Bowery is the largest vertical farming company in the United States, leveraging advances in technology. [+] It uses robotics and AI to vertically cultivate, grow and harvest crops inside warehouses.
Bowery
Consumers are facing one of the most significant climate impacts on the environment: the food we eat. More frequent extreme weather events are disrupting agricultural production. Crop yields are more susceptible to heat stress, drought, floods and pests, leading to reduced yields and food shortages, ultimately affecting the entire supply chain.
With food security becoming increasingly uncertain, one solution is vertical farming: Advances in technology, robotics and AI have made it possible to grow, cultivate and harvest crops vertically within warehouses.
I recently spoke with Irving Fain, founder and CEO of Bowery, the largest vertical farming company in the U.S., about his journey into vertical farming and the innovative strategies the company is employing to address food security challenges. Below are edited excerpts from our conversation. Irving shares his insights on Bowery's mission, the benefits of vertical farming, and the future of agriculture.
Christopher Marquis: Let's start from the beginning: What inspired you to found Bowery and pursue vertical farming in general?
Irving Fein, founder and CEO of the Bowery
Bowery
Irving Fein: I come from a family of entrepreneurs. From an early age, I saw the excitement of making and creating things and felt a strong connection to that path. From the age of 8, I was constantly working on side hustles and starting companies, some successful, some not. After grad school, I started my career in investment banking and raising capital for late-stage companies (the type of companies I ultimately wanted to start). I wanted to build something that addressed complex societal challenges, but I wasn't sure exactly what that “something” was until I founded Bowery.
I first saw the power of digital transformation while at Clear Channel, where I was part of a small team helping a traditional radio company move into the digital age. There, my team and I encouraged the company to embrace the move to mobile with the release of the iHeartRadio app, a product I helped build and run. From there, I founded my first company, CrowdTwist, a loyalty and analytics SaaS provider for big brands like PepsiCo and Nestle. Nothing beats actually starting and running a company. I never would have been able to build Bowery without this experience. Luckily, we were able to sell the company to Oracle, which turned out great for everyone.
Before founding Bowery, when I was thinking about what to do next, I started looking at some of the most pressing and challenging issues facing the world today. I spent time on waste, recycling, and plastics, and of course, the world of agriculture immediately caught my interest. Agriculture is probably the oldest and largest industry in the world, but compared to other industries, there has been less focus on digitalization. Transforming agriculture and food systems to meet the new climate realities we face today (and will face tomorrow) felt like an urgent task. The more time I spent on this broad field, the more excited I became. When I started looking at the broader agricultural system, I was especially interested in how to restructure the fresh food supply chain to be more sustainable and efficient. In addition to the climate issue, over the next 30 years, 70-80% of the world's population will live in and around cities. We need to rethink how our supply chains work, especially for fresh foods. Vertical farming and the broader Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry are exciting steps in this direction.
Marquis: How is vertical farming a sustainable alternative to traditional agriculture?
Fain: For the past 10,000 years, agriculture has focused on solving variables outside of human control, like rain and weather. We're flipping that equation on its head. By growing crops vertically stacked under lighting that mimics the solar spectrum in commercial-scale indoor farms, we can control variables like climate. Because our produce is grown regardless of weather or season, our smart farm environment is over 140 times more productive than traditional agriculture and provides a proven alternative to field agriculture to grow food efficiently and reliably.
A key proposition for Bowery Farms is water use. Currently, 70% of the world's freshwater is used for agriculture. This figure is three times higher than 50 years ago and is growing rapidly due to soaring demand from a growing population. We use 95% less water than traditional agriculture, and our network of farms continues to reduce water use through successful water efficiency and recirculation strategies.
And since 2021, all farms have become more than 40% more energy efficient, and our entire network runs on 100% renewable energy. Our work is never done: we're constantly improving our technology and reporting new sustainability gains every year.
Marquis: Now that we have vertical farming and other technologies that allow us to grow food more sustainably, why do you think this approach hasn't been adopted more widely in our current food system?
