CoolFarm – The intelligent and flexible system that provides to plants what they need, when they need it!

Project Information

CoolFarm

Grant agreement ID: 729112

DOI

10.3030/729112

Project closed

EC signature date 21 June 2016

Start date 1 July 2016

End date 31 December 2016

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

COOLFARM SA
Portugal

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CoolFarm (CoolFarm – The intelligent and flexible system that provides to plants what they need, when theyneed it!)

Reporting period: 2016-07-01 to 2016-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

CoolFarm brings disruptive technology that helps on the control and optimization of crop production in greenhouses or warehouses.
The objective of this project was to demonstrate the breakthrough system - SaaS based B2B Greenhouse Artificial Intelligence Control System, a high-tech product to solve real world problems in agriculture. This resulted in a go-to-market strategy with a well-validated product worldwide.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Main activities to achieve this:
- Presentation in international trade shows to understand market needs, and to create client engagement.
- Understanding daily operations on a vertical farm and realistic production indicators.
- Technical and economical tests at CoolFarm labs.

With this, we expanded our original control system in/control:
- Less cost effective activities in vertical farms operations were identified. CoolFarm then designed a turnkey solution to grow food all year round with minimum waste and maximum safety at work. CoolFarm In/store is a closed climatized fully automatized, and vertical space managed by vertical and horizontal lifts and with all CoolFarm Technology. It is under tests and it is expected to increase production, reduce costs in transportation, waste, etc.
- A Profit Calculator was built, allowing potential clients to design a farm with maximum profitability.
- Due to client demand, the CoolFarm Eye it is now being commercialized as a standalone sensor. The CoolFarm Eye is the optical sensor that will give information to CoolFarm in/Control on the plants health and size.

CoolFarm is finally composed of the following sub-products that are market validated: CoolFarm in/Control; CoolFarm in/store – turnkey growing system; CoolFarm Eye – plant optical sensor. More details at www.cool-farm.com.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Main results:
- Better understanding of the vertical farm functioning which resulted in a product that brings several advantages to the existing growing systems – CoolFarm in/Store;
- CoolFarm in/Store also holds great socio-economic impact. We are now able to grow fresh, nutritious and delicious food all year round with minimum waste and maximum safety. Cities now can become producers of local, healthy and tasty food;
- CoolFarm Eye as a standalone version allows the grower to finally have access to an innovative smart sensor at a competitive price that reduces the error at the farm;
CoolFarm starts commercialization in the beginning of 2017.

CoolFarm in/Store

CoolFarm labs – system

Participation at international trade shows

CoolFarm hardware

CoolFarm software

CoolFarm Eye

CoolFarm Labs – overview