SUSTAINABLE INDOOR GROWING SYSTEM (SIGS) FOR THE PRODUCTION OF GRAFTED VEGETABLE PLANTS PROTOTYPE

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: TERMINATED
• Funding Source: SMALL BUSINESS GRANT
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1010259
• Grant No.: 2016-33610-25689
• Project No.: ARZW-2016-03969
• Proposal No.: 2016-03969
• Program Code: 8.13
• Project Start Date: Sep 1, 2016
• Project End Date: Mar 31, 2019
• Grant Year: 2016

Project Director
Jackson, J. J.

Recipient Organization
GRAFTED GROWERS LLC
5435 E PLACITA DE ROYALE
TUCSON,AZ 85718

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
The problem: Currently in the US, there is not an affordable way to fulfill the need of high quality grafted vegetable transplants for field growers and hydroponic greenhouse growers. The key issues that intensify the problem are: 1) the large number of seedlings needed in a single batch (US large farming operations), 2) the current high price of grafted plants and 3) the proximity of seedling suppliers realtive to vegetable growers.The solution: Grafted Growers LLC proposes to improve crop production methods and strategies, and promote energy conservation and efficiency by developing a sustainable indoor crop growing system (SIGS). The SIGS will be designed to produce large numbers of affordable, higher quality grafted vegetable transplants, with fewer resources (water, fertilizer, pesticides), and with a smaller land footprint than the current greenhouse and field production systems.In order to meet the demand of grafted plants in the US, Grafted Growers will use a combination of technologies to improve production output and efficiencies. For example, Grafted Growers in collaboration with the Systems Engineering Department at the University of Arizona, will use software packages to improve production logistics in order to increase yield and efficiencies. In collaboration with the Controlled Environment Center at the University of Arizona, Grafted Growers, will use computational models to improve the growing environment of the indoor propagation system. Also, in collaboration with the Department of Horticulture at North Carolina State University, Grafted Growers will develop technology to improve plant quality during key production steps (plant healing). Furthermore, Grafted Growers is committed to increase production sustainability of indoor growing systems and in order to assess the impact of the emerging technology (HO-SIGS), Grafted Growers will use Life-Cycle-Assessments of the plant production cycle in order to identify any avenues of improvement.

Animal Health Component

0%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

80%

Developmental

20%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
204	1460	1060	100%

Knowledge Area
204 - Plant Product Quality and Utility (Preharvest);

Subject Of Investigation
1460 - Tomato;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems);

Keywords

controlled environment

led

vertical farm

grafting

nursery

Goals / Objectives
The main goal of Phase II is the design, deployment and evaluation of an optimized high output SIGS prototype (HO-SIGS) using the protocols and systems created on Phase I. To meet this goal, five sub-objectives will be performed:Use Grafting nursery simulation models (based on discrete event simulation) to design the HO-SIGS with increased production efficiency and decreased cost of grafted seedlings.Use computation fluid dynamics (CFD) to optimize the aerodynamics, improve air-flow uniformity and reduce temperature gradients of the HO-SIGS production and healing systems (complete facility approach).Optimize healing technology to allow scalability, reduce plant failure and costHO-SIGS deploymentHO-SIGS sustainability evaluation (economic viability, production efficiency, efficient use of non-renewable resources, and environmental stewardship)

