Sweet. Fresh. Juicy. Local.
There’s nothing like a delicious, freshly picked strawberry on a hot summer day.
When I was a kid, my maternal grandma decided to plant a strawberry patch in her backyard.
They were the largest, reddest and most succulent strawberries I’ve ever seen!
My grandma, who had the best green thumb I knew, maintained a green house on her property. Here she stashed all her gardening supplies to help grow top-notch seasonal fruits and veggies.
Strawberries, cucumbers and tomatoes were her specialties.
Can you imagine freshly picked, locally grown fruits and veggies — no matter the season — available at your neighborhood grocery store?
Using farming 1.0 technology, conventional produce travels from countries thousands of miles away before reaching store shelves.
This produce is often picked before it’s ripe and can be infused with pesticides.
But farming 1.0 is about to fade away. And it’s all thanks to what my friend Ian King calls the “Next Gen effect.”
This is when 2.0 is bigger and better than 1.0. Think of:
- The iPhone overtaking BlackBerry…
- Facebook passing Myspace…
- And Amazon trumping traditional retail.
And now, this movement has arrived in farming.
Thanks to new frontiers in agricultural farming — let’s call it next gen farming — fresh, ripe and locally grown produce year-round is happening NOW!
Once produced at scale, this next gen farming breakthrough could feed billions around world.
I’m referring to vertical farming.
And I’ll tell you about a stock that’s ripe for gains as this industry takes off.
Go Vertical to Start a Food Revolution
Currently, the world’s population is 7.8 billion. That number could exceed 9 billion by 2050.
And we all have to eat.
According to One.org, by 2030, the global demand for food is expected to rise by 35%:
And by 2050, the world’s food production will need to increase 70% to keep pace with global demand.
With a 70% demand increase and no change in production, we’ll need two planet Earths to survive!
At this rate, it’s not sustainable. While one U.S. farm can feed 166 people, the number of farms is decreasing.
The 2017 U.S. Census of Agriculture noted that farmland declined by 14.3 million acres. That’s nearly the size of New Hampshire, New Jersey and Connecticut combined!
But I have good news.
A next gen innovation has arrived. And it’s a new way to farm by growing UP.
It uses innovative mega trends like soil sensors, robotics and artificial intelligence to increase crop yields.
For example, soil sensors provide vertical farmers with information about soil conditions.
Robots offer techniques such as crop protection measures and water applications with milliliter exactness.
Vertical farming also uses hydroponics — which is growing plants without soil.
Hydroponics can be used anywhere — buildings, shipping containers and even tunnels or abandoned mine shafts.
Vertical farming is the perfect alternative to grow seasonal foods. With this method, produce is grown in vertically stacked beds in a controlled indoor environment. That means:
- 365 days available to grow — no seasonal or weather constraints.
- Thousands of jobs.
- No soil used.
- 90% less water.
- No one goes hungry.
This market is forecast to reach $19 billion by 2027. That’s up from $4.5 billion in 2020. That’s a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.2%!
And the best part: Vertical farming eliminates all the obstacles we face with traditional farms.
It’s resistant to pestilence, floods, drought and various soil-borne diseases.
To succeed, a vertical farm needs certain supplies, such as premium plant nutrients and LED lights.
And there’s one company that is a super supplier for vertical farms…
Your Best Buy in Next Gen Farming
GrowGeneration Corporation (Nasdaq: GRWG) is the largest specialty hydroponic and organic garden center supplier in the U.S. Since 2014, GrowGeneration has launched 64 store locations in 14 states.
GrowGeneration will fuel the vertical farm revolution.
It’s creating a more sustainable way for us to eat. And that’s future-forward technology at work.
There are currently around 2,000 vertical farms around the U.S. They yield 516 times as many tons of produce per 10,000 square meters as traditional field farms. That’s incredible.
GrowGeneration’s co-founder and CEO, Darren Lampert, said it best:
“GrowGeneration is turning the vertical farming market on its head and making it into something it ought to have been 10 years ago.”
This $255 million company has plenty of room to grow too.
In 2021, GrowGeneration posted revenues of $422.5 million. That was a 118% jump over 2020 revenue!
Looking ahead, its revenues are projected to increase 44% to $608 million by 2025:
As the vertical farming industry develops, GrowGeneration will reap the rewards. In due time, venture capitalists will look for startups that can scale up. And GrowGeneration could be the perfect choice.
Though not yet in the mainstream, vertical farming is waiting for the opportunity to elevate society as we know it.
I can’t wait until fresh, local fruits and veggies like my grandma used to grow are available on a mass scale. And thanks to vertical farms, they’ll help feed the world!
If you’d like to know more about how you can invest in the tomorrow’s technologies, like vertical farming, today, please click here to learn more.
Until next time,
Director of Investment Research, Strategic Fortunes
Disclaimer: We will not track any stocks in your Winning Investor Daily. We are just sharing our opinions, not advice. If you want access to the stocks in our model portfolio with tracking, updates and buy/sell guidance, please check out Strategic Fortunes.