Timfog has partnered with Plant Factory to build a vertical farm in the basement level of the parking lot of a shopping mall in Istanbul. Timfog is handling the Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) based climatization of the indoor vertical farm with its Greenhouse Air Handling Unit machine. Alongside Plant Factory’s irrigation, fertigation, and light system.
“The aim is to cater to the needs of Horeca businesses in the shopping mall and to show the public the possibility of nutritious, dependable, year-long, fresh green leaves can be produced in a CEA vertical farm,” Can Kulekcioglu from Timfog explains.
The 1,200 sq.m. (12916,69 sq. ft.) İnvestment is made by Plant Factory as a part of the strategy that was initiated a long time ago. Indeed, Can points out that the founders of Plant Factory wanted to find solutions for the supply of leafy greens to Turkish restaurants. “Because of the distances that lettuce and leafy greens, generally speaking, have to travel before they get to their destination, the quality of the produce goes down,” Can says. In fact, restaurants in Istanbul are constantly competing with each other to score the best produce they can. So, the founders of Plant Factory did market research and understood the needs of the Horeca businesses. Thus, they believed that a vertical farm would fill the gap in the market.
“I actually got to know about the company thanks to HortiDaily and VerticalfarmDaily,” Can remarks. “I didn’t know that such a company was located in an area close to me. So, I made an appointment and talked to them. Now, we are partners and are working on this vertical farm that is supposed to be operational by the end of October beginning of November. The new vertical farm will grow a diverse range of leafy greens, such as lettuce, kale, bok-choy, and so on.
The VPD-based algorithm of Timfog’s GAHU machine will help Plant Factory achieve new limits in production, both in quantity and quality. ” We, as Timfog, are very happy to be able to support the successful voyage of Plant Factory in their new investment and look forward to being beside them in their future investments. The project is planned to be finished by the end of October and start trial production in November. The full capacity production shall be commenced by the end of 1st Q 2023,” Can concludes.
