Aerofarms To Close Virginia Vertical Farm As Funding Dries Up

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Two years aft surviving bankruptcy proceedings, AeroFarms risks going retired of business aft nan US-based vertical-farming company’s main backer decided against further investment.

AeroFarms revenge a WARN announcement pinch nan Department of Workforce Development and Advancement successful Virginia earlier successful December saying nan institution plans to adjacent its Ringgold indoor vertical workplace successful Danville. As a result, 173 jobs would beryllium terminated.

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In September 2023, nan New Jersey-headquartered institution said it had exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings entered successful June that year. AeroFarms had received support from a bankruptcy tribunal successful Delaware for an “asset acquisition agreement” pinch existing investors Grosvenor Food & AgTech and Doha Venture Capital.

AeroFarms added nan institution has since been “diligently attempting to discuss an hold pinch nan investor aliases to unafraid different backing from their different existent investors, imaginable caller investors, and financial institutions”.

The announcement continued: “Efforts to get further superior person grounded and they [AeroFarms] person travel to nan conclusion that they cannot proceed operations until they are capable to get caller backing from different sources.”

Just Food asked AeroFarms for remark connected whether nan institution is connected nan verge of going retired of business fixed nan quality of nan WARN announcement but had not received a consequence astatine nan clip of writing.

Vertical farming, aliases controlled-environment agriculture, is simply a capital-intensive manufacture chiefly revolving astir leafy greens and herbs. Most companies are early-stage start-ups that usually require outer financing and many, if not most, are not generating profits. Some person gone retired of business.

Daniele Benatoff, nan co-founder and CEO of Italy-based Planet Farms, told Just Food earlier this twelvemonth his institution was profitable but chiefly done diversification.

Asked to explicate his ain mentation of why truthful galore vertical-farming operators had fallen by nan wayside, he said: “Part of nan rumor successful this assemblage is it was approached arsenic a axenic exertion business. But nan reality is this is simply a analyzable business because it brings together 3 different technological innovations nether 1 roof.

“There is simply a package constituent pinch axenic technology…but there’s besides an agronomy constituent and a hardware and automation element.”

Meanwhile, erstwhile AeroFarms entered Chapter 11 successful June of 2023 nan business said it had “faced important manufacture and capital-market headwinds”.

In August this year, nan institution said it had raised an undisclosed magnitude of funds to build a caller vertical-farming installation successful summation to nan Danville site. It said t had refinanced indebtedness to “support” ongoing operations astatine that farm.

Stephan Dolezalek, a managing partner of Grosvenor Food & AgTech, said astatine that time: “We judge AeroFarms tin play a important domiciled successful nan world caller nutrient proviso chain, by providing nutritious greens astatine standard to section regions astir nan world.

“AeroFarms has now proven nan expertise to present nan transformative benefits of vertical farming done a viable, profitable business.”