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WATCH: New York-based BrightFarms thought Lorena would prove ideal for growing lettuce, and its 550,000-square-foot hydroponic garden is up and and running, just a stone's throw from I-35. Shipping to Walmart stores in Texas and beyond has commenced, with H-E-B on the radar, sources say.
A greenhouse provides almost ideal growing conditions, and New York-based BrightFarms thought Lorena would prove ideal for growing lettuce.
The twain have met, resulting in a 550,000-square-foot hydroponic garden tucked inside the Waco suburb’s city limits, a stone’s throw from Interstate 35 on Barnes Road. It’s big and will get bigger. Shipping to Walmart stores in Texas and beyond has commenced. H-E-B appears on the radar, according to multiple sources. Within a few years the indoor farm could grow to 1.5 million square feet, comparable in size to Waco’s old General Tire plant.
BrightFarms senior marketing director Jessica Soare led tours Thursday, and those taking the long, informative walk included Lorena City Manager Kevin Neal, Council Member Brad Wetzel, and plant manager John Forsyth.
BrightFarms, founded by Paul Lightfoot and Ted Caplow in 2011 and now owned by Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, seeks to provide customers the freshest leafy greens around. It delivers to end users such as Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Target and Whole Foods within a 24-hour window.
BrightFarms senior marketing director Jessica Soare leads a tour of the greenhouse Thursday, followed by Lorena City Manager Kevin Neal and Council Member Brad Wetzel.
Soare said the founders sought to remedy what they considered a flaw in the delivery process: too much emphasis on transportation, too little attention paid to production quality.
Soare and Forsyth said Lorena represents a BrightFarms hub, combining cutting-edge technology with convenient access to Interstate 35. Lorena’s greenhouse is the company’s first in Texas, serving the central southern and southwestern United States as far west as Phoenix, Soare said. It needs 70 staffers during the first phase, and 60 have been hired. Eventually, the operation could create 250 jobs, say company officials.
BrightFarms wanted a Texas presence and considered several sites. Neal, the city manager, said the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce steered the company toward Lorena. He said the chamber’s Seth Morris, vice president of economic development, was instrumental in getting hurdles cleared. Lorena’s Central Texas location gives BrightFarms four-hour access to millions of people in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio areas.
Lorena Council Member Brad Wetzel checks out the packaging area during a BrightFarms greenhouse tour.
With a population of about 1,900, Lorena lacked the resources to wave financial enticements before BrightFarms, but the city’s economic development programs had already laid the infrastructure groundwork for the greenhouse. The land lies within Lorena’s 1,000-acre Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1 East, where Lorena and McLennan County have agreed to allow the TIRZ to capture 70% of the revenue from new tax base and spend it on infrastructure.
The TIRZ funding helped Lorena officials finance $6 million for a sewer line and lift station that ultimately would benefit the BrightFarms project, according to a 2023 application Lorena made for the Texas Community Economic Development Award.
Neal said BrightFarms has spent $1.4 million from its own pocket on roadway improvements between Interstate 35 and the greenhouse complex. The upgrades make travel easier for big rigs moving back and forth.
Acres of hydroponic lettuce grow in the greenhouse at BrightFarms in Lorena.
A firm associated with BrightFarms bought the 105-acre site at 433 Barnes Road from the Robert Braswell IV family in 2022, according to McLennan Central Appraisal District records.
Neal said BrightFarms could become Lorena’s largest taxpayer, but uncertainties remain. He said the plant may qualify for agriculture-related exemptions, meaning its taxable value would drop accordingly. BrightFarms reportedly spent about $120 million on its first phase.
MCAD records reflecting Jan. 1 conditions before construction began show the market value of the site as $929,800, with an ag exemption bringing it to an appraised value of $369,200.
