LONDON — If you're looking for locally grown farm produce, your local farmers market or farm shop are usually your best bet. But one German supermarket has done something a little different by installing a "farm" within its store.

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In the Metro supermarket in Berlin, an indoor farming startup has set up a vertical farm at the end of the store's produce aisle, inside which greens and herbs are growing.

Berlin-based startup Infarm built the vertical farm with the aim of growing fresh local produce 365 days a year.

The vertical farm which sits at the end of the produce aisle of Metro supermarket, Berlin. Image: infarm

The farm takes the form of a glowing modular box, which — according to Infarm — is so efficient it can make vertical farming affordable on a micro scale.

Within the box, plants don't grow on soil, but instead grow "hydroponically" on a thin layer of water enriched with fertilisers and oxygen, under LED growing lights which imitate sunlight. Infarm also uses micro-sensors and data processing to make sure the conditions are suitable for the plants

"I was always very passionate about being self sufficient," says Erez Galonska, founder and CEO of Infarm, in response to questions submitted by Mashable.

When Galonska travelled to remote communities where "what you grow is what you eat," farming became a big part of his life.

"I discovered that growing food is such a powerful and natural experience when you eat truly fresh vegetables you recognise immediately how much tastier and healthier they are."

Greens being grown inside the modular box. Image: INFARM

"When I came back to my flat in the city, the feeling of freedom and freshness dissolved very quickly and the urban chaos took over. I was longing for a piece of land.

"One night I googled: 'can I farm without soil?' and the answer I got was: 'hydroponics.'"

After watching YouTube tutorials, Galonska built a hydroponic pipe system in his living room, which — after one month — yielded a "jungle farm full of delicious greens."

"It was February in Berlin, cold and snowing outside, and we had fresh vegetables inside," says Galonska.

Galonska wants to create an "urban farming revolution" through the creation of vertical indoor farms.

This isn't the first time a supermarket has experimented with in situ growing. In 2013, Whole Foods partnered with Gotham Greens to bring a rooftop greenhouse to Whole Foods Market Gowanus in Brooklyn, as well as other locations in New York City. Whole Foods' 20,000 square foot greenhouse produces pesticide-free produce all year round.

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