Self steering vertical farming software to enable urban vegetables production

1. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement №731884
Self steering vertical farming software to enable urban vegetables production
UC4.1. CITY FARMING
LEAFY VEGETABLES
Coordinators: Roel Janssen, Philips Presenter: Ton Klinkenberg, Staay Food Group
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement №731884

2. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement №731884
FARM ASSET
PRODUCTION
FARM PRODUCTION PROCESSING
INDUSTRY
TRANSPORT RETAILER &
END-CONSUMER
The Value Chain
Production tool for automated vertical farming
Newly developed
seed varieties
and substrates.
Higher yield, better
quality, more
nutrition, less
pesticides.
Less waste, more
control, great
flexibility.
Less food miles,
longer shelf life,
fresher product.
Better traceability,
more nutritional,
better taste, longer
shelf life.
GrowWise
Control System
implementation
GrowWise control system influence

3. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement №731884
Color tunable LED system Sensor setup Data platform
Product Impressions
Here are some visual impressions of our outstanding service

4. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement №731884
Growing sufficient high quality food for a growing
population is becoming a challenge with natural
resources and trained people becoming scarce.
Major Challenge Here is what we aim to improve (KPIs)
Water usage
GrowWise Monitoring – high-level system
architecture of an IoT sensing, data, and
control platform.
GrowWise Manager – shift to making the
sensing part of the platform more robust and
food-safe and deploy and test it in a test
environment (commercial scale city farm at
Staay Fresh Care).
Yield of produce
Shelf life
Core Product Features
GrowWise Control
System
Target Groups & Providers
Automatically creates the best settings to grow plants
according to specifications based on growth recipes
that are monitored by sensors and improved by data
and control.
Self steering farming software
Farmers /
Operators
-5%
+15%
+2 days
These values derive from comparison of a standard farm’s
performance prior to the installation of our system and after.
Nutritional value +5%
GrowWise control system
GrowWise Control System will help you optimize growth
Price per unit TBD
Food Processors
Sustainability impact
Less water, no pesticides, longer shelf life.

5. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement №731884
Here is the difference
Uniformity of
growth
Product User Story
Waste reduction
Downtime
Without our Product or Service With our Product or Service
Pen & Paper-based reporting
Currently the achieved yield and
performance is tracked manually.
Digital sensor based tracking
Sensors (such VIS/IR cameras, in-line scales,
nutrient composition) track growth and
measure yield increase.
Target User – Mid/Large size farms
(5000 – 100000 m2 of growing space)
This increases uniformity and control for
the operators of the farm
Grower analyses crops
Currently a grower has to check for
crop deficiencies and adjust
settings manually
Often too late to correct failures
If there are failures in the farm, or
people ill, there is a lot of downtime
and crops are wasted before
harvest.
Network of sensors to track and steer
growth
Review the crop growth by means of sensors
and software analysis
Direct response to changes in growth
From training based on historical (trial) data, a
machine learning algorithm can suggest
improved growth parameters (f.e. fertigation) if
needed
+50%
-15%
-10%
Here it what our tool offers for city farm operators

6. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement №731884
Here is the difference
Delivery assurance
Product User Story
Waste reduction
Nutritional value
Without our Product or Service With our Product or Service
Risk of non delivery
With weather changes, crops might
be lost due to rain or storm. There
will be no supply.
Always in season
Never out of product, as everything is
controlled and automated.
Target User – Food Processor
(supplying to retail / food service)
Controlled production that is always in
season will make planning and quality
control much more efficient.
Quality issues and foreign
bodies
Bugs, sand, soil may be on the
product and could be in the
package after processing.
Shelf life issues
Often, conditions during transport
(e.g. temperature) are non-optimal,
resulting in reduced shelf life and
increased waste
Nothing comes in, so guaranteed clean
With overpressure and correct hygiene
protocols, no contaminants can enter the
climate cell. The product will always be clean.
Extended shelf life
Based on customer specs, different
growth recipes can be developed and
optimized (through algorithms) to
extend shelf life.
+5%
-15%
+15%
Here it what our tool offers for food processors

7. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement №731884
MVP Time Plan
Dec 2019
• Final version of software platform,
ready for integration with climate
computers via agreed protocol.
Jan 2018
• High-level system architecture of
an IoT sensing, data, and control
platform.
Jan 2019
• Develop final version of software
platform based on results of Staay
Farm.
• Sensors linked to online database
and accurately working.
Dec 2018
• Sensing part more robust
• Food safe design
• Deploy and test in commercial
scale city farm at Staay Fresh Care
2nd MVP 3rd MVP 4th MVP1st MVP
Our time plan for the development of vertical farm steering tool