By AMY SOWDER

November 24, 2021

We sat down with Emily Trogdon, public relations and marketing specialist, and Kurt Aken, vice president of business development, at AmplifiedAg and its Vertical Roots brand to discuss some not-so-common retail packaging initiatives they’re doing, plus to discuss what they do, why, and how — in such a growing high-tech indoor ag sector of our industry.

Here’s a snapshot. Watch the video for a more in-depth discussion:

You don’t see limited-time seasonal or holiday packaging graphics on fresh produce packaging that often.

But one company is doing just that, tossing in some charitable giving as well.

Charleston, S.C.-based Vertical Roots has redesigned the packaging of its hydroponic, large-leaf Living Lettuce heads and salad mixes with festive snowflakes for the month of December only — signaling that a portion of proceeds from all Vertical Roots products sold in December will benefit Feeding America.

The company’s Lettuce Be Joyful holiday-giving promotion aims to inspire the joy of the season while giving back to those in need — something retail and produce company leaders are recognizing younger consumers want and expect in the products they buy.

Every $1 donated to Feeding America helps distribute 10 meals to neighbors in need. The largest hunger-relief organization in the U.S., Feeding America has been dedicated to ending hunger through its network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs.

The limited edition holiday packaging draws attention to its hydroponic products and ultimately the company’s charitable initiatives this season.

A multi-tenant farm management system, AmplifiedAg Inc. is the parent company to the Vertical Roots brand of greens.

“It'll essentially allow us to have sensors and the capability to monitor everything within our growing pods, from the temperature of the water to the air temperature to the Co2 level, to the nutrient level and the lights, and it will allow us to monitor all of that technology and growing support systems to be able to notify the farmers via tablet or cell phone with a warning indicator,” Aken said.

Vertical Roots is a hydroponic indoor container farm has locations across the Southeast, producing lettuce that’s in local retailers one to three days after harvest.

Company facts:

• A 2-acre Vertical Roots farm site grows 5 million heads of lettuce;

• In 2020, Vertical Roots produced nearly 7 million heads of lettuce at Charleston and Columbia farm sites;

• In 2021, the company expects to produce almost 10 million heads of lettuce;

• Vertical Roots Living Lettuces have the roots attached to the lettuce heads. Because the root is still attached, the plant is still alive, hence, “living lettuce”; and

• Living Lettuce varieties last about 21 days, while freshly cut salad mixes last up to 14 days.

Vertical Roots farms are manufactured from refurbished shipping containers with hydroponic systems and proprietary hardware and farm management software from AmplifiedAg.