Media Release – July 2023
A mechanised growing system with the potential to improve New Zealand’s food production security will be set up in Ashburton by the end of August, with planting to commence early September.
It will be the first opportunity for New Zealand horticulturalists to see a full-sized Vertical Farm Systems XA Series (VFS) growing system in operation, courtesy of the New Zealand supplier, Landlogic.
The Ashburton set-up is a Landlogic initiative to showcase what a vertical food production system can do. VFS is a modular system designed for warehouse installation with plants grown in multilevel trays contained in climate and light-controlled cells.
Landlogic CEO Alan Cottington says the fully automated vertical growing system offers an important alternative to producing commercial levels of leafy greens in the horticultural industry, where traditional outdoor growing systems have taken such a huge hit in recent floods and storms.
“The increasing unpredictability and frequency of severe weather events, attributed to global warming, along with the rising costs impacting traditional open-field farming, mean it’s more important than ever to consider new approaches to sustainable agriculture,” Cottington says. “Our food security is vulnerable when we rely on traditional farming methods or importing for leafy greens, which are a basic and healthy food essential.”
The system is heavily automated with computer-controlled feeding, watering, lighting, and sensors monitoring temperature, pH, EC and humidity levels. Loading, harvesting, recovery and re-use of the growing medium and reloading the trays is also automated.
In agribusiness the commercial production of leafy greens, herbs or plant seedlings using multi-level growing systems is rapidly expanding around the world. Cottington says New Zealand needs to get on board with this technology if it is to remain competitive and ensure there will always be a reliable and efficient alternative to in-ground production available.
The VFS system is best suited to fast-growing crops, including leafy greens such as loose-leaf lettuce, baby spinach, arugula, mizuna, tatsoi, endive, pak choy, bok choy, beet chard, and herbs such as coriander, parsley, and basil.
“With VFS there are no ‘seasonal crops’ and no crop losses,” Cottington says. “Harvest times and end product quality are consistent and reliable, allowing commercial growers to confidently commit to delivery schedules and quantity agreements.
“VFS crop turn-around times are 28 days, regardless of external influences. By comparison, outdoor planting to harvest takes approximately 65 – 80 days for midsummer plantings, and up to 130 days for Autumn/Winter plantings.”
Cottington says a VFS machine in Australia is producing around 600kg of greens a week and only takes about three hours per week of human labour to run. The system has an automated packaging machine as well, taking the greens straight from the VFS system into eco-friendly bags or boxes for distribution.
In addition to helping with local food security, Cottington says the VFS system is better for the environment especially in such areas as water quality, fertiliser use and pest control chemicals.
“The system does not use pesticides or herbicides and requires significantly less water than in-ground systems, with a water efficiency rate of 99.9 percent.
“Nutritionally, the product is at least equal to, if not better than, in-ground plants and the nutritional levels are much more consistent.”
Landlogic is the importer and distributor of Vertical Farm Systems for New Zealand and the Pacific, as well as sales agent for the rest of the world – except Canada, Scandinavia, Philippines and USA– and Cottington says vertical farming is a big opportunity for Pacific Island countries to combat growing concerns of food security and access to nutritional foods.
“We already know that increasingly unreliable weather, more severe storms, and sea level rise is compromising food production in the Pacific. The VFS system offers Pacific governments, working with their farmers and horticultural companies, the chance to ensure basic greens will always be available, whatever the climate.”
