Greenhouse Vegetable Growers Share Common Concerns and Opportunities

Posted by Brian Sparks|June 8, 2022

Greenhouse and vertical farming growers from Bowery, Gotham Greens, Local Bounti, Little Leaf Farms, Oishii, Vertical Harvest, and Upward Farms will join the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit in New York later this month. Ahead of the summit, these experts recently shared their thoughts with Summit organizers on exciting new crops, expansion plans, and the biggest challenges they’re facing.

Here’s a closer look at just some of their feedback.

What are the next emerging crops or markets you plan to explore?

Craig Hurlbert, Local Bounti: “There is still a lot to explore within leafy greens, brassicas, herbs, and other fruits and vegetables. Similar SKUs are seen nationwide from CEA production. However, Local Bounti’s Stack and Flow Technology will unlock broad SKU diversity that is not currently available in the broader CEA space. For instance, everyone in the industry is talking about berries, but few if any have landed on a scalable, profitable solution with strong unit economics. The key to successfully taking berry production indoor is ultimately about technology – enabling a better and more local product for the consumer, emphasizing superior flavor, longer shelf life, while also drastically reducing food miles. Ultimately, our focus today is on expanding the lettuce and herbs category. Though, as we look to new emerging crops and markets, we will be solving for unit economics first and only pursuing opportunities where the application of Stack and Flow will lead to a profitable and superior product for the consumer.”

What are the biggest challenges you’re facing?

Viraj Puri, Gotham Greens: “The total addressable market for crops that can be grown indoors is growing significantly year over year and remains under-penetrated by indoor farms. Our challenge as an industry is to collectively rise to the occasion with the necessary scale, consistency, quality, and sustainability to meet this unprecedented opportunity.”

What does a successful roadmap to national and international expansion look like for you?

Paul Sellew, Little Leaf Farms: We need more time. We need to build as much as we can as fast as we can. Doing what we do requires highly specialized skill sets. We need to raise awareness and opportunities to move people into CEA careers.”