Strawberry farming robots are oh so sweet

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There is nothing nicer than biting into a sweet, ripe strawberry. But, on the flip side, it doesn’t sound pleasant having to stand in the sun and bend over all day to pick them. Here’s another brilliant chance for robots. And intelligent companies, like Advanced Farm Technologies, are grasping it.

The founders of Advanced Farm Technologies previously owned Greenbotics, a company using robots to service and wash solar panels. So, it’s clear they’re not afraid of new technology. In fact the company prides itself on using robots to improve costs and quality for customers, and improve conditions for workers. And, it’s not afraid to impress us with what these bots can do.

The tech team

The company’s strawberry harvesting robots, T-6s, have multiple robotic arms topped with soft grips, to delicately handle the berries. The grips are easy to clean and replace, designed with food safety in mind. The robots also help pick for picky eaters: the stems come off, meaning the berries are ready to eat now. On America’s West Coast, strawberries are harvested 70 times each season. Hence, Advanced Farm Technologies has its robot prototypes in Oxnard, Santa Maria and the Salinas-Watsonville regions.

And it’s not the first company to bring robots into agriculture. Harvest CROO Robotics is doing a similar thing. The Florida based company is revolutionizing the agriculture industry with its automatic harvester, Berry 5 (B5). The B5 is expected to be put to work next harvesting season. It’ll need workers to pack the berries for now, but the aim is to provide a fully autonomous process. Vision Robotics has developed a robot with the ability to thin lettuce, prune grapevines and weed unwanted areas. Soon, these robots will be a common sight. The autonomous, or self-driving, tracker market was worth $648.9 million in 2016, and is expected to hit $4,389.8 million in the next five years.

It’s not just robotics

The agriculture industry is getting smarter at using its data too. Tech startup agtools is helping farmers maximize their crop, by using AI tools to plan their harvest. It then works as a communication system: consumer trends and crop data > farmer > product data > retailers and buyers. Buyers are given information about market availability, surplus and pricing shifts. In between, shipping companies receive data and insights, helping them plan the most efficient timing and routes. The final product is a smart, connected supply chain.

Startups in the industry saw a 43% increase in funding from 2017 to 2018, and it’s not expected to stop any time soon.

Are you developing agriculturural robotics or technology? Did you know your work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’s largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Reducing Agriculture Footprints in Dallas: Eden Green Technology develops Crisply, an optimal plant growth process

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A Dallas-based vertical farming company is revolutionizing how food is produced. Eden Green Technology’s Crisply is flaunting its lush, emerald green produce as a cleaner and safer alternative to traditional agriculture methods.

Soil, which can contain E. coli and Listeria, both of which have had their shining moments in American headlines as of late, poses more risks and has less of a yield when producing greens. In comparison, Eden Green’s vertical farming techniques require less water and land than traditional soil methods. The company has reportedly also reduced its cooling costs by one-eighth when compared to other greenhouse methods.

Free of pesticides, herbicides and chemicals, Eden Green uses a vine system where each plant is enclosed in a microclimate bubble. “We perfected this transformative vertical closed-loop solution to flow water, nutrients, oxygen and sunlight into the plants’ microclimate at the perfect ratio, in order to optimize the natural powers of photosynthesis to maximize output for people who need it most,” the company website boasts.

The seeds used are organic and non-GMO. All plants are grown under natural light and grow year-round. Eden Green expects to grow 10 to 15 harvests a year with a crop loss of 1%. This is a massive improvement when compared to traditional soil-growing, which yields two harvests with a crop loss of 30%. With these facts and figures, Eden Green is believed to be the first vertical farm with the scalability to meet the produce needs of regional food distribution systems.

“We pick our produce, package the same-day, and stamp the date when they are harvested on the package, so consumers know exactly how fresh their salads are. We also make it possible for our retail partners to put our produce on their shelves immediately after they’ve been harvested, in some cases that same day. No other company does that,” said Jaco Booyens, Eden Green’s co-chair.

