The Association for Vertical Farming (AVF) is excited to announce the launch of the new ‘Certified Sustainable Indoor Farm' label, and believe it is a key milestone for the indoor/vertical farming industry.
As announced earlier this year, in 2021 the AVF put down the foundations to kickstart the very first certification programme for vertical farming. This project has been years in the making, and it is a response to the indoor/vertical farming community who have voiced repeatedly that standardisation and certification are a prerequisite for the industry to take off.
Created through a collaboration between the AVF and CUUK, the purpose of this Standard is to assess and quantify the sustainability of fresh produce grown through Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA).
The Standard is designed to put a focus both on 1) a site’s continuous improvement and 2) the importance of information gathering for this still young industry.
The 11 metrics which make-up the Standard have been selected and refined through multiple rounds of consultations and technical reviews with a global range of industry and science stakeholders; including growers from operations of all sizes across the globe.
“The AVF's efforts to create a certification for the indoor/vertical farming industry are driven by the need for more sustainable food systems. We want to encourage the industry to strive for more sustainable production, and bring more transparency to the consumers who will buy the products because they are fresher, healthier and produced more locally,” says AVF Chairwoman, Christine Zimmermann-Loessl.
“For many years, we have tried to explain the benefits of vertical farming to regulators in the EU and other countries; to show we are an ally of the organic movement, not a competitor or an enemy,” says Christine.
May I know how to get in to the SIF certification program please.