“I am convinced that one day our kitchens will be equipped with indoor vegetable gardens and that they will become a standard like fridges and washing machines are today,” says Thibaut Pradier, founder and CEO of La Grangette.
Adjusting to households
La Grangette is a French-based indoor growing cabinet supplier. Currently, they're focusing on growing cabinets and not on big vertical farms because, according to Thibaut, it was the same thing with fridges or washing machines. It took some time before they became a standard in the household. The company is convinced that in the near future, homes will be equipped with these kinds of growing cabinets.
The products come in different colors and designs
The growing cabinets are developed in-house and optimized after many R&D trials. La Grangette’s plant selections, plant for showrooms and plants are ready for delivery for the first client installation.
According to Thibaut, the cabinet has three main advantages. First, the aesthetics of the product design (by Pininfarina. Secondly, the high-end services it offers make it a premium product, including the AI services of the app that comes along with it. And lastly, the wide range of crops available that consumers can choose from.
App control and automation
Basically, it’s a child's work, because the growing cabinet comes with an app that has a virtual assistant built-in. The assistant helps to schedule plant growing to get exactly what you need when you need it. The cabinet is automatically controlled via a secure cloud and users can control the system from a mobile app. The interface, in addition to growth prediction, such as quantity and size, ensures a fluid interaction and manages everything from planting to harvesting. Meaning, plant irrigation, light, hygrometry, temperature and air circulation.
The app interface
It also allows automatic cleaning and ordering of the seedlings and consumables. Thanks to AI and Machine Learning, optimal production is automatically scheduled. In a way that sensors send data to the Cloud, which is associated with La Grangette, then algorithms define the best solution for the plants in terms of sowing, growth and harvest.
The "My Grangette" app serves as a growing log. Users can see the plants in real-time, the plants, their stage of maturity and the ideal time to harvest. It’s possible to adjust the light and put the unit in standby or off mode to add water or nutrients. Whereas, a vacation mode is also available.
Thibaut notes, “With the growing cabinets, we want to offer an extraordinary home gardening living experience, effortlessly bringing fresh produce to your plate with unimaginable tastes and freshness.”
Removing barriers
The La Grangette idea came up with the demand of people looking for local and healthy food in order to take care of themselves and our environment. La Grangette is a reminder of my childhood, Thibaut notes. “Our family house bore this name. My grandfather had a vegetable garden there which he took great care of; he knew how to grow the best vegetables. He took a lot of pleasure in taking care of it and harvesting high-quality products.” Ever since then, society has changed a lot, states Thibaut.
Today, few people are willing to put in so much effort and the space available is much less. Therefore, Thibaut wanted to transpose this experience from his younger years and adapt it to the current way of life while perpetuating the main and founding element: taste.
For more information:
Thibaut Pradier, founder and CEO
thibaut@lagrangette.com
La Grangette
www.lagrangette.com