Category: Blog

LEDs offer option for photoperiodic control

Research at Michigan State University shows growers have a choice when it comes to lights for photoperiodic control.

As light bulb manufacturers phase out the production of incandescent bulbs, growers are looking for replacements to control flowering of ornamental plants. Researchers at Michigan State University have compared the efficiency and efficacy of LEDs for flowering applications with traditional light sources including incandescent, fluorescent and high-pressure sodium lamps.

“After we determined that LEDs were as effective at controlling flowering as other traditional light sources, we began to look more closely at how different wavebands emitted by LEDs actually regulate different aspects of flowering and photomorphogenesis,” said Michigan State Ph.D. graduate research assistant Qingwu (William) Meng. “In our experiments we used experimental LEDs manufactured by a company in Japan called CCS and commercial LEDs from Philips Lighting. For this particular study we used four different LEDs that are commercially available to growers to control flowering.”

 

photo-1-qingwu-william-meng-gh-photo-courtesy-qingwu-william-meng-mich-st-univ
Qingwu (William) Meng is studying how different wavebands emitted by LEDs actually regulate different aspects of flowering and photomorphogenesis.
Photos courtesy of William Meng, Mich. St. Univ.

 

Meng used an Apogee spectroradiometer to collect data from the four different LEDs.

“We measured the spectral output from 350 nanometers to 850 nanometers,” Meng said. “We were able to measure the total light intensity from each of the four lamps to quantify the exact spectral distribution.”

 

Lamp placement impacts light intensity

Meng said he did not compare the light output data he collected with data reported by the light manufacturers.

“It is relatively difficult to find light intensity data from some of the light manufacturers,” he said. “What some companies report in regards to light output is the total photon flux from the light source captured by an integrating sphere device that we don’t have here at Michigan State. Others show a graph of the emission spectrum, but the spectral data are not available.

“For greenhouse flowering applications the lamps can be installed at different heights. Depending on the distance between the bottom of the light source and the plant canopy, there can be different levels of light intensity. Even though a light may be advertised to have a very high light output, if the lamps are hung high above the plant surface then growers are going to get a lower light intensity at the plant level. It is very situational and depends on how far apart the lights are spaced out in the greenhouse and how high the lights are installed above the plant canopy.”

 

Ensuring proper light spacing

Meng said growers typically space out LED lights for flowering regulation about 10 feet apart horizontally.

“Light uniformity and light intensity are the two most important characteristics,” Meng said. “To ensure that there is an accurate layout of the lights, it is ideal to conduct a trial to see exactly what is happening below the lights. Growers can go into a greenhouse at night and measure the light intensity under the lights to see if the light intensity is sufficient and the light distribution is uniform. Light uniformity is very crucial. A grower doesn’t want to cause non-uniform flowering of the same crop.

“Growers can take one light and then measure the light output at different points under the light. By measuring the light distribution, growers can determine where the highest output and lowest output occur under the lamp. If growers don’t have the expertise to develop a light map, they can consult lighting experts.”

Some lighting companies have developed software to design light maps.

 

Differences in wavelength effects

Meng said for effective photoperiodic control only 1-2 micromoles per square meter per second (µmoles/m2/s) at plant height is needed either to promote flowering of long-day plants or inhibit flowering of short-day plants.

 

If red or far red are the predominant wavebands provided by LED lamps, 1-2 micromoles per square meter per second should be effective for speeding up the flowering of long-day crops.
If red or far red are the predominant wavebands provided by LED lamps, 1-2 micromoles per square meter per second should be effective for speeding up the flowering of long-day crops.

 

“For specific wavebands, red light is the most prominent in terms of regulating the flowering pathways of plants,” he said. “The four LEDs lamps we tested that are all marketed for flowering applications, all have some level of red or red/far-red light. If red or far red are the predominant wavebands, then 1-2 µmoles/m2/s should be effective for most flowering crops.

“In contrast, if only blue light, which is from 400-500 nanometers, is used to regulate flowering, there won’t be any effect if a low intensity of 1-2 µmoles/m2/s is provided. Blue light at 1-2 µmoles/m2/s doesn’t create long days for a variety of photoperiodic crops. However, when the intensity of blue light is elevated to 15 or 30 µmoles/m2/s, blue light is able to regulate flowering as effectively as red or as a red/far red combination. Overall, the efficacy of a lamp depends on its light spectrum.”

 

Differences in plant species sensitivity

Meng said for different ornamental species or cultivars there are different sensitivity levels in terms of the light spectrum that should be used to control photoperiod. He trialed about 20 different photoperiodic ornamental crops popular with commercial growers.

“For long-day plants, including petunia and pansy, there should be red light or a combination of red and far-red light to speed up flowering,” he said. “Some crops, like snapdragons, are really sensitive to far-red light. In this case, growers should use lamps that emit both red and far-red light to accelerate flowering, otherwise flowering won’t be promoted at all.”

He said for petunias, plants flower earlier under red light, but with both red and far-red light, flowering can be promoted even more.

“In order to achieve the benefits of photoperiodic lighting to promote flowering of long-day plants, growers should look at the crops they’re producing, and then decide what kind of spectrum the LEDs should have to provide the maximum capability of flowering promotion,” Meng said.

For more: Qingwu (William) Meng, Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824; http://www.hrt.msu.edu/people/qingwu_william_meng
Meng is working with professor Erik Runkle; runkleer@msu.edu;
http://www.hrt.msu.edu/people/dr_erik_runkle

 

Funding for this research was provided by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Research Initiative, Michigan State University’s Project GREEEN, and horticulture companies supporting Michigan State University floriculture research. Nate DuRussel, Michigan State University greenhouse research technician, provided greenhouse technical assistance, and C. Raker & Sons and Syngenta Flowers donated plant material.

 

David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.

 

 

 

light-hort

New horticultural lighting blog

LightHort is a science blog created by Qingwu (William) Meng to communicate the latest scientific findings on light in horticulture to the public. Meng is working with graduate students from various institutions, including Michigan State University and Purdue University, specializing in photobiology and horticultural lighting to employ various forms of multimedia to effectively deliver scientific ideas worth sharing. A variety of topics are covered ranging from sole-source lighting for plant factories to photoperiodic and supplemental lighting for greenhouse operations. Follow LightHort on its website, Facebook and Twitter.

Expanding Possibilities with e-GRO®

Smart app signals new era in Precision Growing for GRODAN customers

ROERMOND, the Netherlands, − GRODAN, a global leader in stone wool substrate solutions introduces e-Gro: an easy to use, mobile app that gives real-time substrate information. e-Gro is a new service from GRODAN developed to support customers with a GroSens® MultiSensor system. Customers who need to have real-time reporting on their substrate, now have the opportunity to link their GroSens system to the e-Gro app. This new mobile and desktop application provides growers the possibility to get the maximum out of their substrate. It’s easy to use and very accurate. e-Gro is the perfect platform for professional growers interested in expanding their possibilities and keeping control of their growing in real-time. Making Precision Growing accessible from anywhere.

grodan-e-gro

With the introduction of the GroSens MultiSensor system in 2013, GRODAN took the first step to enable Precision Growing by offering a tool that gave professional growers highly accurate and reliable insights into the root zone. “With technology continuously playing a more important role, we recognized the need to add a new, smart dimension to the system to service our customers 24/7 anywhere in the world regarding their irrigation strategy” explains Hub Janssen, Managing Director at GRODAN. “With e-Gro, root zone management is no longer a one-way-traffic activity, it becomes individual, easy to access and intelligent. And this is only the beginning, as we will continuously expand features and functionalities of the app over time. e-Gro is a great new service for our customers”.

What are the benefits of e-Gro?

