Jonathan Webb: AppHarvest is built on this concept
that everybody deserves access to healthy fruits
and vegetables,
and we have to figure out how to grow more food
with less resources.
For us, it's how do we use modern technology
but put nature first.
Jackie Roberts: The global implications of doing high tech
indoor farms is that you can grow a lot more food
with a lot fewer resources
and much less impact on the environment.
And that's critical for the future.
When you look at the numbers
on what's happening with water shortages,
the depletion of soil, and climate severe weather events
that are wiping out crops, it is now.
It's not the future.
We need to be doing this now.
(gentle instrumental music)
Jonathan: Right now, we've set out
to not only open this Berea facility
which will be one of the largest leafy green facilities
in the US,
but build a network of high tech farms here
in Central Appalachia that cross leafy greens,
strawberries, tomatoes, and other vine crops.
We started farming thousands of years ago
and technology has advanced from the wheel, to the tractor,
to now AI and robotics, and software and sensors.
Combining that into how we grow food
and align with the planet better, that is our mission.
The problems happening in the western part
of the US right now are dire.
We have to use our water in a more precious way.
To me, that problem of how do we solve our water crisis
in the US, we do it with farms like this.
Jackie: This indoor farm, you can see, has some
unique features.
We use 90% less water than traditional farms.
And the reason is our indoor farm is a closed system.
We capture rainwater on a roof.
We send it through gullies and pipes into a retention pond,
and then we make sure using sensors
that the plants only get what they actually need.
So our indoor farms
and this type of contactless growing
benefits both food safety and food waste.
We don't have concerns about E. coli.
We've heard about E. coli outbreaks this summer,
and indoor farms can be very efficient
because we can grow 24/7.
We have a very large roof with glass panels
which means we use a lot of passive solar.
But we also use lighting overnight
to continue to help the plants grow.
LED lighting has been a huge innovation
that's really enabled this sector
to be much more energy efficient.
But I think the energy to support this type of farming
is where we're gonna see tremendous innovation
over the next five years.
So I think that's coming, and that's really exciting to me.
Jonathan: Farming is not what you think of
when you think of your grandma
or grandpa riding a tractor around.
And we respect that,
and we appreciate the tradition of farming.
But farming is smartphones and tablets
to operate software and sensors
and use technology to grow food.
And we have to now plant that seed with young people
to think of careers and futures
inside of a pathway of farming
that didn't exist 20 years ago.
- My name's Jacob Ball.
I'm the agriculture teacher at Carter G. Woodson Academy.
Carter G. Woodson Academy is an all-male,
college preparatory program.
We teach through the lens of African American history
and culture,
and also incorporate Hispanic history and culture.
So the container farm that we're fortunate to have here
is a shipping container
that has been retrofitted as a hydroponic farm.
We are one of 12 schools in the eastern Kentucky region
that are fortunate to be partnering with AppHarvest.
As more and more schools come on board,
we're actually building a network of teachers
that are collaborating together
with other students across the region.
We've kind of learned the best way
to get our nutrient levels, pH, water,
light, temperature, humidity.
We control all those factors
for the best growing environment.
Basically every two weeks, we're harvesting,
and then it's going to local community members
through a CSA program, or to our local cafeteria.
Keyshawn Denton: I'm really proud of myself.
I'm really proud of this program.
Hopefully in the future,
I'll be able to show my kids
just how much we've been able to accomplish
in just four years.
Jacob: Agriculture is a way that students can get involved
in a career, get involved in an industry
that plays such an important role
in the sustainability of our planet,
the sustainability of our societies.
Jackie: I think the more we can get these systems in place
and continuously improve them,
which there's so much potential for in the future,
and so many opportunities to bring in more innovation,
more high tech strategies,
it's just gonna benefit us as a region
and as a country to be self-sufficient in terms of our food.
Jonathan: Innovate or die.
We're on this finite planet,
this rock that's flying around a sun called planet Earth,
and it's burning.
We can either use technology and innovate,
or we can see things crumble around us.
So this is a mission, it's a career,
and what can we do to use private sector tools,
use technology, build stuff,
and try to give us a fighting chance
to hand a better future to that next generation?
And I truly believe AppHarvest is a part of that.