Warehouses to Greenhouses! Yes, a start-up in New York that transforms industrial warehouses into vertical farms that cultivate Leafy Greens in a fully automated facility named Bowery Farming after 17th century Dutch Farmers who cultivated crops in lower Manhattan. The term “Bowery” refers to Farm in Dutch.
Bowery Farming has raised $300 million in a recent fundraiser and $472 million in total from the year 2014 when it was founded. It is backed by traditional venture capitalists, funded by Hollywood stars and sports personalities. Its business is currently valued at $2.3 billion.
The crops are grown throughout the year, whatever the weather conditions outside are, Unaffected by outside pests and pollution. It produces 12 types of vegetables including Lettuces, Dark Leafy greens and herbs which are completely traceable from seed to store. These Products are sold at 850 stores. The aim is to supply Products that are more safe, reliable and healthy than what is available now in the market. They also provide recipes on their website which incorporate the products which they sell.
Indoor Vertical Farming attracted interests worldwide and around $1.8 billion were invested in this sector between 2014 and 2020.The first Project was implemented in the United Kingdom which cultivated food for serving Animals in Zoo in 2009. Later some companies started to cultivate in a higher volume, and soon went Bankrupt.
In 2015, the underground tunnels of World War II in London were used for vertical farming.
In 2017, the Japanese improvised this farming technique to include multi level Farming. The induced plant growth with artificial LED lights which reduce the growing time by 2.5 times.
This latest farming technique is certainly an evolution in agriculture and a much earth-healthier alternative, currently this farming technique boasts, 99% of water usage, 80% less wastage, 40% less energy usage and 100 times more yield than Traditional Farming.