RAIZ is a Vertical Farming startup
growing in Lisbon
We are building our first neighbourhood farm in the new creative heart of the city.
Join us in setting up the Raiz Concept Farm, our design for growing fresh & clean greens, transforming underused urban spaces into inclusive innovation hubs.
With your support, we will be able to grow over 9,600 plants a year for consumers, restaurants and the Salvation Army. Let's put down roots & launch the sustainable change we want to see for the future of food!
Welcome to the urban farming evolution.
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Combining hydroponics with vertical agriculture and the use of solar energy, Raiz has developed a modular system based on the principles of circularity, community and scalability.
This innovative design harnesses the latest technology from around the world to grow fresh clean greens - just add water!
With an interconnected system of farms, starting in Beato, the new creative heart in old industrial Lisbon, Raiz will breathe life back into obsolete and underused spaces. This brings the production of vegetables closer to you, thus reducing the impact associated with transport and waste.
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Vertical farming is the future of food: How does fresh, year-round, pesticide free veggies that conserve natural resources for future generations sound to you?
We are growing food in vertical hydroponic systems (soil-free, using only water & nutrients). This means growing with substantially less water & space than traditional agriculture.
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Urban farming also shortens our veg's food miles, reducing the emissions linked to agriculture, while boosting their freshness.
Precision agriculture offers unique opportunities to tackle other major environmental challenges (see below, the impact, for more details). Compared to traditional land-based agriculture, we can majorly reduce resource consumption across multiple areas.
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Our first harvests have been sold at local farmers’ markets and restaurants that share our vision, looking for high-quality and environmentally responsible produce. The market response has been incredible and we’re eager to keep growing to meet demand!
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What is the flagship farm? The Raizhub, our proprietary glasshouse on top of a container!
- A place where a wide variety of greens are grown with care, respect for the environment
- A vibrant vegetable growing space to take urban farming to the next level
- A catalyser of enriching experiences for society and delicious food
- A modular farm packed with high-end technology
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Illustrated 3D scheme of Flagship Farm project
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Raizhub @ Arroz Estudios - a vibrant cultural centre with live events, markets & artists
Through the implementation of environmental control systems, we regulate the growing atmosphere’s temperature, humidity, light and CO2, creating optimal conditions for the development of plants.
Reducing energy consumption from non-renewable sources, we will integrate translucent photovoltaic panels (agrivoltaics) to feed the farm’s energy demand.
All food has its story. At Raiz, we want to captivate our customers: let's get involved in the origin and journey of the produce we eat.
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We will work with local schools, supporting them in teaching upcoming generations to become aware, knowledgeable, highly committed and passionate about healthy eating.
Through experiences and educational activities, Raiz will accelerate the city's evolution towards a socially and environmentally more responsible model. Let's get people interested in what they eat, reconnected with nature, and become more environmentally literate.
The Raizhub will host experiences for enthusiasts, families, companies and schools such as:
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Raiz has partnered with the Salvation Army, neighbours to the future Flagship Farm, to strengthen local bonds & support the social reintegration of their members through Urban Farming. We will also provide their kitchen with fresh nutritious veggies, which you can help with through pledging!
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While we can’t take our farm to you just yet, we still want you to have a piece of us. Help us plant the seed and we’ll make sure you’ll reap the harvest!
Experience farming and the power of plants
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Enjoy our greens, merch or learning experiences, live or online
For those donating their greens we offer a tote bag and microgreens grow kit, message us for details!
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Join us at our launch event or host an unforgettable dinner by our Flagship Farm with the freshest ingredients from us and our partners.
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Your support will have real impact, making it possible for us to build our first vertical farm. Let’s regenerate spaces, giving new life to a shipping container.
No worries, the money won't go to our pockets, but directly to the construction of our flagship farm, including:
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TECHNOLOGY: System acquisition & integration
- Hydroponic systems: 2,800 €
- Irrigation systems: 1278 €
- HVAC: 2,275 €
- Dehumidifier: 975 €
- Agrivoltaics: 900€
- LEDs: 1,831 €
2. STRUCTURE: Construction of the flagship farm
- Greenhouse Structure with installation: 14,375 €
- Construction works by Lisbon workshop: 1,872 €
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At Raiz, we believe it is time to start building the cities of the future. The idea is as simple as this: let’s transform underused urban spaces into vibrant vertical farms that produce a healthy variety of food for its citizens in an impactful manner.
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You will positively contribute to a change of paradigm in cities, not only across how we produce food, but also addressing modern challenges such as inefficient and vulnerable food supply chains, greenhouse gas emissions, nutrition, water scarcity, pollution, and the growing distance between us and what we eat.
In summary, making cities more independent, green & resilient.
Muito obrigado, grazie mille, muchas gracias, kösz, thanks!
Support us in making a difference today!
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Want to know more? the impact
The inefficiency and vulnerability of current food production and supply chains are hurting the environment, societies and the economy.
With human population growing at current speed, with climate and weather conditions changing and increasing in uncertainty, there is an urgency to develop better food production systems, that overcome these challenges along with relieving greenhouse gas emissions, an overarching and cross-sectoral challenge.
