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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Modern Farmer

Princeton Vertical Farming Project Closes Its Doors

The Princeton Vertical Farming Project (PVFP) has shuttered its main farm following the departure of its founder, according to The Daily Princetonian.

The vertical farming initiative was founded in 2017 by Paul P.G. Gauthier, then an associate research scholar in plant physiology and environmental plant metabolism at the Princeton. The goal of the project, which included student collaborators and backing from the university’s Office of Sustainability, has been to research best practices for growing plants on vertical farms, including how plant growth is influenced by water, nutrients, and environmental surroundings. The project has also conducted numerous experiments that included an on-campus food hub, where students were asked to taste test greens grown in the vertical farms.

When I spoke to Gauthier in January of this year, he emphasized how much more the $13 billion vertical farming market needs to rely on data in order to expand. “I just wanted to study and provide data,” he said at the time. “Yes, we’re putting [farms] indoors. We never talk about where the waste water is going, how we get the water. Is it really worth it?”

To answer questions like that, Gauthier suggested an open-source model for vertical farming, where data about farming operations could be turned into a framework for other projects, companies and farms. In January, he said he would like to see PVFP provide such a model to the larger vertical farming industry.

The vertical farming makes a lot of headlines for funding news these days, from AeroFarms recent $100 million Series E round to Intelligent Growth System’s £5.4 million Series A round for its so-called plug-and-play system that automates most of the farming.

But as Gauthier suggested when we spoke in January, for every six-digit success story out there, there are dozens of failed initiatives and startups that have to close their doors due to operational costs, failure to break even, or even simply trying to scale too high too soon. We need more data on those stories to better understand what is and isn’t working in vertical farming, where it will be most useful in the future of agriculture, and how big that role will be.

Gauthier has moved on to a new position as Professor of Plant Science at Delaware Valley University in June. He told The Daily Princetonian that he hopes to reproduce the vertical farm model he developed at Princeton on a larger scale, so hopefully he will continue to tackle some of those bigger issues in vertical farming. He said he doesn’t rule out reviving PVFP at some point in the future if demand warrants it.

A PVFP offshoot at Forbes College was launched in 2018 and will continue operations.

MetoMotion Raises $1.5M Seed Round for Its Greenhouse Robotics Worker

Israel-based MetoMotion announced today it has raised a $1.5 million seed round for its multipurpose robotics system called GRoW (Greenhouse Robotics Worker) (via AgFunder).

There aren’t a lot of details on specifics of the funding round. According to AgFunder, the team behind GRoW has only said that “a leading Netherlands-based company in the greenhouse industry” led the round. This brings MetoMotion’s total funding to date to $2.7 million.

Even if GRoW’s investors are mysterious, its overall purpose in making indoor agriculture more efficient is obvious. According to the MetoMotion site, GRoW is a robotic worker that can perform labor-intensive tasks in the greenhouse, like harvesting. The fully automated vehicle uses a combination of 3D vision systems and machine vision algorithms to identify and locate produce that’s ready for picking (its first crop is greenhouse tomatoes). Custom-designed robotic arms then pick the produce, and a proprietary harvesting end-effector protects against damage to fruits during the harvesting process.

The vehicle is also capable of a number of other functions, like pruning, monitoring, and even pollinating crops. According to the MetoMotion website, GRoW can save up to 50 percent in harvest-related costs.

Expectations around the promise of indoor farming are ramping up right now as farmers, governments, and industries alike are looking at alternative methods to supplement traditional agriculture. At the same time, there’s a major shortage of skilled labor for greenhouses. Therefore it’s not surprising that MetoMotion has some friendly competition in the greenhouse robotics space. A company called iUnu makes Luna, a robot that uses cameras, sensors, and computer vision to scoot about the greenhouse and monitor crop welfare. Cambridge Consultants, meanwhile, has a robot called Hank that uses a sensory system embedded into pneumatic fingers to mimic human hands, which makes it ideal for harvesting delicate fruits and veggies.

