The Harvest Returns Sustainable Agriculture Opportunity Zone Fund recently funded the first tranches of an investment in a vertical farm and restaurant business that will produce locally-consumed food year-round in Omaha, Nebraska. The Sustainable Agriculture Opportunity Zone Fund invests to create positive impact to the agriculture industry across economically disadvantaged regions of the U.S. The fund seeks to provide investors with tax-favorable, risk-adjusted returns in assets uncorrelated with the stock and bond markets. The fund’s investment objective is to achieve tax-advantaged capital appreciation in production agriculture projects that are economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable.”Gather Omaha represents exactly the type of project in which…
Author: urbanagnews
Amsterdam – Over 6,300 horticulture professionals signed up for the virtual show GreenTech Live & Online on 20, 21 and 22 October. Attendees from 107 countries watched 53 knowledge sessions with 121 speakers. Visitors, exhibitors and speakers made in total 3,431 matches. Research showed that the quality of the show was rated very good. What did the attendees saySeveral quotes to express the experiences about the new way to connect: Maren Schoormans (Viscon Group): “At first Glance I feel sad about the empty halls here we would normally have GreenTech. But thanks to GT Live & Online this new movement grows exponential. This…
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Dr. Chris Marble, Assistant Professor of ornamental and landscape weed management with University of Florida IFAS Extension (UF/IFAS), presents tips to reduce weed control costs for nursery and greenhouse growers, including cultural and chemical methods. Are you having an issue with liverwort, or other weeds that do not respond to chemical applications? Learn about strategies to control problem weeds and reduce your costs. Access this video in the “Five Tips for Horticulture” series on the UF/IFAS Greenhouse Training Online channel (tinyurl.com/ufgto). The series highlights technical topics from university and industry experts. Subscribe to receive upcoming videos on…
Victoria, Canada – From its introduction forty years ago, the Daily Light Integral (DLI) metric has become an important tool for determining monthly daylight availability for crops and estimating supplemental electric lighting requirements for greenhouses. DLI charts for the continental United States have been available for nearly two decades, but it has only been in the past year or so that DLI information for geographic locations worldwide has been made available through various online DLI calculators. These calculators however have two disadvantages. First, the DLI calculations for a given location are based on the nearest weather stations for which Typical Meteorological…
Dr. Paul Fisher from the University of Florida IFAS Extension hosts Jon Greene of Bluelab Corporation in a new YouTube video (https://youtu.be/Yxt7OZnieng). They discuss technical tips for pH and electrical conductivity (EC) monitoring in hydroponic plant production, as well as water management and the importance of maintaining monitoring equipment. This video is part of the series called “Five Tips for Horticulture” featured on the Greenhouse Training Online channel (https://tinyurl.com/ufgto). The series highlights technical topics from university and industry experts. Look for upcoming videos on topics such as growing media, vermicompost, and hydroponics substrates. The channel is sponsored by the Floriculture…
After two years of traveling across the country and working with scores of schools and hundreds of students, teachers and families, I am so proud to announce that the Green Bronx Machine documentary: GENERATION GROWTH is finally here! You will laugh, cry, jump for joy and be absolutely inspired! Featuring schools from across America – rural and urban – and students at every age and ability level – GENERATION GROWTH highlights what is possible with the Green Bronx Machine Classroom Curriculum and a kind, caring, dedicated teacher and community. Please see the trailer below and find a link to join…
NEW ONLINE COURSE: Hydroponic Vegetable Production Our last Greenhouse Training Online course for 2020! The most requested course by participants of the award-winning Greenhouse Online Training program from University of Florida IFAS Extension is here! Learn to manage different hydroponics systems, as well as the fundamentals of climate, water, nutrition, and plant health in these systems. This intermediate course is designed for growers with some experience and training. Topics covered include hydroponics growing systems and structures, specific vegetable crop examples, business management, and food safety. The course is offered in English and Spanish. The course is taught by a team…
Get your greenhouse and controlled environment agriculture questions answered! CropKing is hosting a series of greenhouse grower question-and-answer sessions via Zoom on select Fridays in October and November. Topics will include controlled environment agriculture, hydroponic growing, integrated pest management, disease troubleshooting, plant nutrition, and more. Everyone is welcome to participate, whether they are an experienced grower, curious about the industry, or just getting started with hydroponics or controlled environment growing. Each session will be different, relying on questions from session participants. Registration is required in order to receive the Zoom link. Dates:Friday October 16, 2020 Friday November 6, 2020 Friday…
Horticulture is rooted in soilless culture, with ample opportunities for ever-evolving systems to better produce specialty crops while overcoming a diminishing availability of soil fumigants, increasing pest pressure, and the need for flexibility in a constantly changing world of new cultivars and production methods. Soilless culture, specifically using growing media (i.e. soilless substrates), provides an unprecedented opportunity to rethink how we produce nuts, small fruits, tree fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, pharmaceuticals, and hemp. The foundational science and knowledge used to produce containerized greenhouse and nursery crops over for the past half-century can inform future innovations while also incrementally improving existing…
Have You Registered for JPFA Training Course 2020? The Japan Plant Factory Association is offering its renowned Introductory Training Course on Plant Factories with Artificial Lighting (PFALs) online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, as reported earlier. The course in English has just started!! The course scheduled for Oct. 8-Nov. 2 is available for not only JPFA members but nonmembers as well. It serves people who have started or are going to start the PFAL business or research. Have you finished your registration? If not, send in an application. The course has academic and practical lectures by professionals from…
Data-driven, connected and sustainable vegetable production is the future Together with corporate and academic partners, BASF Vegetable Seeds is making progress in the application of autonomous growing concepts. The company has already applied the concept to seed production, cultivation of a tomato variety and the screening of hydroponic lettuce varieties. A new project for cucumber is underway. “At BASF Vegetable Seeds we want to make healthy eating enjoyable and sustainable. Therefore, we strongly believe in the development of a connected, data-driven, automated and sustainable production system with consumers’ needs in mind,” says Anne Jancic, Marketing & Business Development High Tech…
Are you interested in growing tomatoes hydroponically? Join the University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center for the Hydroponic Online Intensive Workshop – November 16 & 17 via Zoom. Taught by Dr. Stacy Tollefson, this two-day event is perfect for novice growers and will be packed with tons of critical information and research discoveries that UA-CEAC has assembled into their courses and programs for over 20 years. You will get access to numerous lecture materials, personal question follow-ups, certificate of completion, and tons of knowledge! Click here to register! Limited seats are available. For questions, please email arizona.ceac@gmail.com
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The combination of crops, livestock and aquaculture products lost as a result of Hurricane Sally will likely be valued between $55 million and $100 million, University of Florida economists predict. The estimate was released as part of a new document, “Preliminary Assessment of Agricultural Losses and Damages resulting from Hurricane Sally,” from the UF/IFAS Economic Impact Analysis Program. “Unlike most hurricanes, where wind is the driving force behind a majority of the damages, Hurricane Sally also included a lot of rainfall in a short period of time in an area that already had saturated ground,” said Christa…
Autogrow has ramped up their activity in the Northern Hemisphere by establishing a new Sales Director Europe and U.K. role based in the Netherlands supporting their expanding customer base for new digital farming solutions FarmRoad® and Folium®. CEO Darryn Keiller says, “this expansion into Europe is counter-intuitive during a pandemic however innovation and crop production doesn’t slow down, and the challenges growers face haven’t disappeared because of COVID-19. In fact, they have been exacerbated by the pandemic. We think now is the perfect time to introduce solutions that will help growers with productivity, gain greater economic benefits and transform the…