DelFrescoPure, Canada, partnered with and CubicFarms, Canada, to develop LivingCube, a system of automated vertical farming growing machines that continuously produce living lettuce, living basil and micro-greens year-round.

The LivingCube system boasts 12 mechanized growing, germination and irrigation machines, each built inside proprietary insulated 40-foot stainless-steel growing chambers. The growing machines are all individually climate-controlled to optimize the environment for each crop, and then connected to a fully enclosed climatized common work area to create a complete stand-alone growing system and independent growing facility.

“CubicFarms is thrilled to be supplying DelFrescoPure with one of our commercial-scale growing systems and to be partnering with them to bring locally grown produce to DelFrescoPure customers year-round,” says Dave Dinesen, chief executive officer of CubicFarms. “DelFrescoPure’s vision to bring the very best locally grown produce to their customers and continuously expand the number of crops they can supply, aligns perfectly with CubicFarms capacity to grow fresh produce year-round in large quantities.”

LivingCube is powered by DelFrescoPure, which produces power by using an off-the-grid electrical co-generation system. This new growing system is environmentally sustainable due to its minimal land footprint, a reduction in greenhouse gases, the usage of recycled water and pesticide-free integration.

“We wanted to offer our retail partners new, innovative and local commodities, and the ideal solution was to partner with CubicFarms,” says Carl Mastronardi, president of DelFrescoPure. “With the introduction of the vertical farming growing system, we offer a large quantity of locally grown living lettuce, living basil and micro-greens.”