A post submitted by CGI member Leathur.

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In spite of this "feel good" story, I was suspicious because nowhere on their website or product does it say it's either Organic or Non-GMO. Their packaged goods are being sold in Whole Foods.

One of the "nice" things about suspicious produce is that it always comes with a label or packaging of some sort. Like Apeel. These companies need to promote themselves because it's big business for them. Hence the labels and packaging. Very easy to spot this crap which makes it even easier to avoid.

Also, all this labeling and packaging costs $$$ which is passed on to the unsuspecting consumer. It's not "affordable".

Note: Same with a plant-based, meat alternative going by the name of Meati. Not organic and not Non-GMO.

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New Indoor Farm in Downtown Compton Grows 4.5 Million Pounds of Affordable Greens in One Year

Capable of growing 4.5 million pounds of leafy green vegetables per year, a new indoor vertical farm is getting its ribbon cut in the city of Compton.

Built and managed by the firm Plenty, one of the US’ leading indoor farming companies, it aims to be a nourishing flood for food deserts.

Indoor farms use ultraviolet light arrays to mimic the sun, and hydroponic growing apparatus stacked on vertical towers. Hydroponics use liquid fertilizer and mist to grow crops without soil. The number of fruits and vegetables capable of being grown this way is limited, but can be done in the middle of a city, and with other advantages such as an absence of pests.

“Plenty is an indoor growing company [company - not farm] so we grow plants inside without the sun in controlled environments,” said Plenty CEO Arama Kukutai. “We are producing leafy greens and we also produce tomatoes, in the future, we’ll be producing strawberries and other fruit and produce.”

Plenty also say their Compton location is the West Coast’s only commercial-scale vertical farm, and one of the most advanced in the world.

To wit, robots do a lot of the work inside, carting around trays of lettuce, kale, and spinach, and moving the towers around the facility. Other than the robots, many of the other employees come from Compton itself.

“They were very committed to making sure that the people that they hired actually came from the city, came from this community, and this is what they’ve done,” said Compton Mayor Emma Sharif. “They’ve kept the community and to the city and 30% of the people that are hired comes from the community.”

The products [not produce - not even "items"] grown there are available now in Compton’s stores like Whole Foods Market, Walmart, and Bristol Farms.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/new-indoor-farm-in-downtown-compton-grows-4-5-million-pounds-of-affordable-greens-in-one-year/