AGRICULTURE REIMAGINED

Emily Saunders

emily@intelligentgrowthsolutions.com

2

CHALLENGES FACING HORTICULTURE TODAY

Glasshouse and polytunnel production are approaching peak output with limited ability to further reduce costs without

compromising quality

LIGHT AND HEAT

• Inability to control

light and heat in a

low cost manner

• Adding light,

shading, heat and

cooling is complex,

inefficient and

expensive

PRODUCTION QUALITY

NATURAL RESOURCE

• Faming uses a huge

land footprint

• Water intensive and

generates harmful

effluents

• Light pollution and

heat loss, where

artificial lighting and

heat is used

• Food miles can be

significant

COST

• Glasshouses remain

complex and

expensive

• Artificial lighting is

inefficient

• High labour costs

(approaching 40% of

sales)

• Labour scarcity

issues

• Taste and flavour

vary throughout the

year

• Heavy use of

pesticides

• The need for light

removes the ability

to increase crop

densities

3

VERTICAL FARMING IS THE FUTURE…

“There will be a new vertical agriculture revolution, because right

now we use up a third of the usable land of the world to produce

food, which is very inefficient.

Instead we will grow food in a computerised vertical factory

building (which is a more efficient use of real estate) controlled by

artificial intelligence, which recycles all of the nutrients so there’s

no environmental impact at all.”

Google’s Director of Engineering Ray Kurzweil

Source: The Times, 13 Dec 2013

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THE SOURCE OF OUR INNOVATION

IGS was born out of a collaboration between two businesses with a shared vision of low cost vertical farming

VERTICAL AUTOMATION

Peter Tyrell and Dave Scott at

Tornado Storage Solutions have

installed 400 modular automatic

storage towers for IKEA globally.

The towers are designed to drive

logistical efficiency.

The tower concept has been

redesigned and value-engineered

by IGS resulting in a 50%

reduction in capital cost.

GROWTH TOWER FACILITY

IGS has been working to combine

the technologies and with the help

of key research and manufacturing

partners the vision is approaching

reality.

DYNAMIC LED LIGHTING

Henry Aykroyd at TrueBaby had

the vision that LEDs could be

made to optimise lighting by

digitally measuring stress, and by

using feedback loops the lighting

could be made smart and more

efficient. This would mean that

only light photons would be

produced that were needed by the

plant, collapsing the cost of light.

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TOTAL CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT AGRICULTURE

GROWING LOCALLY,

GLOBALLY

• Producing beside the

market collapses food

miles, cutting costs

• It also increases food

security, by reducing

dependency on imports

• ‘Farm to fork’ within

hours every day, 365

days of the year,

increasing both

freshness and shelf life

BETTER QUALITY

• Product appearance,

nutritional qualities and

taste are improved and

remain consistent year

round

• Disease-free growing

eliminates the need for

pesticides

• Semi-hydroponic

techniques eliminate the

need for washing,

reducing contamination

SAVING NATURAL

RESOURCES

• Small footprint allowing

production close to end-

markets

• Highly efficient growing

media and temperature

management reduces

water consumption by

more than 90% with

minimal effluent

• Large reduction in

wastage compared to

conventional production.

DECLINING COST

• Driven by the collapsing

cost of LEDs and

improving electrical

efficiency

• Compression of the

value chain reduces

number of participants

taking a margin

• Production matched to

consumer demand,

reducing wastage

• Integrated automation

reduces labour

The opportunity for Vertical Farming: higher plant densities and more crops per annum

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CHALLENGES FACED BY VERTICAL FARMING

To date high energy and labour costs have been prohibitive. IGS aims to make Vertical Farming commercially viable, not

only through scale, but by reducing power and labour costs by up to 80%

Energy Costs

• Whilst sunlight is free, by enabling its technology to be compatible with smart energy IGS’ system can provide a means of

supporting the national grid and encouraging the national adoption of renewable energy

• IGS’ advances in the efficient use of photons means as little energy as possible is wasted

Labour Costs

• IGS is driving down labour costs through automation

Vertical farming is set to become a $6bn industry over the next five years1 and the winners in this market will be those with

the lowest cost of production.

