The warehouse of the future

The future of warehouse logistics. These are the STO Express logistics robots in the sorting centre of Xuzhou, China.    

World engineering day: feeding a planet

If you improve the efficiency of farming it will change the world for all of humanity, and much of that will be due to the work of engineers, writes George Newbold, Lead Automation Engineer, Stacked Farm.One of the challenges we face at our vertical farm, Stacked Farm, and one of the challenges in the…

‘Keeping leafy greens fresh is an exact science’

California and Arizona are producing more than 90% of US lettuce. If you live anywhere east of these two states, your leafy greens have traveled a long way to get there. How…

Study on analytic tools to measure future plants stress

New work from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) highlights the potential of recently developed analytical tools that can provide tissue-cell or organelle-specific information on living plants…

"We offer the agriculture industry an alternative to Microsoft"

Tech innovator WayBeyond is taking on Microsoft’s Power BI and Excel products to give growers an alternative solution for integrating all their business data into one digital platform.   “Historically, the technology to manage your data was limited. Growers have gotten used to spreadsheets and other historical tools,…

New lubricant for engines on non-natural gas

Q8Oils and INNIO Jenbacher have today launched Jenbacher S Oil 40 gas engine oil, an innovative new lubricant for engines that operate on non-natural gas (including, but not limited to biogas, sewage gas and landfill gas). This is one of the first products developed by the long-term global partnership…

New lightweight portable deck showcased

Pipp Horticulture, a provider of space‐saving, multi‐level mobile cultivation systems, announces the new Elevate Platform System. The Elevate Platform System is a robust yet lightweight and portable deck that allows cultivators to access PIPP’s Multi-Tier Mobile Grow Racks quickly, and most importantly,…

Farming on asteroids: Science future, not science fiction

Newswise — If you want to learn how to farm successfully and grow crops, here’s a novel place to turn to: The UND Department of Space Studies. Then again, this advice might be a tad limited, given that not many are aspiring to grow crops on asteroids millions of miles from Earth. But UND Assistant…

Indoor farming in Mexico discussed

More than 34% of Mexico's agricultural production ends up in landfills each year due to inefficiencies during production, processing, storage, and transportation. Then there's billion liters of water lost due to poor irrigation annually in traditional agriculture in Mexico. 2019 was the driest year in…

Scientists are growing grapes in space to save Earth’s wine supply

At approximately 8pm EST on Wednesday, January 13, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft splashed down into the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Florida. Inside were stem cells, a sextant designed for emergency navigation in deep space, and tissue chips created to help treat heart conditions on Earth.…

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…

Cambridge engineers unveil Digital Twin to support the ‘future of farming’

Hydroponic farming challenges traditional methods in favour of soil-less, water-based farming processes. To ensure the ongoing operational success of farms such as these, Cambridge engineers have developed a virtual forecasting model to provide bespoke feedback to farmers. The researchers show how a…

CityVeg: Meet this Greek robot gardener

Two friends, 28-year-old Konstantinos Vaiopoulos and 27-year-old Michalis Moraitis, who work at the CERTH Institute of Biochemistry and Agrotechnology, created a robotic system, CityVeg, which adapts to any flowerbed and supports plants with precision irrigation. Inspired by the philosophy of the…

New generation of optical sensors ready for introduction

Optical sensor manufacturer Sendot started in 2015. Not long after, the first sensors that were developed in-house were introduced to growers. The time has now come for a new generation of optical sensors which have developed into a complete package to help growers measure and control better. Bert van Tol…

“We are able to digitalize any process that currently requires paper”

Although digitalization made great strides in the past year, there are still many benefits to be gained. For the fresh produce sector specifically, Zofto Solutions has been established. “With our software tools, we can digitalize any ‘paper’ procedure in a very uncomplicated way,” says Anton Alibekov…

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Out of this world: Photosynthesis measured from space

Because of their ability to make valuable products from organic compounds like CO2, plants are known as "primary producers." Gross primary production (GPP), which quantifies the rate of CO2 fixation in plants through photosynthesis, is a key metric to track the health and performance of any plant-based…

Vertical barrels components "ready for vertical farming integration"

The aponix vertical barrel system is an alternative vertical NFT solution from Germany that can be used instead of rack systems to use vertical space more efficiently in hydroponic setups and at the same time use natural sunlight better. The system aims to maximize the number of possible grow spaces per…

Study on species-independent analytical tools for next-generation agriculture

Innovative approaches are urgently required to alleviate the growing pressure on agriculture to meet the rising demand for food. A key challenge for plant biology is to bridge…

Learning to develop drones for crop pollination is "dream come true"

The prospect of getting paid to learn how to program robots and work for a deep-tech firm deeply excited Mr Cheng Yi Chiao. So the father of two decided to take up a nine-month traineeship programme to do just that. Last November, the 37-year-old enrolled in SGInnovate's Innovation and Enterprise…

