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80 Acres Farms Plans Fully-Automated Indoor Farm in Hamilton, Ohio
Area Development ^ | September 25, 2018 | Staff

Posted on 09/26/2018 10:44:09 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

80 Acres Farms, a Cincinnati-based firm focused on the indoor vertical farming industry, is building the first fully-automated indoor farm in the U.S. in Hamilton, Ohio.

The initial phase, expected to be completed later this year, will feature state-of-the-art grow centers to produce specialty greens that include microgreens, culinary herbs, leafy greens and kale. According to company officials, the company plans three additional phases at the Hamilton site. When completed, the project will comprise over 150,000 square feet of fully-automated indoor farming, also known as controlled environmental agriculture.

The full-phase expansion will allow 80 Acres Farms to provide more product to serve its customers with just-picked, year-round produce. Produce grown at the Hamilton site will supply Whole Foods Markets, Dorothy Lane Markets, Jungle Jims, U.S. Foods, and other retailers and foodservice distributors.

80 Acres Farms currently serves Cincinnati-area customers from its facility in the Cincinnati community where it grows microgreens, culinary herbs, leafy lettuce, kale, vine crops like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.

"We already have demonstrated that we can provide to our customers the freshest, best-tasting and nutritious locally-grown produce, while using renewable energy, very little water, and no pesticides," said Mike Zelkind, co-Founder & CEO of 80 Acres Farms. "With the Hamilton facility we will achieve the next-generation of indoor vertical farming using best of breed technology. This project will deliver our proof of concept that indoor farming can be fully-automated, commercially scalable, higher-yielding, and profitable. It will serve as a prototype for our ambitious plans to co-locate similar facilities with commercial customers in other parts of the country.''

Zelkind said the Hamilton site will be automated from seeding to growing to harvesting for highest quality and food safety standards. 80 Acres Farms personnel will manage the Hamilton facility, which will feature robotics, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and around-the-clock monitoring sensors and control systems to optimize every aspect of growing produce indoors.

"The City of Hamilton is very excited about the expansion of 80 Acres in our community," said Joshua Smith, City Manager. "This is a first-in-class company, whose innovations will improve access of fresh foods to areas that need them the most."

Mayor Pat Moeller said, "Hamilton thanks 80 Acres Farms for its investment in our City. 80 Acres' high-tech indoor farm efficiently grows fresh produce that will continue to be sold locally. I have had the opportunity to purchase 80 Acres produce and really enjoyed the fresh, flavorful taste."

80 Acres Farms is headquartered in the Spring Grove community of Cincinnati, where the company was founded in 2015 by Zelkind and Livingston, both veteran food industry executives. It now employs more than 60 people in Cincinnati and other company R&D, engineering and production facilities in three other states.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy; Food
KEYWORDS: automation; farming; food; vegetables
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/34268/


21 posted on 09/27/2018 3:53:19 AM PDT by George Rand (-- I can't befriend liberals because I won't befriend ignorance --)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Cool technology. But as a nation are we not farming less of the land as a percentage while the population goes up and up? There are vast areas where farming was once common where it subsequently became inefficient due to mass farming and easy transportation. So I guess I am asking why this is necessary.


22 posted on 09/27/2018 3:59:33 AM PDT by Stingray51
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

bmp


23 posted on 09/27/2018 4:07:50 AM PDT by gattaca ("Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." Ronald Reagan)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

LED is not light.

LED grows poor quality junk food.


24 posted on 09/27/2018 5:01:21 AM PDT by TheNext (Anonymous Source)
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To: TheNext
A 2 story farm has 1/2 the sunlight.

A 4 story farm has 1/4 the sunlight.

Less sunlight grows junk food. The equations are basic and irrefutable.

25 posted on 09/27/2018 5:06:18 AM PDT by TheNext (Anonymous Source)
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To: Stingray51

A lot of the vegetables in the supermarket come from canada or mexico depending on where you live. it makes much more sense to have greenhouses and vertical farms around major cities so produce is locally produced.


26 posted on 09/27/2018 5:19:15 AM PDT by ckilmer (q e)
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To: TheNext

vertical farms use grow lights tuned to frequencies the plants use— not sunlight.


27 posted on 09/27/2018 5:20:27 AM PDT by ckilmer (q e)
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To: ckilmer

Oh I see - things that cannot be grown outside in our climate.


28 posted on 09/27/2018 5:33:00 AM PDT by Stingray51
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To: Stingray51

The US currently imports more vegetables from Canada than it exports. The vegetables that come from canada are all grown in greenhouses. the vegetables that are grown in Mexico often come from farms that are watered from sewage plants.

vegetables that are grown indoors don’t need herbicides and pesticides. they are not subject to the whims of the weather. we’re basically talking about another agricultural revolution on the scale the tractors and railroads that opened up the farms of the midwest in the 1920’s.


