Square Roots Furthers U.S. Expansion With New Kentucky Facility

December 6, 2022

Square Roots and Gordon Food Service opened a new climate-controlled, indoor farm today in Shepherdsville, KY.

Since establishing their strategic partnership in 2019, Square Roots and Gordon Food Service have been building indoor farms together across the continent — with the ultimate aim of bringing locally grown food to customers at a global scale. In the past year alone, Square Roots has deployed new, co-located farms on Gordon Food Service distribution centers in Kenosha, WI; Springfield, OH; and now Shepherdsville.

“Working with Gordon Food Service, we’ve tripled our aggregate growing capacity this year while entering three new strategic markets across America’s heartland,” said Tobias Peggs, co-founder and CEO of Square Roots. “This rapid expansion is purely driven by customer demand for our locally grown food. And it’s been enabled by our scalable smart-farm platform — which we’ve shown can be replicated in multiple new locations, quickly and cost-effectively.”

The new Shepherdsville facility showcases the latest version of the Square Roots platform, which increases yields by 30 percent and features a range of automation technologies for key functions, including seeding, harvesting and sanitization. Inside the farm, the local team uses Square Roots’ proprietary software to manage every aspect of growing — from planning production tasks to monitoring plant health. Meanwhile, all Square Roots farms are USDA Harmonized GAP+ Certified for the highest levels of food safety.

“Together, Gordon Food Service and Square Roots are making locally grown, fresh produce available to our customers all year round, regardless of outdoor weather conditions,” said Rich Wolowski, president and CEO of Gordon Food Service. “Each new farm we open gets us closer to our shared goal of enabling local food at a global scale.”

Square Roots’ recirculating hydroponic system uses far less water, and requires far less land, in comparison with conventional field farms. And by deploying a distributed network of local farms in strategic locations like Shepherdsville, Square Roots creates less distance between people across America and their food, reducing food miles and minimizing food waste.

The Square Roots team in Shepherdsville will soon be harvesting long-lasting herbs, nutritious salad mixes and chef-favorite microgreens. The facility has been sized to produce over 3 million packages of herbs and leafy greens annually. All Square Roots produce has at least 14 days of extended shelf life, is completely free of pesticides and GMOs, and is sold in recycled and recyclable packaging.