Indoor Farming is for Real
March 31, 2021
Jonathan Webb’s quixotic dream is coming true. AppHarvest, the ag-tech venture he founded four years ago in Kentucky coal country, went public in February after shipping its first consignment of beefsteak tomatoes weeks earlier from what is North America’s biggest greenhouse. AppHarvest tomatoes now are available in chains such as Publix, Kroger, Walmart and Food City.
Originally backed by celebrity investors including Steve Case, Martha Stewart, J.D. Vance and the NBA’s Blake Griffin, AppHarvest hopes to grow 45 million pounds of tomatoes a year at its environmentally sound, $97 million indoor farm in Morehead.
AppHarvest announced plans in 2020 for two new indoor farms now under construction near Richmond and Berea, Kentucky, with the goal of having 12 by the end of 2025. Site Selection Senior Editor Gary Daughters caught up with the Kentucky-bred Webb in February.