WYOMING, MI – Food distribution giant Gordon Food Service and Square Roots, the technology leader in urban indoor farming on Monday, Sept. 30, presented their strategic partnership’s first co-located farm.

The modular indoor farm is located at Gordon Food Service’s headquarters at 1300 Gezon Parkway SW in Wyoming.

The company is the first broadline food service distributor to host an urban farm, with the ability to bring local produce year-round to customers.

“When people think about this partnership, I want them to see Gordon Food Service as a leader and an innovator and know that we are thinking about the future,’’ Gordon Food Service President and CEO Rich Wolowski told MLive Monday, about the company that started in 1887.

“We are bringing fresh, hyper-local product to our customers and we’re very proud of that. We’re building exciting relationships with change agents that are helping to reshape how food is produced, prepared, and served and Square Roots is a great example of leading-edge thinking and technology driving new solutions.’’

Square Roots farmers grow pesticide-free and non-GMO food, all year round.

The farming experts, based in Brooklyn, NY, tout a “seed-to sales urban farm, connecting people in cities to local, real food by selling fresh herbs and greens through grocery stores and distributors in the same communities as its farms.’’

Square Roots’ cloud-connected, modular farms utilize a water-efficient hydroponic growing system and are constructed inside refurbished shipping containers around 340 square feet.

"We grow amazing food,'' Square Roots CEO and Co-founder Tobias Peggs told the crowd before showing them a shipping container where basil was being harvested. He said there were 10 on the site.

Besides basil, the initial crops include chives and mint, but other items such as strawberries are on the horizon. The herbs will be sold to local food service customers in Grand Rapids as well as throughout Michigan, northern Indiana, and Ohio.

"Through clever use of space, clever use of water and clever use of energy, you are able to grow a lot of food but using very few resources,'' he said, about growing food in three dimensions instead of two.

"This one container is going to grow as much as a three or maybe even five acre outdoor farm. However, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how clever the technology is if the food doesn’t taste great.''

Climate control is an essential part of the process. For example, he said with their technology, for the basil, they were able to recreate the climate in Genoa, Italy, which is the perfect climbing for growing outdoor basil.

The basil takes 28 days from seed to harvest. Peggs says that’s twice as fast as you would get outdoors, so not only are their growing more a lot more food but doing it faster.

The 10 cloud-connected growing units employ sophisticated digitally controlled hydroponics and LED lighting systems and are projected to produce more than 50,000 pounds of premium herbs and greens annually.

That’s roughly the equivalent production of a traditional 50-acre farm.

Gordon is the largest privately-owned, family managed food service distributor in North America.

Wolowski said the partnership ensures the company is relevant tomorrow, and this new model could help revolutionize their food systems.

The companies noted that this first farm installation serves as a template, with ambitions to see additional indoor farms on or near Gordon Food Service’s more than two dozen distribution centers across Canada and the eastern United States.

The new facility opened up a new pool of applicants for Square Root’s Next-Gen Farmer Training Program. Out of around 100 applicants, nine farmers were selected to participate in the project, including a few from West Michigan (exact number unavailable).

"As well as growing food, we are really here to grow people to empower the next generation of leaders in this food industry to give them their start,'' said Peggs, who said the farmers kicked off a 12-month program about two weeks ago.

In the year farmers are with Square Roots, he said they will farm and pack and help with distribution and get out there and support marketing efforts and get the food in the hands of the chefs in this region.

Peggs said they will also learn about plant science, entrepreneurial frameworks and community building building, creating a foundation for a successful career.

Joshua Van Kleeck, 24, of Fenwick near Greenville, said he was was thrilled to be accepted into the program. He said had been tracking the cutting-edge technology the company was engaged in for a few years and the partnership with Gordon Foods coincided with his graduation from Northwood University.

"I grew up growing plants for farmer’s markets, so this whole idea of growing produce year-round in Michigan was really intriguing,'' said Van Kleeck, who has a degree in business.

"After I read about the company culture, I knew this was my dream job.''

Production began right after construction was completed on the facility that sits on under two acres at Gordon Foods. Items will be available for consumers in November.

Gordon Foods’ leaders first met Square Roots representatives two years ago. However, things moved quickly once they agreed on expanding the indoor farm into Michigan.

The project came together in six months, largely because the modular is a scalable farm-tech platform.

Wolowski did not disclose the financial details of the initiative, only saying that one facility costs several million dollars to bring to market. He said the Gordon family invests in the future.