Founders Ben Pieterse (26) and Luc de Vries (25) made a conveyor belt in which a germinated seed goes in and fully grown herbs roll off 24 days later. Herbs, grown with 95 percent less water and without pesticides, in a warehouse in Hoorn. Their goal is to bring the herbs to the Dutch supermarket as quickly as possible. Ben Pieterse and his partner grow various types of basil, parsley and coriander in a narrow shed on an industrial estate in Hoorn. Before we walk in, we first have to wear blue shoe covers and disinfect our hands. “This is still sufficient protection for now, but if we are going to do this on a large scale, you will probably have to wear a whole suit”, says Pieterse with a laugh. No lack of ambition, he firmly believes in his assembly line. “Agriculture has actually been going the same way for five hundred years. The only major change was the switch from horse and buggy to tractor,” says Pieterse. “The greenhouse is an intermediate step in this, and we thought it was high time to show that you can also grow indoors in a completely different way.” That is why we are in a shed and not in a greenhouse. And in the shed there is a 150 meter long and 4.5 meter high blue band, which runs from low to high several times in the shape of a snake. LED lighting is attached to the belt, and there are holes in the belt filled with balls of substrate from which all kinds of herbs grow. Assembly line At the beginning of the belt they are still small sprouts, but after a few times down and up you recognize all the basil leaves, until after 24 days it rolls off the belt as a fully grown plant. A new form of vertical farming, the cultivation of plants without daylight, says Pieterse. “It takes up a lot less space than growing herbs on land. And because we can water the herbs in a very targeted way and then collect it again, 95 percent of the water is retained in the system.” According to Pieterse, the LED lamps, climate control and the ability to provide nutrients through the installation provide the perfect growing conditions. “As a result, the herbs have a much longer shelf life. You can use it for a maximum of five days in the plastic container of the supermarket. Our herbs last at least ten days.” Less waste, but also climate benefits: the basil does not have to be shipped from Kenya, but can be taken to the supermarket from Hoorn in an electric van. Vertical farms like mushrooms from the ground The vertical farms have been sprouting like mushrooms in the Netherlands in recent years. Think of Plantlab, which is now expanding to America, but Amsterdam's Growx and Own Greens also grow crops in their indoor farm, or indoor farm, as they call it themselves. They all want to feed the growing world population locally and sustainably as much as possible. Pieterse himself worked at Own Greens before starting Glowfarms. But what exactly is the difference between those vertical farms and his Glowfarm? “It's in the technology we use. The machine already runs fully automatically, and knows when to give water and extra nutrition, but also the speed of the conveyor belt and adjustable lighting, if some of the plants need more or different light.” Ultimately, Pieterse hopes with all the collected data that the machine can run completely autonomously by means of machine learning. “Then we'll talk about a few years. If we turn up more volume, that will also start. But the idea is that you can then also work with the input of the consumer. Suppose, many think that the basil could be a bit spicier, the machine can adjust that itself so that it happens.” The other difference is that Pieterse and his partner consciously focus on a consumer brand. Under the name Glow, coriander, basil, Thai basil and parsley will soon be available at a number of supermarkets. “Other vertical farms do not supply under their own name. But we really chose to set up our own brand.” According to Pieterse, the own brand lends itself better to telling the sustainable story. Together with the packer, he also devised new packaging for the herbs. No plastic bag or container but a cardboard box with a small plastic layer. He actually didn't want any more plastic at all, but that's not possible yet. “This packaging already has 90 percent less plastic than regular supermarket packaging. And hopefully in the future we can do without it.” Testing with different seeds The Glowfarm is still small-scale: the founders have three employees, one of whom is De Vries' brother. Breeders are still sending free seeds to test on the belt. “Here: taste it,” says Pieterse, and he pulls a leaf from the belt that is reminiscent of oak leaf lettuce in shape. “It's mustard lettuce. It tastes a bit like arugula, but is a lot sharper.” And so they are constantly testing other herbs and lettuce varieties, in order to be able to sell them again in the long run. Not all vegetables are successful yet, some crops are currently not yet profitable to grow in this way. “But who knows, maybe we'll find a solution for that in the future too,” says Pieterse. It certainly cannot be due to Pieterse's ambition and enthusiasm. He hopes to conquer the world with his Glowfarms and to become the Oatly (of Swedish oat milk, ed.) of the vegetable shelf. In June, he started a crowdfunding campaign to raise a marketing budget and further expand the 'farm'. To really scale up and provide the whole of the Netherlands with herbs, they still need a lot of money. Because this new high-tech way of farming requires a significant investment. “Think about 3 million euros,” says Pieterse. He is already discussing this with investors. It will not be reflected in the price for consumers: the herbs will soon be available in supermarkets for 1.49, which is 8 cents cheaper than the basil flown in from Asia.