ASET Technology Alberta Spring 2021 - 15

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Indoor vertical farming tech could spell an agricultural boom for urban settings. Images courtesy of NuLeaf Farms.

" We're also seeing some more technology on the indoor, like
vertical farming and urban farming, if you will, " she says.
One of the companies pioneering work in this field is NuLeaf
Farms. This Alberta-based operation has developed an advanced indoor vertical farming system that aims to bite a
chunk out of food security concerns in the near future.
Ryan Wright, co-founder and president of NuLeaf, says that
the technology was built around an idea of centralized data
monitoring, so that all of the information around crop status
and machinery is always on hand.
" We kind of designed it around a central operator distributed farm kind of model, " Wright says. " So essentially, our
facilities collect data from the plants, to temperature on the
motors, to the maintenance time to the next filter change. All
that's coming in all the time. "
Wright says that this type of facility operation is something
he and his team did not see out in the industry while building
up their own operational model. Such unfettered access to
data streams could revolutionize response times.
" Each one of those growing environments work on the same
principle, where you're streaming all the data in and optimizing in real time, " he says.
Harnessing this type of model would allow data on plant
environment, nutrient conditions, food safety, facility
maintenance and equipment status to flow to NuLeaf's
central location.

From that point, the company's engineering and plant sciences teams could provide real-time remote support, ensuring maximum efficiency.
" Having a centralized team overseeing a distributed food
production model allows us to reduce the overhead requirements in each operation, " Wright explains.
As well, once basic conditions around water, electricity
and building specifications are deemed adequate, NuLeaf
can implement its equipment with minimal modification.
The larger the warehouse, the more units can be plugged
in, so that very quickly a large-scale production facility can
bloom from the bones of a previous operation.
" Once you have that factory established, it goes back to
our remote connectivity, where then we can just start replicating that in other warehouses, major food distribution
points, and off you go basically, " he says.
From that point, each element in the growing process can
be studied fastidiously, and adjusted as necessary.
" We're looking at how we deliver the nutrients to the plants,
or environmental controls, that also increase the plant productivity. The big thing is, by collecting all this data all the
time, it gives us a very accurate snapshot, " Wright says.
Such accurate data and precision in controlling growing
conditions can lead to highly speedy response and adaptation from the growers, so that their yields produce better

TECHNOLOGY ALBERTA | SPRING 2021 | 15

ASET Technology Alberta Spring 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASET Technology Alberta Spring 2021