Awards and Industry Leadership

Award-Winning Technology + Products

We are the leader for indoor vertical farming with over 75+ awards for our breakthrough technology, commitment to people and planet, achievement of our world-class team, and amazing greens winning on flavor with top chefs and home cooks alike.
our awards, AeroFarms
our awards, AeroFarms

Leading In Flavor and Nutrition: AeroFarms Micro Broccoli Makes Prestigious Progressive Grocer’s “2022 Editors’ Picks” List

AeroFarms Micro Broccoli is the Only Produce Item to Win “Best New Product” by Progressive Grocer – Bringing Microgreens to The Center of the Plate with …

Leading In Flavor and Nutrition: AeroFarms Micro Broccoli Makes Prestigious Progressive Grocer’s “2022 Editors’ Picks” List Read More

our awards, AeroFarms

AeroFarms Named Vertical Farming Company of the Year by AgTech Breakthrough

AeroFarms has been named Vertical Farming Company of the Year in the 2022 AgTech Breakthrough Awards! These awards recognize the best agricultural and food technology …

AeroFarms Named Vertical Farming Company of the Year by AgTech Breakthrough Read More

our awards, AeroFarms

AeroFarms is Honored to be a 2022 Eco Innovation Award Winner

The Real Leaders Eco Innovation Awards honors the companies applying innovative environmental solutions for the greater good. It’s an annual global ranking of companies that …

AeroFarms is Honored to be a 2022 Eco Innovation Award Winner Read More

Industry Leadership

Our multidisciplinary team is committed to building a stronger industry and healthier, safer food system for all, holding leadership positions in over a dozen key industry organizations around environmental policy, better business, produce, food safety, controlled environment agriculture and more.

our awards, AeroFarms

AeroFarms Helps Expand CEA Food Safety Coalition Focus to Unite Industry as CEA Alliance

