According to reports, Swedish fashion brand H&M has invested in a vertical farming business in its home country.
Vertical farming company Ljusgårda AB, based in Tibro in the centre of the country, is backed by a number of investors, including Philian, which is the investment platform owned by H&M chairman Karl Johan Persson.
Ljusgårda, which produces crispy bagged salads, is expanding its production area in order to produce more products. “We will grow from a cultivation area of 300 square meters to 2,500, and thus from cultivating two tonnes a month to 60 tonnes when the factory is in full swing after the summer,” Ljusgårda marketing manager Maria Hillerström told reporters. “We will expand with more products this spring.”
Ljusgårda’s CEO Andreas Wilhelmsson added, “We have ambitious expansion plans and are looking at a number of possible new locations. As our first factory will soon start producing, it’s time to start financing the growth plans. The interest is huge out there. On the one hand, we are joining the sustainability trend, food-tech is starting to become very popular at the same time as this type of company out in the countryside where we are is not so common.”
Photo caption: Ljusgårda is using new investment to expand its production facilities