Expanding Indoor Farming Through Partnerships

Key Takeaways:

1. The power of partnerships to expand indoor farming: The collaboration between SpectraGrow and Harvest Today is rooted in a shared belief in the importance of cooperation to address challenges in the global food system.
2. Technological integration at the heart of the partnership:The technological integration between SpectraGrow’s LED systems and Harvest Today’s Harvest Wall focuses on scalability and modularity, applicable to both small-scale and commercial farming, and facilitates high-density farm layouts.
3. Upgraded LED technology: The LED light cart developed offers unique benefits, such as optimized energy usage, high photon uniformity, and tailored light intensities and spectrum recipes for enhanced crop yields and plant quality.
4. Supporting local food production through indoor farming: The integrated plug-n-play system supports local food production initiatives and urban farming projects, with examples of successful implementation.
5. Continuous improvement: The partnership emphasizes continuous improvement, driven by user feedback and collaborative research and development.

The Beginning of a Collaborative Effort To Expand Indoor Farming

The collaboration between SpectraGrow and Harvest Today began two years ago, following a conversation between their respective CEOs on LinkedIn. As Whit Allen, CEO of SpectraGrow, explains, “The driving force behind the collaboration has always been the shared belief that collaboration is not only powerful, but necessary, if we are to collectively solve the issues of our global food system. No one company can do it all, yet so many of the end users need fully integrated solutions that are both simple and accessible.”

Technology Advancements and Integration

SpectraGrow and Harvest Today have achieved several technological advancements through their collaboration. One key development is a modular high-uniformity LED light cart for indoor farms, integrating SpectraGrow’s precision LED systems with Harvest Today’s Harvest Wall modular vertical farming system.

As Rick Langille, CEO of Harvest Today notes, “The Harvest Wall is a modular vertical farming system that scales by width, by height, on one or two sides and in quantity, making it equally applicable to both consumer and commercial farms alike.”

SpectraGrow’s precision LED platform ensures uniform photon distribution, avoiding hot and cold spots that can negatively impact crop yield and quality, regardless of the Harvest Wall size and configuration, and provides a precise match of sole-source lighting to the farm’s size and the crops being grown.

Sustainability at the Heart of The Partnership

The LED light cart also integrates seamlessly with Harvest Today’s control systems, ensuring a fully automated and optimized growing environment, critical for maximizing yield and minimizing energy consumption, contributing to sustainability.

Allen highlights that “tailoring the photon flux and beam pattern to the 3D farm layout and the optimized vertical and horizontal placement of the LED bars enables the integrated system to uniformly distribute photons at the target PPFD across just the growing area of the farm, ensuring harvest consistency without wasting energy.”

Benefits of the Integrated System: A Case Study With The Siloam Mission

This integrated system is particularly advantageous for small-to-mid-size farms, offering a scalable solution that can support local food production initiatives. 

As Peter Maher, Global Director of Sales and Marketing at Harvest Today states, “The combination of SpectraGrow’s LED lighting and Harvest Today’s vertical farming system uniquely provides growers with a complete plug-and-play ecosystem for indoor farms.”

One notable example is the Siloam Mission in Winnipeg, Canada. The farm, which occupies a space roughly four meters wide and 2 ½ meters tall, is capable of growing 720 different plants, including butter lettuce, parsley, basil, and cilantro. 

The initiative began when Trina Semenchuk, a biosystem engineering Master’s student at the University of Manitoba, donated 360 lettuce plants she grew as part of her thesis research on indoor growing systems. Inspired by the success of this small-scale project, Siloam Mission secured funding to install its own Harvest Wall with SpectraGrow LED lights. The farm now provides fresh vegetables that will be harvested every month, allowing for up to 12 harvests per year.

This project not only supplies fresh produce for meals but also offers a therapeutic and employment opportunity for participants in the mission’s programs. The workers, some of whom are currently homeless or transitioning out of homelessness, are paid for their efforts. Given the success of this initial farm, Siloam Mission is considering building similar vertical gardens at its other residential facilities and exploring the possibility of growing additional crops like strawberries and cherry tomatoes.

Supporting Local Food Production and Expanding Indoor Farming

The integration between SpectraGrow and Harvest Today is designed to support different scales of operation, from small community gardens to large urban farms. According to Langille, “The sweet-spot for this integration is small-to-mid-size farms growing from 360 to 36,000 plants, the perfect size for local food production initiatives.” This flexibility makes the system ideal for urban farming projects, where space and resources are often limited.

Regarding costs, the modularity and scalability of the system offer significant advantages. “With complete grow systems starting as low as $1,999 – Harvest Today not only provides the highest plant count per square foot of real estate – but does so at a best-in-class price,” Maher says. This price point, combined with the system’s efficiency, makes it accessible for a wide range of growers. For smaller operations, the integrated system can scale from 24 to 720 plant ports, while larger urban farms can scale infinitely.

Community Engagement

Education and community engagement are also integral to the success of this collaboration. Harvest Today is committed to promoting urban agriculture education by introducing controlled environment agriculture (CEA) into schools. Langille explains, “Although we put a lot of focus on educating the farmers of tomorrow and bringing CEA into schools across the globe – we’re also constantly educating ourselves.”

Continuous Improvement and Future Vision To Expand Indoor Farming

Feedback from users of the integrated system has been positive, validating the modular approach. This feedback has influenced further developments, such as the forthcoming Harvest Wall Integrated Grow Tent. The collaboration between SpectraGrow and Harvest Today is characterized by continuous improvement, with both companies sharing data to enhance their products.

Looking ahead, the partnership aims to revolutionize urban agriculture. Allen emphasizes that “a key synergy between SpectraGrow and Harvest Today is the constant drive to innovate and not only make our individual products better, but more importantly, constantly improve how they work together as one integrated solution.”

Technical Support and Getting Started

SpectraGrow and Harvest Today provide robust technical support and training to ensure successful implementation and operation of their systems. Their teams of growers and plant scientists are available to assist farmers with everything from lighting requirements to crop selection.

For those interested in adopting this integrated solution, contact Peter Maher, Global Director of Sales and Marketing at Harvest Today, or Whit Allen, CEO & Founder of SpectraGrow, for more information.