Ohio-based 80 Acres Farms is shutting down its operations, including a vertical grow operation on the South Side, after a deal to sell the company fell through.
The vertical farming business notified the Texas Workforce Commission that it will lay off 166 workers at its San Antonio operations at Brooks. The layoffs, which started Monday, are expected to be complete by Aug. 17.
Mike Zelkind, the CEO and co-founder of Hamilton, Ohio-based company, said in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter that the business was permanently shutting down after a prospective buyer “unexpectedly withdrew from the transaction” on Aug. 2.
“Without the anticipated transaction proceeds and with no other funding available to sustain operations, the company was required to make the immediate decision to wind down its business,” he said.
“The Company is providing this notice as soon as practicable after learning that the transaction would not proceed,” he added.
The vertical grow operation at Brooks was launched in 2024 by Virginia-based Soli Organic Inc. in a 140,000-square-foot industrial building. It used stacks of metal shelves, robots and artificial light to sprout herbs and greens like spinach, basil and lettuce. Soli announced a merger with 80 Acres Farms in 2025.
Those affected by 80 Acres Farms’ shutdown include 58 packers, 16 machine operators and 12 assembly technicians.