Cornwall, U.K. (Marketwire - December 2, 2009) Valcent Products Inc. (OTCBB:VCTZF) announces that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has agreed to join the Company’s advisory board. Over the past two months Valcent has launched a major sales and marketing campaign aimed at developing interest for the concept of urban farming in a number of major US cities in association with EMLINK LLC of Boston Massachusetts.

“My cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has agreed to join the advisory board of Valcent Products Inc. and he is excited about the potential of this technology to offer a new more sustainable model of food production which does not employ pesticides and herbicides and does not involve high fossil fuel use and generate greenhouse gasses as conventional factory farming often does,” said EMLINK’s Stephen Kennedy Smith. “In addition to commercial growers, and urban areas we see potential for this technology to be used in defense and foreign aid applications as well.”

Further Mr. Smith stated, “We have gotten a very positive response from leaders in state and local government regarding the potential of VertiCrop^TM to create green jobs and bring fresh food to inner city communities. We expect our first project will be sited on a rooftop near city hall in the city of New York in the next few months”.

The first commercial size unit of the VertiCrop^TM system has now been in production for 2,000 hours during which time two lettuce crops have been harvested by its partners at the Paignton Zoo environmental park, with a third crop consisting of mixed lettuce and herbs to be harvested this week. All crops have been closely monitored for growth rates, yields, energy and water consumption and the data is now being shared with other potential clients who are currently in the final stages of reviewing proposals.

Chris Bradford, President and CEO of Valcent Products Inc., is pleased to report that: “We are finalizing orders for six VertiCrop(tm) systems by mid-December which will include orders from commercial growers within the United Kingdom as well as North America.”

Bradford concluded “VertiCrop^TM is providing the right technology at the right time”.

About Valcent Products Inc.:
Valcent Products Inc. (OTCBB:VCTZF) is a leader in the development and manufacturing of commercial vertical crop technology for global markets. Valcent is a pioneer and leader in eco-technology with its core research and development in sustainable, renewable, and intensive agricultural products. For more information, visit: www.valcent.net and www.valcent.eu.

For more information, visit: www.valcent.net and www.valcent.eu.

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BRITISH COLUMBIA - (Marketwire - November 13, 2009) - Valcent Products (OTCBB:VCTZF) vertical farming technology was named one of the Top 50 “Best Innovations of 2009″ from Time Magazine in the issue on the newsstands today.

“Real estate - the one thing we’re not making any more of,” reports Time Magazine. “That might be good news for landlords but not for the world’s farmers, who have finite cropland to feed a growing global population. The answer: build up by farming vertically. Valcent is pioneering a hydroponic-farming system that grows plants in rotating rows, one on top of another. The rotation gives the plants the precise amount of light and nutrients they need, while the vertical stacking enables the use of far less water than conventional farming. But best of all, by growing upward instead of outward, vertical farming can expand food supplies without using more land.”

Valcent pioneered a vertical farming technology, developed in their El Paso, Texas research facility, which was further honed and refined in Europe. “We are honored that our vertical farming technology is recognized as a top invention by Time Magazine,” says Chris Bradford, President, CEO, and Director of Valcent Products Inc. “Vertical farming is no longer a pie-in-the-sky concept dreamed up by academics in Ivory towers. We have entered a new era of urban agriculture where we can deliver locally grown crops that provide a nutritionally superior product that is healthier for the people and animals they serve.”

“VertiCrop, a commercial high-density vertical growing system, is being employed in controlled environments such as a glasshouse, polytunnel or warehouses, which increases production volume for field crops up to 20 times over but requires as little as 5% of the normal water supply,” adds Bradford. “It is a non-GM solution to food problems, using trays on a looped dynamic conveyor belt and automatic feeding stations to grow plants efficiently. It can be adapted to the needs of vegetable, herb, fruit and flower producers.”

About Valcent Products Inc.:

Valcent Products Inc. (OTCBB:VCTZF) is a leader in the development and manufacturing of commercial vertical crop technology for global markets. Valcent is a pioneer and leader in eco-technology with its core research and development in sustainable, renewable, and intensive agricultural products.

For more information, visit: www.valcent.net and www.valcent.eu.

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Also Executive Appointments Announced for Both Companies
OTC BB: VCTZF
Cusip# 918881202

October 27, 2009- The Herald Express of Devon <http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/news/Commons-praise-unique-food-production/article-1428701-detail/article.html> reported on October 17th, “Parliamentary backing has been given to the new Verticrop vertical farming <http://www.valcent.eu/VertCropUk.html> System developed by Valcent Products (eu) Limited (”VEU”).

