A JD Vance-backed startup is under the heat as former employees of the company have come out in the open complaining about the appalling working condition. The startup — AppHarvest — was an indoor farming hub to grow fruits and vegetables. JD Vance was a board member, an early investor and advocated for the app claiming that it was making a big difference in the world.CNN investigation found out that the working condition was terrible with the temperature reaching triple digit and the workers toiling.
Complaints were filed with the Department of Lavor and a state of regulator between 2020 and 2023 stating that the workers were not given sufficient water breaks or proper safety equipment. The greenhouses were brutal with the temperatures soaring above 100 degrees. Some staff experienced heat exhaustion and injuries.
“I think about the hottest that I experienced was around 128 degrees,” former staff Morgan told CNN. “A couple days a week, you’d have an ambulance show up and you seen people leaving on gurneys to go to the hospital.”
JD Vance’s association with the startup
Vance joined the board of directors in March 2017 and exited in 2021 as he launched his political career. But even after his exit, he remained an investor and supporter of the company. And in 2023, the company declared bankruptcy with debts of hundreds of millions of dollars.
With the new allegations over the working condition, Vance’s spokesperson told the CNN that the Ohio Senator was not aware of the workplace policies when he was on the board. “Like all early supporters, JD believed in AppHarvest’s mission and wishes the company would have succeeded.” AppHarvest’s chief restructuring officer, Gary Broadbent, told CNN: “AppHarvest has no continuing operations and is not in a position to respond.”
After the success of Hillbilly Elegy when Vance was being seen as a working class’s writer, he was hired by AOL co-founder Steve Case to invest in underserved markets. Vance would invest $150,000 in AppHarvest, with other investors chipping in $50,000 each — this was the deal. Vance’s own venture capital firm Narya had AppHarvest as one of its earliest publicly disclosed investments.
Complaints were filed with the Department of Lavor and a state of regulator between 2020 and 2023 stating that the workers were not given sufficient water breaks or proper safety equipment. The greenhouses were brutal with the temperatures soaring above 100 degrees. Some staff experienced heat exhaustion and injuries.
“I think about the hottest that I experienced was around 128 degrees,” former staff Morgan told CNN. “A couple days a week, you’d have an ambulance show up and you seen people leaving on gurneys to go to the hospital.”
JD Vance’s association with the startup
Vance joined the board of directors in March 2017 and exited in 2021 as he launched his political career. But even after his exit, he remained an investor and supporter of the company. And in 2023, the company declared bankruptcy with debts of hundreds of millions of dollars.
With the new allegations over the working condition, Vance’s spokesperson told the CNN that the Ohio Senator was not aware of the workplace policies when he was on the board. “Like all early supporters, JD believed in AppHarvest’s mission and wishes the company would have succeeded.” AppHarvest’s chief restructuring officer, Gary Broadbent, told CNN: “AppHarvest has no continuing operations and is not in a position to respond.”
After the success of Hillbilly Elegy when Vance was being seen as a working class’s writer, he was hired by AOL co-founder Steve Case to invest in underserved markets. Vance would invest $150,000 in AppHarvest, with other investors chipping in $50,000 each — this was the deal. Vance’s own venture capital firm Narya had AppHarvest as one of its earliest publicly disclosed investments.
