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Unfold to provide vertical farming genetics & resources

A new start up venture is focusing on vertical farming genetics and agronomic support for farmers.

Unfold, with $30 million in seed money from Leaps by Bayer and the Singapore-based investment firm Temasek, plans to develop vegetable varieties suitable for vertical farming starting with leafy greens.

CEO John Purcell, former R and D vegetable lead with Bayer Crop Science, tells Brownfield the company also has gained rights to some of Bayer’s vegetable portfolio.

“For the industry to really grow, we’re going to have to expand into other crops.  The first crops we will be working on are lettuce and spinach in the leafy categories but then tomato, pepper, and cucumber.”  

He says a major advantage to vertical farming when compared to greenhouses is the ability to control lighting.

“It is complete controlled environment agriculture, you’re not only controlling the temperature, the humidity, you’re also controlling the light—the wavelength, the intensity.”

Purcell says vertical farming is becoming more popular in urban areas, to shorten supply chains, and in countries that want to increase domestic production but are limited by land or the environment.