Why Lettuce Greenhouse Sector's Growth Is Focused In The U.S.

By Peter Tasgal

August 10, 2021

Greenhouses for lettuce and leafy greens are being built at a rapid pace across the U.S. In contrast, in neighboring Mexico there is no similar greenhouse production and in Canada there is very little — the primary exception being 11-acre Whole Leaf Farms located in Coaldale, Alberta. 

Based on my research, the primary driver for this U.S. phenomenon is investor comfort in making U.S.-based investments in leafy greens greenhouses, which are more expensive to build compared to tomato, cucumber and pepper greenhouses. 

For example, AppHarvest’s latest tomato greenhouse is expected to be 63 acres and valued at $139 million — just over $50 per square foot. In contrast, Bright Farms’ 280,000-square-foot leafy greens greenhouse in North Carolina cost $21 million, or $75 per square foot. Gotham Greens built a 100,000-square-foot leafy greens greenhouse in Providence, Rhode Island, that cost $12.2 million, or $122 per square foot. 

In addition to investor interest in the U.S. market, other potential factors affecting this phenomenon include:

• Temperature variance;

• Pricing certainty;

• Equilibrium capital leading the charge; and

• Generational knowledge in Canada.

Temperature variance

Lettuce and leafy greens perform best at cooler temperatures, up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, in comparison, grow best at temperatures in excess of 70 degrees Fahrenheit. 

As the U.S. has a more moderate climate than either Canada or Mexico, a band of greenhouses across the U.S. takes advantage of the more temperate climate. Historically, leafy greens greenhouses have been built in the middle and upper sections of the U.S. However, boundaries have moved. Revol Greens, for example, has a 10-acre greenhouse in Minnesota and is expected to build a 20-acre greenhouse in Austin, Texas, to be completed in 2022. 
 
Historically it has been more costly to keep a greenhouse cool rather than to heat it. However, alternative sources of energy and energy pricing incentives in parts of the southern U.S. have made it increasingly cost competitive to build greenhouses in this area. 

Pricing certainty

The cost to build a leafy greens greenhouse is more than a tomato, pepper or cucumber greenhouse on a per square foot basis and on a per pound basis. As a reference, the cost of AppHarvest’s tomato greenhouse is approximately $3 per one year’s production of pounds of tomatoes. In comparison, Bright Farms’ recent leafy greens greenhouse is over $10 per one year’s production of pounds of lettuce and leafy greens. 

This large cost structure variance requires greenhouse-grown lettuce to be priced at a premium. In contrast, greenhouse-grown tomatoes can and are priced directly with field-grown tomatoes. In the U.S. today, greenhouse-grown tomatoes make up the majority of fresh tomato sales. 

The risk for an investor in a premium product is demand fluctuation. Economic and other market conditions will have a greater effect on premium product demand compared to product with more commodity-like traits.

Equilibrium Capital leading the charge

Equilibrium Capital is a leading investor in the North American controlled environment agriculture sector. It closed its second fund (CEFF II) this past month, with a capacity of $1.022 billion. Its first fund, CEFF I, had a capacity of $336 million. Recent investments made by Equilibrium include:

• AppHarvest: $91 million non-dilutive investment to support the building of its second tomato greenhouse in Kentucky.

• FINKA: Expansion capital for the Mexican greenhouse company, which operates tomato, pepper and cucumber greenhouses, the product of which is primarily sold into the U.S. and Canada. This was Equilibrium’s first investment outside of the U.S.

• Little Leaf Farms: $90 million of debt and equity financing for the company, which is currently building a lettuce and leafy greens facility in Pennsylvania and is expected to follow with a facility in North Carolina.

• Revol Greens: $110 million of debt and equity capital to support its building of a large lettuce and leafy greens greenhouse in Texas.

FINKA is Equilibrium’s only investment outside of the U.S. to-date. 

Generational knowledge in Canada

According to the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers’ website, the organization formed in 1967 has “220 members who grow greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers on over 3,000 acres.” 

Two of the largest growers in Canada, Mastronardi Produce and Mucci Farms, have invested primarily in building their current greenhouses. To the extent each has branched out, it has been primarily to berries and eggplants. Mastronardi and Mucci have little to no owned lettuce and leafy greens production across North America. 

Of note, in 2019 AppHarvest entered into a Purchase and Marketing Agreement with Mastronardi, under which “Mastronardi will be the sole and exclusive marketer and distributor of all tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, berries and leafy greens” at its Morehead, Ky., facility (currently producing only tomatoes). 

Per the 10-year agreement, Mastronardi has a right of first refusal for any additional facilities established in Kentucky or West Virginia. The take-away is Mastronardi is willing to distribute and market greenhouse-grown leafy greens, venturing a reputational risk, but has not yet chosen the investment risk of operating its own greenhouses.

Speaking to the OGVG, most greenhouse operators in Ontario have chosen to put their resources into products they already know. When asked specifically about lettuce and leafy greens, OGVG said the cost to build this type of greenhouse is very expensive per unit of output.  

Recap

Some of the most seasoned greenhouse operators in North America are growing a range of produce types in the Ontario, Canada, area largely focused on tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.

Each of these products grows best at higher temperatures than lettuce and leafy greens. Canadian operators who have been in the business for generations are potentially willing to distribute and market leafy greens, yet they have not been willing to make significant investments in the area. 

While leafy greens were once only grown in the Northern parts of the U.S., Revol Greens, backed by Equilibrium Capital, is building one of the largest greenhouses in Texas. Equilibrium Capital, the “smart money,” has only invested in U.S. CEA companies to-date. The exception is FINKA, which operates in Mexico but sells exclusively to the U.S. and Canada. 

Based on my research, until lettuce and leafy greens greenhouse production can be priced competitively with field-grown product, it will continue to be a U.S. phenomenon. At least until that time, Canadian and Mexican operators will leave greenhouse lettuce and leafy greens production to U.S. operators. 

Peter Tasgal is a Boston-area food agriculture consultant focused on controlled environment agriculture. 

Fashion Giant Makes Foray Into Leafy Greens

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Y CHRIS KOMOREK

@ckfruitnet

25th March 2021, London

New Investment In Vertical Farming Company Ljusgårda AB

Comes From Platform Owned By Chairman of H&M

The investment platform owned by H&M chairman, Karl Johan Persson, has invested in Ljusgårda AB, the Swedish vertical farming business based in Tibro.

Reports published by HortNews indicate the vertical farming company is backed by a number of investors, including Philian, which is the investment platform owned by Persson.

Ljusgårda, which produces crispy bagged salads, is planning to use the new investment to expand its production area in order to produce more products.

“We will grow from a cultivation area of 300m2 to 2,500m2, and thus from cultivating two tonnes a month to 60 tonnes when the factory is in full swing after the summer,” Ljusgårda marketing manager Maria Hillerström told reporters. “We will expand with more products this spring.”

Ljusgårda’s chief executive, Andreas Wilhelmsson, added the company is ambitious to expand. “We are looking at a number of possible new locations. As our first factory will soon start producing, it’s time to start financing the growth plans.

“The interest is huge out there. On the one hand, we are joining the sustainability trend, food-tech is starting to become very popular at the same time as this type of company out in the countryside where we are is not so common.”

Lead Image credit: Hort News

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Advice For New Vertical Farmers: Grower Spotlight on Andrew Worrall

Last week we spoke about running a farm at LettUs Grow. What excites you about vertical farming? 

It’s the future of the industry. Also, the amount of salad that these farms can produce for their local community. We want to be able to eat salad all year round and we import to make that happen. However, just a small farm can easily provide for its local community, very efficiently and all year round. The sustainability element is also exciting: with our salad there’s no food miles, it’s very minimalistic. You could use an electric van or bike to distribute this crop if you wanted to. It’s a step forward in terms of what we need to do to take care of our planet. 

What do you think are the biggest downsides to vertical farming?

It’s still a new technology and it can be expensive. The biggest roadblock facing the industry is that we need more people and companies to collaborate together to make sure we can build these farms at a sensible rate, so we can provide farms to anyone. We want to be able to provide farms to people, communities and countries that don’t have a lot of money, so that they can provide affordable fresh produce to local people. 

How has vertical farming impacted your life?

Massively!  I wanted to find my passion, a job that I loved - that was very important to me. It’s satisfying to be in a position now where I’m very happy to be doing what I do and I look forward to going into work. I was happy to make the move from London to Bristol. I would have moved even further if it meant being able to continue working within this industry.

Image from: LettUs Grow

How do you see vertical farming playing a part in the future? 

When indoor farming first came about, it had a reputation of being competition for outdoor farming, which just isn’t the case. There’s so much we can’t grow that outdoor farming can provide, such as cereal crops. I’m glad we’re at a stage where indoor and outdoor farms can start to work together to optimise both methods. With these new relationships, there should be a good increase in the amount of indoor farms you’ll be seeing. What LettUs Grow offers with DROP & GROW™ is an exciting project because that’s a 40ft shipping container which can be placed pretty much anywhere. It’s not that big - it could go in a car park or behind a restaurant, but actually provide quite a lot of salad to that area. 

How much of our food should be grown this way? 

Good question. If you had asked me a while back I would have just said salad, but now I’ve changed my mind. Indoor farming can have a massive impact on propagation, especially aeroponics, because of how we aerate and nourish our roots. We could start lettuce for greenhouse projects and we can also propagate tomatoes, strawberries and tree whips. Propagating trees in this way could potentially be hugely beneficial and it’s something we want to do more of. 

