Shelf-size vertical farms are revolutionizing the food industry.
When working as a partner manager at Pinterest in 2015, Andrew Shearer found himself collecting pins about at-home farming. However, he found it was difficult to cultivate his own produce. “There was tons of misinformation and I saw an opportunity to take technology from different industries and bring it together in a way that truly enables anyone to grow their own food,” Shearer says.
Farmshelf, which is based in Brooklyn, has created a piece of automated technology that several New York City restaurants are now using to cultivate more than 50 types of produce such as leafy greens, herbs, and microgreens right in their kitchens, eliminating the need for food to be shipped an average of 1,500 miles. What’s more, the shelf-size vertical farm yields produce faster and with a higher nutritional value than what you’d find at a grocery store.
Here, Shearer shares why working with chefs has been a key to success and his vision for the company.