Press Release — Willo, a state-of-the-art indoor vertical farming startup, debuted a brand new direct-to-consumer delivery program in San Jose to provide the highest quality custom produce experience in the Bay Area. Founded by brothers Samuel and John Bertram, Willo’s personalized cultivation and delivery service connects consumers directly to their own plot in Willo’s local vertical farm. Willo’s substantially automated farm grows the highest quality plant produce that is uniquely safe, delicious and nutritious year-round without pesticides, herbicides or GMOs.

South Bay Area residents will be the first to experience Farming as a Service through Willo’s innovative cultivation technology. Residents within 20 miles of Santa Clara, Calif. can subscribe to an exclusive plot in Willo’s farm starting at $99 a month at willo.farm. The membership grants access to regular deliveries of customizable packaged salads starting in August. A single purchase option is also available for $49. The rapidly growing list of available crops currently includes Toscano Kale, Red Mizuna, Pea Shoots, Protein Crunch and Genovese Basil. Willo will add additional fruits and vegetables to its farming capabilities as it scales.

“Willo is unleashing the power of plants on human health,” said Samuel Bertram, co-founder and CEO of Willo. “For the first time, fresh food will be grown specifically for the person consuming it. Personalization exists everywhere except for the food industry; and we’re here to give the market what they are asking for. By letting people configure their own plot in Willo’s farm, we can grow the specific fruits and vegetables they desire, while making recommendations tailored to their health needs. Willo plans to build farms in every major city on Earth with the mission to eliminate diet-related disease through personalized plant-based nutrition.”

A strong proponent of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Willo also announced today a partnership with HomeFirst Services of Santa Clara County to further extend the positive impacts of sustainable local indoor farming practices. Willo will deliver fresh produce from its farm to assemble 40 ready-made plant-based meals each month for homeless individuals and families in the San Jose area. 

“This is a really important part of a well-balanced diet that is difficult to procure on a large scale for homeless shelters,” said Lori Smith, director of development and communications at HomeFirst. “Together with HomeFirst, Willo will bring tasty, nutrient-dense produce to shelter guests and the at-risk community served in Santa Clara County.”

Scalable and Sustainable Farming in Cities

Willo’s technology is optimized for scaling into urban settings with the intent of making local farming a global reality. Traditional produce travels on average 2,000 miles from farm to fork and changes hands over five times. Willo currently delivers within 20 miles of its farm, and the consumer’s hands are the first to touch it. Willo’s highly automated farming techniques remove pesticides and contamination, and produce essentially zero water consumption by recycling the water supply. The technology is designed to yield the most nutritious and delicious plant produce imaginable.

Compared to traditional agriculture, Willo uses significantly less land, water and labor. The technology was designed to reduce the tremendous load agriculture places on the environment and ecosystems. Willo has developed a new paradigm for fresh food production, distribution and consumption.

Following the success of the Bay Area launch, Willo will continue expanding the Farming as a Service model to urban communities across the country with planned expansions to cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, New York and Washington D.C. in the next 24 months. Willo aims to scale its technology to every major city globally to make local and sustainable farming accessible to everyone.

AI-Optimized Cultivation for Perfect Crops

Willo’s indoor farming technology utilizes purpose-built automation and AI technology to glean unique cultivation insights from every plant. Willo’s farm gathers not only fundamental data like CO2 levels, temperature and humidity, but also captures critical imagery data on the whole plant in a variety of spectra at high frequency. This data makes it possible to leverage computer-based learning and remote operation unlike other indoor farming systems.

About Willo: Willo utilizes state-of-the-art indoor vertical farming technology to bring agriculture into the 21st century — and directly to consumers’ front doors. Subscribers have year-round access to the highest quality produce on the market, with zero pesticides, heavy metals and contaminants. Willo’s mission is to prevent and eliminate diet-related disease by revitalizing the ancient relationship between human health and plant-based food. Willo is located in San Jose, Calif. and has raised over $12 million from investors. Join our community on Instagram, or visit willo.farm to sign up for your first plot.

Anyone involved with the commercial horticulture industry is likely familiar with the van Wingerden family and the impact it has had on the production and marketing of ornamental plants. However, one member of the van Wingerden family is making a name for himself and his company by producing organic hydroponic produce. Joe van Wingerden operates FresH₂O Growers, a 12-acre greenhouse facility in Stevensburg, Va. Joe shares the greenhouse space with his son Ben who operates a potted orchid growing company called Color Orchids.

