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SweGreen’s farming solution eliminates the use of synthetic chemicals, reduces water consumption by 99% and eliminates the transportation phase.
SweGreen is a Swedish startup that is revolutionizing the way food is produced by building vertical farms inside supermarkets in Sweden and Germany. Their ecological solution makes it possible to grow leafy greens, salads, herbs and spices hyper-locally – exactly where the end consumer is.
This way, the company responds to various challenges associated with agricultural production, such as water scarcity, lack of agricultural land and dependence on global geopolitics, while extending the shelf life and improving the taste of food, without the emissions associated with transportation.
SweGreen can currently produce up to 100 different species of crops, including lettuce, dill, mint and parsley, using a hydroponic method, a nutrient water solution without soil. The plants are grown in rockwool plugs in water and each growing platform can produce an amount of food equivalent to up to three hectares of farmland.
Since the vegetables grow in a controlled and protected environment, there are no pests or weeds, and there is no need to apply any pesticides or herbicides. What’s more, this solution consumes 99% less water than traditional farming. “When you grow a kilo of lettuce outdoors, you consume around 250 liters of water, we have minimized that consumption to just over 1 liter,” reads SweGreen’s website.
Depending on the size of the supermarket and its needs, SweGreen customers can choose between a 45 square meter crop with a capacity of 300 harvests per day and a smaller crop, which can be as small as 12 square meters and produce a maximum of 116 harvests per day.
On the growing platforms, the plants receive the exact amount of nutrients, the ideal temperature and humidity, and the right amount of carbon dioxide and light for photosynthesis.
As it is a circular system, nutrients, carbon dioxide from the warehouse and irrigation water are recycled.
SweGreen also uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help with the decision-making process, taking into account the challenges posed by the different growing periods of the plants, seasonality and consumer preferences. “We have an AI tool that gives the growing recipe to our growers, so that the people working in the supermarket are given a to-do list that guarantees them exactly the products they need that day,” Sepehr Mousavi, innovation director and head of SweGreen X, tells Euronews.
Customers can see the vegetables growing and being harvested behind the glass walls of the “greenhouse” while they shop. They can then remove them from the shelves and take them home, where they can be eaten without having to wash them.
According to Sepehr, the company doesn’t want to stop there and aims to expand its offer. “We’re adding microgreens to our portfolio, testing fruit plants and we’re thinking about strawberries,” he adds.
In addition to supermarkets, SweGreen also offers digitalized and automated cultivation solutions to restaurants, shopping malls, hotels and universities, in a unique subscription-based model called “Farming-as-a-Service”. The Fotografiska Stockholm museum is one of the customers that has implemented this solution for fine dining in its restaurant, with the aim of keeping the menu seasonal and sustainable.
“Together with them and their renowned chefs, we looked at what kind of plants could be used as a garnish, as a complement, for nutrition, as starters, for cocktails, to round things off. We also looked for practical foods that are nutritious, taste good, but can be used as the centerpiece of dishes, for example,” explains Sepehr.
SweGreen has already been awarded and nominated several times for its sustainable food production and, in 2023, it won the IKANO Sustainability Award and was nominated for the FoodTech 500 for the third year running.
She might have chosen to study Meteorology and Oceanography, but ultimately pursued Communication. And that's fine because if they don't get their weather predictions right, she wouldn't be the one to change that. She started by looking for sustainable ideas and projects for the university, and since then, she has never stopped (who stops, really?). She loves to watch tv shows, but she watches few because she is demanding. You don't need much to convince her to embrace new, "greener" habits and challenges.
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