Vertical farms expand as demand for year-round produce grows

Added on 12 April 2022

Tags

The industry is expected to grow to $9.7 billion worldwide by 2026, but it faces challenges, including high energy costs, technological limitations and the ability to scale.

A recently constructed 95,000-square-foot warehouse in Compton, Calif., ticks off all the boxes for the booming storage industry: 32-foot-high ceilings, a secure truck court and access to truck routes.

But it won't be used for cargo or storage. Plenty Unlimited, an agricultural start-up, is using the site for an indoor vertical farm, expected to open later this year.

"It's the ability to put production anywhere without considering climate," said Arama Kukutai, the company's chief executive. The lease terms were not disclosed. Vacancy rates in the area are about 0.6 percent, according to Kidder Mathews, a commercial real estate firm on the West Coast.

Plenty Unlimited supplies Albertsons grocery stores with lettuce varieties grown on a smaller-scale farm outside San Francisco. Walmart, an investor, will soon sell Plenty's produce throughout California. And Plenty has aspirations beyond greens: Last month, it announced plans with Driscoll's, a berry seller, to develop an indoor farm in the Northeast devoted to strawberries.