NEW YORK — While they share a commitment to localized hydroponic agriculture, BrightFarms here and Gotham Greens have decidedly different business models.
With its Brooklyn greenhouse atop a warehouse, Gotham Greens has established itself as a traditional supplier to local stores and restaurants. BrightFarms, on the other hand, is in the process of striking deals with individual food retailers to build a dedicated hydroponic greenhouse structure on the roof of a supermarket (or nearby structure) that supplies only the store underneath or neighboring stores within the same chain. BrightFarms foots the bill for the greenhouse in exchange for a guarantee from the retailer to buy its product. Excess heat from the store warms the greenhouse above.
BrightFarms' principal criterion — like Gotham Greens' — is freshness in support of flavor and nutrition, sold at competitive prices. “We want to get produce on the shelf within 24 hours from the point of harvest,” said Benjamin Linsley, vice president of business development and public affairs for BrightFarms.
According to Linsley, 10 food retailers have signed “letters of intent” with BrightFarms, including two that would have a rooftop greenhouse built on one store next year. (He declined to name the retailers pending the completion of contracts.) BrightFarms' vision is that a chain would support greenhouses across its network of stores.
BrightFarms looks for rooftop space of about 43,000 square feet (one acre) — though it can go down to 25,000 square feet — for each greenhouse, which is expected to grow about 500,000 pounds of vegetables annually, enough to supply two or three stores. The greenhouses will initially focus on lettuce and tomatoes, though other crops such as cucumbers, herbs and squash are possible. The first two greenhouses will supply packaged lettuce, whose highly perishable nature makes it a good candidate for ultra-local production, noted Linsley.