Inside the massive greenhouse, plants and humans experience temperature extremes ranging from just above 32 degrees to nearly 80 degrees. The cycle includes planting, growing, harvesting, packaging and shipping. Massive growing areas appear to undulate, the effect created by deep green plants at varying stages of growth and size resting inside silver metal troughs.
Sean McBride, head grower, starred in promotional spots BrightFarms was filming Thursday. He sometimes repeated lines as directed.
He loves his job, he said, having earned a master’s degree in controlled environment agriculture from the University of Arizona. He’s qualified to work in greenhouses and greenhouses with automation. BrightFarms, he said, provides its greens “a perfectly controlled environment.”
As spokeswoman Soare put it: “We can offer a summer day 365 days a year,” having at its disposal sunlight, LED lighting, water and nutrient enhancers. BrightFarms would not discuss specifics about local water demands, but said it would take a “green” approach to recycling and reusing water.
BrightFarms has opened a 550,000-square-foot facility in Lorena.
Neal, the city manager, said he’s confident the city has resources to meet the plant’s water needs beyond those it can satisfy itself.
The company will produce five lettuce varieties, none to be confused with lettuce heads some may envision. Perhaps its leading brand is Sunny Crunch, “our most loved product because of its satisfying crunch and sweet flavor,” says promotional material BrightFarms provided. “Unlike field grown greens, which are subject to harsh weather conditions and a long journey from Southern California across the U.S., our greens are grown for flavor and nutrition instead of durability.”
The greens, infused with nutrients, don’t “struggle,” and become tough and bitter as land-grown counterparts may do.
Neal, the city manager, asked if BrightFarms will sell product to the public from the greenhouse itself, a query he’s heard many times.
Soare said it would not, at least not at this time. She said trucks would haul 99% of local production to retailers within four hours’ drive.
Forsyth, the plant manager, said he previously worked at Bayer, the multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnological company. He said he grew up in rural Missouri, and that agriculture is his “true passion.” His work at Bayer involved “developing high quality seeds.” He said the plant-growing process at BrightFarms starts with the brownish material passing by on a conveyor. It is not dirt, though it appears so, rather a soilless medium.
Asked about qualities he looks for in job applicants, Forsyth said a willingness to learn tops his list. He said BrightFarms maintains an open and inviting culture for its employees.
Despite green decorative touches, the plant looks foreboding, rising as it does on rolling land obscured by modest homes and retail along Interstate 35. When lighted at night, it might cause neighbors to fear a foreign spacecraft has landed in their midst, several on the tour joked.
Soare said BrightFarms borrows technology from Europe, specifically the Netherlands, where sheltered growing is commonplace. She said techniques and equipment “have a track record” that BrightFarms relies upon, adding its own tweaks and improvements whenever and wherever needed.
BrightFarms has farm operations in Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Illinois. It has announced hubs in Texas, Illinois and Georgia. Its products, including salad kits, are available in more than 5,140 retail stores, according to an information sheet.
Neal told the Tribune-Herald that in informal talks with the company, he discovered that maintenance workers and forklift operators would make $17.50 to $21 an hour, while mid-level staffers would receive $23.50 to $27 per hour. Salaries for upper management would run $60,000 to $90,000.
BrightFarms' Earth Day Greenhouse Tour (2021) // promotional video produced by BrightFarms on YouTube
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WATCH: New York-based BrightFarms thought Lorena would prove ideal for growing lettuce, and its 550,000-square-foot hydroponic garden is up an…
A New York company thought Lorena would make a great place to raise lettuce, and so BrightFarms is spending more than $120 million placing gre…
BrightFarms senior marketing director Jessica Soare leads a tour of the greenhouse Thursday, followed by Lorena City Manager Kevin Neal and Council Member Brad Wetzel.
Lorena Council Member Brad Wetzel checks out the packaging area during a BrightFarms greenhouse tour.
BrightFarms has opened a 550,000-square-foot facility in Lorena.
Acres of hydroponic lettuce grow in the greenhouse at BrightFarms in Lorena.
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