Focusing on community, innovation, and technology like A.I, The Philly Indoor-Ag Con brought together some of the leading experts in these areas to discuss Indoor Agriculture and how it is beginning to change the landscape of cities around the world. Philadelphia may be one of the most primed cities to welcome indoor and vertical farms alike with support from individuals like Mayor Jim Kenney who spoke at the event.
The conference was divided into 4 sessions covering CEA opportunity to develop local communities, how technology is changing the indoor farm business model, the coming impact of LED lighting, and AI in indoor ag. Each session had 3 speakers with a Q&A panel at the end of every session. Some thought provoking questions even had the panelists looking at things from new angles such as Mark Benoit of Bright Farms’ question: “What about thinking in terms of mouths fed too, instead of just jobs created?” I personally believe that “mouths fed” or “healthy calories consumed” will be a very important analytic in the future as automated approaches become more accessible due to advances in technology.
A common theme during the conference was the need to unite and standardize within this new industry. I agree with this central idea as we need to treat ourselves like any agriculture industry which uses standardization to decrease waste and increase profits. Eric Stein, one of the panelists, is looking to build a Center of Excellence for indoor agriculture to combat this issue. (If you are interested in participating in a brief survey to assist with the project please visit kennettindoorag.info)
One of the key messages from the conferences was the idea that technology is affecting business at a rapid rate, especially within CEA. Whether we are talking about the leaps and bounds made by LED every year or the tools of the grower becoming more of a key to success, Hort Americas is able to offer technical support that the emerging field will need to understand this ever changing source of light. As Xandar Yango of San’an Bio stated “LED will drive this industry.”
Esteban Macias of The Coalition for Sustainable Organics posed the question “How do you disrupt before you get disrupted?” I believe that the more we come together in a transparent manner for conferences and events like Philly Ag-con the more we can ensure that we will be the disrupters, not the disrupted. At Hort Americas we aim to not only have a high standard of quality and service in everything we do, but aim to supply the disruptive growers with products, tools, technology and supporting technical information they need to be innovative and maintain profitability; these products range from lighting to hydroponic substrates to traditional and organic fertilizer. Working together to address and fill needs, we should insure that they continue to grow well into the future.
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