CEA Food Safety Coalition Expands Focus; Alliance To Unite CEA Growers in New Association Washington, DC – The CEA Food Safety Coalition, founded in 2019 to develop industrywide food safety standards for indoor leafy greens growers, is expanding its mission to serve the broader needs of all controlled environment food growers. “With a new name and mission, the new Controlled Environment Agriculture Alliance – ‘CEA Alliance’ – will expand its membership to serve growers delivering the freshest, best-tasting, and most nutritious fruits and vegetables to consumers, with the least environmental impact; reducing use of water, land and other scarce resources; and employing the most rigorous practices to ensure the safety of our products,” said CEA Alliance Executive Director Tom Stenzel. Members include a wide variety of both indoor vertical farms and greenhouse growers. The Board of Directors of the CEA Alliance includes: •  Marc Oshima, Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer, AeroFarms •  Katie Seawell, Chief Commercial Officer, Bowery Farming •  Tim Cunniff, Co-founder and Executive Vice President-Sales, Little Leaf Farms •  Todd Linsky, Superior Fresh/TLC •  Dinesh Babu, Vice President of Food Safety and Compliance, Revol Greens •  Matt Lingard, Vice President for Agriculture and Science, Bright Farms •  Dan Malech, Senior Vice President, Strategy & General Counsel, Plenty The CEA Alliance will continue its support of unique food safety standards for indoor-grown produce, but will expand its portfolio of services to include strong public policy advocacy, support for sustainability and climate-smart agriculture, and support of retail and foodservice companies in delivering differentiated produce to consumers. Controlled environment growers employ a variety of agricultural production methods and technology to create optimal growing conditions, including indoor vertical farms and glass greenhouses with rigorous environmental controls. Growers utilize innovative technologies such as hydroponics, aeroponics, aquaponics, and soil-based systems to grow a wide variety of specialty crops. Controlled environment produce is a distinct and rapidly growing category, offering benefits to consumers, the environment, communities, and the overall agricultural food system. 1. Good for Consumers: Controlled environment produce sets the bar for quality, cleanliness and availability, offering a differentiated option for consumers who care deeply about their eating experience and their families’ health. This includes rigorous standards for quality and freshness, as well as the highest standards for food safety. Growing year-round brings consumers consistency and reliability, with a supply chain unaffected by climate change and erratic weather conditions. 2. Good for the Environment: Controlled environment produce has important environmental benefits, including reduced use of water, land and other scarce natural resources. Indoor growers use fewer or no pesticides, reduce food waste, and reduce carbon emissions from long-distance transportation by locating farms closer to markets 3. Good for Communities: Controlled environment farming is creating a new generation of stable and high-quality agriculture jobs that are year-round, pay good wages, and offer a safe and comfortable working environment. CEA growers support both urban and rural communities, often bringing good jobs to economically challenged communities. 4. Good for the Food System: By eliminating seasonality and variability, increasing domestic production, bringing food production closer to the end consumer, and producing more outputs with fewer inputs, controlled environment farming will reduce the impact on the food system from climate events, supply shocks, geopolitical events, droughts and other unknown events. The CEA Alliance will work to establish consistent metrics for measuring and communicating these key benefits, in collaboration with our stakeholders and in compliance with existing recognized global standards. These metrics will be measurable, transparent and verifiable, allowing companies to communicate credibly with consumers and other stakeholders about their operations. “Transparency with our customers and end consumers is an important part of our culture,” Stenzel said. “Consumers can count on CEA growers to seek continuous improvement in growing the most sustainable, nutritious, and freshest produce possible, using the very highest standards for food safety and quality.” “CEA growers aspire to be the fresh produce of choice for consumers, while working with traditional outdoor growers to increase fruit and vegetable consumption,” Stenzel said. “Consumers worldwide need to increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables for health, and CEA-grown produce will be an important ally of conventional agriculture in delivering that solution.” The CEA Alliance previously worked with a retail advisory committee, but will now add a new membership category for retail and foodservice companies, now joining with CEA growers, their business service providers, government and academic researchers as key participants in the membership association. “Together with our retail and foodservice partners, we provide a choice for consumers in the marketplace that meets their needs for the highest quality fruits and vegetables, grown in a way that shares their values for environmental sustainability, reduces use of natural resources, and supports their communities,” Stenzel concluded. The CEA Alliance recently supported the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture in adopting a policy position in support of investment in CEA agriculture. The association will host its first federal public policy meeting in February 2023 in Washington, DC to brief policymakers about opportunities in the 2023 Farm Bill and future legislation to support consumers through controlled environment agriculture. To learn more about the CEA Alliance and become part of the future of indoor crop agriculture, please contact Tom Stenzel, Executive Director of CEA Alliance, at [email protected]

our awards, AeroFarms

Over 20 Vertical Farming Companies Commit to a Sustainable Food System

Leading vertical farming companies have committed to a Vertical Farming Identity Statement and Industry Manifesto. An unprecedented industry momentum to contribute jointly to a sustainable transformation of global food systems.   •  Signing companies are 80 Acres, AeroFarms, Bowery, Crop One, CubicFarms, Elevate Farms, Fifth Season, Fischer Farms, Freight Farms, Infarm, Infinite Acres, Jones Food Company, Kalera, La Grangette, Ljusgårda, N.THING, Plenty, Stacked Farm, Urban Crop Solutions, Urban Harvest, Vertical Future, YesHealth Group and ZipGrow •  The Vertical Farming Manifesto was signed at the Vertical Farming World Congress in Brussels (September 19-21)     Brussels, September 20, 2022 – Leading vertical farming companies signed the first Vertical Farming Manifesto and Identity – both clear and bold industry standards. They highlight the impact and contribution the industry intends to make to transform current food systems and help to solve one of humanity’s toughest challenges of providing food for a growing population in a sustainable, circular way. The Vertical Farming Identity and the Manifesto describe the urgency of transforming current food systems and explain how vertical farming systems can contribute significantly to designing food systems which are resilient and future-proof. Through technological innovation, indoor vertical farming decouples food production from external factors like climate or public health crises. By localizing production and controlling the growing environment, vertical farming provides pesticide-free produce, uses significantly less land and water, and requires fewer transportation miles. Toward the industry’s goal of driving the transformation of food systems, the companies strive to set high standards by aligning with globally accepted impact frameworks, for example, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), B Corp, or the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, the industry is dedicated to continuously investing in research and development to improve vertical farming technology and grow even smarter and more sustainable food systems.  

