AlloHealth

821 million people are undernourished worldwide. 1 in 9 humans on Earth struggle to meet their basic dietary needs. They are often low-income individuals who live in food desert communities, where the nearest source of affordable and healthy food is more than a mile away in cities or 10 miles in rural areas. This forces people to eat highly processed under nutritious food that contributes to chronic health issues. 

AlloHealth is committed to addressing the worldwide pandemic of under-nutrition with unique hydroponic farming kits that make it easy to start an indoor garden. By linking agriculture and technology through an innovative mobile app, growers can troubleshoot any issues with their garden and receive feedback and dietary guidance, making it an engaging and educational process. By reaching a global population, our kits and app can revolutionize agriculture and provide sustainable nutrition at an affordable cost to millions of low-income individuals worldwide.

In the United States, 15 million households are considered food insecure. That means 40 million people do not know where their next meal will be coming from. Food insecurity is the product of many factors, but accessibility and affordability are two of the biggest concerns for many Americans living in areas known as “food deserts.” The USDA estimates nearly 23.5 million Americans live in food deserts, where the nearest supermarket is farther than a mile away in urban areas and 10 miles in rural areas. Nearly half of these residents also belong to low-income households. The consequences of living in a food desert include a lack of nutritious options that are both close and affordable. The CDC finds poor nutrition is linked to chronic health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, both which have specific dietary restrictions. Low-income urban communities suffer disproportionately from the lack of fresh produce: health outcomes are universally worse for these vulnerable populations and chronic disease occurs at higher rates.

AlloHealth provides easy-to-use hydroponic farming kits to grow fresh produce in urban households at a low cost. Hydroponic farming is a form of agriculture that does not require soil, but instead allows plants to grow in water. Unlike conventional farming, the plant does not need to expend energy to source nutrients in the soil, resulting in much larger crop yields.The kits are simple and use everyday materials such as buckets, mason jars, and sunlight to sustain high yield, compact, and low maintenance farms in every home. The kits provide pre-mixed nutrient formulas, seeds, plant containers, and easy to follow instructions. Crops include lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and other high-nutrient produce that is otherwise inaccessible in food desert communities. Hydroponic farming can be intimidating to many who lack agricultural experience, but AlloHealth makes it both accessible and affordable for first time farmers. Low cost produce will help manage chronic disease and improve overall well-being for vulnerable communities.

Our solution focuses on serving individuals in a lower socioeconomic status population in food deserts, which is also the group that has been most heavily affected by COVID-19. These individuals do not have consistent access to fresh and healthy food due to food insecurity and issues with cost. Additionally, they often have worse health outcomes from COVID-19 due to comorbidity such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Being able to provide fresh and accessible healthy food in these populations would lead to healthier individuals who would also be more resilient to COVID. 

To understand their needs, we will send out surveys in a pilot study in the Philadelphia area and will engage them by providing free samples, pilots, etc. Our solution to provide low-cost and easy-to-use hydroponic growing kits will allow these individuals to be consistently able to access fresh and nutritious foods.

AlloHealth addresses the Sustainable Food Systems Challenge by both promoting the shift towards a low-impact nutritious diet and empowering small-scale producers on the individual household and community levels. Hydroponic farming is sustainable and space efficient, making it an emerging form of agriculture critical to combating climate change. Our target population are food-insecure residents of global food deserts, many of whom live in poverty and are adversely affected by disruptions to the supply chain like COVID-19 or climate change. Our hydroponic farming kit and support solution supports the most vulnerable while also being environmentally sustainable and resilient.

Hydroponic farming is not a new concept, but it is exclusively used by private urban farms. Private urban farms sell their produce at a premium price, which remains inaccessible to food insecure populations. Some cities have started community gardens, but these are often built on land not owned by the community. This means many of these farms are subject to land  development, a problem AlloHealth addresses by making it possible to farm indoors in compact settings. Experts agree hydroponics is going to be a big part of future agriculture and urban landscapes—but there is yet to be any product or service that makes hydroponics widely accessible for individual households and communities. 

Currently, if you are interested in starting a hydroponic farm, you do a quick Google search and find the numerous materials you will have to separately order, each with a hefty price tag, and complicated set-up instructions that make it frustrating to get started. AlloHealth works with wholesalers to make each component of our kits affordable and simple. Our mobile app will allow users to send pictures of their set-up to troubleshoot and get customized dietary guidance from nutritionists. Visual tutorials simplify an otherwise complicated set-up process. AlloHealth is a pioneer and innovator for leading the way to make hydroponics accessible for everyone and creating a unique support system to help each household enjoy fresh produce from the comforts of their home.

