Author: urbanagnews

CHARLESTON, SC: As vertical farming continues to expand, there are more and more instances of multi-location farms managed by individual operators. While it is typical for operators to have access to significant amounts of data from and about their farm environment, most controlled environment agriculture (CEA) software platforms are built around monitoring and analytics of an isolated farm.  AmplifiedAg, an agtech company built on the principles and architecture of enterprise-grade multi-tenant SaaS agricultural technology, has broken the segmented application mold and announces the release of the Enterprise Farm Health (EFH) function for operators running on its AmpEDGE farm software platform.…

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University of Florida Greenhouse Training Online courses Weed Management Starts October 16! Understand 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. Weed Management is part of the award-winning Greenhouse Online Training courses offered by the University of Florida IFAS Extension. This course is intermediate level and designed for people with some experience or entry university level, who are in production, technical, or sales role for greenhouse and nursery crops. Topics covered include weed identification, herbicides, calibration, non-chemical methods of weed control, impact of…

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2023 – Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing a new crop insurance program designed for agricultural producers who use controlled environments in their operations. The new Controlled Environment program from USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is specifically for plants grown in fully enclosed controlled environments and provides coverage against plant diseases subject to destruction orders. Available beginning in the 2024 crop year, the Controlled Environment program provides a risk management resource for urban, specialty crop, and organic producers who often use controlled environments as a major part of their operations. “We are always looking to improve and…

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AmplifiedAg, an agricultural technology company focused in controlled environment agriculture (CEA), announces the contract award from the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Fort Pierce, Florida to supply vertical farming research labs to the agency’s Horticultural Research Laboratory. The labs will be customized to carry out CEA vegetable production research unique to the Fort Pierce laboratory.AmplifiedAg has also supplied 16 vertical farming labs to the USDA-ARS U.S. Vegetable Research Lab in Charleston, South Carolina, designed to support its wide range of CEA research in vegetable growing processes, LED spectrum analysis, renewable energy, plant pathology, and plant breeding and selection for controlled environments. …

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Located in Wappingers Falls, the Old Myers project is a 2MW community solar project that will give residents and businesses access to electricity bill savings through discounted community solar subscriptions September 06, 2023: Traditional territories of the Mohican and Wappinger people / Wappingers Falls, New York – Today, Lightstar Renewables is about to break ground on its permitted Old Myers project, the first agrivoltaics (dual-use) project in New York. The project marks a significant milestone for the agriculture and solar industry, fostering energy independence as well as environmental and land stewardship in New York.  Located in Wappingers Falls, Poughkeepsie, Old…

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A new Climate Management online course has been added to the award-winning Greenhouse Online Training series offered by the University of Florida IFAS Extension (UF). Climate Management will take your environmental control knowledge to an expert level and help you produce crops under optimal conditions. Topics covered include photoperiod and supplemental lighting, plant energy balance, photosynthesis, controlling growth and flowering, propagation, vapor pressure deficit, and environmental control systems. This course is at an advanced level, designed for experienced, well-trained growers. The course is offered in English and Spanish. PhD instructors include Paul Fisher from University of Florida, Erik Runkle and…

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Morgan Hill, CA; September 2023 – In August of this year, Sakata Seed de México celebrated its 30thanniversary. “We are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Sakata Seed de México and we are very proud of ourtrajectory”, said Dave Armstrong, President and CEO of Sakata Seed America. “We are currently leadersin several crops in Mexico, like broccoli, and this has been thanks to many growers, packers, processors,and dealers who have helped us achieve these results. We are developing new crops such as hotpeppers, lettuce and melons, and we hope to become leaders in these new markets very soon. Mexicohas great growth…

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DANVILLE, VA – AeroFarms President and Chief Financial Officer Guy Blanchard will lead a keynote address at the 2nd annual edition of the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Summit East, Sept. 19-20, 2023, at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) Institute Conference Center in Danville, VA. Blanchard’s keynote will shed light on AeroFarms’ journey towards resiliency, emphasizing the conference’s core mission to unite the CEA business and academic sectors, fostering learning, networking, and collective growth in the face of industry challenges. Guy Blanchard’s keynote is scheduled for Wednesday, September 20, 2023, at 9 a.m. The CEA Summit East is…

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Seattle, WA – It was announced today that Stichting Wageningen Research, research instituteWageningen Plant Research (WPR) and IUNU have entered into an agreement to work onclosed-loop autonomous growing for the most common commercially grown lettuce varietals. This is the world’s first closed-loop, comprehensive autonomous growing solution developed forthe greenhouse industry. Other solutions focus on smoothing climate and are typically based onsmall sampling datasets. The solution developed by IUNU uses computer vision tocomprehensively monitor crop growth for every plant in the greenhouse and autonomouslyexecutes crop strategies based on how crops are performing. “WPR has long served as a leader in the…

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North Carolina State University researchers Professor Ricardo Hernandez and Cristian Collado worked with Current’s Arize® Element L1000 LED top lighting in a greenhouse setting to explore the impact of light levels on the production of cuttings, plant growth, flower production, quality, and water use of a cannabis sativa variety commonly cultivated for its high levels of CBD. The impact of different levels of light throughout the vegetative and reproductive phases of growth was isolated by controlling all other environmental factors, such as temperature, fertigation, CO2, and water usage. Cannabis water use efficiency (WUE) refers to the amount of water a…

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GLASE’s annual in-person summit will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 25, in Leamington, Ontario, Canada, at the Aleksander Estate Winery. The theme of this year’s summit is Greenhouse Energy Resilience: greenhouse efficiency and profitability in a world of increasing energy prices. The summit will consist of presentations by researchers, academics, and industry professionals, and will take a look at the CEA industry in Ontario, Canada. Speakers include Bruce Bugbee from Utah State University, Jim DiMenna from Red Sun Farms, Gretchen Schimelpfenig from GLASE, and representatives from the Harrow Research Center and IESO. Registration is now open. Attendance is limited, so…

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DANVILLE, VA – Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matthew Lohr will lead the opening morning keynote address for the 2nd annual edition of the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Summit East, September 19-20, 2023 at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) Institute Conference Center in Danville, VA. Secretary Lohr’s presentation sets the stage for two days of education and networking built around the summit’s goal of bringing CEA business and academic community members together to boost growth opportunities for the entire sector. The CEA Summit East is co-hosted by Indoor Ag-Con, the largest vertical farming | CEA gathering, and the CEA…

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Improve your prevention and management of diseases in nurseries and greenhouses by registering forDisease Management, part of the award-winning Greenhouse Online Training program offered by theUniversity of Florida IFAS Extension. This course is intermediate level and designed for people with someexperience or entry university level, who are in production, technical, or sales role for greenhouse and nursery crops. Topics covered include how to differentiate between a disease and other issues, disease prevention tips, organic and conventional disease management options, and how to safely apply and handle fungicides. The course is offered in English and Spanish. Rated 4.2 out of 5…

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The “JPFA International Symposium on Plant Factory” will be held on September 4 and September 5, 2023, at the Kashiwa-no-ha Conference Center and online, organized by the Japan Plant Factory Association (JPFA). There will be keynote speeches on the latest technology and interdisciplinary research on PFALs and open discussions on business trends, needs for technology development and collaboration specific to PFALs, and future possibilities for social activities with key players such as PFAL operators actively involved internationally. Poster presentations, exhibitions, and sponsored lunch sessions will also be held at the venue, providing an opportunity for interaction and high-level networking among…

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