Why people love wasabi

Wasabi has enormous health benefits. It’s good for your heart, and for your liver, it even helps regenerate your hair. Of course, taste and uniqueness come into play as the food service industry’s poster boy for Sushi and Sashimi. Back in the EDO period, Shoguns were scrapping over this beloved Japanese herb. Why? They discovered it prevented food poisoning after they ate raw fish. 

Can it grow outside of Japan? 

Yes that’s right, it can grow outside its homeland of Japan and many of our friends are successful farmers. The horticulture world has been distracted by the perception it could be tricky to grow. But some hydroponic growers are proving it is possible to be commercially successful. Knowledge and experience is the key to the success of this tricky crop that needs a unique controlled environment, whether you grow hydroponically, in soil pots/beds or naturally in streams. But once you upskill, you can grow for both pleasure (it’s a stunning plant in full bloom below, and the smell well that’s indescribable) and local food service. 

Is it economical to grow Wasabi? 

Wasabi may well be a high value crop (up to $250 per kg of rhizome) but long production cycles, circa 2–3 years, make this a niche specialist crop best designated for high-end restaurants. Most growers will supplement yields by selling Japanese accessories or young plants to cover periods between harvests. So you may want to put your marketing hat on and diversify into Japanese culture and food service. 

All that’s left to say is – do you want to start growing? We are here to help. 

Nice cool temps year round, neutral pH, and a high humidity will get you going.

Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

Can you believe this white ‘pom pom’ like fungus has properties that regrow nerves? This has been proven in several peer reviewed studies. Remarkably, this mushroom can grow larger than a baseball in under two months given the right controlled environment. 

Substrates for Lion’s mane are commonly straw or sawdust based, but could just as easily be ground spent coffee beans. Setting up a container sized space, the main controls to be aware of for optimal growth are temperature and humidity. 

Lion’s Mane mushrooms are rich in protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They are particularly prized for their potential health benefits, including boosting cognitive function, supporting the nervous system, and enhancing immune function.

As the mane grows, it will start to form an underlying ball shape. Then out of nowhere comes the shaggy mane. 

Lion’s Mane mushrooms contain bioactive compounds such as hericenones and erinacines, which have been studied for their neuroprotective and neuroregenerative effects. Research suggests that Lion’s Mane may help improve memory, concentration, and overall brain health.

Shedding of spores – these can be collected for subsequent inoculation of spawn. 

How do you eat these mushrooms? 

Lion’s Mane mushrooms have a delicate, seafood-like flavor and a meaty texture, making them a popular choice for vegetarian or vegan dishes. They can be sautéed, grilled, or roasted and used in various recipes, including stir-fries, soups, and pasta dishes.

Why not try out Nashville Farmacy’s recipe for lion’s mane ragù, it sounds really tasty. 

They are best harvested when young and tender, before the spines become too dense or discolored.

Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

My forefathers were crofters living off the land in whatever way they could in the Hebridean islands off the north-west coast of Scotland. In the Western Isles the land mass is harsh, with rocky terrain, few trees for cover and battered by Atlantic swells. Crofters like my grandfather reared sheep, and the land was cultivated for hard crops like potatoes and turnips.

My summer holidays on my grandfather’s family croft on the Isle of Harris. Imagine trying to cultivate this land? The terrain, as you can see, was like the rocky side of the moon.

I often wonder what my grandfather would make of my way to grow food in my cloning rooms and hydroponic greenhouse. I’m not sure if he would understand, but if he tasted the food I guess he would believe it. Ironically, the inhospitable terrain of the Hebrides would be the ideal place to site a vertical farm, securing food production on the islands. 

Like my grandfather, I have tried to inspire my children with my passion for growing my own food using CEA. My sons have all grown up knowing about hydroponics. Perhaps it will be years before they acknowledge the ideas, but at least they have a grounding in the basics. We must move with the times if we want the future farmers to have the skills to feed themselves and others. They need inspirational leaders to follow, or perhaps just a mom.

Is farming in your DNA? Why don’t you share your story of family farming with us and how you are inspiring the next generation?

Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

Whatever way you eat them, the anthocyanins in the dark skins play a vital role in reducing many lifestyle diseases, and consuming just one cup of blueberries a day will cut your chance of a heart attack or stroke. 

Supersized blueberries could be good for CEA growers 

Breeding is a big deal for not only blueberries but the entire soft fruit industry. New varieties can help urban and controlled environment agriculturists find competitive advantages. Legislation and logistics will change the way we grow, helping to sustain an increased demand for strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. We already know they like an early start in CEA, facilitating easier acclimation to winter conditions. We also know that light quality and intensity in blueberry production is crucial to fruiting and continuous production of high yields. 

When is a blueberry not a blueberry?

Figuring out the right varieties for the right geography is important. They can be relatively hardy bushes and generally take well to a Scottish summer. More varieties than ever are available as breeders search for darker skins, higher yields, and plump berries, with just the right amount of bite. 

Honeyberry, Lonicera caerulea, or Haskaps, as they are commonly known, are native to Japan, and the berries are like little blueberry parcels. What many don’t know is that they are not actually blueberries at all, but come from the honeysuckle family. Despite this difference, they are pretty similar bushes, except for the elongated fruits.  

We’ve been trialing honeyberries through cold Scottish winters, and our young tissue cultured propagules grew a decent couple of feet with good node spacing indoors in 2–3 months under LED lights. 

The berries we produced are small, but incremental improvements will continue until good yields are obtained. With four times the level of antioxidants compared to blueberries and great cold-hardiness, honeyberries we think are worthy of time and investment in CEA.

We can’t wait for berry season, can you?

Janet Colston is a Scottish micropropagation consultant passionate about hydroponics, controlled environment agriculture and functional food.

Myoga contains the terpene alpha-pinene, known to be neuroprotective. The buds are high in anthocyanins and can prevent lifestyle diseases. The taste is less pungent than western ginger, so eating raw flower buds (the only edible part of myoga) in salads or as pickles are the best way to gain these health benefits. 

Growing Myoga in hydroponics or soil 

Myoga ginger, grown in soil (left) and aeroponics (right). We think soil grown is better for this plant, but it is worth experimenting with different substrates and hydroponic techniques. LEDs will encourage growth and flowering either way. 

There are many other varieties of ginger, but one that pops up a lot in videos is shampoo ginger (Zingiber zerumbet (L.)). It has properties that are good for hair conditioning, and often you will see people running their hands through the flower fronds to release the trapped liquid within to wash their hair. 

Zingiber zerumbet (L.) otherwise known as Shampoo Ginger

In the wild, ginger can grow up to five feet in hot humid locations and proliferate with ease, coming up annually to produce new rhizomes. In cooler climates, we only see these plants in municipal hothouses.

Hedychium Gardnerianum ‘Kahili’ Ginger native to India was spotted in the Botanics, Glasgow. 

Part of the landscape, wild ginger, was found on a hike in Hawaii, courtesy of Chris Higgins and his wife. 

Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

No one disputes that tomatoes are good for heart health, especially if you follow the Mediterranean diet. This is in part due to the bioactive carotenoid Lycopene found in tomatoes (molecular structure featured), which is known to improve health.

The ‘crunch’ question: is extracting Lycopene as a drug more beneficial to our health than if we eat tomatoes as part of a healthy diet? The answer?  It’s all to do with health status, efficacy and balance.

Why bioactives could be a good investment 

Bioactives have already caught the attention of investors, eager to tap into start-up companies with million-dollar investments which could  elevate them from their niche status to fill emerging gaps in healthcare, and in the process help CEA farmers gain from a move to: 

• grow the best quality functional plants in a controlled environment.
• recreate environmental growing conditions in any geographical location.
• breed new genetics leading to nutraceuticals stable enough to improve human health. 
• increase the level/production of selective bioactive metabolites. 
• widen the market opportunities to sell more diverse fresh fruit and vegetables using CEA.

The evolving challenge of drug resistance, and the need for novel drugs to treat diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s has led to an increased demand for new bioactives worldwide. Even before the pandemic struck, healthy foods and supplements fortified with plant extracts were on trend. A report in January of this year also indicates the health and wellness sector is gathering momentum, with the global market for bioactive ingredients expected to reach 317 billion USD by 2030. More than a quarter of this market will come from functional plants.

Can CEA play a role in amplifying bioactives in functional  plants?

CEA could accelerate the early stages of drug discovery, harnessing the power of controlled environments to deliberately stress/elicit plant responses to produce higher yields of bioactive molecules. Plant bioactives provide a natural protective role against biotic and abiotic stress. Plants that are free from disease can easily be studied in a controlled environment, preparing them for either uniform extraction or controlled genetics: the protected environment easily permits monitoring and maintenance without introducing any unwanted genetic variation. By transitioning plants towards ‘survival mode’ it pushes the equilibrium in favor of more efficacious specialized bioactives. 

We have observed this with increased light intensity in our Wasabi trials, forcing a stress response, which subsequently increases anthocyanin levels. The wide range of bioactives in Wasabi can be found in our exclusive article. 

CEA can be used by Agritech farmers to increase high quality bioactive molecules that can be marketed both as part of a healthy diet and opportunistically for novel drug extraction with potential to treat disease. 

Bioactive exploration is complex but it does not mean farmers can’t grasp the methodologies and their importance 

Metabolic pathways are complex: they produce multiple modified bioactive intermediates which make them difficult to define. Finding new ways to identify important bioactive compounds requires an inter-disciplinary approach. Metabolomics and computer-aided drug design (CADD) have emerged as the strongest fields in plant drug discovery which accelerates the selection of efficacious molecules compared to traditional pharmacological techniques. This advance is attributed to new technologies making it possible to study the plant metabolome using advanced technologies to screen and analyze the effects of bioactive molecules faster than ever before.

Let’s take a quick run through some of the production methods used to scale up important bioactives

• Precision fermentation using microbes has been popular in recent years but has for decades been used to scale up bioactives. Genetically engineered yeasts, algae and bacteria have all been used to cultivate bioactives. 

• Protoplast culture is another efficient method where the outer protective plant cell wall is enzymatically removed and the cells become ‘totipotent’ with the ability to differentiate into any cell type. These uniform cellular suspensions can then be used to manufacture high-value specialized metabolites. 

• Hairy root culture has also been used as a scaling method for many years to allow bioactives found specifically in plant roots to be extracted. Thanks to our friend in Indonesia,  Dannis Kusuma we can share his adventitial culture of Gynura procumbans (sometimes called longevity spinach for its extensive health properties) in bespoke bubble reactors used to extract specialized metabolites from the roots. Click the image to see more.

• Molecular farming uses novel DNA inserted into an Agrobacterium which is then mechanically loaded into the plant, using a syringe on the leaf underside. Nicotiana benthamina, a close relative of  Tobacco, is often used as the vector due to its fast-growing nature and ability to be genetically transformed with good efficiency. This drives the plant to express desired bioactives in plant ‘biofactories’ including antibodies, hormones and vaccines. 

New bioactives are processed downstream; whether they are produced in microbes, protoplasts or are agrobacterium-mediated, production will follow relatively similar methodologies. Regardless of the intermediate, extraction and purification are likely to follow a similar enrichment pathway.

Vanilla – CEA innovators are growing this valuable crop but it could also help identify novel bioactives 

The subtropical ingredient we all love to flavor our ice cream, Vanilla, comes from the Orchid family; Vanilla Planifolia (commonly known as Bourbon Vanilla), is a native of Mexico that requires a high-humidity environment to grow successfully. 

What bioactives are present in Vanilla?

Vanillin, a phenolic aldehyde, is one of the main bioactives derived from vanilla and is the second most used natural flavor in the world. It demonstrates diverse bioactivity, including anticancer, neuroprotective, and antibiotic properties. Currently, 95% of vanillin is produced by chemical synthesis of lignin and guaiacol. Manufacturing vanillin using petrochemicals or by precision fermentation, either microbial or yeast based, has many limitations, not least that such methods cannot recreate that wonderful vanilla flavor you get from natural seed pods in what is a complex process with high energy consumption. This has led to renewed interest in low cost bio-based alternatives. 

But one of the problems in scaling up natural vanillin is that production is a long way from its market. Of the locations around the world suitable for growing the orchid, Madagascar in the Indian Ocean is probably the most well-known, producing around three thousand tons per annum. 

The issue with natural production is apparent

Vanilla production is labor-intensive. It can take up to 600 hand-pollinated blossoms to produce 1 kg of cured vanilla beans. Beans are picked while still green and sold to fermentation plants, where workers sort, steam and dry out the beans in the sun. 

