When the project is completed, Orisis will be able to provide freshly harvested, nutritious, tasty, and pesticide-free produce to Shanghai area food-service distributors, grocers, and consumers.

Orisis, China's leading horticultural firm, today signed a contract with Infinite Acres to complete the first indoor vertical farm in Shanghai region, where Orisis is headquartered.

When the project is completed, Orisis will be able to provide freshly harvested, nutritious, tasty, and pesticide-free produce to Shanghai area food-service distributors, grocers, and consumers.

Infinite Acres is a partnership of three companies - Priva, 80 Acres Farms, and Ocado - working together to develop wholistic solutions to the challenges associated with growing produce outdoors.

"We are very pleased to be working with Infinite Acres on this project, which is part of a totally new and innovative horticultural development in the Shanghai region," said Yanwen Huang, chief executive officer of Orisis. "Orisis is partnering with Infinite Acres to fulfill the rapidly growing requirement of chemical-free and high-quality crops in China. This project will demonstrate to China and the rest of the world the indoor food-growing possibilities in densely-populated urban locations."

The Orisis farm will feature an internal, vertical design consisting of five layers and will have more than 1,600 square meters (more than 17,000 square feet) of grow zone area. Signify, the global leader in lighting will provide the Philips LED lighting for the Orisis grow zones; crop advice and help in developing the right growth recipes. This will be the first commercial project in the world based on Signify's Greenpower LED 3.0 production module.

"With its growing mega-cities and shortage of arable farmland, China like other nations faces the challenges of providing healthy, fresh, just-picked produce to its people," said Tisha Livingston, chief executive officer of Infinite Acres. "Infinite Acres is excited about working with Orisis to develop what we hope will be the first of many indoor vertical farms in China."

Infinite Acres is the only full-service solution available today addressing the challenges of season-limiting produce production and cross-country transportation. Produce grown long distances from where it is consumed suffers from diminished taste, quality, and shelf life.

"Orisis is a proven leader in using advanced technology to apply to large scale horticulture," said Meiny Prins, chief executive officer of Priva. "It is a company that respects the knowledge and cooperation of its partner companies. Priva looks forward to our role in completing this installation with superior design and engineering."

The Orisis indoor farm will be in Pinghu Zhejiang, the first agriculture economic development zone in China located about 100 kilometres southwest of Shanghai. Priva will install air quality, climate, water reusage, energy efficiency, irrigation, and other system controls critical for indoor growing of the highest standards available today. 80 Acres Farms brings to the project its expertise in everything from crop recipes to optimal yield guarantees, as well as facility management, product packaging, branding, marketing, and distribution.

The farm's grow zones will originally focus on producing varieties of lettuce and leafy greens. Netherlands-based Logiqs will provide the logistical systems to automate the movements between layers in the grow zones.

The contract signing was held at the GreenTech conference in Amsterdam. Financial terms of the contract were undisclosed.

About Orisis Landscape Science and Technology Company

Established in 2011, Orisis leads the development of China's horticultural industry facilitated by the formation of international strategic partner alliances. Orisis continues to set unprecedented horticultural standards throughout China, priding itself on its continued expansion of its collaborative global partner network. Through the establishment of high-tech farms and production facilities, Orisis' international management team has been able to facilitate the continued introduction of improved genetics and best practice production methods into China. With a strong focus on improved genetics for both food crops and ornamental trees, Orisis offers an integral gate way for its international partners wishing to progress into the Chinese market. For more information visit www.orisisinternational.com

About Infinite Acres

Infinite Acres' mission is to provide the best technology available to grow the highest quality produce near population centers throughout the world. Infinite Acres will custom-design, build, install, and maintain automated indoor grow centers. The company, headquartered in Delft, Netherlands, combines the resources of its best of breed partner companies. With Priva's and 80 Acres Farms' extensive horticulture, engineering, operational, and food industry expertise, along with Ocado's predictive analytics, automation and comprehensive system development, Infinite Acres will provide its customers end to end solutions -- everything from state of the art facilities with uniquely developed crop recipes and the right unit economics to an option for facility management with yield guarantees, product packaging, branding, marketing, and distribution. 80 Acres Farms will offer these options for customers seeking an operating partner. For more information, visit www.infinite-acres.com.