BERLIN and CINCINNATI — The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), America’s largest grocery retailer, and Infarm, the world’s fastest growing urban farming network, today announced a partnership that will bring modular living produce farms to North America, delivering produce picked so fresh you can see the roots. The partnership between Kroger and Infarm marks the first-of-its-kind in the United States.
The living produce farms will launch this month at two of the 15 stores planned at QFC – a Kroger banner – at locations in Bellevue and Kirkland, Washington. Using hydroponic technology, the produce will grow on site at the participating QFC stores, removing the need for extended transportation and storage and producing a more eco-conscious product. The farms are designed to scale and will provide shoppers the freshest and most sustainable living produce options available.
“Kroger believes that everyone deserves to have access to fresh, affordable and delicious food, no matter who you are, how you shop or what you like to eat,” said Suzy Monford, Kroger’s group vice president of fresh. “Our partnership with Infarm allows us to innovate by combining ground-breaking in-store farming technology with our passion for fresh, local produce and ecological sourcing. Kroger is excited to be first to market and offer the best of the season, and we’re proud to lead the U.S. on this journey.”
“We want to make fresh, pure, tasty and nutritious produce available and affordable for everyone,” said Erez Galonska, CEO and co-founder at Infarm. “Kroger’s commitment to innovation, quality and flavor makes them the perfect partner with which to launch our business in the United States and for the first time in North America.”
Kroger’s partnership with Infarm is a model of innovation in the grocery industry, as the retailer has fully invested in its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste social impact plan that aims to end hunger in local communities and eliminate waste across the company by 2025.
To download photography of the living produce farms, visit here.
About The Kroger Co.
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are Fresh for Everyone™ and dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human Spirit®. We are, across our family of companies, nearly half a million associates who serve over 11 million customers daily through a seamless shopping experience under a variety of banner names. We are committed to creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by 2025. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site.
About Infarm
Founded in 2013 by Osnat Michaeli and the brothers Erez and Guy Galonska, Infarm combines highly efficient vertical farms with IoT technologies and Machine Learning, to offer an alternative food system that is resilient, transparent, and affordable. The company distributes its smart modular farms throughout the urban environment to grow fresh produce for the city’s inhabitants. With cutting edge R&D, patented technologies, and a leading multi-disciplinary team, Infarm was founded on a visionary mission: helping cities become self-sufficient in their food production while significantly improving the safety, quality, and environmental footprint of our food. Infarm has over 500 farms in stores and distribution centers around the world and has partnered with +25 major retailers in seven countries: Germany, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
