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Gordon Food Service unveils ‘vertical farm’ in Grand Rapids

Posted at 7:44 PM, Sep 30, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-30 19:45:01-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Gordon Food Services has partnered with the urban farming company Square Roots to grow herbs and greens in high-tech vertical farms. Instead of growing in the ground, these crops will grow on the walls of climate-controlled shipping containers.

The farm will be able to provide fresh locally-grown herbs, such as chives, basil, and mint, to restaurants and grocery stores year-round.

“What we’re able to do with our technology in our campus here is recreate a climate that we found to be perfect for outdoor basil,” said Square Roots co-founder Kimbal Musk. “And the climate we found was in Genoa, Italy, which everyone knows is the best basil you can buy. It’s where it originated from.”

The campus’s 10 shipping containers are expected to grow about as much food as a 50-acre farm.

For more on how the farms work, check outclick here.