CEA inSight

Hydroponic growers now have two new climate-optimized, automation-ready substrates from Oasis Grower Solutions, A division of Smithers-Oasis Company. Developed specifically for precision hydroponic farming, like their predecessors in the OASIS AeroSubstrates family, new food-safe singulated OASIS AeroMax PlugTray and OASIS AeroSelect PlugTray provide growers with input-responsive substrate options that target specific crops, water demands, seasonal or year-round climate conditions, and more. The OGS team reports that OASIS AeroMax PlugTray, designed for hydroponic cultivation in mild to moderate climates, excels at supporting crops, climates and systems with lower water demand. In contrast, OASIS AeroSelect PlugTray targets water-demanding operational conditions; its higher water-holding capacity suits warmer climates, as well as crops and growing conditions with higher water demand — including finicky crops like spinach. “Our purpose at Oasis Grower Solutions is to develop innovative solutions that solve problems for growers, from propagation and cultivation to sustainability,” said Vijay Rapaka, Ph.D., Oasis Grower Solutions Director of Global Grower Operations and Research. “With OASIS AeroSubstrates, we brought precision growing into the root zone and made these next-generation substrates functional elements in the cultivation process. With new OASIS AeroMax PlugTray and OASIS AeroSelect PlugTray, both automated and manual growers of all sizes can now experience the benefits of these precision hydroponic substrates and grow more profitably and more sustainably.” Read more about the new substrates on CEA Insight: https://lnkd.in/gSQqa3fx #CEA #controlledenvironmentagriculture #substrates #hydroponicfarming #greenhousegrown

Mucci Farms surpasses 650 acres of North American greenhouse operations with Greenhill Produce acquisition. Leading fresh produce grower and marketer?Mucci Farms?has solidified its spot as one of North America’s largest greenhouse operators with the acquisition of?Greenhill Produce‘s state-of-the-art, 150-acre bell pepper greenhouse facility in?Kent Bridge, Ontario. As part of the?recently established Cox Farms company, Mucci Farms continues to push the boundaries of sustainable agriculture, helping to make?Cox Farms?the?largest owner of greenhouse acreage?in North America. The Greenhill acquisition comes on the heels of Mucci’s acquisition of Hacienda Farms, a 160-acre facility in?Coatsworth, Ontario, earlier this year — and reinforces Mucci's objective of being the leading supplier of sustainably grown fresh fruits and vegetables in North America.? ? “We’ve had the privilege of working closely with?Greenhill?for many years, so we know firsthand the exceptional quality of both their facilities and their crops,” said?Bert Mucci, CEO of Mucci Farms. “Bringing?Greenhill?into the Mucci family enhances our supply chain to offer more reliable supply for our partners.” Justin Geertsema,?Vice President and General Manager at Greenhill, added, “Having worked with the Mucci team for many years, the Geertsema family is proud to pass the torch to the Cox Farms and Mucci team, who share our values, passion, and drive to succeed. Mucci’s deep understanding of the greenhouse business and their farmers-first approach have always earned our respect.” Steven Bradley, President of Cox Farms, commented, "This acquisition marks an exciting new chapter for Cox Farms as we continue to build our vision of sustainable, high-quality food production across?North America. Bringing?Greenhill?into the larger Cox Farms family allows us to strengthen Mucci’s capacity to support our partners with a more reliable supply of fresh produce. Together, we’re not just expanding our reach but reinforcing our commitment to innovation and excellence in agriculture.” Mucci Farms reports that it continues to produce a variety of crops including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, and lettuce. The company will continue cultivating bell peppers at the?Greenhill?facility while remaining agile to adapt to market trends and explore diversification opportunities. Read more about the acquisition on CEA inSight: https://lnkd.in/gYN4PTXY #CEA #controlledenvironmentagriculture #greenhousegrown #bellpepper #indoorag

