In recent years, technological advancement has led to the emergence of new trends in the agriculture sector. Precision agriculture is one that is gaining much attraction as the utilization of sensors and actuators helps improve and optimize production. Many companies are investing large sums of money into deploying Internet of Things (IoT) devices to monitor and control the conditions on the farm. 

Indoor farming generally requires a controlled environment throughout the day by utilizing air conditioning or climate control systems to mimic the ideal growing conditions for plants. Sensors are deployed in various sections of the farm to monitor environmental conditions and capture data for research & development purposes. Temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide sensors are commonly deployed in indoor farms to ensure that the crops are receiving the required conditions to grow at an optimum rate. Data is fed into a control system which in turn triggers various mechanisms, from adjusting the climate condition to supplementing the grow area with carbon dioxide if it gets too low.

Data provided by IoT devices are usually stored in a local or cloud database, depending on the requirements. The data is then analyzed by agronomists to adjust the growing conditions in order to increase crop yield. It also helps optimize farm resources used in growing crops through the reduction of nutrient consumption and electricity. Once there is sufficient data, it can be used in building predictive models or machine learning algorithms that would further optimize farm resources and usage. 

Besides mimicking growing conditions, IoT devices are also set up to reduce or remove the workload of agronomists in their daily operations. Sensors such as electrical conductivity (EC) and pH sensors coupled together with pumps are commonly deployed in the irrigation tank to monitor and control the nutrient uptake by the crops. When the electrical conductivity sensor detects a drop in the nutrient level, the control system sends a signal to the pump to dose in the appropriate amount of nutrients for the plants. The agronomist on the ground would not need to manually measure the water samples and add the nutrients by themselves. This eliminates one of the many labour-intensive tasks in their daily operations as the nutrients and pH of the nutrient water change daily. In the long run, the deployment of IoT devices reduces the amount of manpower required to operate and monitor the farm.

Aside from that, the remote management system is also commonly deployed on these farms to provide real-time notifications and controls to the agronomist without them being physically present on the farm. For instance, agronomists are able to change the setpoint of the climate in the farm simply with a few button clicks, or automatically dose nutrients into the irrigation tank from the comfort of their home. The remote management system also allows them to monitor the farm conditions or shut down any operations if a hazardous situation is present. 

In a larger-scale farm operation, sensor data collected by IoT devices are used to automate farm operations. Climate control systems retrieve data from sensors monitoring temperature and humidity, making changes to the zone based on the given setpoints. Grow lights are also commonly controlled automatically to schedule the duration when it switches on and off. By doing so, electrical consumption gets greatly reduced– a significant impact, as indoor urban farming requires large amounts of grow lights to mimic natural sunlight.

In conclusion, the adoption of IoT devices in urban farming is important for sustainable production. IoT provides monitoring, and improvement in inputs as well as a reduction in production cost, all helping to build a better farming solution. As we continue to move towards digitalization and industrial 4.0, IoT will continue to transform the agriculture industry by eliminating traditional farming methods, resolving farm challenges and paving a way for sustainable farming.

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Have you ever wondered what to do with your kitchen scraps instead of discarding them? Composting is your answer!

Composting is the process of breaking down organic material such as food scraps and leaves which produces nutrient-rich matter. It is greatly beneficial to soil and as it replaces carbon and nitrogen taken during harvest. This organic matter helps to improve the soil structure and improve moisture, on top of being a natural fertilizer for plants. The best part of composting is that anyone can do it! You don’t need any specialized tools to start a compost pile at home. 

There are several types of composting methods that you can try out at your home including:

• hot composting
• cold composting
• vermicomposting
• bokashi composting

Hot composting is an open-air composting process whereby microbial activity is optimized, making the composting process much faster. Simply add 2 parts of brown materials and 1 part of green materials and you are pretty much set for your compost pile! Brown materials are rich in carbon content, examples of this include paper, cardboard, dry leaves and branches. Green materials are high in nitrogen content such as vegetable scraps, grass clippings or fruit peels. The compost needs to be turned at least once a week to aerate and promote microbial activity to generate heat. The key to a successful hot compost pile or bin is controlling the moisture and temperature to ensure that the microbial activity is at its optimum condition. Once you properly maintain these two parameters, the compost pile will produce some heat in the center to indicate that it’s working properly. The end product is a brown soil-like material that can be simply added to your garden.

Cold composting is almost similar to hot composting, but is much easier. In cold composting, you only simply need to keep adding material to your compost bin or pile without needing to aerate it. However, the downside to this method is that it generally takes much longer to produce the compost, typically around 6 months to a year. This method is suitable for those that do not have the time to tend their compost pile but are interested in composting. 

Vermicomposting is a method that utilizes earthworms to convert organic wastes into compost. Simply feed the worms with your food scraps such as vegetables and fruit peels, and it will convert them into a nutrient-dense substance known as worm castings. From there, you can mix the collected castings directly into your plant soil. You simply need to ensure that there is a constant food supply and water for the worms to live in as they require a moist environment. To start your very own vermicompost bin, all you need is some earthworms, a container with valve drainage and some cocopeat. Simply fill half the container with cocopeat and add some shredded paper or cardboard to retain moisture. Then, mix water into the container until the cocopeat and the shredded paper are moist but not soaking wet. Once you’ve done that, add your worms into the container and add a top layer of food scraps for the worms. You can add some cardboard or cocopeat on top of the food scraps to cover off the foul smell from the food scraps. All you need to do is feed the worms with food scraps constantly and provide some water for them to stay moist. An extra benefit from vermicomposting is that you can collect a liquid from the water that you’ve been giving to your worm. This liquid is known as worm tea which contains nutrients that can also be used as fertilizer for the plants– just dilute and water it over them. After 3-6 months, the entire bin will be converted into worm castings. 

