Courtesy / Springworks Farm
Springworks grows about 2 million heads of lettuce annually, a figure expected to triple with expanded greenhouse capacity.
Updated: February 16, 2023
Lisbon aquaponics farm could more than double production after $22M expansion
Courtesy / Springworks Farm
Trevor Kenkel, founder of Springworks Farm in Lisbon, announced a capital injection of $22 million for construction of its fourth and largest greenhouse.
One of the largest aquaponic farms in the country could more than double the production of organic greens after a fourth greenhouse is complete.
Springworks Farm of Lisbon, also the largest certified organic aquaponic greenhouse in the Northeast, will use a capital injection of $22 million to build its largest greenhouse yet.
The construction project will add 120,000 square feet toward the goal over the next six years of having 500,000 square feet of greenhouse space up and running, the company’s founder Trevor Kenkel, told Mainebiz.
The capital was raised through a combination of equity and debt; it’s expected the expansion will add 40 jobs to the farm.
Aquaponics is a farming technique that raises fish and plants in a symbiotic closed-loop system that supports each other’s growth. Nutrient-rich water from raising fish is filtered and pumped below the plants, which absorb the nutrients and provide clean water for the fish.
Springworks uses aquaponics to grow certified organic lettuce and tilapia year-round. The Springworks system uses 95% less water than soil-based agriculture and the company’s proprietary system grows up to 20 times more produce per acre than a conventional farm.
Kenkel, a 2021 Mainebiz NEXT list honoree, started Springworks in 2014 at age 19, when he bought a 168-acre farm in Lisbon. By 2021, Springworks had nearly 40 employees and opened its third greenhouse, growing organic bibb, romaine and green leaf lettuce along with tilapia, a mild, popular white fish.
After the fourth greenhouse is finished, it’s expected the company will produce about 5 million heads of organic lettuce — up from about 2 million — and 315,000 pounds of tilapia per year.
Springworks sells to over 300 stores and sees increasing demand for local, safe, sustainable and year-round food, according to a news release. Customers include Hannaford, Whole Foods and Roche Bros. of Massachusetts.
Investors in the latest round of funding include Philadelphia-based Blue Highway Capital.
"We first met the Springworks team in 2021 and began to follow their progress,” said Blue Highway’s co-founder and managing partner Karin Gregory. “We look in rural areas for companies with strong management teams in sectors positioned for growth, and are pleased to have participated in this financing with Farm Credit East.”
Maine Technology Institute in Brunswick was among several economic development organizations supporting the project.
“It’s clear that we need to grow more of our food locally if we want to develop a more resilient and sustainable food system,” said MTI President Brian Whitney. “That’s why we have provided funding and assistance to Springworks Farms in its pursuit to become the largest aquaponics farm in the U.S. and, indeed, the world.”
The Finance Authority of Maine provided 75% pro rata loan insurance on a $5 million loan and a $1 million line of credit by Farm Credit East.
The goal is to start site work in the next few months and to have the fourth greenhouse in production by the winter of 2024, said Kenkel.
“We’ve continued to invest in product development,” he said.
Kenkel said he recently visited seed companies in the Netherlands to look at new options to trial.
“I think there will continue to be innovation in the marketplace in terms of what products are available,” he added.
Production has grown from a couple of hundred thousand heads of lettuce in the early years to about 2 million heads annually today.
“We’ll be roughly tripling that in the near future,” he said.
The company employs almost 40 people and plans to add nearly 40 more with the expansion.
“That will be a big growth opportunity for us and a challenge,” he said. “We’ve been working on finding folks who are passionate about what we do and enjoy the work and the mission.”
Over the years, many new hires come through referrals, he added.
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