Focused on leafy greens

Joe van Wingerden built his first greenhouse and began growing bedding plants and hanging baskets during the 1970s. His main focus switched to greenhouse construction in 1995.

“Joe is the greenhouse general contractor for Prins USA and the dealer for Prins greenhouses in the United States,” said Mary-Scott DeMarchis, director of sales at FresH₂O Growers. “When Joe started his facility it was an office, warehouse and shop. He originally rented the space to a tulip grower which added on to the facility as it needed additional space. When that agreement ended, Ben decided to grow orchids and Joe decided to grow lettuce.”

Joe’s interest in producing lettuce began in the 1970s when he constructed a greenhouse for another grower.

“The lettuce greenhouse Joe built was a turnkey project so he did a lot of research about how to produce the crop and the environmental controls,” DeMarchis said. “He’s been interested in producing lettuce ever since. Joe developed a nutrient film technique moveable gutter system and he holds multiple patents on the design.”

van Wingerden worked with Prins greenhouse engineers in the Netherlands to develop the production system and Prins markets the system worldwide. Because it is a movable system FresH₂O Growers can produce more crops in the same square footage than traditional fixed systems.

“Although the NFT system was designed and is marketed for the hydroponic production of leafy greens, it can be adapted for other crops including kale, arugula and salad mix,” DeMarchis said. “We have also grown other types of greens and herbs. Right now we are growing only lettuce.”

Expanding market for leafy greens

DeMarchis said van Wingerden saw lettuce as one of the indoor crops that offered an opportunity on the East Coast.

“Joe saw controlled environment agriculture as a sustainable and safe way of producing greens,” she said. “Even though we are trialing other types of greens, right now there is an opportunity to continue growing hydroponic lettuce for East Coast markets. We are continuing to grow a lettuce monocrop for scalability.

“Being located in Virginia is also a key factor in producing leafy greens. We sell to large grocery stores and wholesalers. We sell to most of the retail grocery stores and some of the largest chains. We are centrally located to I-95 and we can be in any location within a day, whether it is Boston or Miami.”

Although FresH₂O Growers is focused on growing different varieties of head lettuce, the company is expanding its product offerings.

“We recently launched a long-lasting salad blend consisting of salad mix with the roots attached,” DeMarchis said. “For this new salad blend we designed a proprietary package that houses the roots separately from the leaves. This enables consumers to open the package and remove the leaves without touching the roots like they were harvesting lettuce straight from the greenhouse. With the roots still attached, the lettuce lasts longer and stays fresher until consumers pick the lettuce as needed.

“We have done R&D with different varieties like baby romaine and baby arugula. We hope to expand our offerings this year with a line of salad blends in the new packaging.”

Expanding production

FresH₂O Growers is currently using five of the 10 acres available to grow lettuce, but that production is expanding very quickly.

“We have already begun to expand the production into another acre of greenhouse space,” DeMarchis said. “We plan to double in size over the next year. We’re adding on to the hydroponic production system with plans to max out the greenhouses. We will be doubling our capacity from five to 10 acres. But the 10 acres isn’t a limit for us. We are going to max out our production at our current location before we look to expand. If we can keep on growing at this location, we will continue to do so. We have 300 acres of land around us so we can easily expand.

“We not only want to offer consumers a locally-grown product, but we also want to be able to do it so that more consumers can afford it. With our scalability we are trying to make it possible for more consumers to afford and enjoy organic, sustainably-grown products. Our motto is “Fresher, greener, healthier.” We want to grow a crop that is sustainable, that is good for our planet, but is also healthier and better for consumers.”

For more: FresH₂O Growers, (540) 399-9600; info@fresh2ogrowers.com; https://www.fresh2ogrowers.com.

This article is property of Urban Ag News and was written by David Kuack, a freelance technical writer from Fort Worth, TX.

Dr. Ariana Torres, Ag Economist and Assistant Professor at Purdue University

Dr. Torres’ background combines field experience in agriculture with theoretical and applied research on agricultural economics. She has worked on projects looking at the impact of marketing choices on technology adoption for fruit and vegetable growers; the economic implications of social capital on entrepreneurship; and the role of community support on the resilience of small business after disasters.

