Indoor Farming in Amsterdam
Given the purchasing opportunities we’re surrounded with, it’s easy to forget that strawberries used to be a summer fruit, or that the main supplier of avocados to the European market is halfway across the world in Peru.[1] Human ingenuity now allows us to get anything we want, anywhere, at any time, but that luxury comes at a price.
A story by Kadir van Lohuizen
Founded in 2010 in Den Bosch, PlantLab specialises in innovative urban farming technology, using LEDs to boost daylight. The goal is to optimise food production in relatively small areas without using chemical agents, all while reducing water consumption and working towards ensuring the sustainable food supply of the future.
Their ‘local to local’ philosophy makes it possible to radically shorten the logistic chain year-round. The benefits: good product quality, longer shelf life, a reduction in food waste, and no carbon dioxide emissions or nuisance associated with long-distance transport.
Boasting the biggest indoor farm in Europe, PlantLab produces its vegetables on 15,000m2; however, the company is growing, even setting up new facilities in Indianapolis and the Bahamas. In their repertoire are vegetables like cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes and herbs like basil and coriander. At the time of writing, they produce enough to deliver vegetables to 15,000 people in Amsterdam.
The produce from PlantLab is now supplied to Picnic, a company that delivers groceries to your door using a fleet of electric vehicles. Picnic claims that they have almost no food waste due to their next-day delivery system. The swift turnaround means Picnic knows exactly what they have to order from their suppliers.
Today, Picnic operates in 170 cities and towns in the Netherlands and services 850,000 customers. Picnic also operates in Germany and France and is expanding rapidly. The turnover last year was one billion euro.
