Top 10 CEA News - 1st April

Good Morning readers, Gotham Greens doubles its greenhouse capacity, Qatar invests in a new aquaponics facility, a new sustainable city to be built in the middle east, financial results and much more...

Here are the Top 10 CEA News of this week!

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1- Gotham Greens To Expand Greenhouse Network To 12 Facilities Across 8 States

Seagoville (TX), Monroe (GA) and Windsor (CO) will soon be able to see new state-of-the-art greenhouse facilities developed by Gotham Greens, upon completion. Gotham greens will own and operate 12 high-tech, climate-controlled hydroponic greenhouses across eight states, joining its existing greenhouse network in New York, Rhode Island, Maryland, Illinois, Colorado, and California. The operation will double its greenhouse capacity to reach 1.2 million square feet in 2022.

2- Is Seattle The New Hub For Precision Agriculture? Recent Funding Rounds Suggest So

Seattle has seen many innovative technology companies being founded or setting their headquarters in the city. Companies such as Boeing (founded in Seattle and has its main production plant there), Microsoft (headquartered in the suburbs of Seattle) and Amazon (headquartered in Seattle) have all promoted the city into becoming a leading tech hub behind the famously known Sylycone Valley. Now, many precision agriculture startups founded in Seattle are emerging into becoming sector leaders or considered future leaders... Koidra recently raised USD 4.5 million in a seed round weeks after IUNU bagged a USD 24 million series B funding round.

3- Can Aeroponic Produce Crops That Hydroponic Systems Fail To? Research Shows Promising Signs

Aeroponic grows produce thanks to a nutrient-rich mist enabling the use of less water. The other advantage is that plants have access to more oxygen compared to other similar methods such as Hydroponics or Aquaponics. While the latter two methods are often criticised for not growing nutritious food and concentrating research on high-end produce, research states that Aeroponic could potentially enable the production of potatoes.

4- Retail Companies Increase Their Positions In Vertical Farms Throughout The World

Retailers are facing increasing challenges as people demand healthier, locally-grown produce at an affordable price. These challenges forced them to invest in emerging technologies that could provide answers for most of these stakeholder requirements. One of these emerging technologies includes Vertical Farms. Since the start of the pandemic and the subsequent supply chain disruptions, large retail companies such as Walmart, Carrefour, Leclerc, Metro and others have been increasing their investment as the technology proves to be a savour, at least for some crops...

5- Qatar Opens First Aquaponic Farm In Doha & Associates With Gates Foundation To Invest In New Farming

Months before the opening of the FIFA? World Cup, Qatar increases its investments in climate adaptive agriculture in a bid to assist farmers in developing countries to produce healthy food. Days after announcing the investment plan, Qatar opened its first indoor aquaponics farm with Agrico & Carrefour in Doha.

6- Oman Launches Sustainable City Program Yiti With Diamond Developers

Sustainable cities have been sprouting around the world with famous projects such as Masdar Cities (Near Abu Dhabi, UAE) or NEOM (On the red sea coast of Saudi Arabia) being at the forefront due to their outstanding innovations or the important investments made. Recently, the middle-east has seen a new sustainable city project launch as the Oman Tourism Development Company (OMRAN Group) in partnership with Diamond Developers launches Yiti.

7- CubicFarm Systems Corp. Announces Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2021 Financial Results

“CubicFarms has a strong cash position at the end of this fiscal year as a result of a capital raise of $21.4 million. In addition, we have a strong pipeline of sales commitments and pending installations,” said Tim Fernback, Chief Financial Officer, CubicFarms. “In Q4, the Company announced the HydroGreen Certified Dealer Network to meet growing demand across North America, with dealer commitments for 2022 valued at $23 million for over 100 Automated Vertical Pastures? (“AVPs”). Despite installation delays due to the impact of the global pandemic and related supply chain delays realized in 2021 and an equipment upgrade in early 2022, CubicFarm System installations in Abbotsford, New South Wales, and Indiana are expected to be substantially completed by the end of the second quarter of calendar 2022.”

8- urban-gro, Inc. Reports Record Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Financial Results and Provides 2022 Full Year Guidance

Revenue was $19.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, as compared to $9.2 million in the prior-year period, representing an increase of $9.7 million, or 106%. This increase was driven by a significant increase in cultivation equipment sales tied to an expansion in client base and incremental services revenue from acquisitions of $2.7 million. Organic revenue growth was 77.6%, excluding the contribution from the 2WR+ acquisition. Gross profit was $4.9 million, or 26% of revenue, in the fourth quarter of 2021, as compared to $1.7 million, or 18% of revenue, in the prior-year period, representing an increase of $3.2 million, or approximately 8%. The increase in gross profit dollar and the margin was driven by higher-margin services revenues tied to an increased focus on building out our turnkey services offering.

9- GrowFoam Introduces New Line of Product Aimed At Further Improving Yields

Growfoam, a Dutch biotech scale-up company, introduced its new growfoammax? substrate. Although it may not look like something completely new compared to their familiar growfoam? growing mediums, the new substrate is completely overhauled in terms of design and structure. A softer foam and more room for roots to grow to lead to a fresh weight and uniformity improvement of up to 30% compared to their last generation growfoam??plugs.

‘A big step forward bringing us really close in our performance versus organic substrates’ says Niels Steenvoorden, Chief Commercial Officer at Growfoam.

‘Over the last couple of months, we’ve developed and tested a new technology to create a foam that’s even softer and redesigned the incisions in the growfoam??plugs.’ ‘This makes it easier for the plant’s roots to penetrate the foam and leads to faster and much more uniform growth, plus a way better root development. Starting at day, or DAS, 1.’

10 - ZipGrow Inc. Announces New Distribution Partnership With Current Culture H20?

ZipGrow Inc. global experts in vertical farming and hydroponic systems for commercial farms and home hobbyists are pleased to have entered a distribution partnership with Current Culture H2O (CCH20), Fresno California, one of the most trusted names in the hydroponics industry for modern agricultural applications.

Hydroponic growers, particularly in commercial settings, spend considerable time addressing the issue of inconsistency in nutrient formulations and mineral build-up in irrigation lines, this distribution partnership will allow ZipGrow Inc. to address these issues and provide customers with premium products to support ZipGrow’s existing portfolio of hydroponic systems.?