Alterrus Systems Inc. has announced the first retail grocery customer of its Local Garden produce, which is being grown in North America's first VertiCrop urban farming system on the rooftop of a downtown Vancouver parking lot.
SPUD.ca, a local online grocery delivery service with locations in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, will be offering Local Garden produce to its Vancouver customers within the next few weeks.
"We're impressed with not only the produce but the way it's grown," said SPUD.ca CEO Peter van Stolk. "Through this partnership, we truly meet our own objectives of sourcing local, sustainable produce."
Local Garden, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alterrus, has also made commitments to supply its produce to several Vancouver-area restaurants, including:
- Hawksworth;
- Whet;
- Cioppino's Mediterranean Grill;
- Fable Restaurant;
- Boneta; and
- Cibo.
Construction of the rooftop farming system began in August.
Alterrus' Local Garden greenhouse uses less than 10% of the water required for traditional field agriculture. Excess water is recycled. Because of this and the fact its customers are local, the company calls its carbon footprint "minimal."
