Photo courtesy of Farm.One

After launching a successful software company in Japan’s version of Silicon Valley, Australian-born entrepreneur Rob Laing made a 180-degree shift in careers. He enrolled in culinary classes, which got him interested in the myriad of ingredients that are incorporated into different dishes. The entrepreneur in him couldn’t help but wonder about the process by which chefs acquire these ingredients, and how they’re grown.

“I became intrigued with the idea of growing rare, unusual ingredients after finding exciting herbs and flowers at farmers markets around the world and wondering if I could apply the new techniques of vertical farming to growing these kinds of items,” says Laing, CEO and founder of Farm.One, a vertical farm located in Manhattan.

Laing wasn’t aware of anyone else trying to grow some of these rare ingredients in close proximity to their prospective customers, so he founded Farm.One with a “small amount” of his own money. The farm is located inside the Institute of Culinary Education, a culinary school in New York City. He says that Farm.One started with a small prototype facility and has grown step by step.

“We raised a little [money] from friends and family in early 2017, and have just started an equity crowdfunding campaign to accelerate our growth.”

There’s now 1,500 square feet of growing space split between two farms: the culinary school and a second, larger farm in Lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, underneath the two Michelin-starred restaurant Atera.

“It’s tiny but we manage the space very precisely with software to get the most out of it,” Laing says. Everything is grown in these relatively small facilities hydroponically with LED lighting.

Growing a profitable business model

Although Laing may not have a horticulture or farming background, he has the business acumen to run a startup. Plus, he has had the experience of watching his parents venture into olive production in Australia, and noted some of their challenges, such as keeping destructive kangaroos away from their trees. He quickly found that indoor farming eliminates any potential problems with large animals.

Farm.One currently employs 12 people, six who are devoted to production, five in management and one delivery person.

Catering to the chefs

Farm.One caters to the demand of popular chefs around the city, including Matthew Hyland, owner and chef of Pizza Loves Emily. And although he has only been working with Laing and Farm.One for a few months, he’s been pleased with the arrangement.

“It’s working great. We’ve got custom basil for our pizzas,” Hyland says. “People really like it because it’s something they’ve never seen before.” The custom basil he is referring to is a variety named Pluto, just one of Farm.One’s 580 varieties of rare herbs, edible flowers and microgreens it currently grows.

“Farm.One represents the future of where farming is going,” Hyland says. “We’re trying to have nicer, local stuff at a pizzeria, which is what most people don’t use. They use a commodity product. Farm.One is trying to grow nicer things that are sustainable. We’re trying to do the right thing.”

From farm to table... in no time!

Farm.One’s produce is grown so close to its customer base that it can deliver it by bicycle or subway, literally minutes after it is harvested. Right now, that customer base consists of upscale restaurants in New York City — popular eateries that employ chefs who simply won’t stand for the ordinary.

“Being close by is a huge benefit. The alternative for chefs is to ship product hundreds or thousands of miles, with loads of packaging and delays,” Laing says. “Being able to visit the farm with the chefs’ sous-chefs and line cooks is an added bonus — many young cooks have never seen something growing!”

Farm.One is eager to meet the demands of these chefs and can usually find the plants they are looking for from the 60-plus different international seed vendors that they work with.

“Every time we meet a chef we ask for their dream crop and set out to find the seeds to grow them,” Laing says.

The demand from chefs varies over time, Laing says, but right now the top three items are Pluto basil, a dwarf variety with a powerful cinnamon and clove scent; ‘Miz America’ mizuna, a dark burgundy-colored microgreen with a gentle mustard flavor; and various types of oxalis flowers, including ‘Irish Mist.’ Hyland also likes wasabi arugula, which he uses to spice up his pizzas.

“Chefs love the taste. Without that, we wouldn’t have any customers, so that’s first and foremost,” Laing says. “But they also love being able to specify an exact leaf size, which requires careful growing recipes and exact scheduling.”

Farm.One delivers

Having a party? Farm.One has taken their product on the road. The company delivers an “edible bar” of select herbs and flowers to gatherings around town.

“The edible bar is where we bring the farm to you,” Laing says. “We have a selection of dozens of live plants in a simple hydroponic tray that we can serve to party-goers straight off the stem.” He says the idea actually came from a customer who wanted something special for a corporate event. It was such a hit they’re continuing to offer it to customers.