Hydroponics are an established form of agriculture, but AlloHealth kits make use of the innovative Kratkay method. The Kratkay method requires no more than simple, everyday items like mason jars and buckets to grow high yield crops. The jars have a nutrient solution at the bottom and a small cup that sits on top of the jar that holds the base of the plant. The seeds are put in the cup over time in the presence of sunlight, the roots will extend into the nutrient solution and begin rapid growth. Crops like lettuce, tomatoes, and kale can grow in relatively short amounts of time (4-5 weeks) and can be harvested multiple times before they need to be replaced. If there is any difficulty in setting up the kit or in the lackluster growth of the plants, our mobile app can utilize Artificial Intelligence technology using agricultural data sets to analyze the cause of the poor growth including but not limited to poor sun exposure, nutrient deficiency, and temperature. Customized video tutorials will guide the grower to a healthy garden. The technology behind AlloHealth combines both existing and innovative solutions like hydroponics and the Kratkay method while integrating technology to improve household agricultural practices.

As per the current state of the art mentioned that controlling the water temperature and pH were big problems as it caused the root. Hydroponic plants in rooftops or balconies are affected by weather and season. We focused on creating an AI algorithm that helps users to optimize the conditions constantly and give instructions to them to react. So that the plants could grow much faster. Also through our app, we will share healthy, effortless recipes and quick reminders and encourage people. After more research, we also found out that light levels and electrical conductivity levels (amount of nutrients in the water) were crucial to control.

In this research paper, the authors proposed an artificial intelligence system to do hydroponic farming in a closed environment which automatically delivers the mix of water and nutrients solution along with light and the roots of the plants are planted using some sensors. They experimented several crops like tomato crop and results showed that are grown hydroponically and also they compare between this and soil grown plants. This technology will not only benefit the local farmers and also who have been degraded to conserve water by stopping evaporation and runoff, losses due to drought and flooding or COVID pandemic issues will be significantly reduced.

Link to the paper:  An AI based system Design to Develop and Monitor a Hydroponic Farm

Low-income residents in food desert communities are most at risk for food insecurity and poor diet. AlloHealth’s hydroponic kits aim to provide a resilient source of fresh food year round so these residents can incorporate more vegetables into their everyday diet in the short-term. By consuming more produce, these individuals will become less reliant on fringe foods from convenient stores and bodegas. Corner stores offer a cheap and conveniently located meal for food desert communities, but are linked with obesity and heart disease according to the USDA. By incorporating more nutritious food and decreasing reliance on processed foods, residents of food desert communities will improve the overall health of their residents. 

A study done by the University of Illinois observed two low-income food desert communities in Pittsburgh. One community featured a newly opened supermarket that offered fresh produce while the other community had no such options close by. Researchers found residents of the community with the supermarket consumed less daily calories, less sugar, and better managed chronic conditions. 

AlloHealth seeks to replicate these results in every food desert community where investors believe a supermarket would not be profitable. In the long-term, residents of food desert communities will experience better health outcomes and reduce the massive expenditures for obesity and other diet-related conditions for the healthcare system. In areas where community gardens were established, residents adopted a better overall diet because they were engaged in the journey from seed to plate. 

AlloHealth’s interactive solution increases awareness about the importance of healthy food and engages residents to take control of their own health through their diet: a cultural shift fighting decades of targeted marketing from the fast food industry. Our vision is to use our hydroponic farming kits and mobile app as a tool to empower marginalized low-income residents, unite food desert communities, and promote overall well-being.

23.5 million Americans currently live in food deserts. Our solution could potentially meet and address all of them. The current number of people it is serving, the projected number of individuals that will be served in 1 year is 1,000 and the projected number to be able to serve in 5 years is 50,000. This is derived by 

23.5 Million Americans are living in food deserts ⇒ 7+ Million in the Northeast that can be serviceable ⇒ 300,000 individuals in Philadelphia have food insecurity ⇒ Many of them can we realistically address

By next year, AlloHealth hopes to sell and distribute 2,500 DIY hydroponic kits. As centralizing the supply chain by wholesaling raw materials will be the bottleneck due to the rapid evolution of COVID-19, these kits will initially contain the simplest materials to set up a functional home hydroponic system via the Kratky method. Within the year, AlloHealth is targeting 3 locations of high need within the Northeast—they are the neighborhoods of West Philadelphia, PA; Harlem, NY; and South Bronx, NY.

In years 2 through 4, AlloHealth hopes to sell over 100,000 DIY hydroponic kits, having automated DIY kit development and expanded produce options. The team plans to reinvest the additional capital to expand to larger hydroponic systems in vacant lands for farmers and urban rooftops for building owners in countryside and urban food deserts alike. As 3,000 acres are vacant in Philadelphia, about 6,000 properties are publicly owned and available for agricultural use. 80% of those living in areas without access to high-quality produce do not live near an active garden or farm, signaling this unmet need. By year 4, the team expects to have 8 countryside and 8 urban rooftops populated with flourishing hydroponic systems.

By year 5, AlloHealth hopes to have sold over 200,000 DIY hydroponic kits, along with 12 countryside and 12 urban rooftop hydroponic systems, further expanding to restaurant settings for fresh meal preparation in those communities, and eventually aquaponic and aeroponic systems in line with the quickly evolving trend of vertical farming.

Despite the  growth of the hydroponics market driven by higher yields, two factors remain a challenge: high energy cost and heavy capital investment. 

