In late June 2023, AppHarvest, a vertical, indoor-farming company touted by J.D. Vance, declared bankruptcy.
Early on, budding venture-capitalist Vance called AppHarvest a “great business” that would enhance the lives of working-class Kentuckians in Appalachia. None of that materialized.
“The rise and fall of the company, and Vance’s role in it,” CNN noted, “cuts against his image as a champion for the working class—an image that helped catapult him to the top of the Republican ticket as Donald Trump’s running mate.”
To put it mildly. As with many business ventures connected to Vance and Trump, the resulting financial failure of AppHarvest screwed over investors and workers alike.
A CNN review of public documents, and interviews with a dozen former workers, shows that AppHarvest not only failed as a business after pursuing rapid growth, but also provided a grim job experience for many of the working-class Kentuckians Vance has vowed to help.
The rapid failure of AppHarvest is notable also for its similarities to J.D. Vance’s Our Ohio Renewal, which suffered a similarly quick demise while failing its core mission. Vance has a litany of other dubious ventures, including investing in a firm accused of animal cruelty.