  • e-Gro is mobile: easy to use at anytime and anywhere on your online smartphone, tablet or desktop
  • e-Gro is interactive: customise and optimise irrigation strategy with alerts and notifications year-round 24/7
  • e-Gro improves decision making to maximize production and fruit quality

e-Gro is available in combination with GRODAN slabs and the GroSens MultiSensor system. The app can be downloaded for free and is available in the Google Play (Android) and App Store (iOS) and can be accessed via smartphone, tablet or desktop. To find out more about e-Gro, visit www.grodan.com/e-gro

 

About the GRODAN Group

grodanThe GRODAN Group supplies innovative, sustainable stone wool substrate solutions for the professional horticultural sector based on Precision Growing principles. These solutions are used in the cultivation of vegetables and flowers, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, aubergines, roses and gerberas. The Group offers stone wool substrates together with tailor-made advice and tools to support Precision Growing, facilitating the sustainable production of healthy, safe, and tasty fresh produce for consumers. Sustainability plays a prominent role at GRODAN, from the production of stone wool substrates to end-of-life solutions.

Founded in 1969, the GRODAN Group is active in more than sixty countries worldwide. The Group’s head office is in Roermond, the Netherlands.

For more information and images:

Stefanie Wienhoven, Corporate Communications Manager

Tel: + 31 (0) 475 – 353481

email: stefanie.wienhoven@grodan.com

www.grodan.com and www.grodan.com/e-gro

Voices of Horticulture: Dr. A.J. Both, Rutgers University

Voices-of-Horticulture-logo2
dr-aj-both-rutgers-university

“The Horticulture Light Label”

Dr. A. J. Both outlines the need for a standard horticulture lighting label and proposes a “Quick Facts Horticulture Lighting Label.”

 

draft-proposed-lighting-label

Research Articles:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aj_Both
https://scholar.google.nl/citations?user=ZzoETD4AAAAJ&hl=en
http://leds.hrt.msu.edu/research/

Hort Americas Blog – Discussing LED Lights

A.J. on YouTube:

Monitoring is crucial for growing lettuce and leafy greens year round

Since lettuce and leafy greens have short production cycles, greenhouse growers need to stay focused if they want to be successful growing these crops year round.

The increasing demand for locally-grown vegetables is causing more field vegetable growers, ornamental plant growers and new growers to look at trying to satisfy this market. Cornell University horticulture professor Neil Mattson said he works with all three types of growers.

“I see both vegetable field growers and ornamental greenhouse growers trying to produce lettuce and leafy greens year round,” he said. “Both are quite common. Field vegetable growers are looking for a crop that can generate year-round cash flow. Ornamental growers are looking to fill their greenhouses in the off-season. A lot of ornamental growers no longer produce poinsettias in the fall or spring bulb crops and spring plant propagation that they would normally do in the winter. Growers could have as much as a six-month window when their facilities are not being used.”

Mattson said ornamental growers tend to better understand what it takes to grow a year-round crop.

“Ornamental growers tend to be aware of differences in crops and the problems that can arise,” he said. “They also understand the concept that there is much less light in the winter so they may have to consider using supplemental light. Ornamental growers are usually aware of the high cost of heating a greenhouse year round, especially during the winter.

“In general, field vegetable growers who have greenhouses, may only be using those structures in the spring to produce their transplants. That means they may be used to heating a couple months each year.”

 

Controlling environmental parameters

During this year’s Cultivate’16 conference and trade show in Columbus, Ohio, Mattson did a presentation on the year-round production of leafy greens using controlled environment agriculture (CEA). The main environmental conditions growers need to monitor and control include light, temperature and relative humidity.

 

Light

Mattson said in the northern half of the United States light availability during the winter months is the most difficult environmental issue to deal with when growing plants year round.

“The target light level for lettuce production is 17 moles of light per square meter per day (daily light integral, mol/m2/d) for optimal growth,” he said. “In most parts of the country achieving that target usually isn’t an issue during the summer. In the winter, in the northern part of the country, light levels can be 5 mol/m2/d on average and even 1-3 mol/m2/d is common. That is three to five times less light than what is needed for optimum lettuce growth during the winter.”

 

Photo 1, Lettuce overview 1, Neil Mattson, Cornell Univ.
The target light level for lettuce production is 17 moles of light per square meter per day (daily light integral) for optimal growth.
Photos courtesy of Neil Mattson, Cornell Univ.

 

Mattson said supplemental light, using LEDs or high pressure sodium lamps (See the Lamps Needed Calculator, can be provided to deliver higher light levels to increase lettuce biomass. But going above 17 mol/m2/d can cause growers to have issues with tip burn.

“In the case of head lettuce, a grower can go from seed to harvested head (5-6 ounces) in 35 days if there is 17 mol/m2/d. If there is only 8.5 mol/m2/d, it takes the plants twice as long to produce that same biomass.

“For baby leaf greens, if they are seeded and transplanted and grown on for two weeks before harvesting and only receive 8.5 moles of light, the plants will only produce half the yield. If a grower normally harvests 10 ounces per square foot and there is only half the light, the plants will produce only 5 ounces per square foot.”

Mattson said a rule of thumb for New York is a grower can light a 1-acre greenhouse and produce the same yields as not lighting a 3-acre greenhouse to produce the same yields during the winter months.

 

Temperature

Lettuce and many other leafy greens are cold tolerant. Mattson said a lot of growers want to grow them cold.

“The Cornell CEA research group proposes that these crops be grown at fairly warm temperatures so that they have the faster 35-day crop cycle,” he said. “This is based on having 17 mol/m2/d and a daily average temperature of 70ºF-75ºF during the day and 65ºF at night.

“During the winter the issue with temperature is paying to heat the greenhouse. It’s easy to control the temperature, growers just have to be willing to crank up the thermostat.”

Mattson said temperature can be really hard to control in southern climates in the U.S.

“Under hot conditions, temperatures in the 80s and 90s, head lettuce is going to bolt prematurely,” he said. “It can be difficult to drop the day temperature low enough to avoid early bolting.”

Beyond trying to reduce the air temperature, research done by the Cornell CEA group has shown that lowering the root zone temperature to 74ºF or less using chilled water can help prevent premature bolting.

“Chilling the root zone temperature allows growers to grow using warmer air temperatures by having the cooler water temperature,” Mattson said. “This is an effective way to chill the plants even when the air temperatures reach the 80s and 90s.”

Mattson said the biggest issue with warmer air temperatures occurs with lettuce and spinach. Warmer temperature and long day conditions can both cause spinach to experience premature bolting. Mattson said warmer temperatures can also promote Pythium root rot on spinach. Spinach is much more susceptible to this water mold than lettuce or other leafy greens.

“Chilling the root zone temperature can help to prevent the disease organism from developing as quickly as at warmer temperatures,” Mattson said. “If the root zone temperature can be kept cool, it won’t completely avoid the Pythium issue, but it will help control it.”

 

Pythium baby leaf spinach, Neil Mattson, Cornell Univ.
Cooling the root zone temperature won’t completely avoid Pythium disease, but it will help control it.

 

Pythium spinach closeup, Neil Mattson, Cornell Univ.
Close-up view showing Pythium root rot on spinach.

 

The Cornell CEA group found that the optimum root zone temperature for spinach was 64ºF-65ºF. At this temperature Pythium was deterred, but there was no crop delay. If the root zone temperature is lowered to 62ºF, plant growth is slowed.

 

Relative humidity

Mattson said the relative humidity for lettuce and leafy greens should be between 50-70 percent. He said the lower humidity helps to limit pathogen issues.

“High humidity favors powdery mildew and Botrytis,” he said. “High humidity also favors the physiological disorder tip burn. Tip burn is caused by a calcium deficiency. The higher the relative humidity the less transpiration occurs in the plant resulting in the plant not taking up an adequate amount of calcium.”

