image credit: appharvest
As a venture capitalist, JD Vance often talked about the rules he followed when investing in a business: the company should not only make money, but it should also help American neighborhoods.
He said that’s why he put money into AppHarvest, a new company that offered a high-tech future for farming and the people who work in Eastern Kentucky. Vance was an early investor, board member, and public speaker for the indoor farm company over the course of four years.
According to Vance, the company is not only a good investment, but also a great business that’s making a big change in the world. He said this in an interview with Fox Business on the day the company went public in February 2021.
AppHarvest filed for bankruptcy last year because it owed hundreds of millions of dollars.
Vance was helped to get to the top of the Republican ticket as Donald Trump’s running mate by being seen as a champion for the middle class. The rise and fall of the company and his part in it hurt that image.
A view of public records and talked to 12 former employees to find out that AppHarvest not only failed as a business after trying to grow quickly, but it was also a terrible place to work for many of the working-class Kentuckyn Vance promised to help.
Staff at AppHarvest said they had to work in very hot conditions in the company’s garden, where temperatures often reached the triple digits. Workers said they weren’t given enough water breaks or the right safety gear, according to complaints sent to the US Department of Labor and a Kentucky regulator between 2020 and 2023. Some workers said they got hurt or tired from the heat, but state inspectors did not find any problems.
Even though Vance quit the AppHarvest board in 2021 to run for office, he still invested in and supported the business. By the time he was sworn in last year, the company he had praised as a great chance was being sued by shareholders who were upset about the stock price dropping and making fraud claims.
For some, Vance’s eager support of the business seemed like a story that has been told too many times in the area.
“People come and go all the time in eastern Kentucky.” “They start businesses and then disappear,” said Anthony Morgan, who used to work for AppHarvest. “They were not interested in us.”
According to a statement from Vance’s spokesman, Luke Schroeder, the Ohio senator “did not know about the operational decisions that were made about hiring, employee benefits, or other workplace policies after he left AppHarvest’s board.” JD, like many early backers, believed in AppHarvest’s goal and wished the company would have been successful.
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