Baby leaf and basil salads, then other vegetables. Grown with 95% less water. Without using any pesticides or pesticides. And in a fully automated way. This will be the identikit of the new vertical farm of Planet Farms for indoor hydroponic cultivation, which expands with a new plant in the province of Como in Italy. Thanks to a funding of 17.5 million euros obtained by unicredit and assisted by the Green Guarantee of SACE.
Go Vertical
High-tech urban agriculture with a very low ecological impact. It is the mix of innovation and respect for the environment and its resources that underpin the success of the Italian company founded in 2018 by an idea of Luca Travaglini and Daniele Benatoff. Offering consumers zero kilometer products and zero pollution by focusing on verticality: is the mission with which the first vertical farm of Planet Farms was born, and with it the slogan ‘Go Vertical’. A specially designed building that extends to 9 thousand square meters arranged on six floors: the equivalent of 45 tennis courts placed on each other. The largest vertical farm in Europe.
The advantages of the vertical farm
A solution, that of the vertical farm, that is acquiring more and more centrality in order to answer to some of the more pressing challenges that the future reserves us. Starting from the climate crisis and the need to cut the impact on resources and ecosystems, which has in the hydroponic technique a valuable ally given the targeted use and calibrated to the drop of water and nutrients necessary for plants to grow.
But the vertical farm also allows you to bring the garden in the city, reducing the length of the supply chain, and to zero the use of chemicals for production since indoor cultivation prevents pathogens from coming into contact with fruits and vegetables. And it greatly reduces soil consumption. In 2050 more than 80% of the world’s population will live in increasingly large urban centers and one of the answers to the need to feed 9 billion people without consuming soil comes from vertical farming. Especially if, as in the case of Planet Farms, it is based on energy self-sufficient buildings designed to house the cultivation of plant species for food.
Green aid for sustainable ideas
The SACE Green Guarantee is designed to facilitate domestic projects that can accelerate the transition to an economy with less environmental impact, integrating production cycles with low-emission technologies and promoting initiatives aimed at developing new mobility with lower emissions.