vertical farming

Malin and Jane have a chat with Gloria Kraus, Advisor at Hollbium, about the five Rs (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, restore).

Links

Learn more about Hollbium

Follow us on LinkedIn

Credits

Artwork: Giancarlo Mitidieri

Jingle: Frans Sjöberg

Farming technology company 26 Seasons will seek $5.5 million in a Series A funding round next week aimed at advancing its plans for its vertical farming operation at Foxton and to explore opportunities in Southeast Asia.

The company, co-founded by current Delegat Group chief executive and former Landcorp chief executive Steve Carden, aims to grow and sell premium strawberries on a commercial scale in the off-season.

It has just released its first crop of locally grown and spray-free strawberries in one of the wettest winters on record, one that has seen many outdoor crops fail.

26 Seasons CEO Grant Leach joined Mike Hosking.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tinia Pina, founder and CEO of Re-Nuble—a company that uses food waste to create organic liquid nutrients and growing mediums for indoor farming. Not an easy task! And with indoor farming market growing year over year, Re-Nuble's technology fills many gaps in helping indoor farmer achieve carbon negative status. Listen in and get ready for a win, win, win episode!  https://www.re-nuble.com
  

Today we bring you our evokeAG. x Food Futurists collaboration series with Professor Andy Lowe,  exploring solutions today that will help drive sustainable food systems tomorrow. 

Buckle up for Andy’s conversation with David Farquhar, a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Scottish agritech company, Intelligent Growth Solutions – a trailblazer of vertical farming, in a class of its own.

Imagine a precision-controlled indoor environment where plants can thrive all year round without soil, with an energy system that mimics real sunlight and seasonality.

These one-of-a-kind fully-automated modular Growth Towers are being used by food producers, businesses, and farmers all over the world, and soon the first solar-powered commercial-scale farm in Perth, Australia will house the tech solution at Eden Towers.

Learn more about this ground-breaking solution and the opportunities for farmers and re-localising supply chains with Andy Lowe and David Farquhar.
 
Show note: Watch the 'Blood Sweat and Dreams' film David refers to and go to 11.53mins to see IGS feature > https://bloodsweatanddreams.economist.com/film1/

Driscoll’s, a global producer of fresh berries, is bringing back its popular Rose Berries, along with a new high-flavor strawberry innovation, Tropical Bliss. In this episode of the Xtalks Food Podcast, Sydney talks about Driscoll’s curated collection of strawberries, including Rose Berries, Sweetest Batch and Tropical Bliss. The collection was developed through traditional breeding methods, without genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and each flavor took 20 years to perfect and commercialize. Sydney tries Sweetest Batch raspberries and the team commends Driscoll’s for innovating a sector that has remained stagnant for decades.

Also, in this episode, Sydney introduces the team to Planet FWD, a carbon assessment startup that recently secured an investment of $10 million in a Series A funding round. The startup partners with consumer products companies to measure, reduce and neutralize carbon emissions and already has 25 clients, many of which are well-known food and beverage brands. Since time is of the essence to achieve global emissions goals, companies are scrambling to find better solutions for carbon management. As a result, the past year has been one of growth for Planet FWD. The team was unaware that startups like Planet FWD existed, but believes they will be key in helping the food and beverage industry track and reduce emissions. 

Read the full articles here:

Driscoll’s Rose Berries Are Back Just in Time for Summer

Carbon Assessment Startup Planet FWD Raises $10 Million in Funding

For more food and beverage industry content, visit the Xtalks Vitals homepage.

Follow Us on Social Media 

Twitter: @XtalksFood
Instagram: @Xtalks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Xtalks.Webinars/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/xtalks-webconferences
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/XtalksWebinars/featured

Today on Grow Sessions, Mike Trzpit, National Account Manager for Abel Womack joins Tony Pavlakis for an informative discussion on vertical tier growing vs. single tier growing in an episode entitled, “The Benefits of Growing Cannabis Vertically.”

Vertical growing can significantly increase a cannabis facility’s output by helping improve on older single-level and static canopy layouts. Vertically growing helps growers utilize space in a facility while helping to increase production capabilities. In this episode, some of the topics discussed will include: the pros and cons of vertical farming, why some growers prefer single tier farms to multi-level farms, the different types of vertical benches available, the space needed to benefit from vertical farming, how to plan for growing vertically and much, much more.