Can a tiny tomato plant engineered for vertical farming reset the sector? UK precision breeding company Phytoform has developed a new, highly productive tomato variety just one-sixth the size of conventional tomato plants. The new variety can produce up to 400% more fruit annually than conventional tomatoes using the same amount of growing space. “With dwarf varieties, almost every single trait is bad, except for the size. Instead, we decided to make elite varieties into dwarfs, starting with something good and going from there – that’s how we came up with this vertical farming tomato,” says?Antony V. E. Chapman, PhD, the company’s lead tomato genome engineer. Matt Chlebek, founder and Chief Science Officer of Harvest London, is currently trialing the new variety. “People want super tasty tomatoes, available all year round and not imported thousands of miles," he says. "The exciting part of this is Phytoform is breeding something specific for vertical farming that addresses what consumers and growers want. The concept was proved beyond doubt when the first tomatoes grew, and we’re now working with Phytoform to understand what a successful plant looks like in this environment and using cutting-edge technology to make them even better.” Phytoform co-founder and Chief Executive Officer William Pelton, Ph.D. suggests the technology behind the new tomato is imperative: “Traditional breeding, where you crossbreed parent plants so that the resulting offspring has superior traits, does work, but it’s a very slow process. Things are changing so fast now, both in terms of climate change and human population growth, that I don’t think traditional breeding can keep up any longer. The technologies that can dramatically speed up this process are ready to be used and need to get out there.” Nicolas Kral, PhD, the company’s co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, notes that commercially viable crops such as Phytoform’s tomato, which is ready to be sold as soon as recently passed legislation in the UK allows, are vital to showing the practical impact of crop breeding developments. “There’s little point in changing legislation if you don’t have the use cases for the technology,” Dr. Kral says. “It can’t simply be an academic interest. This product is real. You could be eating it next year, but without steps to enable commercial sales, this technology is just waiting in the wings.” Read more about the new tomato and the technology behind it on CEA inSight: https://lnkd.in/gsi_BJ9C #verticalfarming #CEA #controlledenvironmentagriculture #tomatoes

Six years and 200 research trials paid off — as shown in this 30-foot-tall example of the Plenty? #strawberry cultivation towers gracing the company's new Richmond, Virginia-area farm campus. The farm launch represents an exclusive pairing of Plenty technology with global berry leader Driscoll's strawberry genetics. Promoted as the world’s first farm to grow indoor, vertically farmed berries at scale, the Plenty Richmond Farm is designed to produce more than 4 million pounds of strawberries annually in less than 40,000 square feet using the 30-foot towers. The first strawberries from the farm will be available in early 2025. Read more about the farm, the proprietary technology behind the vertical growing environment, and what's next for the grower and the partnership, with quotes from Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, Plenty CEO Arama Kukutai and Driscoll's CEO Soren Bjorn. You'll find "Plenty tower technology delivers on vertical strawberries at scale" on CEA inSight: https://lnkd.in/dpbYtS3u

13 years, 13 greenhouses, 40 acres — and production capacity of 100 million heads of lettuce annually. Let's just say that 2024 has been a big year for Gotham Greens — and it isn't over yet. It’s been 13 years since the grower opened its first greenhouse in Brooklyn, New York. Gotham opened its 13th?greenhouse nationwide in January, and it managed expansions at existing locations as well — leveraging the expertise of its Chicago-based Chief Greenhouse Officer Jenn Frymark and her team of expert growers across the country.? With more than 40 acres (1.8 million square feet) across nine states, Gotham’s annual production capacity has now reached approximately 100 million heads of lettuce per year, and its products are available in more than 6,500 retail locations across all 50 states. Earlier this month, the grower celebrated the one-year anniversary of its?Georgia greenhouse?(No. 12) as co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri and the team showcased new technology and products from the state-of-the-art hydroponic farm to attendees at the Global Produce and Floral Show 2024. And they're rounding out the year with a new product launch in December. Read more about Gotham's year so far at CEA inSight: https://lnkd.in/gyfTNfN4 #Lucky13 #lettuce #leafygreens #hydroponics #greenhousegrown #localfood

Nielsen confirms it: Little Leaf Farms is officially the country's fastest-growing salad brand. To support that growth, the company's Pennsylvania campus continues to expand. After?breaking ground in September 2023, the company’s third greenhouse on the McAdoo, Pennsylvania campus site is now open — and the grower broke ground on an adjacent fourth greenhouse facility. The two facilities represent the Little Leaf's 6th and 7th facilities nationally. The expansion will support Little Leaf Farms’ rapid growth as, according to Nielsen 52 Weeks Ending 09/07/2024, the brand is now the fastest-growing packaged salad brand in the country! “Our continued expansion in?Pennsylvania?will advance our progress against our goals to grow our capacity and bring our lettuce to more and more consumers throughout the country,” said?Paul Sellew, Founder and CEO of Little Leaf Farms. “We’re incredibly excited about this new milestone of being the fastest growing packaged salad brand and believe it’s true evidence of not only the promise of CEA, but also our efficiency in scaling our operations to enable the broadening of our retailer footprint.” Read more about the expansion on CEA inSight here: https://lnkd.in/gHCqezcc #CEA #controlledenvironmentagriculture #leafygreens #lettuce #greenhousegrown #Pennsylvania

