Philadelphia Aims To Become International Hub For Indoor Farming

KYW-TV ^ | April 28, 2016 | Stephanie Stahl

[2ndDivisionVet]

On the CBS3 health watch, its vertical farming. Philadelphia aims to become an international hub for indoor growing, according to a resolution passed today by city council.

When growing produce we usually think of acres of farmland. Some say the next generation of farming will be in urban centers like Philadelphia, and you won’t need soil or the sun, just an old warehouse.

Welcome to vertical farming, where produce is grown inside, in specialized shelves that are stacked up vertically....

[FatherofFive]

I've seen many articles on this concept. LED lighting uses less energy and creates less heat. Plants can grow 22 hrs a day (plants seem to need sleep as well)which increases yields and reduces time to maturity. Plants are fed nutrients in recycled water, and monitoring keeps the nutrient at the proper levels. No need for pesticides. And, shipping costs are eliminated, other than local.

Cost is still the issue. Some crops - like corn and potatoes - are still best done outside. (But don't eat corn!)

Could be a great source of fresh, local food. And jobs. Just make sure no government subsidies are used.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

[showme_the_Glory]

What about all the energy burned for the grow-lights? How dare they not use the sun.

[alloysteel]

Indoor farming, or urban farming, is just an extension of current methods of marijuana culture applied to other, lower-value crops.

We already know the techniques. When land is too valuable for farming and the transportation costs are too high for efficient delivery from distant points, these methods finally become viable with cost/benefit ratios that are today, not particularly favorable.

Use of ambient solar energy, plus some really low-energy-consumption, high-output lighting (even more efficient than LED lighting) will be part of the key. As long as relatively cheap energy is still widely available, there is no incentive.

[dfwgator]

[USMCPOP]

No pesticides? Ask any greenhouse grower about insects and fungi.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Conventional greenhouses aren’t normally hydroponic.

[Stand Watch Listen]

Grow lights are now LED, at a small fraction of electric use versus the old halogen/incadescent lights.
Aquaponics sets forth much larger yields.
I can discern a good profit.

[RegulatorCountry]

Hydroponic operations produce some beautiful vegetables, but the flavor is notably lacking, for whatever reason. That reason needs to be determined and addressed. I believe it’s the lack of soil.

[digger48]

Hydroponic tomato farming was the rage in my area 20-25 years ago. People lost their butts when shoppers found those pretty, consistent sized ‘maters have all the taste of wet paper

[T-Bone Texan]

Then you have lived a charmed and blessed life.

I’ve only been able to read about those heady days!

[T-Bone Texan]

The lack of flavor, I was told, is due to the nutrients being processed chemicals as opposed to the chemicals that naturally occur in soil.

Plus, soil contains a lot of beneficial bacteria. A hydro setup seeks to prevent bacteria from getting a foothold in the system, as it could easily overbred in that great environment.

[Mrs. Don-o]

All farms are "unnatural" in the sense that they deviate from wilderness.. God does not plow, harrow, set up monocultures (only one species on a given tract of land), plant seeds in drills, thin, weed, irrigate via pipes or aqueducts or spraying or drip-irrigation through plastic tubes, or eliminate parasites, insect infestations or predators.

Humans do all of these "unnatural" practices: we were given the managerial-operator job in Genesis to "tend the Garden and keep it." (Another translation: Genesis 2:15 - "The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.")

What these indoor farmers are doing is just an extension of that, and a brilliant one.

I think they are fulfilling the Commandment to "Feed the hungry." and the Commandment to "tend the garden and keep it."

[T-Bone Texan]

Advances in LED grow light technology have accelerated in the last 3 years.

The defect is that they are making them that are very powerful and use a lot of current; they can and do get hot enough to burn plants.

Also, this industry is heavily focused on pot growers. The LEDs they use tend to be narrow beams and must be raised so as to get a good spread. Folks think they can put LEDs right up against the plants without harm; this is not always true.

[Hostage]

This actually is a development that could be a game changer especially with the robotics coming out of Boston Dynamics and Rethink Robotics, also from Boston. LED technologies also play out in this to get the cost factor for indoor lighting down.

I hope to see this accelerated under a Trump Administration as it will counter any arguments for needing farmworkers from south of the border.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I read something about this being done in Israel.

• Much more productivity per horticultural worker,
• drove the prices down,
• unmatched, high-quality produce,
• profitable just-in-time marketing that
• reduces waste and
• equalizes income across the whole 12 month continuous growing/harvesting season,
• no crop loss due to adverse weather,
• very efficient use of water
• little or no pesticides and
• virtually ZERO risk of food contamination during the growing/handling process.

Personally, I see no downside. Employees love it (much safer, more pleasant job than outdoor field-hand work, and significantly higher wages), investors love it (eliminates many of the risks of agricultural investment), consumers love it, and God in His heavens is, I think, tickled pink.

[Mrs. Don-o]

The Israelis are doing it profitably-— even more profitably than field-agriculture, because of the very efficient use of water, and the elimination of waste, which otherwise typically accounts for 1/3 of the crop from field to consumer.

[GOPJ]

That's totally believable... but I suspect the group in Philadelphia might not be up to Israeli standards...

Then again, if they are it would be wonderful... Nice opportunity for the city and for ‘farm to table’ restaurants and markets.

Thanks for sharing.

[rdcbn]

Was at a presentation at the Agriculture Dept of our local university

Turns out sealed environment farming is an emerging trend in the aggy industry.

It has its roots in “urban agriculture” to mitigate the lack of fresh veggys in inner cities and to cultivate Michelle Obama’s urban food deserts. From there, it has taken on a life of its own

The concept has merit but is very capitol and energy intensive.

Its also a heck of a lot of fun to discuss with the PC crowd who are pushing the concepts for the simple reason that it is a very viable technology capable of solving many of the worlds sustainability concerns, but its implementation requires everything the PC crowd opposes.

Things like huge supplies of clean energy which can only be provided with nuclear and fossil fuel power plants and , ironically, it also requires a steady supply of carbon dioxide gas to provide for optimum rates of photosynthesis.

Turns out that optimum conditions for photosynthesis and resulting plant growth require significantly elevated temperatures and very significantly elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide gas.

A large scale facility capable of providing food to large, dense urban populations requires a pretty impressive carbon dioxide separation/generation plant to supply the higher atmospheric carbon dioxide levels needed to generate the accelerated rates of plant growth and replenish the accelerated carbon dioxide depletion rates from the massive levels of carbon dioxide consumed by the combined effects of high density agriculture and accelerated rates plant growth fueled by the extended periods of lighting, higher temperature and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide level environment

The technical discussion on how ready supply of inexpensive energy, higher temperatures and elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide were the ultimate solution to the worlds food and water needs was both fascinating and rewarding

The acknowledgment by the Dean of the Agriculture department that a ready supply of carbon dioxide was potentially a vital and precious commodity needed to solve the worlds future hunger problems was a satisfying product of the give and take of said technical discussion

This observation was not as highly appreciated by many of the subsequent presenters who were presenting on their research into dangers of anthropogenic global warming due to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. :-)

All in all, a very enjoyable evening

[USMCPOP]

Conventional greenhouses aren’t normally hydroponic. No, but they generally use sterilized growing media and whatnot. Critters like white files and spider mites seem to have a way of showing up and they love the indoor environment. Been a long time since I took greenhouse production in college. Back then, we had to grow weed out in the woods. :)