We can also quickly grow large amounts of microgreens, baby leafs, herbs and we can grow fruiting crops like strawberries. We are slowly chipping away and it’s really exciting. I’m waiting to see if I can ever say I’ve grown or propagated every crop that can be grown in these farms! 

What do you think are the biggest benefits of vertical farming? 

How fast these crops can grow! The turnover can be as short as 5 days from seed, depending on the crop. Also how clean it can be - I’m very dedicated to making sure these farms are built to ensure they are easy to be maintained and clean. The most exciting part is the crop growth rate though - it’s incredible how fast our crop grows from seed to plate. In a very well maintained growing calendar, which Ostara® is great for supporting, you can optimise your beds so that the day you harvest can also be the day you germinate onto that same bed. Your farms can be forever providing salad at very fast rates. 

Image from: LettUs Grow

What was the biggest change you encountered during your years indoor farming?

Moving from being a production grower to an R&D grower. It has been a great change! As a production grower I knew what I needed to know about growing the plant safely and getting it onto a plate so it was good for the consumer. Now I’m fully optimising, learning and understanding the plants completely, so that I can help the grower that I used to be. We spend a lot of time on crop recipes to make sure that whoever we sell our farms to can start up very quickly and they won’t have to spend months developing their crops. If they have the customers and clients behind them, they can buy DROP & GROW and start producing salad as soon as it's been commissioned. 

What was the biggest change you encountered in the industry?

More and more people are speaking about what’s going on in the industry and getting involved. I get so many messages on LinkedIn with people who want to get into this career. It’s exciting to see that indoor growing is a career people can access now. When I was developing my skills I didn’t know I would end up in indoor farming. There are more opportunities than ever before. For example, our Crop Technician is doing a placement here for 2 years. The aim is that they can gain the skill sets and knowledge they need to then go off and do the same practice in any farm they want. 

What advice do you have for people who are looking to start a career in growing? 

Reach out to companies who are already out there. You could start off part-time or as an assistant. If you are patient and dedicated then it’s a journey I promise you won’t regret. It takes a lot of work, but the outcome is amazing - you’ll be learning so much about this new technology. You’ll also build great relationships: there are so many amazing people in this industry who are so interesting, with different backgrounds, who are willing to share their knowledge. You can always learn more and other people are a great source of that. 

What about for those looking to start a vertical farming business?

Do your homework.  There are people out there who you can reach out to and it’s very easy to get information. It’s very easy to get excited about the idea and jump straight into it, because it is exciting and can be very rewarding, but it’s really important to do it step by step. Know how to scale properly, learning the differences between a small and larger farm. Understand how many people you’ll need and the logistics. I’d also advise people to get some practical work experience before you buy. You want to start the company knowing the tricks of the trade. 

Image from: LettUs Grow

LettUs Grow Blog: www.lettusgrow.com/blog/advice-for-vertical-farmers

$1.8 Million Dollar Alaska Micro-Grant Opportunity

State of Alaska, Division of Agriculture

Micro-Grants For Food Security 2021

Important: February 15th Scoping Pre-Application Deadline

There is a two-step process to apply:

1) Submit a simple, two-page application by the February 15th deadline.

2) Applications meeting the criteria, will be notified to submit a full proposal.

More Details and Dates

The Department of Natural Resources Division of Agriculture has complete Micro-Grants for Food Security information.

February 15: The simple two-page Scoping Pre-Application is due.

Grant Award Scoping Applications and Full Applications are to be submitted to dnr.ag.grants@alaska.gov or by mail at Division of Agriculture, Attn: Grants Coordinator, 1801 S. Margaret Drive, Palmer, Alaska 99645.

March 1, 2021: Notification of selection for full proposal submissions. Qualified, unfunded applications will be given priority in 2022.

April (TBD), 2021 - Announcement of final awards

Overview

Alaskans have a huge opportunity to increase their food security and resilience through a $1.8 million dollar mini-grant offered through the State of Alaska Division of Agriculture in 2021.

VH Hydroponics is offering guidance and estimates for interested clients who would like to apply. Email iinfo@vhhydroponics.com or (907) 782-4420.

Who Can Apply?

Both individuals and organizations can apply; the definition is very broad: all individuals, Indian Tribes or tribal organizations, non-profit organizations, and federally funded educational facilities in the State of Alaska. Therefore, everyone in the State of Alaska who has a project which will meet the requirements of the program are eligible to participate.

How much?

$1.8 million dollars for 2021. There will be additional funding in 2022 and 2023.

Individuals

Individuals may apply for up to $5,000 per year for up to 3 years. The maximum of $15,000 over 3 years.

Organizations

Organizations may apply for up to $10,000 per year for up to 3 years. Maximum of $30,000 over 3 years.

Multiple Awards For The Same

Project Are Allowed | 10% Matching

Awards may be granted for two or more eligible entities to carry out the same project. 10% match is required; but for individual grants, a waiver may be requested which will be considered for approval.

Purpose And Use of Grant Funds

To engage in activities that will increase the quantity and quality of locally grown food for food insecure individuals, families, neighborhoods, and communities, including by:

Purchasing tools, equipment, soil, soil amendments, seeds, plants, animals, canning equipment, refrigeration, or other items necessary to grow and store food;

Expanding areas under cultivation to grow food or to qualify for an EQUIP high tunnel to extend the growing season;

Hydroponic and aeroponic farming;

Building, buying, erecting, or repairing fencing for livestock, poultry, or reindeer;

Purchasing and equipping a slaughter and processing facility;

Traveling to participate in agricultural education

Paying for shipping of items related to growing or raising food;

Creating or expanding avenues for the sale of local food, increasing the availability of local nutritious food, and engaging in other activities related to increasing food security (including subsistence)

Scoping Pre-Application Project Scoring

An independent Review Committee will evaluate the scoping pre-applications with the following criteria:

Eligibility of the proposal per the farm bill legislation

The ability of the proposed activity to increase the production and/or storage capacity in the local community

The level of food insecurity in the applicant’s region

Other relevant information as to the capacity and purpose of the applicants

VH Hydroponics is Here to Help

Contact VH Hydroponics to learn more about pricing and possibilities

Email: VH Hydroponics for More Information

VH Hydroponics | (907) 782-4420 | https://vhhydroponics.com

VIDEO: Havecon Introduces Havelettuce Projects: Standardized Turn-Key Lettuce Greenhouses Make Entering Greenhouse Industry Easier

Havecon has been known as a turnkey greenhouse supplier for many years now, but as of now they'll take turnkey to a new level under the name of “Havelettuce Projects”. Havelettuce will not only take on the build of a greenhouse but the complete project realization, offering a plug and play concept for starting a lettuce greenhouse enterprise. With this new initiative, the door into the horticultural industry will open more easily, CEO Henk Verbakel explains. 

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Reduce food miles
"Growing hydroponic vegetables closer to consumers will reduce food miles and help reverse the trend of foreign produce imports. Together with our partners and suppliers we bring over 100 years of combined experience in developing large-scale hydroponic greenhouses for several kinds of fruit, vegetables and medicinal cannabis. With Havelettuce Projects, we're using this knowledge to offer 1-2 and 2-4 hectare standardized, turn-key hydroponic lettuce greenhouses," says Henk. 

With this new concept, they're answering to the growing demand for local food production and helping investors and other newcomers to the industry find an easy entrance. "We'll manage the entire project from start to finish. This means you only deal with one company," says Jon Adams, Vice President North America. "Furthermore, we provide project anonymity to our customers to provide a competitive edge by being the face of the project until it goes live." 

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Investors
The horticultural industry has become of interest for many investors and according to the Havelettuce team, it's not difficult to see why. "It is a proven method of growing plants in a soilless environment by relying on a nutrient-rich water solution," Jon explains. "Hydroponics can rapidly help serve unmet demands for fresh vegetables by being grown close to their markets. And it's a sound investment: with investment sizes of 20-50 million dollars for a 1- 4 ha projects we can show a 10-year average EBIDTA of 30 – 45%." 

Hydroponic advantages
He adds how growing produce in a hydroponic greenhouse has many advantages. "Greenhouse temperatures and inputs can be precisely controlled, allowing plants to grow faster and face fewer diseases than their outside soil counterparts. Furthermore, a closed-loop irrigation system results in major water savings and uses less fertilizers. This prevents pollutants from entering soil and groundwater as seen with open-field production."  

And it's not just the existing industry players anymore that see these opportunities. Many new people are entering the industry. To make it easy for them to do so and to avoid reinventing the wheel, Havelettuce has been created. "Our team has built over 400 greenhouse facilities throughout the world from project as small as 0.1 to over 100 hectares. And now we combine our expertise in hydroponic farming with that of our partners. With the standards we created, Havelettuce Projects makes lettuce cultivation in greenhouses possible for everyone in any climate," he shows.

This means that location, climate, utility load studies, feasibility studies, and all other things you can think of like the community outreach and education, the permitting and incentive procurement will be taken on by our team and by doing so relieve the investors, just as of course the engineering and constructing, project management, crop and harvest advice, and grower consulting and training. "We will provide all of the necessary tools needed to succeed in this industry." 

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For more information:
Havelettuce
info@havelettuce.com 
www.havelettuce.com
Linkedin
Twitter

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Publication date: Mon 4 Jan 2021
Author: Arlette Sijmonsma
© FreshPlaza.com

USA: Tanimura & Antle Recalls Romaine, Michigan Reports E. Coli Cases

Chris Koger

November 8, 2020

A state agency in Michigan is advising residents not to eat Tanimura & Antle brand romaine lettuce packed as single heads, and the company has issued a recall of the lettuce.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on Nov. 6 issued its advisory, the same day the Salinas, Calif.-based company recalled single heads of romaine.

