Startup Profile: Smartphone App Increases Yields and Sustains Agriculture

May 4, 2011 | Jeremy Ogul

Want to monitor the climate in your greenhouse or field to increase yields and your ability to farm more sustainably? There’s an app for that.

In fact, there’s an entire system – including a smartphone application – developed by ClimateMinder, a Glendale, California based startup company, that enables growers to wirelessly monitor environmental conditions in both greenhouses and open fields. Read More

Startup Profile: An Urban Farming Startup Grows in a New Jersey Classroom

May 2, 2011 | Jeremy Ogul

Students at St. Philip’s Academy, an independent K-8 school in Newark, NJ grow their own salad greens. They use an aeroponic growing system installed in a fourth-floor classroom in which they plant, harvest and package such leafy greens as Chinese lettuce, arugula and komatsuna for delivery to their cafeteria.  “It’s kind of amazing – it doesn’t get more local than this,” said Frank Mentesana, a St. Philip’s Teacher and Program Facilitator.

St. Philip’s aeroponic growing system is part of a pilot project being managed and run by an urban farming startup called EcoVeggies to trial a growing system developed by AeroFarms Read More

Startup Profile: Sustainable Agriculture on the Roof

April 28, 2011 | Jeremy Ogul

Mike Yohay, CEO of San Francisco-based urban agriculture startup Cityscape Farms, was raised in Brooklyn, NY where he grew up with almost no knowledge of where his food came from or how it was grown. This all changed for Yohay when he went off to study at Grinnel College in Iowa. There he saw firsthand the pollution and topsoil erosion caused by large-scale agribusiness operations. He was also troubled by the fact that despite its rich soil, Iowa exported most of the food that it produced and imported most of the food that it consumed. Yohay also worked in Costa Rica’s La Amistad rainforest, where he participated in low-impact organic farming that supported a local community. Read More

Startup Profile: Edible Walls Inspire New Wave of Urban Agriculture

April 25, 2011 | Jeremy Ogul

(updated 04/11/12) As the push to “go green” in urban architecture has intensified over the past decade, so-called green roofs and green walls have gained in popularity. These vegetation-covered walls and roofs can reduce cooling costs, mitigate air pollution and add beauty to the neighborhood.

But the promise of green walls goes beyond just looking cool and staying cool. Green Living Technologies International, LLC (GLTi) is exploring how these architectural innovations might actually meet our growing need for food and inspire a new wave of urban sustainable agriculture. Read More

Archi’s Acres Offers Sustainable Agriculture Opps for Veterans

April 15, 2011 | Jeremy Ogul

After three tours of combat duty in Iraq, Colin Archipley needed a way to both decompress and reconnect with the civilian world.

Before returning from his final tour in 2006, he and his wife, Karen, started working on rehabilitating a three-acre avocado farm they purchased just north of San Diego, which they christened Archi’s Acres. When the first month’s water bill came, though, they were shocked. It was $845.

“That’s the moment we became a sustainable farm,” Colin said. With water rates between $1200 and $1300 per acre-foot in that part of San Diego County, the Archipleys decided they needed to adopt agricultural methods that used less water. Read More