In 2019, the Horticulture & Product Physiology group, together with Wageningen Plant Research, again will organize a course on lighting in greenhouses and vertical farms. In this course WageningenUR scientists share their unique knowledge with international students, researchers, and horticultural and light experts. The course is held in Wageningen, The Netherlands. Registration for the course in February 2019 is now possible. The course consists of a mixture of interactive classroom lectures, group discussions, demonstrations, and an excursion day. The lectures will be given by a team of experts of Wageningen University & Research. Lecturers include Prof. Leo Marcelis, Dr. Cecilia Stanghellini,…
Author: urbanagnews
University researchers are seeking input from potted and fresh cut culinary herb growers in order to initiate a national research and extension project aimed to address the needs of the emerging industry. Your anonymous input for our survey will help to steer the focus of this project. Currently, researchers from Michigan State University, Purdue University, Iowa State University, Clemson University, Kansas State University and the USDA-ARS are writing a USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant proposal to fund this project that will focus on marketing, economic barriers, food safety, plant protection, production, and post-harvest issues related to culinary herbs. If…
Originally published by Edenworks, Johnny Bowman Three trends define the history of packaged salad in the United States: convenience, shelf life, and safety. As enthusiastic packaged salad historians, we thought we’d share our cliff notes on how these trends have changed over time, and offer a glimpse of how these trends play in the future. The 1950 and 1960s: Refrigerated supply chain and convenience. Coming out of World War II, Americans ditched their backyard vegetable gardens (“Victory Gardens”) and embraced store-bought goods in a big way. TV dinners, developed during the war to feed air crews, grew in popularity as the…
For players from the lettuce production chain, the annual Lettuce Demo Days is the place to be. In recent weeks, growers, processors, traders, retailers, and food suppliers have come to ’s Gravenzande from far and wide to get to know more about the most promising new lettuce varieties and developments. Vegetable breeding company BASFpresented its full commercial range of lettuce for the European market, including a number of promising newcomers. BASF showed new varieties for both open-field and hydroponic cultivation. Iceberg Lettuce Highlights “In order to accommodate local temperature differences and different soil types, we always strive for considerable diversity…
This month’s ‘Indoor Ag Science Café’ featured Robert Colangelo, Founder of Green Sense Farms, as a speaker. In his presentation ‘Growing the Vertical Farming Industry – How Industry and Academia can Work Together’, Colangelo discussed the current status of indoor farming industries, gaps and cultural differences between businesses and academia, as well as possible strategies to work together on R&D for common critical technologies. Indoor Ag Science Café is a monthly online forum organized by three scientists (Chieri Kubota, Ohio State U; Erik Runkle, Michigan State U; and Cary Mitchell, Purdue U). Please contact kubota.10@osu.edu to join the café.
Our last Greenhouse Training Online course for 2018! Interpret water quality tests for irrigation of greenhouse and nursery crops, select appropriate water treatment technologies, and design a water treatment and monitoring system. Irrigation Water & Treatment is the final course for 2018 in the Greenhouse Training Online series offered by the University of Florida IFAS Extension, winner of the 2018 American Society for Horticultural Science Extension Division Education Materials Award. This is taught at an advanced level, designed for an experienced grower or technical manager. Lessons are offered in English and Spanish, and are taught by professors from six universities…
Delta, BC – The Village Farms family came together to raise awareness for the Run for the Cure while exceeding their goal by raising more than $10,000 last week for the Canadian Cancer Society. In addition, Village Farms took home the Pepsi Corporate Spirit Award as the top fundraising corporate team at the CIBC Run for the Cure event on September 28, 2018 in Surrey, BC. The Canadian Cancer Society CIBC Run for the Cure is a 5k or 1k walk or run that raises funds for Canadian Cancer Society (CCS). It is the largest single-day, volunteer-led event in Canada…
Dr. Joel L. Cuello, Professor of Biosystems Engineering at the University of Arizona brings us a TEDx talk on artificial intelligence as it can relate to food production for the growing global population. Our planet sorely needs the help of artificial intelligence to achieve the increase in food production that our growing population demands in the face of scarce resources. Vertical farming is already applying artificial intelligence and is sustainable with renewable energy.
Moleaer, the leading manufacturer of industrial-scale nanobubble generators, announces that the Big Tex Urban Farms has installed its Boost nanobubble generator to increase crop production. Throughout the growing season, Big Tex Urban Farms donates all its produce to local Dallas area organizations. Big Tex Urban Farms wanted to incorporate an innovative solution that would help them grow more food per square foot to provide more produce to their local community. After evaluating several options, they chose Moleaer’s nanobubble generator. The generator boosts the deep-water culture’s dissolved oxygen content through oxygen-enriched nanobubbles. When roots are exposed to oxygen- enriched nanobubbles combined…
Green Sense Farms Holdings, Inc., today announced the formation of a joint venture with RUFEPA a Spanish greenhouse builder with over 25 years of turnkey project experience. The joint venture will focus on building combined indoor vertical farm and greenhouse projects for third parties to sustainably grow a wide range of vegetables using less land, water and energy- to feed a growing global population. This is the first of its kind. “Using indoor vertical farms to grow leafy greens and healthy, disease free seedlings that can be directly transplanted into a greenhouse to grow…
Survey to provide insight on emerging indoor farming trends and challenges now live. BROOKLYN, N.Y. Agrilyst today released their third annual State of Indoor Farming Survey. This survey will give Agrilyst and growers insight on emerging trends and challenges in the greenhouse and vertical farming industries. Last year, Agrilyst received over 150 responses from indoor farmers for the 2017 State of Indoor Farming report. The report shared insight on the benefits and challenges for growers. According to the report, 25% of growers responded that their biggest challenge is capital – from access to working capital to expansion capital to cost…
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:
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…