Square Roots and distributor Gordon Food Service have launched a co-located indoor farm in Springfield, Ohio, the latest step in the companies’ plan to expand availability of locally grown food.
The Springfield farm has more than 2 million plants growing at any given time, with the capacity to grow more than 2.4 million packages of herbs and leafy greens in a year, according to a news release. The operation is the partnership’s second such farm to open in the past three months.
“From our new indoor farm, co-located with Gordon Food Service at their distribution center in Ohio, we are now able to consistently supply delicious, high-quality produce to local chefs and retailers, all year round, and often within hours of harvest,” Tobias Peggs, co-founder and CEO of Square Roots, said in the release. “Square Roots’ modular, climate-controlled, smart-farm platform allows us to rapidly deploy commercial-scale facilities at strategic locations across the country — employing local farmers, growing local food, and strengthening local food systems, everywhere.”
Square Roots grows fresh greens, including herbs, microgreens and salad mixes. Its farms are built near cities to establish a short supply chain to reduce food miles and food waste, the release said, adding that the company’s hydroponic growing systems require far less land and water than conventional field farms.
The company’s produce is available at Gordon Food Service customer restaurants, schools and hospitals, as well as local retail stores in Ohio and Pennsylvania, including Gordon Food Service Stores, according to the release.
“Since 2019, we’ve been on a journey with Square Roots, delivering on our vision to make locally grown, nutritious produce available to our customers, regardless of outdoor weather conditions or the time of year,” Rich Wolowski, president and CEO of Gordon Food Service, said in the release. “Together, we have now built a network of indoor farms in the Midwest, bringing us closer to enabling local food at a global scale.”
Square Roots’ proprietary, cloud-connected software helps farmers manage the facility by constantly monitoring and controlling multiple climates, enabling a variety of crops to be grown to meet local market needs, according to the release.
