When filling a bowl with leafy greens, most people don’t think about the amazing journey that these delicate plants take to get to your salad. They are often grown under substantial environmental pressures, protected from insects with pesticides, and then transported hundreds or thousands of miles to your local grocery store.
80 Acres Farms, with their new locations in Hamilton, is attempting to solve many of the expensive and frustrating problems of growing delicate produce. “Our goal is clean, pesticide-free, nutritionally dense produce without genetic modification,” said Mike Zelkind, CEO of 80 Acres Farms.
They accomplish this feat through layers of indoor planting trays that use LED lighting, an irrigation system, and very carefully added nutrients to grow microgreens, leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs. These plants can be harvested faster than their outdoor counterparts and can be sold in local grocery stores rather than being shipped all over the country. Zelkind sees indoor farming as one solution to urban food needs that reduces the reliance on shipping.
“We want to be the opposite of GMO,” he explained. “Genetically modified organisms modify the plant; we want to modify the environment.”
Challenges in Modern Food Systems
Farmers these days face substantial headwinds; the most temperate climates are in California and Florida, so much of the vegetables and fruits grown in the United States grow there. However, the people who want to eat that produce live all over the country. Zelkind gave a TED talk at TEDxCincinnati about how hard it is to get great produce in a given locality: distance means having to breed produce for sturdiness in shipping, which can compromise flavor and nutrition .
Rebecca Haders, Vice President of Creative and Marketing at 80 Acres Farms, explained “In the field, a head of lettuce grows in about 75 days, if the conditions are right. At our farm, we are growing that same head of lettuce in 24 days, producing 15 cycles per year,” she said. Each crop cycle is an opportunity to adjust the conditions for desired plant results- a rapid way for their young farmers to apply their learnings.
“Farming indoors is all about managing and maintaining your environment,” said Zelkind in his TED talk. “Our plants act like little pumps: they suck up the water and nutrients, they use it and process it, and they trans-evaporate or breathe out what they don’t need.”
Their hydroponic farm uses 97% less water than traditional farms. Their closed-loop system uses sensors to precisely measure what nutrients the plants are uptaking. This allows them to give the plants only what they need and waste nothing; waste is an enormous problem in the conventional agriculture industry, which is a way that 80 Acres can save money and waning resources.
High Tech Growing Rooms
As you peer into the grow rooms, the hue of purple light shines through the window. This light spectrum promotes photosynthesis, plants grow quicker and healthier with energy-efficient LEDs. With the help of state of the art technology, 80 Acres provides optimum growing conditions where plants thrive. They call this “Plantopia”. These systems can also alter airflow, temperature, and humidity to make sure the plants are in the state where they need to be to produce great vegetables.
80 Acres are learning to manage plants’ health using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and vision systems. For example, an app that helps growers diagnose any problems in the plants early on.
“We see certain things in a leaf, and the growers know it is a nutrient deficiency,” said Zelkind. “Our growers can classify pictures in a computer, and after thousands of images, the computer can diagnose and then provide the nutrient.”
Excitement at the Hamilton Facility
80 Acres works hard to produce their vegetables sustainably, but there is no question that running so much light and keeping the indoor farms warm does require energy. However, Hamilton is a particularly excellent location for a company looking to find sustainable energy.
“We really look forward to playing our part in Hamilton,” Zelkind said. “Hamilton uses hydroelectric energy, making it a great place for renewable-energy-driven business. Even without the direct ‘free energy’ of the sun, these plants are sustainably grown.”
Hamilton will house two projects, one in Hamilton Enterprise Park, as well as a facility on Second Street.
“We have a small pilot facility going online, as well as our 2nd Street facility which will be 30,000 square feet for vine crops, mostly tomatoes,” Zelkind said.
The Hamilton facilities will not be exactly like the other farm locations in Cincinnati, North Carolina, Alabama, and Arkansas; rather, they will build on the knowledge gained in the other facilities to create a new and state-of-the-art system.
“This is a very important project,” said Zelkind. “Hamilton is new technology, because we are combining everything we’ve done in three and a half years, where we’ve tested a thousand different things. Hamilton will be very critical.”
In the future, 80 Acres will be adding more tomato varieties, as well as adding to their current variety of culinary herbs. They are always working on what kinds of other crops, from strawberries to hops, can be grown profitably indoors.
Try a Tomato or Some Greens
At local grocery stores like Jungle Jim’s, you can purchase tomatoes and salad greens grown in the 80 Acres indoor farms. If you taste a conventional slice of tomato and a slice from an 80 Acres tomato side-by-side, it’s easy to note the heightened sweetness and how round the flavors are in the indoor tomato. Try them for yourself; 80 Acres plans to have a presence at the Hamilton Farmer’s Market this year.
Want to learn more about 80 Acres and their exciting expansion into Hamilton? Visit 80acresfarms.com to read about their innovative farming technique.