Ocado invests in "vertical farms" to produce products near distributors | Business

Ocado invests £ 17m in high-tech agriculture with the goal of growing herbs and other products alongside its robot-managed distribution centers around the world.

The online grocery specialist has acquired a 58% interest in Jones Food, a "vertical farm" that produces 420 tonnes of basil, parsley and coriander per year in stacked trays less than 12 km ( 12 km) LED in a warehouse in Scunthorpe. The producer currently supplies products such as the sandwich manufacturer Greencore.

Duncan Tatton-Brown, chief financial officer of Ocado, said the group could open at least 10 other similar farms in the next five years. He added that building a Jones Food site could take less than a year. Both companies now plan to leverage Ocado's expertise in robotics and AI to make Jones Food more efficient.

James Lloyd-Jones, chief executive of Jones Food, said the group's farm, Scunthorpe, had recycled all its water, used no pesticides and was powered by renewable energies, such as wind turbines and solar panels.

The £ 17 million Ocado investment also includes the creation of a new joint venture – Infinite Acres – with 80 Acres, a US-based vertical agriculture company, and Priva, a horticultural technology provider based in the Netherlands, as part of a four-year project to develop standard solutions. vertical farming systems that can be sold for retail sale and other businesses around the world. The 80-acre farms, based in Ohio, Arkansas, North Carolina and Alabama, are able to grow tomatoes and zucchini as well as salads and leafy grbades without the use of pesticides.

Tim Steiner, Chief Executive Officer of Ocado, said, "We are confident that our current investments in vertical agriculture will enable us to address the fundamental concerns of consumers in terms of freshness and sustainability and to take advantage of new technologies that will revolutionize how customers access fresh produce

"Our hope is finally to co-locate the vertical farms within or next to our [distribution centres] and Ocado Zoom micro-processing centers to offer the freshest and most durable products that can be delivered to the customer's kitchen within one hour of being selected. "

Ocado Zoom is a new one-hour delivery service, offering a more limited product line, launched at the beginning of the year and tested in West London.

Only eight people work at Jones Food's facility, where the herbs are grown hydroponically – getting all the nutrients they need without soil. The plants, the first of which were grown only last year, are not affected by humans, from seeds to bags, ready to be stored. A robot called Frank stacks plant trays between rack towers while the machines harvest them automatically when they are ready.

Each item inside is monitored to make sure it is clean and ready to grow the herbs quickly. Anyone entering must wear protective clothing including a jumpsuit, boots and hair nets and pbad through an overhead shower that flushes out dust. The air is filtered to prevent insects from entering.

Ocado currently sells Waitrose grocery products through its website in the UK and distributes the Morrisons website. Next year, he will trade Waitrose against Marks & Spencer as part of a £ 750m joint venture, opening up the prospect of new specialized robot operations serving 134-year-old street retailers.

Ocado has sold its state-of-the-art robotic robot preparation and packaging technology worldwide to retailers looking to develop online businesses. Under a successful contract, it is planned to build 20 warehouses for the US supermarket giant Kroger. It has also entered into technology partnerships in the grocery delivery business with Casino Group in France, Sobeys in Canada and the ICA Group in Sweden, creating a ready-made market for its robot fleets.