Started by a few friends with a greenhouse, Old Souls Farms is a vertically integrated food company in St. Paris that grows, processes and packages food under one roof. Its controlled greenhouse and hydroponic operation supports year-round production, including chocolate-covered fruit and flash-frozen strawberries, while in-house engineering keeps the process close to home. With 215 full-time employees, the company is expanding in Champaign County and building a larger local food operation.
VIGEO GARDENSVIGEO GARDENS grew from a basement operation serving cancer patients into Rubber City Farm, a nearly 30,000-square-foot indoor farm in Akron’s historic BF Goodrich factories producing leafy greens and microgreens year-round. Its hydroponic, climate-controlled operation supplies locally grown produce harvested and delivered within 24 hours, while using less water and composting farm waste for community farms in Akron.AKRON, OH
BrightFarmsFounded in 2011, BrightFarms grows leafy greens indoors in hydroponic greenhouses, bringing pesticide-free lettuce and spinach from regional farms to grocery stores in as little as a day. Its four greenhouse farms use controlled conditions, recirculated water and sunlight to produce fresh greens year-round while using less water than traditional field growing. The company’s regional footprint includes a 480,000-square-foot Illinois greenhouse producing about six million pounds annually.IRVINGTON, NY
Wiers Farm IncWiers Farm is a fifth-generation family farm that grows, packs, cools and ships fresh vegetables from Ohio and Florida. Founded near Willard in 1896 with five acres of muck land, the company now controls its produce from seed and greenhouse through packing and delivery, supporting year-round supply with its own facilities and Dutch Maid Logistics fleet. Its packing operation also handles custom retail, food-service and private-label programs, including specialty repacking work.WILLARD, OH
Empire State Greenhouses, LLCEmpire State Greenhouses is developing carbon-negative controlled-environment crop factories that combine year-round organic food production with on-site renewable energy and waste-to-energy systems. Its planned 385,000-square-foot GigaFarm in Cobleskill, adjacent to SUNY Cobleskill, is designed around a circular Food-Energy-Waste model and is expected to produce more than 8 million pounds of produce annually. The company’s team has developed, financed, advised on, or evaluated more than 600 renewable-energy and energy-efficiency projects over the past decade.NEW YORK, NY