“A petition has been tabled at Westminster by Adrian Sanders MP, praising VEU for developing the plant growing system. The Petition is backed by several MP’s who recognize the considerable potential offered by 20-fold increases in crop yields which could reduce the demand for field crops. The petition also calls for the British Government to support the systems wherever possible including recognition that products produced by the system are organic and should not be prevented from being described as such”.

In keeping with the emphasis on Verticrop™ as VEU’s core business and the pending sales of the Verticrop™ systems worldwide, the Company has hired additional marketing and production staff. Also, to ensure a close working relationship between Valcent Products Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary VEU, Valcent Products Inc.’s Board of Directors are pleased to announce three new appointments to ensure success during a period of sustained growth.

Chris Bradford, currently Managing Director of VEU, has been appointed the President, the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Parent Company, Valcent Products Inc. Mr. Bradford has worked within the agricultural sector continuously over the last 35 years in senior management positions in both large companies and smaller ventures. He also consulted with many programs to assist small agricultural businesses before joining VEU in 2005. Chris has firsthand experience in most aspects of the agricultural sector and has successfully built VEU to be a productive Company.

Tom Bentley, since September 2008, has been the Manger of Business Development for VEU and now he has been appointed to VEU’s Board of Directors and has also been promoted to the position of Director of Business Development. Tom graduated from Seale-Hayne Agricultural College and over the last 25 years he has gained considerable expertise on business development and marketing of agricultural products.

Gerry Jardine, a Director of Valcent Products Inc. has also been appointed to the VEU Board of Directors, to both ensure the Parent and its Subsidiary continue a close working relationship as well as to assist Tom Bentley and Chris Bradford in a successful launch of its North American Marketing Plan for Verticrop™.

About Valcent Products Inc:

Valcent Products Inc. (OTCBB: VCTZF) is a leader in the development and manufacturing of commercial vertical crop technology for global markets. Valcent is a pioneer and leader in eco-technology with its core research and development in sustainable, renewable, and intensive agricultural products.

For more information, visit: www.valcent.net and www.valcent.eu.

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NEWS RELEASE
OTC BB: VCTZF
Cusip# 91881202

STEPHEN KENNEDY SMITH JR EMLINK LLC ENGAGED BY VALCENT TO LAUNCH VERTICROP IN U.S.A.

October 22, 2009- Gerry Jardine, Director of Valcent Products Inc. (the “Company, or “Valcent”) is pleased to announce the engagement of EMLINK LLC of Boston Mass.; a service disabled veteran owned company whose Managing Partner is Service Disabled veteran Lt Colonel Tim Youmans. Stephen Kennedy Smith Jr. nephew of former Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts is also a partner in the company. EMLINK and Mr. Smith will initially serve as master distributor for Valcent and a key partner in assisting the Company in launching a marketing and sales strategy within the United States of America for its VertiCrop(tm) High Density Growing System (”Verticrop(tm)”). EMLINK will also advise the Company on other aspects of its business plan including the finance and marketing of its products elsewhere in the world. Valcent’s management will be meeting with Stephen Kennedy Smith in New York City the week of October 26th to work on the details of its Marketing and Sales program for the United States.

Gerry Jardine, a Director of Valcent noted that “Stephen brings a wealth of knowledge to assist Valcent in its Verticrop(tm) sales plans and strategic relationships within the USA which is in keeping with the Kennedy Family’s interest in the environment, sustainable technology, and food security for the United States”.

Chris Bradford, Managing Director of Valcent (EU), a wholly owned subsidiary of Valcent Products Inc, which manages the development and commercialization of Verticrop(tm) stated “We are delighted to have Stephen on board with us and we look forward to working with him to bring the benefits of VertiCrop(tm) to the attention of political, academic and commercial leaders throughout the United States”.

Stephen Kennedy Smith Jr. and Lt Colonel Timothy Youmans formed EMLINK LLC with veterans and other partners with long-term experience in sustainable development. The company is focused on sustainable investment and development and employs and trains veterans in all its projects. Stephen also serves on the board of the John F. Kennedy Library Corporation and formerly worked in the United States Senate and at Conflict Management Group a nonprofit group affiliated with Harvard University. Mr. Smith was also a teaching fellow at Harvard, University and Law School and Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx, NY.

