Kiev. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – January 17, 2021 – Agriculture
Vertical Field, an Israeli startup that has developed a vertical farming system, has signed an agreement with Moderntrendo SRO, an international agricultural distributor, to locate its facilities in supermarket chains throughout Ukraine.
In early 2021, Vertical Field will implement a pilot project in the national Varus supermarket chain, and then expand to other networks. Varus operates 95 stores in 25 cities and attracts about 260,000 customers daily.
Vertical Field soil units consist of individual plant blocks that can be rebuilt as desired to grow local vegetables. This green wall is suitable for growing vegetables in shops, offices and apartment buildings or anywhere in urban areas where there is little space but many walls.
The company, formerly known as Green Wall Israel, said that the products grown with it do not contain pesticides, produce less waste than traditional agriculture, and use 90% less water, growing in exact quantities in a controlled environment with shorter growing cycles.
Farms are modular, expandable and mobile, with fully automated crop management and a sterile environment that requires much less contact with humans. The company’s statement says that it currently offers crops such as lettuce, basil, parsley, cabbage and mint, all at competitive prices.
Guy Elitzur, CEO of Vertical Field, said in a statement that the Varus project would lead to “more projects in the near future with more networks in Ukraine.”
“One of the discoveries made during the COVID-19 crisis was the need to develop solutions that would allow city dwellers to access healthy food with minimal human intervention and without dependence on transportation and delivery from remote locations,” he said.
“Today we are creating a pilot project together with Vertical Field, which will be very useful for society in the future, because the introduction of innovative and proprietary technologies for vertical cultivation of products for the urban ecosystem by Vertical Field is a new level in Ukraine,” said Denis Bondar, Director of Moderntrendo, a distributor of products in Turkey, Eastern Europe and Asia.