 

Lettuce tipburn, Neil Mattson, Cornell Univ.
High humidity favors the physiological disorder tip burn, which is caused by a calcium deficiency.

 

Mattson said a relative humidity lower than 50 percent can cause an outer leaf edge burn, which is a physiological disorder.

“This is a different disorder than tip burn caused by calcium deficiency,” Mattson said. “The outer leaves develop lesions where the veins end on the edge of the leaves. The lesions occur where the sap exudes out of the veins and then is reabsorbed by the plant and there is a kind of salt buildup.”

 

Fertilization, water quality

Although fertilization and water quality are not environmental parameters, growers can have issues with both if they don’t monitor them. Lettuce and leafy greens are not particularly heavy feeders compared to other greenhouse vegetables like tomatoes and other vine crops. Mattson said lettuce and leafy greens are relatively forgiving crops when it comes to fertilization.

“Growers need to monitor the nutrient solution every day in regards to pH and electrical conductivity (EC),” he said. “The reason for testing the nutrient solution at least daily is because in hydroponics the nutrient solution pH can change by one or two units in a day.”

Mattson said for container crops like petunia and geranium, pH does not usually change by more than one unit in a week. He said container growers may check the pH every week, and some may only do it every two weeks. But for hydroponics a grower needs to stay on top of changes in pH.

In addition to daily pH and EC monitoring, Mattson said a detailed elemental analysis of the nutrient solution is important.

“Periodically, about every four weeks, growers should send a sample of their nutrient solution to a testing lab to determine if the plants are absorbing nutrients in the proportions the growers expect,” he said. “Certain elements in the solution may decline over time and a grower may have to add more of these elements and less of others.”

Mattson said some systems, like CropKing’s Fertroller, have automated sensors which measure pH and EC in line so it’s a real time measurement. The controller makes the necessary adjustments.

“Typically if a grower is putting high alkalinity water into the system, the pH tends to creep up over time, so the controller automatically adds acid to reach a target pH,” he said. “Likewise, the machine does that with EC too. If the EC is going down because the plants are taking up nutrients, the controller adds fertilizer stock solution to reach a target EC.”

Mattson said iron deficiency due to high pH is the most common nutrient disorder he sees on lettuce and leafy greens. Occasionally magnesium deficiency occurs because the water source contains enough calcium, but not enough magnesium.

 

ca
Iron deficiency due to high pH is usually the most common nutrient disorder on lettuce and leafy greens.

 

“Many fertilizers don’t include calcium and magnesium, so growers can run into issues with magnesium deficiency,” he said. “Basil tends to have a high need for magnesium. We usually recommend basil be provided twice as much magnesium as lettuce.”

 

Photo 6, Basil magnesium deficiency, Neil Mattson, Cornell Univ.
Basil tends to have a high need for magnesium and usually should receive twice as much magnesium as lettuce.

 

Mattson said growers should test their water more frequently to determine if there have been any changes in the alkalinity of the water, including calcium, magnesium and sodium concentrations.

“In the Northeast this summer, we are experiencing a drought,” he said. “I’ve heard from growers who say the EC of their water is going up, which implies that some salt levels are going up. But we don’t know specifically which salts and that would be useful to know what specifically is changing.

“It really depends on their water quality. In particular, EC, alkalinity and whether there are any nutrients in high concentrations, like sodium, can be an issue. It really comes down to how long they are trying to capture and reuse the water. In our Cornell system we have traditionally grown in floating ponds. We use that same water cycle after cycle for several years. We can continually use the same water because we start with deionized water. However, even if the water has fairly low salt levels, using the same water will result in the accumulation of sodium to harmful levels over time.”

 

For more:
Neil Mattson, Cornell University
School of Integrative Plant Science, Horticulture Section
49D Plant Science
Ithaca, NY 14853
(607) 255-0621
nsm47@cornell.edu
https://hort.cals.cornell.edu/people/neil-mattson
http://www.cornellcea.com
http://www.greenhouse.cornell.edu

Cornell Controlled Environment Agriculture “Hydroponic Lettuce Handbook”

 

David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.

 

Grodan’s Stone Wool Substrate

As a commercial hydroponic grower, it is important to be able to promote the production of high quality vegetables, grown in a clean and sustainable environment.  Produced from pure basalt rock, Grodan’s Stone Wool Substrate (also commonly known as Rockwool) is of the highest of grades, promoting uniform wetting and providing excellent drainage. Grodan’s proprietary binder and wetting agent insure more uniform water dispersion and water holding, which leads to better root development throughout the entire substrate. Control of water and nutrients is very important to commercial growers to achieve maximum yields.  Take control with Grodan Substrates today!

  • Easy to use – 100% recyclable
  • Contains no contaminants
  • Sustainable and environmentally-friendly
  • Saves water and nutrients
  • Hort Americas Grodan Guide → Click Here!

 

grodan-lettuce-and-herbs

 

Grodan provides precision growing with a substrate that is inert and will not bind nutrients inhibiting a uniform crop development and a primary focus on the root zone. Further, steer-ability (controlling water content and electrical conductivity), irrigation efficiency and production optimization are all pillars of Grodan substrates.  

Hort Americas is an innovative leader in North America’s controlled environment agriculture industry (CEA) and strives to continually innovate in agriculture via premium technical support, professional salesmanship, unmatched customer service and outstanding products to our customers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

For questions, support or to purchase → Click Here!

 

Green Sense Radio invites Chris Higgins to look at the Latest in Green Agriculture

Chris-Higgins-Green-Sense-Radio

Growing Green with Chris Higgins of Urban Ag News, Singularity University, HP’s Deforestation Goals

Aug. 7, 2016  Chris Higgins of Urban Ag News and Hort Americas joins us for our feature, a look at the latest in green agriculture, Growing Green. He’ll tell us about the new Agrihood trend.

Singularity University is a benefit corporation that helps people,  businesses, institutions, investors, NGOs and governments understand cutting-edge technologies, and how to use them to positively impact billions of people. Nicholas Haan is Director of Global Grand Challenges and Team Project Leader at Singularity University.

The year 2020 could be a big one for HP, maker of printers, PCs, mobile devices and other technologies. It recently made the pledge to achieve zero deforestation by that year. To explain more is Judy Glazer, global head of product sustainability with HP.

About Green Sense Radio:

Founding Farmer Robert Colangelo is also founder and host of the nationally syndicated Green Sense Radio show. Recorded live on the Farm, Green Sense Radio features entrepreneurs, innovators, academics, and policy makers who are making the world a better place.

The program is heard coast to coast every week. Send us an email if you’re interested in sponsorship opportunities so your sustainable message can reach our millions of listeners!

Click here to listen to the latest Green Sense Program and subscribe to our weekly podcast.

Taking LEDs to the next level

McGill University bioresource engineer Mark Lefsrud said it’s time to take plant research and production to a higher level with LEDs.

Much of the research that has been done with LEDs for the last 50 years has been conducted with low light levels.
“The biggest research area right now is with LEDs at high intensities of light,” said Mark Lefsrud, associate professor in the Bioresource Engineering Department at McGill University in Quebec, Canada. “We have to get into high intensity lighting studies to truly understand what is happening in plants. NASA has done some preliminary work with high intensity LEDs, but we have taken the research further.”

Mark Lefsrud, McGill University
Mark Lefsrud at McGill University is starting to do high intensity lighting studies to understand what is happening in plants under light levels of 5,000 micromoles and higher.
Photos courtesy of Mark Lefsrud, McGill Univ.

Lefsrud said most of the earlier LED studies that he and other researchers have been doing have looked at light levels of 150 micromoles of light (micromoles per square meter per second or μmol·m-2·s-1) and lower, and how the plants responded to those light levels.

“No one grows plants at 150 micromoles,” he said. “Plants are usually grown at 300 micromoles and higher. We have gone well above 1,500 micromoles and in some of our LED tests, we have gone as high as 5,000 micromoles. The plants start responding to what I consider to be more normal field type conditions.”

