A new vertical farm, opening on the outskirts of Copenhagen is set to start producing nearly 1,000 metric tons of greens a year.
Danish startup Nordic Harvest partnered up with Taiwanese vertical farm tech company YesHealth Group to create the towering facility. The plants are grown on 14 horizontally stacked shelves totaling more than 75,000 square feet (7,000 sq.m.) - about the size of a football field if all shelves were laid out on the ground - where they rely entirely on hydroponics and LED lights and, happily, no pesticides. Energy will come exclusively from wind power, making it entirely carbon neutral.
Produce can be harvested up to 15 times a year without needing any soil or daylight. Automated robots will be used to both plant seeds and check in on them later as well. The company's organically grown produce has the additional benefits of having more flavour, greater nutritional value and longer shelf life than traditionally produced salads and herbs.
Nordic Harvest envisions that other massive facilities like it could have a major impact on the global fresh food supply. In fact, vertical farms covering an area of 20 football fields could grow enough greens to feed everyone in Denmark, as reported by Fast Company.
YesHealth is hoping to expand into East Asian and Middle-Eastern markets as well in 2021.
Last month OGN reported on a California company called Plenty in 2 Acres Vertical Better than 720 Flat Acres, where their vertical farm was capable of producing 350 times more food per acre than traditional 'flat' farms. It's great news such facilities are now being tried and tested in Europe too.
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