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USA (IL): BrightFarms Celebrates Opening of Chicagoland Greenhouse Expansion
The increase in production will support BrightFarms continued growth in the market, including a 34% jump in year over year sales with Mariano’s.
BrightFarms has opened a new expansion to its Rochelle, IL greenhouse. The increase in production will support BrightFarms continued growth in the market, including a 34% jump in year over year sales with Mariano’s.
The 160,000 square-foot greenhouse opened in 2016 to provide retailers with a fresher and more sustainable alternative to leafy greens grown on the West Coast. The company currently supplies over 150 Roundy’s Supermarkets (Mariano’s, Pick ‘n Save, Metro Market) with packaged salads that arrive on store shelves in as little as 24 hours of harvest.
BrightFarms in-store presence, which includes a breakthrough display and references to the Rochelle greenhouse, has become a destination in the Roundy’s produce department.
“For over four years now, BrightFarms has provided consumers in Illinois and Wisconsin with delicious local produce that was grown within a short drive of their local Mariano's and Pick ‘n Save.” said Abby Prior, SVP Sales & Marketing at BrightFarms. “With our increased production, we’re thrilled that we have the opportunity to expand our partnership with Roundy’s and provide more consumers in the region with access to the freshest, cleanest, and most responsibly grown produce.”
Earlier this month, BrightFarms celebrated the 10th anniversary of Mariano’s supermarkets with a series of in-store activations across the Chicago market.
For more information:
BrightFarms
www.brightfarms.com
9 Sep 2020
FREE WEBINAR: Food Safety Opportunities & Challenges Unique To Controlled Environment Agriculture - September 9, 2020
Join the CEA Food Safety Coalition and its panel of food safety experts from Bowery Farming, BrightFarms, Plenty & Planted Detroit - for our next Indoor Ag-Conversation
Join the CEA Food Safety Coalition and its panel of food
Safety Experts From
Bowery Farming, BrightFarms, Plenty & Planted Detroit
for our next Indoor Ag-Conversation:
RESERVE YOUR FREE SPOT!
MODERATOR:
Marni Karlin, CEA Food Safety Coalition Executive Director
PANELISTS:
Chris Livingston, General Counsel, Bowery Farming
Jackie Hawkins, Senior Manager of Food Safety, BrightFarms
Isabel Chamberlain, Senior Manager of Food Safety, Plenty
Simon Yevzelman, Director of Operations, Planted Detroit
DURING THIS 60-MINUTE SESSION, YOU'LL:
Learn about food safety opportunities and challenges specific to CEA leafy greens production - including areas such as system design and recirculating water
Hear from food safety experts from CEA leafy greens producers representing a variety of production practices, sizes, and geographies
Gain an understanding into the role of technology in CEA food safety
Learn why consumers and retailers should care - and the work the Coalition is doing to develop a CEA-specific food safety addendum
LEARN MORE
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR INDOOR AG-CON 2020
EXHIBITORS, SPONSORS, MEDIA ALLIES &
INDUSTRY PARTNERS
Indoor Ag-Con, 950 Scales Road, Building #200, Suwanee, GA 30024, United States
How Leafy Greens Growers Have Turned Food Safety Challenges Into Opportunities
Growing lettuce and other leafy greens in a controlled environment presents its own set of challenges and opportunities
July 30, 2020
Editor’s Note: This article is the second of a three-part series on food safety concerns in the production of leafy greens in a controlled environment.
Click here to check out Part One of the series, which covered the formation of the CEA Food Safety Coalition.
Growing lettuce and other leafy greens in a controlled environment presents its own set of challenges and opportunities. During United Fresh Live in June, Marni Karlin, Executive Director of the CEA Food Safety Coalition, moderated a discussion that outlined how indoor growers who make food safety a priority, rather than dismissing it as a problem unique to field-grown crops, can inadvertently create market opportunities for themselves. The panel featured growers of all types (greenhouses, vertical farms, and warehouses) and sizes. Here are a few insights from the discussion.
Don’t Overlook Irrigation and Growing Media
Jackie Hawkins, Senior Manager of Food Safety at BrightFarms, says irrigation water is likely potable if it comes from municipalities or wells. However, it can still be contaminated, so don’t assume it’s clean and forsake the necessary testing.“Test your incoming water, treat it if necessary, and test it again,” Hawkins says.
Growing media, as well, may not seem like a concern because many leafy greens producers are not growing in soil. “But the seeds might have been grown in media, so it’s important to do routine monitoring of your media as it comes into the greenhouse,” Hawkins says.
From Data Comes Solutions
Michael DeChellis, Co-Founder of Livingston Greens, a small indoor farm in Montana, says it’s critical for greenhouse producers to compile the data they’re able to collect from growing in a controlled environment to create a plan for developing a safer product.“
For small farms, working with other growers in the CEA Food Safety Coalition is a great opportunity,” DeChellis says. “Our members share data, and this culture of collaboration can help us identify ways to overcome challenges.”
For example, DeChellis cites a mold issue at Livingston Greens, which he addressed by using temperature and humidity data to highlight the problem area and the conditions that caused the problem.
