Startup Profile: Sustainable Agriculture: Coming Soon to A Supermarket Rooftop Near You!

May 6, 2011 | Robert Puro

From the creators of the Science Barge, the floating hydroponic greenhouse project supporting sustainable food production and powered 100% by renewable energy, comes a new company that builds, designs, finances, and operates hydroponic greenhouse farms on supermarket rooftops. It’s called BrightFarms. By growing produce on site, the company enables grocery retailers to alter their produce supply chain in a way that improves the planet and their profits. Read More

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

Agricultural Entrepreneurship Takes Root in an Apple Orchard

May 3, 2011 | Robert Puro

In the middle of a 72-acre apple orchard situated in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, agricultural entrepreneurship thrives. Ten emerging startup companies reside here charting paths for the commercialization of innovative agricultural products and technologies. This is The Cornell Agriculture and Food Technology Park, also known as the Technology Farm. 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