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California  | 

Indoor Farming Next Industrial Play?

South San Francisco-based Plenty Inc. plans to redefine farm-to-market via indoor farms in urban markets. The startup’s initial facility, a 51,000-square-foot warehouse by San Francisco Bay’s Oyster Point, could produce as much as three million pounds of leafy greens annually.

The tech entrepreneurs and investors, including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt, are turning to advanced growing methods that incorporate LED lights, temperature and moisture sensors, and automated water and nutrient systems. Plenty said it can produce 150 times as much lettuce per-square-foot annually as an outdoor farm, while only using 1% of the water.

Costs of equipment and urban real estate are barriers for indoor farms, though supporters believe the environmental impact reductions are worth pursuing. Plenty is seeking to reduce costs by utilizing larger warehouses on less expensive land outside city centers, and working to improve facility efficiency through machine learning.

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About Dennis Kaiser

Dennis Kaiser is Vice President of Public Relations and Communications for Connect Creative. Dennis is a communications leader with more than 40 years of experience including as a journalist and in corporate and agency marketing communications roles. He is responsible for Connect Creative’s agency client services and is involved in a range of initiatives ranging from public relations and content strategy, communications and message development, copywriting, media relations, social media and content marketing services. Prior to joining Connect Media in 2015, his most recent corporate communications roles involved leading a regional public relations effort across Southern California for CBRE, playing a key marketing role on JLL’s national retail team, and directing the global public relations effort at ValleyCrest (BrightView), the nation’s largest commercial landscape services company. He has worked on marketing communications assignments for such CRE companies as Blackstone/Equity Office, Carlyle, Caruso, Disney Resorts, GE Capital, Irvine Company, Hines, Howard Hughes Corp., Jeffries, Lennar, MGM, Marcus & Millichap, Prologis, Raleigh Studios, Simon, Starwood, Trammell Crow Company, Transamerica, UBS and Wynn Resorts. Dennis has also worked on communications and launch strategies for a number of consumer electronic, media and tech brands including SlingMedia, Channel Master, Deluxe Media Entertainment, BeIn Sports, EchoStar and Sprint. Dennis’s agency background included firms such as Off Madison Ave., Idea Hall and Macy + Associates. He has earned an outstanding reputation with organization leaders as a trusted advisor, strategic program implementer, consensus builder and exceptional collaborator. Dennis has developed and managed national communications programs for Fortune 500 companies to start-ups, both public and private. He’s successfully worked with journalists across the globe representing clients involved in major-breaking news stories, product launches, media tours, and company news announcements. Dennis has been involved in a host of charitable and community organizations including the American Cancer Society, Easter Seals, Boy Scouts, Chrysalis Foundation, Freedom For Life, HOLA, L.A.’s BEST, Reach Out and Read, Super Bowl Host Committee, and the Thunderbirds Charities.

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