"Light installation that can be used much longer"

Light installations are a big investment for indoor farms, and unfortunately growers need to re-invest every 4 to 8 years in a new installation depending on the lifetime. Mother’s PlantSpectrum modules can be used through the infinity program, the company announces. "Growers can preserve their…

"First water cooled multi-layer LED fixture for stable indoor growth"

Oreon, a Dutch developer of LED grow lights for greenhouse horticulture, is introducing the first water cooled multi-layer LED fixture: Embrace. The Dutch Powerhouse Embrace is specially designed for vertical and indoor farming. In multilayer cultivation heat and humidity are very important and Oreon…

Research on microgreens farming in vertical hydroponic system

Microgreens are species of vegetables and aromatic herbs in an early stage of growing, which are consumed after a vegetative cycle of 10-14 days. At first, they gained their popularity in luxury restaurants for the original flavour they gave to dishes. Over the years, their nutritional and therapeutic…

Study on outdoor vertical farming on textile substrates

Vertical farming may solve the problem that in many regions of the world, more area would be necessary to produce food, than it is available. Especially in large cities and other densely crowded areas, vertical farming can provide an efficient and eco-friendly way to feed people. While indoor vertical…

Australian agtech startup expands to Denver following $23M funding round

Coming on the heels of a large fundraise earlier this year, an Australian agtech startup is putting down roots in Denver for its first North American office. AgriWebb, a ranch management software company, announced its official launch in the U.S this week with a new Denver HQ. “Our mission at AgriWebb…

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…

New paint makes drives more environmental friendly

Starting from the 1st of February, the painting process of the motor gearboxes of De Gier Systems has been adjusted. Ever since, motor gearboxes out of the GW range will be spray-painted with a water based environmental friendly paint. "This will bring us a lot of advantages besides the environmental…

Maximize and control pollination effectiveness with bumblebee-hive automation and analytics device

How active is your bumblebee hive? No clue? You're not the only one. Even though the activeness of bumblebees can be affected, there's hardly a solution to keep track of it. Up until now. The company Agrolabs has launched B-control, a one-of-a-kind bumblebee-hive automation and analytics device. "The…

CubicFarms

Bringing food production closer to home

Dave Dinesen, CEO of CubicFarms, believes that we are experiencing a global crisis in food security and that technology is necessary to feed the growing global population. CubicFarm Systems Corp. is a local chain agtech company headquartered in British Columbia, Canada. The company specializes in the…

Lighting as a platform - "new approach to horticulture"

TSRgrow, a horticulture solutions provider, is proud to announce Lighting as a Platform™ (LaaP), a new technology for indoor growers. Lighting as a Platform (LaaP) brings…

NASA awards good ideas to feed astronauts in space

NASA is prepared to pay $500,000 for a good idea to help feed astronauts on long-term space missions with something other than dried, packaged food from Earth. The space agency has set a July 30 deadline on its Deep Space Food Challenge, when it will choose a winning idea. The Canadian Space Agency…

Spinach sending emails: study on plant signalling with nanotubes

Through nanotechnology, engineers at MIT in the US have transformed spinach into sensors capable of detecting explosive materials. These plants are then able to wirelessly relay this information back to the scientists. When the spinach roots detect the presence of nitroaromatics in groundwater, a…

Study on uncovering microbiomes for urban farming

NUS researchers have reconstructed nearly a thousand microbial genomes from green leafy vegetables commonly consumed in Singapore to improve the quality of urban farmed crops. This study is a first step towards uncovering the microbiomes associated with urban farmed vegetables. It also marks progress in…

"More light, spectra, and flexibility with new vertical farming fixture"

In a normal year the team with Current, a Daintree company, would have shined at the tradeshows these months. And not just the team - also their new fixture would have. Now we're happy to show it via our screens: here's the Arize Lynk². "Our next generation indoor vertical farming fixture," Colin…

Transferring excess heat and humidity without gapping

The recently enacted Greenhouse Light Abatement Bylaw in Ontario, but also other light pollution concerns across North America have created issues for growers to choose between light pollution vs excess heat inside their greenhouse. Closing traditional light abatement screens during the night means…

Agromediterranea will launch live lettuces without phytosanitary treatments

Agromediterranea, a company of the Foodiverse group that specializes in the production and distribution of vegetables, has launched an innovation project to offer its customers live lettuces, that keep their roots so that consumers have access to a fresher and cleaner product. In addition, these crops…

Bram Meulblok joins Tungsram Agritech team

Bram Meulblok is the new Regional Sales Manager of Tungsram Agritech focusing on the Benelux region, France and Germany. He brings almost 10 years of lighting experience to the team; besides horticulture lighting experience, Bram also has experience in the optical and light measurement field. He studied…

