Ocado invests to get on fast track to vertical farming

Online grocer Ocado made a surprise pitch into the fledgling vertical farming industry on Monday as part of a “revolutionary” long-term bid to bring fresher products to customers.

Vertical farming entails growing food in indoor centres, on a series of levels under precisely controlled conditions.

Ocado has bought a 58% stake in Scunthorpe-based Jones Foods, Europe’s largest operating vertical farm, and could integrate the operation with its Ocado Zoom service to deliver fresh products to customers within an hour.

The farms could eventually be placed next to Ocado’s customer fulfilment centres.

Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner said vertical farming “will allow us to address fundamental consumer concerns on freshness and sustainability”. He added: “Our hope ultimately is to deliver the very freshest, most sustainable produce to a customer’s kitchen within an hour of it being picked.”

Ocado has also set up a joint venture with US firm 80 Acres and Holland’s Priva — both vertical farming specialists — called Infinite Acres to design infrastructure for environmentally friendly vertical farms. The two investments combined are worth £17 million.