Last updated on December 15th, 2022 at 05:07 pm
Square Roots and Gordon Food Service have announced the opening of a new climate-controlled, indoor farm in Shepherdsville, Kentucky.
Since establishing their strategic partnership in 2019, Square Roots and Gordon Food Service have been building indoor farms together across the continent with the ultimate aim of bringing locally-grown food to customers at a global scale. In the past year alone, Square Roots has deployed co-located farms on Gordon Food Service distribution centers in Kenosha, Wisconsin; Springfield, Ohio; and now in Shepherdsville, Kentucky.
“Working with Gordon Food Service, we’ve tripled our aggregate growing capacity this year while entering three new strategic markets across America’s heartland,” said Tobias Peggs, co-founder and CEO of Square Roots.
“This rapid expansion is purely driven by customer demand for our locally-grown food. And it’s been enabled by our scalable smart-farm platform – which we’ve shown can be replicated in multiple new locations, quickly and cost effectively.”
The new facility showcases the latest version of the Square Roots platform, which increases yields by 30 percent and features a range of automation technologies for functions including seeding, harvesting and sanitization. Inside the farm, the local team uses Square Roots’ software to manage every aspect of growing from planning production tasks to monitoring plant health.
“Together, Gordon Food Service and Square Roots are making locally grown, fresh produce available to our customers all year round, regardless of outdoor weather conditions,” said Rich Wolowski, president and CEO of Gordon Food Service. “Each new farm we open gets us closer to our shared goal of enabling local food at a global scale.”
The Square Roots team in Shepherdsville will soon be harvesting herbs, salad mixes and microgreens. The facility has been sized to produce more than 3 million packages of herbs and leafy greens annually. All Square Roots produce has at least 14 days of extended shelf life, is free of pesticides and GMOs and is sold in recycled and recyclable packaging.