The Crisply line will debut in Texas Walmart stores come mid-July. More information about Eden Green Technology and Crisply can be found by clicking here and here respectively.

Are you developing agriculture solutions? Are you reducing environmental impacts within agriculture? Did you know that you can receive up to 14% back on your research expenses with the R&D Tax Credit? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Texas. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Nanotech and Manipulating Light: Fort Worth’s SolGro develops material to foster plant growth

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SolGro, a Fort Worth startup, has developed a greenhouse material using nanotech that converts sunlight from all colors of the spectrum into red and blue light, which just so happens to be the best colors to grow plants under. “What we’re able to do is convert those unused color bands into red and blue,” said Tyler Sickels, the CEO and founder of SolGro. Traditionally, other colors of light are wasted and can even be harmful to plant growth because it aids the growth of bacteria and fungi.

The SolGro technology has proven to be so effective, it has increased some crop yields from 20 to 300 percent. “We can increase food production by at least 50 percent,” said Wei Chen, a member of the four-person team, and a physics professor who specializes in nanotechnology and material sciences at the University of Texas at Arlington.

To have astounding growth numbers like the ones mentioned, the greenhouse material was developed with emphasis on nanotechnology. SolGro couldn’t give many details away, but the nanotechnology doesn’t require batteries or a power source. “It’s just the additive that we put in the plastic that’s doing all the work. It’s a great technology that doesn’t require any energy,” Sickels said.

The company is currently focusing on smaller projects, specifically grow-ops in states where marijuana is legal. This is great news for producers of marijuana products since growing marijuana indoors requires more energy consuming features, such as lights and electricity. The technology allows for more effective outdoor growth and with less infrastructure, thus reducing production costs. An innovation like this could completely revolutionize how food is grown and how much of it can be produced–particularly important since the world population is expected to hit 8 billion by 2025. “It’s more expensive than traditional greenhouse plastics, but your payback is very quick so it’s an easy sell,” Sickels said. Sickels also wants to sell smaller applications in hardware stores. It will be a material that can be used by everyday people who have access to a rooftop garden or to a space that can accommodate a greenhouse.

Are you improving food production techniques with nanotechnology? Did you know that you can receive up to 14% back on your research expenses with the R&D Tax Credit? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Texas. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

“It’s not easy being green”: Georgia-based AgVoice to foster sustainability, environmental goals

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The world’s population is at 7.6 billion and growing. With more mouths to feed than ever before, agriculture needs to keep up with the demands. Bruce Rasa, CEO of a program development called AgVoice, wants to help with the demands; after all, he has been in agriculture for some time. “I want to bring the power of technology to the farms and ranches to solve simple problems, enabling ag professionals to produce healthy food for the needs of a growing global population,” said Rasa in a statement from the AgVoice website.

To summarize, AgVoice is a mobile voice-interaction service that uses proprietary analytics and processing of raw voice files to capture insights via Bluetooth. The voice data that is collected can later be used for note-taking and analytics purposes. The recordings are also time-stamped and geolocated, which comes in handy when customers want to know about the origin, treatment and quality of their food.

“Agriculture is Georgia’s largest sector by number of workers. However, it is the least digitized sector, according to a recent study,” said Rasa in an interview with Hypepotamus. “We see an amazing global opportunity to serve not only our core customers, but have our data make a positive impact down the food chain. We want to champion the individual and help them get more productive.”

The program aims to optimize the use of resources in crop and animal production, which translates to positive impacts on the environment and helps users to achieve sustainability goals; AgVoice can also improve workflow management and documentation accuracy.

AgVoice is designed for use across the food and agriculture ecosystem, including livestock and crop production, agronomy, animal health and wellness, and machinery repair. The program is set to launch sometime in 2018. More information about AgVoice can be found by clicking here.

