Infarm introduces its new high-capacity, cloud-connected
Growing Centers - a major step in the company's efforts to
accelerate the benefits to people and planet by building a
scalable, sustainable and resilient global farming network
BERLIN, Feb. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Infarm, the world's
fastest-growing urban farming company already available in 10
countries and 30 cities in thousands of stores, continued the
rollout of its vision for a global interconnected, sustainable and
highly efficient farming ecosystem.
As part of its goal to drive innovation within the USD 3 trillion global fruit and vegetable
market[1], Infarm today introduced its new
high-capacity, automated, modular Growing Center - a local farm and
distribution center in one, that can generate the crop-equivalent
of up to 10,000 m2 of
farmland, with up to 400 times higher efficient food production
than soil-based agriculture.
The cloud-connected, high-yield growing centers join Infarm's
expanding global network of self-learning farms that improve plant
yield, taste, and nutritional value constantly, while further
reducing the use of natural resources. With 50,000 m2 of farming facilities
and hundreds of farms in stores locations, Infarm is already
providing fresh produce to 50% of the world's largest food
retailers. The rapid deployment capability of the new high-yield
Growing Centers will drive additional global growth and scalability
to match the needs of retailers of any size in any location, with
the goal of growing the network to 500,000
m2 by 2025.
A Growing Center is comprised of dozens of modular farming
units, each standing between 10 and 18 meters high, occupying a
25 m2 ground
footprint and requiring just six weeks to build, yielding the
crop-equivalent of 10,000
m2 of farmland. This modular, data-driven,
and distributed approach -- a combination of big data, IoT,
and cloud analytics, in addition to rapid growth at a global
scale -- sets Infarm apart from any other farming
solution.
"Access to fresh, local and sustainable food is a growing
challenge, as people shift towards cities and climate change
accelerates," explains Erez
Galonska, co-founder and CEO of Infarm. "Today we're
adding speed to scale with new technology that allows us to deploy
a Growing Center to any city in the world in a fraction of the
time, space and capital investment of most large-scale farming
solutions today. Both the farms and the software that powers them
were designed to make fresh food more accessible for everyone,
everywhere."
Many of the world's leading food retailers are already taking
part in Infarm's farming network, including Empire Company Ltd
(Safeway, Sobeys, ThriftyFoods), Whole Foods Markets, Marks &
Spencer, Kroger, Kinokuniya, Aldi, Amazon, Auchan, Casino,
E.Leclerc, Edeka, Intermarché, Irma, Kaufland, Metro, Migros,
Selgros, Summit and in Germany,
Canada, Denmark, France, Japan, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, the United
Kingdom, the United States
and Switzerland.
Growing a new food system for people and planet
"The entire Infarm network is connected to a central farming
brain that gathers more than 50,000 growth, color and spectral data
points through a plant's lifetime," explains Guy Galonska, co-founder and Chief Technology
Officer at Infarm. "We've collected more than 300 billion data
points throughout our farming network to date. These data enable us
to perfect our growing recipes and improve yield, quality and
nutritional value, while reducing the production price
constantly."
The large-scale Infarm Growing Centers integrate farming units
that can each save up to 10,000,000 liters of water per year,
compared to soil-based agriculture for similar crops, while
contributing up to 40% energy savings over previous Infarm
technologies.
By 2025 Infarm plans to establish 100 Growing Centers -
equivalent to 1.5 million m2 of farmland and
producing 450,000,000 plants across its network, including
expanding to new markets. This year, 15 Infarm Growing Centers are
already planned/or under construction in major urban centers,
including London, Paris, Copenhagen, Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle and Tokyo.
Additional features of the new Infarm technology:
- An automated mechanical farming system that is cloud
controlled;
- Environmental settings like CO2, temperature, light, pH and
growth cycles can be set, monitored, analyzed online across all
farms;
- Recirculates 20 liters of water condensation per hour and,
saving more than up to 10,000,000 liters of water per year compared
to soil-based agriculture for similar crops;
- Smart LED management supports energy efficiency offering
contributes up to 40% energy savings & up to 25% savings on
initial investment.
Infarm uses 95% less water, 90% less transport and zero chemical
pesticide than soil-based agriculture with the majority of
electricity use throughout the Infarm network coming from
renewable energy. To date, the Infarm network has saved more than
40,000,000 liters of water and 50,000 square meters of
land.
[1] Wyman, O. (2021). Disruption
in fruit and vegetable distribution - Fruit Logistica Trend Report
2018 [Ebook] (p. 12). Berlin,
Germany: Fruit Logistica, Messe Berlin GmbH. Retrieved from
https://www.oliverwyman.com/content/dam/oliver-wyman/v2-de/publications/2018/Feb/Fruit_Logistica_Trend_Report_2018.pdf
About Infarm
Infarm was founded in Berlin in
2013 by Osnat Michaeli and the
brothers Erez and Guy Galonska.
Passionate to become self-sufficient and eat better, they were
growing their own food, enjoying all the flavor and nutrients,
without the chemical pesticides and transport kilometers. With the
aim to share the goodness of own-grown produce with everyone, they
developed a smart modular farming system, that allows distribution
of farms throughout the urban environment, growing fresh produce in
any available space and fulfilling any market demand. Today, with
cutting edge R&D, patented technologies, and a leading
multi-disciplinary team, Infarm is growing a worldwide farming
network helping cities become self-sufficient in their food
production, while significantly improving the safety, quality, and
environmental footprint of our food.
With a multinational team of more than 800 people globally,
Infarm has partnered with more than 30 major food retailers
including Aldi Süd, Amazon Fresh, Auchan, Casino, E.Leclerc, Edeka,
Empire Company Ltd (Safeway, Sobeys, ThriftyFoods), Farmdrop,
Intermarché, Irma, Kaufland, Kinokuniya, Kroger, Marks &
Spencer, Metro, Migros, Selfridges, Selgros, Summit and Whole Foods
Market in Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, the United
Kingdom, the United States
and Switzerland, deployed more than 1200 farms in stores and
distribution centres, saved more than 40,000,000 liters of water
and 50,000 square meters of land.
https://www.infarm.com/
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1442283/Infarm.jpg