If you are a cultivator, facility owner or anyone interested in growing, you won’t want to miss this exciting episode.

About Mike Trzpit

As the National Account Manager in the Cannabis Industry, Mike Trzpit is focused on helping companies increase productivity and operational efficiencies by finding solutions to their cultivation facility and dispensary challenges.

If you have questions for Mike, you can reach him at mtrzpit@abelwomack.com

About Abel Womack

Whether you’re designing a new commercial indoor vertical farming facility or ready to scale up to a larger operation, our team of automation and space-saving specialists can help.
 
Contact Abel Womack today and a member of our team will reach out to you to see how we can offer cost-effective solutions for your commercial indoor growing needs.

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast to receive upcoming episodes.

Visszakerülhet a jövőben az átlagos városi ember életébe a növénytermesztés? Hogyan segít a technológiai háttér a padláson termesztés hatásfokának maximalizálásában? Honnan jött az ötlet és miként épült fel rá egy sikeres startup vállalkozás? Megoldhatja ez a módszer a világ élelmezési gondjait a jövőben?

More than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is water, and yet water that is safe enough for human consumption remains a finite resource. In this episode we speak to experts about the biggest threats to water—contamination, overuse, and plastic. We also learn how innovative new tools can ensure there is enough water to hydrate us, our plants, and our animals.  

Guests

• Ameen Razavi,  Microvi Biotech
• Joel Cuello, The University of Arizona
• Scott Tuten, Danimer Scientific

Did you know Heritage Radio Network studio is made of two repurposed shipping containers inside Roberta’s Pizza in Bushwick Brooklyn? To celebrate the return to in-studio recording were doing an episode on shipping container technology. Tech Bites host Jennifer Leuzzi talks with HRN Head of Audio Production Matt Patterson about the studio. Talking about portable hydroponic container farms is Jake Felser, CTO of Freight Farms, and Udi Shamai, Co-Founder and CEO of Hyper Robotics, talks about self-container robotic pizza kitchens.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Tech Bites by becoming a member!

Tech Bites is Powered by Simplecast.

What does fast developing technology mean for life in our food system? And how does what we observe change our understandings of nature? We caught up with Prof Mark Maslin - Agritech and Anthropocene expert at University College London and co-founder of Rezatec: Innovative Geospatial AI Ltd, Michelle Nijhuis - Science writer, Prof Derek Stewart - Dir. of The James Hutton Institute's Advanced Plant Growth Center and Dr Youri Martin - Biodiversity Engineer at the Luxembourg Institute of Science & Technology ~ to find out! Episode Show notes: https://linktr.ee/prophets_wizards_pod

Contact Info

Eric’s Profile

linkedin.com/in/eric-schick-73b72117

Email

eric@pantheontile.com

Bio:

Eric Schick is an entrepreneur and business strategist whose passion and enthusiasm for restoring the natural environment through the built environment are palpable when you meet him. Eric’s 23 year background as co-founder and CEO of Pantheon Floor Solutions, a popular commercial tile brand specified by the architect, engineer and design community, led him to discover a variety of innovative and futuristic building technologies he has helped co-found, fund and steward. Two of the most exciting technologies are Hover Energy and Eden Green, which have both recently hit commercialization stage.

Eric recently formed the company CEED with his wife of 25 years, Elizabeth Schick, who is his partner in marriage, business and all things important in his life. “CEED” is an acronym for Consumables, Energy, Environment and Design, and CEED’s mission is to deploy distributed infrastructure technologies that are good for mankind, mother earth and the marketplace.

Eric is also a reverend, and enjoys encouraging people with the gospel to find their purpose for their life so they can share it with the world and live the abundant life.

SHOW INTRO:
It’s not often that I talk to a business owner who lives by the simple rule of growing his business in service of “MANKIND – MOTHER EARTH - and the MARKETPLACE.” This is a “triple bottom line” that keeps on repeating, over and over in my head. 

Perhaps it has become more front row center in my conscious awareness over the past couple of years because I have become more convinced that what we humans are doing to our planet, and each other, needs urgent attention.