29 posted on 09/27/2018 5:49:00 AM PDT by ckilmer (q e)
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To: TheNext

“LED is not light.

LED grows poor quality junk food.”

I grow: Serrano, Jalapeños, Anchos, Swiss Chard and cucumbers year around in my 5’ x 5’ grow box in my basement — all with inexpensive LED lights.

The food is superior to what I can grow outside during my Montana summers, and bug free.

Please refrain from commenting upon what you truly are uninformed about.


30 posted on 09/27/2018 6:01:03 AM PDT by BBB333 (The Power Of Trump Compels You!)
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To: ckilmer

“A lot of the vegetables in the supermarket come from canada or mexico depending on where you live. it makes much more sense to have greenhouses and vertical farms around major cities so produce is locally produced.”

Or produced in California using water they are swiping from the western part of the United States. I like this idea in that it allows the midwest to compete year round for vegetable production. I don’t think it takes away from the normal crop seasons for grains, etc, but it does help make the rest of us more independent of foreign or california growers


31 posted on 09/27/2018 6:03:57 AM PDT by phothus (http://buanadha.wordpress.com/)
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To: BBB333

Please refrain from commenting upon what you truly are uninformed about.

You are not the only person who has grown a garden, I assure you.

People eat hard tomatos because they look like food. But a manufacturing chemical process gave the vegetable its color.

People drink HFCS because it is made from corn.

People drink orange juice because it looks orange.

People eat big peaches but they lack nutrient content.

All these make you sicker over the long term.

Please explain to us the physics of EM waves and their spectrum.

People live their lives on LED bulbs but they make hunans sick, depressed and blind. Lacking spectrum also creates inferior plants.


32 posted on 09/27/2018 6:17:43 AM PDT by TheNext (Anonymous Source)
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To: Jonty30

As a matter of fact, there are 54 billion acres of land, enough for every family on Earth to still get 40 acres and a mule. Not all of it is easy to farm, but then the Chinese have rice paddies in the mountains. Nonetheless, the absence of pesticide or fertilizer run-off, the minimal use of water, the ability to be near cities (consumers), etc., is quite something.

And makes those idiot leftists and there bug-eating nonsense look like a bunch of drooling morons.


33 posted on 09/27/2018 6:22:32 AM PDT by dangus ("The floor of Hell is paved with the skulls of bishops" -- St. Athanasius)
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To: BBB333; TheNext

It all depends on the LEDs. I wouldn’t farm with the ones in my office. The spectrum is skewed. But there are fine LEDs for food.


34 posted on 09/27/2018 6:24:02 AM PDT by dangus ("The floor of Hell is paved with the skulls of bishops" -- St. Athanasius)
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To: TheNext
A 2 story farm has 1/2 the sunlight.

A 4 story farm has 1/4 the sunlight.

Less sunlight grows junk food. The equations are basic and irrefutable.


35 posted on 09/27/2018 6:32:14 AM PDT by dangus ("The floor of Hell is paved with the skulls of bishops" -- St. Athanasius)
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To: dangus

Humans evolved on full spectrum light from a heat source of the sun or fire wood. LEDs generate no heat and lack spectrum. LEDs are blue limited spectrum. Real light requires a heat source, and higher energy and higher expense.

LEDs CANNOT simulate light. Ever. It is impossible without a heat source.

This is why humans get sick on LED lights.
This is why you get sick long term on LED food.

What part of science are you all missing?? What you don’t know, CAN hurt you.


36 posted on 09/27/2018 6:39:25 AM PDT by TheNext (Anonymous Source)
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To: dangus; TheNext

“It all depends on the LEDs. I wouldn’t farm with the ones in my office. The spectrum is skewed. But there are fine LEDs for food.”

Absolutely!


37 posted on 09/27/2018 6:44:32 AM PDT by BBB333 (The Power Of Trump Compels You!)
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To: TheNext

China has put cardboard in food.

It looks like food. It has the same color as food.
People eat it.


38 posted on 09/27/2018 6:45:26 AM PDT by TheNext (Anonymous Source)
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To: TheNext

>> LEDs CANNOT simulate light. Ever. It is impossible without a heat source. <<

Your ignorance of basis physics is amusing.


39 posted on 09/27/2018 8:02:46 AM PDT by dangus ("The floor of Hell is paved with the skulls of bishops" -- St. Athanasius)
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To: dangus

James Clerk Maxwell would be offended by your slanders of science.


40 posted on 09/27/2018 8:37:48 AM PDT by TheNext (Anonymous Source)
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