What a very informative and interesting trip. And AppHarvest has big ambitions – the company plans to build 12 indoor farms by 2025. AppHarvest is expected to ship about 45 million pounds of tomatoes annually – all chemical pesticide-free. Jonathan and I stopped for another quick snapshot. The farro verde risotto includes roasted cauliflower, mushroom conserva, salsa verde, and fennel.ĪppHarvest tomatoes are the main ingredient for my Tomatoes Provençal dish.Īnd for dessert – olive oil cake with lemon curd, strawberries, and white chocolate almonds. This local spinach salad includes asparagus, cucumbers, shallots, cornbread croutons, and a lemon-yogurt dressing. For this Tomato Burrata Bites recipe, go to my web site or click on the highlighted link. These are stuffed AppHarvest tomatoes with burrata and basil. Dinner was prepared by prepared by 21c Museum Hotel’s Lockbox Restaurant. (Photo courtesy AppHarvest)ĪppHarvest hosted a lovely Board dinner which included an array of dishes inspired by my own recipes and using AppHarvest’s tomatoes. The leafy greens grown by students are also sent home through backpack donation programs to students and their families experiencing food insecurity. The lighting makes everything appear purple in the photo. The leafy greens grown by the students are distributed to those in need. (Photo courtesy of AppHarvest)ĭuring 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.ĪppHarvest 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 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. By growing vertically, AppHarvest maximizes yield without expending precious agricultural land. Here is a photo of the AppHarvest pack house where red tomatoes are packaged for delivery. The rainwater is filtered with UV and sand before being delivered in precise amounts to the company’s tomato plants. 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. These tomato plants grow up to 40-feet tall. Here I am sampling some of AppHarvest’s tomatoes. Here’s a closer look at some of the tomatoes growing on the vine – all perfectly developed in this controlled hydroponic environment. Once inside, we all put on white lab coats before the tour. 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. This 2.76-million-square-foot indoor farm opened late last year, and I am happy to be on its Board. 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. Here is a bird’s eye view of the AppHarvest farm. (Photo courtesy of AppHarvest)ĪppHarvest grows non-GMO, chemical pesticide-free tomatoes in its state-of-the-art indoor farm. Because of the close proximity, tomatoes are picked at peak ripeness. AppHarvest is located in Central Appalachia – within a day’s drive of nearly 70-percent of the American population.
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