Have you ever come across fruits and vegetables that look so delicious and you purchase them, but end up realizing that the looks were far from the taste and quality? Well, you’re not alone. Adulterated, genetically modified, pesticide foods that are grown in dirty and unclean soil and environments tend to lose their taste and quality. They are then injected with chemicals to increase their physical appearances to fool customers into making the purchase. Unclean food or food that is grown in dirty and unhygienic environments can be quite detrimental to the health of its consumers. Therefore a safer approach is sustainable food production and consumption, and organic farming which is healthier, preserves the environment, reduces pollution, is free from adulterants and pesticides, and reduces excess water usage. 

Clean food solutions that are followed consistently aid in improving overall health, preserving and conserving the ecosystem and biodiversity, reducing the use of excess water, reducing the endangerment and extinction of species, efficiently improving the use of natural and renewable resources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing adverse climatic changes and global warming. The practices in sustainable agriculture by our farmers, agronomists, scientists, and start-up businesses play an enormous role in fostering and establishing urban farming innovations. One such example is Indoor Vertical Farming.

Indoor Vertical Farming Solutions are farming solutions that grow and cultivate crops and diverse food products in a specifically interior-controlled microclimate space that is vertically stacked one upon the other. Wherein this practice is also referred to as – CEA (Controlled-Environment Agriculture), these solutions are a modern and sustainable way of growing and cultivating food ingredients and products alongside advanced technological tools and resources. This reduces the extent of environmental pollution and damage and improves the quality and yield of the crops grown and harvested. Through indoor vertical farming, the food crops are grown in spaces with controllable settings and features such as temperature, lighting, water, and more, in an optimized, clean, and safe environment. 

Therefore in this article, we will be covering the entrepreneurial and inspiring idea and passion for sustainably growing and living by co-founder Matt Barnard’s Indoor Vertical Farming company – Plenty, which is on a mission to – “bring the freshest, cleanest, most crave-able produce to people everywhere”. 

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Matt Barnard – Co-Founder and CEO:

The Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Plenty is Matt Barnard. With a driving passion to work towards building and connecting with the world through innovative, creative, and agricultural sustainability initiatives, Matt aimed to – “bring healthy food to the world while protecting the environment”. The co-founder has a formal education of a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at Northwestern University and a Master of Science Degree in Management at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Matt started his career back in 1995 and has since then worked in many diverse roles and positions that have gained his skill, experience, knowledge, and awareness about the people and the world. 

As Nate Story – Co-founder and Chief Science Officer at Plenty says – “I felt that technology could help feed a lot of people, extend lives, fight environmental destabilization, and give the land back to the natural landscape”.

“Plenty believes that food justice is social justice.” – Plenty. 

Matt Barnard, Nate Story, and two other co-founders got together with the same passion to drive change, transform, reimagine, and redefine cleaner and safer futures, that integrate technology and science by a highly qualified team of growers, engineers, artists, foodies, plant scientists, and agronomists. This is how their Indoor Vertical Farming solutions company came to life. 

PLENTY:

Co-founders – Matt Barnard, Nate Story, Jack Oslan, and Nate Mazonson, together founded – Plenty, a food and beverage company on a mission to feed the world in a sustainable way and approach. The company encourages its workforce and team to inculcate core values of – Finding a Way, Being Down to Earth, and Growing Together. Although founded in the year 2013, Plenty was launched in the year 2014 in the South of San Francisco, USA, establishing and implementing the future of agriculture.

At Plenty, we’re reimagining what a farm can be.”

Plenty is a company that grows and harvests its food products indoors in vertical farming agriculture, cultivation, and sustainable strategies. Matt Barnard – the CEO of Plenty, built the company alongside his co-founding partners with the vision to grow and deliver pesticide-free, GMO-free, organic, fresh, hand-picked food ingredients that provide all the nutrients and minerals that an individual may need from that particular food product. The use of advanced technological tools and resources cut down the physical need for a labor workforce, enhancing and speeding up operations seamlessly. Crispy Lettuce, Baby Kale, Baby Arugula, and Spring Mix are the current ingredients in business. In this year 2024, Plenty is soon to release its fresh and farm-growing Strawberries year-round in Virginia, USA, and is working towards adding more food ingredients to its list.

The vision and mission behind Plenty’s indoor vertical farming was to address the challenges brought about by a series of events that have been taking place all over the world. Overpopulation gives rise to a rapid decrease in the availability of cultivable land space, decreasing the quantity and quality of the food grown. This threatens the availability of food for the people and therefore Plenty acts as a solution and a place where people can trust that the food that they consume comes from, is safe, consistent, and healthy. Less land area used, reduced water usage, and healthy food grown are the number one priority to happy smiles and healthy lives.