After nearly a decade of researching and developing the latest technology to grow crops at 350 times the yield of conventional field-grown greens, UP Vertical Farms™ has launched its inaugural facility in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, alongside its sales and marketing partner Oppy.
UP Vertical Farms has launched its inaugural facility in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia.
Grown using 99 percent less land, 99 percent less water, 99 percent less fertilizer, and no pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides, UP is fully automated from seeding through to harvest. Using recycled CO2 and proprietary lighting technology, leaves are grown to custom Brix levels and flavor profiles while lasting 22+ days refrigerated. Because the greens are never touched by human hands, they are ready to eat right out of the package with no need to wash them.
Left to right: Shahram Rashti, Bahram Rashti.
“We are thrilled to go live after many years of research, development, and planning,” said Bahram Rashti, co-founder of UP Vertical Farms. “With climate change affecting the fresh produce supply in a multitude of ways, we’re honored to help Canada navigate its food security issues — as with recent shortages experienced in the traditional leafy greens sector, for example. These limitations in supply will be a continuous issue, one we had foreseen and for which we developed a commercial-scale solution to address. Our facility will further limit Canada’s dependence on imported greens in the provinces we supply, and we anticipate expanding our footprint quickly.”
Left: Aaron Quon; right: UP forecasts production of just under 2 million lbs. of salad greens per year.
Forecasting production of just under 2 million pounds — or 6.3 million bags — of salad greens per year, UP Vertical Farms also can customize packs specific to the individual needs of retailers and restaurants. Because crops are grown in an automated 13 to 21-day period, blends can be tailored and grown instantaneously to keep pace with ongoing trends, which adds to the quality and consistency UP delivers to its partners.
“Entering the vertical farming space with Bahram and Shahram Rashti has been an 'upmost' pleasure,” said executive director of berries and Canadian category development Aaron Quon. “We look forward to bringing their long-time vision to life and providing retail customers with advanced, sustainable technology in leafy greens.”
Facility tours have begun, so contact an Oppy sales representative for more information.
For more information:
Kelsey Van Lissum
Oppy
Tel.: +1 (604) 461-6779
kelsey.van.lissum@oppy.com
www.oppy.com