Public-Private Partnership for Indoor Agriculture

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

New York-based Gotham Greens recently announced their first California facility to grow produce in greenhouses. The 10 year old company owns and operates one of the largest networks of hydroponic greenhouses in North America. Co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri says the new facility in Davis will be a public-private collaboration.

Puri… “We are very excited to be partnering with the University of California, Davis. And I think it's a great example of a public-private partnership focused on indoor growing. And as I'm sure your audience knows, UC Davis is one of the leading agricultural research centers in the world. And this location of this greenhouse uniquely enables us to partner with them and collaborate on research and innovation, workforce development, and just really trying to advance the science of indoor agriculture globally.”

Gotham Greens isn’t a vertical farming company, but they do use the latest in technology to efficiently grow produce in greenhouses year round.

Puri… “So it is a very efficient form of farming that uses very little water and very little land, and allows us to use a fraction of the chemical inputs compared to conventional farming. So it has a lot of principles that are similar to sort of vertical farming, but it's a little bit more commercially robust and a little bit more commercially proven.”

The company will be selling mostly leafy greens and herbs to retailers and food service in the area.