Living Greens Farm (LGF), one of the largest indoor vertical aeroponic farms in the U.S., announced it is expanding its Midwest operations with the addition of a new innovative indoor facility in Muncie, Indiana, for growing and processing a variety of better tasting leafy green product offerings. The new 200,000 square foot facility requires 95% less water and 99% less land than traditional farms and will produce the equivalent of two million acres of farmland. It is expected to be open in early 2023.

The building will be turned into a state-of-the-art, vertical, aeroponic farm ultimately employing approximately 120 people. It will feature automation that helps growers fully realize the inherent natural potential of the crops grown there, while seeding, transplanting, harvesting, processing, and packaging these crops in an efficient, high-speed manner.

Once the new indoor farm is fully constructed, it will have the capacity to grow and harvest five million pounds of leafy greens each year without the use of pesticides. Additionally, the advanced farming system can produce these nutrient-rich greens using significantly less water than traditional farming methods, saving 103 million gallons per year.

The greens will be packaged into ready-to-eat bagged greens and salad kits. The Muncie facility will provide the greens, from harvest to shelf within 24 hours, to markets as far east as Pittsburgh, north as Detroit, Milwaukee, Kansas City and the Twin Cities, and south to Nashville and Charlotte, and all markets in between.

"The Muncie facility is in an ideal location to take a significant step in our national geographical expansion," said George Pastrana, CEO of LGF.  "It will help us to better supply our current retail partners, such as Walmart, Whole Foods, HyVee, UNFI, and others, as well as allow expansion into additional leading retail and wholesale customers across the Midwest and Midsouth."

Vertical indoor farming is a growing, but young, industry with indoor production of leafy greens still only approximately 5% of total production in the United States.

"I wish to thank the people of Muncie and Delaware County for the work they put into making this new farm a reality," added Pastrana.  "As we are from a rural town in Minnesota, we quickly came to a mutual realization that Muncie is an environment that will work very well for us."