VF: Things to know for a successful grow

Added on 15 August 2023

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VF: Things to know for a successful grow

Recently we had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Abhay Thosar, who leads the Fluence Horticultural Services team, and Chris Bezuyen, who leads the Technical Services team at Fluence. The conversation centered on the strategies around vertical farming and how a grower should approach starting their own grow.

Q: If a grower wants to get into vertical farming, what is the first advice you would give?

Abhay: Never compare vertical farming products to those from open agriculture. These are two entirely different realms with wildly different inputs and outcomes. With controlled-environment agriculture (CEA), growers can have full control and optimize every step of the process from seed selection to packaging.

Chris: Start with the crop. The specific crop you choose will dictate the infrastructure, technology, and processes that you need. A lot of growers make the critical mistake of beginning with engineering. They install the racking, trays, and shelves, then assume that they can insert any crop in their facility and grow it well, but this is not the case. Instead, growers should study and understand the market, select a viable crop they want to grow or are passionate about, and then build the entire operation around that selection.