Since details of MetoMotion’s seed round are scant, we’re not yet sure what the company will put the money towards, or when we can expect to see GRoW distributed. Israel-based Trendlines, MetoMotion’s parent company, says a fully functional version of GRoW has been successfully alpha tested in a greenhouse setting.

Applications Are Now Open for AgFunder’s Singapore Agri Tech Accelerator Program

Calling all agricultural-focused startups. This week, agri tech VC firm AgFunder announced its forthcoming startup accelerator, GROW, is now accepting applications.

GROW is a joint venture between AgFunder and agrifood accelerator Rocket Seeder, and includes backing from the Singapore government through Enterprise Singapore and the Economic Development Bank. The program will work with early-stage startups in the agri tech space to help them fine-tune their business models, identify target audiences, and prepare to get further funding.

Though based in Singapore, the program encourages startups from around the world to apply. According to an AgFunder blog post, those chosen to participate will receive up-to $120,000 in equity funding, $80,000 in-kind benefits, coaching and mentorship sessions, and access to “experts, test labs and deep-tech expertise in GROW research partners.”

Participants are expected to be in Singapore for part but not all of the duration of the three-month program, which kicks off in September. According to GROW’s FAQ page, those who complete the program will also become eligible for the accelerator’s +3 GROW program, which includes an additional three months in the GROW coworking space in Singapore along with extra coaching during that time.

AgFunder’s current portfolio includes companies that cover a range of different technology solutions both on the farm and in the food supply chain. Trace Genomics, for example, uses a proprietary analytics engine to help farmers track soil health. ImpactVision’s technology assesses food quality and safety through hyperspectral imaging. Aerobotics uses satellites and drones for pest-control on the farm.

As to why Singapore is the chosen location for the accelerator, part of the reason is that agri tech in that country is still fairly nascent and therefore needs more investment. Quoting Openspace Ventures’ Nicole Tee, the AgFunder blog post noted that, “it’s still early days for agtech in the region and so creating an active ecosystem was important to drive further investment and create ‘credible players in the global markets.'”

Of late, Singapore has received much attention for its role in developing cultured meat, as well as its recent $535 million investment to boost R&D in areas like robotics, AI, and sustainable urban food production. And other accelerator programs already have a presence in Singapore, including HATCH’s aquaculture program and Big Idea Ventures, who’s mainly tackling alternative proteins right now.

According to AgFunder, GROW is the first agri tech-specific startup accelerator to be based in Singapore. Applications close on August 19.

Dairy Farmers of America’s Accelerator Program Looks to Advance Tech Innovation on the Farm

As more and more startup accelerators enter the food tech space, one trend on the rise is larger entities building out programs to keep a pulse on innovation. Several major CPGs already have programs in full swing around the world, and now, other organizations are starting to develop their own takes on the accelerator model.

One such organization is the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA). Started in 1998, the cooperative of family farmers now has 13,000 members from dairy farms across the country and works with some of the world’s largest food producers besides manufacturing its own brands.

It’s also home to a relatively new accelerator program that gives startups an entry point into the dairy industry and at the same time looks to bring more tech to the farm to help production, animal health, and safety, and other elements. And, of course, it’s a way for the DFA to connect with younger companies pushing newer, tech-driven ideas to the agricultural industry.

That’s especially important right now, as the U.S. dairy industry as a whole has seen a significant drop in numbers of late. The USDA reported that more than 2,700 dairy farms closed in 2018 in the U.S. The reasons for these closures are legion, politically complex, and partly based on changing consumer demands. Tech may not be able to solve all of them, but bringing more innovation to the farm could help with labor costs and shortages, product diversification, and measures to make farms more productive.

Speaking of DFA’s inspiration behind starting an accelerator, the program’s Director of Innovation, Doug Dresslaer, told me, “[We] needed a way to partner with someone who could [get us] on the right path and get in front of some new technologies.”

The program focuses on two areas, agtech and dairy food products, and on finding companies innovating in those realms. For example, ripe.io, who uses blockchain to improve supply chain transparency, was a member of the 2018 cohort. My Dairy Dashboard, one of the members of the original cohort, makes a cloud-based data analytics solution for dairy producers and their advisors.

