AGROTOPIA

By collaborating with nearby industries to repurpose their waste outputs as farming inputs, Agrotopia aims to find cost-effective and environmentally friendly growing methods. This strategy examines how greenhouses can integrate with other industries to utilise their waste outputs for farming and indicates new possibilities in transforming post-industrial sites into food production zones.

Currently, Agrotopia links to a waste incineration plant’s return loop to provide district-warm-water and recycles its waste outputs. Test crops are fed into the auction system for sale when suitable. They also examine CO2 sourcing from local Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants and explore surface runoff as an urban water source. “We’re situated near a municipal waste-to-energy plant that burns waste from the surrounding area. The resulting heat is not released into the air but transferred into a district hot water system that we use to heat our greenhouse in winter. We connect to existing waste and energy streams in an urban environment. Where possible, we put the food produced by Agrotopia into the auction system” While rainwater collected from the greenhouse glass and stored in a basin is the primary water source, Agrotopia is also investigating urban runoff water from impervious surfaces like parking lots and roofs, purified for greenhouse usage. By studying these resource synergies, Agrotopia aims to reduce operating costs, increase resilience, mitigate environmental risks, and open new opportunities for urban and peripheral growing systems.

Resource synergies are a focus for Agrotopia to lower operating costs, increase resilience, and de-risk the farmers from environmental shocks. Part of this relies on experimenting with alternative material inputs and methods to support sustainability, assessing growers’ capacity for adaptation. The goal is to reflect on farmers’ challenges and devise ways to make their practices more sustainable while ensuring business viability. Agrotopia carries the risk of investment to demonstrate beneficial outcomes and encourage sustainable practice adoption.

Although technologically advanced and efficient in its production techniques, the greenhouse farming industry operates in a risk-averse environment due to market pressures and retailer demands. Financial constraints and market volatility force growers to stick to industry norms while seeking methods to safeguard themselves from unexpected changes while incrementally optimising their profits

Given the labour-intensive nature of agriculture and the challenges of finding reliable workers, farmers are turning to digitisation growing techniques. “In Western Europe, physically demanding work and pay expectations often discourage locals from working in agriculture. Farmers also grapple with additional issues such as providing education, housing costs, and communication barriers with migrant labourers. They’re showing a keen interest in digitisation and robotisation to mitigate these difficulties. Implementing sensors, artificial intelligence, and other forms of automation in tasks like harvesting and pruning are becoming priorities.” These technological advancements support management processes and promise a more efficient and automated system, addressing the current labour shortage.

Farmers often find it challenging to undertake broad changes, or diversify their products, without external support. “Along with labour, energy and water management, we’re also focusing on the circularity of resource use. Our current cultivation systems utilise growing bags, plastics, and several ropes. We’re researching the potential use of biodegradable plastic ropes, organic grow-bags made from wood chips, and sustainably sourced peat for growing mediums as an alternative to carbon-intensive mineral wool... The goal is to compost these materials instead of disposing of them as waste”. Currently, these sustainable alternatives are more expensive than conventional petrochemical plastics. “The primary hurdle is economic; the higher cost of many sustainable options poses a challenge for farmers. For instance, there are biodegradable twines that support stems, but they are more expensive… Farmers are eager to adopt more sustainable practices, but the risks can be daunting, especially without prior experience”. As such, Inagro is responsible for conducting research, providing demonstrations, and educating farmers. This helps bridge the gap between research and practical application, reducing the risks of adopting sustainable practices.

Retailers set the parameters by which food products are valued and traded. A strict set of metrics regarding variety, colour, size, shape and weight are applied across the global marketplace, driving uniformity into the trading system. This enables retailers to interchange food products across a global supply base to reduce purchase costs. ‘Quality standards are therefore not related to nutrition, flavour or smell, but to extrinsic parameters which allow them to be graded and compared in large quantities, and suppliers to be exchanged without any noticeable change to the consumer. “At present, we measure quality parameters visually. We categorise our products into different classes based on their uniformity. The most uniform tomatoes, for example, are categorised as the highest class, while the out-sized or deformed ones are sold at lower prices.”

Farmers have limited alternatives for selling their products in large quantities outside the retail distribution system. Over time, the number of participants in consumer retail and B2B supply chains has decreased, concentrating market control between the growers and the consumers. As the intermediary between the farmer and consumer, retailers demand specific quantities at set prices. “If you don’t comply, they will go to someone else. This situation forces farmers to rely on retailers to buy their products, especially if they have large amounts to sell daily”. This creates a dependency for farmers on retailers, particularly those who have large volumes of produce to trade on a daily basis. As a result, farmers are interested in technologies and strategies that can improve their current practices, such as enhancing yields, ensuring product uniformity, or reducing operational costs. They often need external assistance to implement systematic changes or diversify their products.

The supermarket retail sector, with its clearly defined product parameters and success metrics, compels farmers to scale their operations to ensure business continuity. A generation ago, farmers could turn a decent profit from a two-hectare greenhouse. However, they need to expand to approximately five hectares to meet current market demands, utilising conventional methods.

Despite a slight increase in consumer prices, the profit margin for growers per kilogram has diminished, forcing farmers to increase production volumes to maintain profitability. This leads to a climate of risk-aversion and cost-cutting that stifles radical innovation or change. Retailers, acting as middlemen between the farmer and the consumer, pressure farmers with lower prices while inflating consumer costs. “They demand specific quantities at set prices. If you don’t comply, they will go to someone else.” This dynamic forces farmers, particularly those with large daily yields, to depend on retailers to sell their products.

In Belgium, auctions work on a cooperative system where farming collectives establish trading centres. This system is designed to maintain market control and provide leverage for farmers. The auction system is adjacent to the main hall of REO Veiling, a significant player in this arena that controls about a quarter of Belgium’s fresh food supply. This cooperative system gives farmers a stronger position to negotiate with supermarket chains. However, despite the advantages of cooperative systems, farmers’ power remains constrained in the broader global marketplace. Retailers have access to the worldwide food market, compelling cooperatives to match their prices with global supply trends.

Factors such as planning rules, plot sizes, and limited land availability often restrict farmers from expanding their greenhouses to increase productivity, and many farmers find it difficult or even undesirable to grow their operations under the present circumstances. Despite these challenges, Agrotopia supports farmers unable or unwilling to expand their operations. It offers workshops, networking opportunities, and outreach programs, aiding farmers in diversifying their income sources. This method provides alternative growth paths for those farmers who can’t enlarge their businesses traditionally. However, this strategy only benefits a limited number of growers. “Smaller farms could potentially sell different products directly to customers. However, since customers generally prefer a wide range of choices in a single location year-round, they tend to favour supermarkets where everything is easily accessible”. This preference makes it tough for small farmers to maintain a consistent market presence. As a result, most farmers operate at a scale where they must abide by the demands of retailers.”