Sees a growing demand for locally grown products
– Vertical cultivation has a place here in Sweden, and we have also seen this in the public’s reaction: We received fantastic responses when we did test days. Visitors are always amazed at how simple the process is and that we can produce every day, all year round, says Graham Clark, owner of Greeny Grow AB, a vertical farm based in Sweden.
Graham Clark, who represents Scotland by wearing his kilt
Cultivates a wide range
Greeny Grow currently operates a 180 square meter indoor courtyard. “We have thought a lot about how we would use the space when the components arrived. All our micro green frames have been modified. They all sit on a sturdy frame mounted on wheels that also contains a water tank and pump. The power supply comes from the ceiling which keeps the floor clean. Each floor has a cultivation area of 1 square meter and we have about 45 square meters that are filled when demand comes. For salads and working with Growpipes, we decided on a system with four frames, each of which can accommodate about 306 plants.
In its micro-green systems, Greeny Grow grows a selection of micro-green mixtures, sunflowers, peas, pink, purple and mixed radishes, as well as broccoli, kale and mizuna / mustard.
A simple and cost-effective system for salad production
Greeny Grow can meet the great Swedish demands for green thanks to its unique cultivation system. Graham notes that they looked at different salad production systems and realized that they needed something simple and cost-effective.
“Growpipes can accommodate all of this. This is a simple” Lego “system, easy to assemble, disassemble and extend upwards.” All components can be washed in the dishwasher and plant locks are sterilized daily after harvest. Thanks to the modifications they have made, Greeny Grow now has an extra plant in the middle of the four surrounding plants. Once cleaned, it is easy to divide each tower into its eighteen individual parts, Graham explains.
Ready for the next step
Now Graham is working hard to expand his vision as this farm is in a proof-of-concept location. “We are actively looking for a catalyst person to bring together some investors to finance the next move. We must become much larger and serve more communities with fresh, high-quality vegetables as this is a crucial element in the Swedish food supply.”
Graham explains that demand for products continues to grow as consumers demand locally produced food rather than salads coming from southern Europe. Historically, Sweden has grown salads in greenhouses, but maintenance and operating costs make it difficult to offer products all year round.
How he got into agriculture
As an agricultural engineer, Graham traveled the world for large manufacturers of agricultural equipment. While working on a major irrigation project in Saudi Arabia, he was impressed by the amount of products grown on basically sand in the mid-1980s. The head of agriculture explained to Graham that these were basically hydroponics and one day hydroponics would get the recognition it deserves. That experience stuck in Graham’s mind and reappeared more than 30 years later.
Looking for a secondary company
After a life-changing event in 2013, Graham began selling Swedish timber to Algeria. But he and his wife were always worried that supply could be a problem, or that prices would kill the market. “We started looking for a second leg for our company to stand on.” That was when Pia and Graham went to the USA and visited a container conversion company and planned to import the containers to Sweden. Nevertheless, the high costs and the limited cultivation space made it difficult to justify it as a commercial company with a container.
Then fast forward to 2019 Urban Futures, Global Conference in Oslo, where Graham and Pia participated in the Vertical Farming sessions. “Last afternoon, Professor Joel Cuello from the University of Arizona gave a lecture on the production of microalgae in greenhouses. It inspired us, also considering that there are many empty greenhouses in the area where we live, south of Gothenburg. Eventually we planned to rent part of a local tomato producer’s greenhouse. ”
Everything seemed to work fine, but then covid came into the picture. “We had done so much work, done so many studies and visits, and we had to either move forward or give up. We therefore stopped using microgreens and lettuce heads and will definitely consider algae for the future. ”
For more information:
Graham Clark, owner and grower
[email protected]
Greeny Grow
www.greenygrow.se