The accelerator takes around six or seven companies per cohort, according to Dresslaer. The program itself is a combination of onsite meetings and virtual programming. Of the 90 days that make up the duration of the program, participants will usually spend four weeks of that time onsite in Kansas City (where DFA is headquartered), meeting with mentors and industry figures and attending sessions around business development, product development, marketing, and other aspects of startup growth. While there’s no requirement for companies to relocate fully to Kansas City, Justin McCarthy, a Public Relations Manager at DFA, says many of them hire locally anyway, to have a presence near headquarters.

As far as the types of companies DFA chooses for the program, it’s based largely on how their innovations can improve processes, reduce margins, and improve overall productivity on the farm. While McCarthy noted that DFA is staying current with topics like plant-based dairy, right now, the focus is more on helping the farmers through tech.

To that end, the 2019 cohort featured a mix of sustainability, like Bezoar Laboratories’ patent-pending probiotic for cattle that reduces methane production, and technology, such as Labby’s AI-powered smartphone app that tests milk onsite to save farmers the time and money from sending samples to the lab. The 2029 class also included a few smaller CPG companies making dairy-based goods and snacks.

McCarthy notes that on the farm, especially, adoption of tech is increasing. “Most farmers are very receptive to new tech developments,” he said, adding that nowadays farms are being passed down to younger millennial generations who “understand creativity in technology” and are “much more willing to entertain” conversations about adding tech to the dairy farming process.

Larger organizations may be getting into the accelerator game, but the dairy industry itself doesn’t have a huge presence there yet other than Land O’ Lakes’ program, which is currently on hiatus according to a recent email sent to The Spoon.

For its program, DFA typically looks at companies with a product already in market or, in the case of hardware offerings, close to manufacturing stage. Unlike many accelerators, there’s no hard stop for applications, which are instead accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year. And while they’ve yet to announce dates for the 2020 cohort, the program typically runs in springtime.

But as Dresslaer noted, the program itself is really just a jumping-off point to a longer-term relationship between DFA and the participants. “The goal of this type of program is that we only take companies that we see long-term relationships being built with them,” he explained. “We really want to help them and partner with them in some way.”

Vertical Farming Heavyweight AeroFarms Raises $100M in Fresh Funding

Vertical farming startup AeroFarms has raised a $100 million Series E round to expand its warehouse facilities that hold massive indoor farms, and explore new types of produce it can grow in those facilities, according to The Financial Times. The round was led by Ingka Group (IKEA’s parent comany), with participation from existing investors Wheatsheaf and ADM Capital as well as Mission Point Capital, GSR Ventures, and AllianceBernstein. The round brings AeroFarms total funding to $238 million.

The company previously worked with IKEA Group, as well as Momofuku Group’s David Chang, to close a $40 million Series D round in 2017. And in 2019 alone, AeroFarms has doubled down on its efforts to spread the use of vertical farming, including closing a partnership with Singapore Airlines to provide fresh greens in flight and landing on FastCompany’s 2019 Most Innovative Companies list.

AeroFarms is also part of a group called the Precision Indoor Plants Consortium, which is working to develop crops specifically meant for indoor growing. The group focuses on optimizing flavor and other elements about the plants themselves, rather than the hardware or software used to grow them.

But with a vertical farming market predicted to grow to 9.96 billion worldwide by 2025, AeroFarms isn’t the only one looking to move beyond leafy greens. In June, Plenty, who previously received a $200 million investment from Softbank, announced it too was looking to add things like strawberries, tomatoes, and potentially more exotic plants to its grow systems. Freight Farms, whose Leafy Green Machine has helped pioneer the concept of farming in a shipping container, also went into detail earlier this year about how it’s rearchitecting its own farming concept to in part accommodate growing a bigger variety of crops.

Will we see carrots and root vegetables making their way to shipping containers and warehouses in the near future? Probably not right away, as it’s expensive and complex from both a space and cost perspective to grow these heartier crop varieties. But the level of interest AeroFarms, Plenty, and others now express in growing more than just kale suggests we’re well on our way to that point. A hefty investment doesn’t hurt, either.