Are you developing a program that will help sustainability and environmental efforts in the agriculture sector? Did you know your R&D experiments could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Georgia. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Georgia, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

New Jersey company revolutionizing farming

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In New Jersey, an innovative farming concept is completely converting traditional farming to become more sustainable and reliable.

According to the U.S Geological Survey, 70 percent of all consumed freshwater is used for agriculture and only half of this can be recycled. In addition, agriculture farming also consumes huge swaths of land and is greatly dependent on stable environmental conditions to grow high quality crops and produce.

AeroFarms is an innovative company, which believes it has a much better farming solution that will be more environmentally friendly and also provide a more stable farming environment. The company’s method requires no soil, sunlight, very little water and takes place indoors. In fact, any indoor location could be a possible fertile growing ground despite what the locations outdoor climate is.

AeroFarms stems from the initial concept of Professor Ed Harwood, who invented a new system for growing plants in a cloth material he created. There was no need for dirt use beneath the cloth and the plant roots were sprayed with nutrient-rich mist.

Harwood received a patent for his invention and founded Aero Farm Systems, which refers to ‘aeroponics’, meaning the method of growing plants without placing them in soil or water. However this company was purely a side project for Harwood and did not generate much revenue.

In 2011, David Rosenberg and Marc Oshima began exploring potential new methods to resolve the inefficiencies of traditional farming. They sensed an opportunity when coming across Aero Farm Systems and liked what Harwood had developed so much that they asked to come on-board as co-founders.

Rosenberg and Oshima proposed a change to the company’s business model and saw a bigger opportunity in optimizing the growing process and selling the crops themselves. From here the company became ‘AeroFarms’ and began to open facilities in New Jersey which consisted of a steel mill, a club and a paint ball center and began converting them into indoor farms.

Today, the farms grow and sell a large amount of produce to grocers such as, Whole Foods, ShopRite and Fresh Direct, as well as to dining halls at businesses like Goldman Sachs and the New York Times.

As the company is easily able to set up centers close to their customers and are not affected by external environmental conditions, they are able to ensure local and fresh growing all year round. As transport is therefore reduced, costs for the fresh produce are able to be kept to a minimum.

Through research and development carried out, AeroFarms can collect hundreds of thousands of data points at each facility, allowing altering of LED lighting to control taste, texture, color and nutrition. Additionally, the data also helps the company adjust variables like temperature and humidity to optimize its crop yields.

AeroFarms has proven to be 130 times more productive per square foot annually than a field farm. An AeroFarm also uses 95 percent less water than a field farm, 40 percent less fertilizer than traditional farming and no pesticides.

Leafy greens make up most of the company’s output and would traditionally take 30-45 days to grow, however with the AeroFarm method it can take as little as 12 days.

New Jersey’s new AeroFarm headquarters in Newark will be the world’s most productive indoor farm by output once it reaches full capacity. The farm consists of a dedicated R&D center, plant scientists, microbiologists, mechanical engineers and electrical engineers.

AeroFarms do still have some hurdles to overcome before it can claim to be a practical solution for replacing all the world’s farms. One significant problem is the large amount of electricity required, which is costly and also offsets much of the good done by preserving water due to the large carbon footprint it creates. Never the less, AeroFarms is working hard to address such problems and is optimistic about research findings into more energy efficient strategies.

To date AeroFarms employs 120 people across nine farms and plans to reach 25 farms within the next five years. The company has raised more the $100 million and continues to develop and spread its concept worldwide. Oshima says, “From day one, this has been about having an impact around the world,” and this is precisely what the company will continue striving to achieve.

New Jersey has several R&D tax credits available for certain qualifying R&D activities. If your company is engaging in R&D, it may qualify. Contact a Swanson Reed R&D Tax Adviser today to receive an assessment and discuss your R&D incentive eligibility.

Idaho Company Increases Sustainability Efforts

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Fish Breeders of Idaho is setting up a feed facility to recycle a waste product into an expensive feed ingredient.

