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)