German retailer Metro Cash & Carry, in collaboration with Microgreens Romania, will bring this month a smart indoor vertical micro-farm to its store in Baneasa, in northern Bucharest, that will grow aromatic plants. These fresh plants will then be sold to the store’s customers.

The project’s aim is to “provide HoReCa (food service industry e.n.) customers with the freshest ingredients possible,” the retailer said in a press release.

The automated farming installation supports the simultaneous growth of 175 pots with micro-plants. The Metro store in Baneasa will thus grow and sell the most common aromatic plants used in restaurant kitchens, such as parsley, basil, coriander or mint.

The plants stay in the tiny greenhouse until they reach a weight of 30-40 g, which takes about two weeks, and then they are put up for sale. Production is controlled through an app that provides specific information on temperature, humidity or brightness, which allows the cultivation of plants under optimal conditions.

Metro plans to install similar in-store vertical micro-farms in five other cash & carry units in Romania.

Metro Cash & Carry entered the Romanian market in 1996, when it opened the first store under this brand in Bucharest. The group currently has 30 cash & carry units in Romania.

newsroom@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Metro)