It’s been a hectic year with a lot of amazing developments that have been underway for a long time finally coming together. One major development is an intimate and meaningful collaboration that has developed with other innovation leaders to expand Better Fresh Farms’ offerings.
Hydroponic greens have been the bedrock of our efforts for the last 7 years, and our attention to high quality products in this space will never waver. But when we considered the opportunities that technology provides to more vigorously re-localize food systems to create a more robust local economy and a more resilient community in the face of a changing climate, we knew we couldn’t stop at greens.
And as our appreciation for a local food basket for the Coastal Empire has matured, and we considered the most likely candidate for an expansion, mushrooms came immediately to mind. So last week on this page, we announced our expansion through the creation of 4 Fungi’s Regenerative.
What we didn’t share in that post is how we’ll provide these products, in both fresh and value-added form, to our growing customer base. Our multi-phased effort helps us grow strategically into this new opportunity. The first phase, which we’ll be sharing more about soon, is through a collaboration with Kennesaw State’s Microbiology Research team. More to come on that.
But because it’s already made big headlines, we thought it was important you heard about Step One in our Phase Two plans directly from us. In particular, why you might have heard about a major groundbreaking in Metter.
Our expansion team at 4 Fungi’s Regenerative attended a dual groundbreaking on the Candler County Industrial Authority site in Metter, Georgia in late November. Three of the 4 founding partners of 4 Fungi’s Regenerative were joined by visiting executives of DAS Corp, a leading automotive parts company out of South Korea who is building a plant right beside our growing operation. 4 Fungi’s CEO Grant Anderson, COO Denis Lepine, and CLO Joey Burke were in attendance for the big event, along with our SR Communications Officer Neil Minshall. Chief Design and Regenerative Officer Scott Boylston was not in attendance.
The festive occasion marked the groundbreaking for a 24-acre site for 4 Fungi’s Regenerative future growing site, even as our Phase 1 efforts will continue for the next 12 months at the Georgia Grown Innovation Center. We are proud to be Georgia Grown! Stay tuned, there’s a whole lot going on!