Arugula farmed in the NASDAQ building — the tastiest arugula I ever had.
Let me paint you a picture:
You live in Greenwich Village. Every Friday you walk to Union Square to buy locally grown vegetables.
“How Local?” you ask.
The Vendor turns to the right and points at a skyscraper claiming:
“The 28th - 32nd floor in that building is my farm! Four blocks away is how local.”
Turns out to be the best arugula of your life.
This utopic reality isn’t that far fetched… or far away.
Farming is one of the most important roles in our economy: It helps sustain life (it literally feeds us), it contributes $1.26 Trillion in US GDP (5.6%) as of 2021 and helps us employ 10.5% of the US population.
But why would I suggest we bring farming into cities?
More people are asking for organic and locally produced goods.
Not only is it hard and expensive to farm organic produce – it's also hard to manage the crop rotation, getting government licensing for it and creating a sizable crop harvest regardless of weather that season.
Likewise, with increased global natural disasters, prices of raw materials, transportation and labor – farming was hard and just got harder.
*Hydroponic Farming enters the chat*
This company, Vertical Harvest, out of Jackson Hole, WY has built a hydroponic farm.
Basically, a large indoor farm where they can recreate the perfect climate for their desired crops and farm all year round.
Cool, Why do we care?
They just closed their Series A in April 2022, at $8.35M and opened another site in Maine. Their WY website states:
[We] distribute to more than 80 grocers and restaurants in 3 states, 365 days a year at the peak of nutritional and taste value.
Replaces 100,000 lbs of produce formerly trucked into the community.
[uses] 85% less water to deliver our produce at peak flavor and nutrition, year-round
This option reduces the majority of classic farming risk factors: Increase in global natural disasters, need for water and humidity in certain climates, increased transportation costs and cost of labor. - they are able to sell 95% of goods produced, keeping 5% for their retail stores.
Clear Business Model: Inputs = seeds, water, electricity, nutrients, labor. Clear Output: X Amount of crops in X amt of time period.
Honestly, this business model is genius.
And, here in New York City I would go as far to make a few assumptions:
Office buildings need to rent out space, with working from home and shared work space there is opportunity to purchase large lots of commercial real estate.
The consumer base you’re serving in NYC has a high price ceiling. Selling locally farmed goods that are marketed well… they could have great price elasticity.
Creating jobs for hourly labor is hard, especially in a technology driven economy. Opening up Vertical Farms like this would help employ more of the underserved population and give more people access to fresher foods.
I love the idea of this.
Obviously, everything sounds great in theory. It’s promising that Vertical Harvest has been able to test this for years and found success in Jackson Hole.
I look forward to the day I can purchase arugula farmed in the Nasdaq building.