Consider Design Upgrades
Simon Yevzelman, Managing Partner and Leader of Biosecurity at Planted Detroit, a vertical farm in the Motor City, says his company saw the concerns of food safety looming, so it opted to temporarily suspend production so it could enhance its production systems with food safety as a guiding principle.“
Thanks to those efforts, we are now in an expansion mode,” Yevzelman says.
Full Company Responsibility
Oscar Camacho, President of Superior Food Safety, a California-based consulting company, says any greenhouse production system should be designed to optimize best food safety practices.“
The system needs to work across the entire company,” Camacho says. “This means communication from one end of the production line to the other is critical.
Retailers and Consumers Care
Chris Livingston, General Counsel at Bowery Farming, a vertical farming company in New York, says the CEA Food Safety Coalition is currently developing a standard specific to controlled-environment production that addresses unique challenges such as water management and infrastructure.“
Our goal is to have a seal that members can use to show their customers they are complying with standards unique to our industry,” Livingston says. “We are also developing a research agenda based on food safety topics.”
Stay tuned for Part 3 of this series, which will focus on how the coronavirus pandemic added value to CEA-grown leafy greens.
US: Vacant For Five Years, A Former Target in Calumet City Gets New Life As An Indoor Vertical Farm Growing Greens For The Chicago Area
The 135,000-square-foot building in the River Oaks shopping center will house stacks of trays growing kale, arugula and other leafy greens under artificial lights. A retail shop on-site will sell the produce to the community and invite people in to learn about how indoor farming works
CHICAGO TRIBUNE | JUL 15, 2020
Jake Counne, founder of Wilder Fields, is seen July 14, 2020, inside an empty Target he plans to convert to an indoor farm, in Calumet City. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
A former Target that’s been sitting vacant in Calumet City for five years will be reborn as an indoor vertical farm producing locally grown greens for the Chicago area.
The 135,000-square-foot building in the River Oaks shopping center will house stacks of trays growing kale, arugula and other leafy greens under artificial lights. A retail shop on-site will sell the produce to the community and invite people in to learn about how indoor farming works.
Once at full capacity, Wilder Fields will employ 80 people and produce 25 million heads of lettuce a year that will be available in grocery stores across the region, said founder Jake Counne. Wilder Fields is the new name of the company, which previously was called Backyard Fresh Farms.
The property was exactly what Counne envisioned when he set out to repurpose existing buildings as indoor farms to supply fresh produce to cities far from the growing fields of California and Arizona.
An empty Target that Jake Counne, founder of Wilder Fields, plans to convert to an indoor farm in Calumet City. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
As retail giants close stores, a trend that’s been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Counne hopes to put the buildings they leave behind to sustainable use.
“We think this is very repeatable,” said Counne, who was a real estate investor before he became an agricultural entrepreneur. “There is a huge amount of vacant anchor retail space.”
Calumet City, which borders Chicago’s southern edge, acquired the building from Target and will lease it to Wilder Fields for 12 months, Counne said. After that, he plans to purchase the property from the city.
Counne expects to break ground by the end of this year and have the first phase of the redevelopment completed by early next year. After operating at a smaller scale to work out the kinks, Counne plans to finish developing the site by 2023. A group of investors is funding the first phase of the project. He declined to say how much funding he has received.
Produce grown locally indoors has gained popularity with consumers in recent years for environmental and quality reasons. It uses less land and water than traditional agriculture and travels far shorter distances, so the product is fresher and lasts longer when it gets into consumers’ hands. Growing year-round in controlled environments also cuts down on waste and contamination and avoids the challenges of unpredictable weather.
The Chicago area is home to several greenhouses that sell greens commercially, including Gotham Greens in Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood and BrightFarms in Rochelle, both of which have recently expanded. But vertical farms, which use artificial light rather than sunlight, have struggled to succeed at a large scale.
Counne believes he can make it profitable with lower-cost automation, which he has been testing at a small pilot facility at The Plant, a food business incubator in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood.
He’s developed robotics to reduce the amount of time workers spend climbing ladders to tend to plants. For example, an automated lift collects trays of ready plants and brings them to an assembly line of workers for harvest. He’s also developed a system of cameras and artificial intelligence software that prompts the environment to automatically adjust to optimize growing conditions.
Jake Counne, founder of Wilder Fields, on July 14, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Wilder Fields’ pricing will be in line with greenhouse-grown lettuces, which typically retail at $2.99 to $3.99 for a clamshell.
Though its first products will be standards like spring mix, spinach and basil, the plan is to also sell more unique varieties that people may not have tasted before. Among those Counne tested during his pilot were spicy wasabi arugula, tart red sorrel and horseradish-tinged red mizuna.
Counne is proud that his first farm is bringing fresh vegetables and jobs to an area that needs both. Parts of Calumet City are in a food desert.
Counne will be hiring for a variety of positions, from harvesters to software engineers to executives. He plans to implement a training program that will allow people to move from entry-level roles to positions managing the computer algorithms.
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz covers the food industry for the Chicago Tribune's business section. Prior beats include workplace issues, the retail sector and lifestyle features, plus stints at RedEye, the Daily Herald and the City News Service. Alexia grew up in Washington, D.C., and has her degree in international relations from Brown University.