What’s your definition of a living wage? Average wage for farming is $21,680. This does not cover the annual living expenses for a family of 4 in Dallas, Texas (fairly cheap place to live.) Not even if you multiple it by two assuming both adults are working. Thoughts? (Info graphic was created by Urban Ag News with data from MIT.)
Author: urbanagnews
Urban Ag News would like to share the following information that is important to all greenhouse vegetable growers producing organic crops using hydroponic techniques. The following information was provided to UAN from Lee Frankel, Executive Director of The Coalition of Sustainable Organics Many of you have done the difficult work of creating or sustaining successful controlled environment facilities producing fresh produce. You are providing an inspiration to all growers to carefully reconsider all of our assumptions about growing methods. Unfortunately, the very success of your operations is generating a push back from established interests in the organic segment of the market.…
NEW YORK, NY. (April 5, 2016) — Indoor agriculture is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the US as a combination of consumer demand for year-round fresh produce, the partial legalization of medical marijuana and technology advances in lighting and automation drive growth. Indoor Ag-Con – the US indoor agriculture industry’s leading conference – will be returning to New York for the second year on October 5, 2016 to discuss the prospects for this technology-rich industry. The one-day seminar will be hosted at the Helen Mills Theater in Chelsea, NY, and is tailored toward corporate executives from the technology, investment,…
Position: AquaCrop Production Manager Location: Fellsmere, Florida Parabel is an innovative, vertically integrated food ingredient company focused on commercializing novel ingredients produced from water lentils with applications in food, feed and nutrition markets. Parabel has developed two unique food ingredients: LENTEIN and Water Lentil Flour. Parabel’s water lentil products represent more than just superior nutrition, our approach requires: • Taking better care of ourselves and the planet we inhabit • Accountability in the food industry • Bringing responsible global food production and consumption into the 21st Century. We are looking to expand our team to advance our commercial and production activities to meet our growing customer…
AVF Summit 2016 Do you think we should produce our vegetables more efficiently and closer to those that will ultimately consume them? Should we diversify our protein sources to include aquaponically raised fish, or even insects? Do you like the idea of using otherwise wasted materials to grow edible and medicinal mushrooms? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, then you can’t miss the the Association for Vertical Farming Annual Summit and GreenTech 2016 this June in Amsterdam! This year’s AVF Summit will focus on the connection between vertical farming and the notion of a…
Click here to download the issue. Urban Ag News Issue 13 | April 2016 Spring has sprung and so has Urban Ag News Issue 13. Be sure to check out the latest issue which contains some great articles and videos on controlled environment agriculture and urban farming. Urban Ag News’ Issue 13 cover story looks at Green Sense Farms’ efforts to meet the increasing demand for clean, safe produce in both the U.S. and China. Founding farmer and CEO Robert Colangelo talks about how his company is opening additional vertical farming operations in both countries along with a training facility to create job-ready graduates…
Escondido, CA (Mar 1, 2016) – The training division of Archi’s Acres has a new name, Archi’s Institute For Sustainable Agriculture (AiSA). Archi’s Institute For Sustainable Agriculture and Cal Poly Pomona Ag Department announce the launch of a new Hybrid (Sustainable Agriculture Training) Course in addition to the popular Six-week Day Course and 12-Week Nights & Weekends Course. Visit: www.archisinstitute.com to learn more. AiSA has trained transitioning Military Service men and women, as well as members of the general public, to be successful entrepreneurs in the sustainable agricultural industry. Since 2009, more than 300 graduates have learned sustainable methods of growing organic…
Sneak peak into what’s coming up in Issue 13 in April 2016 by Jim Pantaleo It was an honor and a privilege to recently speak with Dr. Gary Stutte, NASA Principal Investigator, and timely too, given the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) events occurring on theInternational Space Station (flowering zinnia and lettuce successfully grown) and in the Oscar-nominated film The Martian. The triple play here is American astronaut Scott Kelly’s safe return to Earth within the past 24 hours after nearly a year aboard the ISS. The below is an excerpt from a larger interview conducted with Dr. Stutte to be…
Gain knowledge and grow your business perspective, obtain key advice and build knowledge from over 20 inspiring speakers tackling over 30 topics in the GreenTech Threatres. Delve deep into the new trends and hottest topics, as well as practical hands-on advice from real-world cases and years of experience. The theatres are focused around the four central themes of GreenTech: water, biobased, energy and crops particularly aimed at growers and investors. A committee of six industry experts advises the organizers on the themes, topics and speakers at the sessions to ensure a high quality knowledge programme that is challenging and…
University of Arizona and Philips Lighting collaborated to create improved lighting for plant production in Mars-lunar greenhouses Non-water-cooled LED lights used 56 percent less energy; more than doubling production of edible biomass per kilowatt-hour (kWh) compared to previous water-cooled high pressure sodium system Research findings to inform development of new innovations in urban farming SOMERSET, N.J.–Philips Lighting, a Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX, PHIA) company and global leader in lighting, has collaborated with The University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) to test energy efficient ways to grow food that will help feed astronauts on missions to the moon,…
A One Day Conference on July 7, 2016 at the University of Warwick, UK Confirmed Keynote: Dr Chiara Tornaghi (Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University, UK) Urban gardening has long promised radical alternatives to industrialized food production and the organization of modern urban spaces. Yet despite recent increases in popularity and a conspicuous proliferation of its forms, urban gardening appears to have had minimal material influence on how we eat or how we live. It is now time to ask what the future holds for urban gardening. What evidence is emerging of urban gardening’s social and environmental impacts? Can such forms…
The face of agriculture is dramatically changing in and around cities worldwide. From Anchorage, Alaska to Tokyo, Japan, multi-story indoor farms provide fresh produce, fish and other products to local residents. Some facilities are greenhouses using natural sunlight, others use grow lights. Proponents of these farms argue they use less water and pesticides, while reducing transportation costs and carbon emissions. But critics argue they are not cost effective and consume too much energy. Guest host Maria Hinojosa and a panel of guests discuss the pros and cons of indoor urban farms for this month’s Environmental Outlook. Guests Stan Cox senior…
Dr. Roberto Lopez has joined the faculty in the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, Michigan as an Assistant Professor and Controlled Environment/Floriculture Extension Specialist. He will have a 45% research, 30% teaching, and 25% extension appointment. Roberto will add to MSU’s lighting expertise with his research background in traditional and LED supplemental and sole-source lighting and become part of the Floriculture Research Alliance and. Roberto says he will continue investigating how light (quantity, quality, and duration), carbon dioxide, air and substrate temperature during the young and finished plant stages influence timing, rooting, quality, and subsequent…
Humans have spent the last 10,000 years mastering agriculture. But a freak summer storm or bad drought can still mar many a well-planted harvest. Not anymore, says Japanese plant physiologist Shigeharu Shimamura, who has moved industrial-scale farming indoors thanks to special LED lights developed by GE. Working in Miyagi Prefecture in eastern Japan, which was badly hit by powerful earthquake and tsunamis in 2011, Shimamura turned a former Sony Corporation semiconductor factory into the world’s largest indoor farm illuminated by LEDs. The special LED fixtures were developed by GE Lighting and emit light at wavelengths optimal for plant growth. The farm…