The internet of things technology that is used to monitor for humidity, temperature, and the nutrients inside the plants is part of the Smart Acres farm. It's all about creating an environment that's optimal for plant growth and high nutrition. Phongsavanh says that they make sure the environment is sterile to protect the plants from external factors.
The team is getting ready to expand its crop. There is no leading vertical farm in the United Arab Emirates that is commercializing strawberries. We would love to be the first to test it and get it right.
The Business Lab was produced in association with the expo.
I'm Laurel Ruma and I'm from MIT Technology Review. Business Lab is a show that helps business leaders understand new technologies coming out of the lab and into the marketplace.
Hydroponic vertical farming is a possible solution to food availability challenges in areas like the United Arab Emirates, where the region has little arable land, scarce water for irrigation and far more people than it can feed through its own production. Traditional farming is not viable. Science and technology are finding a way.
Food security is two words for you.
Aphisith Phongsavanh is the lead project manager of Smart Acres. Smart Acres is an indoor farm that grows pesticide-free leafy greens using less water and less land than traditional farming.
This is a show produced in association with the expo.
Aphisith, welcome to the world.
Thanks for having me.
Smart Acres is one of the leaders in vertical farming. The company is in its development stage.
The growth module, version 2.0., has been integrated after being operational throughout the last three years. We took into account the challenges that we faced with the first model and made sure that our newer module was ready to go with better circulation systems, better regulation of humidity and AC, enabled modulation of light intensities. The changes resulted in better energy efficiency.
If I were to walk in on your farm today, what would I see? Is it a shipping container?
Yes, Aphisith. We have eight shipping containers that are connected in a way that makes them more efficient. None of them are standing up, so you would have to walk in. You would have to remove your shoes and clothing before entering the container. You would wear PPE, wash your hands, and walk through a closed air shower. There are four growth containers to the right of the work module. We have a module that is used for germinating our seeds for transplantation right beside the fourth one. The packing and storage facility is the last module.
The United Arab Emirates is a country that is food dependent. How does that affect the quality and availability of produce?
Living in a region with a lot of non-arable land and in arid conditions, we are not able to produce a lot of the crops needed for consumption. 80% of the food is imported for consumption. That is one factor that we take into account when it comes to being food-insecure.
If you were to have logistical challenges with transport, for instance, during the Pandemic or even global crises, you are going to have a lot of crops imported from around the world. The quality is second of all. When crops are flowing in, you will have a reduction in the value of healthy foods.
There are many reasons for poor food production in the United Arab Emirates, but the scarcity of water is one of them. Most of the water in the country is recycled and reused, but this process can only happen many times. How can vertical farming address this challenge?
Traditional farming uses a lot of the world's water for agricultural purposes. A lot of the water is wasted because of mismanagement. Proper efficient use of the water is what vertical farming looks to address.
I was struck by how green and vibrant the produce is, when I looked at the photographs that Smart Acres had posted on social media. The heads of greens are pretty. It is surprising to see that your farmers are wearing lab coats, which looks more like science than traditional farming. Is that an accurate assessment?
That is a really funny observation. A lot of people make the same observation, and there is a lot of science in what we do, but the main purpose for our PPE, our personal protective equipment, is actually for the crops themselves. Air showers are built into our facilities when we come in. We make sure that our environment is sterile to protect the plants. exhalation with our team members In order for us to keep our environment as consistent and controlled as possible, even the CO2 in the air must be kept at a consistent rate. These are the reasons why we wear personal protective equipment, not just for ourselves, but for the plants as well. Because we don't use pesticides, we want to make sure our crops are healthy for consumption.
Keeping the growing in a contained environment. It sounds like one is good for the plants because they are in a very specific environment that allows for rapid growth and the most nutrition. Is there other reasons? If a pest was accidentally introduced to a vertical farm, what would happen?
What kind of pest are you talking about? Are you referring to the animals?
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That is an interesting question. We haven't faced that challenge yet, but in terms of protocols, we would definitely have to sweep the entire system with a full-scale disinfection program. All of our team members wear PPE. They wash their hands more than 10 times a shift, and there is an air shower at the entrance. We try to minimize external pests that come in but if we find one in the near future, there would be a 100% lock down and a disinfection.
You also have in-house growing modules and an internet of things based technology system to help these modules, but you also use this type of state-of-the-art technology to maintain the optimal conditions for growth and sustenance. How do these technologies ensure high quality crops?
Yes, Aphisith. The modules are fitted with freight containers with individual complete heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems. We have 1,920 pots per unit. Our system is a proprietary cloud-based system and we use mobile apps to implement live data monitoring systems. The system is capable of self-adjusting and we can control the specific parameters. There are five main conditions that we control, and they are light, humidity, circulation, nutrients, and temperature. All of those play a role in the growth of our crops. We try to keep the environment consistent. When it comes to lighting, for example, we found that the first module did not modify the light intensities properly and there was a lack of energy resources. With our module version two, we are able to control the intensity because we found that there was a requirement for a higher light intensity near the end of the growth stage.
It's the same with humidity and circulation. We found that living in a harsh environment in the U.S. had a big problem with humidity. The new system we created balanced out the humidity levels with proper air circulation, which helps plants grow healthier and more efficient. If there is high humidity, there isn't enough plant transpiration, and without proper plant transpiration, you won't get the nutrition being pulled up from the root through the stem all the way through the leaves. You are going to end up with a lot of problems, such as tip burns. You end up with better quality plants because of all the changes.
What is the difference between a head of lettuce that is traditionally farmed versus one that is at Smart Acres? Why is this so important?
