VICTORIA, CANADA – SunTracker Technologies is pleased to announce that it has developed a web-based free to use online calculator to predict monthly DLI values for anywhere in the world, based on climate-based Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) weather records from over 2,100 weather stations worldwide. The Daily Light Integral (DLI) is a relatively new metric for farmers and greenhouse operators trying to decide whether crops will thrive in a given geographic location. It takes into consideration historical weather records that have recorded hourly direct sunlight and diffuse daylight for a minimum of thirty years, and from these calculates the monthly…
Author: urbanagnews
‘How to Fund Your Indoor Farm’ by Nicola Kerslake (Contain Inc.) This month’s Indoor Ag Science Cafe was about financing indoor farm start up. Nicola Kerslake gave an overview of funding strategies and her guest presenter Dave Dinesen (CubicFarms) shared their insightful experience. Indoor Ag Science Café is an outreach program of a project OptimIA, funded by USDA SCRI grant program (http://www.scri-optimia.org). The café forums are designed to serve as precompetitive communication platform among scientists and indoor farming professionals. The Café presentations are available on the YouTube channel. Contact Chieri Kubota at the Ohio State University (Kubota.10@osu.edu) to be a Café…
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Every modern grower needs to speak the language of lighting, in terms of light spectrum, intensity, photoperiod, and daily light integral. The University of Florida IFAS Extension has developed short and simple videos in English and Spanish (“Four Key Concepts of Lighting” / “Cuatro Conceptos Clave de Iluminación de Plantas”) on its YouTube channel (tinyurl.com/UFGTO) to explain these concepts. With the rapid adoption of LED lighting by the horticulture industry, there is increasing need for growers to understand technical aspects of lighting. This can help them decide on how to purchase the correct type of lighting product…
PRESS RELEASE — For several years, UF/IFAS Extension has offered online certification courses in greenhouse management, with over 650 growers taking these courses in 2019. The Greenhouse Training Online program is adding video content on a new YouTube channel (tinyurl.com/UFGTO). New videos in English and Spanish walk viewers through the process of petiole sap testing with the guidance of Tatiana Sanchez, UF/IFAS Extension Alachua County commercial horticulture agent. The videos also include links to bilingual fact sheets in BackPocketGrower.org in the Fertilizer and Nutrients section under Training. Nitrate and potassium meters are effective tools for growers to do onsite testing…
Free monthly virtual events to share content originally planned for May 2020 annual in-person conference postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic PRESS RELEASE – Indoor Ag-Con LLC, producers of the premier event for the indoor|vertical farming industry, is launching a free monthly webinar series to share content originally planned for its May 2020 in-person annual conference that has been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Titled “Indoor Ag-Conversations,” the new virtual event series kicks off with the United Fresh Produce Association Panel: Produce Trends & Business Opportunities For Indoor Growers Emerging From Covid-19 Pandemic on Wednesday, June 3 at 4 pm…
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and most U.S. states have categorized farms as Essential Critical Infrastructure— meaning that these operations remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is important that growers implement proper sanitation strategies to protect themselves and their staff from SARS-CoV-2 (Figure 1), the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. USDA recommends that farms follow the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines to handle cleanup of facilities (www.usda.gov/coronavirus). In this e-Gro Edible Alert, a summary is provided of the options available for surface sanitation based on the Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.
