Something exciting is happening in Saluda, NC. It’s called AgriFacture! Think manufacturing effeciencies and processes used to grow high yielding organic produce.
You won’t find traditional farmers at AgriFacture, but you will find engineers, mechanics, and (coming soon) robitics. Fascinating! The end goal is to create a “self-contained, self-reliant, resilient, zero waste” growing facility that can be duplicated outside every major metropolitan area in the country. Sounds a little sci-fi-ish, right? It’s early days, but it’s happening now, starting small and local, expanding gradually.
“Our model of controlled environmental agriculture allows consumers to enjoy local, fresh, pesticide-free, nutrient-rich vegetables, fruits, mushrooms and herbs year-round, regardless of where they live.” – AgriFacture
Most of us are just hearing about this now, but Ed McCammon and David & Christine Scranton began research and development back in 2008. Ed and David both came from high tech research fields. David has since passed, but Ed and Christine are still leading the company as CEO and President.
Their first facility in Flat Rock saw a lot of research and development. Starting with lettuces and other greens, there was a lot of building, testing, and tearing down. Building, testing, and tearing down. Expensive and time consuming research. Things were progressing until a fire broke out, resulting in an almost, if not total, loss.
McCammon owned land in Saluda that suited this project, so AgriFacture relocated and is now growing Florida Oyster Mushrooms. It’s only been 19 months since the fire and they’re up and running with 14 shipping containers in use, and another 7 about to come online. Their goal of producing commodity-scale products seems very doable with expections of being up to full operations in 3-4 mos, producing 4 to 5,000lbs of mushrooms per week.
Attending their recent Grand Opening celebration, touring the facility, and learning details and history from Ed and other members of the AgriFacture team was fascinating. You can see one reason they’ve achieved what they have in just 19 months in the video below. Ed knows how to get things done.
Ed McCammon’s passion was obvious as he spoke about food safety being a big problem. With much of our food being shipped in from other countries, there’s potential for contamination. His solution? Do it all in one facility.
“We need good wholesome food.” – Ed McCammon
The plan is to produce pure, clean, healthy food 365 days a year and harvest weekly, this method of growing can help protect against food shortages.
At this point, AgriFacture has supplied Dandelion, West First Wood Fired, The Purple Onion, and Earth Fare, and others.
Going Off Grid and Robotics
“We’ll have a programmable automated lift and robots that will move things around to different phases of production. Robots can also be paged [when needed outside their normal programming].” – Ed McCammon
Solar power is in the works with plans to ultimately be completely off grid.
Strawberries, Agritourism, and Future Plans
- Strawberriies will probably be the next crop added to what’s grown at AgriFacture.
- Land is currently being cleared on AgriFacture property for agritourism rental Cabins on a ridge. This is likely a 2 year project.
- Long term, the plan is to increase variety, growing different organic fruits, vegetables, and herbs vertically.
Below: Filling what will become a growing block with “Master’s Mix” – 50% Soy and Oak pellets, 50% water. “The best way to grow mushrooms.” Currently, forty eight of these blocks are created each day.
