi megamarket in Linköping, located in Mid-Sweden, the first of all Sweden’s megamarkets to offer fresh herbs and salad grown from seed to finished plant inside the store. Every day, several hundred fresh leafy vegetables can be harvested for the…

"The market needs logistics specialists that offer integrated solutions on a turnkey basis"

Four companies have set up a joint venture for the data-driven automation of internal logistics for greenhouses and packing centers within the international greenhouse horticulture sector. Hortilogics aims to unburden growers, producers, packers, investors and greenhouse builders completely in this area.…

Karma Verde Fresh

Introducing vertical farming to Mexico and beyond

Karma Verde Fresh (KVF) is a vertical farm based in Monterrey, Nuevo León (northeastern Mexico), producing a variety of seedlings, leafy greens, strawberries and beans, and manufacturing its own cultivation systems which can be installed in any urban environment to promote local agriculture. First…

Qatar: Sales of local vegetables up 60% in three years

There has been a significant increase in the volume of sales of local produce through ‘Qatar Farms’ and ‘Premium Qatari Vegetables’ marketing programmes; sales soared by more…

Urban farmers leave Vancouver due to legislation

Less than four years ago, inside an industrial warehouse on East Vancouver’s streets of Powell and Victoria, Aaron Quesnel was living his microgreen dreams. Under stacks and stacks of towering shelves, amid the hums and florescent hues of grow lights, Quesnel and his farm staff spent their days tending…

Belgian Bio-Planet now sells vertically-farmed coriander too

Just under a year ago, Bio-Planet first introduced its basil to the market. This came from this Belgian store's self-developed vertical farm. "This cultivation method differs from conventional farming. It requires less water and space and fewer nutrients. That results in herbs with tiny ecological…

USDA Farm Labor Survey

2021 Adverse Effect Wage Rate finally revealed

With the release of USDA’s Farm Labor Survey on February 11, farmers that utilize the H-2A program finally know the minimum wage they must pay their H-2A workers in 2021. Usually, this wage rate, known as the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, is known when the Farm Labor Survey is released in November, but…

USDA

US: Road closures and power outages contributing to shipping delays and increased truck shortages

Extreme weather across much of the Midwest and Northeastern U.S. is curbing consumer demand for many produce items. Road closures and power outages across Texas, temperatures far below zero across the Midwest, and snow cover across much of the country are all contributing to shipping delays and increased…

The North Wind

Indoor Agriculture receives $100,000 grant from MDARD

NMU’s new indoor agriculture program recently received a $100,000 grant on Feb. 12 from Michigan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to help offset the costs for a self-contained growing center. According to MDARD’s page, the grants are to help “promote the sustainability of land-based…

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Technical mission introduces Taiwan watermelons to Middle East desert

A Taiwanese technical mission has successfully grown three varieties of Taiwanese watermelons in Bahrain, introducing "Taiwanese pride" to the desert. About 92 percent of Bahrain's land is desert. Due to water constraints and lack of arable land, the kingdom relies heavily on imports to meet local food…

YASAI

Introducing circular food and systems to vertical farming

While vertical farming already boasts considerable efficiency in energy, space, and water use, YASAI is pushing it one step further through the company’s commitment to circularity. YASAI is a vertical farming system provider based in Switzerland offering “farming as service”, meaning that the company…

Light bar to grow healthy plants

Vitabeam produced their first LED light bar, which emits a combination of light wavelengths called VQe (Vitabeam Quantum energy). The wavelengths are all safe for human exposure and have properties…

Huge increase in Qatari vegetables’ sales during 2020

Compared to previous years, the Premium Qatari Vegetables and Qatar Farms programmes have achieved significant sales during the year 2020. The sales of Premium Qatari…

Image: Harriman/Gyde/courtesy Vertical Harvest]

US: These buildings combine affordable housing and vertical farming

Some vertical farms grow greens in old warehouses, former steel mills, or other sites set apart from the heart of cities. But a new series of projects will build multistory greenhouses directly inside affordable housing developments. “Bringing the farm back to the city center can have a lot of benefits,”…

Josh Siteman / handout via Reuters

Investors seed indoor farms as pandemic disrupts food supplies

Investors used to brush off Amin Jadavji’s pitch to buy Elevate Farms’ vertical growing technology and produce stacks of leafy greens indoors with artificial light. “They would say, ‘This is great, but it sounds like a science experiment,’” said Jadavji, CEO of Toronto-based Elevate. Now, indoor farms…

"New lettuce concept meets demand for greater convenience for grower and consumer alike"

The Teens concept was introduced last year to respond to the customers’ demand for convenience. The lettuce leaves that could be turned into a salad in no time at all, the Teens concept attracted the attention not just amongst customers. "Just like babyleaf, Teens can be grown in a fully automated…

Hawaii: Comments wanted for $50K economic diversification grants

A vertical high-density environment-controlled farming facility, mental health training, and a land-based coral nursery are all projects currently up for public discourse in…

Philippine congressmen pushes for the promotion of urban agriculture

A bill promoting urban agriculture authored by Pangasinan fourth district Rep. Christopher De Venecia and other congressmen has been passed by Congress on the third reading.…

