The University of Florida has executed an agreement to trial Envonics eVE system at their Gainesville research facility. Dr Paul Fischer will lead researchers as they execute a series of trials to prove the viability of the mechanized unit that produces real-time readings of crop nutrient levels.
The objective of experimentation at University of Florida (UF) will be to compare Envonics sensor readings with laboratory analytical measurement of nutrient levels in typical scenarios for hydroponic growing systems.
Thank you!
Envonics is proud to announce the addition of Carlos Hayden, a Master Grower and the Primary Investigator for NSF. Carlos’ brings over a decade of experience with growing crops in various settings and specializes in Controlled Environment Agriculture. Carlos offers expertise in farming consumable crops in greenhouse, indoor and outdoor environments.
Carlos has a Master’s in Business Administration with expertise in CEA farming, genetics, extraction, and R&D. Carlos is specialized in organic and conventional vertical farming systems for native soil, soilless and hydroponic farming systems. Carlos has experience with building start-ups, IPO’s and advising existing agri-businesses. He has developed genetics, cultivation programs for large and small craft farms across the U.S. and has created supply chain distribution models for produce farmers.
Envonics an emerging AgTech Platform Company, announced that they have received notification from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 grant to help advance their company’s research efforts to develop a smart platform with real time readings for Controlled Environment farmers.
Envonics has developed the Envonics Vertical Environment (eVE), a comprehensive platform for nutrient and environment management and automation in controlled environment agriculture (CEA). ENVONICS® proprietary solution unlocks plant performance by revealing and leveraging real-time individual nutrient levels to maximize efficiency, quality, and yield for CEA farms.
eVE comprises integrated hardware- and software-based solutions to provide growers a complete view of their operation: nutrient, air, and light with real time readings. As part of this solution, in this Phase I SBIR, Envonics will develop the Nutrient Management System (NMS), to provide CEA farmers with real-time information about the nutrients in the growth solution of their crops, helping them manage and optimize their nutrient solution with a decision support system powered by machine learning (ML). eVE offers farms many advantages such as water use efficiency, seasonal and geographic independence, and higher yields.
The proposed project also has potential broader societal impacts, such as benefiting the health and welfare of Americans. As indoor farming with hydroponics enables the year-round production of food in non-arable regions and urban areas, it can help expand access to fresh foods.
About NSF
The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…” NSF is vital because we support basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future.
This post discusses the factors that shaped the development of America’s modern agricultural production and distribution system (the Agro-Industrial Complex), and why it does not make as much sense today as it did in the 19th century.
The Agro-Industrial Complex provides the United States with much of its food. But many Americans are unfamiliar with how the Agro-Industrial Complex actually gets food to their tables. The Agro-Industrial Complex employs: (1) geographically concentrated crop production, (2) significant transportation infrastructure (primarily in the form of railroads) to distribute crops to the end-consumer or some other retail distribution channel, and (3) highly mechanized cultivation technology and machinery to feed the country. [1][2]
Head lettuce exemplifies the above features of the Agro-Industrial Complex. Head lettuce is cultivated lettuce that grows in a dense rosette. Common head lettuce includes iceberg lettuce and boston lettuce. In 2019, there were approximately 4.6B pounds of head lettuce produced in the United States. Of the 4.6B pounds produced, approximately 1.4B pounds (~30%) and 3.2B pounds (~70%) were produced in Arizona and California, respectively. [3] This fact demonstrates the highly concentrated nature of crop production in the US, which does not align with the geographic composition of head lettuce consumption. This results in significant transportation requirements that shorten crop shelf-life and are generally non-beneficial to the end-consumer. Further, the process of growing head lettuce has become increasingly mechanized over-time, with robotic cultivation and crop protection machinery and technology. How did this centralized mechanical production and continental distribution system come about? The answer may be rooted in the year 1862.
Three key pieces of legislation were passed in 1862: (1) the Homestead Act (of 1862), (2) the Pacific Railway Act, and (3) the Morrill Land Grant College Act (of 1862 – the Morrill Act). This legislation “readied the playing field” for the development of an industrialized agricultural infrastructure and identity within the American frontier, that still exists today.
