My Visit to AppHarvest
AppHarvest is changing the way food is grown - and it's using less water and yielding more produce than traditional open-field farms.
Earlier this week, I visited AppHarvest, one of the largest farming operations in the world located in Appalachia just outside Morehead, Kentucky. AppHarvest specializes in controlled environment agriculture - an advanced and intensive form of hydroponically-based agriculture where plants grow within a controlled environment to optimize horticultural practices and save natural resources. During my short visit, I was able to tour the indoor farm - which is the size of more than 50-football fields and maintains 720-thousand plants. It's an extraordinary and innovative company.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- AppHarvest is located in Central Appalachia – within a day’s drive of nearly 70-percent of the American population. Because of the close proximity, tomatoes are picked at peak ripeness. (Photo courtesy of AppHarvest)
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- AppHarvest grows non-GMO, chemical pesticide-free tomatoes in its state-of-the-art indoor farm.
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- Here is a bird’s eye view of the AppHarvest farm. It utilizes a hybrid lighting array that uses natural sunlight first and then supplements it with LED lighting and high-pressure sodium lighting, the latter of which produces heat to help warm the facility in cooler months. (Photo courtesy of AppHarvest)
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- This 2.76-million-square-foot indoor farm opened late last year, and I am happy to be on its Board. Here I am walking toward the entrance with my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, and other AppHarvest Board members, Kiran Bhatraju, Anna Mason, and AppHarvest Founder and CEO Jonathan Webb. (Photo by Aaron Conway)
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- Once inside, we all put on white lab coats before the tour. (Photo courtesy AppHarvest)
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- Here’s a closer look at some of the tomatoes growing on the vine – all perfectly developed in this controlled hydroponic environment. (Photo courtesy of AppHarvest)
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- Here I am sampling some of AppHarvest’s tomatoes. These tomato plants grow up to 40-feet tall. All AppHarvest tomatoes are grown with 100-percent recycled rainwater, thanks to a retention pond that’s the size of nearly 70 Olympic swimming pools. The rainwater is filtered with UV and sand before being delivered in precise amounts to the company’s tomato plants. (Photo by Aaron Conway)
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- Here is a photo of the AppHarvest pack house where red tomatoes are packaged for delivery. By growing vertically, AppHarvest maximizes yield without expending precious agricultural land. The company’s indoor farm in Morehead uses no soil and produces up to 30 times as much fruits and vegetables as could be grown on the same amount of land traditionally farmed outdoors. (Photo courtesy of AppHarvest)
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- During my brief trip, I also visited the sites of AppHarvest’s future farms, including a 60-acre facility being built outside Richmond, Kentucky, and a 15-acre leafy greens facility under construction in Berea, Kentucky.
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- AppHarvest has also opened high-tech container farms at three Eastern Kentucky high schools to teach students how to grow their own food and the importance of eating healthy vegetables. The leafy greens grown by the students are distributed to those in need. The lighting makes everything appear purple in the photo. (Photo courtesy AppHarvest)
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- The leafy greens grown by students are also sent home through backpack donation programs to students and their families experiencing food insecurity. (Photo courtesy AppHarvest)
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- AppHarvest hosted a lovely Board dinner which included an array of dishes inspired by my own recipes and using AppHarvest’s tomatoes. Dinner was prepared by prepared by 21c Museum Hotel’s Lockbox Restaurant.
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- These are stuffed AppHarvest tomatoes with burrata and basil. For this Tomato Burrata Bites recipe, go to my web site or click on the highlighted link.
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- These are house-made biscuits.
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- This local spinach salad includes asparagus, cucumbers, shallots, cornbread croutons, and a lemon-yogurt dressing.
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- The farro verde risotto includes roasted cauliflower, mushroom conserva, salsa verde, and fennel.
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- AppHarvest tomatoes are the main ingredient for my Tomatoes Provençal dish.
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- And for dessert – olive oil cake with lemon curd, strawberries, and white chocolate almonds.
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- Jonathan and I stopped for another quick snapshot. AppHarvest is expected to ship about 45 million pounds of tomatoes annually – all chemical pesticide-free. And AppHarvest has big ambitions – the company plans to build 12 indoor farms by 2025. What a very informative and interesting trip. Please learn more about AppHarvest on their web site – just click on the highlighted link. (Photo by Aaron Conway)
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