California-based Hippo Harvest says it can slash the water needed to grow the leafy greens that round out a healthy diet by more than 90% and use only precisely placed fertilizer with no runoff in large part by cutting out the human side of traditional farming that makes the practice more art than science. Growth of these major greenhouses can potentially play a pivotal role in a California that feeds much of the nation and has been ravaged by drought.
And Hippo has the backing of Amazon.com’s
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climate-change arm to help make it all happen. Lettuce mixes from the startup, which first came on the scene in 2021, are farmed using machine learning and robots that operate in greenhouses, a controlled environment that uses less land, reduces water use by 92% and more than halves the amount of fertilizer fed to the crop. Plus, growth takes place close to the customer base, cutting down on the greenhouse gas emissions associated with fossil fuel-burning
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transportation. The collaboration is part of Amazon’s commitment to address climate change by supporting new climate technology companies through its Climate Pledge Fund. The fund first invested in Hippo Harvest in 2021 to help the company scale from a small startup to a commercial-sized operation that can provide new grocery options for consumers. The more environmentally sound growing practices, as well as strategic setups for the operation, are also meant to reduce food waste much earlier in the production pipeline. Data shows the release of methane gas from wasted produce thrown into landfills can account for nearly 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions related to crops grown for human consumption. Amazon Fresh online customers in the greater San Francisco area are already able to purchase the Hippo Harvest …