How to make agriculture profitable
Learn about the future of agriculture by delving into key innovative agricultural technologies.
What is agriculture
Agriculture is one of the most important branches of the national economy because it is the main supplier of food.By its importance and distinctive features, agriculture is a unique sector of the economy. The uniqueness of the sector is that the main means of production in agriculture is land.Agriculture is one of the main branches, cultivation of farm animals in order to obtain food and raw materials. The main branches of agriculture are plant growing and livestock breeding, which include smaller branches differentiated in turn by groups of crops and types of farm animals.
vertical farming
Vertical agriculture is finding enthusiasts among organizations large and small. Even companies barely connected to agriculture have expressed their support for the development of a vertical farming solution.
What is a vertical farm
Vertical or indoor farming is a combination of plant biology, equipment manufacturing and software for vertical greenhouse cultivation. A vertical farm is an enclosed environment that provides all the resources needed to grow crops. You can build a farm from reused shipping containers, building sections, and even space stations. A vertical farm or so-called plant factory supplies plants with the necessary light, atmospheric conditions, temperature, water and nutrients in a controlled and constantly monitored manner. Vertical farming includes aeroponic, hydroponic and aquaponic methods of growing plants. An important distinction of vertical agriculture is the ability to aggregate large amounts of plant data and turn it into ideas for increasing yields.
Advantages of vertical farming over traditional agriculture
– The enclosed environment of closed and vertical farms minimizes the risk of pests and diseases, eliminating the use of chemicals, pesticides and herbicides.
– The use of precision irrigation can reduce water use by 90% – Year-round productivity and resource efficiency allow vertical farms to feed urban areas and meet growing demand around the world.
– Automated indoor farms controlled by artificial intelligence help save money on labor and expensive harvesting equipment. –
Software-enriched systems provide constant monitoring and control of farm conditions to ensure ideal conditions for each specific plant
– Data collected on every aspect of plant growth and climatic conditions opens the door to clear yield predictions.
– Savings on countless acres of farmland, machinery, labor, herbicides and disaster management can offset the higher initial investment in vertical farming.
Problems of vertical agriculture development
– Higher initial investment in technology and equipment such as containers, sensors, LED lighting, and smart irrigation software.
– Lack of technology providers with off-the-shelf solutions at affordable prices.
– Limitations on crop varieties that can be grown indoors at the same or greater profit margin than their outdoor counterparts.
– Higher energy consumption for all equipment and the need to maintain an optimal environment. – Collaboration among various parties to obtain the necessary equipment, software and expertise to develop vertical agriculture.
– Uncertain demand for produce grown on vertical farms due to higher prices.
– Lack of rules and established standards of product quality and transparency of origin.
– Lack of publicly available data on how to implement the right combination of technologies and successful plant recipes
Methods of vertical farming
Hydroponics
Hydroponics refers to the technique of growing plants without soil. In hydroponic systems, plant roots are immersed in liquid solutions containing macronutrients (such as nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, calcium and magnesium) and trace elements (including iron, chlorine, manganese, boron, zinc, copper and molybdenum). Inert (chemically inactive) media such as gravel, sand, and sawdust are also used as soil substitutes to provide root support.
Aquaponics
Aquaponics, unlike hydroponics, takes it one step further by integrating the production of terrestrial plants with that of aquatic organisms in a closed system that mimics the biosphere. Nutrient-rich wastewater from aquariums is filtered by a particulate removal unit and then sent to a biofilter, where toxic ammonia is converted into nutrient nitrate. By absorbing the nutrients, the plants then purify the waste water, which is returned back to the aquariums
Aeroponics
Unlike conventional hydroponics and aquaponics, aeroponics requires no liquid or solid growing medium. Instead, a liquid solution with nutrients is misted into air chambers where the plants are suspended. Aeroponics is the most promising technology for growing without soil because it uses up to 90% less water than the most efficient conventional hydroponic systems and does not requireбует замены питательной среды.
Key parameters
Solution
1. Efficiency of agriculture
2. Stability to atmospheric influences
3. Defence of environment
4. Profitability
5. Energy consumption
Implementing
AI and data collection
Tides and currents
Simulation laboratory
Germination
and reproduction
Study of nutrient composition
High Altitude Simulation Lab
How to make vertical farming profitable
Type
Equipment
Recipes
Projects
Manual
Vertical farming is the future. It solves so many problems that traditional agriculture has faced for centuries. But one problem still exists, and it scares agribusinesses and technology companies away from going vertical: It’s not easy to implement vertical greenhouse farming technology to make it profitable at scale.
Vertical farming requires a lot of upfront investment and high ongoing costs for electricity, building rent and computing power.
This makes the final price of vertical farming products higher than the average cost on the market. For example, if you grow wheat and want to replace the traditional field method of growing on an indoor farm, the final price of a loaf of bread could be around $11.
Even if you sell this bread as local, organic and of exceptional quality, the price will bite for regular consumers.
To make a vertical farm business profitable, you must consider several factors that affect your return on investment: market size, crop diversity, the scalability of the internal system, and the level of technology implemented. When building a vertical farm, you should focus on areas as your target markets.
The main advantage of vertical farming is the ability to produce fresh produce, which means delivery times need to be as short as possible to get them to customers’ tables. However, this also makes it difficult to scale a vertical farming business.
You have to establish a local presence in target areas close to your customers. Scalable technology can be expensive if you need to build your own IT infrastructure to run software and implement AI, machine learning, big data or the Internet of Things in agriculture. Often, when you buy an off-the-shelf vertical farm solution, you’ll overpay for scaling it to new farms.
SaaS business models that offer access to software on a subscription basis can save a lot of money. With SaaS solutions, you pay only for the technology you need, rather than buying the entire toolkit. This means you can exclude, for example, agricultural drone data interpretation if it’s not applicable to your business.
Custom vertical software development and custom software design are often seen as costly options.
But by investing in your own vertical farming solution, you will be the one who chooses which functionality to implement.
Ultimately, you can later market your solution at scale to provide other farmers with the right set of technologies. In theory, vertical farming can be used to grow any crop.
However, there are a few types of produce most suitable for growing indoors: leafy greens, climate-dependent fruits and herbs. Some high-calorie crops, including rice, wheat and vegetables such as potatoes, will still be grown conventionally.
Conclusion
Food is a commodity that is always in demand. Higher prices for food grown indoors can be offset by a well-defined strategy, customer focus and advanced technology. Do you have a vertical farming project and need advice or expertise in consulting, management and engineering scalability and advanced technology? Choose Marrbery as your partner and we can help you meet your challenges.
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We provide comprehensive services to clients in the sector along the entire value chain, from raw materials to the end consumer. We are customer-oriented and have an understanding of national and international market trends.