Random testing by the state’s agriculture department found a sample with E. coli, and more testing by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services laboratory determined the strain is “highly related” to the strain linked to two cases being investigated in Michigan, according to a news release from the state’s agriculture department.

Tanimura and Antle’s recall covers almost 4,000 cases of single heads of romaine with the Universal Product Code of 0-27918-20314-9. The Produce Traceability Initiative codes on the cartons are 571280289SRS1 and 571280290SRS1.

“At Tanimura & Antle, food safety is a number-one priority and the company prides itself on its preventative measures,” according to the company’s notice posted on the Food and Drug Administration’s website. “It is unlikely that this product remains at retail establishments due to the shelf life of lettuce and the number of days that have passed.”

The sample was collected at a Walmart in Comstock Park, according to the Michigan agriculture department. According to the Tanimura & Antle notice, its recall “is based on the test result of a random sample collected and analyzed by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development as part of their routine sampling program.”

The Tanimura & Antle recall, however, does not list Michigan as a destination for the recalled romaine. The single heads of romaine were packed on Oct. 15-16 and were shipped to Alaska, Oregon, California, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Nebraska, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin, New Mexico, South Carolina, Washington, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Puerto Rico.

The recall and Michigan advisory comes as the FDA is investigating two E. coli outbreaks involving separate strains of the pathogen that “are recurring, emerging or persistent strains,” according to an Oct. 28 news release.

Those two strains are “genetically related” to E. coli outbreaks related to romaine lettuce: one from a 2019 outbreak that led to 23 illnesses, and another from a 2018 outbreak that led to 21 illnesses and one death. Each of the current outbreaks have two cases reported in Michigan, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the Oct. 28 announcement, the FDA said there was no evidence to link the outbreaks to any specific foods, and that a pathogen strain being linked to a food safety event in the past does not prove a link to a current outbreak.

Related story:

FDA says E. coli outbreaks have strains 

Lead photo: ( Courtesy FDA )

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NEW ZEALAND: Southland Lawyer-Turned Lettuce Farmer Expanding Hydroponics Business

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1 November 2020

Otago Daily Times

By: Mary-Jo Tohill

A Southland lawyer-turned lettuce farmer is looking forward to devoting all her time to expanding her hydroponics business.

Aviation lawyer Angela Beazer, who has been working for the Civil Aviation Authority part-time, was a recent recipient of a $2.5 million Provincial Growth Fund loan.

While flying high, the 45-year-old has her feet firmly on the ground. With plans afoot to triple the lettuce farm's production, it had become clear to her she could no longer do both jobs and would have to quit one.

"But now I'm ready for change. I've been trying to juggle both, but they're not complimentary.

"I have a life many people would envy. I can work on my own schedule. I can be there to pick up my daughter from school, but as I say, they (lawyer/lettuce growing) are not complementary. I could not give 100 percent to both. If I do something I like to do it properly.

"I'm quite looking forward to focusing just on the lettuces."

If someone had told the former career professional eight years ago that she was destined to become a lettuce farmer, she would have laughed.

"I pictured lettuces sown out in the middle of the muddy paddock. Not my cup of tea at all."

She and her partner, Craig Macalister, had already taken a big leap of faith when they moved from Wellington to Invercargill so that he could take up a new position with financial advisory and accountancy firm Findex.

However, it was their frustration at not being able to find a suitable rural lifestyle block that led them to a property in Myross Bush.

Shoulder-tapped by a real estate agent, they went out and looked at a place that happened to have a hydroponics setup — Drysdale Hydroponics.

"I knew nothing about growing lettuces. We'd been down here about a year. I had a plot where I grew some veggies — a bit of broccoli, some cauliflower, a few potatoes. Actually, the potatoes were already there. That was about the extent of my horticultural experience."

Fast forward eight years and now she grows lettuce by the hundreds at her farm Southern Hydroponics, still trading as Drysdale Hydroponics, near Invercargill.

And with the expansion that will employ another 30 people, she's set to grow more, and other vegetable crops, including capsicums and tomatoes.

"We're been producing a fairly fixed amount of product. The business does need to expand because there's more competition. The minimum wage's gone up, so you either shut down or you expand and make it worthwhile."

Increasing production and lowering costs made for better economies of scale. Beazer liked the concept of hydroponics as an efficient way of growing food on a large scale.

However, while it had been a great move, it was also a huge lifestyle change,

"I think sometimes, 'why am I doing it?' But you're working at waist height — you're not having to bend and I quite like working undercover, but still feeling like you're working outdoors.

"On the other hand, this is a 24/7, 365-day operation. Someone has to be here watching all the time. There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes."

It was sometimes hard to close the greenhouse door and walk away when you had to be constantly checking things like nutrients and temperature, she said.

"One thing I'm really looking forward to is being able to move to a heat pump from the boiler, with the expansion."

There might also be time to take up some interests again — like Zumba.

"I was doing it, but since lockdown and everything I haven't got back into it and I've been a bit of a lazy bum and not been doing it."

Lead photo: Angela Beazer surveys her hydroponic lettuces. Photo / Supplied

Increasing Lettuce Leaves' Fresh Weight by Light Treatments

While red light is widely considered the visible spectral region with higher effects on photosynthesis, the amount of blue required for different species is an ongoing question. Italian researchers dove into the matter and trialed three spectra to see what the effects would be on the crop and what the potential is for growing vegetables at your house. 

By Mattia Accorsi PhD (1); Federico Carotenuto PhD (2)

1) Biologist2) Researcher CNR IBIMET Florence

Light-spectrum manipulation

The research deepen the enhancement of the nutraceutical components in indoor primary production through only the light-spectrum manipulation. To achieve the experimental results was built, in collaboration with the Department of Agronomical Sciences (University of Bologna), an integrated and automated indoor prototypal growing system. In the prototype different state-of-the-art LED lighting lamps prepared ad hoc by C-LED (www.c-led.it) are compared in order to pinpoint the best spectral characteristics for food production as well as the most energy-efficient solution.

Material and methods: Sampling Location, hydroponic system, and plant material

Indoor growing system was divided into three sectors separated by a non-reflective opaque membrane. Each sector held two draining trays with 8 pots each containing a 50:50 perlite-vermiculite growing medium. The automated irrigation system dispensed 30” of irrigation each three hours from 6:00 to 22:00 (local time) and again at 2 am. A 200 liters tank, refilled weekly, was used as the water reservoir. To the irrigation water were added a series of nutrients. Room temperature was regulated at 18 ± 2 °C between 8 am and 20 pm, and at 16 ± 2°C between 20 pm and 8 am, by the building HVAC system. Each sector (i.e.: each of the three columns with three shelves each) had a specific light spectrum supplied by different LED lamps. Each shelf (i.e.: each row of the scaffolding) contained one of the three varieties of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.): var. Maravilla de Verano, var. Lollo Rosso, and var. Crispa. In this way, each variety was illuminated by the three different spectra, therefore generating nine combinations between variety and lightning.

Agronomical and morphological determination

Determinations on the number of leaves, LAI, and growth rate were conducted weekly for the entire duration of the plants’ growth since the transplanting (Zink and Yamaguchi, 1962). Plants’ biomass in fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) production were analyzed at harvesting time. Values of electroconductivity (EC) and pH of water tank and drainage was checked three times per week with a conductometer model Basic 30 (Crison instrument, Barcelona, Spain). The content of nitrogen in the leaf tissues was measured weekly utilizing a Yara N-Tester (Oslo, Norway), taking thirty measurement per plant. Vegetables’ yield was related to the lamps’ energetic consumption in order to evaluate the energy use efficiency (EUE) and expressed as g kW-1.

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Figure: Morphology of three lettuce varieties (Meravilla de Verano, Crispa and Lollo Rosso), treated with three light spectra at 200 PPFD. Picture acquired at harvesting time (30 DAT). Effects on color intensity (green index) and pigment composition will be deepen in next article.

Biochemical determination

At harvesting time, 30 days after transplanting, a portion of leaf tissues of different theses were collected and stored in polyethylene bags at -20°C until processed. Extraction and quantification of total phenolic and flavonoid contents was conducted as described in Piovene et al. (2014). Antioxidant capacity was determined with the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method as described by Floegel et al. (2011), in order to evaluate the additive and synergistic effects of all antioxidants rather than the effects of single compounds (Brighenti et al., 2005; Puchau et al., 2009).

In all lettuce varieties, leaves’ fresh weight was significantly increased by light treatments. Thesis A (110±34g) and C (112±42g) determined a better production in respect to B (90±34g) as shown in figure. Between three lettuce varieties, at 30 days after transplanting (DAT), Meravilla de Verano showed the highest fresh biomass production with 135±28 grams per plant while Crispa and Lollo Rosso varieties had a production of 104±31g and 72±25g respectively. Dry: Fresh biomass ratio (DFr) revealed opposite trend with respect to total fresh food production: treatment B showed higher DFr with values of 1.34±0.15. These values were significantly different in respect to A (1.25±0.12 ) and C (1.10±0.98).

Discussion: Light characteristics and physiological implications

An increasing interest in indoor growing within the urban area is reflected in a multiplication of commercial solutions making use of soilless systems and precision agriculture techniques (Massa et al., 2008; Poulet et al., 2014; Specht et al., 2014). Differently to artificial lighting technologies such as HPS and fluorescent lamps, LED lighting allows a concrete energy saving and to choose the light spectrum for specific purposes (Ilieva et al., 2010). Continuous advancements in LED technology, allow in-depth research on physiology and biochemistry of plants, two-sector of botany strictly correlated with the quality and quantity of the incident light (Horton, 2000; Poulet et al., 2014).

