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Lufa Farms sells hyper-local produce to Walmart

Walmart Canada and Lufa Farms are now selling hyperlocal produce from Lufa Farms’ 127,000 square-foot hydroponic greenhouse atop the Marché Central Walmart Supercentre in Montréal.

This marks the first time produce from Montreal’s Lufa Farms will be sold through a retailer and the first time Walmart Canada will sell produce from a store’s rooftop greenhouse. Harvested on demand each morning, the rotating crops of tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers will be available for sale in-store in as fast as an hour after being picked.

“Rooftops are one of the most underused spaces in cities – and yet they’re perfect for growing food,” said Mohamed Hage, founder and CEO of Lufa Farms. “Walmart has a huge network of rooftops across the country, and by transforming just one of them into a greenhouse, we’re showing what’s possible: fresh, local vegetables grown sustainably and sold just downstairs, the same day they’re harvested. This is how we can reimagine the future of food in cities.”

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Since blackberries must be harvested by hand, the process is time-consuming and labor-intensive. To support a growing blackberry industry in Arkansas, food science associate professor Renee Threlfall is collaborating with mechanical engineering assistant professor Anthony Gunderman to develop a mechanical harvesting system. Most recently, the team designed a device to measure the force needed to pick a blackberry without damaging it. The data from this device will help inform the next stage of development and move the team closer to the goal of a fully autonomous robotic berry picker. The device was developed by Gunderman, with Yue Chen, a former U of A professor now at Georgia Tech, and Jeremy Collins, then a U of A undergraduate engineering student. To determine the force needed to pick blackberries without damage, the engineers worked with Threlfall and Andrea Myers, then a graduate student.