Vertical farming app software by Farmsoft:

Vertical farming app software for sustainable food production maximize profit, traceability, efficiency. Full farm inventory, site bay, row, column, rack, and shelf mapping with bar-code or RFID.  Vertical farming cost reports, harvest management.

WATCH VERTICAL FARMING APP VIDEO

100% accurate farm traceabiltiy

The farmsoft app delivers instant farm traceability recalls, both up and down the supply chain.  Perform recalls in seconds, with full confidence of accuracy and reliability. Minimize risk by ensuring accurate traceability is automatically captured thru natural business processes, easily and quickly. Pass audits with ease and reduce compliance costs using farmsoft's automatic paperwork tools and features. 

Easy, instant farm planning

With the farmsoft app, farm planning is easy with automatic farm task creation to guide teams through the farming process. Plan entire crops for the season or even year with just a few clicks making farmsoft one of the best farm software solutions for easy planning.  

Best practices enforced

The farmsoft farming app creates tasks automatically based on the best practices for your farm, you check their accuracy and adjust them if the weather or other conditions change. The farming team is guided through farm tasks ensuring work is done at the right time using correct materials, and compliance data is captured at every critical point.

Farm audits passed with ease

The farmsoft app has got your farm covered!   You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you know the auditors are coming the next day? Forget about about it. Using farmsoft, you have the confidence that you can do instant recalls, and generate any traceability, farm summaries, and farm records in a matter of seconds.

Vertical farming app software for sustainable food production maximize profit, traceability, efficiency. Full farm inventory, site bay, row, column, rack, and shelf mapping with bar-code or RFID. Vertical farming cost reports, harvest management.

The farmsoft vertical farming app delivers special attention to each client – dedicated solution consultants, project management, remote or on-site training and deployment – guarantee a quality solution. Enterprise farmsoft can be installed on your own server or accessed from farmsoft cloud – your choice. We can make additions and changes farmsoft Enterprise to ensure it meets your exact requirements. farmsoft Enterprise provides rapid R.O.I. for fast growing professional farms.
Vertical farming solutions for sustainable food production in an sustainable environmentally friendly manner.
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By 2050, the world’s population is expected to grow by another 2 billion people, and feeding it will be a huge challenge. Due to industrial development and urbanization, we are losing arable lands every day. Scientists say that the Earth has lost a third of its arable lands over the last 40 years.

We don’t know how much more we are going to lose in the next 40 years. Increasing food demand due to a growing population along with ever decreasing arable lands poses one of the greatest challenges facing us. Many believe that vertical farming can be the answer to this challenge. Is vertical farming the future of agriculture? Let’s find out!

What Is Vertical Farming?
Vertical farming is the practice of producing food on vertically inclined surfaces. Instead of farming vegetables and other foods on a single level, such as in a field or a greenhouse, this method produces foods in vertically stacked layers commonly integrated into other structures like a skyscraper, shipping container or repurposed warehouse.
Using Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) technology, this modern idea uses indoor farming techniques. The artificial control of temperature, light, humidity, and gases makes producing foods and medicine indoor possible. In many ways, vertical farming is similar to greenhouses where metal reflectors and artificial lighting augment natural sunlight. The primary goal of vertical farming is maximizing crops output in a limited space.


How Vertical Farming Works
There are four critical areas in understanding how vertical farming works:

1. Physical layout,

2. Lighting,

3. Growing medium,

4. Sustainability features.

Firstly, the primary goal of vertical farming is producing more foods per square meter. To accomplish this goal, crops are cultivated in stacked layers in a tower life structure. Secondly, a perfect combination of natural and artificial lights is used to maintain the perfect light level in the room. Technologies such as rotating beds are used to improve lighting efficiency.

Thirdly, instead of soil, aeroponic, aquaponic or hydroponic growing mediums are used. Peat moss or coconut husks and similar non-soil mediums are very common in vertical farming. Finally, the vertical farming method uses various sustainability features to offset the energy cost of farming. In fact, vertical farming uses 95 percent less water.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Vertical Farming
Vertical farming has a lot of promise and sounds like the farm of the future. However, there are a few stumbling blocks to consider before rushing full-speed ahead into vertical farming.

Advantages
It offers a plan to handle future food demands
It allows crops to grow year-round
It uses significantly less water
Weather doesn't affect the crops
More organic crops can be grown
There is less exposure to chemicals and disease
Disadvantages
It could be very costly to build and economic feasibility studies haven't yet been completed
Pollination would be very difficult and costly
It would involve higher labor costs
It relies too much on technology and one day of power loss would be devastating
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VERTICAL FARMING TRACEABILITY HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER
Instant traceability recalls, with 100% accuracy. Trace fruit & vegetables back to a grower, area of land/field, crop batch/patch and all inputs and their related suppliers & batch/lot details. If you use farmsoft Post Harvest software for tobacco processing, you can even trace product all the way to customers and invoices.

VERTICAL FARM PLANNING MADE EASY, REDUCE FARMING COSTS
Easy with auto creation of tasks to guide teams through the best farming processes. Plan the entire years tobacco crops with just a few clicks! Reduce administration and traceability costs costs by collecting data during farming, reducing the burden on the admin team, and delivering automatic reporting without needing to compile reports manually.

ENFORCE BEST VERTICAL FARMING PRACTICES
Farm tasks can be created automatically, you check their accuracy and adjust them if the weather or other conditions change. The farming team is guided through farm tasks ensuring work is done at the right time using correct materials, and compliance data is captured at every critical point.

PASS AUDITS WITH EASE
You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you know the auditors are coming the next day? Forget about about it. Using farmsoft, you have the confidence that you can do instant recalls, and generate any traceability, farm summaries, and farm records in a matter of seconds.

AUTOMATIC BUDGETS & COST MONITORING
View costs in real time, down to a specific patch/block, or by farm site, crop, and variety. Never have production cost shocks again. Budgets are automatically created by the best practice system and allow projections for any period of time into the future, down to the application of a specific spray chemical or fertilizer.

INTEGRATION WITH POST HARVEST SOFTWARE
Optionally use farmsoft Post Harvest packing solutions that seamlessly integrate with the vertical farming software for a complete enterprise management solution. Learn more here.
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VERTICAL FARM TRACEABILITY
Compliance with international GAP and food safety standards allows easy crop recalls, traceability, and pesticide and controlled substance monitoring and reporting.
Farming app to enhance profit, quality, and yield in the fresh produce farming industry. Only for professional farming organizations.
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The farmsoft farming app is part of a comprehensive business management suite, in which you can optionally incorporate farmsoft Fruit Packing & distributions solutions as well. Much more than just a simple farming app to help you perform farm record keeping, the farmsoft suite can manage every part of the business from pre-planting planning and budgeting, through to processing, sales, and traceability management.

You can use the farmsoft farming app from virtually and device, and access your entire farm management system and reports remotely. This allows many offices to use the same system easily, and gives useful monitoring abilities to management that may be offsite or traveling.

Comprehensive farm management functionality allows management of all facets of fresh produce farming and cultivation.

Farmsoft farming apps are also multi-site and multi company enabled. You can define an unlimited number of ‘farms’ that will use the one farming solution, however, when each user access the system, they can only see information from their own farm/s. This also gives superior centralized management and monitoring for corporate farming, and sharing centralized agronomy resources.


Vertical farming app software for sustainable food production maximize profit, traceability, efficiency. Full farm inventory, site bay, row, column, rack, and shelf mapping with bar-code or RFID. Vertical farming cost reports, harvest management.

Our ancestors first learned to farm nearly 12,000 years ago. By cultivating and domesticating seeds, these once hunter-gatherers broke away from their nomadic lifestyles, settled down to produce controlled and reliable food sources (weather permitting, of course) and, little did they know, change the course of the planet’s future.

