Aussie company Stacked Farm, a fully automated vertical indoor farm, has been gaining international interest amid the coronavirus pandemic. Stacked Farm, founded in 2017, produces salad greens and herbs like lettuce and rocket, and has the capacity tp produce tomatoes and strawberries. It's even looking at testing out a type of blueberry next year.
The company has been receiving a lot of interest during the coronavirus pandemic amid concerns about virus clusters breaking out in the food supply chain. Back in May, a coronavirus cluster broke out at Melbourne's Cedar Meats abattoir, which was linked to 62 cases, according to the ABC. "People are more concerned than ever about who is handling their food, where it’s coming from and how many stops it made before arriving on supermarket shelves," Stacked Farm CEO Conrad Smith said in a statement.
The company is headquartered in Burleigh Heads, Queensland and has plans to open up farms across Australia as well. "A scaled-up farm in Victoria will be our first major commercial farm," Smith told Business Insider Australia. Its farm is fully automated, with the produce packed and sealed once its harvested by robotic farming.
"It doesn’t pass through the usual supply chains either – greens and herbs can go directly to wholesalers, retails, hotels and restaurants, unlike traditional produce which passes through a number of hands before reaching our shelves," Smith said in a statement. Stacked Farm has a partnership with fresh produce supplier Morco Fresh and counts Dnata as one of its clients as well, which provides aircraft services like flight catering.
Read more at Yahoo Finance (Sharon Masige)