Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/838473
at the annual USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum to share what AeroFarms is doing to leverage technology and to be more judicious with our resources. One of the big missions of AeroFarms is commu- nity involvement. What benefits are there to hav- ing close local ties? We thought long and hard when relocating our global headquarters from Ithaca, N.Y. to Newark. We were very conscious of identifying markets where we could have the biggest impact in terms of job cre- ation and addressing food deserts. Over 85 percent of our team lives within 15 miles of our headquarters; we are truly "by the community" and "for the community." We hire locally, we sell in the local grocery stores, and we work closely with economic community partners. Also, all our farms have been in repurposed spaces. Our tech- nology can fit anywhere, but we have been focusing on dormant warehouses that are close to existing retailers and foodservice distributors—a big part of our mission is to decrease food miles and travel time so that our greens are as fresh as possible when you eat them. That is why we focus on urban warehouse space specifically. The communities we enter are so ready for us to come in and start growing and hiring, and to see a previously vacant building bustling again is a happy sight for everyone. Do you envision a future where all farming— urban or rural—could be vertical? We don't think vertical farming will completely eclipse soil-based farming, but we'd like to see it be a much larger part of the pie. With population growth heading toward 9 billion by 2050, we need to think about how we can grow in places that can't sustain soil-based agriculture. The relentless pursuit of higher yields has taxed our soil and led to detectable pesticides in our tap water, so if vertical farm- ing can take some of the pressure off our natural resources, that's a really good thing. We want people to know that we are ready to serve them. Delicious, f lavorful, safe baby greens that are grown without pes- ticides are possible. Vertical farming isn't the future; we're already here and will soon be at a market near them. q&a Julie Chang is a freelance writer based in New York City. Summer Fancy Food Show Booth 2567 76 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com