AVF member, Yasai, is a vertical farming start-up and ETH spin-off. The company was founded in 2020 by Mark E. Zahran, Stefano Augsburger, and Philipp Bosshard in Zurich, Switzerland. Starting out focusing mainly on growing herbs, they intend to branch out into leafy greens and berries at a later date. They want to bring agriculture to cities with vertical cultivation!
In January 2022, Yasai launched its first product in 80 Coop shops in North-Western Switzerland.
YASAI builds and manages highly-automated vertical farms based on a circular economy to transform food systems, providing technology that is independent of local circumstances so it can be used worldwide for sustainable, future-orientated precision agriculture.
In February 2022, Yasai started collaborating with fenaco, Agroscope, and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) as project lead in an Innosuisse research project. Specialists of all partnering institutes work on improving the sustainability, quantity, quality, and profitability of Yasai's vertical farming operations. The 3-year project will be supported with an investment of close to 1 Mio. Swiss Francs sourced from industrial partners and Innosuisse.
With the Innosuisse project, Yasai aims to demonstrate the feasibility of sustainable vertical farming integrated into the smart cities of tomorrow. Reducing costs and anchoring sustainability in their production model are key targets. Research results should affect the quality and affordability of Yasai's products.
Read the complete article at www.vertical-farming.net.