SHELF SHOCK
San Antonio shoppers may see fewer local greens after farm closures
80 Acres, formerly known as Soli Organic, has closed its San Antonio vertical farm.
For San Antonio shoppers, 2026 is hardly bringing the salad days of summer. An Ohio-based grower specializing in herbs and leafy greens has shut down U.S. operations, including its Southeast Side vertical farm. Meanwhile, another lettuce supplier may close its Texas greenhouse if it fails to find new funding.
On August 3, vertical farming company 80 Acres Farms ceased all operations after failing to attract a buyout. 166 San Antonio workers at the company’s Brooks facility were laid off with little warning, with the company contending it didn’t have enough liquidity to keep the farm running.
“This has been a difficult situation for the Company, and we are giving you as much notice as practicable,” 80 Acres Farms cofounders Tisha Livingston and Mike Zelkind wrote in the layoff notice. “Until immediately before this notice was issued, the Company was actively engaged in negotiations regarding a potential acquisition that, if completed, was expected to provide the funding necessary to continue operations and void or postpone the closure.”
In 2024, Soli Organic debuted the indoor farm at 3315 Global Way — a mammoth 140,000-square-foot space about the size of a Manhattan city block. The futuristic facility used ultramodern lighting, automation, and fertigation (a technique to deliver fertilizer through irrigation) to create maximum yields, promising environmental benefits and fresher, more local produce. 80 Acres acquired the site through a merger.
Minneapolis-based Revol Greens is facing its own looming deadline. Two days after 80 Acres’ collapse, the company filed a WARN layoff notice with the Texas Workforce Commission for its 20-acre greenhouse in Temple. According to trade publication Fresh Plaza, it is facing a similar situation to 80 Acres and needs to secure more funding or find a buyer by October 4. The Temple complex employs 115 people.
Revol Greens says the current Cyclospora outbreak is playing a role in its financial struggles, causing a drop in consumer demand and investor cold feet across the leafy greens sector. Ironically, indoor facilities like the Temple greenhouse and the San Antonio vertical farm are both considered safer production growing methods by the National Institutes of Health.
For San Antonio consumers, the struggles at 80 Acres and Revol may mean a shrinking supply of salad greens at local stores. Both companies supply salad bars and lettuce to several local grocers, including H-E-B and Walmart.
