Food Shortages: Siemens is Financing Urban Crop Projects

Vertical and urban farming is an interesting idea. It’s local crop production, which can obviously cut down on food miles, plus it offers a sticking plaster solution to global food supply chain and arable land problems. But it doesn’t address the core issue of arable and grazing land being used for solar panels, wind turbines, carbon offset forests or rewilding – all Net Zero policies designed to deliberately reduce the world’s ability to feed itself.

In the short term we need more allotments, more vertical farm projects in city and town centres. So, Urban Crop Solutions and Siemens Financial Services have launched a programme whereby, under certain conditions, customers of Urban Crop Solutions can benefit from a financing option offered by Siemens Financial Services.

Urban Crop Solutions (UCS) supplies end-to-end growth solutions in the fast-emerging global market of indoor vertical farming. Customers that have a sound financial track record will be able to benefit from this new service, jointly offered together with Siemens Financial Services (SFS). The financing offering is currently limited to the countries that SFS is active in today. This however, is expected to change, as SFS is rapidly rolling-out its services across the globe, and is to eventually reach all countries that UCS is active in.

“Finding the right financing for innovative and ambitious projects is not always evident for our clients”, explains Jean-Pierre Coene, CEO of Urban Crop Solutions. “This cooperation with Siemens Financial Services will further accelerate the global growth of our business” he adds.

“Almost all of Urban Crop Solutions’ projects meet the criteria for projects that Siemens Financial Services is willing to finance. Those being: industrial transformation, smart infrastructure, and the future of healthcare,” explains Christian Vermersch, Account Manager at Siemens Financial Services. Adding that “all of Urban Crop Solutions’ products moreover contain Siemens’ components inside, which was an additional important consideration when forming this partnership with Urban Crop Solutions for the indoor vertical farming market.”