With a vegetable garden on the roof of Delhaize and a herb nursery with LED lighting in the Antwerp METRO, Belgian retailers are increasingly cultivating their own vegetables.
Delhaize Boondael
The roof of the new Delhaize Boondael in Brussels will feature a vegetable garden of 320 m2 from next year. A greenhouse will cover half the garden in order to produce year-round. Harvests will be sold directly in the shop in Brussels.
It concerns a pilot project for cultivating cherry tomatoes for salads, and aubergines. “A shorter chain is practically unimaginable,” according to the supermarket. “We are initially trialling this initiative to research the opportunities for urban farming. But this project is more than just a rooftop garden for vegetables. It is also meant to directly involve employees and neighbours with running a city garden.”
Organic price
It is too early for estimates of volumes. The products will only be sold in the Boondael shop. Delhaize focuses on organic products for pricing. “Selling prices will be slightly lower than those of organic vegetables. In principle, the vegetables meet the requirements to be categorised as organic vegetables, but because they are not cultivated outdoor, but on a roof, they cannot carry this label.”
Artist impression of what the product will look like on the Delhaize in Brussels.
METRO cultivates herbs
Delhaize is not the only Belgian retailer who has started cultivating for themselves. Last August, a new branch of catering wholesaler’s METRO was opened in Antwerp. The supermarket has been executed according to the renewed METRO concept, which will also be introduced to other shops in coming months. The cultivation of fresh herbs is a part of that concept. Just as in a German METRO, herbs will be cultivated in the shop in Antwerp.
Herb garden in the Berlin METRO, left, and in Antwerp, right.
Cultivating herbs in the METRO in Antwerp.
Belgian rooftop gardens
The Belgian REO auction is also going to cultivate vegetables on their own roof. A research and demonstration centre should be opened there in 2018. A rooftop vegetable garden and greenhouse will appear on the roof of covered market Foodmet in Anderlecht. This 4,000 m2 nursery is going to be the largest rooftop garden in Europe. Besides fruit and vegetables, the initiators also want to produce aquaponic tilapia here.
Besides the rooftop greenhouses, rooftop vegetable gardens are also being opened all over Belgium. For example, last year Roof Food started a rooftop garden in Ghent with support from substrate supplier Greenyard Horticulture (previously Peltracom).