AppHarvest Opens New 15-Acre Indoor Salad Greens Facility
November 2, 2022 
Photo: AppHarvest
Indoor vegetable and fruit operation AppHarvest has opened its new Berea, KY, 15-acre high-tech indoor salad greens farm that features a touchless growing system with autonomous harvesting. A $30 million loan from marketing partner Mastronardi Produce was secured by the AppHarvest Berea farm to fund the project. Consistent with its strategy to secure attractive long-term financing for its assets, AppHarvest also intends to pursue sale-leaseback financing for its Berea farm.
At 15 acres (or nearly 654,000 square feet), the AppHarvest Berea farm is expected to be the world’s largest high-tech indoor farm for autonomously harvested salad greens with a cutting-edge touchless growing system. The hands-off system is automated from pre-seeding to packaging including onsite washing to help improve both food safety and efficiency for washed-and-ready-to-eat salad packs. The farm is designed to grow about 35 million lettuce plants at a time, which go from seed to maturity in about three to four weeks, depending on variety.
The AppHarvest Berea controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facility was proclaimed officially open last week as Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, U.S. Representative Andy Barr, and AppHarvest Founder & CEO Jonathan Webb used handheld harvesters to cut down a strip of crispy and juicy greens grown in the farm’s touchless system. The farm is opening on a phased approach, beginning with 5 acres then bringing on additional productive acreage over time. AppHarvest began first commercial shipments of salad greens earlier this month.
“Our top customers increasingly request CEA-grown produce for its reliable quantity and consistent quality — especially in terms of flavor, texture, color, and shelf life — and its more sustainable growing methods. This deeper relationship with AppHarvest positions us to grow together efficiently to meet increasing demand by expanding our local footprint and delivering on our long-standing ‘fresh from the farm’ commitment to customers,” says Mastronardi Produce CEO Paul Mastronardi.
“Working closely with Mastronardi, the AppHarvest team has set new precedents in the CEA sector by quadrupling our number of farms in such a short time,” says AppHarvest Founder & CEO Jonathan Webb. “With the Berea opening, we now have two farms shipping produce to national customers, and our 30-acre Somerset berry facility also is expected to ship in the next few weeks. We expect Morehead to start its third harvest and to start planting our 60-acre Richmond tomato farm in November.”
The AppHarvest Berea growing environment leverages sunshine and rainwater and is automated for lighting, humidity, and temperature. The farm uses a closed-loop irrigation system, which enables expected water savings of up to 90% compared to open-field farming and allows for precision dosing of nutrients, resulting in far less use of fertilizer compared to open-field farming while avoiding pollution from agricultural runoff. The closed-loop system also aids in integrated pest management to avoid the use of harsh chemical pesticides. The adaptive spacing design of the troughs in the touchless growing system further minimizes any potential pest exposure.
The packaged salad market in North America was estimated to be about $5.9 billion in 2021 and growing. As traditional lettuce-producing areas in California and Arizona experience ongoing drought and other severe weather conditions wreak havoc on crop yields, AppHarvest believes its CEA approach producing more predictable yields with less water and other resources will be critical in providing fresh fruits and vegetables that are affordable.
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