Video – Urban Ag News

Importance of application of G x E x M to indoor Ag

urbanagnews — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 21:14:19 +0000

In this month’s Indoor Ag Science Café, Tharindu Weeraratne (Autogrow) gave a quick overview of interactions between G (genotypes) x E (environment) x M (management) and shared the company R&D on plant health sensing using machine vision technologies. Indoor Ag Science Café is a monthly based open forum for indoor growers and scientists to communicate in a non-competitive space. For more information, please contact kubota.10@osu.edu.

Working with numbers to assess your productivity – g/kWh & g/mol PAR

urbanagnews — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 18:05:34 +0000

In this month’ Indoor Ag Science Café, Chieri Kubota at the Ohio State University, reviewed two metrics that scientists and indoor growers can use to assess the crop productivity grown under electric lighting. ‘Working with numbers to assess your productivity – gram yield per kWh & gram yield per mole PAR’ was a number-intensive talk where Chieri explain how these numbers are used and found in your production system or available information in publications. Electric energy consumption is only a part of the total cost but important cost that can be managed so that productivity and therefore profitability can be improved. The presentation also covers some critical factors such as lighting efficiency and re-spacing to improve the productivity. Indoor Ag Science Café is a monthly based open forum for indoor growers and scientists. Anyone is welcome to participate to better understand and support this emerging industry. At the beginning of recording, you will find the upcoming cafés’ schedule and speakers.

Key factors for optimal crop production in greenhouses and vertical farms by Professor Leo Marcelis of Wageningen University

urbanagnews — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 14:00:49 +0000

Greenhouses and vertical farms around the world are faced with many of the same questions and obstacles when learning to manage crop production in controlled environment agriculture systems. Listen to Professor Leo Marcelis discuss trends, opportunities and other key factors in creating optimal crop production systems for greenhouses and vertical farms.

Greenhouse Glazing

urbanagnews — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 13:30:50 +0000

Many greenhouse growers, both new and old, have a lot of questions on what are the best options for covering their greenhouse. This short video by Dr. Gene Giacomelli (Professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and Controlled Environment Agriculture at the University of Arizona.) and Dr A.J. Booth (Extension Specialist in Horticultural Engineering, Energy, Hydroponics at Rutgers University) does a great job educating and informing growers on the basics of greenhouse glazings.

CEAC Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology Course – Week 9-2

urbanagnews — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 22:13:34 +0000

Urban Ag News proud to feature Dr. Chieri Kubota’s class on Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology. Dr. Kubota was a professor at the University of Arizona and has moved to The Ohio State University this summer.

Week 9-2: GH environment 2

This is the final week! For this week, we will have two lectures understanding greenhouse as a whole system and the mechanism of interactions between plants, micro climate, greenhouse system, and outside environment. All the lecture contents now come together into describing and understanding this complex system.

CEAC Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology Course – Week 9-1

urbanagnews — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 22:11:38 +0000

Week 9-1: GH environment 1

CEAC Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology Course – Week 8-3

urbanagnews — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 21:07:14 +0000

Week 8-3: Sink Source 2

For this week, my lecture starts with some basics of plant physiology, water relation and sink-source relationship. These lectures include topics of understanding tomato fruit disorder and fruit flavor using the understanding of water relation.

CEAC Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology Course – Week 8-2

urbanagnews — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 21:04:05 +0000

Week 8-2: Sink Source 1

CEAC Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology Course – Week 8-1

urbanagnews — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 20:21:51 +0000

Week 8-1: Water relation

CEAC Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology Course – Week 7-2

urbanagnews — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 20:18:59 +0000

Week 7-2: Substrate

Over the past six weeks, you became familiar with those aerial environments affecting plant growth (photosynthesis and development) and most importantly their interactions in the canopy. This week, we are going to learn plant root zone environments. Lectures cover plant nutrients, irrigation, and substrates. Plant nutrition could be a full 16-week long college course and so in my lecture I only touch the basic part and the key information that directly affect greenhouse plant production. So I hope they serve as a good introduction for you to seek deeper understanding as needed. We will also discuss various horticultural substrates and their physical/chemical properties. Root zone environment is fairly complex, as so many factors are involved. Understanding this complexity is your goal, as well as the fact that substrate culture is made easier to manage by controlled environment.

CEAC Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology Course – Week 7-1

urbanagnews — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 20:13:42 +0000

Week 7-1: Plant nutrition

CEAC Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology Course – Week 6-2

urbanagnews — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 20:09:02 +0000

Week 6-2: Canopy environment 2

This week, your “system” of interest expands from a single leaf to a whole plant canopy (community). Canopy refers to ‘community’ of plants and in greenhouse crop production system, it often consists of plants of relatively same physiological age. This week’s lectures overview plant canopies and their microclimates. The first key content is to understand how light transmits inside the canopy and what is the resulting light intensity received by lower leaves. Then you will understand other micro climate factor (CO2 and temperature) and their spatial distributions inside the canopy. Understanding canopy and micro climate is so important as the crop’s performance is the integration of the productivity of different parts of canopy. The last part of the second lecture introduces some of the recent research on supplemental lighting to improve the canopy light environment, which may be interesting for those who are interested in learning modern application of CEA technology in food crop production and technologies tested in European countries.

CEAC Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology Course – Week 6-1

urbanagnews — Mon, 18 Sep 2017 20:05:49 +0000

Week 6-1: Canopy environment 1

CEAC Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology Course – Week 5-3

urbanagnews — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 20:04:03 +0000

Urban Ag News proud to feature Dr. Chieri Kubota’s class on Greenhouse Plant Physiology and Technology. Dr. Kubota was a professor at the University of Arizona and is moving to The Ohio State University this summer.

Week 5-3: Energy balance 2

This week, you will complete the “Plant Responses to Environmental Conditions” by taking the last lecture on humidity. Then we will learn the “leaf energy balance”, which is the first lecture of “Canopy and Aerial Microclimates”. Some students may feel a bit challenging to follow these physics-heavy contents. But I promise you that it is really “not too bad”! Once you understand why and how leaf temperature changes so drastically and learn factors that affect leaf temperature, it is much easier to understand what plants are doing under controlled environment. So don’t feel too intimidated!