In The Heights: Q&A With Kalera CEO Jim Leighton
October 19, 2022
For an industry still in relative infancy, it’s breathtaking to consider how far and how fast global vertical farming has grown in the last 10 years. The global vertical farming market size was valued at $4.34 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach just over $33 billion by 2030, according to a report from Grand View Research, Inc.
While some say vertical farming was conceptualized as long ago as the early 1900s, many point to Sky Greens, a vertical farm launched in Singapore in 2012, as the first commercial vertical farm operation.
A decade old, and already it seems the sky’s the limit for vertical farming.
As this rapidly growing industry eyes the future with the hope of securing accessible food for all, it is also taking steps to commit to investing in ongoing research and technologies to advance existing sustainable frameworks and standards, including the Science Based Targets initiatives (SBTi), B Corp and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
With these standards in mind, last month 23 international vertical farmers signed the premier Vertical Farming Identity Declaration and Manifesto at the Vertical Farming World Congress in Brussels. Hydroponic vertical farmer Kalera was among them.
Headquartered in Orlando, Fla., work on the company that would become Kalera began in 2010. Today, the vertical farmer has additional farms in Atlanta, Houston, Denver and Kuwait, with additional U.S. farms under development, as well as a mega farm in Singapore that is expected to be operational by the end of this year or early 2023, says the company.
Related: Kalera opens vertical farm in Denver
To learn more about the meaning behind the manifesto and the future of vertical farming, The Packer recently connected with Kalera President and CEO Jim Leighton.
Why was there a need for a vertical farming manifesto?
Leighton: Quickly, by way of background, I was in consumer packaged goods — food and beverage — for over 40 years in a variety of different roles with a variety of different companies in a variety of different countries.
I applaud the vertical farming industry for mobilizing itself so quickly. We're all collectively coming together to solve a huge problem — the problem of food scarcity. A lot of that problem is created by what we're seeing in climate change and so forth. So, the document that Kalera and others signed basically pledges an industry commitment to solving food problems by promoting vertical farming. It is a resilient, future-proof farming method that supplements or adds to our current conventional way of farming.
And by signing the document, Kalera made some additional commitments, as did the others who signed it, in investing in ongoing research and technologies.
We also recently published our own sustainable framework because we're one of the only publicly traded companies in vertical farming, and we want to make sure that [our frameworks] aligns with the global frameworks that already exist.
Do you see the manifesto as similar to organic or fair trade certification — a third-party seal of approval so to speak?
Jim Leighton
By being certified in controlled environment ag, and specifically in vertical farming, I think the benefit — more than anything else — is the education it provides the consumer as to what vertical farming really is and what benefits it brings to them.
You mentioned your CPG background and leadership roles with Perdue and ConAgra. What attracted you to the vertical farming industry?
A lot of people ask me that question. After 42 years of consumer packaged goods, making all kinds of different products and distributing and selling them through all kinds of different channels, I got really fascinated with Kalera and vertical farming.
And the reason I did, is that I've recognized the growing chasm between what science knows and what technology can deliver in terms of what food companies actually do. And that chasm is growing exponentially.
So, I view vertical farming and Kalera in the sweet spot of reducing that space and bringing science, technology and food together — and doing it in a commercially viable way. To me, it’s a huge challenge that solves a very big problem. And rather than being part of the problem, I wanted to be part of the solution.
Where do you see vertical farming going and can it solve the current food crisis?
It will solve the food crisis — it’s just a matter of to what extent and how quickly. Vertical farming is still very new to consumers, so they don't quite understand it, just like even today most consumers don't understand what organic is.
The perception, for most consumers and most segments, is that it is better for you, but most people cannot articulate why. And a number of consumers are willing to pay more for it. So, we are moving through that adoption curve and you're seeing more and more of these types of products — of living lettuce and so forth that are produced in vertical farms — showing up in retail stores as well as in in the foodservice sector.
Related: Q&A with Kalera’s Henner Schwarz
We’ve gone from proof of concept to a commercially viable business model that actually works. When you have the consumer demand and then you have consistent, reliable supply that can go anywhere in the world, and you can deliver product within 200 to 300 miles of any farm on the same day — at a higher nutrient level, with less risk relative to food safety and in an environmentally friendly way that uses 99% less land and 95% less water — you've got something that is going to work.
But that's not to say that we're going to replace, nor should we replace, conventional agriculture. But vertical farming definitely takes a lot of the risk out of the food system.
For instance, almost 90% of the products that we compete with are produced in the United States in two states: California and Arizona. The Colorado River is drying up. There are 40 million people that are dependent upon that water source in in the western part of the United States. So, the risks are much higher today than probably ever before and I think vertical farming will play a role in making sure that we can continue to secure food for people.
What is the consumer perception of produce grown in a vertical farm and is there a need for consumer education?
I just joined the industry in May of this year, and one of the things that we did at Kalera was to pivot from thinking of ourselves as a technology company to a consumer-facing CPG company.
And when you do that, the first thing you need to do, if you have not done it to date, is understand the consumer.
So, we did some research and found out a few things about people when it comes to food.
People want the price-to-value [ratio] to be correct. They want a great experience, relative to taste and texture, and so forth. It needs to be convenient. And those three things will really never change. There are trends that go up and down, but those three things you need to deliver on.
So, when we asked consumers, ‘What do you know about vertical farming?’ Over 99% of them didn't know anything about vertical farming. So, they didn't know the benefits of it.
About half of them had heard about living lettuce because they'd seen it the store, but they couldn't articulate the benefits of it. So, there's a huge need to educate the consumer to the benefit of these types of products.
But as we gain more placements, and as you see it on more menus, it'll become more mainstream. People will be curious. You'll see more linear feet at retail and you're already seeing this quite a bit more in retail stores like Publix, Kroger, Safeway and Harris Teeter.
I also I think that by the industry coming together and mobilizing itself, there'll be outreach there as well — everything from basic education at the ground level, to just getting the word out.
Lead photo: Inside Kalera's vertical farm near Denver. (Photo courtesy of Kalera)