US: OHIO - Amid The Pandemic, A Greater Cincinnati Tomato and Produce Farm Adjusts And Flourishes – Indoors
Alexander Coolidge Cincinnati Enquirer
Published: May 3, 2020
A view of 80 Acres Farms Vine farm facility on Thursday, April 9, 2020 at the in Hamilton. The building is known for being the Miami Motor Car Company building and previously automotive parts were produced in the building. Albert Cesare / The Enquirer
Eat your vegetables
You know your mom told you, but it's gotten harder in recent weeks as supermarkets have scrambled to keep shelves stocked amid the new coronavirus outbreak.
"With COVID we've realized how valuable supply chains are," said Mike Zelkind, CEO, and co-founder of 80 Acres Farms in Hamilton.
Zelkind's business has been forced to pivot with the crisis as well, though with different results: sales have doubled.
A sign outside 80 Acres Farm asking people to "Romaine Calm & Veg Out" in Hamilton on Thursday, April 9, 2020. Albert Cesare / The Enquirer
While 80 Acres previously sold half its produce to restaurants like Jeff Ruby's and Salazar Cincinnati, supermarkets have clamored for its Ohio-grown produce amid disruption to normal supply chains even as restaurant demand dwindled amid Ohio's suspension of dine-in service.
While not as hard-hit as the toilet paper aisle at the grocery store, high-demand items like tomatoes have sometimes been gone or heavily picked over in the produce section.
The gaps on shelves had laid bare problems in the nation's food supply chain: while food is still making it to stores, some crops have been wasted because some farms only sold to restaurant suppliers. Sickness and harsh immigration policy amid the pandemic have also complicated harvesting crops.
A farm tech checks Cheramy Tomatoes while she packages them on Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 80 Acres Farm in Hamilton. Albert Cesare / The Enquirer
Kroger began selling 80 Acres products at some of their Cincinnati stores, including its Downtown location, last fall.
Other grocers carrying their products include: Clifton Market, Jungle Jim's, Country Fresh Market & Wine Depot in Anderson Township and Giant Eagles across Ohio.
Zelkind hopes some of the shift remains permanent. His company is a vertical farmer or hydroponic grower that produces crops without soil. One of its local farms is inside an old 30,000-square-foot auto-parts factory (once called Miami Motors) in Hamilton.
80 Acres grows tomatoes, baby cucumbers, herbs, lettuce and other leafy greens. Because they farm indoors, they don't worry about bugs and don't use pesticides. Because they don't need sunlight (they use LED lighting) or favorable weather, they grow year-round.
And because it's local, it's fresh.
Zelkind and company believe vertical farming is a model for the future because it's more efficient: they use 100% renewable energy powered by the Great Miami River and 97% less water than a comparable outdoor farm. And because a lot of the heavy work is automated, it's a good fit for old industrial buildings.
A veteran of the food and packaged goods and private equity, Zelkind, 51, was the president of Sager Creek Vegetable Co., a Del Monte Foods subsidiary, before founding 80 Acres five years ago with Tisha Livingston, another food and packaged goods vet.
Mike Zelking of 80 Acres Farms stands in front of hydroponically grown Cheramy tomatoes, a variety of cherry tomatoes, on Thursday, April 9, 2020 at the Vine farm facility in Hamilton. Albert Cesare / The Enquirer
The company is in the middle of building another $30 million facility in Hamilton that will produce lettuce, basil and other leafy greens. The indoor farm is expected to begin production in the fall.
The company also operates indoor farms in Arkansas, North Carolina – and New York City. The company is growing cherry tomatoes right outside the Guggenheim Museum as part of an exhibit called "Countryside, The Future."
Guy Tyree, A farm tech, picks ripe Cheramy tomatoes at 80 Acres Farm in Hamilton on Thursday, April 9, 2020. Albert Cesare / The Enquirer
Demand for fresh vegetables has been so strong amid the epidemic, 80 Acres in the last month began selling directly to consumers from a site in Hamilton and one facility in the middle of industrial Spring Grove Village in Cincinnati. Customers can make an order off their website; pickups are on Tuesdays and Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m.
"We were asked to do curbside. We didn't know how it was going to work, but it has been phenomenal," Zelkind said.
Amid the coronavirus crisis, 80 Acres will also take online donation orders for local hospital and other workers on the front-line of the epidemic.
Frill Lettuce and Butter Lettuces are grown hydroponically inside a 80 Acres Farm facility in Hamilton on Thursday, April 9, 2020. After being planted the lettuce is harvested by a robot and a harvester, limiting its exposure to human contact. Albert Cesare / The Enquirer
Guy Tyree, A farm tech, tosses an unripe Cheramy tomato into a bin for unripe tomatoes while helping package them at 80 Acres Farm in Hamilton on Thursday, April 9, 2020. The farm picks their tomatoes daily as they become ripe on the vine. Albert Cesare / The Enquirer
Cheramy Tomatoes wait to be checked and packaged on Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 80 Acres Farm in Hamilton. Albert Cesare / The Enquirer
Butter head lettuce grows on Thursday, April 9, 2020 at an 80 Acres Farms facility in Hamilton.
Albert Cesare / The Enquirer
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Published 8:32 PM EDT May 3, 2020