Hydroponic Vegetable Production Starts November 13!

Learn to manage different hydroponics systems, as well as the fundamentals of climate, water, nutrition, and plant health in these systems. Hydroponic Vegetable is part of the award-winning Greenhouse Online Training courses offered by the University of Florida IFAS Extension. This intermediate course is designed for growers with some experience and training. Topics covered include hydroponics growing systems and structures, specific vegetable crop examples, business management, and food safety. The course is offered in English and Spanish. Rated 4.4 out of 5 by grower participants, with an 83% graduation rate last year! Over 190 growers have successfully taken this course.

The course is taught by a team of instructors from the University of Florida and Cornell University led by Bob Hochmuth and Dr. Tatiana Sanchez-Jones at UF/IFAS. Past participants have liked that it was “a well-done course with plenty of relevant information for all aspects of hydroponic growing throughout the industry” and described instructors as “attentive, responsive, and enthusiastic”.

The course runs from November 13 to December 15, 2023. The cost is $US265 per participant, with a 20% discount if you register 5 or more. All course material is completely online and available at any time of the day, and includes pre-recorded videos, an interactive discussion board with PhD professors, and quizzes. Two new modules are activated each week during the course, for a total of 8 learning modules. Instruction is at your own pace and time within the 4 weeks of the course, with a typical time commitment of about 4 hours per week.

Click here to register (http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/training/).

For more information, go to http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/training/, or contact Greenhouse Training, Environmental Horticulture, University of Florida, USA, Email: greenhousetraining@ifas.ufl.edu.

In 2022, FFAR continued to outperform, raising over $82 million in matching funds and bringing FFAR’s total awards to $605 million. A comprehensive list of all FFAR grant awards can be found on the FFAR website.

Visit the 2022 Impact Report to see how FFAR is maximizing investment in agricultural research.

Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) builds public-private partnerships to fund bold research addressing big food and agriculture challenges. FFAR was established in the 2014 Farm Bill to increase public agriculture research investments, fill knowledge gaps and complement USDA’s research agenda. FFAR’s model matches federal funding from Congress with private funding, delivering a powerful return on taxpayer investment. Through collaboration and partnerships, FFAR advances actionable science benefiting farmers, consumers and the environment.

Connect: @FoundationFAR

“We are always looking to improve and expand the crop insurance resources we offer to agricultural producers, and the new Controlled Environment program will greatly benefit urban, specialty crop, organic and other producers who grow in controlled environments,” said RMA Administrator Marcia Bunger. “Controlled environment agriculture is a quickly growing sector in the Nation’s food production, and this new option is part of USDA’s broader effort to support urban agriculture and new and better markets for American producers.”

The Controlled Environment program is a dollar plan of insurance, which bases the insured’s guarantee on inventory values reported by the producer, and provides coverage against plant diseases when the plants must be destroyed under a federal or state destruction order.

The Controlled Environment program adds to two other federal insurance products available to nursery and innovative agricultural producers by providing benefits that are not available under the other programs, such as:

• Offer coverage for all Controlled Environment plants, including cuttings, seedlings, and tissue culture.
• Offer crop insurance coverage through a streamlined application and policy renewal process.
• Offer new crop insurance coverage specific to the disease risk to plants in Controlled Environment operations.
• Offer insurance for producer-selected plant categories for Controlled Environment that are not in other nursery insurance program.
•  Allow Controlled Environment operations to have single peril Controlled Environment insurance to be purchased as a standalone policy or in conjunction with other nursery insurance.

The first sales closing date is Dec. 1, 2023.

The Controlled Environment program will be available in select counties in Alabama, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

More Information

 RMA is holding virtual and in-person informational sessions this month. Learn more.

 Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers and online at the RMA Agent Locator. Learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at rma.usda.gov or by contacting your RMA Regional Office.

However, with the agricultural sector already heavily criticised for its contribution to global warming, and the sector vulnerable to climate change impacts, increasing global food production to feed an additional two million inhabitants using conventional models is no longer seen as viable.

Plant factories with artificial lighting (PFALs) – more widely known as vertical or indoor farms – are recognised as a promising model that protects food production from weather extremes, optimises yields and can reduce the overall impact of agriculture on the environment.

In their latest venture, two pioneers of indoor farming – Toyoki Kozai and Eri Hayashi – have collaborated with an impressive range of international experts to produce a new book: Advances in plant factories: New technologies in indoor
vertical farming.