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Urban precision farming offers unique opportunities to tackle some of the major environmental challenges we currently face. Compared to traditional land-based agriculture, urban vertical farming requires:
- Approximately 12 times less water (1, 2);
- Up to 95% less space (i.e., less land) (4);
- Approximately 50% less fertilizer (4); and
- 100% less pesticides.
Indirectly, this means avoiding the degradation of ecosystems, water, soil and air quality, with reduced impacts on the economy, biodiversity and human health.
Raiz breathes sustainability, and for us this is not just another hot keyword. Sustainability means taking care of environmental, social and economic dimensions, taking into account their interconnectedness, to ensure current resource consumption does not compromise resource availability for future generations.
While we recognize this is a complex concept and we do not claim to be 100% sustainable, it is at our core to search for cleaner and more efficient solutions, through the creation of a collaborative ecosystem for discussion and innovation in the industry. Our impact spans three major dimensions -
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in the environment
- Hyper-local cultivation;
- Implementation of renewable energy solutions;
- Increased efficiency in the use of resources such as space, water & nutrients;
- Provision of an ecosystem for innovation around sustainable production practices such as the integration of urban organic waste transformation into the nutrient solution.
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in society
- Strengthening of food security & healthy eating through the production of high-protein crops & pesticides-free products;
- Strengthening of local communities through the creation of enriching experiences associated with our activity & spaces, which provide an unique opportunity for people to learn about & re-connect to the environment & their food;
- Fostering public education about food supply chains, environmental impact, sustainability & the circular economy, seeking to promote increased confidence in these products.
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in the economy
- Development of a resilient local economy, based on collaborative networks of producers, retailers & consumers;
- Reduction of transport costs & of the vulnerability of distribution chains;
- Contribution to the development of smart cities.
Raiz’s activity is in line with the Portuguese 2050 Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality (which points to precision agriculture as one of the lines of action for more sustainable agriculture), and with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in the scope of which we stress the contribution to the following goals:
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9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation;
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11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable;
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12. Ensure sustainable production and consumption patterns.
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The industry still faces major challenges. In particular regarding its scalability and, precisely, its sustainability (mostly due to energy and material use, but also due to a lack of continuous and representative monitoring of resource use). There is an urgent need to advance the industry and harness its full potential.
Experimentation, collaboration, data collection and innovation are key, and this is exactly what Raiz' Lisbon Flagship Farm will represent – a vibrant vegetable growing hub leveraging local physical and social synergies to take urban farming to the next level.
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why now
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references & further reading
- Hegnsholt, E., Unnikrishnan, S., Pollmann-Larsen, M., Askelsdottir, B., & Gerard, M. (2018). Tackling the 1.6-billion-Ton Food Loss and Waste crisis. BCG. Disponível em: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/tackling-...
- IPCC (2014). Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 151 pp.
- Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. in Science, Vol 360, Issue 6392. Disponível em: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaq....
- FAO (2020). Global Forest resources Assessment 2020 - Key findings. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca8753en
- P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, R. Slade, R. van Diemen, E. Haughey, J. Malley, M. Pathak, J. Portugal Pereira (eds.) Technical Summary, 2019. In: Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems [P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, E. Calvo Buendia, V. Masson-Delmotte, H.-O. Pörtner, D. C. Roberts, P. Zhai, R. Slade, S. Connors, R. van Diemen, M. Ferrat, E. Haughey, S. Luz, S. Neogi, M. Pathak, J. Petzold, J. Portugal Pereira, P. Vyas, E. Huntley, K. Kissick, M, Belkacemi, J. Malley, (eds.)]. In press.
- Kozai, T., Niu, G., & Takagaki, M. (2015). Plant Factory. An indoor vertical farming system for efficient quality food production. Academic Press, 2nd Edition.
- Molin, E. & Martin, M. (2018). Reviewing the energy and environmental performance of vertical farming systems in urban environments. IVL Swedich Environmental Research Institute 2018.
- Barbosa, G. L., Almeida Gadelha, F. D., Kublik, N., Proctor, A., Reichelm, L., Weissinger, E., Wohlleb, G. M., & Halden, R. U. (2015). Comparison of Land, Water, and Energy Requirements of Lettuce Grown Using Hydroponic vs. Conventional Agricultural Methods. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 12, pp. 6879-6891.
- Almeer, J., Baldwin, T., Bostwick, M., Ezzeddine, M., Halperin, G., Harutyunyan, A., Levinson, A., Macdonald, K., Miller, K., Peterson, S., Sullivan, D., Tavoraite, DVera, K. & Yuan, M. (2015). Sustainability certification for indoor urban and vertical farms: a sustainable approach to addressing growth in vertical farming. Associaton for Vertical Farming, The Earth Institute, Columbia University.
- Roteiro para a Neutralidade Carbónica 2050 [RNC2050] (2019). Estratégia de longo prazo para a neutralidade carbónica da economia portuguesa em 2050. Available at: https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource...
- UN (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
- Circle Economy (2020). The Circularity Gap Report 2020: When circularity goes from bad to worse: the power of countries to change the game.
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Thanks for making it to the end! Support us making this sketch into reality :)