A Greenhouse Large Enough to Feed the Eastern Seaboard

A Greenhouse Large Enough to Feed the Eastern Seaboard

AppHarvest, the largest greenhouse in the United States, will begin shipping 45 million pounds of fresh produce annually to grocery stores when it opens next summer.

Proximity to big markets is crucial for the fresh produce business.

So when AppHarvest, a two-year-old start-up, was looking for a site for a greenhouse, it picked a 366-acre field in Rowan County just outside Morehead, a university town in eastern Kentucky.

The greenhouse, the largest in the United States, will be just a day’s drive from almost 70 percent of American consumers, including those who love fresh tomatoes.

Next summer, when AppHarvest begins production at its $97 million building, 285 employees will start shipping 45 million pounds of fresh produce annually, primarily tomatoes, to grocery stores from Atlanta to New York, and as far west as Chicago and St. Louis.

For the greenhouse to be cost-effective, size was as important as location. The 60-acre, 2.76-million-square-foot building will be big enough to lower costs on materials, production and distribution.

Read the entire article at the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/business/appharvest-greenhouse-kentucky-agriculture.html