Fast forward to the 20th century when a group of architects started planning to alter food production in their own way. They aimed to decreased dependency on traditional land-based farms and harness spatial efficiency in our dense built environment; think less wide-open spaces with tractors and more structures growing stacked layers of crops. This practice—widely referred to as “indoor” or “vertical farming” (taken from Gilbert Ellis Bailey’s 1915 book of the same name)—is alive and booming today, and especially in the New York metro area.

Columbia University professor emeritus and ecologist Dickson Despommier helped to envision the modern vertical farm and indoor agriculture while teaching a graduate-level course in 1999. His students realized that simply using rooftop gardens would been grossly insufficient to feeding the population of Manhattan so in line with urban agriculture predecessors, he began researching different techniques and structures. Despommier is among several academics and vertical farming thought leaders who see vertical farming today as part of the answer to a range of global problems (many partly caused by agriculture) including climate change and water scarcity.

There are a lot of ways to farm indoors and below are three different soilless processes recommended by Despommier. Done properly at various scales, they’re as effective as at growing crops in skyscrapers as they are in 500 square foot studio apartments:

Hydroponics
One of the oldest and most common methods of vertical farming, hydroponics includes growing plants without soil and in a water solvent containing mineral nutrients. The simplest hydroponic method (called the floating raft system) suspends the plants in soilless raft like a polystyrene sheet and lets the roots hang to absorb the oxygen-aerated solution. Another common method is the nutrient film technique, which is popular for growing lettuce. Here, a stream of the nutrient-dissolved solution is pumped into an angled channel, typically a plastic pipe, containing the plants. This runs past the plants’ root mat and can then be recirculated for continuous use. New York’s Gotham Greens and Square Roots use hydroponics.

Aeroponics
It’s no surprise that NASA has been backing research on aeroponic growth for the past two decades as it’s free-floating-roots aesthetic is typically used in futuristic sci-fi movies. With aeroponics, the dangling roots absorb a fine mist comprised of an atomized version of the nutrient solution sprayed directly onto the roots by a pump. Although aeroponics enables plants to grow much more quickly than hydroponics, it requires more solution and therefore is more costly. Newark’s Aerofarms uses aeroponics.


Aquaponics
Like hydroponic systems, an aquaponic system contains a soil-free plant bed suspended over a body of water containing nutrients necessary for plant growth. But within the body of water is a population of fish (typically herbivores) that produce waste that function as fertilizer for the plants. In turn, the plants help purify the water to make the water suitable for the fish.

Given that a balance must be achieved to ensure the system of both life forms, aquaponics requires greater attention than hydroponics or aeroponics although filtration and aeration systems can help manage these complications. Furthermore, the types of plants one can grow are much more limited as the necessary plant nutrients must be compatible with those necessary for the fish. 


Vertical farming app software for sustainable food production maximize profit, traceability, efficiency. Full farm inventory, site bay, row, column, rack, and shelf mapping with bar-code or RFID. Vertical farming cost reports, harvest management.

Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers.[1] It often incorporates controlled-environment agriculture, which aims to optimize plant growth, and soilless farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics.] Some common choices of structures to house vertical farming systems include buildings, shipping containers, tunnels, and abandoned mine shafts. As of 2020, there is the equivalent of about 30 ha (74 acres) of operational vertical farmland in the world.]

The modern concept of vertical farming was proposed in 1999 by Dickson Despommier, professor of Public and Environmental Health at Columbia University. Despommier and his students came up with a design of a skyscraper farm that could feed 50,000 people. Although the design has not yet been built, it successfully popularized the idea of vertical farming.[4] Current applications of vertical farmings coupled with other state-of-the-art technologies, such as specialized LED lights, have resulted in over 10 times the crop yield than would receive through traditional farming methods.

The main advantage of utilizing vertical farming technologies is the increased crop yield that comes with a smaller unit area of land requirement.[6] The increased ability to cultivate a larger variety of crops at once because crops do not share the same plots of land while growing is another sought-after advantage. Additionally, crops are resistant to weather disruptions because of their placement indoors, meaning fewer crops are lost to extreme or unexpected weather occurrences. Because of its limited land usage, vertical farming is less disruptive to the native plants and animals, leading to further conservation of the local flora and fauna.

