Expanding cities across the world rely increasingly on the global food network, but should they? Population growth, urbanisation and climate change place pressure on this network, bringing its resilience into question. For decades urban agriculture has been discussed in popular media and academia as a potential solution to improve food security, quality and sustainability. The new idol in this discussion is the vertical farm: A fully closed system for crop production.
Continue reading “Vertical farming: How to bring a dream to reality”Organic solutions for Vertical Farming
The world is changing in a fast way. As growers we need to be part in saving the planet.
Innovation is an essential. Biota Nutri is working on new products with scientists and technical experts. We will present an example.
Key learnings from GrowWise on how to grow wisely
With our own GrowWise Research facility we learn a lot on how to do and how to not do Vertical Farming. This presentation shows some of our learnings.
Jarno Mooren is Plant Specialist Vertical Farming at Signify. He will be a speaker at the 2021 edition of the Vertical Farming Conference.
Continue reading “Key learnings from GrowWise on how to grow wisely”Scaling up plant production in vertical farms
One of VF’s advantages often mentioned is that crops can be produced anywhere around the globe, irrespective of the local growing conditions. Once the perfect indoor “growing recipe” is found for a specific crop, this recipe can potentially be copied anywhere. Practical experience however shows that reality is more complex. One and the same growing recipe set in different technical systems of different scales can create very different crops results.
Continue reading “Scaling up plant production in vertical farms”The colourful life of plants in a vertical farm
In vertical farms all the production factors can be precisely controlled, making that we can precisely control the growth, development and quality of the crops. LEDs play a crucial role in this control. A number of examples will be presented on how to use different light spectra and intensities to control the growth, development and quality of plants and harvested products.
Optimization of light should be balanced with optimization of all other growth factors (e.g. temperature, CO2, humidity, plant spacing, water, nutrients, etc). Sensors, simulation models and artificial intelligence play an important role in optimizing the production systems and can ultimately be used to realise autonomous production systems.
Continue reading “The colourful life of plants in a vertical farm”A Sophisticated Industrial Approach to Vertical Farming – Planet Farms
The story of Planet Farms is one of friendship, innovation, extraordinary people, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. Planet Farms was born of the founders’ shared eagerness and mission to revolutionize traditional agriculture and help the world grow. And naturally, from their love of high-quality and outstanding flavor, rooted in their Italian culture. Planet Farms inverts the historical role of technology in agriculture from defensive to preventive. The aim is no longer to check the natural environment but safeguard it by creating the ideal conditions for plant growth.
Continue reading “A Sophisticated Industrial Approach to Vertical Farming – Planet Farms”Is vertical farming a triple-bottom-line sustainable solution?
Sustainability is often referred to as the “triple bottom line” meaning economic, social, and environmental impact. This presentation will assess how well vertical farming is doing across the 3 areas today by exploring real-world vertical farming case studies. The future of vertical farming will also be explored to determine if there is a future for this rapidly accelerating form of agriculture to have a comprehensive sustainability solution.
Continue reading “Is vertical farming a triple-bottom-line sustainable solution?”Robotics in Vertical Farming
Victor Canton Ferrer will speak about benefits and challenges of using robotics in Vertical Farms combined with Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence
Continue reading “Robotics in Vertical Farming”Using robotics to save cost and prepare for a data driven future in vertical farming
We will cover the automation journey for vertical farms with a perspective on the historic development in the warehouse industry as well. We will look into benefits of robotics and how they not only can help save cost but also gather data, beneficial for both traceability and production optimization as well as increasing yields.
Continue reading “Using robotics to save cost and prepare for a data driven future in vertical farming”Plasma Activated Water in Vertical Farming
Plasma Activated Water (PAW) is produced out of air, water and electricity. The process is copied out of nature and is a mimicry of lightning in a thunderstorm. Shortly after activation PAW obtains unique properties that can be used to improve plant health an plant resilience. These temporary properties disappear and what remains is a natural nitrogen nutrient.
Continue reading “Plasma Activated Water in Vertical Farming”