 

Incorrect assumptions

Lefsrud said the reactions of plants to higher light levels are not what the assumptions have been up to this point for all the earlier research.

“One assumption is that shade plants can’t handle light levels as high as sun plants, which is actually backwards,” he said. “We have found that it is the complete opposite. We are finding that shade plants are able to handle higher light intensities better than sun plants.

“Lettuce is considered a shade plant and tomato is considered a sun plant. When we shine 5,000 micromoles of light on these two plants, the tomato plant suffers and we can kill it quite easily. We don’t see the death of lettuce at higher light levels. Lettuce carries on like nothing has happened to it.”

Lefsrud said that one assumption is sun plants tend to be more succulent with thicker leaves so they can handle higher light levels.

“Another assumption is that shade plants, even though they’re called shade plants, aren’t true shade plants,” he said. “They’re sun spot plants. They can handle the bright light beams that come through the plant canopy and then the light beam disappears and they prepare for the next beam. The sun spot plants have more adaption for fluctuations in light levels as opposed to sun plants which have to receive more continuous high light.”

 

Higher light level LEDs

Lefsrud said it’s possible that growers haven’t tried producing at higher light levels because they were unaware that the plants can tolerate these levels.

“Another reason is that we have never been able to achieve higher light levels of 5,000 micromoles from these lamps,” he said. “And would it be cost effective to even try to produce these light levels? Now that we know that we can achieve higher light levels, let’s see what we can do with them. As research scientists we have to get up to higher light intensities. Currently we are trying to do things up around 10,000 micromoles of light.

“We’ve had to make the high light lamps ourselves or had them custom made to reach these light levels. That is one of the challenges—being able to manufacture lights that can reach these high light levels.”

Lefsrud said nearly half the energy that is going into an LED comes out as light, the other half is heat that has to be dealt with.

“The lights that give off these higher levels generate a lot more heat,” he said. “We have to use a water cooled jacket to cool the LEDs that produce 5,000 micromoles.

“Most LED bulbs can’t handle that kind of heat and burn out. When we started pushing these bulbs, the manufacturer told us the bulbs can’t handle the heat. We were told the bulbs would only last a few seconds at these high intensities. We cooled the bulbs down to -20ºC (-4ºF) with a water jacket and were able to run the bulbs for two weeks.”

Lefsrud said the technology is coming quickly and he expects that within the next year LEDs will be able to deliver these higher light levels.

“It’s not only the plant reactions at those light levels, but it also changes how the lights can be installed,” he said. “Growers won’t have to shine light only from above any more. The lights will also be able to shine from below or on the side. The lights could be mounted on booms and be moved. There are also more possibilities with interlighting.

“We have assumed that the lamps have to be shined from above like the sun. We have done many research tests that have shone the lights from below the plants and they do just as well as when the light is shined from above.”

 

Maximizing plant growth

Another part of Lefsrud’s LED research deals with maximizing growth with the minimum amount of light possible.

“What are the wavelengths (colors) of light that produce the most amount of plant growth with the least amount of light possible?” he said. “We chose to study lettuce, tomato and petunia looking at the PAR light spectrum that was available. We have been looking at other wavelengths where we see plants growing at twice the normal rate. We are finding that the plants grow faster as we get away from far red light and more into the red.

“We think that we can produce lettuce plants at twice the speed. For a lettuce crop that grows heads weighing 20 grams in the first two weeks, we can speed up the crop development to produce 40 gram heads in the same amount of time. We can theoretically double the growth rate. Lettuce seems to be a more aggressive crop than tomatoes. We are not sure about the growth rate for tomato and petunia as we haven’t completed the research.”

Mark Lefsrud, McGill University tomato
Mark Lefsrud found the best growth rate for tomato is around an 8:1 to 10:1 red to blue ratio, around 640 nanometers for the red and 440 nanometers for the blue.

Lefsrud said the research is narrowing in on a few wavelengths that most researchers haven’t been paying much attention to.

“From a growth standpoint, we don’t think far red is useful at all,” he said. “It’s red and a couple of other wavelengths.

“We found the best growth rate for tomato is around an 8:1 to 10:1 red to blue ratio. Roughly around 640 nanometers for the red and 440 for the blue. The more blue that was used, the more flowers and fruit were produced. High levels of red (19:1) was one of the ratios we trialed, where we saw more vegetative (leaf) growth occurred, but there wasn’t as much flowering and fruit.”

Lefsrud said his research has not gone as far as determining what levels of red and blue light should be given while the plants are vegetative or when they are start to flower.

“We are fairly sure that higher levels of red light increase the vegetative growth and then after that a grower would want to go to a higher level of blue light for tomato,” he said. “For tomato, 40 days after germination, the plants should be given more blue light. There are a number of research papers that have indicated that higher levels of blue light cause increased flowering. We believe that the blue light is critical.”

 

For more: Mark Lefsrud, McGill University, Bioresource Engineering Department, Ste.-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada; (514) 398-7967; mark.lefsrud@mcgill.ca; http://www.mcgill.ca/biomass-production-lab

 

David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.

 

Pre-Empt Organic Hydroponic Nutrients

pre-empt-organic-fertilizer

Proudly brought to the commercial hydroponic and organic grower by Hort Americas and specifically developed for recirculating nutrient film technique (NFT), the Pre-Empt Hydroponic Nutrient is packed with the essential micro- and macro-nutrients, amino acids and vitamins plants hunger for!

Pre-Empt goes through a five stage fermentation process which is above and beyond other products by incorporating molasses with other natural plant extracts. This process packs Pre-Empt with essential macro-nutrients, micro-nutrients, amino acids like humic and fulvic acid, as well as an array of vitamins which build a full spectrum of nutrients that plants desire.

  • Excellent for lettuces, basil, leafy greens and culinary herbs

  • OMRI-listed

  • We suggest pairing with Terra Bella to naturally promote the uptake of nitrogen and other essential nutrients for plant health. The combination of aerobic and anaerobic microbes works throughout the root zone to increase crop yield and resistance to disease and pests.

  • For further resources including a quick video and Organic Fertilizer Programs, click here!

Pre-Empt can be used in conjunction with a solution grade organic gypsum (calcium sulfate) and magnesium sulfate.

pre-empt-organic-fertilizer

Hort Americas is an innovative leader in North America’s controlled environment agriculture industry (CEA) and strives to continually innovate in agriculture via premium technical support, professional salesmanship, unmatched customer service and outstanding products to our customers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

For questions and support, click here!

Voices of Horticulture: Dean Kopsell, University of Tennessee

Dean Kopsell greenhouse University Tennessee

Voices-of-Horticulture-logo2

 

Dean Kopsell greenhouse University TennesseeDean Kopsell, University of Tennessee
Eating marigold petals

Dr. Dean Kopsell talks about why we should eat marigold petals and what his students found to be the best red to blue ratio for peak carotenoid concentrations.
Dean is a professor at the University of Tennessee and has studied an eclectic range of crops including Arabidopsis, basil, broccoli, cilantro, kale, lettuce, microgreens, onions, purslane, spinach, squash, turfgrass, and tomatoes.

1. Dean’s UT url:
http://plantsciences.utk.edu/kopsell.htm

2. Selected work of Dean Kopsell:
https://works.bepress.com/dean_kopsell/

3. Dean’s Social Media:
Dean on Twitter: @UTPhytonut


Dean on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-kopsell-5b707a45

Urban Ag News Online Magazine Issue 14 is live

At Hort Americas, we are proud to be sponsors of Urban Ag News. They continue to produce great articles on urban agriculture and vertical farming including technology and innovation. We hope you enjoy their latest issue as much as we do!

