European grocery-anchored real estate investment manager Greenman has appointed Mario Gatineau managing director of a newly launched vertical farming business.
Greenman said it has launched Potager Farm to enable the group to implement vertical farming into its German grocery-anchored retail centres held by the Greenman Open fund.
Vertical farming is the process of growing herbs, leafy greens and micro veg indoors in a tower structure, usually in urban areas. The vertical farm technology helps to reduce the number of food miles required to feed growing urban populations.
Potager Farm will cooperate with IGS, a Scottish based technology business that builds vertical farms, Greenman said.
Johnnie Wilkinson, CEO of the Greenman Group, said: “Our experience within the food retail sector has shown us that vertical farming will become an increasingly important part of the food supply chain in Europe.
“Vertical farming is expanding rapidly across Europe as agricultural space becomes increasingly scarce and pressure on the sustainability of supply chains and food production continues to mount.”
Gatineau, who spent four years as training programme developer at vertical farming company Infarm, said he is ”excited about the possibilities for the business, leveraging my experience of vertical farming and the vast experience of the Greenman Group within food retail”.
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