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 utilitylighting 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.
“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
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!
The 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.
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, 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.”
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.”
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
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!
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.”
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
At Hort Americas, we are proud to be sponsors of Urban Ag News. They continue to raise the bar on covering the latest innovations and technology in urban agriculture and vertical farming. We hope you enjoy their latest issue as much as we do!
Urban Ag News’ Issue 13 cover story looks at Green Sense Farms’ efforts to meet the increasing demand for clean, safe produce in both the U.S. and China. Founding farmer and CEO Robert Colangelo talks about how his company is opening additional vertical farming operations in both countries along with a training facility to create job-ready graduates to grow in controlled environments.
Thinking about installing a water treatment system for your growing operation? University of Florida professor Paul Fisher said you should know your goals before investing in a treatment system. A treatment system won’t add value to your product, but it will reduce the risk of crop losses.
Duron Chavis, indoor urban farm director at Virginia State University, is helping citizens of Richmond and Petersburg, Va., have access to locally-grown produce year round. His efforts along with community leaders and university colleagues are helping people eat and live healthier through urban agriculture.
ISSUE 13 INCLUDES:
On the cover: Robert Colangelo,founding farmer and CEO at Green Sense Farms Green Sense Farms to expand its Vertical Farming Operations in the U.S. and China
Helping people eat, live healthier through urban agriculture, with Duron Chavis
An Interview with NASA’s Dr. Gary Stutte
Urban Ag Zoning: Lessons from San Antonio
NY SunWorks: Is the future of farming in public schools?
Know your goals before investing in a water treatment system
Tour de Fresh 2016 by Chris Higgins
Indoor Ag Con Las Vegas April 2016 e-Gro Webinars Japan Plant Factories Special Report by Eri Hayashi FDCEA 2016 Events to Attend University of Arizona, CEAC, Patricia Rorabaugh Retires Infographic: Living Wage Calculation for Dallas, Texas
News from the Industry features these and more:
How LED lighting treatments affect greenhouse tomato quality AeroFarms offers new level of safety and flavor for delicious, nutritious leafy greens Dr. Roberto Lopez joins Michigan State University Horticulture faculty Lettuce See The Future: LED Lighting Helps Farming Go High-Tech In Japan Interim president and CEO of AmericanHort steps down Growtainer and Glenn Behrman HydroGarden starts international school sponsorship to mark 20th year in business The Diane Rehm Show: The Growth Of Large-Scale Indoor Urban Farming GreenTech 2016 to be packed with inspiring sessions and speakers CropKing Introductory Grower Workshop 2016 Tour de Fresh Sponsorships Available Now New white paper available on the immense potential of Asia’s Indoor Ag Industry Critical Foodscapes: what does the future hold for urban gardening? New Case study on Urban Produce available from Hort Americas Study Finds Philips LED Lights Provide Improved Energy Efficiency and Production for Growing Food Crops in Space Sustainable Agriculture Training / Cal Poly Pomona Launch New Hybrid Course and a New School Name
Using only a fraction of the electricity that traditional bulbs use, LED Light Bulbs are becoming increasingly more and more popular each day. Whether you are a home owner or a commercial property owner, there is an obvious incentive to install them – both for cost savings and a reduced impact on the environment.
On average, the typical commercial LED bulb lasts nearly 30 years – talk about never hearing a “screw in a light bulb” joke again!
Regardless of whether you think hydroponic production can be organic, the bottom line is all methods of food production should be considered when trying to feed a growing world population.
There is currently much discussion and debate occurring about whether hydroponic production can be labeled as organic. In September 2015 the USDA’s National Organic Program appointed a 16-member task force to look at hydroponic and aquaponic production practices and how they align with USDA organic regulations.
Gene Giacomelli, director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) at the University of Arizona, said that regardless of whether plants are being grown using a traditional organic approach or one of the various combinations of hydroponics practices (soilless culture), fundamentally all of these production methods are simply attempting to grow plants for their economic, nutritional and social values. The goal is to use the best available techniques to produce crops of highest quality with the minimum of resources.
“Regardless of the production method, plants must be provided with the environment they need to grow,” Giacomelli said. “The basics of growing plants besides light, carbon dioxide, water and the potential of their crop genetics, there are plant nutrients that have to be distributed to the plant roots.
