Vertical Harvest Blazes Trail In Its First Year

Employees are working out operational kinks at 13,500-square-foot greenhouse downtown.

BRADLY J. BONER / NEWS&GUIDE

POSTED: WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2017 4:30 AM

By John Spina | 0 comments

When Vertical Harvest opened its doors to the public on May 26, 2016, it received national attention for its innovative design and business model. Communities around the world immediately started calling to figure out ways to replicate it.

There was just one problem: Vertical Harvest was still trying to figure it out for itself. Being one of the first of its kind required a constant trial-and-error process to get all the parts working together.

“There’s not a week that goes by where another community doesn’t contact us and say they want to replicate this,” said Nona Yehia, co-founder of Vertical Harvest. “We had a vision of how this would all work out, but that’s definitely still an evolution. I don’t think you can underestimate the fact that there is no playbook for this.”

The 13,500-square-foot greenhouse is state of the art. Each room acts as its own microecosystem, regulated to maintain the ideal heat, moisture, UV light and carbon dioxide levels for 35 crops so that they grow in the fastest, most nutritious and environmentally sustainable way possible, all year long, at 6,200 feet above sea level.

Figuring out how to get all the cutting-edge technology to work together, however, was a daunting task.

Lettuce short-circuited lights

During the first year Vertical Harvest had to replace tens of thousands of specially made Dutch LED lights because the recycled water splashing out of the rotating carousels carrying lettuce plants short-circuited them. It took four months to order new ones.

“Once we took care of the lights then the plants started getting heavier, and the ones that were next to the irrigation started creating their own little wetlands,” Yehia said. “So we had really big plants on one end and really little plants on the other end. We adjusted the irrigation system again, but that increased the splashing. Once we got that under control the plants got so heavy it started straining the carousel.”

Learning to farm in Wyoming’s severe climate was another hurdle.

“We had to go back to the source on everything,” she said. “What are the proper seeds, what are the proper labs to use, how can we have replacement material on hand? Just all of these different levels of learning. Then, once you think you figured something out, there are 1,000 different consequences to your success.”

Three years to make a profit

Having operated for a year Vertical Harvest is still working out the kinks, but the problems are becoming fewer and farther between.

Since the LED lights were replaced in January the greenhouse has quadrupled its lettuce production. The goal is to grow 100,000 pounds of fresh produce a year. Right now Vertical Harvest produces somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 pounds a year.

“It’s definitely getting better,” said Tim Schutz, Vertical Harvest’s director of production. “It takes time because every crop that you run though that takes two months to grow, you learn one or two things how to make it better.”

The produce has provided needed income, but it hasn’t pushed Vertical Harvest into the black. Sam Bartels, Vertical Harvest’s head of business operations, isn’t too worried, saying traditional farms usually take about three years to make a profit.

“Honestly, if we didn’t have these issues it’d be almost insulting to the farmers who have been fighting the hard fight for years,” Bartels said. “If you put that 50,000 or 60,000 pounds to scale back to general agriculture it’s incredibly good, especially for a 13,500-square-foot greenhouse.”

While the farming aspect of Vertical Harvest has been challenging, its employment model, which focuses on hiring developmentally disabled people, has been a clear success.

“What I’m most surprised by is not the greenhouse’s effect on the employees,” Yehia said, “but the employees’ impact on the greenhouse.”

From the beginning Vertical Harvest’s co-founders Penny McBride and Yehia were intent on integrating disabled people into the greenhouses workforce. One year in, 17 physically or mentally disabled people are employed at least part time.

“In terms of stress this project has probably pushed us all to our limits at different points in time,” Bartels said, “and it probably will continue to, but the motivation and morale our employees provide to the team is really important and something we really want to share with other businesses.

“When it’s one in the morning and there’s something I want to do, I’m like, ‘Oh, get it together, Johnny needs this job,’” he said. “It really does change your work behavior. That’s why we all come into work.”

Critical to the operation

With roughly half of the staff having some form of disability, Caroline Croft, Vertical Harvest’s employment facilitator, said the young men and women have not only developed better personal and communication skills but also become critical to the greenhouse’s operations. Some have been promoted to managerial positions.

“One of our employees told me, ‘I love working at Vertical Harvest because I can be myself,’” Croft said. “We’ve got a young man working here who was changing sheets at one of the local hotels. It was a pretty solitary job, and if he had stayed in that isolated environment he would have gone inwards and become isolated.

“Now, working here, he literally can do every job in the greenhouse, from tour guide to retail workers to microgreens seeder to doing deliveries,” she said. “I’ve had old teachers, old labor providers, even his parents tell me it’s amazing how much he’s come out of his shell.”

Thanks to community support Vertical Harvest was given the chance to push the boundaries of agriculture. Adding social, educational and environmental aspects pushed staffers to their limits, but with a year of experience they believe they have accomplished something truly groundbreaking.

“It’s insanity,” Bartels said. “But it’s just the right amount of insanity. This is a world-first farm. I think the opportunities it presents for Wyoming as a state are great. This is like the tech boom for agriculture. Nine years ago this was just a concept.”