Vanilla is also subject to market fluctuations : recently oversupply has resulted in a crash in prices. This has led to stockpiling of cured vanilla, resulting in a handful of investors driving down the price of ‘green’ vanilla for growers. When tropical storms batter growing regions, the price of cured vanilla fluctuates, creating profits for the investors but leaving farmers at a loss. This is an unsustainable cycle which leaves farms at the mercy of unstable markets, climate change and crop theft. Also, when stored for long periods in a warehouse, it is not in the best state to provide bioactive molecules, so we need to investigate different production routes for the end market.

Growing Vanilla in hydroponics 

We believe CEA could provide a solution, giving the opportunity to produce locally-grown vanilla which circumvents market fluctuations and storage issues. Despite limitations, researchers in Holland are pushing the boundaries in CEA, resulting in secure local production: Dutch growers are presently leading with greenhouse grown vanilla cultivars. 

Vanilla is a shade-loving epiphyte vine. It enjoys a humid environment where it can diffuse water and oxygen through air roots at optimal temperatures around 21-23^oC. Substrate needs to be free-draining: a combination of orchid mix and humus-rich compost around pH 6-7 should suffice.

Vanilla orchid flowering. But one must be quick, – there is limited time to pollinate tricky orchid vanilla flowers within a twelve-hour window.  Vanilla Tahitensis (pictured) is a cross between Vanilla Planifolia and Vanilla Odorata. Many lesser grown varieties could provide a valuable source of unique bioactives. 

The rise of synthetic biology versus CEA – they should ideally operate side by side to bridge gaps in preventative medicine in addition to food production and pharmaceuticals. 

Given the limitations in the latter methods, an opportunity could present itself for Agritech companies to exploit more efficient ways to produce vanillin. This includes protoplast scale-up and stem cell precision techniques to provide increased biodiversity for extraction of the full vanilla entourage effect, whereby many compounds in the plant work together to magnify the effect. 

Vanilla Bourbon sourced from Madagascar (image from The Functional Plant Co.) shows a node from the vine in sterile tissue culture with new root and shoot formation (arrows) that acts as a source for new and undifferentiated cells. These cells can be scaled in perpetual bioreactors under the ideal conditions to produce cellular bioactives of interest.

Health care of the future includes a viable role for CEA

Many bioactives known to improve human health have already been extracted from well known plants including  Turmeric, Aloe Vera, Vanilla, Saffron, Ginseng, Ashwagandha and Echinacea, to name a few. All of these have been successfully grown in CEA so who knows the possibilities. Others, like Wasabi, are awaiting discovery to literally enjoy their day in the sun or under LED lamps.

With new ways to quantify the plant metabolome and predict physiological changes in human health, the field of metabolomics is opening up efficient ways to study changes in the class and contents of metabolites in different parts of the same plant, and at different levels of plant maturation. Control of growth is going to be a key factor.

We know the type and concentration of bioactives produced by a plant are influenced by a multitude of environmental factors. The most relevant are light, airflow, temperature, humidity, water, CO₂, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, and substrate characteristics.

All these aspects variably affect the quality and quantity of specialized metabolites, limiting extensive exploitation until a high level of process standardization is achieved. Improving the productivity of functional plants will require innovative solutions that increase yields in both greenhouse and indoor farming. Implementing cultivation in controlled conditions is a potential solution for ensuring the best growing conditions, where not only all the variables can be held for the optimal growing conditions, but also the plant metabolism can be forced and stressed to stimulate the biosynthesis of valuable compounds.

Let’s return to the original question: should we extract bioactives to develop clinical drugs?

Preventative medicine is always going to take the form of a healthy diet and lifestyle (i.e. tomatoes) whereas reactive healthcare is likely to benefit more from purified bioactive molecules (i.e. Lycopene). The CEA industry has many advantages over traditional breeding programs which position growers at the forefront of unlocking the power of plants to amplify the amount of the compound for drug development. 

Through recent turbulent times in the industry, it has become clear CEA farms will need to adapt. According to the investment sector, farms of the future are likely to include the following characteristics:

• Differentiated genetics enabling higher yields and/or broad produce varieties
• Industrial automation which, when combined with biotechnology, drives positive product unit 
• economics.

Farmers in a Venture with scientists – Is that a big Chris Higgins horti beard we spy?

Where farmers are proactive – in that their healthy produce prevents disease – scientists are more reactive: their products treat disease, tackling health problems from a different angle. Despite the difference in approach, there’s no doubt scientists could benefit from partnerships with CEA farmers and breeders to provide clean plant material.  Uniformity is likely to be a main driver in the discovery of these bioactives, and CEA farmers are in a perfect position to drive it forward. Both can collaborate with technology providers to create the right environment to produce sustainable bioactives. 

Unless otherwise stated, all images are from The Functional Plant Co and property of Urban Ag News.  Our experts, Dr Janet Colston and Dr Shashank Saini are available to answer any questions you may have on bioactive exploration. 

Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

Grapes are an economically important commodity, supplying fresh, dried, and processed markets worldwide. Although grapes are not a crop you immediately consider a beneficiary of CEA technology, it may be possible to adapt field agriculture, putting in measures to circumvent climate change and disease. 

The last few years I’ve been attempting to grow my own grapevine indoors, so when Chris Higgins shared the main photo I felt excited to learn how they were using LED lights to help fruit mature on vines in California. 

Could CEA also work for my grapevines?

Scotland is not known for wine but with changing climates and carefully chosen hardy varieties it could provide some competition for our national drink. Success at home is just around the corner as I begin season three with my black Hamburg grape (Schiava Grossa) grafted on S04 rootstock. It’s hopeful too, as earlier than expected it is producing trusses. The learning curve is not as steep as you may think and the trick is to not give up with a fruitless vine. 

We will take a look at the growing environment, the diseases that can be encountered and the pests that need to be eliminated by controlling some of the processes. Then we will examine some real Californian vineyards and how they are adapting and integrating CEA technology to increase efficiency and yield, battling against ever changing climates and earlier than predicted seasonal frosts. 

Year 3 indoors black Hamburg (dessert grape)  in central Scotland

Wine has an important role in world trade

Grapes were one of the earliest fruits cultivated for use as a beverage, and statues in ancient Roman culture were often adorned with grapes and wine decanters. In fact, many of the production principles first developed in ancient Rome can be found in winemaking today. Wine is classed as a cultured beverage and body, flavor, aroma, keynotes and vintage all play a part in how we decide to consume it. Aside from commercial vineyards, many vines can be cultivated under glass. This can be a lean-to, a conservatory, a polytunnel or a glasshouse, it doesn’t really matter. Mine are grown in a conservatory with great levels of natural light and temperatures rising to 105°F which helps ripen the fruit. 

The global wine market was valued at USD 417.85 billion in 2020 and growth is expected to expand to 6.4% CAGR by 2028. According to a recent report Italy, France, and Spain were the top three producers of wine worldwide as of 2022. In the Americas, Chile has the leading share of exports, almost three times more than the USA and Canada. Changing consumer preferences are evident with demand for fresh fruit, looking for year-round availability and consumers more willing to pay more for imported out-of-season fresh grapes.

Growing and Grafting Vines

Choosing the right rootstock is vital to ensure a successful harvest since the parent vine, Vitis. vinifera does not provide adequate resistance against phylloxera Vastatrix, a deadly root infection caused by the aphid-like insect, Daktulosphaira vitifoliae (Fitch). Phylloxera weakens the vines causing root galls making it susceptible to fungal infections. It has plagued vineyards, decimating crops in California, and completely devastated vines planted on AXR1 type B rootstocks. It is estimated to have cost the industry $6 billion to uproot valuable mature vines and replant with vines grafted onto sturdier rootstocks. 

To overcome this disease, grapes are grown on rootstocks from a variety of Vitis species selected from native areas or hybrids that use native species to form new rootstocks. The most commonly used are Vitis rupestris, V. riparia, V. berlandieri, and V. champinii. A grafted vine consists of the scion which is seen above ground and the rootstock which provides the root system and lower trunk joined at the graft union (protected with wax like above). 

Image by Wine Folly

Pruning is an artform and traditional viticulture techniques require patience and skill passed down through generations. Below are a few training techniques used in viticulture but you can learn more by following Dan from apicaltexas with great videos on pruning techniques in the field. 

Developing the vineyard should factor the best rootstock suited for particular environmental conditions. Soil type, pest resistance, tolerance to drought, wetness, salinity, and lime must all be considered when siting a vineyard.

Most experts suggest loamy soil as the best type of soil for grape growing. A crumbly mix of sand, silt, and clay when blended with other soils in the right amounts offers the ideal soil type. This is because the clay in loam drains well but also contains moderate amounts of water and nutrients within the preferred pH range (pH 6.5-6.8). Sonoma and Napa Valley are both loam soil regions. 

Even though grapevines are considered relatively tolerant to water deficits, growth and yield can be reduced in drought-like conditions. Drought tolerant rootstocks enable the scion to grow and yield even when water supplies are limited, a desirable trait if irrigation is likely to cause waterlogging in heavy clay soil. Acidic soils are common in many viticultural growing regions, and liming is common-practice to increase soil pH. The salinity of irrigation water and rising water tables can also affect productivity in grapevines which can have a  detrimental effect on wine quality.

Rootstocks can have a pronounced influence on the mineral nutrition of the fruiting variety. Vigorous vines can deplete zinc levels while increasing the uptake of potassium with regular soil analysis crucial to produce the best fruit. 

While growing under cover may not suit large scale vineyards, certainly the early stages can be started off under greenhouse control much like blueberries. A drip irrigation system will work well to ensure a good source of minerals is available at the root base with free drainage. 

If you are planning to grow in containers, a half barrel size is more than adequate with a light multipurpose compost. There’s no doubt selection of soil can be tricky because the soil type needs to work for both the vine and the rootstock. Remember sandy soil seems to have an advantage in resistance to phylloxera.

Microclimates & Disease Prevention 

Year one begins with training the cordon or guyot from the rootstock to produce two dominant shoots. Year two and the tendrils will form without fruiting but it is not until year three that fruit trusses will become visible on most vines. These can then be trained as desired with supports. How vigorous the growth develops will hugely depend on whether it’s grown as scions or as dominant root stocks. 

Mildew, powdery (Erisyphe necator) and downy (Plasmopara viticola) mildew are the predominant diseases encountered in viticulture. These favor successive periods of hot and humid conditions. Suppression of grapevine powdery mildew is problematic with resistance built up to systemic fungicides. This can also lead to weakened vines and susceptibility to Botrytis (botrytis cinerea) another fungal disease which affects almost every part of the vine, usually caused by high humidity coupled with strong winds. Mitigation traditionally introduces better airflow through the truss and canopy, pinching out individual berries can assist, allowing for circulation to circumvent rot problems. New ideas using light treatments are being trialed at Cornell university and UV treatments applied once a week up to 200 J/m2 on Chardonnay vines have proven to reduce powdery and downy mildew conidia germination by almost 100% and 50% respectively. 

Image sourced from David M. Gadoury, Cornell.

LEDs have also been shown to boost yields. RB light encourages leaf growth and fruit maturation but little experimentation has been possible due to field positioning of grapes. Perhaps in the future we will see these autonomous tractors lighting up fields at night.

Frost damage

The French prevent early bud loss by using fire candles between vines. It’s a risky business balancing crop loss from frost with fire damage if not controlled. Water sprays are often employed to protect against frost damage by forming ice crystals around the buds during cold weather. 

Microclimates play a significant role in wine quality and cool ocean breezes inland result in thicker skins on the berries resulting in more color, tannin and concentration of flavor.

Field light spectrum can assist fruit bud development 

Improving knowledge of environmental triggers for bud burst in grapes can help to optimize plant productivity, especially in marginal climates. In particular, an improved knowledge of the physiology of bud burst is fundamental to enable better crop management.

The point where a quiescent axillary bud commences regrowth is governed by both metabolic and signaling functions, driven by light, energy, and oxygen availability. Several grapevine studies have investigated the influence of low-intensity light on shoot physiology, suggesting that it is adapted to a low-light environment. Removing the apex can result in axillary bud outgrowth, as can changes in light intensity and quality. Axillary bud outgrowth is regulated by signals from the apex, which contain several light quality and quantity sensing pigments. These phytochromes sense red and far-red light, while cryptochromes and phototropins are involved in the perception of blue light. Accumulating evidence supports the function of photoreceptors in blue light perception resulting in activation of photomorphogenic gene expression, stimulating bud outgrowth.

Field trials with inter-canopy LED lights in California. Reach out if you need advice, we are here to help. 

These photoreceptors regulate the expression of different transcription factors to coordinate light-dependent photomorphogenesis. 

An early indicator of the transition to bud burst is ‘sap-flow’ preceded by an increase in xylem pressure leading the an increase in auxin and sugars in the sap.

Applying light theory helps improve knowledge of the physiology of bud burst which is fundamental to better canopy and crop forecasting, as the timing and coordination of this event will influence flowering, fruitset, and ripening.

