Plenty Unlimited Inc. has announced plans to build what it bills as the world’s largest indoor vertical farm campus in Richmond, Va.
The $300 million facility will start by growing strawberries for Driscoll’s, the No. 1 American brand. Plenty is projecting 4 million pounds of strawberries a year from the facility, with the first crop scheduled to be delivered to retailers by the winter of 2023-24. These will be the first indoor, vertically farmed strawberries produced at scale, according to Plenty.
“This farm will combine Driscoll’s patented berry varieties with Plenty’s patented indoor vertical farming technology,” Driscoll’s CEO J. Miles Reiter said in a statement. “We are excited to take the next step in the journey to understand what it takes to bring fresh, flavorful berries locally grown all year-round.”
The facility’s 120-acre campus will expand over time to include other crops like greens and tomatoes. Plenty claims that compared to conventional farms, its technology can produce yields of up to 350 times more per acre, using a fraction of the water.