“People love tasting plants they have never seen or heard of before,” Laing says. “We can provide a general selection, or offer a tailored menu of herbs and flowers that complement specific flavor notes in a product.” For example, they produced an edible bar for Macallan (a whiskey distillery) that matched a new whiskey, which he said was “an exciting and dramatic way of emphasizing the flavor profile.”

Neil is a horticulturist and freelance copywriter for the green industry, assisting businesses with advertising copy, white papers, blog posts, articles, and other digital content. greenindustrywriter.com

Photo: Adobe Stock

No one likes being lied to. When it comes to food and how it’s being grown and produced, consumers have developed a healthy sense of skepticism when it comes to claims of “green-ness.” Greenwashing backlash can be swift and consumer expectations are high. But, when you are doing something good, something that’s right, it’s worth every penny to get that message out to your customers.

You’ve seen them as you do your own grocery shopping — the abundance of labels and packaging advertising different foods as “natural” or “sustainable,” products that claim they are good for you, the earth, or are in some way environmentally friendly. Despite the onslaught of such marketing claims — some true, many not — the demand for organic and natural foods continues to rise. There is still plenty of opportunity to make the most of marketing your authentic sustainable practices.

Local rules

Where your produce is grown makes a huge difference to shoppers. As consumers shop more at local farmers markets, they’ve become attuned to the distance the produce traveled before they buy it. Locally grown produce is in high demand. Now, the term “local” means different things to different people, but if you go by typical farmer’s market standards, food grown within 200 miles of point of sale qualifies. Some markets limit produce sales to within a 50-mile radius. Closer is always better.

If you have a retail customer network that is within a tight radius from your production facility, this message should be one of your topmost marketing priorities. If you package your produce, consider creating special packaging for produce that will be sold within a close radius, to highlight its local origin. If you aren’t packaging or labeling your produce, be sure you’re working with retailers (or with their in-house marketing team) to provide them with good in-store signage that clearly communicates your growing location.

Don’t rule out D2C (direct-to-consumer) marketing. (Editor’s note: Read Leslie’s column on direct-to-consumer marketing here) While your customer might be the retailer, the end consumer needs to understand what makes your produce the better choice. You can’t always rely on your retailers to do your marketing for you. D2C marketing can be a great choice for marketing locally grown produce.

Organic

The word on the street is that we need more organic produce, and supply is not meeting demand. Food grown chemical-free may not be important to all consumers, but it is very important to a growing customer segment. Even consumers who ride the fence on organics may prioritize buying certain types of produce that are grown organically or naturally, while still accepting other foods that aren’t. Often these middle-of-the-road consumers are health conscious; but they are choosing some produce based on price alone when they can’t discern special differences. They need more specific information to influence their purchasing decision.

To get the right customer’s attention, you need to make it obvious very quickly that your produce is grown organically or with sustainable growing methods. Get specific about your growing practices and make it clear what you do and don’t use on your crops. This information should be shared on your website of course, as well as your packaging (if you use it), labels, and in-store signage.

If you’re a hydroponic or aeroponic produce grower in the USDA Certified Organic program, you can continue to use the logo. That stamp is meant as a marketing tool to help you make money from your investment in organic growing practices and it has been successful in helping the organic produce market grow.

Maximize the label

As shoppers are better able to navigate traditional advertising slogans and greenwashing, they are turning to a closer inspection of your product label. Now, I realize that if you have labeled or packaged whole produce, there may only be one ingredient. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use the label as an opportunity to describe how the produce was grown, and highlight materials used, or not used, in its production.

Are you using water-saving and water-recycling techniques to grow your crops? Are your practices pollinator friendly? Are you using CHP (combined heat and power) energy management strategies in your greenhouses? Solar power? Do you restrict usage of specific high-profile chemicals — or all synthetic chemicals? Again, all this information should be spelled out on your company website, but it also needs to trickle down to the end consumer in a direct and clear point-of-purchase presentation.

Wrap it up

If you package your produce, are you using easily recyclable, degradable and/or compostable materials? I’m a big recycler and home composter. If I can avoid buying produce in packaging I will — but if it’s unavoidable then I want to make sure the packaging is as low-impact as possible. There is nothing more supremely frustrating to me than to not be able to find clear recycling or composting instructions for the container or wrapper.

In fact, I find that many of the packages sold at “organic” or “natural” food stores are completely void of recycling information. Too often the materials used aren’t recyclable or compostable at all. Using materials that aren’t widely recyclable or require special facilities to sell organically grown produce seems counterproductive, and it sends a conscious message to me as the consumer. If you are using sustainable, recyclable and/or compostable packaging, make it more than clear on the label and provide instructions for disposal. It may not seem like it, but this is an important marketing message you need to communicate. The lack of this information does not inspire confidence.

