Overview

Gender

male

A Kentucky native and University of Kentucky graduate, Jonathan Webb is turning his dream of a high-tech farming hub in Appalachia into reality with AppHarvest. The company is building some of the largest indoor farms in the world, combining conventional agricultural techniques with today’s technology to grow non-GMO, chemical-free produce to be sold to the top 25 U.S. grocers. The company’s first greenhouse will span 60 acres and open in 2020 in Morehead, Ky.The greenhouse will operate entirely on rainwater using a 10-acre retention pond, reducing water usage by 80% compared to a typical farm.

Why locate in Appalachia? Like every Kentuckian, Jonathan grew up knowing of the devastating job losses in the region. His grandmother grew up in Whitley County, where a coal mining accident killed his great-grandfather. Jonathan strives to work alongside the hard-working men and women of Eastern Kentucky and build an inclusive economy for the future. By locating within Appalachia, the company is also less than a day’s drive to more than two-thirds of the U.S. population. That lowers transportation costs by 75%, allowing AppHarvest's fresher produce to better compete against low-cost foreign imports.

Before founding AppHarvest, Jonathan worked with the U.S. Department of Defense on the largest solar project in the Southeastern United States. The project aimed to help achieve an Obama-era goal of ensuring the military’s hundreds of installations develop resilient on-site power generation and receive 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025. While living in Washington D.C. developing sustainable energy farms, Jonathan researched another type of farming — the Netherlands and its high-tech greenhouses that in a single acre yield as much as 10 outdoor acres and virtually eliminate the use of chemicals. In February 2018, encouraged by investors, advisors including Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance, and politicians of both parties, Jonathan left Washington and came home to Kentucky, where he now works tirelessly to make the eastern part of the state the AgTech capital of America.