Project Methods
The methods employed to execute this project are as follows;Task 1. Use Grafting nursery simulation models (based on discrete event simulation) to design a highly atomized HO-SIGS with increased production efficiency and decreased cost of grafted seedlings.Grafted Growers will work with The University of Arizona to evaluate the appropriate automation and mechanization technology needed to improve the efficiency of every production step (i.e. planting, growing, grafting, healing, cold storage, acclimation, quality control, distribution, shipping) and the logistics involved. Dr. Son's team will use the recently developed grafting nursery simulation model and optimization algorithms to answer various 'what if' questions, which will aid in providing an efficient and effective design for the deployment of the HO-SIGS.Task 2. Use computation fluid dynamics (CFD) to optimize the aerodynamics, improve air-flow uniformity and reduce temperature gradients of the HO-SIGS production and healing systems (whole facility approach).Numerical analyses using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling can analyze various designs, configurations, operational characteristics and predict airflow characteristics of a system that are difficult, time consuming, laborious to be analyzed by experiments. When multiple levels of vertical growing systems are integrated vertically and horizontally, large horizontal and vertical temperature gradients in the production room itself are expected. The airflow pattern in the plant factory with multi-tier cultivation shelves can be significantly affected by the configurations and locations of the air flow inlets and the outlets in the production room. We will extend our design optimization for the air distribution system from the shelve units to the whole HO-SIGS production room evaluating various air flow inlet and outlet designs and their locations in the room using comprehensive 3D CFD models. We will focus on designs that can provide optimal air flow uniformity, air flow patterns, air current speeds and air temperature uniformity and distribution for the entire growing room. Expected results: A room air circulation system design that provides desired aerial environment uniformity helping to improve production quality in the HO-SIGS prototype.Task 3. Optimize healing technology to allow scalability, reduce plant failure and cost.Grafted Growers in collaboration with Dr. Hernández from the Department of Horticultural Sciences at NC State University will work together to optimize the healing system.The objective is to design an affordable system that is scalable horizontally and vertically. Two main strategies will be evaluated: 1) Enclosure humidity control by containerized large multi-tray boxes (design would be based on the current system), 2) Room humidity control using dry fog injection system.Expected outcomesA comparison in terms of capital investment, healing efficiency, and ease of operation between the two healing systems.A detailed protocol of humidity management for each system taking in consideration the specific room air exchange per minute, healing temperature, healing relative humidity (100% for 2d, 80 % 1d, 65% 1d, acclimation to room), and room relative humidity.Task 4. HO-SIGS deploymentThe deployment of HO-SIGS will be done by incorporating the phase I SIGS (minimum-viable-production unit), phase I growing protocols, whole system mechanization and automation design (phase II task 1), whole system air distribution design (phase II task 2), and the optimized healing system (phase II task 3). The deployment of HO-SIGS will be in an insulated building (~5000 sqft), with suitable electrical load, climate control system (high efficiency heat pumps), and irrigation and drainage system (to be secured by Grafted Growers). The HO-SIGS will be outfitted with sensors and controllers to monitor and control the environment. The physical location of all the different components and process sections within the HO-SIGS (planting, production, healing, grafting, acclimation, distribution) will be determined by the mechanization and automation design provided by Dr. Son. The location of the air-handler, distribution fans, air inlet, air exhaust etc. will be determined by the air distribution design provided by Dr. Kacira. The optimized healing design provided by Dr. Hernández will serve as the basis for the development of the low-cost healing units.Task 5. HO-SIGS sustainability evaluation (production efficiency, efficient use of non-renewable resources, environmental stewardship)After the HO-SIGS is deployed the entire system will be evaluated:Production efficiencies: Production efficiency evaluation will be based on the conversion of successful grafted plants from planted seeds. In Phase I, we developed efficiency thresholds. The current thresholds for tomato are listed on Table 4 for the different processes. This table will serve as the standard for the HO-SIGS. The percentages will be calculated for at least 10 different tomato scions and 4 different tomato rootstocks. Four different watermelon scions and 3 different watermelon rootstocks will be used to test HO-SIGS. The production efficiencies of the HO-SIGS will be compared to greenhouse production (current over seeding rates in conventional greenhouse systems range from 25-100% for tomato) in order to determine the increase in production efficiency of the HO-SIGS.Efficient use of non-renewable resources and environmental stewardship: In order to evaluate the efficient use of non-renewable resources and environmental stewardship of the HO-SIGS, a complete Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will be performed for the entire operation. LCA is define as a systematic set of procedures for compiling and examining the inputs and outputs of materials and energy and the associated environmental impacts directly attributable to the functioning of a product throughout its life cycle. LCA is an essential tool to quantify, analyze, and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The LCA will identify the materials, procedures, steps, and technologies that have the greatest environmental impact in terms of GHG emissions and it will help Grafted Growers identify alternatives to reduce the environmental impact and improve sustainability. As discussed on Phase I proposal, the SIGS has a very high water-use-efficiency (90% less water than greenhouse), and high resource-use-efficiency (70% less materials, fertilizer than greenhouse); however, it is evident that the SIGS requires more energy than the conventional nursery systems. Grafted Growers would like to quantified the complete production system's impact to the environment in terms of CO2 equivalents per 50,000 grafted plants (functional unit), the system boundary will be cradle-to-gate (raw materials to plants ready for shipment) and it will be done following the guideless established by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (Greenhouse-Gas-Protocol) and SimaPro (PRé North America Inc, Washinton, DC) as the computational software.

