Deal with Dutch could mean more agriculture jobs to boost Eastern Kentucky economy
A deal announced Wednesday could mean more agriculture jobs in Eastern Kentucky as the region tries to rebuild its economy after the collapse of coal jobs.
AppHarvest, which is building a massive greenhouse near Morehead, announced an agreement with more than a dozen partners to attempt to create a foundation of high-tech agriculture businesses in Appalachia.
The plan envisions starting agriculture research programs, creating a center of excellence and building more companies similar to the 2.76-million square foot greenhouse AppHarvest plans to open this fall.
The Dutch government would put a trade office in Kentucky to boost Dutch investment in the state as part of the plan. The Netherlands is a leader in indoor agricultural production, making it the second-largest exporter of agricultural products behind the U.S. despite its tiny land area.
The technology AppHarvest will use was developed in the Netherlands.
“This long-term partnership will add jobs and create a new signature industry for our Appalachian region,” AppHarvest founder Jonathan Webb said in a news release.
Along with AppHarvest and the state of Kentucky, the partners in the idea include the Dutch government, several Dutch companies and the University of Kentucky, Morehead State University, Eastern Kentucky University, the University of Pikeville and Berea College, according to the news release.
“In Kentucky, we’re going to reopen and rebuild our economy even stronger than it was before COVID-19,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in the release.
Webb, Beshear, Dutch government officials and representatives of Kentucky schools and companies in the Netherlands took part in a video announcement of the agreement Wednesday on Zoom.
Webb and others said the goal is nothing short of creating a new agricultural economy in Eastern Kentucky and Appalachia based on food production in controlled indoor environments.
Webb said much of the food grown in the U.S. now comes from places where water is scarce, or spends days being trucked from California or Mexico.
Kentucky, with abundant rainfall and within a day’s drive of much of the U.S. population, has opportunities to become a key food supplier to the East Coast, Webb said.
Backed by Dutch expertise in sustainable indoor production, Kentucky can develop an “ecosystem” that will create jobs in agriculture, manufacturing and other sectors, Webb said.
Webb said Mexico ships four billion pounds of tomatoes to the U.S. annually. Appharvest aims to displace a chunk of that.
Beshear said the “agri-tech” field melds the state’s tradition of farming with innovative technology. That will be necessary to produce enough food as the world’s climate changes and the population increases, he said.
There is an opportunity to create 30,000 jobs and a $10 billion U.S. market in the field, Beshear said.
“I want nine and a half of that in Kentucky,” he said. “This is a chance to grow a whole new economy.”
The governor signed an order Wednesday creating a task force to boost the agri-tech sector and said the state will use an array of incentives to help businesses.
AppHarvest, which projects it will have 285 employees, started construction last year on a 60-acre, steel-and-glass greenhouse near Morehead. It will be among the largest controlled indoor agriculture facilities in the world.
The greenhouse is designed to use efficient lighting and recycled rainwater to produce far more food with fewer resources than traditional outdoor farming, and with no pesticides.
The plan is for the Morehead facility to produce 45 million pounds of tomatoes annually to distribute to East Coast grocers. It is projected to have produce on the shelf by the end of the year.
Webb first planned to build the greenhouse in Pikeville on an industrial site atop a reclaimed surface coal mine, but ultimately said the ground wasn’t stable enough for a building made of glass.
Leaders in Eastern Kentucky have lauded the project as a way to help diversify and boost the regional economy, which has been hit hard by a downturn in coal jobs.
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 10:38 AM.
