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Photo: Aaron Conway
The 60-acre structure is the largest greenhouse in the United States. And Webb says that it has the potential to resolve a plethora of crises facing agriculture today—from farm labor abuses and fertilizer runoff to the impact of climate change and an over-dependence on pesticides, along with environmentally taxing inputs, like water. He hopes that it will also revitalize the local economy.
Rowan County, where AppHarvest is based, is on the edge of central Appalachia. Slumping coal production in the area has cut industry jobs almost in half over the last 15 years. The county’s median household income is 40% lower than the median U.S. household income, and the poverty rate is more than twice as high.
While facilities like AppHarvest’s do require energy to power heaters and lights, they can produce as much as 30 times more yield per square foot than outdoor fields. Growing tomatoes hydroponically requires 90% less water (per tomato produced) and no herbicides, and operations can even introduce predatory insects to control any pests that do slip in, according to Gene Giacomelli, Ph.D., a professor of agriculture at the University of Arizona who studies greenhouses and other advanced growing systems. This greenhouse is also a controlled environment—so no matter what the climate is doing outside, the plants always have perfect growing conditions. AppHarvest even installed a closed-loop recycled-water system to keep any nutrient runoff out of Rowan County’s waterways.
Aaron Conway
Webb makes no claims to be a farmer. But the entrepreneur did see opportunity in the fact that Morehead is within a day’s drive of 70% of the American population—a core asset for distributing fresh produce.
In the fall, AppHarvest announced that Novus Capital was helping it go public, with the goal of raising $475 million on top of the $150 million it has already accrued. The company has broken ground on a similar–size tomato greenhouse outside of Richmond, Kentucky, as well as a 15-acre facility in Berea for fresh greens. And at press time, the first crop of tomatoes from the Morehead location was being harvested. Webb says he firmly believes that Kentuckians will embrace a rapid shift to greenhouse agriculture: “Farming will use more infrastructure and technology. This is what the future is going to look like.”
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