Mathias Levarek: Agrotonomy’s Aeroponic Vertical Farming Solutions
Mathias Levarek with produce grown in Agrotonomy towers.
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grotonomy markets and builds vertical farming towers for clients around the world. Its simple technology drizzles a water-nutrient mixture over the roots of 20–50 plants per tower, allowing them to absorb exactly as much as they need. The towers can be deployed in commercial greenhouses, on rooftops, and outside. In this interview, Agrotonomy CEO Mathias Levarek tells Irrigation Leader about the benefits of Agrotonomy’s solution.
Mathias Levarek: Before getting involved in the vertical farming industry, I was involved in organic farming as well as information technology (IT). My work in IT financed much of my farming operations at that time. About 10 years
16 | IRRIGATION LEADER | May 2022
irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF AGROTONOMY.
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
ago, I exited the organic farming world and was looking for a solution for urban farming; I was living in Amsterdam at that point, having just moved from Hawaii. In my search, I came across tower garden technology, which at the time was mainly on the commercial side and hadn’t made its way into the residential market. Over the next few years, I became involved in hydroponic farming. Hydroponic vegetables look beautiful and can be calibrated to grow throughout the year, but are uniform in taste and texture, which is a downside. When I returned to the farming world, I came across aeroponic tower technology. Initially, I was somewhat skeptical because aeroponics is in the hydroponic family. My main interest was the fact that the nutrient density was substantially higher in aeroponics, which led me to adopt it in my own home. Since my family eats mainly plant-based foods at home, the higher nutrient density