“Professor Toyoki Kozai and Dr Eri Hayashi have had a major influence on the advancement and global understanding of vertical farming,” says Christine Zimmermann-Lössl, Chairwoman of the Association for Vertical Farming, Germany.

“This new book addresses key topics such as energy modelling, the nutritional components of crops and spectral manipulation. We see tremendous value in this latest publication from Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing and are confident that it will become a standard reference book in this area,” she concludes.

The book provides an authoritative review of the latest research in the development and application of PFALs for a range of crop, including the application of machine vision, plant phenotyping and spectral imaging to monitor plant health and growth.

PFALs are viewed by many as a more resources-efficient production model with less environmental impact. For example, when compared to conventional open-field production, PFALs have been proven to reduce water consumption by 90% per kg of produce and pesticide and herbicide usage by almost 100%. And it’s the technology within the system that enables this.

“One of the core technologies of the PFAL derives from the use of an airtight and thermally insulated cultivation room with sensors for measuring all resource inputs, product outputs, environmental factors and plant traits or phenotype,” says Professor Toyoki Kozai, co-editor of this new book.

“This means that plant environmental factors can be controlled at an optimum point with minimum resource inputs and waste outputs, regardless of local weather, soil and ecosystem conditions,” he adds.

What makes this book particularly valuable is that it also addresses the continuing challenges that indoor farming faces.

The editors, along with the contributing authors, identify where more research and investment is required to tackle some of the biggest obstacles facing indoor farming, including the current rate of resource consumption (electricity, plastics and fertilisers), as well as the emission of greenhouse gases during the construction and operation of PFALs.

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. The EFH provides users with a single all-encompassing view of an entire farming enterprise and the inbound and outbound supply chain. 

Instead of only being able to access data farm by farm, the Enterprise Farm Health function assembles and organizes details from every farm in a user’s network – across all site locations, facilities, and farm environments including container farms, vertical farms, and greenhouses.

This visibility provides the user with the real-time health of an entire organization and its key functions to easily access consolidated environmental, operational, financial and risk reporting. 

From the enterprise viewpoint, the user can narrow in on a farm facility, to a site location, all the way down to an individual farm unit, and be able to navigate and control all of the associated functions and data analytics including environmental controls systems, harvest yields, food safety metrics, inventory, client orders, finance, and more. 

“The AmpEDGE Enterprise Farm Health function is a critical component to an indoor farm operation, especially one that is scaling,” says Don Taylor, CEO and founder of AmplifiedAg. “Indoor farming has a complex set of requirements and operations, and the EFH enables the farmer to track and report on the global breadth of an organization for complete agricultural and agribusiness management.” 

The EFH and the AmpEDGE platform at large is positioned to assist the evolving needs of modern agriculture with its multi-farm multi-site management capabilities, especially as the need to move food production closer to the end consumer increases. 

“We’re seeing more and more farmers that are diversifying their operations by blending their existing greenhouse production, and even field production, with vertical farming to add meaningful capacity to their business,” adds Taylor. “This is where AmpEDGE and the EFH function truly shine with the versatile ability to track and manage a farmer’s fully integrated operations and supply chain network.” 

AmpEDGE is a farm and supply chain management platform that correlates and streamlines the inner and outer workings of a farm including environmental control systems, business operations, and financial integrations all in one application. AmplifiedAg provides AmpEDGE software and control systems to independent vertical farms, greenhouses and other controlled agriculture environments. The software and controls are also fully integrated into AmplifiedAg’s container farming systems that are in operation by third parties across the country. 

Learn more about AmpEDGE and AmplifiedAg farms and technologies at www.amplifiedaginc.com. 

About AmplifiedAg 

AmplifiedAg^®is an innovator and leader in the CEA and indoor agriculture sector. The company’s technologists, horticulturalists, and farmers bring together the power and potential of the most comprehensive CEA technology platform and indoor farming practices to enable the next generation of scalable and sustainable food supply. AmplifiedAg engineers and implements fully enabled enterprise-scale container farms and an integrated software and hardware technology platform to support the evolving needs of the agriculture industry, retailers, government entities, NGOs, and others

seeking to develop modern food supply solutions. The company also operates its market-leading brand Vertical Roots^®. 

Our mission is to modernize and localize agriculture with indoor farming technology for farmers and communities across the globe. 

Learn more about AmplifiedAg 

www.amplifiedaginc.com | LinkedIn: @amplifiedag | Instagram: @amplifiedaginc

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 production practices on weed control and herbicide efficacy and managing difficult and unique weed control issues. The course is offered in English and Spanish. Rated 4.4 out of 5 by grower participants, with an 88% graduation rate last year! Over 230 growers have successfully taken this course.