While red light is widely considered the visible spectral region with higher effects on photosynthesis, the amount of blue required for different species is an ongoing question. Red wavelengths (600-700nm) contain the peak absorption of chlorophyll around 660nm (Massa, 2008). Photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII) intercept photons respectively around 650nm (PSII) and 700nm (PSI) (Schopfer and Brennicke, 2010). Blue wavelengths (400-500nm) revealed a variety of important morphological (Blaaw and Blaauw-Jansen, 1970; Cosgrove, 1981), and physiological (Schwartz and Zeiger, 1984; Kinoshita et al., 2001; Horrer 2016; Wang et al., 2016) effects.

In this project, all three light spectra integrate a low percentage (8-19%) of green light. These wavelengths were added to continue the work of Piovene (2015) that identified a specific combination of BRr and green for stimulation of biomass production and nutraceutical characteristics. Other works in literature in mentioned green wavelengths for positive effects towards functional compounds content (Samuolienė et al., 2012) and physiological response to photosynthetic light (Kim et al., 2005; Johkan et al., 2012).

How light spectra influenced food production

This study did not identify the correlation between the percentage of green light and biomass production or nutraceutical characteristics (statistical data not shown) contrary to what stated by the work of Kim et al. (2005) who found positive influence in biomass production with the addition of 24% of green light. Anyway, green light, especially if added to the only red and blue LED, completes the visible spectrum and hence helped in the aesthetic presentation of the plants which appeared less purplish-gray and more natural. Therefore, the latter effect of green light within a growing spectrum, would help in better fitting the plant in the indoor living environment for human purposes and ease the identification of disease onset (Massa et al., 2008).

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Figure: Study of LED C-LED lamps in collaboration with an italian university. Range of PAR, UV and Far-red are deeply analizyed in product prototyping process.

The food production has shown significant differences between lettuce varieties and light spectra. Taking into consideration only the lettuce varieties, Meravilla de Verano showed the best yield in respect to Crispa and Lollo Rosso. Light spectra, on the other hand, confirmed that the optimal ratio between red and blue has great relevance in influencing crop yield. While a certain quantity of blue light is necessary for a proper physiological balance (Yoro et al., 2001), this study showed that lower BRr has a positive influence on food productivity across lettuce varieties in accordance with previous researches (Wang et al., 2016). In general, it seems that the optimal BRr is somewhat species-specific since, for example, leafy aromatic vegetables showed better biomass production with a higher percentage of blue wavelengths (Piovene et al., 2015; Abiusi et al., 2013). On the other hand, strawberry showed an improvement of vegetative growth when the red percentage was higher than blue, although compensated by a background white light (Samuoliené et al., 2010)

In fact, many researches points out how plants require a complex spectrum that may include green: this parameter increase the difficulty to choose the “correct” light recipe, considering a number of factors such as specific species-varieties- phonological stage requirements (Wang et al., 2016; Kim et al., 2005). 

Nutraceutical implications

Different studies described how BRr influences nutraceutical properties in vegetables grown in indoor condition (Bantis et al., 2015; Piovene et al., 2015). Correlation between polyphenols and flavonoids content with antioxidant capacities has been documented (Dudonne´ et al., 2009; Samaniego Sanchez et al., 2007; Puchau et al., 2009). Polyphenols have an important antioxidant capacity determined by their ability to act as radical scavengers (Carter et al., 2006; Fardet, 2010). In nature, polyphenols are generally accumulated in plant tissues as response to external factors (Loaiza-Velarde et al., 1997). In indoor controlled growing system water, nutrition and microclimate are generally optimized: a particular light spectrum may therefore improve nutraceutical properties through photochemical induction and may, therefore, have a dramatic importance for human nutrition.

The three-light theses tested in this project revealed significant effects on the functional compounds such as phenolics and flavonoids, as well as the antioxidant activity. These data confirm previous works conducted with LED light manipulation (Piovene et at., 2015). In this work, antioxidant activity showed), an attitude of blue light to improve the antioxidant properties of lettuce (Figure 8) with a good correlation coefficient (R2=0.776). This is in accordance with previous researches that correlated the amount of flavonoids and antioxidant activity with blue light stimulation (Ebisawa et al., 2008; Kojima et al., 2010; Ouzounis et al., 2016). Blue light revealed also to be effective in increasing chlorogenic acid (Awada et al., 2001), that has higher antioxidant activity than carotenoids and tocopherols (Rice-Evans et al., 1997).

Fresh food possesses significant amounts of antioxidant and, due to its regular consumption, highly contributes in providing dietary antiradical protection (Deng et al., 2013; Harasym and Oledzki, 2014). Generally, fresh fruits have higher level of total polyphenols, total flavonoids and antioxidant capacity than vegetables (Chun et al., 2005) but, due to the higher consumption of vegetable the antioxidant uptake may be much lower. In epidemiologic studies (Chun et al., 2005) the daily nutraceutical uptake may be estimated at 129mg for TPC and 17mg for TFC.

The indoor experimental structure tested in this study guaranteed a certain TPC and TFC production. Considering the average consumption of 0.27 Kg d-1 person-1 (Leclercq et al., 2009; USP-BO 2013) is possible assert that indoor soilless system lighted with all LED spectrum allowed an average uptake of 6% of TPC and 6.2% of TFC.

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Figure: Fresh weight of yield (g plant-1) correlated with Blue:Red ratio highlighted with empty circles (○); Antioxidant activity (DPPH) correlated with Blue:Red ratio highlighted with full circles (●).

Read more on the indoor food production sustainability and the conclusion of the research here. 

Lead photo: Figure: Experimental vertical farming system realized in C-LED headquarters. Lettuce varieties at 30 DAT (harvesting time). From right to left: spectra thesis A, B and C. From top to bottom lettuce varieties: Lollo Rosso, Meravilla de Verano and Crispa

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27 Oct 2020

­Living Lettuce, Vertical Gardening: This Startup Is Using AI For Organic Farming

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13/10/2020

SRISHTI DEORAS

Srishti currently works as Associate Editor at Analytics India Magazine.…

The interest and popularity of organic and sustainable farming are increasing drastically. While the consumers are often skeptical about the food products that they consume, Dubai and New Delhi-based Barton Breeze is growing safe, delicious, and healthy food while relying on analytics and AI. It offers top-quality products that are grown locally in nutrient-rich water without pesticides. The crops are harvested weekly and delivered to sales outlets within a couple of hours. 

Following the principle of ‘living lettuce’, it follows a method where roots are left intact, which makes it last longer. The startup also follows vertical gardening where it uses vertically stacked growing beds, up to five levels high using less than 1% of the space required by the conventional growing, a precious commodity in densely populated urban areas.

Analytics India Magazine got in touch with Shivendra Singh, founder and CEO of Barton Breeze, who believes that in the future the vegetable greens will likely come from the building next to you.

The Journey

After graduating from IIM Ahmedabad, Singh started working on a pilot project around hydroponics and set up two container farms in Dubai. “During this time I thought, a country like India with profound climate changes needs this technology more than anyone else,” he says. 

Soon after, Barton Breeze was established in 2015 in Dubai, UAE, with a mission for technology innovation in agriculture. As Singh recalls, the journey initially was challenging and well expected, but with the right vision, it became unstoppable. In addition to the lack of proper information, availability of funds, market volatility, the task to create consumer confidence was critical. Another challenge was that hydroponics was a new technology to adapt, and the existing unprofessional quality and high prices made it difficult to find the right customer in the market. 

Overcoming these challenges, Barton Breeze is now the market leader in the sector and has expanded operations to India. 

Data Science And AI Is At The Core

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Barton Breeze team includes experts from deep data science to engineering, and from marketing to producing. “When we started, people had no idea about this new technology. And whatever talent was available, they had to unlearn. Training and building our staff from the ground up, we are now a team of six core members, supported by 25 field farms,” added Singh. 

Explaining how Barton Breeze uses analytics and AI to increase the farm produce, Singh shares the areas as below: 

• Smart Farms: Each smart farm is backed with the expertise of the chief technology officer, a dedicated R&D team, plant scientists, microbiologists, mechanical engineers, and design engineers.

• Cloud Architecture and Data Center: Barton Breeze collects hundreds of data points at each of its farms to its data center, which allows it to quickly alter its indoor precision control for taste, texture, color, and nutrition. It also helps in adjusting variables like temperature and humidity to optimize its crop yields. Barton also collects all yield and harvest data into the cloud to calculate sales projections and market trends.

• Using Artificial Intelligence and IoT (Internet of things): Barton uses software with a device clipped on the stems and leaves of each plant. It informs the nutrients or mineral needs of the plants. 

Highlighting other venues where AI is used, Singh shares that they have perfected their algorithm for optimal taste, texture, color, and nutrition so one can taste the science of flavor in every delicious bite of leafy greens. “We do this by leveraging plant science, engineering, and lighting to optimize our plants while also using 85% less water, 5x productivity, and zero pesticides,” he added. 

He further shares that Barton Breeze carefully monitors the health and quality of plants daily to optimize taste, texture, color, nutrition, and yield to deliver a better product using AI. “Barton’s growing techniques can be highly customized,” he said. 

