CEA

AeroFarms is working up towards April, when it will launch a 90,000-square-foot vertical farm in Abu Dhabi. Sales are expected to skyrocket with its ...

The core area of ​​Pinghu Agricultural Economic Development Zone, covering an area of ​​3 square kilometers, has introduced more than 30 new agricultural projects. On January 12, at the Lancheng Modern Plant Factory in Pinghu Agricultural Economic Development Zone, Zhejiang, workers checked the growth of…

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is a tropical fruit crop of rapid growth and early yielding. In recent years, papaya cultivation has extended to subtropical regions due to its commercial interest. In South East Spain, protected cultivation is, however, mandatory to ensure the optimal development of the crop.…

Indoor farming is a method of cultivating crops or plants normally on a large scale entirely indoors. But, we must make sure that our indoor room’s insulation has enough R-value to support farming 24×7. The R-value is the measure of resistance to heat flow which is thermal resistance indicating the…

Koidra and Blue Radix are two companies working with Ontario greenhouse vegetable producers to integrate AI in their production systems. This webinar will highlight each company’s involvement in this space and answer producer questions. To register, visit the website.  For more information:Ontario Ministry of…

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) production has the opportunity to provide a sustainable alternative to conventional farming. A lot of focus has already been placed on CEA's ability to be very water-efficient and space-efficient, and various studies have looked at its energy use. One area which…

The Canadian organisation Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada AAFC is launching a challenge to enhance automation in the production and harvesting operations of CEA facilities. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is an indoor technology-based production system where crops are grown under a modified and…

“CEA agriculture has increased in importance in 2020, with restraints on traveling, shipping and transportation,” says Triston Hooks, Research Associate at Texas A&M AgriLife. However, there are also some issues around it. Triston states that both indoor and greenhouse growing typically block or lack UV…

2020 has been a breakout year for indoor and greenhouse farming, and Abby Prior believes the momentum will continue to build. Prior, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Irvington, N.Y. based BrightFarms, spoke Dec. 14 with The Packer’s Tom Karst about the developments at BrightFarms and the…

John Harnett, Founder and CEO of accelerator THRIVE, joined the Virtual Precision Agriculture Conference from Silicon Valley in California. He explained that the worlds of agriculture, technology and innovation were not all naturally connecting together, the industry was very fragmented, which is why he…

The peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and silver leaf whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) are the major pests of capsicum under protected cultivation. The entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) are environmentally safe than the chemical pesticides. In a new study, different EPF…

Approaching the end of a very shaky 2020 from a general business perspective, we went looking for horticultural market data that might show that sector to have overperformed relative to business in general and that might portend positive opportunity for players in horticultural lighting and AgTech. S2G Ventures has published…

Vertical farming is to the global food system what algae-based biofuels are to the renewables sector: lots of potential, but in the end, there is only so ...

Lettuce is the third most consumed vegetable in the US. However, as a perishable product, much of the produce is not marketable because lettuce leaves discolor after harvest. In fact, 46 percent of head lettuce and 55 percent of fresh romaine and leaf lettuce is wasted. The Foundation for Food &…

Color-coding as a quality assurance and safety measure has been on the rise since the passage of FSMA in 2011. Now, 10 years later, color-coding is being used in a wide range of industries from food manufacturers and processors to pharmaceutical developers and even brewers. As the popularity of the practice of color-coding has increased, so too has the market for color-coded tools. Nowadays, those in the industry can find virtually every high-quality cleaning tool under the sun, and a hygienic tools storage option for that tool in the color needed. The improved quality and availability of these products is wonderful, but nice tools alone cannot ensure a successful color-coding plan. Color-coding compliance is only possible when there is team-wide buy-in. That means meeting the team where they are—making the plan important to every single employee who steps onto a production floor. To do that, it needs to be introduced in an inclusive manner. The following are some tips for creating and implementing an inclusive color-coding plan.

Contained environments lock out many threats by protecting plants from predators and extreme weather like snow, hurricane winds or scorching heat. Unfortunately, sometimes the smaller the pest the bigger the problem. Consistent issues persist in contained environments caused by fungi, bacteria and human…

We built our first 20,000 sq. ft. indoor vertical farm in 2012 in Portage, IN. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) has changed greatly since that first ...

Conventional #agriculture uses a staggering 70% of our #water supply and produces 30% of our #CarbonEmissions. #IndoorFarming uses 92% less #water and produces 67-92% less carbon. If we are to curb #climatechange before it’s too late, things need to change.

Professional advice on growing thriving specialty crops in controlled environments is available for free at the second annual Urban Agriculture Controlled Environment Conference online December 3. The event is led by research faculty and specialists of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas…

In early 2019, after the Thanksgiving 2018 romaine recall, numerous leading CEA producers of leafy greens came together with a thought – what if we treat food safety as a pre-competitive issue? We could work together to develop a strong and credible approach to food safety for CEA leafy greens, whilst…

Ohio State University professor Chieri Kubota is focused on helping to resolve the production and training challenges facing controlled environment growers. Trying to produce vegetables in hot, humid conditions can be difficult for controlled environment growers whether growing in a greenhouse or a…

500Foods shared this story from HD.com.

Spectrum has an important impact on plant growth, morphology, and development. Plants have evolved a sophisticated photoreceptor system capable of perceiving small changes on the light spectrum. Plants use spectral changes as information to adapt and increase survival and reproduction. Therefore, by…

Over the past few years, sweet potatoes have risen in popularity among Canadian consumers. Ontario production meets just over 50 per cent of the province’s demand for the tubers. A recent report by the Greenbelt Foundation explains how local production could expand to meet 79 per cent of provincial…

Indoor food production systems have the opportunity to  reduce the overall impact that agriculture has on the environment. Greenhouses reduce the need for many precious resources, such as land and water, while simultaneously producing higher yields per unit area than field grown crops.  However, other resources are required to produce food indoors, including building materials and energy to operate systems.  Furthermore, technologies like evaporative cooling systems, utilize water, offsetting some of the savings acquired through hydroponic irrigation.  Therefore, environmental stewardship and sustainability should be an important element when planning, designing, building, and operating the greenhouse.   

There are many facility options for different needs and uses. The chart below was reprinted from the white paper "Indoor Crop Production Feeding the Future" (March 2015)by Newbean Capital, Local Roots, and Proteus Environmental Technologies:

As you plan to design and construct your indoor agriculture facility, it will be helpful to consider the following questions:What crop(s) will you grow?What type of facility will you use?Where will you grow the crop?Who will manage the crop?How will the crop be managed?When will the crop grow?​The answers to these questions will help your design and construction team determine the operating needs of your facility. Those needs include everything from what type of systems to install; the adequacy of available utility services, such as electricity, natural gas, water and sewer; identifation of local and Federal building codes; and other considerations that will make your facility most efficient and productive. ​The answers to these questions will help guide the design, operational, and marketing requirements of the greenhouse, ultimately determining the crop growth potential and economic viability.