Growing Up - CEA & The Future of Indoor Farming Above was an interesting read on potential side of AG industry that GROW can be intertwined with and really i
mpact their ability to operate - especially with a number of larger ventures filing for bankruptcy.
Some points of interest from the article (1st one just hoping they're speaking to GROW specifically):
For Darrin Paschal, chief commercial officer at Growcentia, labor and energy costs are the biggest challenge in CEA today.
“The high infrastructure cost coupled with high labor and utility costs present the most pressing challenges,” he noted. “There are many companies (such as Growcentia) working to help alleviate these struggles.” Paschal said newer technologies that increase the number of crop cycles that can be grown in a season and reducing the amount and frequency of inputs to save time and energy are critical components in this sector, and that “the ability to introduce biostimulants and organic offerings that will provide a positive impact on nutrition content and flavor profiles of controlled environment produce” are some of the most exciting opportunities in CEA today.
-An obvious link to GROW and what they tech is centrally focused on. More crops can harvest a year easy way to impact bottom line and companies profitability
Lo lays bare the reality of most vertically grown produce. “Leafy greens are the simple choice,” she said. “Years ago, all tomatoes were grown outdoors in the U.S., and now 95% of snacking tomatoes are grown indoors. Tomatoes grown outdoors are larger, which is why you can still get a delicious snacking tomato in the middle of winter. Strawberries are 95% expected to be grown indoors in the next 20 years along with table grapes and melons.”
-Leafy greens, our bread and butter. Also impact on tomatoes tied into results we've also put out. Curious on any potential impact we could have on growth for Strawberries?
Challenges...
“The CEA [controlled environment agriculture] industry is probably 50 years old,” said Sonia Lo, board director of urban-gro, a CEA architecture, engineering, construction, and consulting firm out of Lafayette, Colorado.
“Dutch glass houses are a well-known, well-proven factor; the vertical farms attracting venture attention are a 10-year phenomenon.”
Perhaps that’s why the space is so competitive. Earlier this summer, CEA industry catalyst AeroFarms filed for bankruptcy. AeroFarms was quick to the 21st-century vertical farming industry, yet despite ongoing growth and retail partnerships for its leafy greens and microgreens, AeroFarms cited “significant industry and capital market headwinds” when it announced it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware in early June. Chief financial officer Guy Blanchard will take over as acting president, replacing CEO and co-founder David Rosenberg, who will serve as a special advisor to the board.
-Can't recall our impact on microgreens? Started out there before we became CO2 GROW, but believe we can impact growth on the microgreens.
-This is painting a picture of still a bit of a runway until larger industry as a whole becomes solidified to be able to see us really take off. Outlook might be more smaller to mid-sized operations being signed to contracts in the short to mid-term due to some challenges from infrastructure that the article outlines for larger MEGA to GIGA FACTORIES (+1 MIL SQ FT) - but maybe fits into partnerships and government plans/outlook in the UAE for food security and their ability to fund larger scale projects more easily??