Fain: Agriculture is in the midst of a quiet technological revolution. Traditional farmers are taking a step back from vertical farming and turning to robotics and automation, while machine learning and artificial intelligence are now being used to monitor soil, control pests, and improve overall yields. Drones, sensors, and satellite imaging systems are all helping farms manage their crops more efficiently, with more information and knowledge than ever before.
Technological advances in vertical farms and traditional agriculture can and should coexist. There are efforts underway across the country to integrate these and other advances to rethink how we grow, what we grow, and how we transport it. This is about a portfolio of solutions, not a single technology or approach.
Inputs like good seeds, light, water, and nutrients are important to grow successful crops on the farm. The same is true for widespread adoption of new food paradigms. Growth requires the right inputs: good ideas, upfront investment, and a commitment from government at all levels to make the business successful. For cutting-edge industries to thrive and impact the nation and the world, national investments in research and development, infrastructure, appropriate tax incentives, workforce training, and manufacturing are essential. But existing federal programs are poorly suited to support the adoption of innovative agricultural technologies, whether indoors or outdoors. The federal government has a critical role to play as a catalyst for innovation.
Technology can be used to reshape fresh produce supply chains, and CEA’s wide-ranging work demonstrates this potential every day.
Marquis: Is there a difference in quality or taste of produce produced using vertical farming methods?
Fain: That's right. Vertical farming allows us to control and guarantee the quality and yield of our products. At Bowery, we select seeds for quality and taste, not yield or long distance shipping. Most produce in the U.S. travels an average of six days and 1,500 to 2,000 miles before it hits our shelves, becoming contaminated with chemicals and losing flavor and freshness. Nutritional value also declines; up to 45% of the nutritional value of produce is lost during shipping.
Because we can build our farms anywhere (close to cities we serve year-round), our pesticide-free produce can be picked at its freshest and delivered to stores within a day or two. This sets a new standard for quality, taste and flavor that is unmatched by traditional agriculture. Our proprietary supply chain management system, BoweryOS, also allows us to collect real-time data on our crops to understand the environmental conditions each crop needs to thrive and optimize the traits that matter most to our customers and consumers. Our produce is the purest expression of our seed – pesticide-free, reliable, consistent and always fresh.
Marquis: Both the food and technology industries are difficult industries. How do you address market challenges and what are your thoughts on innovation?
Fain: I don't think it's easy to be an entrepreneur or a leader in any industry, but solving hard problems is always a worthwhile goal, especially when something like our food and agriculture system is under threat.
I believe it's important to be agile to meet market challenges. Both companies and markets evolve over time. What's right at one moment or stage may not be right at another. I strongly believe in continuous evaluation to adapt both products and processes to ensure growth.
Innovation is inherent in the change and evolution of any system. The key is to innovate and reevaluate products, technologies, and to some extent the strategy at hand, while maintaining a balance of focus and intent. Innovation has always been at the core of Bowery, but we also have a healthy respect and appreciation for the industry in which we operate and the existing knowledge and practices. It would be a mistake to think that there is nothing to learn from the past.
Overall, Bowery is reimagining the entire fresh food supply chain to make it simpler, shorter, safer, and more certain of supply. Traditional agricultural models and food supply chains involve many middlemen and numerous steps before products reach the consumer, requiring significant resources, time and distance, and generating a lot of waste along the way. Bowery offers a streamlined alternative.
Whether it's farm automation or BoweryOS, which manages, monitors, and maintains the entire operation, we are using technology to think about not only growing, but downstream processing in new ways. This allows us to not only grow anywhere, but grow produce much closer to its final destination. Bowery has brought a complex supply chain under one roof, delivering fresh produce faster, more efficiently, and with far less waste. Greater efficiency and a dramatic reduction in food miles have resulted in certainty of supply and a more sustainable, resilient supply chain. This is more important than ever as climate change continues to expose the vulnerabilities of our fragile food system.
