Post by account_disabled on Mar 7, 2024 5:18:29 GMT -6
The biggest news is that the company is going public. In March, it announced a merger with a blank-check firm, Spring Valley Acquisition Corp., that will take the company public later this year under the ticker ARFM. Also in March, AeroFarms announced a research and development partnership with Hortifrut to advance vertical farming technology in the lucrative $ billion berry market , reducing its dependence on revenue from leafy greens. And in July, AeroFarms renamed its Dream Greens product line to AeroFarms to capitalize on its name recognition. At the same time, it expanded into five new leafy green products: Baby Bok Choy, The New Spinach, Micro Arugula, Micro Broccoli, Micro Kale and Micro Rainbow Mix. And in August, AeroFarms announced another partnership with Nokia Bell Labs , the historic New Jersey-based scientific research firm, to take its technology to the next level with more networking, advanced autonomous systems, computer vision and machine learning technologies.
AeroFarms innovating in vertical agriculture.
Obviously, the company is gaining momentum. The public market offering and the capital gained during the process will be crucial for AeroFarms to reach the next level of growth and achieve several strate C Level Executive List gic expansions, including improving operational and energy efficiency, adding new products (it is currently focusing on berries) and maintaining its social impact.
"We told investors that we see this as a long-term industry," said CEO David Rosenberg. «It's going to be huge. We believe we have a strong industry leadership position from a technology standpoint. So how can we take advantage of that and really double the technology production (capital expenditures), reducing (operational expenditures) and improving quality, as well as new plant varieties on this platform."
AeroFarms was founded in and its products are sold in grocery stores throughout the Northeast, including Whole Foods. It operates a vertical farm in New Jersey, and more are on the way. AeroFarms is breaking ground on a facility in Abu Dhabi , pitched as the world's largest vertical farm, as well as one in Danville, Virginia . Along with the publicly announced farms in Abu Dhabi and Danville, AeroFarms plans to build more farms with the capital it is raising, using a slightly different strategy than the company's previous construction locations.
"It's not where the mouths are, but where the product distribution centers are," Rosenberg said. «So we can sell to a number of surrounding cities. “We have moved from a vision of hyperlocal to a more flexible definition of local.”
AeroFarms uses aeroponics, a soilless way of growing produce that uses mist to reduce water use by %; plant seeds in cloth made from recycled plastic bottles. Using LED lights, vertical farms rely on specific wavelengths to maximize the efficiency of plant photosynthesis.
The vertical farming industry, already an important part of the food supply chain, is set to explode. According to a report from the World Wildlife Fund, indoor agriculture is projected to have a combined annual growth rate of more than % between and , reaching $ billion in revenue worldwide by The challenges and opportunities AeroFarms faces in the coming years will inform the vertical farming playbook for its followers.
Energy is the next big obstacle
The SPAC merger is expected to bring AeroFarms $ million in cash, on top of the $ million the company already has, to scale and expand into new geographies. According to Rosenberg, the company has focused most of the last years on innovating its technology, seeds and plants, so it is confident its technology can withstand a massive jump in demand and commercialization.
»Energy stands out as one of the biggest obstacles facing the industry (vertical farming).»
But the process of expanding vertical farming is not without controversy.
A World Wildlife study comparing life cycle assessment of lettuce traditionally grown in California and transported to St. Louis to St. Louis-based indoor growing solutions, including greenhouse hydroponically grown lettuce, aquaponically grown lettuce greenhouse, indoor vertically grown lettuce, hydroponically grown and indoor vertically grown lettuce, aquaponically grown found that the energy required to run the lights, irrigation and automation for all indoor solutions resulted in a higher overall climate impact than the traditional cultivation method.
“Energy stands out as one of the biggest obstacles facing the (vertical farming) industry,” said Julia Kurnik, director of innovation startups at WWF and author of the study. "Because it's already making great strides in things like water use, pesticide use, food loss and food waste. So he's doing wonderful things there."
According to Kurnik, hydroponic and aeroponic crops use less water and do not degrade the soil like traditional agriculture, but for vertical farming to be environmentally sustainable in terms of carbon emissions, these systems need to generate electricity from renewable energies such as solar. , wind or hydraulic.
But simply connecting a vertical farm to solar or wind power will not solve the problem. Manufacturing solar panels is also an environmental strain due to the materials extracted and the energy used to manufacture the solar panels. As Kurnik said, everything that produces energy has to be built. And on the business side, AeroFarms said it's very difficult for the company to find locations that have access to % renewable energy.
