AeroFarms dedicates Newark, New Jersey farm exclusively to R&D to focus on next-generation crops

Vertical farming specialist, AeroFarms, has revealed that its commercial farm in Newark, New Jersey, will be dedicated exclusively to R&D operations to leverage its proprietary growing technology and help solve a wider array of agriculture challenges. Combined with another R&D and Engineering Prototyping facility in Newark, AeroFarms will now have over 100,000ft2 of dedicated R&D space to advance projects on next-generation crops and indoor vertical farming solutions. With this development, AeroFarms will transfer its New Jersey commercial production over the coming months to its state-of-the art commercial farm in Danville, Virginia, which is expanding rapidly to meet increased consumer demand with the number one brand nationwide at retail for microgreens.

“AeroFarms is known for its plant science and R&D expertise, and we are fielding so many opportunities to work on future crops to expand our offerings for customers,” said David Rosenberg, AeroFarms Co-Founder & CEO. “The dedicated focus to R&D for our farms in our global headquarters campus in Newark builds on the great momentum of our recent grand opening of our cutting-edge R&D indoor vertical farm AgX in Abu Dhabi, UAE, which garnered over a half billion media impressions and increased demand from interested partners.

“Our Newark commercial farm team has been instrumental in helping establish our leading brand and product offering, and we are deeply appreciative of their contributions," Rosenberg added. "We are very mindful about finding potential new roles within AeroFarms as well as future career placement services for our impacted workforce as we make this transition.”

Through its team and expertise, AeroFarms has a long history of both public and private R&D partnerships to help drive the broader agriculture industry forward. Today, AeroFarms works closely with the USDA, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, Hortifrut, Cargill, AB InBev, Nokia Bell Labs, Silal Foods, and others, working on longer-term solutions for their respective challenges in agriculture.

In Danville, Virginia, AeroFarms continues to scale its commercial growing from the world’s largest aeroponic smart indoor vertical farm, servicing growing customer demand from key partners like Ahold Delhaize, Amazon Fresh, Compass Group, FreshDirect, Harris Teeter, HMart, Marcus BP, Momofuku Noodle Bars, ShopRite, The Fresh Market, Walmart, Weee!, and Whole Foods Market.