Verdeat Is Launching a Kickstarter for Its Hydroponic Garden System For the Home

Poznań, Poland-based company Verdeat announced this week it will launch a Kickstarter campaign in July for its modular vertical farm meant to fit inside apartments, offices, and other non-commercial spaces.

Like other indoor hydroponic grow systems, Verdeat is able to cultivate most plants without the use of soil, though unlike a lot of systems, the 35 cm cylindrical device will still accommodate soil in certain configurations. The modular trays that come with the device can be switched out based on what you’re trying to grow, whether seeds and sprouts, which get planted in a substrate (like coconut fiber), or a potted basil plant you nabbed at the grocery store.

The entire system is controlled by a smartphone app that takes the majority of the guesswork out of the growing process, from knowing how much water to give each type of plant to how to adjust the LEDs to produce the right amount of sun-like light. The user simply fills the grow tray, adds some nutrients, and starts the app, which, according to an email from Verdeat, can run the farm more or less autonomously, only requiring the user to add nutrients every one to three weeks depending on the plants. The company also claims that plants in the Verdeat system grow faster and ripen 40 percent sooner than traditionally grown herbs and vegetables. At the moment, Verdeat’s system can grow the usual selection of herbs and leafy greens found in most vertical farms, as well as strawberries, peppers, blueberries, and other fruits.

Once the Kickstarter campaign launches, backers will be able to choose from a small, medium, or large device, depending on their individual space requirements. Remember earlier this year when The Spoon looked at vertical farms that would fit into closet-sized apartments? Verdeat definitely fits that criteria. It’s also reminiscent of the self-watering, hydroponic farm-in-a-pillar Zooey Deschanel is currently selling via her startup Lettuce Grow, and of Seedo, whose self-contained, airtight farm looks like a mini fridge.

In fact, with the vertical farming market expected to be worth $9.96 billion by 2025, we’ll see many more of these at-home versions of the vertical farm surfacing alongside more industrial-sized, hyper-automated counterparts.

How Verdeat fares amid all this competition will depend largely on some factors the company hasn’t yet released, including the cost of each device unit, how widely available it will be (it’s manufactured in the EU), and how long backers will have to wait before they can actually get their hands on the device and start growing. If they get their hands on it: As we’ve seen with other crowdfunded hardware projects, there is always the possibility that the product might not make it to market as promised. But perhaps manufacturing right there in the EU, will make it easier for Verdeat to keep tabs on the process and avoid those pitfalls.

The Kickstarter campaign will launch at the very beginning of July.

Plenty’s New Vertical Farm Wants to Put Exotic Produce in Your Grocery Store

San Francisco-based vertical farming startup Plenty today unveiled some first glimpses of its new farm, Tigris.

According to a press release, the farm will focus on enhancing the flavor of crops as well as widening the variety of fruits and vegetables it and most other vertical farms currently produce.

That includes adding not just strawberries and tomatoes to the mix, but also foods that aren’t necessarily standards in the average American grocery store. “There are 70,000 edible fruit and vegetable varieties in the world, and because of the challenges of growing outdoors and putting food on trucks, we’ve been relegated to eat the few dozen that we find at the grocery store,” Plenty cofounder and chief science officer Nate Storey said in the release.

While Plenty didn’t name specifics, there’s plenty of produce that rarely reaches U.S. shores either because of regulations around potential pests or simply the wear and tear travel puts on the foods.

Plenty will probably not be growing cucamelon or cloud berries any time soon, but Storey’s comment does highlight that potential role for vertical farms.

That said, right now the company is still focused on leafy greens and creating the perfect “recipe” — that is, nutrients, climate, and water usage — to enhance flavor. Plenty currently grows and sells things like kale, beet leaves, arugula, and fennel.

The company nabbed a $200 million Series B investment in 2017 from the likes of Softbank CEO, Masayoshi Son, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Plenty’s current total funding as of this writing is $226 million.

In 2018, Plenty had announced it was building 300 vertical farms across China, where the market for vertical farming is significantly increasing.

