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Clayton Mooney, formerly a professional poker player, started Clayton Farms, which consists of indoor vertical farming. "We provide a happy environment to grow happy, healthy plants,” Mooney said. Clayton Farms focuses on growing leafy greens, microgreens and vine crops, including various lettuce varieties like butter and romaine lettuce, peppery arugula, broccoli sprouts, radish and bok choy, along with cherry tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.

AMES — A professional poker player from Iowa who traveled the world testing his skill at the game decided one day to start a company that would help reduce food insecurity in eastern Africa.

That venture eventually led to the creation of an indoor farming company that utilizes vertical farming and automation systems to produce leafy greens, microgreens and vine crops for customers in the Midwest.

Clayton Mooney grew up on a small family farm outside Blakesburg. He transferred to Iowa State in 2008 for his junior year, majoring in business economics with intentions to attend law school and become a patent attorney. But after two semesters, the Cyclone drastically changed gears and dropped out of school to play and coach poker.

“I treated it like a business. I traveled all over the world. I played primarily online poker and went to Vegas every year. I lived in Ireland for a year and traveled the European circuit. I met poker players who invested in tech startups, but when I moved to Iowa in 2014, I couldn’t find a startup I was interested in so I started my own company,” Mooney said.

Mooney co-founded Kenosol where they built solar food dehydrators for farmers to use in developing regions. They shipped the dehydrators to 40 countries worldwide with a focus on eastern Africa for the product launch. While addressing food insecurity issues, Mooney connected with a friend who pitched him on indoor vertical farming that eventually became known as Clayton Farms.

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Clayton Farms has established two locations: Ames and the Twin Cities. They set up their equipment in a warehouse and industrial zoned space with racks on rollers that grow plants on six levels.

“We saw ourselves as the tech providers for new and expanding indoor farming. But when the pandemic hit, we became the farm ourselves. I usually learn by fire and build a parachute on the way down. We started letting customers control everything we do, from product to process to customer service — all of that needs to be driven by customer feedback,” Mooney said. “I was an only child in traditional farming and always engaged in manual labor, so I was drawn to automation and technology.”

Clayton Farms established two locations: Ames and the Twin Cities. They set up their equipment in a warehouse and industrial zoned space with racks on rollers that grow plants on six levels.

“Essentially your plants sit in these channels and water nutrients are always flowing through. Whatever the plants don’t absorb will be recycled. The racks on rollers allow for no wasted aisle space, so we’re growing more food per cubic foot,” Clayton said. “Our software runs the lighting and nutrient schedules, and we provide a happy environment to grow happy, healthy plants.”

The Ames location occupies 1,000 square feet and supports 300 household deliveries per week, 52 weeks per year. The Twin Cities site grows plants in 4,000 square feet and makes up to 1,200 deliveries per week year-round.

“We pride ourselves on same-day harvest and delivery, so we can get the food to someone’s door while the produce still has its full nutritional value. Most of the product loses its nutrition three days post-harvest,” Mooney said.

Clayton Farms focuses on growing leafy greens, microgreens and vine crops, including various lettuce varieties like butter and romaine lettuce, peppery arugula, broccoli sprouts, radish and bok choy, along with cherry tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.

“I like to grow up to 12 foods per day and introduce one to two new ones every quarter that are voted upon by our subscribers, which has been fun. Instead of assuming what they want, we let the market decide,” Mooney said.

Thanks to the automated system, there’s only two full-time and two part-time employees at the Ames farm while there are four full-time positions in the Twin Cities. Delivery drivers are contracted out. In all, Clayton Farms has 20 people working behind the scenes.

Clayton Farms starts seeds in the nursery and nurtures all seedlings up to the point of harvest and delivery.

“Owning the supply chain is really key in today’s environment,” Mooney said.

There are numerous similarities between indoor farming and an outdoor garden, but the biggest difference is that indoor farming doesn’t use soil.

“There was a big learning curve there,” Mooney said.

In the future, Clayton Farms intends on seeking organic certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as hydroponic ag is now recognized by the USDA, Mooney said.

“We’re essentially organic as we use a simple base fertilizer, no pesticides and non-GMO seeds. But I feel like we’re better than organic because we control the environment. Every single droplet is controlled,” Mooney said. “Friends with organic fields a few miles down the road will experience the drift from fields getting sprayed. With a closed loop system, we don’t waste fertilizer or water. We’re saving a year’s worth of water compared to traditional ag methods.”

Across the country, there are only about 4,000 different indoor vertical farms in operation, Mooney said. Right now, there’s enough demand from the Ames farm to cater to customers in Ankeny, Des Moines, Boone, Nevada, West Des Moines and Indianola. They’re piloting a program in eastern Iowa where they deliver every other Friday to Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and

Coralville. They’re looking at western Iowa, too, especially Council Bluffs.

“We want to be everywhere. We have so many people reaching out to us for our products and we’re pretty excited about the opportunities,” Mooney said.

Even though he logs about 100 hours a week with his indoor vertical farming operation, Moonehy opts to destress with ultra-trail racing where he runs 50-mile trail races. He also is a volunteer boxing coach at Iowa State.