Don’t make it too hard for customers to listen to what you have to say about what you grow and how you grow it. When it comes to contemporary marketing, your goal is to break through all the static with a message that is specific, clear, and truthful.

Leslie (CPH) owns Halleck Horticultural, LLC, through which she provides horticultural consulting, business and marketing strategy, product development and branding, and content creation for green industry companies. lesliehalleck.com

Photo courtesy of The Produce Moms

Originally, The Produce Mom was Lori Taylor’s pet project at the Indianapolis Fruit Company. In her marketing position, Taylor developed the digital brand to help her then-employer improve its produce branding and play up produce’s importance in a healthy diet.

“There was not a comprehensive resource for consumers or produce industry professionals to learn about all of the different [options] in the produce department,” she says. “And I’m a mom in my real life. I wanted to learn more about the produce department, and I was hungry for a solution.”

Three years ago, however, the vision she saw for The Produce Mom became more than what the Indianapolis Fruit Company envisioned. So, Taylor bought the brand from the company and struck out on her own, eventually renaming it The Produce Moms. Below, she answers questions about the company’s evolution, its mission and the #ProduceChallenge.

Produce Grower: Why did you change the name from The Produce Mom to The Produce Moms?

Lori Taylor: It was inspired by Mark Zuckerberg’s recent mission statement update at Facebook. Facebook changed its mission statement to put an emphasis on communities to build a better world. And when I read that, I thought, ‘We are in a position where we built a community and it’s united under the passion of fresh fruits and vegetables. We are also excited about introducing our two [new] produce moms. One is Candice, who has been recognized as one of America’s top African-American food bloggers. We are also bringing in Tara, who is a fitness instructor and dietician. They represent what I am not.

PG: How have The Produce Moms been able to challenge common misconceptions about fresh produce?

LT: We did a $10 produce [buying] challenge to show people the affordability of produce with Kroger. We made it a game. I had to buy one fruit, one vegetable and one organic item [with $10] and, as the series went on, we were able to take it a step further and include one locally grown item. It was a three-month long series on Facebook Live and that series drove the point home.

PG: Back when you were still The Produce Mom, the brand was known for the produce challenge, a monthly calendar that challenges people to eat a different produce item each day. What was the inspiration behind it?

LT: Approximately four years ago, we started the produce challenge, and it was inspired by my Facebook friends sharing things like the squat challenge, the plank challenge or the sit-up challenge. It was very much inspired by the fitness industry and things fitness industry influencers were doing to have people do one specific action. Each challenge came with positive messaging, too — stuff like ‘start a new healthy habit today.’ I participated in them myself, saw them rise in popularity and on social media and thought, ‘Wow, we need that in produce. We should be encouraging people to try all of the varieties in the produce section.’

For more information, visit theproducemom.com

This interview was edited for style and clarity.

This year, the Hydroponic Production Primers columns will focus on key points for producing some of the most popular food crops grown in greenhouses and controlled environments. First up: peppers.

Genetics: The most popular type of pepper (Capsicum annuum) grown is the bell pepper, standard block fruits. In addition to the standard, large bell peppers, snacking or mini peppers are increasing in popularity. Nearly all peppers hydroponically produced in greenhouses and controlled environments are sold ripened and colored, not green. Red is, by far, the most popular color, followed by yellow and orange.

Production systems: Peppers are commonly produced in systems that are most well-suited for vine crops, including stone wool or coconut coir slabs and Dutch buckets (Fig. 1) filled with perlite. Some producers also grow peppers in large nursery cans or containers filled with a loose peat-based growing substrate.

Propagation and young plant production: Peppers are propagated by seed. They should be sown in small propagation cells or cubes for germination. Air temperature and substrate temperature should be maintained in the upper 70s (°F) for seedling germination. During propagation, a nutrient solution with a low EC around 0.5 mS/cm should be used. When transplanting seedlings into 4-inch stone wool or coconut coir blocks, the root cube can be rolled onto its side to bury part of the pepper stem; this should not be performed with grafted plants.

Nutrient solution: The nutrient solution for pepper plants can be divided into two different phases: early, and full production. Once the young plants are transplanted into their final systems, stronger fertilizer solutions (2.0-2.5 mS/cm) than those applied during seedling production are used. During this early phase after transplanting into systems, plants are establishing in production systems and vegetative growth is promoted. To promote vegetative growth during establishment, a higher concentration of nitrogen is used. Once plants are established in production systems, the nitrogen concentration can be decreased, while the concentration of potassium should be increased.

