"In indoor ag, every project demands a unique approach"

"The Indoor Ag-Con gets more popularity and credibility and it has been doubling in size every year. We're quite happy with the attendees and new contacts that we meet here. Last year we ran into a lot of new projects and contacts and the show. There was a lot of interest from the cannabis industry, but we were also exposed to some discussions with people that had plans for larger leafy greens operations. I think the popularity of the industry is a result of the increased interest for indoor and controlled environment production of both leafy greens and cannabis. The whole urban farming and 100-mile-diet idea has sprouted interest and created an industry of its own. The recent legalization of cannabis added to this and gave the event and also our own business an extra boost."

"Argus Controls offers extensive environmental control and cultivation systems ranging from highly complex technology for institutional and biotechnology companies, to basic environmental control solutions for commercial indoor grow operations. Currently 80% of our business is still related to the commercial greenhouse industry. However, this number is shrinking a little bit because of the increase in projects related to indoor cannabis and commercial indoor agricultural operations. We have a focus on the larger scale commercial projects, and thanks to the synergy that we have with our parent company Conviron, we can easily integrate each other's controlled environment technology on such significant projects." 

We are present at Indoor Ag-Con to serve growers, investors and other entrepreneurs in indoor agriculture with the latest information and consultation on smart climate control. One of these solutions is our RM100 fertigation unit. This solution attracts a lot of interest from the cannabis industry lately. It's a very simple to use, but highly functional fertigation system that allows growers to fine-tune their fertilizer mix, as well as being able to take care of automated irrigation. This has been a big draw for us.

"Indoor ag is a challenging industry in which every project demands a unique approach. Unlike in greenhouses, projects are often carried out in existing facilities that are being retrofitted for an indoor grow. Especially in an urban setting you are dealing with vacant warehouses and existing structures and spaces. Our solutions need to fit into that model and we are challenged by things like ceiling heights, doorway sizes and access to clean water supply and power requirements. 

The variety of these settings makes it also very hard to control the climate and humidity properly. One of the biggest challenges is that we find a lot of equipment is undersized for the application. It is good to see that professional suppliers and HVAC companies are currently building integrated, properly sized units that can heat, cool and dehumidify. We work very closely with all of them to make sure they understand the control needs when spec'ing their equipment."

"Another challenge will be labor. As prices and markets will come under pressure, the cost of labor will become increasingly important. We like to address this and explain how smart technology can optimize the use of labor by, for example, automating irrigation and fertigation."

The biggest concern for indoor ag and how to move it into the big league, is lighting and energy efficiency. The cost of energy to light an indoor facility is huge and while it is getting closer everyday, the ROI of LEDs for the average grower is not there yet. Some LED companies are on the leading edge in terms of development and they are getting close, but they still need to do a little more work, especially for indoor agriculture, as the cost of LEDs, lifespan and maintenance is not quite there yet. Having said that and given the many options with LEDs, the control system needs to be able to integrate and control lighting effectively, and Argus is well suited for that. 

"We are working hard to stay relevant and ahead of the curve. We continue to invest a lot on research and development of new hardware and software and this year we will present quite a few important upgrades and innovations of which some will also be beneficial to indoor ag. Stay tuned!"