Texas welcomes world’s largest controlled environment agriculture lettuce facility

TEMPLE, Texas (KWTX) - A 150-million-dollar controlled environment agriculture facility for leafy greens sits right here in Central Texas and is almost ready for production throughout the state.

Revol Greens said their new space in Temple is the largest CEA in the world with its 20-acre greenhouse.

More than 350,000 containers of leafy greens are produced daily at the Revol Greens facility in Temple.

CEO, Michael Wainscott, said since it’s the largest controlled environment agriculture lettuce facility in the world, it keeps prices inexpensive by having the space to keep up with the large demand.

“Really our mission is to be able to provide super fresh, very healthy, nutritious leafy greens to folks all across the US. And we’re really focused on doing that in an affordable way. We bring in the seed, we plant it, we germinate it, we put it onto our facility greenhouse, and we harvest it anywhere from 18-22 days,” said Wainscott

Wainscott said the controlled facility helps keep the growth of the crop consistent.

He said Revol Greens uses high technology to control irrigation, climate, energy, all without using pesticides.

Wainscott said this helps a controlled environment 70% healthier than outdoor agriculture, and at a faster rate.

“You can deliver with frate. Bad really manage around the environmental concerns of water shortages. Then, you have floods and just the challenges of the ever changing weather,” said Wainscott.

Wainscott said there are several pros to a controlled facility, on the other hand it’s expensive.

“They’re not cheap to build. A facility like this is over 150 million dollars for our first phase, so it’s capital intensive,” said Wainscott.

However, he said he’s proud of the facility and staff for being able to produce a high volume of healthy food for folks.

“You control every aspect of the plant. It’s not necessarily super easy to get a perfect plant every day if you don’t know what you’re doing. It takes a lot of skill and training personnel to manage it,” said Wainscott.

So far, Revol Greens has been testing their lettuce to multiple grocery retailers in Texas.

Officials said the facility holds 120 staff members and are still hiring.

They’re hopeful to be finished by July 4.

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