Bahamas PM Travels to Cincinnati to Explore AgTech Farm

#TheBahamas, January 28, 2022 – At a time when food supply is under pressure globally, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Honourable Philip Davis and Minister of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Family Island Affairs, the Honourable Clay Sweeting showed leadership alongside Members of the Agricultural Development Committee (President, Philip Smith and Director, Dion Smith), Ohio State government leaders, investors, supportive industry stakeholders (such as the President of Sysco Bahamas, Karen Casey), members of the private sector (including the CEO of FTX Digital Markets, Ryan Salame) and bank representatives (Jerry C. Butler, RBC Caribbean, Vice President of Corp & Invest), as they joined the owners of Eeden Farms in Hamilton, Ohio, on Friday, January 21, 2022, to tour the world-class flagship 70K Farm owned by 80 Acres Farms.

This top-class, revolutionary, commercial indoor hydroponic farm serves as a model for the Eeden Acres Farm coming to Nassau’s Gladstone Road. This farm under the banner “Eeden Acres” – a partnership between Eeden Farms and 80 Acres – will be the most advanced in the world of any of the 80 Acres farms to date, boasting the best AgTech from all around the globe under one roof. The farm will grow produce indoors without GMOs or pesticides providing a healthy diet to Bahamians and visitors. Enabled with robotics and artificial intelligence, the farm will produce over 300 times more food than a traditional outdoor farm with 100 per cent renewable energy and 97 per cent less water. In addition, the proprietary technology is not dependent on weather or water supply.

According to Eeden Farms Co-Founder, Carlos Palacious, “80 Acres, which already supplies over 300 Kroger Grocery Stores successfully, has produced outstanding results with similar methods currently used by Eeden Farms, so this trip was designed to show leaders of the Bahamian Agricultural Sector what is possible as Eeden Farms evolves into Eeden Acres.”

In collaboration with BAMSI, the University of the Bahamas, BTVI, and BAIC, Eeden Farms will continue its commitment to education and training, with a comprehensive Eeden Acres Transfer of Knowledge Program in coordination with top researchers.

Eeden Acres as an environmentally friendly, carbon-conscious solution to national food security brings forth a Bahamian-led, sustainable model of food security and brand with the scope of scaling throughout the Caribbean and global small island developing states.

With a projected investment value of $60 Million, this privately funded expansion is estimated to deliver up to 2 million pounds of clean and healthy leafy greens and herbs to Bahamian communities. 2 million pounds of produce is equivalent to 10,000 acres of fully utilized farmland. By way of example, this is comparable to the entire Ragged Island being planted shore to shore.