Aug 19, 2021

Shenandoah Growers honored with AgTech BreakThrough Award

Shenandoah Growers Inc. recently received an award, ‘Sunless Production System of the Year,’ in the 2021 AgTech Breakthrough Awards.

Founded in 1989, Shenandoah Growers is based in Rockingham, Virginia. Its products, including living organic herb plants, fresh-cut herbs, herb purees, lettuces and microgreens, are marketed under the “That’s Tasty” brand.

The USDA-certified organic farm operations use real soil with artificial light. Shenandoah Growers has developed and implemented a proprietary “bioponic” growing process that not only mimics nature but enhances it with carefully controlled light spectrum and exposure timing as well as temperatures, humidity and water regimen, according to the news release from the company.

“Our LED-powered indoor bioponic growing platform increases yields while reducing waste and environmental impact, enabling us to provide consumers with fresh, sustainable and affordable indoor-grown produce and leafy greens,” said Ulf Jönsson, Shenandoah Growers’ Chief Technology Officer.

Shenandoah Growers markets itself as the most commercially advanced indoor producer in the United States and the nation’s leading supplier of fresh herbs. It has focused its R&D efforts over the past 10-plus years on how to scale up organic indoor food production, according to the news release.

AgTech Breakthrough Awards honor excellence and recognize innovation in a range of agricultural and food technology categories, including internet-of-things, or IoT, and artificial intelligence (AI) based agricultural technologies, farm management, indoor farming, food quality, data analytics and many more. This year’s awards program attracted more than 1,500 nominations from all over the world.

“Plants rely on sunlight to feed and grow through photosynthesis, but with growing demand for fresh and affordable products and climate change is making it difficult for farmers around the world, we can no longer solely rely on business as usual food production techniques,” said Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director of AgTech Breakthrough Awards.

Above, farm operations at a Shenandoah Growers Inc. facility. Photo: Shenandoah Growers Inc.