AppHarvest still on track despite a $17 million loss

AppHarvest is a mega greenhouse company based in Morehead, Kentucky. During the second quarter in August, the company that primarily grows and sells high-yielding tomatoes said that they had a dismal second-quarter incurring a net loss of $32 million. They said that this was because of the prices of tomatoes hitting a 10 year low and the quality of tomatoes was lacking, soon after their stock, APPH plummeted. AppHarvest had just opened up a 60+ acre facility in Morehead that was said to provide employment to about 400 employees. CEO Jonathan Webb attributed their fall to this expansion and the lack of quality of tomatoes. 

Having said that, AppHarvest made some changes referred to by the company as its "summer refresh" which included providing productivity bonuses to its employees and hiring Julie Nelson as the Executive Vice President of Operation, someone whose name has been previously associated with brands such as PepsiCo and McKinsey. After this, the company's third-quarter numbers were remarkable, they reported selling 1.5 million pounds of tomatoes making a total of $543,000 in net sales which is better than expected. Their net loss amounted to $17.3 million which is better than the $32 million during the second quarter.

Now are the figures of a mega-company important to us?  

It is because AppHarvest, owing to this growth, have laid out their plans to open three frames next year. This includes a 15-acre facility in Berea, a 60-acre facility in Richmond, and a 30-acre facility in Somerset, these include a total investment of $150 million. AppHarvest explicitly mentioned the increase in employment opportunities to work in these farms, as part of this they have so far received 8,000 applicants and they plan to employ 2,000 people in a year.

Source: Lexington Herald-Leader