“Consider that the nutrients have to be dissolved in the water near the roots. Then the water with the nutrients is absorbed through the root membrane. Plants are basically harvesting the nutrients from the water adjacent to their root system. Where nutrients come from or how they get there are not important in the plants’ decision to use a nutrient. If a nutrient is present and the plants need it, they’ll use it.”
Soil, soilless or no soil
Giacomelli said using traditional farming practices including organic production, field-grown plants grow for a while in the soil until the nutrients are depleted. Then the soil’s nutrients can be recharged by incorporating animal and plant manures.
“One of the ways to grow plants is in soil and to apply components that will break down naturally from plant manures and animal manures,” he said. “Nutrients from these manures can be dissolved in the water and absorbed by the plant roots.”
Giacomelli said plants can also be grown in many different ways and as long as the water and nutrients are delivered to the roots the plants will grow.
“However, there are benefits for the growers to use hydroponics, such as avoiding issues with soil-borne diseases, soil-hosted insects, poor soil drainage and aeration, which are detrimental to plant growth,” he said. “Many growers have made the switch to soilless substrates for their root zone, which can be made of organic components, but may not contain any soil from the Earth. These organic root zone materials can be placed within containers that may be extended as one for an entire row of plants, or for small units as for individual plants. USDA regulations allow for organic growers to produce their plants in containers. That is legal.”
Hydroponic growers can avoid issues with soil-borne diseases, soil-hosted insects, poor soil drainage and aeration. Photo courtesy of American Hydroponics
Giacomelli said there are natural microorganisms in soil that surround the root system and presumably encourage the effectiveness of the nutrients found in the root zone of the plant.
“Can this also occur in a hydroponic system or a pure water culture system since there is little or no substrate at all?” he said. “What if the grower is making a compost tea or purchasing a formulation that is a natural degradation of plant or animal manures and takes the supernatant liquid and then injects it through the irrigation system and pumps the microbes through the water? Aquaponics uses fish waste to fertilize the plants. Is this considered organic?”
Giacomelli said one of the things being studied is the production of quality greens in aquaponic systems using low nitrate levels.
“These nitrate levels are lower than what would be used in a typical hydroponic system,” he said. “We are trying to figure out what is allowing this to occur. Is it the water movement around the roots? Or are there some microbiological agents helping the plants be more efficient in extracting those limited nitrate molecules in the water? We must work with a microbiologist to help us answer these questions.”
Comparing production methods
Giacomelli said one of the fundamental questions when discussing growing organically is whether the food produced is better than food grown using other production methods.
“‘Better’ could mean nutritionally or it could mean for food safety,” he said. “Usually if it’s organic then there are no pesticides. What I do know is exactly what is on the tomatoes coming out of our university greenhouses. I don’t know necessarily what is on an organic tomato coming out of a field. There is less insect and disease pressure in a greenhouse than in an open field, and thus a lesser need for control procedures.
“Growers trying to produce food in resource-limited locations, such as where water is scarce or phosphorus is hard to find, are going to have other factors to consider when choosing how to grow their plants. In these situations growers are going to want to capture and recycle the water and nutrient solution.”
Gene Giacomelli, director of the University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, said since there is less insect and disease pressure in a greenhouse than in an open field, there is a less need for control procedures.
Giacomelli said there are environmental ramifications which should come into discussion about organics.
“What does organic production and its demands do to the environment?” he said. “A system that recycles water and nutrients has an energy expense, but this balances out in the gain of water and nutrients.
“We began looking at things like how many grams of edible biomass did we produce per kilowatt hour of electricity. Or, can we produce more edible biomass per input of electric power using containerized growing in controlled environments? Or what about edible biomass produced per input of plant nutrients? Comparing field organic production to a recirculating hydroponic system, the field organics systems cannot compare from a balanced budget viewpoint. Resource use efficiency is greater in a containerized system.”
The impact of light
Giacomelli said light has never been a consideration when talking about whether a crop is organic. But he expects in the future it will be.
Only recently have we been able to talk about artificial light and its relation to growing plants organically,” he said. “When plants receive a full spectrum of light from the sun, the plants pick and choose what’s naturally available and uses it.
“When plants are exposed to very narrow light spectra from LEDs, particularly red and blue light, plants will grow. There are indications that there are other wavelengths that have been and will be discovered and proven to change the growth rate of plants. This could impact the production, as well change the potential quality of the plants. Plants grown under these wavelengths could be higher in lycopene or sugars or some other nutritional compounds. Based on the recipe of light given to plants, they could be grown more efficiently while enhancing their nutritional value. We await the results from the research that is rapidly proceeding.”
