2021 Year in Review — Indoor Ag Boom
The five-year growth trend of indoor farming, especially controlled environment agriculture (CEA), accelerated in 2021, when supply chain delays and rising costs made shipping produce from across the country or world more difficult. That’s in large part because many CEA companies are built on a model that supports regional retail customers.
Controlled environment agriculture companies are growing in a number of ways, including facility expansions nationwide and globally, more types of produce and bigger capital investments, as well as better technology, efficiencies and increasing partnerships — even with traditional outdoor agriculture companies.
Gotham Greens opens first West Coast greenhouse, becomes Certified B Corp
Dec. 8
By Amy Sowder
For its first operation on the West Coast, Gotham Greens, Brooklyn, N.Y, has opened a 10-acre hydroponic greenhouse near the University of California-Davis campus. Plus, it earned Certified B Corp status.
Oppy unveils first vertical farming partnership
Nov. 2
Industry Press Release
UP Vertical Farms is a cutting edge new indoor farm leading the way with the upcoming launch of Canada’s first touchless, high-density indoor vertical farm for growing customizable baby leafy greens.
UP super greens will be available from a range of retailers through its partnership with Oppy in 2022.
Soli Organic, formerly Shenandoah Growers, gains $120 million in financing
Oct. 27
By Amy Sowder
Rockingham, Va.-based Soli Organic, formerly called Shenandoah Growers, has reached an agreement with real estate investment firm The Decennial Group for $120 million in financing to expand its CEA operations. The company will have 15 soil-based indoor farms, supporting its plans to shift 90% of production indoors.
NatureSweet adds joint venture to support rapid growth
Oct. 12
Industry Press Release
NatureSweet is expanding its operations through a joint venture with Ganfer, a high-tech greenhouse grower in Mexico, immediately adding more than 200 acres to the more than 1,200 acres already owned by NatureSweet.
Sunset produce to be grown in Colorado solar-powered greenhouse
Sept. 9
Industry Press Release
Mastronardi Produce and VetaNova have entered a long-term exclusive distribution agreement of all fruits and vegetables from the operator’s solar-powered greenhouse in Avondale, Colo. The greenhouse will start with a 25-acre range, with plans of expanding up to 157 acres.
Longvine partners with Bluehouse Greenhouse for expansion
Sept. 7
Mona, Utah-based Longvine Growing Co. signed a strategic partnership with Beverly Hills, Calif.-based agritech firm Bluehouse Greenhouse Inc.
The agreement is to market greenhouse vegetables produced in the 38-acre highwire house at the flagship 58-acre, Los Angeles greenhouse and energy campus. Previously called Houweling USA, Longvine is a greenhouse vegetable grower and marketer with facilities in Mona, Loveland, Colo., and Nogales, Ariz., with partner growers in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
What Taylor Farms’ Pure Green investment means
August 30
By Amy Sowder
When one of the nation’s largest fresh-cut produce companies decides to invest in the innovative, startup-filled ag-tech sector, the industry notices. Specializing in salads, Salinas, Calif.-based Taylor Farms has more than 20,000 employees across North America, and it will invest in South Bend, Ind.-based Pure Green Farms, which hydroponically grows, packs and ships leafy greens year-round using a climate-controlled, automated process. It’s on a site that can expand up to 300 acres.
Cox Enterprises acquires BrightFarms
August 17
By Amy Sowder
In what could be one of the biggest indoor ag-tech acquisitions so far, Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises has acquired Irvington, N.Y.-based BrightFarms, the indoor farming company and provider of locally grown packaged salads in several states.
AeroFarms to expand its indoor vertical farms into the Midwest
August 12
By Amy Sowder
Newark, N.J.-based AeroFarms, a Certified B Corporation, will expand to the Midwest region. The planned 150,000-square-foot indoor vertical farm, AeroFarms’ largest to date, will be in the greater St. Louis area to provide rapid access to Midwest retail partners.