The Homestead Act set aside vast tracts of western and midwestern land for citizens that wanted to make a better life for themselves on the American frontier. The Pacific Railway Act authorized and provided federal support for America’s first transcontinental rail system by providing government land. The Morrill Act provided each state with 30,000 acres of federal land per congressperson, and the states were directed to sell the land and use the proceeds from the sale to fund public colleges focused on agriculture and the mechanical arts (i.e., land-grant schools). [4][*] Collectively, these Acts provided America with the personnel, production, distribution, and innovation infrastructure for an agricultural value chain.
The Homestead Act specifically stipulated the following: (1) the government would grant the homesteader 160 acres of land for free, provided that (2) the homesteader would make the land their primary residence for five years and (3) improve the land – often through agricultural production – then (4) after five years the homesteader could file an application for the deed of the land. The Homestead Act eventually became quite a success. By 1932, over 1.6 million homestead applications were processed and more than 270 million acres (approximately 10% of all US lands) was passed into the hands of individuals. [5] These individuals often turned to agriculture to make a life for themselves and to fulfill their obligations under the Homestead Act.
The Pacific Railway Act was successful in facilitating the adoption, development and expansion of a transcontinental railroad network across the contiguous United States, which eventually would serve as critical distribution infrastructure for the Agro-Industrial Complex and allow for the centralization of production processes non-proximate to the end-consumer. The following graphic depicts the United States’ rapid adoption and expansion of several transcontinental railroad networks where the vertical line indicates the passing of the Pacific Railway Act, which coincided with the westward expansion of the American population facilitated by the Homestead Act [6]
The Morrill Act also became impactful in establishing many academic institutions devoted to the technological advancement of agricultural best practices and the mechanical equipment used in those best practices. Many prominent colleges can trace their origins back to the Morrill Act. For example, the Universities of Arkansas, West Virginia, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Idaho, and Cornell University were founded through the Morrill Act. [7] The Morrill Act placed a governmentally-reinforced emphasis on agricultural and mechanical innovation and established the importance of an agricultural infrastructure within the United States. Over time, the Morrill Act likely contributed to the Agro-Industrial Complex by expediting the rate of technological innovation, which therefore increased the economic efficiency by which food was produced. This sparked the development of a heavily-mechanized and output-oriented national agricultural identity reflected in the Agro-Industrial Complex.
These legislative acts laid the foundation for what would become the American Agro-Industrial Complex – an industrialized national food system borne out of 19th century political and geographic happenstance.
The Agro-Industrial Complex, however, is not appropriately tailored to the demographics and demands of Americans today – especially given the exciting technologies entering the market. It is true that the Agro-Industrial Complex has become much more efficient over time and the availability and affordability of food on a national scale was instrumental in America’s development throughout the late 19th, 20th and early 21st centuries. But, the Agro-Industrial Complex of today does not meet the needs and demands of consumers of tomorrow. The Agro-Industrial Complex optimizes for an outdated outcome (principally cheap food production). While today’s consumers demand healthy, sustainably- and locally-grown food with less emphasis on price. It is time for a change.
One avenue of meaningful change comes in the form of controlled environment agriculture (CEA), also colloquially known as indoor farming. Cornell University defines CEA as “an advanced and intensive form of hydroponically-based agriculture where plants grow within a controlled environment to optimize horticultural practices.” [8] Advances in CEA have the potential to upend the Agro-Industrial Complex and provide consumers with the options they desire. Importantly, CEA makes possible a decentralized future of agriculture (DeAg), in which indoor farming production hubs are geographically distributed and strategically proximate to population centers, big and small, to provide them with their fresh produce in a localized, sustainable, and affordable manner through targeted micro-distribution channels.
