Bowery Farming recently opened its largest, most technologically advanced, and sustainable commercial smart farm in Bethlehem.
The company — the largest vertical farming company in the United States — transformed a former Bethlehem brownfield from an industrial site into modern farmland. The new Bethlehem Farm, which features technological advancements and sustainability initiatives, is the key to accelerating the 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.
“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,” Bowery Farming Founder and CEO Irving Fain said. “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 percent renewable energy. It features a water recapture and filtration system built to harness even the water that is transpired from the plants. Also, 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 grow more food smarter. These practices will be applied across Bowery’s network of farms in the future.
Further, the 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 Amazon Fresh. In addition, working with local distributors, including Four Seasons Produce, Bowery produce will be available to specialty and independent grocery partners throughout the region.
“In addition to bringing at least 70 jobs to Bethlehem, Bowery Farming is innovating to feed the future and fight food insecurity. This project is a win for agriculture and a win for Pennsylvanians,” Gov. Tom Wolf said. “I’m proud to have invested in Bowery to help them set roots in the commonwealth and grow a sustainable, food-secure future for us all.”
This farm will create more than 70 full-time, year-round green jobs with no prior farming or agricultural experience required. Bowery also has a partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania. The company will donate fresh produce to address food access and insecurity within the community.
In addition, Bowery has partnered with the state as part of a larger redevelopment project at the site of the flagship plant of the former Bethlehem Steel Corp.