A vast expanse of 600 miles separates Village Farms’ greenhouse in Marfa, Texas from Houston but the distance to the heart is much closer. Bright and early this morning a Village Farms tractor trailer hit the road to bridge the span of this great distance loaded with fresh produce for the Houston Food Bank. Village Farms’ employees pitched in yesterday, Labor Day, a national holiday, to help pack the ten thousand plus pounds of fresh tomatoes slated for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. “Texas is a big state and many of us here at Village Farms have loved ones in Houston…
Author: urbanagnews
Urban Ag News proud to feature Dr. Chieri Kubota’s class on Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology. Dr. Kubota was a professor at the University of Arizona and is moving to The Ohio State University this summer. Week 5-2: Energy balance 1 This week, you will complete the “Plant Responses to Environmental Conditions” by taking the last lecture on humidity. Then we will learn the “leaf energy balance”, which is the first lecture of “Canopy and Aerial Microclimates”. Some students may feel a bit challenging to follow these physics-heavy contents. But I promise you that it is really “not too bad”! Once you understand why…
Urban Ag News proud to feature Dr. Chieri Kubota’s class on Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology. Dr. Kubota was a professor at the University of Arizona and is moving to The Ohio State University this summer. Week 5-1: Humidity This week, you will complete the “Plant Responses to Environmental Conditions” by taking the last lecture on humidity. Then we will learn the “leaf energy balance”, which is the first lecture of “Canopy and Aerial Microclimates”. Some students may feel a bit challenging to follow these physics-heavy contents. But I promise you that it is really “not too bad”! Once you understand why and how…
Ian Ashdown, P. Eng., FIES Senior Scientist, SunTracker Technologies. It was all so easy until recently. Plants require light in order to grow, and so we provided them with daylight and/or electric lighting. Given the singular choice of high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps, we only needed to be concerned about measuring Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) and Daily Light Integrals (DLI). The introduction of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and solid-state lighting (SSL) has changed everything. With the ability to independently control the light source spectrum from ultraviolet through visible light to far-red, researchers and growers are discovering that plant species and even…
Originally published in Issue 10 by Youth Press Team (LanNi Harris, Tina Zhao, Equem Roel, Ainsley B, Erica Morales-Armstrong, Giovanna Mouzouras, Jaelyn Felton, Weronika, Emanuel Granja, Marsela Doko, and Finn Brennan) Photos courtesy of NY Sun Works Youth Press Team Sponsored by HortAmericas On Friday, June 12, 2015, NY Sun Works held the 4th annual Youth Conference@MSC “Discovering Sustainability Science,” streaming live from the Manhattan School for Children PS333 Auditorium on 154 West 93rd Street in NYC. The conference was covered by the Youth Press Team composed by 7th grade students from PS333 and sponsored by Hort Americas, a company…
Hort Americas has conducted a new case study with Local by Atta. Local by Atta — located inMoncton, New Brunswick, Canada — produces a variety of lettuces, basil, kale, Swiss chard, bok choy, cilantro and microgreens. Products are sold at farmers markets, health food stores, grocery stores, restaurants and through a weekly basket program. The basket program is expected to increase sales as the company looks to expand with pick up at local businesses, municipal buildings and its new production facility. A fire in January 2016 destroyed the interior of the building including $10,000 worth of crops that had just…
Urban Ag News proud to feature Dr. Chieri Kubota’s class on Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology. Dr. Kubota was a professor at the University of Arizona and is moving to The Ohio State University this summer. Week 4-2: Temperature This week, you will take the 3rd series of lectures discussing “Plant Responses to Environmental Conditions”. The environmental factors that you learn this week is “wind” and “temperature”. Wind effect, particularly the positive side of it, is somehow overlooked by plant scientists but very important to understand in controlled environment plant physiology. The importance of temperature in plant production is well understood, but the importance…
Hort Americas is now offering OSRAM’s ZELION HL300 series of horticultural LED fixtures including controls and accessories. One of main advantages of the fixtures is they are controllable allowing users to adjust both the light intensity (light quantity) and the spectrum (light quality). The ZELION HL300 Grow Light is a 100- to 600-watt dimmable and spectra-tunable LED horticulture light fixture. It is designed to meet the plant spectra needs for optimum photosynthesis and energy efficiency resulting in faster growth and increased yields. The ZELION HL300 Sunlight is a 100- to 600-watt dimmable and spectra-tunable LED horticulture light fixture recommended for…
How does light quality affect plant growth? THE COLOR OR WAVELENGTH OF LIGHT Light quality refers to the spectral distribution of light or the relative number of photons of blue, green, red and far red & other portions of the light spectrum emitted in a light source. Photosynthesis requires light between 400 and 700 NM. Spectroradiometer measures light quality. Blue light promotes vegetative growth. If it is the only light, the plant will be shorter, hard and dark in color. R:FR promotes stem elongation. If it is the only light, the plant will be soft and tall. Red and blue…
By David Ceaser Originally published in Issue 10 So, you have been dreaming about starting an urban farm or are about to launch your new career with an indoor farm. You have gotten funding from friends and family (and Kickstarter) but have you really dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s as far as what challenges you will be taking on as you get your business up and running? The truth is that many urban farming operations enter the business from one perspective. They may be started by a grower who knows a ton about growing but little about…
Urban Ag News proud to feature Dr. Chieri Kubota’s class on Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology. Dr. Kubota was a professor at the University of Arizona and is moving to The Ohio State University this summer. Week 4-1: Wind This week, you will take the 3rd series of lectures discussing “Plant Responses to Environmental Conditions”. The environmental factors that you learn this week is “wind” and “temperature”. Wind effect, particularly the positive side of it, is somehow overlooked by plant scientists but very important to understand in controlled environment plant physiology. The importance of temperature in plant production is well understood, but the importance…
By Penny McBride Once again Congress is preparing to take on the US Farm Bill, which is a billion dollar web of agriculture subsidies, welfare payments and environmental support. One of the goals of the Association for Vertical Farming (AVF) is to build political consensus around food and agriculture policy that has the potential to impact our members. This year’s 2017 Summit, taking place in Washington DC September 22 and 23, will address segments of the Farm Bill and help AVF Members negotiate these often confusing waters. Typically the Farm Bill is renewed every 5 years; the last farm bill that expired at…
Brooklyn, August 10, 2017 – Two leading agtech companies have joined forces to offer award-winning automation software and hardware to indoor farms. For the first time ever, growers will be able to use technology to automate processes that have previously been decided based on incomplete data. Agrilyst, based in Brooklyn, is the market leader in farm management and automation software for indoor farms. Motorleaf, based in Montreal, is a market leader in IoT, plug-and-play sensor, and controls hardware and software for hydroponic and greenhouse automation. It is now possible to connect Motorleaf devices to Agrilyst’s platform. Growers can visualize all…
Johannesburg, South Africa – Africa’s increasing concerns for food security to feed its growing populations and sustain economic development are to be tackled head-on by the region’s foremost experts, regulatory authorities and various agriculture industry stakeholders at the Urban Agri Summit 2017 happening on September 7-8 in Johannesburg. Several agri-sector leaders herald emerging innovative solutions such as vertical farming to address the continent’s increasing need for an adequate and sustainable food supply. “Vertical Farming will inevitably be Africa`s future pathway to food security and environmental sustainability,” said Aliyu Abdulhameed, Managing Director for the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for…