AppHarvest continues to grow its school-based container farms in eastern Kentucky. A ceremony Monday recognized the seventh facility, this one at the Floyd County School of Innovation. AppHarvest Founder Jonathan Webb said leafy greens will be produced in the shipping container-sized operation. Webb noted the aim is to put technology in the hands of students. “So that high school kids can visualize what the potential career paths in agriculture look like. And this is no better way to do it than to give them the technology and let them operate software on an I-phone, on an I-pad, running sensors, growing fruits and vegetables,” said Webb.
Webb said the goal is to establish 20 container farms across the Commonwealth.
He remained optimistic about large scale production at four other controlled environment facilities in Morehead, Richmond, Berea, and Somerset. Webb said there were a couple of months of challenging operations while ramping up to 350 employees in Morehead. Webb said it was not a significant issue. “No one believed we were going to build these facilities in the first place. We did. And the outside world continues to be skeptical, and we’ll prove them wrong like we have every single step of the way. Our team has rallied around that,” explained Webb.
Webb added AppHarvest looks forward to a strong 2022 with all four production farms in operation.