Garant, Axfood’s private label brand, launches locally grown crisp lettuce from Ljusgårda – available all year round

Swedish-grown lettuce all year round, completely free from pesticides – and with a low climate footprint. This becomes a reality as Axfood, together with Ljusgårda, now offers vertically grown crisp lettuce from Garant across all Axfood retail chains.

The crisp lettuce has been developed in collaboration with Ljusgårda, a Swedish vertical indoor farm where the lettuce is grown upwards, requiring minimal space. As the cultivation takes place in a self-contained, protected, and controlled ecosystem, it also requires very little water. The lettuce is grown entirely without pesticides.

The crisp lettuce meets the growing demand for Swedish-produced options in the salad section and offers both a low climate footprint* and a long shelf life. It is now available at Hemköp, Willys, City Gross, and other stores selling Garant products. Axfood thus becomes the first Swedish grocery retailer to centrally introduce and offer this type of lettuce across its chains.

– We want to offer our customers more sustainable and Swedish-produced options in fruit and vegetables. With Ljusgårda as our producer, we can now launch a lettuce that is completely pesticide-free, of high quality, and grown year-round in Sweden, says Fredrik Westerberg, Category Manager for Fruit, Vegetables and Flowers at Axfood’s purchasing and logistics company Dagab.

Ljusgårda’s vertical farming method means the lettuce is grown under optimal conditions. This results in a nutrient-rich plant and eliminates the weather-related risks associated with outdoor cultivation.

– We are proud to collaborate with Axfood and Garant to offer Swedish-grown lettuce all year round at Willys, Hemköp and City Gross. Together, we show that sustainable and modern food production is not just the future – it is already here, says Andreas Wilhelmsson, CEO of Ljusgårda.

*According to an independent life cycle analysis conducted by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Ljusgårda’s indoor-grown lettuce has approximately 50 percent lower climate impact compared to imported lettuce.

For more information:
Magnus Törnblom, Press Manager, Axfood, +46 70 266 27 12, magnus.tornblom@axfood.se