Indoor Farming News Roundup: New Investments, Partnership & Financial Results
New partnerships, financing strategies, and sustainability initiatives in the world of indoor farming.
Exploring the Latest Developments in Indoor Farming with Artechno Growsystems
Welcome to This Week's Editorial! Today, we'll explore the recent partnership between Harvest London and Foresight Group, which aims to help the vertical farming industry expand and increase production capacity.
We'll also discuss Local Bounti's recent announcement about securing access to capital and their plans for future growth. In addition, we have a range of articles to read and podcasts to listen to on the topic. Thanks for joining us, and let's dive into the world of indoor farming!
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This Week’s Editorial
This Week in Indoor Farming
Foresight Group has agreed with Harvest London, a UK-based controlled environment agriculture company, to help the vertical farming industry expand. Harvest London has built two farms using hydroponic vertical farming techniques and grown over 100 crops. Its partnership with Foresight will allow the company to increase its production capacity and expand into vital retail markets. With growing concerns about the sustainability and security of food systems, new farming methods are necessary to decrease the negative environmental impacts of food production.
Harvest London’s indoor vertical farming approach delivers crops all year round of consistently high quality, using no chemical pesticides and significantly reducing the amount of fertilizer needed. This approach reduces agricultural pollution of rivers and dramatically shortens supply chains, reducing emissions from the transportation, processing, and refrigeration of food, increasing shelf life, and reducing waste. Vertical farms are controlled environments that help to reduce negative environmental impacts while improving productivity per square meter compared to traditional agriculture, thus strengthening food security in the UK.
Local Bounti’s CFO, Kathleen Valiasek, recently announced that the company had taken the first of several steps to secure access to capital and support its growth strategies. The amendment to the credit agreements with Cargill provides the company with added flexibility to meet its capital needs in the short term. In addition, Valiasek stated that the company is planning further steps, including potential sale-leaseback transactions or similar strategies, to ensure they keep their current development on track as they scale up their enterprise.
On March 13, 2023, Local Bounti and certain subsidiaries entered into a Fifth Amendment to Credit Agreements with Cargill to amend the existing credit facility agreements. The amendment reduces the amount of cash required to be held in the debt service reserve account by approximately $11.0 million until April 2, 2024. In addition, it allows for payment in particular interest and commitment fees. The minimum liquidity covenant has also been reduced from $11.0 million to $1.0 million. Although the aggregate amount of outstanding loans and undrawn commitments under the Credit Agreements remains at $170.0 million, the amendment provides the company additional flexibility to manage its capital needs.