Dr. Torres uses economic analysis to support the economic viability of the horticulture industry. Her research focuses on the intersection between the horticulture industry and marketing decisions. Her goal is to conduct innovative outreach and applied research in specialty crops marketing, with the end of promoting economic sustainability for horticultural businesses.

Dr. Torres is currently working on a project evaluating the market, economics, and potential barriers to produce export-quality dried apricots from smallholders of southern Tajikistan. She is also working on evaluating the adoption of a solar dehydrator for selected dried specialty crops in Indiana and Georgia. Lastly, she is collecting foundational data and establishing long-term pricing reports for Indiana farmers markets.

Collaboration is key to efficiency and profitfor local farmers.

By Karel Holloway

Almost 30 North Texas farmers, ranchers and other food producers are working with a new company to relieve the tedious chore of delivering products to area restaurants.

It frees up more time for growing and can increase profits, the founders say. 

“For almost five years we did all our own deliveries,” said Nelson Carter of Cartermere Farms in Celina, north of Dallas. “The reality is we’re a bunch of farmers. None of us worked for UPS or Fed Ex.” 

Now, deliveries are made by Profound Foods, a company that he and Jeff Bednar of Profound Microfarms began this year. It already has grown to nine full-time employees, and serves 83 restaurants in the Dallas area. 

Profound Farms used a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to acquire software and buy equipment, Bednar says. 

The system is simple. Enrolled farmers offer their products along with prices on the Profound website. Chefs place orders and the farmers deliver to a central site near them. 

Profound takes care of deliveries, bills the buyers and distributes the payments to the farmers.

Profound adds 20 percent to the farmers’ prices for its expenses and profit. It grossed about $200,000 in its first few months. 

The advantage to the restaurants is they can see what’s available throughout the region in one spot, get one delivery and one invoice. Farmers don’t have to spend time on the road and send out invoices to multiple customers. 

Bednar farms hydroponically, growing a full-spectrum of greens and edible flowers. He often works with chefs to supply exactly what they want when they want it.

His main farm, started five years ago, is in Lucas, also north of Dallas. He’s increased his growing area six-fold with the recent purchase of a shipping container vertical farm, he said. 

The company is a prime example of the collaboration needed to make small farming viable, says Eva Szalkai Csaky, executive director of the Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She’s researched subsistence and local farming internationally. 

Individually, it’s hard for small farmers to be successful, but when they form groups they have a much better chance of being profitable and making an impact. 

“This is a great example of aggregation,” she says. “It helps reduce the production costs of both farmers and restaurants.”

Such aggregators are a key for small farmers trying to leverage markets. One farmer may not be able to supply all a restaurant or grocery store’s needs, but together they can become reliable suppliers. It opens up new markets by making ordering local foods easier. 

“This helps with the transition from being community gardeners to business farmers,” she says. 

At this point there is little overlap in what North Texas farms are offering. Products run the gamut from mushrooms, to meat, to greens to hand-made cheese. All is organically grown. 

There are two hydroponic farms enrolled in Profound Foods, Bednar says, and they haven’t saturated restaurants interest in their produce. 

If more growers producing the same products banded together, they might have to find a bigger  market, Bednar said. Or they might specialize more to provide just what the chefs want. 

One of the strengths of the system is it allows growers to maintain a personal relationship with their customers. Carter says.

When farmers work through traditional distributors, they often lose their “face,” Carter and Bednar said. They want to make sure the farmers and chefs are partners. “We don’t want to ever lose our face,” Carter said.

This can also help sell more product. 

There are lots of orders for skinless chicken breasts, Carter said, but what about hearts and livers? 

Keeping the relationship with the restaurants allows the farmers to work on a menu highlighting the less-common parts. 

Just posting them on the website so customers can see a good deal on the products can lead to more sales. 

Carter sees the market for local foods growing. More customers are asking where their food comes from and more restaurants are looking for local seasonal foods. Profound Foods makes is simpler to serve the market. 

This article is property of Urban Ag News and was written by Karel Holloway, a freelance writer from Dallas, TX.

Square Roots’ partnership with Gordon Food Service was announced at the end of March, and their first co-located farm is opening just six months later. This speed is possible thanks to their modular, scalable farm-tech platform. They can bring their model—perfected in a Brooklyn parking lot—to any city in the world, and fast.

