Australian agtech startup Vertical Farming Systems (VFS) has raised $1 million from a single investor for its indoor farming production system geared to “engineer labor out of growing green, leafy vegetables”.
Located in Queensland, and co-owned by Ashley Thompson and John Leslie, VFS has created an indoor agricultural production system that can bring plants from seeding to fully grown in only 28 days.
Over the past nine years the company has developed an automated farming system in an eight-acre facility divided into three climate cells, or separate environments where produce is grown using bioponics – an organic alternative to normal hydroponic mediums. Bioponics uses beneficial microbes, bacteria, and fungi found in the richest soil, and combines them with pure, sustainable organic nutrients.
Throughout the growing process, control of lighting, water, and humidity levels are all automated. Seeds are automatically planted in trays holding clay pods, which are then put on stackable racks under LED lights. This system at the company’s eight-acre location produces 400 kilograms, or 882 pounds of produce each week.
Agriculture 4.0
Although Australian innovators have been developing solutions for a variety of challenges facing the country’s growers – including drought, animal management, and disease and pest control – the Australian government noted that an existing lack of capital is hobbling the advancement of these developments. As recently as 2017, 80 percent of all agtech investments made in Australia were less than $1 million, according to Australian Financial Review, and of these investments, most were in the form of government grants or through accelerators.
As such, earlier this year, the government launched Australia for Agriculture 4.0 – a new a new initiative backed by Austrade, Australia’s national promotional agency for trade and investment, with the goal of transforming overseas interest in agtech and food tech into capital investment in the country’s startups.
“Australia has the potential to be a powerhouse in agrifood tech and we want to help the sector reach its full potential,” said Simon Birmingham, Minister for Trade, Tourism, and Investment in February. “Our farmers are some of the most innovative in the world but we’re behind the pack when it comes to commercialising [sic] our food and farming technologies.”
Not Just Leafy Greens
VFS is not only focusing on its own production of leafy greens and produce. Over the course of nearly a decade, the startup has patented its XA Series Warehouse System, which is sold to customers in any one of 28 configurations. And in a modular sense, can be fitted to each business’ needs and can be expanded upon in the future.
Additional technologies in the company’s pipeline include an automated fodder machine that can feed livestock for two weeks without human intervention, and the production of protein to feed fish, poultry, pigs, and cattle through its vertical farming system.
-Lynda Kiernan