Kalera announces newest vertical farming facility to open in St. Paul, Minn.

Orlando, Fla.-based Kalera has announced the purchase of a facility in St. Paul, Minn., which they will convert to a vertical farming facility, according to a news release.

Kalera’s Minnesota location is the eighth facility it has announced, the release said, and also comes on the heels of the news of Kalera’s appointment of Sonny Perdue, former Secretary of Agriculture and Maria Sastre to the board of directors. Kalera also has acquired Vindara, a company that develops seeds specifically for use in vertical indoor farm environments as well as other controlled environment agriculture farming methods.

With millions of heads of lettuce to be grown per year, Kalera’s St. Paul facility will provide a source of fresh, non-GMO, clean, living lettuces and microgreens to retailers, restaurants and other customers, the release said.

Kalera’s location in the heart of the city will shorten travel time for greens from days to mere hours, preserving nutrients, freshness, and flavor. The facility will also generate approximately 70 jobs upon opening.

Kalera currently operates two growing facilities in Orlando and last week started operations in its newest and largest facility to date in Atlanta and is building facilities in Houston, Denver, Columbus, Seattle, and Hawaii, the release said. 

Once all of these farms are operational, the release said the total projected yield is several tens of millions of heads of lettuce per year, or the equivalent of over 1,000 acres of traditional field farms. Kalera uses a closed-loop irrigation system which enables its plants to grow while consuming 95% less water compared to field farming, the release said.

“Minnesotans are all too familiar with the limitations of a challenging climate,” Daniel Malechuk, Kalera CEO, said in the release. “They also take great pride in local accomplishments, so we are extremely excited to facilitate this opportunity for Minnesotans to have fresh, high quality produce year-round, grown by the locals for the locals.”

The release said final project commitments, including jobs and capital investment, are contingent on final approval of state incentives.