Two controlled environment agriculture growers, BrightFarms and Element Farms, are partnering to deliver more indoor grown, hydroponic spinach to Northeast consumers. BrightFarms has penned a licensing agreement in which it will distribute Element Farms’ indoor-grown spinach throughout the Northeast under the BrightFarms brand, according to a news release.
“This partnership with Element Farms is an important step forward for BrightFarms. We will continue to be leaders in CEA salads, delivering the assortment our retail partners and consumers demand,” Steve Campione, BrightFarms’ chief financial officer and executive vice president of strategy, said in the release.
In a testament to a shared vision, retailer The Giant Co. will introduce the licensed spinach product across all its 190 stores. The decision to partner with Giant is driven by the shared sustainability goals, according to the release.
“We are excited to bring more locally grown spinach to our consumers year-round. Spinach is an important part of our salad assortment and the freshness we can deliver with this program is exactly what our consumers want,” Matt Novosel, category manager at The Giant Co., said in the release.
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BrightFarms has been a category leader spinach production since launching its spinach product in retail stores in 2016. Partnering with Element Farms will provide greater supply leveraging two models for successful spinach production, Campione said.
“We are thrilled to be partnering up with BrightFarms, a company we’ve admired for a long time, on this deal that will expand the reach of our indoor-grown spinach impressively,” Serdar Mizrakci, CEO of Element Farms, said in the release. “BrightFarms’ mission is similar to ours and they are just as passionate about sustainability and indoor-grown innovation, which is what is truly going to make this relationship successful long-term.”
This partnership is the latest in a series of strategic moves for BrightFarms. Earlier this year, BrightFarms announced the development of four new regional greenhouse hubs, which are anticipated to set BrightFarms up for exponential revenue growth by 2025.
Construction of three of these hydroponic farms — each with a 40-acre footprint and slated to produce nearly 30 million pounds of leafy greens per year and provided about 250 local jobs — is underway to develop the indoor-grown salad supply chain on the East Coast and Central U.S., according to the release.
