Officials at Hamilton-based 80 Acres Farms appear ready to make moves beyond growing the leafy greens and bite-size tomatoes that have become its norm. A new partnership inked with a Southern university could help expedite its efforts to grow fruits, like blackberries and strawberries, at scale.
80 Acres this week announced a new master research agreement with the University of Arkansas and Arkansas Agriculture Experiment Station that will allow it to operate commercially beyond leafy greens and herbs and into fruits and additional vegetables – and soon. The company also said there’s a multimillion-dollar expansion underway at its farm in the state.
Victor Verlage, senior VP of operations, agronomy, and research and development for 80 Acres, said the partnership will advance the science of vertical farming, particularly fruit production. Verlage joined 80 Acres in September after working with Walmart’s global food sourcing team for 10 years. Before joining the local startup, he served as Walmart’s senior director of agricultural strategy.
While 80 Acres is not the only company pursuing such vertical farming efforts – the company already grows a variety of produce indoors, year-round, using LED lighting, artificial intelligence, robotics and more – Verlage said its technologies will carry the company faster and deeper into the space.
Currently, growing berries indoors isn’t overly productive and the final product is unaffordable for most, he said. Prices, he said, can range around $5 a berry.
He said 80 Acres, sometime next year, should have its very first commercially viable crop of fruit.
“That is a breakthrough, that is a big milestone that is going to be very disruptive in a good way in the marketplace,” Verlage told me. “It’s broadening the assortment (of what we grow). The other element is leveraging the power of the technology to grow something so productive that it’s affordable to the average consumer. My job is to democratize this food so everybody can afford it and take it to home to their families.”
Part of the research includes evaluating and breeding varietal selections that are better suited for the vertical farming environment. The varietals and seeds available today were developed for more conventional growing, and while they can be used in an 80 Acres-like environment, they have very limited results, Verlage said. The team at Arkansas, for example, is evaluating blackberry varieties that may perform well in such novel growing conditions.
Verlage said the University of Arkansas was selected because of its expertise in growing brambles, such as blackberries, table grapes and other fruit, all of which are of high interest to 80 Acres.
"Fruit breeding is a long-term effort," Margaret Worthington, assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, said in a release. "We need to be forward thinking and consider how the potential varieties moving through our breeding pipeline are going to fit into new markets and productions systems that are just beginning to develop.”
In addition to its work with the university, 80 Acres is expanding its commercial vertical farm in Springdale, Ark., Verlage said. The entire facility will be refurbished into an R&D site, he said, a multimillion dollar effort that’s currently underway. Verlage declined to cite the specific project cost. The farm will serve as a testing ground for methods that 80 Acres could later implement at its seven other farms across the U.S. 80 Acres operates four of those farms in the Greater Cincinnati region, including its latest, a $30 million, 70,000-square-foot facility in Hamilton that opened officially in January.