The startup has also developed iFarm, a cloud-based data and farm output AI software. It allows the clients to get all their farm and production details on the cloud at home or office. “Our farm dashboard and IoT uses artificial intelligence and data analytics to measure important indicators that help in food/crop planning and hence help connect in the food security ecosystem,” he said. 

Some areas where AI and IoT are used at Barton:

1. SMS alert system 

2. Data logging facility

3. Online monitoring and control

4. Sensor-based control system

5. Environment management system

6. Water temperature management

7. Sunlight monitoring system

8. Crop management system

9. Farm system efficiency dashboard

10. Nutrition management system

Barton team includes members with deep expertise in science, engineering, technology, food safety, crop physiology, microbiology, and more to help deliver rapidly deployable and scalable solutions.

“Being first and one of a kind in the segment of agri-tech, we at Barton Breeze are trying to create and promote healthy lifestyle’ To achieve it, we are working into the whole ecosystem in the form of B-FRESH, B-FARM and B-HOME,” shares Singh. 

Growth Story

With experienced and known names in the team, Barton Breeze has increased team members, post-COVID to increase the outreach. “Currently we are in 10 states, and Barton Breeze is planning to enter five more states in the next couple of months,” shared Singh. The startup takes pride in increased customer query by 200% and increased consumer awareness by 10X post COVID. 

Singh further shares that there has been an increase in the interest level from angel investors and venture capitals for Barton Breeze with VC calls gone up by 150%. The startup is closing 1.5 million USD funding within this year. 

“Our goal is to achieve 360-ton produce marketing per year by the end of March 2021 while adding 25 more clients. We are targeting 50 crores revenue @CAGR 800%. We would also be coming up with ten new commercialized farms apart from doing R&D on 50 crop varieties,” concluded Singh on an ambitious note.

SRISHTI DEORAS   

Srishti currently works as Associate Editor at Analytics India Magazine. When not covering the analytics news, editing, and writing articles, she could be found reading or capturing thoughts into pictures.

All Lettuce Belongs In The Garbage At This Point

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Lisa Rowan

December 10, 2019

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Photo: Getty Images

Two bagged salad recalls might make you want to skip your servings of vegetables this week. Or maybe forever.

The newest Centers for Disease Control recall is for Fresh Express Sunflower Crisp Chopped Salad Kits. The kits are being blamed for eight cases of E. coli food poisoning from three different states. No deaths have been reported, but three of the people who got sick had to be hospitalized.

The CDC says to look for “UPC 0 71279 30906 4, beginning with lot code Z, and a best-before date up to and including 07DEC19” on the upper right corner of the bag to see if the bag in your fridge is one of the salads being recalled.

That warning comes shortly after the CDC advised people not to eat any romaine lettuce grown in or near Salinas, California. “This includes all use-by dates and brands of romaine lettuce from this region,” the CDC noted. If there’s no location listed on the lettuce, the agency said to dump it to be on the safe side.

More than 100 people in 23 states have been diagnosed with the same strain of E. coli as those impacted by the Fresh Express kits, although it’s not certain whether there is a link between the two.

We’ve been down on bagged lettuce for a while here at Lifehacker, but can we just agree that all lettuce is doomed?

It’s Time to Stop Eating Bagged Salads [Updated]

It pains me to say this, because I’m lazy. But after the umpteenth outbreak of food poisoning from…

Read more

The CDC site for E. coli outbreaks lists two for romaine lettuce in 2018, an outbreak linked to leafy greens in 2017, and even archives outbreaks back to 2006. Humble lettuce, the bed on which we place more appetizing fresh morsels, just can’t be trusted.

Bagged salads are particularly to blame because their contents, which often come from a variety of farms, get distributed widely, not just in one geographic region. That increases the odds that lettuce that gets contaminated somewhere along the way will end up on our plates. The lettuce does get washed several times in a chlorinated bath, all that bathing still doesn’t kill E. coli.

If you’re still craving lettuce for some reason, keep in mind that buying it from a small local farm may not help you avoid foodborne illness. If you buy a head of lettuce, the FDA recommends removing and discarding the outer leaves, then rinsing the rest before use. Spraying with a vinegar wash will help kill bacteria, but in this era of lettuce catastrophes, there are no guarantees. Sorry!

BREAKING NEWS: Another Multistate E. coli Outbreak is Linked To Lettuce

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AUTHOR Cathy Siegner

Nov. 22, 2019

UPDATE: Nov. 22, 2019: The FDA is warning consumers against eating any romaine lettuce harvested from Salinas, California. The CDC is now reporting 40 people infected with the outbreak strain from 16 states, hospitalizing 28 of them. 

Dive Brief:

• Another E. coli outbreak linked to lettuce has sickened 17 people in eight states, hospitalizing seven of them, according to a Nov. 21 Investigation Notice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

• The CDC said Maryland Department of Health officials found E. coli O157 in an unopened package of Ready Pac Foods Bistro Chicken Caesar Salad taken from a sick person’s home. Some of the sickened people in Maryland reported eating that product, while those in other states have not, the agency said.

• On Nov. 21, Missa Bay, LLC, of Swedesboro, New Jersey, recalled 75,233 pounds of salad products sold under various brand names due to possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination. The CDC said the recalled products, which have "Use By" dates ranging from Oct. 29, 2019, to Nov. 1, 2019, contained lettuce from the same lot used to make the contaminated salad found in Maryland.

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Dive Insight:

The CDC announced this latest outbreak more quickly than the last major incident — an E. coli outbreak associated with romaine lettuce that sickened 23 people in 12 states between July 12 and Sept. 8. Illnesses were reported from Sept. 24 to Nov. 8, the CDC said, and the agency's announcement came Oct. 31.

The FDA posted its own announcement Nov. 21, noting it was tracing back the supply of romaine lettuce in the Caesar salad product and had identified possible farm sources in Salinas, California. The agency also said it was sending investigators to determine the source and extent of contamination and would provide more information as it is uncovered.

Most of the recalled salad products were made with romaine, but a few also contained iceberg lettuce. The contaminated Ready Pac Foods Bistro Chicken Caesar Salad in Maryland only contained romaine. The CDC said Maryland health officials are using whole-genome sequencing to determine whether the pathogen they found is closely related genetically to the one that has sickened people.

Bonduelle Fresh Americas, which owns the Ready Pac brand, said in a Nov. 21 statement posted on its website the recalled salad products are already significantly past their use-by dates, and the company is working with retailers to make sure they're no longer on store shelves. Bonduelle also said it had taken immediate action to trace the origin of the problem.

"We test all of our leafy greens (including romaine) in the fields prior to harvest, including screening for E. coli O157:H7. During the relevant time frame, we did not have any positive test results for E. coli O157:H7," the company said.

As federal and state health officials conduct this outbreak investigation, they would be wise to keep the public fully informed, and quickly. Romaine lettuce has now been linked to five E. coli outbreaks in the past two years, including this latest one and the one announced in late October. If regulators and producers don't get a handle on the problem soon, romaine could become an unwanted commodity. The industry has already been hit by decreased sales following previous outbreaks, so this development is likely to bring further scrutiny to their operations.

The FDA recently said it will start sampling romaine for E. coli and salmonella bacteria this month in the California and Arizona growing regions and during the next year. Since the agency said contaminated lettuce in the most recent outbreak could have come from farms in the Salinas, California, area, that region could see additional sampling and testing as the investigation proceeds.

Previous romaine testing by the FDA — which collected 118 samples starting last December in the Yuma area and tested them for E. coli and salmonella — found a non-pathogenic type of E. coli in one, but no salmonella, the agency reported​.

The leafy greens industry has recently taken steps to improve production processes. Producers have tightened up grower requirements and recently embarked on a multi-year food safety initiative involving government, academia, and industry to better understand the impact of pathogens on leafy greens in areas including Yuma County, Arizona, and the Imperial Valley in California.

While these steps may help narrow down the problem's source, they clearly haven't been enough to keep E. coli outbreaks linked to lettuce from happening. Until that occurs, consumers are likely to avoid romaine — and possibly other lettuce types — in stores or restaurants until they can be sure the product is safe.

Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture

Recommended Reading:

• U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION Investigation Notice

CanadaGAP To Phase Out Aquaponics Certification

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Photo: josefkubes Adobe Stock

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July 25, 2019

Chris Manning 

According to a press release, CanadaGAP will begin phasing out certification for aquaponics operations in 2020, citing "potential chemical hazards (antibiotics, for example) associated with aquaponic production" and possible uptake of contaminants through leafy greens.

The government organization will stop GAP certifying businesses on April 1, 2020 and begin revoking certifications from businesses in 2020.

The organization says it uses a generic HACCP model establish food safety requirements. According to CanadaGAP, using that model means more research is needed before aquaponics can be GAP certified again.

GAP stands for "good agricultural practices," and means that growers are sticking to certain practices designed to ensure food safety for consumers. The definition of GAP varies from country to country.

The Aquaponics Association, an advocacy group based in Washington D.C., said in a statement that CanadaGAP's decision was "based on faulty and/or incomplete information," and says it is working with experts to provide the research to combat what it deems as false statements. 

In the United States, the USDA established pilot program for GAP certification in aquaponics that runs through Dec. 31, 2019. At this time, it is unclear if the program will continue into 2020.

Tags: GAP Aquaponics Tomato Leafy greens Lettuce Food safety

US (MA): Hydroponic Growing Graduates Learned With Lettuce, Seek Jobs in Cannabis

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Ernesto Hernandez Martin graduated Thursday from the Freight Farms Hydroponic Growing apprenticeship program at Holyoke Community College, having learned how to grow lettuce in the controlled environment of two shipping containers. But that’s not all he can grow.

