2022 Year in Produce: Controlled Environment Agriculture, or CEA
We all know that in the last few years, high-tech, indoor-grown produce has been blowing up — in the best way.
Well, that controlled environment agriculture trend just kept ticking on in 2022, sending waves of growth across the U.S. and world.
CEA has expanded in more ways too: The CEA Food Safety Coalition has broadened its scope, calling itself the CEA Alliance with Tom Stenzel taking the helm. Membership has expanded beyond CEA growers, such as UNFI.
Traditionally focused on leafy greens and herbs, CEA farms are starting to create commercially scalable strawberries. They’re working on more types of produce.
Partnerships are expanding too, with major retailers and distributors getting in the CEA game, as well as large companies that traditionally do field farming only.
CEA produce is gaining real estate at supermarkets among all the other salad bags and clamshells.
We’ll be closely watching this booming sector of specialty produce agriculture in 2023.
Jan. 25, 2022
Walmart invests in indoor vertical grower Plenty
By Amy Sowder
In what could be the first move of its kind for a massive retailer, Walmart is investing in an indoor vertical leafy greens grower: Plenty Unlimited Inc., based in South San Francisco.
Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart’s equity investment is part of a $400 million Series E funding round that’s part of a broader strategic partnership to use this technology to deliver fresh produce to Walmart retail stores.
Walmart will also join Plenty’s board of directors.
The long-term commercial agreement allows Walmart to source Plenty’s leafy greens for all its California stores from Plenty’s Compton farm starting later in 2022. Walmart is the first large U.S. retailer to significantly invest in vertical farming.
Jan. 26, 2022
Square Roots, Gordon Food Service open Wisconsin indoor farm
By Amy Sowder
Hydroponic, indoor leafy greens grower Square Roots and Gordon Food Service opened a climate-controlled, indoor farm in Kenosha, Wis.
First harvests were scheduled for spring 2022, reaching local consumers in Kenosha and the broader Chicago and Milwaukee metropolitan areas. The new farm expands Square Roots’ reach in the Midwest.
Kenosha is the fourth Square Roots farm in North America and the largest farm the company has built to date, with the capacity to produce more than 2.4 million packages of herbs and leafy greens annually. Square Roots operates two commercial-scale indoor farms in Michigan and another in Brooklyn, N.Y.
By deploying a network of local farms in cities such as Kenosha, Square Roots also reduces the supply chain, which means less distance between people and their food, reducing food miles and minimizing food waste.
Founded by serial entrepreneurs Kimbal Musk and Tobias Peggs, Square Roots fresh produce is available in more than 250 retail stores nationwide, including Whole Foods Market, FreshDirect, Fresh Thyme Market, Meijer’s market format stores, Morton Williams, Busch’s Fresh Food Market, SpartanNash corporate stores and Gordon Food Service Stores.
The partnership with Gordon Food Service is part of the shared mission to build commercial-scale, climate-controlled indoor farms nationwide — enabling local food at a global scale, year-round.
Feb. 10, 2022
Soil-based indoor farmers Soli Organic reveal ambitious expansion plans
By Jennifer Strailey
As the footprint for indoor-grown produce continues to expand across the country and around the globe, Soli Organic Inc. plans to build its newest farm in Marysville, Wash.
The 130,000-square-foot farm will supply 5 million pounds of USDA-certified organic herbs and leafy greens each year. Formerly Shenandoah Growers, the Virginia-based indoor farming company rebranded as Soli Organic in October 2021. The soil-based, controlled-environment agriculture company provides 100% USDA-certified organic produce to more than 20,000 retail stores nationwide. The company says its “'biology first, technology to scale' philosophy flips the typical high-tech controlled-environment agriculture script.
This results in the production of indoor-grown, organic produce at a lower price point — comparable to conventional produce pricing, the company said in a news release.
March 15, 2022
Vertical grower Bowery Farming launches first nongreen product: Strawberries
By Amy Sowder
New York City-based indoor vertical grower Bowery Farming launched a two-variety pack of strawberries — the first commercial release beyond leafy greens and herbs for the ag-tech company.
The two cultivars, the Garden Berry and Wild Berry, are grown indoors, pollinated by bees and picked when ripe.
Bowery’s strawberry duo-pack were distributed in limited release at a few New York City retailers and restaurants, with a suggested price of $14.99 for the 8-ounce container.