About Valcent Products Inc:
Valcent Products Inc. (OTCBB: VCTZF) specializes in growing solutions and plant based consumer products and is a leader in the development of innovative and practical eco-technologies. For more information, visit: www.valcent.net and www.valcent.eu and contribute at http://blog.valcent.net/ .

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October 19, 2009, Valcent Products Inc. (the “Company”) is proud to announce that the Royal Horticultural Society has granted a special award to a revolutionary food growing system, VertiCrop^TM The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) founded in 1804, is the International Registration Authority for more categories of plants than any other organization throughout the world. The RHS is the world’s leading horticultural organization with extremely active Science and Educational Departments.

The new generation sustainable hydroponic system — entitled VertiCrop^TM — is the brain child of a Cornwall-based corporation, Valcent Products EU Ltd, (Valcent EU) which developed the system to find new ways of growing plants in a world of rapidly-diminishing resources.John Craven OBE - distinguished journalist and broadcaster, who has presented the BBC’s popular ‘Countryfile’ program for the past 20 years - unveiled the innovative product at a special ceremony at Paignton Zoo last month.Days before it was officially opened to the public, The RHS awarded it a special discretionary honour at the RHS Britain in Bloom South West in Bloom Awards.
The West Country TV Cup, sponsored by RHS, the award was for an outstanding specific project. Jon Wheatley, one of the South West judges explained: “We were extremely impressed with this project and its future potential. Congratulations!”
The VertiCrop^TM system is set to provide a major breakthrough in locally grown food costs. A commercial high-density vertical growing system, it increases production volume of field crops up to 20 times over, but requiring as little as 5 per cent of the normal water supply. It is a non-GM solution to food problems — for both humans and animals - using trays on a looped dynamic conveyor belt with automatic feeding stations to grow plants more efficiently.

Chris Bradford, Managing Director of Valcent EU said : “We are justifiably proud of our revolutionary new food production system and delighted that it has been selected to receive such an honour from The Royal Horticultural Society.

“VertiCrop^TM is the latest in plant growing technology, meeting the needs of the human population while reducing the pressure to clear precious habitats to grow crops. This technology could usher in a new era of urban horticulture.”

The ground-breaking system — the first of its kind in Europe — was officially launched after months of careful preparation and planning; it is the first such system to be introduced anywhere in the world.

About Valcent Products Inc:
Valcent Products Inc. (OTCBB: VCTZF) specializes in growing solutions and plant based consumer products and is a leader in the development of innovative and practical eco-technologies. For more information, visit: www.valcent.net and www.valcent.eu and contribute at http://blog.valcent.net/ .
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Herald Express from the UK featured how the Paignton Zoo is using the Verticrop System to demonstrate how the system could potentially ease world food shortages and lower produce costs. Even the local Police are chipping in to help.   

Thursday, September 24, 200

PAIGNTON Zoo was today unveiling a ground-breaking project which could help feed not only its animals but ease food shortages around the world.

The zoo is making high-tech horticultural history with the installation of the first of a new generation of innovative plant growing systems.

Hydroponics equipment, previously used in illegal cannabis production and passed on to the zoo by Devon and Cornwall police, played a role in the development of the project.

Today the zoo and its partners, a Cornish company at the forefront of efforts to find new ways of growing plants to help resolve the world’s food crisis, are unveiling the system to the horticultural press.

Next week the BBC will be filming the innovative project which could enable food to be grown in relatively small spaces, cities and deserts, could reduce demand for agricultural land and so protect wildlife, increase by 20 times the amount of crop produced in any equivalent field space while using only five per cent of the water normally needed. It could also be used to grow biofuels.

The Verticrop system, developed with Valcent Products, based in Launceston, is the first of its kind in Europe and the first in a zoo or botanic garden anywhere in the world.

It will enable the zoo to grow its own animal feed at a time when they get through 800 lettuces a week, about 800 carrots a day and approximately £8,000-worth of fruit per month.

Paignton Zoo curator of plants and gardens Kevin Frediani explained: “We are making history here.

“We can grow more plants in less room using less water and less energy. It will help to reduce food miles and bring down our annual bill for animal feed, currently in excess of £200,000 a year.”

He explained he had been investigating how plants could be used to further the aims of the zoo.

“We were approached by the police who had a load of hydroponics equipment following a raid.

“That sowed the germ of an idea. We then came across the company at a sustainable business fair at the zoo.

“They showed a model of the system. They were planning to build a system at Launceston and we suggested they build it at the zoo, we could pay to run it, we could use the produce, we have 500,000 visitor a year to see it and they can bring their customers to see it running.”

