This year’s Indoor Ag-Con took place from May 2 to 4 in Las Vegas. In addition to workshops and a trade show, attendees had the chance to hear from different industry leaders on topics such as how to hire staff for urban farms and whether or not aquaponics has gained traction in the produce industry. Some attendees also had the chance to tour a new, high-tech growing facility in Las Vegas.

Hiring for urban agriculture

Like many other parts of the green industry, many urban and/or vertical farms consider labor to be one of their primary concerns. Even in some densely populated areas — New York City, for example — some growers have had a hard time meeting staffing needs.

At Indoor Ag-Con, a panel addressed these two concerns. Two business owners — Tobias Peggs, cofounder and CEO of Brooklyn greens grower Square Roots, and Nona Yehia, the co-founder and CEO of Jackson Hole, Wyoming grower Vertical Harvest — offered their insights into how to combat labor concerns.

According to Peggs, Square Roots has developed an environment that people want to work in and that sets people up for future success. For new employees who may or may not have a traditional horticulture background, Square Roots has a 12-month program that teaches employees how to grow; it comes with a salary, freedom to innovate and the chance to learn from experienced growers. Peggs believes the program is designed to build up people who invest themselves into it, citing employees who have gone to work for start-ups like Plenty or as independent urban farms owners; many employees also stay at Square Roots after the initial 12-month program. As for Yehia, she says turnover is the biggest issue her business faces. However, they work to combat this issue, and find a stable workforce, by approaching it from two fronts. The first is promoting the idea that Vertical Harvest is working to positively impact the world, and the idea that people want to work somewhere that is offering the community a service. Secondly, she says Vertical Harvest engages with Jackson Hole’s community and offers people with disabilities a job that provides them an opportunity to develop real-world skills.

Aquaponic boom

One panel at Indoor Ag-Con asked when aquaponics would gain traction. According to the panel — which consisted of Jason Green from Brooklyn-based grower Edenworks, Tracy Nazzaro from Hilliard, Florida grower Traders Hill Farm and Rebecca Nelson from Aquaponics manufacturer Nelson & Pade Aquaponics — it already is.

Green, whose business is primary customer is Whole Foods locations in New York City, says Edenworks’ model is to rebuild the supply chain with on-demand fulfillment. He says Edenworks can deliver greens in a third of the time it would take a field operation to grow the same amount. Nazzaro says having a sustainable growing method and contributing to the local food economy are reasons why aquaponics work. She also cites Wisconsin grower Superior Fresh, who will soon open the largest aquaponics facility in the U.S., as proof that aquaponics can be a profitable business model.

The key for continued growth, Nelson says, is educating the public about aquaponics and making it accessible. Both she and Nazzaro says new crop development will also be key to aquaponics’ future growth.

The future in plain sight

New to Indoor Ag-Con this year was a tour to Oasis Biotech’s facility in Las Vegas. Owned by Oasis’ parent company, Sanan Bio, the facility uses clean-room grow rooms to produce leafy greens. To enter the grow rooms, workers must wear protective suits that aim to prevent any outside contaminants from affecting the crops. The facility also features research and development labs that will pull data points from different trial areas — starting with propagation and ending with the final harvest — to determine which varieties are performing the best.

Oasis Biotech is still in the trial phase and may not begin taking orders from Las Vegas-area restaurants until this summer at the earliest. But when it does, it will be able to dedicate different grow rooms to different restaurants in downtown Las Vegas that request a specific product. It also already has a retail brand — Evercress — that will launch when the company is ready to take its production out of the trial stage.

The 2018 AgLanta Conference took place on March 27 and 28 in Atlanta with a focus on city sustainability, technological developments in controlled environment agriculture and the future of the industry. Here are five things Produce Grower learned at the event.

