Technological advances in big data, like deep learning, machine learning and automation, are changing the way farming has been traditionally done for generations. Just Greens LLC (DBA AeroFarms) is a company that grows delicious, nutritious leafy greens and herbs without sunlight and soil, and they do so using a combination of technology as they partner with Dell EMC to make the future of farming sustainable and environmentally friendly.

“We’re really rethinking about agriculture and what we can do when we think about the rising challenges we have: climate change … access to fresh water, loss of arable land,” said Marc Oshima (pictured, right), co-founder and chief marketing officer of AeroFarms. “We have eyes and ears, and, literally, we think of ourselves as the plant listeners or the plant whisperers of ‘What do the plants need?’ and the technologies allowing us those windows into how to … optimize them.”

AeroFarms is using Dell’s “internet of things” and alternative-think technologies, according to Kash Shaikh (pictured, left), vice president of cloud and solutions at Dell EMC. “I don’t think there is any customer that I’ve talked to in this area who’s using all aspects of the disruption and the disruptive technologies as Marc and AeroFarms is using,” he said.

Oshima and Shaikh spoke with John Walls (@JohnWalls21) and Stu Miniman (@stu), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, at the Dell Technologies World event in Las Vegas. They discussed the innovations in technology that AeroFarms is implementing into its farming through big data and deep learning. (* Disclosure below.)

Farming for the future using big data

At the core of AeroFarms, it’s about farming. But it is also a technology company, and the company has realized the inherent connection between the two. “If we want to be good at the technology, we need to be good at the farming as well, so understanding this interaction. So, we think about the biology and the engineering and the environment,” Oshima said. “And what’s exciting now is we bring in the big data, so we’re constantly sensing and looking at what’s happening with the plant, so the plants are being monitored 24/7. So we think we are the world experts in understanding how to grow plants.”

AeroFarms grows its food without soil using a reusable cloth, and it monitors the plants using IoT and big data to measure every single aspect of the plant-growing process, including environmental factors like ideal humidity, temperature and lighting to create more effective photosynthesis. AeroFarms grows its plants with 95 percent less water, no pesticides, and a fraction of the fertilizer it would usually take.

Dell EMC has come alongside AeroFarms to help the company deepen its understanding of the data — which they already have — through deep learning, machine learning and automation. “They were pretty much already there because they are a digital born company; they were using analytics … they have a lot of data,” Shaikh said. “And so for us, it was a matter of making sure we focus on what it is that they are trying to achieve.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Dell Technologies World 2018 event. (* Disclosure: Dell EMC sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Dell EMC nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE