In-store farms

Avril Supermarche? Sante? in Laval is the first retailer to use CultiGo, a revolutionary and environmentally friendly vertical farming platform that can grow a variety of organic micro-herbs on-site all year round.

How it works

The automated vertical farming platform is suspended above the store floor.

The suspended farm has multiple superimposed trays.

A total of ten individual varieties and five micro-herb mixes, certified organic by Ecocert Canada, are available to buy in the Avril Laval branch.

The micro-herbs are also used at the in-store restaurant and are distributed in Avril’s seven other branches across Quebec.

Implications

The in-store vertical farms are claimed to be a more sustainable use of natural resources, ensure zero pesticide use and promote local and extremely fresh produce.

We have seen several retailers in Europe and Asia introduce in-store vertical farms and hydroponics.

M&S is partnering with infarm – an urban farming platform - to deliver a range of fresh produce grown and harvested in a selection of M&S London stores.

More recently, online retailers have started to invest in vertical farming. In June 2019, Ocado announced plans to expand into food production with two investments into vertical farming.

JD.com has partnered with Japanese company Mitsubishi Chemical to open the largest hydroponic factory in China. Fresh vegetables from the site have been available on JD.com and at 7FRESH stores since December 2018.

All crops produced in the hydroponic factory are tracked from the time they are planted to when they are delivered to the customer.

In China, in particular, consumers place high importance on food safety while the overuse of fertiliser, environmental deterioration, and rapid population increase have caused soil problems.

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