- Harvest Singularity broke ground on two $69 million hydroponic greenhouses in Newberry, each producing 3.9 tons of organic leafy greens daily with 120 new jobs paying $91,000 annually.
- Harvest Singularity plans to build a $660 million network of 10 hydroponic greenhouses in Florida over seven years, starting with the two in Newberry.
With a few shovel-loads and a small mound of dirt, Harvest Singularity kicked off construction on what Newberry officials called the largest investment in the city’s recent history—two $69 million hydroponic greenhouses.
Leaders from the state, Alachua County and Newberry gathered with community members to celebrate the project at the fields east of Alachua County’s UF/IFAS Extension Office where the 325,000-square-foot greenhouses will operate. Each greenhouse will be the size of around 5.6 football fields.
Harvest Singularity is the first private sector company to join Newberry’s F-300 AgFoodTech Innovation Park. Over the next seven years, the Tampa-based company aims to bring Controlled Environmental Agriculture technologies already serving Europe to the U.S. by building a $660 million network of 10 hydroponic greenhouses in Florida.
Newberry’s two are the first, with greenhouse number one expected to open in one year or sooner.
CEO Charles Garza said the greenhouses technology will reduce food costs, waste, carbon footprints and is sustainable enough to feed a growing world while still staying true to Newberry’s agricultural heritage.
“[Today’s groundbreaking is] the beginning of long-term growth, innovation, and opportunity, not just for Newberry, but for Florida, the Southeast and the U.S.,” said U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack. “We’re building more than a facility. We’re building a stronger family, a more secure food supply and a stronger future for the next generation of farmers and Americans.”
Dalsem Complete Greenhouse Projects is currently building the greenhouses in the Netherlands and will ship the parts to Newberry for assembly. Local companies CPPI, Walker Architects and NV5 engineering are also part of the project.
In November, the same month Harvest Singularity announced it would be building in Newberry, Gov. Ron DeSantis awarded the city with a $5.6 million Jobs Growth Grant to help build infrastructure on the property.
At Tuesday’s groundbreaking, Garza gave a rundown of what each greenhouse will offer, including around 120 new jobs between the two, all paying annual salaries of $91,000.
He said each greenhouse will produce 3.9 tons of organic leafy greens every day—eventually adding tomatoes and strawberries—using hydroponics instead of soil, translucent roofs to reduce electricity and AI operations. He said Harvest Singularity doesn’t use pesticides, GMOs or triple washing—all on 94% less land and with 95% less water than conventional agriculture.
Since the plants are locally grown, he said the produce will have longer shelf life, lower transportation costs and waste than produce coming from farther away.
“95% of all leafy greens in the U.S. come from two counties: Salinas, California, and Yuma County, Arizona, taking 10 to 12 days for these leafy greens to reach your local Publix store here in Florida,” Garza said. “In contrast, we will deliver local produce to local supermarkets in just one to two days.”
Garza also said he plans to build each greenhouse in Florida near universities and schools.
Being next door to UF/IFAS and near Santa Fe College, he said he wants to create educational and research opportunities for agriculture students to help position Florida as the Silicon Valley of agriculture.
The F-300 AgFoodTech Innovation Park also includes an accelerator program started last March aiming to incubate and launch AgFoodTech startups founded by students or entrepreneurs from around the world.
“This AgTech park represents hope for the next generation of kids brought up here,” said UF/IFAS Associate Dean for Research Damian Adams. “It shows we believe in the power of rural communities to lead, to innovate, to strengthen our economy, to grow great food that helps us thrive, and build a bridge between tradition in one hand and technology on the other.”
Cammack said she remembered sitting in Newberry’s Little Red Schoolhouse over a decade ago with Jordan Marlowe—then mayor and now city manager—dreaming about an AgTech park in Newberry. She credited him for getting the ball rolling and the city for seeing it through to the point of breaking ground.
Cammack said food security is national security, necessitating facilities like Harvest Singularities to help overcome crop loss from freezes, droughts and hurricanes. She said she hoped the new job opportunities kept families in the Newberry community and welcomed Garza to it.
“Now, as the former record holder of the Newberry Watermelon Seed Spinning Contest, you’re not truly a part of Newberry until you partake in the annual seed spinning contest,” Cammack said. “So, sir, I will coach you, I will mentor you, and I expect you to win next year.”
Marlowe said the groundbreaking was an emotional day, getting to reap the harvest of what had been sown over the past few years and even longer.
“I believe that Florida, with Newberry at the lead, is going to start feeding the country. I couldn’t be more proud of that,” he said. “As a fourth-generation farmer, my great grandfather started out as a sharecropper here in the area. So to be a part of this today is just amazing.”