My sons will tell me that they, at times, lose hope that what is happening now with climate change will mean that the planet is unsave-able. This was never a consideration when I was growing up. I grew up in a world where plastics were a savior – think the joy of Tupperware parties and how plastics would revolutionize almost everything. 

Plastics, another use for the black gold buried deep in the core of our little blue dot spinning around one of the billions of stars in the universe. Plastics also form a floating island growing to be twice the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean. It is estimated that the mass of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) was estimated to be approximately 80,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to that of 500 Jumbo Jets.

Let that sit for a moment. 

Our relationship with our planet is broken.

And we can’t simply do what has been on the rise for years in marriages and divorce it. As far as we know, and despite some brilliant thinking and creative and brilliant engineering and visionary leadership, we are still a number of years away from getting off Mother Earth and colonizing Mars. 

And, what a tragedy to simply suck this planet dry of natural resources and leave the scorched earth to maybe do the same somewhere else. Divorcing our planet is not an option.

My guest on this episode of NXTLVL Experience Design believes that “Right now we are suffering from bad relationship” – with the earth, each other.” 

Energy and food production are part of the complex system that is contributing to our planet literally being on fire. We have got to have our “Come to Jesus moment” with climate change and not rely on teenagers like Greta Thunberg  (God bless her) to be ringing the alarm. Generations prior to Greta and my Sons’, have made the mess, and we can’t avoid the responsibility for cleaning it up. Corporations have to up their game in producing clean energy solutions, reducing waste to landfills and the food production industry must look for sustainable solutions to not pumping more carbon into the atmosphere.

I use the ‘come to Jesus’ phrase because it is time but also because my guest on this episode is a business owner, investor, philanthropist, and Reverend.

Erik Schick has a mission of “Restoring the environment through the built environment.” He knows that a good deal of the damage being done to our planet’s ecology is from the building industry. Building buildings, and operating them, puts a lot of carbon into the atmosphere. And so, Eric believes that “Wherever we create an economic impact we have to leave a social footprint.” 

Eric’s 23-year history as founder and CEO of Pantheon Floor Solutions led him to discover a variety of innovative and futuristic building technologies he has helped co-found, fund and steward. Two of the most exciting technologies that we will talk about are Hover Energy and Eden Green, which have both recently hit commercialization stage. 

Eric recently formed the company CEED with his wife of 25 years, Elizabeth Schick, who is his partner in marriage, business and all things important in his life. “CEED” is an acronym for “Consumables, Energy, Environment and Design.”

CEED’s mission is to deploy distributed infrastructure technologies that are good for mankind, mother earth and the marketplace. There is the mantra: do good for - mankind- mother earth and the marketplace.

A note to our listeners about this episode:

This conversation with Eric Schick is powerful and inspiring. 

It is also challenging at times because we talk about some of Eric’s work while on a medical mission trip to Romania during the revolution and El Salvador where atrocious acts of violence were being committed. So, I feel I need to let you know that some listeners may find this particular content during the episode disturbing. 

ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:

LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582b

Websites: 

https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)

vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)

Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.com

Twitter: DavidKepron

Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/

NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/

Bio:

David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. 

David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. 

In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. 

As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. 

David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation’s Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.

He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  

In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. 

The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. 

The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.

Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

Food is the very nourishment of life. Climate change, population growth and population density have come to challenge the way we feed ourselves. Let's look at some factors that are affecting the way we grow food:

• World’s population is in more urbanized areas - 60% of the population lives in cities
• Farms Waste Much of World's Water - On average, farms around the world account for 70% of all water that is consumed annually.
• Demand for locally grown food in urban areas is rising - For environmental reasons, as well as efficiency and ability to have produce that is often damaged during transport (e.g. berries)

One of the emerging solutions is vertical farming and its different techniques. In this episode, we talk through how vertical farming can be a viable solution for highly urbanized areas and in the shift to sustainable food growth.

The very way we make our food is changing.. what will the farms of the future look like? Tune into this episode to find out!