The course is taught by Dr. Chris Marble, associate professor of ornamental and landscape weed management in the Department of Environmental Horticulture at the University of Florida. He focuses on teaching horticulture professionals about the importance of identifying weed species before applying treatments. Growers in the course have described him as an instructor who “is very methodical and easy to learn from” who presents “weed management in an in-depth, clear manner.”

The course runs from October 16 to November 10, 2023. The cost is $US265 per participant, with a 20% discount if you register 5 or more. All course material is completely online and available at any time of the day, and includes pre-recorded videos, an interactive discussion board with PhD professors, and quizzes. Two new modules are activated each week during the course, for a total of 8 learning modules. Instruction is at your own pace and time within the 4 weeks of the course, with a typical time commitment of about 6 hours per week. Click here to register (http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/training/).

Weed Management is one of six courses that counts towards the Plant Health Professional certificate offered by University of Florida UF IFAS Extension (UF Greenhouse Training Online) and the Michigan State University Floriculture Program Extension (MSU Online College of Knowledge) to help greenhouse clientele grow their career in plant health management.

For more information, go to http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/training/, or contact Greenhouse Training, Environmental Horticulture, University of Florida, USA, Email: greenhousetraining@ifas.ufl.edu.

This article is first because I firmly believe labor is the biggest challenge we face today, as well as for the next 10 years in controlled environment agriculture (CEA), and in commercial horticulture and general production agriculture.

Victor Loaiza Mejia posted the following on LinkedIn on August 10, 2023: 

“I disagree with your assessment of the lack of ‘grower or production leadership’. Traditionally the greenhouse industry has had a legacy program (like Ivy League College) that benefited growers that come from outside the NAFTA countries. The local younger generation of growers and operators need opportunities to grow into these positions. They need mentoring and support.

“My vision of protected agriculture is more regional (USA, Canada, Mexico) than only thinking about the USA. As you mentioned in the article, the growing surface has decreased in the US but has increased in Mexico for example. The oldest greenhouse companies operating in the US and Canada are now some of the largest tomato marketers in the USA, purchasing greenhouse produce in Mexico at a very large scale, without really having ‘skin in the game.’ I see this as a big entry barrier for new companies based in the USA.

“The opportunity for small greenhouse companies is to resist the push to buy the newest closed greenhouse and buy only the necessary technology and develop their local market. Creating Cooperatives style of relationships with other small growers might be beneficial.”

Well, Victor, yes. That’s really all I have to say. Yes, I agree. I should have and could have selected my words better, while also providing more details behind my statement. If I would have, you would have seen that we are saying almost the same thing.

Now that we officially agree, let’s break this conversation down into the realities that drive the factors you highlight.

Where did the head growers, production managers, and vice presidents of operations come from in the U.S. controlled environment agriculture industry?  

The U.S. greenhouse vegetable industry started in the early to mid 1980s. (The Canadian greenhouse industry started a few years prior, and the Mexican greenhouse industry began about 10 years later.) Initially, the industry was almost 100% focused on growing tomatoes. Much of the industry was built off importing not only Dutch greenhouse technology, but also Dutch growers who were equipped with the training and knowledge needed to operate this new technology.  

As years went on, the U.S. continued to attract growers from the Netherlands, as well as nearby areas such as the United Kingdom and Belgium, which also had well-established glasshouse industries. Many of these early immigrants were well experienced with some education. They were young males eager to make their mark on a new industry in a new world thought of as “the land of opportunity.”

Now these same individuals have been in our small industry for 30-40 years. They are getting close to retirement, but many still work. This is an important part of Victor’s criticism and if you compare it with the graph below, you see why they have aggressively held on to positions of power.  

The industry does not have enough companies that can pay them the money they want or to promote others into key positions, while protecting their own careers and those of their friends. (Nothing new here. This occurs in all industries. Normally, industries have more companies and the impact is not so drastic.)

What about the other skilled labor needed to profitably operate a greenhouse vegetable facility?

Greenhouses require lots of skilled labor to operate successfully, especially when the operations are anywhere from 10-200 acres. You need IPM managers, labor managers, assistant growers, junior growers, packhouse managers, logistics managers and more. The list goes on and on. 

So where did these people come from? In many or most cases, Mexico. In the 1990s, the largest vegetable greenhouses in the U.S. were in southwestern Texas and southeastern Arizona — a short drive from the U.S.-Mexico border. This attracted young, educated Mexican (again mainly) men to jobs that paid well, provided year-round employment (not always the case in agriculture) and opportunities to work in a highly technical field that showed promise for advancement.

