80 Acres is heading south. The Hamilton-based vertical farming startup will invest $120 million to build out its next location — and its largest and most expensive farm to date — in the Greater Atlanta area.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp formally announced the project Monday afternoon; 80 Acres had hinted at its expansion in the state for months. The facility is already under construction in Covington, about 25 miles east of Atlanta, with an expected completion in August. The site will create 150 new jobs, Kemp said.
80 Acres Farms CEO Mike Zelkind told me the new farm will be ready to distribute to retailers by early 2023 — starting first with leafy greens, then expanding to other produce as needed, including herbs, microgreens, tomatoes, strawberries and blackberries.
“It's a great market; it’s a market that’s underserved from a fresh, healthy, pesticide-free produce perspective,” Zelkind said. “It’s no coincidence that our first next-generation production farm outside the Midwest will be in the heart of Georgia.”
The expansion is one of many new announcements upcoming, he added. It comes on the heels of 80 Acres’ historic $160 million fundraise last year. In January, the startup also announced a new $74 million farm in Northern Kentucky, where it’s currently converting an existing, vacant building in unincorporated Boone County.
80 Acres said the Kentucky and Georgia farms will be among the largest vertical farms in the world — at more than 200,000 square feet each. When fully operational, the farms will increase the company’s total production by more than 700%.
“We have customers pulling us in both directions, and a lot of demand for our product in these regions,” Zelkind said
80 Acres, founded in 2015, grows a variety of produce indoors, year-round, using a combination of LED lighting, artificial intelligence, robotics and more. Its vertical farms can produce up to 300 times as much food per square foot as traditional farms, using 95% less water per pound of produce and minimizing food miles and waste.
The company has extensively tested its next generation of technology at its core farm, known as 70K in Hamilton, which debuted in early 2021, and is using that model to scale exponentially.
The Atlanta farm will generate four times as much food as 70K, Zelkind said. When open, it will represent 80 Acres’ 10th farm in the U.S., including sites in Cincinnati, North Carolina and Arkansas.
“The only way to reach more people is to keep building,” Zelkind said.
Zelkind said the incentives 80 Acres received from Georgia were in line with those it received in Kentucky. The Georgia Department of Economic Development did not provide any financial concessions, but the city of Covington provided support. NOW Covington, the city's economic development authority, approved the issuance of up to $120 million in bonds to help fund the construction and equipping of the farm, NOW Covington's William Smith told Cincy Inno.
According to negotiations with the company, the average annual salary is $68,000 for the 150 employees. "80 Acres and NOW Covington is proud to form a partnership that reshapes how people think about farm to table," Smith said.
In terms of jobs in Atlanta, 80 Acres plans to hire across a variety of roles as its operating date approaches, from hourly growing and harvesting jobs to salaried management positions to support finance, sales and more.
80 Acres currently employs more than 300 companywide.
“We are excited to welcome 80 Acres Farms to Georgia as we continue finding new, exciting ways to support and grow our state's No. 1 industry, agriculture,” Kemp said in a release. “I look forward to seeing the difference 80 Acres Farms will make.”