Materials for Content:

• Vertical farms are growing more and more vegetables in urban areas
• Vertical Farming Techniques
• Aerofarms Impact
• Vertical Farms fill a Tall Order
• Bowery - Why Vertical Farming

Soundclips:

• Vertical Farming as a solution for Food of the Future - Vice
• The rise of vertical farming - VPRO DOK
• How Aerofarms' vertical farms grow produce - CBS Mornings
• Farms Waste Much of World's Water
• Each degree of temperature rise, 10% of existing agricultural land will be lost
• How much your food has travelled to get to your plate

Things Have Changed

This is our Wednesday show, the time of the week when we niche down to a single topic. Today we spoke about the revolution within agriculture otherwise known as vertical farming.

Alex and Natasha spoke to Hardware editor Brian Heater, who recently wrote a TC-1 about Bowery Farming spanning over 11,000 words and topics such as the taste of sustainable turnips and produce sections at grocery stores. The core of his multi-part exploration, though, was built around a question: Can Bowery Farms bring the newest and most innovative technologies to bear on civilization’s oldest and most optimized industry?

As a result, our episode went down a lot of tasty rabbit holes. We spoke about the current state of vertical farming, the challenges that come with commercialization and our struggling climate, and if your local dairy farm is actually thinking about adding a robot to their staff.

There was more to chew on, including the balance between sustainability and profit, how to think about carbon footprints, the commercialization of vertical farming today, and how some folks are spending $30 on a strawberry. We had lovely time and will have Brian back on the pod.

Here's the TC-1 if you're interested:

• Bowery Farming is forcing us all to look up at the future of vertical agriculture (3,500 words/14 minutes) — explores the evolution of vertical farming, it’s expansion in Japan and how Bowery Farming was started to bring indoor farming to the masses in the United States.
• Hacking lettuce for taste and profit (2,500 words/10 minutes) — evaluates how Bowery collects data from its farms in order to optimize flavor while also potentially expanding its produce line into new categories like strawberries and turnips.
• Can LEDs ultimately replace the sun? (2,100 words/8 minutes) — investigates two of the most important questions about Bowery Farming: Can it develop a competitive moat with its technology (which it dubs BoweryOS) and just how much environmental benefit can the company derive from its farms?
• The voracious fight for your salad bowl (3,000 words/12 minutes) — looks at the extremely competitive nature of the produce section at the grocery store and how Bowery intends to build a brand with consumers while finding a route to profitability.

The Equity team will be back Friday morning with our weekly roundup. Our hearts go out to Mary Ann who will return to us in due time, and our general ire is reserved for Danny. Because we are still smarting from his divorcing of us for Lux.

Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

Do you feel guilty if you don’t put in a certain amount of hours at work? And do you also feel guilty if you don’t spend enough time with your family, because you’re way too exhausted from work? It can cause an infinite loop. Unless…

Welcome to another episode of The Frame of Mind Coaching™ Podcast! Today I have the pleasure of coaching Tanner Stewart, Co-Founder & CEO at Stewart Farms, a technology company focused on indoor, sustainable Cannabis production and CPG development.

Tanner comes to me with a popular issue: exhaustion from work. So Tanner works himself to the bone, putting in the hours and then some. So it’s only logical that when he comes home to his family, he’s way too tired to actually spend quality time with them, and that frustrates him. But if he works fewer hours, Tanner feels like he’s not doing his part, and then he feels guilty and anxious.

I’ve seen this a million times. So I encourage Tanner to change his way of thinking. Because that’s all it is: a thinking problem. His beliefs say “I have to do this and nobody else can”, so right now his desires and beliefs are not lined up with his goals. His desire is to have more time with his family, but his belief is that no one else can do any part of what he does at work. But the minute he starts changing that is the minute Tanner will feel way more relaxed and energized to go play with his kids without having the anxiety of an out-of-control company.

Click here to listen!

https://www.frameofmindcoaching.com/the-frame-of-mind-coaching-podcast

Read the episode’s transcript here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1252997/episodes/9470037

Do you suffer from these kinds of anxieties? Do you have another challenge you’d like to discuss? Let’s talk! If there's any issue you want to talk about here on the podcast or privately, please reach out to me:

kim@frameofmindcoaching.com

“So wertvoll wie ein kleines Steak” wurde schon vielen Lebensmitteln nachgesagt. Zumindest in der Werbung. Aber ein Lebensmittel, dass sprichwörtlich vor unserer Haustür wächst, entspricht wohl am ehesten dieser Aussage. 

