This project involves a collaboration with the company Greeny Grow AB, which works with hydroponic cultivation of salad and microgreens. Today there are major problems with the trade of fruits and vegetables, where the problems involve large amounts of unnecessary flows of transformed resources such as soil and unnecessary space for cultivation. This problem can be easily avoided with Greeny Grow's hydroponic cultivation. Hydroponic cultivation is a concept where cultivation occurs with only nutrient enriched water and without soil. Greeny Grow is currently facing a challenge regarding the packaging of hydroponically cultivated salad and microgreens. The company currently has a packaging for the hydroponically cultivated vegetables that is relatively cumbersome, not suitable and costs much. In this project, the focus is on Greeny Grow's salad and the project group has developed a well suitable, easy to use, and sustainable packaging for the company's hydroponically cultivated salat. The road to the result has involved a lot of analysis and research regarding what consumers and retailers think about the hydroponic cultivation concept and packaging for salat. The project group has also been in contact with companies that work with paper- and plastic packaging to get a clearer picture of different packaging and their properties. The result that has been developed is a sustainable and easy to use packaging that is adapted for Greeny Grow's hydroponically cultivated salad. The packaging is developed in such a way that when the salad is finished producing, it is placed in a plug tray and then transported to the customer. Given that the roots are still left on the salad, a small plastic bag is placed around the roots to maintain moisture and avoid dripping. When the salad reaches the store, the plug tray is placed on the shelf, and the consumer chooses their own salad to place in a paper bag for safe transport home. This type of packaging creates a greater feeling of hydroponic cultivation, given that the roots are still present and the consumer gets a clearer picture of how the salad has a longer sustainability.

Projektet gick ut på att skapa ett system för att automatisera en hydroponisk odling, ta fram vilka storheter som är intressanta att mäta och sedan skapa elektronik för det. Det var snabbt tydligt att det är elektrisk konduktivitet (EC), pH och temperatur som är intressant att mäta. EC är ett estimat över näringsinnehållet i vattnet, pH i vattnet måste vara i rätt nivå för att växterna ska kunna ta upp näringen och temperaturen måste vara inom rätt område för att växterna ska växa. Sensorerna som valdes fungerar väldigt olika och därför skapades olika kretsar för vardera sensor. EC och temperatursensorn fick även två olika kretsar för att kunna utvärdera vilken metod som har fungerat bäst. Kretsarna skapades i en simulator och när de gav önskvärt beteende konstruerades ett PCB utifrån simuleringsritningarna. En mikrokontroller användes för att styra kretsarna och hantera mätdata för att sedan skicka det vidare till en Raspberry Pi för att skriva ut värden på en skärm. Resultaten som kretsarna gav i slutändan är tillfredställande och mycket väl inom noggrannheten som en hydroponisk odling kräver. / The project was to create a system for automating hydroponic cultivation, identifying the quantities that are relevant to measure and then creating electronics for it. It quickly became clear that it is electrical conductivity (EC), pH and temperature that are relevant to measure. EC is an estimate of the nutrient content of the water, the pH of the water must be at the right level for the plants to absorb the nutrients and the temperature must be within a certain range for the plants to grow. The sensors selected work very differently and therefore different circuits were designed for each sensor. The EC and the temperature sensor were also given two different circuits in order to evaluate which method was best suited. The circuits were designed in a simulator and when they provided desirable behaviour, a PCB was designed based on the simulation schematics. A microcontroller was used to control the circuits and manage the measurement data and then pass it on to a Raspberry Pi in order to display values ​​on a screen. The results that the circuits ultimately gave are satisfactory and very well within the accuracy required by hydroponic cultivation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate, based on a comparative study in Sweden, how vertical hydroponic farms can be implemented in urban environments and to identify the challenges with the implementation. The study examines various companies that work with hydroponic farms in Sweden and how the government can help the companies with the implementation of the innovation. Urban hydroponic farms can be a significant solution for solving the growing global population demand for locally grown fresh food, which includes good quality and nutrients. Previous studies, from a sustainability perspective, show that Sweden would benefit in several different ways if more hydroponic farms were implemented in the urban cities. The theory that the report is based on is the implementation theory. With this in mind, the empirics were analyzed from three different found themes; economy, political priorities & local involvement. Empirical data was collected from previous studies as well as from a qualitative methodological approach. This empirical study was based on multiple interviews with companies in the hydroponic farms industry located in Sweden and observations, to be able to analyze the findings based on our chosen theme. In this study we found that the result indicates that there are both advantages and obstacles to the implementation of hydroponic farms in urban areas. On the other hand, the benefits are predominantly from a sustainable development perspective with new innovative solutions, such as solar systems and upgraded district heating and district cooling systems.

