Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, Rhode Island Secretary of Commerce Stefan Pryor and other community leaders joined Viraj Puri, co-founder and CEO of Gotham Greens, Brooklyn, N.Y., in announcing the company’s first urban greenhouse farm in New England.
The greenhouse farm will be at the historic General Electric Base Works facility in Providence, R.I., according to a news release. The facility is expected to produce about 30 times the yield of conventional agriculture per acre, while using 90 percent less water by using growing methods such as recirculating hydroponics, data-driven climate control intelligence and renewable energy.
The 110,000-square-foot high-tech farm is scheduled to open in early fall. The facility will grow year-round to supply restaurants and foodservice customers in region with 10 million heads annually of lettuce and leafy greens.
“Gotham Greens is a shining example of the type of innovative, sustainable, and community-minded businesses we envision will help to reinvigorate the Woonasquatucket River Corridor,” Elorza said in the release.
The $12.5 million project is a collaboration with many agencies, including the governor’s office, Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), the mayor’s office, the city’s Redevelopment Agency, the city’s Office of Economic Opportunity, as well as many other city staff and community members.
Gotham Greens will partner with community organizations to increase access to healthy foods and support wellness and nutrition education, ag-tech research and environmental education programs across the region, according to the release.
Since its first greenhouse launch in 2011, Gotham Greens has grown from a single urban rooftop greenhouse in Brooklyn to a multi-state indoor farming company and one of the largest hydroponic leafy greens producers in North America, according to the release. Gotham Greens runs more than 180,000 square feet of greenhouse in New York and Chicago and has 500,000 square feet of development underway across five U.S. states, including previously announced projects in Chicago and Baltimore.
“Geographically, New England is farthest from the West Coast, where the majority of leafy greens distributed across the U.S. today are grown,” Puri said in the release. “Once we’re operational, Gotham Greens will be able to supply this region’s supermarket retailers and foodservice operators with a consistent and reliable supply of fresh produce grown right here in New England year-round. Furthermore, using our proprietary indoor growing methods, we can implement rigorous health, safety, and traceability measures—from seed to harvest.”
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