Farming and agriculture may once have conjured romantic notions of sun-drenched fields and well-worn tractors, but today's agriculture is scaling new heights—literally. In a quiet corner of the city, Babylon Vertical Farms is stacking trays of microgreens under LED lights in a high-tech facility that looks more like a data center than a traditional farm. At the helm is Eshton Thomas, co-founder and head of sales and operations, part of a new vanguard reimagining what it means to grow food in the 21st century.
His path into vertical farming was anything but linear. "It was all by chance, really," Eshton says. Armed with a degree in Finance and Management but faced with a stagnant job market, he began volunteering at a friend's vertical farming startup simply to strengthen his résumé.
What was meant to be a six-month stint stretched into nine years—and counting. "My childhood dream was to be a chef," he reflects. "This is the next best thing: earning the respect of chefs, not with dishes, but with produce."
To understand where the agriculture industry might be heading, it helps to look at how Babylon began. "We started off as your typical run-of-the-mill vertical hydroponics farm," Eshton explains. "We wanted to grow high-end herbs and kale for the market."
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