Delivering the optimal growing parameters

“Especially in the pharmaceutical or supplemental industry, you need an extremely strict batch control that leaves no room for variation,” says Dr Alexis Moschopoulos, Managing Director at Grobotic Systems. The Grobotic Systems team shows off an early prototype Grobotic chamber. From left to right:…

Studio Roosegaarde

LED project highlights the beauty of agriculture

Last week, Daan Roosegaarde's 20,000 m² work of art was opening. The artwork, called GROW, is a tribute to the beauty and importance of the agricultural sector.  In the world film premiere GROW appears as a 20,000m2 luminous dreamscape of red and blue waves of light over an enormous field. GROW is inspired…

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Oranmore, Ireland, where coffee and broccoli are coming in by drone

Ever since the small Irish town of Oranmore became a test bed for its drone delivery service, there’s been plenty of surprises for Manna Aero. Last October Manna Aero began an extensive trial in the small town, located on the outskirts of Galway on the west coast of Ireland. All of the shops in town were…

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"An underground movement": podcast about farming underneath the city

“Who builds a fully functioning commercial farm 33 metres under the ground in Central London? And more importantly, why?” That’s the question Matt Mayer asked Steven Dring, CEO of Growing Underground. This pioneering company is at the vanguard of precision farming, a movement that is disrupting…

Understanding the key tech required in vertical farming

Vertical farming involves growing crops indoors under artificial temperature and lighting conditions. This technology focuses on increasing productivity in small places. It utilizes soil-free methods like aeroponics, aquaponics, and hydroponics. Read on to understand the main tech you need for your…

AI defeats human team in growing strawberries

In May 2020, China Agricultural University and Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo hosted a "smart agriculture competition". Three teams of top strawberry growers, the traditional teams, and four teams of scientific AI experts, the technology teams, took part in a strawberry-growing competition in the…

The Mars farm: a not-too-distant reality?

It isn’t too far-fetched to imagine space as the final farming frontier. There’s already a space garden, the Vegetable Production System, Veggie, on the International Space Station (ISS). Although Veggie is only about the size of a carry-on bag, it helps NASA study plant growth in microgravity and…

On-site production of hydrogen peroxide provides solution against biofilm

Clogged drippers and biofilm in the irrigation system led to non-uniform irrigation and thus uneven growth in the tunnels and greenhouses of Danish berry grower Hunsballe Grønt. Ever since he’s started adding ultra-pure peroxide to the irrigation water, these problems have disappeared. Even more…

"Chinese firms add strength to Dubai's future tech ecosystem"

Over the decades, the Gulf city of Dubai has emerged as a land of innovation and a place where future could be felt right now in the present. The city is actively encouraging global collaborations to drive innovation and future technology in the United Arab Emirates and internationally through its Dubai…

Study on rapid detection of nutrient content of hydroponically grown lettuce cultivars

The analyses of online quality measurements of four lettuce cultivars (Rex, Tacitus, Black Seeded Simpson, Flandria) using hyperspectral image processing techniques have been studied. Seedlings were planted in Rock-wool cubes and fed for 3 weeks using hydroponic nutrient solution containing 0, 50, 100,…

"Meet Watney, your robot gardener"

Yet while vertical farms have gained in popularity, they are also still very expensive. When compared to conventional farming, these farms necessitate the purchase of pricey equipment to aid human labor, a fact that, when paired with other economic pressures, has apparently led to an industry “littered…

US judge unlikely to ban hydroponic crops from organic label

In a legal battle over what constitutes organic farming, a federal judge signaled Thursday he is unlikely to find a 1990 law forbids labeling hydroponic and other crops not grown in soil as organic. Joined by organic farmers and trade groups, the Center for Food Safety sued the U.S. Food and Drug…

Plant cells of different species can swap organelles

More than a decade ago, plant geneticists noticed something peculiar when they looked at grafted plants. Where two plants grew together, the cells of each plant showed signs of having picked up substantial amounts of DNA from the other one. In itself, that wasn’t unprecedented, because horizontal…

Hamill

Customized harvesting machines at any budget

“The pandemic hasn’t slowed us down at all. I’m an entrepreneur and I saw an opportunity in the vertical farming market because a lot of leafy greens are cultivated,” says Robert Benner, CEO of Hamill Group. The upcoming market could open another door for Hamill. “We have some great engineers, therefore…

Signify CEO eyes $2B agricultural lighting market

Reaffirming the importance of horticultural and agricultural lighting to its future, Signify CEO Eric Rondolat recently projected industry-wide market revenue from the sector…

Will Singapore be the next Sillicon Valley?

