This post is a contribution from Verde Compacto, Huvster.
Challenges of vertical farming and how the Huvster can help you solve them
Vertical farming and indoor growing systems are the future of agriculture due to the need to produce more food with fewer resources in order to feed the growing world’s population. At Verde Compacto and Huvster we are passionate about being part of a revolution that is already a trend, and we are inspired to be part of the daily lives of thousands of people that are looking for better quality and high nutrition veggies.
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Even so, our team has identified some challenges that vertical farming projects are facing:
Limited lifetime on lighting equipment
LED lighting technology for plant growth is one of the components that are in constant evolution, companies are investing to increase the efficiency in energy consumption and light intensity. The lamps have a limited lifespan of between 6 and 8 years, which represents a problem for growers that have already fulfilled this lifetime on their vertical farms.
Our team has identified that it is difficult to find the right replacements because sometimes technical adjustments have to be made to their farms and/or it becomes complex to choose the lamps that best suit the grower’s needs. This process can end up interrupting the farm’s production and forcing the grower to look for other types of solutions that can end up not finding the right lights, expend more money and even looking for an alternative to its actual vertical growing systems.
Lack of specialized support and monitoring of projects
Growers seeking to grow on a larger scale need tailored technological solutions that allow them to be more efficient in their operations. There are configurations specially designed for certain crops and specialized grower support to help growers be up-to-date in equipment, components and best practices so that they can achieve better results in their business and even allow them to diversify with different crops such as microgreens or mushrooms.
High capital demand to scale up
To start and scale up in the vertical farming industry, it is necessary to have access to capital and this can be the main limitation for any project. Generally, farming systems require maintenance and personalized monitoring, which represents high costs for operation and scalability.
Read also: Can Hydrogen Reduce Vertical Farms Energy Cost?
Therefore, it is important to consider the following elements for vertical farmers to have a successful project:
The first key element is to be able to have the highest productivity per ft3 in relation to the capital invested. For this reason, it is important to make a good choice of the farming system, considering that it has reliable, productive and efficient technology.
The second key element is to have access to markets that can pay for the added value of the vegetables that are going to be grown on the farm. It is important to understand that the vegetables that are produced on indoor vertical farms have the highest quality in terms of flavor, color, aroma and freshness, since they grow under the best conditions all year round and are harvested the same day of delivery.
Having these two elements on every indoor vertical farming project will generate enough cash flow to scale your business and even be able to start with a lease that can be covered by the same operation.
At Verde Compacto our mission is that you can have a successful project, that is why our Huvster was designed to be a farm that reaches the highest levels of productivity at an affordable cost.
Taking into account the challenges mentioned before, at Verde Compacto we work to be a technological support for all those growers who seek to start or scale their projects, offering the following:
- Free support during the first year using the Huvster so that new growers can reduce their learning curve.
- Customized support programs, especially to help growers looking to make their operations more efficient.
- Custom design of vertical farms so projects can be more efficient, productive and help growers expand their operation under their actual needs.
- Supply of inputs and spare parts for farms, such as LED lamps to replace those that have already completed their life cycle, seeds, nutrients and substrates.
We invite you to learn more about our solutions in vertical farming and indoor growing systems, visit www.huvster.com for more information.