As their network of farms gets larger, it also gets smarter. Cloud-connected farms and data-empowered farmers learn from each other, enabling Square Roots to replicate success from one location to another, seamlessly. Opening the Michigan farm brings them closer to the vision of a distributed network of indoor farms, bringing local, real food to people in cities across the world—while empowering thousands of next-gen leaders in urban farming through their unique training program.

The Square Roots Michigan Next-Gen Farmers

The New Michigan Farm

This new farm consists of ten cloud-connected Square Roots Climate Containers, employing sophisticated, digitally-controlled hydroponics and full-spectrum LED lighting systems from our partner Signify. It will produce more than 50,000 lbs of premium herbs and greens annually. Initial crops will include basil, chives, and mint — harvested all year long — and will be grown without the use of GMOs or pesticides. After being hand-harvested by the Square Roots farm team, herbs are distributed by Gordon Food Service to customers in Grand Rapids, as well as throughout Michigan, northern Indiana, and Ohio.

Of course, at the center of the Square Roots model are the farmers themselves. It’s their love for each plant that makes the food taste so good. The Next-Gen Farmer Training Program provides a unique opportunity for young people to get started in the industry and take their place at the forefront of urban agriculture. Former Next-Gen Famer, Eli Zimmer, is joining the Michigan team as Assistant Farm Manager. His advancement to farm management is just one example of the Next-Gen Farmer Training Program creating pathways to leadership roles for young farmers.

Square Roots Next-Gen Farmers

Square Roots Cofounder and CEO, Tobias Peggs, noted, “This partnership with Gordon Food Service reflects our shared commitment to local, real food, and at a scale that will serve people and communities across North America. And with each new Square Roots farm, the Next-Gen Farmer Training Program opens doors for more young people to start exciting careers in the agriculture industry.”

As the Square Roots Michigan Farm Campus ramps up production to bring locally grown food to people in the Michigan area, they will be announcing ways to meet the local farmers and see the campus first hand.

There has been much discussion over whether controlled environment hydroponic food production should be allowed to be certified organic. Regardless of where you stand on the topic, Michigan State University horticulture marketing professor Bridget Behe said CEA hydroponic growers might be valued more by consumers if they promote their crops as being locally grown.

“Hydroponic growers should accentuate the local dimension until market researchers can determine if and how much consumers value the hydroponic dimension,” Behe said.” In a 2011 online study over 800 consumers were shown ornamental, vegetable and herb transplants that were labeled organic, sustainably-produced or local. The study participants were told how the plants were grown, but weren’t given definitions for organic, local or sustainable. Our hypothesis was that there was a dimension of the market that wanted organic. We didn’t distinguish whether the transplants were certified organic or not.

“We were surprised by the study results that found local was the big winner in terms of consumer willingness to pay and likelihood to buy. It went local first, sustainably-produced second and organic was third. It doesn’t mean that organic was valued. It just meant that locally-grown meant more to more people.”

Researchers concluded that when it comes to whether transplants are organic, it is not as important as transplants that are locally grown. The study results indicated “one of the main reasons consumers purchase local products is to support the local economy and local farmers. Both local food products and local plants can achieve the same objective.”

The definition of local can mean different things to different consumers.
“Depending on the population density, local in the Northeast is a vastly different mileage than local out West,” Behe said. “In places like Colorado and South Dakota, the mileage is going to be longer for local compared to a more densely populated state like Connecticut.”

Consumer perceptions of local, organic

In 2014 an online survey of over 2,500 people was conducted that included both American and Canadian participants. The survey asked participants to explain what local and organic meant to them. The survey referred to organic without the term “certified”.

“We started the survey by asking what is local and what is organic and what did those terms mean to the participants,” Behe said. “After they gave their free-form answers we asked them which terms or characteristics were associated with either local or organic. Some could correctly be associated with these words and some were incorrect association. Based on the responses received, 96 percent of the survey respondents had heard of the term local and 97 percent had heard of the term organic.”

Survey respondents had both accurate and inaccurate perceptions of local and organic. Sixty-seven percent of the participants correctly perceived local to mean decreased miles to transport. Sixty-seven percent also indicated that organic was produced with no synthetic pesticides.

In regards to respondent inaccuracies, 23 percent of participants perceived local as being grown organically. Another 17 percent thought local produce was grown without synthetic pesticides.

