2025 - Volume #49, Issue #1, Page #06
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Abandoned School Used For Vertical Farming Project
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“We have more people and less space to grow food,” says Cody Journell, Chief Executive Officer. “There’s a real gap with small to medium-sized farms, and we’re attempting to fill it.”
Much of the Vegg Inc. team has real estate backgrounds, which proved helpful for tracking down incentives for restoring old buildings throughout the region. “That’s a win for everyone, right?” says Journell. “Because when you reuse old buildings, you’re putting fewer resources toward building something new.”
The Jefferson School in downtown Pulaski has become the company’s pilot project. “We knew we were interested in the building, but the lightbulb didn’t go off immediately for us. We thought it had several potential uses, maybe even as housing.” Things changed when the team saw the auditorium with its 30-ft. ceilings. “That auditorium had ‘vertical grow’ written all over it,” laughs Journell.
Vegg, Inc.’s goal is to create a mixed-use Climate Smart building. “We plan to use the auditorium for farming, but the classrooms have a lot of potential. They could be rented out as labs or office space,” he says.
The company is looking to utilize groundbreaking technology for its growing space. They’ve connected with MOVA Technologies for carbon-capturing equipment. “We were awarded a Department of Energy grant to test MOVA’s air filtering technology to capture CO2 for the benefit of our plants,” says Journell. “Many other CEA farms use natural gas to create this necessary CO2, which obviously isn’t very climate-friendly.”
So far, the project has proven successful on a small scale. “We managed to harvest our first batch of lettuce from a grow tent in the spring of 2024,” he says. “Now we’re working to scale up the technology to use it for the whole auditorium eventually.”
In the long term, Vegg Inc. hopes to offer its indoor farming initiatives as a solution for improving food accessibility nationwide. Says Journell, “There are an estimated 4,100 abandoned school buildings across the East Coast alone. If we can make our pilot a success, there’s a lot of room to scale up a project like this.”
Moreover, they want to continue developing climate-friendly ways to grow crops. “We have our eyes set on Climate Smart certified produce,” explains Journell. “The certified-organic movement first gained traction through farmers who wanted to get credit for their growing practices. We want to start a similar movement.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Vegg, Inc. 29 W. Main St., Pulaski, Va. 24031 (ph 540-599-7480; cjournell@vegginc.com).
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