Introduction
Farming methods that don’t disrupt natural ecosystems aren’t considered sustainable. Also, it has a keen awareness of microbes and their relationships to the larger ecosystem. Sustainable agriculture, in its most basic definition, is ecological farming, which prioritizes activities that are profitable, environmentally responsible, and safeguarding to the public’s health. It focuses on both the economic and effective use of non-renewable resources in the farming process, in addition to the economic element of farming. This raises the farmer’s standard of life while also promoting the cultivation of wholesome and nutritious food.
Vertical farming is one of the sustainable farming methods. Instead of cultivating land in the conventional, horizontal rows, farmers can now practice “vertical farming,” in which crops are planted one on top of the other. More food may be produced from the same amount of area when crops are grown vertically. Most vertical farms are housed inside a building or warehouse, where the climate can be carefully managed to ensure optimal plant growth.
Sustainable agriculture has recently become a focal point for many corporations. If you want a good example, look no further than Gardin. Gardin, Llc. Is a young company located in the United Kingdom with the goal of making the planet healthier and more sustainable. In order to maximize agricultural output, Gardin creates optical phenotyping technologies and analytics.
Plant Phenotyping
Phenotyping is the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the characteristics of a certain plant or plant variety in a specific environment. At various organizational scales, these characteristics include the biochemistry, physiology, morphology, structure, and performance of plants. Plant characteristics are determined by genetic and environmental factors, as well as their non-additive interactions.
Optical Phenotyping Technology
Optical sensors and sensing techniques that are quick, robust and high-throughput have been extensively employed to understand plant phenomics for agriculture and environment. By measuring and capturing fluctuations in electromagnetic radiation following interactions with leaves or the canopy, plant reflectance spectra obtained by spectrometers or spectral imaging can reveal the imprints of structural, chemical, and functional features of a large population of plants. Utilizing this technology is promoted more as smaller sensors have recently come into existence, particularly for speeding up crop breeding. Gardin Ltd is using this technology.
Vertical Farming
The term “vertical farming” refers to a method of agriculture in which crops are cultivated stacked above one another, as opposed to being produced in the more conventional horizontal rows. Growing crops vertically allows for the savings of land, which, in turn, leads to a greater crop yield for each square foot of ground that is utilized.
Gardin Ltd – The Story
Gardin Ltd. Is a UK-based startup that wants to make the world healthier and more eco-friendly. Their scientists and engineers are working on optical remote sensing technology, computer vision, and analytics to evaluate plant physiology. Gardin is an expert at giving information about the relationship between plant health and the environment in which it grows. This helps reduce waste and make food production more sustainable. With the help of Gardin’s tools and technologies, farmers will be able to grow better crops with more nutrients in a way that is optimal, sustainable, and affordable.
Gardin was started in late 2019, and its goal is to help everyone get “good for you and our planet” high-quality, healthy food. In particular, the startup is making technology for farms based on its own “optical phenotyping” hardware and the analytics software that goes with it. The goal is to make it possible for food producers to measure and track the nutritional value of food from “seed to plate in the real world,” not just in a lab.
Working
Their sensors are able to focus on the entire farm. These sensors are mobile and monitor the plants, paying particular attention to the leaves. Optoelectronics will be used to determine how well the leaf is functioning. This technology is able to function because it combines the images it gathers with machine learning, which has been taught on a large number of photographs of plants at various stages of development. Because of this, the system is able to monitor how well the process of photosynthesis is working in each plant, which in turn provides information about how effectively the plants are growing. To put it another way, the plants are communicating with Gardin how joyful they are, and the team is having a conversation with them. Therefore, it is simple to determine which plant is flourishing and which requires additional attention. When using vertical farming, it is simple to establish dominion over the plants.
Conclusion
Instead of continually wanting new technology, food producers often want their existing challenges fixed. Because of this, Gardin has taken a comprehensive approach to developing their answer. By first developing an optical remote sensing system and the analytics based on the information to assess the nutritional content of a variety of foods, and then using that data to generate real – time insights from the analytics based on the data. They are able to assist farmers in engineering the development of their crops so that they can achieve the best nutrient value possible while the crops are still growing. Farmers benefit from a product of greater quality while also lowering their operating costs and their overall carbon impact.
