Solutions from Ukraine: Dnipro bomb shelter houses one of Ukraine's largest vertical farms
Photo: Facebook / Victor Shuleshko
In Dnipro, entrepreneur Viktor Shuleshko, founder of the Green Future company, built one of Ukraine's largest vertical farms in an abandoned factory bomb shelter.
Victor Shuleshko reported that on Facebook.
What is the problem?
A large-scale war significantly impacts Ukrainian businesses' operations, making them unable to function normally and, therefore, causing them to fall behind their competitors in the global market. To address this issue, entrepreneurs are forced to adapt their own production methods by relocating them to shelters.
Victor's story is the perfect plot for a Netflix series. His first farm was destroyed by Russian missiles when it was located at an airport, but that didn't discourage him. He persevered and rebuilt version 2.0 in a bomb shelter. Once he had finally fixed all of the processes, a blackout occurred.
What is the solution?
Viktor Shuleshko, an entrepreneur from Dnipro, is among those driving Ukrainian science forward and positioning it as a highly sought-after competitor to industry giants like Siemens and Philips.
Photo: Facebook / Victor Shuleshko
He impressed not just restaurant owners in the country but also farmers in the UAE and Germany and flower growers in Holland with the innovative vertical farming set up in the former Dnipro plant bomb shelter. Now, his next venture is micro-cloning and a massive tulip plantation.
Photo: Facebook / Victor Shuleshko
How does it work?
LED lights supply the necessary energy for the plants in the vertical farm. Three days of darkness is the point of no return, after which the greenery cannot be resuscitated. The greens grown on the farm are priced at half a million hryvnias.
When a blackout occurred, the only option left was to quickly harvest and send the greens to stores at the price they were willing to pay.
"Yevhenia, a seller from "Nahorka," was our biggest lifesaver. She created an amazing pesto recipe and used most of the basil for it," Viktor smiles.
Photo: Facebook / Victor Shuleshko
In addition to basil, the Green Future farm currently grows lettuce, coriander, arugula, mizuna, and mustard. However, Victor leaves the lion's share of the farm area for agricultural experiments to continue improving the technology.
Thus, numerous experiments helped develop an advanced hydroponics system, which later made it the most productive in Ukraine and doubled the production of greenery — from 1.5 to 3 kg per m². Restaurants began to order entire farms to grow their organic greens.
Photo: Facebook / Victor Shuleshko
One day, Viktor received a call from Dubai:
"We've heard you work wonders. Can you grow lettuce for us…in the middle of the desert?"
The UAE is now home to the first 600 m² Ukrainian vertical farm, with the team's plans for next year include starting their vertical farm project along the German Rhine.
For reference:
It should be noted that a group of Ternopil schoolchildren shared their developments in the cultivation of microgreens at the All-Ukrainian Exhibition of Achievements of Young Naturalists.
In addition, in Vinnytsia lyceum, students grow microgreens and support Ukraine's armed forces.
