In Partnership With Whole Cities Foundation - GrowGeneration to Donate Hydroponic Growing Systems to Urban Farms And Nonprofits

GrowGeneration Corp. announced its partnership with Whole Cities Foundation. Founded by Whole Foods Market in 2014, the independent, nonprofit organization is based in Austin, Texas, and has partnered with more than 190 community organizations in 100 cities across the U.S. to build thriving local food systems and improve health.

The first projects to receive GrowGeneration support will be Newark Science & Sustainability and Greater Newark Conservancy, both recipients of the Whole Cities Foundation Fresh, Health Food Access grant. Both organizations have identified hydroponic growing as a goal for their community plans. Each group will benefit from an equipment grant. These two projects are part of a pilot that we expect will yield learnings over the course of the next year. GrowGen will provide equipment and expertise and partner with Whole Cities to evaluate community impact. 

"Whole Cities Foundation is proud to partner with GrowGeneration, supplier of hydroponic equipment to 1000's of cultivators and growers, to support two locally-led Newark organizations in their efforts to increase production of food grown for their community members – hydroponically, said Nona Evans, Executive Director for Whole Cities Foundation. "The company and its team of experts provide support to growers across the nation. As the company expands, the GrowGen team is focused on ways they can use their knowledge and equipment to give back to communities focused on improving healthy food access."

Darren Lampert, GrowGeneration CEO stated, "As we have built a national chain of hydroponic garden centers, it has always been our mission to give back to the local communities. In our day to day operations, we see the results from growing hydroponically. We could not be prouder to partner with Whole Cities Foundation to donate hydroponic equipment and supplies to their community partners to support their gardens and increase access to fresh, healthy food."

"Our staff of over 250 dedicated team members, who have tremendous knowledge on growing hydroponically, are energized to lend a hand and their personal time to support Whole Cities Foundation. There is nothing more rewarding than participating with a community committed to growing its own food! Newark, NJ with its long history of urban agriculture is a great place to begin our partnership.  We look forward to celebrating their first harvest together." 

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For more information:
GrowGenerationwww.growgeneration.com

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Whole Cities Foundation
www.wholecitiesfoundation.org 

Publication date: Fri 14 Aug 2020

Bowery Farming Wants To Make Lettuce Safe, Smart And Tasty

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• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah

• August 12, 2020

For decades, consumers have been on a quest for cleaner, safer produce — and agricultural methods that are good for both the palate and the planet.

Bowery Farming, the New York-based indoor farming start-up, thinks it’s mastered the recipe, especially given increasing safety concerns.

Grown indoors, lettuces, greens, and herbs are non-GMO, free from pesticides “and grown with complete transparency,” says Katie Seawell, Chief Marketing Officer. “We are deeply committed to increasing access to high-quality delicious food. We’re going to build an enduring brand — we hope a generational brand — that emotionally connects with consumers.”

Its main selling point? “Our produce tastes better, too, and that means a lot to our core audience.”

At present, the vast majority of produce isn’t branded, “and highly commoditized, not unlike coffee used to be,” she says. “I spent 15 years at Starbucks before joining Bowery a year ago, and I see a lot of similarities. Starbucks is a very mission-driven company, and so is Bowery. We are committed to disrupting the food-supply vision. And through technology, we want people to think differently about how we grow the food we eat.”

Currently, Bowery is selling its products in retail chains such as Walmart, Giant, and Whole Foods Market. It’s also available on Amazon Fresh and believes e-commerce will be one of its biggest sources of growth. “It’s a great cross-section of retailers, and part of our goal-to democratize access to our produce.”

Seawell says it is preparing ads set to break later this year, based on consumer research that uncovered ongoing concerns about widespread lettuce recalls for problems like E. coli and Cyclospora infections.

Mustache is the ad agency, and it also worked with Red Antler for a brand refresh and a new website.

Seawell says the pandemic has also intensified interest in safer, healthier foods. It’s also accelerated awareness of America’s gaping inequalities and inefficiencies in the food system.

So far, Bowery has two farms in Kearny, New Jersey, and the a outside of Baltimore. With its modular technology, it hopes to expand soon. Providing fresh food for underserved communities is also part of its mission, which translates into partnerships with nonprofits, including DC Central Kitchen and Table to Table.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled CMO Paula Seawell’s name, as well as the location of two of its farms. They are in Kearny, New Jersey.

Publix Grows Hydroponic Produce At Greenwise Store

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Krishna Thakker@krishna_thakker

Aug. 3, 2020

Dive Brief:

• Publix has partnered with local hydroponics firm Brick Street Farms to grow, pack and harvest hydroponic lettuce in a container farm located outside its Lakeland, Florida Greenwise Market store. 

