Inside the Greenhouse: How Red Sun Farms Is Redefining the Industry

By Michele Mickelwait

In September 2025, a cohort of Virginia Tech’s Agri-Food Finance (AFF) Fellows had the opportunity to tour Red Sun Farms’ greenhouse in Dublin, Virginia, an experience that became a powerful case study in how business models shape modern agriculture.

Red Sun Farms is a leading greenhouse grower supplying fresh produce year-round across Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Chances are, if you've eaten a cucumber, tomato, or pepper in North America, it was grown in one of their greenhouses.

As part of the fellowship, we leverage these visits to reflect not just on food and agricultural production, but also on the business and financial models that sustain operations. Arturo Gomez Mazatan, the director of operations, showed us the 18-acre greenhouse and hydroponic system dedicated to growing tomatoes. They also have an on-site packing and processing setup, and a distribution center right down the road to get the tomatoes to consumers in many major supermarkets, including Walmart and Food Lion.  In the reflections below, you’ll see how each of the Fellows connected what we observed to different aspects of agri-food finance.

“Controlled Environment Agriculture continues to build momentum in Virginia, and rightly so. Nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population lives along the East Coast, making it a strategic place to grow food. That’s why our Agri-Food Finance Fellows went to see what it looks like at scale by visiting Red Sun Farms," Mario Ortez, collegiate assistant professor of agribusiness and entrepreneurship, said. "Experiences like this give students a firsthand look at how innovation and business decisions shape the future of food, and we’re grateful to Red Sun Farms for opening their doors to us.”

“Coming from a family-run nursery operation where we start many of our plants in greenhouses, I felt familiar with what to expect from a commercial greenhouse facility," McKenzie Marker said. "However, touring Red Sun Farms in Dublin was a completely eye-opening experience. The scale, organization, and level of detail that went into every part of their tomato production were unlike anything I had seen before. Every vine was perfectly trained, and each cluster of tomatoes had its own individual support to ensure consistent quality.”

Red Sun Farms has a vertically integrated business model, meaning they control every aspect, including seed selection, propagation, growing, and distribution. Just like their emblem, the monarch butterfly, their production travels across North America. The greenhouse receives propagated tomato plants in January, all the way from Canada. This is interesting to me because I figured the transportation costs would be too high to be profitable. In reality, the propagation facility in Canada produces the highest-quality, in-demand variety of plants and allows the greenhouse to specialize in only growing and harvesting the tomatoes. This combination of specialization and vertical integration allows Red Sun Farms to optimize the efficiency and quality of its products while keeping costs relatively low.

“This visit helped me be aware of the importance of managing an effective supply chain in the field of agriculture," Diego Cuadra said. In modern agriculture, it’s not just about growing a product; it's also about making sure the product can reliably and consistently reach the consumers.”

Controlled environment agriculture, such as greenhouses and hydroponics, is often seen as the future of farming. It allows for year-round crop production, increased resource efficiency, and consistent quality, but often struggles to be profitable. In recent years, countless indoor farm companies have shut down, so what makes Red Sun Farms different? When touring the greenhouse facility, it was clear to me that they are doing something right. What stood out to me most was how thoughtfully the company balances technology with profitability. The greenhouse is made entirely of glass, and there are no grow lights. They had some basic monitoring equipment and some mechanization, but overall, most of the work is done by hand.

The Fellows and I asked our guide Arturo about AI use at the greenhouse. From our tour, it appeared that AI was not being directly applied in areas such as sensor monitoring or operational decision-making. This really surprised me because AI has become integrated into so many industries. It may be that Red Sun Farms has found these tools not yet cost-effective for their operations, or that they have technologies in development that were not evident during our visit. In any case, Arturo emphasized that agriculture is both a science and an art. It’s an industry where technology can complement, but not replace, the expertise, care, and judgment of experienced agronomists.

Controlled environment agriculture is very different from traditional agriculture methods, but at their core, they are the same: nurturing and growing living plants to feed a population.  I think this is what separates Red Sun Farms from its competitors and has allowed it to become the leading North American greenhouse grower. Not having grow lights and excessive technology allows them to keep their costs low and profits high. They keep farming and growing at the forefront of their business, even with modern agricultural methods.

When I asked how Red Sun sets itself apart from competitors, Arturo explained that their operation 'fills a gap'. They supply produce when conventional farms cannot, thanks in large part to their facilities in Mexico and Canada.

"They’ve carved out a niche by responding to grocery seasonality constraints, anchoring themselves as reliable purveyors of fresh produce year-round. In a time when climate change increasingly disrupts yields and predictability, Red Sun’s business model offered a glimpse into the future of agriculture and how we might feed a growing population, ” Miru Yim said.

Overall, touring Red Sun Farms was an incredibly valuable experience that deepened my understanding of modern agriculture and the complexities of controlled environment agriculture. Seeing firsthand how a large-scale, vertically integrated greenhouse operates gave me a new appreciation for the innovation, precision, and care that goes into producing something as simple as a tomato. The visit also highlighted the importance of balancing advanced technology with practical, cost-effective methods.

We are very grateful to Red Sun Farms for opening their doors and sharing their operation and business model with us, and to The Kohl Centre at Virginia Tech for providing us with this opportunity. Experiences like this one are not only educational but also inspiring for those of us interested in the future of food and agriculture.