“I’m looking forward to getting a job in the new industries, either in marijuana or in growing vegetables,” Hernandez Martin said while leading a tour of Freight Farms on Race Street in the city’s industrial Flats neighborhood and adjacent to the HCC MGM Culinary Arts Institute.

Neither college officials or Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse were shy Thursday about linking the hydroponic program with the city’s new marijuana industry and its need for skilled labor. They also said the program has the potential to help feed Holyokers who have trouble affording healthy meals.

"The skills they learn in the (shipping containers) are transferable to the cannabis industry," Morse said.

The college has no plans to grow anything but vegetables. The city, though, has embraced the newly legal cannabis industry.

Just this month, seed-to-sale marijuana company Trulieve Cannabis Corp., formerly Life Essence, bought a 150-year-old mill building at 56 Canal St. for $3.2 million with plans to build a 126,000-square-foot growing, processing, testing and retail operation there.

Source: MassLive (Jim Kinney)

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Publication date: 7/1/2019 

It's Not Easy Being Green: Romaine Lettuce E. coli Outbreak Rattles Food, Grocery Industries

AUTHOR

Christopher Doering@cdoering

PUBLISHED

Dec. 10, 2018

When Scott Gottlieb asked retailers, restaurants and other commercial outlets to voluntarily pull from the market and destroy any romaine lettuce just two days before Thanksgiving, it marked an usual and poignant request from the head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  

"The quick and aggressive steps we’re taking today are aimed at making sure we get ahead of this emerging outbreak, to reduce risk to consumers, and to help people protect themselves and their families from this foodborne illness outbreak," Gottlieb​ said in a statement on Nov. 20. "This isn’t the first romaine outbreak we have seen in the recent past, and we will continue to take steps to identify the root causes of these events and take action to prevent future outbreaks."

The leafy green industry has struggled during the past year, with three outbreaks tied to E. coli.

Romaine from Arizona this spring sickened 210 people from 36 states, hospitalized 96 and was tied to five deaths. Contaminated water located near a cattle lot was most likely the source. Another hit the U.S. and Canada in 2017, and while investigators in the United States never identified which vegetable was responsible, Canadian officials said romaine was most often tied to illnesses.

The cause of the current romaine outbreak in California, responsible for sickening 52 people across 15 states, hasn't been identified.

David Acheson, the FDA's former food safety czar who now runs his own firm to help clients reduce the risk of an outbreak, said the agency's withdraw request — the first in produce since spinach in 2006 — was as much about protecting public health as it was "sending a strong message to the produce industry that they need to look at ways to make this better than it already is."

"It's very effective, but talk about taking a sledgehammer to crack a walnut," Acheson told Food Dive. "It's a big deal and that's why I think there is a bit more to this in terms of the political regulatory requirement, in that (these three outbreaks are) not acceptable."

In recent weeks, the FDA has participated in discussions with major producers and distributors of romaine lettuce, as well as trade groups representing the produce industry in an attempt to reduce the impact of future outbreaks. 

Gottlieb​ said last month that major growers agreed to voluntarily label romaine with the growing region and the date of harvest to help with market recalls and traceability. The new labeling could be expanded to other leafy greens and produce going forward, he added. 

United Fresh, whose members represent the entire produce industry supply chain, said in a statement the deal was negotiated by "a number of romaine grower-shipper-processors" who agreed to take part. Fresh Express, Taylor Farms, Dole Fresh Vegetables and Earthbound Farm are among the companies who said they would adopt the new labels.

Deverl Maserang, president and CEO of Earthbound Farm, said in an email to Food Dive that while none of the company's products were connected to the outbreak, the government's "broad advisory to avoid romaine is very disruptive." 

He was hopeful that the growing region and harvested data could assist investigators in narrowing the scope of any potential future advisories, and that the government would be more specific on what kind of product could be excluded, such as conventional versus organic or exempting baby romaine — which is grown and harvested differently than hearts and heads of romaine tied to the recent outbreak, and on different farms.

Romaine consumption getting sliced and diced

Consumption of fresh lettuce, as part of a broader consumer push to eat healthier and better-for-you foods, has been gradually trending upward. It averaged around 11.5 pounds to 12 pounds per person annually since about 2006, before spiking to 12.7 pounds and 12.5 pounds in 2016 and 2017, respectively, according to Statista.

But the outbreaks have pummeled romaine lettuce sales, according to data from Nielsen. Sales of the vegetable, typically the most widely consumed salad green, slumped 13% during the year ending Nov. 24 to $631 million, the analytics firm estimated. With less romaine lettuce available, USDA said prices of other lettuce varieties have surged, including Boston and iceberg lettuce — which saw a nearly 170% jump.

The removal of romaine lettuce was particularly damaging to the grocery industry because of the timing just before Thanksgiving, the large quantity of the product pulled and the expense to stores — including labor costs, lost sales and time spent dealing with the crisis, according to Hilary Thesmar, senior vice president of food safety for the Food Marketing Institute.

Thesmar​ said while the group and its 33,000 retail store members supported the removal of romaine lettuce in the interest of public health, the decision by federal regulators to request the voluntary removal of the item created uncertainty, such as what happens to the product next or how stores work with their suppliers — questions that are clearer during a recall.

In addition, she said, grocers were faced with the decision of what to do with products in inventory and whether they should discard them or hold them in the hopes that the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would quickly narrow the scope of the outbreak so they could sell products that weren't affected. (Most complied with the government's request and proactively tossed it.) ​FMI also faced inquiries from retailers over what to do with romaine supplied from local greenhouses or grown using hydroponics; both were included in the initial advisory.

Produce remains a major contributor to foodborne illness, according to a report from the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration  — a collaboration between the CDC, the FDA and the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Credit: Megan Poinski

The report, released last December, found that in 2013, produce accounted for 59% of listeria cases, 51% of E. coli O157 cases, 46% of salmonella cases, and 33% of campylobacter cases. A prominent source of the outbreaks for E. coli came from vegetable row crops, including leafy greens — more than any other food category, IFSAC found.

The Food Safety Modernization Act, signed into law in 2011, called for growers to test their irrigation water and take steps to prevent contaminated sources from being used on produce. But the FDA announced in September 2017 that implementation would be delayed until at least 2022, beginning with the largest farms, in order to allow the agency to “consider how we might further reduce the regulatory burden or increase flexibility.” 

An economic analysis by the FDA estimated the delay would save the industry $12 million annually, but lower the annual benefit to consumers by $108 million each year. The Center for Science in the Public Interest and Center for Food Safety said the postponement could lead to more than 730,000 additional cases of foodborne illness and "countless deaths."  

Food safety groups have pointed to the recent outbreaks as an impetus to fully implement the 2011 reforms rather than further reducing or delaying the regulatory requirements.

Scott Faber, vice president of governmental affairs at the Environmental Working Group, was hopeful that following the latest outbreak, FDA's Gottlieb would accelerate the implementation timeline for the water testing requirements or Congress would require more stringent testing by big growers — potentially as part of the upcoming spending bill on Capitol Hill.

"That's the tragedy of this. It was almost certain that in the absence of testing the irrigation water that people would get sick," Faber told Food Dive. "We've taken no steps to address the risk. It's not rocket science, it's food science."

Credit: Dan Gold

'We have to do better'

The produce industries in California and Arizona, where 95% of all lettuce is grown, have their own nearly identical food safety frameworks. Each state formed its own Leafy Green Marketing Agreement following a 2006 spinach outbreak that infected 200 people and cost growers millions of dollars. Earthbound Farm launched a test-and-hold program less than two weeks after the September recall, where it started checking all greens for pathogens when they are received and before they are shipped.

"We have to do everything in our power to keep pathogens, which exist in the environment, out of the food supply," Maserang said.

Today, leafy green growers and shippers who are members of the LGMA must have a traceback program showing where every product came from and where it went. They also are audited on average five times each year to make sure they are complying with all required food safety practices, including monthly water testing.

Scott Horsfall, CEO of the California Leafy Green Marketing Association, told Food Dive the water testing requirements in the Food Safety Modernization Act would test for contaminants using the same methodology and microbial standards as the LGMA standards, but conduct the tests less frequently. As a result, they likely wouldn't have made any difference in preventing the latest outbreaks. Still, he acknowledged that "there clearly is something there that we have to do better."

As FDA investigators and researchers look to uncover the cause of the latest outbreak, and determine whether there is something about the romaine plant or the way it grows that makes it more susceptible to contamination, Horsfall remains hopeful the industry will learn more about what happened — and whether there are any changes producers can make to their operations to avoid a future outbreak.

"Obviously, it hurts the reputation, the trust in the industry when you have episodes like this," Horsfall said. "I'm confident we'll rebound. It may take some time, but we'll get there." 

Acheson said the food supply chain and the process used by regulators to investigate an outbreak, while generally effective on their own, are not properly linked. This creates problems and inefficiencies that can make it difficult for a foodborne illness outbreak to be stopped or minimized before it gets worse.

He cited the lack of communication between local and state officials and delays on involving CDC that can hinder the ability to quickly link outbreaks over a wider area.

In addition, he said, regulators should be more open with industry when they discover a possible lead during an investigation. This way, growers and shippers can check when and where the batch of lettuce in question was shipped. And growers, processors, distributors, retailers and restaurants generally are hesitant to spend more money beyond what they are required if it doesn't generate an immediate payoff, Acheson noted, even if doing so may prevent a bigger problem like the recent voluntary lettuce withdrawal.

