Swegreen’s New In-Store Farming Service Will Be Scandinavia’s Biggest
March 01, 2021
Swegreen’s board member Pierre Mohlin meets up with Milleriine Axelsson who will be responsible for the in-store growing unit from Ica Maxi’s side.
Swegreen launches ‘NextGen’ of super-efficient in-store vertical farming service when Ica Maxi megastore in Linköping puts the company’s Farming-as-a-Service growing unit for leafy greens right at the entrance of the store. The new vertical farm will be Scandinavia’s largest in-store cultivation.
Swegreen's innovative in-store service will make the Ica Maxi megamarket in Linköping, located in Mid-Sweden, the first of all Sweden’s megamarkets to offer fresh herbs and salad grown from seed to finished plant inside the store. Every day, several hundred fresh leafy vegetables can be harvested for the store's customers.
- It won’t get more locally produced than this, says Ica Maxi Linköping's CEO Tomas Lundvall.
The actual cultivation facility, which takes place in the middle of the store entrance, will have glass walls from floor to ceiling. This, together with an eye-catching light from the plants' LED system, will leave a clear mark on the entrance to the store when the installation is ready later this spring.
- We have chosen a central place for cultivation to really clarify our commitment to a greener and more climate-smart food production. The cultivation will be a destination in itself for our customers, and once they get the opportunity to taste these crops, many will understand what fantastic quality such a cultivation system offers, says Tomas Lundvall CEO and owner of the megamarket.
- Our salad and our herbs will simply be the smartest greens in town, he adds.
The new in-store plant is based on hydroponic cultivation technology. Nutrition comes directly from the water, which can be recycled. The system can also recover energy, carbon dioxide and nutrients. Behind the innovation is the all-Swedish technology company Swegreen, which has developed both the cultivation room itself and the AI-based control system which, via a cloud service, controls and optimizes the environment in the cultivation.
- We are very proud to work with the team for Ica Maxi in Linköping for this installation, their commitment to hyper-local and climate-smart produced food shows that this is a megastore at the forefront, says Swegreen's CEO Andreas Dahlin.
- Ordinary vegetables sold in Swedish supermarkets have traveled an average of 3,000 kilometers, while these crops have not been transported at all. Of course, it gives better taste, better consistency and durability - and also better nutritional value, he continues.
The new in-store service will start delivering leafy greens in May, and it will then be able to supply the megastore with different kinds of herbs such as coriander, dill, and parsley, and also lettuce and cabbage. The crops will also be used for in-house production in the store's own kitchen, and in future, there will be the possibility of more types of vegetables.
Swegreen is an all-Swedish ESG AgTech company combining advanced technology with data and plant science to efficient produce high quality and climate smart leafy greens in urban environment. Swegreen offers a prescription based growing service called Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS). With it, any supermarket or restaurant owner can supply their customers with fresh, nutritious, well-tasting and hyper-locally produced leafy greens all year. See more at www.swegreen.com
ICA Maxi Stormarknad Linköping was established in 1993 as one of the ICA Groups first Maxi megamarkets in Sweden. It’s the largest of its kind in the region and one of the largest ICA-stores all categories. The total sales area is 8,000 sqm and it employs around 300 persons. See more at: www.ica.se/butiker/maxi/linkoping/maxi-ica-stormarknad-linkoping-8900/start/