A hydroponic grower’s perspective

Tim Gehman, co-owner of Bux-Mont Hydroponics LLC in Telford, Pa., began growing hydroponically in 2005. He operates over 28,000 square feet of greenhouses equipped with nutrient film technique (NFT) and deep water culture production systems to grow lettuce and basil. His crops, which are USDA GAP-certified, are sold with the roots attached. Bux-Mont’s customers include grocery stores and several food distributors in the Philadelphia area. Most customers are within a 50-mile radius of the production facility.

“Our grocery store customers are more interested in locally-grown than in certified-organic,” Gehman said. “Some stores promote the locally-grown products that they offer. That is a big help for growers like me who are selling to those markets. Most average consumers don’t really understand what is involved with organics. Some think that organic produce is never sprayed and that’s not the case.”

Gehman said GAP certification is a requirement of his customers. Being able to supply GAP-certified lettuce and basil, Gehman is very aware of having to grow, harvest and pack clean, healthy produce.

“GAP-certification isn’t voluntary,” he said. “Our retail customers wanted us to be GAP certified. We are dealing with a large supermarket chain and several independent grocery companies that have several stores. Some of these are smaller co-ops that operate local grocery stores. We also sell to some farm market stores.”

Food safety issues

Behe said GAP-certified produce is sort of an invisible certification to the general public.

“The whole food safety issue is more product-centric,” she said. “Consumers perceive sprouts as being very risky. Fruit like melon, unless it’s cut, is lower on the public’s risk scale. Consumers have heard about recalls for crops like leafy greens. They’ve heard about E. coli and about people getting sick. They associate these problems more with the crop than they do with a production method. This would be a good question to ask consumers. Would you be as likely to have E. coli on greenhouse-grown, hydroponic lettuce vs. field-grown, certified-organic lettuce?”

Behe said even though the consumer’s mindset is likely suspect of many sprouts, some lettuce and leafy greens, the good news is that consumers have a very short memory.

“Even though there have been numerous issues with spinach, people went back to eating it within a short period of time,” she said. “I expect the same was true with the recent Romaine lettuce scare. If they like the lettuce they are going to go back to eating it.

“I’m not sure where consumers are going to fall on food safety. My hypothesis is it is going to be very crop-based. With leafy greens and lettuce, it is all going to be perceived equally regardless of how it was grown. I don’t have that evidence, it’s a hypothesis.”

Interchangeable word usage

Behe said in people’s minds they have different motivations for wanting to buy produce that is locally-, sustainably- or organically-grown.

“Consumers may want to buy local because they want to support a local business, but they may also want to buy local because they can buy organic produce and know the farmer,” she said. “These words are being used interchangeably. It’s not clearly a distinct perception as to what local is and what organic is. Certified organic has a specific standard. But I don’t see most consumers making differentiations between these words. It’s kind of morphed into this philosophy of wanting to do something good for me and wanting to do something good for the environment. So they choose local, which is probably fresher which may taste better which is more likely to be organic.”

Behe said hydroponic growers should play up the local and sustainable because practices that move consumers toward organic are seen more favorably than practices that move consumers toward more conventional production methods. The closer a crop is grown to where it is marketed the more favorable the product is seen by consumers.

“We can still identify consumer segments and the one that has the biggest appeal and to me the greatest market potential if it continues to be is local product,” she said. “That is the one that growers need to promote more often.”

For more: Bridget K. Behe, Michigan State University, Department of Horticulture, East Lansing, MI 48824; (517) 353-0346; behe@msu.edu; https://www.canr.msu.edu/people/dr_bridget_behe; http://connect-2-consumer.com.

This article is property of Urban Ag News and was written by David Kuack, a freelance technical writer from Fort Worth, TX.

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 of the growers who I work with who grow vegetable transplants grow cole crops, including cabbage and kale, which are then field transplanted,” Owen said. “Few ornamental growers who I work with produce vine crops of tomatoes and English cucumbers. There is also a grower who is experimenting with peppers and eggplant. The majority of these growers also produce field vegetables.

They grow the ornamentals in the spring and then produce field vegetables. They had the available greenhouse space and felt they could earn additional revenue by adding vegetables.

