CEADs Standards 1.0 Presented At October 2021 Indoor Ag-Con
Indoor Ag-Con is pleased to announce that members of the leadership team for CEADS – Controlled Environment Agriculture Design Standards – will introduce Standards v1.0 to our attending audience during the October 4-5, 2021 edition at the Hilton Orlando.
The CEADS cultivate industry-vetted best practices into peer-reviewed standards. These standards enable CEA enterprises to become industry leaders by optimizing their sustainability practices and performance.
Defining Goals for the CEA Industry
Established in September 2019, CEADS evolved following the USDA/NIFA Az-CEA Conference at The University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2. Here, participants from industry, government, and academia collaborated to define goals for the advancement of the controlled environment agriculture industry.
During Indoor Ag-Con, CEADS leadership team members, including Matt Liotta , Founder Emeritis of Agrify; Charles Parrish, Agricultural Engineer , UbiQD, Inc. and Dr. Gary Stutte, president, SyNRGE,LLC, will present the new standards.
Achieving More Sustainable Operations
CEADS aim is to provide a centralized repository of best design practices. CEADS also strives to set benchmarks for sustainable CEA operations from greenhouses to vertical farms.
In addition, CEADS main objective is to establish a practice to more sustainable operation. The CEADS encompass the management of water, energy, materials, byproducts, pests and safety. Based on their operation type, farmers and growers can obtain relevant standards, certifications and regulations in the following domains:
• Utilities
• Materials & Waste
• Crop Quality
• Integrated Pest Management
• Automation & Labor
• Equity & Localness
• Profitability
In addition to Matt Liotta, Charles Parrish and Gary Stutte, other members of the CEADS Leadership Team include:
– Bekah Waller, Secretary (The University of Arizona)
– Weslynne Ashton (Illinois Institute of Technology)
– Jess Bunchek (NASA’s Kennedy Space Center)
CEADS also has a strong Avisory Board including academics, growers, industry suppliers
– Mark Lefsrud (McGill University)
– Simone Valle de Souza (Michigan State University)
– Penny McBride (Second Chances Farm, LLC)
– Tharindu Weeraratne (WayBeyond)
– Charles Wu (Nexem)
– Corinne Wilder (Fluence by OSRAM)
– Brady Nemeth (Fluence by OSRAM)
– Gene Giacomelli (The University of Arizona)
– David Kessler (Agrify)
Make plans now to join us at Indoor Ag-Con to learn more. And, you can also read more about CEADS here and by visiting the website, too.