The hybrid farms will be installed in Lisbon and surroundings
“After the government came in and supply chains were broken, it was difficult to get food and we were very dependent on local products. Vertical farming offers us the opportunity to change the way we connect with food. In different sectors, it was time to build, so our journey began,” said Emiliano Gutierrez, CEO. Fazenda And co-founder of Raiz.
Rice Farm, a vertical agricultural startup in Lisbon, is founded on a vision that will help solve the challenges of the water-food-energy link. Concept and ambition are a mixture of perspectives for the whole world. While working in the energy sector and developing solutions for decentralized energy resources (DERs), Emiliano saw the opportunity to delve into the high energy consumption of controlled eco-agriculture and create something more efficient for the farms and the energy stage.
concept farm
Currently, Rice Farm Seek support through a crowdfunding campaign to build your concept farm It will be released in June 2022. The farm is located in Beto, the new creative heart of old industrial Lisbon. The farm has a cultivation area of 18 m.two, starting with six barrels and expanding to eight systems. Once funded, the group will be able to grow 9,600 plants a year for consumers, restaurants and the Salvation Army.
The farm uses 3D NFT hydroponic barrels, with an average of 144 plants per system. Emiliano explains that they can work efficiently and easily, without the need for full extraction to hang and clean the roots apart without getting caught in the system.
Aponix barrels with a swivel base are used to generate electricity, allowing light in conjunction with Agrivoltaic to increase light production. The farm is a hybrid model between natural sunlight and additional LEDs. On the software and IoT side, the farm uses various sensors such as temperature, humidity and CO.two, Intensity and spectrum of light, pH, electrical conductivity and so on.
Sensors are used to record how conditions inside and outside the farm by using the reinforcement learning method for optimal pre-control control for the plants.
Front view
“Although we are very excited to be setting up our main farm in the coming months, this is just the beginning of our vision of deploying a network of farms across Portugal and establishing locations that face overcoming food security around the world”, says Emiliano.
Portugal is more capable
According to Emiliano, Portugal is growing in several dimensions, namely in its innovative ecosystem, impact companies and circular economy start-ups. Vertical farming raises awareness among consumers, outcomes and defined parties. “The hunger for local and sustainable products came to stay between the Portuguese and international community in Lisbon and beyond.
“We see the potential to change space across the city, decorating places and connecting people to the way their food is grown. Currently, there is interest in a variety of crops that can be imported and produced locally.
becomes an important place
As the company evolves from its testing phase into a testing room, they focus on meeting the growing demand for alternative proteins and more nutritious crops such as lupine, peas and lettuce. Upon moving to that privileged location, they will grow select herbs for their chefs and community, as well as explore new crop varieties such as unpeeled Mexican tomatoes and tomatoes.
In the future, Raiz Farm intends to create self-sustaining farms based on electricity and water, pushing the boundaries of the circular economy and growing food in urban centers. The team is proud to share the link between physics and digital assets, leading and merging with a close consortium. Together, they will initiate a conversation about impact tokenization in vertical agriculture.
For more informations:
Emiliano Gutierrez, CEO and co-founder
[email protected]
rice farm
www.root.farm