WorldWide Local Salads introduces Joe Swartz as an advisory board member

WorldWide Local Salads, a Cornwall-based vertical farming operation, introduces Joe Swartz to its advisory board. “We invited Joe Swartz to join the advisory board as we are a commercial growing company and wanted commercial growers on board. We have known Joe for many years and both Dunling & Swartz families have been in the industry for many generations,” says Grahame Dunling, COO of WorldWide Local Salads says.  

Introducing Joe
Joe concentrated on greenhouse growing and joined Am-Hydro to help them become a large greenhouse and system supplier in the USA. “Joe is well respected in the greenhouse industry and also the vice president of Am-Hydro in the United States. His focus and areas of expertise include commercial crop production, advanced growing technologies, CEA economics, and system design. He is a regularly featured speaker at indoor farming events and provides professional training to the beginning and advanced growers alike,” Grahame notes.

Joe has provided systems, guidance, and support to major worldwide corporations, including designing an indoor farm for Apple, a rooftop farm for Amway, and consultation and design for an innovative urban farming project for the Ford Motor Company. Grahame adds, “We would like to thank Jenny Harris for allowing Joe to be part of our advisory board and we look forward to many years of joint cooperation between our companies.”

Joe Swartz

Expansion plans
When asked about plans for WorldWide Local Salads, CEO, Matt Dunling said, “We have several projects that we are currently involved in and developing as we speak. Talks are ongoing with a few other organizations that we have been asked to be a part of. So, the year has started very fast along with our successful R&D into cutting LED costs. This is a huge plus, as in our industry this is the biggest drawback for vertical farming when it comes to costs.”

We have consulted on projects around the world, says Grahame, and now are now developing our own facilities to bring high-quality salads to the UK. During the last three months, the company has focused on lowering the Capex and Opex of running a warehouse vertical farm. Next to that, they’ve been testing LED Lighting to allow growing all crops to commercial standards. “Recently we had an exclusive sampling of our products by industry and retail partners which were met with great reviews. These included our salad mixes, lettuce varieties, strawberries, chilies along with some other crops that we are trialing behind closed doors,” Grahame notes.

“Our focus isn’t on microgreens as this is something which we grew back in 2007. Therefore, we wanted to focus on actual salad crops that feed and sustain people rather than just garnish a meal. For the last 9 years, I have put an emphasis on growing for taste, texture, and flavor but the biggest factor is our shelf life. Our mixed salad crops have a guaranteed seven-day shelf life, which helps cutting down on food wastage” Grahame notes. 

Former experience
WorldWide Local Salads, with 5 generations of commercial growing knowledge, started out in the 70’s on market gardens with several acres of glasshouses. Up until the mid-2000s where the company started developing the first automated vertical farm in Cornwall, UK. The company has been involved with vertical farm projects in the US, China, Bahrain and Dubai.

The middle east is where Co-Founder and COO Grahame Dunling lead vertical farming in the region. WorldWide Local Salads’ technology is fully automated, AI-controlled, including lighting and environmental controls that are controlled and implemented by incorporating the grow system into its building designs to improve efficiency.

Technology 
Grahame notes, “With this technology, we cut 30% off traditional CapEx and lighting costs while increasing income with our knowledge of modern and traditional growing techniques. Our unique brand of LEDs gives off next to no heat, can grow multiple varieties of crops including all lettuce types. Some types include Romaine lettuce, strawberries, chilies, and capsicums of which we have proven and sold to leading retail customers.”