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.
Choosing a Hydroponic Substrate: Tips From the Pros
Hort Americas has partnered with Upstart Farmers – Bright Agrotech to offer a free webinar on choosing a hydroponic substrate!
Knowing what your hydroponic system needs can be hard. To help you out, Dr. Nate from Bright Agrotech, Chris Higgins, and Tyler Baras from HortAmericas lent their experience and knowledge in choosing a hydroponic substrate.
Hydroponic medium/substrate selection is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a grower. Substrate selection effects germination, growth rates, and operation costs. Each substrate option has unique benefits and limitations.
We’re joined by the experts at Hort Americas to dive deep into these considerations so that you can make an informed decision about your growing medium.
Some of the factors to consider when choosing a hydroponic substrate are cost, ease of use, compatibility with hydroponic system, accessibility, water retention, and sustainability.
In this webinar, you’ll learn about:
-Moisture Retention (particle size, shape, porosity)
-Adjusting Irrigation for Specific Substrates
-Cultural Practices (substrate preparation, germination conditions, crop size/staging)
-Cost
-Sustainability
-Comparison of Common Hydroponic Substrates
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.
If you missed the e-GRO webinar “Managing Nutrient Solutions for Hydroponic Leafy Greens and Herbs” on Jan. 22, 2016, which was sponsored by Hort Americas, you can still view the webinar on YouTube.
Hydroponic greens and herbs are produced in systems with recirculating nutrient solutions. In order to maintain productive and quality crops, it is important to know how to properly maintain the nutrient solutions. Dr. Chris Currey at Iowa State University and Dr. Neil Mattson at Cornell University discuss strategies for managing pH and EC, formulating nutrient solutions and identifying common nutrient disorders.
Part 1: Common production systems, pH and EC management
Presented by Dr. Chris Currey, Iowa State University
Part 2: Nutrient solution recipes, common nutrient disorders
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.
While providing the proper soluble salts and pH levels are important in hydroponic systems, don’t overlook the significance of maintaining the optimum temperature, oxygen concentration and microbe level in the nutrient solution.
Maintaining the proper soluble salts (electrical conductivity) level and pH are critical in hydroponic systems like nutrient film technique and floating rafts. While monitoring these properties are important, growers should not overlook the importance that temperature, oxygen level and microbial activity play in the growth of plants in these production systems.
“It’s not as much about maintaining root health as it is about managing the conditions in the rhizosphere, which is the region around the plant roots,” said Rosa Raudales, assistant professor of horticulture and greenhouse extension specialist at the University of Connecticut. “The area around the roots undergoes a lot of biological and chemical activity. Microorganisms in the rhizosphere feed on the exudate of the roots. Managing the rhizosphere and the conditions in the nutrient solution are critical to maintaining plant health.”
Factors that can impact root health in hydroponic systems include soluble salts, pH, temperature, oxygen level and beneficial microbial activity. Photo courtesy of Rosa Raudales, Univ. of Conn.
Maintain optimum root temperatures
While providing the proper air temperature in a greenhouse or controlled environment agriculture system is important, maintaining the optimum root temperature can have a bigger impact on the health and production time of a crop.
“If higher temperatures are maintained in the root zone then the plants are going to lose a lot of energy,” Raudales said. “Temperatures above the optimum in the root zone affect the cell membrane integrity of the roots. A disruption of the cell membranes affects the function of the roots resulting in less nutrient uptake, which affects crop cycles and yields.
“If plants are grown at root temperatures lower than the optimum, the plants grow slower because their metabolism is slower. In the worst case scenario, if freezing temperatures occur then ice crystals could form in the cells resulting in cell leakage and cell disruption.”
Cornell University researchers have conducted studies (http://www.cornellcea.com/attachments/Cornell%20CEA%20Lettuce%20Handbook%20.pdf) to identify the specific temperatures that are ideal for hydroponically-grown vegetables.
“Cornell researchers found the temperature of the nutrient solution had a greater effect than the air temperature,” Raudales said. “Lettuce plants exposed to air temperatures ranging between17ºC (62.6ºF) and 31ºC (87.8ºF) had consistent yields as long as the nutrient solution had a consistent temperature of 24ºC (75.2ºF). This research was done in the 1990s, but it still has application today.
“Cornell researchers did a similar study with spinach and they found the optimum root temperature was 22ºC (72ºF). They tested air temperatures ranging from 16ºC to 33ºC (60.8ºF-91.4ºF) and they found as long as the root temperature was 22ºC, the air temperature could be in that range and plants still produced optimum yields. For tomatoes the optimum root temperature is 25ºC (77ºF).”
Raudales said growers who are producing hydroponic leafy greens like lettuce and spinach have the option of installing a water heater to maintain the optimum root temperatures.
“It is easier and less expensive to heat the nutrient solution than to keep the whole greenhouse warm,” she said. “Heating the greenhouse does not make economic sense, when the research indicates that the temperature of the nutrient solution is a more important factor. If a grower is producing lettuce and spinach, which can tolerate lower air temperatures, it makes sense to run the greenhouses cooler and to install a water heater to adjust the nutrient solution temperature.”
Maintain adequate oxygen levels
Raudales said the dissolved oxygen level in a hydroponic solution needs to be maintained so respiration can occur in the roots.
“When oxygen levels are low in the root zone, the roots do not take up the nutrients required for growth,” she said. “Low oxygen levels cause increased ethylene production in the roots. If there are higher ethylene levels in the roots then the roots start to mature and die. The more oxygen present, the better the nutrient uptake and the better the root system.”
Raudales said there is also an inverse relationship between the oxygen level and solution temperature.
“If the root zone temperature is high, then the oxygen level is going to go down,” she said. “This is another reason why the root zone temperature is so important. The optimum oxygen level should be greater or equal to 6 parts per million of dissolved oxygen in the root zone. Plants should be able to handle 6-10 ppm without any problems.”
Raudales said growers who are using nutrient film technique systems typically don’t need to do any type of aeration. The movement caused by the flow of the water is usually enough to keep the oxygen level high enough in the solution.
Raudales said growers who are using floating rafts usually incorporate some type of oxygen-generating system.
“There are different ways of oxygenating the water,” she said. “One is aerating the water where air is being pumped into the water. Air is not pure oxygen, but it contains enough oxygen for what is needed in the hydroponic solution.”
