BrightFarms Breaks Ground on Greenhouse Farm

Salads have to come from somewhere.

BrightFarms, which supplies food retailers with locally grown salads, said that it has broken ground on a 280,000-square-foot hydroponic greenhouse in Henderson County, North Carolina. “Once complete, the facility will be the largest greenhouse for leafy greens in the state,” the company added.

Plans for the facility were revealed last year.

The new greenhouse strengthens BrightFarms’ network of “local, sustainable greenhouse farms that will reach thousands of supermarkets between Maine and Georgia.”

The new facility is located in the Asheville region of North Carolina — an area familiar to many vacationers and fans of craft beer — because it's central to leading food retailers in the southeastern United States, the company explained. BrightFarms already operates greenhouse farms in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois.

“We have longstanding relationships with customers that have a strong footprint in North Carolina and the surrounding states,” said Abby Prior, SVP of sales and marketing for Irvington, New York-based BrightFarms and a 2019 Progressive Grocer Top Woman in Grocery. “With more consumers seeking out clean, safe and responsibly grown produce, our expansion into the state will allow us to fill a crucial demand for retailers.”

According to BrightFarms, shipments from the new greenhouse in North Carolina will start in early 2021. “The farm will grow the company’s core lineup of products, including: Spinach, Spring Mix, Arugula, Sunny Crunch and Baby Butter,” the company said. “As one of the few companies growing local spinach in the controlled-environment sector, BrightFarms is anticipating record demand for its best-selling local baby spinach.”

Since its debut in 2013, BrightFarms has spurred incremental growth in the salad greens category for its retailer partners in markets across the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.