It's easy to say vertical farm. And it's easy to say innovative, especially in agriculture. But when you talk about Local Green these are the two terms that immediately come to mind. It is, in fact, a highly innovative start-up that produces lettuces and baby leaves in aseptic cells with vertical walls and aeroponic cultivation. Salads now being tested in Coop Italia stores.
"We started on May 4 in Milan, with a test in a shop in Via Arona and in early June it will be the turn of the second store, also in Milan, in Corso Lodi," explains Claudio Mazzini, fresh produce manager of Coop Italy "For two or three years we were sifting through proposals of some vertical farms available and in the end we chose Local Green. First of all because it is a young start-up, then because the vertical technological system is really innovative and, finally, because they have made interesting and innovative product and marketing choices".
Lorenzo Beccari and Paolo Forattini are the co-founders of Local Green. "The start-up was born in September 2019 and in January 2020 it was incubated by Impact Hub," tells Lorenzo Beccari, co-founder of Local Green together with Paolo Forattini. "From June we moved to the Innovation Centre in Giussago and from then on, we started to develop the system."
"Doing more with less is the real challenge," concludes Claudio Mazzini. "This experience serves to evaluate the satisfaction of our members and consumers and, after these first tests, the response is positive. At the moment, these products have a deficit in economic sustainability, but by perfecting economies of scale and technologies, they will become more and more interesting. And, after these first few days of testing, we can say that consumers are appreciating the nickel free offer, zero pesticides, but also and above all taste and crunchiness".
Read the complete article (in Italian) at www.myfruit.it.