Georgia's first indoor vertical farm, SpaceFarms, will soon put up its first produce kiosks in different locations of the capital city of Tbilisi to bring healthier, better tasting, and longer-lasting greens to consumers.
At the initial stage of the project, six modular farms will be placed around Tbilisi next month. One kiosk will produce about 500 plants and the price of one plant will be about 3-4 GEL.
Consumers will be able to pick the plant themselves directly from the modular farm and take it home. It comes with roots and sustains all the healthy nutrients until consumption. "Isn’t it amazing to know your food, where it’s from, and how it’s grown?", said young Georgian entrepreneur Tusya Gharibashvili, who is the founder of SpaceFarms and aims to shake up traditional farming practices in Georgia by developing a new generation of high-tech farming in the country.
Gharibashvili said she has spent several years researching and developing technologies to grow plants at more yield with minimal impact on the environment compared to conventional farming.
In 2017 Gharibashvili opened her first project, Urban Greens, with a friend. Their first production facility was housed in a 15 m2 cultivation area where various microgreens were grown. Produce was delivered to restaurants and other organizations in the catering sector.
"From scratch, step-by-step, through study, in consultation with international experts, I was able to gather information on how to set up an indoor farm and grow large quantities of vegetables in a small space. Then I presented my plan to the founder of Adjara Group, Temur Ugulava, and introduced him to my business plan. I offered him Adjara Group's restaurants to have direct access to healthy vegetables. We both decided to give this plan a try", said Gharibashvili.
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