DeAg provides the modern end-consumer with fresher, longer-lasting, and healthier food, year-round, regardless of climate. Specifically, DeAg provides for: (1) hyper-localized production and distribution, often within hours of the end-consumer (as mentioned above), (2) weather-independent crop production (even more so for highly sophisticated CEA systems), (3) greater production and operating efficiencies via increased control of environment conditions, and (4) greater visibility into, and control of, the plant itself. These qualities align well with the demands of tomorrow’s end-consumer. [9]
However, it is important to acknowledge certain limitations to CEA, as it stands today. These limitations primarily relate to the large physical size or extended grow cycles of certain crops, which are not yet conducive to modern CEA technologies. Although it seems likely, if not probable, that folks in the space will continue to develop more sophisticated CEA technologies that spread the benefits of CEA to a wider variety of crops – especially if America approaches its development with the same fervor with which America approached the development of the existing Agro-Industrial Complex.
This gradual decentralization of the Agro-Industrial Complex shares similarities with other movements related to the decentralization of industry (generally). Three examples include the decentralization of manufacturing (through the advent of additive manufacturing, or 3D-printing), the decentralization of power generation through distributed generation projects, and the decentralization of finance and centralized record-keeping through distributed ledger technology.
DeAg promises a future in which the country’s agricultural profile more accurately employs the technologies of today to meet the demands of the consumers of tomorrow, sustainably, efficiently, and healthily.
* We acknowledge the inseparable relationship between certain legislative acts passed in 1862 and the racial implications and racial political motivations of such acts. In not explicitly discussing the racial implications of 1862 legislation, we do not intend to minimize or otherwise belittle the importance of such legislation in moving us towards a more unified, diverse, and dynamic America.
-Luke N. Deasy
Sources
1) USDA: <a href=”https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/44197/13566_eib3_1_.pdf”>The 20th Century Transformation of US Agriculture and Farm Policy</a>
2) Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future: <a href=”https://www.foodsystemprimer.org/food-production/industrialization-of-agriculture/”>Industrialization of Agriculture</a>
4) Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis: <a href=”https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2007/1862-legislation-that-shaped-the-west”>1862: Legislation that shaped the West</a>
5) National Archive: <a href=”https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/homestead-act#background”>The Homestead Act of 1862</a>
6) ALFRED: <a href=”https://alfred.stlouisfed.org/series?seid=A02F2AUSA374NNBR&utm_source=series_page&utm_medium=related_content&utm_term=related_resources&utm_campaign=alfred#0″>Miles of Railroad Built for United States</a>
7) Texas A&M: <a href=”https://today.tamu.edu/2020/07/02/the-morrill-act-still-has-a-huge-impact-on-the-u-s-and-the-world/”>The Morrill Act Still Has A Huge Impact On The U.S. And The World</a>
8) Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: <a href=”https://cea.cals.cornell.edu/”>Controlled Environment Agriculture</a>
9) Envonics: <a href=”https://envonics.com/blogs/controlled-environment-agriculture-a-sustainable-solution-to-locally-grown-organic-produce/”>Controlled Environment Agriculture: A sustainable solution to locally grown organic produce.</a>
Recently, Envonics Co-Founder and CEO, Lior Barhai, was featured on the TechieBytes podcast hosted by Jeff Weisbein. On the TechieBytes podcast, Jeff interviews a range of startup founders and discovers what they build and what it takes for them to build it.
Lior had the privilege of covering hydroponic farming, what data can do for farming, how to build company culture, and much, much more.
You can find the podcast on all podcast streaming platforms and YouTube.
Tech Hub South Florida hosted their monthly virtual Community Coffee event and this week’s topic was ‘Innovation in Agriculture Technology’. Lior Barhai and Envonics were invited to be one of the panelists along with Wanjun Gao from BiFarm and Kelvin Llaverias from Florida Crystals.
The panel covered topics on the growing industry of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) and how technology and data are changing the way we farm. The panelists mentioned how each of their companies are making a difference in farming and what we all can do to make a difference. They also highlighted the importance of bringing technology attention to this industry.