Looking at the big picture
While defining what is organic and what isn’t may be more important to some growers than others, Giacomelli said the agricultural industry shouldn’t lose sight of the big goal.
“I want the field organic industry to grow and I want the organic hydroponic industry to also grow,” he said. “By their development and expansion, we will help feed people. We are going to need both. There are places where both of them should be done and places where neither of them should be done. They are not mutually exclusive. We need to look at the practical aspects. Give me the bottom line based on all these factors and I will be able to tell you whether to grow in controlled environments. On the other hand, if you have the right climate and can grow outdoors organically that works too.
“We will never be able to feed all of the people in the world by a strict traditional organic definition of food production alone. There will be other agricultural practices that may not be organic or be somewhere in between. However, container production of food within controlled environments can help to meet a demand for organic food production.”
For more: Gene Giacomelli, University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Tucson, Ariz. 85721; (520) 626-9566; giacomel@ag.arizona.edu; http://ceac.arizona.edu
David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.
Greenhouse and controlled environment agriculture growers who are participating in USDA’s GAP program are expected to have an easier time meeting Food Safety Modernization Act rules.
The burden of proving a grower is exempt from the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernization Act’s rule falls squarely on the shoulders of the growers. Phil Tocco, food safety educator at Michigan State University Extension, said there are growers who will be exempt from meeting the Act’s rules.
An agreement between Colorado State University and Philips Lighting to equip its new 27,000-square-foot horticulture center with LEDs will put the focus on using the lights for improving ornamental and vegetable plant production.
When officials at Colorado State University went looking for property to build a new football stadium they didn’t have to look far. They decided that the land on which the 65-year-old W.D. Holley Plant Environment Research Center resided was the perfect location for the new stadium.
“The old horticulture facility, which had been built in 1949, was considered a hot property by school officials,” said Steve Newman, who is greenhouse crops extension specialist and professor of floriculture. “To replace the old site, the university provided the department with a new $7.5 million 27,000-square-foot research and teaching facility. There is also a 3-acre outdoor area for plant trials.
“The horticulture center was built in eight months. The university facilities team that I worked with to design and build the center was awesome.”
Greenhouse specs
The horticulture center’s new greenhouse is a Nexus Vail model frame which is covered with Thermaglas polycarbonate. It is equipped with Ludvig Svensson retractable heat curtains and Wadsworth Control vents, Modine Effinity 93 natural gas unit heaters and American Coolair fan boxes. The control technology is all Wadsworth Control Systems.
Colorado State University’s 65-year-old W.D. Holley Plant Environment Research Center has been replaced with a new $7.5 million 27,000-square-foot research and teaching facility.
The 21,000-square-foot greenhouse is divided into six bays. All of the bays are connected by a ventilation corridor that has a 20-foot high gutter line. One bay will contain a Crop King NFT trough system consisting of six modules. The other half of the bay will be equipped with a traditional raft culture set up that has six 5-foot by 10-foot rafts.
“I’m a hard core supporter of Colorado companies,” Newman said. “We are also trying to make the greenhouse as energy efficient as we can.”
Perfect timing
In December 2014, Ron DeKok, North America director of business development, Philips Horticulture LED Solutions, visited Newman to discuss supporting LED research at Colorado State.
“Ron visited me on the same day I was given permission to talk about the budget for the center,” Newman said. “The timing was perfect. He asked me what kind of LED research CSU wanted to do and I asked him how committed Philips was to supporting LED research at the university. He said let’s equip the facility with Philips lighting and we’ll do research projects together.
“The greenhouse is being equipped with the latest Philips horticulture LED fixtures, including top lighting, interlighting and flowering lamps. One house will have suspended interlighting modules for high wire vegetables. We are looking at being able to do all kinds of ornamental and vegetable plant research using different combinations of the fixtures.”
Crops to be studied
Newman said it hasn’t been determined yet how much of the greenhouse space will be dedicated to ornamental and vegetables crops.
Steve Newman, who is Colorado State’s greenhouse crops extension specialist and professor of floriculture, said the new horticulture center will be used for research, teaching and training.
“I expect the research is going to be about 60 percent ornamentals and 40 percent vegetables, but that could change,” he said. “Initially the greenhouse vegetable production will be used primarily for teaching and demonstration. We will get into the vegetable research later.
