Indoor farming, urban agriculture, city farming, vertical farming… choosing the right name seems difficult already! We call it Total Controlled Environment Agriculture… growing plants under full controlled conditions.
As the name is quite confusing already there is a huge choice in technical solutions developed to be implemented in a vertical farm. It is our goal to design a facility that matches your goals. As independent party in this field we can be of added value to your project.
With our expertise from state-of-the-art horticulture and , we are able to serve growers and investors on topics like:
- Feasibility studies
- Crop selection
- cultivation methods and system setpoints
- energy concept (cooling, power);
- facility design
- farm logistics;
- supplier selection and evaluation
- business case development and financial modelling
- project design and project management support
- Marketing and sales support; how to position your product, what packing and messaging to be used.
- Financing
At VEK we put a lot of focus on the objective of your project. Especially if you want to target a niche market or you want to offer a superior quality or perhaps you are based in a difficult climate you always need to define your goals upfront to be able to achieve them!
Do you want to grow crops on places with extreme climatic conditions (cold, hot, humid)? Do you want to grow crops during particular periods of the year when regular cultivation seems not possible or feasible (lack of sunlight, short days, too warm nights)? Do you want to grow crops directly next to consumers (next to factory, next to restaurant, next to hospital)?
There are much more situations to mention. Much more questions to ask. Therefor we start our job with an Assessment of Possibilities (AoP).
Main focus should be given to the crop to be grown. How does the crop grow in indoor environments? Which effects can be created with specific growing settings such as light, climate and irrigation? What is the optimal yield to be achieved?
Based on the collected information and discussed boundary limits and starting points, all will be translated into a conceptual project design. This technical design is the base for calculations on CapEx and OpEx to check feasibility and viability.
If the results are promising enough to go forward, the design will be elaborated. Process of tendering can start to find a contractor for the entire project or to select specialist suppliers on particular parts of the project.
After supplier selection and contracting, the process of detailed engineering and manufacturing starts. During the construction stage, we can guard the planning and applied technical solutions to make sure that all is built and installed as meant to be, within the time frame and within budget.