Indoor low intensity RB LED lights – in Scotland year 2 with no trusses but plenty of tendrils and good vine growth.

Pests

Leafhoppers, cochylis and Lobesia botrana are dreaded pests that cause considerable damage to grape crops. IPM plays an important role in scouting for early damage to prevent disease. Prevention by spraying crops with regulated fungicides helps limit damage.  

Micropropagation of new grape varieties 

Starting Clean

Fungal and viral infections have plagued vineyards particularly in California where in the 1980s the deadly root infection phylloxera returned, completely devastating vines planted on AXR1 rootstocks. 

Viruses reduce plant vigor and delay bud break, and can be transmitted through vegetative propagation. Rapid micropropagation techniques can produce clean, disease-free, and vigorous plant material in a shorter time period, compared to conventional propagation techniques. 

There are many reasons why breeding is important to the wine industry, and my friends at PCT wrote a neat article on why growing clean clones is one of the most efficient methods to scale grape plantlets. 

New growth from a nodal cutting of my black Hamburg in initiation MS media growing under different low intensity LED spectrums.

A number of micropropagation techniques can be employed to clone grapes. Meristem culture induced from nodal cuttings can help to eliminate endophytes and produce virus free clones like above. 

Sweet seedless grapes like cotton candy are produced via embryogenesis. Others like Selma Pete, a white grape, are grown for the raisin market. The power of breeding a particular variety for a select market can pay dividends. 

Health properties of grapes

Health properties of grapes and grape juice are well documented particularly the black varieties which have higher anthocyanin levels, with known anti-inflammatory properties. Grape juice is a great way to boost immune systems and stay healthy. What we do know for sure is that resveratrol is well absorbed in the body and offers some exciting anticancer properties. Probably best to consume through black grape juice if you are concerned about the alcohol content in wine. 

Turning grapes into wine 

‘The older the vine the better the wine’ is a common saying in the industry, meaning the skin to pulp ratio increases creating a more intense flavor. Vines can be anywhere from 20 years to 120 years old and still produce good quality fruit. Some growers also believe older vines with deep root systems are more efficient at transferring minerals. 

One thing’s for sure, there’s more science in wine making than you can shake a stick at! It’s chemistry without cooking. Even for hobbyists it’s a great pastime and relatively cheap to get started. As a student I was taught how to make wine in demijohns, it was a relatively simple process. Yeast varieties can also have a significant effect on alcohol production. My final year degree project was to establish the budding rate of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the most common species of yeast in winemaking. Ah, that stirred tank fermenter with all those sensors, part biology, part engineering…..

Begin with good quality grapes and crush and press down hard until the bunches are smashed and the juice is released. For reds, ferment the juice, skins and seeds after removing stems. 

At least 5 gallons of white grape juice can make five gallons of wine. Pour the juice into a demijohn. White grape juice is green to start and as it oxidizes it will turn a brown color during fermentation. Add wine yeast at a comfortable room temperature. It will foam as it releases carbon dioxide within a day or two, which signals the start of the process. Use an airlock to keep oxygen out and allow the carbon dioxide produced by to escape. 

Red ‘must’ can be fermented in a large open container with just a towel, add wine yeast, and give it a good stir. It may begin to ferment in as little as 12 hours.

Red wines need to be stirred, at least twice per day when fermentation is going strong. You’ll see skin floating on the surface but just stir down regularly. Red wine should be around 80°F during fermentation. Test the sugar levels of the fermenting juice periodically with a basic hydrometer. It’s measured in degrees Brix, which equals sugar percentage will reduce to -2 Brix once fermentation is complete.

When the wine tastes like something you’d enjoy drinking, it’s time to bottle. Most white wines should mature after four to nine months whereas reds may take from six months to a year. You can learn more about winemaking from a course at Cornell or perhaps the ‘personality’ of wine from Jancis Robinson, an influential wine critic. Wine will benefit from a few weeks or months aging in the bottle, but who can wait that long? 

My top reds are Spanish and Italian and I’m partial to a Californian rose. Chris would not say no to anything from the Napa Valley. Slàinte Mhath. 

Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

Unless otherwise stated all images are courtesy of The Functional Plant Company and property of Urban Ag News.

It seems to be a different type of farmer that grows mushrooms, but essentially the skills are an extension to planting a seed in a substrate on a shelf, then controlling and monitoring the temperature, humidity, airflow and lighting schedule until harvest. The difference is that the seed is a spore and you inoculate the substrate with the tiniest involvement of water. The life cycle of the crop can vary but once cropping begins, several flushes of mushroom fruiting are possible.

Of course other mushrooms may take slightly longer but with energy costs rising fast, growing high value medicinal mushrooms could be an additional revenue for CEA farms with an easy adaptation of current farming technology.  Dare I say it, switching off the lights to save energy to get farms through lean periods isn’t the worst idea either.

‘Right tech for the market’  —Chris Higgins 

Mushrooms belong to the kingdom of fungi, which is separate from plants and animals. They are part of a huge 100,000 range in species. Approximately 2000 of these mushrooms are edible and more than 500 can be described as having significant health benefits. Wow, how many do you eat or even have access to? I know my larder was limited until I discovered their anti-inflammatory and nutritional value.

The most cultivated is the common button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) often referred to in its mature state as the portobello mushroom (now called Agaricus brunnescens). This white chestnut mushroom is commercially produced, and the one most often seen on our grocery shelves. Only if you veer off into a specialist shop can you see an alternative range on offer including Oysters of all colors, and Shiitake. Many are not yet mainstream but we hope to highlight why you should grow these in CEA.

One reason is that the global medicinal mushroom market is strong and expected to grow to 6,870.7 Million USD during the forecast years 2022-2030. Secondly mushrooms are a good alternative source of protein if you are vegetarian, and are low in fat and high in vitamins and minerals.

Medicinal mushrooms and health benefits

The first significant recognition of medicinal properties in mushrooms began with Alexander Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin in 1928. The discovery led to the Nobel prize in 1945 – but it might never have been noticed, since it was only by chance that cultures were left on an open bench and a mold spore infected the medium. Penicillin is the world’s most common antibiotic, most commonly prescribed as amoxicillin to treat a wide range of bacterial infections. Almost all edible mushrooms will have inherent antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties.

Ancient Medicine 

Since ancient times mushrooms have been used for their medicinal properties, particularly in Japanese and Chinese cultures. Europeans knew of these benefits too. DNA extracted from Otzi the iceman, found buried in a glacier 5000 years ago revealed he had two mushrooms with him while navigating the Alps. Birch polypore, better known as hoof fungus (Fomes fomentarius) may have been in his possession to help combat parasites but most likely he used it for tinder (amadou, the dry cork-like inner is commonly used in fly fishing to aid buoyancy). Hoof fungus (which sounds pretty unappetising) is mentioned by Hippocrates for dressing wounds, in Chinese medicine to treat cancers, and in Indian medicine as a diuretic, laxative, and relaxant. Recent studies show extracts have a significant modulatory effect on drug-resistant breast cancer cells.

Fantastic Fungi

If you begin to research medicinal mushrooms one of the leading mycologists, Paul Stamets, is perhaps the starting point. Stamets tells a heartfelt story about his mother Patty who survived breast cancer after taking Turkey tail extracts, which appeared to accelerate her immune recovery post-radiotherapy. Stamets, whose profile was raised by the Netflix film ‘Fantastic Fungi’, has dedicated his life to the research of important medicinal mushrooms. In Asia more than 100 varieties of mushroom are used to treat cancer – but how do you know which ones to grow for the best value and the greatest health benefits?

Let us share with you why you should grow these in CEA

In 1993, Japanese researchers showed extracts from Lion’s mane could stimulate nerves to regrow. The findings could have implications in the treatment of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Active compounds in Lion’s mane mushroom can help promote neurogenesis and enhance memory, a new study reports. This is because Lion’s mane is high in nerve growth factor, important for the myelin sheath that surrounds nerve fibers. It’s an important discovery which could lead to a breakthrough in the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis and many other diseases.

Ganoderma lucidum, a red variety of Reishi (Japanese for Divine), is a polypore fungus native to East Asia that belongs to the genus Ganoderma. Its reddish brown varnished kidney-shaped cap with bands and peripherally inserted stem gives it a distinct fan-like appearance. This mushroom cannot be consumed fresh, but must be dried after harvest and then marketed. Other members of the genus may have different medicinal properties and although less mainstream, more availability of these cultures will help increase biodiversity in this space.

The health benefits of Reishi have been widely demonstrated and with known anti-cancer properties it is not surprising it is widely used in Asian alternative medicine. Reishi contains over 400 different bioactive compounds including Beta-glucans. Research shows promise in altering inflammatory pathways in white blood cells, switching on natural killer cell genes which help fight infection and cancer.

One of the most colorful mushrooms, Turkey tail increases lactobacillus and bifidobacterium, both probiotics that decrease dangerous bacteria including E Coli, shigella, clostridium and Staphylococcus Aureus. Polysaccharide-K (PSK) or krestin, from T. versicolor, is an approved mushroom product in the treatment of cancer in Japan. There is evidence that PSK in Turkey tail improves 5 year survival rates in gastric and colon cancer, though only at less advanced staging.

Enoki (Flammulina velutipes) mushrooms are an interesting choice because they fruit in winter and need very little light to grow. I’ve eaten these in a traditional Japanese Shabu Shabu where they taste amazing cooked in a light soy broth.

Some cultures have long associations with mushrooms: epidemiologists found farmers who grow and eat enokitake in Nagano prefecture in Japan have a 40% lower incidence of cancer-related mortality. Although Lentinan from Shiitake mushrooms increases the survivability from stomach, prostate, colorectal and liver cancer, you should cook Shiitake mushrooms for longer to avoid potential negative effects from high doses. 

Cordyceps 

Cordyceps are a source of a wide range of nutraceutical and medicinal metabolites. Recent studies suggest it may have anti-aging effects, most likely due to its anti-inflammatory properties. They are actually quite a rare mushroom, leading to a high market value. Various commercially viable culture methods have been established, depending on the type of Cordycep grown. Our friend Huan Shuma in Peru has kindly allowed us to share his liquid culture development of Cordyceps militaris grown on an organic brown rice substrate. The strain was sourced from leading Cordyceps expert Ryan Paul Gates’ from Terrestrial Fungi.

Images of different stages of growth in Cordyceps Militaris courtesy of our friend Huan Shuma from @chavinherbalists

Starting cultures like this requires a degree of skilled sterile culture technique and the appropriate technology. Many of us in the plant tissue culture world will have the ability to adapt our skills and equipment. Creating a bank of initiates from spores can take some time to get clean but after this stage you can inoculate either sterilized substrates or wooden dowels that are then drilled into preferential tree stumps.

Mushrooms can grow easily in a controlled environment 

I have grown the easiest of these mushrooms, the blue Oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus) on a coffee waste substrate (main image). It was so simple. No inoculation is required in pre-prepared kits and it gives you a good feel for the right conditions before you start investing further. The taste was satisfying, added to by the pleasure of having grown it myself.

The medicinal mushrooms we have described – Oysters, Enoki, Shiitake, Cordyceps, Reishi and Turkey tail – can be farmed in CEA. Each variety needs a particular temperature to thrive, and this varies throughout the growing cycle. Pink Oyster mushrooms, for example, prefer a temperature of around 80 F which makes them more attractive to warmer climate/seasonal growers. Other Oysters fruit at cooler temperatures – anywhere from 40-70 F – which could be a seasonal shift depending on the market being served.

Temperature plays a vital role in the quality of mushrooms; the optimum is anywhere between 65-75 F for the development of the majority of mushrooms. Above this temperature, mushrooms might get too dry. They love a humid, damp environment. Monitoring moisture levels during the cultivation period is vital for continuous harvests. HVAC in isolated rooms is needed for commercial cycles, and many farms use shipping containers which offer flexibility and isolation.

 Log culture (where spawn-inoculated dowels are pushed into logs) was developed more than a millennium ago, and is still used today. The majority of mushrooms we have described are wood-loving species which are happy to grow on sawdust, straw or other high-lignin substrates. These are often readily accessible waste products. The main exception is Cordyceps, which requires a more specialized substrate that replicates its insect host. 

Mushrooms require light only when developing fruit from mycelium. As a general rule, a few hours of dim light is sufficient for mushrooms to develop their edible fruiting bodies, also called ‘pinning’ – as in the image above.

Buying ready-made substrate such as the above already inoculated with spawn can save time. Spawn can be delivered in a variety of forms, including liquid inoculate, or grain which is typically used by commercial cultivators. This overcomes the issue of maintaining viable spawn in cultures which can be time-limited to a matter of months in refrigerated condition.