Mastronardi, AppHarvest form joint venture FarmCo
August 12
By Amy Sowder
Kingsville, Ontario-based Mastronardi Produce Ltd. and Morehead, Ky.-based AppHarvest have signed a nonbinding letter of intent to form FarmCo, a joint venture to develop a portfolio of CEA facilities using equity and assets of more than $100 million. The venture would raise more capital to fund its growth and include a goal of building more than 750 acres of CEA facilities in the U.S. for fresh fruits and vegetables.
Vegpro invests $55 million in its first carbon-neutral greenhouse
August 5
By Amy Sowder
Sherrington, Quebec-based Vegpro International is investing $55 million into its first greenhouse complex, including packing lines, in Sherrington, part of the Montérégie region.
Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit grows with this hot sector
July 1
By Amy Sowder
It’s no secret the indoor agriculture sector is exploding with startups and existing companies expanding and gaining investments, some going public. But, the question is, how to scale up wisely amid all this excitement?
More than 700 participants from more than 40 countries bandied about this issue and many others at the June 24-25 virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit — the biggest global audience in its four-year history.
Aquaponic Springworks Farm expands with 26-year-old CEO
June 25
By Amy Sowder
Trevor Kenkel, CEO of Lisbon, Maine-based Springworks, sliced the grand-opening ribbon with golden scissors on his third greenhouse, totaling about 45,000 square feet of commercial production using the aquaponic farming technique in which fish and plants support each other’s growth in a closed system. By 2026, the Kenkels want half a million square feet of aquaponic greenhouse operations on the Lisbon site. Springworks counts 200 Hannaford stores, Whole Foods distribution centers, restaurants and other companies as customers of its leafy greens.
CEA Food Safety Coalition details first indoor-farming standards
June 2
By Amy Sowder
Inspired by rising food safety concerns after the 2018 Thanksgiving romaine recalls, the CEA Food Safety Coalition is launching the first-ever food safety certification program specifically designed for indoor-grown leafy greens.
NY’s Bowery Farming gets additional $300 million
May 26
By Amy Sowder
Vertical indoor grower Bowery Farming has secured another $300 million in a round led by Fidelity Management & Research Co., totaling more than $472 million of funding to date.
This addition comes with follow-on investment from existing investors GV (formerly Google Ventures), General Catalyst, GGV Capital, Temasek, and Groupe Artémis, as well as new participation from Amplo and Gaingels, a fund representing the LGBTQ community and allies.
Nature Fresh Farms adds strawberry acreage
April 19
By Amy Sowder
Leamington, Ontario-based Nature Fresh Farms is expanding its greenhouse strawberry acreage from one to 16 acres, with help from growing partner Cielo Vista, to be completed this fall.
Expanding controlled environment agriculture beyond 'The Big 4'
March 29
By Peter Tasgal
Greenhouses, vertical farms and hybrid systems continue to attract investment at a much greater scale than in previous decades. Capital has been deployed across farm types: large-scale greenhouses, regional greenhouses, scaled-vertical farms and localized vertical farms.
South Carolina gets $314 million ag-tech center for multiple users
March 11
By Amy Sowder
A $314 million ag-tech center — that will grow indoors, co-pack, distribute and sometimes process fresh greens, tomatoes, blueberries and other produce — is coming to South Carolina by the last quarter of 2022. On the 1,000-plus acre site, there will be a 150,000-square-foot distribution center to ship the produce within 24 hours of harvest to an estimated 50 million people in the Southeast, said Zeb Portanova, CEO of the fund.
Little Leaf Farms raises $90 million to fully fund East Coast expansion
February 17
By Amy Sowder
Devens, Mass.-based Little Leaf Farms has raised $90 million in debt and equity financing to build new East Coast sites to supply large retailers and foodservice providers.
Equilibrium Capital led the latest funding round with Coppermine Capital. Bank of America has also committed more than $20 million, with another $20 million planned.