The objective of this project is to produce a prototype hydroponic farming solution with improved robustness from external fault factors. This means that the plants will not be grown in soil, but instead in water with a majority of its parameters being monitored and regulated. This with the aim of producing a more efficient and automatic system than traditional farming principles. Using less water and other harmful pesticides. The particular type of hydroponic system will be a NFT system (Nutrient Film Technique) which traditionally operates with a pump constantly feeding water to the plants. The main objective then is to find a way to reduce the reliance on this pump and make the system more robust. The result was a prototype hydroponic system that successfully could monitor and maintain predetermined growth parameters. It was also operate with a constant water flow without the need for constant pump usage. / Målet med detta projekt är att framställa en prototyp av ett hydroponiskt odlingssystem med förbättrad robusthet mot externa faktorer. Det innebär att växterna inte planteras i jord utan i vatten, där en majoritet av relevanta parametrar kan övervakas och kontrolleras. Detta med syftet att skapa ett mer effektivt och automatiserat system, jämfört mot traditionella jorbruksmetoder. Där mindre vatten används och helt utan bekämpningsmedel under växt processen. Det specifika hydroponiska odlingssystemet som kommer användas är ett NFT system (eng. Nutrient Film Technique) vilket traditionellt fungerar genom att konstant låta en pump bevattna växterna. Det primära målet är därför att minska beroendet på pumpen och göra systemet mer robust. Resultatet blev en prototyp av ett hydroponiskt system som kan mäta och styra faktorer som identifierats som viktiga för plantornas växtprocess. Systemet lyckades även med att hålla ett stabilt vattenflöde, utan användandet av en pump.

Denna rapport behandlar en fallstudie i ett kandidatexamensarbete som utförts tillsammans med en livsmedelsbutik i Stockholmsområdet och som grundar sig i intervjuer, platsbesök och vetenskapliga artiklar. Där livsmedelsbutiken har ett intresse av att implementera en odling i form av ett hydroponiskt system direkt i sin butik.  I fallstudien har det undersökts hur implementering av odling i butik genom ett samarbete med ett odlingsföretag skulle fungera och se ut för butiken. Studien har begränsats till två olika odlingsföretag i Sverige, som har varsitt koncept på hur odlingen kan implementeras, gemensamt för dem är att de använder vertikal odling i form av hydroponiska system. Där det ena företaget erbjuder vertikal odling i en odlingscontainer och det andra vertikal odling inne i ett växthus. Båda företagens olika odlingskoncept har redan implementerats i två andra livsmedelsbutiker inom samma koncern som livsmedelsbutiken i Stockholm befinner sig i.  Fallstudien har genomförts genom att först skapa en bred bakgrund genom litteratursökningar i olika databaser kring relevanta nyckelord för att sedan genomföra intervjuer med båda odlingsföretagen och livsmedelsbutikerna. Därefter har kunskap och svar från respondenterna i intervjuerna sammanställts och ett förslag har tagits fram om vilket odlingsföretag som lämpar sig bäst för livsmedelsbutikens ändamål.  Resultatet visar att möjligheterna och fördelarna vid en implementering av hydroponisk odling för livsmedelsbutiken i Stockholmsområdet att implementera hydroponisk odling är flera och överväger till största del de möjliga utmaningarna. Dessutom gynnas flera av hållbarhetsmålen till livsmedelsbutikens koncern genom implementering av en hydroponisk odling i butiken. Vidare gynnas även några av de Förenta Nationernas Globala mål och även livsmedelsbutikens egna hållbarhetsmål. / This report is the result and outcome of a bachelor's thesis project conducted during the spring of 2021. The report presents the performed case study of a grocery store, in the area of Stockholm, where the company is aiming to implement a hydroponic self-cultivation inside their grocery store. The work is based on conducting interviews and reviewing established scientific articles in the field.  In the case study, it has been investigated how a potential collaboration between the grocery store and a cultivation company can be established. The study was limited to investigating two cultivation companies active on the Swedish market. These two cultivation companies have different solutions of how the cultivation can be implemented on the store area, but both offer vertical hydroponic solutions. Further, both systems of the individual cultivation companies’ have been implemented in other grocery stores that can be used as reference for validation of data.  The literature review of existing publications were conducted by searching in different databases by using the keywords of this work, for the researcher to increase knowledge to create guides for the interviews and for creating the theoretical frame of reference. Thereafter, literature findings and answers from the interviewees were compiled, analyzed and discussed to make a proposition of which cultivation company is best suited for a potential collaboration, with regard to the grocery stores’ wishes of implementing a hydroponic solution.  The results show that several of the grocery stores’ sustainability goals would benefit from a potential implementation of a self-cultivation. Also, implementing a hydroponic farm on the store area would increase the grocery store’s contribution towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.