Sustainable urban farming: M&S partners with infarm for in-store cultivated fresh herbs

16 Sep 2019 --- Marks & Spencer is partnering with urban farming platform infarm to deliver a range of fresh produce – including Italian basil, Greek basil, Bordeaux basil, mint, mountain coriander and curly parsley – to some London stores, where they will be grown and harvested. The first in-store vertical farming will be in a newly reopened South West London store and the high-end UK grocer is set to roll out vertical farming units to a further six stores by the end of the year.

Each in-store farm unit uses 95 percent less water and 75 percent less fertilizer than traditional soil-based agriculture and is capable of producing the equivalent of 400 square meters of farmland. This results in a more sustainable use of natural resources and ensures zero pesticide use.

Infarm’s groundbreaking farming technology combines highly efficient vertical farming units with the latest Internet of Things (IOT) technologies and machine learning to deliver a controlled ecosystem with the optimum amount of light, air and nutrients, says the company. 

Each unit is remotely controlled using a cloud-based platform that learns, adjusts and continuously improves to ensure each plant grows better than the last one. 

“Infarm’s innovative farming platform is a fantastic example of what can happen when passionate agricultural, food and technology experts work together,” says Paul Willgoss, Director of Food Technology, M&S Food. “We operate as part of a complex global food supply chain and want to understand the emerging technologies that could help provide more sustainable solutions, while also delivering fantastic products with exceptional taste, quality and freshness.”

Erez Galonska, co-founder and CEO of infarm adds that London represents many of the sustainability challenges that people will experience in cities over the next several decades. “By offering produce grown and harvested in the heart of the city, we want to practice a form of agriculture that is resilient, sustainable and beneficial to our planet. This is also while meeting the needs of urban communities – first in London, and in the future, in cities across the UK,” he says. 

M&S is the first UK retailer to work with infarm and the partnership will be supported by the construction of a series of infarm distribution centers in and around London. These central hubs will provide the seedlings for each unit, which are then grown in-store. Infarm farmers will visit the stores at least twice a week to harvest and add new seedlings to the farm. The plants retain their roots post-harvest to maintain flavor and freshness. 

Founded in 2013, infarm is one of the world’s largest urban farming platforms harvesting and distributing more than 200,000 plants each month across its network. Infarm currently operates across Germany, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and the UK, where it has deployed more than 500 farms in stores and distribution centers.

The herb range available in M&S will all be priced at £1.20 (US$1.49)

Edited by Gaynor Selby