Swegreen and Ica Maxi Stenhagen launch Uppsala's first In-Store vertical farm!

Aiming to become fully self-sufficient in the case of herbs, spices and leafy greens, Ica Maxi Stenhagen has established a collaboration with Swegreen and launched Uppsala's first in-store vertical farm. Their customers can now buy climate-smart, hyper-locally grown and freshly harvested herbs and leafy greens all year round, independent of seasons.

By installing Swegreen's vertical farming platform, which is especially developed for supermarkets and retail stores, Ica Maxi Stenhagen takes another important step forward and dedicates to a more sustainable planet and enables its customers to shop more sustainably. As the global climate crisis, rampant CO2 emissions, population growth and the upcoming shortage of arable land are becoming large parts of the public debates today; there is no doubt that new innovative farming approaches are a significant part of the future to deal with sustainability issues of the agrifood sector.

- With our super efficient in-store farm, a supermarket can harvest up to 450 plants a day. The store will have the opportunity to produce its own daily fresh crops grown in a climate-smart way with a world-unique technology, says Swegreen's CEO Pierre Mohlin.

Swegreen's system is based on hydroponics technique in a controlled environment, which means that plants grow on rockwool plugs with their root spread in a nutrient-rich water solution instead of soil. In the farm, each plant receives what it demands to grow perfectly in an optimal condition and climate, tailored to their need.

- Our in-store platform is actually the world's most productive one amongst our competitors, and is very unique based on the whole process of farming taking place in the store itself. No transport is required and since the system is fully controlled, no synthetic chemicals are needed to be sprayed on our plants for protection, says Pierre Mohlin.

Swegreen's climate-smart InStore platform offers numerous benefits to the retailer, end consumers and dedicates to the climate. The carbon dioxide that the crops need for photosynthesis is captured through the store’s ambient airflows and from the shoppers' 'exhaled breath' in the store. The cultivation is designed in a very circular model and all water as well as nutrients are recycled. It is also the case for energy and the excess heat from the LED lights is used to heat up parts of the store. Since the crops do not need to be transported further than from the cultivation room to the store shelves, there is further reduction of greenhouse gas emissions associated with unnecessary transportation.

- When I look at the farm here inside our store, it feels like the future is already here! At the same time, it sends a clear message as we know that locally produced and sustainable fruit and vegetables are tremendously important for our customers. With our own farm in place, we fulfilled our customers’ wish and show that we are an innovative store that provides a strong customer experience, says Ica Maxi Stenhagen's Deputy CEO Gabriel Purbe.

Now the in-store farm has been in operations for a couple of weeks and the store management and staff are already noticing the huge customer interest in their exciting investment!

- Our expectations are obviously high, and I am glad that the farm has already become a subject of conversation and a trendy attraction amongst our customers and the people living in Uppsala, says Gabriel Purbe.

Facts about Swegreen's in-store farm at Ica Maxi Stenhagen:

- The farm’s size is 60 square meters and there are four vertical layers of cultivation for the plants.

- The irrigation system is circular - the water and the nutrients which are not absorbed by the plants are recycled in the system repeatedly.

- All crops are grown from seeds to fully-grown plants inside the store with zero need for transport

- The cultivation is in a closed environment and the staff wear protective suits and advanced technologies and filtering systems uproot the risks for bacteria and pests.

For more information reach out to:

Pierre Mohlin, CEO of Swegreen - pierre.mohlin@swegreen.se, +46(0)708-15 56 78

Gabriel Purbe, Deputy CEO of Ica Maxi Stenhagen - gabriel.purbe@maxi.ica.se, +46(0)18-67 75 01

About Swegreen

Swegreen is an agtech company founded in 2019 and has quickly developed into Sweden's leading company and innovation venture in vertical and in-store farming. What Swegreen is offering to its customers is the world's most efficient and productive InStore farming solution and the most hyper-local and climate-smart greens, grown in sustainable, circular, futuristic and controlled-environment growing systems.

Swegreen is a pioneering enterprise in offering urban farming in a service model by combining innovative technologies, agricultural expertise, enabled by AI-driven farm management and cloud-based monitoring platforms – a subscription model called Farming as a Service, FaaS.

Swegreen’s InStore growing systems secure hyper-local production of leafy greens and herbs of highest quality for its customers with 100% taste and minimum resources required.