If you’ve ever bought strawberries in the United States, then you’re probably familiar with Driscoll’s. They are one of the largest strawberry producers in North America, and they are leading the charge in vertical farming. Vertical farming is a farm that isn’t splayed out across several acres of flat land. It’s a farm that is structured in a vertical building, making it perfect for farming in the middle of a major city. Theoretically.
Or maybe not so theoretically anymore, as the world’s first vertical berry farm that will be growing berries at scale has opened in Richmond, Virginia. It’s called Plenty Richmond Farms, and it just might be the future of farming in the United States.
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The facility expects to produce over 4 million pounds of strawberries a year using less than 40,000 square feet—significantly smaller than a traditional farm. It features 30-foot-tall towers that allow for vertical strawberry growth, optimizing space and resources.
The project exists thanks to a collab between international scientists in various companies including the aforementioned Driscoll’s, which will be supplying the strawberry varieties grown on the farm. Or, in the farm. Either way, the first strawberries cultivated from the vertical farm will hit grocery store shelves in early 2025.
The berries will be picked using advanced modern technologies to ensure quality and peak season flavor all year round. They can do that because, as the CEO of Plenty says, vertical farming allows for “climate-agnostic agriculture.”
That means they can simulate the environment for peak flavor inside of the vertical farm without having to worry about external forces. The farm uses AI to analyze over 10 million data points a day to make minor adjustments to every aspect of the growing process, from temperature to light to humidity plus so many others. They even come up with a way to pollinate without using bees that uses controlled airflow.
Vertical farming is already happening around the world, especially in Singapore. But if Plenty’s Richmond Farm turns out to be as successful as everyone involved thinks it’ll be, then get ready to see these kinds of vertical farms popping up and urban areas all across the United States in the coming decades.
