Foundation Farms today reported a successful on-target first harvest at the company's E-Roots center located in the Red Deer, Alberta area. Management commented that the crop grew and matured even faster than expected using the E-Roots system from seed to harvest took only 21 days. Market acceptance of the final products has been overwhelmingly positive with consumers reporting exceptional quality and taste.
Plans are underway to double the production capacity of the existing Red Deer area vertical farm facility. Management has reported that the experience with this first crop has already confirmed earlier projections that the company's capital cost recovery on each E-Roots Centers is as short as six months. Word of this success is spreading and as a result, the company is getting serious joint venture partnership enquiries from Minneapolis, New York, Toronto, and the Caribbean.
When asked to comment on the results, Ed Kroeker, CEO of Foundation Farms stated "A recent Ontario Greenbelt Foundation report indicated that current global investment in vertical farms is estimated at US$3.1 billion with about a third of that taking place in North America. In the Foundation Farms joint venture business model, our own capital requirements are minimal. Using the language of agriculture, our seed for each project is the E-Roots technology and operating expertise, our joint venture partner seeds the capital requirements and both parties reap a bountiful harvest as demonstrated by the quick capital cost recovery."
Yves R. Michel, CEO of GMEV further added, "We share the excitement created by this successful venture and I understand that further enquiries are being made for more joint ventures in the Alberta region. Using Mr. Kroeker's analogy and extending it further-each E-Roots center is the seed to attract additional joint venture opportunities in the surrounding region. Consequently, due to the positive responses received thus far, I envision hundreds of E-Roots Center installations over the next five years."