1 Market Research Engine, 20 Dec 2016

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PLANT SCIENCE: IGS IS BASED AT THE JAMES HUTTON INSTITUTE

In order to test its technologies IGS needed to carry out crop trials and being co-located at the Hutton sees it

ideally situated to access world-class science including:

• A Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) which gives IGS access to the scientists and the Institute’s equipment –

currently assessing quality biomass yield with minimum inputs

• An on-site world-class food safety team renowned in plant pathogen research

• Collaborative development of new food products suitable for TCEA

Produce growing in the prototype tower

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IGS facility under construction Aug 2017

DEMONSTRATION FACILITY PHASE 1: CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY

Phase 1:

• Due to complete late 2017

• 4 x towers approximating 0.75 acre (0.3 ha)

• Height 9m

• Each tower footprint 40m2

• Up to 60 trays per tower (approx. 6m2 per

tray)

• Giving approx. 360m2 growing area per tower

• Potential for nearly 9000m2 per annum

(depending on crop)

• Land : Tower growing area ratio = 1 : 9

Phase 2:

This will see the addition of up to 6 further growth

towers.

The Advanced Plant Growth Centre at the James Hutton Institute – Scientific support for the Vertical Farming Industry

Dr. Robert Hancock, Senior Research Scientist, Cell & Molecular Sciences

rob.hancock@hutton.ac.uk

Field agriculture

Polytunnels Glasshouses Total environmental control

• Developed over millennia • Few environmental controls

• Irrigation • Fleecing • Netting • Pest & Disease

• Low capital • Low intensity

• Commodity crops • Staples • Established varieties • Seasonal • Need for storage • Product variability

• Developed over decades • Some environmental control

• Temperature • Humidity • Mineral nutrition • IPDM • Supplemental lighting • Enhanced CO2

• High capital

• Horticultural crops • Established varieties • Extended season • Lower variability

• New industry • Total environmental control

• Light • Duration • Intensity • Spectrum

• Pathogen free • High capital • High operational cost

• Herbs • Baby leaf salad • No bespoke varieties • Multiple harvests • Match supply to demand • Consistent quality

Total environmental control provides an opportunity to deliver consistent quality

20% yield uplift ~ 5kg m-2

Total environmental control provides an opportunity to deliver consistent quality

Total environmental control provides an opportunity to deliver consistent quality

Catechin Vanillic acid Syringic acid 1 Syringic acid 2 Isoquertin Hydroxybenzoic acid Caftaric acid 1 4-hydroxybenzoic acid Cinnamyl malic acid Rosmarinic acid-0-glucoside Cinnamyl malic acid 2 Chlorogenic acid Apigenin-7-0-glucoside Liquiritin 0-glucosyl apioside Hydroxy jasmonic acid Medioresinol Dihydroxy-octadecatrienoic acid Dihydroxy dimethoxyflavone Salvialonic acid C 2

In basil 39 of 49 secondary metabolites significantly influenced by light quality:

Caffeic acid Rosmarinic acid 1 Rosmarinic acid 2 Cinnamyl malic acid 3 Lithospermic acid A O-caffeoyl rosmarinic acid Luteolin acetyl-glucuronide Luteolin-7-0-rutinoside Rosmarinic acid dimer 2 Rosmarinic acid 3 Rashomonic acid C/D Cichoric acid methyl ester Ferulic acid Rutin Salviolanic acid C 1 Ellagic acid pentoside O-caffeoyl rosmarinic acid 2 Cirsimaritin Acacetin Methyl apigenin

How do we best achieve an optimised crop?

Inputs

Light Intensity (3) Photoperiod (3) Spectrum (3)

Temperature (3)

Nutrition Macronutrients (3) Micronutrients (3)

Gas Composition Humidity (3) CO2 (3)

Plant material Variety (3) Growth stage (3)

Total combinations: 310 = 59049

Outcomes

Yield Fresh weight Dry weight

Crop morphology Height Internode length Leaf area Leaf thickness

Appearance Colour Sheen

Aroma Terpenoids Alcohols Esters

Flavour Organic acids Sugars Glucosinolates Tannins Sesiquiterpene lactones

High throughput growth and screening to accelerate crop optimisation

Vertical Growth Tower

Large numbers of plants grown year round under precisely controlled conditions

+

High Throughput Phenotyping Platform

Platform for quantifying plant growth, photosynthetic responses and chemical composition using non-destructive high-throughput imaging technologies

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The Advanced Plant Growth Centre The Advanced Plant Growth Centre seeks to use next generation controlled pre- and post-harvest environments combined with high throughput technologies to monitor plant stress to deliver the underpinning science that will lead to new crop varieties that can i) feed a growing population in the face of environmental change by delivering on the promise of sustainable intensification and ii) support technologies and provide varieties for the emerging industries of controlled environment agriculture.

AGRICULTURE REIMAGINED

www.intelligentgrowthsolutions.com