Apr 5, 2021
Editor’s note: The following information is derived from an interview Agritecture conducted with Sara Segergren, Sustainable Innovation leader, Urban Farming, Ingka Group.
Thinking Long-Term For IKEA’s Purpose
The Swedish global company that changed the face of home furnishings has now expanded their mission to take on urban farming. Sarah Segergren comments that “at IKEA, we are truly committed to creating a people and planet positive future. We want to have a positive impact on people, society and the planet. For us, it’s about balancing economic growth and positive social impact with environmental protection and regeneration. We always think long term – to be able to meet the needs of people today without compromising the needs of future generations”.
In line with this progressive thinking, IKEA is working to reimagine their consumers’ lifestyle and consumption choices, inspiring them to adapt to more sustainable ways of living. Sarah remarks that IKEA is “committed to leading the way forward together with our co-workers, customers and partners and to using our size to make a positive difference. This is both a responsibility and a business opportunity. The more people we reach, the bigger the impact we can have together, and the more people we can enable to live a better everyday life”.
Why Vertical Farming?
Following their greater philosophies of inspiring one billion people to live more sustainable lives that work within the limitations of our planet, IKEA is constantly broadening their horizons. A big part of this mission is food.
While one may not think of IKEA as a food-based business, they have over 440 restaurants in their stores internationally, allowing them to serve over 680 million people annually. According to founder Ingvar Kamprad, “it is hard to business on a hungry stomach”. In fact, IKEA is one of the world’s largest plated restaurants, so their potential to impact sustainability through food is very significant.
In furthering sustainability in the food they produce and serve, IKEA conducted “initial tests with vertical farming using a hydroponic technology (that) have shown that there are clear sustainability benefits in growing our own leafy greens, such as 90% less water usage, no pesticides needed and very little land use, to name a few”. Sara and her team firmly believe that vertical farming solutions will contribute to enabling them to achieve their goals of becoming circular and climate positive by 2030.
IKEA’s Journey With Agritecture
In looking to gain a better understanding of the market and the industry’s key players, IKEA searched for a company that could help guide them in their mission. What they found was not only a company that met their objectives, “but also our values and our vision of creating a better everyday life for the many people. Being a global leader within urban agriculture, Agritecture was a natural partner for us to work with to gain that understanding”.
In first diving into this industry, it is essential to gain a firm grasp on the market and what it looks like. Sara remarks that with Agritecture’s help, they were able to get “a clear understanding of the supplier landscape for urban farming solutions and what potential partners would match our requirements as well as our values and vision for the future. This was an important base for us to start from that helped us to find the right partners to work with leading to developing technical solutions and operational tests with selected partners”.
What’s In Store For The Future?
IKEA is in the midst of conceptualizing their Pilot in the parking lot of one of their IKEA stores in Malmö, Sweden. The team will be placing a container with vertical farming solutions at the location. Sara explains that “the leafy greens grown in the container will be served at the IKEA restaurant and we will even present new items on the menu based on what is grown in the container. Our ambition is to be able to implement similar solutions in more IKEA markets in the future. We are also exploring how to introduce a home growing solution in our range for our customers to grow their own crops at home”.
It’s clear that IKEA wants to do their level-best to ensure a “better, greener and tastier future” for their customers. Not only do they want to change the way they serve food, they also want to inspire and enable more people to do the same at home. Keep a lookout for vertical farming systems at your nearest IKEA store!