As they start to grow out, with mycelium pushing forward, the substrate becomes dense in carbon dioxide levels. Some, like Reishi, need very high CO₂ levels (up to 40,000 ppm) during the early ‘antler’ stage under condensing fogging environments for high humidity. According to Dr Ghilavizadeh most mushrooms require a CO2 level of around 1000 ppm (remember the ambient level is 421 ppm).

Low intensity LEDs are ideal to stimulate growth when mushrooms are grown indoors. Oyster, Shiitake, and Reishi all demonstrate strong photosensitivity. Blue light is an important environmental factor that induces mushroom primordial development and fruiting bodies in Oysters. Shiitake are also known to produce primordia with low light levels (10.5 μmol/m2/s) in the blue range (peak 455 nm). Other studies suggest red and blue LEDs can increase biomass. More research in CEA will provide better insights for farmers on both spectrum and light intensity at different developmental stages in cultivated mushrooms. 

Reach out if you need advice on low intensity LED lighting. 

From what we can establish from Paul Stamets’ book, Oyster primordial formation needs around 750-1500 lux and fresh air exchange every 4-8 hours. Reishi primordia (antler) stage needs 4-8 hrs at 200-500 lux increasing to 500-1000 lux at conk and the final fruiting stage requires 750-1500 lux for 12 hrs/day. Reishi is slow growing and will crop twice in 90-120 days depending on ideal conditions.

Harvesting your mushrooms 

Dr Ghilavizadeh advises picking your mushrooms at just the right time. These yellow Oysters are at the right stage for picking. He says ‘the first hand is the harvester and the second hand must be the hand that wants those mushrooms to cook’.

The best time to harvest colored mushrooms is very early in the morning at the peak of their pigmentation. Mushrooms should be stored in a cool place at a temperature of four degrees (39.2F) immediately after harvest to maintain their durability prior to drying and packaging.

In the Wild

We have described the main mushrooms grown for medicinal properties (excluding magic mushrooms) but there are so many more out there waiting to be discovered and cultured like the cinnamon- and orange-smelling Hericium novae-zealandiae.

Image courtesy of our friend Mike Wallace: Hericium novae-zealandiae (formerly Hericium coralloides) is a saprotrophic fungus, commonly known as the coral tooth fungus. It is a relative of Lion’s mane and has a mushroomy ‘seafood’ taste akin to lobster, I am told.

Taking a culture from spores, Mike grew this coral tooth fungus from the wild. Visible fruiting bodies germinated on sterile culture medium as the hyphae extend out.

Wild Californian morels (Morchella vulgaris) courtesy of our friend Shannon Maas at Shasta Mycology. Morels are known to contain one of the highest amounts of Vitamin D among all edible mushrooms.

Image courtesy of my friend and mushroom forager Maxime Jay of Coeur Sauvage Scotland : Chicken or Hen of the woods (Laetiporus Sp) as it’s known in Scotland. I guess the argument of which is best, wild or cultivated, is dependent on access, knowledge and supply. There is no doubt in my mind, having been out in the Scottish hills with Maxime, that wild mushrooms will always have a niche high-quality market value in food service.

Chaga (Inonotus obliquus)

No account of medicinal mushrooms is  complete without Chaga. ‘Superlife’ author Darin Olien’s health regime includes Chaga in his ‘Shakeology’ superfood and as a tea to combat daily stress. It’s a strange hard black fungus with a high melanin content and a surprisingly sweet taste due to vanillin.  It has demonstrated some impressive medicinal properties as an immune boosting anticancer agent in lab tests. But be careful, as it also contains high oxalates so is inadvisable for anyone with kidney disease or who is pregnant. It may not be suitable for growing in CEA but I would love to be proven wrong on that.

Rare Cordyceps could hold the key to future medicines 

Himalayan Gold: Cordyceps sinesis or Kida Jada (Hindi). Thank you to our friend Dr. Shashank Saini who found these ultra-rare Ophiocordyceps sinesis  on a hike at Badrinath district, Uttrakhand, India in the Himalayas. These fungi (technically they are not a mushroom) cannot be farmed despite being valued at more than three times their weight in gold. They are sought after for aphrodisiac effects and also used by some athletes to improve their performance. Cordycepin, the bioactive compound in the fungus, has potential medicinal and therapeutic applications and shows promising cytotoxicity in cancer cells. However, a word of caution, this mushroom can have antiplatelet effects, as it acts as a blood thinner so could increase the risk of bleeding or bruising.

The fungus requires a special environment at 4500 ft altitude and is only found in the Himalayas around the Sino-Indian border and in Tibet. The area is covered with glaciers and the fungus releases endoparasitic spores which infect a caterpillar. During winter the fungus grows out of the insect’s head to form a bud inside the snow and remains frozen until spring. As the glaciers melt in early summer the fruiting bodies (as shown in the figure) grow out of the soil and are harvested by local people.

Check out this never-before-seen video of the fungus and a live caterpillar in Badrinath district, Uttrakhand, India in the Himalayas. Despite Cordyceps scary film debut in ‘The Last of Us’ (based on an action adventure computer game) we can reassure you these fungi are not in evolutionary terms about to take over higher animal species. Instead, with more research they may hold important bio pharmaceutical compounds that aid human health. 

Image courtesy of my friend Gloria MacDonald. Wild chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius) growing wild in the woods beside my home in Scotland. False chanterelle is flatter on top, with less of a forked edge. It is crucial to know what you are looking for as you could have a nasty turn when eating your mushroom pizza if you pick the wrong type.

When foraging in the wild, it’s important to preserve the ecosystem by not over-collecting.

How to eat them? 

A different set of skills helps you combine mushrooms in a meal where the medicinal qualities are retained. Whether eaten fresh in a Shabu Shabu or as dried extracts in a tea, there is no doubt medicinal mushrooms have a significant health benefit.

* Cropping information from Paul Stamets’ book ‘Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms’. All Images unless otherwise stated are the property of Urban Ag News, please ask for permission to reprint our articles. We thank Brian Harris, Dr Shashank Saini, Dr Ardalan Ghilavizadeh, Ximena Zamacona, Huan Shuma, Mike Wallace, Maxime Jay, Shannon Maas, Gloria Macdonald and Jake Wilson for their contributions to this article.

Disclaimer

Despite their popularity, there are potential dangers inherent in consuming mushrooms. Always take advice from a qualified mycologist if you want to add fresh or foraged mushrooms to your diet.

Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

Unless otherwise stated all images are courtesy of The Functional Plant Company and property of Urban Ag News.

We know light exerts a powerful influence on plant growth. These effects can range anywhere from seed germination to leaf expansion and from flowering to fruiting. But, did you know it’s not only plants that benefit from changes caused by light? Human health can also be boosted by light induced changes in the fruits and vegetables we eat. These systems are interconnected. Read on to find out how CEA farmers could hold the key to both higher crop yields and better human health through the smart use of spectral low intensity LEDs.

Color Survival

As humans we cannot survive without food, water, air, or shelter. Some maybe curious to go further in asking what’s the point in just surviving if you don’t live a healthy, and colorful life. So, what do we really mean by a colorful life? Perhaps the ‘joie de vivre’ could be loosely defined by variety, intensity, and vibrancy in our lives. The similarity to the definition of color, is patently obvious, correlating with chroma, value and hue. We want to show you how interconnected and highly dependent we are on light and color in growing fruitful crops with health promoting factors (aka; Natural products/Specialized Metabolites).

As farmers in CEA we are at the forefront of lighting technology, pushing the boundaries of understanding in the requirement to produce the best quality crops with the greatest impact on our health. Often we are told to ‘eat the rainbow’ in order to provide a range of nutrients for health. With this in mind it is even more important than ever for growers to use their knowledge and appropriate technology to increase their value proposition with efficient growing and marketing of their products.

What are the elements that make up color? 

We see the world in a multi coloured spectrum of reflected light wavelengths. Of course ‘visible’ light is only a small part of the wide spectrum which as a whole also includes ultraviolet, and far red wavelengths. Structures called cones (rods are used for night vision and low photon light) in the back of our eyes refract visible light like a prism below to send a signal to our brains which helps us distinguish colors. Most often in life we see visible light split into its constituents when a rainbow forms and electrons are diffracted through raindrops. How much color is relevant and used by a given plant, we aim to find out. 

Light penetrates air, water, and through our shelters if we don’t block it out so we must gather data on how much radiation traverses the greenhouse and other structures which give shelter to crops. Integral to this is the daylight integral or DLI, the optimal amount of light a plant needs over a day. This helps us establish when to add further efficiencies with supplemental light and tailored spectral recipes. 

How do plants perceive light? 

Plants are dependent on their ability to sense and interact to their surroundings to optimize their chances of survival. What happens in the plant world is very interesting and light has several known actions on plant growth and development.

Deeper in the chloroplast within the thylakoids lie the photosystems that serve as the site for absorption of sunlight. Special structures called photoreceptors detect an array of wavelengths, allowing them to ‘perceive’ light and send a signal in the direction of growth. Similar to human eyes a wide range of photoreceptors exist, including phytochromes, cryptochromes, phototropins and ultraviolet-B receptors help plants discriminate light signals from ultraviolet to visible to far red wavelengths. Of course it’s much more complicated than we can talk about in this short article but essentially the plant has a control mechanism that distinguishes wavelengths through these photoreceptors and a metabolic switch to biological reactions.

In summary the leaf interface acts as a mini processor, where energy from excitatory photons hitting the thylakoids catalyze the photosynthetic pathway between carbon and water to produce glucose and oxygen. This directly impacts cell signaling, including metabolic, morphological and physiological changes in plants.

It is important to take into account not only spectrum but also efficacy of LED lamps as this determines the number of photons hitting the leaf surface. This means lights should be balanced for growth and less likely to be separated as defined by the image below. Instead they are low intensity LEDs incorporating blue wavelengths and appearing white, or balanced red and blue wavelengths, the latter appearing pink. It is important to take advice from a quality LED vendor and compare the market as not all LEDs are equivalent quality. Reach out if you need advice.

As more academic research into LED lighting becomes available, increased awareness of specific wavelength induced changes will help efficiency in new crops for higher biomass and increased stable levels of health promoting specialized metabolites for human health.

Can varying spectrum LED lighting increase crop traits and efficiency?  

Light exerts a powerful influence on most vegetable tissues, and there can be no doubt that it generally tends to check their growth” – Charles Darwin, 1880 (The Power of Movement in Plants)

In CEA we have the advantage of an agricultural phenomenon that can harness data on each of the nine environmental variables that impact yield including diffracted wavelengths. This ultimately helps refine and optimize processes for farmers.

Different wavelengths help plants achieve various goals. In general plants exposed to blue light encourage vegetative leaf growth, stem elongation and rooting whereas red light, when combined with blue, switches on genes for plants to flower and fruit. This is not surprising when experiments show an increase in chlorophyll content in the PAR range of the spectrum. Green wavelengths reflect most light (hence why we see them as green) but this specific wavelength is known to be responsible for deeper canopy penetration and absorption balance of excess energy in some plants. The latter is an important physiological step, often overlooked as not all energy is used in photosynthesis (remember it’s rate limiting) and excess energy must be dissipated safely as heat.

Although we class the photosynthetically active region (PAR) between 425-695nm, a nice study by Paul Kusuma at Wageningen showed the power of far-red photons influencing leaf area and stem elongation. Essentially the higher ratio of far red light can help plants stretch at night. He also found lower energy of far-red photons makes them useful in reducing electrical power inputs.

UV light on the other hand can be used in pulses to disrupt bacterial DNA and prevent disease in plants. Short term UV treatment has been shown to  improve performance for both seedlings and seeds that deliver long-term benefits, including improved crop consistency, increased yield and stronger disease resistance. This can increase the chance of producing healthy plants without viral invasion. As Darwin succinctly suggested, light provides nature’s way of balance. 

Learn more from the experts in horticulture lighting spectrum here.

Different wavelengths in Turmeric

When plants are grown in tissue culture, light, humidity, and nutrients can be tightly controlled. Although TC is an artificial state with immature leaf structure, it could be useful in predicting a smart spectral recipe, taking into account the lack of stomatal development. Low light intensity LEDs are typically employed as a strategy to prevent heat damage in immature propagules but different wavelengths could be more advantageous for certain desirable traits. For instance red, blue, and green LEDs have been found to have specific effects on plant growth rate, developmental characteristics, and production of bioactive specialized metabolites. 

We used turmeric as an example of how to control light for different growth and specialized metabolite requirements.

Under low intensity LEDs, we can encourage rooting in turmeric but also elongation of shoots. We can also combine factors we know control growth like levels of plant growth hormones, humidity, gas exchange, liquidity of substrate and additions like activated charcoal to help some species like turmeric root better and this can also increase plant biomass. Good rooting and biomass gives plants a head start during acclimation. 