Progress 09/01/16 to 03/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience: The objective of the project was to develop technology and information pertinent to the production of grafted vegetable transplants under indoor growing conditions. The information obtained in the project is mainly used to propel a small business (Grafted Growers) to commercialization success. The primary target audience for this project is commercial vegetable growers looking to adopt grafted vegetable transplants including tomato and watermelon producers. In addition, the information and technology generated in this project is also useful for vertical-farm growers of other specialty crops. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Technical Objectives For phase II we proposed the design and deployment of an optimized high output SIGS prototype (HO-SIGS) with the capacity to produce around fifty- to ninety-thousand grafted plants per month (capacity depends on plant type). The HO-SIGS will be composed of 12 minimum-viable-production units (phase1 SIGS), 6 healing units, and other production areas. The HO-SIGS will be able to generate approximately 600 thousand to 1 million plants/year. In order to accomplish the main objective, five sub-objectives (tasks) were completed as described; 7) Work Plan: Quarter 1 of year 1 starts on 1-September-2016 and quarter 4 of year 2 ends on 31-August-2018 Task 1. Use Grafting nursery simulation models (based on discrete event simulation) to design a highly atomized HO-SIGS with increased production efficiency and decreased cost of grafted seedlings. Progress ; Task 1 was completed Summary ; Grafted Growers worked closely with Dr. Son's lab at the University of Arizona to develop a Discrete Event Simulation (DES) model to simulate the performance of the grafting facility. The created DES model simulated the grafting facility processes as a series of consecutive events over time where between any two consecutive events no change will occur in the system. In order to create the DES model, Grafted Growers provided detailed operational data for seeding time (min/tray), germination time (days), growing time (days), grafting time for each task (min/tray), healing time (days), acclimatization time (days), packing time (min/tray), among others. Grafted Growers also provided detailed layout of the location in terms of architectural drawings and space limitations in terms of spacing between SIGS systems, etc. The DES optimization model yielded several very valuable outputs: An optimized layout for the facility This layout allowed for the maximum number of modules with the necessary space between them. Also it allow for appropriate footprint of the different departments (growing, healing, grafting, etc). The optimized layout allowed Grafted Growers to increase production by 16-20% from the original planned layout. The DES model also provided an optimization in terms of resource use allocation for the facility. The model created a series of sensitivity analysis to optimize the number of workers on each of the manufacturing stations (growing, healing, planting, grafting, packing, etc). For example, the DES model provided the optimal number of workers of different skills to increase the number of plants grafted per day. The DES model also provided an optimization based on the labor cost per plant to reduce the production cost by optimizing the number of workers for the different manufacturing stations. The University of Arizona as patented the developed technology and Grafted growers has the exclusive license. Patent number: 62/674,574 Task 2. Use computation fluid dynamics (CFD) to optimize the aerodynamics, improve air-flow uniformity and reduce temperature gradients of the HO-SIGS production and healing systems (whole facility approach). Progress Task 2: completed Dr. Kacira research group at the University of Arizona has developed several case scenarios to optimize air and temperature uniformity in indoor production facilities. The model integrates computation fluid dynamics, layout information, and parameter specifications (temperature, air flow). The existing model compared and evaluated various air distribution system designs alternatives (with air vent and perforated air tube) for enhanced climate uniformity mainly for air velocity and air temperature Dr. Kacira's research group received the final layout of the facility (Task 2) to applied the models and develop a solution specific for Grafted Growers and Dr. Kacira's group provided a final design that included the position (height and location in respect of modules), and volume of the supply air and return air in both growing an healing rooms. Grafted Growers obtained city permit and deployed the design in the facility by hiring a licensed HVAC contractor. The design is fully deployed in the facility and working as expected. Task 3. Optimize healing technology to allow scalability, reduce plant failure and cost. Grafted Growers in collaboration with Dr. Hernández from the Department of Horticultural Sciences at NC State University worked together to optimize the healing system. Progress: Task 3 was completed Summary: Dr. Hernández and his research team designed a scalable healing system with several advantages to the original Grafted Growers' healing system (Figure 4). The new healing system incorporates the basis of containerized microclimate control The system is outfitted with sensors and controllers for full humidity and temperature control automation The system prevents foliar disease incidence by preventing water condensation in foliage using dry-fog system In preliminary tests, the new healing system was able to reduce the healing time by 30-40%. Task 4. HO-SIGS deployment The deployment of HO-SIGS was done by incorporating the phase I SIGS (minimum-viable-production unit), phase I growing protocols, whole system mechanization and automation design (phase II task 1), whole system air distribution design (phase II task 2), and the optimized healing system (phase II task 3). Progress- Completed Grafted Growers secured and signed a lease agreement for a suitable location (insulated warehouse) with desirable open floor plant (6000ft2) and adequate electrical load (400 amp service). The facility is located in Raleigh NC (4025 Atlantic Ave, Raleigh NC, 27604) Grafted Growers LLC hired an architectural firm and a License Professional Engineer to develop a set of plans in order to have a construction building for the city. The construction plans were developed based on the input form Task 1 in order to maximize resource use and improve production efficiencies. The plans were submitted and approved. Grafted Growers has completed the deployment of the optimized high output SIGS prototype (HO-SIGS). The system is now under operation and generating revenue. In order to increase the HO-SIGS output by 3x Grafted Growers is now seeking seed investment. Task 5. HO-SIGS sustainability evaluation In order to evaluate the sustainability of the system we simulated the carbon foot-print per plant per meter square per year, and then we compared the economic sustainability of the system when used to produce grafted plants to lettuce plants (vertical farm technology is currently commonly used to produce lettuce) based on Hardick and Albright, 2016. The preliminary simulation using an annual cycle resulted in a 1.3 CO2eq per grafted plant. The amount per head of lettuce produced in a similar system would be 10X greater (13.2 CO2eq). The difference is mainly attributed to the density per meter square of the two products. In order to factor the economic sustainability of the system, we incorporated the selling price of hydroponic lettuce ($2.00 dollars per head) and per grafted plant ($1.40 dollars per grafted plant) to calculate the revenue per CO2eq generated. Grafted plants under our SIGS generate 1.1 revenue dollars per CO2eq generated while lettuce grown in a similar system will generate 0.15 revenue dollars per CO2eq generated. The future incorporation of solar panels will further reduce the carbon footprint of the SIGS system.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Sara Masoud 1 , Bijoy Dripta Barua Chowdhury 1 , Young Jun Son 1 , Chieri Kubota 2 , Russell Tronstad 3 Sponsored by USDA 1 Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering 2 School of Plant Sciences 3 Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Arizona

Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached during this portion of the reporting period include industry experts, value chain partners, resellers and direct purchase customers. We have also engaged withacademic/industry cooperative groups aimed at bringing the availability of grafted vegetable seedlings to main stream growers. Lastly we have engaged with the agriculture investment community with the goal of securing bridge funds for the organization. All of the aforementioned efforts are aimed at the continued efforts of Grafted Growers to bring the SIGS system to the commercial marketplace. Changes/Problems:Through the commercially viable prototype development phase we have encountered unexpected cost overrunsrelated to the core components of the SIGS facility. Specifically, the areas of Building Retrofit Design and Permits,HVAC Climate Control System andIrrigation and Fertigation System. Additionally, we have under estimated the time, labor, and materials needed to construct the newly designed SIGS Growing and Healing Modules, also leading to cost overruns. Despite the aforementioned hurdles, we are on track to launch the facility at 50% of the original capacity allowing for validation of the SIGS facility on a commercial scale. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Grafted Growers has actively engaged and participated with county extensions, community gardens, and food banks bringing awareness of our project and educating the stakeholders of thepotential to intergrate the use of graftred vegetable seedlings to increase the output from their current growing operations. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We wil conintue th edevleoment of the project moving to launch the SIGS enabled plant factory in early September to fully validate the technologies ability to provide a low cost means of managing soil borne disease and increseproduction yields for tomoato growers.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Technical Objectives For phase II we proposed the design and deployment of an optimized high output SIGS prototype (HO-SIGS) with the capacity to produce around fifty- to ninety-thousand grafted plants per month (capacity depends on plant type). The HO-SIGS will be composed of 12 minimum-viable-production units (phase1 SIGS), 6 healing units, and other production areas. The HO-SIGS will be able to generate approximately 600 thousand to 1 million plants/year. In order to accomplish the main objective, five sub-objectives (tasks) were proposed. Use Grafting nursery simulation models (based on discrete event simulation) to design the HO-SIGS with increased production efficiency and decreased cost of grafted seedlings. Use computation fluid dynamics (CFD) to optimize the aerodynamics, improve air-flow uniformity and reduce temperature gradients of the HO-SIGS production and healing systems (complete facility approach). Optimize healing technology to allow scalability, reduce plant failure and cost HO-SIGS deployment HO-SIGS sustainability evaluation (economic viability, production efficiency, efficient use of non-renewable resources, and environmental stewardship) Work Plan: Quarter 1 of year 1 starts on 1-September-2016 and quarter 4 of year 2 ends on 31-August-2018 Task 1. Use Grafting nursery simulation models (based on discrete event simulation) to design a highly atomized HO-SIGS with increased production efficiency and decreased cost of grafted seedlings. Progress Task 1 was completed Summary Grafted Growers worked closely with Dr. Son's lab at the University of Arizona to develop a Discrete Event Simulation (DES) model to simulate the performance of the grafting facility. The created DES model simulated the grafting facility processes as a series of consecutive events over time where between any two consecutive events no change will occur in the system. In order to create the DES model, Grafted Growers provided detailed operational data for seeding time (min/tray), germination time (days), growing time (days), grafting time for each task (min/tray), healing time (days), acclimatization time (days), packing time (min/tray), among others. Grafted Growers also provided detailed layout of the location in terms of architectural drawings and space limitations in terms of spacing between SIGS systems, etc. The DES optimization model yielded several very valuable outputs: An optimized layout for the facility (Figure 1). This layout allowed for the maximum number of modules with the necessary space between them. Also it allow for appropriate footprint of the different departments (growing, healing, grafting, etc). The optimized layout allowed Grafted Growers to increase production by 16-20% from the original planned layout. The DES model also provided an optimization in terms of resource use allocation for the facility. The model created a series of sensitivity analysis to optimize the number of workers on each of the manufacturing stations (growing, healing, planting, grafting, packing, etc). For example, the DES model provided the optimal number of workers of different skills to increase the number of plants grafted per day (Figure 2). The DES model also provided an optimization based on the labor cost per plant to reduce the production cost by optimizing the number of workers for the different manufacturing stations. Currently Grafted Growers LLC and the University of Arizona are exploring the opportunity to patent the optimization model. Task 2. Use computation fluid dynamics (CFD) to optimize the aerodynamics, improve air-flow uniformity and reduce temperature gradients of the HO-SIGS production and healing systems (whole facility approach). Progress Task 2: 85% completed Summary Dr. Kacira research group at the University of Arizona has developed several case scenarios to optimize air and temperature uniformity in indoor production facilities. The model integrates computation fluid dynamics, layout information, and parameter specifications (temperature, air flow). The existing model compared and evaluated various air distribution system designs alternatives (with air vent and perforated air tube) for enhanced climate uniformity mainly for air velocity and air temperature (Figure 3) Dr. Kacira's research group has received the final layout of the facility (Task 2) to applied the models and develop a solution specific for Grafted Growers. Task 3. Optimize healing technology to allow scalability, reduce plant failure and cost. Grafted Growers in collaboration with Dr. Hernández from the Department of Horticultural Sciences at NC State University worked together to optimize the healing system. Progress Task 3 was completed Summary Dr. Hernández and his research team designed a scalable healing system with several advantages to the original Grafted Growers' healing system (Figure 4). The new healing system incorporates the basis of containerized microclimate control The system is outfitted with sensors and controllers for full humidity and temperature control automation (Figure 5) The system prevents foliar disease incidence by preventing water condensation in foliage using dry-fog system In preliminary tests, the new healing system was able to reduce the healing time by 30-40%. Task 4. HO-SIGS deployment The deployment of HO-SIGS will be done by incorporating the phase I SIGS (minimum-viable-production unit), phase I growing protocols, whole system mechanization and automation design (phase II task 1), whole system air distribution design (phase II task 2), and the optimized healing system (phase II task 3). The deployment of HO-SIGS will be in an insulated building. Progress Grafted Growers has secured and signed a lease agreement for a suitable location (insulated warehouse) with desirable open floor plant (6000ft2) and adequate electrical load (400 amp service). The facility is located in Raleigh NC (4015 Atlantic Ave, Raleigh NC, 27604) (Figure 6) Summary In addition, Grafted Growers LLC has hired an architectural firm and a License Professional Engineer to develop a set of plans in order to have a construction building for the city (Figure 7). The construction plans were developed based on the input form Task 1 in order to maximize resource use and improve production efficiencies. The plans were submitted and were recently approved, we expect for the construction permit to be issued on the first quarter of November 2017. Task 5. HO-SIGS sustainability evaluation (production efficiency, efficient use of non-renewable resources, environmental stewardship) After the HO-SIGS is deployed the entire system will be evaluated: Progress: This task has not initiated. Final summary of progress report ?

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Layout Based Grafting Resource AllocationSara Masoud Sara Masoud Sara Masoud1, Bijoy Dripta Barua Chowdhury Chowdhury 1, Young , Young -Jun Son Jun Son 1, Chieri Chieri Kubota Kubota2, Russell Tronstad , Russell Tronstad , Russell Tronstad , Russell Tronstad , Russell Tronstad 3 Sponsored by USDA Sponsored by USDA 1Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering 2School of Plant Sciences 3Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics University of Arizona