our awards, AeroFarms

Silal + AeroFarms Collaborate to Improve Sustainable, Resilient Agricultural Practices

ABU DHABI, 28th February, 2022 — Silal, Abu Dhabi’s leading fresh produce and agri-tech company, and AeroFarms, a Certified B Corporation and leader in indoor vertical farming, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to forge a long-term research and development collaboration involving knowledge and technology transfer of advanced farming systems to local farmers. Under the MoU, both parties will assess opportunities to transfer technology and data analytics capabilities from high-tech farming systems to improve yield, reduce cost and waste, and enhance environmental sustainability practices in agriculture across the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Both entities will also work across priority research areas to benefit the local food supply and market dynamics, including seedling quality improvement and crop diversification. Speaking about the collaboration, Salmeen Obaid Alameri, CEO of Silal, referenced the importance of R&D to Abu Dhabi’s agriculture sector, saying, “One of our standing pillars at Silal is exploring innovative ways to increase local production, through R&D projects and collaboration with programmes that foster growth. By working together with AeroFarms, we will explore localised advanced farming techniques that will enable local farmers to produce better, smarter, and more sustainably, bringing far-reaching benefits for producers and consumers. Our collaboration is another monumental step for Silal in its efforts to drive, deliver and safeguard the high-quality food supply for the UAE and its people.” “AeroFarms is excited to partner with world-class leaders such as Silal to create innovative agricultural breakthroughs to improve the food system in the UAE,” stated David Rosenberg, Co-Founder and CEO of AeroFarms. The collaboration will improve the genetics and seedling quality of vegetable and fruit varieties to become more resilient and tolerant to extreme growing conditions. The quality of a seedling is an essential factor for crop establishment, growth, and yield. The partnership will also focus on evaluating and testing crops that have large consumer demand such as chilli pepper, capsicum, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, broccoli, courgette, melons, eggplant, strawberry, and blueberry. In addition, both parties may also look to work with international consortia and initiatives to develop new genotypes of crops that have the compatible genetic traits to be produced in Abu Dhabi. The trials and experiments on the crops will be conducted at AeroFarms AgX facility, a state-of-the-art indoor vertical farm in Abu Dhabi, and the largest research centre of its kind in the world. Also, experiments on crops identified by both parties and which are valuable to local growers will be held in Silal’s farms. Additionally, knowledge transfer opportunities will be looked at for training, workshops, and seminars to share expertise with wider farming communities in Abu Dhabi.

our awards, AeroFarms

American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE)

AeroFarms is a member of ASABE, helping to create new industry standards.

our awards, AeroFarms

Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR)

AeroFarms is a recipient of several grants from FFAR and serves as a founding member of the Precision Indoor Plants (PIP) Consortium along with other industry leaders in indoor and precision agriculture.

our awards, AeroFarms

USDA ARS

AeroFarms Chief Technology Officer Roger Buelow is on the USDA-ARS Grand Challenge Advisory Board

our awards, AeroFarms

NCERA-101

AeroFarms serves on this committee of the USDA organized to help plant scientists understand how to use controlled environment technology effectively and consistently

our awards, AeroFarms

CEA Food Safety Coalition

AeroFarms is a founding member of the CEA Food Safety Coalition, and CMO & CoFounder Marc Oshima serves on the Board of Directors

our awards, AeroFarms

OptimIA

AeroFarms is a member of OptimIA – an organization that helps integrate indoor farming into the specialty-crop segment of agriculture in the U.S.

our awards, AeroFarms

FarmTech Society

Marketing Director Alina Zolotareva serves on the Board of Directors for the international FarmTech Society

Scroll to Top