For small growers and producers looking to increase the controls and automation in your operation, the Resource Innovation Institute (RII) will be hosting a seminar “Small grower solutions: When you can’t break the bank but still want to add controls + automation” this Wednesday, April 24 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

Webinar registration can be found here. Make sure to reserve your space so you do not miss out on any of the valuable information! 

Co-hosted by the Virginia Tech-IALR CEA Innovation Center and Indoor Ag-Con, the 3rd Annual CEA Summit East will be hosted in Danville, Virginia October 1-2 as a “premier platform for industry collaboration and innovation.”

Seeking to attract growers, suppliers, educators, scientists and others in the CEA space, the event will also feature a lineup of keynote speakers, panel discussions, tabletop exhibits and research facility tours. Early bird registration at $495 for a Standard Pass and $395 for a Graduate Student Pass continues through August 23. 

Kiran Gadhave, Ph.D., an assistant professor of entomology with Texas A&M, was announced as one of 11 recipients of the New Innovator in Food and Agriculture Research Award for his work in developing next-generation pest management tools.

Presented by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), this award was created to help promote career advancement in promising new scientists making long-term career commitments in food and agriculture. The $500,000 award will go to funding Dr. Gadhave’s work in tomato spotted wilt virus and thrips with the potential of increasing the expanding specialty crop production in Texas.

For more information on Dr. Gadhave and his work, as well as the full list of winners, visit the FFAR website.  

Many states have some sort of certification program to help ensure consumers that they are purchasing a quality product grown in that state, and New York is no different. The New York State Grown & Certified (NYG&C) program was designed to increase consumer confidence in New York grown products while giving farmers and producers a competitive advantage.

Certified producers of products from dairy and eggs to wine, spirits and even Christmas trees can use the special seal to indicate that they adhere to a higher set of standards regarding food safety and environmental stewardship. Within the NYG&C also exists a series of funding opportunities, including the Infrastructure, Technology, Research and Development Grant Program. Application information will be coming soon, but will consider programs and projects that “assist agricultural entities in implementing projects that will invest in critical farm infrastructure, adopt state-of-the-art practices, purchase innovative technology or equipment, or conduct cutting edge research to aid in the development of new products to meet consumer demand.” Those interested can submit proposals through the New York State Consolidated Funding Application (CFA).

Are you a company struggling to find a solution for your now empty office buildings (or a vertical farm in search of a location)? Well, we might have a solution for you. In a perspective piece released by the National Law Review, the authors discussed how developers have found residential conversions of vacant office buildings to be challenging and expensive and have instead turned to the more tax and eco-friendly alternative of building vertical farms.

Citing successful examples in Houston and Calgary, they noted the ease of conversion, zoning and economic benefits as primary motivations. For more information about how they suggest turning vacant spaces into “money trees,” the full article can be found HERE.