Now fast forward 30 years. These guys are ready and prepared to take over, but there are not enough opportunities for everyone to be in charge. This also means that as new companies open, we have a lack of ongoing opportunities to attract talent and give individuals chances to grow and develop the skills needed to run smaller or more niche organizations.

A change in politics. A change in opportunities. H-2A.

Simultaneously, we have seen a shift in our ability to bring labor into the United States. U.S.-based agriculture businesses rely heavily on worker visa programs to bring in groups of individuals to work jobs not often desired by locally available workers. The H-2A program allows U.S. employers or U.S. agents who meet specific regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary agricultural jobs. (The word “temporary” is key!)  But, this program and our attitude toward migrant workers has shifted significantly over the past 30 years.  

According to the USDA, “Hired farmworkers make up less than 1 percent of all U.S. wage and salary workers, but they play an essential role in U.S. agriculture. According to data from the 2017 Census of Agriculture, wages and salaries plus contract labor costs represented just 12 percent of production expenses for all farms, but 43 percent for greenhouse and nursery operations and 39 percent for fruit and tree nut operations.”

The tightening of our southern border means that we rely on the H-2A program more than ever.  According to a July 2023 article in NPR, “The number of guest worker visas issued each year has more than quadrupled over the past decade. But the program is rife with labor rights violations, and farmers who have come to depend on it don’t love it, either.”

As I stated before, U.S.-based greenhouse producers are competing directly with Canadian greenhouse growers, as well as Mexican greenhouse producers, for consumers’ wallets in produce aisles across the United States. This means, as the American portion of the greenhouse-grown industry, we need to be conscious of all costs (of which labor is a significant portion). It is safe to say that we have learned and can confirm that locally available labor is not as efficient as the labor we get through worker visa programs. 

Why is local labor not as efficient as our immigrant workforce?

I will not even attempt to answer this question. But, what I can report is that through interviews with major greenhouse tomato growing operations, it is estimated that you need 3-4 times the amount of local labor as you do immigrant, migrant or visa workers. (This number seems true regardless of pay and benefits, based on information we received from the recently announced bankrupt company AppHarvest.) 

Conversations with on-site labor managers makes me believe that one main reason this perception exists is because this talent pool is seen as an unskilled labor force. Labor managers all agree that is far from the truth. The truth is, many of these individuals are skilled based on experience gained at other farms. These skills make them eager to be employed based on “production output,” as they recognize that their production compensation will far out pace any hourly rate that they might be paid.

According to USDA statistics from October 2022, the H2A program has expanded since 2005. But has it expanded enough to keep up with the demand? Especially the demand of the controlled environment agriculture sector?  

Even if we could keep up with demand in the greenhouse (or vertical farm), these programs do not allow us to address the issue of finding talented operational managers with experience to run the facility based on the current glass ceilings that appear to be in place.

So questions around labor, management and leadership remain for the U.S.-based controlled environment agriculture industry. From finding the experienced staff needed to operate an efficient greenhouse to providing the most talented in that group the opportunity to advance and excel. 

And Victor, my response to your comment remains “yes.” Now my question back to you is, how will you and your contemporaries lead our industry in change?

Urban Ag News would love to hear from you.  Please let us know your thoughts and comments.

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. 

“The USDA has done a tremendous job of supporting research efforts in controlled environment agriculture, urban farming, and sustainable farming practices, and we’re extremely proud to be a provider for their continued innovation and research at ARS laboratories across the country,” says Don Taylor, CEO and Founder of AmplifiedAg.

In addition to supplying labs for third-party research, AmplifiedAg has an extensive R&D program that includes CEA cultivation of tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, potatoes, rice, medicinal herbs, and saplings such as Loblolly pines. The company is also collaborating with farms on the development of healthy fruits and vegetable transplants for greenhouse and field production.AmplifiedAg’s vertical farming labs – known as AmpLAB – are purpose-built research modules complete with a hydroponic propagation station and NFT channels for dual growing functions, and are fully integrated with proprietary environmental control systems and a SaaS-based farm software platform for total lab management. The software’s robust data collection enables USDA scientists with informed analysis to expedite research data. To create an all-encompassing laboratory, AmpLAB also includes a certified food-safe work zone with storage, sinks, and a dedicated workspace for researchers for experimentation and analysis in a clean, controlled environment.

