Interesting read, thanks for posting. This will be not too far from us. I have been looking for work and have been noticing positions for this company popping up, and now I know why. Will have to do more research on this. I frequent Morehead often, so will have to keep a lookout for this.
I understand government grants for greenhouses have been available. A friend in Berea has appliedâŚwithout getting anywhere. (But, heâs not a farmerâŚretired form asbestos abatement).
I found this article on the local news site, I know exactly where this is. It says they hope to be up and running by next year. It was supposed to be built near Pikeville, but that didnât work out.
I guess thereâs a good side, subdood-ky-z6b, but obviously land could be obtained for a lot less than 10,000 an acreâŚso this is a taypayer subsidized operation in an âindudstrial parkâ I imagine. Probably with free water and electric via Morehead/Rowan âOccupational Taxâ subsidies.
Itâs a real shame little growers canât go the âco-opâ route and supply the veggies needed in big cities.
Vertical integration, where the Krogers of the world buy out and own dairies, egg farms, watermelon and tomato farms,âŚprobably contributes to their bottom line in a positive way, and good if one owns stock in these large grocers. But, where is the benefit to local fruit growers or farmers???
If Iâm rattling and the story is not what Iâm suggesting, somebody will set me straight I am sure 
Yeah, I guess itâs taxpayer subsidized. Rowan county and Morehead has had an income tax for a while, itâs a 1% county and a 1.5% city tax, if you work in Morehead. Not that that means anything here. Iâm sure theyâre getting a sweetheart deal to build here.
Speaking of local growers, my wife picked up some produce at the county farmerâs market this morning. She got some ripe tomatoes from a neighbor of ours, I guess they started quite early compared with us, ours are still mostly green, but getting there. Our plants are huge, some over 6ft. I actually need to stake up a few more of them, theyâre getting a bit out of hand.
I canât buy this PR bit from the top link:
" Because the facility is enclosed, it eliminates the need for pesticides. "
I havenât found that to be the case and doubt that they will.
The capital cost up front for an 82 acre greenhouse makes this a risky investment IMO.
If they have the marketâŚcontracts for sale of produce before they plant the seedsâŚ
then with all the subsidies to locate and to operate, they should make a double digit return on investment. This assumes several things thoughâŚincluding a knowledge of how to grow this way. Which I assume they have, if they âsoldâ their business plan to an industrial foundation in Morehead, KY.
Thought I would post an update on this greenhouse project in NE Kentucky not too far from here. Looks like they will be starting production within a few months and hiring soon. They will be growing mostly tomatoes and cucumbers. Very exciting news for this region.
I hope it turns out better than the âfooderyâ in Mt.VernonâŚâŚinstead of canning and packing local food in small quantitiesâŚ
itâs trying to get into CANNIBIS OIL âŚ.
which is wwhat they no doubt had their eye on to begin wwith.
But, the local, state and federal grants would not have been given if the stated purpose was CBD oil.
And itâs still not produced anything in two years to date.
What is the name of that place? Iâm not aware of it.
In the article, there was mention of this being the first of many such greenhouses in KY. That would really help those folks who have lost jobs, especially in the mining industry.
Me and the missus were over in that area a couple weeks ago, and we could see it, it is a huge facility. Itâs about 8 miles west of downtown Morehead.
Kentucky Microfoodery LLC
Richmond Street, Mt. Vernon KY
Google it, Bing it, Yahoo it, âŚ. you can get more details, promises, and delays.
Just an update. They did some hiring last fall, and are now in production in half of the facility growing hydroponic tomatoes. They are hiring for the other half now, Iâve applied for a few positions there, so hope it works out.
theyâre targeting 16lb/sqft/year (45 million pounds/year / 2.76 million square feet), which is just amazing. I was only looking at 2-4lb/sqft/year max for my greenhouse based on some estimates I saw. the trick seems to be grow lights 24/7? anything else?
Yeah, itâs pretty impressive, thatâs a lot of 'maters. My wifeâs coworkerâs husband works there, and she said that the tomatoes are beefsteak type, arenât as tasty as home grown, but better than store bought. I asked what variety, but she didnât know.
Hereâs a link to their website, very interesting. The facility is about 25 miles from our home. There are plans to build more of these greenhouses in other parts of this region.
Some info from the site-
The first and most effective in its class, our hybrid lighting system substantially increases how many tomatoes we can grow and doubles as a heat source during cooler months. We combine three invaluable sources of light â sunlight, efficient LEDs, and high-pressure sodium growing lights.
Our facilitiesâ roofs are composed of diffused glass to allow the maximum amount of sunlight to travel consistently across our tomatoes. At night or when the sun is obscured, we supplement with top-of-the-line LEDs, which are 40% more efficient than typical lighting. Each LED utilizes a passive cooling system, producing far less radiant heat and allowing our crop care specialists greater control of the indoor climate. The LEDs also better distribute their light due to optimized wide-beam optics.
Designed for growth, the LED system uses mixtures of blue and red light, which are essential to photosynthesis with red light inspiring flowering and blue stimulating growth. Our growing team develops lighting recipes to boost our harvests.
IMPACT: Harnessing sunlight and efficient LEDs allows for increased, sustainable crop growth year-round.
What do they do about bees?
From the site-
Tomatoes are flowering plants and only bloom for up to three days. Itâs a short window to ensure levels of pollination for maximum yields. We use 500 beehives, each holding up to 125 bees and their queen, to pollinate our more than 700,000 tomato plants.
The bees pollinate through whatâs called buzz pollination, a process in which the vibrations from their wings remove and collect pollen. That action fertilizes the flowers, prompting them to bear fruit.
Our technological systems constantly monitor the pollination across all 68 bays and 684 rows of plants.
I hope that comes together for you. That would be sweet indeed!
I think Berea KY (Near Berea College) is due to get the next big greenhouse in KY.
Must be money $$$$$