Growing Up In The Garden State: Vertical Farms Prove To Be Bright Spot on N.J.'s Agricultural Horizon
In Newark, AeroFarms converted a 75-year-old, 70,000-square-foot steel mill into the world’s largest indoor vertical farm in 2015, which is soon to become the world’s second–largest when AeroFarms completes construction of its new 150,000-square-foot vertical farm in Danville, Va. Photo courtesy of AeroFarms
While New Jersey is famously known as the ‘Garden State’ based on its bountiful produce, numerous forces here and abroad indicate that the delicate balance between food growers and consumers is reaching a dangerous tipping point. Among key concerns, the world population is currently growing faster than the food supply, agriculture accounts for nearly 25% of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, and modern commercial farming practices have led to a rise in dangerous and costly food-borne and antibiotic-resistant illnesses. Closer to home, a recent report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed that between 1982 and 2007, New Jersey lost a greater share of its agricultural land to development than any other state in America, putting further strain on a local industry already under pressure.
Proving that necessity is the mother of invention, however, a new crop of innovators is tackling these challenges head-on. Based on the benefits of “vertical farming” – a process by which crops are grown indoors in vertically stacked layers within highly controlled environments – New Jersey’s numerous vertical farms represent a bright spot on the Garden State’s agricultural horizon.
A Strategic Solution
“Vertical farms lead back to the need to build a world in which the current food system must support the needs of an expanded population with a rapidly dwindling set of resources,” said Irving Fain, founder, and CEO of Bowery Farming, a 5-year-old, Kearny-based indoor farming company that’s addressing the impending climate and food crisis by using the power of technology to grow fresh, high-quality produce closer to the point of consumption. With two commercial indoor farms located in Kearny and a third recently launched in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area, “Bowery’s model and proprietary technology, BoweryOS, enable the growth of high-quality crops year-round, regardless of whether or seasonality, using zero pesticides and over 95% less water,” Fain said.
“We’re re-appropriating industrial space to grow crops indoors at a rate that’s 100 times more productive per square foot of land than that of traditional agriculture,” noted Fain, who said that Bowery’s data-rich systems and ability to control the entire growing process enable it to trace every individual crop back to its original seed and deliver superior produce to restaurants and stores (including Whole Foods and Stop & Shop locations) within days of harvest.
Five miles away in Newark, AeroFarms converted a 75-year-old, 70,000-square-foot steel mill into the world’s largest indoor vertical farm in 2015 (soon to become the world’s second-largest when AeroFarms completes construction of its new 150,000-square-foot vertical farm in Danville, Va.). Growing a range of fruit, vegetables, and greens (under the “Dream Greens” label) without sun or soil in a fully controlled, indoor environment using a patented aeroponic growing system for faster harvest cycles, predictable results, superior food safety and less environmental impact, the company’s annual yields are reportedly 390-plus times higher per square foot than conventional farming. Harvesting up to two million pounds of highly nutritious, premium-quality produce per year, AeroFarms was recently named one of Time’s ‘Best Inventions of 2019.’
Farming 8,000 square feet of grow space within a historic greenhouse in Newark’s Branch Brook Park, Radicle Farm grows hydroponically using a nutrient film technique (NFT) and flooded tray system. Though not a vertical farm per se, “vertical growing makes sense within densely populated urban areas, and field farming and ground-level greenhouse growing will also continue to play a major role for quite some time,” said Radicle Farm Co-Founder Tony Gibbons.
Hackensack-based Greens Do Good is proving that vertical farms can not only be rooted in food delivery but in social responsibility as well. At the 3,600-square-foot facility, which opened in April 2019, all proceeds from the growth of its dozens of different microgreens, lettuce, and herbs – all grown without soil, pesticides or herbicides – go to REED Next, a nonprofit organization that provides continued education, life experience and work opportunities to adults with autism.
“We believe that growing healthy food with minimal impact to the environment is the future of farming, and Greens Do Good is transforming the way our local community sources healthy produce by providing the freshest ingredients in a sustainable and socially responsible way,” said Jennifer Faust, REED Foundation’s director of Communications. “In a state like New Jersey, where urban communities don’t have space, access or optimal year-round outdoor growing conditions to provide fresh produce, Greens Do Good is solving that problem by creating a sustainable social enterprise that not only helps individuals with autism but provides our community with produce that’s delivered hyper-locally on the same day it’s harvested, 365 days a year.” At its core, Faust said, “we’re a community partner providing sustainable produce to local businesses while supporting adults with autism, a greatly underserved population.”
With a similar desire to support its community, Bowery works closely with Table To Table, a food rescue program that delivers perishable food to organizations that serve the hungry in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties and also has developed lesson plans to aid local teachers and students in discussions about the modern agricultural landscape and its challenges.
Building A Better Future
Often located in urban settings in order to bring agriculture back to city centers, vertical farms incorporate the utmost in sustainable products and practices. At Bowery, for example, energy-efficient LED lighting mimics the spectrum of the sun for crops, while rooftop solar panels, a clean gas backup generator, and a battery energy storage system further reduce the company’s energy use and carbon emissions in New Jersey. “In addition, Bowery uses over 95% less water by recirculating it continuously and only replenishing the amount that’s used by the plants or lost during daily operations,” Fain said.
Part of a current network of 2,000 vertical farms in America within an industry that’s estimated to grow to over $3 billion by 2024, New Jersey’s vertical farms are proud of the contribution they’re making to meet the state’s food challenges while transforming agriculture around the world.
“Bowery was founded on the fundamental belief that technology applied at scale can solve difficult and important global problems, with agriculture sitting at the nexus of many of these issues, and our mission is to grow food for a better future,” said Fain, whose company was honored as one of Fast Company’s “2019 Most Innovative Companies in AI.” Based on its benefits and success, he said, “we see indoor farming becoming an even more meaningful and integral part of the farming and agriculture industries in the next 5 to 10 years and look forward to continuing to experience the positive impact of vertical farming on the environment.”
By Susan Bloom | For Jersey’s Best | April 21, 2020