When the Food Industry Association asked Americans to list reasons why they buy local produce, 82 percent of those surveyed cited a desire for freshness. Finding fresh local produce in conventional grocery stores, especially in urban settings, is not always easy. Retail distribution systems are designed to deliver products in as few trips as possible. Breaking this down into numerous shorter trips can be time-consuming and expensive. Large grocery store chains often have long-term contracts in place with out-of-state suppliers that are difficult to breach and, therefore, don't have store capacity for local produce.
Despite these drawbacks, a handful of grocery stores across North America are pioneering a new way of growing that puts hyper-local food at the forefront of the supply chain. For those operating these farms, such as Kelli Ebbs, store manager of Muskoka North Good Food Co-op in Huntsville, Ontario, the two large shipping-like containers in the store's parking lot have filled a much-needed gap in the supply chain.
The first container farm was installed in the store's parking lot approximately a year and half ago. Built in Canada by Growcer and designed for the fluctuations in the Canadian climate, structural insulated panels keep cool air inside during the summer and make working conditions bearable in winter. Currently growing salad greens, cooking greens and herbs, when a second unit comes online this winter, the store will experiment with growing fresh locally grown strawberries. If the popularity of the first unit is any indication, it will be no problem making sales.
"We can harvest 100 units of fresh produce on a Wednesday and, by Saturday, it is gone," says Ebbs. A half-pound bag of fresh salad greens sells for CDN$8, which is comparable to pre-packaged organic greens sold in any grocery store across Canada. The popularity of the products has meant that Ebbs has been able to cover the continuing operating costs of the vertical farm without it having an impact on store profits.
Read the entire article at Modernfarmer