Vertical farming as a part of vocational education – Arctic Farming into collaboration with the Joint Authority of Education in Espoo (Omnia)
Vertical farming modules developed by Arctic Farming in the dining hall of restaurant Henricus at the Omnia Espoo campus in Finland. CEO of Arctic Farming, Oliver Rotko (left) introducing the technology to Henricus’ chefs Richard Keogh (middle) and Tuomas Wasenius (right).
Vertical farming at Omnia
Arctic Farming and Omnia, the Joint Authority of Education in Espoo Region, have began a cooperation to grow fresh ingredients for Omnia’s lunch restaurants inside their own facilities, using vertical farming technologies. The innovative vertical farming solution developed by Arctic Farming enables restaurant Henricus to grow fresh herbs, salads and berries just 3 meters from the kitchen, regardless of the season. In this system, plants are grown without any soil by providing a nutrient-rich water solution directly to the plants’ roots, without the need for pesticides or herbicides, and while using just 95 % of the water used by conventional field farming.
Benefits of hyperlocal vertical farming
By growing ingredients like basil in their own premises, restaurant Henricus is able provide it’s customers with fresh produce that have been harvested only minutes or hours before the final product is served. Produce grown at restaurant Henricus are used as ingredients in the restaurant's lunch services and in the restaurant's own products such as fresh pesto. According to Tanja Griffith, the service manager at restaurant Henricus, the vertical farming modules placed in the restaurant's dining hall have aroused a lot of positive interest among the restaurant's customers as well as other guests of Omnia.
Restaurant Henricus’ chef Richard Keogh says that it is great to be able to offer local food to customers. The herbs cut from the vertical wall are of good quality and the aroma of the herbs is intoxicating. The international guests who visited Omnia were enchanted by the farming modules.
Tuomas Wasenius, Henricus' second chef, adds that the vertical farming modules have been easy to integrate into their daily operation with no disturbance to the restaurant's normal operation. Instead, integrating farming into the restaurant’s business has brought its own nuance to it. "Basil can always be found in some food, e.g. salad dressing, salads, various pies such as harvest pie," says Wasenius.
"Vertical farming and urban indoor farming are growing fields that can bring significant added value not only to the HoReCa industry but also to the wider food industry. We feel it is very important that the future experts in these fields get to know vertical farming and its benefits already during their studies. This lowers the threshold for students to use this technology later in their career, enabling the wider adoption of the technology. With this collaboration, Omnia's students get the opportunity to learn about vertical farming on their own campus, as a part of their studies.”
Oliver Rotko – CEO of Arctic Farming
Vertical farming as a part of professional education
In addition to growing fresh products, the vertical farming system developed by Arctic Farming serves as a new learning platform for Omnia's students. The easy-to-use farming modules serve as excellent practical tools for students of gardening and the green industry. Omnia’s students are in charge of taking care of the growing farming modules, monitoring the growth and quality of the plants being grown, all the while studying different methods for optimising plant growth rate e.g. by proper harvesting techniques.
In addition to students in the green industry, the vertical farming modules are also used by Omnia's laboratory students. Using an aeroponic irrigation method, the farming Arctic Farming’s vertical farming modules require high levels of monitoring of the water, and the proper balancing of the nutrient contents in the system. While the farming walls can be used with full automation, the modules are used semi-manually with Omnia's laboratory students monitoring the nutrient concentrations while studying how changes in the water affect the quality of the final product.
As part of the cooperation, representatives of Arctic Farming train the staff of restaurant Henricus and students of Omnia in the use of vertical farming. In addition to this, Arctic Farming organises additional training for Omnia's students about the benefits of hydroponics in indoor farming.
Chef Richard Keogh from restaurant Henricus harvesting fresh basil for the day’s lunch.