Es ist der Pilz! Oder besser gesagt sind es Pilze, denn es gibt tatsächlich unzählige Sorten weltweit. Und ihr Nährstoff- oder wohl eher Leistungsspektrum ist gigantisch. 

Von der einfachen Versorgung unseres Körpers als sehr potentes Nahrungsmittel, mit einer riesigen Bandbreite an Vitalstoffen, bis hin zur Gesundheitsprävention und Heilung von Krankheiten.

Und wenn man es richtig anstellt, gibt es das alles gratis. Dafür muss man aber in den Wald und sich selbst auf die Suche machen. Ansonsten können wir uns auch mit der mitten in der Stadt angebauten Version versorgen. 

Vergiss nicht den “Rich Headroom” Kanal zu abonnieren und diese interessanten Links zu besuchen :) 

• Pilzanbau in der Stadt: 
  • https://www.hutundstiel.at
  • https://pilzbrueder.at
  • http://www.waldpilze.at
     
• Sibirischer Baumpilz “Chaga” als Antioxidantienbombe: www.theartofraw.at (20% Rabatt mit Code “richard20”)
• Blog-Artikel “Glycin - Fit und Jung für kleines Geld”: www.richardstaudner.at/2021/05/04/glycin-fit-jung-fuer-kleines-geld/

Bowery has just launched FarmX, its new vertical farm for R&D that's 300 times larger than the first. It's also building a new, bigger than ever commercial farm in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania which will enable it to sell over 20 million clamshells of leafy greens and produce each year. While that's still the equivalent of just 115 acres of outdoor farmland, it's certainly a turning point and year-over-year growth is significant; since January 2020, the company has increased its brick-and-mortar grocery sales by 750%.

Challenges lie ahead. Energy efficiency and costs are still battles to contend with and other vertical farming groups have struggled to live up to their promises of international expansion. But Bowery founder and CEO Irving Fain has an answer for everything.

If you're a vertical farming enthusiast, or a newbie keen to learn about this exciting industry, this episode will take you on a journey of Bowery's founding, why they decided to build all their technology in-house, their growth plans, how they're breaking into new crops and digging into crop genetics to do so, and the overall mission and hopes for the industry at-large. 

Enjoy!

Today's guest is Irving Fain, Founder & CEO of Bowery Farming.

Bowery Farming is a modern farming company building smart indoor farms located close to its cities. Its farms are powered by its proprietary farm operating system, BoweryOS, creating a simplified, agile food system focused on flavor, freshness, and safety.

Irving has a diverse background across varying industries. He started his career in investment banking on Wall Street, where he focused on private equity and helping companies raise late-stage capital. Leaving the financial sector, Irving served as Director of Digital Marketing & Content at iHeartMedia. After four years with iHeartMedia, he knew his real passion was in entrepreneurship. Irving co-founded CrowdTwist, an enterprise software company providing comprehensive omni-channel loyalty & analytics solutions for industry-leading brands. Irving switched his focus towards climate solutions with a nagging feeling that he wanted to solve complex and significant problems with broader societal implications. In 2014, he founded Bowery Farming and currently serves as CEO.

Irving is a great guest, and I felt a lot of similarities in our respective journeys. Irving guides me through his career path, why he's always felt a passion for entrepreneurship, and how Bowery Farming came about. He explains Bowery Farming's mission, the practice of indoor farming, and what sets Bowery Farming apart from its competition. We also discuss the broader agriculture landscape, where policy fits into the conversation, and the future of food. This is a fantastic episode for anyone interested in the future of farming.

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded April 9th, 2021

To learn more about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/irving-fain

To learn more about Bowery Farming: https://boweryfarming.com/

Bowery Farming is hiring! Check out the available positions here: https://boweryfarming.com/careers/#section-job-listings

Get connected with MCJ: 

• Jason Jacobs X / LinkedIn
• Cody Simms X / LinkedIn
• MCJ Podcast / Collective / YouTube

*If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a review! You can also reach us via email at content@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.