“In general the smaller growers I’m working with may have as few as one or two hoop houses or greenhouses. The larger growers may have up to an acre of greenhouse vegetable production. I work with a lot of small grower-retail operations. They grow spring ornamentals and also have a vegetable farm as well. They typically sell the vegetables through their retail garden centers. After the spring bedding plants are sold they focus on the vegetables. Some also sell at farmers markets and some have contracts with local restaurants and grocery stores. The product for these growers, who are located in southeast Michigan, is based on what they’re comfortable growing and what their customers are looking for.”

Owen said the growers are marketing their produce as an early crop ahead of what would be field grown.

“These growers can provide fresh tomatoes and other produce earlier than what can be field harvested,” he said. “They also have better control in regards to quality. It’s the early harvest, meeting the early market demand and having a superior quality product.

“When I was visiting these growers in April and May they were already harvesting tomatoes. After the annuals are sold then they are growing the greenhouse tomatoes. That goes all the way until the fall and then they rip those out and give the greenhouses a rest period. They can clean up the greenhouses and prepare them for the next spring production. They make sure that no pests or diseases are carried over through the winter. There is also one ornamental grower producing tomatoes year-round in conjunction with growing ornamentals.”

Adding vegetable production

Owen said some of the growers started producing vegetables because they had empty greenhouse space and wanted to get another turn to increase their profits.

“For many it was a trial-and-error project,” he said. “They wanted to see if they could grow greenhouse vegetables with the inputs, including substrates that they were already using for their ornamentals.

“The vegetables are separated from the ornamental crops. The crops are separated in the greenhouses whether it is a separate greenhouse used for vegetables or the greenhouses can be closed off with automatic doors or plastic curtains.”

Owen said the ornamental growers are using different production methods to grow the vegetables. Some are using large containers, including 2-, 3- or 4-gallon nursery containers filled with a commercial growing mix.

“The smaller growers who are doing finished vegetables are using bag culture with a commercial substrate,” he said. “They lay the bags out in the greenhouse and grow the vegetables in the bags.

“Some growers are using flower bulb crates that are filled with a commercial substrate. They plant in the substrate and then cover the crates with the bags the substrate came in. Some are also growing in Bato buckets. The substrates include commercial peat-perlite mixes, coir and some are using a bark-based coir mix to provide more drainage.”

Challenges of greenhouse vegetable production

Even though these ornamental growers were growing vegetable transplants for field production and retail sales, Owen said they faced some challenges when trying to finish the vegetables under greenhouse conditions.

“Since these vegetables crops were being grown in a protected environment and they are edible crops, some of the chemicals that can be sprayed on greenhouse ornamental crops or what can be sprayed on outdoor vegetables weren’t labeled for greenhouse crops,” Owen said. “They had to find out what they could use to control pests and diseases indoors. The growers are using conventional production methods and are not growing organically. They do try to implement organic practices when possible such as pest and disease control.

“The majority of pests and diseases that they are trying to control outdoors are the same as the ones they are trying to control indoors. Some of those pests and diseases are also the same ones they are trying to control on their ornamental crops.”

Owen said one of the biggest challenges these growers faced was trying to grow greenhouse vegetables in the same growing mixes they were using for ornamental plants.

“The crop time for the ornamentals is anywhere from four to eight weeks,” he said. “Trying to grow a greenhouse crop like tomatoes for months in the same ornamental growing mix caused some issues. For example, with a peat-perlite mix settling occurs and the particle size degrades over time. The chemical and physical properties are going to be altered, including air space and container capacity. Some of the air space in the substrate is lost from settling or compaction. Just because a substrate can be used to grow ornamentals in a short crop time, there are challenges using the same mix for longer-term greenhouse vegetables.

Owen said none of the growers who added greenhouse vegetables changed substrates. One grower did add more peat in order to increase water retention.

One of the biggest adjustments the growers had to make for greenhouse vegetables was related to pH management and keeping the pH within the recommended range during the longer crop cycles.

“To make pH adjustments some of the growers did alter or chose a fertilizer based on the crops,” he said. “Blossom end rot on tomatoes was a challenge for one grower. That was helped by altering the pH and changing the fertilizer that was used.

“Irrigation was another issue, including how they were watering and how often they were watering. This also varied based on the age of the crop, the substrate they were using and how they were growing the crop. There wasn’t just one answer for these growers because they were growing different crops, how they were growing them and at different stages in the production cycle. We had to tailor the changes based on their method of growing.”