The zoo will hold an official opening next Wednesday.

The Herald Express

Tree hugger featured the Paignton Zoo project in their article Vertical Farm at “UK Zoo: 20-Fold Increase in Yield Per Acre.”

“Vertical farms always create some debate here at TreeHugger - from saline vertical farming in Dubai to cutting-edge vertical farm greenhouses in California - there are those who see vertical farming as the logical next step in feeding the world with minimum resources and maximum output. And then there are those who think many vertical farm plans are pie-in-the-sky. Paignton Zoo in the UK is clearly lining up in the former category, creating an experimental vertical hydroponic farm. The chimps will never have eaten so well.

The vertical farm has been created by Valcent Products as part of their VertiCrop product line. The farm will be growing red chard, mizuna, mixed leaves, and a variety of herbs as well as edible flowers and fodder crops such as wheat grass and barley. Currently the farm imports a wide variety of veggies for their animal feed, so this should provide a local, sustainable alternative for the zoo’s residents.

According to the company’s materials, the system requires just 5% of the water for field crops, produces 20 times the yield per acre, and can be built almost anywhere.

The system operates on a conveyor system, with automated loading of plant trays for harvesting and replanting. The whole set up has been designed for minimum maintenance, with computerized controls to regulate irrigation and water supply and the environment within the polytunnel. Valcent claim the farm will require one staff member working approximately two hours a day to keep it running, and could cut the zoo’s feed bill by as much as £100,000 (US$165,000)!

Valcent are clearly hoping this will be the first of many such systems, and claim that over fifty potential commercial customers for VertiCropTM will visit the Paignton site to see the system in operation. Paignton Zoo are carefully recording data and performance of the farm to feedback for further product development.”

Planted, grown, harvested, transported, cooled, then sent to our homes via plane, train, and automobile. But where is all this leafy green stuff coming from?

China is the world’s largest lettuce producing country; they produce a whopping 23billion pounds of this key salad ingredient per year! The United States is second to China, producing 9.7 billion pounds of lettuce each year. In the USA, 90% of this production occurs in California and Arizona. The majority of production from April to October occurs in the Salinas Valley of California, then shifts to Yuma, Arizona during November through March. Huron, California, covers the transitional periods between seasons. Unless you live in one of those three places, there is a high likelihood you’ll be seeing, or purchasing lettuce grown a long way from your home.
Once harvested, the lettuce is ready to make a journey, often a very long journey.
Once a truck is loaded with cartons of lettuce, it is taken to a facility where the lettuce is cooled immediately. It can then be held in cold storage or shipped directly to wholesale distributors in refrigerated trucks. A general rule of thumb is that lettuce loses one day of shelf life for every hour that it is not cooled after harvest. Expected shelf life for lettuce is approximately two weeks. This current system is impractical.

Shipping foods around the world is burning fossil fuels, delivering less than fresh food, and hurting our environment. VertiCrop is capable of growing lettuce locally, even in harsh climate conditions. Crops are continuously rotated within the VertiCrop, ensuring an even exposure to light and nutrients while creating a constant air-flow. This produces larger yields than the conventional growing methods, as much as 20 times greater. The Paignton VertiCrop project is capable of producing 11,000 heads of lettuce every four weeks or so. Imagine having that volume of freshly grown food within your city, instead of from California or China? Eliminating the need for wholesale importation of out-of-season crops decreases the carbon footprint of food, and increases nutrition and freshness.

Valcent is moving forward with new initiatives in vertical farming! The expansion includes the introduction of a new VertiCrop product line tailored for a warehouse environment. State of the art irrigation is part of the new design for a growing system that could be installed in industrial type warehouses as an alternative to polytunnels or glasshouses.

“A warehouse environment will provide a commercial grower with significant benefits, particularly in areas of climate extremes,” said Chris Bradford, Managing Director, Valcent Products (EU). “Growing crops in a glasshouse or polytunnel can involve high energy costs to maintain stable temperatures suitable for healthy plant growth. Growing in a warehouse environment with a VertiCrop vertical farming system improves production and lower costs.”

Growing in a warehouse environment with the use of a specialty lighting system provides the energy conservation necessary when creating an economically sustainable and environmentally sustainable product.  The VertiCrop team has been working with two strategic partners who are acknowledged experts in the field of industrial lighting. This research has led to the development of a commercially viable eco-friendly system. The warehouse growing system will also use a hybrid lighting system, harnessing and channeling heat free natural daylight, complemented by the latest LED horticultural lighting technology.

source: Valcent