Glad to see they are having some success. What surprised me the most about growing my own fruits and vegetables in my back yard is that many of the cultivars for standard things like tomatoes, strawberries, etc. are bred to survive transport at the expense of flavor. Basically things like rock hard tomatoes when they are picked that become soft (but not very much more flavorful) after traveling to the produce market.<p>When you grow your own, you can grow berries that are "too delicate" to grow economically on big farms because too many berries don't survive transit. As a result it opens up different berries (and other produce) that you might not otherwise have access too.<p>That said, getting seeds can be a challenge, I'm super blessed to live within driving distance of an excellent Ag college (UC Davis) but reaching out to the heirloom seeds community is another strategy some have pursued.
US $20 for 8 strawberries?[1]. Huh? Strawberries are $4/lb at Safeway. Less if I go to a fruit stand. Of course, I'm in California.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.oishii.com/new-farm" rel="nofollow">https://www.oishii.com/new-farm</a>
I've tried these, and they are by far the most delicious strawberries I've ever tasted. My wife is extremely picky about fruit, and she agrees.<p>That said...they are also extremely expensive.<p>For a slightly cheaper alternative, you can find strawberries imported from Japan that are probably 95% as good, albeit not as pretty looking. I've seen these going for about $30 for 10.<p>For a slightly more cheaper alternative, you can find strawberries imported from Korea that are probably about 90% as good, albeit not as pretty looking. These seem to go for about $15-20 for 10.<p>They're all significantly more expensive than the North American berries you find at the local supermarket, but they're also significantly better IMHO.
In these times of AGW, I just care about this:<p>> The Jersey City facility consumes 60% less energy and 40% less water than the first-gen technology created and used at Oishii’s R&D facility in Kearny.<p>So, how much more energy than growing the fruit in a traditional way ?
Watched this YouTube video on them a year back:<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFmJAwc4s5I" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFmJAwc4s5I</a>
So they had been selling them for $50 per strawberry and they’re only 13 - 14 brix? For $50 I can plant a tree that will yield 30 - 40 lbs of fruit per year at 26 - 28 brix.<p>This is perhaps a good real world example of the marshmallow test.
Isn't there a big economic problem to vertical farming? You're using relatively high value real estate and fairly energy and tech intensive methods to produce something that's relatively low value. Seems like willfully ignoring competitive advantage and trade.<p>Is the hope that people are going to pay premium for vertically farmed produce because of the brand or is this actually cheaper?
I've eaten their strawberries and they're pretty good! The berries are held in a plastic tray with the berries individually floating on plastic wrap so they don't get squished from their own weight.<p>While I don't think the berries are worth the price tag, I'd definitely be interested in trying some of the new products they mention in the article (tomatoes, melons).
Hi long time jersey city resident here . There never was an abandoned or old “ Anheuser-Busch factory in Jersey City” . AB has operated a massive brewery/factory in Newark 10mins away . In terms of abandoned factories most of not all of the jersey city abandoned property like this would have been retrofitted into something else years ago . Newark on the other hand has loads of abandoned stuff . Also it was home to Balentine’s , Pabst and at one point a sclitz plant .
The title suggests it's going to be a cool ecomodernist story about efficient agricultural use of land, and it turns out it's a luxury strawberry grower selling berries a dozen at a time for $2 each in a giant plastic tray. Ick.