NetZero // Urban Agriculture

Our focus is on education, and we offer a 25% Educational Discount on our systems to qualified institutions for K-12 controlled environment agriculture (CEA) education, community college applied technology, and university research. Our goal is to put modular CEA systems within reach of those educational institutions, individuals, restaurants, garden supply centers, and commercial farmers.

Here’s the official product release information, and links to the web site where it is published. There are two products based primarily on the height of the plant that the farmer wants to grow: the Microgreens Maker with 14” layers in a 7’ rack, and the Tomato Maker with a single layer in a 7’ rack: Click Here for Products

Given that a farmer is able to grow microgreens in a 10”x20” tray and get a couple of pounds yield every week, we may pack 3 of those trays into one layer, stack 4 layers in one rack, and yield 24 pounds per system per week of cilantro microgreens that currently sell for $80 per pound. That’s $2,000 per week revenue from a $4,000 system that draws less than 500W. By measuring the photons from the LEDs with a quantum light meter, one may dial in the exact amount of light that a plant needs with 95% efficiency, and reduce the power bill for the farmer. Our continued research and development in LED lighting efficiency addresses the most expensive part of monthly operating costs for a farmer – the power bill. The ultimate objective is to use solar and geothermal technology to operate systems off the grid with net zero energy.

Microgreens Maker

MM432 Microgreens Maker kit for Controlled EnvironmentAgriculture (CEA) – An easily assembled modular closed-loop growth system readily adjusted and programmed to optimize growth of microgreens and clones for food production, education, research, and medical purposes. The controller is a WiFi 2.4 GHz Smart Power Strip Surge Protector that uses the Jinvoo app for Remote Control from a Mobile Device with individual timers for 4 outlets plus USB. Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant compatible. Includes the controller, rack, pans, lights, and pump.

• Grow Areas  – 4 of 31″x31″x3″ pans
• Base Pan for Sump – 32″x32″x9″
• Rack – 7′ channel 1-5/8″ legs with 24″ brackets
• LEDs – 400 W 3500 K (100W each pan spaced 14” apart)
• Power Efficiency – 95%
• Power – 500 W maximum NEMA 5-15P 120 VAC GFCI
• Wiring for LEDs – 20 AWG 2-wire low voltage DC
• Connectors for LEDs – WAGO tool-less lever nuts
• 1 year Limited Warranty

Tomato Maker

TM432 Tomato Maker kit for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) – An easily assembled modular closed-loop growth system readily adjusted and programmed to optimize growth of tomatoes and other tall plants for food production, education, research, and medical purposes. The controller is a WiFi 2.4 GHz Smart Power Strip Surge Protector that uses the Jinvoo app for Remote Control from a Mobile Device with individual timers for 4 outlets plus USB. Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant compatible. Includes the controller, rack, pans, lights, and pump.

• Grow Area and Base Pan for Sump – 32″x32″x9″
• Rack – 7′ channel 1-5/8″ legs with 24″ brackets
• LED – 400 W 3500 K at 6’ height
• Power Efficiency – 95%
• Power – 500 W maximum NEMA 5-15P 120 VAC GFCI
• Wiring for LEDs – 20 AWG 2-wire low voltage DC
• Connectors for LEDs – WAGO tool-less lever nuts
• 1 year Limited Warranty

Attention:

Customer must have 3/4″ wrench to assemble kit, and provide electricity with GFCI, uninterruptible power supply for the controller or manually turn on the controller upon power failure, hardware to mount rack to wall or other suitable structure, HVAC to control ambient temperature and humidity, mobile device with Jinvoo app, free Jinvoo account for Smart Power Strip, internet service with WiFi 2.4 GHz, water, seeds, media, filter for water,pH kit, electrical conductivity meter to measure nutrients, salts, and impurities, temperature sensor, humidity sensor, and method using 10″x20″ plastic trays, 15″x30″ floating trays, ceramic pebbles with rockwool plugs, coco mat, soil in fabric pots, or other media. The minimum depth for the hydroponic solution is 0.5″ across the entire grow pan for proper heat transfer from the LEDs if using ebb/flow method with pump cycling on and off according to your settings on the timer in the controller unless hydroponic solution is continuously flowing with the thin film nutrient method. Warning – the temperature at the LED surface is extremely hot. Do not touch the LED when it is on, or let anything touch it. Keep the LED out of the reach of children. Although the LEDs should last 10 years, the LEDs will burn out if the hydroponic solution that also serves as the coolant completely evaporates from the grow pans with LEDs. The customer is responsible for all LED replacements.

