Single biggest investment announced in vertical farming in the United Kingdom
Italy-based Planet Farms, a global leader in controlled environment agriculture technology, is to invest over £25 million in a UK-based vertical farming facility with 20,000 sq m of growing area. The move follows the recent announcement of a newly established joint venture between Planet Farms and Swiss Life Asset Managers, part of the Swiss Life Group – one of Europe’s leading insurance and asset management groups.
The development, set to begin construction later this year with initial production planned for early 2027, will mark the arrival of one of the largest controlled environment agriculture infrastructure facilities worldwide. It will replicate the company’s facility in Cirimido (Como) in Italy, which supplies over 25% of the total distribution of Italian retailers as well as top retailers in Switzerland, including the likes of Esselunga, Carrefour, Aspiag, Iper, Unes, Bennet, Co-op Switzerland and many others.
Planet Farms will start supplying Waitrose stores in the United Kingdom with a range of Planet Farms branded salad SKUs, and is looking to announce another major retail partnership in the near future.
With an initial capital endowment of up to €200 million from Swiss Life Asset Managers and Planet Farms, complemented by additional debt financing, the joint venture will develop multiple facilities across EMEA, replicating the Cirimido technological blueprint, including projects currently under development in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia.
Planet Farms will continue to provide all know-how relating to engineering, software, robotics and agronomy that is required to develop farms and optimise operations. The industrial-scale, end-to-end automated facilities will serve large retailers, food service operators and global companies in the specialty food sectors, beverages, beauty and cosmetics sectors, strengthening their strategic supply chains and protecting them from geopolitical, climate and logistical risks.
This industrial joint venture marks the beginning of the next chapter of growth and evolution for Planet Farms as a technology company and Swiss Life Asset Managers’ backing is testament to Planet Farms’ proven industrial model and the potential of its technology.
Luca Travaglini, Chairman and CTO of Planet Farms, commented: “Reliable supply chains are mission critical to our customers and this partnership allows us to deploy the infrastructure to structurally address topical issues, including climatic volatility, a shifting global trade landscape, and sustainability. Compared to traditional agriculture, our process will continue to reduce water consumption by 95% and soil consumption by 93%, while ensuring total control over quality, safety and traceability.”
Daniele Benatoff, Co-founder and CEO of Planet Farms, said: “Since day one, in 2018, we invested resources and energy to create a climate-agnostic technological platform that can be replicated globally. The partnership with Swiss Life enables us to provide strategic technology solutions to customers who are facing supply chain challenges.”
Carlo Forattini, Senior Investment Manager Value-Add Infrastructure at Swiss Life Asset Managers, said : “Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) infrastructure is establishing itself as the essential modality to produce essential food, becoming mission-critical for its direct and indirect customers. This is validated by strong infrastructure characteristics, such as strong cash flow stability, long-term agreements, asset heaviness and increasing regulation. We are excited to work with Planet Farms Holding management to continue capitalising on the business’ strong growth potential and to be the architect of a new infrastructure sub-vertical.”
Gianfranco Saladino, Head Value-add Infrastructure at Swiss Life Asset Managers, added: “This transaction embodies our investment strategy of deploying capital in critical infrastructure assets with significant scale up potential. CEA infrastructure is at the intersection of strong tailwinds, such as decarbonisation, climate adaptation, enhancement of logistic chains and urbanization.”
