"In May 2023, a Bowery farm was hit by a pathogen: phytophthora, or plant-damaging microorganisms, which wiped out huge amounts of Bowery's produce and spread to its other facility, according to multiple former employees," Pitchbook states.
As the publishers continues, the collapse of Bowery Farming, a once high-flying vertical farming startup, was so sudden that trucks were still arriving at Bowery's indoor farm facility in Bethlehem, Pa., to pick up produce after its nutrient and irrigation systems had been switched off for good.
Bowery invested heavily in modifying systems to isolate the phytophthora, by building separate irrigation systems in individual grow towers. But even then, "we couldn't get a handle on it," said one Bowery farmer. The company was unable to sell any of the produce that had been exposed to the phytophthora.
Read the article on Pitchbook