Scale:

The lining up of our systems, placement of systems into cargo containers, and ability to create horizontal and vertical arrays of systems accessible to farmers without using a lift is non-trivial, and a key component of the design to have the highest yield in the smallest area. The design comes from the IT industry where multiple servers fit into a rack, and multiple racks fit into a data center. Multiple controlled environment agriculture systems fit into a cargo container, and multiple cargo containers fit onto a farm. Security from the steel cargo containers protects the crop from the environment and from theft. For the Microgreens Maker spaced every 32”to fit 14 systems along each wall of a cargo container, the farmer’s projected yield of 24 pounds of microgreens per system multiplied by the 28 systems for a total of 672 pounds per week. At $80 per pound for cilantro microgreens, the potential revenue is $54k per week from a gross area of 8’x40’ (320 square feet). With 52 crops per year, the farmer produces 35,000 pounds per year of microgreens with annual gross revenue of $2.8M from an area of 320 square feet with a 200A 240VAC electrical service.

I am personally interested in meeting like-minded individuals that want to promote controlled environment agriculture, and to disrupt the market with decentralized agriculture.

Who’s in?

Best regards,

Farmer Jim

Keywords:

tomatoes, hemp, strawberries, microgreens, clones, production, food production, education, research, medical, digital agriculture, urban agriculture, net zero energy, off grid, controlled environment agriculture, CEA, controlled environments, sustainability, LED, LED lighting systems, photovoltaics, geothermal, earth ship, solar energy, closed loop, closed-loop, clean rooms, semiconductors, hydroponics, cultivation, thermodynamics, modular, scalable, nutraceuticals, horticulture, scale, container, cargo, cargo container

Justification for Sole Source Procurement of MM432 Microgreens Maker kit for Controlled EnvironmentAgriculture (CEA)

Our MM432 Microgreens Maker is only available from a sole source. Arent Fox in San Francisco, CA filed our provisional patent on November 10, 2017, and our non-provisional patent on November 9, 2018: U.S. Patent Application No.:16/186,447 APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR A HYDROPONICS SYSTEM WITH ENHANCED HEAT TRANSFER.

MM432 Microgreens Maker combines systems for water cooling of the LEDs and for hydroponics into a single modular and scalable system with a more efficient design for heat transfer. We reduced lighting costs by replacing a 100W LED system that cost $200 with a $27 LED array that is a monolithic semiconductor the size of a large coin, and eliminated the competitor’s extruded aluminum heat sink, fan, power supply, and large steel chassis.

That enhanced heat transfer further reduces lighting costs by keeping the case temperature below the manufacturer’s specification for safely operating the LED array at a higher current. Our LED array operates at 50V with 2.1A for 105W from a single chip. The 100W LED system we replaced operates at 36V with 1.4A for 50W from a single chip, and requires twice as many chips for the same amount of power delivered from the LED.

Given that a farmer is able to grow microgreens in a 1020 tray, and get a couple of pounds yield from each tray every week, the farmer may pack 3 of those trays into one layer, stack 4 layers in one rack, and yield 24 pounds per system per week of cilantro microgreens that currently sell for $80 per pound. That’s $2,000 per week revenue from a $4,000 system that draws less than 500W, and that fits into a 32” space.

Microgreens Maker is coming out soon, and here is a sneak preview. Given that a farmer is able to grow microgreens in a 1020 tray and get a couple of pounds yield every week, we may pack 3 of those trays into one layer, stack 4 layers in one rack, and yield 24 pounds per system per week of cilantro microgreens that currently sell for $80 per pound. That’s $2,000 per week revenue from a $4,000 system that draws less than 500W.

We are in the process of finalizing our patent, and plan to have product available for sale in the near future.

The following drawing shows more details on the modular and scalable system along with call outs.

Wayne Community College

Wayne Community College is getting 5 of our systems, and placing them in a cargo container. Although we could easily pack 10 systems in one cargo container, they are allowing room for a preparation table by each system. 
With 5 systems, that’s $10k per week market potential with 52 crops per year for an annual gross income of $500k+

Their plans revolve around applied technology as opposed to commercial potential, and will give their crops to the community while providing an opportunity to educate students in urban agriculture.

Here’s a picture of the cargo containers that will go on their campus:

We’ll add our system to our shopping cart, and open our doors for business in the very near future.

Here’s a 3D CAD drawing of our 5 systems inside a cargo container:

Best regards,

Farmer Jim

Jim Ray, President/CTO & Founder

NetZero // Urban Agriculture – Grow Love. Feed. Every. Body.

office: 855-636-9114 cell: 984-459-0458 email: jim@hq.net0ag.com