Crops Subcommittee of National Organic Standards Board Sends Forward Formal Recommendation to Ban Hydroponics, Aquaponics and Aeroponics While Proposing Limits on Other Forms of Container Production Systems The USDA recently published on their website the proposals written by the Crops Subcommittee of the National Organic Standards Board. The full membership of the NOSB will take up these proposals during the November 1Crops portion of the meeting with a potential vote coming that day or on November 2. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the proposals in writing, via a web conference on October 24, or in person on October 31. What would be…
Author: urbanagnews
How to leverage environmental control for profitability Whether you’re growing in a greenhouse, warehouse, or container, climate management is key to the success of your operation. If you’re ready to improve your understanding of HVAC systems, how they impact crop health and productivity, and aren’t afraid to use a calculator, this hands-on workshop is for you! Dr. Nadia Sabeh (aka. “Dr. Greenhouse”) is an Agricultural and Mechanical Engineer with nearly 20 years of experience designing climate management systems (HVAC) for indoor plant production facilities, including greenhouses, vertical farms, plant factories, container farms, cannabis grows, and mushroom houses. Dr. Sabeh is…
SAN FRANCISCO– Light Polymers, a nanochemistry startup with R&D operations in Silicon Valley, Taiwan and Korea, is debuting their GrowBlade™ flat-panel horticulture lighting at the third annual NYC AgTech Week. Light Polymers is debuting their GrowBlade™ horticulture lighting at the annual NYC AgTech Week. #nycagtechweek Hosted by the NYC Agriculture Technology Collective, NYC AgTech Week 2017 includes tours, workshops and presentations that engage attendees on the bleeding edge of urban agriculture knowledge and development. AgTech Week 2017 kicks off on September 16th followed by 6 days of events across the city. Light Polymers is also September’s featured sponsor for Agritecture, a leading urban agriculture blog…
By Peter van den Bosch Originally published in Issue 12 A new initiative in the Netherlands looks to bring together Dutch companies in an organization that would market their horticultural expertise worldwide. Though a small country, the Netherlands has an important economy and is a key world player in both horticulture and agriculture. Its success is driven by innovative production methods, high tech growing and plant breeding. Holland is the biggest “roundabout” in flower trading, selling product locally as well exporting product to many other countries. The Dutch have always acted with an international frame of mind. In the past…
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 5-3: Energy balance 2 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…
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…
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…