Without knowing the cost, it is hard to tell at this time how many families will be able to afford one but it appears to be in range of the consumer market. It is clear, however, that it offers small business potential.
One thing is apparent. Valcent is a very serious player in the field of urban food production. It even offers a houseplant-sized product (Europe only at present) called “The Tomorrow Garden”
It does not appear at this time that the U.S. has a horse in this race. What we do have, however, is horse and buggy thinking. We are simply stuck in the dirt, in a backwater of Victory Garden nostalgia.I was in the business when the U.K. bought the heart of our interior plantscaping industry. In that transaction, we lost thousands of business people with experience growing and maintaining plants in containers.
Most Americans are unaware that a company called Ambius is a subsidiary of Rentokil a Fortune 500 size U.K. company. It dominates interior plantscaping in North America. It appears that the field of urban food production is headed in the same direction
Many of the people we lost had experience with and understood modern methods of greenscaping such as sub-irrigation. Thanks to our broken horticultural education, we never replaced them. What the system produces today are mostly dirt and drain hole dudes and divas.
Does no one care? Where is our leadership?
If you're active in social networking, I urge you to do something about it by sounding the alarm. Little Tweets can make a big noise if there are enough of them.
Valcent will premier AlphaCrop at the GROW 2010 International Hydroponics Exhibition in Manchester, England at the end of March. Read their press release.
AlphaCrop™: Entry Level Vertical Farming
AlphaCrop™ offers the advantages of High Density Vertical Growing to the smaller scale producer: Whether for the small commercial grower, smallholder, amateur gardener, community co-operative or allotment association, this innovative new system can enhance yields and provide excellent returns for a moderate investment:
• A-frame design ensures that all the plants on the growing system receive optimum light
• Trays rotate through the vertical plane.
• AlphaCrop™ is fully adaptable, and can be offered in a range of height and length combinations, from one metre to 4 metres or more.
• Can be scaled up from a single unit to multiple modules, all operating off the same motor and utilizing the same irrigation station.
• Growing trays can be adapted to the customer’s preferred requirements, whether hydroponic (‘floating raft’ system, NFT – Nutrient Film Technique, flood and drain system etc.) or if using conventional growing media (peat, compost, coir etc.)
• A range of supplementary lighting is available for use with AlphaCrop™ including the latest LED technology or traditional fluorescent, SON-T or HPI lighting equipment designed and configured to suit specific cropping applications.
• Units are delivered ‘flat packed’ for ease of shipping (within the UK or overseas), and are simple to erect.
• AlphaCrop™ is ideal where regular cropping is planned, for example, strawberries and other intensively harvested crops, as the shelves can be positioned at the right height, and the plants harvested without the need for the operator to bend or stretch.
• Ideal for growing a wide range of crops, including strawberries, lettuce, all leaf crops, and herbs.
Vertical farming is getting some good coverage. Finally the world will see vertical farming is not just a futurist's wet dream…
Time Magazine says Valcent’s Vertical Farming Technology one of the Top 50 Best Innovations of 2009: http://bit.ly/5zDIqh
“I can’t think of any technology that addresses more urgent issues than Valcent’s vertical farming system”, says RFK Jr http://bit.ly/cPb00g
Reuters Video features Valcent’s VertiCrop vertical farming system: http://bit.ly/a9p47W
New pdf presentation of Valcent’s VertiCrop vertical farming solution – locally grown crops that are healthier for you: http://bit.ly/cqBglv
Posted by: Charlie Whitehead | March 09, 2010 at 04:16 PM
The US has a serious player in this field, www.aerofarms.com with some serious experience behind them in comparison with Valcent.
There are others http://www.abhydroponics.com.au/ in australia and http://www.omegagarden.com/ in Canada
The vertical growing options are interesting, but surely the world needs more rice, wheat and corn. Not thousands of expensively grown lettuce?
Posted by: J M | March 10, 2010 at 05:14 AM