“MyFood was born from the observation of issues surrounding nutrition, food, and agriculture,” explains Matthieu Urban. “People are losing trust in the system, seeking to take control over what they eat, whether from a quality, financial, or environmental perspective. And the ultimate way to do this is to produce it themselves, and that’s the opportunity we provide to families through a production tool.”
While there is indeed a societal trend towards DIY and greater home autonomy, one quickly encounters challenges when trying to garden, such as lack of time, space, knowledge, or even the unpredictability of the weather.
The idea is to overcome these difficulties with an innovative greenhouse that requires only one to two hours of work per week. “We’ve eliminated everything that is tedious and time-consuming, using aquaponics and bioponics, automated and completely ecological soil-less growing techniques,” explains Matthieu Urban. “We have a system under the greenhouse with parameters to monitor. The greenhouse is equipped with sensors that provide information about the system's status and allow people to easily take control of the tool.”
A sufficient degree of autonomy to be able to go away for a weekend or vacation for several weeks without the system stopping. “But you still need to regularly plant, harvest, and refill the fish food dispenser,” Matthieu Urban tempers. “It doesn’t do everything by itself either.”
Ultimately, the solution is designed to provide what a family needs in their daily basket, in terms of vegetable and fruit diversity. “Fruits and vegetables are the category of family spending that has seen the most inflation over the past 10 years, at +70%,” explains Matthieu Urban. “On average, a family spends between €175 and €200 per month, according to a study by Familles rurales. We will align with these expenses to determine the type of greenhouse needed to meet this consumption demand, aiming for a return on investment of about 5 years.”
“So we can produce locally, zero waste, fresh all year round, and additionally, the greenhouse can be circular, meaning it can generate its own electricity with solar panels and collect rainwater to operate the system. There are no waste outputs because they are directly used in the soil beds next to it. This also avoids going to the supermarket to buy vegetables that come from all over the planet, wrapped in plastic. It effectively prevents all the environmental externalities we currently face regarding food,” concludes Matthieu Urban.
