Infarm Grows Produce In Supermarket Aisles

James Hurley

February 5, 2018, The Times

Retailers can earn brownie points with environmentally and ethically minded consumers already by boasting about selling local produce, but what if supermarkets could go one better and grow their own crops in-store?

It might sound fanciful, but some of Europe’s leading venture capitalists have invested $25 million in a start-up that produces vertical indoor “farms” that can be located in everything from supermarket aisles to restaurant kitchens, schools and distribution warehouses.

Infarm already operates more than 50 farms across Berlin and says that 1,000 units will be operational by 2019, including about 200 farms in London.

Erez Galonska, co-founder and chief executive of Infarm, said: “Rather than asking ourselves how to fix the deficiencies in the current supply chain, we wanted to redesign the entire chain from start to finish. We decided it would be more effective to farm directly where people live and eat.”

Infarm installations can be found in Edeka and Metro stores in Germany, two of the country’s largest grocers, with herbs and leafy greens being cultivated.

The company says that a single farm unit of two square metres can produce 1,200 plants per month and that some stores have become self-sufficient in herb production.

The plants are fed and nurtured by an internet-controlled system that uses sensors to monitor light, temperature, acidity, and nutrients for each crop.

Guy Galonska, co-founder of Infarm, said: “We collect 50,000 data points throughout a plant’s lifetime. Each farm acts as a data pipeline, sending information on plant growth to our platform, allowing it to learn, adjust, and optimise.” Thus different varieties of crops can be adapted for different supermarket locations to suit customer tastes.

Infarm was founded in 2013 by the Galonska brothers and Osnat Michaeli. Its vertical farms use “hydroponics”, a system that grows plants in oxygen and nutrient-enriched water instead of soil.

Osnat Michaeli, Erez Galonska and Guy Galonska have big plans

Erez Galonska said: “Our ambition is to reach cities as far as Seattle in the United States or Seoul, South Korea.”

The funding round was led by Balderton Capital, the London-based venture capital firm. The investment will help to pay for the planned international expansion.

Daniel Waterhouse, a partner at Balderton, said: “Urban living is growing unrelentingly across the world and societies are at a point where they have to confront big existential questions, such as how to feed their growing populations sustainably.

“ Infarm is right at the forefront of a new wave of companies setting out to tackle the inefficiencies in the food supply chain by making it possible to grow fresh produce right in the heart of our communities.”