May 19, 2022
Ready for harvest microgreens in Planted Detroit’s vertical farm, Image sourced from Planted Detroit
Editor’s note: The following information is derived from an interview between Agritecture and the Planted Detroit team - Tom Adamczyk, Founder & CEO, Meg Burritt, Leader of Business Development, and Kai Misner, Leader of Hydroponic Technology. This post is part of a series of urban agriculture-related interviews conducted by Agritecture’s Director of Business Development, Jeffrey Landau, on his travels to farms around the United States.
The City of Detroit, otherwise known as Motor City, is well recognized for its automotive history and being the birthplace of Motown and techno. Rarely discussed is the growing urban farming movement that has taken root over the last decade.
Today, Detroit has over 1,400 urban farms tended by more than 70 urban gardeners, who daily sell fresh fruits and vegetables at local markets. Detroit is famous for having built the nation’s first-ever sustainable agrihood, alongside helping Black farmers overcome barriers to purchase land in the city.
This map from Detroit’s 2017 Food Metrics report identifies the locations of Detroit’s full-line grocery stores. For comparison, these locations, along with their 1-mile access buffers, are laid over the USDA-identified poor food environments from 2015.
Unfortunately, many Detroiters are still food insecure.
A 2017 report by the Detroit Food Policy Council and the Detroit Health Department has highlighted that:
30,000 Detroiters don’t have access to a full-line grocer,
48% of households are food insecure, and
40% of households rely on SNAP, the largest federal nutrition assistance program.
Planted Detroit hopes to strengthen their local food system by shortening the supply chain, and growing food closer to consumers.
With an investment management and financial background, Tom Adamczyk founded Planted Detroit in 2018 to respond to this growing food crisis.
He had previously worked with food companies throughout the supply chain, maintaining connections with farmers, retailers, distributors, and investors. Roughly five to six years ago, Tom started “identifying the flaws in the food system. I looked at the food supply chain issues - how our food is traveling so many miles, consumers are paying higher and higher prices for lower and lower quality food, how the shelf life [of produce] has been decreasing, especially with perishable items like baby greens and herbs, and how the nutritional value is decreasing.”
A shipment of Planted Detroit’s Grow-Your-Own Microgreens kit; Image sourced from Planted Detroit
This developed his interest in vertical farming. Through his conversations with various external consultants and investors, and research into the upfront capital cost economics that make it difficult for early-stage entrepreneurs to succeed with vertical farming businesses, Adamczyk kickstarted his own vertical farm.
He shares that the team “started working with chefs and shops - they were integral to the beginning of the business, to help us with what to grow, and what it's [the produce] supposed to taste like. And the team ultimately would make tweaks and change nutrient recipes, or various things that changed the taste profile.”
With this process, the team slowly tested out “66 different varieties of plants, various baby greens, microgreens, and herbs, by just selling to restaurants.” The data collected enabled the team to identify trends, build income statements for each plant, and understand where they could profit.
Today, the team of over 40 employees grows and supplies their local community with freshly-harvested greens, package mixes, microgreens, and ready-to-eat salads to order. The goal is to make farming more efficient so that communities can source fresh produce locally year-round.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit and all restaurants shut down, the Planted Detroit team was quick to respond.
An employee working exclusively in the Processing Room, helping to prep toppings and build out the lunch salads; Image sourced from Jeffrey Landau
They decided to switch over from restaurants and supply direct-to-consumer. They changed their “processing room into a salad production line, and started selling directly to consumers through some retail partners.”
According to Adamczyk, the quick shift was a success. He shares that “it’s been well beyond our expectations. The big pivot at the beginning of COVID was: can we make sales out of what we're growing? The answer was yes. But, can we reach consumers? So, we quickly set up an online store, and that started to grow organically. And then we got placement in a local premium grocery chain. And since then, it's just been uphill.”
By going D2C, Planted Detroit can now have a direct connection with their consumers, furthering their brand's awareness, and improving their margins.
Planted Detroit’s 20,000 square foot building now has a 2,500 square foot R&D facility for continued experimentation, and two different grow rooms - one with an ebb and flood system, another with an NFT system.
An employee tending to the greens grown in Planted Detroit’s vertical farm; Image sourced from Jeffrey Landau
There have been numerous operational challenges with setting up this vertical farm. Adamczyk identifies the biggest challenge as “finding people that are willing to solve problems every single day. We've been fortunate to assemble the leadership team that we have, and that trickles down to every team member - everybody on our team is asking questions and then identifying problems to solve.”
From the growing perspective, there have also been constant challenges for the team to overcome. “We've been learning from the beginning of the business: how to properly germinate various crops in a single environment, and which systems are best suitable for each crop. the lighting technology is also constantly changing to our benefit, allowing us to be more fine-tuned with our light recipes.”
As members of the CEA Food Safety Coalition, food safety is critical to the Planted Detroit team. Meg Burritt, Leader of Business Development, adds that the team is in the process of seeking organic certification but continues to value biosecurity. The site treats water and air coming into the facility. It has physical boundaries set up for employees and visitors to change their shoes and outside clothes, and numerous hand-washing stations.
Adamczyk shares plans for the team to soon “be able to produce 1,000 salads and edible flowers, and then we're looking to expand within the City of Detroit.”
Planted Detroit’s 5 staple ready-to-eat lunch salads on shelves at the local Rivertown Market, packed with greens grown less than 2.5 miles away; Image sourced from Planted Detroit
In wanting to build out more farms, the team is seeking out more sustainable farming options. Kai Misner, Leader of Hydroponic Technology, adds that the facility’s “electrical needs are probably one of the least sustainable aspects. We're interested in using renewable energies or having battery storage to help mitigate the power we're pulling straight from the grid.”
Additionally, Meg Burritt, Leader of Business Development, shares that Planted Detroit has “a very intentional relationship to the Detroit community that we're in, serve, and are hiring from.” The “strong local loyalty culture here in Detroit” has helped the business succeed. And, as a result, the Planted Detroit team wants to keep giving back by setting up an apprenticeship program “to give people a bridge to this new type of technology, and sort of manufacture future employment.”