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 Myers is a 2MW dual-use community solar project that spans a 15-acre site. The project facilitates the Thompson family’s ability to keep the site in agricultural production as well as generating stable lease income over 25 years. The project will begin construction during Autumn 2023 and is expected to reach completion by Summer 2024. 

Agrivoltaics (AgPV) projects are dual-use solar installations, meaning crop production and grazing can happen in and around the solar array. Solar panels are mounted at enough height and space to allow adequate space for crops to grow and livestock to graze. The solar panels also provide protection to crops from extreme weather events, including storms, early and late frosts, and heat waves.

The Old Myers project will harvest strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, and lavender, among other produce, resulting in active market produce production for this agrivoltaics project in New York. Lightstar will be working with local institutions to study the produce grown and document the financial and agricultural case studies that will be disseminated widely. The project will enhance food security for the local community while generating solar energy to make the local grid cleaner and more reliable. Moreover, renewable energy will be used across the crop-growing cycle to achieve carbon neutrality on the farm. 

“Some of the most prime farmlands in New York lack active crop growth and that hurts a farmer’s ability to generate income. Most often, land also misses the opportunity to leverage solar as it’s seen as competition with farming. What many don’t realize is that solar and agriculture are perfect partners — their synergies are crucial to the security and resiliency of our community for green power as well as localized food sources. Lightstar’s Old Myers dual-use project is a solution to this challenge — it combines crop production and sustainable energy production, proving harmonious coexistence is possible,” said Paul Wheeler, Founder and CEO of Lightstar. 

“This comes at a time when renewable energy must increase in order to decrease the energy cost burden, but not at the cost of valuable food production. Hence, Lightstar is meeting the urgency of this moment with its first-of-a-kind solar farm in New York. This project not only solidifies Lightstar’s position as a leading agrivoltaics and community solar developer, but it also furthers our strong pipeline of assets as part of our operational portfolio,” Paul added.

The US is in the midst of one of the largest intergenerational land transfers in the history of the country, making farmland susceptible to permanent development when it changes hands. Lightstar prioritizes the preservation and protection of this rich legacy and invaluable farming heritage by taking an innovative approach towards combining solar and farming to increase the land’s potential. Additionally, farm owners Sean Thompson and Brian Thompson will retain the land’s farming use while earning long-term reliable income from the solar project.

Lightstar has been engaged with the farm owners since early 2022 to help rezone the property at no cost to the farmers. As a result, the farm encompasses a greater solar and crop use case, further improving productivity and efficiency. The company will support the full lifecycle of the project by continuously working with the farmers and community members to ensure long-term success.

Sean Thompson, Landowner and Farmer said, “This project is a fantastic opportunity for our family farm to increase our capacity to produce a variety of healthy locally grown crops and at the same time demonstrate the viability and effectiveness of the dual-use solar concept. An added bonus is that this project will increase the vitality of our farm!  The crops we produce under the array will be sold directly to consumers as well as through local channels and will fill a food niche that is otherwise only satisfied by producers outside of our region. We are excited and looking forward to sharing our experience with agrivoltaics with our community. “

Lightstar has partnered with American Farmland Trust (AFT) to drive regenerative agricultural practices, and lead projects using  AFT’s Smart Solar℠ Siting Principles as a cornerstone of its solar and farming.

Ethan Winter, National Smart Solar Director, American Farmland Trust said, “Farmers and rural communities are essential to agriculture as well as to ambitious clean energy goals in New York and across the country. We applaud Lightstar Renewables for embracing AFT’s Smart Solar℠ Siting Principles and designing a project that will pair crop production and community solar, particularly in an area where farmland is at significant risk of conversion to urban development.  AFT encourages states like New York to take additional steps to incentivize and support agrivoltaic projects that strengthen farm viability, benefit local communities, and safeguard productive agricultural lands.”

Solar Agriculture Services (SolAg) has been Lightstar’s key partner on the project, offering knowledge, oversight, consultation and advisory. Commenting on the project, Iain Ward, CEO and Founder of Solar Agriculture Services, said, “SolAg is honored to partner with Lightstar on this leading-edge project that combines the production of nutritious food and clean energy. AgPV is a fantastic solution that increases the vitality of regional food production and builds the capacity of farmers and the lands they steward. We are excited about the future of agrivoltaics in New York State.”  

Residents and businesses will have access to electricity bill savings through discounted community solar subscriptions. The project will also create tax revenue for the local municipality. 

If you are a farmer looking to earn a passive income stream through a solar farm project, while still allowing for crop rotation or grazing, visit: Lightstar Renewables.

