Ocado Group is at the “forefront of the vertical farming revolution” according to broker Credit Suisse.
The leading financial services company has forecasted vertical farming to grow by 20% per year through to 2030, pinpointing Ocado as the most engaged company.
Investment into vertical farming reached more than £1.7 billion ($2.3 billion) in 2021, a 161% increase on 2020, while last month’s investment of £546 million ($740 million) outpaced the entire amount spent in 2019.
READ MORE: Ocado annual losses widen despite sales growth
In July 2021, the online grocery company said it was planning to assist with the building of a vertical farm near Bristol, having first entered the market before the pandemic.
“We believe that our investments today in vertical farming will allow us to address fundamental consumer concerns on freshness and sustainability and build on new technologies that will revolutionise the way customers access fresh produce,” Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner said in 2019.
“Our hope ultimately is to co-locate vertical farms within or next to our CFCs and Ocado Zoom’s micro fulfilment centres so that we can offer the very freshest and most sustainable products that could be delivered to a customer’s kitchen within an hour of it being picked.”
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