Tigris, meanwhile, is currently undergoing its food-safety certification. Currently, customers can buy Plenty greens in San Francisco at a number of local stores, as well as online at Good Eggs. Plenty says Tigris greens will become more widely available later this year.

Intelligent Growth Solutions Raises £5.4M Series A Round for its Automated Vertical Farm

Dundee, Scotland-based vertical farming system Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) announced today it has raised a £5.4 million Series A funding round led by U.S.-based S2G Ventures, with participation from online venture capital firm AgFunder and the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB). The round accounts for IGS’ total funding to date.

As do an increasing number of vertical farming systems on the market today, IGS’ platform is a so-called plug-and-play system, meaning the user interfaces with software which automates much of the grow process for a variety of crops. (Admittedly, it’s still mostly leafy greens at this point.) IGS’ patented, IoT-enabled system includes dynamic LEDs that can automatically adjust themselves to suit crop needs, trays that are loaded and moved by machines, and the ability to water and monitor crops via software — all with the press of a button.

Here’s the farm in action:

Explore IGS' automated vertical farming system

The farm, which is located just outside the coastal city of Dundee, is Scotland’s first vertical farm in operation. According to the press release, the new funds will go towards creating more jobs at IGS in areas like software development, robotics, engineering, and automation. Some of the funds will also go towards product development and marketing.

Many companies are currently bringing versions of the automated vertical farm to the fold. Earlier this year an Australian agtech company simply called Vertical Farming Systems raised $1 million for its automated indoor farm system. Liberty Produce, based in the U.K., has a “one-stop-shop” vertical farm which anyone can operate, even those without a technical or agricultural background.

And that’s part of what’s at the center of these automated farming systems. By making it easier to plant, monitor, and harvest crops, vertical farming companies around the world are hoping to take some of the guesswork out of the process and in turn deliver more consistent crop yields and higher-quality greens, saving on time and labor costs in the process. Because of current limitations around scalability and the kinds of crops farmers can grow at scale, vertical farming won’t replace traditional agriculture anytime soon, but automated farms like those from IGS will play an important role in the future of farming, and we’ll see a lot more systems like this in the near future.

To Infinite Acres and Beyond: Ocado Moves Into Indoor Farming, Robots Invade the Grocery Aisles

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While there are still plenty of questions around what exactly the future of indoor and alternative farming systems looks like, most will agree that tech will play a big role, as more companies look to tools like AI, predictive analytics, and other such programs to power their farms.

This is perhaps one reason UK-based tech company Ocado has decided to get in on indoor farming.

The company, known for its robot-powered grocery tech, joined existing indoor farming companies 80 Acres and Priva in announcing a new “turnkey” solution for indoor farming that will not only streamline much of the growing process through technology, but also leverage things like AI, automation and predictive analytics — tools Ocado employs regularly in its work with companies like Kroger. Together, the three have formed a new company, Infinite Acres, which looks to grow produce 24-7 in densely populated areas.

The idea is to get greens and other produce, like strawberries and bell peppers, to the store or the customer’s home the same day they are harvested. In that way, it makes sense to design indoor farms to live within cities, and Ocado has even said it eventually wants to co-locate these farms next to or near its customer fulfillment centers.

Ocado is known for its robot-powered smart warehouses, so will there be bots scurrying about between those rows of leafy greens? There’s no official word yet that will happen, but one can easily imagine a scenario where robots assist with harvesting the produce, then carry it to a nearby fulfillment center for packing and delivery.

Robo-Backlash Arrives at the Grocery Store
Robots in the workplace, though, have their downsides, and we saw a less enthusiastic response to them this week in a couple places.

As my colleague Chris Albrecht wrote yesterday, both Walmart and Ahold Delhaize have expanded their use of robots in stores. Unfortunately, not everyone loves the idea of encountering a bot in the cereal aisle. As Chris noted, at least initially, “the theory of robots being efficient helpers is running into some harsh realities.” Those include robots breaking down, robots freaking out customers, and in general making human employees feel more robotic than ever.

