Nimble Farms (formerly Ellicottville Greens), a regional indoor farming operation, has debuted its new brand identity and announced a major retail expansion through a chainwide launch at Tops Friendly Markets.
“When we started this, the biggest focus was really around how to create local affordable food,” Nimble Farms CEO Gabe Bialkowsi told The Packer. “The local side of things is really one of our core businesses and how we operate. We’re huge believers in how we get the food as close to consumption as possible. We built our entire business around that one goal.”
The new branding for Nimble Farms reinforces this mission, with the tagline, “Locally grown, everywhere.”
Currently, Nimble Farms supplies supermarkets, farmers’ markets, schools and hospitals across New York state and the broader northeast U.S. region. As part of its rebranding, the company announced a major partnership with Tops Friendly Markets. Its Butterhead Living Lettuce is now available in all 152 Tops locations across New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont. The company said it plans to expand product offerings soon.
Bialkowsi said the way Nimble Farms has grown and scaled allows it to be, well, nimble when it comes to meeting retailers’ needs for products.
“We’re well under 50 miles to the distribution hub for one of the Tops facilities,” he told The Packer. “Because of that, we’re able to be very flexible in what we’re growing and they get everything a day after it’s harvested. It gives us a lot of flexibility in terms of being able to say this is what the retailer needs and we can start growing it because of that proximity. It’s something they feel is easier to get done than with someone that is further away.”
Bialkowsi said Nimble Farms uses controlled-environment technology housed in converted shipping containers to develop a distributed network of smart modular farms powered entirely by renewable energy. The company grows living lettuce, herbs, microgreens and mushrooms, and it uses energy-efficient LED lights, recirculating water and nutrient systems. Bialkowsi also said 100% renewable energy sourced from local wind, solar and hydroelectric systems powers the sites.
Nimble Farms has been in the controlled environment agriculture space since 2018, and Bialkowsi said it’s an exciting time to be in CEA because he’s seen a lot of innovation and a few changes as the CEA industry evolves. He said he’s seen more of a focus with CEA growers on being a local and regional solution. Another change is the continual addition of new technology into CEA facilities, often seen with more energy-efficient LED lighting and HVAC units.
Another, he tells The Packer, is in packaging.
“There’s been a lot of packaging that has been the industry standard for some time that certain retailers require, but I think that there’s quite a bit of innovation going on in that packaging area as well to get more sustainable in terms of using less plastic,” he said.
Another area of innovation is within what CEA growers plant.
“I think we’re starting to see more trials and R&D into other categories of produce to see what is possible to grow indoors and what makes economic sense, which is exciting,” Bialkowsi told The Packer.
