Sunday Recap: Expansions, New Funding & A Christmas Miracle

Discover every Sunday a complete wrap-up of the week in the indoor farming sector.

December 18, 2022

This edition is sponsored by AgriHub & AmplifiedAg.

This Week’s Editorial

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This Week in Indoor Farming

Farm.One, after a failed crowdfunding effort in the first half of 2022, the New York City-based indoor vertical farm reported that they had been successful in finding an investor to support their expansion.

The firm, which was founded with the intention of supplying high-end restaurants in New York City with vertically grown greens, had to change its plans during the pandemic since the succession of lockdowns drove most of its professional clients to change their plans as well. Since the epidemic, the business has switched to a subscription model where clients may get local greens (and other speciality crops) delivered to their doorsteps anywhere in the city. The firm tried to raise money to support its expansion but was unsuccessful, forcing it to close its farms until, according to the company, an investor agreed to provide it the money it needed to carry out its objectives.

The company is now planning to begin its first harvests in early 2023 after having fixed up the farm building on Bergen street and adding more production capacity.

Vertical Future has entered into a collaboration with Vertical Farm Systems (VFS) the company announced, a new company established to work on the Singapore Advanced Vertical Farming (SAVE) project. The project was funded by both Innovate UK and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) to broaden research and development (R&D) ties between the two nations. Two farms in two distinct climates will test and implement the new, fully integrated system. One is at Vertical Future’s R&D facility in London, while the other is at HSL’s “AgriHub” in Singapore, where the two parties have already agreed to construct a farm that will be used for commercial production. The UK team will concentrate on nutrient consumption and absorption throughout the early stages of system development before integrating with Vertical Future’s current systems, at which point parallel experiments will continue with the Singapore team.

The crops in scope for the project will be ‘full sized’ Spinach, Pak Choi, Bayum, Basil, Coriander, and Shiso, representing crop types popular in Singapore. The non-indigenous varieties, such as Basil, are currently imported from Europe, and the others are imported from surrounding countries such as Vietnam. The project will be key to hastening the deployment of vertical farming systems in Asia and help to drive sustainable food production globally.

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Winter Farm, the Quebec-based company whose aim is to replace 10% of Canada’s strawberry imports, announced that it has raised $46 million in a funding round that has seen the participation of the Quebec Government and Investissement Québec, and the addition of new investors (Desjardins, Farm Credit Canada, Financière Agricole du Québec, and Capital Financière Agricole Inc., as well as two private partners). The Vaudreuil site will ensure that nearly one million kilograms of succulent Fraise d’hiver strawberries will reach the market each year. In the coming months, six 600 m2 vertical farms will be added to two existing farms already in operation. These installations will use 20 to 25 times less space compared to open field production and generate minimal greenhouse gases.

Other News

Articles To Read

Vertical farming consolidation: the advantages and challenges | Forward Fooding Article. Read more here.

Are DFIs on track to catalyze investments in African agriculture? | AgFunder News. Read more here.

‘Making Global Food Local’ | Q&A With Crop One CEO Craig Ratajczyk By Indoor Ag-Con. Read more here.

Meet the Two Biggest Enemies of Indoor Farming | The Food Institute. Read more here.

Food startups Aleph Farms and Iron Ox grow from net zero roots | Greenbiz.com. Read more here.

Events To Attend

Environmental Sustainability of Commercial Urban Farms | An FAO Event. Read more here.

Future Food Summit in Malaysia: Closing The Food Gap. Read more here.

Indoor Ag Con Returns February 27-28 For Its 10th Edition. Read more here.

India International Horticulture Expo | Read more here.

The Global Community for Agtech and Foodtech Innovators | Read more here.

Podcasts/ YouTube Videos

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