But are all these issues short term? “Some of these potential missteps in implementing robots could be because we are still in version 1.0 of this automation experiment, and there seems to be a mismatch between the customer expectations, robot design, and the tasks being handed over to robots,” Chris wrote. In theory, at least, those things might become non-issues when version 2.0 of these bots rolls around.

DoorDash Continues Its North American Takeover
Meanwhile, the onetime dark horse of third-party delivery, DoorDash, has expanded again, this time via the great bastion of suburban casual dining, Chili’s.

The two companies announced this morning they’ve inked an exclusive partnership to deliver Chili’s meals across the U.S. But it would seem that Chili’s decision to go with DoorDash (over, say Grubhub or Uber Eats) has less to do with suburbia and more to do with technology and DoorDash’s ability to seamlessly integrate its system with Chili’s existing POS, thus causing as little disruption as possible to existing operations.

As I wrote earlier today, “This ability to integrate almost seamlessly into existing restaurant systems may be key for third-party services in future as they rush to gain and retain customers.”

Whether that’s enough to help DoorDash grab the top spot in the third-party delivery market remains to be seen. And even if it were to, other events this week suggest there may soon be a new player in town that U.S. third-party delivery services have to contend with. This week, Amazon announced it’s closing down its Amazon Restaurants business — but that doesn’t mean the tech behemoth is washing its hands of the restaurant delivery game. Instead, it seems Amazon was at the same time part of a massive fundraise by UK-based Deliveroo. Which means Amazon may have shuttered its in-house restaurant-delivery business to focus time and money on expanding Deliveroo’s presence to this side of the Atlantic. It would also make an already competitive food-delivery market hotter than a basket of jalapeño-topped nachos from Chili’s.

Stay tuned,

Jenn

Ocado Makes a Step Beyond Groceries With Two New Indoor Farming Ventures

Ocado has thus far made a name for itself in the world of online grocery delivery and fulfillment, but new moves see the company stepping out of the supermarket and into the farm — the indoor farm, to be exact.

One such move is Ocado’s announcement that it will partner with Dutch firm Priva and U.S.-based 80 Acres to create a new vertical farming company called Infinite Acres.

According to a press release, Infinite Acres will create a turn-key indoor farming solution meant to grow year-round produce close to densely populated urban areas. The idea is in keeping with many indoor and/or vertical farming initiatives out there now: get greens to the grocery store on the same day they’re harvested.

The company will design and install fully automated farms with custom LEDs, finely tuned climate controls, and other software tools that match clients’ specific needs around things like location and crop selection. Additionally, 80 Acres Farms will send its own growers to operate the farm, from managing the tech platform to harvesting the actual food.

80 Acres already offers an automated indoor farming platform to U.S. farmers, while Priva makes hardware and software tools aimed at better indoor climate control, water conservation, and energy savings.

Where UK-based Ocado comes in is with its tech know-how around things like predictive analytics, logistics, and automation. The company is known in the U.S. for its ongoing partnership with Kroger, with which it operates warehouses full of smart robots that can pack groceries and handle other food-related tasks.

In terms of involvement in vertical farming, Infinite Acres is just the start. Company CEO Tim Steiner noted in the press release that Ocado hopes to “co-locate vertical farms within or next to our Customer Fulfillment Centres and Ocado Zoom’s micro-fulfillment centres so that we can offer the very freshest and most sustainable produce that could be delivered to a customers’ kitchen within an hour of it being picked.”

No word yet on whether robots will be scurrying around those farms in future, though that wouldn’t be so surprising given the level of automation companies are trying to pack into indoor farms nowadays. Infinite Acres will join the likes of Liberty Produce and Australia’s VFS in trying to automate as many aspects of the indoor farm as possible.

Ocado also announced today it had purchased a majority stake in vertical farming company Jones Foods Co., and will use its tech to improve efficiency in the grow process and possibly even integrate the system with Ocado Zoom, for delivery. Jones Foods Co. is Europe’s largest operating vertical farm, with the capacity to grow 420 tons of leafy greens per year. Ocado’s investment in the company could mean Steiner’s aforementioned vision of co-locating vertical farms near Ocado fulfillment centers will become a reality in the near future.

