Oh My Greens (OMG), opens an industrial-scale vertical farm in Söderfors, Sweden, to produce herbs for ICA, a Swedish grocery retailer. The herbs will be available for consumers in June 2022.
The distributor is ICA, a grocery retailer in Sweden with around 1 300 stores. ICA will be the first private label brand in the Nordics with vertically farmed products. Starting in June 2022, the vertically farmed herbs will be available to almost 350 ICA stores north of the city of Avesta.
“Netled’s Vera vertical farming technology will allow us to provide customers throughout Sweden with fresher herbs and leafy greens, grown hyper-locally and with a significantly reduced carbon footprint”, says Moses Isik, CEO of OMG. “Not only does the customer benefit, but the planet does, too.”
”The reason why we have ICA as a customer basically buying all the volumes is that they want to be at the forefront of developing a sustainable food system of the future.”
First one to deliver Climate Neutral Certified herbs
OMG’s facility is the first vertical farm in the world delivering Climate Neutral Certified herbs from seed to shelf. They calculate their emissions footprint on a granular level including ingredients, storage, production, packaging, mobility, and upstream and downstream logistics until the products reach the shelf. The certificate is granted by the Climate Neutral Group.
The facility is built in an old steel factory of 2 000 m2 (21,528 sqft) and it operates with renewable energy: wind power. The remaining CO2 emissions are compensated by financing an NGO’s agroforestry project of 214 hectares in India.
”The reason I went into the vertical farming business is that I’m seeing that we are heading off a cliff with our current food production. I felt the need to participate in catalyzing a change,” Moses Isik states.
Technology is key
As a turn-key vertical farming project provider, Netled is not just a technology company, but also offers all services and support needed for building a commercially viable vertical farming business.
“We considered 17 different vertical farming technology providers and came to the conclusion that, in terms of its technology, know-how, and delivery capabilities, Netled is years ahead of the competition,” says Moses Isik.
“When you want to go to industrial scale and do a big-size investment, you really need to know you have a partner who understands the technology, has the employees, the backbone and history of also being able to create a project like this. There is a lot of complexity. We chose Netled and we are happy with our choice.”
“This launch not only allows OMG to produce fantastic products for customers throughout the whole of Sweden, but it is a clear example to farm operators of the industrial-scale opportunities our Vera® vertical farming technology and our experienced project team can provide,” Netled CEO Niko Kivioja says.
For more information:
ICA Group
+46 (0)10 422 52 52
press@ica.se
www.ica.se
Oh my Greens
www.ohmygreens.se
Netled
netled.fi