Vertical farming at Artechno is about achieving high quality, great tasting crops all within a financially viable package.
What we love most about vertical farming is the fact that every growing variable can be controlled and adjusted to suit the needs of the plant and by doing so the ideal circumstance for any crop can be created. A controlled environment makes it much easier to predict growth cycles and production volume, but to be truly profitable we saw that there were still challenges in vertical farming that needed to be faced - mainly in labour costs. This drove us to find a solution for a truly profitable vertical farming system. We’ve put all out experience and knowledge in design, engineering and realization in horticulture into one system, the Automated Vertical Farm Plus or as we like to call it “AVF+”.
We think AVF+ and its little brother the AVF+ Junior can revolutionize the way crops are grown around the world. Below you’ll find more about AVF+ and AVF+ Junior.
AVF+
AVF+ is an automatic vertical farming solution for producing a variety of crops from seed to harvest. We’ve automated all processes to ensure low labour costs and consistent crop production. AVF+ is a modular system which can be customized to the needs of the crop, available space or desired production volume.
AVF+’s key assets are the Germination Cell and the Cultivation Cell, this is where the magic happens. Inside these cells we’ve achieved a fully controllable, consistent and homogeneous climate between the top and bottom layer). By growing in vertical layers, AVF+ achieves a minimum +225% ratio of floor space to growing space and at least a 250% increase in yield per m2, compared to agriculture. Hydroponics technology and precise water and nutrient management enables users to grow with less water than traditional methods –up to 95%.
All these processes come together into one software solution to manage and analyse the entire production process.
Download the AVF+ brochure for more detailed information.
AVF+ benefits:
- High growing efficiency and flexibility
- Growing from seeding to harvesting
- Consistent climate
- Low labour cost
- Year round production
- Efficient water usage - up to 95% more efficient than agriculture
- No pesticides
- Scalable to 10.000 m2
- Higher yields
- ROI < 5 years*
AVF+ Junior
Although vertical farming has many benefits, complete control over all variables in growing with a vertical farm, has also brought new challenges. In the past when growing in a greenhouse or in the field, a grower would let nature do its thing for the most part and supplement with additional light or climate parameters. Many growing variables were determined by nature, decreasing the complexity for a growing recipe. With vertical farming the ideal conditions can be created for a crop, but to create those perfect conditions they need to be known first. Experimenting with growing conditions on a production scale would be a big risk to the bottom line of any grower, so he/she needs a different solution for developing growing recipes. This is why we developed the AVF+ Junior.
AVF+ Junior is the smaller version of the fully automated AVF+. The Junior cell has been specifically designed to simulate the same conditions as its larger brother, but in more manageable package. The Junior cells main purpose is enabling research for new recipes and enhancing already existing recipes.
To make this possible, a Junior cell is equipped with 12 independent hydroponic growing positions. The climate, watering, lighting and nutrient supply can be adjusted for every growing position. The advantage of this is that at any time 12 different recipes can be developed and tested at once.
Download the AVF+ Junior brochure here.
AVF+ Junior benefits::
- Plug & play - Start with growing right away
- AVF+ in a small package - Lowers the financial risk for researching and developing new growing recipes
- Managed with a cloud based interface with data storage - saves time, manage where ever you are, easy to use
- Maximum research capacity - test up to 12 different recipes
- Create the ideal growing conditions - Light, Water, nutrients, substrate adjustable for every growing position