By Tawnya Sawyer The USDA recently recognized aquaponics under their voluntary Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) program through the Specialty Crops Inspection (SCI) division. This program is in its pilot phase for audits and certification of selected aquaponics farms through the end of 2020. Having a set of guidelines for aquaponics helps to better align with the specifics of growing in soil-less media, using filtered fish waste for nutrient solution, and bio-integration of fish and plants in a growing facility.Prior to this pilot program, aquaponic farm audits were subject to standard GAP guidelines designed for produce crops grown in a field or cultivated…
By Thomas Wheet and Brian Filipowich The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill charged the USDA with creating the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (“Urban Ag Office”). The Farm Bill noted that urban agriculture can “contribute to the revitalization of abandoned or underutilized urban land, [bring] social and economic benefits to urban communities, and [create] beneficial impacts on the urban landscape.” After months of navigating the Congressional appropriations process, the necessary funding for the Urban Ag Office was finally signed into law in December 2019. The Aquaponics Association reached out to the leadership of the Urban Ag Office and Congressional Offices…
SDL (Sustainability and Digitalization Leaders) has created SDL Vision to look forward, beyond the restrictions and disruptions of COVID-19, and reinvigorate themselves with their original purpose: to connect the people able to secure an innovative, sustainable future of food, and to move the conversation forward. In this first issue, they featured an article by UAN founder, Chris Higgins. “The distribution of food is now being put under a microscope. But where there is chaos, there is opportunity. So what do we do to rebuild, restrengthen, and reinforce our food distribution models so that we can provide healthy food to the…
Counting down until the AgTech community meets in St. Louis, we are excited to introduce a series of webinars with leading figures and AgTech NEXT advisors. They will dissect the current industry and encourage us towards the most important themes of today’s – and tomorrow’s – landscape. Tuesday, May 12, 12pm CTDavid Wheelock, Federal Reserve Bank St. Louis, and Sam Fiorello’Pandemic Economics’ Tues June 9, 12pm CTChip Lerwick, Aon, and Tom Laurita’COVID-19 Impacts on the Food System’ Tues July 14, 12pm CTMary Shelman and Claire Kinlaw’AgTech Innovation in a Post-COVID-19 World’Register here You can find further details at agtechnext.org and…
University of Florida Greenhouse Training Online courses Greenhouse 101 Train yourself and your staff to make better crop management decisions by learning the underlying horticultural science of plant growth. Greenhouse 101 is the introduction to the award-winning Greenhouse Training Online courses offered by the University of Florida IFAS Extension (UF). It is designed for people with no formal training in horticulture that work in the greenhouse or nursery industry. The course is offered in English and Spanish. The course runs from June 1 to June 26, 2020 and includes a personalized certificate of completion. The cost is $US199 per participant,…
This document is The Aquaponics Association’s response to a recent publication on E. coli in Aquaponic and Hydroponic systems. By Tawnya Sawyer; Nick Savidov, PhD; George Pate; and Marc Laberge Overview of the Study On April 6, 2020, Purdue Agriculture News published a story about a study related to the contamination risk of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) in Aquaponic and Hydroponic production. The full study was published in MDPI Journal Horticulturae in January 2020. Researchers conducted the study from December 2017 through February 2018. The Study consisted of side-by-side aquaponic and hydroponic systems in a controlled environment lab growing lettuce, basil, and tomatoes with tilapia. The purpose…
PRESS RELEASE — As the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to spread and create challenges worldwide, our hearts go out to all who have been affected by the outbreak of COVID-19. In this challenging time, we feel concerted effort is crucial to our sector more than ever before. Japan Plant Factory Association (JPFA) is conducting a research on the impact of COVID-19. This will help us better understand the challenges we are currently facing globally in the sector and rethink about what we can do together for our future. In addition, your survey responses will help us better plan and identify…
The Ohio State University, in partnership with Gotham Greens and Hort Americas, will be organizing the Plant Empowerment Workshop Online on July 9-10 , 2020 (10am – 2:30pm EDT). Advanced learning and discussion for growers towards “an integrated approach based on physics and plant physiology, leading to a balanced growing method for high yields, quality, saving energy, and profitability in greenhouse controlled environments” Instructor: Dr. Peter van Weel Author of ‘Plant Empowerment’Expert in greenhouse climate controlFormer PI at Wageningen UR, The Netherlands Host: Dr. Chieri Kubota The Ohio State UniversityOhio CEA Center The goal of this Workshop is for growers to…