1. High energy cost is associated with hydroponics farming because of what is needed to keep the temperature controlled and the lights on for long lengths of time.

2. Heavy capital investment involved in starting up a hydroponics farm. A commercial grower will need to buy all the pumps, piping, heaters, fans and nutrients to get the system up and running. This is often a considerable expense compared with field production.

How can we overcome each one:

1. Language: See if an app can translate to other languages
2. Time it takes to grow: Grow faster or higher yielding vegetables
3. Space: These are small DIY kits that may be able to fit anywhere. 
4. Education: See if you can use an app that can instruct individuals (eg. videos, text, etc.)
5. Cost: Buy bulk products from main source/wholesalers

As with any start-up, good business planning is essential, along with robust financial projections and analysis of the costs and benefits. We plan to seek professional advice and related  training associated with hydroponics. Given the  high cost for commercial production, we plan to use renewable energy sources to drive down our production cost.

we are not any part of large organization.

The team behind AlloHealth is a committed and diverse group of students,  innovators, physicians, and computer scientists.

Sheil Desai (Head of Community Outreach)

Akshay Kamath (Head of Finance)

Kevin Luo (Head of Research and Development):  

Wis Thermidor (Head of Marketing)

Dr. Seyma Avci (Head of Medical Affairs) 

Raghavendra Vijayanagaram (Head of Product)

AlloHealth has a diverse and experienced  team with a wide range of experience in finance, community relation, sales, and marketing and product development.

• Sheil Desai( Head of Community Outreach):  Sheil has been a lifelong resident of the Greater Philadelphia area and has service experience and rapport with several local community outreach projects. He is also an UPenn Student.

• Akshay Kamath( Head of Finance): Akshay possesses extensive business development, financial modeling, and IP protection experience in the child health space.

• Kevin Luo( Head of Research and Development)

• Wis Thermidor( Head of Marketing): My expertise lies in market research, team management and project coordination. As a skilled professional, I work well with multicultural, diverse staff to maximize productivity, efficiency, and overall performance. 

• Dr. Seyma Avci ( Head of Medical Affairs)

• Raghavendra(Head of Product):  He is specialized in analyzing information, problem-solving, initiative and time management and passionate about machine learning as well as deep learning. He worked on more than 15 machine learning and deep learning projects. Currently, he is working as a research scientist in Germany.
  

After our successful pitch in the MIT Beat the Pandemic Challenge, several partners have expressed their enthusiasm in working with AlloHealth. Among these is the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society, whose Harvest 2020 initiative aligns closely with our mission to eliminate food insecurity for food desert residents. Harvest 2020 seeks to help 100,000 people feed themselves through gardening and AlloHealth looks to collaborate with their ambitious initiative in providing the kits and technological support to make it a reality. Our team plans to develop strategic partnerships  with MIT Solve (Product Development, Finance);  MIT Venture Mentoring Service (Intellectual Property, Management); Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship (Human Resources).   

AlloHealth plans to sell its basic DIY hydroponic kits to consumers through community centers that already have a connection and communication advantage to individual neighborhoods. This way, the centers are also able to host online live/video demonstrations for its residents. As living in a food desert often exacerbates conditions in the chronic disease population (e.g. diabetes, heart disease), residents will now be able to curate their selection based on physician-certified dietary recommendations. Integrating these benefits with a cloud-connected app to monitor plant health across the timeline will ensure members of the community feel energized to purchase and make use of these kits. During COVID-19, this also eliminates the need for an at-risk population to recurrently travel to the grocery store for common produce items within a few weeks of crop growth.

So far, Kit 1 possesses the materials for smaller plant growth (such as spinach and lettuce) and will be sold for $11.99 each, and Kit 2 possesses the materials for single larger plants (such as broccoli and cauliflower) and will be sold for $14.99 each. Both of these figures include shipping costs. Furthermore, with a subscription model to replace only nutrient solutions and seeds on a recurring basis for $4.99/month, families can mix and match their choice of fresh produce to ensure a customized, relevant stock for each yield. AlloHealth will also be selling individual components of the kit to community centers without additional markup in case of initial setup failure

Being  matched with coaches and mentors who are leaders in the Hydroponic industry and given access to customized resources that meet AlloHealth’s needs.  As an integral part of the MIT community, AlloHealth  will benefit by having access to corporate partners, and exposure to venture capitalists. Through these connections, our team will continue to build the partnership needed to accelerate our work, validate our impact and business model and scale our solution.

As a participant, the AlloHealth team will develop problem-solving strategies and skills that are  fundamental in effective team-building. More importantly, the program will provide us the opportunity to make a difference by providing access to  fresh, nutritious produce to urban communities that have never had access to this in the past.

AlloHealth aims to develop a partnership with Tech Incubator at Queens College (TIQC) which provides  access to dedicated desk, private office and team space. In addition, this partnership will allow us to benefit from Queens College’s expert faculty and industry leaders as well as student interns. 

We proposed to use the latest technology connected to our product.