Growers who are using floating rafts usually incorporate some type of oxygen-generating system to ensure the oxygen level is 6 parts per million or higher.
Raudales said another reason for maintaining a high oxygen level in the hydroponic solution is the effect it can have on pathogenic fungal zoospores.
“If there is more oxygen, then zoospores don’t survive as well,” she said. “Zoospores don’t want completely anaerobic conditions, but they do better in conditions where there is less oxygen.
Pathogens of concern include Phytophthora, Pythium, Thielaviopsis basicola and Xanthomonas.
“Growers should try to keep the oxygen level high. If there are warmer temperatures, then there are lower oxygen levels. When there are lower oxygen levels the plants are not as healthy and more zoospores tend to survive. This is one of the reasons why there tends to be more disease issues during the summer than during the winter.”
Raudales said growers who are using floating rafts should be measuring the oxygen level regularly. Meters for measuring dissolved oxygen look like pH meters and are simple to operate.
Maintain beneficial microbes
Raudales said beneficial microbes are present naturally in water. Commercial products with beneficial microbes can also be incorporated into the hydroponic solution.
“Growers who are using the floating rafts tend to treat the nutrient solution like gold,” she said.
“They don’t want to replace it because they have a solution which is very high in beneficial microbes. Growers can inoculate the nutrient solution with a commercial biocontrol product or they can allow the good microbes to build up with time.
“As long as growers maintain the other parameters at optimum levels, including root temperature, pH, nutrients and oxygen levels, there typically isn’t a problem with diseases. This is very comparable to what happens with plants grown in substrates. The microbes build up naturally in the water just like in a substrate. These microbes feed on the exudates of the roots.
They need carbon sources that they wouldn’t get just from the nutrient solution. The system has to be clean, but it doesn’t have to be clean to the point of having to start with a fresh solution every time a new crop is planted.”
For more: Rosa Raudales, University of Connecticut, Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture; (860) 486-6043; rosa.raudales@uconn.edu; http://www.greenhouse.uconn.edu.
David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.
Although greenhouse and controlled environment agriculture growers may be exempt from implementing Food Safety Modernization Act rules, produce buyers may make compliance mandatory.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 48 million people are sickened each year by foodborne pathogens. Of those people about 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die each year.
On Nov. 13, 2015, U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized three rules of the Food Safety Modernization Act. The purpose of FSMA, according to a FDA press release is to prevent foodborne illness “that, for the first time, establish enforceable safety standards for produce farms and makes importers accountable for verifying that imported food meets U.S. safety standards.” FDA said FSMA’s “final rules will help produce farmers and food importers take steps to prevent problems before they occur.”
“The recent multistate outbreak of Salmonella in imported cucumbers that has killed four Americans, hospitalized 157 and sickened hundreds more, is exactly the kind of outbreak these rules can help prevent,” said Michael Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine. “The FDA is working with partners across the government and industry to prevent foodborne outbreaks. The rules will help better protect consumers from foodborne illness and strengthen their confidence that modern preventive practices are in place, no matter where in the world the food is produced.”
The three final rules released by FDA in November are the Produce Safety rule, the Foreign Supplier Verification Programs rule and the Accredited Third-Party Certification rule. FDA has finalized five of the seven major rules that implement the core of FSMA. In September 2015, FDA released the Preventive Controls for Human Food rule, which mandates preventive practices in food processing and storage facilities.
Produce Safety rule
The Produce Safety rule is the one rule that should have the biggest impact on outdoor farmers, greenhouse growers and controlled environment agriculture (CEA) growers. FDA used public comments and input collected during farm visits, meetings and listening sessions to develop a rule it says aims at reducing contamination risk while providing flexibility for farmers and growers.
This rule “establishes science-based standards for growing, harvesting, packing and holding produce that are designed to work effectively for food safety across the wide diversity of produce farms.” The rule’s standards include “requirements for water quality, employee health and hygiene, wild and domesticated animals, biological soil amendments of animal origin such as compost and manure, equipment, tools and buildings.” The rule’s standards have been designed to “help minimize the risk of serious illness or death from consumption of contaminated produce.”
The Food Safety Modernization Act’s Produce Safety rule includes standards for water quality, employee health and hygiene, equipment, tools and buildings.
One crop that the rule specifically addresses is the production of sprouts, which have been frequently associated with illness outbreaks. FDA reports that between 1996 and 2014, there were 43 outbreaks, 2,405 illnesses, 171 hospitalizations and three deaths associated with sprouts. Among the outbreaks was the first documented case of Listeria monocytogenes associated with sprouts in the United States. This crop is particularly vulnerable to microbial contamination because of the warm, moist conditions in which they are produced.
Exemptions to the Produce Safety rule
The earliest compliance date for the Produce Safety rule for some farms is two year after the effective date of the final rule. There are exemptions to the rule for some producers. These include farms that have an average annual value of produce sold during the previous three-year period of $25,000 or less. Also to be eligible for a qualified exemption, the farm must meet two requirements:
1. The farm must have food sales averaging less than $500,000 per year during the previous three years.
2. The farm’s sales to qualified end-users must exceed sales to all others combined during the previous three years. A qualified end-user is either (a) the consumer of the food or (b) a restaurant or retail food establishment that is located in the same state or the same Indian reservation as the farm or not more than 275 miles away.
Buyers driving food safety regulations
Dr. Elizabeth Bihn, director of the Produce Safety Alliance at Cornell University, said prior to FSMA, buyer demand has been the primary driver for implementation of food safety practices. “Consumers are buyers, but they are not protecting a name brand like Kroger or Wegmans or Wal-Mart,” Bihn said. “These companies are protecting their brands. They are going to have much higher stipulations for food safety then the consumers at farmers markets. There is some consumer demand for increased accountability for food safety, but it’s not as big a driver as the retail buyers’ demand. This includes most large food retailers.”
Even if greenhouse and controlled environment agriculture growers of food crops are exempt from the Food Safety Modernization Act, they may be pressured by buyers to adhere to the Act’s rules.
Bihn said greenhouse vegetable growers and CEA growers may receive added pressure from buyers to follow FSMA whether or not they are exempt from it.
“If a buyer tells a grower, “I’m not buying your produce unless you have a third party audit,” and the grower wants that company’s account, then the grower is going to do the audit,” Bihn said. “Legally a grower may be exempt from the regulation, but a buyer may say it doesn’t matter, the grower will still have to meet the regulation. There are still going to be markets that don’t require growers to meet the regulation if their operations are exempt from it. If you are a greenhouse grower who sells to a market that’s not requiring compliance with FSMA and you are exempt from the regulation, you may not have to do anything related to the regulation. Also, I can see third party audits, like the Harmonized GAPs audit, being updated to align with the rules to make sure that growers who have audits done meet the federal regulations as well.”
Increased interest in food safety
Even before the final rules were released, Bihn said she is receiving increased inquiries from greenhouse growers about food safety. “Greenhouse growers are trying to decide if they are subject to FSMA rules and how the required practices might fit with what they do with their greenhouses,” she said. “They are trying to figure out if they need to be concerned with meeting food safety regulations. They are going to be in the same situation as field farmers and asking the same questions. Are buyers asking the growers to meet the regulations? Greenhouse growers not subject to the regulations could easily get pushed into following the regulations if their buyers tell them in order to do business with them, the growers must follow the regulations.”
Bihn said her job is to help guide produce growers, whether they are field farmers, urban farmers, greenhouse growers or CEA growers, toward implementing food safety practices.
“Initially there may be frustration, hostility and denial,” she said. “All of those things will occur when growers first hear what they have to do. When they finally sit down and start to learn something about food safety and start to ask how can I fix this, then they start to make progress really fast.
“I love farmers who question everything. They don’t understand why doing something is a risk. They tell me I’ve never killed anyone so what’s the problem. That’s the engagement that I need to get them to think about it. They need to get to where they understand all farms can have produce safety risks and admit that they need to learn something about food safety so that they can make adjustments within their operations and put practices in place to reduce the risks.”
Industry job opportunities
Bihn said she has been encouraging Cornell students majoring in horticulture to get a minor in food science. She has also been encouraging students majoring in food science who are interested in produce safety to get a minor in horticultural production.
“There are food science students who have no idea how farms operate,” she said. “Unfortunately this sometimes results in food science professionals offering ideas for problem solving that may not be doable.”
Bihn said that food safety has traditionally been housed with the food science departments and crop production has been housed with the horticulture department.
“It’s time for there to be some cross pollination between these two departments,” she said. “It has been slow to happen. We now have a Masters of Professional Studies degree at Cornell that merges horticulture and food science. There are jobs out there, but they are difficult to fill because there are people who know production or there are people who know food pathogens, but there are very few people who know both.”
Bihn said she has received requests from her horticulture colleagues at Cornell to give guest lectures on food safety and to collaborate on publications about incorporating food safety guidelines into field publications.
“The fruit and vegetable industry as a whole is certainly saying food safety is something that we need to be incorporating,” she said.
After four days of intense and strenuous riding through the Blue Ridge Mountains all the way to Atlanta, Ga., the Tour de Fresh is complete. As a result of the ride, many public schools across the country will have fresh salad bars installed in their cafeterias.
Thank you for your support and donations. A special thanks to Village Farms, Riococo, Houweling’s Tomatoes, Grodan, Age Old Organics, UrbanAgNews.com for their sponsorship of Hort Americas’ rider Chris Higgins, General Manager. All of our efforts will directly benefit the Earl Nance Sr. Elementary School in the St. Louis Public School system.
University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center’s (CEAC) 2016 short course will focus on controlled environment agriculture (CEA) for food production within traditional rural and non-traditional urban farms. There will be a special focus on water issues, energy use and environmental stewardship.
The short course features a comprehensive program that will assist attendees to successfully produce crops within controlled environments and ensure those crops thrive and are marketable. Speakers and experts will be available to answer questions both during and after the short course. Included with the short course is an exhibitor room where attendees can talk with industry experts about their projects and multiple industry presentations where attendees can meet successful growers and discuss their ideas with them.
Webcast, DVD options
For people unable to travel to Tucson, the short course will feature a webcast option. Webcast attendees will have live access to three days (March 21-23) of short course lectures and materials. They will also be able to submit real-time questions for the speakers to answer. The program consists of six half-day sessions. Those interested in the webcast can register for individual half-day sessions. This allows attendees to choose those presentations they are specifically interested in viewing.
There is also an option to receive a DVD of the lectures if it is not possible to view the live lectures. All attendees have the option of purchasing a DVD of the speakers’ presentations with their registration. The presentations will be available to all paid attendees in an internet database for 90 days after the conclusion of the short course.
Hands-on workshops, optional greenhouse tour
Hands-on workshops are scheduled for March 24 at the University of Arizona’s CEAC research and educational facilities. Some workshops will focus on sensors, controls and fertigation. Other workshops will provide hydroponic production fundamentals for tomatoes, lettuce and strawberries grown in a controlled environment. The goal of the workshops is to connect theory and information with practical hands-on experience. On March 25, there will be an optional tour to a commercial greenhouse operation to tie together the short course presentations and workshops.
For more: Aaron Tevik, (520) 626-9566; atevik@cals.arizona.edu; http://ceac.arizona.edu/greenhouse-crop-production-engineering-design-short-course.
Growers can reduce the chance of disease infestation on greenhouse vegetable crops by incorporating a strict sanitation program and minimizing plant exposure to moisture.
Sanitation and moisture management are key factors in controlling diseases on greenhouse food crops, said Michigan State University plant pathologist Mary Hausbeck.
“Preventing greenhouse diseases starts with sanitation,” she said. “I can walk into a greenhouse head house and predict how many disease problems I’m going to find just by what I see in the head house area. Is it clean? Is it neat and orderly? Sanitation is a mindset. It either carries through from the head house to the growing areas or it doesn’t.”
Hausbeck said growers should try to do a thorough job of removing any plant debris that may be left in the greenhouse, including “pet” plants that may be left in hallways or in the corners of the greenhouse.
“When a grower is making a changeover to another crop there shouldn’t be any other plants left in the greenhouse,” she said. “That is the safest approach.”
Hausbeck said growers should also make sure there is a weed-free perimeter that goes all the way around the outside of the greenhouse.
“There should not be any weeds growing around the greenhouse,” she said. “Growers need to have a critical eye to make sure there is nothing around the greenhouses that can harbor pests or diseases. Ideally all of that needs to be removed.”
