hydroponic cultivation in sterile hermetic … international agrospace workshop agrospace conference...

6th International Agrospace Workshop Agrospace Conference

Sperlonga, 22 - 23 May 2014

© 2014 Ferrari Farm – All Rights Reserved

Hydroponic Cultivation in Sterile Hermetic Greenhouses

Giorgia Pontetti, Paolo Battistel

Ferrari Farm

Ferrari Farm is located at about 700m height on a beautiful and pristine hill overlooking the Salto Lake (RI), with an estate of about 10 ha.

- 100% Organic Cultivation in open field: orchard and garden, including spices and herbs

- Hydroponic Cultivation in new generation sealed sterile greenhouses

- Food processing

- Luxury Country House, "Locanda Colle Cerqueto"


Certifications

- ISO 9001

- ISO 22000

- Organic by ICEA IT BIO 006 with Op. Code G2024

- Agri-Tourism List in the Province of Rieti, # 458

- Educational Agri-Farms List in the Province of Rieti, # 7

- Quality Mark “Italian Hospitality”


Overview


Ceres Activities

© 2014 Ceres – All Rights Reserved

o Crop advice (Vegetables, Herbs, Flowers) o Greenhouse planning (Turn-key Projects) o Soilless Crops (Substrate, NFT, Floating, Aeroponics) o Integrated Pest Management o Organic Farming (Biological Control) o Crop Managers Trainings (Practical School) o Consultancy for United Nations o Trainings for European Union o Seminars for World Companies o Global-Gap Certification o Media Activities (Magazines, Newspapers, TV) o Trading and Assistance to F&V Export Companies

Ceres Worldwide

© 2014 Ceres – All Rights Reserved

Main Countries: Italy Holland Russia Morocco Turkey Main Crops: Tomato Melon Lettuce Herbs Strawberry Soilless Systems: Substrate Floating NFT Aeroponics

Hydroponics in History

Egyptian hieroglyphics dating before Christ describes the cultivation of plants in water.

The first great known work are the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built around 590 BC by King Nebuchadnezzar II.

Another example is the floating gardens of the Aztecs known as Chinampa, artificial islands 30 meters long and 2 feet wide surrounding Tenochtitlan.


The Project

In a worldwide scenario in which agriculture is increasingly at a disadvantage and suffering, Ferrari Farm has decided to invest in a new project with the aim to innovate the traditional agriculture, trying to meet the economic needs of farmers and the demands of consumers who are increasingly attentive to food quality and safety.

The business idea was to combine the traditional farming with electronics, automation, research and innovation, to create a innovative “cocktail”.

Our plant is the only in Europe.


Ferrari Farm Plant

Ferrari Farm has entirely designed and manufactured a modern sterile sealed hydroponic plant for cultivating in conditions of absolute sterility.

To do this, it’s equipped with all the technological tools necessary to obtain high-quality agricultural productions.

The plant originates from a standardized design of the greenhouses, so that all the necessary facilities are sized to operate indiscriminately using Drip Irrigation, NFT and Ebb & Flow techniques of hydroponic cultivation.


Ferrari Farm Plant


Ferrari Farm Plant


The plant is made by 2 greenhouses and 1 phytotron and is placed in a seismic zone.

The supporting structure of the greenhouses is made so as to be able to support its own weight over other loads such as snow, the thrust of the wind, rain, etc...

The greenhouses are made of iron and glass. The glasses are a sandwich filled with Argon; the external glass is a low-emissivity glass, transparent to solar thermal radiation, allowing a drastic reduction of heat loss.

The Phytotrone does not use glasses, but insulated sandwich panels 40mm thick, made from profiling steel coils coated with flame retardant polyurethane. Greenhouses and phytotrone are sterile and sealed, else that computer controlled.

Sealed Sterile Greenohouses

Has been defined how to grow vegetables hydroponically, in a totally sealed uncontaminated environment, with automatic command and control of all climatic and nutritional parameters.

The aseptic environment guarantees the total absence of pollutants arising from the external environment, the creation of a unique climate inside the greenhouses independent from external climate, with real-time control of Temperature, Humidity and CO2.

The aseptic conditions are guaranteed by air treatment machines equipped with UV system, commanded and controlled by a proprietary software.

Man access, to prevent contamination, is conditioned by specific dressing procedure.


Air Treatment Machines


Phytotrone


The phytotrone is an hermetic environment, without glasses, realized with sandwich panels and artificial light to ensure productions in absence of Solar illumination.

We have entirely designed and manufactured the lightning system, which is based on LED emitting light only on the photosynthesis wavelengths.

