What You Need to Know to Start Growing Your Own Produce on a Large Scale
Harvesting at an Eden Green Technology greenhouse.
Local produce is all anyone’s talking about today, and it’s no wonder why. When you get your fruits and veggies locally, they’re typically fresher, healthier and safer. For an increasing number of businesses including CPG brands, stores and restaurants, that means growing your own produce.
While anyone can probably manage to grow a few tomatoes in their backyard, having a successful commercial garden is a bit more complicated. There are plenty of considerations you’ll want to take into account before you get started.
Seasonal Produce, Year-Round
One of the biggest problems with growing your own produce is that your business runs all year, but traditional farms and produce are committed to the seasons. In some parts of the world, you can stretch growing seasons because of good weather, but in most areas, that’s not going to be the case.
So what’s the solution? Only offer local produce just a few months a year? Change up the menu or your store offerings constantly? Sure, you could do either of those things, but why not adopt a growing method that lets you consistently grow your crops year-round instead?
With controlled environment agriculture (CEA), you can grow your favorite fresh herbs, leafy greens, and other crops all year long. Not only that, you can harvest your crops daily, meaning you’ll always have the freshest possible produce to offer to your customers.
How does this work, you wonder? In a controlled environment, you can set the temperature, humidity, light, and all other environmental factors to the optimum level for your crops. This means, at any given moment, you can give your crops exactly the right conditions for optimal growth. This leads to about 11-13 full harvests per year.
Low on Space? Grow Up!
If you’re going to grow enough produce for a large restaurant or a decent sized store, you’ll need a lot of plants. In traditional farming, this means you’re going to need acreage. But unless your business is in the middle of nowhere with arable land, finding enough space for such an endeavor probably means a lengthy commute and high shipping costs. How do you manage both a business in a commercial area and a farm in a rural area? Good news: You don’t have to.
Vertical farming is the answer. Vertical farms use 99% less land than traditional growing methods. This means you can have a commercially viable farm in the space of about an acre and a half. And we’re not talking about some mini-farm or garden that you’ll have to supplement. Our 1.5 acre greenhouses can produce about 2.7 million servings of leafy greens each year.
Keep it Green
One major argument against the CEA movement is that it tends to use a lot more or just as much of our precious natural resources than traditional farms. While that’s certainly true with some growing methods, Eden Green Technology’s hydroponic greenhouses are the sustainable option that can feed your community without all the waste and sky high energy costs.
Our systems use 98% less water than traditional farming methods by recycling the water used. They run on 99% sunlight, meaning no crazy electricity waste from LED lighting. And because each and every plant is harvested at its peak, and none of them are subject to damage from volatile weather conditions or pests, there’s zero food waste too!
What to Grow
There are some crops that work well in the type of farm described here, and others that won’t. It’s important to have realistic expectations going in, so understanding the available crops is vital. Here are some of the options we currently offer:
Leafy greens such as spinach, butterhead lettuce, kale, arugula, and romaine
Micro herbs such as mint, lavender, basil, and oregano
Fruiting crops such as strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers
You can get a more complete list of crops here. And of course, we’re always working on new options for our farmers to grow, so the selection will continue to expand.
That said, there are a few things that simply won’t work with a hydroponic system. Tubers and any type of crop that grows under the ground won’t develop properly in a soil-less system. This means we can’t offer potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic (right now, anyway).
Get Ready to Hire
In the world of COVID, people across the globe have found themselves suddenly out of work, through no fault of their own. How great would it feel to be able to provide steady, fulfilling work to even more members of your community?
With a greenhouse from Eden Green Technology, you can expect to provide 30 full-time jobs in your community. On a traditional farm, many of these positions would be seasonal work, but in a CEA farm, your employees can expect a steady job all year, with a living wage and benefits too.
Learn More
If this sounds like a great way to grow your own local produce for use in your business, we’d love to hear from you. Contact Eden Green today and let us help you get your farm started.