Originally published in Issue 13 Know your goals before investing in a water treatment system. A water treatment system is not going to add value to your product. It’s all about reducing the risk of crop losses. One of the advantages that ornamental plant growers have over growers of hydroponic edible crops is that ornamental crops are usually produced with some kind of root substrate. “Most ornamental plant growers are not purely hydroponic,” said Paul Fisher, who is University of Florida professor and floriculture extension specialist. “That means ornamental growers have more options they can use for water treatment compared…
Author: David Kuack, UrbanAgNews.com
Originally published in Issue 13, April 2016 Duron Chavis, indoor urban farm director at Virginia State University, is helping citizens of Richmond and Petersburg, Va., have access to locally-grown produce year round. When Duron Chavis started the Happily Natural Day festival in Richmond, Va., in 2003, he never imagined how this one day event would lead to his involvement with and promotion of urban agriculture. “The festival focuses on holistic health, cultural awareness and social change,” said Chavis, who is indoor urban farm director at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Va. “During the festival I started meeting and working with…
Looking to take advantage of the increased demand for locally-grown and a better quality product, ornamental plant growers in Michigan are adding a variety of greenhouse vegetable crops. Ornamental plant growers in Michigan are looking to extend their selling season by producing greenhouse vegetables. Many of these growers are looking to take advantage of the increasing interest in locally-grown produce. Michigan State University Extension greenhouse and floriculture outreach specialist W. Garrett Owen said he works with ornamental growers who produce bedding plants, vegetable transplants for field production and retail sales and who also finish vegetables for retail sales. “A lot…
Originally published in Issue 12 More predictable production levels and harvest dates are driving growers to adopt controlled environment agriculture. Even though most greenhouse vegetable growers are producing fewer types of crops than ornamental plant growers, trying to control the environment of these food crops can be a much bigger challenge. “The environmental control challenges for vegetables are much tougher because the produce is going to be consumed,” said University of Guelph professor Mike Dixon, who is director of the Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. “The fact that they are destined to be a food commodity…
Originally published in Issue 12 As the U.S. market for ornamental and food crops continues to evolve, Westland Orchids and Westland Produce are looking for products that consumers are willing to pay for and are profitable. When Jerry Van Wingerden started growing greenhouse cut flowers at Westland Orchids Inc. in Carpinteria, Calif., in 1971, he never imagined that someday he would be growing greenhouse food crops along with flowers. But in 2010 a sister company, Westland Produce Inc., began growing hydroponic lettuce. Even before a lettuce crop was planted, Westland Orchids went through an evolution in terms of the flowers…
Originally published in Issue 12 Taiwan’s plant factories are looking to meet the increasing demand for out-of-season and specialty greens and to reduce the dependence on imported food crops. Plant factories in Taiwan are operated primarily by private companies. Currently there are less than 100 of these operations in the country, producing primarily salad greens. The market demand for plant factory product is good and companies are looking to produce crops that have low inputs and high yields. Dr. Wei Fang, a professor in the Department of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering at National Taiwan University, has been doing research on plant…
Originally published in Issue 11 As the rules of the Food Safety Modernization Act are finalized, greenhouse growers will be required to ensure the edible crops they produce are safe for human consumption. Recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 48 million people are sickened each year by foodborne pathogens. That’s one in six Americans. Of those people about 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die each year. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law by President Obama on Jan. 4, 2011. The purpose of the law, according to the U.S. Food and…
Originally published in Issue 11 Growers who incorporate water-driven injectors into their production systems are usually looking for simplicity and flexibility. Whether fertilizing greenhouse ornamental or vegetable crops, many growers use an injector to take up fertilizer concentrate and mix it with water and apply it to the plants. “From an application standpoint the same type of information related to water flow, pressure and dilution rate is going to be used whether a grower is producing ornamentals or vegetables,” said Chris Lundgren, national sales manager for horticulture at Dosatron International Inc. “The difference with greenhouse vegetable production compared to traditional…
Whether using municipal or well water, monitoring and testing are important to ensure successful production of greenhouse hydroponic lettuce and leafy greens. An increasing number of ornamental plant growers are looking to take advantage of the growing interest in local food sales by expanding their production with seasonal crops of lettuce, leafy greens and herbs. Unlike ornamental plants, growers of edible crops have the added concerns of food safety. “If growers are using municipal water for growing ornamental crops and then add lettuces and leafy greens, there should be no concerns related to water quality from the standpoint of human…
Originally published in Issue 11, Oct. 2015 Houweling’s Tomatoes’ new 28-acre greenhouse operation in Mona, Utah, is using waste heat and carbon dioxide from a nearby power plant to sustainably produce tomatoes year-round. During the second week of February this year Houweling’s Tomatoes began harvesting tomatoes at its new 28-acre greenhouse facility in Mona, Utah. This is the first of four phases to be constructed at the site, which includes 5 acres of packing house. The facility employs around 160 people. Houweling’s is promoting its “Utah Grown” tomatoes, which include tomatoes on the vine, heritage beefsteak, grape tomatoes, cocktail and…
Originally published in Issue 10 Which are the best strawberry varieties for greenhouse production? Combining June-bearing and everbearing varieties can help ensure fruit is available during periods of premium pricing. Trying to decide which strawberry varieties to produce in a controlled environment production system can be a challenge for growers using field-bred varieties. Mark Kroggel, research specialist at the University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center in Tucson, said it is possible for growers to produce strawberries nearly year-round by combining greenhouse and field production. June bearing short day strawberry varieties Kroggel said the traditional strawberries grown for field production…
Originally published in Issue 10 Urban Ag News was started as a tool to provide people interested in controlled environment agriculture with an unbiased information resource. Chris Higgins, founder of Urban Ag News, said the idea for this information resource began with conversations he had with vendors of horticultural and agricultural products. “The idea started prior to the big movement in controlled environment agriculture specifically focusing on the production of leafy greens and culinary herbs in vertical farms,” Higgins said. “There have been a few specialized companies that have been selling products related to hydroponic production for many years. But…
Originally published in Issue 10 Mike DeGiglio, president and chief executive officer at Village Farms International, spoke with Urban Ag News about his company’s approach to technology and how it’s using it to be more efficient and profitable. When was Village Farms started and how has it expanded in size? I started Village Farms in 1987 with 10 acres of greenhouses in Pennsylvania and we developed and operated greenhouses in New York and Virginia. In 1996 the company started building 120 acres in southwest Texas. In 2006 Village Farms acquired the largest greenhouse company in Canada located in British Columbia.…
When selecting a substrate for growing hydroponic leafy greens, lettuces and microgreens, the type of production system should be one of the first factors considered. The type of hydroponic production system a grower is going to use can impact his choice of substrate. “Any system in which the water is being recirculated like nutrient film technique (NFT), a grower needs to make sure the substrate doesn’t crumble and fall apart and clog the irrigation lines and filtration system,” said international agricultural consultant Hugh Poole. “If a grower is using coir, peat, perlite or some other loose substrate, there could be…