Facebook: Bowery Farming

Continuing innovation on the tech- and supply side of business

At one point in the not-so-distant past, vertical farming’s role in our future agricultural system was far from certain. Growing leafy greens in warehouse-like environments controlled by tech seemed like a compelling business, but one that had yet to prove itself either economically or as an important…

BrightBox-Venlo

10 ways to grow the indoor farming market

The number of indoor farming companies seems to grow almost daily, each claiming to be more innovative than the last. And yet, there is a lack of data pertaining to profitability, yields and sustainability of the indoor farming industry. The Center for Excellence for Indoor Agriculture (COE) was…

Bowery Farming

The grand challenge of AI for indoor farming

In recent years, AI leaders have urged machine learning experts to consider understanding the world’s oceans and tackling climate change grand challenges on par with building autonomous vehicles, beating a computer at a game of chess, or robotic grasping. Combining computer vision, logistics, robotics,…

Urban farm and plant-based marketplace open vegan mobile market in Las Vegas

Starseeds was started because of microgreens. Travi and Clark were growing microgreens for restaurants and hotels pre-COVID. But when the pandemic hit the twoo transitioned from business-to-business to the public. They partnered with other farms and local producers to create a local plant-based market…

CAN: How to off-set higher labour operating costs

Let’s start with the good news first: total sales from Canada’s greenhouse fruit and vegetable sector increased by 5.0% to $1.6 billion in 2019, continuing a trend of increases that began in 2013. The leading provinces were Ontario at (65.0%), followed by British Columbia (19.2%), Quebec (9.3%) and…

Penang island to join vertical farming boom

Penang Island encompasses an area of 293km2, with a population density of 2,465.5/km2. Most of the land is allocated for infrastructure, urban and rural planning. According to research by Penang Institute (2018), agricultural land use in Penang for fruit production steadily decreased from 7,149.8…

Farming in Malaysia goes indoor

The pandemic has shone a light on many of the gaps that exist in the country’s economy. And one of these is the need for better food security, an issue that resonated with Gerard Lim long before Covid-19. Many years ago, he started noticing that most of the vegetables sold in local supermarkets and grocers were not necessarily…

"Cityponics: ensuring food security in Singapore"

Food security and access to safe and nutritious food in Singapore is a challenge on several fronts as Singapore is a small city-state with limited resources, with only 1 per cent of land available for food production, and over 90 per cent of food is imported from an increasingly disrupted world. The…

Singapore: Disabled jobseekers turn to urban farming as COVID affects employment

“I was not a farmer. I never even bought vegetables when my wife was around.” To his surprise, Mr Nithyaseelan N. now finds himself surrounded by cartons of Xiao Bai Cai and Red Pak Choy, inspecting every leaf and stem for discolouration and spots, five times a week, seven hours each day.  The 66-year-old…

A ‘fragile’ food system: US urban farmers see new interest during pandemic

The phone call came this past March. The woman on the other end of the line was having trouble finding produce. Empty shelves because of the coronavirus pandemic. She wanted to know if April Pandora had any to sell. “They needed produce, and we had it,” said Pandora, who owns and operates an organic…

Microcosms and hi-tech plants - a new frontier for agriculture?

There is increasing talk of indoor crops, i.e. productions that are immediately available to consumers because they are grown inside supermarkets and can be harvested and placed in carts. Basil under white-spectrum diffused light (OLED) Is this the ultimate purpose of the ISAAC project (innovative…

New Covent Garden Market predicts fruit and vegetable trends for 2021

New Covent Garden Market, from which more than 100 wholesale traders supply fresh fruit and vegetables to London’s restaurants, has predicted that yuzu fruit, avant garde…

Lack of available skilled labor means some US ports are facing unloading backlogs of weeks or more

Shipping issues and weather conditions continue to impact arrivals and domestic harvest volumes. Lack of available skilled labor means some US ports are facing unloading backlogs of weeks or more, with an increasing number of empty containers piling up. Wet fields, cold temperatures, wind, and other…

German, French, and Dutch consumers favor 0 percent VAT on fruits and vegetables

A recent study found that German, French, and Dutch consumers favor a 0 percent VAT rate on fruits and vegetables. Jeroom Remmers is the director of the TAPP Coalition. In an…

"Competition in the market is necessary and makes us better and smarter"

For Agrolux, the market for assimilation lights in horticulture offers tremendous growth opportunities. To expand its leadership team and drive further growth, Agrolux has therefore recently appointed Nick Boelen as its new international sales director. Shift toward LED lighting"Agrolux plans to grow…

Vertical farm offers locally grown leafy greens and salads to US supermarket

Four SKUs of locally grown fresh leafy greens and ready-to-eat salads from Fifth Season, a Pittsburgh-based vertical- and robotic-farming company, are now available at more than 75 Giant Eagle and Market District locations in the Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, and Pittsburgh metro areas. “We are committed…

Dreamstime.com

Israeli firm sets its sights on saffron market

Saffron Tech, an Israeli, wholly owned subsidiary of Seedo Corp, is developing a technology for automated, year-round saffron growing in a bid to capture a slice of the lucrative US$1 billion annual market in saffron supply. If successful, the solution has the potential to challenge the global Iranian…

NZ: Recall of salads to manage listeria risk

New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) is advising the public to return or dispose of specific batches of various ready-to-eat salads as they may contain listeria bacteria. South…