Join three CEA scientists (Chieri Kubota, Erik Runkle and Cary Mitchell) who are organizing an online monthly forum series, called ‘Indoor Ag Science Café’. This online forum has been designed to discuss the science and technologies that can contribute to indoor controlled environment agriculture (AKA vertical farms). According to Chieri, “we wish to make the forum develop as a non-competitive, informal communication platform among indoor agriculture industries”. Please contact Chieri Kubota (kubota.10@osu.edu) if you would like to join the Café. The most recent topic presented by Erik Runkle at the Café is now available:
Author: urbanagnews
GLASE gears up for its first meeting: Guidelines for new Controlled Environment Agriculture energy-efficient technology adoption November 5, 2018 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Statler Hotel, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. Lighting control is the last frontier in controlled environment agriculture. Well-designed horticultural lighting systems can reduce energy use and increase profits for greenhouses and indoor farms. GLASE is bringing together New York Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) growers with local utility companies, USDA officials and service providers to provide CEA growers with all the resources available for energy-efficient lighting and control systems technology adoption. CEA growers attending the conference will have the…
VegBed increases mat weight and introduces their growing medium in roll form New York, NY – Sept 10, 2018 VegBed.com, the leader in innovative hydroponic growing medium, announced they released updated versions of their popular bamboo fiber microgreen mats. The company has been working closely with microgreens farmers to help design the new product. The mat weight has been increased from 160gsm to 200gsm to allow for even more water absorption. The normal 10” x 20” mat will be able to hold about 10X’s its weight in water. The new roll option now offers the bamboo fiber with dimensions of…
Article by The Upstart University Team The Farm Bill is moving in Congress and could impact your farm. As you may have learned in our previous post, Congress typically rewrites the Farm Bill every five years and is currently in the process of writing a new Farm Bill with the goal of passing it by the end of September. The next two and a half weeks are a critical time for farmers who want to inform the decisions made around this bill. So what’s in it for you? Each Farm Bill contains resources for farmers of all kinds, but the current bill…
From the Coalition for Sustainable Organics The USDA has published the pre-meeting materials on their website for the Fall 2018 National Organic Standards Board meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota to be held from October 24-26. The Discussion Documents and Formal Proposals do NOT include anything specific to greenhouse, container, hydroponic, aeroponic or aquaponic production systems. Those topics remain on the inactive work agenda of the National Organic Standards Board in spite of calls from an NOSB member to place the topic back on the active agenda. In addition to the review of materials for the National List, the NOSB will review other topics including…
Article by Amy Storey, Upstart Farmers In a recent survey conducted by Upstart University, 70% of respondents stated that they were unsure of whether the Farm Bill would impact their [future] business. Yet ironically all respondents plan on investing in some kind of energy-efficient equipment in the next year, whether that’s lighting, HVAC, pumps, or motors. These two facts conflict with each other! Why? Because the Farm Bill directly influences how billions of government dollars are allocated —and that includes the programs that can help farmers launch or scale their farms. In other words: the Farm Bill will affect your business more than you think!…
Because of unexpected scheduling and weather concerns, the Virginia Smart Farming Conference on Using Controlled Environment Agriculture has been postponed until March 5, 2019. Our team is extremely sorry for this inconvenience but is continuing its work and is excited for what will be delivered when we gather in the Richmond area on March 5, 2019. Contact us to receive registration information as soon as it is available or watch for updates on our website, https://www.hort.vt.edu/sfcea/. The conference offers both academic and industry experts exploring the latest advances in vertical farming, protected culture, sensor technology, lighting, computer vision, and automation. Hear from…
Greenhouse Training Online courses, including Disease Management, offered by University of Florida IFAS Extension (UF) have received a boost with an education grant from the American Floral Endowment (AFE). The four-week courses in English and Spanish are designed for growers or technical managers in the US and other countries, and have been completed by over 1,000 growers. The education grant from AFE will help cover the cost of translating course materials into Spanish. This commitment to diversity training is critical. Even though approximately 80% of agricultural workers in the U.S. are of Hispanic origin and are Spanish‐speaking, there is a…
GLASE Webinar A proposed horticultural lighting label On September 7, 2-3pm EST, GLASE presents this webinar which will be held by Dr. AJ Both from Rutgers University and Ryan Siddon from Intertek. Recent advances in light-emitting diode (LED) technology now provide the horticultural industry with multiple lighting options. However, growers are often unable to compare technologies and LED options due to insufficient data on lamp performance metrics. As a result, researchers are now proposing a standardized product label that facilitates the comparison of lamps across manufacturers. Dr. A.J. Both from Rutgers University and Ryan Siddon from Intertek will talk about…
The Aquaponics Association is gearing up for their Putting Up Shoots 2018 Conference in Connecticut. This conference will feature tours of four different sites in various parts of the state. Attendees will be able to see aquaponics from different angles, such as commercial, research, community, food safety, and STEM education. The tours will include sessions and team-building. These will give the chance to study how growers in Connecticut are finding success with aquaponics and how to apply these lessons. Find out more about the conference and how to register on the Putting Up Shoots Conference Homepage. Also check out the draft Putting…
This article was originally posted on currentbyge.com Horticultural lighting solution enables environmental benefits including 90% less water, 50% less fertilizer, reduced energy and carbon footprint High-care operation creates opportunities to redefine the future of global food, pharma and cosmetics with industrial scale production Clean room automation enables “no touch” harvesting versus an average of 13 human contact stages in conventional farming Project 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…
BioBee Biological Systems, headquartered in Sde Eliyaho, Israel, is at the forefront of implementing biologically-based integrated pest management (IPM) solutions in controlled environment agriculture and open-field production systems. BioBee USA, a subsidiary of BioBee, headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., has partnered with horticultural supplier Hort Americas in Bedford, Texas, to work together to educate and provide greenhouse growers, vertical farmers, indoor agriculturalists and hydroponic growers with a wide range of biological control products. BioBee has developed protocols for the integration of its beneficial insects and mites with selective pesticides under strict pest monitoring programs. These protocols can be used by conventional…
The Controlled Environment Agriculture Center of the University of Arizona presents Hydronic Intensive Workshop event on October 12-15, 2018. Why Intensitve Workshops? Education Immediately meets application CEAC’S unique facilities support a quality learning experience, where knowledge from classroom lectures is immediately applied in the greenhouse. Substancial time for immersion The length and thoroughness of CEAC Intensive Workshops is unmatched! Each course contains 40+ hours of lecture and hands-on work in the greenhouse. Experience yields efficiency CEAC Intensive Workshops have been around for 10 years. With a database of 100’s of common questions and strategic delivery of content, we will address many…
University of Florida Greenhouse Training Online courses Advanced Nutrient Management /Manejo Avanzado de Nutrientes Train yourself, or your staff, to make better crop management decisions by learning in depth aspects of plant nutrition management. This course covers multiple aspects of pH management, how to formulate your own fertilizer from individual salts, and diagnose nutritional problems and take corrective actions. Advanced Nutrient Management is the fifth course of the Greenhouse Training Online program offered by the University of Florida IFAS Extension, winner of the 2018 ASHS Extension Division Education Materials Award. This course is advanced level, designed for an experienced, well-trained…