About Lightstar

Lightstar is a community solar developer and long-term owner and operator with a pipeline of over 1 gigawatt (GWs) of community solar farms in the US. Founded by a seasoned team of solar developers, our mission is to build solar for the land and community. We are leading the industry in community solar development that integrates local ecology and agriculture with every project. Stewarding the land the communities we serve are key to the success of the clean energy transition.

PhD instructors include Paul Fisher from University of Florida, Erik Runkle and Roberto Lopez from Michigan State University, Jim Faust from Clemson University, John Erwin from University of Maryland,
Jennifer Boldt and Kale Harbick from USDA-ARS, Charlie Hall from Texas A&M, as well as environmental control experts from Argus, Priva, and Wadsworth. This well-rounded team will help you select and operate climate control equipment and sensors for ideal crop growth.

The course runs from October 16 to November 10, 2023. The cost is $US265 per participant, with a 20% discount if you register 5 or more. All course material is completely online and available at any time of the day, and includes pre-recorded videos, an interactive discussion board with PhD professors and industry experts, and quizzes. Two new modules are activated each week during the course, for a total of 8 learning modules. Instruction is at your own pace and time within the 4 weeks of the course, with a typical time commitment of about 6 hours per week. Our courses are highly rated by participants with over 80% completion, and your resume will be enhanced with a customized certificate of completion from UF. Click here to register (http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/training/).

For more information, go to http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/training/, or contact Greenhouse Training, Environmental Horticulture, University of Florida, USA, Email: greenhousetraining@ifas.ufl.edu. The course is supported by the American Floral Endowment and the USDA-ARS Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative.

“We are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Sakata Seed de México and we are very proud of our
trajectory”, said Dave Armstrong, President and CEO of Sakata Seed America. “We are currently leaders
in 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 hot
peppers, lettuce and melons, and we hope to become leaders in these new markets very soon. Mexico
has great growth potential due to its competitive advantages, mainly its highly-skilled workforce and its
weather, which allows it to produce all year round”, says Armstrong”

“We are very satisfied. We started in 1993 in Celaya, Guanajuato, with just 3 employees and are now a
market leading company with more than 100 employees, including workers from our experiment
stations in Culiacán, Sinaloa, and Yurécuaro, Michoacán”, says Eng. Mauricio Pineda, director of Sakata
Seed of Mexico. “We now have a network of 40 dealers in Mexico and two experimental stations with
genetic improvement programs. We are leaders in several crops. We have a new generation of broccoli,
chiles and tomatoes that is very important to us, in addition to our line of cool-weather crops such as
cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, cilantro and radishes, and we are launching new tomatoes, melons, bell
peppers, lettuce and hot chilis”, Pineda said.

SAKATA
Since its beginning, Sakata has been dedicated to the research, development and trade of plants and
seeds. What started as a small business of buying and selling materials between Japan and Europe has
become one of the leading global companies in the vegetable and ornamental seeds market. This
leadership is due to our commitment to building relationships with farmers, marketers, distributors, and
other people in the industry, getting to know the needs and trends of the market through the response
and launch of innovative products.

Sakata is a public company, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Japan, and is dedicated almost
exclusively to development of vegetables and ornamentals genetics. It has a presence throughout the
world with subsidiaries in more than 30 countries and with research and production centers, thus
managing to meet the needs of different markets, doing research at the local level with the support of a
global corporation.

During the Spring of 2023, Sakata Seed Corporation celebrated its 110th anniversary since its founding
by Mr. Takeo Sakata.

Guy Blanchard’s keynote is scheduled for Wednesday, September 20, 2023, at 9 a.m.

The CEA Summit East is co-hosted by Indoor Ag-Con, the largest vertical farming | CEA gathering, and the CEA Innovation Center – a partnership between the IALR and Virginia Tech’s School of Plant and Environmental Sciences and the Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center.

During his keynote, Blanchard will share how AeroFarms is emerging stronger in the months following a Chapter 11 filing, touching on growing retail partnerships with leaders like Walmart, H-E-B, The Fresh Market, Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh, and other initiatives. He will also provide updates on AeroFarms’ newest farm in Danville, which continues to scale according to plan. 

Blanchard brings extensive project finance and corporate development experience for AeroFarms, a leading clean-technology company that builds and operates commercial state-of-the-art indoor vertical farms around the world, helping transform agriculture. A Certified B Corporation, AeroFarms has been recognized by Fast Company as one of the Most Innovative Companies in the World and by Inc. as one of the Top 25 Disruptive Companies. Guy last served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, at Amonix, Inc., a concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar power systems equipment manufacturer and developer. 

