Walmart just invested big in vertical farming

Added on 01 February 2022

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Walmart just invested big in vertical farming

Vertical farming is quickly becoming a popular way to grow organic food close to major urban centers. Indoor "farms" that grow crops in stacked trays using LED light have opened or are underway in Singapore, Japan, the UK, US, and elsewhere. But despite the steady rise of this technology, the food grown in vertical farms is still perceived by many potential consumers as inaccessible, available only in high-end or specialty stores.

But this is about to change, after an announcement this week from America's biggest retailer: Walmart. Consumers in California will soon be able to buy vertical-farm-grown greens in Walmart stores throughout the state. As part of a $400 million Series E funding round that also included SoftBank Group's tech-focused Vision Fund, Walmart bought an equity stake in South San Francisco-based vertical farming startup Plenty.

The move makes Walmart the first major US retailer to put a significant investment into vertical farming, and according to Martin Mundo, who oversees Walmart's US produce purchasing, the company's choice to invest in Plenty was very intentional; Walmart executives looked into several other indoor farming companies over the course of four years, but chose Plenty because of its high yields and its work towards growing fruits and vegetables (in addition to greens).

Plenty's newly-appointed CEO, Arama Kukutai, told Reuters that the company increased yields in its leafy green growing rooms by 700 percent in just 2 years (preceded, importantly, by a decade of research and development).

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Photo Š Courtesy Plenty A worker inspecting produce at Plenty's current vertical farm in South San Francisco.

Source: Singularity Hub