Ground breaks on high-tech indoor tomato farming operation; founder hopes to bring jobs to Central Appalachia - Entrepreneur Generations

In Morehead, Kentucky, ground has been broken on a project that, its founder hopes, will help bring jobs to Eastern Kentucky and supply fresh tomatoes to the surrounding states. Through AppHarvest, Lexington native Jonathan Webb plans to build a series of greenhouses to grow the popular veggie. The solar-power professional "has no prior experience in farming, but he has managed to attract $97 million in project financing and a list of noteworthy partners. Ultimately, he plans to spend $1 billion to $2 billion on greenhouses—even if it takes a decade or two," Leigh Kamping-Carder reports for The Wall Street Journal. Webb's investors include Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance and AOL co-founder Steve Case.

The project is starting off modestly, with one 60-acre greenhouse that Webb says will be up and running by mid-2020. Greenhouses have a number of advantages over open-air operations: "Compared with traditional farms, indoor farms offset weather-related risks, reduce food waste, use drastically less water and produce more consistent crops. A modern, acre-size greenhouse can yield the same amount of produce as 40 to 50 acres of soil, Kamping-Carder reports. "Produce grown indoors also appeals to changing consumer preferences, as more Americans seek to reduce sugar and processed foods in their diets, eat more locally grown, chemical-free produce, and track the origins of their food."

Webb told Kamping-Carder there's plenty of demand for the product: "If we had 500 acres of supply tomorrow, we could sell all of that supply to U.S. grocers . . . We cannot build fast enough or grow fast enough to meet the demand of grocers or consumers."

AppHarvest "is one of a growing number of technology-focused agricultural companies seeking to solve the problems of the U.S. food system—among them opaque supply chains, labor shortages, food waste, health and safety issues, higher import costs and an increasingly unpredictable climate—by growing food indoors."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/309v6Jt Ground breaks on high-tech indoor tomato farming operation; founder hopes to bring jobs to Central Appalachia - Entrepreneur Generations

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