“Our primary focus initially is going to be on ornamental plug production and reducing plant bench time after transplanting. This includes whether we can grow better quality plugs using LEDs with less plant growth regulators. We will be looking at root development under LED lights, trying to increase rooting and production efficiency. This includes trying to improve rooting of stage 4 tissue culture propagules coming out of overseas production.”
Newman said fellow researcher and horticulture professor Bill Bauerle is planning to use the greenhouse’s corridor to study hops production using LEDs.
“Northern Colorado is becoming a central location for craft breweries,” Newman said. “There is a lot of interest in locally grown hops for the craft breweries.
“The 20-foot high ventilation corridor is ideal for growing hops. We are redesigning and reconfiguring to install the LED interlighting in order to get good vegetative growth. The hops plants will receive natural light from above and the LED interlighting between the rows. The local craft brewers are very interested in the hops research that we are planning to do.”
Collaborative research
Newman said that Philips has some of its own research agenda items that it would like to study in the horticulture center.
“The research that the company wants to do is not that different than the research that we want to do,” he said. “What Philips is planning to look at fits in with everything else that we are doing in many ways. The company will be making some specific requests. The company will be funding those project directly just like any other research program.
“The Philips research team I’m working with is very grower-oriented. The company is interested in finding out how many LED lights does it take to produce a bedding plant crop more
efficiently. How LEDs can be used to produce better quality plants. Meanwhile we will be doing our own research taking advantage of the lights. The hops research was not an agenda item for the company four months ago. Bauerle went to company officials and said let’s do this hops research and they agreed that it was worth doing.”
Philips Lighting has some of its own research items that it would like to study in Colorado State’s horticulture center, but the research is not much different than what university scientists want to do.
Newman said that Philips is interested in looking at vegetable production for the warehouse farming market, which it refers to as its city farming program.
“Unfortunately we don’t have the type of facility set up to do the warehouse style growing on site,” Newman said. “I would like to see us go into that type of production eventually. Initially with our vegetable crops we will look at biomass production. We will be putting in NFT lettuce trials.
“We also want to study nutraceutical compounds, including vitamins, and if LEDs can increase the production of nutraceuticals in vegetables. I am working with my colleagues in the horticulture and food science departments looking at the mouth feel in regards to high quality lettuce production. We will also probably look at tomatoes to increase production efficiency, plant yield, and lycopene development in the fruit. We will probably start looking to do that research in the fall.”
Future plans
Newman said he is in negotiations with the university’s dining services department to produce vegetables for its dining centers.
“I am in negotiations with dining services, which is looking to start vegan salad bars in the dining halls,” he said. “Dining services wants to put in salad bars with as much produce as possible grown in Colorado. They would like to have a certain percentage of that produce be CSU student grown. We are going to redo our student farm to try to accomplish that during the growing season. We will also be trying to grow as much of the leafy greens in this new facility to provide to the dining services’ salad bars.
“I am also working very closely with a university environmental hygiene staff person. We have to be sure that we are in compliance so that whatever produce we sell to the dining halls is as safe as it needs to be. We have to set up a good agricultural practices (GAP) plan and to review the guidelines of the Food Safety Modernization Act that just went into effect. The students who are growing the produce have to be trained in the exact practices they need to follow to deliver quality, safe food. The students have to be taught the proper ways of growing and handling food from the greenhouse to the table. All of the practices that we have to incorporate are the same as if we were going to sell the produce to a retail grocery store.”
For more: Steve Newman, Colorado State University, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture; (970) 491-7118; Steven.Newman@ColoState.edu.
David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.
Greenhouse ornamental plant growers adding edible crops to their product mix should consider incorporating biological controls into their integrated pest management program.
An increasing number of ornamental plant growers are looking to take advantage of the growing demand for locally produced edible crops. Whether it’s for sales in their own garden centers, roadside stands, farmers markets, grocery stores and restaurants, the demand for locally-grown produce continues to increase.
Barry Adler, owner of RainFresh Harvests, started a greenhouse vegetable business with the goal of being as sustainable and environmentally-friendly as possible.
Barry Adler, owner of RainFresh Harvests in Plain City, Ohio, was exposed to the use of solar power as a renewable energy source for greenhouses when he was a graduate student at Virginia Tech. He continued to be involved with the use of greenhouses during the 22 years he worked at the Scotts Co., including conducting fertilizer research. Because of his familiarity with greenhouse production it made sense for Adler to look at it as a business option when he left Scotts in 2002.
The 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
You must be logged in to post a comment.