A system for cultivating a crop includes a sowing unit for sowing at least two crop seeds per substrate unit; a transfer unit for transferring a plurality of substrate units from a first zone to a second zone; a harvesting unit for harvesting the crop; a first transport system in the first zone for transporting substrate units from the sowing unit to the transfer unit; and a second transport system in the second zone for transporting substrate units from the transfer unit to the harvesting unit. The sowing unit can sow the at least two crop seeds in the substrate unit with a predetermined mutual distance and orientation, wherein the first and second transport system and the transfer unit are configured to respectively transport and transfer the plurality of substrate units such that the substrate units display a predetermined orientation progression from the sowing unit to the harvesting unit.

A method and a system for growing plants on multilayer principle in mobile gutter farming is described, whereby, in the process of growing plants planted in cultivation gutters, said plants are conveyed in cultivation layers present on top of each other in a cultivation space in a longitudinal direction of the cultivation space in one or opposite directions. The cultivation gutters and the plants contained therein, are treated in the cultivation space by means of a processing arrangement in a cultivation layer-specific manner, whereby the cultivation gutters and the plants contained therein are first of all conveyed by motion elements in each cultivation layer of the cultivation space in the longitudinal direction of the cultivation space in opposite directions and are treated by processing elements in each cultivation layer of the cultivation space separately, in a manner substantially independent of the other cultivation layers.

An automated recirculating plant growing mechanism, in one embodiment it is disclosed as having: a hermetically sealed frame; at least one conveying tray operable to constrain, maintain the temperature of, and vary the offset distance between rooting medias; a drive mechanism operable to recirculate at least one conveying tray or at least one light bar cleaning assembly around a prescribed conveying path; at least one air lock mechanism operable to seal and unseal the recirculating plant growing mechanism, and operable to remove from and install onto the conveying drive mechanism a conveying tray; at least one light emitting bar operable to emit light and be positioned around a crops canopy; and at least one watering station operable to sense root zone conditions and inject nutrients into rooting media.

A seed level managing system includes a seed tank configured to contain seeds, a plurality of seed level sensors placed on a sidewall of the seed tank, a surface detecting sensor, and a controller. The controller includes one or more processors, one or more memory modules, and machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the controller to receive first information from the plurality of seed level sensors; receive second information from the surface detecting sensor and determine a number of the seeds in the seed tank based on the first information and the second information.

Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to systems and methods for emptying and/or cleaning a tray within an assembly line grow pod. In one embodiment, a sanitizer component for cleaning a tray coupled to a cart in an assembly line grow pod is disclosed. The sanitizer component is coupled to a track such that the cart and the tray are received in the sanitizer component via the track. The sanitizer component comprises a first actuator arm positioned underneath the track and extendable through an opening in the track and an aperture at a bottom end of the cart to contact the tray such that the tray rotates in a first direction. The sanitizer component further includes an actuator motor coupled to the first actuator arm for extending the first actuator arm and a controller. The controller is communicatively connected to the actuator motor in the sanitizer component.

A cart having a wheel, a drive motor coupled to the wheel such that an output of the drive motor causes the wheel to rotate and propel the cart, a cart-computing device communicatively coupled to the drive motor, wherein the cart-computing device generates a control signal to adjust the operation of the drive motor, and a sensor module communicatively coupled to the cart-computing device. The sensor module, in a first mode, generates a signal and transmits the signal to the cart-computing device in response to a detected event. The sensor module, in a second mode, transmits a first communication signal in response to the first communication signal generated by the cart-computing device. The sensor module, in a third mode, receives a second communication signal in response to a source external to the cart transmitting the second communication signal to the cart.

One variation of a method for automatically redistributing plants throughout an agricultural facility includes, at a mobile robotic system: delivering a first moduledefining a first array of plant slots at a first density and loaded with a first set of plants in approximately a second growth stagefrom a grow area within a facility to a transfer station within the facility; delivering a second modulelocated within the facility and defining a second array of plant slots at a second density less than the first densityto the transfer station; and following transfer of a first subset of plants from the first array of plant slots in the first module into the second array of plant slots in the second module at the transfer station, delivering the second module to the grow area in the facility.

Systems and methods for growing vegetation are provided. The disclosed systems (100) and methods (1100, 1200) use rotating growth mats (102) and a cutting device (112). The rotating growth mats and cutting device can be coupled to an anaerobic digester (402) to generated methane gas using vegetation grown on the growth mats. The systems and methods may further use C artificial light sources (108) and a nutrients delivery system (110) to assist growth.

A system for cultivating a crop includes a guide and a plurality of gutters. Each gutter is provided to contain a plurality of crop units and the guide is provided to guide the gutters in a first direction and to gradually increase the distance between adjacent gutters in said direction so that the number of crop units per square metre in the area substantially decreases. The area comprises first and second zones, and each gutter in the first zone contains crop units with a first intermediate distance and each gutter in the second zone contains crop units with a second intermediate distance. The first intermediate distance is considerably smaller than the second intermediate distance and the distance between gutters in the first zone at the position of a transition from the first zone to the second zone is considerably greater than the distance between gutters in the second zone.

A carrier for growing crops, such as lettuce, is disclosed. The carrier floats on water in a pond, and includes at least one floating beam and a carrier connectable to the floating beam, and a number of growth locations for the crops where holders for the crops or roots of the crops extend into the water.