Indoor farming company Square Roots and food distributor Gordon Food Service have opened a climate-controlled farm in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. Square Roots was co-founded by Kimbal Musk, Elon Musk’s brother.
The new farm is the partners’ third project, after farms in Wisconsin and Ohio. It is built on a scalable smart farm platform that can be replicated quickly and affordably wherever it is needed.
Rich Wolowski, president of Gordon Food Service, says the two companies are making fresh local produce available to customers year-round, whatever the weather outside. In his words, each new farm brings them closer to their shared goal of making local food available on a global scale.
By building a distributed network of local farms in strategic locations, Square Roots shortens the distance between people and their food and keeps food waste to a minimum.
The Shepherdsville farm runs the latest version of the Square Roots platform, which raises yields by 30% and automates key processes including seeding, harvesting and sanitation. Square Roots software manages every part of growing, from planning production tasks to monitoring plant health.
Square Roots grows a range of fresh greens: basil, dill, parsley, cilantro, microgreens and salad mixes. The farm is designed to produce more than 3 million packages of herbs and leafy greens a year. All produce is grown without pesticides or GMOs and sold in recycled and recyclable packaging.
