It seems that every day brings more hype for the vertical farming market. Here is a wrap up of some articles that are on our radar:

• Converted Organics Strengthens Green Tech Portfolio With Proposed Acquisition of Vertical Farming company:
  

TerraSphere designs, builds and operates highly efficient and scalable systems, featuring a patented, proprietary technology that utilizes vertically-stacked modules to house rows of plants, which are then placed perpendicular to an interior light source to grow pesticide-free organic fruits and vegetables. Due to a controlled, indoor environment, the system generates fresh produce year-round in any location or climate world-wide.

• Celebrities Gone Green: Sting Starts on Two New Eco-Projects:

The second project that Sting and Styler have attached themselves to is also related to agriculture (this time more directly). It’s a film that will draw information from the popular book The Vertical Farm: Feeding Ourselves and the World in the 21st Century, and it could open up America to an entirely new idea of farming. Information on what the exact film would look like is sparse, but it’s likely to be a documentary that focuses on the construction of one of the new vertical farms being created here in the United States.

Sting and Styler are no strangers to farming themselves. At their Tuscan homethey produce—and export for sale—organic olive oil, honey, and biodynamic wine. That sprawling other era estate is a far cry from the uber-modern vertical farmsthey’ll be tackling as they take on the film, though. Perhaps they’ll be adding an upright agricultural building to their real estate acquisitions soon?

• 11 Vertical Farms Of The Future

Since the world is becoming increasingly urbanized, planners have asked if we can bring food production directly to the people, cutting out the environmental impact of food miles. Plus, food consumed immediately after harvest has the freshest taste and the highest nutrient content. Designs like Chris Jacob’s groundbreaking vertical farm would also allow city dwellers direct experience with how their food is produced, closing the cycle of alienation from natural processes that has crept into modern life.

• The Rise of Vertical Farming

Urban farming is a response to a variety of pressures. Large parts of the developing world are facing shortages of water and arable land, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says. Governments and other sponsors have supported urban food-growing projects in Cuba, Colombia, Botswana and Egypt. In the developed world, small-scale urban farms are seen as an antidote to industrialized agriculture’s excesses, including chemical fertilizers that pollute waterways and the high costs, both monetary and environmental, of transporting food to urban markets.

The high profile endorsements of vertical farming keep on coming in. Right on the tails of Sting’s announcement that he is making a documentary about vertical farming, Richard Daley supports plans for an urban farm in Chicago. According to the Journal Sentinal:

The Chicago Sustainable Manufacturing Center is working with the Illinois Institute of Technology to develop plans for The Plant, a vertical farm that would occupy a former meatpacking plant in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood. One part of The Plant would raise tilapia, then recycle the wastewater from the fish tanks to nourish the plants being grown in another section of the building.

Daley linked his concerns about land use to his support for vertical farming: “”We have to keep agricultural land, we destroy the best farmland in America . . . in Illinois.”

From Treehugger:

Sting’s film will document the first vertical farm to be constructed in a major U.S. city. Might this be in Newark, New Jersey? The city fathers have met with Dr. Despommier, and recently discussed moving forward with the plan if the city donates a proposed site on a quiet block overlooking the Passaic River in Brick City….

Vertical farming proposals as an agricultural solution for world hunger in the 21st century created in high-rises as a sustainable form of urban agriculture has been discussed over the last decade, so whether it’s a salvo for all our agricultural and food problems, it seems the climb is on.

It will be interesting to see if Sting features aeroponics as a potential solution for vertical farming.

The USDA has just published a comprehensive economic overview of local food systems.

A few highlights from the study:

• Although consumer demand for locally produced food is on the rise, there is no consensus on the definition of that term.
• Local food markets account for a small but growing share of total U.S. agricultural sales.
  • Direct-to-consumer marketing amounted to $1.2 billion in current dollar sales in 2007, according to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, compared with $551 million in 1997.
  • Direct-to-consumer sales accounted for 0.4 percent of total agricultural sales in 2007, up from 0.3 percent in 1997. If nonedible products are excluded from total agricultural sales, direct-to-consumer sales accounted for 0.8 percent of agricultural sales in 2007.
  • The number of farmers’ markets rose to 5,274 in 2009, up from 2,756 in1998 and 1,755 in 1994, according to USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service.
  • In 2005, there were 1,144 community-supported agriculture organizations (CSAs) in operation, up from 400 in 2001 and 2 in 1986, according to a study by the nonprofit, nongovernmental organization National Center for Appropriate Technology. In early 2010, estimates exceeded 1,400, but the number could be much larger.
  • The number of farm to school programs, which use local farms as food suppliers for school meals programs, increased to 2,095 in 2009, up from400 in 2004 and 2 in the 1996-97 school year, according to the National Farm to School Network. Data from the 2005 School Nutrition and Dietary Assessment Survey, sponsored by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, showed that 14 percent of school districts participated in Farm to School programs, and 16 percent reported having guidelines for purchasing locally grown produce.

The study is early and inconclusive, but it shows that Local farming is here to stay and it is a growing market. One interesting thing we noticed in the map below is a clear concentration of farmers’ markets around Urban areas. AeroFarms aeroponic growing is perfectly suited for the type of urban agriculture needed to sustain a growth in urban farmers’ markets:



We are proud to announce that we will be attending the Ag Innovation Showcase in St. Louis, on May 24-25.

The Ag Showcase is the leading annual global event for industry leaders, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and investors. Held in St. Louis at the Danforth Plant Science Center, the world’s largest independent plant science research institute, the 2010 Ag Innovation Showcase will feature a wide array of innovative approaches to advancing productivity and sustainability in agriculture. Leading-edge technology sectors will represent ag-biotech, food and nutrition, alternative energy, informatics, animal health, and sustainable materials.

See highlights from last years conference:

You can learn more about the conference here. or register here.

This is a great opportunity for people looking to develop businesses around aeroponic growing and vertical farming. According to the grant guidelines, rural businesses can apply for  grants of up to $500,000 and loan guarantees up to $25,000,000.

Eligible Project Costs
The following items are considered to be eligible project costs as long as these costs are an integral part of the renewable energy system or energy efficiency improvement:
1) Post-application purchase and installation of equipment.(new or refurbished/remanufactured)
2) Post-application construction or improvements.
3) Energy audits or assessments.
4) Permit and license fees.
5) Professional service fees, except for application preparation.
6) Feasibility studies and technical reports.
7) Business plans.
8) Retrofitting.
9) Construction of a new energy efficient facility only when the facility is used for the same purpose, is approximately the same size and based upon the energy audit will provide more energy savings than improving an existing facility. Only costs identified in the energy audit for energy efficiency improvement are allowed.

Your small business has to be in a rural area with a population of less than 50,000 (you can check whether you are eligible here).

To see the full brochure click here for the grant program and here for the loan program.

Recently we announced the installation of our one-of-a-kind LED testing array.  Our press release provides a good overview of the importance of this equipment, but we thought we would dive into some of the deeper technical details in our blog today. (more…)