iFarm

This interview details iFarm, an indoor farming company based in UAE. The interview is with Alexander Lyskovsky, Founder and President of iFarm.

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What is the origin story of iFarm?

The first industrial-scale farm with iFarm technology was launched in 2020. Since then, many farms have been installed or began construction in Europe and the MENA region.

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Now iFarm is an international AgTech company, incorporated in the USA with several headquarters across the world.

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Can you tell us more about your different iFarm products?

iFarm provides proprietary ready-to-use automated indoor farming systems for commercial plant cultivation: Leafy Greens, Microgreens, Berries, and Veggies, as well as compact container farms for salad greens (iFarm Container).

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We also offer farm management software, iFarm Growtune. It’s an all-in-one platform available via license with a monthly subscription rate based on grow-area. iFarm Growtune is fully integrated with iFarm StackGrow hardware automation, enabling automated growth modes, yield planning, organizing delivery logistics, and analyzing production and performance data.

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We also provide consumables and support services such as farm project design, financial modeling, market research, and consulting.

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You claim to have the world's northernmost indoor strawberry farm, can you tell us more about both the technology and the produce?

Indeed! Moreover, this farm was the first industrial city farm built with iFarm Berries technology.

The iFarm Berries technology relies on the low-volume hydroponics method, which is particularly well-suited for growing strawberries indoors. Achieving a high yield and optimal taste requires attention to numerous factors, such as the quality and variety of seedlings, substrate, climate stability, and pollination. During three years of experiments, we have tried a lot! Our confirmed result is up to 1.7–2.04 kg of berries per planting place per year and a Brix level of more than 10 degrees.

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What are some of the biggest challenges facing iFarm in the future?

iFarm already enables the profitable cultivation of several types of greens, veggies, and berries. However, we are constantly asked about other types of vegetables beyond tomatoes and cucumbers, berries beyond strawberries, and of course, root vegetables, fruits, and grapes. We are working hard to expand the list of crops that our clients can grow.

On the other hand, we would like to make fresh and high-quality produce profitable  in countries with average income levels and low food prices. We can already build a farm in the UAE and Switzerland, but the challenge for us is to build a profitable farm in Kenya or Mongolia.

My personal challenge and dream is a vertical farm with iFarm technology on another planet. This is still far off, but after all, we are still young!

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What is unique about iFarm compared to competitors?

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First and foremost, the payback time. Farming businesses built with iFarm technologies reach payback in just 3-5 years. We custom-build each vertical farm facility to be profitable. This is why we offer customers not only software and hardware, but also personalized financial models, support services and consulting. We are constantly improving our technologies and products to serve businesses that are reconstructing the global food production landscape right now.

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How do you measure the impact of your company so far? (Revenue, Employees, Customer Quantity, Production Volume) etc?

All of them are important in measuring impact. As a tech provider, we prioritize the cultivation area as a primary indicator of our success. Since iFarm’s inception, our software and hardware have been used on 16 farms in 10 countries across the world. Nine more farms are currently under construction, including the world’s largest automated indoor farm in Mexico. Upon completion, these projects will bring our total cultivation area to an impressive 57,000 square meters.

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What have you learned that you wish you knew when you joined or started the company?

I’ve had many learnings along the way. However, if there's one thing I wish I had known more about before starting iFarm, it's plants. My background was mainly in Engineering, and my knowledge of agriculture was fairly limited.

Over the past five years I have been learning about agrochemistry, plant diseases, lighting, and much more. Every day. Here comes another learning: Agriculture is an amazing industry because you will literally never stop learning something new through experimentation, testing, and discovery.

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How can people connect with you or learn more about iFarm?

For all interested in discovering more about iFarm and our technologies, visit our website: https://ifarm.fi/

If you want to approach me, drop me an email at: founders@ifarm.fi.

We will be happy to connect and chat with you on LinkedIn, here’s our profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ifarmcorp/

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