Vertical Farm Systems Raises $1M for Automated Agtech

Australian agtech company Vertical Farm Systems (VFS) has raised $1 million for its automated indoor farming technology. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although company co-owner Ashley Thompson told StartupSmart the investment comes from someone with “significant experience in the agriculture industry.”

Based in Queensland, Australia, VFS says its system can take plants from seedling stage to fully grown in just 28 days. Thompson, along with co-owner John Leslie, run the farm out of a warehouse facility divided into three climate cells, or insulated environments where computers control the lighting, water, and humidity levels, to give plants optimal growing conditions. The system automatically plants the seeds in trays of clay pods, then loads those trays onto stackable racks equipped with LEDs, where the plants will grow. Currently, the facility houses about eight acres’ worth of crops.

You can watch a video of the system in action here.

VFS isn’t just growing greens, however. Running with the idea that vertical farming needs to be fully automated to offset labor costs, Thompson and Leslie spent nine years developing their patented XA Series warehouse system to sell to customers around the world. The system comes in 28 different configurations, which can be matched to a customer’s business needs and expanded if need be in the future.

They’re not alone in bringing indoor farming into the spotlight of the agtech space in Australia. A company called Modular Farms sells a variety of expandable container farms, though these require a little more hands-on work from humans than VFS’ system (think Freight Farms in the U.S.) Invertigro, meanwhile, sells a modular system the company says can grow everything from leafy greens to berries.

In addition to further developing the XA system, VFS is also using the new funds to develop other technologies, including an automated fodder machine, which can feed livestock for 14 days without human intervention, and a mealworm farm system.

Seedo Ramps Up Manufacturing for Its Hydroponic Farm in a Box

Indoor farming company Seedo announced it will manufacture more than 1,800 of its indoor grow boxes in Q2 of 2019.

Seedo’s device is a self-contained, airtight box that looks like a mini-fridge and automates the process of growing herbs and vegetables hydroponically. The device pairs with a smartphone app that lets users choose a grow plan or create their own, control and modify the environment in the box, and receive notifications about plant health, harvest times, and any unexpected issues. You can also lock or unlock the fridge door with the app, a feature that seems handy for households with curious pets or small children.

The device will fit inside most homes, clocking in at 40 inches tall and 24.4 inches wide. It has space to grow up to five different plant types at one time. With the aid of the app, users can adjust environmental factors based on what’s being grown. For example, tomatoes require a lot of light and fairly dry conditions for ideal growing, so Seedo users can adjust the “weather” inside the box to get those conditions. Meanwhile, a patent-pending lighting system self-adjusts based on the growth stage of the plants.

Most interesting about Seedo is the types of plants the company says you can grow with the device. The website lists the usual herbs and lettuces most at-home vertical farms can grow, as well as some heartier options: strawberries, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and zucchini. You can also grow flowers, edible or otherwise.

The Israel-based company has also filed a new patent that will cover the AI and data analytic algorithms of its agricultural database. According to the press release, these algorithms are built to increase yield, improve nutrient delivery to the plants, and detect issues in real time.

Right now, you can pre-order a Seedo for $2,400. That cost includes the box itself, various filters (water, air), nutrients to get started, and access to the app (iOS and Android). Actual seeds are not included.

That’s considerably more expensive than some other options available for purchase or pre-order: the Herbert farm by Ponix systems is selling for around $553 USD. SproutsIO, which is expected to ship in Q3 of 2019, is going for $799. And the Farmstand, courtesy of Zooey Deschanel’s new startup Lettuce Grow, ranges from $399 to $469 for the farm itself and $49 to $69 for a monthly subscription that includes seeds.

Seedo’s customer base is currently made up of at-home growers and some commercial partners. The company recently announced a partnership with Kibbutz Dan, with whom it will create a fully automated, commercial-scale cannabis farm in Israel. Previously, Seedo had established a medical cannabis farm in Moshav Brosh, Israel. Seedo raised a $4 million post-IPO equity round in April.

Seedo expects to start shipping machines in August 2019. It’s currently available for pre-order in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel.