\nGreen State column<\/a>, I wrote about Agriculture 2.0. The conference, held in
\nSilicon Valley recently, brought together venture capitalists and
\nsustainable ag startups in an effort to jump start a market for the regional
\ndistribution of fresh food.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This week I take a closer look at some of the companies that
\ntried to catch the ear and checkbooks of the high-profile investors who packed
\nthat confab at the Four Seasons in Palo Alto.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One of the more intriguing ideas came from startups thinking
\noutside the agribusiness box by developing urban farms in a box. Literally.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Take AeroFarms<\/a>. The <\/p>\n “This puts buildings back into play with a technology that <\/p>\n Here’s how it works: Leafy greens—say, arugula or lettuce—are planted in a cloth bed and irrigated with a nutrient-infused mist that is <\/p>\n (A video of AeroFarms vertical farming system can be found here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Harwood said AeroFarms is about to sign its first order—a deal <\/p>\n Verdant Earth <\/p>\n Racks of vegetables or herbs would be stacked inside the shipping <\/p>\n “We control the humidity ratio inside the container, the <\/p>\n A centralized system can control multiple containers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “The only labor involved is seed and harvest,” said <\/p>\n San Francisco’s Cityscape <\/p>\n “We see a lot of under-utilized space in the urban <\/p>\n To do that, Cityscape is developing an aquaponics<\/a> system that <\/p>\n “Over the next two years the plan is to roll out two <\/p>\n Cityscape’s business model is to earn revenues from the <\/p>\n Now’s the part of this column where we offer a reality check. <\/p>\n Courtesy of Cityscape Farms<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are plenty of hurdles to overcome. Cityscape, for instance, faces <\/p>\n And there’s no guarantee that food grown locally will be <\/p>\n That said, what’s striking is the conceptual breakthrough <\/p>\n In closing his pitch, Yohay appealed to the sleek-suited <\/p>\n “This is about a lot more than earning a return on your Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n The secret mall gardens of Cleveland<\/a><\/p>\n Garden Girl TV: Healthy soil equals healthy plants and people<\/a><\/p>\n
\nNew York company builds aeroponic<\/a> farms that fit inside containers—soil and sun not required. The containers, which can be
\nstacked on top of each other in warehouses and old buildings, have the potential to transform blocks of abandoned structures in places like Detroit or Newark
\ninto agri-lofts tended by urban farmers.<\/p>\n
\nwould do something productive and employ people,” Ed Harwood, AeroFarms’
\nfounder and chief executive, told prospective investors at the conference.<\/p>\n
\napplied directly to the plants. Light is provided by LED lamps, which are more
\nenergy efficient than conventional lighting and can be placed closer to the
\nbeds. The LED lamps also provide pest control, says Harwood, because they can be set to emit certain wavelengths that disrupt insects’
\nbreeding.<\/p>\n
\nworth between $1.5 million and $2 million. The startup has raised $500,000 from the
\ninvestors 21 Ventures and the Quercus Trust.<\/p>\n
\nTechnologies<\/a>, meanwhile, wants to recycle all those shipping containers currently used
\nby industrial agricultural to ship produce from continent to continent and turn them into seedbeds for a local food production system.<\/p>\n
\ncontainers. Josh Hottenstein, co-founder and chief executive of the Tucson,
\nAriz., startup, says one standard container can grow the equivalent of
\nan acre’s worth of crops.<\/p>\n
\ntemperature, the air flow, the wavelength of the light, and alter how the plants
\ngrow,” he told investors at the conference. “We’re capable of increasing the
\nuniformity of the crop when it comes out and the plants are ready for market.”<\/p>\n
\nHottenstein, whose company, which was spun out of the University of Arizona, is
\nlooking to raise a relatively paltry $750,000 to get its product to market.<\/p>\n
\nFarms<\/a> stressed its thrift as well, with chief executive Mike Yohay making a
\npitch for $200,000 to build Cityscape’s first two rooftop farms. (That’s on top of
\n$300,000 that Yohay says the U.S. Department of Agriculture has already granted the
\ncompany.)<\/p>\n
\nlandscape, such as vacant lots and rooftops,” said Yohay. “Our vision is to
\ntransform cities into net food producers.”<\/p>\n
\ncombines aquaculture and hydroponics. Tilapia are raised in fish tanks and the
\nfiltered fish waste provides the fertilizer for growing organic crops in
\ngreenhouses. The water is then cleaned and recycled back into the fish tanks to
\ncomplete the loop.<\/p>\n
\nquarter-acre greenhouse farms to grow high-value crops—lettuces, herbs,
\ntomatoes and tilapia, strawberries,” said Yohay. “Our target market includes
\n100 restaurants and 50 supermarkets committed to local sourcing.”<\/p>\n
\ncrops it grows in the Bay Area as well as from the fees it will charge to franchise rooftop
\nsystems and provide technical support.<\/p>\n
\nThese companies are, to varying degrees, in the early stages of development.
\nWhether their technology will work as anticipated and whether a market will materialize
\nremains to be seen. And most importantly, only time will tell if these
\ntechnologies can be scaled up to provide a credible challenge to industrial ag.<\/p>\n
\na potential bureaucratic nightmare in getting permission to build fish farms
\nand greenhouses on urban rooftops. (“It
\nkeeps me up at night,” Yohay said. “The building codes have not kept up with
\nurban agriculture.”)<\/p>\n
\nconsumed locally. (Though that’s a good bet in places like the Bay Area, with
\nits scores of farmers markets. I can’t imagine Cityscape would have trouble
\nselling its produce in my home base of Berkeley, with its three organic farmers
\nmarkets a week.)<\/p>\n
\nthe startups represent. These entrepreneurs are not hippies, but they carry a
\nsubversive message when it comes to food production—one that, judging by the interest ofsome of
\nSilicon Valley’s most prominent VC firms, is resonating with investors.<\/p>\n
\ncrowd’s desire to do good by doing well.<\/p>\n
\ninvestment,” he said. “It’s about co-creating a model of food production that
\nreally reverses the historical damage agriculture has done to our planet. This
\nis about feeding our increasing urban population nutritious, accessible food
\nand connecting them to the source of that food like never before.”<\/p>\n