Plenty United is growing vegetables ‘for people, not trucks’; products’ marketability remains a question mark
Plenty United co-founder Matt Barnard says the company can vastly outproduce an outdoor farm on a per-square-foot basis for lettuce.PHOTO: PLENTY
By JACOB BUNGE and ELIOT BROWN
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—In a renovated warehouse by San Francisco Bay, plastic towers sprouting heads of lettuce, arugula, and herbs rise 20 feet to the ceiling, illuminated by multicolored LED lights that give the room a futuristic feel.
A group of tech entrepreneurs and investors including billionaires Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt are betting this facility, 100 miles north of California’s “salad bowl” produce-farming epicenter, can redefine how vegetables and fruits are grown for local consumption.
If all goes to plan, the 51,000-square-foot warehouse run by startup Plenty United Inc. will yield as much as 3 million pounds of leafy greens each year. In the coming months, the company plans to begin marketing produce bred for local tables rather than shipping durability.
“We’re growing for people, not trucks,” said Plenty co-founder and Chief Executive Matt Barnard, the 44-year-old son of a Wisconsin cherry and apple farmer whose background is in tech and investing.
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