Swegreen's new in-store farm will be the Scandinavia's biggest!

Swegreen's innovative in-store service will make the Ica Maxi megamarket in Linköping, located in Mid-Sweden, the first of all Sweden's megamarkets to offer fresh herbs and salads grown from seed to fully grown plant inside the store itself. Every day, several hundred fresh leafy vegetables can be harvested for the store's customers on site.

- It won't get more locally produced than this, says Ica Maxi Linköping's CEO Tomas Lundvall.

The actual cultivation facility, which takes place in the middle of the store entrance, will have glass walls from floor to ceiling. This, together with an eye-catching light from the plants' LED system, will leave a clear mark on the entrance to the store when installation is ready later this spring.

- We have chosen a central place for cultivation to really insist on our commitment to a greener and more climate-smart food production model. The cultivation will be an attraction in itself for our customers, and once they get the opportunity to taste these crops, many will understand what a fantastic quality such a cultivation system offers;Tomas Lundvall the CEO and owner of the megamarket highlights.

- Our salads, leafy greens and herbs will simply be the smartest greens in town! he adds.

The new in-store plant is based on hydroponic cultivation technology. Nutrition comes directly from the irrigation and enriched water, which will be recycled. The system can also recover energy, carbon dioxide and nutrients. Behind the innovation is the leading Swedish agtech company Swegreen, which has developed both the cultivation system itself and also the AI-based control and monitoring system which, via a cloud service, controls and optimizes the environment and ensures the process of growth in the cultivation.

- We are very proud to work with the Ica Maxi in Linköping and their team for this project and installation. Their commitment to hyperlocal, sustainable and climate smart produced food shows that this is a megastore at the forefront of the sector, says Swegreen's CEO Andreas Dahlin.

- Ordinary vegetables which are sold in the Swedish supermarkets have traveled an average of 3,000 kilometers, while these crops have not been transported at all. Of course, it gives better taste, freshness, better consistency and durability - and also better nutritional value, he continues.

The new in-store service will start delivering leafy greens in May, and it will then be able to supply the megastore with different kinds of herbs such as coriander, dill, parsley, also lettuces and different varieties such as kale. The crops will also be used for in-house production in the store's own kitchen, and in the future the possibility of more types of vegetables has been seen. 

Swegreen is an all-Swedish ESG AgTech company combining advanced technology with data and plant science to efficient produce high quality and climate smart leafy greens in urban environment. Swegreen offers a prescription based growing service called Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS). With it, any supermarket or restaurant owner can supply their customers with fresh, nutritious, well-tasting and hyper-locally produced leafy greens all year. See more at www.swegreen.com

ICA Maxi Stormarknad Linköping was established in 1993 as one of the ICA Groups first Maxi megamarkets in Sweden. It's the largest of its kind in the region and one of the largest ICA-stores all categories. The total sales area is 8,000 sqm and it employs around 300 persons. See more at: www.ica.se/butiker/maxi/linkoping/maxi-ica-stormarknad-linkoping-8900/start/

Picture: Swegreen's board member Pierre Mohlin meets up with Milleriine Axelsson who will be responsible for the in-store growing unit from Ica Maxi's side.

Source and Photo Courtesy of My New Desk

Source: My News Desk