Seven-Eleven in Japan will turn to an indoor farm to grow vegetables for its salads and sandwiches. The aim is to reduce weather-related supply risks.
The roughly 6 billion yen (US$53.3 million) plant factory will be built on a Sagamihara site in Kanagawa Prefecture. Featuring a light-emitting-diode (LED) lighting system, the facility will be able to churn out enough lettuce for 70,000 salads per day.
The facility is slated to begin operating in January. Seven-Eleven will use the vegetables in products for sale in stores in Tokyo and neighbouring Kanagawa Prefecture. It will consider growing spinach and other vegetables as well.
This foray into indoor farming by the country’s largest convenience store operator could encourage the model to spread. Seven-Eleven, a unit of Seven & i Holdings, plans to build more indoor farms alongside supplier production sites across Japan.
Source: asia.nikkei.com
Image: Freshplaza.com