Acheson said while a practice like testing water for contaminants is effective, it's going to take more from everyone with a stake in produce to reduce the likelihood of another outbreak. 

"We will never get a leafy green that we can guarantee is 100% free of pathogens 100% of the time," Acheson said. "It will never happen because of the nature of the product, so we need to put in control systems that are as good as we can afford ... and to continue to push the likelihood down."

Digestate As Alternative Substrate For Soil-Less Lettuce Farming

The consumption of ready-to-eat salad has been growing over the last 20 years in the European market. The annual growth rate is at 4%. That's why this food category is renowned as one of the most profitable horticultural segments.

As a result of a growing trend, the lettuce and chicory are farmed over a 1.2 million hectares surface globally. The global production is of 27 million tons, almost.

Italy occupies the fourth place in the world, with 38.542 hectares farmed with lettuce and chicory (31.7% in the north, 10% in the Centre, and 58,3% in the South) for a total production of 8.1 million tons. Additionally, greenhouse production is important as well, for a total surface of 4.549 hectares (37.3% in the North, 31.9% in the Centre and 30.8 in the South).

Leafy produce is considered to be one of the most exposed to microbiological risks. The ready-to-eat lettuce is often connected to food poisoning. The Escherichia Coli O157: H7 has been often associated with lettuce.

Researchers from Modena University and Reggio Emilia University – in collaboration with the Foggia’s CRA – evaluated the digestate as an alternative and sustainable substrate for farming and as a nutritive solution in the hydroponic farming of lettuce. In three different experiments, nine hydroponic combinations of substrate and fertilization (agriperlite + standard solution, agri-perlite + liquid digestate, solid digestate + standard solution, solid digestate + liquid digestate, soil + standard solution, peat + standard solution, peat + liquid digestate, digested pelleted + standard solution and digested pelleted + liquid digestate) were tested and compared for the cultivation of baby leaf lettuce.

During crop cycles, the yield and other agronomic and microbiological parameters have been studied. In all the experiments, the combination of agri-perlite + liquid digestate, solid digestate + standard solution and pelleted digestate + standard solution improved the plant growth by influencing roots (+ 32%), buds (+ 40%), total dry weight (+ 29%) and SPAD parameters (+ 17%).

As the results illustrate, the digestate represents a nutritive sustainable solution and an alternative for the soilless baby leaf lettuce farming.

Source: Domenico Ronga, Leonardo Setti, Chiara Salvarani, Riccardo De Leo, Elisa Bedin, Andrea Pulvirenti, Justyna Milc, Nicola Pecchioni, Enrico Francia, 'Effects of solid and liquid digestate for hydroponic baby leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) cultivation', 2019, Scientia Horticulturae, Vol. 244, pag. 172-181. 

Publication date : 12/12/2018 

Company Finds New Way to Grow Lettuce, Cut Risk of Foodborne Illness

Chris Welch

3:25 PM, Dec 5, 2018

4:16 PM, Dec 6, 2018

The romaine lettuce outbreak has many consumers thinking about where their crops are grown.

One rooftop greenhouse company in Chicago says their lettuce is safer and longer-lasting.

Jenn Frymark, the chief agriculture officer and manager of Gotham Greens, pulls out a head of lettuce and immediately starts to eat it.

"No, you don't need to wash it,” Frymark says. “We don't have that on our package, but there's no reason for me to wash it. I never wash any of our lettuce at home. It's amazing; nothing touches it; it’s so clean.”

Here at Gotham Greens, lettuce is grown differently.  

They do it hydroponically. That means it’s grown without soil, but in a nutrient-rich water. Instead of a traditional farm field, this lettuce is grown on rooftop greenhouses.

Their space on Chicago's south side is the largest rooftop greenhouse in the country.  Because of the controlled environment, crops can grow in a third of the time of a traditional field.

“We're giving this plant everything it wants: the right day temp, the right night temp, the nutrients, CO2 levels, air circulation, the water,” Frymark explains. “I mean, these are very coddled plants and they have everything they need, and they can just grow in this perfect environment and reach maturity very quickly.”

Gotham Greens sells to grocery stores in the Chicago and New York metro areas, as well as select Whole Foods stores. The product goes from the greenhouse directly to grocery shelves in a day and a half.

The company’s lettuce also lasts longer than the traditional grocery lettuce out here. Frymark says their product can last up to two to three weeks in the fridge. Additionally, Gotham Greens prices are comparable to other organic produce.

Frymark also says their method dramatically lowers the risk for foodborne illness.

“There [are] no manures, there’s no water sources that could be contaminants,” she says. “We don't have birds and animals getting into the field.”

She says the company is expanding and plans to open more rooftop greenhouses in the near future.

Local Lettuce Grower Has A Safer Way Through Hydroponics

By Bill Hudson November 21, 2018 at 6:41 pm Filed Under:Bill Hudson, Center For Disease Control And Prevention, Local TV, Revol Greens, Romaine Lettuce

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The nationwide recall of romaine lettuce couldn’t have come at a worse time. As families prepare for their Thanksgiving Day feasts, romaine lettuce is being pulled from their tables.

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a nationwide romaine recall based on 32 recent illnesses in 11 states and 18 reported illnesses in Canada.

All are likely linked to eating romaine lettuce contaminated by E. coli. It’s believed the field-raised lettuce may have been contaminated by irrigation water that contained the E. coli 0157 strain.

Acting on the CDC’s recommendation, grocers nationwide are pulling suspect romaine lettuce product from store shelves.

But in Medford, the nine-month old Revol Greens company has safer way to grow leafy greens – by raising the lettuce hydroponically indoors.

“We have eight or nine different varieties here that we grow,” said company president Jay Johnson.

Johnson says that unlike lettuce that is grown outdoors in massive fields in Arizona and California, their crops are grown hydroponically – under glass and in pools of irrigation water which they sterilize with ultra violet (UV) light.

“We started from the beginning with food safety in mind, and this is the safest way,” said Johnson. “That’s why it’s difficult to be grouped in with the broad romaine alert.”

RELATED: Romaine Recall Leaves Mpls. Nonprofit Looking For Nutritious Replacement

It’s also why Revol is working with the industry’s lobby to ask federal regulators to exempt indoor grown lettuce from the recall. Arguing that unlike field-raised crops, their romaine lettuce is never exposed to possible contamination sources from birds or animals.

“E. coli comes from the intestines of animals and birds. So [unlike] a bird flying over your field or an animal running through your field, we are enclosed with this glass greenhouse,” explained Johnson.

Even without more clarity from the CDC, Johnson says other lettuce varieties, such as iceberg and baby arugula are not impacted by the recall and will remain on grocers shelves.

Finally, Revol Greens wants to assure customers who might have its romaine lettuce in their refrigerators that it is safe to eat. Because it is grown not in a farm field, but in the company’s controlled and sterile environment.

BULLETIN: Romaine Lettuce Is Not Safe To Eat, CDC Warns U.S. Consumers

E. coli infections are gross. Here are 5 facts you can't unlearn about them.

An estimated 265,000 people report suffering from E. coli infections each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)

By Joel Achenbach and Lena H. Sun

November 20, 2018

Romaine lettuce is unsafe to eat in any form, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday in a broad alert in response to a new outbreak of illnesses caused by a particularly dangerous type of E. coli contamination.

The CDC told consumers to throw away any romaine lettuce they may already have purchased. Restaurants should not serve it, stores should not sell it, and people should not buy it, no matter where or when the lettuce was grown. It doesn’t matter if it is chopped, whole head or part of a mix. All romaine should be avoided.

The CDC alert, issued just two days before Americans sit down for their Thanksgiving dinners, reported that 32 people in 11 states have become sick from eating contaminated romaine. Of those, 13 have been hospitalized, with one patient suffering from a form of kidney failure.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has reported 18 people infected with the same strain of E. coli.

No deaths have been reported.

“Consumers who have any type of romaine lettuce in their home should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick,” the CDC said in the Food Safety Alert issued shortly before 3 p.m.

View fullsize

Romaine lettuce could be contaminated and should be thrown away, CDC advises. (karandaev/iStock)

“This advice includes all types or uses of romaine lettuce, such as whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, and bags and boxes of precut lettuce and salad mixes that contain romaine, including baby romaine, spring mix, and Caesar salad,” the CDC said. “If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine or whether a salad mix contains romaine, do not eat it and throw it away.”

The agency also advised consumers to wash and sanitize drawers and shelves where the lettuce was stored. People usually become sick within three or four days of consuming lettuce contaminated with the E. coli, according to the CDC.

The origin of the outbreak is unknown and remains under investigation. The CDC did not limit the warning to romaine from any particular agricultural area. A common strain of E.coli was detected in six of the sickened people.

Five people died in the most recent major outbreak from contaminated romaine, which lasted from March to June of this year and led to 210 cases in 36 states. That outbreak was traced to the Yuma, Ariz. growing region, but investigators never conclusively determined the precise source.

The latest outbreak is from a strain that has the same genetic fingerprint as the one that caused an outbreak of illnesses from leafy greens late last year in both the U.S. and Canada. That outbreak was declared over in January.

All three outbreaks — the current one, the one from Yuma and the one from last year — are caused by contamination of E. coli O157:H7. It produces a Shiga toxin that can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. Until the 1990s, most E. coli cases in humans came from eating contaminated hamburger. In more recent years, after reforms in the livestock industry, the outbreaks have been most often associated with leafy greens.

This is a developing story.

Read more

Salmonella outbreak in turkey continues as Thanksgiving approaches

Source of E. coli-contaminated romaine lettuce still a mystery

This mock pandemic killed 150 million people. Next time it might not be a drill.

