A local company is on a mission to end world hunger, while creating jobs and sustainability along the way.
Dallas-based Eden Green Technology, a vertical greenhouse farming technology company, has recently pivoted it business model and sees itself as well-poised to be a provider of not just farming technology, but also of economic and ecological sustainability. And that's especially important with the pandemic disrupting supply chains and bringing a renewed focus on health and safety.
“It’s a technology platform… that’s built intrinsically to one be economically sustainable and be environmentally sustainable, and then to positively affect the community around it. And it was built that way from scratch,” Eddy Badrina, Eden Green Technology CEO, told NTX Inno.
The story of Eden Green has its roots in South Africa in 2017. Founders and brothers Jacques and Eugene van Buuren were helping out in their local community, handing out food during a local event. The pair noticed a 5-year-old lining his pockets with some of the food that was being passed out. They asked him why he was saving the food. His answer shocked them. He told the van Buuren’s that he was bringing the food back to his 3-yeard-old sister, as Tuesday wasn’t his day to eat that week.
The van Buuren brothers, with a background in science and engineering began working on the technology that would become Eden Green. For a while the company was more in the business of selling produce, launching its own line of products called Crisply, which was sold in Walmarts around Texas. At that time, the company reported having about $22 million in private investments from undisclosed sources.
“Out of that came the opportunity to say, ‘we’re going to make a difference, we’re going to use our engineering skills to create a technology that, at the end of the day, can feed people, grow a lot of produce and do it in such a way that is efficient,’” Badrina said.
However, in late 2019 and early 2020, Eden Green has pivoted to offer its vertical farming technology to municipalities, countries, research organization and others looking to have local, sustainable solutions to agriculture. To help with that pivot, Eden Green brought on Badrina, the president and co-founder of Dallas-based digital strategy agency BuzzShift, which was acquired by Ivie & Associates in 2017, as its new CEO. Already, Badrina said they are working on establishing vertical greenhouses for a country in the Middle East and another in South America. He said the goal for Eden Green is to have at least one greenhouse in every U.S. state and every country around the globe. The company has also partnered with Prairie View A&M to begin testing new products.
“I reached a point… of just wanting to dedicate myself to making a difference and teach social impact using the skills and experiences that I have accumulated throughout my time,” Badrina said.
With its research and development greenhouse in Cleburne, south of Fort Worth, Eden Green’s technology uses filtered municipal water with added nutrients to run the mixture over plant root systems at a faster rate than traditional farming. Due to this and the 30-person team’s ability to control all aspects of growth and climate, on a 1.5 acre site Eden Green is able to produce about 900,000 of leafy greens in a year, over the course of 11 to 13 harvests – something it would take about 33 acres of traditional farm to do. It also uses about 98% less water than traditional farming.
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“They’re just getting more nutrients faster and they’re growing like crazy,” Badrina said.
Due to the pandemic, Badrina said the company is seeing increased interest in Eden Green’s technology, which can be placed into a shipping container and shipped anywhere in the world. He said the interest is partly due to stress that the pandemic has put on global supply chains, making many look for more easily sourced local alternatives. In addition, he said that with large global supply chains and the perishable nature of produce, many cut corners to meet demands, which can sometimes cause outbreaks of diseases like e. coli. He also notes that it is a sustainable way to create reliable jobs in a community where a vertical farm is set up.
Eden Green has also been doing its part to help out locally amid the pandemic. The company has fully planted out its Cleburne facility to help meet local food demands. It partnered with Lucas-based Profound Microfarms to help match home delivery orders with nonprofit food donations. So far, Eden Green has helped supply food to the Tarrant Area Food Bank, Out Calling and Jonathan’s Place in the North Texas Area. It has also partnered with the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation to help bring food to at-risk youth in the Houston area.
“Our goal is just to continue to fight hunger all around the globe and change the way that we grow produce and the way we feed people, and doing it in a local way. It’s a big, audacious goal but we really think we can do it with the technology we have and the team that we have,” Badrina said. “Accessible, consistent and safe is now becoming the definition of locally grown, and we can do that at scale. I think it’s only going to get more like that as technology is applied more and more to agriculture. People, consumers will not be content with having sparse produce in the market aisles, nor will they be content about food recalls.”
