Victor Shuleshko, an agricultural lighting developer and founder of Green Future, has successfully implemented projects for building vertical farms both in Ukraine and abroad. Recently, his company, Green Future, constructed a 600-square-meter vertical farm for growing salads in the UAE and expanded this project to include tulip cultivation on 200 square meters. His inventions for lighting and supplemental lighting in urban and vertical farms are patented and recognized globally.
The idea of creating his vertical farm arose from Victor's desire to maximize efficiency. His expertise in lighting was acquired while working on lighting projects for large-scale facilities such as the Odessa airport and factories. He sets high standards for himself, striving for his work to be at the forefront of innovation.
One of Victor's key achievements is the fully automated vertical farm in Lviv. This innovative solution allows the farm to operate without human intervention, providing autonomous plant growth processes. The system can control watering and fertilization and analyze results, ensuring optimal conditions for plant growth.
Thanks to proper lighting and automated processes, Victor's farm is capable of growing plants faster than under natural lighting. Basil, for example, grows 5–10 days faster, leading to significant fertilizer savings and increased production efficiency.
While vertical farms have yet to find widespread demand among agrarians in Ukraine, they have found clients in other sectors, such as IT specialists, restaurateurs, and retailers. Restaurants have begun building their farms to supply greens to their establishments, convinced of the model's effectiveness. Negotiations are also underway with large Ukrainian retail chains for product supply. In Europe and the Emirates, clients are also being attracted. Lighting technology allows for the cultivation of various crops in one facility, reducing costs and increasing production efficiency.
Source: east-fruit.com