Wellspring Harvest Greenhouse Co-op In Springfield Brings Hydroponic Lettuce To Market

By Jim Kinney | jkinney@repub.com | August 1, 2018

Wellspring Harvest lettuce on sale at the Cooley Street Big Y. (Jim Kinney/ The Republican)

SPRINGFIELD -- It's not unusual to see fresh and locally grown produce arrive at Big Y in July just hours after it was harvested.

But it will be quite a treat when fresh, locally grown lettuce arrives at Big Y just hours after it was harvested -- in January.

The Wellspring Harvest Greenhouse Cooperative delivered its first lettuce Tuesday to four Big Y locations: Cooley Street, Ludlow, Wilbraham and Fresh Acres on Wilbraham Road.

The delivery -- 200 heads in total -- represents the culmination of more than two years of work by Wellspring that included building a $1.5 million four-season hydroponic greenhouse at on Pinevale Street on part of the formerly contaminated Chapman Valve site in Indian Orchard.

"We are creating a whole new food system for the city of Springfield," said Marcello Rossi, who handles sales and deliveries for Wellspring Harvest Greenhouse Cooperative. "We are going to grow food where we need it. Where we need it is in the heart of the city."

The greenhouse is Wellspring's third worker-owned enterprise, said Fred Rose, Wellspring Cooperative Corp. co-director. The quarter-acre greenhouse follows the Wellspring Upholstery Cooperative and the Old Window Workshop.

The Greenhouse has seven employees who have an opportunity to work toward being worker-owners in the business.

"Our mission is to create sustainable jobs, good local jobs and job training," Rose said. "Some of our workers have farm experience. Some do not. We are working with one man who was homeless."

Wellspring isn't like other farms. For one thing, it's all hydronic, with produce grown in a water solution. Wellspring is certified through the state's Commonwealth Quality Program assuring that the produce is grown, harvested and processed right here in Massachusetts using practices that are safe, sustainable and don't harm the environment.

"It's a very rigorous process," Rose said. "They look at everything."

Rossi said Wellspring grows its vegetables in a controlled environment taking precautions to avoid infestation by insects or contamination by disease. That's an area of concern for consumers given the recent recalls of salad greens from the marketplace.

The new greenhouse can produce 17,000 heads of lettuce a month with 10,000 a month being the breakeven point to profitability, Rose said.

"It sounds like a lot now, but we expect our product to sell more as the other local produce fades from the shelves," he said.

Wellspring will branch out, he said, adding herbs, tomatoes, cilantro and cucumbers as winter grips the region. Wellspring will also grow callaloo, a leaf vegetable popular in the Caribbean.

"In the middle of winter, you can have cucumbers," Rossi said. "You can have fresh tomatoes and they are not ripened artificially. They are not coming from the other side of the world."

Wellspring will expand its customers as well to include the Springfield city schools, Mercy Medical Center and the eventually the River Valley Co-Op in Northampton and the Franklin Community Co-Op markets in Greenfield and Shelburne Falls.

The four varieties of lettuce on sale at the Big Y markets -- red sweet crisp, romaine manoa, green sweet crisp and green butter -- come as a 5-ounce plant with a root in a plastic clamshell. Each package sells for $3.49 in keeping with the prices Big Y charges for its organic and specialty lettuce.

The lettuce will last as long as 10 days, Rossi said, and you can even plant the root and harvest a leaf at a time for months.

The $1.5 million greenhouse cost included buying the parcel from the Springfield Redevelopment Authority for $70,000. 

Wellspring Harvest financed the greenhouse project by raising more than $500,000 from local investors, Rose said. The rest came in loans from Farm Credit East, of Enfield, Connecticut, and Coastal Enterprises Inc., of Brunswick, Maine.

Myra S. Marcellin, vice president and senior loan officer for Farm Credit East, said she was attracted to Wellspring because of its business plan and mission of bringing sustainable agriculture to an urban setting.

"It fits with our mission," she said. 

Myra S. Marcellin, vice president and senior loan officer for Farm Credit East in Enfield, poses with Wellspring Harvest lettuce Tuesday in Springfield. Farm Credit East helped finance Wellspring Harvest and its greenhouse in Indian Orchard. (Jim Kinney / The Republican)

What Makes Your Lettuce Look and Taste So Good? It May Be the Fish

Karel Holloway, Special Contributor

Connect with Karel Holloway Email

That perfect lettuce in the clamshell box at the grocery store may owe its deep color and rich taste to fish.

More and more produce grown aquaponically is pouring into the highest-end restaurants, farmers markets and grocery stores in North Texas. Hydroponics, a similar water-based growing method, is increasing as well, providing the perfect produce prized by chefs and consumers.

One innovation is "living lettuce." The lettuce is harvested with the roots still attached. The roots harbor water and nutrients that continue feeding the plant, giving it a much longer shelf life. Mostly green leafy vegetables, like lettuce, and some herbs are grown aquaponically or hyrdroponically. Microgreens and edible flowers also are part of the mix. Larger vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are grown in some bigger facilities.

These types of farms require far less space, water and artificial chemicals than traditionally grown produce. Entrepreneurs and enthusiasts see water-based growing as the future in supplying urban areas.

Profound Microfarms owner Jeff Bednar harvests lettuce inside the hydroponics greenhouse at Profound Microfarms in Lucas. 

(Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)

Fish or no fish?

Aquaponics uses fish, usually tilapia or koi, to provide nutrient-rich water that is circulated to plant roots. The plants clean the water, which is pumped back to the fish tanks.

Goldfish tank in the aquaponics greenhouse at Profound Microfarms in Lucas. 

(Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)

Please, no jokes about lettuce growing in fish poop. The solids from the fish are cleaned from the water before it ever reaches the plants. Ammonia in the water is refined into nitrogen that feeds the plants. Aquaponics systems can be outdoors, but commercial growers usually use greenhouses.

Hydroponics systems don't use fish, instead depending on a mix of nutrients that are endlessly recirculated. And, please, no marijuana jokes. 

The systems don't use herbicides or pesticides and are less subject to contamination.

Lettuce growing in the aquaponics greenhouse at Breeden Fresh Farms in Terrell. 

(Erin Booke)

Upstart ideas

Harrison Breeden, 27, is president of Breeden Fresh Farms in Terrell. His aquaponics greenhouse produces 6,000 heads of lettuce a week on less than an acre of land.

"I'm passionate about this," Breeden says.

He had an interest in alternative ways to produce high-quality food and studied agricultural resource management at Texas State University. There was no class in aquaponics, but it was presented in some class materials. Intrigued, he put together a small system to see how it worked and was hooked. He decided he'd like to start an aquaponics farm, and his parents agreed to help. 

"They believe it is the future," Breeden says.

The aquaponics greenhouse at Profound Microfarms uses koi fish and goldfish. 

(Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)

'Let's move to the country'

Richard and Sharon Hastings of East Texas Aquaponics have a similar story.

They worked in technology and lived in a suburban home in an increasingly crowded Austin. Their kids were grown and they were thinking ahead to retirement.

"We certainly wanted to look at doing something different. We were getting more and more interested in food," Richard Hastings says. "I said, 'Let's move to the country.'"

While they thought it was a good idea, they weren't sure what to do. Neither had farmed and they weren't really interested in traditional growing. They had a large koi pond in their yard, which prompted them to look into aquaponics.

They studied it and decided it had potential as a business and bought a small farm in Mineola to begin their aquaponic adventure growing lettuce, herbs and edible flowers. They now have a 6,600-square-foot greenhouse and plan to expand. Most of their produce goes to East Texas grocery stores and farmers markets, and they also contribute to the East Texas Food Bank.

Profound Microfarms owner Jeff Bednar harvests lettuce  inside the hydroponics greenhouse. 

(Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)

A sustainable option

It was a small aquaponics kitchen experiment with his daughter, Lily, that led Jeff Bednar to create Profound Microfarms in Lucas. 

He was working in real estate, tired of driving all over the area and missing his kids. He began researching and taking classes and decided an aquaponics farm was the business he wanted to start.

Growing crops traditionally didn't seem to be a viable business model, he says. Soil is depleted, it takes a lot of water, and is too subject to the weather, he says.

"I wanted to do something more sustainable for the future," he says.

He grows more than 150 types of produce, most of which goes to Dallas area restaurants such as Petra and the Beast, Cedars Social and more. Chefs are interested because they can get different types of greens when they want them and it's really, really fresh.

And because it's fresh, there is less waste.

"Chefs tell me that a typical box of lettuce from farms has about 40 percent waste. Ours is about 5 percent," Bednar says.

Swiss chard grows in a hydroponics system greenhouse at Profound Microfarms. 

(Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)

A growing trend

What the three growers have in common is the desire to start a sustainable business that will help with food supply issues. The number of those like them is growing, though most of the evidence is anecdotal.

"We are seeing an uptick in young people looking to get back into agriculture," says Chris Higgins, owner and editor of Urban Ag News. 

Hennen Cummings, a professor at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, concurs. He teaches aquaponics and has seen an increase in enrollment. Classes have grown to the point that students jostle for position in the Hydrotron, the university's name for the aquaponics lab.

Bednar thinks water-based crops will always be a small part of the market, but already there are restaurants and some grocery stores that get much of their greens from local water-based farms. Breeden supplies several large chains and is working to provide produce to school districts.

And even though the product is more expensive than traditional lettuce, it makes up part of the difference with lower transportation costs and less waste.

"It's not going to solve world hunger," Higgins says, "but there is value there."