Israeli supermarket employs vertical farm start-up for selling produce
The new technologies eliminate the need to rely on outdoor growers and suppliers while also providing a fresher, more eco-friendly product which needs much less water and land to grow.
By IDAN ZONSHINEA Vertical Field "Urban Farm" uses BIOLED eco-lighting technology to grow produce for a Rami Levy supermarket in Bnei Brak.(photo credit: VERTICAL FIELD)
Rami Levy, one of Israel's largest supermarket chains, has been cooperating with two Israeli agri-tech start-ups to erect large containers to grow fruit and vegetables, which will be sold in the chain's stores.Vertical Field, a Ra'anana based agri-tech start-up which creates vertical, urban farms using geoponic technology, agricultural expertise and smart design, teamed up with BIOLED, a Tzuba-based eco-lighting start-up that uses LED lights to create more sustainable, profitable crops in order to erect the growing containers.According to BIOLED, Vertical Field's first container has already been set up at Rami Levy's Bnei Brak branch.Thanks to the rapidly growing worldwide population, the amount of produce must grow by 60% to keep up with demand and overpopulation trends. Current methods of farming require too much water and land to meet that demand.The new technologies eliminate the need to rely on outdoor growers and suppliers while also providing a fresher, more eco-friendly product that needs significantly less water and land to grow.BIOLED already produces eco-friendly LED lighting for a wide variety of purposes for companies in Israel and plan to expand to Europe and the rest of the global market. Recently they breezed through their crowdfunding goal, nearly two months before their funding deadline expires in January 2021.BIOLED also provides agricultural lighting for most of Israel's medical cannabis companies, most famously for the largest cannabis farm in the country, grown by medical cannabis giant INDOOR.One of the main reasons for this is BIOLED's ability to shorten and stabilize horticultural growth cycles regardless of season, while also eliminating the need for pesticides and the logistical issues that comes with supplying fresh produce to urban areas,Vertical Field's agriculture division recently burst onto the Israeli agri-tech scene with their urban farming technology, which allows for pesticide-free produce to be farmed vertically within containers big enough to fit in a parking lot, using only one tenth the amount of water usually needed.
