Plenty Unlimited Inc., a grower of produce using indoor vertical farming methods, has opened what it calls the world’s first farm to grow indoor, vertically farmed berries at scale, according to a release announcing the grand opening. The new Plenty Richmond Farm (in Richmond, Va.) can produce more than 4 million pounds of strawberries annually in less than 40,000 sq. ft., using 30-ft.-tall towers to vertically farm the berries.
The Richmond farm will grow Driscoll’s strawberries exclusively, with the first strawberries expected to hit the market in early 2025. Plenty says most vertical farms can handle only lettuce products, while its indoor farming methods remove the unpredictability of Mother Nature and allow year-round farming of a wide variety of crops almost anywhere in the world. The Richmond berry farm is the result of a decade of work.
“Growing on vertical towers enables uniform delivery of nutrients, superior airflow and more intense lighting, delivering increased yield with consistent quality,” the release noted. Temperature, light and humidity in the facility are controlled via software, and the farm uses artificial intelligence to adjust the environment of each individual grow room to meet the changing needs of the plants in that room. Plant pollination has also been engineered by Plenty, and occurs via a patent-pending method that evenly distributes controlled airflow across the flowers for more efficient and effective pollination than using bees, the company said.
The Plenty Richmond Farm is expected to employ more than 60 workers. It is located on Plenty’s 120-acre farm campus — the largest indoor vertical farm campus in the world — which is projected to cost $300 million when fully built and employ more than 300 total jobs.
