BY SEPEHR ACHARD

28TH OCTOBER 2022

• Fresh, local greens are grown by tech-enabled farmers are now sold throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania, all year round

• Springfield is the second new Square Roots indoor farm to open in partnership with Gordon Food Service in the last three months

Square Roots, and Gordon Food Service, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Springfield, Ohio, to celebrate their newest co-located farm, taking another step in their shared journey to build indoor farms together across the continent—ultimately enabling locally-grown food at a global scale.

“From our new indoor farm, co-located with Gordon Food Service at their distribution center in Ohio, we are now able to consistently supply delicious, high-quality produce to local chefs and retailers, all year round, and often within hours of harvest,” said Tobias Peggs, Co-Founder, and CEO of Square Roots. “Our modular, climate-controlled, smart-farm platform allows us to rapidly deploy commercial-scale facilities at strategic locations across the country— employing local farmers, growing local food, and strengthening local food systems, everywhere.”

“Since 2019, we’ve been on a journey with Square Roots, delivering on our vision to make locally grown, nutritious produce available to our customers, regardless of outdoor weather conditions or the time of year,” said Rich Wolowski, President and CEO of Gordon Food Service. “Together we have now built a network of indoor farms in the Midwest, bringing us closer to enabling local food at a global scale.”

Square Roots grows a wide variety of fresh greens, including herbs like Basil, Dill, Parsley, and Cilantro; microgreens; and salad mixes. Square Roots produce is available at Gordon Food Service customer restaurants, schools, and hospitals, as well as local retail stores in Ohio and Pennsylvania, including Gordon Food Service Stores.

The new farm in Springfield was deployed using Square Roots’ modular, smart- farm technology platform, which can be constructed at any location on a small footprint at quick speed. To help manage the facility, Square Roots farmers use the company’s proprietary, cloud- connected software to constantly monitor and control multiple climates, enabling a wide range of crops to be grown to meet local market needs.

Key Stats:

• The Springfield farm has over 2 million plants growing at any given time and has the capacity to grow more than 2.4 million packages of herbs and leafy greens annually.

• Square Roots has created more than 20 jobs in the Springfield region, recruiting locally to open new pathways for more young people to enter the high-tech agriculture industry.

• Square Roots offers extensive ongoing training opportunities for employees, in addition to a compensation package that is competitive and equitable, when it comes to pay, benefits and stock options. They also offers all employees accelerated career paths to propel professional advancement.

• The Square Roots Springfield farm is a USDA, Harmonized GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) Plus+ certified facility. The farm is in line with a GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) Standard and operates to strict COVID-19 protocols to keep farmers and the local community safe.

• The Square Roots Transparency Timeline can be accessed via QR code on every package of produce sold, connecting consumers to the local Springfield farm and showing the complete journey the company’s greens take from seed to shelf.

• Square Roots farms are built in close proximity to cities, creating an incredibly short supply chain that drastically reduces food miles and food waste. The company’s hydroponic growing systems allow to grow abundant, delicious produce with far less land and water than conventional field farms. All produce is sold in 100% recyclable packaging.

Image provided by Square Roots