Moisture management
Hausbeck said growers should make every effort to limit plant exposure to moisture.
“This includes moisture in the air—relative humidity, moisture on the foliage—leaf wetness, and moisture in the growing medium,” she said. “Moisture is a big driver for disease prevention and control. Growers should limit the amount of moisture by decreasing the relative humidity, watering during the time of day when the foliage can dry rapidly or not getting the foliage wet at all and not overwatering the plant root system. These are things that are important when growing ornamentals and are helpful when growing vegetables. It’s moisture more than temperature. When the humidity is 85 percent and higher, growers should do what they can to reduce the moisture in the growing environment and be vigilant for moisture-loving diseases such as Botrytis to develop.”
Hausbeck said unlike ornamental crops, root rots on greenhouse vegetables are usually not major diseases that wipe out a crop. She said some ornamental crops can suffer considerable losses from the root pathogens Pythium and Phytophthora.
“Diseases that have tended to be major problems on vegetables in the greenhouse include the foliar pathogens downy mildew on cucumbers and cladosporium leaf mold on tomatoes,” she said. “Leaf mold can overwinter in plant debris and soil.
Diseases that tend to be major problems on greenhouse vegetables include cladosporium leaf mold on tomatoes. Photos courtesy of Mary Hausbeck, Mich. St. Univ.
“Vegetable pathogens tend to be crop specific. At the recent 29th Annual Tomato Disease Workshop I attended, most of the conversations centered around bacterial diseases on tomatoes. Those disease pathogens tend to be introduced via the seed. One disease that tomato producers talked about a lot is bacterial canker. This pathogen (Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis) can move through hydroponic systems and from plant to plant through root grafting.”
Insect-vectored viruses
When it comes to viruses, ornamentals and vegetables are susceptible to some of the same viruses, including impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV), tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV).
“These viruses have caused sporadic problems for ornamental growers and they can move onto vegetable crops with some devastating results,” Hausbeck said. “If thrips are a problem and there is a reservoir of INSV or TSWV in infected plants somewhere in the greenhouse, ornamental growers transitioning to vegetables need to know the symptoms on susceptible ornamental crops. They need to be especially vigilant since ornamentals can be infected without obvious symptoms.
“In the greenhouse, vegetables are susceptible to some of the same viruses that have caused problems with ornamental crops, including TMV. This means applying the same precautions such as employees not smoking and washing their hands after cigarette breaks. Ornamental growers need to be aware that they don’t get to walk away from these viruses just because they have switched to vegetables.”
Downy mildew is a foliar pathogen that can be a major problem on cucumbers.
Hausbeck said some of the viruses (INSV and TSWV) that attack ornamentals can be moved quite readily to food crops like lettuce via thrips.
“Pathologists don’t like to see the mixing of vegetables with greenhouse ornamentals,” she said. “That’s because INSV and TSWV can be brought into a greenhouse via infected cuttings or prefinished ornamentals. The virus can then be moved to vegetable crops by thrips. Growers need to monitor for thrips. If there are ornamentals growing in one part of the greenhouse, there is a risk that a virus may be moved from ornamentals to the vegetables.
“A virus such as TMV can also be introduced to greenhouse vegetables through infected ornamentals. The virus is easily spread among plants through physical contact such as grower handling.”
Chemical control limitations
Hausbeck said as ornamental growers move into food crop production they may not recognize that there are more limitations on fungicides that can be used on vegetables.
“Over years of production, ornamental growers are used to managing Pythium and Botrytis,” she said. “Those are some of the diseases that can also occur on greenhouse vegetable and herb crops. Growers may think that they can grab the same chemicals they are using on ornamentals like geraniums and poinsettias and use them on food crops. Depending on the product, this may not be legal.”
Hausbeck said on some ornamental fungicide labels the list of plants is very broad.
“Since these chemical labels may be broad in their application to ornamental plants, growers may mistakenly believe that the same product can be used on vegetables,” she said.
Clavibacter michinganesis subsp. michiganensis, which causes bacterial canker on tomatoes, can move through hydroponic systems and from plant to plant through root grafting.
Hausbeck said it is important for ornamental growers who are expanding into vegetables to recognize that they are growing food.
“Food is tightly regulated,” she said. “Growers cannot use a product that isn’t expressly allowed by label to be used on specific vegetable crops. If a crop is on the label, then the grower has to determine if the label allows the use of the product within as greenhouse setting. If there is no mention of a greenhouse on the label, then the product can be used as long as its use in the greenhouse is not restricted. This should be verified through state agencies or through the product registrant.
“Vegetable growers need to read and reread the label before applying any chemical. Growers can’t assume that they can use some of their trusted products to combat a disease like powdery mildew when it occurs on a food crop. And even though ornamental growers can use Truban for the control of Pythium, the fungicide is not labeled for greenhouse vegetable crops.”
Hausbeck said even though some of the pathogens will be similar on ornamentals and vegetables, greenhouse growers need to become educated about the products needed to manage diseases on food crops.
“Growers need to know the key disease threats for the specific crops that they want to produce,” she said. “Manage the greenhouse environment to keep it as clean and dry as possible. When a fungicide is needed, know which products are legal to use on vegetable crops within the greenhouse and know which tools work best.”
BEDFORD, Texas, Sept. 22, 2015 — Hort Americas is a proud sponsor (and rider participant) of the Tour de Fresh. This one-of-a-kind collaborative event unites the most significant brands and influencers in the fresh produce industry for a four-day cycling event that raises funds to benefit the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign. The inaugural 2014 event raised over $142,000 and placed over 40 salads bars in communities in 11 states, including California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
The goal of Tour de Fresh 2015 and its participants is to privately finance 100+ new salad bars in school districts across the country. At a cost of less than $3,000 per salad bar per school, sponsors and participants strongly believe that providing healthy eating opportunities for school children should be a requirement and is the foundation of creating positive change for our future.
This year Hort Americas efforts are also being supported by Village Farms, Riococo, Houweling’s Tomatoes, Grodan, Age Old Organics, UrbanAgNews.com as well countless other friends and family. All of our efforts will directly benefit the Earl Nance Sr. Elementary in the St. Louis Public School system.
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.