Turmeric shoots multiplied under Arize Lynk LEDs (red blue) as they continue simultaneous growth of both leaf area and roots in the multiplication phase. It’s not always desirable to let roots grow out in the multiplication phase as they tend to be more vulnerable to infection particularly if using high sucrose as a carbohydrate source. Reducing the ratio of blue can help reduce rooting during this stage. When in the multiplication phase, the level of cytokinin (shooting) to auxin (rooting) is increased but we also can utilize light to control growth as desired.

Acclimation

As turmeric acclimates and the plants develop mature leaves, Arize Lynk LEDs  are better for leaf growth and an advantage to increase foliage biomass. We know from other studies that turmeric grown in the acclimation phase, under RB spectrum increases phytochemicals, such as polyphenols, flavonoids, sugars, and boosts curcumin biosynthesis. 

Turmeric is a perennial spice that can reach a height of about 1m. To increase turmeric rhizome size requires higher light intensity light and increased oxygenation of roots during the growth stage taking up to a year to produce good harvestable yields in different systems. Prior to harvest, farmers should consider supplemental RB light and higher intensities, to increase anthocyanin content. 

While we do not have the results from studies of isolated green light, we postulate that green light is efficiently absorbed deep into the canopy during rapid growth periods. If you time the crop season right, natural sunlight allows for a reduction in energy consumption while using the whole visible spectrum more efficiently (that is if wavelengths are not deflected from the structure you are growing within). 

Growing plants like turmeric in CEA for the entire crop cycle is unsustainable and farmers should consider hybrid models to produce the best results and yields for the end user product and market they target. For instance if the product is for specialized metabolites then by all means grow and process in as close as possible to sterile environments but if the market is for color and curry, open fields are more realistic. 

The power of hue in health. 

Did you know sir Isaac Newton invented the first color wheel in 1666? I did not!

Artists have studied and designed other wheels based on Newton’s concept. Most color wheels have a total of 12 main divisions (as we see from the chart), but then subdivided again we have 24.The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. The secondary colors are green, orange, and purple and the tertiary colors are yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green, and yellow-green. The problem is that color is not a quantifiable way to determine the anthocyanin content of a given fruit, leaf or rhizome. 

The Munsell color scheme on the other hand could be the way to distinguish higher levels of anthocyanin. The color scheme comprises hue, value, and chroma. Anthocyanin pathways are complex and often unstable due to oxidation but if stabilized using supplemental LED lights it could be a quantitative roadmap. Using the Munsell system could help us understand color related health values in the same way that brix value quantifies sweetness in fruit sugars.

A change in the color of plant skin, leaf, fruit, and rhizome indicates when plants are ready for harvest. But do we ever consider we can control this process? It’s called the stress reaction in plants. Some fruits with purple skins will have higher Munsell values. We can correlate color intensity of blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries with higher levels of antioxidants. As a fluorescence scientist I know there are many spectrophotometer devices that could be used to quantify color values. An example of color versus phytonutrients can be seen in bilberries. Bilberries exhibit darker hues than farmed blueberries and have significantly higher anthocyanin content compared to the latter. Could we, in the future, have a hand held device for farmers to know the level of anthocyanin?

Other research articles reviewed the targeted use of LEDs, i.e. blue range (400-500 nm) of spectrum and found blue light is efficient in enhancing the accumulation of phytochemicals.

The flavonoid Curcumin in turmeric trapped in vesicles can range in diverse yellow-orange hues. Curcumin is a bright yellow chemical compound that gives turmeric its color. It is not readily soluble in water, but is in other carriers. Electrons in the curcumin molecule absorb energy from ultraviolet light and move to a more excited state. Try this interesting experiment if you are a teacher, it will get your students attention.  

Stability of phytonutrients.

Curcumin in turmeric has been well proven in the lab to kill many types of cancer cells. Why does this not translate to the body? The biosynthetic pathways are highly unstable and curcumin has extremely low bioavailability. It is only when curcumin is combined with piperine that we see positive effects. Even then, the marketing of products containing turmeric has led us to believe they can cure ALL ills, when they cannot. We are not insinuating these functional plants don’t have potential, but we are concluding it is dependent on stability and bioavailability of active metabolites. 

If you read our personal health journey’s you will discover like we did the best kept secret in medicine; that is if you are ill, a colorful plant based diet will give you a fighting chance. 

Image of different zingiberaceae species courtesy of our friends at Spade and Clover, Johns Island, South Carolina. 

Should we continue experimenting with environmentally friendly ways to produce the healthiest plants?
Absolutely, there is more to discover. 

We know there is variability in the level of curcumin in commercial turmeric and native turmeric alone has low bioavailability. This means that, under normal circumstances, little is absorbed from the gut into the body. Increased stable levels of specialized metabolites could have potential to produce similar metabolic and physiological effects to what we see in the lab. 

Light up your plants for Specialized Metabolites
Increasing the quantity and quality of curcumin using low intensity spectral LEDs at the correct time in the growing cycle can increase important specialized metabolites possessing various pharmacological properties providing increased carrier opportunity to cross membranes and produce stable physiological effects.

Is a turmeric based curry the healthiest meal you can eat?

In India, turmeric is commonly known as “haldi” (Sanskrit; haridra). 

• Preceding Vedic culture, turmeric has been used for more than 4000 years in India, where it was used as an edible spice with ceremonial significance still practiced today. 
• According to Ayurveda and Unani systems, turmeric has a long history of medicinal use in South Asia. In fact, in 1280 Marco Polo talked about turmeric as the new wonder spice having qualities similar to that of saffron. 
• Susruta’s materia medica (250 BCE), mentioned a formulation of ointment containing turmeric as a major ingredient, having anti-inflammatory properties which helps in reducing the effects of food poisoning.

Indian recipes are a great way to boost the immune system, reduce inflammation, and improve cognitive functions. Turmeric and black pepper together have impressive health benefits, due to the metabolites curcumin and piperine. As piperine enhances curcumin absorption in the body by up to 2,000%, combining the spices magnifies the effects. You can read more about growing turmeric and the beneficial health effects from our previous article. 

Now if this doesn’t inspire you to make a wonderful healthy grain inspired curry, and buy the freshest ingredients from your local farmer we haven’t done our job right. 

All Images unless otherwise stated are the property of Urban Ag News, please ask for permission to reprint our articles. We are indebted to our friend Dr Shashank Saini for his diligent review of this article.

Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

Unless otherwise stated all images are courtesy of The Functional Plant Company and property of Urban Ag News.

“You should never hesitate to trade your cow for a handful of magic beans. “ — Tom Robbins 

 Protein Replacement is a hot topic 

Nutrition and protein replacement in particular is a global health concern with implications for the future direction of the planet, not least because the tide could be turning on less sustainable types of food production. We have had some in CEA evangelizing about the power of CEA to feed us all in the future, but the reality is that we need all agricultural practices to work together where appropriate to create resilient sustainable supply food chains close to where people live. Given this opportunity we should consider how we assist the creation of new plant proteins in hi tech towers and glasshouses. It is with this thought in mind that we could be overlooking the potential of the fabaceae family which includes legumes (pulses are the edible dry seeds) that have sustained entire continents in times of need.

Getting real with alternative proteins 

We want to explore if pulses and specifically beans grown in CEA could provide complementary protein to that found traditionally in meat, dairy, fish and more recently, cellular meat (which is different from plant based burgers that incorporates soy, wheat, potato or mushroom protein). It should be noted that cellular meat also uses soy protein for scaffolds i.e. a lattice for cells to grow into 3D meat.

Let’s begin with an argument. Many in the medical community advocate a plant based diet to be wholly adequate to supply all the body’s protein requirements. Others argue that plants do not contain an adequate source of protein and that animal protein is essential for supplementing our diets. It could be time to challenge the assumption that ‘real men eat meat’. Whatever your stance, we do know that essential amino acids, thought to be less abundant in plant based diets, could in part be provided by chickpeas and soya beans, helping to supplement vegan or vegetarian diets. Make sure you add seeds, nuts, whole grains and lentils to ensure you get all nine essential amino acids. If you are worried about the lack of Vitamin B12 which cannot be provided by vegetables, try a source of shiitake mushrooms or nori seaweed in your diet. 

‘Beans are a great value for money meal and source of protein during the cost of living crisis’

While I’m old enough to have visions of Mel Brooks blazing saddles around the campfire, there are so many delicious recipes that create a heart warming meal from a range of pulses, legumes and lentils. Theoretically speaking it is better for the planet too if we consider biogenic methane production from a cow’s four stomach chambers versus our human gut should we consume more beans as our protein source in preference over animal protein. 

A trick to avoid gas: Eat more beans! Why? We often lack an enzyme called alpha-galactosidase produced by gut bacteria. This enzyme helps break down complex sugars that can, if not fully digested, cause excessive wind. As your body gets used to eating more beans (they act as a prebiotic to increase the good bacteria), more enzyme is produced in the gut to digest these carbohydrates. 

Beans are a staple in the diets of many underdeveloped countries, they taste good in meals and can in fact cost far less than meat based stews. They are also on a calorie ‘like for like’ basis much better for your health as well as being cheaper to produce. So the question then becomes, can we grow them close to where people live and in large enough quantities? 

Many people are unaware that chickpeas and other pulses contain components that when eaten as part of a balanced plant-rich diet, help prevent the development of diseases like diabetes and heart disease. These beans have a soluble fiber called raffinose, which is fermented in the colon by beneficial bacteria and has been shown to reduce inflammation. Chickpeas also contain a cholesterol like plant sterol called sitosterol that can trick the body into lowering blood cholesterol levels. The satiating effect of the high fiber and protein content of chickpeas may also help with weight management, another major factor in lifestyle disease progression.

The practicality of growing bean vines in VF like many other plants is dependent on the number of plants per square foot, breeding programmes to increase nodes (spectrum is likely to play an important function in early flowering) and compliant technology. Research into the economic efficiency for well designed CEA facilities (lights, oxygen, fertilizer) and indoor grow rooms should be considered versus higher energy outputs when considering new crops like beans. But, with quick production cycles and all year round growing potential, farms could easily be adapted much like other vines such as tomatoes and chillies to grow unique high protein legumes. They could even be tacked onto the side of existing horizontal structures with additional inter-canopy lighting. High production cycles are likely to determine profitability so modeling through trials is recommended.

The Functional Plant Co in Scotland have been studying beans like Lima and ways to increase nodal development in CEA TC to produce high quality slips for continuous batch supply to plant factory’s.

Native American Beans are steeped in tradition 

Pole beans were a staple of Native Americans with more than 5000 known varieties spread worldwide. They have a long tradition in Native American culture including the Hopi tribe, whose Bean Clan is called Murzibusi. Such importance has been associated with beans, that some eastern tribes, like the Lenape, Shawnee and Iroquois actually have a ‘Bean Dance’ amongst their tribal dance traditions. Despite myths of their Mexican origins, Anasazi beans are thought to have been cultivated throughout generations of Southwestern Native American tribes. Today these beans are commonly used in many Latin American and Southwestern cooking turning pink once cooked, and are often used in refried bean recipes due to the sweetness. Remember it was the Indians that invented succotash with sweetcorn, lima and other mixed beans.

The Many Health benefits of beans 

Regular consumption of beans has been linked to disease prevention, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

Beans have a strong nutritional profile, marked by a high amount of iron, calcium and potassium per serving. As well as antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties, beans have a low glycemic index and are found to be high in lectins, a glucose-binder, with potential to avoid sugar spikes and naturally treat diabetes. If that wasn’t enough, the anti-inflammatory effects of these magical beans may also help you fight cancer.

The Color Purple 

The red/blue color of beans is due to a group of biological pigments called anthocyanins. This same group of compounds is also responsible for the rare blue pigments we see in nature.

Nonna Agnes Beans

An analysis of black beans showed most of the anthocyanins to be delphinidin, with lesser amounts of petunidin and malvidin. Delphinidin and malvidin are responsible for the blue color in various flowers. Petunidin is described as having a dark-red/purple color adding to greater health benefits.

Growing Beans in CEA

One of the most commonly used Native-American gardening techniques was ‘Three Sisters’, probably the first no till agriculture method on the continent. They planted corn, squash and bean seeds together. The beans provide nitrogen for the soil, the corn was a natural trellis and the squash a canopy to deter pests. 

The three sisters’ companion planting originated from native Indian farming of maize, beans and squash. 

Respectfully we’ve come a long way since then but as we look for protein replacements, beans are a natural choice to incorporate in CEA farms. 

From three sisters to one grandma, Nonna Agnes pole bean, one day post germination in high strength Gibberellin. 

The seeds of Nonna Agnes, a pearlest blue heirloom bean from you guessed it, Italy, germinate in a day with the hypocotyl peeking through the outer layer and reaching for light via tropic geotropism. The strength in beans is phenomenal as the large carbohydrate seed store forces the tap root downwards and shoots up. 

