Through a new multi-year partnership, Soli Organic will work with plant breeding experts at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences to select and advance the next generation of commercial organic, indoor-grown produce over the next five years. In addition, the partners will explore opportunities to bring to market new types of produce that, while not feasible for commercial organic outdoor cultivation, may offer ideal flavor, nutrition and yield characteristics and can be grown organically indoors.
"Soli Organic is relentless in our pursuit of technologies and partnerships that support our vision to offer our retailer partners and consumers nationwide a variety of fresh products in a manner that maximizes profitability while minimizing environmental impact,” said Dr. Tessa Pocock, Chief Science Officer (CSO) of Soli Organic. “Our cost advantage is rooted in unit economics tied to growing science and operational know-how – our ‘grow-how.’ The expertise and insights offered by the technologists at Koidra and the team at Rutgers University will help us further enhance this cost advantage over time. As a result, we continue to be well-positioned to build on our recent market growth and financial performance, keeping our organic produce affordable for consumers nationwide.”
Discovering new species
“Of the over 400,000 plant species on the planet, we consume less than 100. We have not even scratched the surface of the different flavors and textures of plants. What will be key to a sustainable future is identifying plants that offer consumers the highest nutrient density combined with flavor, texture and ‘shelf appeal’ and the lowest possible environmental impact,” said Dr. James (Jim) Simon, Director of the Rutgers New Use Agriculture and Natural Plant Products Program.
Soli Organic is also adopting advanced technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), which will allow its indoor farms to run autonomously. These technologies do not replace human growers but rather elevate the complementary strengths of humans and machines. Soli Organic is partnering with AI and Internet of Things (IoT) company Koidra to enable growers to make data-driven decisions using state-of-the-art machine learning.
Ken Tran, Chief Technology Officer of Koidra, brings years of AI and ML experience, which he has translated to horticultural settings. Under Ken’s leadership and collaboration with plant scientists and growers, Koidra’s AI and Internet of Things approach won the 2018 and the first phase of the 2021 Autonomous International Greenhouse Challenge organized by Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
“As the CEA sector continues to grow and production capacities expand, we couldn’t be prouder at Koidra to be working with Soli Organic to improve yields and resource use efficiencies,” said Ken Tran, Chief Technology Officer of Koidra. “We’re confident that our digital crop monitoring platforms and AI-based climate control technologies, combined with Soli Organic’s decades of experience growing high-quality organic produce, will significantly enhance the company’s ability to provide affordable and sustainably produced indoor-grown produce to consumers everywhere.”
