2019 Aquaponics Food Safety Statement Sign-on Dear Aquaponics Growers, At the Putting Out Fruits conference last month, we all agreed that it was important for our community to make a positive statement asserting the food safety status of aquaponics. Part of the motivation was that a major food safety certifier, Canada GAP, recently announced it will revoke certification for aquaponic farms in 2020, citing unfounded concerns. The withdrawal of aquaponics eligibility from this certifier has already set back commercial operations in Canada. We believe that the aquaponics community must make a positive statement asserting our food safety credentials to ensure…
Author: urbanagnews
Press Release – Emeryville, California – LumiGrow, a smart horticultural lighting company announced today that they’re launching a new product-line of early disease detection sensors and services. Their innovative release is set to solve one of the most critical unmet needs in agriculture today. “Our partnership with Scanit Technologies marks a major shift in how crop disease will now be managed,” said LumiGrow CEO, Jay Albere II. “It all starts with empowering growers to take preventative action towards disease management rather than being forced to issue treatment actions when it’s often too late. We’re now calling for growers interested in…
A Forbes article, written by Donald Marvin Originally published on Forbes.com Can Cutting Costs Via Robotics Unlock Vertical Farming Profits? Despite the enthusiasm of the investment community for vertical ag in recent years, the indoor vertical farming industry has yet to deliver an economically viable business model. No matter how well funded they might be, most indoor vertical farms struggle to be profitable. The reasons are simple: high operating costs, especially for labor and energy. One of the newest entrants to the vertical ag scene, Fifth Season, has designed its first 60,000-square-foot indoor vertical farm, now being constructed near Pittsburgh, and…
The Ohio State University is organizing annual Greenhouse Management Workshop (January 16 & 17, 2020; Wooster, OH), providing learning opportunities for the basics of greenhouse management practices. Improve you crop productivity, from managing lighting, temperature and humidity to controlling disease and pests.Attend in person for educational sessions, greenhouse tours, and network reception. Attend via webinar for presentations only. Education Credits GAPs Certification of Completion will be provided. Continuing education credits have been requested for several certification programs. For those who are difficult to travel, the whole workshop (except tours) will be accessible for online participants via webinar. Click here for…
This article was originally posted on currentbyge.com Horticultural lighting solution enables environmental benefits including 90% less water, 50% less fertiliser, reduced energy and carbon footprintHigh-care operation creates opportunities to redefine the future of global food, pharma and cosmetics with industrial scale productionClean room automation enables “no touch” harvesting versus an average of 13 human contact stages in conventional farmingProject heralds the start of a long-term partnership with Jones Food Company Ltd. and wider ecosystem to research new ways to scale global food production to meet the needs of a growing population Jones Food Company Ltd. is a prime example of the…
Above: Jeff Bednar and Chef Josh Romero at Urban Taco Collaboration is key to efficiency and profitfor local farmers. By Karel Holloway Almost 30 North Texas farmers, ranchers and other food producers are working with a new company to relieve the tedious chore of delivering products to area restaurants. It frees up more time for growing and can increase profits, the founders say. “For almost five years we did all our own deliveries,” said Nelson Carter of Cartermere Farms in Celina, north of Dallas. “The reality is we’re a bunch of farmers. None of us worked for UPS or Fed…
Visit to the Fraunhofer IME in Aachen: On September 4, the AVF was invited to visit its member IME and experience their groundbreaking, innovative vertical farming technologies live on the spot. Press Release – The AVF was invited to visit its member Fraunhofer IME in Aachen, Germany, one of 72 institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the leading organization for applied science in Europe with over 26,000 employees and various international branches around the world. The Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME has six different sites in Germany and conducts research in the field of applied life sciences from…
BarLight is designed for exceptional cannabis performance, maximum profits and custom biochemical development. The vertical smart fixtures come with LumiGrow EasyRailTM technology for seamless vertical rack integration. Press Release — Emeryville, California — LumiGrow announced today the release of their vertical grow light solutions designed to create your most profitable high-density cultivation yet. “Our newest BarLight Series is precision built for high-yield cannabis growth and commercial extraction,” said Jay Albere, LumiGrow CEO. “Growers have been patient for LumiGrow to release a vertical cannabis solution – and we’re proud to announce this addition to our award-winning products. We’re bringing over 10 years…
Square Roots officially opens their newest indoor farm, in partnership with Gordon Food Service—one of the largest food service distributors in North America. As the first step in their strategic relationship, they’ve jointly created a new Farm Campus at the Gordon Food Service Home Office in Michigan—with a much larger ambition to build indoor farms across the continent together. Square Roots’ partnership with Gordon Food Service was announced at the end of March, and their first co-located farm is opening just six months later. This speed is possible thanks to their modular, scalable farm-tech platform. They can bring their model—perfected…
GLASE (Greenhouse Lighting & Systems Engineering) announces their next webinar. Date: October 25, 2019Time: 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. EDTPresented by: Neil Mattson and Jonathan Allred Click here to register! Carbon dioxide enrichment has long been known as a tool to boost greenhouse crop yield but the benefits depend on the crop and production environment especially light. In this webinar, Cornell University researchers will discuss: The basics of greenhouse CO2 enrichment. Current research underway to determine response of tomatoes and strawberries on light and CO2. Experimental results from two years of studies on day-neutral strawberry cultivar selection and response to…
SAN DIEGO, CA – As California policy makers develop codes for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), Resource Innovation Institute (RII) will convene the inaugural Indoor Agriculture Energy Solutions (IAES) Conference, connecting policy makers, utility program managers, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, researchers, manufacturers, cultivators and investors to shape the future of energy policies and utility programs for CEA. The IAES Conference will be held at the San Diego La Jolla Marriott February 24-26, 2020. Expanding on RII’s mission to advance resource efficiency in the rapidly expanding indoor agriculture sector, this first-of-its-kind event arrives at a critical moment in time for controlled environment…
By Dr. Cary Mitchell (Purdue University) This month’s Indoor Ag Science Café was about the history and current technology status of indoor farming. The beginning seems to be in Syracuse, NY, where General Electric developed an indoor hydroponic farm funded by DoD in 1973. Then there was a large commercial indoor farm for leafy greens in Dekalb, IL, owned by General Mills, which was closed in 1990s. The longest survived may be the one in Japan (TS Farm by Kewpie Co.) where they use HID lamps and aeroponics since 1989. Most significant technological improvement are two ways – one in…
University of Florida Greenhouse Training Online courses Our last Greenhouse Training Online courses for 2019! Weed Management Earn CEUs An intermediate level course that teaches all aspects of weed management in nurseries and greenhouses, including weed identification, developing herbicide programs, and the latest non-chemical methods of weed control that work. Irrigation Water Quality & Treatment An advanced level course that helps interpret water quality tests for irrigation of greenhouse and nursery crops, select appropriate water treatment technologies, and design a water treatment and monitoring system. Both courses run from November 4 to December 6, 2019, are offered in English and…
By Morris Bryan, Inventor of the Tower Garden In 1974, I graduated from The Georgia Institute of Technology like the majority of the men in my family – my grandfather, father, two uncles, and three brothers – with a diploma I thought would change my life, but it wasn’t until that summer when I visited my mother in Athens, GA that I would stumble upon the beginnings of my true passion. As we reminisced and she congratulated me on my hard-earned degree, I looked through her window into the backyard and saw flowers and vegetables growing out of concrete blocks…