Freight Farms, the Boston-based company that helped bring containerized vertical farming into the global spotlight, has officially ceased operations and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. According to records from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts (Docket No. 1:25-bk-10908), the company filed on April 30, 2025, initiating a liquidation process that will be overseen by a court-appointed trustee.
The bankruptcy filing confirms what many Freight Farms customers had suspected, and feared, for months: the business is shutting down, support services are ending, and core software platforms are being decommissioned.
Customers were notified via email early on May 1.
"Freight Farms is ceasing operations as of Wednesday, April 30," the company wrote. "Serving you over these last 13 years has been our deepest honor."
A confirmed collapse, not just community speculation
The Chapter 7 filing indicates a full liquidation of Freight Farms' assets, with no reorganization plans in place. This development follows the company's terminated merger with Agrinam Acquisition Corp in late 2024 and months of internal turmoil marked by layoffs, missed installations, and customer service shutdowns.
While Freight Farms did not make a public-facing announcement, the customer email outlined the consequences clearly:
- farmhand® Cloud Software: "Cloud-based services may no longer be available," including remote control, monitoring, alerts, and historical data. Farms can still operate manually via local hardware.
- farmhand Shop: "We are no longer able to fulfill farm supplies and consumables."
- Technical Support and Replacement Parts: "The Freight Farms Customer Experience (CX) team will not be available."
- farmhand Community & Academy: Training tools and community platforms are shut down.
- Ongoing Communication: "You or someone in your organization will be contacted by a court-appointed trustee."
Automation unplugged
At the center of the disruption is farmhand®, Freight Farms' proprietary IoT and farm automation platform. Designed to streamline dosing, lighting, and climate control, the cloud-based tool was a key selling point for the company's container farms. Now, growers are losing access to that software. While manual operation remains possible, the shift from cloud-connected to offline operations represents a significant downgrade, especially for larger or remote-managed installations.
One grower told Vertical Farm Daily: "They offered $20,000 to move to a new version of Farmhand last year, but the install costs were too high. They later kept the Legacy system online but pulled support. It still works, for now."
Growers managing Freight Farms' Greenery S containers say they are already adjusting workflows, re-learning manual processes, and searching for third-party alternatives. The knowledge base and support forums have been archived, but troubleshooting is now entirely community-driven.
Orders unfulfilled, support abandoned
Multiple consultants and operators report that deliveries and installations were left incomplete. One farm, delivered in March, was never hooked up. Others had committed to purchasing containers when Freight Farms stopped responding altogether.
"We almost had a client send funds," one U.S.-based advisor says. "Then Freight Farms disappeared."
No formal comment has been made by the company's executive team. Freight Farms' CEO told Vertical Farm Daily in a direct message: "Happy to provide insight when the time is right."
For now, that time has not arrived.
Community support replaces corporate structure
With Freight Farms gone, growers have turned to grassroots networks for help. Reddit's r/freightfarms and the Freight Farmers Community Facebook group have emerged as central hubs for information sharing, sourcing advice, and troubleshooting.
The shutdown has also affected users' access to essential consumables. Since the farmhand Shop has closed, customers are scrambling to identify compatible inputs and replacement parts, especially those who previously relied on Freight Farms as a single-source supplier.
Chapter 7 confirms a complete wind-down
With the bankruptcy now filed, Freight Farms officially joins a growing list of vertical farming ventures that have folded in the last 18 months. Unlike Chapter 11, which allows companies to restructure and recover, Chapter 7 involves liquidation of all assets and dissolution of the entity.
The docket (Case No. 1:25-bk-10908) is now live in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts. A trustee will be appointed to manage creditor claims, customer inquiries, and legal proceedings.
Customers are advised to monitor updates through court communications, although the email issued by Freight Farms notes that "all communication going forward will go through this party."
Sector-wide challenges persist
Freight Farms' closure reflects deeper industry struggles. The vertical farming and AgTech sectors have faced mounting headwinds:
- High energy and infrastructure costs
- Difficulties achieving profitability at scale
- Increasing investor caution post-SPAC boom
- Complexity of vertically integrated systems with few third-party handovers
For now, growers are left to salvage what they can, rebuilding operations without their automation, without their supply chains, and without the company that once promised self-sufficiency.
For more information:
Freight Farms
info@freightfarms.com
www.freightfarms.com