The Portuguese Company Re-Shaping Urban Life

With state-of-the-art technology and a multidisciplinary team, Raiz aims to produce vegetables in urban areas in a responsible, efficient and educational way.

By combining hydroponics with precision vertical agriculture and the use of solar energy in a system that is intended to be practical and efficient, based on the principles of circularity, sustainability, community and scalability.

Through the implementation of environmental control systems, they regulate the temperature, humidity, light, and concentration of carbon dioxide, creating optimal conditions for the development of plants.

One of Raiz's differentiating factors from other vertical farms is the hybrid approach to the energy solution. They do not only use solar radiation complemented with artificial light from LED lamps but also integrate translucent photovoltaic panels, seeking to reduce energy consumption from non-renewable sources.

With an interconnected system of vertical farms, starting in Lisbon will give life to obsolete and underused spaces. It will bring the production of vegetables to the city and the consumer, reducing not only the impact associated with transport but also food waste. Raiz thus acts at the level of three main strategic impact axes: environment, society, and economy.

In the environment

• Impact reduction, in contrast to traditional agriculture, through hyper-local cultivation, implementation of renewable energy solutions, and increased efficiency in the use of resources such as space, water, and nutrients. In the future, the vision is to integrate and reuse urban organic waste into the nutritional solution that feeds production.

• Raiz’s activity is in line with the 2050 Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality (which points to precision agriculture as one of the lines of action for more sustainable agriculture), and with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, stressing the contribution to the following goals:

In society

9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation; 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable;

12. Ensure sustainable production and consumption patterns.

In the economy

• Strengthening food safety and providing products free of pesticides and other phytopharmaceuticals;

• Strengthening the local community through the creation of educational and enriching experiences associated with our activity and spaces; education of the public about the origin of their food, production in urban areas, sustainability and the circular economy, seeking to promote increased confidence in these products and a critical sense of food labeling and certification.

• Development of a proximity economy, based on the creation of collaborative networks of producers, retailers, and consumers.

• Reduced transport costs and the vulnerability of distribution chains, thanks to more local logistics.

• Contribution to the development of the cities of the future.