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L'agriculture verticale s'épanouit grâce à la numérisation

Vertical farming flourishes thanks to digitalization

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No soil in this farm: pallets of plants grown with hydroponic methods. (Photo: 80 Acres Farms)

80 Acres Farms has made supplying fresh food for a growing population its mission. How? With fully automated, indoor vertical farming. As it turns out, controlled environment agriculture is also more sustainable than traditional farming methods.

Who said the plants we eat must be grown outdoors? All over the world, city populations are increasing in size. At the same time, more and more consumers are demanding clean, locally grown food. Metropolitan agricultural efforts seek to combine these trends with controlled environment agriculture.

A leader in this area is 80 Acres Farms, which grows everything from salad, microgreens, and herbs to tomatoes and baby cucumbers. Siemens supports the industrialization and scaling of the company's proprietary Loop platform from 80 Acres Farms’ technology-focused subsidiary Infinite Acres. This comprehensive solution encompasses crop management software, algorithms, environmental controls, robotics, and automation.

A typical vertical farm is stacked high with layers of plants. Picture fields stacked on top of fields lit with LED lighting at each level, efficiently utilizing the vertical space and significantly increasing food production. The conditions in a vertical farm are monitored around the clock to ensure the plants have the perfect amounts of light energy, carbon dioxide, nutrients, air, temperature, and humidity they need.

Ten years ago, this was science fiction. Tomorrow, indoor vertical farming is going to be so ubiquitous that everyone will wonder how we lived without it.
Mike Zelkind, Co-founder and CEO , 80 Acres Farms

Better for the environment

Vertical farming leads to healthier and more sustainable food. For one, everything 80 Acres Farms grows is 100% pesticide-free. Compared to traditional agriculture, 300 times more food can be grown per square foot at an 80 Acres Farms site. And with 17 to 20 more growing cycles annually, output is considerably higher. Because produce is grown close to consumers, there are lower carbon emissions associated with travel. Finally, optimized water and land use lead to less agricultural waste.

Of course, what is good can always become better. 80 Acres Farms and Infinite Acres are committed to employing innovative automation and digitalization technologies to make farms safer and more productive. And to do that, they are partnering with some of the biggest and best in technology – including Siemens.

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A strategic investment in the future of agriculture

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From left: Tisha Livingston, Co-founder of 80 Acres Farms and CEO of Infinite Acres, John Parrott, VP of F&B/CPG vertical markets of Siemens U.S., and Mike Zelkind, Co-founder and CEO of 80 Acres Farms. (Photo: 80 Acres Farms)

:Au début de l'année 2023, Siemens et 80 Acres Farms ont officiellement annoncé leur collaboration visant à industrialiser et à déployer à grande échelle le système Loop, une technologie exclusive d'Infinite Acres. S'appuyant sur un investissement en capital de Siemens Financial Services (SFS), Siemens et 80 Acres Farms s'associent pour mettre en œuvre des solutions innovantes, telles que des logiciels et des algorithmes de gestion des cultures, des systèmes de contrôle environnemental, la robotique et l'automatisation. Ce ne sont là que quelques-unes des nombreuses technologies concrètes que Siemens fournit:

en effet, Siemens propose des équipements de distribution électrique intelligents et des technologies de gestion des bâtiments au sein des installations, afin de faciliter la surveillance de la sécurité incendie et de la sécurité des personnes, de la sûreté et des systèmes de distribution électrique eux-mêmes, le tout à partir d’une interface unique. De plus, la suite de technologies d’automatisation industrielle avancées et de dispositifs Edge de Siemens contribuera à automatiser la chaîne de production, tandis que ces dispositifs Edge et les interfaces homme-machine surveilleront et mettront à jour les systèmes de contrôle des fermes.

Pour approfondir les opérations, Siemens et 80 Acres Farms collaborent sur un jumeau numérique qui simule la croissance de la plante et le processus de production. Ainsi, il sera possible de prédire la croissance des plantes dans diverses conditions et de mieux coordonner les cycles de croissance avec les calendriers d'expédition.

The future of vertical farming is all about collaboration – finding the best partners to help scale and industrialize the technology – so that fresh, clean, nutritious food will be accessible to more people around the world.
Tisha Livingston, Co-founder, 80 Acres Farms

A better yield of tastier and more nutritious plants

La collaboration s'étend également à la recherche et au développement. Par exemple, Siemens Technology tire parti de l'intelligence artificielle et de l'apprentissage automatique pour développer une application qui optimise le logiciel afin de contrôler les fermes verticales. L'objectif ici est double: éviter les conditions défavorables au niveau des installations qui pourraient nuire aux rendements, et déterminer quelles conditions conduisent à une meilleure nutrition et à une meilleure saveur.

Les capitaux apportés à 80 Acres Farms par SFS permettent à cette entreprise respectueuse de l'environnement de se développer et de financer les infrastructures et technologies futures nécessaires pour évoluer. Avec le soutien financier et technologique de Siemens, 80 Acres Farms disposera de tout ce dont elle a besoin pour augmenter le nombre de fermes verticales qu'elle exploite (elles seront bientôt sept). Et Infinite Acres pourra déployer son système Loop dans un nombre encore plus important de zones métropolitaines. Consommateurs citadins, préparez-vous à déguster des aliments nutritifs et savoureux cultivés près de chez vous!

Février 2023

Communiquer avec John Parrott

80 Acres Farms

80 Acres Farms is a leader in the indoor farming industry, specializing in growing the next generation of food – food grown in eco-friendly indoor farms closer to consumers’ tables. The company currently operates production sites in the United States, with five farms in southwestern Ohio, a new farm in Florence, Kentucky, and a farm under construction in Covington, Georgia. In addition, it operates R&D facilities in Arkansas and the Netherlands.80 Acres Farms

Infinite Acres

Infinite Acres is a wholly owned subsidiary of 80 Acres Farms. The company’s software and hardware engineers, data scientists, crop specialists, architects, and other indoor agriculture professionals have developed every aspect of Infinite Acres’ proprietary Loop system. Loop is a comprehensive platform, encompassing software and algorithms, environmental controls, robotics, and automation. It ensures the highest efficiencies, quality, and yields in the industry, helping plants grow from seed to healthy, ready-to-eat produce.
Infinite Acres