Rebekka Boekhout

"If you want to understand why so many indoor farms fail, look at who is running them.

"If you want to understand why so many indoor farms fail, look at who is running them. Most of the time, there are no growers with genuine agricultural experience in the field; instead,…

After a short drive through the picturesque Southern countryside, where Witch's Hair trees hang over swamps and dark ponds, a cluster of sixteen

After a short drive through the picturesque Southern countryside, where Witch's Hair trees hang over swamps and dark ponds, a cluster of sixteen AmplifiedAg container farms suddenly appears…

"With rising food prices and controversy surrounding major retail chains, people are really looking for ways to grow locally. On a community level, there is more interest than ever from schools, municipalities and Indigenous communities for local food solutions," says Alida Burke, co-founder and Chief Financial Officer at Growcer, the Ottawa-based container farming company established ten years ago.

"Technology might be what powers the farm, but it is the consumer who ultimately decides whether it works. You can grow the best product in the world, but if people don't understand it, they won't buy it. That's why education has been just as important as production for us," says Kim Després, Senior Customer Marketing Manager at GoodLeaf Farms. The Canadian vertical farm is 20 minutes away from Quebec's largest city, Montreal.

"Technology might be what powers the farm, but it is the consumer who ultimately decides whether it works. You can grow the best product in the world, but if people don't understand it, they…

After eight years of farming, roughly $12 million in capital raised, and years spent building commercial demand for vertically farmed produce in Chile, AgroUrbana has temporarily paused production. As founders Cristían Sjogren and Pablo Bunster describe it, 'the plane ran out of gas'. Having parked the plane, the founders hope to refuel to continue the journey without risking a sudden crash.

"While there is a lot of competition in the market, most conventional farms are only providing products between October and March, then are quiet during the summer.

"Scaling a vertical farm is not the hardest part anymore. Replicating stable operations without depending on highly experienced growers is where the real challenge begins.