New Project 2022!
Introduction Green Acres Urban Farm and Research Bio-Park Kansas City, Missouri - USA (Green Acres), is an innovative aquaponics system, designed with a sustainable substructure to vigorously address the impacts of climate change, and local food insecurity.
Green Acres company’s headquarters currently operates within the boundaries of the inner city at East High School (Kansas City, MO) and has stayed true to its mission of providing healthy, low-cost nutritious food while educating the community and providing local jobs in the process.
As one of the largest aquaponics facilities already operating in Kansas City, Missouri, Green Acres is poised to take the next steps in expanding operations to a greater sustainable scale by meeting the needs of the growing community. Also, with the expansion of the company’s headquarters, Green Acres’ plans is to expand into South Africa and Australia over the next 3 years. The South African and Australian operations will be built on the same scale and technology guidelines as the company’s headquarters. All countries will benefit from aquaponics and water preservation, whilst providing import/export opportunities with inter-region trade, educating the community, and providing organic produce to the local communities.
To execute the Green Acres’ visionary mandate, the company requires a total investment of US $100m over 3 phases. The project is shovel ready, that is, the project is advanced in stages of development for building to begin soon. The project will have the most immediate impact on employment and the economy of Kansas City. This summary is focusing on Phase 1 (Kansas City) with a budget of $38M.
Green Acres' utilizes state of the art aquaponic systems and technology from Nelson and Pade, a customized system developed to optimize farming of fish, leafy greens, microgreens, prawns, other greens, or herbs. The process combines environmentally controlled solar, geo-thermal greenhouses facilitating sustainable food production. The soilless aquaponics systems are enclosed in an integrated sustainable, water management growing system that may be used anywhere in the world.
The combination of year-round agriculture production enables Green Acres to provide healthy organic leafy greens and vegetables. Aquaponics processes allow the use of fish waste for vegetables and herbs by separating the beneficial bacteria essentially, contributing to healthy plant growth. Green Acres aquaponics systems estimates to generate up to 1.2 M pounds of leafy organic fresh local greens per annum, with an average of 60,000 pounds of fresh organic fish produced and processed per site once all phases are in full production. Seafood such as tilapia, catfish, and prawns may be sold to schools, hospitals, restaurants, and other retail businesses and exported regionally, once local needs are met.
Food Security During this time of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic and the aftereffects of the global shutdown, food security is further compromised in local food systems and supply chains. The USDA recognizes that food insecurity currently exists in many urban communities. Green Acres is focusing on eliminating food scarcity and reducing food insecurity. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we have seen an increased effect of not only people who are food insecure but now with the high rate of unemployment in many
regions, more people are job insecure. Green Acres provides an opportunity to bring new skills of cutting-edge science and technology to the forefront of urban communities by inspiring the communities, youth, children, and adults into growing healthy organic pesticide-free food
Green Acres’ financial analysis also includes reaching impoverished, malnourished populations, helping to satisfy the individual needs for balanced nutrition of the entire community through distribution of organic food supplements manufactured and processed by Green Acres’ facilities. Moreover, to improve efficiencies the project will be looking to install more advanced technologies such as robotics with a fully automated system from Viscon.
Sustainable Development Goals Green Acres is aligned to and will help to deliver 6 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set down by the UN.
Green Acres will be an incubator for local economic development in all its locations beginning with Kansas City. It will generate employment for each community and accelerate the growth of local agricultural industries. In doing so, Green Acres will directly align with several sustainable development goals and targets, set by the United Nations namely.
Goal 1 – No Poverty - Goal 2 – Zero Hunger – Goal 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth - Goal 10 – Reduced Inequalities- Goal 13 – Climate Action and Goal 17 – Partnerships for the Goals.
Job Creation and Regional Impact Green Acres aims to create jobs in three areas. Agribusiness, Entrepreneurship, and STEAM – Science Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. Through education and on the job learning, these positions will lead to increased local capacity building and direct economic development for the region and beyond.
It is estimated that a total of 261 direct jobs will be created for employment. As many agricultural processes are automated, Green Acres has more employment opportunities in supplier, indirect, and construction. Almost all these jobs will be offered to the local and neighboring communities where the project exists. This will lift the living standard of each community as well as upgrade their skills. This project is also expected to create 5,969 indirect jobs over the first 10 years of operation and 433 Construction jobs in the three years.
Green Acres projects significant job creation per year over the first 10 years in construction, direct, indirect, and induced job positions within the Kansas City Region and beyond:
Job Positions to be Created
Construction Jobs Civil-Mechanical & Electric Engineers/Technicians Managers (transportation and Logistics) Aquaponics staff Financial, Accounting, and Purchasing Drivers and equipment operators Sales, Administration and Human Resources Staff training
Semi-skilled section manager
One of Green Acres’ goals is to assist minority groups with job creation and education by helping to create racial equity in hiring practices and help support and uplift the Black American, Hispanic and minority communities. As previously mentioned in the Sustainable development goals Green Acres will ensure Goal 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth - Goal 10 – Reduced Inequalities are following workplace best practices.
Project Details Project Budget - Development and Operational Budget over the 36-month construction period is US$100 Million.
The project funding budget is broken down as:
- US $5,650,000 Acquisition Cost of Property - US $36,900,000 Buildings, site acquisition, and site improvements - US $17,240,000 Fees and Soft Costs - US $40,573,000 Depreciable Assets and Working Capital a. Anticipated Revenue Per Year: US $4M year one / US $53M year ten (based on conservative
analysis) b. Investment Requirements – US $100M over a 36-month construction and development period c. The construction method and period – Rapid Deployment for 6-9-month construction and
development period per location d. Produce production and Location – Kansas City Missouri USA, Durban South Africa, and Ghana, Africa.
Use of Funds The Use of Funds and Financial Projections (The UoF) are provided as part of this business plan submission. The UoF outlines the need for an equity investment of US $100M over an initial 36-month construction period.
The first Phase of the Project will take place at Green Acres Headquarters in Kansas City, with an estimated value of $38M. The next 2 international sites in South Africa and Africa will follow shortly after.
Founding Equity Partners Green Acres innovation encompasses a global executive team amounting to over 50 years of science, technology, food nutrition, aquaponics, and urban farming expertise when combined. The global executive team is led by Mr. William “Bill” Coe who leads the U.S. team, which is composed of experienced educators, scientists, culinary arts professionals
