Bowery Farming opened its largest, most technologically advanced and sustainable commercial smart farm in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Transforming a former Bethlehem brownfield from a non-arable industrial site into modern farmland, the company's newest commercial farm lays the groundwork for the next chapter in climate-smart agriculture.
The Bethlehem Farm features industry-leading technological advancements and pioneering sustainability initiatives and is the key to accelerating expansion of the company's network of farms across the U.S. With this blueprint, Bowery has created a replicable system to grow food wherever and whenever it is needed. It was built on the site of the former Bethlehem Steel Corporation.
"If we've learned anything from the past two years it is that we are in a period of unprecedented disruption and uncertainty across our climate and geopolitical circumstances, which unfortunately is going to persist. We are also seeing firsthand that our global food system is inextricably tied to these dynamics," said Irving Fain, founder and CEO, Bowery Farming. "At Bowery, wherever food is needed, we can grow it. We are addressing the challenges in our system by growing food smarter for more people in more places - and that work, securing food for our future, continues today with the opening of our Bethlehem Farm."
Bowery's Bethlehem Farm is powered with 100% renewable energy and features 15% more efficient LED lighting. A state-of-the-art water recapture and filtration system has been custom-built to harness even the water that is transpired from the plants, and ensure the highest-quality food safety standards. The BoweryOS, combined with proprietary farm design, custom hardware, AI, data and robotics, has increased the speed of farm operations and processing allowing the company to continue to grow more food smarter. Critically, these learnings will be applied across Bowery's network of farms in the future.
Bowery's Bethlehem Farm will bring fresh produce to a population of 50 million people within a 200-mile radius of the farm via regional retail customers including Whole Foods Market, Giant of Landover and Albertsons Companies' stores, as well as e-commerce partners like Amazon Fresh. Working with local distributors, including Four Seasons Produce, Bowery produce will be available to specialty and independent grocery partners throughout the region, like local grocer Gerrity's in Bethlehem.
Now serving more than 1,000 grocery stores, Bowery is on track to double its number of farms by 2023, and to continue the diversification of its pesticide-free produce portfolio, unlocking new possibilities in food. Two additional farms in the Atlanta, Georgia, and Dallas, Texas, metropolitan regions are currently under construction to meet increasing demand.
About Bowery
Founded in 2015, Bowery Farming is on a mission to democratize access to high-quality, local, safe, and sustainable produce. Bowery builds smart indoor farms near cities, growing fresher, pesticide-free Protected Produce with bold flavor in precisely controlled environments, 365 days a year. At the heart of the farm is the proprietary BoweryOS, which integrates software, hardware, sensors, AI, computer vision systems, machine learning models, and robotics to orchestrate and automate the entirety of its operations. As a result, each farm creates far less waste and uses a fraction of the water and land compared to traditional agriculture.
Based in New York City, Bowery is the largest vertical farming company in the United States, serving major e-commerce platforms and more than 1,000 grocery stores in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, including Albertsons Companies (Safeway and Acme), Amazon Fresh, Giant Food, Walmart, Wakefern, Weis, Whole Food Markets, and specialty grocers, with produce that's harvested year-round at peak freshness, delivered within days of harvest.