Vertical farming technologies face economic challenges with large start-up costs compared to traditional farms. In Victoria, Australia, a "hypothetical 10 level vertical farm" would cost over 850 times more per square meter of arable land than a traditional farm in rural Victoria. Vertical farms also face large energy demands due to the use of supplementary light like LEDs. Moreover, if non-renewable energy is used to meet these energy demands, vertical farms could produce more pollution than traditional farms or greenhouses.

What You Should Know About Vertical Farming Production
Vertical farm

Currently, the global human population exceeds more than 7.85 billion, but this number is expected to increase to 9.8 billion by 2050— with more than 75% of people expected to be living in urban areas. Accompanied with this population growth will also be an increase in demand on already stressed food, water, and energy resources needed to sustain this growth. Thus, new agricultural systems that offer sustainable food production will be essential to meet these demands.

One such system, many believe can meet these demands, is vertical farming. But, what exactly is vertical farming and why do many people believe that? Let’s find out!

What is Vertical Farming?
Simply put, vertical farming is the practice of growing plants in vertically stacked layers. This method of horticulture seeks to maximize plant space utilization and production by scaling up off the ground, allowing more plants to be grown in the same area. Additionally, it can be applied to current horticultural practices, ranging from small-scale hydroponics to large-scale controlled environmental agriculture operations, and has the potential to produce year-round production at practically any location if coupled with the right techniques!

So, how does it work, what plants are grown, and more importantly, is it sustainable?

Basic Components of a Vertical Farm
Vertical farm types can be broken down into three main components: the (1) system structure, (2) electrical structure, and (3) plumbing structure (see figure below). These three aspects are vital to consider as they will dictate where a system can be located, what crops can be grown in them, and the resources that will be required to build one. They should be considered before starting a vertical farming operation.

Types of Vertical Farms
Vertical farming utilizing hydroponic A-Frames

Figure 1: Vertical farming operation utilizing hydroponic A-Frames

When it comes to vertical farming, there are three main system types: (1) hydroponic, (2) aquaponic, and (3) growing-media based systems.

Hydroponic Vertical Farming
In hydroponic vertical farming, an aqueous solution comprised of all essential nutrients needed for optimal plant growth is supplied to plants. Examples of this type of vertical farming includes modified hydroponics systems, such as nutrient film technique (Ex. A-Frame and vertical grow towers), deep water culture (DWC), and aeroponics.

Aquaponic Vertical Farming
Conversely, in aquaponic vertical farming, fish production is integrated with plant production utilizing hydroponic system designs. However, instead of fertilizing plants with an aqueous solution comprised of all essential nutrients, plants are alternatively fertilized with nutrient-rich fish water that has been filtered, converted to nitrates, and supplemented for limiting nutrients deficient in aquaponic systems.

Growing Media Vertical Farms
Lastly, in growing-media vertical farms, plants are cultivated in a soilless media (Ex. rockwool, coir, perlite, etc.) and then supplied with a water-nutrient solution. Examples of this system type include modified ebb and flow, wick, and raised bed systems that have been stacked on top of one another or moved into vertically designed structures.

Plant Requirements
In addition to vertical farming components and system types, it is also important to take into consideration how the plants will be grown and their individual requirements! For example, will they be grown outside or indoors? If they are to be grown indoors, are the proper systems in place? Is air circulation required? How does shading affect the crop quality?

In general, plants have four basic requirements to grow properly: nutrients, carbon dioxide, water, and light. Each of these factors should be addressed before upgrading a facility or opening a vertical farm.

Plant Selection
Vertical farming systems can be used to grow a wide array of plants, such as vegetables, fruits, herbs, and even flowering plants. However, before plant selection takes place, it is important to first consider the above aforementioned factors to determine if it will be economically viable!

Currently, the most commonly grown commercial vertical farming crops include lettuce, microgreens, kale, basil, chives, mint, and strawberries.

hydroponic vertical grower towers and large indoor vertical farming operation


For these reasons caution and planning is advised. In cases where growing media is used, the addition of biological additive ingredients can be beneficial to reduce the onset of plant root diseases and reduce plant loss.