The duo-pack of strawberries is the latest initiative in a long-term expansion plan.
In February 2022, Bowery acquired Traptic, a three-dimensional vision and robotics harvesting start-up company, to accelerate the commercialization of fruiting and vine crops, starting with strawberries.
Bowery’s product line of Protected Produce features 14 stock-keeping units, including a new category called Farmer’s Selection, a rotating line of next-generation greens.
June 3, 2022
Cox Enterprises increases stake in CEA with Mucci Farms investment
By Jennifer Strailey
Atlanta-based communications company Cox Enterprises made a “significant strategic investment” in greenhouse giant Mucci Farms, Kingsville, Ontario, according to an announcement, which didn’t reveal precise terms.
Cox has invested more than $1 billion in sustainable technologies since 2007, including the acquisition of BrightFarms in 2021, according to a news release.
Mucci Farms, in business for 60 years, has a network of thousands of acres of indoor-grown fruits and vegetables, with more than 2,000 employees and the largest grow light program in the Canadian CEA industry.
The strategic partnership with Mucci Farms is the “next phase” in Cox building a multibillion-dollar CEA business and helping Cox become one of the leading providers of sustainable produce across North America.
Sept. 15, 2022
Driscoll's heads to Virginia to grow strawberries in world's largest indoor vertical farm
By Kristin Leigh Lore
Indoor vertical farming company Plenty Unlimited Inc. confirmed plans with the city of Richmond to build the world’s largest indoor vertical farming campus in Virginia with a $300 million investment in Chesterfield County’s Meadowville Technology Park.
Plenty secured $400 million in financing, the largest investment to date for an indoor farming company, according to a news release. Plenty plans to complete its Richmond Farm Campus over the next six years, utilizing its 200 patent assets to grow produce year-round in grow towers that will be more than 30 feet tall.
What’s more, the first farming site slated for the expansive, 120-acre campus will be a Driscoll's berry farm that will grow the first indoor, vertically farmed strawberries at scale. Driscoll's farm will be completed by winter 2023-2024.
Oct. 19, 2022
In the heights: Q&A with Kalera CEO Jim Leighton
By Jennifer Strailey
For an industry still in relative infancy, it’s breathtaking to consider how far and how fast global vertical farming has grown in the last 10 years. The global vertical farming market size was valued at $4.34 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach just over $33 billion by 2030, according to a report from Grand View Research, Inc.
As this rapidly growing industry eyes the future with the hope of securing accessible food for all, it is also taking steps to commit to investing in ongoing research and technologies to advance existing sustainable frameworks and standards, including the Science Based Targets initiatives (SBTi), B Corp and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In October, with these standards in mind, 23 international vertical farmers signed the premier Vertical Farming Identity Declaration and Manifesto at the Vertical Farming World Congress in Brussels. Hydroponic vertical farmer Kalera was among them.
To learn more about the meaning behind the manifesto and the future of vertical farming, The Packer connected with Kalera President and CEO Jim Leighton.
Oct. 25, 2022
The Whole Foods Market deal with this indoor, vertical farm brand
By Amy Sowder
Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market will now sell AeroFarms leafy baby greens and microgreens in its stores nationwide.
But there's so much more to this success than getting a product on the shelf, said Mark Oshima, co-founder and chief marketing officer of AeroFarms, in his “Tip of the Iceberg” podcast interview with The Packer’s PMG.
This high-tech, indoor, vertical farming company based in Newark, N.J., grows leafy greens, herbs and microgreens using aeroponic methods, meaning the roots dangle midair to receive nutrients through a mist. Plus, there’s a highly calibrated spectrum of LED lighting.
AeroFarms products are already in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic supermarkets, specialty stores and with foodservice operators, as well as in The Fresh Market’s locations in 22 states since September. These greens are in restaurants spearheaded by top chefs such as Marcus Samuelsson of Red Rooster and David Chang of Momofuku fame. They’re also on the farm-to-plane menu served by Singapore Airlines.
The company helped form the CEA Food Safety Coalition, Oshima said. Now led by Tom Stenzel, former president of the United Fresh Produce Association, the coalition has expanded its mission beyond food safety to create standards specific to indoor agriculture and work on building best practices.
It's also “a chance to educate the FDA and USDA about the differences of indoor growing versus field growing, the different set of challenges in terms of the macro pressures,” he said.
