Upward Farms Offers Innovative Approach to Vertical Farming

In early 2023, Upward Farms expects to open what it claims will be the world’s largest vertical farm. The 250,000-square-foot facility will be built in Luzerne County, PA, and will provide fresh, locally sourced, and certified organic microgreens—as well as sustainably raised hybrid striped bass—to consumers across the East Coast.

Jason Green, CEO and co-founder of the Brooklyn, NY-based company, said the striped bass/leafy green combination has both a production and marketing component. Upward Farms’ process involves growing the bass in a closed system and using the nutrient-rich wastewater to grow the microgreens in a soil mixture on vertical shelves under LED lighting.

Jason Green, CEO and Co-Founder, Upward Farms

Green and his colleagues have done a great deal of work analyzing and combining the aquaponics part of the process with the soil ecology to create what they believe is a superior growing medium. Growing a freshwater fish was absolutely essential as the leafy greens could not have thrived with saltwater fish production due to the salinity involved.

Upward Farms’ process involves growing the bass in a closed system and using the nutrient-rich wastewater to grow the microgreens in a soil mixture on vertical shelves under LED lighting.

Both certified organic microgreens and striped bass are high-end items in their respective markets, allowing Upward Farms to sell its output at a competitive price.

While both products are equally important to the success of Upward Farms, Green said it is the production of organic leafy greens that is the driver of the project.

Upward Farms products

“They are the number one driver of sales,” he said, noting that the leafy greens production will far outstrip the striped bass production by a factor of at least 10-1.

Microgreens grown by Upward Farms have a life cycle of 7-21 days, which allows for many, many crops per year, depending upon the variety. “We are building to optimize the leafy greens production rather the striped bass production,” Green said.

“They are the number one driver of sales,” Green said, noting that the leafy greens production will far outstrip the striped bass production by a factor of at least 10-1.

Upward Farms was founded in 2013 and has since built two proof-of-concept facilities in Brooklyn. The first facility was really a lab, Green said, designed to prove the science. The second facility was designed to prove that the operation could be scaled and be profitable.

Upward Farms microgreens

The lab was closed when the second facility opened, which now serves as the company’s headquarters, producing a continuous flow of fish and leafy greens products sold in the greater New York region.

Whole Foods was the company’s first customer and remains its largest customer, Green said. However, when the Pennsylvania facility is operational, Upward Farms expects to be able to offer supplies to customers throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

Upward Farms lifestyle summer microgreens salad

Upward Farms is shipping its product under its own label of the same name, which is a tenet of the company’s value proposition. From the beginning, Green said the concept was to create a brand in a sector with virtually no brands.

When the Pennsylvania facility is operational, Upward Farms expects to be able to offer supplies to customers throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

Vertical farms have a fantastic opportunity to succeed since they offer local production throughout the year of sought-after products while greatly reducing transportation costs and mostly eliminating weather as a supply factor. 

Upward Farms spicy microgreens

While the vertical farms concept is attractive, Green said companies need to deliver product at a price competitive with open-field grown product, or they won’t be successful.

Upward Farms, he believes, has cracked that code. “Vertical farming is an alternative to field-grown crops,” he said. “But if you can’t be cost competitive, what’s the point?”

To that end, Green plans to make Upward Farms a national brand with vertical farming operations throughout the country.