Vertical farming app software for sustainable food production maximize profit, traceability, efficiency. Full farm inventory, site bay, row, column, rack, and shelf mapping with bar-code or RFID. Vertical farming cost reports, harvest management.



FRESH PRODUCE PACKING APP
Farmsoft fresh produce app  delivers fresh produce packing, for cherry, berry, onion packing, pepper & capsicum packing, avocado, potato packing, broccoli, salad, spinach, loose leaf lettuce, cucumber, tomato packing, citrus, garlic, asparagus, onion inventory storage, potato inventory storage, carrot, bean, mango, seafood packing.   
The app also manages fresh cut flower, food service, coleslaw & slaw packing, banana, orange, lemon, lime, grape, seed, stone-fruit, cauliflower, strawberry, fresh produce ERP, flower packing. 
Fresh produce quality control is made easy with Farmsoft:  Farm management app, Meat packing app for beef poultry seafood.

FRESH PRODUCE TRACEABILITY FROM FARMSOFT
Fresh produce traceability app by Farmsoft provides potato traceability, onion traceability, tomato, fresh produce blockchain traceability, pepper & capsicum traceability, carrot, salad, leafy green, citrus, cucumber, asparagus traceability, seafood traceability app, fresh cut traceability, food service traceability app, coleslaw traceability, strawberry, banana, grape, seed, flower, loose leaf, QC, fresh produce barcode.  
Fully integrated traceability software manages meat traceability app for slaughterhouses, low cost meat packing, meat packing software, meat packing quality control, meat packing hardware requirements, slaughterhouse software, beef packing software solutions.

Additional traceability for farm to fork traceability, fresh produce profit analysis, chili processing, fresh produce production planning, fresh produce RFID, blockchain fresh produce, fresh produce supply chain planning, fresh produce sales solution, packhouse management software, fresh produce traceability app, fruit vegetable inventory management for fresh produce stock control fruit packing system for packhouse processing of onion storage and quality.  

Walmart food safety compliance app for date plantation software, SENASA, fresh produce RFID app, perishable inventory management software, fresh produce API integration, coleslaw production, XERO for fresh produce packers, inventory management app for fresh produce waste reduction.
Woolworths fresh produce compliance and Woolworths food handling compliance, Coles compliance, Coles labels, fresh cut packing storage traceability, post harvest traceability software, potato packing system, simple traceability solution, save time efficient inventory.

Reduce errors in fresh produce packing and processing, increase accuracy of fresh produce shipping, reduce administration costs fresh produce packing, less fresh produce waste, avocado software, potato solution, carrot solution, broccoli control, mango processing quality, apple packing and processing, pepper packing app by farmsoft, chili packing app, chili powder app, hot pepper sauce manufacturing.

Farmsoft vertical farming app, farm traceability app, farm budgeting, farm quality, farm inventory, farm diary, farm land management.

FARMSOFT FRESH PRODUCE APPS
Download Farmsoft Brochures:   Fresh produce app    |    Meat packing app    |    Farming app    |     Fresh produce RFID   
Implement Farmsoft fresh produce apps to increase fresh produce business productivity in fruit & vegetable packhouse: reduce fresh produce waste, food safety compliance, for easy traceability, automatic inventory control, simple quality control, rapid recall and mock recalls, and 100% accurate shipping, meat packing app, optional farming app.

FARMSOFT FRESH PRODUCE QUALITY INSPECTION & QUALITY CONTROL
Farmsoft QC Quality Inspection app makes fresh produce quality control rapid and accurate for all fresh produce packers:  cherry, berry, onion, pepper & capsicum, avocado, potato quality, broccoli, salad quality inspection, spinach, lettuce, cucumber, tomato quality, citrus, asparagus, garlic quality inspection app, carrot quality, bean, mango, leafy greens, fresh cut quality inspection, food service quality app, coleslaw quality, strawberry quality inspection app, grape quality, meat quality control app, flower quality.