SUSTAINABLE INDOOR GROWING SYSTEM (SIGS) FOR THE PRODUCTION OF GRAFTED VEGETABLE PLANTS PROTOTYPE

The problem: Currently in the US, there is not an affordable way to fulfill the need of high quality grafted vegetable transplants for field growers and hydroponic greenhouse growers. The key issues that intensify the problem are: 1) the large number of seedlings needed in a single batch (US large farming operations), 2) the current high price of grafted plants and 3) the proximity of seedling suppliers realtive to vegetable growers.The solution: Grafted Growers LLC proposes to improve crop production methods and strategies, and promote energy conservation and efficiency by developing a sustainable indoor crop growing system (SIGS). The SIGS will be designed to produce large numbers of affordable, higher quality grafted vegetable transplants, with fewer resources (water, fertilizer, pesticides), and with a smaller land footprint than the current greenhouse and field production systems.In order to meet the demand of grafted plants in the US, Grafted Growers will use a combination of technologies to improve production output and efficiencies. For example, Grafted Growers in collaboration with the Systems Engineering Department at the University of Arizona, will use software packages to improve production logistics in order to increase yield and efficiencies. In collaboration with the Controlled Environment Center at the University of Arizona, Grafted Growers, will use computational models to improve the growing environment of the indoor propagation system. Also, in collaboration with the Department of Horticulture at North Carolina State University, Grafted Growers will develop technology to improve plant quality during key production steps (plant healing). Furthermore, Grafted Growers is committed to increase production sustainability of indoor growing systems and in order to assess the impact of the emerging technology (HO-SIGS), Grafted Growers will use Life-Cycle-Assessments of the plant production cycle in order to identify any avenues of improvement.