Indoor farming company Square Roots and produce distributor Gordon Food Service have opened a climate-controlled indoor farm in Shepherdsville, Ky.
The companies established a strategic partnership in 2019. In the past year, Square Roots has deployed co-located farms on Gordon Food Service distribution centers in Kenosha, Wis.; Springfield, Ohio; and now Shepherdsville, according to a news release.
“Working with Gordon Food Service, we’ve tripled our aggregate growing capacity this year while entering three new strategic markets across America’s heartland,” Tobias Peggs, co-founder and CEO of Square Roots, said in the release. “This rapid expansion is purely driven by customer demand for our locally grown food. And it’s been enabled by our scalable smart-farm platform — which we’ve shown can be replicated in multiple new locations, quickly and cost-effectively.”
The new Shepherdsville facility showcases the latest version of the Square Roots platform, which increases yields by 30% and features a range of automation technologies for key functions including seeding, harvesting and sanitization, according to the release.
Inside the farm, the local team uses Square Roots’ proprietary software to manage every aspect of growing — from planning production tasks to monitoring plant health. Meanwhile, all Square Roots farms are USDA Harmonized GAP+ Certified for the highest levels of food safety, according to the release.
Square Roots grows a wide variety of fresh greens, including herbs like basil, dill, parsley, and cilantro; microgreens; and salad mixes.
“Together, Gordon Food Service and Square Roots are making locally grown, fresh produce available to our customers all year round, regardless of outdoor weather conditions,” Rich Wolowski, president and CEO of Gordon Food Service, said in the release. “Each new farm we open gets us closer to our shared goal of enabling local food at a global scale.”
Square Roots’ recirculating hydroponic system uses far less water, and requires far less land, in comparison with conventional field farms, according to the release.
By deploying a distributed network of local farms in strategic locations like Shepherdsville, Square Roots creates less distance between people across America and their food, reducing food miles and minimizing food waste, according to the company.
The release said the Square Roots team in Shepherdsville will soon be harvesting herbs, salad mixes and microgreens. The facility has been sized to produce over 3 million packages of herbs and leafy greens annually, according to the release.
All Square Roots produce has at least 14 days of extended shelf life, is free of pesticides and GMOs and is sold in recycled and recyclable packaging, the company said.