Mark your calendars and get your tickets now! The?Aquaponics Association?will be hosting their 13th Annual Aquaponics Conference September 13-15, 2024. This time the event is happening in Dallas, Texas. Be sure and come early to get in on the pre-conference workshop on September 12. The three-day conference celebrating aquaponics is expected to draw more than 300 attendees from diverse backgrounds spanning nonprofits, industry players, producers, academia/students, educators, and interested stakeholders. The event includes two days of presentations from industry experts, researchers, students, nonprofits, and others involved in aquaponics as well as one day of touring?Timberview Farmstead, a local aquaponic farm. The one-day preconference workshop on September 12 at Texas A&M AgriLife Center - Dallas. The workshop is geared toward beginning aquaponic farmers, students and anyone who wishes to further their aquaponic learning! (Workshop tickets purchased separately.) Read more details about the event on CEA inSight: https://lnkd.in/giakqytE For more information, reach out to the Conference Coordinator Josh Dusci!

We're back from holiday just in time to share the latest news from Oasis Grower Solutions, A division of Smithers-Oasis Company. New OASIS RhizoPlug Tray singulated foam substrate is ushering in the future of precision vegetative propagation. (And we have to admit the roots on those plugs are pretty impressive!) OGS Director of Global Grower Operations and Research Vijay Rapaka shares that this next-generation, automation-ready engineered substrate proved itself in trials, with extreme uniformity, consistency and quality for superior young plants. Compared to loose fill and specialty substrates, the OGS team says RhizoPlug Tray delivered up to 20% faster times to root, extract and transplant. But Rapaka also stresses the cleaner propagation experience: “I cannot stress enough about the all-round cleanliness this product offers. This not only helps reduce pest and disease pressure and benefit the production of clean and healthy young plants during that immediate crop cycle, but also beyond that rotation with the next propagation cycles,” he says. "We are thrilled to offer every grower, large and small, an ultimate propagation experience from stick to transplant with precision, cleanliness and performance. This technology allows faster recovery, rooting and transplant thereby improving operational efficiency and reducing costs.” Read more about the launch and the benefits of the new OASIS RhizoPlug Tray on CEA inSight: https://lnkd.in/gX6nZgx7

For the third year running, a team from leading aeroponics technology company?LettUs Grow?will cycle from London to?GreenTech Amsterdam?to encourage sustainable travel and raise money for charity. The team hopes to raise ￡2,000 for two organizations:?Caring in Bristol?and?Serve the City Amsterdam. Five cyclists from LettUs Grow will take off from London on June 9th and be joined by cyclists from?RAI Amsterdam. The GreenTech Grand Tour will cover approximately 137 miles in the two days between their launch and the GreenTech Amsterdam show, which runs June 11-13, 2024. Close to the hearts of the team, Caring in Bristol is a charity that works with the homeless community in LettUs Grow’s home city. Serve the City Amsterdam organizes volunteer-based activities to support different communities and projects in the city of Amsterdam, including projects focused on people in need, including the homeless, disabled, young and elderly. You can contribute to the effort and encourage the LettUs Grow peloton at:?https://lnkd.in/gwekXD8W

For kids around the world, Little League International provides much more than afternoons at the ballpark. Now NatureSweet has committed to year-round support of local leagues — and that support could extend to yours! Yes, North America’s largest vertically integrated agriculture company (and world’s largest Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) employer to become a B-Corporation), NatureSweet has added “The Official Snacking Vegetable of Little League Baseball and Softball” to the list. “We are thrilled to work with our partners at NatureSweet as we continue to find new ways to provide all our families with a fun, healthy and memorable Little League experience,” said?Elizabeth DiLullo Brown?Little League Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Business Relationship Officer. “As a community-based program, we are excited to align with NatureSweet’s commitment to providing a positive social, environmental, and economic impact within its communities and look forward to partnering with them through 2025.” Sergio D. Trujillo, MBA, NatureSweet’s Brand Manager of Snacking Tomatoes adds, "We’re thrilled to announce our official sponsorship with Little League as ‘The Official Snacking Vegetable of Little League Baseball and Softball,’ and we are dedicated to aligning both our commitments to providing a positive impact within communities and supporting thousands of Little League programs across the nation.” Read more about the partnership, the two million kids in League and the more than one million volunteers that make it tick. It's on CEA inSight here: https://lnkd.in/gCxaaYUz #CEA #controlledenvironmentagriculture #LittleLeague #baseball #softball #snackingvegetables #BCorp