Words by Hayley Cawthon

AppHarvest expects all three of its new hightech indoor farms will be producing crops by the end of the year .

The company announced in September it has completed calibration of its “ touchless growing system ” for salad greens at its 15-acre Berea , Kentucky , indoor farm by having successfully grown more than 20 varieties of lettuce , according to a news release . Its 30-acre indoor farm in Somerset , Kentucky , is 80 % complete with planting , and has the capacity to grow about one million strawberries .

As its flagship facility in Morehead , Kentucky , prepares for its third tomato harvest , AppHarvest is continuing construction on its 60-acre Richmond , Kentucky , farm , which will double the company ’ s capacity to grow tomatoes .

Combined with Morehead operations , the Richmond facility is expected to enable the company to grow about

1.5 million tomato plants per season that continuously produce for more than 10 months of the year . The AppHarvest Richmond farm is expected to start producing before the end of 2022 .

“ With a laser-like focus on core operations , the AppHarvest team across the board is delivering on its commitment to complete the largest controlled environment agriculture build-out in U . S . history this year ,” said AppHarvest Chief Operating Officer Julie Nelson in the release . “ We literally expect to reap the fruits of our labor starting in the fourth quarter .”

The AppHarvest Berea Farm is expected to be the world ’ s largest high-tech farm for autonomously harvested salad greens with the latest “ touchless growing system ” by Green Automation . The hands-off system helps to improve both food safety and efficiency . To calibrate the touchless growing system , the company has successfully grown more

than 20 types of salad greens , which go from seed to maturity in about three to four weeks depending on variety . AppHarvest expects commercial shipments from the Berea facility to start in the fourth quarter .

The AppHarvest Berea farm ’ s growing environment leverages sunshine and rainwater and is automated for lighting , humidity and temperature . The farm uses a closed-loop irrigation system , which enables expected water savings of up to 90 % compared to open-field farming and allows for precision dosing of nutrients , resulting in far less use of fertilizer compared to open-field farming while avoiding pollution from agricultural runoff , the release continued .

AppHarvests net sales in the second quarter were $ 4.4 million on 6 million pounds of tomatoes sold with a net sales price of 72 cents per pound versus net sales of $ 3.1 million on 8.6 million pounds of tomatoes sold with a net sales price

of 36 cents per pound in the second quarter of 2021 , representing a nearly 40 % increase in quarterly net sales year over year .

AppHarvest currently sells to the top 25 national grocery store outlets as well as to select restaurants and food service providers through its distribution partner , Mastronardi Produce . It is also working with Mastronardi to establish a FarmCo joint venture under which AppHarvest could benefit from a broader national footprint and additional network scale . The companies are in exclusive discussions with an institutional investor who has expressed interest in becoming a partner in FarmCo , according to a second quarter earnings release . While considerate due diligence and negotiation of terms is still outstanding , if a FarmCo transaction can be completed , it could have the benefit of securing additional capital for adding farm acreage , the release states .