A Canadian startup has patented growing the salads inside warehouses using LED lights. They are part of the Local Indoor Vertical Farming industry that has received $300 million in investments this year from Softbank, Amazon, Google Ventures, and the Musk family.

The Problems Faced by Retailers and Consumers

The Situation:

1. 1. Vegetables travel (on average) 1,500 miles from where they are harvested to where they are eaten.
   2. The farming techniques used.

The Effect:

1. 1. Shelf life is 14 days from harvest – so up to 50% of salads are thrown out by retailers. Consumers are also unhappy that salad purchased on Monday needs to be thrown out on Wednesday
   2. Salads contain pathogens – Causing food poisoning. Chipotle shut down for months and DOLE Salads killed 3 people last year.
   3. Taste and Nutrition is terrible – Fresh is king! Every day away from harvest causes nutrients to be lost.
   4. Growing lettuce can cause problems to the environment- It is grown with Pesticides and the farming methods are destroying bees, birds and water systems.

The Solution

Grow, harvest, and package organic “Grab and Go” Salads locally in a 15,000 sq. ft. pre-fabricated building located in a 14’ high warehouse.

• Vegetables are grown in specially designed Grow Units
• Each grow unit contains electronics that manage the grow cycle
• 24 Grow Units are located in a Grow Room
• Each of the warehouses has 5 environmentally controlled grow rooms
• The grow rooms surround a packaging area with custom cleaning and packaging processes
• The entire facility is SQF Level 3, the same food safety standard used by major companies