March 28, 2016

By Elizabeth Penney

An interest in water conservation led David Rosenburg to indoor vertical agriculture. The potential to feed people well—and inexpensively—is keeping him there. “Technology is allowing us to drive down costs and create access to fresh food,” says the CEO of AeroFarms, presently the world’s largest vertical farm. “We also have the ability to optimize plants, including their taste, texture, and nutrition density.” Headquartered in industrial Newark, NJ, AeroFarms grows over 250 varieties of leafy greens and herbs for sale to retailers and food service companies.

After selling a nanotech firm, self-dubbed serial-entrepreneur Rosenburg co-founded AeroFarms in 2004 with Marc Oshima, chief marketing director, and Ed Harwood, chief science officer. The trio raised and invested millions to develop proprietary technology controlling every facet of the growth cycle. They’ve since closed other rounds, including one for $20 million in December 2015. Funding partners include Wheatsheaf Group, GSR Ventures, MissionPoint Capital, Middleland Capital, Goldman Sachs and Prudential Financial.

Rosenburg quickly realized how, “complex the biology is,” when growing indoors. He credits his team of biologists and engineers of all stripes with developing the precise techniques that produce consistent results every time.

Indeed, AeroFarms technology is the stuff of space-age farming. Inside the 70,000 square foot former steel mill, endless racks of bright green plants rise thirty feet in the air. The greens grow without sun or soil, germinated in a cloth medium made from recycled plastic. Aeroponic mist keeps them perfectly fed and watered and special LED lights give them a steady dose of sunshine substitute. Farmers in white hazmat suits monitor temperature, humidity, CO2, and oxygen. AeroFarms scientists even have the ability to adjust nutrition content or taste by changing growing algorithms.

“Vertical farming technologies help growers produce tender, high-value crops in specific areas that want them, such as urban areas,” says Andrew Carter, North American regional manager for the Vertical Farming Association. The nonprofit convenes business and institutional partners to foster the sustainability and growth of the industry.

AeroFarm’s methods do save water, using about 95% less than conventional farming, which was one of Rosenburg’s aims. Food safety is another and AeroFarms is meeting the food safety and traceability challenge head-on. The facility is GAP (good agricultural practices) certified and has traceability processes in place.

“Contamination has the potential to give a black eye to the local food market,” Rosenburg says. “Food safety is not an area to cut corners.” Especially since leafy greens are on the Food and Drug Administration’s list of high-risk foods, accounting for many food poisoning outbreaks. According to Rosenburg, their pesticide and herbicide free methods and sterile environment create impeccably clean greens. They also have a microbiologist on staff.

The nonprofit Vertical Farming Association supports Rosenburg’s assertion that indoor ag reduces the risk of bacterial contamination. They report that one of the top three contaminants is salmonella, accounting for 52,000 deaths annually worldwide. E.coli causes 37,000. The Center for Disease Control reports that contaminated produce was responsible for 46% of illnesses and 25% of deaths between 1998 and 2008. Although restaurant handling practices are also responsible for outbreaks, preventing contamination in the field or during transport is vital.

Vertical farming also boasts high productivity, with one vertical acre equal to 10 to 20 acres on a soil-based farm. “We produce 70 times what we would on the same soil-based footprint,” Rosenburg says, due to the multiple harvests possible indoors in an otherwise limited growing season. He anticipates that the Newark farm will produce 2 million pounds per year in as many as 30 harvests.

Companies like AeroFarms are hitting a lot of buttons in the local food and sustainability movement—energy conservation, reuse of defunct industrial buildings, GAP practices, short distance to market. But are these products affordable for mainstream consumers? Rosenburg believes so. “I didn’t want a company that just produces greens for the rich,” he says. One of his major customers is a private label line for ShopRite, a decidedly mid-market retailer-owned grocery cooperative serving six states. “The economics of the industry are important,” Rosenburg says. At the same time, it’s “a capital intensive business,” and he doesn’t see as fast a ramp up in vertical growing as with other technologies, such as hydroponic tomato greenhouses.

The Vertical Farming Association is hoping scale-up happens as companies innovate. “By developing their own technologies around aeroponics, AeroFarms is becoming an industry leader,” says Andrew Carter. “They’re paving the way for others interested in operating large scale vertical farms.” Zjef Van Acker, chief engagement officer for the Vertical Agriculture Association, agrees. “They are a shining example of how applying a different kind ofeconomical thinking can attract big investors.”