Mason-area shoppers who relied on 80 Acres Farms salad kits and microgreens at Dorothy Lane Market, Kroger and Jungle Jim's now know why those products vanished from shelves: a prospective buyer walked away from acquiring the company on the evening of Sunday, Aug. 2, and the Hamilton vertical farming operation shut down the next morning.

State workforce filings spell out the chain of events. In a WARN notice filed Monday, Aug. 3, with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, CEO Mike Zelkind and President Tisha Livingston wrote that the company had been "actively engaged in negotiations regarding a potential acquisition" it believed would close. When the unnamed buyer pulled out, the company "was required to make the immediate decision to wind down its business."

The filing puts a number on the damage: 145 jobs, including packers, managers and directors at the company's 70,000-square-foot facility south of Hamilton Mason Road, will be eliminated by Monday, Aug. 17. The Journal-News reported that Zelkind and Livingston cited "unforeseen business circumstances" as the reason the company could not provide the standard 60-day layoff warning.

80 Acres had supplied more than 18,000 retail locations nationwide, and its locally grown greens were a fixture at area grocery stores. The closure, first detailed by WLWT through the state filings, ends a decade-long run for a company that once signaled Hamilton's emergence as a hub for agricultural technology.

The collapse caps a turbulent stretch. In March 2026, 80 Acres announced it had acquired three additional vertical farms in Georgia, Texas and Colorado from bankrupt competitor Kalera. It had also previously announced a merger with Soli Organic projected to push combined revenues near $200 million.

"Unfortunately, under current circumstances, we could not secure the capital required to continue that work," Zelkind said in a public statement on Aug. 3, the day of the shutdown.

The broader vertical farming sector has struggled as venture capital dried up and high electricity costs and lending rates made indoor growing difficult to sustain against traditional agriculture. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that 2026 has been a particularly challenging year for the food industry, with consumers squeezed by continued inflation.

Zelkind and Livingston founded 80 Acres in Cincinnati's Spring Grove Village in 2015, moved headquarters to Hamilton's High Street in 2019 and built a $30 million processing facility in 2021.