Veronica Garabelli// October 13, 2017//
Sterling-based Kappa Farms announced an $865,000 expansion on Friday that’s expected to create 21 jobs.
The company will build an aquaponics facility, which will produce organic lettuces and arugula using water and nutrients derived from fish waste.
Kappa Farms plans to produce more than $7 million Virginia-grown lettuces during the next three years, which it will then sell to customers in the Washington, D.C., area.
“We’re very privileged to have been born and raised in Virginia, and we’re very happy to be able to help bring this new industry to Virginia, in no small part thanks to Governor McAuliffe and Loudoun County,” Kappa Farms’ co-founder, Schuyler Milton, said in a statement.
According to Kappa Farms’ website, the company was founded in 2014.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services worked with Loudoun County and Chrysalis Vineyards to secure this project for Virginia. McAuliffe approved a $40,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, which Loudoun is matching with local funds.