The most important thing when using Grodan stone wool is that you need to saturate the product fully before using it. When you don’t fully saturate it, some of the stone wool can stay dry and will be hard to get wet at a later stage (hydrophobic). A way to check if the product is fully saturated is to weigh the product and it should be above a certain weight. As an example a Grodan Delta DM6G Grow Block of 10 x 10 x 6.5 cm (4” x 4” x 2.5”) has a volume of 650 ml, so in theory if it is completely filled with water it should weigh 650 grams. However, there will always be air in the Grodan rock wool so we take a water content (WC) of about 85% after initial saturation, meaning the Grow Block should be approximately 550 grams or slightly greater.
I recommend using nutrient solution at 5.5 pH when saturating the product so that nutrients are immediately available for the plant. For the germination itself nutrients are not needed, so some people saturate the plugs with just water and then add the nutrient solution immediately following germination. However, fairly quickly after germination nutrients are needed for further development. So to sure it is easier to saturate the plugs with nutrient solution. Most growers use 1/2 rate nutrient solution for starting then full rate at transplant.
Below are characteristics of some of the most common types of Grodan used in hydroponic production.
Grodan AO cubes 25/40 10/10
AO cubes are recommended for lettuce, herbs, and other greens in a raft system as the tapered base makes it easier to fit into the raft faster.
AO 25/40 mm (0.98 x 1.58 in) L25 x W25 x H40 mm 200 (20 x 10) cubes per pad 6,000 cubes per case 30 pads per case
Top = 25 mm Bottom = 19 mm Height = 40 mm Hole = 10 x 10 mm Weight dry (1 cube) = 2 g Weight saturated (1 cube) = 18 g Also available: AO 36/40 = 1.5 in; 98 cubes/pad; 2,940 cubes/case AO 50/40 = 2 in; 50 cubes/pad; 1,500/case
Grodan AX cubes 25/40 10/10
AX cubes are recommended for lettuce, herbs, and other greens in a NFT system as the wider base gives the plug more stability in the gutter.
AX 25/40 mm (0.98 x 1.58 in) L25 x W25 x H40 mm 200 (20 x 10) cubes per pad 6,000 cubes per case 30 pads per case
Top = 19 mm Bottom = 25 mm Height = 40 mm Hole = 8 mm (1/4”) # per pad 200 (20 x 10) Weight dry = 2 g Weight saturated = 18 g
Grodan Kiem Plugs in French Trays
Kiem Plugs in French Trays # per tray = 240 (12 x 20) Height = 2.1 cm Dry weight = 1 g
Kiem Plugs Height = 27 mm
Diameter: 20 & 22 mm Weight dry = 1 g Weight saturated = 9 g
Grodan Block Delta DM4G
DM4G 7.5 x 7.5 x 6.4 cm (3 x 3 x 2.5 in) Weight dry = 25.3 g each Weight saturated = 273 g each Volume = 368.7 cubic centimeters 85% WC = 313.4 g
Grodan Block Delta DM6G
DM6G 10.2 x 10.2 x 6.4 cm (4 x 4 x 2 1/2 in) hole = 1.5/1.6 in (36/40 mm) Weight dry = 45.6 g each Weight saturated = 494 g each Volume = 655.5 cubic centimeters 85% WC = 557.2 g
Grodan Block Delta DM9G
DM9G 15 x 10 x 6.5 cm (6 x 4 x 2.5 in) two holes Weight dry = 67-73 g Weight saturated = 879 g Volume = 975 cubic centimeters WC 85% = 828.8 g
Grodan Grotop Expert Slab
Grotop Expert 100 x 20 x 7.5 cm (39.4 x 7.9 x 3 in) (99 x 19 x 7.8 cm) Weight dry = 753 g
Grodan AX 25/40 cube with lettuce roots and stem post-harvest.
Also available from Hort Americas:
Grodan Block Delta DM9G 27 x35 top right (144/case)
As pressure on fresh water supplies increases, more growers will look at recycling their water. Recycling water can add a whole range of challenges that growers may not have had to deal with before. Speakers at this year’s Cultivate’15 discussed some of the issues growers may face when recirculating and treating irrigation water.
By David Kuack
As drought conditions worsen along the West Coast and wildfires scorch many parts of the country, water continues to be on the minds of the public, government officials and water regulating agencies. Environmental disasters like the recent wastewater spill from an abandoned Colorado gold mine into the Animas River also add to the concerns about water availability and water safety.
If your phosphorus fertilizer is sourced from the U.S. it is probably derived from Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, and Hardee counties in Florida. Recently, I had the opportunity to tour Mosaic’s South Fort Meade Mine facility. The Mosaic Company’s South Fort Meade Mine has an annual production of 6.5 million tons per year running 24/7/365. It’s size is 28,000 total acres with 15,000 currently active acres with 3 drag lines.
Process Overview: Three Steps
1. Mining – Phosphate matrix is extracted from the ground. Clay and sand are removed. The refined phosphate rock is transported by rail for further processing.
2. Fertilizer production – Mosaic process nutrients in the phosphate rock into a water soluble form suitable for plant uptake
3. Distribution – Finished fertilizer is distributed both domestically and internationally by ship, barge, rail and truck directly to growers.
The massive production draglines are massive excavators (Fig. 1) that actually can move slowly across the mine dragging an oversized bucket. The Production Draglines are manned by just two employees. Each of the draglines weigh 6.9 million pounds and the bucket alone weighs 100,000 lbs (Fig. 2). The mining cut can be up to 320’ (Fig. 3). The overburden (sand & clay) is first removed to uncover the matrix of phosphate rock, sand and clay. The matrix is removed until it reaches hardrock (limestone or dense clay). If you are lucky enough you can discover prehistoric shark teeth or bones from creatures that once ruled the ocean where the mine is today.
Pit cars deliver water hydraulically with 300 psi and 16,000 gym to churn the matrix into a thick slurry that can be pumped back to the plant. At the plant, the washer removes oversized material between 1- 8 inches. Clay is scrubbed and rinsed away where it is moved to the clay reclamation centers. The washer feeds all undersized phosphate and sand smaller that 1mm to the Flotation Plant for separation. A biodegradable soap from pine trees is used to separate the phosphate from the sand. The sand is used to reclaim the mine. Since 1975 all mined land is reclaimed acre for acre (Fig. 4).