Silicon Valley of the U.S. has been dubbed as a ground of tech innovation, in western movies, tech conventions, and others. However, with trade wars between US and China, tech experts believe that soon a new epicenter of tech hub may emerge. Reports and surveys cite that Singapore is on the verge of…

Scientists reveal structure of plants' energy generators

Researchers have revealed the first atomic structures of the respiratory apparatus that plants use to generate energy, according to a study published today in eLife. The 3D…

New Phytotron climate chambers for plant research

Utrecht University renovated the climate chambers of the Phytotron in the Hugo R. Kruyt building between March and November 2020. The Phytotron is the main research facility for the plant scientists of the Institute of Environmental Biology (IEB). The test phase is now over and the facility has been…

Why we need to “rewild” our environment

Around half of the habitable land on the planet is now used for agriculture. A millennium ago—or more recently, in the case of many countries—it was mostly wilderness. Soon, technology could reshape that balance again, bringing back acres of trees as tools to fight climate change.  A new project from the global…

Sharjah's eco-domes with indoor growing areas

From aquaponic agriculture and solar-powered "rain-making" panels to energy saving eco-homes, the latest environmental projects at Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park offer a glimpse into the future of the UAE. Water and environmental technologies are two of the six key research projects…

Can LEDs affect the taste and smell of vegetables?

There is a widespread misconception that the taste of vegetables is solely based on genetics of the plant species and cannot be enhanced by cultivation techniques or environmental conditions. "That would be true in a scenario where other cultivation parameters were universally normalised," the team with…

"Rise up and start again"

One of the areas that the notion of ‘building back better’ most resonates with is infrastructure and the idea of either rebuilding existing amenities or improving them along sustainable lines. ‘There is always an emphasis on “build back better” when it comes to infrastructure,’ said Colm O’Connor, lead portfolio manager on the…

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Study on integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems

This study compiles the growth of Tilapia fish in plastic tanks. This water was used to water a crop of mini bell pepper.  A preliminary assay was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of an integrated aquaculture-agriculture production system. Tilapia  was farmed in plastic tanks (500L), with and without bioflocs…

The making of Monarch

All those lights in greenhouses are beautiful, but how are they made? This beautiful process has been visualized by Oreon, who present their powerhouse Monarch in this video.

Study on planting media and nutrition concentration lettuce yield

Lettuce is a vegetable whose commercial value is quite good and the demand for lettuce has increased, including from hydroponic results. The use of rockwool planting media in…

US (CO): Surna signs contract for 53,000 sq. ft. facility

Surna signed a sales contract valued at $3.2 million. The project in Arizona is for an approximately 53,000-square-foot facility. Surna is under contract to provide custom air handlers, heat recovery chillers and its StrataAir vertical racking air flow system for the cultivation, processing, drying and…

How automation can prevent nutrient deficiencies

Nutrient deficiency in plants can impact your bottom line. Delivering the right nutrients at the right time can make or break a grow operation. Let's examine how nutrient…

Automation and mechanization solutions for NFT and DFT systems

Hydroponic techniques for the cultivation of lettuce is becoming more and more important all over the world. As probably read in articles many people have become more cautious about food security. Therefore, Flier Systems has come up with an explanation video on its automated lines.  The following movie explains…

Taiwan-based company combines LEDs with AI for energy efficiency

Agromeans has recently developed proprietary lighting modules that aims to solve the three main problems faced by indoor farmers – high cost of electricity, cost of labor, and…

Simple, but unique technique creates uniform light above plants

Since 2017, the Leaf Carrier from Bever Innovations is in production. The idea for the growing cart with lights started after contact between tissue grower John Bijl with Vitro Plus and Jacco de Ronde (from the lighting producer) in ... the gym. Bever Innovations was, up until then, a rather unknown…

Application of LED in fresh vegetable and fruit storage

In recent years, LED has been used as the sole or auxiliary light source in plant factories or greenhouse crop cultivation, and there have been more and more studies on…

"The demand for horticultural solutions changes"

Investing, experimenting and collaborating in a changing market for horticultural solutions. How do you respond to the increasing demand for complete cultivation systems with knowledge and technology and contribute to efficient ornamental, food and herb cultivation? Roeland van Dijk, Codema's logistics…

Uncovering how plants see blue light

Plants can perceive and react to light across a wide spectrum. New research from Prof. Nitzan Shabek’s laboratory in the Department of Plant Biology, College of Biological Sciences shows how plants can respond to blue light in particular. “Plants can see much better than we can,” Shabek said. Plants…

“The shift from the old way of farming is going to be a big feature in 2021”

In a normal year Henry Gordon Smith, CEO of consultancy firm Agritecture and Darryn Keiller, CEO of technology company Autogrow would have met up quite a few times and would have discussed the challenges and developments of the industry regularly. This year though everything has been different – like it…