Freight Farms is an industry pioneer and global market leader of modular controlled environment agriculture, with more than 600 modular farms sold across 40 countries. The company’s diverse client portfolio includes hundreds of for-profit farmers and an expanding set of farmers in segments such as education, hospitality, healthcare, grocery, food banks, and non-profit community organizations. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Freight Farms CEO Rick Vanzura to learn more about the company.
Rick Vanzura’s Background 
Vanzura joined Freight Farms as CEO in 2020 after seven successful years transforming Wahlburgers from a single unit to a $100 million brand. And Vanzura said:
“Prior to Wahlburgers, I was Co-COO of Panera Bread Company, but all in all, I have more than 20 years of experience in senior leadership positions from start-ups to Fortune 500s spanning technology, restaurant, retail and entertainment.”
“Freights Farms’ mission is to revolutionize local access to food because healthy food is a right, not a luxury or privilege. Founded in 2012, Freight Farms is an industry pioneer and global market leader in modular controlled environment agriculture with more than 600 modular farms sold across all 50 states and 40 countries.”
“We offer a complete platform of products and services that empower a global community of partners to create a more sustainable, more resilient, and more secure future for the environment and communities everywhere. Our diverse client portfolio includes hundreds of smaller for-profit farmers as well as an expanding list of institutional operators in segments such as education, hospitality, healthcare, grocery, food banks, and other non-profit community organizations. We offer a compelling, sustainable solution to address the key challenges to traditional farming techniques stemming from issues like resource use and population growth.”
“Freight Farms’ target market is large and growing, and we believe that our best-in-class technology and products provide significant flexibility to fit dynamic customer needs no matter the sector. We are well positioned for scaling in the face of global trends, including climate change, food safety concerns, water shortages, and food insecurity.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Vanzura explained:
“Freight Farms leverages an integrated suite of proprietary products and services that encompasses equipment, software, and consumables. Our solutions optimize critical sustainability factors as well as financial performance and scalability.”
“Our Greenery is a closed-loop hydroponic container farm that offers turnkey precision growing in a modular form factor. The farm is easy to operate and generates attractive rates of return, comparing favorably to a typical retail franchise model. With a delivery-to-first-harvest period of as little as six weeks, efficient resource usage, and the high productivity of vertical farming, this self-contained farm delivers meaningful ROI on a low customer investment. Multiple for-profit farmers experience a payback in two to three years.”
“The research value that comes from the precision and repeatability of this highly scalable farm has positioned us well to continue resonating with non-profit businesses, which make up approximately 30% of our customer base. In addition, there is considerable educational value that comes from community-based farming form factor. These are two key driving reasons why we believe we are in more colleges, universities, and K through 12 schools than any other container farm provider in the world. Furthermore, we have created a specialized program guide to allow not-for-profit organizations to make the most out of their Freight Farms.”
“Freight Farms’ Farmhand is the proprietary automation software that provides easy access and transparency into container farm operations to optimize performance and crop yield. It also provides owners and operators control and efficiency through mobile access to real-time and historical data and analytics. In addition, the software platform collects and aggregates data across the farm network to enable continuous crop yield and operational improvements.”
“Lastly, our Farmhand Shop offers a one-stop solution for all farming needs—be it supplies or nutrients. Developed by in-house plant scientists, these offerings are designed to optimize yields. The shop even simplifies the restocking process with customizable kits and recurring subscriptions, ensuring an uninterrupted and seamless supply chain. All of these can be easily accessed and ordered through the Farmhand app.”
Evolution Of Freight Farms’ Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Vanzura noted:
“Since its inception, Freight Farms continues to focus on innovating and advancing our technology. As a result, we have established a deep competitive moat as a technology provider, not a grower, with proven customer economics. Today, our state-of-the-art hydroponic container farm is supported by a robust IP portfolio encompassing 13 patent families secured for proprietary technologies, functioning throughout our product portfolio. “
“We have also established ourselves as the world’s largest network of IoT connected container farms. We are able to leverage the collective experience of thousands of customers as well as the billions of data points we have collected from our software and cameras inside each farm across 40 countries. Our technology is utilized in connection with growing more than 500 crops and has been instrumental in establishing the commercial viability of dozens with significantly lower capital expenditures compared to fixed warehouse vertical farms.”
Funding/Revenue
After asking Vanzura about the company’s funding and revenue information, he revealed:
“To date, Freight Farms has raised more than $47 million in external funding that has allowed us to build a portfolio of intellectual property that is employed and operational in its 11th-generation modular platform. We have had the privilege of being backed by strategic AgTech investors, including Aliaxis SA, Ospraie Ag Science, Spark Capital, Stage 1 Ventures, and Alkaline Partners.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Vanzura assessed:
“Freight Farms see significant whitespace opportunity for growth for container farming and its potential to capture a significant portion of the massive $141 billion total addressable market for controlled environment agriculture.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Vanzura affirmed:
“Notably, Freight Farms is a technology provider, not a grower. In addition to the size and scope of our market niche, this difference sets Freight Farms and container farming apart from the several large-scale vertical farms that have struggled.”
“We also focus on serving farmers, so they can serve their local communities with hyper local, hyper fresh produce. Freight Farms has proven customer economics and supports hundreds of profitable, successful businesses with a wide range of commercially viable crops.”
“Furthermore, we believe we are the preeminent technology provider for container farming in the not-for-profit sector. Freight Farms’ container form factor allows us to co-locate at organizations or within a community to provide an integrated experience, which is not possible with large-scale vertical farms. We also have learned a lot from our not-for-profit farmers, which has informed the use cases we can support and the guidance we can provide to organizations in making the most out of their farms.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Vanzura pointed out:
“Freight Farms benefits from an increasing backlog of container orders as we have experienced strong demand from new and existing customers. This demand reflects the broadening appeal of our model and its proven economics across additional geographies and market segments.”
“We look forward to capitalizing on this momentum and the market opportunity ahead for our technology as we scale as the global leader in our space.”
“Over the next several years, we expect revenues to grow at an exceptional rate as we aggressively grow our business and further expand our reach geographically and to new customer segments. We expect revenue growth will be primarily driven by sales of our Greenery model in the near-term, but we anticipate that the smaller Garden model – with the smaller footprint and lower initial investment – will generate more meaningful sales in 2025 along with revenue from larger scale projects that move outside of our existing container.”
“We believe it is just the beginning of Freight Farms’ growth journey as we continue to revolutionize controlled environmental farming.”