The phosphate rock is then loaded and shipped to fertilizer plants all over the US and then it eventually ends up in your hands where you use it grow healthy plants.
Special thanks to Mosaic company and the American Society for Horticulture Science for offering this unique tour.
Houston, Texas, June 25, 2015 — Indoor Harvest Corp (OTCQB:INQD), through its brand name Indoor Harvest™, is a design build contractor, developer, marketer and direct-seller of commercial grade aeroponic and hydroponic fixtures and supporting systems for use in urban Controlled Environment Agriculture and Building Integrated Agriculture. The Company is pleased to provide an update on the Pasadena, Texas Community Located Agricultural Research Area (“CLARA”) project.
On March 31, 2015 the Company announced the signing of a LOI with the City of Pasadena, Texas to fund the establishment and provisioning of an indoor agricultural facility (vertical farm) to be located in Pasadena, Texas. Under the LOI, the City was to provide Indoor Harvest, or a partner of their designation with City approval, with two facilities owned by the City for the sum of ten dollars ($10.00) per annum for a period not to exceed twenty (20) years as well as provide tax abatements on these properties for use in a CLARA project. In addition, the Pasadena Second Century Corp. (economic development entity for the City of Pasadena) has been asked by City officials to consider a budgetary proposal of $500,000 as seed money for the project’s economic development portion in north Pasadena.
Mr. Chad Sykes, Chief Executive Officer of Indoor Harvest, stated, “We’ve received a timeline for the project through the City. We’re currently in the final stages of drafting the MOU and expect to be in a position to begin work on the project as soon as August, based on the timeline provided by the City. All of the parties involved are working together to create an agriculture campus in Pasadena that we hope will become a model for the rest of the nation. By combining agricultural research, education and commercial operations in one campus, we’re working to build a foundation to turn North Pasadena into a leader in new, innovative agricultural trends. We’ve also begun discussions with several potential commercial partners and investors interested in locating operations at the CLARA campus. Although we don’t have any binding agreements, interest seems to be significant given the background and history of groups with whom we are discussing the project.”
The CLARA project, based on current negotiations, is expected to be divided into two phases. Phase One will focus on developing the non-profit aspects of the project and is envisioned to include the construction of a 6,000 sq. ft. vertical farm R&D facility and 6,000 sq. ft. of classroom and office space. Phase Two is envisioned to support a commercial retail operation with greenhouses built on approximately two acres of land adjacent to the vertical farm and education centers.
The Phase One vertical farm facility is intended to serve dual roles, with Indoor Harvest using the facility as a demonstration farm and R&D facility and Harris County BUILD Partnership, a non-profit group, using the facility for educational and charitable purposes. It is anticipated that the crops grown will be donated, or sold at cost, to provide fresh produce to low income families in the North Pasadena area. The entire proposed campus area, almost two city blocks, will be designed and built to allow the flow of tourists without impacting operations. The City has been asked to develop a project overview to be presented in August to department heads at the Pasadena Independent School District’s Kirk Lewis Career & Technical High School and the Continuing and Professional Development Department of San Jacinto College regarding academic curriculum development to be located at the CLARA campus.
The Harris County BUILD Partnership was established in January 2015 to eliminate the conditions that cause food insecurity in north Pasadena by launching a new healthy, accessible, and community-supported local food system. The conveners of the BUILD Partnership are the Houston Food Bank, the Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services (“HCPHES”) and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Additional members of the BUILD Partnership include CHI St. Luke’s Health, Memorial Hermann Health System, Brighter Bites, CAN DO Houston, City of Pasadena, Neighborhood Centers Inc., Pasadena Health Center and the U.T. School of Public Health.
The BUILD Partnership is an extension of Healthy Living Matters (HLM), a county-wide collaborative of over 80 organizations chartered in 2011 to address childhood obesity in Harris County. There is also a Pasadena-specific version of HLM called the HLM-Pasadena Community Task Force that has 23 members local to the Pasadena community.
On June 9, 2015, the Harris County BUILD Health Partnership was selected as one of seven projects out of over 300 applicants nationwide, to receive a $250,000 grant from the inaugural BUILD Health Challenge class. The announcement was made live from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., featuring Karen DeSalvo, Acting Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and was followed by a congratulatory letter from LaMar Hasbrouck, MD, MPH and executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials who remarked, “I look forward to tracking your progress and learning more about your projects’ best practices and challenges.” A portion of this grant funding will be used towards setting up the academic and non-profit portion of the CLARA project.
The Phase One initial project meeting has already been held. Caleb Harper, the Principal Investigator and Director of MITCityFarm, attended the meeting. As part of the non-profit academic portion of the CLARA project, all research would be made open source. The MIT Media Lab’s Open Agriculture (OpenAG) Initiative seeks to make agricultural research and data more available to researchers through an innovative cloud based system. Indoor Harvest is excited to continue its relationship with MITCityFarm by looking at ways to deploy the Open Ag platform at the CLARA research facility.
Chris Higgins from HortAmericas, a company involved in horticulture product distribution, consulting and services, also attended the meeting. Indoor Harvest has selected HortAmericas as a project consultant to the CLARA project. HortAmericas will assist the project by evaluating methods and process and providing feedback through the design phase as well as assisting in preparation of standard operating procedures.
It is expected that the project MOU will be finalized and property lease executed by August 2015 based on an existing timeline provided by the City. Construction on Phase One is planned for completion June 2016.
Phase Two of the project is anticipated to be developed on two acres of land currently available adjacent to the existing properties being provided by the City. Indoor Harvest, as the primary developer of the campus, expects to be able to provide commercial operators who build on the CLARA campus a unique group of incentives and key advantages in regards to distribution, manufacturing intelligence and access to resourcing and key agricultural production talent. Phase Two timeline will be dependent upon securing commercial partners who have adequate funding and approval by the City. The Company is currently in talks with several commercial parties interested in building on the CLARA campus.
In addition, the City of Pasadena is currently considering creating a tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ) in the immediate area surrounding the CLARA campus. A TIRZ is a public financing structure that Texas law allows to target tax revenue helping to support redevelopment in underserved areas. Such a zone, if created, could provide an additional economic incentive for tangential services to locate on the project site. As of now, the City is not obligated to create a TIRZ zone and no such zone may ever come to fruition.
