Circular Horticulture, Part 2: Pitches

Last week I attended Wageningen Research’s Greenhouse Horticulture business unit’s event on research into circular horticulture for 2025. After the main presentation on the group’s vision and ideas (which you can read about here), there were six short presentations. Three Continue reading Circular Horticulture, Part 2: Pitches

An Evening with Proti-Farm

Last week, I attended an evening organised by Heeren XVII, the biosystems engineers’ society at Wageningen University. The theme was insects. A presentation was given by Bart de Ruiter, director of R&D at Proti-Farm, a Dutch company producing insects.   Continue reading An Evening with Proti-Farm

Bacteria and Biofilters Are Underrated

Could it be that the logical conclusion of controlled-environment agriculture is natural ecosystems? If controlled-environment agriculture is to become sustainable, it must be able to use waste as an input for nutrients. In 2016, the AVFami project group* realised that Continue reading Bacteria and Biofilters Are Underrated

Deep Nutrition: Why Agriculture Should Not Feed, but Nourish

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. – Hippocrates I recently finished reading Deep Nutrition by Dr Catherine Shanahan, a book which has been recommended and raved about on Twitter through the likes of Alexander Juan Antonio Cortes. Continue reading Deep Nutrition: Why Agriculture Should Not Feed, but Nourish

Update on Green Spark and the Greenhouse Challenge

We just pulled an all-nighter. After over half a year of refining our ideas, our team’s final dossier for Wageningen University’s Greenhouse Challenge was finally handed in, a rendering of which you see above. The Greenhouse Challenge is a competition Continue reading Update on Green Spark and the Greenhouse Challenge

Aquafarm, Aquafarm, Aquafarm: My Experience

Just got back from Aquafarm 2018 in Pordenone, Italy. It was wonderful. Here’s a quick recap of my experience of these few days. The Beginning: Wednesday, February 14 Wednesday afternoon the adventure started. I met Zjef Van Acker at Charleroi Continue reading Aquafarm, Aquafarm, Aquafarm: My Experience

What I Learned From Plant Factory

Reading is an important habit. When it comes to vertical farming, what does one read? A quick Google search gives just two books: Dr. Dickson Despommier’s classic, The Vertical Farm; and Plant Factory, by Dr. Toyoki Kozai, Dr. Genhua Niu, Continue reading What I Learned From Plant Factory

Farming in Space and Multicropping: an Unlikely Connection

The systems approach is a powerful one. Different ideas from different disciplines can be plugged into a coherent structure, to test new combinations and look at how they can work. Professor Eldert van Henten highlighted this with examples of engineering Continue reading Farming in Space and Multicropping: an Unlikely Connection

Putting the Circular Economy in Better Shape

Well, this is embarrassing. Only a post ago did I explain the circular economy, where loops can be closed and we can thrive on a finite amount of resources. But, as is often the case, imitating the principles of nature is more complicated Continue reading Putting the Circular Economy in Better Shape