1. Atlanta is a major part of Georgia’s agriculture future.

Gary Black, the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture, was one of the event’s keynote speakers. In his speech, he praised Atlanta’s engagement with agriculture, saying that the city is a good example of how cities can improve ag. He also sees urban agriculture in Atlanta as a key part of #GeorgiaGrown — a state initiative that markets Georgia-grown produce to people living in the state.

2. In the future, Black hopes Georgia becomes the No. 1 state for local food.

“We want to be the best,” he said. “I think we’re pretty good, but we need to be vigilant.” Atlanta will be part of that effort.

Additionally, 100 Resilient Cities CEO Otis Rolley praised Atlanta for incorporating agriculture into its plan to become more urban resilient, which he defined as “the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses and systems within a city to survive, adapt and grow, no matter what kinds of chronic stress and shocks they experience.”

100 Resilient Cities is an organization that helps cities develop resiliency plans. In Atlanta, developing urban agriculture was a key part of the plan. That also included appointing Atlanta urban agriculture director Mario Cambardella to his role, the first of its kind in the United States.

3. All data matters.

On the smart operations panel, AgLanta attendees heard different perspectives on data’s role in growing produce. First up was Farmers Cut CEO Mark Korzilius, whose operation grows plants in closed cells with no walkways and uses an automated robot to monitor plants. The robot — named Farmer Joe — collects data and allows Farmers Cut to manage every aspect of growing with precision.

Next up was Allison Kopf, the CEO of Agrilyst, an intelligence software platform for indoor growers. According to Kopf, there can be too much of an emphasis on broader data points. She suggests instead tracking “little data” — the information a grower might write down on a piece of paper instead of tracking in a spreadsheet — which she says is the key to maximizing efficiency.

On the smart resource managment panel, Autogrow CEO Darryn Keiller said that the North American industry needs to look at other parts of the world that have readily embraced technology and data when looking for inspiration. He cites Singapore, Norway, Sweden and Belgium as countries with thriving high-tech growing industries.

4. Blockchain has the potential to make the supply chain more transparent.

On a panel discussing smart distribution, Tyler Mulvihill, director of ConsenSys — a blockchain startup based in New York that works with different horticulture operations — said that blockchain technology could help people understand where their food actually comes from and, in theory, incentivize people to buy (and produce) more local food. He also says more farmers will adopt the technology if it ultimately makes them more money.

Laura Seach, co-founder of Foodshed — a company connecting local producers with wholesale markers using blockchain — added that while the consumer is asking for local, fresher food and it is being grown in new ways, the industry is still relying on legacy systems for distribution. If data provided by blockchain is embraced, she says, then consumers will be able to decide what matters most to them and have a better idea of what they could trust.

5. Food demand will become hyperlocal and it will be big business.

Stan Vangilder is the program manager at the Southern Company, an energy utility company that believes that have a role in ensuring agriculture can play in improving lives. According to  Vangilder, the demand for local produce is both a major problem for cities and a major business opportunity.

According to Vangilder, 25 percent of people living in metro Atlanta do not have a car and live more than half a mile from a grocery story; additionally, one in four Atlanta families with children are considered food-insecure. That need, according to Vangilder, means there is a massive market for local produce and an opportunity for entrepreneurs. The Southern Company estimates that there is a $780 million market for new growers and a $300 million market for existing growers.

Photo: Istock

Whether you are a small or new grower just beginning to implement a traceability system, or you are an established grower interested in assessing your system for continuous improvement, ensuring all your produce is traceable not only protects consumer health, it can have business benefits as well.

A traceability system documents and tracks produce and supplies at least one step back (to the provider of the seeds, starter plants, soil, fertilizer, etc.) and one step forward (to the buyer or distributor). Although the grower itself need not track all the way to the consumer, having one forward/one back tracing at every point of the supply chain creates linkage from source to consumer — and back.

The mandates

The one forward/one back documentation requirements originated with the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, with some rules of the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) adding requirements for further recordkeeping.

