Ellicottville Greens, a vertical farm that originated in Ellicottville in 2019, is planning to expand operations in Cattaraugus County this spring.
The Olean area is one of two sites in the running for an Ellicottville Greens 10-container vertical farm operation in the county. Owner Gabe Bialkowski designs container farms. If they were used to grow lettuce alone, the containers could produce 10,000 heads of lettuce a week.
“Olean is one of the locations we are looking at,” Bialkowski said. “There’s a great workforce in the area.” After losing its lease, the Ellicottville operation moved to Clarence to a spot behind Eastern Hills Mall where it grows more than 20 varieties of greens — including lettuce — and herbs.
Most of its sales are wholesale, although there are some sales directly to restaurants, Bialkowski said. When it started in Cattaraugus County, Ellicottville Greens offered home delivery of weekly subscriptions of different greens to subscribers. The company hopes to announce a new subscription program for weekly pick-up by subscribers once local operations get underway, he said.
Ellicottville Greens recently purchased Buffalo-based Vertical Fresh Farms to become Western New York’s largest sustainable indoor vertical farming operation.
The Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency granted sales tax abatement to Ellicottville Greens for the project last summer.
Read the entire article at Olean Times Herald