Online supermarket Picnic will sell vegetables grown in a so-called indoor farm, where they will be grown under artificial light. These vegetables come from the PlantLab company and, according to the makers, are grown with little water and without crop protection agents. Picnic finds the short chain to the consumer valuable.
In a statement, this form of indoor urban agriculture is called the 'food supply of the future'. The vegetables and herbs do not see daylight, because the cultivation location is the former IBM building on the outskirts of Amsterdam. PlantLab delivers the crops directly to the Picnic distribution center in Diemen. In the first instance it concerns herbs such as basil and mint sprigs. Vegetables such as snack tomatoes and lettuce will follow later.
Close to home
Michiel Muller, co-founder of Picnic, states in the statement that the short route to the consumer is especially an advantage. "Both the cutting and the end product do not come from a distant country, but simply from Amsterdam. What Picnic has succeeded in doing, by removing environmentally harmful links from the process, PlantLab is now doing in agriculture."
According to Michiel Peters of PlantLab, growing crops in cells under artificial light is the solution to the global food issue. "The food supply must be more sustainable and efficient within a future-proof model. The population is growing worldwide. This also increases the need for good food. That must be more sustainable. Indoor farming is the solution in the Netherlands and the rest of the world."
Innovative solution
PlantLab has been perfecting indoor farming for 10 years now. Over the past ten years, €50 million has already been invested in the development of technology. In a space with an area of 2 football fields, enough can be produced to provide a city of 100.000 inhabitants with 200 grams of vegetables daily, the company claims.
During the pilot, PlantLab's fresh vegetables and herbs will be available to the more than 100.000 households supplied from the distribution center in Diemen. In July, PlantLab raised another €20 million in growth money from De Hoge Dennen Capital. With the investment, the company will open indoor production locations in the Netherlands, the United States and the Bahamas, among others.
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