Although FSMA’s Produce Safety Rule does not include specific traceability standards, and some growers are exempted due to size or other factors, the rule states that all growers, even those that are exempt, “must prominently and conspicuously display, at the point of purchase, the name and complete business address of the farm where the produce was grown, on a label, poster, sign, placard, or documents delivered contemporaneously with the produce in the normal course of business, or, in the case of Internet sales, in an electronic notice.” (Read the full rule at bit.ly/2Ht1NMI.) From this, buyers — consumer or commercial — are provided with full “one-back” tracing for any produce they purchase.

Additionally, those who buy or sell more than 2,000 pounds of fresh or frozen produce in a day are required to comply with the recordkeeping requirements of USDA’s Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA), which can be helpful in the event of a traceback. Further regulation also may be coming from FDA, as the agency is still working with a FSMA requirement that it identify high-risk foods for which additional traceability recordkeeping requirements will be mandated. Thus, certain produce may be held to higher standards once these foods are identified and the requirements detailed.

Why trace produce?

The most important purpose of traceability, and the reason for the regulations and industry standards, is its ability to track product in the event of a contamination — whether that be of a pathogen, allergen, or foreign object — and withdraw or recall the specific lots from market or at any point in the chain when a contamination is detected.

But traceability also has business benefits. It can be used to investigate and settle customer complaints or questions and can help you keep track produce of each harvest and assess the compiled historical data on what is being purchased when, by whom and how much — enabling you to better determine future plantings and reduce loss. Traceability also can provide proof for claims such as organic, non-GMO, kosher, etc. — and guard against false or deceptive marketing of these claims.

Take the late 2017/early 2018 romaine lettuce E. coli contamination recalls as an example of the importance of traceability for both consumer and business benefit. If the lettuce could have been traced to a specific farm, field or greenhouse and lot at the start, it could have been withdrawn or recalled quickly, limiting both consumer and industry impact. As it is, even likely safe lettuce was trashed in consumers’ homes and left to wilt in grocery stores, not only because consumers were afraid to eat any romaine lettuce but because an FDA warning stated: “If you cannot confirm the source of the romaine lettuce, do not buy it or eat it. If you have already purchased romaine lettuce or products containing romaine lettuce and cannot confirm the source, throw them away.”

Thus, any producer of romaine lettuce who did not have a traceability program, or whose “one-forward” buyer could not confirm its source, was not only implicitly associated by default, but was essentially implicated as part of the problem.

An efficient, effective program

In building or assessing a traceability program, there are elements you should include to make it both efficient and effective.

Be selective, but thorough. To determine the produce on which your initial traceability efforts should be focused and which will be most beneficial, assess the products you produce for relevant and related food safety risks as well as potential for substantiating specific consumer-desired characteristics such as organic and GMO-free. From there, continue on to set up traceability for all your produce, particularly because new trends continue to emerge in product/pathogen contaminants.

Create lots. As noted in the definition at the beginning of this article, it is the application of “unique codes” that enables traceback to specific segments of produce. Generally determined by location, time of production, and/or process step (e.g., product change, clean break, etc.), this will specifically identify the scope of produce that may be implicated in a foodborne-illness outbreak or customer complaint, and limits the amount of produce that would need to be recalled. While your lot number may or may not continue on the produce to the final consumer, the recordkeeping of your “one-forward” buyer should have it documented.

Track steps forward and back. Produce growers are at the root of the food chain, so your tracking sets the foundation for the entire chain and can impact an entire industry — as the romaine lettuce contaminations evidence. While growers will have few steps backward, contamination can originate from packaging and other supplies, so protecting yourself can mean being able to identify a supplier as a potential source of a contamination. Although you cannot control the actions of your buyers once produce is out of your hands, it is not only federally mandated, but also beneficial to you, to ensure they have all the relevant business information at purchase.

It often has been said that we can’t test food safety into a product; in the same way, we can’t trace food safety into a product. In and of itself, traceability will not improve food safety. Rather a thorough, efficient system can make your food safety processes and procedures more effective.

