There was a lot of discussion about the company’s third commercial farming location in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, when I wrote my large TC1 on Bowery Farming late last year. Following a significant press debut, the facility is now officially operational. The facility, which was constructed on a former brownfield site, is, according to the vertical farming firm from New Jersey, its most technologically sophisticated yet. Including the first one in Kearny, New Jersey, which I went to, and one in Nottingham, Maryland, the commercial farm is Bowery’s third. Baby steps, but the corporation claims that by the next year, it expects to quadruple those three.
The farm is estimated to be roughly 156,000 square feet in recent real estate publications, but the corporation won’t confirm this. Although others have provided data about much greater facilities, it sounds like a vast location. Of course, there are still some unanswered problems regarding the effects of vertical farming on the environment. Although the effectiveness of using LEDs in place of natural illumination is frequently noted by critics, there are several benefits, including a far reduced environmental impact and less water use.
According to Bowery, the new farm will be run entirely on renewable energy, with water filtering and capture mechanisms that recirculate runoff back into the system. If the previous two years have taught us anything, it is that we are currently experiencing unparalleled upheaval and instability in both our geopolitical and climatic conditions, which will unavoidably last. We also see personally that our global food system is inexorably related to these dynamics,” founder and CEO Irving Fain stated in a release. “Wherever food is required, we can grow it at Bowery.
With the launch of our Bethlehem Farm, we are continuing to secure food for the future while tackling the difficulties in our system by growing food more intelligently for more people in more places. Additionally, the new farm is anticipated to provide 70 employment to Bethlehem, which is an hour and a half’s drive from Philadelphia and is situated near Allentown. According to Bowery, the facility is planned to service a 200-mile area thanks to businesses like Whole Foods, Giant of Landover, and Albertsons.
