UAE-headquartered AgriTech company iFarm has begun construction of a robotic vertical farm equipped with its technologies in Switzerland for client Hygrow, it has announced.
The vertical farm, set to begin operations next summer, will have a 1,031 m² cultivation area and utilise iFarm StackGrow technology, a fully automated system with mobile trays for growing plants on vertical farms.
According to the company, the robotic vertical farm will have automated systems for planting, washing trays, and cutting plants.
It was shared that it will produce greens, amounting to several tons per month, distributed to the country’s major retail chains.
Seen as offering a more sustainable agricultural solution, the vertical farming industry witnessed a period of significant growth and investment in recent years. However, with high costs and energy demand, labour challenges, a dip in investment, and a number of other issues, this success was followed by headwinds, with leading players going bankrupt and closing the shutters.
Commenting on this, Alex Lyskovsky, founder and CEO at iFarm, said: “In recent years, we saw significant challenges for the vertical farming industry in Europe. iFarm successfully navigated this period, thanks to various projects in the MENA countries and Indonesia.”
Lyskovsky said that following this period, the company has now “re-emerged” in the European market.
“We are excited to work with iFarm to bring this innovative technology to Switzerland. We believe that the Swiss market could really benefit from a sustainable alternative to conventional farming and imported greens,” added Hygrow.