The Farmbook Project

Happy Friday! Inspired by what Christopher Higgins would usually do after a conference, I want to write down my observations and thoughts after CEA Summit East by Indoor Ag-Con and The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research: 1. MicroGreens Are The New Black: More vertical or non-greenhouse indoor farms are growing microgreens. This includes a wave of small and local community farms dedicated to microgreens in different cities and also some of the big guys pivoting such as Aerofarms and Kalera. Microgreens have a higher $value per growing sqft and a shorter grow cycle. While greenhouses are more efficient at growing head lettuce with free sunlight and system automation, Microgreens just make sense for vertical farms from an economic perspective. I think this is also related to changes in consumers who are more open and educated about eating microgreens. I saw similar trend in the home-growing device sector in the garden center channel. 2. Soil Instead of Soilless: While hydroponics and CEA, at a certain point are almost interchangeable with soilless agriculture, growing in a controlled environment but using soil as media has become increasingly popular. The benefits include reduced CAPEX/OPEX compared to NFT/DWC where you have to carefully build irrigation infrastructure and constantly chase the PH/EC balance, and environmental factors such as full biodegradability. Beanstalk Farms and Area 2 Farms talked about their success in doing so. This trend is even greater in the cannabis side of CEA where “living soil” is being talked about everywhere. 3. CEA Will Keep Growing: If you think about the process of domestication and the history of agriculture innovation, Seeking Control has always been the theme of agriculture. Searching for harvests without control and planning is called foraging. CEA is not a variant of agriculture but true to the roots of agriculture. We have seen some disappointments in our industry in the past few years but the new companies, new people are bringing new hopes to the market. After all, Luke wouldn’t restore the balance of the force if were not for the fall of Anakin. When I was on my way out and saying to goodbye to folks, Albert Vitale said: “ Rising Tides Raise All Boats”. I couldn't agree more. Let’s grow together. #cea #indoorag #horticutlure #agriculture #hydroponics #greenhouse #food Digging into my phone and realizing my first Indoor Ag Con was 2016. Then Gold sponsor Paul Brentlinger we old and we still around 😆 . My final tip for conference attendees and fried chicken lovers 🍗 : The Bojangles 7 miles south across the state line is way better than the Bojangles in Danville.

The simple pro-forma workbook is available on our website at www.farmbookproject.org