BrightFarms plans to build four regional greenhouse hubs

Irvington, New York-based indoor farming company BrightFarms is building four regional greenhouse hubs to grow and market leafy greens to more people across Eastern and Central regions of the U.S.

Construction is underway on the first regional hub in Yorkville, Illinois. BrightFarms will break ground this summer on similar facilities in Macon, Ga., and Lorena, Texas, followed by another in the Northeast in late 2023, according to a news release.

The new locations are expected to start shipping greens to retailers in 2024 to fulfill and match escalating demand, the company said. This expansion is expected to set BrightFarms up for rapid expansion and revenue growth, according to the release.

All four sites are strategically positioned near major metropolitan areas. They have a combined footprint up to 200 acres with the ability to produce approximately 150 million pounds of leafy greens per year once complete. Each regional hub is expected to create more than 250 jobs in the agricultural sector — over 1,000 total — at full scale, according to the release.

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"Today’s U.S. salad supply chain is not sustainable, with over 95% of all leafy greens grown in two centralized, water-depleted regions on the West Coast,” BrightFarms CEO Steve Platt said in the release. “We grow our greens where people consume them, 365 days per year. With our four new greenhouse hubs underway, we’re excited to deliver the freshest, cleanest and most responsibly grown produce to two-thirds of the U.S. in a way that benefits the health of our consumers and the planet, while also providing fair and equitable wages and benefits to agricultural workers who feed our country.”

To facilitate this expansion, BrightFarms is partnering with Kubo Group and Green Automation Group, leaders in greenhouse and automated growing system technologies. Together, they plan to build high-tech indoor farms and revolutionize how leafy greens are grown in the U.S., according to the release

Kubo’s high-tech Ultra-Clima technology delivers a climate control system that is stable, efficient and sustainable. This will support production of higher produce yields, less variability, improve food safety and promote greater resource efficiency, according to the release.

BrightFarms also partnered with Green Automation Group on the design and implementation of its mobile gutter system, which will fully automate the growing and harvesting process, supporting increased yields and improved food safety, according to the release.

Additionally, growing in a controlled automated environment close to the point of consumption, BrightFarms’ greenhouses will use less water, land and shipping fuel, and zero pesticides compared with field-grown produce, according to the release.

Acquired in 2021 by Cox Enterprises, BrightFarms’ acquisition marked a shift how the controlled environment agriculture industry is growing.

“Like Cox Enterprises, BrightFarms is committed to creating a better future,” Steve Bradley, vice president of clean tech for Cox Enterprises said in the release. “This expansion of its greenhouses is another step towards investing and innovating controlled environment agriculture for the next generation. Cox is excited to partner in efforts to push the boundaries of possibility for indoor farming and help build a multibillion-dollar business.”