BERLIN and CINCINNATI, Nov. 19,
2019 /PRNewswire/ -- 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.
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kroger-partners-with-europes-infarm-to-offer-in-store-living-produce-farms-300960703.html
SOURCE The Kroger Co.