Urban Oasis: Creating a Decentralized Network of MegaFarms

Important results from the project

The goal of the project was to create a prototype of a farm management platform to test in our pilot farm and launch in our MegaFarm at a customer´s facility which will deliver 50% higher yields, maximize vitamin content, and reduce costs. We have successfully created a prototype of an indoor farm management platform, tested it in our pilot farm and will launch it in a farm at our customer´s site before the end of 2019.

Expected long term effects

The use of this platform has allowed us to deliver 90% higher yields and reduce operational costs and personnel time spent on monitoring. The platform and sensors provide a regulated farming environment where the climate is continually adjusted in response to data collected, providing higher yields. Simultaneously, the platform has lowered our time spent on maintaining the farm environment, saving operational costs and allowing time to focus on other priorities. As a result, we have increased profitability and ultimately been able to provide better value for our customers.

Approach and implementation

The design of the project allowed us to plan thoughtfully before we started development. As a result of our planning in WP1, the platform development was subdivided into 3 consecutive stages: (1) monitoring and display of climate; (2) automating the parameters via a self-learning AI system; and (3) connecting farms as well as developing invoicing and reporting systems. In this project we have implemented stage 1. The testing in the pilot site (WP 3) allowed us to iterate on any challenges and we are now prepared to launch the platform at a customer site, having fulfilled project goals.