World’s First Profitable Vertical Farm
© Klaus ThymannIn Denmark, Nordic Harvest has built a next-generation vertical farm using technology and algorithms to reduce resources and take farming to new levels.
Vertical farms are not new, but not all vertical farms are equal, and this enterprise is using proprietary engineering and custom programming giving detailed control over all aspects of the farming – this is vertical farming 2.0
Farmed food is clean, as in the space-lab like conditions shield the plants from any outside containments and the leaves don’t get watered as the plants get all the water and nutrients from the roots. The result are plants with a much longer shelf life, there by minimising food waste - supermarkets throw out 10-30% of salads.
At the core is a
computer system controlling the process to details never seen before. Each individual plant algorithm control the amount of light, the temperature (for both plant and roots), humidity, watering and nutrients supply. This level of control reduces costs and this is why this facility is so promising - instead of draining venture capital it will generate 1000 tons of harvest per year making it the world’s first profitable vertical farm.
The plants are only gown at night, when electricity is in surplus and when scaled this will help the profitability of sustainable energy production.
The LED lights are specially manufactured using a silica mould and mounted on aluminium reflecting the heat, protecting the plants and eliminating the need for heating the facility. The LED moves between shelves, so instead of turning on/off (as other farms do) the LED lights slide and alter their positions.
Nordic Harvest is about to yield its first crops and will begin to release their first harvest in April 2021. We can get a tour of the facility by the founder before herbs and salad are on supermarket shelves, produce will be fully grown and can be tasted and gain insights into the super optimised processes.
A story can of course include background info, conventional farming vs vertical, how this farm uses renewable energy and other environmental aspects.
The featured person is the founder, Anders Ostenfeld Riemanns.
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