Lisa is the editor of Quality Assurance & Food Safety (QA) magazine. llupo@gie.net

Spot the symptoms

Powdery mildew appears as white and powdery spots, mostly on the upper side of the leaves. The disease appears first on the older, lower leaves of lettuce heads (Fig. 1). As the disease advances, hyphae and “powdery” conidia cover the leaves, resulting in slower plant growth and yield reduction. The conidia represents the symptom and sign of the pathogen due to its visibility to the naked eye. Conidia on the plant surfaces germinate, penetrate the tissue and form haustoria. Infected lettuce leaves turn chlorotic and eventually take on a brown, dried appearance. Occasionally, survival structures, cleistothecia, will emerge as visible dark brown spots.

Photo: Rosa Raudales

Know the enemy

Golovinomyces cichoracearum (formerly known as Erysiphe cichoracearum) is the name of the fungus that causes powdery mildew on lettuce. This pathogen is distributed worldwide. This type of powdery mildew affects most types of lettuce species (e.g. lettuce butterhead, crisphead, romaine, etc.) and related crops (e.g. chicory). Other strains of this same pathogen cause diseases on greenhouse ornamentals in the Asteraceae family.

This fungus is an obligate parasite, which means that it requires plant tissue in order to complete its life cycle. Resting structures such as cleistothecia and thick-walled mycelium in crop residues are suspected to be the main survival stages between crops. Therefore, removal of infected plants and debris becomes very important for preventing disease spread.

Spore dissemination is favored by air flow in the greenhouse. Spores disperse to very long distances. The time from when a spore lands on the surface of a leaf to the time it produces new conidia can be as short as 72 hours but is most likely to occur between 5 to 7 days. Unlike other fungal diseases, free moisture on the leaves will inhibit germination of spores.

Powdery mildew thrives in dry and warm environments but can also persist in cooler periods. Once infection has begun, the mycelium continues to spread on the plant surface regardless of the moisture conditions in the atmosphere. Maximum germination of conidia occurs at 96 to 98 percent relative humidity (RH).

Photo: Leanne Pundt

Reduce the risk of disease and control the problem

Maintain adequate ventilation. Maintain low relative humidity levels by properly timing ventilation and heating. Maximum spore germination occurs at RH higher than 96 percent. Spatial distribution between lettuce plants is important to increase air flow between plants and also for uniform coverage for spraying fungicides.

Remove infected plants. Scout plants and remove symptomatic plants quickly. Collect symptomatic plants in a plastic bag to avoid spore dispersal. Sanitize all greenhouse equipment and production areas to avoid the presence of plant residues with the disease re-infecting the greenhouse. After each crop cycle, remove all excess plant debris. Inspect new plant material such as seedlings, cuttings or transplants coming into the greenhouse.

Use resistant cultivars. Keep resistant varieties of lettuce in mind that are less susceptible to powdery mildew. These varieties include Jericho, Sandy, Red Salad Bowl, Loma and Regal Oak. You can visit vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu to stay up to date on resistant varieties.

Choose the right fungicide. Preventative fungicides are recommended if powdery mildew has been an issue in the past or the environmental conditions favor the disease. Corrective fungicides should be applied at first sight of powdery mildew. Rotating out fungicides helps avoid the risk of the powdery mildew becoming resistant to the chemical or antagonistic organism. Attention to spray distribution and coverage is also important for control. Table 1 includes a summary of products available for control of powdery mildew.

Cora (cora.mcgehee@uconn.edu) is a graduate student in Plant Science at the University of Connecticut. Rosa is an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut (rosa.raudales@uconn.edu) with a M.S. in Plant Pathology and a Ph.D. in Horticulture.

Acknowledgements. This project is supported, in part, The Connecticut Department of Agriculture via the Specialty Crop Block Grant Project# AG151260.

Disclaimer: Reference herein to any specific commercial products by trade name does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the University of Connecticut. The data presented here shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.