Guy has also served as a Managing Director for Fortress Investment Group’s Drawbridge family of funds, where he was a principal investor with a focus on structured investments in long-lived assets. Prior to that, Guy was Vice President of Corporate Finance at GATX Capital Corporation and CFO for JTP Manufacturing. Guy holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA, both from the University of California, Davis.
“We are excited to welcome Guy Blanchard to our CEA Summit keynote stage. AeroFarms has been a trailblazer in the indoor farming industry, and his address will undoubtedly provide invaluable insights into the path forward for the indoor farming sector as it confronts new challenges, and new opportunities, head-on,” said Brian Sullivan, CEO, Indoor Ag-Con.

“Having Guy Blanchard share his perspective on AeroFarms’ journey through recent challenges aligns perfectly with our mission to foster collaboration and innovation within the CEA community,” adds Dr. Scott Lowman, Co-Director of the CEA Innovation Center, and Vice President of Applied Research at IALR. 

The CEA Summit East is custom-tailored for new and well-seasoned CEA industry members from throughout the Eastern US, including indoor and greenhouse growers, facility owners and operators, educators, government officials, real estate developers, architects, construction specialists, sales and marketing teams and others.

During the two-day event, industry members will have the opportunity to hear from CEOs, researchers, and experts leading keynotes, panels, and breakout sessions; explore tabletop exhibits presenting the latest CEA innovations and services; and enjoy a host of networking opportunities ranging from meals and coffee breaks to an evening social event.

QUICK FACTS:

WHEN:                Tuesday, September 19 – Wednesday, September 20, 2023 

WHERE:              IALR Institute Conference Center, 150 Slayton Ave, Danville, VA 24540

INFO:                  For information on exhibiting or attending visit www.ceasummit.com  

ABOUT INDOOR AG-CON
Indoor Ag-Con is the premier global event series focused on the future of indoor farming. Since 2013, the trade show and conference, the industry’s largest, has been at the forefront of the rapidly expanding vertical farming and controlled environment agriculture sector, providing a platform for industry leaders, innovators, and researchers to connect, share knowledge, and drive the industry forward. More information- www.indoor.ag  

ABOUT THE VIRGINIA TECH-IALR CEA INNOVATION CENTER
The Virginia Tech-IALR Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center is a joint project between IALR and Virginia Tech’s School of Plant and Environmental Sciences and the Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center. By developing strategic partnerships with both industry and academia, the goal of the Innovation Center is to conduct research and educational programming to develop, promote and advance the CEA sector in the U.S. and internationally. More information–www.ialr.org/cea

This is the world’s first closed-loop, comprehensive autonomous growing solution developed for
the greenhouse industry. Other solutions focus on smoothing climate and are typically based on
small sampling datasets. The solution developed by IUNU uses computer vision to
comprehensively monitor crop growth for every plant in the greenhouse and autonomously
executes crop strategies based on how crops are performing.

“WPR has long served as a leader in the horticulture industry and we are thrilled to work
together to bring truly autonomous growing to the greenhouse industry. Having exclusive access
to world-class research facilities and talent accelerates our ability to bring products to market and
to drive value for growers around the world,” said Allison Kopf, Chief Growth Officer at IUNU.
IUNU has installed its computer vision system at WPR facilities in Bleiswijk in both traditional
and semi-closed greenhouse compartments with both Moving Gully Systems (MGS) as well as
Deep Water Culture (DWC) pond systems.

IUNU intends to bring this solution first to commercial lettuce growers, then to high wire crops.
To learn more about autonomous growing, visit IUNU’s website at www.iunu.com.

About IUNU
Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Seattle, IUNU aims to close the loop in greenhouse
autonomy and is focused on being the world’s leading controlled environment specialist. IUNU’s
flagship platform, LUNA, combines software with a variety of high-definition cameras — both
fixed and mobile — and environmental sensors to keep track of the minutiae of plant growth and
health in indoor ag settings. LUNA’s goal is to turn commercial greenhouses into precise, predictable, demand-based manufacturers that optimize yield, labor, and product quality.
www.IUNU.com

OptimIA project members are sharing their indoor farm research findings with the controlled environment agriculture industry and the public through a variety of educational and informational outlets.

The indoor farm industry is very fluid right now with changes occurring on a weekly basis. New companies are starting, some are leaving the industry, while others continue to receive millions of investor dollars to expand their operations. While financial stability is a key factor in the sustainability of some of these businesses, the need for production- and economic-related information is crucial to profitably producing quality leafy greens crops. Those with the financial backing have been able to develop and implement their own technology to produce indoor crops. New indoor farm growers, existing operations with limited financial resources, and even large-scale farms already in operation continue to look for sound production- and economic-related information that they can apply to their businesses.