Urban Ag News Issue 14  |  July 2016

Urban Ag News Issue 14 cover story looks at Kimbal Musk’s “community through food” philosophy. Kimbal, who is the younger brother of Elon Musk, talks to Urban Ag News about his restaurants and the Learning Gardens. Kimbal co-founded The Kitchen restaurants to serve food and drink from local farmers, ranchers and suppliers for the sustainable enjoyment of the whole community. Kimbal also helped co-found the Learning Gardens that serve as outdoor classrooms and experiential play-spaces that connect kids to real food and empower them to make healthier food choices.

If you’re thinking about growing organically, then you will definitely want to check out the article on organic pest management. Michigan State University entomologist Matt Grieshop says organic insect control is nothing like conventional chemical control. Since the number of organic insect controls is limited, growers have to supplement that tool set with intelligence and experience.

If you are currently growing organically or are interested in starting to grow organically using hydroponic or aquaponic production methods, don’t miss the article on the efforts to keep these types of systems USDA organically-certified. Members of the USDA-National Organic Program’s Organic Hydroponic and Aquaponic Task Force have prepared a report based on their investigation of hydroponic and aquaponic production practices and their alignment with USDA organic regulations. The task force report is scheduled for release this month. Find out how the Coalition for Sustainable Organics is working to keep hydroponics and aquaponics as USDA organic-certified production methods.

Urban-ag-news-online-magazine-cover-issue-14-kimbal-musk-webISSUE 14 INCLUDES:

On the cover: Kimbal Musk
Spreading a “Community through Food” Philosophy

A Conversation about Organic Hydroponics with Industry Pioneer Michael Christian

Organic Pest Management is not a one size fits all Cure

Urban Agritourism Brings Extra Farm Revenue

NY SunWorks: Vertically Building a Sustainable Future

Why USDA Organic-Certified Production Methods Should include Hydroponics and Aquaponics

Japan Plant Factory Association (JPFA) Exciting to be Collaborating with Urban Ag News by Eri Hayashi

Tour de Fresh 2016 by Chris Higgins
e-Gro Webinar: Understanding Pesticide Labels
NPR: The Salt. What’s on Your Plate?
Positive Stories from Muslim Nations
University of Arizona, CEAC, Dr. Chieri Kubota: Optimizing Plant Performance
TEDx Amsterdam: Howard-Yana Shapiro
Jack Johnson’s Sustainable America: Teaching Elementary Students to create compost from food waste

News from the Industry features these and more:

Fluence Bioengineering Achieves Breakthrough in Horticulture Lighting Efficacy According to University Studies
Tomato growers convinced of robotics – Three growers take a head start with the Priva De-Leafing Robot
New organic product promises to increase yields for conventional growers
Hort Americas offers Terra Genesis Organic Hydroponic Fertilizer
Agra Tech is building high-tech greenhouses
Urban Food Systems Symposium
National Agricultural Leaders To Gather in Virginia Beach With Goal Of Strengthening Support of U.S. Small Farmers
Denver-based Hydropods, Inc. Now Shipping Line of Connected Grow Controllers and Sensor Modules
New High Tech Farm Sprouting Up in Humbolt County, Calif.
Valoya expands its selection of professional LED grow lights
Nuetech is proud to announce the launch of a new led light
Urban Produce Named 2016 Small Business of the Year

 

Reprints worth Reading:

Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects. Authors: Committee on Genetically Engineered Crops: Past Experience and Future Prospects; Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources; Division on Earth and Life Studies; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Importance of LEDs in Horticulture by Dr. Mark Lefsrud and Sadman Islam Associate Professor and Research Assistant, William Dawson Scholar Bioresource Engineering, McGill University

GE is ready to rock in the horticulture lighting industry

GE Horticultural LED Lighting

Whether you are growing leafy greens and herbs or starting up fruiting crops like tomatoes or peppers, GE Horticultural LED Lighting from Hort Americas can help insure you get maximum yields! GE provides utility lighting and more. The new Horticulture LED Batten (light strip) is designed to facilitate indoor farming by providing a suitable spectrum of light which allows plants to grow indoors efficiently and under ideal conditions. With the optimized light spectrum (red, blue and white) the grower is able to control and tune the light recipe to their choice based on the crops grown.

GE-Arize-Lynk-led-grow-lights-close

“There will be a revolution,” says Cary Mitchell, horticulture professor at Purdue University. “I think that in a decade’s time, LED will become the de facto lighting source for controlled environment agriculture.”

Mitchell’s team has found that LEDs can surpass 50 percent efficiency — converting about half of their energy into plant-usable light — versus just 30 percent for HPS lamps. That translates into significant energy savings, with the cost of powering HPS lamps 400 percent more to produce the same amount of fruit. “The fact that these emitters are so cool — literally cool — and you can put them so close, there’s a tremendous energy savings potential,” says Mitchell.

  • Available in 4’ and 8’ (Daisy Chain) Light Bars
  • IP66 rated and UL wet rated for easy watering and cleaning
  • Operating Environment: 32°F to +104°F
  • 50,000 hour rated life/5 year limited warranty
  • Available in Reproductive, Vegetative and Balanced Configurations at both Medium and High Output
  • Technical Specifications

Hort Americas is an innovative leader in North America’s controlled environment agriculture industry (CEA) and strives to continually innovate in agriculture via premium technical support, professional salesmanship, unmatched customer service and outstanding products to our customers in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

For questions, support or to purchase → Click Here!

Voices of Horticulture: Dr. Gioia Massa, NASA

Voices-of-Horticulture-logo2

 

Gioia Massa and Veggie

Dr. Gioia Massa, “Veggie” Scientist at the Kennedy Space Station, NASA

“NASA’s Veggie and Space Kids”

Dr. Gioia Massa is a plant scientist in NASA’s Veggie program which aims to grow plants in the International Space Station (ISS). Gioia is a Future Farmers of America (FFA) alumni and has grown her early love for plants to a career that is now helping us explore space and preparing humans for space travel. Her professional talks are captivating, inspirational, mind-boggling and always end up giving me goosebumps. She talks with me briefly about NASA’s “Veggie” program on the ISS and how kids on earth are being inspired to reach for the stars.

 

 

Gioia-Massa-young-NASA-lettuce
Gioia on “Ask Me Another” Game Show
LinkedIn
Twitter.com/plansinspace
Twitter.com/NASAKennedy
NASA Veggie:
https://www.nasa.gov/content/veggie-plant-growth-system-activated-on-international-space-station
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/863.html
Gioia on StarSpot
Gioia on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QJpNVrS3yw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvIpqI41_eU

Publications:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gioia_Massa

Online fertilizer training course from University of Florida begins on July 18

University of Florida Nutrient Management Course

University of Florida Nutrient Management CourseThe online course “Nutrient Management (Level 1)/Manejo de Nutrientes (Nivel 1)” offered by University of Florida IFAS Extension (UF) helps growers make better crop management decisions. This course is designed for US and international growers that have practical experience or entry university level, and are in production, technical or sales roles. The course is offered in English and Spanish. Topics covered include common nutrient problems, essential nutrients, fertilizer types and how to interpret a fertilizer label, managing total nutrient level, pH and EC and onsite testing, and growing media.

 

The course runs for 4 weeks, from July 18 to August 12, 2016. Cost is $US200 per participant, and includes a personalized certificate of completion. Each week there are two streaming video lessons, readings and assignments (about 3-4 hours total commitment per week), which can be accessed at any time of day. Bilingual PhD instructors can be accessed via text chat and discussion features. Click here to register.

Other courses are available on advanced crop nutrition, weeds, diseases, and greenhouse management. For more information, go to backpocketgrower.org/onlinecourses.asp, or contact greenhousetraining@ifas.ufl.edu.

PDF: Nutrient Management Central

 

University of Florida

Are you using social media to promote your brand, your industry?

