Zeste Farms has developed its indoor vertical farm production system to be easy to operate and simple to repair. In April 2020 when Stan Kaplita started Zeste Farms, an indoor vertical farm in Paso Robles, California, the coronavirus pandemic was well established in the United States.
"There was a lot of discussion of whether we should go forward with the business or not," Kaplita said. "We had raised quite a bit of start-up money, so we made the decision to move forward given it was a prototype and we saw ongoing investment in this sector. We knew it was going to take time to procure all the equipment required to operate the facility. But we figured the pandemic would be over in a few months and we would be fine.
"We started the company because we felt there was an opportunity that was being missed by other indoor vertical farms. I was new to the industry but was very attracted to the potential of sustainable farming and eliminating the 'green premium'." Prior to starting Zeste Farms, Kaplita was general manager at Plenty's former indoor vertical farm in Kent, Washington.
"When I joined Plenty, I was involved with building the Washington farm," he said. "I was hired to be the general manager of the Washington location. I hired the employees, oversaw the build-out, and got the operation up and running. In the middle of doing that, the company changed directions in terms of its production system design. The company was re-strategizing, making the decision to close its Washington location and to focus on the Los Angeles market."
Read the entire article at Urban AgNews