A vertical farming operation that would be supported by renewable energy is being planned for the former Crawford Furniture Atlas building.
Ramsay Agriculture purchased the building at 41 Winsor Street as well as a building at 65 River Street. The company is currently stabilizing the Winsor Street facility and has already put $250,000 into the site.
Project Leader Ross Ramsay and Dr. Larry Cosenza provided information about the project to the Jamestown Local Development Corporation.
Cosenza said the company really produces energy, “One form is food, a second form is renewable natural gas.. rng, and the third is electricity. And to date we’ve had the backing of the BPU (Jamestown Board of Public Utilities) and other entities in the area to provide us with inputs to make the operation work and we have a variety of people to buy the outputs to make it a company.”
Cosenza said they will be involved in innovative energy production via anaerobic digestion, “This has a really positive environmental impact. We’re diverting organic waste streams away from landfills. I think a lot of landfills are closing up for a variety of reasons. So, we divert that material and that material becomes our feed stock and in some cases may be an additional revenue stream because there’s some tipping fees we can charge to ensure proper handling of the material.”
Cosenza said this all benefits the community because it’s locally produced food, it helps divert toxins from entering the soil, it creates a carbon sink, and the operations would possibly create more than 100 jobs.
Ross said they estimate they will be able to grow between seven to eight million pounds of produce like leafy greens, strawberries, and mushrooms annually. He said they have downstate grocery stores who have expressed an interest as well as Brigiotta’s Farm Market locally. Ross said the intent is to sell what they grow within a 350 mile radius.
Cosenza said an environmental assessment has been done on both sites. He said Winsor Street’s results came back clean but there are toxins in the soil at River Street that will need to be remediated.
Ross said they also plan to lease property on their site to a cell tower company, which will bring in passive revenue.
They estimate they will be able to begin construction on the buildings next year and that it will take about two years from that point to make the facility operational. Ramsay Agriculture plans to return to the JLDC in August.


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