A Greater Cincinnati-based vertical farming startup with hundreds of millions of dollars in facilities across the region is winding down operations.
Hamilton-based 80 Acres Farms is winding down operations after more than a decade in business, its CEO and co-founder Mike Zelkind announced in a statement Aug. 3.
Zelkind said the company could not secure the capital required to continue operations.
"For a decade, our team has proven that vertical farming can work at scale – building and operating indoor farms that ultimately supplied more than 18,000 retail locations across the U.S.," Zelkind said. "We’re proud of our work, the problems we solved, and the fresh, clean produce that fed so many people."
80 Acres Farms is known for its pioneering approach
toward indoor vertical farming, growing produce indoors in bug-free controlled environments without pesticides. Its produce has been sold across the Midwest at Kroger stores in Cincinnati, Columbus, Louisville and Indianapolis.
As of 2022, the company had five permanent farms in Greater Cincinnati and farms in North Carolina, Alabama and Arkansas. Most recently, 80 Acres opened a $74 million indoor farming facility in Boone County, creating 124 jobs.
The company employs more than 300 workers, most of them in Greater Cincinnati.
"We are deeply grateful to our employees, our retail partners, and the communities that have supported us," Zelkind said. "We have seen vertical farming’s potential up close, and we still believe that this industry is just getting started, and that we have helped plant the seeds for generations of future harvests."
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Greater Cincinnati indoor farming startup shutting down
