Target is looking to shorten the distance from farm to plate with a planned test of vertical farms, an agricultural technique that involves growing plants and vegetables indoors in climatized conditions.
The initiative, to take place within select U.S. stores, is part of ongoing research and development being pursued by Target’s Food + Future CoLab, a collaboration with the MIT Media Lab and Ideo launched last November that has been exploring urban farming, food transparency and food innovation.
According to Business Insider, tests of the vertical farms could begin in spring 2017. If the trials succeed, Target’s stores will likely be filled with leafy greens, the most common stock for vertical farming at present. Potatoes, beetroot and zucchini could potentially be made available as well. MIT could give Target access to ancient seeds for rare tomatoes or peppers.
“Down the road, it’s something where potentially part of our food supply that we have on our shelves is stuff that we’ve grown ourselves,” Casey Carl, Target’s chief strategy and innovation officer, told Business Insider.
Vertical farming is expected to see a growth spurt in part because food cultivated by farms is being challenged by rapidly increasing urban populations. Besides using less water, taking up less space and being closer to the consumer than traditional farming, vertical farming also addresses demands for healthy food without pesticides and avoids weather risks.
In an online discussion, many of the industry insiders of the RetailWire BrainTrust were excited at the prospects of Target sourcing produce from an in-house farm.
“Vertical farming is genius,” said Jasmine Glasheen, publishing editor of Off-Price Retailing Magazine. “Vertical farms are more resistant to climate changes and storms. Plus, the holistic aesthetic of an organic vertical farm will allow Target to compete for natural foods customers.”
Target’s chief strategy and innovation officer Casey Carl at the South by South Lawn (SXSL) festival... [+]
“I like the idea,” said Paula Rosenblum, managing partner at RSR Research. “Even better, if they structurally could support it, would be growing this stuff on the roofs of the stores.”
At least one other grocer has pursued such an endeavor in the U.S. In 2013, Whole Foods’ Gowanus, Brooklyn location opened a 20,000-plus square foot rooftop greenhouse in conjunction with the farm startup, Gotham Greens. The garden grows more than 200,000 pounds of leafy greens, herbs and tomatoes yearly.
However, other BrainTrust members saw Target’s attempt at agricultural sustainability as being harder to pull off than they might imagine.
“Good for marketing and PR, but the scalability, execution and ultimately the ROI may prove to be a significant challenge,” said Peter Sobotta, founder and CEO of Return Logic. “That said, I like the concept and it is a step in a good direction.”
“You gotta love the fit of this with where Target wants to go with food — image-wise, that is,” said Ben Ball, senior vice president of Dechert-Hampe. “The limits of production can be stretched with hydroponics and vertical farming — but not broken. So this will remain primarily an image-generating exercise for the near future.”
One BrainTrust member was skeptical of the idea’s staying power.
“This is not a new idea,” said Mel Kleiman, president of Humetrics. “Fiesta Supermarket built a store in Houston more than 30 years ago with a vertical garden. It looked great, got a lot of attention and cost a lot of money. Five years after they opened that store the garden was gone.”
