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.

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.

When I was asked what sort of internal company events a produce grower could organize to increase employee buy-in of their products, I mentally threw my hands up in the air. What can’t they do! I mean, it’s food. Everyone likes food. Given the popular (and necessary) nature of your product, are you maximizing your employee potential when it comes to marketing?

As produce growers, you have an amazing opportunity at your fingertips to leverage the personal marketing reach of your employees. There’s almost nothing more powerful than food to bring people together, and word-of-mouth referrals and reviews reign supreme. Put the two together, and you’ve seriously expanded your organic marketing efforts with marginal impact on your budget.

Product knowledge (PK) training is central to any business that has a product to sell. You can’t expect to reach your goals if your employees don’t fully understand, and relate to, the product you sell. How they value your produce product will also impact the quality of the job they do growing it. But standard PK meetings are boring, and do little to excite employees about your offerings. Here are a few ways you can get creative with internal marketing.

Launch parties

Similar to what you might see for a grand opening, staging an internal launch event for a new product is a great way to get the entire team excited. Launch parties are also a great way to ensure all staff gets to sample the new offering, be exposed to new packaging, and learn about different ways to use the produce. Provide a product sheet to all employees so they are aware of any specific promotional language you’ll be using for company marketing and advertising.

Seasonal taste tests

Set up seasonal taste tests so that employees can get to know how your produce tastes as it develops, and when it’s in its prime. Or learn how certain growing practices are helping — or hurting — flavor and quality. Doing so can create a sense of inclusion and pride in your produce. Set up these events just like one would at a public event tasting. Tomato tastings are a popular model, and attendees get to vote on their favorite flavors.

Employee chefs

I’m assuming you’d prefer your employees purchase and use your produce instead of someone else’s. So why not incentivize them to be creative with yours? Relevant content development is a crucial part of modern marketing, and recipes and produce go hand in hand. Teaching your customers how to use your produce in creative ways should be an integral part of how you market your product. By having recipe and cooking contests with your employees, you not only create a way for them to participate in, and influence, company culture and marketing – but you can also promote their recipes to customers.

Hold a monthly recipe contest. The previous month’s winner gets to join in on the team of judges. The month’s winning employee chef receives some sort of bonus incentive (cash, a paid day off, whatever works for your business). Then, you use the winning recipe as marketing content for customers. Even better, shoot a video of your winning employee chef preparing their winning dish. A turn in the spotlight is always great for employee morale.

Cook & learn

Exposure and education are key to employee happiness and development. If you can’t often let employees out to visit vendors or other operations, consider bringing experts to them. If you are working with a local or celebrity chef to promote your produce, bring them in-house for special demos just for your staff. This is a great opportunity for employees to learn more about how to use your produce and ask food prep and cooking questions.

Leverage social media

Now that your employees have tasted and used your produce in their own kitchens, what are you doing to leverage their individual social media reach? It’s no secret people like to take pictures of their food. Wouldn’t you prefer your employees were taking pictures of your food? There’s no shame in rewarding employees for preaching your brand message online to their own personal network — given the message is relevant. Consider offering small cash payments or other benefits to employees who share images and information with social media. Make sure everyone understands how to properly name, tag and write about your products when they do post them. You can even include sample post language on your employee product sell sheets.

Grow side benefits

Planting the seed of intellectual curiosity is a big side benefit of deepening your employee’s product knowledge. Many produce growers will need to turn to internal education and training programs to meet demand for qualified labor and knowledgeable growers. Growing employees from within starts with employees who become interested in what you do and how you do it. That interest can sprout at the entry level of your labor pool. Be sure not to leave anyone out when you’re holding any of these internal events.

I realize all this internal marketing seems like a lot of extra work. It is. But ask yourself — what could your company be missing by not earning employee buy-in?

Leslie (CPH) owns Halleck Horticultural, LLC, through which she provides horticultural consulting, business and marketing strategy, product development and branding, and content creation for green industry companies. lesliehalleck.com