Hamilton’s Top Employers

80 Acres Farms

80 Acres Farms is a Hamilton-headquartered, indoor vertical farming company that uses the latest technology to grow food as efficiently as possible. The use of AI and robots allows the farms to grow 300 times more food while using less than 1% of the land. The farms also use 97% less water, and the produce is 100% pesticide-free.

80 Acre’s growing technologies and advanced data analytics have been major drivers of their success, with the company growing rapidly in recent years. CEO Mike Zelkind said they’ve seen a 450% increase in revenue growth since 2020, and they now operate eight total indoor farms across five cities. Two of these farms are located in Hamilton, the newest being the $30 million, 70,000 square foot, state-of-the-art 10-level facility that debuted in January of 2021, located in Hamilton Enterprise Park. This farm currently grows lettuce, and will eventually include tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and berries.

The company made major headlines in 2021 for securing a $160 million Series B, the most ever raised by a Greater Cincinnati startup by over $107 million. This secures them as the best funded startup in the region, with an investor pool that is both tech and climate-focused. Zelkind said

80 Acres plans to use this money to launch new farms both domestically and abroad, and their 200-person staff could double or triple over the next year.

In 2021, Newsweek Magazine also named the company no. 81 among “America’s Most Loved Workplaces,” from its survey of over 800,000 employees. This ranks the local company alongside big-name brands such as Spotify and Twitter.

2021 saw the reintroduction of multiple citywide events that were put on hold in the previous year due to the pandemic. The Rivers Edge Concert Series, the Fourth of July parade and festival, Operation Pumpkin, the Hamilton Flea, and the Holly Jolly Hamilton events all returned this year, with the new addition of pandemic-related safety measures such as social distancing, mask wearing, and outdoor settings. Even with the restructuring, each event saw high attendance, and are expected to continue as usual in 2022.