Los Angeles is the most populous state in the U.S., with over 10 million residents. It creates a huge demand for agricultural products, leaving too little space for cultivation due to intensive real estate development. Yet a century ago, Los Angeles was one of the leading agricultural states in the country, with over 12,000 farms on over 200,000 acres of land. Now, Los Angeles is trying to claim this leadership once again with the help of new technologies.
The mild climate, fertile soil, a vast talent pool, and access to major research institutions attract many startups to Los Angeles that offer new approaches and solutions to agriculture.
One of the most promising areas is vertical growing technologies, which make it possible to successfully produce vegetables, leafy greens, berries, and herbs even in an urban environment, for example, in converted warehouses.
Vertical farms and greenhouses allow you to get hundreds of times more yield using 1% soil and 5% water that a typical farm requires. They eliminate a number of the problems of traditional farming; you can harvest at any time and flexibly manage resources, using only the amount of energy and substances required for specific growth stages.
Following the main principles of sustainable development, technology has phenomenal prospects. One of our clients experienced how difficult it is to start a business in this area.
First of all, there is fierce competition between traditional and other technological farms. However, the equally serious problem is explaining the new technology to investors and suppliers. After all, there is still a stereotype that only vegetables grown on traditional farms, without chemicals, will be “natural and environmentally friendly” (a fundamentally incompatible combination!). At the same time, vegetables that are grown with the new technologies, genetic modification, or greenhouses are perceived as “artificial.”
Therefore, the animation had not only to describe the advantages of the technology but also fight the stereotypes. Without exaggeration, animation had to contribute to make the industry acknowledged.
We created the project of a future farm in 3D, showed the growing processes step by step, and spoke about all the substances and technologies used - to help viewers understand and overcome the fear of the new and the unknown. The attention to detail and maximum transparency ultimately helped explain that such food is safe and even superior in quality to the field grown. Eventually, we added figures and interesting facts for investors, revealing all the prospects.
Our animation allowed the client to attract investments for further development and construction of the farm. Now their products are successfully sold from the shelves of many supermarkets.