Consistent with the SEC’s April 2013 guidance on using social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to make corporate disclosures and announce key information in compliance with Regulation FD, Indoor Harvest is alerting investors and other members of the general public that Indoor Harvest will provide weekly updates on operations and progress through its social media on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Investors, potential investors and individuals interested in our company are encouraged to keep informed by following us on Twitter, Youtube or Facebook.
Indoor Harvest Corp, through its brand name Indoor Harvest™, is an emerging design build contractor and OEM manufacturer of commercial aeroponic and hydroponic system fixtures and framing systems for use in Controlled Environment Agriculture and Building Integrated Agriculture. Our patent pending aeroponic fixtures are based upon a modular concept in which primary components are interchangeable. We are developing our aeroponic and hydroponic systems for use by both horticulture enthusiasts and commercial operators who seek to utilize aeroponic and hydroponic vertical farming methods within a controlled indoor environment. Please visit our website at http://www.indoorharvest.com for more information about our Company.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This release contains certain “forward-looking statements” relating to the business of Indoor Harvest and its subsidiary companies, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “estimates,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “intends,” expects”and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or will be described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on Indoor Harvest’s current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on Indoor Harvest. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting Indoor Harvest will be those anticipated by Indoor Harvest. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the control of the Company) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Indoor Harvest undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
Proper processing of coir to lower its natural high salts level should eliminate the need to buffer it with calcium nitrate.
By David Kuack
Coir has become a major component of both greenhouse vegetable and container crop production. It can be used by itself, for instance in grow bags, slabs and propagation cubes, or it can be used in growing mixes with other components like sphagnum peat, perlite and bark.
Coconuts, which are produced by coconut palms (Cocos nucifera), consist of husks that surround the nuts. The nuts are consumed as food and the husks are used to produce various types of coir growing substrates, including chips, chunks and peat. Coir peat is a by-product of the husk fibers that are used to fill cushions and car seats.
Naturally high in salts Dr. Hugh Poole, international agricultural consultant, said coconut coir is initially high in sodium, potassium and chloride salts.
“Where the coconut coir originates from can have an impact on the salt levels,” Poole said. “Coconut palms produced inland away from the ocean may not accumulate as much sodium, potassium and chloride, but growers should assume that all coconuts will have high salt levels.
“These salts are relatively soluble and are not totally bound by the coir so they are easily leached. Most coir producers use rain water for most of the year to remove the salts. If the EC (electrical conductivity) level is below 1.0 milliSiemens per centimeter (mS/cm), growers should not have to leach the coir. In most cases, the coir producers have already leached the coir for the growers. It should be ready to use. If the salts level is high, then the coir producer has not done its job. A producer should be able to provide growers with the coir’s EC value, its pH value and other information, including percent moisture, as well.”
Poole advises growers using coir to test for soluble salts before it is combined with other mix components and before any plants are placed in the coir.
“If the level of salts is low, then a grower doesn’t need to worry about sodium, potassium and chloride,” he said. “Many growers say the soluble salts level should be less than 1.0 mS/cm. Others say the salts level should be less than 0.5 mS/cm. It really comes down to how the coir is going to be used. If Ellepots are going to be filled with coco peat for young seedling production, then the soluble salts level should be around 0.5 mS/cm. If the coco peat is being blended with sphagnum peat, perlite or some other growing mix components and plants are being transplanted into containers, the coir soluble salts level can be higher. I have seen EC values as high 3-6 mS/cm. In these instances, unless the coir is being diluted with a lot of other mix components, growers would certainly want to leach the coir before it is used.”
Poole said growers who ask their suppliers for a low EC coir is similar to asking for a low EC peat moss or compost.
“If growers have to deal with a growing mix component with an EC level that is always bouncing around, it is going to be very challenging for those growers from crop to crop and from year to year,” he said.
To buffer or not to buffer Poole said some growers are asking suppliers to buffer their coir with calcium nitrate.
“These growers are thinking that the cation exchange sites are loaded with potassium and sodium ions and if the coir isn’t buffered with calcium nitrate then their crops may suffer a calcium or magnesium deficiency,” he said. “These types of deficiency problems are more commonly encountered with hydroponic systems. If a substrate is being used, then this usually isn’t a concern.
“Most of the coir’s exchange sites are tied up with sodium and potassium. These ions are readily replaced by calcium. If calcium is applied, much of that calcium is going to be tied up in the exchange capacity taking out sodium and potassium. Therefore calcium is not in the substrate solution for utilization by the plants. There is a lag before the cation exchange capacity can be fully charged with calcium, potassium and magnesium. If a grower isn’t cognizant of this lag and doesn’t address it, it can cause deficiency problems. When 50 ppm calcium is incorporated in the fertilizer solution, the leachate may only contain 10 ppm calcium. Not that the plants utilized the other 40 ppm. Much of that 40 ppm was tied up at the exchange sites and will be available later.”
Avoiding deficiency problems
Poole said if the coir’s EC level is initially low and growers apply a Cal-Mag fertilizer at the beginning of a crop, there shouldn’t be deficiency problems. He said growers using reverse osmosis water, in which there is no calcium or magnesium, should make adjustments in fertility especially if they are producing a fast growing crop. Although no deficiency problems might occur, Poole said growers should be diligent in monitoring fertility levels.
“Once the cation exchange sites are charged with calcium and magnesium, then there is free exchange and there shouldn’t be any problems,” he said. “In the first two to four weeks, growers should probably start out with higher calcium and magnesium levels if they’re growing with coir. They should try to favor calcium and magnesium absorption at the exchange sites. This is a precautionary step.”
Poole said growers, who are using coir and are planning to use a 20-10-20 fertilizer, need to be aware that this fertilizer does not contain any calcium, magnesium or sulfur.
“The growers are going to have to add these nutrients,” he said. “If growers are using coir they have to recognize that the exchange sites need to be filled or charged with calcium and magnesium before there starts to be a free exchange of nutrients back and forth.
“With coir where the exchange sites are filled with sodium and potassium, the only way of removing these ions is by reducing them with leaching with water or by overcompensating with calcium and magnesium.”
Poole said initially, the natural salts found in coir must be leached with water. The remaining salts will be exchanged with calcium and magnesium by a buffering treatment or with elevated levels in the fertility program. He said buffering is not an option for organic growers.
