Unfold opens new R&D vertical farm facility

Unfold, a company that combines seed genetics with growing, welcomes Minos Athanassiadis as a company advisor and breaks ground on its new R&D vertical farm facility in Davis, California.

Minos Athanassiadis, one of the foremost leaders in the production space, working at brands such as Dole Fresh Vegetables, Underwood Ranches, and Fresh Link Group, will leverage his expertise to help Unfold develop products of value to produce retailers and consumers.

“Consumer demands are propelling changes in the food supply that are safe, transparent, personalized, and sustainable,” said Athanassiadis. “As an advisor to Unfold, I look forward to working with their fast-growing team to help them discover and develop products that will meet these criteria for retailers and consumers alike.” 

Since launching, Unfold has doubled in size, bringing on diverse talent expertise from software engineers who will build digital agronomic services for vertical farm operators to the computational biology experts that will breed tomorrow’s seeds.

"For vertical farms to have an impact on our food system, production can’t begin and end with leafy greens. The industry’s success will require new products to be brought to market to supplement what can be produced by traditional farms and greenhouses. With the opening of their new R&D facility, Unfold will leverage expertise in AI, machine learning, and plant biology to test new varieties of fruits and vegetables faster and to develop the digital tools that will speed up plant optimization for Unfold’s customers," he explains.  

“As we look to bring seeds to market in the next year, Minos’ rich history in the produce industry will be invaluable,” said John Purcell, Ph.D., President and CEO of Unfold. “Another variable to this equation is finally being able to open the doors to our R&D facility in Davis where we’ll be able to push the boundaries of our plant breeding in controlled environments that leverage state of the art digital tools.”