Basil, parsley, wasabi, lettuce... In Château-Thierry, 100 km north-east of Paris, the star-up Jungle cultivates aromatic herbs, microgreens and salads in 10-meter-high towers, under a shed.
If this production model is still very embryonic, these vertical farms are developing little by little in France.
Their advantage: produce a lot in small spaces, with little water and without pesticides.
Their main drawback: their energy consumption.
But the sector is brand new and has plenty of room for improvement, assures Gilles Dreyfus, co-founder of Jungle.
Others doubt it.
There are farms whose fields extend to the horizon.
At Jungle, you have to look up to get an idea of the size of the operation.
But first of all, you have to put on a cap and a white coat, then enter a hangar like there are so many in industrial areas.
Jungle has taken up residence in Château-Thierry (Aisne), a hundred kilometers northeast of Paris.
Since 2019, the start-up co-founded by Gilles Dreyfus and Nicolas Seguy has been producing aromatic herbs (basil, parsley, coriander, etc.), microgreens – these plants harvested very young that chefs love (mustard, wasabi, etc.) – and salads. (lettuce, arugula).
Hydroponics, horticultural LEDs and sensors
These plants grow in containers that overlap to form towers 9 meters high.
Six are working so far.
They are arranged in pairs, between which a robot moves up and down following the instructions given to it.
Don't look for soil, “we are in hydroponics, explains Gilles Dreyfus.
The water, mixed with mineral salts and nutrients, provides the roots with what they usually find in the soil.
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This is the first pillar on which Jungle relies.
The horticultural LEDs, which bathed the crops in a purple light the morning of our visit, are the second.
“We forget it, but the sun is seven colors that give 21 pigments when they are combined, resumes Gilles Dreyfus.
We play on this palette to provide the plant with the spectrum that best suits it throughout its growth.
Finally, there is the climate.
About fifty sensors constantly monitor humidity, CO2 concentration, air renewal and a host of other factors.
Increased productivity
The optimization of these parameters is put at the service of taste and nutritional quality, assures Gilles Dreyfus.
It also makes it possible to greatly increase productivity, and therefore to aim for profitability.
“For basil, compared to three to four annual harvests in the ground, we have fourteen” he illustrates.
Each tower produces 20 tons of plants each year, which fill the shelves of Monoprix, Grand Frais, Carrefour or Intermarché.
This vertical agriculture is still very embryonic in France.
Barely a dozen companies are developing it, including the German Infarm, which crossed the Rhine in 2018 and is installing its vertical vegetable gardens on the sites of partner distributors.
As in Nanterre, with Metro.
"But other projects have collapsed, such as Agricool, or have reviewed their model*", points out Christine Aubry.
This researcher at Inrae, a specialist in urban agriculture**, is very reserved about these vertical farms.
“Especially when the start-ups carrying them promise to revolutionize agriculture and solve our problem of food sovereignty”.
Not relevant for food production?
Christine Aubry still lists a few niches where this vertical agriculture would have a part to play.
“The space field, in view of the long missions which are being prepared for the Moon and Mars, she begins.
But also pharmacy or cosmetics, sectors that struggle to source the plants that interest them and often grown on the other side of the world.
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On the other hand, for the production of food, the researcher struggles to see the most of vertical agriculture.
"Maybe in Japan, Singapore and other highly urbanized countries with very little land around," she tempers.
This is not the case in France.
"We have a lot of soil available and it is the cheapest in Europe", recalls Etienne Gangneron, vice-president of the FNSEA, the leading French agricultural union.
Above all, cultivating on these lands requires very little energy, apart from free energy from the sun, he adds.
It is, conversely, the main criticism leveled at vertical farming, "all the stronger today as energy prices are soaring and we have never talked so much about sobriety adds Christine Aubry.
Vertical farms not to bury too quickly?
“Our energy consumption represents 30% of our production costs,” concedes Gilles Dreyfus.
But the co-founder of Jungle invites us not to forget the advantages of vertical agriculture "We do without pesticides and we consume little water, a big challenge tomorrow".
Above all, the model is still very young and there is significant room for improvement.
“Our next farms will be equipped with solar panels that will cover 80% of their needs, promises Gilles Dreyfus.
We are also hopeful of lowering our production costs and therefore our energy consumption.
Jungle even makes it an imperative to open up to currently unprofitable crops.
“Cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, peppers…, list Gilles Dreyfus.
In short, everything that is neither too high nor too wide”.
However, Jungle denies wanting to reverse traditional agriculture.
"We are one of the complementary solutions, focusing for example on crops that we mainly import today", explains Gilles Dreyfus.
Why not even install these vertical farms on farmers' farms, thus allowing them to diversify their income?
This is the new economic model on which Jungle is betting.
“The ultimate idea is to sell our lathes to customers and provide them with maintenance, training and everything needed to produce,” explains the entrepreneur.
Pharmacy and cosmetics before food?
Christine Aubry and Etienne Gangneron doubt that farmers will one day invest in such towers.
Gilles Dreyfus says he has good feedback from the profession, even if he expects more on 2025 for the signing of the first contracts.
In the meantime, Jungle is determined to grow.
At Château-Thierry, eight new towers are due to go into production by this summer.
"And we are growing more and more plants for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, which are indeed very demanding", specifies the entrepreneur.
That's how Jungle got involved in the creation of the first fragrance based on natural lily of the valley, which is due out this spring.
"In nature, its flowering cycle is too short to be used for this purpose," says Gilles Dreyfus.
We have succeeded in removing this obstacle on our farms.
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* Christine Aubry cites the market garden town of Romainville (Seine-Saint-Denis), supported by the town.
“The project, which initially aimed mainly to produce fruit and vegetables for the surrounding inhabitants, now has more of an educational vocation, with workshops around agriculture, especially for schoolchildren,” explains the researcher.
** INRAE is the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment.
Christine Aubry was a researcher there until January 1 before retiring.
She remains director of an Inrae/AgroParisTech partnership chair on urban agriculture.
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