“If coir is washed well and its EC is below 0.5 mS/cm or lower, then the coir shouldn’t have to be buffered for most crops. If calcium nitrate is used to buffer the coir, magnesium has to be provided as well.”
Poole recommends growers should review both their water analysis and their fertilizer analysis to know what nutrients they are applying and to confirm nutrient levels.
“Young plants and bare-root plants are more sensitive to high salts than to short-term nutrient imbalances,” he said. Long-term crops should be monitored using tissue analyses to optimize plant nutrition and crop productivity.
University of Arkansas researchers trialed 65 lettuce varieties to determine their potential for production in greenhouse hydroponic systems.
By David Kuack
An increasing number of greenhouse ornamental plant growers are looking to expand into edible crops. There are also field vegetable growers who would like to expand their production to include greenhouse crops.
Some of the easier and faster crops for growers to try to produce in a greenhouse are lettuce and other fresh greens.
One of the issues these growers are facing is what varieties of lettuce can be grown in a greenhouse environment. Much of the commercial lettuce breeding is focused on outdoor field production. Growers looking to expand their lettuce offerings beyond commonly produced greenhouse varieties usually have to do their own trials looking for field varieties that can be adapted to a greenhouse environment.
Need to expand greenhouse varieties
University of Arkansas horticulture professor Mike Evans said he is constantly receiving inquiries from growers about what lettuce varieties can be grown in greenhouses.
“At Cultivate’14 we surveyed growers who participated in one of the greenhouse vegetable seminars about their educational and research needs,” Evans said. “One of the growers’ responses was the need for variety information.
“If you look at seed catalogs, most of the information describing lettuce varieties is based on field production, not greenhouse. So if a grower wanted to grow lettuce hydroponically in a greenhouse during the winter there is little information available. If a grower wanted to use nutrient film technique or deep flow floating systems in a greenhouse, there’s basically very little information on how lettuce varieties would do in these production systems. Most of the production information is field-based.”
Evans said there is also a need for evaluating lettuce varieties for fall, winter and spring greenhouse production. He said these variety evaluations need to be done in different regions of the country to see how they perform under different climates.
Lettuce variety evaluations
University of Arkansas researchers selected 65 lettuce varieties for evaluation in greenhouse production systems. A nutrient film technique and deep flow floating system were used for the trials.
“Our goal with the variety trials was to generate better and more variety information and to determine which varieties would work best in climates similar to ours,” Evans said. “We especially wanted to be able to make variety recommendations across a production year. That is, varieties which work well in the fall, winter and spring.
“There are certain varieties that do well during winter. But as soon as the days start getting longer, the variety begins to bolt. Or a variety may do well in the fall and spring, but during the lowest light levels of winter, it has some type of production issue.”
University of Arkansas researchers selected 65
lettuce varieties for evaluation in greenhouse
production systems.
Photos courtesy of Mike Evans, Univ. of Ark.
Evans said the information that has been collected is for lettuce varieties that perform well in a glass greenhouse in Arkansas.
“These varieties may not respond the same way in Michigan, Arizona, Florida and Texas,” he said. “They also won’t respond the same way in locations where the light and humidity levels are different. These trials are probably good recommendations for growers in climates similar to ours.”
Lettuce varieties were planted from September through May. No crops were grown in June, July and August. Four crops were produced during the fall to spring cycle.
“Some growers try to grow during the summer months by chilling the nutrient solution,” Evans said. “We weren’t set up for summer production. Having trialed 65 varieties we will probably select 15 of the best performing varieties to evaluate for summer performance. For the summer evaluations we will have to use a different greenhouse set up in order to chill the nutrient solution.”
Measuring growth rate
Evans said one of major growth parameters measured was biomass production or growth rate.
“The quicker the plants grow, the shorter the production cycle,” Evans said. “Every day on the bench is cost to the grower. We looked at fresh weight and dry weight, two measures of growth.
“Some growers let lettuce grow for a specific amount of time. Other growers try to achieve a specific weight.”
Evans said the lettuce crops were grown on a 42-day production cycle in both the NFT and deep flow systems. At the end of the 42-day cycle the lettuce was harvested and measurements were taken.
“Sometimes if a variety is a fast grower, the lettuce might exceed the weight that a grower would want,” Evans said. “That tells us this variety could have been grown in a much shorter period of time. Or a variety that didn’t reach a minimum weight at the end of the 42-day cycle was considered a slow grower. Fresh and dry weights were used as a measure of how fast a variety can grow. How fast can a variety put on biomass? That is what growers are selling—biomass.”
Lettuce varieties that did well in a nutrient film
technique system tended to do well in a deep
flow float system.
Evans said there were similarities in how varieties performed in the two production systems.
“If the varieties did poorly in NFT, they tended to perform similarly in deep flow too,” he said. “If a variety did well in NFT, odds were high that it did really well in deep flow.”
Identifying disorders
Evans said the two most common problems he hears about lettuce from growers are powdery mildew and tipburn.
“Ninety percent of the calls I receive are about these two problems,” he said. “We rated the lettuce varieties we trialed for tipburn and powdery mildew. Powdery mildew, in our region of the country, is the disease that can often give growers fits. It can really wallop a lettuce crop. We also measured the incidence of tipburn, which can be a problem on a number of greens.”
Evans said semi-heading and heading (butterhead) types seem to be more prone to tipburn.
“What happens is that as these varieties start to form heads there is an area of high humidity,” he said. “There is this little microclimate of high humidity. If a grower is growing under real high humidity, has structures with poor air circulation or the nutrition levels aren’t right, a calcium deficiency can occur. These can create a tipburn problem. We saw much less tipburn on varieties that tend to be loose leaf types.
On the cover: Robert Colangelo, founding farmer and CEO at Green Sense Farms
6,000 cubes per case
6,000 cubes per case
If your phosphorus fertilizer is sourced from the U.S. it is probably derived from Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, and Hardee counties in Florida. Recently, I had the opportunity to tour Mosaic’s South Fort Meade Mine facility. The Mosaic Company’s South Fort Meade Mine has an annual production of 6.5 million tons per year running 24/7/365. It’s size is 28,000 total acres with 15,000 currently active acres with 3 drag lines.
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