Growth Recipe


Any malfunction or deviation from expected is flagged by the system and dispatched by e-mail to the management operators.

We have defined the plants life cycles in order to encode on a computer the “Cultivation Recipe” in terms of irrigation and management of the greenhouses internal climate. In every moment of all the day and throughout the whole life of the plant life cycle, the computerized system commands and controls the greenhouse climate and irrigation, in agreement with the recipe.

Climate Graph


T from recipe

T performed

Closed Loop System


The dosing unit, that automatically manages the irrigation cycles, works in “Closed Water Loop”, so the drainage is recovered, analyzed and sterilized for reuse.

An advanced climate control system adjusts the parameters inside the greenhouse.

Plant Commad & Control


The system realizes a strong integration to ensure the correct environmental and nutritional parameters to crops and an automated management real-time.

The automated management of the greenhouses to maintain the environmental parameters around the chosen levels, is effected by the system, which provides the climate control of T, RH, ventilation, heating, cooling, sterilization. There are electronic controls for climate management through a custom sw.

Crop Modeling & Growing Recipes


We translated the principles of “Crop Modeling” into “Growing Recipes” to monitor and adjust continuously and automatically the climate and nutrition parameters.

In tomato, e.g., we set up a recipe for each “flowering truss stage” to maintain every week the best Vegetative and Generative balance of the plants (stem growth and stem diameter, number of flowers, fruits and leaves, Leaf Area Index, etc.).

The Crop Registration system let us also to Advice on Distance the crop operations of the managing staff (shoot pruning, truss pruning, plant turning and lowering, etc.).

This method permitted us to manage a complex crop as tomato by using un-trained staff.

Crop Modeling & Growing Recipes

The daily detection of climatic data and the weekly registration of the nutritional growth parameters, allows the total control of plant growth; this allow modeling the growth process to continually anticipate and correct those parameters that may possibly deviate from the standard of reference.

The use of certified and healthy seeds, sterile substrates and solutions, decontaminated air, controlled access of operators with appropriate sterile clothing, in addition to compliance with the nutritional and climatic parameters, guarantees the cultivation in the absence of pathogens.


Integration

All plants are integrated into a computer system and can be managed either locally or remotely through a standard Internet connection. The system is managed by a server that hosts all sw and system databases. The system relies on an Internet connection to the outside & an Ethernet LAN that interconnects all the buildings and allows the integration of all plants.


Control Room


Results

The first results obtained with the cultivation of tomato and basil have shown the effectiveness of the system.

The recipe encoded in the computer in terms of climate and nutrient solution showed the real automatic operation of greenhouses in accordance with the pre-established and codified “Recipe” .

We have NEVER had the need to do chemical treatments; we have NEVER had diseases, viruses, pathogens.

We have a webcam real-time recording the plant’s growth from seed to seedling and from this we have realized growing videos, also for educational activities.


Tomatoes Crop [Phytotron]


Tomatoes Crop [Greenhouse]


Basil Crop [Greenhouse]


Food Processing Line


The company uses a modern processing line, semiautomatic, working under vacuum. The product is put into jars hot, pasteurized and then rapidly cooled to ensure the maintenance of the vacuum conditions. The entire process is controlled by latest generation instrumentation and the pasteurization phase is recorded by a special probe that stores and graphs the process: an additional guarantee for the consumer.

Food Processing Line


Hydroponic Products


Pesto Tomato Juice

Tomato Sauce

Tomato Smoothie

Nickel free

Conclusions

This new hydroponic hermetic and sterile plant allows to cultivate all over the world from the equator to the pole, the phytotron experience suggest the possibility to cultivate also without the Sun, by using only artificial lighting, so also thinking to future space missions.


The Future for Ferrari Farm [Space]

Having solved the problems on Earth, these can be applied to crops in space.

We are studying a nutritional and climate system that can function in Zero Gravity, to cultivate in mini greenhouses.


The Future for Ferrari Farm [Earth]

Vertical Farming


The Future for Ferrari Farm [Food]


Study, Research & Production of Functional Foods* with Research Institutes (Agreements already in progress) •Those foods or dietary components that may provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition

Contacts

Giorgia Pontetti Ferrari Farm Società Agricola S.r.l. Via Colle Cerqueto 1- 02025 Petrella Salto (RI) - Italy Web: www.ferrarifarm.com e-mail: [email protected] Mob: +39 347 5949835

Paolo Battistel Ceres S.r.l. Via Fasan 19 – 33077 Sacile (PN) - Italy e-mail: [email protected] Mob: +39 336 808185


http://www.ferrarifarm.com/

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

hydroponic cultivation in sterile hermetic … international agrospace workshop agrospace conference...

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