In normal soil production this can take several days longer than germinating in a controlled environment. Obviously the stronger the young plants, the more vigorous they are and with inter-canopy spectral LEDs it is possible to force flowering much earlier than in the field, with higher yields in a shorter time frame. 

These modest-looking legumes pack a mighty health punch. In addition to being an aforementioned protein source, they are an excellent source of fiber and act as a prebiotic, providing a nutrient source for beneficial bacteria and microorganisms that make up the gut biome in our digestive tracts. 

Let there be light amongst the vines 

If we are to grow these kinds of crops in CEA we need internodal spaced LEDS or a vertical hanging design to ensure efficient light intensity delivery to ripen pods. We already grow tomatoes with aerial LEDs so alternative vine crops like beans should be no different. Much will come down to modeling of economic returns. New technology emerging such as intercanopy lights to grow indoor vines will also add to biomass with higher yields and increased flowering during off peak times of the year. Choosing low light varieties that are bred with increased nodes will have a big impact and can help growers switch during tough times for high energy costs. Beans are a perfect example crop that have enough variety to experiment with low light varieties. From the beans I tested, Amethyst, Lima and Pole viola do assiago all produced flowers in two weeks with one TLED at 100umols/m2/s followed by pods in 2-4 weeks and a small harvest in 6-10 weeks. 

Faba beans flowering under Currents RB balanced LEDs in Scotland during autumn with average day temps 15-20 Celsius and night lows of 6-10 Celsius. 

Soybean pods filling up

Another member of the fabaceae is Bambara (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.), an African equivalent of American peanuts growing from extended rhizomes. Also called the Congo groundnut, it is a fast growing plant, but needs warm temperatures over 150 days cultivation. Recent studies have found it to be very high in protein, providing all of the daily nutritional requirements of protein, carbohydrate, unsaturated fatty acids and essential minerals (magnesium, iron, zinc, and potassium). The waste greens can be fed to livestock adding to nutrition and sustainable agriculture. 

Unusual varieties like Bambara could be grown in locations previously unheard of, circumventing international supply chains and reducing carbon footprints. 

In Africa these beans are grown on small-scale subsistence farms by women, in a rotation with other crops like maize to fix nitrogen in the soil. Despite interest from international companies attracted to its high protein content, the supply chain for Bambara is not yet secure. An opportunity awaits CEA farmers with a warming climate. Perhaps even Texas could become a great location for a new crop. Germination can be slow because of the hard seed coat but once released from this we can use growth regulators to increase germination rates in addition to trialing micropropagation techniques to produce high quantity slips. 

Nonna Agnes Beans developing under Currents RB balanced TLEDs indoors in Scotland above.

Amethyst bean pods to the right and harvest below, the color change is evident in the last week of production.

How we preserve these crops for the future 

There is no doubt beans are cheap, sustainable (you can save some seeds for next year), easy to grow and packed full of protein with great health benefits suggesting they are not only good for the cook-book but also for the planet. Variety is key to the success of beans and we hope you look further afield (intentional pun) to incorporate these fine pearlest beans as a regular CEA crop.

Don’t know where to start? The Crop Trust in Svalbard, an archipelago off Norway holds a massive bank of beans, conserved from farmers across the world. Of course this is worthless if farmers don’t have access to or take the opportunity to grow these conserved varieties. You can only request samples from depositing genebanks. As the seed bank shows, the way forward is cooperativity between growers around the globe. Breeding of heirloom varieties as well as processing via partners and marketing sustainable protein replacement to consumers will encourage the FMCG industry to create healthy plant based protein products in the future.

Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

Unless otherwise stated all images are courtesy of The Functional Plant Company and property of Urban Ag News.

Zafferano Siciliano Crocus produces large saffron stigmas.

Saffron (Crocus sativus L., a member of the Iridaceae family) is prized for its unique yellow color in culinary dishes and loved by chefs for its flavor in many of our foods. The high cost comes from the fact that it needs to be grown in a particular climate and the long red stigma must be laboriously collected by hand. 

In the US, saffron is traded for up to $10,000 per kilo but this is highly dependent on the final graded product (graded 1- 4, 4 is the best quality and has a high safranal content with the red stigma separated from the yellow anther). The problem is, it takes around 150,000 flowers to produce 1kg of dried saffron. So we want to know, is it really worth it for CEA farmers? Let’s take a closer look at saffron’s history and the pros and cons of growing the most expensive spice in the world.

A long illustrious history of production 

Ancient artworks revealed saffron was domesticated around 300 to 1600 BC and was thought to have been originally harvested as a mutant of Crocus cartrightianus which was abundant around the time in the Mediterranean.

The origins of saffron agronomy date back to Iran and today the country is responsible for producing over 90% of the world’s saffron where it has both historical and ceremonial importance in Persian culture. Other areas of production stretch across the Mediterranean where conditions are perfect for growing most notably North Africa, Morocco, Spain, Greece, Italy and India. The Spanish love the color in traditional paella whereas the Italians use it for signature risotto dishes like Risotto alla Milanese. 

How does it grow naturally?

Visible two to three flowers per saffron corm

Saffron is adapted to arid regions and has an annual life cycle, but it is generally cultivated as a perennial crop by controlling corm bulb growth for the following year. It is a sterile triploid geophyte and is relatively slow to replicate through daughter corms each year. In the field, corms that die back after flowering and unusually have no cold requirement to break their dormancy. They can be lifted from the field during this time and stored in a dry shed before planting out again in spring, although they are hardy and can withstand low soil temperatures. 

Saffron has immense health benefits 

Saffron is abundant in phytochemicals, particularly picrocrocin which breaks down during the drying process to form safranal, which gives it the distinctive earthy taste. Another carotenoid pigment crocin, produces the golden yellow color when mixed with rice. Saffron also contains non-volatile antioxidants including lycopene and zeaxanthin which we identify with a Mediterranean diet, that are great for a long healthy life.

Crocus sativus L. has a wide array of medicinal and nutritional uses. Traditionally it goes way back as a drug alternative for many conditions such as heart disease, obesity, Alzheimer’s and diabetes. Several studies confirm the medicinal effects of the plant. Antioxidant effects demonstrate free radical scavenger activity that modulate inflammatory mediators, humoral immunity and cell-mediated immunity responses.

There are several clinical studies of these effects in its derivatives, safranal, crocin and crocetin. Researchers in Iran recently identified saffron as an effective treatment for mild postnatal depression. Saffron has since been shown to have mood altering effects thought to be the result of balancing neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain. In placebo comparison trials saffron had significant effects on levels of depression and displayed similar antidepressant efficacy to pharmaceuticals. 

A double blind study of more than 80 people found the effects of the spice effective in treating depression in adolescents, without any side effects or fear of withdrawal symptoms when stopping the saffron. Saffron extract (affron®) was given for 8 weeks and it was found to improve anxiety and depressive symptoms in youths with mild and moderate symptoms. Adults reported more mixed results so more studies are needed to be conclusive in the understanding and role of saffron in the treatment of depression.

Why do we need high value crops like saffron in CEA?

Growing saffron in a controlled environment can have many advantages; it’s cleaner, free from pests and disease, nutrients are delivered directly to the root mass, aeration with dissolved oxygen increases biomass, temperature can be maintained without fluctuations and light intensity can be well managed. Saffron needs high intensity light and this can be delivered by high efficiency LEDs without fluctuation, eliminating weather dependent uncertainty in the field. 

Despite the relative ease and low maintenance of growing in a controlled environment, it is the high flower numbers required to produce the end product and subsequent labor intensive ‘picking’ time that are the limiting factor. While in the field it is possible to grow three or more flowers per bulb per season (due to the daughter corms still being attached) the spacing requirements are more difficult to estimate in CEA until trials show optimized growth in a square meter space as smaller daughter corms will produce smaller stigma. We have no knowledge of large scale CEA production data and comparison to field harvests but scaling up in CEA may be more prohibitive due to labor costs. Perhaps automating this process in the future with robotic tweezers or re-engineering tissue culture pickers to use image analysis software with an ability to pick out the red stigma and separate from the anther would be useful, but we are some way off that at present.

Saffron has a high Market Value 

Regardless of the issues, saffron continues to be of interest to CEA growers due to its high value and growing global demand as a medicinal plant and diverse applications in the food industry as well as for cosmetics and dyes.

The global saffron market size is expected to reach USD 721.5 million by 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, expanding at a CAGR of 8.5% over the forecast period.

Buyer beware! If you buy saffron and it seems cheap it’s more than likely to be fake!

Fake saffron is rife within this market and includes corn silk threads, safflower (an unrelated thistle), coconut filaments or even dyed horse hair, or shredded paper. 

Safflower (in tissue culture above) Carthamus tinctorius, is the most likely culprit. It is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant in the sunflower family Asteraceae and is often substituted for saffron. Each flower head contains 20–180 individual florets that can be confused with saffron to the untrained eye but the color gives it away as they are less intense than saffron stigma. 

Dyes used to color fake saffron will dissipate quickly and this can be tested easily in water. Despite this, safflower has some excellent qualities as an oil in its own right and is commercially traded in the EU. 

Growing conditions 

Temperature, light intensity/spectrum and humidity are particularly important in saffron cultivation. According to researchers in Vermont there are five main phases to the lifecycle of saffron production, sprouting, flowering, vegetative phase, production of replacement corms, and the dormant phase. Leaf area index, crop growth rate, relative growth rate, net assimilation rate, and leaf area ratio are all important.

A few entrepreneurs are paving the way by growing saffron in CEA. Dr Ardalan Ghilavizadeh pictured above is an expert hydroponics saffron grower from Iran and currently working in Munich.

Saffron is a short-day plant so requires a period of around 12 hours in the dark and 10-12 hours per day lights on (16-18hrs during flowering). According to Urbanleaf, saffron can be grown indoors and they suggest it will require a DLI of 15+ mols/m²/d to flower. They go on to propose that 24W light bulbs can be placed around 6 inches away from the top of the plants to deliver a PPFD of 500 μmol/m²/s. Ideal temperatures for saffron flowering are around 70°F but anything between 50 and 100°F grows well. We have some preliminary trials with saffron but experimenting with light spectrum may achieve the best results to promote flowering and maintain a stable temperature during flowering. Growing in hydroponics follows similar conditions to other flowering plants and saffron displays a wide pH range of 5.5 – 7 but it’s best stay around 6 for maximum nutrient uptake at EC 1.4. 

As with any production, IPM is important since saffron is prone to many diseases. Pathogens include fungal corm rot, nematodes, bacteria, and viruses. Diseases mostly appear as a consequence of physical damage or attacks by insects particularly mites and aphids.

Propagation of Saffron Corms 

Saffron male seed is sterile so it is propagated vegetatively using corms. Flower yield is highly dependent on corm size and density but lack of availability and diversity of plant material presents a major constraint for large scale CEA saffron production. A large corm above 8 grams produces three to four small daughter corms, which take 2 to 3 seasons (in the field a season is one calendar year but in CEA there is potential for four harvests annually) to achieve the size and weight for flowering. 

Forcing the bulbs through regular dormancy periods via CEA may help to promote cormogenesis.

Crocus sativus corms like rock wool for support to protect them against getting too wet. The method of hydroponics i.e. NFT or aeroponics must not allow the bulb to get too wet so it should sit proud of the rock wool substrate. They will root very quickly, around a week in our experience with aeroponic growing. 

Saffron Micropropagation 

Saffron is relatively slow to propagate and only produces a few vegetative corms on the main plant annually in late summer after flowering has finished and the leaves die back. Breeding programs are needed to increase diversity of the corms and micropropagation may provide a solution to access of clean stock material. Saffron research is limited with only a handful of teams working on genetics in India, Iran and Europe. This crop needs preservation of genetic biodiversity to protect its quality and sustainability for future agricultural production. 

Genetic diversity in corm supply is an issue so indirect organogenesis may provide new routes to improve cultivation of saffron. Tissue culture micropropagation, somatic embryogenesis, organogenesis, gene editing and in vitro cormogenesis can all help regenerate pathogen free reproduction of this plant. We are working to perfect this process. 

Processing 

Harvest first thing in the morning according to Dr Sally Francis, a field grower from Norfolk in the UK. The stigmas must be dried soon after harvest as they can become moldy. Besides the important role that dehydration plays in the preservation of saffron, it is also a necessary process to generate organoleptic properties in fresh stigmas. Dehydration treatment brings about physical and chemical changes necessary to achieve the desired quality of saffron. But be careful drying as over 150F can cause degradation of the phytonutrients.

Economics of growing Saffron in CEA – is it worth it financially?

