Hydroponic, indoor leafy greens grower Square Roots and Gordon Food Service opened a climate-controlled, indoor farm in Kenosha, Wis.
First harvests are scheduled for spring 2022, reaching local consumers in Kenosha and the broader Chicago and Milwaukee metropolitan areas, according to a news release.
“Our partnership with Gordon Food Service, combined with our modular, smart-farm platform, means we can rapidly deploy new indoor farms in strategically located cities like Kenosha,” Square Roots Cofounder and CEO said Tobias Peggs said in the release.
The new farm makes more locally-grown food available, all year round, to new consumers in nearby Chicago and Milwaukee, which expands Square Roots’ reach in the Midwest.
“This new farm in Kenosha also accelerates our shared vision to build indoor farms together across the continent,” Gordon Food Service CEO Rich Wolowski said in the release. “Together with Square Roots, Gordon Food Service is enabling local food at a global scale, meeting increased demand for produce that is fresher, responsibly grown, and traceable from seed to shelf.”
Kenosha is the fourth Square Roots farm in North America and the largest farm the company has built to date. The farm has the capacity to produce more than 2.4 million packages of herbs and leafy greens annually. Square Roots operates two commercial-scale indoor farms in Michigan and another in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The new farm in Kenosha uses Square Roots’ smart-farm technology platform and software-controlled hydroponic growing systems that uses less water than outdoor farming does and features repurposed urban infrastructure. Growing climates are created within refurbished upcycled shipping containers stacked vertically to reduce the company’s impact on the land.
By deploying a network of local farms in cities such as Kenosha, Square Roots also reduces the supply chain, which means less distance between people and their food, reducing food miles and minimizing food waste.
The Kenosha farm will soon harvest basil, cilantro, dill and parsley, as well as salad mixes and microgreens. All Square Roots produce has a shelf life of at least 14 days.
Learn more: Salad greens and salad mixes
Founded by serial entrepreneurs Kimbal Musk and Tobias Peggs, Square Roots fresh produce is available in more than 250 retail stores nationwide, including Whole Foods Market, FreshDirect, Fresh Thyme Market, Meijer’s market format stores, Morton Williams, Busch’s Fresh Food Market, SpartanNash corporate stores and Gordon Food Service Stores.
The partnership with Gordon Food Service is part of the shared mission to build commercial-scale, climate-controlled indoor farms nationwide — enabling local food at a global scale, year-round.
Gordon Food Service started in 1897 as a butter-and-egg delivery service, and now works with foodservice operators in the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and Southwest regions of the U.S. and coast-to-coast in Canada. The company also operates more than 170 Gordon Food Service Store locations in the U.S.