The Community Coffee event had a great turnout and a ton of questions from the audience. We are hoping for a Part 2 in the near future.
You can catch the recording of the panel discussion below 👇
Ever wonder, what are some of the challenges the world is facing right now in terms of food supply and nutrition? Or will it be able to cater to the increasing demand for food by 2050?
The global population is expected to rise dramatically in the coming decades, an estimated 7.7 Billion people live around the world currently, and this number according to the United Nations is projected to reach 9.7 Billion in the next 30 years [1], an approximate 25% increase in population. The food supply chain needs to go through some major changes and adaptation to be able to successfully supply optimum food and nutrition to the growing demand. With this growing demand for food is important, people are also tending more towards fresh and organic produce, all because of the heavy use of pesticides and chemicals in this industry to increase the yield and maximize profits. While organic produce should be the basic necessity affordable to everyone, it has turned out into a range of premium products for which the buyer has to pay a higher cost to consume better quality produce.
The major chunk of the global population is not able to afford this higher price for better quality produce. The use of chemicals, pesticides, or non-food grade materials harm the consumers’ digestive system and imposes a long-lasting threat to humanity, recently a disturbing article has stated that microplastics were found in the placenta of an unborn baby [2], further research concluded that this could have some permanent ailments to the body of the newborn, using PVC plumbing (Not applicable for food operations) for irrigation can be one of the reasons for this finding. Now is the time to act upon and bring in some changes to the food industry in order to cater to the increasing demand. With only a 5-10% increase in arable land by 2050, almost 60-70% more food production is required to sustain the demand and feed every human being on the planet. The solution to all these problems is Controlled Environment Agriculture, often termed as CEA, Indoor Farming, or Vertical Farming.
Controlled Environment Agriculture has been gaining popularity for the past 5-10 years, it is one of the most promising industries to tackle the many problems humanity is facing, and many more that are upcoming. The global CEA market is projected to be a $142.6 Billion industry by 2024 with a CAGR of 19.9% [3]. The majority of the market in the US is taken up by big players (almost 80%) because they are able to sustain the operation by mass production and higher profits. The key to making this industry successful is by making this tool accessible for everyone with a farm of any size so that it can be accepted by the majority of farmers, this is only possible by advancing technology in the right direction for anyone with the least experience being able to grow produce indoors.
The primary benefit of CEA lies in its independent nature, it can be used to grow produce in any demographic, irrespective of the climatic conditions. Locally grown produce is gaining acceptance amongst buyers because of minimum transit times, higher shelf life, and pesticide-free produce. While local growers are not very common because of the many factors that need to be taken into consideration, CEA can be used as an idea to set up local farms to cater to the needs of a specific region, this is how we all together can solve the problem of food and accessible nutrition to the global population. Many small businesses are upcoming with the same vision, but due to high capital cost, and experienced maintenance required for the farm, many operations turn themselves into cash-burning businesses and eventually give up. While the technology for indoor farming has been advancing for the past 10-15 years, the industry is still using many outdated technologies that don’t give enough information for the growers to optimally produce crops and maintain higher profits. All the ag-tech innovators have to come together to bring in a change in the technology that can make CEA a better and profitable business opportunity for inexperienced growers world-wide.
At Envonics, we are taking part in this Food-Ag revolution to bring in a change, our mission is to facilitate global food production by the means of Controlled Environment Agriculture. We strongly believe that locally grown produce can be accessible to everyone in the near future, providing higher quality produce that is free from any pesticides and insecticides. Our vision is to see locally grown fresh produce being accessible to each and every demographic globally. We support locally grown produce. We request everyone to support local businesses, help them sustain their operations for fresh and pesticide-free produce.
Eat Fresh, Live Healthy, Live Longer
-Kumar Nikkhil Raj
Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions, we can be reached at info@envonics.com. Always happy to connect with like-minded individuals and learn from their experiences. Follow us on our Social Media platforms @envonics for growing tips and to learn about our journey and operations. If you have any comments on the article, you can reach out to me personally at kumar@envonics.com