According to Rosenberg, access to a greener network is part of AeroFarms' weighing process for choosing new locations for farms, but it cannot be a deciding factor. For example, Danville relies heavily on nuclear energy and natural gas, which is one of the reasons AeroFarms decided to build there. Rosenberg also hopes AeroFarms will begin to focus on places and cities that have access to hydropower.
AeroFarms innovating in vertical agriculture.
Obviously, the company is gaining momentum. The public market offering and the capital gained during the process will be crucial for AeroFarms to reach the next level of growth and achieve several strate C Level Executive List gic expansions, including improving operational and energy efficiency, adding new products (it is currently focusing on berries) and maintaining its social impact.
"We told investors that we see this as a long-term industry," said CEO David Rosenberg. «It's going to be huge. We believe we have a strong industry leadership position from a technology standpoint. So how can we take advantage of that and really double the technology production (capital expenditures), reducing (operational expenditures) and improving quality, as well as new plant varieties on this platform."
AeroFarms was founded in and its products are sold in grocery stores throughout the Northeast, including Whole Foods. It operates a vertical farm in New Jersey, and more are on the way. AeroFarms is breaking ground on a facility in Abu Dhabi , pitched as the world's largest vertical farm, as well as one in Danville, Virginia . Along with the publicly announced farms in Abu Dhabi and Danville, AeroFarms plans to build more farms with the capital it is raising, using a slightly different strategy than the company's previous construction locations.
"It's not where the mouths are, but where the product distribution centers are," Rosenberg said. «So we can sell to a number of surrounding cities. “We have moved from a vision of hyperlocal to a more flexible definition of local.”
AeroFarms uses aeroponics, a soilless way of growing produce that uses mist to reduce water use by %; plant seeds in cloth made from recycled plastic bottles. Using LED lights, vertical farms rely on specific wavelengths to maximize the efficiency of plant photosynthesis.
The vertical farming industry, already an important part of the food supply chain, is set to explode. According to a report from the World Wildlife Fund, indoor agriculture is projected to have a combined annual growth rate of more than % between and , reaching $ billion in revenue worldwide by The challenges and opportunities AeroFarms faces in the coming years will inform the vertical farming playbook for its followers.
Energy is the next big obstacle
The SPAC merger is expected to bring AeroFarms $ million in cash, on top of the $ million the company already has, to scale and expand into new geographies. According to Rosenberg, the company has focused most of the last years on innovating its technology, seeds and plants, so it is confident its technology can withstand a massive jump in demand and commercialization.
»Energy stands out as one of the biggest obstacles facing the industry (vertical farming).»
But the process of expanding vertical farming is not without controversy.
A World Wildlife study comparing life cycle assessment of lettuce traditionally grown in California and transported to St. Louis to St. Louis-based indoor growing solutions, including greenhouse hydroponically grown lettuce, aquaponically grown lettuce greenhouse, indoor vertically grown lettuce, hydroponically grown and indoor vertically grown lettuce, aquaponically grown found that the energy required to run the lights, irrigation and automation for all indoor solutions resulted in a higher overall climate impact than the traditional cultivation method.
“Energy stands out as one of the biggest obstacles facing the (vertical farming) industry,” said Julia Kurnik, director of innovation startups at WWF and author of the study. "Because it's already making great strides in things like water use, pesticide use, food loss and food waste. So he's doing wonderful things there."
According to Kurnik, hydroponic and aeroponic crops use less water and do not degrade the soil like traditional agriculture, but for vertical farming to be environmentally sustainable in terms of carbon emissions, these systems need to generate electricity from renewable energies such as solar. , wind or hydraulic.
But simply connecting a vertical farm to solar or wind power will not solve the problem. Manufacturing solar panels is also an environmental strain due to the materials extracted and the energy used to manufacture the solar panels. As Kurnik said, everything that produces energy has to be built. And on the business side, AeroFarms said it's very difficult for the company to find locations that have access to % renewable energy.
According to Rosenberg, access to a greener network is part of AeroFarms' weighing process for choosing new locations for farms, but it cannot be a deciding factor. For example, Danville relies heavily on nuclear energy and natural gas, which is one of the reasons AeroFarms decided to build there. Rosenberg also hopes AeroFarms will begin to focus on places and cities that have access to hydropower.