Signify Expands Collaboration For Largest Vertical Farming Facility

Signify and Planet Farms, the leading European operator of vertical farms, began their collaboration in 2018 when Planet Farms announced the construction of Italy’s first vertical farm research lab in Milan.  Recently, Signify expanded this collaboration with Planet Farms to provide horticultural LEDs to Europe’s largest vertical farm and five more facilities across Europe.  Signify will provide Philips Greenpower LED production modules managed with the Philips GrowWise Control System, ensuring the best quality, yield and taste.   Food items including aromatic herbs and lettuce can be sold to customers in Italy all year round.  Planet Farms’ vertical farm is entirely automated, meaning the consumer is the first to touch the crop.

Signify has also reached an agreement to provide horticultural LED grow lights to an additional five vertical farms that Planet Farms is planning to build in different European countries in the coming years, including Switzerland and the UK.

The Philips Greenpower LED production module, Signify’s latest horticultural LED innovation for vertical farming, helps growers optimize multilayer crop cultivation. By managing the lights with Philips GrowWise Control System, growers can easily create and run custom light recipes on dimmable and color-controllable modules to meet the needs of different crops and growth phases. This gives growers the ability and flexibility to create and control their own time-based light recipes and improve crop results and operational efficiency in closed, climate-controlled cultivation facilities.

“We started working with Signify five years ago because of the company’s knowledge and expertise of horticultural LEDs and light recipes,” said Luca Travaglini, co-founder and co-CEO of Planet Farms. “  Thanks to the collaboration we’re able to grow high-quality crops all year round and that’s why we’re now expanding our collaboration.  The GrowWise Control System helps us easily adjust light recipes and continuously enhance the taste of our crops, which is crucial for us.”

This year, Planet Farms will finish construction of Europe’s largest vertical farm in Cavenago, just north of Milan. The vertical farm will cover more than 9,000 m2, which is the equivalent size of 45 tennis courts. Planet Farms operates an innovative integrated growth process that starts with the seeds and ends with packaged products. The production process is entirely automated meaning that consumers are the first to touch the crops.

“We’re proud to provide Europe’s largest vertical farm with our innovative lighting products and knowledge and expertise of light recipes. This next step in our collaboration shows that we can really help vertical farmers around the globe to improve the quality, yield and taste of their produce,” said Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture lighting at Signify. “The plans to build another five farms across Europe shows that vertical farming is rapidly growing and evolving. It’s a thrilling time to be involved in vertical farming, and we’re excited to help shape its future.”