On a 1 meter square shelf with a light intensity PPFD of 500 μmols/m²/s we can potentially grow 150 saffron bulbs (and assuming they each produce one dominant flower) with a spacing at least an inch apart to allow for flower development. Assuming they are forced to produce flowers 4 times per year, this rate could produce 600 flowers in a 1m² area annually. If 150 flowers produce 1g dry weight, a yield of 4g of dry weight saffron is possible from 150 corms per square meter annually (four harvests).

Assuming a 10 layer shelf with lights spaced 20” apart, there is potential to scale up to 40g in a vertical space and 10 bays could reach 0.4kg (in reality it should be higher depending on how many flowers the corm produces). Depending on the grade this could net a return of $4,000. Not a bad return if you exclude capital startup costs. However high energy consumption and revenue costs may substantially reduce profits per meter square. Calculations are difficult as it will depend on an hourly rate for a picker and the uncertainty of rising energy costs could also hamper the return on running such a facility. 

Issues that affect future stability of growing saffron 

The adverse effects of global warming and climate change on saffron flower induction could alter the way saffron is grown. As the global north becomes warmer and extreme weather events become more frequent we will begin to find these crops in more protected geo locations. Wars and poverty also play a role in agriculture and instability in the region could lead to reduced world availability. 

Niche high value product for the food service market – is that why we should grow it? 

While saffron may not be an obvious choice for most larger commercial CEA growers, it should not be discounted as a high value crop for the service industry, fitting with more niche restaurant based container farms. Saffron is fairly low maintenance until harvest and some are even automating growing, which will reduce labor costs as the stigma can be picked by the restaurants when required without post processing and delivered straight to the chef’s palette. The advantage is it can be grown anywhere, close to restaurants, in cities and of course we are biased but it may also go well with sushi and a side of real wasabi.  

Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

Unless otherwise stated all images are courtesy of The Functional Plant Company and property of Urban Ag News.

Scotland has a great positive circular story that encompasses history, design, engineering, innovation, agriculture, skills, regeneration, energy, health, wellbeing and net zero. 

This is the story of how a group of visionary students redesigned the iconic Provan Gas Works into a vertical allotment to show off a greener side to Glasgow 

As the dust settles on COP26 some of Glasgow’s student professionals plan to design a greener, healthier city.

For more than a century Glasgow’s iconic gas works have been a significant feature from the north east entry to the city. Despite being redundant for decades, the much loved towers were given category B listing in 2018 by Historic Scotland ensuring the landmarks will continue to form part of the city’s skyline.

There has been much discussion about urban farming within the CEA space taking over derelict office space or setting up in shipping containers in cities. An idea from a group of young students in this green city is unique and could literally replace natural gas with natural greens. 

We heard about this idea from Charlie McGhee who was part of the InterAct team, a group of third year students at Glasgow Caledonian University including quantity surveyors, architects and engineers (see all the talented team at the end of article). They recently presented a unique idea for redesigning these iconic gas tanks into a vertical farm allotment. 

The Glasgow students decided these loved structures needed an upgrade and came up with a doughnut arrangement and proposed filling in the gaps on the structure with glass/perspex. Their vision is one of engineering construction and design that could encompass new ways to produce leafy greens. Their design also examined alternative ways to create circular green biofuels and solar power panels to keep the lights powered. With no roof on the structure they aimed to retain the outward integrity of the structure and designed a vertical farm with a minimalist infill box approach with allotment boxes that would be rented out and filled with plants in a recycled irrigation system. 

Built in 1904 the tanks give an unforgettable welcome to Scotland’s second city and situated on the main road artery through the central belt people have always seen them as a major landmark. The natural gas may be long gone and structure derelict, but it is possible they could serve a greater purpose with a new lease of life. 

Architectural Design History in Glasgow

Glasgow has a long association with architectural design. Charles Rennie Macintosh, the renowned Scottish architect behind the iconic Glasgow School of Art, Willow Tearooms and the Lighthouse was active in the city at the time the gasometers were constructed. 

The Lighthouse built in 1903

Could the Gas Works become the new Lighthouse? 

‘Glasgow Grows Green’ 

Green billboards could be a perfect marketing tool. Imagine giant electronic billboard screens projecting a direct message to a passing audience of 90,000 every day. What message would you send them? A message of perseverance and hope perhaps or maybe a message of health and well-being. We developed the idea as a marketing tool to reach people affected not only by the pandemic but also those affected by anxiety of a more dangerous world full of conflict, climate change and limited resources. 

We need everyone onboard and listening.  

Reach for the sky – What are you aiming for in life?

Can you imagine the giant electronic screens on the side of the towers, high in the sky displaying these images and subliminal messaging telling you that everyone is feeling the same and giving an air of optimism and oneness?

Post COP26 the excitement of ‘everyone in it together’ has somewhat dissipated in the media (just as Greta predicted). But the youth of Glasgow, they have different ideas and everything to gain from green projects. They never COP out! 

We have hardly seen any of the architectural designs neatly illustrated in Despommier’s vision of the 21st century come to fruition yet and become integral with our city food supplies.

We need investors and public bodies to recognise the importance of our youth coming up with these ideas and create green jobs for architects, surveyors, engineers, scientists and farmers of the future.

Glasgow Caledonian University InterAct Team

Architect students:

Arin Beaver, Neima Bouzy.

Engineering students:

Bryan Lipton, Abdalhameed Almohamad, Ismail Mohamed.

Quantity Surveyor students:

Charlie McGhee, Harrison Lee.

If you want to learn more about the students project  get in touch with us and we will hook you up with the team in Glasgow. 

Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

You can follow The Functional Plant Company on Instagram. 

More from Janet Colston and Functional Food

STOP AND READ!  One does not have to move wholly to a vegetarian or vegan diet to gain much of the health benefits discussed in this article. As you read this article consider joining ‘Meatless Monday’,  simply reduce the size of the meat portions in your meals and purchase a vegetarian cookbook to gain inspiration.  Now please enjoy the remainder of the article.

There are many behavioral shifts that can happen in individual homes that may make all the difference to our health.

If we adopt a plant based diet to stay healthy, we not only protect our own health and that of our families, but we also reduce the burden on our hospitals and doctors as they cope with another pandemic surge. In the process there is potential to save ourselves money and reduce the demands on food supply chains particularly if we eat seasonal and locally grown foods.

In this article we concentrate on the health benefits of switching to a plant based diet from our own UAN plant based hero’s who offer an insight from two different experiences. 

(Climate change is not within the scope of this article but we appreciate some people will choose a plant based diet for reasons other than health and weight control). 

Concerns around keeping healthy can trigger a change to a plant based diet.

We are keen to share our personal stories that are equally likely to happen when you have either a health concern or a sports injury which forces you to change your diet and take control of your health. It is important to recognise that this is for people already on this journey and to share positive support stories. The journey is not always perfect and we can all agree it is okay to ‘fall off the wagon’ very occasionally to eat some donuts in the pursuit of happiness. 

Try shopping at local farmers markets for the freshest produce where you can literally eat the rainbow. 

Janet’s story – The start of 2021 was a personal turning point leading to her going fully plant based after more than half a century eating meat. A health concern and abdominal pains of unknown origin forced her to examine the underlying causes. The mystery pain could have been caused by any number of reasons. While doctors ordered tests (which was not easy in the middle of a pandemic), she questioned long covid, lactose intolerance, a gluten allergy, crohns, diverticulitis, Irritable bowel syndrome, stress or worst case scenario, bowel cancer. Being in general good health, both body and mind, she was concerned to have consistent pain for no reason. 

As the doctors worked through each of these with a battery of intensive tests, she considered whether it was time for a pure plant based approach. A year later, she says there is no clear reason for the mystery spasms in her sigmoid bowel. After much worry and the national health service a good few pounds lighter for the experience, the pain had disappeared. The difference was purely down to a change in diet. Yes that’s true, cured by a minor miracle of tomato juice transfusion with nebuliser of green tea, greens injected straight into the stomach and dare we say it, a garlic enema. Okay well that last one is a step too far, but many comments from our garlic covid article will reveal the benefits.

It’s still perplexing why some doctors do not fully discuss (and this could be down to the pandemic) a healthy diet but have all the time in the world to organize an expensive time consuming colonoscopy, several visits to consultants and countless lab tests. Now if you were a procurement specialist you may question the efficiency of this and the long term outcome versus cost. However, we have to face the facts, medicine has become a business and doctors acting in the best interest of patients are compelled to refer to an expert in fear of missing a major diagnosis. We don’t disagree. 

The point is, wouldn’t you rather have control of your health than rely on an overstretched health service? 

Switching to a plant based diet requires a degree of thought particularly if you suffer from an illness. The reason we say that, many plants will have active phytonutrients that can make your bowel extremely ‘reactive’ and increase metabolism rate initially. This in the short term can make you feel worse. Doing it gradually, by slowly cutting the number of processed meats (we are not advocating a complete cut of meat, remember this is a country of free will and is for those already looking for advice on how to do this switch) to limit it to at least 2 days per week for a start.

It doesn’t have to be complicated to have the best flavor, coriander* and spinach* Koftas with a lettuce* salad for lunch.

In tandem with any physiological concerns it’s also important to balance your psychological life and continue to achieve personal goals. For Janet, it is being competent to sail the archipelago of islands she calls home on the west coast of Scotland. We can’t emphasize how important it is to get outside to allow your skin to absorb sunshine which helps convert cholesterol in the liver to Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3), an essential cofactor for iron absorption. With increased levels of Vitamin D the expression of proinflammatory cytokines can be significantly diminished, which is critical for COVID-19 recovery. 

Exercise is a key component of a healthy lifestyle when  combined with a plant based diet. The type of exercise you choose can determine how many calories you burn (remember 30mins cycling is not equivalent to 30 mins swimming). Doing this outside can also help you build up Vitamin D levels, preventing the need for supplements.

Chris’s story – A keen sportsman, Chris is no stranger to a daily exercise regime. People who know him well will know he cycles whenever he has time and the weather cooperates.  When he is not on his bike (or at work), he can be found hiking along rivers in search of fish or paddling the lakes with his wife or close friends in the pursuit of health and happiness. Age, time and injury have forced him to change his normal routines.  Whether it is a trip to the gym, the pool or simply a long walk with his wife and dog he continues to focus on exercise as a way to manage stress, anxiety and weight. Signs of aging caused him to approach his doctor with questions about changes he was seeing with his body. His doctor encouraged him to take a break from meat to try a plant based diet, convincing him that ‘it really can’t hurt’ considering it’s ‘free’ medicine. Following his doctor’s suggestion of ‘what do you have to lose?’ Chris says, in hindsight, it was the best health advice he ever received. Despite this great advice, he kept eating at the same rate (well he is a big guy!) without realizing his changes in activities and age did not burn an equivalent amount of calories and he soon started to gain weight. His doctor then suggested small additional changes in his diet that could help him shed excess pounds.  Although he was skeptical at the start, he managed to shed 15lbs in 2months.

Multitalented, Chris grows these chillies* and makes delicious cowboy candy preserves that can be stored for winter or added as supplements to meals. Preserved and pickled vegetables are a great fermented food source, perfect for promoting a healthy microbiome. Remember covid is known to affect the balance of gut microflora.  

When to expect the first positive effects and how to start transitioning to eat plants 

As you transition to being a herbivore one of the first things you notice is an increase in energy and vitality. Gradually,  and this will take a few weeks, the largest organ in your body, the skin, will reduce outbreaks and dryness. For some you will notice a positive difference in the color of the whites of your eyes and texture of your hair and nails. These are all outward indicators of eating a healthy non toxic diet. 

Add these anti-inflammatory prebiotic foods to your diet to extend your immunity to combat new virus variants and even to help you recover from long covid. Read our extensive EAT THIS blogs for access to information on the health benefits and how to grow some of these plants in CEA.

‘New Year’s Resolutions should be daily to have a super life’  Darin Olsen, Author of Super Life. 

So what difference has this made to Chris? He has managed to lose weight, feel healthy and still stay happy with no negative impacts from eating a plant based diet which helps him keep fit and in control of any weight gains. 

It’s important to recognise men and women have different experiences when switching diets to lose weight. 

The answer is to keep it simple. Much of it is about controlling your mind. It’s not always a good idea to measure calories or get fixated on measuring weight although it’s a good idea to see if you are staying on track. Health is initially more important than weight. Food should look good, make you happy when you eat it (not eating for convenience sake) and if you follow that you will become more enthused about eating the rainbow. 

Breakfast and early/mid morning snacks are a great place to start with easy gains. Red color will stimulate your mind to think of nutrition, again another small trick in supplementing what you already eat. Subconsciously you will add more to this everyday and it will become something you look forward to in the morning. 

Eating a handful of blueberries* and redcurrants every morning will not only help you lose weight (they are low in calories) but they are also high in antioxidants and will keep your heart and liver healthy. 

