Ideology–driven Plantagon is one part profit–seeking business, one part non–profit organization. Swedish green engineering, built with money from Native Americans. How does it all add up, and how exactly are globe–shaped greenhouses going to save the planet?
When Plantagon CEO Hans Hassle held a one–minute elevator pitch at the Globe Forum summit in Stockholm in June, the audience was smiling. It sounded like a funny and creative idea – not as practical, perhaps, as the other green inventors´ business proposals (solar energy, recycled car tyres, instant vaccines) – but much sexier. The audience voted him as the winner in the two–day green entrepreneurs´ competition.
Despite press coverage from all over the world, there are still no products on the market – just the futuristic and shiny model of Plantagon´s globe–shaped, fully automatic greenhouse. But negotiations will take place in 2009 and 2010.
– We are in touch with 10–12 cities at the moment, says Hans Hassle behind a raspberry smoothie at Dala Deli in Stockholm. We want to establish our business in several cities at the same time, because we know people will copy our concept. And the contracts take around 1–2 years.
Different shapes and sizes
They call it "vertical farming", and the automated greenhouses are said to be 5–10 times more efficient than existing ones when it comes to staff, and 2–4 times when it comes to profit per square meter. The concept is simple and appealing in these days of awareness: fresh, __________________________________________________________________________  ecological, cheap vegetables. No middle hands, no yesterday´s food.
The greenhouses will come in different varieties: 1. smaller greenhouses, selling directly to end–consumers in the middle of the city; 2. bigger ones outside city centres, selling to wholesalers and restaurants; and 3. enormous plants, far away from the city, providing large grocery store chains with fruit and vegetables. The biggest ones will be 142 meters high, bigger than the Globe Arena in Stockholm. The idea is to work with local entrepreneurs in each place, who build and run the greenhouses.
– China seems very interested. That´s also where we see the greatest potential. We are hoping to be part of the building of new Asian cities – it´s easier to plan that way, than to fit a construction like this in the existing city centres.
Idea for twenty years
The original idea came from inventor/gardener Åke Olsson already twenty years ago. He had been running ecological gardens for many __________________________________________________________________________ |
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 years, and had a deep knowledge of the whole process in producing organic food. Together with Hans Hassle and the engineers at Sweco, the idea has developed into these globe–like structures we see on prospects today.
– That was my idea, says Hassle smiling, it was just to make them more aesthetically appealing.
But how organic and ecological can it get when the crops are grown in the middle of city centres?
– It can of course be difficult in some places because of heavy pollution or ozone. But we also want to minimize land transport – otherwise the whole idea is meaningless. We might have to actually turn some customers down because of this.
Owned by Native Americans
So what´s so special about this business? Well first of all, a large majority of the company is owned by Native Americans at Onondaga __________________________________________________________________________ |
Nation in the US – a community seeking fruitful investments in something that is not gambling or cigarettes.
Hans Hassle got in touch with professor, clan chief and Faithkeeper Oren Lyons from Onondaga Nation in 1998, and the two started to do lectures together. Oren Lyons has been widely famous as an advocate for indigenous people all over the world, and he has worked with these issues in the UN, among other places.
– I first presented the idea to the Orondaga Nation in 2003, Hans Hassle remembers, and it took two years and many more travels to convince them. They only make decisions based upon absolute consensus.
Visionary CEO
But Hans Hassle himself is a story of his own. He has left both careers within journalism, politics and communications, due to the frustrating realisation that he couldn´t change the world to the extent that he wanted. He even lived together with indigenous people in the wilderness for a year before he came back to Sweden and started the communication bureau Vision & Verklighet (Visions and Reality) in the mid–eighties.
He started working with CSR before it was fashion, and he actually trademarked the term "corporate citizenship". He built a successful company, and helped organisations and corporations become greener. But the frustration was there again.
– I was still limited in my visions, says Hans Hassle. Every single decision was still profit–based. We need a discussion about corporate social responsibility without even thinking about profits. I wanted to show the world that it´s possible, and that´s what we´re doing now with Plantagon.
"A new way of doing business"
That being said, you might guess correctly that Plantagon´s sole aim is not to produce vertical farming greenhouses. Food is the first point on the list, but after that follows transportation (pellet–fuelled cars); energy (sustainable villages); housing (climate neutral building); __________________________________________________________________________  |
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health care (bringing mobile Swedish hospitals to remote areas in the US); and telecommunications in the form of Plantaphone (environmentally run local mobile networks). Many of the inventions will first be created for and ordered by Onondaga Nation.
Hans Hassle gladly admits that Plantagon isn´t perfect either, and some might have objections as to where Onondaga Nation´s money comes from originally. But Plantagon is also ten percent owned by a non–profit foundation (Plantagon Association) where people like you and me can become members, thus owners. This foundation helps appoint the company board, and also get payback if the company is sold or reevaluated.
– We are going to get by outside the stock market. We will have many small owners instead of few large ones. We call it a "companization". We wish to combine capitalism and idealism into some kind of healthy market economy with a holistic approach. It´s a whole new way of doing business.
How does it work?
The crops are planted at the bottom of the building, in trays filled with soil. Then the trays travel on an automatic conveyor belt for several months, depending on the crop. The temperature and humidity varies according to the needs, and at the top of the globe, the crops are ripe. They can be sold the same day directly to consumers, or shipped out to stores and restaurants.
For more information, see
www.plantagonblog.com
www.onondaganation.org
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