We haven't finished our analysis yet. We just switched to version 2.0 of our module. When you look at a traditionally farmed head of lettuce versus a vertically farmed head of lettuce at Smart Acres, you can tell immediately that the crops are not as rich in vitamins and minerals.
When we grow our lettuce vertically, we get crops that are locally grown and there is less time for transportation, which means you have a higher yield of vitamins and minerals. With our vertically farmed lettuce at Smart Acres, we are able to control thefertilizer. When you are farming your crops traditionally, you can spray yourfertilizer, but if there are other external factors such as wind and poor irrigation, you will have a lot of thefertilizer that is not properly utilized within the crop. Since we have a controlled environment and we have no soil or roots in the water, you are guaranteed a higher nutrition value. We have not gotten around to testing and analyzing the numbers yet, but we will get to that.
I am sure there is a difference. I imagine a freight airplane full of boxes of lettuce and poor temperature control, and everything you can think of.
That is a valid point because it depends on the company with the cold chain. If systems go awry, you will have a lot of inventory that is not good for you.
The idea is to expand to meet popular demand for exciting produce like strawberries and potatoes. Local appetites affect what you grow. Is there a scientific reason for us to start with lettuces?
There are exciting reasons for the non-cool crops. Vertical farming in terms of agri-tech is a new concept and it is buzzworthy right now. I mean the technology to make sure that you have a product that is accessible and affordable. It is not there yet because of the high barrier to entry. It is easier to experiment with leafy green vegetables than it is to do high value crops such as strawberries or potato seeds. That is the first reason. We chose strawberries because they are a high-value crop and a lot of people in the U.S. do love strawberries. After leafy greens, we decided to move on with strawberries.
It is not a scientific reason. There isn't a scientific reason for strawberries. It is more of a business case than a scientific reason. There is a slight scientific reason that there is no leading vertical farm in the United Arab Emirates that is commercializing strawberries. We would love to be the first to test it and get it right.
The potato seed is more of a socio-economic reason than a scientific one. Many countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe get their potato seeds and potatoes from around the world, such as Europe and North America. If we were to grow the Middle East potato seed, it would do wonders for the local economy in terms of Middle East and North Africa.
It's a staple food for many different meals and is available to many different types of people who can use it around the world, it makes a big difference.
For sure. 100%. A big difference. The potato was the third main staple crop in the world, behind wheat and rice. Yeah. That is the figure.
I was thinking that.
It is really huge. There is a huge market for it. The potato seed is an important part of our vision to ensure that our neighboring countries in the MENA region can depend less on international imports and that we can work within a local environment.
The Smart Acres Institute of Food Security and Agriculture will be developed in the future. It is sort of a local food security program. The institute will be built on a plot of land owned by the CEO of Smart Acres.
Yes, Aphisith.
What does it mean to invest in this institute? Investing locally, growing locally, and consuming locally is important for the United Arab Emirates.
Yes, Aphisith. Being that our CEO is a local, we believe in investing locally. The Food Security Strategy 2051 is a mandate of the government of the United Arab Emirates. We would love to help in any way we can to make sure that the U.S. reaches their target. Our long-term goal is to be a pioneer within the region to facilitate the research and development of plant propagation. We want to look into growing new crops and plants that can be grown efficiently in this environment.
There are farms that grow melons and cucumber. I would say that using seeds from international companies that aren't necessarily from the US is beneficial in terms of being grown within these harsh environments. You can grow certain crops, but how about your yield? What is your yield at the end of the harvest? What about diseases and pests? Are they prone to such factors? The institute's long-term goal is to focus on plant propagation. The first crop that we wanted to experiment with was the potato seed from the United Arab Emirates.
You have experience in award winning restaurants all over the world, so you must have a pretty unique view of this project. How do you bring your skills to this project? What does it mean for you to be a part of it, where you can bring high quality produce to every table?
I will tell you the honest truth about that question. I feel more connected to the business philosophy in terms of food security and food sustainable because I am a chef. You are touching produce. It is who you are. It is who I am. We can't do what we're made to do without proper ingredients. My experience as a chef gives me a different perspective when it comes to Smart Acres, because I don't just try to think of it 100% from a business perspective, but I also think of it from a consumer social responsibility perspective as well.
It is very profound for me because even with the food waste as a chef, we try to minimize it in the kitchen, and I took that philosophy with me to the company. I found a way to upcycle our waste on the farm so that we can put it back into the system and get value from it, instead of throwing it away.
When I say upcycling, I mean taking lettuce that would otherwise be thrown out and turning it into sauces. It's possible to turn kale into chips. Turn leafy greens into a snack. There are many ways to use the waste. I don't mean waste that is spoiled, but waste that isn't meeting quality standards. We would have a cutoff of one or two percent tip burn. If there is a harvest that doesn't meet that, then it doesn't get the passing grade, and then we can use that harvest to make products for the market.
When you look at a leaf lettuce, you can see that it is going to go bad quicker, and it is not as beautiful when you are trying to sell it at a market.
Correct, Aphisith. That is what I mean by tip burn. I have had a lot of talks with the team about imperfect plants and crops. France is implementing policies for the retail sector in order to love imperfect produce. I believe that the global community should take that into account. There are a few campaigns being pushed through the grassroots level and slowly up into the commercial sector in regards to the appreciation of imperfect crops and vegetables and plants. It doesn't mean that something doesn't taste good. I always ask people, "Would you rather eat a tomato that looks nice but tastes terrible, but tastes great, or a tomato that looks divine, but tastes terrible, but tastes great?"
Absolutely. Thank you so much for joining us today, Aphisith.
You are very welcome. It was great to be a part of it. Thank you.
I spoke with the lead project manager of Smart Acres from Cambridge, Massachusetts, the home of MIT and MIT Technology Review, overlooking the Charles River.
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