Kevin Folta University of Florida

Kevin Folta, chairman of the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida, said more researchers, farmers and students need to be using social media to promote themselves, their research and their industries.

 

Kevin Folta, professor and chairman of the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida, has been writing online blogs since the late 1990s.

“Initially it was a way for me to communicate funny ideas and comedy,” Folta said. “I did a lot of blogs that covered critical thinking and skepticism, especially for like UFOs, quack medical claims and the anti-vaccine movement. It was kind of over-the-top criticism.”

Folta said he found having his own website was a great way to get his name out to the scientific community as well as to the public. He quickly learned that social media was also a good way to disseminate science communication. He began to use social media to promote his own research.

“I also used to program websites in HTML,” he said. “When I was in grad school I had a business on the side creating websites for companies in my town. I would walk into a business and explain to them how they should have a website that will come up on a computer and people can learn about their company, including their business hours and how to contact them. They would say they’re not interested because that it would never catch on.”

Focused on social and science issues

Folta began writing social and science commentary blogs in 2003. He now writes about six blogs per week depending on the prevailing news and what topics are appearing in social media.

“My blog, called Illumination, takes current topics and provides a scientific overlay,” he said. “I try to use my blog to provide a trusted source of good information for someone looking for clarification on scientific topics.

“I write mostly about the reality of genetic engineering concepts. Clarifying the reality. I also write about nutrition, climate, vaccines and other areas that have some public controversy and scientific consistency. The blog articles are inspired by current topics or current situations arising as I communicate science. Something I’ve learned, something I want to share. Most of them are commentary and distillation of something about science. Lately I have been writing a lot on transparency and conflict of interest.”

 

Kevin Folta, Univ. of Fla.
Kevin Folta, professor and chairman of the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida, uses different social media platforms to discuss his research, talk about science and to support the ag industry.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Folta, Univ. of Fla.

 

Folta said all of the topics he writes about are serious.

“People do misinterpret my sarcasm and snark,” he said. “The blogs are meant to make people laugh or to make a topic approachable or enjoyable. How do you reach more people with cool stories? You make them laugh. You help them enjoy clever visual language to disseminate rather dry topics.”

Supporting American farmers

One of the recent topics of Folta’s blog has been the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list of fruits and vegetables contaminated with pesticides.

“The Environmental Working Group publishes this list of fruits and vegetables it says shouldn’t be eaten because they’re covered with pesticides,” he said. “I want to provide some clarity to that claim. I know the kind of pesticides that are used and the group is wrong and is hurting farmers.

“Social media gives me the megaphone I need to do my job to protect the farming interests in my state. This is a big part of what I focus on. With a presence of bad information on the web, I want to be the person who stands up for agriculture whether or not anyone else will.”

Folta said one of the most important things occurring on social media is the discussion of science, including food and farming.

“Scientists and farmers, people who know the most about these topics, aren’t participating,” he said. “This is why there is such a sorry state of research funding that all of the food scientists complain about. My colleagues and my students don’t realize we hold the power to fix this just by getting involved.”

Generating more research funding

Folta said being able to promote the research of scientists and students is one of the advantages of using social media.

“Generating awareness of your research program and showcasing the research of students and postdocs helps to develop a brand,” he said. “When my grant proposals come across the desk of reviewers, they know it is going to be sound science and that it is going to be shared with the public. Social media can be a conduit to make research relevant and penetrating to the taxpayer, the people who are financing the research. It is a great way to show a return on government investment.”

Folta said he gives talks to grad students and postdocs on the importance of social media.

“I tell them they have to have a blog,” he said. “They have to personalize themselves as scientists. They can’t be an inaccessible person with a lab coat, who publishes a few research papers a year and doesn’t talk to the public. You have to be an approachable, interactive, trusted source of information. The only way you gain that trust is by letting the public understand who you are as a person.

“The students understand that they have to do this. The problem with students and postdocs is that they don’t have content. They think they don’t have anything to write about. They don’t understand that they have to share with people in cyberspace what happened today. They’re not comfortable with that or they’re just not good at writing about it.”

Folta trains faculty and students on how to promote themselves and their research programs using social media.

“It’s been slow to catch on,” he said. “One of the biggest surprises has been some of the recalcitrant faculty that you thought would never do it. Some of them turn out to be all-stars. They quickly realize the power of the medium. Once they get in and get comfortable, they see how it influences the visibility of their excellent work.

“This is the beauty of Twitter. You don’t even have to write anything. By going into Twitter and reading, endorsing and retweeting what you find is useful information, you still develop a brand. People will know that they can look at your feed and consider you to be a reliable and trusted conduit to good quality information and clever writing.”

Expanding social media presence

Folta also has gotten into producing weekly podcasts. He has been doing the podcasts since June 2015.

“I get as many of the podcasts interviews as I can from the compelling people who I meet and who I read about online,” he said. “I put those interviews together and do the production, including the artwork. It’s a lot, but I really enjoy it. Most of the podcasts are between 30-60 minutes long. They take about three hours a week to put together. In June, I got the 200,000th podcast download. That is a pretty good investment.

“My podcasts have the most unfortunate name of “Talking Biotech Podcast”. It’s really not about that. It’s really about genetics in action. We talk about topics in medicine. We’ve talked about the way plants were domesticated. We talk about technology and the ways that it is being used to help people. We have even talked about cheese making.”

 

kevin-folta-podcast
This month Kevin Folta received his 200,000th podcast download. Started in June 2015, the podcasts focus on genetics in action.

 

Folta said he uses the podcasts to talk about how biotechnology is a tool that can be used to do good things.

“I want to make people more comfortable with technology,” he said. “I can talk to an expert to help people understand it.”

Folta said the different forms of social media he uses have complimentary roles.

“Twitter is a transitory rapid message that has wide penetration,” he said. “For the blog, someone has to know about it, stumble upon it or be drawn to it through Twitter or Facebook. Facebook is kind of in the middle. It is a repository for good topics of interest from people in science. You’re able to develop good presence and penetration by optimizing all of tools to their maximum.”

Folta said an increasing number of university programs and departments with communication groups are realizing that social media is the modern day press release.

“Social media is where you disseminate your information and keep your name in the front of the public’s mind,” he said. “More universities have dedicated people who work to communicate faculty research to the public. The problem is that some of these people don’t necessarily understand the science and it reads more like jumbles of facts rather than a an interesting story that connects the public and the scientists. We need to be more in that space. We are doing better all the time.”

Folta said there are good researchers worldwide who understand the power of social media and use it effectively.

“In my university unit the leaders of the department were told they need to be on Twitter,” he said. “I love Twitter because I write a blog and then disseminate it to 12,000 Twitter followers and then it goes out to thousands more people. I use Twitter to amplify or advertise my blog and podcasts. I also use Twitter to amplify other ideas that I really like and other writing that I really like.

“The problem is that from students to faculty, they don’t think they have the content. They know the tool, they just don’t know what to do with it. They don’t think it’s important enough to show them planting something in the greenhouse on social media. But that’s the idea. For their friends it doesn’t matter. But for someone who wants to learn more about it, it has to be there. If you aren’t there someone else will be, and that other voice might not get the science right.”

Folta said more researchers and students also need to be writing blogs.

“We could even start asking students to generate essays and assignments as social media entries,” he said. “Instead of an essay for an exam being written on paper, it should be written as a blog entry. This way the student also is creating web content for curious people to find.

“This is how we can use social media to disseminate good information. This is something that we are going to see more and more of going forward.”

For more: Kevin Folta, University of Florida, Horticultural Sciences Department, Gainesville, FL 32611; (352) 273-4812; kfolta@ufl.edu; http://www.hos.ufl.edu/faculty/kmfolta.

David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.

Solving the Hydroponic Fertilizer Equation

hydroponic-fertilizer

Hort Americas Hydroponic Fertilizer

It is quite common for both start-up and experienced commercial hydroponic growers to feel they need a math degree when it comes to calculating the necessary micro and macro elements of their water soluble fertilizer. Hort Americas has solved the equation with their specially formulated 9-7-37 Hydroponic Fertilizer.  Hort Americas has developed this unique fertilizer in cooperation with CEA hydroponic specialists, academicians and researchers to meet the nutritional needs of crops produced by hydroponic leafy green growers.

  • Designed for leafy greens, culinary herbs, micro greens and other crops grown hydroponically
  • Can be used as a constant feed or as a supplement
  • Delivers essential nutrients for efficient uptake by the root system
  • Unique TPA (Thermal Poly Aspartic Acid) additive which enhances the plants ability to uptake phosphorus
  • To assist the grower even further, Hort Americas has developed a helpful hydroponic fertilizer calculator within part 3 of a 3-part instruction video series found on the Hort Americas website

Fertilizer-label-rev2

Hort Americas recommends the grower have their source water tested by a professional water analysis laboratory to determine the macro and micro nutrient levels, pH, EC and total alkalinity before assessing appropriate rates for their fertilizers.

Hort Americas is an innovative leader in North America’s controlled environment agriculture industry (CEA) and strives to continually innovate in agriculture via premium technical support, professional salesmanship, unmatched customer service and outstanding products to our customers in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

For questions, support or to purchase → Click Here!

Voices of Horticulture: Bruce Bugbee, Utah State University

Voices-of-Horticulture-logo2

 

Research-Bruce-Bugbee-2016Dr. Frits Went and the Pursuit of the McCree Curve

Dr. Bruce Bugbee of Utah State University was the opening speaker at the 2016 International Society for Horticulture Science Symposium on Light in Horticulture. Dr. Bugbee talks candidly with me about how understanding history can give us a keen insight into today’s botanical questions about light and the outlook of our future.

 

 

 

For more information on Dr. Bugbee’s program visit these sites:

1. https://cpl.usu.edu/htm/about-us/directory/memberID=5316

2. https://tedx.usu.edu/portfolio-items/bruce-bugbee/

3. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0099010

Direct-to-consumer food sales could help growers succeed

A study of data collected in the 2007 and 2012 Census of Agriculture shows that direct-to-consumer sales could help growers remain in business longer.

In January 2015 a group of economists at the USDA-Economic Research Service released the publication “Trends in U.S. Local and Regional Food Systems: A Report to Congress”. The purpose of the report was to provide Congress with information regarding the “scope of and trends in local and regional food systems.”

As the demand for local food continues to increase along with consumer interest in locally-grown, USDA has made it one of its priorities looking at related topics including improving the rural economy, expanding food access and increasing nutrition, assisting agricultural producers and strengthening local markets.

Defining direct-to- consumer sales Nigel Key, a USDA-ERS economist and co-author of the Congressional report, studied some of the data that was collected to determine if direct-to- consumer sales had an impact on the survivability of farmers.

“I examined farms that sold directly to consumers, which is a subset of local food producers,” Key said. “I looked at whether farms that had direct-to- consumer sales were more likely to survive longer in business and grow more or less compared to farms that don’t do direct-to-consumer sales. That was the focus of my research.”

Key said direct-to- consumer sales would include roadside stands, farmers markets, pick-your-own farms, on-farm stores and community supported agriculture.

“These sales wouldn’t include intermediaries that would aggregate the food and then sell it to schools or to supermarkets,” he said. “It also wouldn’t include selling to restaurants that then prepare the food and sell it to consumers. That would be local food, but that wouldn’t be selling directly to consumers.”

USDA Farm Business Survival Rate

 

Tracking business survival

Key used the 2007 and 2012 Census of Agriculture data, which essentially includes all farms.

“We looked at all farms and broke them out by their sales categories: $1-$10,000; $10,000-$50,000, $50,000-$250,000 and over $250,000,” he said. “The Census of Agriculture is conducted every five years. The last one was in 2012 and the one before that was 2007.

“Looking at the 2007 census at producers who were selling directly to consumers, we determined how many of those producers showed up in the 2012 census and were still in business. We compared this data to the farmers who weren’t selling directly to consumers in 2007 and how many of those producers showed up in the 2012 census. We tracked business survival rate.”

Key said that 55.3 percent of all farms showed up again in the 2012 census compared to 60.9 percent of those producers with direct-to- consumer sales. The higher survival rate for direct-to-consumer sale producers was true for all of the different size sales categories. There was a significant increase in the probability of survival occurring for farmers with direct-to- consumer sales.

“The small farmers only had a 45.3 percent rate of survival compared to 72.8 percent for large farmers, but in every category survival was higher for direct-to- consumer sales,” he said. “For large growers with direct-to-consumer sales survival was higher, 78.1 percent. For the small direct-to- consumer sales farmers, survivability was 54.9 percent. In every sales category, there was a higher survival rate for direct-to- consumer sales farmers. We also looked at beginning farmers. These are farmers who have been in business less than 10 years. We basically saw the same effects.”

 

Reasons for increased survivability

Key said one of the reasons that there is a higher survival rate among farmers doing direct-to-consumer sales, is the amount of time these farmers are spending marketing their product.

“The direct-to- consumer farmers may be getting a higher price, but they are also spending more time marketing their product,” he said. “So in a sense they are a farmer and a marketer. As a result, for the same level of sales they don’t need as much farm equipment and they don’t need as much land. From the data we saw farmers who sell directly to consumers have $20 worth of machinery per dollar of sales compared to $31 worth of machinery per dollar of sales for those farmers who market through conventional channels.

“We saw similar results for the amount of land being farmed. Direct-to- consumer farmers had $240 in land per dollar sold compared to $309 in land per dollar sold for farmers selling through conventional channels. If a farmer doesn’t have to have as much land and machinery then he doesn’t have to borrow as much money.”

Key said farmers who were doing direct-to- consumer sales also had less debt.

“With less debt, the direct-to- consumer farmers likely have lower interest payments relative to their assets so they have a lower debt-to- asset ratio,” he said. “A lower debt-to- asset ratio makes a farmer less susceptible to production and market shocks.”

USDA Farm Percent Change in Sales

 

Slower growth rates

When Key looked at the growth of farms that remained in business in both 2007 and 2012, the farmers with direct-to- consumer sales had slower growth than the farmers with no direct-to-consumer sales.

“It’s kind of puzzling, why would these direct-to- consumer farmers have higher survival rates and lower growth rates?” he said. “One possibility is the direct-to- consumer sales tend to be more labor intensive. So given the same amount of sales, the direct-to- consumer farmers were hiring substantially less labor. So it makes it difficult to expand if expanding means having to hire someone. That can be a costly upgrade as compared to purchasing more land where a farmer can farm more of the land himself. Even though a farmer may not be able to grow the business, he may be able to survive.

“These direct-to- consumer farmers may also enjoy their work more. They like interacting with their customers. We don’t have any data to support that, but those are just my thoughts.”

 

For more: Nigel Key, USDA-Economic Research Service, Resource and Rural Economics Division, Farm Economy Branch; (202) 694-5567; nkey@ers.usda.gov.

David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.

 

Meeting the demand for locally grown ethnic produce

Rutgers University researchers are studying the viability of growing ethnic specialty crops in greenhouses and hoop houses for local and regional sales.

While consumer demand for organic products continues to increase so does the demand for locally grown produce. USDA reports that industry data estimates that U.S. local food sales totaled at least $12 billion in 2014, up from $5 billion in 2008. To support this growing local market USDA has provided more than $1 billion in investments to over 40,000 local and regional food businesses and infrastructure projects since 2009.

Focusing on Asian and Hispanic crops

Researchers at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., have studied the potential market for ethnic specialty crops along the U.S. East Coast. Based on the results of their findings the researchers are now looking at those crops which have the potential to be adapted to greenhouse and hoop house production.

“At Rutgers we have a specialty crop research group,” said Albert Ayeni, who is ethnic crop research specialist. “We have been funded for about $2 million by the USDA. Our research group, led by Dr. Ramu Govindasamy, has documented the rapidly increasing population of Asians (Chinese and Asian Indians) and Hispanics (Mexicans and Puerto Ricans) on the U.S. East Coast. As of 2010 the population of these ethnic groups stood at about 6 million people.

“We are looking at two broad ethnic groups, Asian and Hispanics. We are studying what kind of crops these two ethnic groups are asking for that can be grown in New Jersey and other states along the East Coast. We have done a comprehensive study of what are the demands for these ethnic crops. We also studied the average prices for which these crops are sold.”

Some of the crops that the Rutgers researchers have studied include: exotic peppers (Capsicum spp.), roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) and tiger nuts (Cyperus esculentus cv. sativus), amaranth (Amaranthus spp.), African eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum) and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus).

Ayeni said okra is a popular crop in the southern U.S., but is not grown much in the Northeast.

“Based on our studies, these crops on the East Coast are sold in different ways– by the pound, ounce or in a bunch,” Ayeni said. “A bunch can vary from a $1.50 to $2 or more depending on the crop and market. We are looking at what the price limits are depending on which part of the East Coast the crops are sold. We are studying the markets in Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

“We have conducted studies and collected information that could help growers determine which are the best ethnic crops economically. This could help growers know what to grow to target specific ethnic niches. Location has a lot to do with what price can be charged for a crop. What we found is that some products can be sold for twice as much in bigger markets like New York City.”

Ethnic specialty crop trials Ayeni said extensive greenhouse and hoop house trials have been done with exotic peppers, roselle and tiger nuts (chufa).

“This is the second year that we have worked with roselle,” he said. “We have worked with tiger nuts for about four years and exotic peppers since 2009.

 

Exotic peppers have been studied by Rutgers University researchers since 2009. The fruit is in high demand by Africans, Asians and Hispanics. Photos courtesy of Albert Ayeni, Rutgers Univ.
Exotic peppers have been studied by Rutgers University researchers since 2009. The fruit is in high demand by Africans, Asians and Hispanics. Photos courtesy of Albert Ayeni, Rutgers Univ.

 

The peppers contain high levels of capsaicin which has numerous significant health values along with high amounts of vitamin A. The fruit is in high demand by Africans, Asians and Hispanics.

Roselle contains high levels of antioxidants and facilitates iron bioavailability. Its leaves are in high demand by Asian Indians and Hispanics. Its fruit is in high demand by Africans and Hispanics.

Tiger nuts are considered a super snack food. These gluten-free tubers are high in fiber and vitamins with a moderate level of iron. Tubers are highly sought after by Africans and the U.S. market is growing rapidly.

“With a greenhouse most of these crops can be grown any time of the year,” Ayeni said. “If roselle is grown outdoors, it can’t be planted in this part of country until the middle of May to early June because it is a tropical plant. Plants can be harvested for foliage from July until October. For the cultivars we are currently evaluating, outdoor production for flowers and fruit is not feasible for African Green, African Red and Indian Red types. For these roselle types, the onset of frost in late October and early November stops further plant growth or kills the plants, preventing flower/fruit maturity.

“This is a limitation for field production. However, the “kenaf” type roselle, identified as Indian Green in our studies, can be grown from June to October in New Jersey. With this roselle type, the leaves and fiber are of greater economic significance than the fruit.”

 

Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is grown for both its leaves and fruit. The leaves are in high demand by Asian Indians and Hispanics. Its fruit is in high demand by Africans and Hispanics.
Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is grown for both its leaves and fruit. The leaves are in high demand by Asian Indians and Hispanics. Its fruit is in high demand by Africans and Hispanics.

 

Ayeni said roselle grows well in the greenhouse year round. In a hoop house the yields were not as high as the greenhouse. Supplemental lighting was used in the greenhouse trials during   winter to grow roselle.

“The plants respond well to supplemental light,” he said. “For the supplemental lighting we used high pressure sodium lights and provided 16 hours of photoperiod in a 24-hour cycle. In the greenhouse, supplemental lighting can be used to produce a significant quantity of foliage any time of the year.

Research results

Jalapeno/serrano-type peppers grow and fruit well under greenhouse and hoop house conditions.

Sweet minibells and African poblano do better in a greenhouse than in a hoop house. The habanero/African bird’s-eye- type performs poorly in both the greenhouse and the hoop house.

Roselle grows and fruits better in the greenhouse than in the hoop house. In other trials, roselle exhibited greater growth in the hoop house. Ayeni said more research needs to be conducted to understand how time of planting affects performance in a hoop house.

Tiger nuts thrived much better in the hoop house than in the greenhouse. Considerable adjustments are needed to controlled environment parameters in the greenhouse, probably temperature and light, to be able to mimic the hoop house conditions that produced high tuber yields.

 

Tiger nuts (Cyperus esculentus cv. sativus) grew better under hoop house conditions than in a greenhouse. The plant’s gluten-free tubers are high in fiber and vitamins and are considered a super snack food.
Tiger nuts (Cyperus esculentus cv. sativus) grew better under hoop house conditions than in a greenhouse. The plant’s gluten-free tubers are high in fiber and vitamins and are considered a super snack food.

 

Ayeni said they also want to compare plant production in pots versus growing the plants directly in the soil under cover (i.e. tunnel production).

“The market for locally grown ethnic foods continues to expand,” Ayeni said. “We want to encourage growers to consider ethnic specialty crops so they may target production to meet the rapidly growing demand in the United States. These crops lend themselves to year-round production for sale, including at farmers markets.

“In general, immigrants from all over the world cherish the plant varieties that are prevalent in the food systems of their home countries. I would be delighted to see Rutgers University lead the way in promoting local production to make these crops available as fresh as possible to a growing consumer population.”

 

For more: Albert Ayeni, Rutgers University, Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, New

Brunswick, NJ 08901; (848) 932-6289; ayeni@aesop.rutgers.edu;

http://plantbiopath.rutgers.edu/faculty/ayeni/ayeni.html.

 

David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.

 

University of Florida offers online greenhouse training courses

Growers at all levels of experience can benefits from four week courses.

For the second year, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension will be offering online training courses in English and Spanish starting on May 30. The courses are to be geared towards helping grower staffs make better crop management decisions.

Each course runs for 4 weeks, costs $200 per participant, and includes a personalized certificate of completion. Each week there are two streaming video lessons, readings and assignments (about 3-4 hours total commitment per week), which can be accessed at any time of day. Bilingual PhD instructors can be accessed via text chat and discussion features. For more information, go to backpocketgrower.org under “training” and “online courses”.

The schedule of online courses planned for 2016 includes:
The first course, Greenhouse 101, is ideal for new employees, or employees with practical experience but lacking in formal horticulture training. Topics covered are plant parts and functions, photosynthesis and growth, greenhouse technology, flowering, compactness and branching, irrigation, nutrition, and plant health.
Nutrient Management 1, Disease Management and Weed Management are courses geared towards grower staff with some experience and training, or at the entry-university level.
Nutrient Management 2 is an advanced course for the experienced, well-trained grower, those at the upper-university level.
University of Florida

Building a Hydroponic Fertilizer for Leafy Greens, Herbs and Lettuces

Hydroponic Fertilizers. Part 3.

This is part 3 in the 3 part series on hydroponic fertilizers from Hort Americas. This video focuses on how to build and adjust a hydroponic fertilizer formula based on the quality of your source water. Fertilizer formulas mentioned in this video are specific to leafy greens, culinary herbs and lettuces.