Fish Breeders raises a variety of fish and had been giving away the waste generated by producing fillets and other products for the market. But this is all about to change. This is all about to change. The company is building a facility to generate fish feed without using dry fishmeal.

“The best thing you can feed a fish is another fish,” said Leo Ray, company found and president.

The company has plans to make many different kinds of feed to cater both to the different species of fish raised, and for different life stages.

Ray says that about 30-50% of the store’s fish may be sold while the other percentage would be considered waste products.

“If you grow a fish, you have enough waste to make fishmeal to grow another pound of fish. If you do it right, it’s a very sustainable process, all you have to do is add grains – there’s not excuse for depleting the ocean,” said Ray.

Using an internally generated product instead of fishmeal is supposed to cut the company’s expenses for fish feed almost in half.

To find out more about R&D or to determine whether you may be eligible for an R&D Tax Credit  Contact a Swanson Reed specialist to see if you qualify.

ND company invests $240m into soybean production facility

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Minnesota soybean processors are in the early stages of doubling in production with a new $240 million soybean facility starting up in North Dakota. The new facility will crush approximately 125,000 bushels of soybean a day, which is 10,000 more than the Minnesota facility.

With the high market demand for soybean, a second facility with higher crush capacities was necessary in order for the co-op to remain competitive with other soybean processors. As there has not been much recent growth of soybean processing in recent years, investing into such a facility, which will research alternative, innovative and effective methods to soybean processing was highly necessary.

General Manager, Scott Austin, says there is a large market for soybeans and the current facility in Minnesota has already been expanded and is reaching its limits, which lead to the rationale of purchasing additional land and researching into more effective methods to process soybeans and increase crush capacity.

As soybeans are the number one crop in North Dakota from an acreage perspective, it was seen as an appropriate location to open the new facility.

The new North Dakota site will consists of 150 acres and is located in the center of regions growing soybeans. When completed, the facility will create 55-60 full time jobs and will produce 900,000 tons of soybean meal for livestock feed, along with 490 million pounds of soy oil, both from bio-diesel and food-grade oil.  Currently the feasibility and engineering stages of the projects are being completed.

If your company is incorporating innovative production methods into its business practices, it may be eligible for the R&D Tax credit, contact Swanson Reed R&D Tax Advisers to find out more.

$100 Million R&D facility opening at Rowan University NJ

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Rowan University, together with the senate president, Steve Sweeney, and lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, have announced that the Spanish multinational veterinary pharmaceutical company, HIPRA, will establish its North American headquarters in South Jersey Technology Park at Rowan University, New Jersey.

HIPRA will purchase 25 acres of the technology park’s 180 acres on Rowan’s west campus and invest $100 million into building the 375,000 square ft research and development facility, which will create over 200 new high-technology jobs.

“The United States is a critical market for our firm and its continued growth, the South Jersey Technology Park will provide the company with an ideal location to expand its operation in the United States and distribute its products worldwide. ” said Arnau Nogareda, HIPRA’s managing director.

According to Nogareda, the technology park was selected after evaluating numerous first-class host sites and consideration of research that had already been carried out, which showed to be impressive, particularly in the areas of science and engineering.

It is anticipated that by establishing the North American research headquarters in New Jersey, HIPRA will create short and long-term employment opportunities in diverse fields, such as construction and biomedical engineering. In addition, the facility also plans to open the door to spin off companies, benefit local businesses that will serve its employees, and will be especially valuable for the faculty and students working in the sciences, engineering and business.

HIPRA’s r&d technology park will be an excellent fit for the University’s overall goals, as it will attract new partnerships that provide opportunities for the faculty, and will allow students to conduct and produce real life research that will help to further develop the regional economy.

The HIPRA and Rowan University board are excited about the future outcomes resulting from the collaboration and are thrilled to be able to grow the concept of R&D projects in New Jersey, in hope it will spark encouragement for other companies to do the same.

To find out whether your company’s activities may qualify for the R&D Tax credit, contact Swanson Reed R&D Tax Advisers.