The Smart Indoor Farmer
There was a time when humanity lived closer to nature, closer to the harvest of fresh fruits and vegetables. One would simply go out and gather the ingredients for that delicious hot Sinigang or any other of your favorite dishes to prepare. Now, those of us living in the city are too overwhelmed by our urban tendencies and tech oriented lifestyle. The age old art of farming to grow our own food is as good as lost in our fast paced, multi-tasked lives. But wouldn’t it be nice to regain that capability within the comforts of our respective homes? Introducing Niwa; a smart food-tech device that will allow you to plant and grow your own batches of vegetable/fruit bearing plants in some of the simplest, cleanest and most interactive ways possible with today’s technology. It also fits elegantly right in your living room!
Javier Morillas, a founder and CEO at Niwa-Smart-gardens, first came up with the idea of this stylish innovation as he watched around 2000 trucks go about their routine business of delivering shipments of vegetables from his home town of Almeria, Spain to travel thousands of kilometers across Europe. He became aware of the taxing resources involved in the delivery logistics and endeavored to create a product that would not only be convenient to us consumers, but also stem our ever increasing toll on the environment.
Let us breakdown the specifics of the device; Niwa has in itself the power of a fully automated hydroponic system. This means that the needs of your growing plant will be fully attended to with programmed precision; covering all areas from proper light cycles, humidity, temperature, ventilation— along with automatic irrigation that will water and feed your plants without any fuss. Its Hydroponic gardening allows for an efficient nosoil environment that will ensure your indoor cleanliness. It is also worth noting that Niwa is connected to the internet; you can view your plant’s progress through a specially designed smartphone app that serves as its control hub should the user wish to experiment with the process.
At its core is a powerful microcontroller that receives data from a host of sensors and actuators, to then apply generations of pre-set farming expertise gathered from agricul- tural experts. This collected knowledge can still expand as a potential community forms around the product. Imagine all those people around the world sharing each of their methods and experiences in raising a particular crop with their devices. Aga Nazaruk (Co-founder and business expert at Niwa) states in the website motherboard. vice.com, “A consumer could grow anything from timeless tomatoes and peppers to strawberries, orchids and medical plants. The corresponding app will load a specific program set- ting up the right values for your plant. No green thumb needed.”
The Niwa app will periodically prompt an inquiry on the status of the plant you are growing. Your answer will be based on whether you can see leaves, flowers, etc… And with your feedback, an appropriate set of sequences will automatically be implemented. A level of interactivity is indeed required of the user to yield the most favorable results.
Even though the initial pre- orders are still a few months away from being shipped (May- June 2015), Niwa has already gained a hefty amount of buzz from the media in its slick and ingenious design. Claire Braithwaite (Founder of Sustainable Beauty E-tailor at LoveLula.com) claims, “Niwa has the power to revolutionalize how a new generation view personal food production.” Michelle Starr (Cnet.com) can also be quoted to writing, “The automated Niwa hydroponic grow box makes a gardener of just about anyone.” Another blurb from Drew Prindle (Digital Trends) even states that “It’s definitely not the first entry into the “smart planter” category, but it’s easily one of the most advanced we’ve seen so far.”
The product is currently being marketed in three model variations; Niwa Mini (capable of growing herbs and small veggies for US$ 279), the larger Niwa Standard (capable of growing full-sized produce like peppers or tomatoes for US$ 319), and Niwa Premium (similar to that of Niwa standard but is built with an aluminum finish for an added aesthetic effect for US$ 359). You can visit their website at getniwa.com to learn more.