Indoor farm to create 92 jobs in Danville-Pittsylvania County

New Jersey-based AeroFarms is investing $42 million to construct a 150,000 indoor vertical farm in Cane Creek Centre, a joint industrial park for Danville and Pittsylvania County. The facility will create 92 jobs.

AeroFarms employs a proprietary growing technology to produce leafy greens through aeroponics, a process in which plants are grown outside soil on vertical towers and watered with a nutrient-infused mist.

Virginia successfully competed with North Carolina for the project.

“AeroFarms is a leader in agricultural innovation with farming technologies that make high-quality, local produce available to more communities,” Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement issued Wednesday. “We are bringing capital investment and economic opportunity to rural Virginia by recruiting innovative companies like AeroFarms. I thank the company for choosing Virginia for this important venture and commend Danville [and] Pittsylvania County for helping to secure this project.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Pittsylvania County, Danville and the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance to land the AeroFarms project. Northam approved a $200,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund and a $200,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development (AFID) Fund to assist with the project. The Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission will also contribute a $190,000 grant towards the project from the Tobacco Regional Opportunity Fund.

AeroFarms also qualifies for state benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program through the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. VEDP will also provide funding and services to support AeroFarms’ workforce recruitment efforts via its Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP).