Clean vertical farming technology pioneer YesHealth Group is partnering with quality leafy greens producer Leafood to build and operate a network of indoor vertical farms in Lithuania and the greater Baltic region, including Poland.

To fund the project, Leafood has secured a €6.45 million seed round, led by Niels Peter Pretzmann, founder of organic farm Farmer’s Circle and hospitality hub Baltic Food Republic, alongside YesHealth Group.

 

In the short term, Leafood is seeking to raise up to €2 million from investors who share their mission of farming healthy, pesticide-free produce, through controlled-environment agriculture, for the Baltic marketplace.

Construction of the first Leafood vertical farm is taking place in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, and is slated for completion by Q1 2023.

7th generation vertical farming system

The initial footprint of the indoor vertical farm is 4000m², within a 7150m² space, yielding over 1,000kg of leafy vegetables per day, and it will be entirely powered by renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

30,000 LED panels replace sunlight in the vertical farm, delivering specific light spectrums and at optimised temperatures.

Soilless, Gelponic technology forms the backbone of YesHealth Group’s seventh-generation vertical farming system, delivering higher quality produce with significantly less waste than earlier generations of hydroponic technology.

In a statement, YesHealth Group said that since the early days of indoor vertical farming, the business has always focused on health and sustainability. “But the challenge for us today is the same challenge faced by vertical farmers everywhere – not just to deliver on our promises of health and sustainability, but also profit. Our indoor vertical farms in Taiwan, the greater China region, Italy and Denmark have taught us how to overcome this challenge, so we are now able to share our technology and know-how with more global strategic partners like Leafood. We have agreed with Leafood to build and operate their first indoor vertical farm in Lithuania, reach profitability within two years, then expand together across the greater Baltic region.”