Key Takeaways
- Innovative Approach: Square Roots’ new program seeks to eliminate the need for light in indoor vertical farming, promising to dramatically cut energy consumption and CO2e emissions.
- Support and Collaboration: With financial backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the project leverages CRISPR gene-editing technology to grow plants heterotrophically, absorbing carbon from acetate.
- Potential Global Impact: This breakthrough could revolutionize the economics of indoor farming, making it a feasible option for securing the food supply in low and middle-income countries facing climate challenges.
- Scientific Foundation: The initiative builds on research by Dr. Robert Jinkerson and Dr. Feng Jiao in sustainable acetate production and heterotrophic plant growth, aiming to scale these lab findings to commercial production.
- Future Prospects: Initial trials focus on lettuces and SPACE Tomatoes, with plans to expand to staple crops like sweet potatoes and cassava, crucial for food security in vulnerable regions.
Square Roots has unveiled a transformative program poised to redefine indoor plant cultivation. Funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, this initiative explores the potential of growing plants without light, aiming to reduce the energy demands of indoor vertical farming drastically. This approach preserves the inherent benefits of indoor farming and significantly lowers production costs and carbon emissions, making sustainable agriculture more accessible worldwide, especially in regions vulnerable to climate change.
A Leap Towards Sustainable Agriculture
Square Roots’ endeavor represents a significant departure from traditional indoor farming methods, which rely heavily on LED lighting for plant growth. By adopting a “dark growth” model, the startup aims to sustain all the advantages of controlled environment agriculture—like year-round production, pesticide-free crops, and efficient resource use—while addressing one of its most critical drawbacks: high energy consumption.
Research and Collaboration
The project is grounded in cutting-edge scientific research developed by Dr. Robert Jinkerson at UC Riverside and Dr. Feng Jiao at the University of Delaware. Their pioneering work in artificial photosynthesis and plant growth in non-photosynthetic conditions has set the stage for this ambitious commercial-scale trial.
Expanding the Scope of Indoor Farming
Square Roots plans to extend this technology beyond leafy greens to more calorie-dense crops, potentially transforming food production in regions threatened by the climate crisis. The success of this program could pave the way for a new era in global agriculture, where indoor farming plays a central role in feeding the world’s growing population sustainably.
Square Roots Latest News
Opens New Facility in Kentucky in Partnership With Gordon Food Service (2022/12/07)
Building indoor farms across the continent has been a collaboration between Square Roots and Gordon Food Service. In the past year, Square Roots has set up brand-new, contiguous farms on the grounds of distribution hubs in Springfield, Ohio, and Kenosha, Wisconsin. The new Shepherdsville plant employs the most recent Square Roots platform, which boasts a variety of automated technologies and enhances yields by 30%. Square Roots cultivates a wide range of fresh greens, salad mixes, and herbs including basil, dill, parsley, and cilantro. All product sold by Square Roots comes in packaging that may be recycled and recyclable and has a minimum 14-day enhanced shelf life.
United Natural Foods and Square Roots to Co-locate Indoor Farms Across North America (2022/11/10)
Square Roots and United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) announced a partnership to co-locate Square Roots’ indoor farms on-site at specific UNFI distribution hubs. The first farm, located at UNFI’s location in Prescott, Wisconsin, will be roughly 20,000 sq ft in size and set to open in 2023. The partnership aims to reduce the time it takes to deliver produce to retail customers and increase supply chain resilience.
Square Roots & Gordon Food Service Open New Facility in Ohio (2022/10/28)
Square Roots and Gordon Food Service have opened a new indoor farm in Springfield, Ohio, to provide locally-grown, high-quality produce to chefs and retailers all year round. The farm uses Square Roots’ modular, smart-farm technology platform, with over 2 million plants growing at any given time and the capacity to grow more than 2.4 million packages of herbs and leafy greens annually. The farm employs more than 20 local farmers and operates to strict COVID-19 protocols. The Square Roots Transparency Timeline allows consumers to track the journey of the company’s greens from seed to shelf.
Expands Distribution with Meijer in Midwest (2022/09/14)
The company is now selling fresh, long-lasting produce at Meijer-branded stores in four Midwestern states. The produce is grown and harvested locally at their Kenosha farm, the company’s largest indoor farm built to date. The farm is managed using Square Roots’ modular, smart-farm technology platform, enabling farmers to grow a wide range of crops to meet local market needs. The Kenosha farm has the capacity to produce more than 2.4 million packages of herbs and leafy greens annually.
Square Roots Opens New Indoor Farm in Kenosha With Gordon Food Service (2022/08/17)
Indoor farming technology leader, Square Roots, and food distributor, Gordon Food Service, celebrated their largest indoor farm in Kenosha, WI. The farm produces fresh greens and herbs available at local stores in Wisconsin and Illinois. Square Roots’ smart-farm platform allows them to quickly deploy farms across the country to meet increasing demand for locally grown food.
Image provided by Square Roots
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