Last but not least, bokashi composting is an anaerobic process whereby inoculants that consist of wheat bran are combined with molasses and effective microorganisms to ferment food scraps. These effective microbes will inoculate the food scraps, greatly speeding up the composting process. Bokashi uses an anaerobic process, hence you need to remove oxygen as much as possible from the container. To start your bokashi composting, you will need some bokashi bran and an airtight container. Simply add your food waste into the airtight container and sprinkle some bokashi bran into the food scraps. Repeat this until the bin is fully filled. Let the container sit for 2 weeks to complete the fermentation process. After 2 weeks, the food scraps have been transformed into a nutrient-rich pre-compost which is not ready to be used just yet. You will need to bury this fermented food waste in your garden. This causes the pre-compost to be converted into a soil web which is beneficial to the plants and soil. After that, you simply just need to repeat the process!

There you go! These are some of the various methods that you could choose from to start composting from your home. Composting is not difficult and has many benefits such as enriching soil quality, encouraging the production of beneficial bacteria, reducing methane emissions and reducing the usage of chemical fertilizers. The best part of composting is that you reduce waste while saving money! So halt the fertilizer purchase and start building your own by composting!

If you need some help getting started or prefer a more hands-on demonstration, we do offer composting workshops & their accompanying compost kits.

The post Closing the Food Loop with Composting appeared first on Sunway XFarms.

Hi there! This is a short blog about my experience and feedback throughout my hydroponic journey.

As a mechanical engineering graduate, I never expected myself to be involved in urban farming. However during the MCO period, I stumbled across a video of someone building a hydroponic vertical growing tower. They explained the benefits of growing vegetables using hydroponics, as well as its pros and cons compared to traditional soil-based farming. I learned about the detrimental effects of conventional land farming, including greatly damaging the soil and causing pesticides to leech into the sewage. In comparison, not only did hydroponic growing systems steer away from those problems, but the yield produced from a hydroponics vertical grow tower is a lot higher than soil farming.

Then I thought to myself; if he could do it, so can I. Hence, I started watching various videos to learn more about hydroponics and how to build one.

Before finalizing on my very own DIY grow tower, I had set 2 criteria in the design. Firstly, the entire build was to be cheap and the budget should not burn a hole in my pocket. After all, as it was designed for my home usage only and not for commercial purposes, aesthetic was not my main priority. Secondly, it should be easy to build and the design should not be overcomplicated. I wanted it to be finished within a few days rather than months. After going through several iterations, I decided that each component must be modular so that if any part was broken, it can be easily removed and replaced.

As a 3D printing enthusiast, I love integrating daily challenges and trying to figure out how the 3D printing process could fix it. That being said, 3D printing was a perfect solution for this project. Since I designed the vertical tower from scratch, there weren’t any hydroponic systems fitting for my vertical tower, especially a huge end cap at the top of the tower. So I started off designing the end cap using a 3D modelling software, taking inspiration from the one simple commercial vertical tower I found. Similarly, I designed a holder to attach the pipe to the dustbin to provide some stability since the tower was almost 2 meters tall. Once all the components were 3D modelled, I finally reached the fun part of the project– 3D printing.

I began researching appropriate materials to print the model. Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the most conventional materials used in 3D printing. Unfortunately, it has low heat tolerance and will deform under hot sunlight. Hence I went with Polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG), which has a better resistance and does not release any toxic substances under heat. After the parts were 3D printed, it was just a matter of assembling each component together, connecting it with pipes and a submersible pump. Here is the complete assembly of my vertical hydroponics grow tower!

The main reason I ventured into this project was to provide vegetables for my family, as we had been making several rounds of grocery purchases each week. The idea was to supplement them with some vegetables so that we could save some cost and time in buying groceries, especially during the MCO.

I learned a lot after using this vertical tower for almost a year now. Even though I had successfully built the tower, growing the vegetables was another challenge because I did not have any knowledge about growing and tending to plants. I had to learn along the way as I had gone through several harvests, and each harvest had its own set of problems. One of the biggest challenges that I faced during this journey is dealing with pests. Since the vertical towers weren’t placed in any greenhouse, pests such as grasshoppers and snails constantly find their way to the crops. Handpicking these pests was difficult and time consuming but pays off when the crops are grown healthily.

During this hydroponic journey, I learned many different types of vegetables, and which are suitable to be grown with this system. I’m currently trying to grow new varieties such as curly kale, arugula and many more! I’ve also tried more produce grown organically from this system, many which I’d never tasted before. It is indeed an interesting journey, and sharing these new vegetables with my family was an eye opener to them. Here’s a picture of my first ever purple pak choy!

With the rapid change in climate these recent years, I encourage everyone to try out hydroponic farming, as it is really a fun hobby on top of countering our CO2 emissions! Urban farming would greatly aid in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially those living in cities filled with concrete jungles. You could play a role in increasing our much needed green spaces by creating a microclimate from your garden just by planting some vegetables or plants. With more of these microclimates forming, it would help reduce the rising temperatures in cities.

The post A look at our Engineer Ariel’s Hydroponic Journey! appeared first on Sunway XFarms.