Acerca of
Agriculture
Arborea
Industrial photosynthesis
The Arborea team of researchers has developed an plant growing system that harnesses natural photosynthesis in a radically new way: the BioSolar Leaf. Using sunlight, the technology facilitates the growth of microscopic plants to produce healthy food ingredients, while generating breathable oxygen and sequestering large amounts of CO2. The food ingredients and proteins produced are completely vegan, non-GMO, hormone-free and mostly carbon neutral.
Arborea's cultivation technology mimics the working mechanisms of a real leaf to itself maintain the ideal growing conditions consistently at different scales and with the smallest energy inputs.
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Industry Industrial photosynthesis
Project leader(s) Collaborative Research team | Imperial College London
Where United Kingdom & Portugal
Launch date 2017
Red Diamond Compost
Organic fertiliser from sargassum algae
Joshua Forte, national and regional expert in the field of smart environmental management, was convinced that Sargassum could be valorized into a precious asset. He founded Red Diamond compost in Barbados, a biotechnology company that focuses on the developing and marketing organic compost made from sargassum seaweed.
The resulting fertiliser is a truly vegan formula that contains no synthetic ingredients: their liquid sunshine can provide up to four times the amount of crops normally growned on the same plot of land.
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Project Leaders(s) Joshua Forte
Where Barbados
Launch date 2014
Aspire Food Group
Growing cricket protein to tackle food insecurity
Aspire is pioneering a movement to produce exceptional quality protein with a small environmental footprint. Founded in 2012 by Mohammed Ashour and Gabe Mott in Montreal, this award-winning social enterprise aims to fight food insecurity and promote healthier lifestyles by farming insects as a source of sustainable and healthy nutrition.
The company farms food-grade crickets on a commercial scale and produces a variety of cricket-based food products, and palm weevil larvae. It also runs a programme enabling peri-rural farmers to raise them locally.
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Project leader(s) Mohammed Ashour
Where Texas, USA
Launch date 2013
Urban Food Ecosystems
Aquaponic farms (not aqua-pony!)
Aquaculture + hydroponics = aquaponics.
Urban Food Ecosystems combines aquatic organisms farming techniques (fresh water fish, crustaceans or molluscs) with soilless cultivation techniques for a better yield per cultivated surface. Effluents from the fish are collected and become a fertiliser for plants, via a mineralisation process. The use of pesticides is also greatly reduced in this integrated agri-food production.
ÉAU supports individuals and organisations in developing of their own commercial aquaponic farm that will produce fruits, vegetables and fish, twelve months a year, regardless of weather conditions.
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Project leader(s) Benjamin Laramée and
Julien LeNet
Where Quebec, Canada
Launch date 2015
Entosystem
Insect protein to feed livestock
Entosystem produces insect meals with high nutritional value for farm animals such as fish and poultry. Their factory transforms the larvae of black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens), a non-pest species native to the American continent. Their nutritional profile makes them a good alternative to soy or fish protein in poultry feed. Entosystem also produces a fertiliser based on the growth residues of these larvae which can also be applied on the surface to be slowly dissolved. 100% organic product and Eco cert approved!
The company plans to divert 40,000 tonnes of organic matter per year, produce 5 tonnes of flour and 7 tonnes of organic fertiliser per day.
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Project leader(s) Cédric Provost
Where Quebec, Canada
Launch date 2016
Lufa Farms
The world's first commercial rooftop farm
Every day, this urban farm delivers thousands of grocery baskets filled with vegetables grown in a rooftop greenhouse. Lufa Farms has created an innovative and sustainable model of local and inclusive urban agriculture. In addition to growing food on rooftops, they've partnered with local farms and groceries, and created a large network of pick-up points to deliver food to consumers as directly as possible.
Lufa built the world's first commercial rooftop greenhouse in 2011. Three more have since been built (in 2013, 2017 and 2020 respectively) following five responsible farming principles: no new land use, water recirculation, energy saving, waste reduction and the use of biocontrols instead of synthetic pesticides.
Every week, 20,000 personalized baskets filled with fresh, local and responsible food are delivered across Quebec.
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Project leader(s) Mohammed Hage and
Lauren Rathmell
Where Quebec, Canada
Launch date 2010
Wepot
Pore irrigation: an ancestral system brought up to date
WEPOT is a small Swiss company that is revisiting an age-old irrigation system called "olla" or "jar irrigation". Even today, this system is among the most efficient and allows to save 70% of the water used for irrigation.
WEPOT ollas can be used for indoor plants, vegetable gardens or larger farms (1 hectare). Filled with water once a week, the ollas provide the plant with water according to its needs as its roots gather around the clay pot, by porosity. Thanks to the deep watering, the proliferation of diseases and weeds is greatly reduced.
WEPOT's objective: to develop a porosity irrigation system for market gardens in the world's most arid environments. Today, the company is in an expansion phase and is approaching its break-even point.
It is difficult to cite the exact origin of this historically very important technique in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It is mentioned in texts about agriculture in China dating back more than 2000 years!
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Project Leader(s) Clément Perez and
Quentin Kany
Where Switzerland
Launchdate 2018