For more: W. Garrett Owen, Michigan State University Extension, East Lansing, MI 48824; (248) 347-3860 Ext. 202; wgowen@msu.edu; http://msue.anr.msu.edu/experts/garrett_owen.

David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.

You want fresh? Dallas’ Central Market is growing salad behind the store

By Maria Halkias

Author of “Chef’s Can Save the World” and owner of Nashville’s premier sandwich shop Sloco, Jeremy Barlow shares his thoughts on the future of local and sustainable food production in Nashville Tennessee.

Video created and produced by Urban Ag News. If you are interested in having a video created about your organization please contact us directly.

Grow North Texas is a nonprofit that seeks to connect North Texans to food, farms, and community in order to create a sustainable, secure regional food system that enriches the land, encourages economic opportunity through food and agriculture, and supports equitable access to healthy, nutritious food for all.

In this video Susie Marshall, Executive Director of Grow North Texas, shares more about their mission.

Video created and produced by Urban Ag News. If you are interested in having a video created about your organization please contact us directly.

Urban Ag Products presents “Grown Locally: Quality, Community and Family” a short documentary about Ruibal’s Plants of Texas and how they are passionate about locally grown produce and plants

Fortunately, thanks to greenhouses and controlled environment agriculture (CEA), basil can be grown year round. Basil is appealing to growers because of its consistent demand from consumers. Growers who produce basil during colder months are usually able to fetch higher prices when local outdoor crops are unavailable. In some areas of the country high end retailers sell basil for $3-$4 per ounce or $50-$60 per pound.

However, before you start counting your cash and making plans to retire in Hawaii, it’s important to realize that growing basil, just like any other crop, has its challenges. Just as easily as you might make a lot of money from producing basil, you could end up breaking even or losing money.

Factors to consider before growing basil

Here are some issues growers might face and options they might consider before starting to produce basil.

Variety selection

What variety of basil should you grow? Basil comes in all sizes and colors. There are Italian basils, Thai basils and Indian basils. Some have small leaves, some have large leaves. Some are more aromatic, while others have a stronger flavor.

You first need to determine what market you are going to target and what potential customers will need from you as the grower. Then look at your production system and determine which varieties with the characteristics you’ve selected are best suited for your system. After choosing the varieties, run some production trials to see how the plants grow and what changes may be required.

Production period

Do you plan to grow year round? Greenhouse basil production can be a very lucrative crop in the off season.

Typically during the summer, many markets are flooded with local, field-produced basil. Consequently the price drops accordingly.

You have the option to grow year round in order to maintain a brand presence. You can choose to grow another crop during the warmer months or use that time for trialing new basil varieties or conduct other R&D work.

Another important consideration during the summer is that energy costs are usually at their highest during this time of year. If you have a big energy bill dedicated towards supplemental lighting, climate management equipment (cooling) as well as other energy hungry tools and technology it might not make financial sense to operate during the summer. Maybe it’s a good time to take a vacation, clear your head, and get ready for the cooler months just around the corner.

Replanting crops

How long should basil be harvested before the plants are replaced? Although basil is treated as an annual in the United States, it is actually a warm weather perennial plant. This means in a constant environment, such as in CEA, basil continues to produce indefinitely. As plants age, often the visual quality of the leaves remains very high, but the flavor can change and is less than desirable. Careful attention should be placed on this aspect of production since there are no visual indicators that will indicate when to replace the plants.

Harvesting, marketing basil

What is the best way to package and market basil? This is one of the hardest questions to answer. Basil is an extremely fragile herb which withers quickly. It is very sensitive to chilling injury and is damaged by rough handling.

Basil can be sold in bunches, as live plants, or fresh cut and packaged for a higher quality product. Whatever method you choose, research your options and do numerous tests to determine how your product holds in the market environment where it will be sold. Remember, it is extremely delicate and if the right conditions are not maintained, quality will suffer quickly.

There are other considerations with basil cultivation, just as there are with every crop. These are some of the main factors to consider as you get started. And remember, if you choose the right market and produce a consistent quality crop, you might be able to start dreaming about that retirement home on the beach….

By David Ceaser

David Ceaser has over 20 years experience working with plants and agriculture in numerous capacities and countries.  He has studied agroecology, horticulture and business along with several years working in real estate development.  He currently does consulting work and operates a small outdoor urban farm specializing in herbs and salad greens.  To contact David, please e-mail farmer@gsvfarm.com