Snacks – keep it simple with pickled peppers* with avocado on sesame Ryvita.

Hydration is most often associated with cool drinks but if you live in a cold country like Scotland during the winter try keeping hydrated with hibiscus* tea as a good substitute.

As growers we are exceptionally lucky to have easy access to some of these amazing health promoting plants as we have the skills to grow them in our farms. We believe you are only one step away from this too if you emulate our advice on growing in CEA and you can then create wonderful meals filled with anti-inflammatory nutrients. 

Pan roasted Lentil Lasagne with Caesar salad and tomatoes is an easy recipe except for cutting rectangular lasagne sheets to fit the pan. Soften them first in water. Soak the green lentils and use them as a direct minced beef replacement. We don’t count calories, just enjoy the pleasure of having this meal once a week. Lentils are rich in fiber, Iron, B vitamins, folate and potassium so the heart health benefits of managing blood pressure and cholesterol outweigh any calorie damage from the cheese sauce. 

Or what about an easier recipe if you are in a hurry and on the go? Try cold smoked salmon flakes, light orzo pasta and Vitamin D fortified eggs. A little drizzle of home made sweet chilli dipping sauce will bring it altogether. Once your taste buds become accustomed to great flavors (no salt required) you will crave great tasting food every day. 

Tomatoes*, cucumber*, onion, salmon, orzo, mushroom* and fortified egg – 5min maximum preparation time.

A recent review in BMJ reveals people eating a plant based or pescatarian diet have a 73-59% lower risk of developing a moderate to severe Covid infection. A number of studies now point towards the advantages of having a plant based diet to protect against SARS-CoV-2 especially for those in high risk groups like diabetics, and those who have heart disease or are overweight. 

It makes sense at this time in history to take personal steps to protect your health. 

Based on our experiences we encourage you to talk to your doctor about a healthy diet but it is also a good idea to speak to a dietician or nutritionist particularly if you need advice to compliment an existing long term health condition. 

Finally if you want more information on the power of plant phytonutrients in the fight against COVID-19 we have it all covered in our COVID article on EAT THIS. 

Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

You can follow The Functional Plant Company on Instagram. 

More from Janet Colston and Functional Food

Who fancies some blue food? Really? 

The theory of food colour confusion may originate from us being strongly aroused by foods on the red spectrum. Research published in Nature recently showed that we are more attracted to red coloured foods as they appear to signal better nutrition with higher calories in comparison to blue or green foods. Trichromatic vision evolved in humans as a response to improve foraging and may explain why we rely more on sight than scent when locating the most nutritious foods and fruits that are ripe and ready to eat. This is surprising to us as ‘leafy green’ farmers when we readily assume a green colour relates to health but the Nature study was more assigned to calorific colour arousal.

Although our brains may not easily accept the blue colour as natural, our bodies will probably thank us if we do as blue-green algae also known as cyanobacteria has some of the best health benefits.

One particular cyanobacteria has been studied extensively over the years

Spirulina grows naturally in alkaline waters and was recognised and farmed by ancient civilisations for its medicinal qualities. The Aztecs of Mexico have a long historical relationship with Spirulina. They farmed Spirulina in large lakes, then harvested and air dried the algae to form a hard edible ‘cake’. This was often mixed with other foods and used as an energy source as these ancient people recognised it as an important functional food. 

Massive health benefits that many people have still to discover

People who move beyond the colour tend to use blue-green algae for supercharging the immune system, controlling muscle spasms, detoxing heavy metals, eliminating candida, improving memory and increasing energy levels to improve exercise performance. It may also lower cholesterol and blood sugar, acting to prevent heart disease, heal wounds and improve digestion. Pretty impressive qualities for this single celled life form billions of years old. 

There are two main species of the blue green algae Spirulina, Arthrospira platensis and Arthrospira maxima. 

As the image demonstrates, they are made up of single cells containing chlorophyll filled vesicles that react to light and photosynthesize like plants. Cultivation of commercial algae usually starts the life cycle in lab culture tubes, doubling quickly under controlled conditions. This helps to eliminate contaminants. Spirulina is the largest single celled blue green algae and it forms spirals visible to the human eye which bunch together to allow a quick harvest and is now cultivated worldwide as a nutritional supplement. 

Spirulina is high in iron, calcium, magnesium, copper, beta-carotene and B-vitamins.

Apart from the high content of protein, Spirulina contains B vitamins, particularly B12 and provitamin A (β-carotenes), and minerals, especially iron. It is also rich in phenolic acids, tocopherols and γ-linolenic acid. Spirulina does not have a cellulose cell wall so it is more easily digested. Most people selling dried Spirulina suggest 1-8g per day to boost the immune system but be careful as too much can have negative effects so it’s best to start with the lowest dose. 

Some suggest Spirulina has the power to tackle world wide problems like malnutrition. The UN and WHO recommend Spirulina for it’s extremely high nutritional value and sustainability.  It has even been called the ‘world’s most sustainable food’ with the potential to end world hunger. The Pole Pole Foundation in the Congo were finalists in the Earthshot Prize recently. They are leading the way to teach communities in developing countries how to grow Spirulina as a supplement to prevent childhood malnutrition.

Could Spirulina be an alternative vegan protein source?

Would you drink blue milk? 

Many vegans are looking for alternative sources of protein. Spirulina might even be a protein source of the future and a substitute for cow’s milk.  Spirulina platensis stands out for being one of the richest protein sources of microbial origin having similar protein levels when compared to meat and soybeans.

Not to be confused with regular green Spirulina in its basic form, blue Spirulina is an extract of the active ingredient phycocyanin in its purest form. This concentrates the dried extract with higher levels of antioxidants without so much of the fishy taste of fresh Spirulina. 

But if you don’t mind using fresh Spirulina (it’s fishy so it’s much better to mix with stronger flavours) it will provide protein that is quickly and easily absorbed in the body compared to animal proteins which is a bonus as it contains many essential amino acids that the body cannot synthesize alone and are essential for tissue renewal.

Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory

Fresh Spirulina is high in antioxidants, especially phycocyanin, the pigment which causes the blue green colour. Phycocyanin can promote blood cell regeneration, improve lymphocyte activity and improve the lymphatic system. Studies have shown this antioxidant scavenges and fights the free radicals that cause oxidative damage.

Spirulina is known to be alkalizing to the body which boosts beneficial microflora in the gut. Liver function is improved and this greatly increases detoxification levels in the body. Fresh Spirulina contains chlorophyll and phycocyanin both of which help to remove toxins such as heavy metals and other pollutants from the blood. One remarkable study in children who lived close to Chernobyl after the nuclear disaster in 1986 found that giving them a small 5g dose of Spirulina a day could reduce radionuclide rates by half in less than two months. 

Spirulina has Cancer fighting benefits 

Spirulina has been hailed as an anticancer superfood, but reading further into peer reviewed literature is important as there are some extrapolated and conflicting reports from doing a simple google search. So here we only present peer reviewed data. From our research low dose Spirulina has anti-proliferation effects on stomach cancer cells, human leukaemia cells and B lymphoma cells, inhibiting carcinogenesis. 

Eating Spirulina daily may lead to increased energy levels  

Fresh Spirulina is particularly good for energy owing to its high nutrient density. Since the algae has no cell wall to break down, digestion of all those nutrients is fast and efficient. It can make a difference to energy levels quickly after consumption. Fresh Spirulina contains constituents such as polysaccharides (Rhamnose and Glycogen) and essential fats that are absorbed easily by cells and theoretically aid energy release. More studies are needed to be truly conclusive though but with low toxicity levels in the body, it’s well worth your own trials. 

Spirulina enhances energy performance because it unlocks sugar from our cells. If you are suffering from memory loss, this bacteria added daily to your routine appears to have significant effects. It does this by protecting the brain from free-radical damage by increasing the activity of two enzymes: catalase and glutathione peroxidase, which fight free radicals and make the brain more resistant to aging.

But It’s not all good news 

Spirulina may exacerbate autoimmune reactions in some people who are susceptible. As such it may worsen symptoms of multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions linked to overactive immune systems. It’s also not recommended for pregnant women or children or people on blood thinners like warfarin. Be cautious where you purchase Spirulina, as it may be contaminated if not bought from a quality source, leading to additional side effects.

Bioavailability: Should it be dried or is live culture better? 

If you search for Spirulina online you are mainly going to encounter powdered products. There is nothing wrong with these as most research was conducted on using powdered forms which still showed positive results. However some reports suggest fresh Spirulina has up to 95% bioavailability. This means that 95% of the nutrients including essential amino acids, all the B vitamins and antioxidants are absorbed straight into your bloodstream increasing potency by 45% compared with powder. 

How difficult is it to cultivate and commercialize?

Spirulina cultivation requires sufficient aeration, agitation and proper light intensity for enhanced biomass yield, cell productivity, specific growth rate and protein content. Biomass yield has the potential to reach up to 12g/l biomass in a closed reactor system. Urea seems to be a promising alternative source of low-cost nitrogen for Spirulina cultures and addition of mechanised aeration will significantly increase yields. 

But what about algal blooms? Are they the same Cyanobacteria?

Spirulina itself is non toxic but other forms of blue green algae including Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, grown and harvested in the wild, is often contaminated and leads to toxic conditions when out of control. 

Blue-green algae occurs naturally in lochs, ponds, reservoirs, rivers and the sea. This summer in Scotland it became a real issue. When the conditions are right, blue green algae will create massive blooms so large they can be captured by satellite imaging from space. Blooms are accelerated by leaching of fertilisers, with nitrogen and phosphorus runoff into the water course which becomes detrimental to other life forms by blocking oxygen and releasing toxic microcystins.

So it’s a logical step to grow these in a controlled environment and if market conditions continue to accelerate consumer demand for functional foods then growing these super algae in CEA could be highly profitable for farmers.

The largest US producer of Spirulina is based in California and they produce on an open 108 acre site, exporting to over 20 countries worldwide. There are disadvantages of open ponds as they do not reach high biomass productivity due to the difficulty of maintaining the optimum temperature and so they are restricted to tropical and subtropical regions. This is mitigated to some extent with large paddles constantly moving the ponds.

Despite this hefty competition, CEA could be the perfect vehicle for growing a crop that has incredible health properties, sequesters CO2 and can be grown in tubing to eliminate contamination. With LED lights and agitation, enhanced yields could be harvested year round. 

This could be particularly useful between the shoulder winter months to increase profits and farm skills where wholesale prices have the potential to return profits of up to $15/Kg . A rough estimate of 12g/L biomass can be achieved with a photobioreactor system incorporating PPFD 166 μmol photons m−2 s−1 with potential doubling every 2-6 days depending on the algal species chosen. Based on this, and assuming you harvest 50% at each doubling time, a microfarm running 100L tanks could harvest 0.6Kg every 2 days, giving a total annual yield of 106.2Kg and a potential maximum annual return of $1593.  Scaling up production will make more economic sense. Optimizing and automating additional technology (LED lighting, CO2 enhancement and state of the art infrastructure as seen with Algaennovation) may boost production but this must be carefully managed to balance a return on investment.

Learning and applying new ideas – food, fuel & carbon trap

We like to get people talking about the future diversity of CEA. This helps drive innovation and creates wider jobs and skills. At the same time we aim to help you better understand the science and health prospects of plants that could be grown in CEA.

Of all the ideas out there, maybe our favourite is the idea of an algae curtain. Glow in the dark tubes of algae obscure prying eyes from your space while producing your own superfood or fuel. 

Could plants literally fuel plants in a completely carbon neutral circular economy? Biodiesel produced using algae contains no sulfur, is non-toxic and highly biodegradable. This could have potential in offsetting CEA energy outputs and algae fuel cells could make home farms more economically sustainable in the future. There are so many applications for algae, some are even using it to extract CO2 from brewing. 

Whatever reason you have for growing Spirulina and others (chlorella) there is no doubt about this being classed as a superfood. 

Closer to home we like the way CEA farmers are looking to diversify their product range and kudos to On the Grow farms in Rockwall, Texas, growing spirulina alongside their microgreens. They grow in demijohn bottles adjusting the salinity to 2 and pH 10.5-11, harvesting and topping up fresh water every day. In order to maintain high pH and avoid fluctuations, high amounts of sodium bicarbonate must always be included in the culture medium to buffer the solution. The water needs aeration and temperature needs to be tightly regulated to 80F. LED lights will speed up production and your farm will literally bloom.

Spirulina first rose to fame as a potential space food. Maybe in space our brains are altered by gravity to be more accepting of blue food. Or maybe we will discover a whole new superfood bacterial species on Mars or deep in the ocean.

So who’s got a spare shelf in their vertical farm for this blue superfood and space age protein milk shake? 

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Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.

You can follow The Functional Plant Company on Instagram. 

More from Janet Colston and Functional Food