Improving the indoor farm industry

In 2015 when members of the OptimIA project team initially submitted a USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant proposal for funding, the primary focus of their research was on the production of leafy greens in indoor farms, but the focal points were moderately diverse.

“We went through the proposal submission process for several years before USDA approved the grant for the OptimIA project,” said Erik Runkle, who is project director and a horticulture professor at Michigan State University. “The proposal that was finally approved was to study the aerial environment as well as economics for leafy greens grown indoors. The aerial environment refers to air circulation, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, light and temperature.”

One of the major objectives of the OptimIA project was to focus on industry outreach.

“The outreach program objective was to engage with stakeholders in the indoor vertical farming community,” Runkle said. “Prior to submitting the proposal to USDA, the project team members worked with an industry advisory committee and stakeholders from the indoor farm community.”

OptimIA team member Chieri Kubota, who is a professor and director of Ohio Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (OHCEAC) at Ohio State University, said proposals submitted for USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grants usually require both a strong research and outreach focus.

“USDA SCRI-funded projects focus on problem solving to move a specific industry forward,” Kubota said. “Not only is the research important, but also implementation of research findings in the industry sector. This is basically outreach extension. The proposals cannot just focus on research alone. It is important to have strong outreach activities.”

Multiple outreach activities, educational materials

Even before the grant proposal was submitted to USDA, OptimIA team members had already begun interacting with members of the indoor farm industry.

“We had been engaging stakeholders as a sort of proposal activities,” Kubota said. “We started doing the Indoor Ag Science Café almost a year in advance of submitting the grant funding proposal. That way we were engaging our stakeholders trying to develop a community educational platform that was a main activity. Indoor farm growers and equipment manufacturers are the general target audience of the project’s research. Team members are also constantly answering questions from growers and venture capital companies regarding indoor vertical farms.”

The OptimIA website includes a variety of educational materials including Research Highlights articles , scientific research journal publications and trade magazine articles, including Urban Ag News.

The OptimIA team members have also shared information from their research at various scientific- and grower-focused industry conferences. In July several members shared their research findings at Cultivate’23 during an educational workshop on the Essentials of Hydroponics Production: A tHRIve Symposium.

Team members have also been developing online educational materials under OptimIA University, which include YouTube videos.

“We have posted several lectures with topics based on discussions among the project members,” Kubota said. “The concept of OptimIA University is free access to whoever wants to use the online materials. The grower sector is the targeted audience.

“Rather than offering courses for a fee, we decided to make the information available to everyone, including growers and other companies that want to use it to train their employees. It consists of YouTube video lectures with pdf slides and additional reading materials. The OptimIA University website is about half completed and there are other course lectures still pending.”

The OptimIA researchers also hold an annual invitation-only stakeholder meeting.

“The annual meetings are specifically for our advisory committee which gives team members an opportunity to share information about the research in progress and that has been recently completed,” Runkle said. “It’s also an opportunity for the committee members to provide feedback and guide future project activity.

“We also invite growers and company representatives who we have worked with in some capacity on research projects. This includes growers with whom we may have conducted research trials or representatives from companies that have provided us with equipment or supplies used in our research.”

Educating the public

Even though the primary focus of the OptimIA project outreach program is members of the indoor farm industry, the team members also extend their educational activities to the general public.

“OptimIA researchers at Ohio State participated in the COSI Science Festival organized by the Columbus Museum of Science and Industry,” Kubota said. “This is a community STEM educational event in which companies and scientists participate and showcase their technologies and science. It is held in May over multiple days. We participated as an OptimIA group. We showed how leafy greens can be produced using different hydroponic systems with LED lights. OptimIA team members at Michigan State University and at University of Arizona have also done similar STEM programs related to hydroponic crop production for the public.”

For more: Erik Runkle, Michigan State University, Department of Horticulture; runkleer@msu.edu; https://www.canr.msu.edu/people/dr_erik_runkle; https://www.canr.msu.edu/profiles/dr_erik_runkle/cell. Chieri Kubota, Ohio State University, Department of Horticulture and Crop Science; kubota.10@osu.edu; https://hcs.osu.edu/our-people/dr-chieri-kubota; https://ohceac.osu.edu/. OptimIA, https://www.scri-optimia.org/.

This article is property of Urban Ag News and was written by David Kuack, a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas.