CEAg Talks: Plenty’s CEO on Post-Bankruptcy Lessons
March 24, 2026 
Before 2025, Plenty operated as a venture-backed vertical farming company building large-scale indoor farms designed to grow a range of crops — primarily leafy greens — using proprietary aeroponic systems and selling into retail markets.
Backed by nearly $1 billion in funding, the company was headquartered in San Francisco. It had commercial operations and projects across multiple locations, including a flagship farm in California, expansion plans in the Middle East, and R&D facilities such as its plant science center in Laramie, Wyo.
Plenty aimed at scaling a network of vertical farms nationally and, eventually, globally. But it struggled with the economics of that model, and in 2025, the company filed for Chapter 11 restructuring.
Plenty’s Next Chapter
Now, the company has re-emerged with a much tighter focus: premium strawberry production at its Virginia facility through an exclusive downstream partnership with category giant Driscoll’s.
In this CEAg Talks video, Plenty CEO Dan Malech talks about how the company’s strategy has evolved post-bankruptcy, and what lessons the experience holds for the broader CEA industry.
“The bears on vertical farming from five years ago,” he says, “were right on a few things.”
He adds that many companies (including Plenty) needed to refine their strategies. Now, he acknowledges, “Until we’ve proven ourselves and really nailed that first product, we haven’t earned the right to play on others.”
Watch the full CEAg Talks conversation to learn more about Plenty’s reset, its partnership with Driscoll’s, and how the company is approaching its next phase of growth. And for more of the conversation with Malech, as well as interviews with leaders from 80 Acres Farms, Growcer, and OnePointOne, read “The Way Forward” in the 2026 CEAg World Industry Report: Vertical Farming, available here.