“Building the business is becoming easier with every farm that we open. We brought farms online in Atlanta and Houston towards the end of last year, and are soon going live in Seattle and Minnesota,” says Henner Schwarz, Kalera’s CCO.
After closing out 2021 with the acquisition of vertical farming company &ever and the opening of farms in Atlanta and Houston, Kalera is positioning itself to bring even more farms online in 2022 and beyond.
“By the end of 2021, we had three farms in the US and one in Kuwait. By the end of 2022, we’ll have nine farms in total by adding two farms in the US and one in Singapore,” says Henner. “By the end of 2023, we’ll have 16 farms. Then 26 farms by 2024, 38 farms by 2025 and 47 farms by 2026.”
Rebranding and enhanced sustainability ahead
In addition to its expansion plans, Kalera is planning a brand relaunch to reintroduce itself to the market as much has changed since the company was established. This initiative will also include the introduction of additional sustainable technologies such as new approaches to packaging.
“In Germany, we’re using packaging materials that are fully biodegradable and starch-based. We need to convince retailers that it is time to work with these technologies,” says Henner.
New regions breed new varietal possibilities
As Henner explains, expanding into new regions pushes Kalera to expand its product portfolio to meet the local demands. With its impending opening in Singapore, the company is looking to include stronger tasting varieties into its production such as mustard mixes, arugula and Asian greens. Kalera has been trialing numerous varieties to ensure that all newly built farms can hit the ground running.
Overall, Kalera is planning to move beyond leafy greens to include baby leaf, cut leaf and strawberries. Technology will play an increasingly important role for Kalera, which comes naturally following the acquisition of &ever in 2021.
“Kalera is all about providing a clean and affordable product by being very efficient in our processes and using optimized seeds to have optimized vertical farming. We are really optimizing for taste, while also seeing a 15-25% increase in yield,” explains Henner.
For more information:
Megan McCarl, Media contact
mmccarl@lambert.com
Kalera
www.kalera.com