Senwes Scenario December 2018 / January 2019 | Page 16

INNOVATION
Vertical
Farming
How to grow more food with fewer resources
With the global population closing in on 7 billion mouths to feed, humanity is going to
have to figure out how to grow more food using less land and fewer resources. So, while
some researchers and equipment manufacturers are devising intelligent agricultural
implements that will toil in tomorrow's fields on our behalf, others are aiming to bring
futuristic farms to urban city centres.
 By Martin van Zyl
Senwes Group Executive: Innovation
and Integrated Solutions
V
ertical farming is the practice
of stacking plants above one
another to grow in a closed and
controlled environment.
Since these growing systems are
used indoors, with high production den-
sity and low footprint requirements, they
can be set up in locations that would be
unsuitable for conventional farms - mostly
14
anywhere, really. This reduces the amount
of shipping and handling produce must
undergo to get from the "field" to your
kitchen counter, resulting in fresher and
healthier fruits and vegetables.
Iron Ox takes that production model a
step further by replacing manual labour
with robotic labour in nearly every aspect
of the growing cycle. "We've designed our
entire growth process with a robotics-
first approach. That means not just add-
ing a robot to an existing process, but
engineering everything, including our own
hydroponic growth system, around our
robots." That includes harvesting, seeding
and plant inspection.
“What we found is that the two biggest
costs in respect of indoor farming are
labour and electricity. Through our new
system we're able to do a lot of repetitive
tasks more efficiently. But also going for-
ward we'll be using things like greenhouses
where we can use sun, which provides
energy for free."
The company's growth modules, for
example, are large tubs capable of holding
up to 800 pounds of nutrient-balanced
fluids in which the plants grow and consti-
SENWES SCENARIO | TECHNOLOGY
TEGNOLOGIE & & INNOVASIE
INNOVATION
• TECHNOLOGY
2018
& INNOVATION 2018