Executive Summary
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Earth is
70% water. However, from that percentage, only 2.5% of it is
freshwater and 68.7% of that is frozen in glaciers and ice caps. In
the remaining 31.3%, 70% of the water is used for agriculture.
Due to wasteful and unsustainable irrigation systems and
applications, thousands of gallons of water and millions of dollars
are wasted. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce water
consumption in order to preserve our water sources.
With this in mind, the BioBox was created. The BioBox
provides an easy, efficient way to conserve and save water,
money and space. It utilizes and combines the concepts of vertical
farming, terrariums, dome collectors, and water tables.
According to ProjectDirt, vertical farms produce 10 times
more than other normal farms and conserves and recycles
water. Terrariums simulate the water cycle, thus making it a
self-sufficient ecosystem that recycles and reuses water as well.
Dome Collectors gather and store rainwater for uses such as
drinking, bathing, washing, watering, and the like. Water tables
collect excess water that seeps into the ground from rain and
runoff. Combining all these concepts together creates an efficient
use of water while creating an organic, natural, and eco-friendly
way to farm. Some crops that can be farmed in the BioBox are
cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, garden cress,
bok choy, brocolli, brussel sprouts, and similar green leafy
vegetables.
Product and Design Description
The BioBox’s structure will be 2m x 1.25m x .75m and
will be made up of steel rods and Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene
(ETFE), a material that will protect the crops from harsh weather
and ultraviolet rays. The mesh will be placed on top of the structure to filter out the rainwater. Then, as the rain falls, it flows into
a drain that leads to a plastic sheet for the transfer of rainwater.
Connected to the bottom of the plastic sheet are sprinkler heads
that evenly distribute the water to the crops that are in pots made
from old plastic bottles with small holes to help transfer water
through each layer. In each pot, layers of soil, lava rocks, moss,
charcoal, and activated carbon sheets will be placed, in that order,
to purify and absorb the rainwater. Each layer is designed so that
the soil can be easily changed to suit each crop in the wide variety
of produce to be grown. The remaining water that is not absorbed
by the crops are collected at the bottom of the BioBox. The water
that was absorbed will then undergo transpiration due to the humidity of the enclosed structure. As a result, transpired liquids
will later evaporate and condense on the glass, causing it to travel
back down again to the crops.
The Technology
The BioBox functions like a terrarium, which allows
plants to reduce, reuse, and recycle the water that transpires into
the air.
Because the space is mostly enclosed, the moisture
released by the plants does not evaporate into the atmosphere.
Instead, it transpires, condenses, and then precipitates back into
the soil. Holes are also placed on the sides of the structure so that
the carbon dioxide can enter the container and decrease the
humidity so that the production of bacteria and disease is kept at a
minimum level. The small holes prevent water vapor from
escaping from the container. Moreover, most of the vapor within
the container is absorbed by the lava rocks and activated carbon
placed in the pots of the crops in layers.
Adsorption, the process of molecules adhering to an
absorbent surface, is one of the most effective ways of filtration.
Activated carbon is used to adsorb organic, nonpolar impurities
and halogenated impurities in the water. This will purify the
transpired water in the air and supply it to the crop. The activated
carbon absorbs the water vapor and filters it using the carbon
contained in its pores. Physical adsorption makes the attractive
forces in the carbon separate the solute from the solvent. ETFE, a
kind of polymer, is also used to make this product because it lets
in 92% of sunlight (Jackson, 2013). This material is also incredibly light and tear resistant (Suzuki, 2011). The BioBox also
makes use of lava rocks, which are extremely porous and absorb
the water vapor to transport the water to the crops.
Operations
BioBox will be piloted in the Asia Pacific region for its
first year of production. We will begin distribution in Japan and
Indonesia. We chose to pilot it in Japan because it is the country
that first pioneered the use of vertical farming. On the other hand,
we chose Indonesia because it is an agriculturally strong exporter
in the international community. Pioneering in these countries will
allow us to observe whether or not our product will be efficient,
applicable, and successful in different environments. After the
distribution and observation of the product, we will expand
distribution to countries such as the Philippines, South Korea and
farther towards the West.
For producing the BioBox, specialists who are
well-versed in their areas of expertise will be hired in order to
manufacture our product. They will be knowledgeable of the
technology behind vertical farming, the reasoning behind the
design, and the specific materials needed for creating it.
Insulation mechanics and steel workers will handle certain parts,
such as the installation of the ETFE film, drain, and steel rods. In
addition, pipelayers and carpenters will be hired to handle the
assembling of the rest of the BioBox, including the sprinkler
heads, layers of soil, rocks, carbon, moss, and the containers.
The Market
Our market will consist of the governments of Japan,
Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, other Western countries, and
independent states, farmers and agricultural companies, such as
Adecoagro in the South American continent. They will be our
market since they would be able to utilize our product to prevent
as much water loss as possible.
terrariums are prone to diseases because of their high humidity.
However, the holes built into the side of the BioBox lessen the
humidity of the structure.
Other aspects of the BioBox that make it unique is that it
eliminates ultraviolet rays from the sun, as the ETFE used is
treated to resist it. In addition, the amount of space used in
comparison to traditional farming is reduced as well as the water
needed and the maintenance of the product. The BioBox creates
its own ecosystem that utilizes the water cycle and raises food
production through the increase of accommodation of plants per
square meter.
Financial Data:
Our estimated costs sum up to $147,002 which
includes the salaries of the professionals and specialists we
hire, costs for advertising, equipment, supplies, freight, and
installation charges. This will all be funded by the investors
interested in our product. During the first year, the plan is to
sell 250 units in each of the pilot countries. Granted that all
units are sold at the price of $300, the expected profit after
taxes becomes $114,749. In the second year, our production
rate will be doubled for the other units that will be delivered to
other countries. As for the return on investment (ROI),
investors may expect 78% of their investment to come back
after the first year, and will increase to 156% after the second
year.
Promotion and Marketing Strategies
We will be using traditional and nontraditional methods
to market and endorse BioBox. At the same time, we are also
going to partner with organizations such as the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Ashoka
Innovators for the Public, and Bioversity International, to help
promote our product to the public. We will partner with these
organizations because they value agriculture and pioneer
entrepreneurship.
For our traditional methods, we will be having our product
promoted by local newspapers and radio stations. This will make
the locals aware of our product and its sustainability and
efficiency.
As well as having our product locally advertised, we will
also be creating a website. The website will explain all the
features and specifics, as well as our mission and vision for the
future. We will make it simpler to access and browse through.
Clients may also be able to purchase our products through online
transactions. For this, we will be using PayPal, a safe and secure
way to make online transactions.
Competitive Advantage
The BioBox differs from its competitors because it is a
combination of various agricultural concepts such as vertical
farming, terrariums, dome collectors and water tables. It utilizes
the best parts of each system. As a result, the disadvantages of
one system are cancelled out by another’s advantage. For
instance, one downside of vertical farming would be that it is not
energy efficient and needs LED lights for it to work effectively,
but because of the terrarium aspects of the BioBox, wherein the
water cycle is utilized to reuse and recycle water, the BioBox
becomes self-sustaining and sufficient. A disadvantage of
utilizing water tables is that they flood easily; but due to the lava
rocks and carbon sheets layered with the soil, which is a part of
vertical farming, water absorption increases. Furthermore,
Conclusion:
Our company aims to improve the efficiency of water
usage in agriculture. The BioBox is a self-sustaining product that
uses a natural process to recycle water. This product will not only
efficiently conserve and save water, money, and space but will
also provide people with the healthy and organic food that they
need.