The commercial feasibility has begun and will continue for one year. The goals are to assess tomato fruit yield in particular during the spring through fall months when the greenhouse is venting, assess the Perimeter Protection™ benefit with respect to reducing the spread of powdery mildew and to assess the reduction in CO2 usage costs.

TORONTO, ON - May 6, 2021 (ACCESSWIRE) - Toronto based CO2 GRO Inc. ("GROW" or "the Company") (TSXV: GROW, OTCQB: BLONF, Frankfurt: 4021) is pleased to announce that it has started a commercial feasibility with its UK partner Rika Biotech Limited ("Rika") at a UK based tomato greenhouse.

The commercial feasibility has begun and will continue for one year. The goals are to assess tomato fruit yield in particular during the spring through fall months when the greenhouse is venting, assess the Perimeter Protection™ benefit with respect to reducing the spread of powdery mildew and to assess the reduction in CO2 usage costs.

Harry Hoskyns Abrahall, Principal of Rika commented, "After our first two commercial feasibilities being in France and The Netherlands, we are proud to begin our first commercial feasibility at home. The UK greenhouse market is set to expand quickly. Our strategy is to demonstrate the benefits of CO2 Delivery Solutions™ to be part of the coming expansion."

The UK Greenhouse Vegetable Market

The UK government estimates the annual revenue of greenhouse grown vegetables to be nearly £340 million grown in 50 million square feet of greenhouse space with the top three vegetables grown being mostly tomatoes (£230 million), peppers and cucumbers.

Below is an excerpt from an April 30, 2021 article published by HortiDaily magazine describing the trends in the UK greenhouse tomato market:

Extra demand for British growers following Brexit

"UK growers produce around 20% of the total volume of tomato consumption. UK growers also produce around 25% by value, as British tomatoes tend to be premium crops."

Food security has been brought into sharp focus as a result of both Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic. Brexit also means greater restrictions on overseas growers, making it more difficult to import goods. "Another factor that's set to increase demand on domestically grown tomatoes."

Expansions

Recent expansions show how the British growers are ready to meet demand through sustainable approaches. "The high level of investment needed to build a glasshouse (approximately £1m per hectare) is a limitation on rapid expansion."

Examples of sustainable growing practices include renewable energy systems, such as solar power, ground-sourced heating, and recycled rainwater. "Then there's the natural pest and disease control in greenhouse ecosystems. Growers also incorporate business development through high ESG standards, such as enhancing natural environments around farms and providing nearby communities with employment opportunities."

Aaron Archibald, VP Sales and Strategic Alliances commented, "We are very excited for our first commercial feasibility in the UK with our partner Rika, who are based there. As the article describes, the UK greenhouse tomato market is poised for a rapid expansion due to the self-sufficiency concerns brought on by events over the past year. Our CO2 Delivery Solutions™ technology fits the UK greenhouse market's expansion strategy from both an ROI and ESG perspective."

Visit www.co2delivery.ca for more information on CO2 Delivery Solutions™ or watch this video. To see a CO2 Delivery Solutions™ VCO2 system installation, watch this video.

About Rika Biotech Limited

Rika develops large scale anaerobic digesters (AD) for UK, Belgium and Dutch AD markets. Tightening of manure and agri-waste regulations across the EU are leading to new growth in AD requirements. Rika is implementing leading biogas technologies tailored to large volumes of waste material containing high nitrate such as in chicken manure and other hard to digest materials such as straw. For more information, visit rikabiofuels.com

About CO2 GRO Inc.

GROW's proprietary CO2 Delivery Solutions™ technology is revolutionizing the global 600 billion square foot protected agriculture industry (Cuesta Roble 2018). We create a saturated CO2 solution that when misted onto plants provides growers that cannot gas with CO2 the opportunity to increase plant yields by up to 30% and profits by up to 100%. Applying saturated CO2 also suppressed the development of pathogens such as E.coli and powdery mildew, helping to reduce crop losses. GROW's CO2 Delivery Solutions™ is protected by a suite of patents and patents pending.

The worldwide market for GROW's disruptive CO2 Delivery Solutions™ technology is the 50 billion square feet of greenhouses and 550 billion square feet of protected agriculture facilities (Cuesta Roble 2018). Growers can maximize revenue and profits with our systems' low fixed and variable costs and ease of systems installation.

GROW's management is rapidly expanding its international marketing partner relationships into the EU, the UK, South Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia and Latin America as well as in its North American base.

GROW is committed to good Environment, Social and Governance (ES&G) policy and practices. We are an equal opportunity employer of choice and opportunity.

Our mission is to accelerate the growth of all value plants safely, economically, naturally and sustainably using our patented advanced CO2 Delivery Solutions™ while accreting value to our customers, stakeholders and shareholders.