US (TN): Doubling down on vertical growing

US (TN): Doubling down on vertical growing Greener Roots Farm stands as Nashville, Tennessee's first commercial hydroponic vertical farm. The company specializes in cultivating a variety of herbs and leafy greens indoors throughout the year, providing fresh, locally sourced produce to nearby restaurants and grocery stores.

"Our innovative farming techniques utilize 90% less land and water compared to traditional agriculture, enabling us to produce up to 10 times more yield per square foot," said William Crenshaw, president of Greener Roots Farm. "We are passionate advocates for urban agriculture, believing it is essential for broadening access to fresh, nutrient-dense food in the community." Greener Roots' offerings are free from pesticides, herbicides and GMOs, and all of food travels less than 50 miles from growth to consumption.

"With our advanced indoor farming systems and a cutting-edge greenhouse, we generate over 28 tons of high-quality produce each year, featuring a diverse lineup of herbs and greens that enrich local dining experiences," Crenshaw said. Founded in 2014 by Jeffery Orkin in a broom closet of his rooftop apartment in Nashville, Greener Roots has evolved over the years.

Why this matters: For operators, this is a water-management story. The useful signal is that direct substrate measurements can help cut drain loss materially without giving up yield or fruit quality, which is exactly the kind of controllable efficiency gain a facility can build on.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does substrate sensing matter in free-drain strawberry systems?

Because drain percentage tells a grower what already happened, while substrate moisture and EC data show root-zone conditions directly. That makes it easier to cut water loss without guessing.

What is the operator takeaway from this trial?

If the thresholds are understood well enough, growers can reduce drain water materially while protecting yield and fruit quality, which makes sensing an operational tool instead of a reporting tool.

Creating modular architecture for vertical farm modeling

Source: VFD.com Creating modular architecture for vertical farm modeling Vertical farming enables crop production in urban environments, independent of weather and seasonal conditions. This work develops a system architecture for simulating energy and resource flows in vertical farms through systematic functional decomposition grounded in system dynamics principles. Second, functional

Malawi greenhouse farm expands year-round production

Source: HD.com The operation produces more than 20 tonnes of tomatoes, 10 tonnes of bell peppers, 24,000 watermelons and 24,000 butternut squash monthly, according to the company. Its 16 one-hectare greenhouses are supported by automated irrigation and fertigation, boreholes, a packing house and cold-storage facilities.

Managing greenhouse light without repeated coating applications

Source: HD.com "Aluminet® and ChromatiNet® manage the angle of the sun across the sky to eliminate moving the curtain during the day or night," he explains, while noting that the materials themselves are passive and do not replace retractable curtain systems where dynamic environmental control is required.

"The plant has never been the center of attention when designing a growth system"

Source: VFD.com linking airflow to 35 percent higher basil yield "The plant has never been the center of attention when designing a growth system" Growers designing a controlled environment typically specify temperature, humidity, and light, then leave a climate company to engineer a room that hits those