• The 40-foot container farm will grow an equivalent of 2.5 to 3 acres of lettuce and can operate 365 days a year in any weather conditions, Brick Street Farms told Grocery Dive in an emailed announcement. It substitutes soil for mineral-rich water, which means no pesticides are needed. The container farm uses 90% less water than a traditional farm and produces 720 heads of lettuce each week. 

• Customers can watch the produce grow through a window on the side of the container and purchase heads of lettuce inside the store.

Explore how the current landscape is impacting coffee manufacturers and how organic and fair trade can help ensure long-term success of the industry.

Dive Insight:

Publix has recently stepped up its partnerships in alternative agriculture. Earlier this year, the company began hosting Vertical Roots' interactive mobile hydroponic farm in the parking lots of its grocery stores and Greenwise locations. In March, Publix began selling microgreens from Kalera, a hydroponic farm on top of a Marriott hotel that lost all its business due to coronavirus, at 165 stores.

Hydroponic farming has been plagued by inefficiencies and high costs in the past, but improvements in technology are helping suppliers better meet retailers' demands for pricing and scale. On-site farms also add a bit of theater that can draw curious shoppers to stores. 

Publix isn’t the only food retailer exploring this field. Kroger last year installed mini hydroponic farms in a handful of Seattle stores in partnership with Infarm, a start-up based in Germany. Around the same time, Gordon Food Service and indoor farming startup Square Roots opened their first co-located hydroponics farm on Gordon’s headquarters in Wyoming, Michigan. H-E-B and Whole Foods have also experimented with hydroponics in and around their stores.

Having a hydroponic farm at the store removes the need for transportation and storage of lettuce before it hits shelves, according to Brick Street Farms. It also allows Publix to sell the produce in-season all year round, providing some supply stability.

Although omnichannel business is booming for grocers like Publix right now, many are looking for ways to drive traffic to their stores, where they can make the most money per order. Grow farms and other safe, eye-catching attractions could be one way to accomplish this.

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Lead Photo: Permission granted by Publix

Filed Under: Fresh food Natural/organic

Seeding The Supply Chain

17 Apr 2020

By : Retail Environments Staff

On-site growth of produce benefits enterprising grocers

By Annemarie Mannion

For this Avril store in Laval, Quebec, Canada, on-site growth of produce grew out of a government project that, among other things, sought to find a way to get food to people in northern areas besides having it all shipped by plane. The store’s automated vertical agriculture platform, known as CultiGo, grows organic greens year-round.

Grocery stores on the cutting edge of providing local produce are nurturing on-site growing spaces to answer consumer demand for locally grown produce. Retailers involved in growing their own hyperlocal produce see benefits. They believe that converting cross-country or cross-region shipping miles to mere footsteps makes financial sense because it provides a better-tasting product and reduces shrinkage.

Stores featuring hyperlocal produce are rare, but they reflect a societal trend. According to research firm Packaged Facts, local food sales in the U.S. increased from $5 billion to $12 billion between 2008 and 2014. The study predicted that local food sales would rise to $20 billion in 2019.

Given the demand, Viraj Puri believes more grocery stores will take this approach to provide locally grown produce. Puri is CEO of urban agriculture company Gotham Greens, which operates a 20,000-sq.-ft. greenhouse on the roof of Whole Foods Market’s Gowanus location in Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S. Constructed in 2014, the greenhouse yields produce that is sold and distributed to the market downstairs and to other Whole Foods locations and local restaurants.

“Growing fresh produce in close proximity to city centers means that we can make it available to urban customers within hours of harvest instead of days,” Puri says. He believes grocery stores also benefit when they can provide produce that has superior taste, better shelf life, and fully traceable products.

The superior quality of the hyperlocal produce appeals to both the store and shoppers, agrees Glenn Behrman, founder of CEA Advisors. His company worked with the H-E-B-owned Central Market in Dallas to grow produce on-site in a converted 53-ft.-long shipping container. “It’s in the produce department and on sale 10 minutes after it’s been harvested,” Behrman notes, adding that customers appreciate that it wasn’t trucked over hundreds of miles to get to the store shelves.

The container at Central Market — dubbed a Growtainer — protects the crops from snow, rain, and excessive heat. A 13-ft.-long utility area protects the production area from outside contamination. The 40-ft.-long production area provides environmentally controlled vertical production space, designed for efficiency and food safety compliance, Behrman says. The technology features an ebb-and-flow irrigation system, a water monitoring and dosing system, and “Growracks” equipped with LED systems.

For grocers, on-site growth of produce can reduce shrinkage. “If it takes four days to sell a case of lettuce [produced outside of the store], that last head or two is going to get thrown in the garbage,” says Behrman. Another benefit is the ability to produce small quantities of unique gourmet items. “They can use seeds from France or grow basil with seeds from Italy,” Behrman says.

Behrman believes the most suitable retail stores for on-site produce growth are those in high-income markets where consumers are willing to spend more for fresh, hyperlocal produce.