LED Lighting To Help US To Build Its First Full-automatic Vertical Farm

80 Acres Farms, an indoor farming company based in Cincinnati, announced plans to build a vertical farm in Hamilton, Ohio, to become the first fully automated indoor farm in the United States.

It is reported that the vertical farm planting center will be equipped with robots, artificial intelligence, data analysis, 24-hour monitoring sensors and control systems and other cutting-edge technology to optimize all aspects of crop cultivation.

80 Acres Farms'current technical partner is Signify, and the company's new vertical planting center will adopt its LED horticultural system. Another Holland company, Priva, will provide environmental control systems and process management software for indoor farms.

Vertical farms will be built in four phases, covering more than 13,935 square meters (150,000 square feet). The first phase is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Mike Zelkin, co-founder and CEO of 80 Acres Farms, says vertical farms are automated from sowing to growing to harvesting to meet high quality and food safety standards. After the farm is operational, it is expected to provide sufficient and fresh products for new customers, Whole Foods Market, Dorothy Lane Markets and other existing customers, as well as other retailers and food service dealers.

Zelking also said 80 Acres Farms would be the next generation of indoor vertical farms using the best culture technology, a project that will prove that indoor farms can be fully automated, commercially scalable, more productive and profitable. He thinks the vertical farm will be a prototype, and the company plans to build similar factories in the same location as commercial customers elsewhere in the country.