Making strawberry production more profitable by implementing automation

“High costs are the biggest problem in vertical farms,” says Hannah Brown, CCO & Co-Founder of Organifarms. “We’ve been looking at energy use to partially solve the issue, but we didn’t see a got fit for us to lower anything in that area. Then we started tackling another big expenditure, labor. We’re…

What is MEP engineering in indoor agriculture?

MEP engineers provide a wide range of engineering services necessary for any construction project. MEP engineers are especially critical when designing an energy-efficient Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) grow facility. Cultivators and facility designers should involve an experienced engineering firm as soon as possible in the planning process.…

International patent filed for automated vertical farm harvesting robot

Pontus Protein is pleased to announce that it has filed an international patent application for Pontus' proprietary Harvesting Automated Robotic Vehicle or "HARV" for short. HARV is a vertical farm rack system and automated plant tending and harvesting robot designed to work alongside and assist Pontus'…

“We design based on grower’s feedback”

Not everyone was making sourdough bread during the lockdown. For the horticulture and agricultural industry it was a time of growth, in general and for Micro Grow Control Systems, in specific. The California-based Micro Grow was able to expand its operations, ramp up their R&D and expand its custom…

Swisslog

Applying automated warehouse systems to indoor farming

“History is written in circles as we observe similar drive for automation in indoor farming, as we saw years ago in the intralogistics sector. There are yet few important differences,” says Timo Landener, product innovator at Swisslog.  Swisslog, with the vision to shape the future of intralogistics, not only…

Milestone achieved on strawberry ripeness detection

Organifarms’ software development team has successfully integrated the ripeness estimation which now enables the detection of the exact degree of ripeness of the fruit. This not only helps in reaching better harvesting results but also in planning the next harvest. Another step that is completed, is the…

How to control growth phases intelligently and efficiently

Image processing with cameras and artificial intelligence enables applications that were previously unthinkable. In agriculture, for example, it supports the optimal application of fertilizers, the visual monitoring of products and growth phases, and the processing of harvested crops. Intelligent systems…

University professor turns smartphones into smart sensors

Dr. Krishna Nemali, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist at Purdue University, has developed an easy-to-use, affordable smart sensor that’s proving valuable to indoor farmers for improving farm productivity and crop quality.  Using only a smartphone and a connection to Dr. Nemali’s apps, users can…

Photo by Square Roots

"Instead of shipping food we should ship environmental data over the world"

How can we reduce the climate impacts of our food system? How can we get the freshest produce to people in urban areas? How can we offer fulfilling jobs to today’s youth? These are all issues that Square Roots is working to address.  “The mission of the company is to bring locally grown food to people in cities,…

Using a drone with a monocular camera: a feasibility study on indoor applications

Real-time data collection and decision-making with drones will play an important role in precision livestock and farming. Drones are already being used in precision agriculture. Nevertheless, this is not the case for indoor livestock and farming environments due to several challenges and constraints.…

Yonhap / Koreabizwire

Korea: New recycling technology developed for hydroponic culture fluids

A South Korean research team has succeeded in developing a circular-type hydroponic system that can be used for vertical and smart farms. The Korea Institute of Science and Technology announced that researchers had developed a new method of effectively managing the number of microbes in a circular-type…

Learning by doing: Chinese plant factory model for new industry standards

On 24 February, 2021, a series of new standards related to artificial light plant factories were made by the CPFA in China. The CPFA was established in March 2017 and is short for the China National Intelligent Plant Factory Innovation Alliance.  The new standards include specifications for the design of the…

Meteor Systems

"Promising numbers not always meet expectations on high performance growing systems"

For good reasons the greenhouse and vertical farm industry is booming. "Especially in ‘’newer’’ greenhouse crops like leafy greens and herbs the number of suppliers moving to this industry is high and still increasing. There is no lack of promises on high performance growing systems, vision on the best…

Vertical farming: the solution for local cultivation

A fast-growing population, increasingly crowded cities and peripheral towns, and growing demand for healthy and fresh food. In order to meet these developments, local…

New high-tech research modules almost ready for use

Last year, Delphy in Bleiswijk has started with the building of two high-tech Research Modules. One large research unit is being built for the fully indoor cultivation of high-wire crops such as tomatoes and a multi-layer cell with four layers for the cultivation of lower crops such as leafy greens or…

Ellepot and PlantPaper join forces in merger

Ellepot and PlantPaper are joining forces to form the Ellepot Group on a mission to reduce the use of plastics in the plant propagation process by providing game-changing…

Nordetect

"It’s like a blood test for crops"

“Agriculture has been put under a lot of performance pressure because we need to grow with less,” says Keenan Pinto, CEO and Co-founder of Nordetect. “We learned that mother nature provides a strong buffer for outdoor farmers. Indoors, however, control systems become more important and are key in…

Telecommunication company steps in data-collection for growers

Vodafone Romania expands its portfolio of digital solutions for business with a suite of solutions dedicated to farmers. They integrate innovative sensor-based IoT…

Fully coated water tank in disguise

We're not calling anybody ugly yet water tanks might not be the most beautiful devices ever installed in horticulture. Well, think again. A grower in Portugal ordered a water tank in pinewood green. "The green colour of the metal panels is caused by a powder coating, preventing against corrosion in…

Logiqs

Vertical farming with regulated microclimate

In vertical farming, crops are sometimes grown at a height of about twenty meters, which can cause large differences in the climate between those at the bottom and the top. Logiqs, Induct and Luminaid have received a subsidy of € 268,086 for an MIT R&D collaboration project to arrive at an integrated…

Optimizing insights in business activities with new software ABS

ABS Production is new, web-based software solution for seed production and multiplication companies developed by Agro Business Solutions (ABS). "With ABS Production one can manage relations like customers and growers, contracts, fields, varieties, lots, field inspections and quality results," the team…

US grower AppHarvest buys robot making company

The US greenhouse company AppHarvest has acquired Root AI, an artificial intelligence farming startup that creates intelligent robots to help manage high-tech indoor farms. "The acquisition of Root AI and its robotic universal harvester, Virgo, is expected to provide us with a baseline of harvesting…

Photo 208660377 © Wirestock | Dreamstime.com

Taking indoor farming operations to new heights

Conveyor systems technology can help indoor farming operations grow to new heights while improving productivity, efficiency and ergonomics, according to Ultimation Industries LLC, a leader in conveyor technology and automation for over 30 years. “Harnessing unused vertical space through the use of…

Overview of technologies that help fighting food waste

This week’s PMA virtual town hall focused on technologies that work to reduce food waste. Ed Tracy, PMA’s Vice President of Supply Chain and Sustainability, explains: “More and more consumers are looking to support brands and organizations whose goals align with theirs. Among the values they look for is…

New Zealand has a huge tech opportunity in the Middle East's growing horticulture industry

An international consulting company says New Zealand has a real opportunity to be a partner of choice with the Middle East in providing "world-leading agritech solutions" to a growing agriculture sector. Alpha Kennedy, from Prime Consulting International, told delegates at the MobileTECH Ag event in…