Sodexo said it plans to install hydroponic vertical gardens in its school and college and university accounts across the nation to provide year-round access to microlocal produce.
The giant contractor did not reveal how many accounts would be retrofitted with the container gardens, nor how much of the institutions’ vegetable needs will be met by the output. But it asserted that the introduction of on-site growing facilities will allow for greater trackability and crop consistency and less food waste.
“Students, institutions, and corporate businesses want healthy, safe, and delicious food, and they want it sourced as sustainably as possible,” Sodexo Director of Produce Category Kenny Lipsman said in a statement, indicating business and industry accounts might also be outfitted with the gardens. “Sodexo is proud to use and support the latest agricultural technology to create meaningful food system change.”
The growing apparatus is being provided by Freight Farms, a specialist in vertical gardens. The company says its vertical farms are already in place at 35 universities across the country.