Each year I ask you, our dear readers, to talk a bit about yourselves. What do you grow, how do you grow it and where do you sell it? Also, what are your biggest challenges and what are you most proud of?

I’ll be including answers in the next couple of emails, but I’m going to keep it open (click HERE to participate). Right now, only 32 people filled it out (it literally only takes four minutes), so I’d love it if more people took a few minutes to answer the questions. The more answers we get, the better we can discern what kinds of trends are happening in our industry.

Of those who answered, 70% were affiliated with a growing operation and 27% were educators. Most (61%) were under 1 acre, while nearly 20% had 1 to 3 acres. About 10% had 10 to 20 acres.

In case the words are blurry, the categories in order from the top are Leafy Greens, Tomatoes, Herbs, Microgreens, Bell Peppers, Cucumbers, Strawberries, Cannabis and Mushrooms.

You can see by the chart the crop breakdown. What’s interesting (but not surprising) is last year there were no cannabis growers represented and this year we have three. Another interesting stat: only one grower, or 3% of the total, said they were certified organic. The rest were not. Of the respondents, 32% were hydroponic growers and 16% were aquaponics growers.

In the next newsletter we’ll get into types of facilities, customers and concerns. Special thanks to those who took the survey!

My GrowerTalks colleague, Jen Zurko, wrote this one up about Argus Controls' new partners:

Argus announced its recent development of strategic alliances with key partners that will extend its ability to provide environmental controls and nutrient management systems to the commercial horticultural industry, including the legal cannabis production markets in Canada and the U.S.

Combined with its existing resellers, Argus Controls further strengthens its ability to serve clients who seek the most advanced control solutions for indoor and greenhouse growing in North America and key markets around the world.

Steve Kroft, President and CEO of Conviron, looks forward to the new additions to the network, commenting: “The relationships we build with our clients and our partners are the most critical aspect to our business. We are excited to work with our new team members and we look forward to the growth in our businesses together.” 

  
Photo courtesy of Hydrofarm. 

Michael Heaven, Vice President and General Manager of Argus, added: “We are committed to bringing innovation in controls and data-driven decision-making to the cannabis and commercial horticulture. Aligning with experts in the industry—including Hydrofarm, InHuis and CannaPro—strengthens our ability to support our clients in achieving their objectives.”

In January, Attune Agriculture announced the introduction of Ampersand, a scientifically formulated adjuvant system for growers of fruit and vegetable crops to help improve the efficacy of agricultural pesticides and biocontrols.

The adjuvant uses hydrocolloid technology, which sounds really fancy, but it’s been used in the food industry for a while as a thickening, gelling or stabilizing agent. Attune has tapped into that knowledge to create Ampersand out of food-grade ingredients to help improve spray coverage, increase deposition and provide resistance to wash-off from rainfall for outdoor crops or overhead irrigation for indoor crops.

I double-checked with public relations specialist Kerstin Poehlmann (formerly Ouellet) because the medial release talks mostly about improving herbicide, insecticide and fungicide performance (88% of the time), and she indeed said it also can be used with biocontrols.

Because Ampersand was developed using food-grade ingredients with the lowest toxicity rating, no signal words are required for labeling and no special PPE or handling is required. It’s OMRI listed for organic use, and is currently registered in most U.S. states and Mexico (currently awaiting registration in California).

Click HERE for more on the product.

Signify (formerly Philips’ Horticulture division) just dropped some serious knowledge via a blog post from Dr. Marcel Krijn, principal research scientist at Signify. In it, he notes how vital it is for vertical farms to use sensors and data correctly, ensuring consistent, high-quality crops.

In his blog post, he delves into the following data points, showing why they're so important to monitor:

• Climate (characterized by a combination of air temperature, humidity levels, CO₂ levels and air speed)
• Plant temperature
• The nutrient composition of the irrigation water
• The light level and spectrum (as perceived by the plants)
• Plant morphology, deficiencies and growth (phenotyping)

Read the full blog post HERE.

The deadline for this year’s GrowerTalks/Nexus Young Grower Award and the Green Profit/RBI Young Retailer Award is coming up: March 1!

The date (and hopefully spring weather right behind it) are quickly approaching, so if you know of some young go-getter at a growing or retail operation, please nominate them today. There are two separate awards, so click the link that works best for your nominee. Once we get the nominees, we whittle it down to three on each side, and they get a trip to Columbus for Cultivate for the show and a lovely dinner with retail and grower experts.