Words & images I Eden Towers
Eden Towers and Western Australia’s first commercial-scale, solar powered indoor vertical farm will be located in the Peel Business Park. Eden Towers is a WA based agri-tech startup with a small scale farm currently operating in Malaga.
Eden Towers is a new type of farm, growing without soil, under millions of LED lights, with 98% less water and without any nasty chemicals or toxins. The produce grown in the hyper-efficient and clean farm includes leafy greens, herbs, microgreens and edible flowers.
The ambitions are big, and Eden Towers’ founders have committed to making this a WA first project. The development is part of a future network of more than ten farms around Australia and Asia using data, artificial intelligence and science to grow produce that tastes better, lasts longer and is not impacted by the seasons.
“The expertise and knowledge a traditional farmer uses is just as critical in our farms which is why we have built it into our technology. The technology and science create an ecosystem enabling us to farm in controlled conditions all year round. Unlike the climate challenge farmers have to grapple with in traditional farms, we control the climate inside our farms,” says Julia Prichodko, Co-Founder.
The ability for Eden Towers to use the data captured by the 1000s of sensors and continually optimise the crops grown, is unique and will be used to build new IP, learnings and achieve Eden Towers’ ambition to also inform traditional farming.
“Our goal is to work with traditional farmers by sharing the data with them as well as research and development partners is a way that we can enhance yields, avoid disease, enhance flavours and reduce waste across the farming value chain” Christian Prokscha, Co-founder.
Peel Business Park was chosen by the team from Eden Towers as it has the perfect infrastructure to develop an innovative project. Co-located with the WA Food Innovation Precinct (WAFIP) and other innovative food businesses, Eden Towers believes that the ecosystem will put WA and Peel region on the map for the future of new foods. Eden Towers has strong credentials in sustainability and the ability to utilise the solar power farm to use almost 100% renewable energy. We will also have ample space to recycle all inputs to reduce waste to almost zero with a goal to be a carbon neutral farm in the future.
“Our farms are power-hungry and the park is perfect for this, having a captive solar farm and space for future solar panels will make us one of, if not the first solar powered vertical farm at our scale globally”, says Julia Prichodko, Co-Founder.
Recently Eden Towers through WAFIP’s Enterprise Support Program secured a grant to bring forward research and development and commercialisation in two areas — indigenous crops and nursery plants. The Peel region is a great location for commercial purposes to serve Perth City and metro area, and also serve the Southern part of WA.
The produce that will be grown, serves both the B2B market (restaurant, wholesale, grocery etc.) as well as the direct to customer B2C market. Trials have shown customers prefer the produce from Eden Towers’ farm due to the authentic taste of how a leafy green or herb should taste, that the produce lasts longer in the fridge
and that there are never any varieties that are out of season. Apart from the usual produce like spinach, rocket, kale, basil and lettuce, some new and amazing produce like rock-melon microgreens, specialty chilies, and Asian leafy greens are also grown for certain customers.
“Our restaurant customers love that we supply them unique produce that is grown for them in a short amount of time” Julia Prichodko. Eden Towers is able to grow produce at a very fast speed, the average crop takes between 18 to 23 days from seed to harvest, with microgreens only taking up to 6 to 8 days from seed. This is about
2–3 times as quick as a traditional farm.
As the development takes shape with a goal to start construction in early 2022, Eden Towers will be looking to hire its team of New Farmers from the local Peel region.
The Co-Founders are working closely with the Peel Development Commission, Shire of Murray and WAFIP to identify strategies to maximise local content and hire locally. “We have had the best experience in coming to the Peel Region, it’s our goal to make this project a big success with local businesses and the community all
playing a role in our future success. So far the team from WAFIP, PDC, Shire of Murray and Development WA have been exceptional supporters to make this marquee project happen,” said Christian Prokscha.
This article was first published in the Spring/Summer 2021 edition of Peel magazine – read the full article and, if you haven’t already, download the latest edition of the Peel magazine here