Joshua Jones literally has farming down to a science. He’s in charge of what was the most high-tech vertical farm in the world, 80 Acres Farms’ 70K (named for its 70,000-square feet) in Hamilton, when it opened at the beginning of 2021.
Jones gives WVXU a tour of the facility that churns out 10 million servings a year of six lettuce varieties and chard. A computer seeds the plants and lifts move huge trays in and out of grow zones, taking the tedious and heavy lifting away from employees who can now focus on the overall operation.
Vertical farming is different from growing plants in a greenhouse. Here, the romaine, butterhead and red frilled lettuce are stacked floor to ceiling,
"If it's going up to level 10, row 8, it will go up an automatic elevator," Jones explains. "It will then get pushed over to its new rail system. We find the row that has the oldest type of that variety that is ready to harvest and it pushes it in. When it pushes the youngest crop in, it pushes the oldest crop out."
It takes one month from seed to harvest, compared to the two to three months necessary to grow crops the traditional way.
Technology full speed ahead
When 70K first opened two years ago, Communications Manager Jed Portman says it was the most sophisticated vertical farm in the world.
But, now, he says, "This is the least sophisticated, least ambitious farm we'll ever build again. And this was inconceivable not long ago. We have the technology to do it efficiently. For the first time in human history, the technology is only getting better and more efficient, so why not?"
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80 Acres Farms has eight different facilities, the newest of which is in Florence, Ky. Phase I is already up and running with more advanced technology than 80 Acres' other farms. A partnership with Siemens is helping the company with plant growth simulations.
80 Acres Director of Data Analytics and Insights Noah Zelkind explains inside 70K, there are 100 fields growing at the same time.
"This is really just the first high-producing node in a distributing processing network that we are starting to build, and for the first time, we can actually apply the scientific method to plants and that's what gets us really excited," he says. "That's what technology unlocks."
Companies and countries are taking notice. The president of the Bahamas flew here in 2022 to talk about food security solutions. And Zelkind says people have visited the farm from four continents.
One of the challenges is the cost of energy, water and electricity. Bloomberg reports vertical farms Fifth Season, out of Pittsburgh, and Indoor Urban Farming in Berlin both shut down at the end of last year. 80 Acres did have to lay off about two dozen people at the beginning of the year.
"I think this is part of a continuous improvement process that you'll see both in the grow zone and in other parts of the company, just to ensure that we're operating as efficiently and as sustainably as possible; allocating our resources as thoughtfully as possible," says Portman.
Inside 70K, the automated rail system is in constant motion, transporting plants where they need to be at every given moment. Other computers control airflow, water and light, right down to a sunrise and sunset.
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80 Acres is looking to expand its products and technology nationally and globally. While it says it doesn't think vertical farming will solve world hunger, it is part of the solution.