Temperature: Target air temperatures during the day for peppers is 70-73° F; while shade can be used to reduce the greenhouse temperature in the summer, the lower light intensity resulting from the shade when air temperatures are warm may result in fruits that can’t fully develop. Night temperatures from 60-64° F are conducive to the development of flowers and fruits. If night temperatures are too warm, flowers may abort from stress.

Light: During the late fall, winter, and early spring, peppers respond positively to the increased light intensity from supplemental lighting and yields can be improved. Supplemental lighting is not required during the later spring, summer, and early fall.

CO2: Peppers respond positively to supplemental carbon dioxide, both during the seedling and finishing stages. The use of supplemental CO₂ is especially beneficial during times of the year when greenhouses are not venting to replenish CO₂ concentrations in the greenhouse.

Pollination: Peppers do not require pollination for adequate fruit production. However, by pollinating the quality of fruit can be increased while production time and disorders are decreased. While both hand and bee pollination are effective, bumblebees are a more efficient choice.

Pruning and training: Peppers are most commonly grown on plants with two stems trained vertically in the greenhouse (Fig. 2). After several leaves have unfolded and expanded, pepper plants will naturally bifurcate into two stems. These stems are trained on a trellis like tomatoes and other vine crops. However, unlike tomatoes the stems are not leaned or lowered and are trained straight up. Pepper flowers form in leaf axils. The flower formed where the stem splits or bifurcates is removed, as are the flowers formed on the first leaf axil on each of the two stems; the flower on the second leaf axil or node is kept and a fruit can develop. After this, flowers are removed from every other axil/node, allowing a flower to open and fruit to form on every other node. Side shoots, or suckers, are not entirely removed from plants. Rather, they are left on plants but pruned back to leave two leaves.

Pests: The most common pest found on hydroponically grown peppers in greenhouses are aphids; the green peach aphid is the primary pest, though other aphid species can also infest peppers. Honeydew is one of the key symptoms of an aphid infestation and is problematic because it needs to be washed off fruits prior to marketing or can become a food source for sooty mold on foliage and fruits. Two-spotted spider mites are another problematic pest. Signs of mite infestations include webbing and speckling during the early stages and, as the infestation intensifies, leaves become brown and additional webbing is apparent.

Diseases: Diseases including Botrytis, Pythium and Rhizoctonia can all affect pepper crops. While pesticides can be applied, good greenhouse sanitation (removing dead and infected plant material), environmental conditions (adequate air movement, minimizing excessive humidity) and cultural practices (regular watering and fertilization) are the best way to prevent these diseases. In addition to bacteria and fungi, there are several viruses which can adversely affect peppers, including pepper mild mottle virus, tomato spotted wilt, and tobacco mosaic virus. Dipping hands in a milk solution can deactivate any virus that may be on your hands and can minimize spread between plants that are handled. Additionally, purchase seed from a reputable supplier that has been tested to be virus-free.

Physiological disorders: Flower abortion can be a common problem and can be the result of several problems. First, extreme warm temperatures can cause flowers to drop, and is most common during the summer months when outdoor temperatures are warmest. However, if the EC in the root zone gets too high, this can also cause flowers to abort. When fruits are exposed to bright and/or intense lights sunscald (Fig. 3) can occur. To avoid sunscald, steer plants in a vegetative direction to enhance leaf growth to shade the peppers. Also, leave an additional leaf or two when pruning suckers to provide more shade for fruits. Deformed fruits can result from poor pollination, especially when growing temperatures are cool. The use of bumblebees may help improve pollination and subsequent fruit growth. Finally, dark lesions that develop into necrotic tissue on the bottom of peppers results from blossom end rot, caused by a calcium deficiency. While the nutrient solution may contain insufficient calcium, it can also occur when there is sufficient calcium present, but uptake is diminished due to low light or high humidity.

Harvesting: Fruits are ready for harvesting once they have approximately 85-90 percent of their surface colored. Fruits should be removed from plants using a sharp knife; if you try to simply pull the fruit off the plants, both the fruit and plant can get damaged.

Postharvest care: Peppers should be cooled using forced air cooling. Fruits should not be hydrocooled, as the cooling solution can get inside the pepper fruit and cause a rot. Depending on how fruits are marketed, they may either be placed in cartons, clamshells, shrunk-wrapped polystyrene trays, or bags. Store peppers in a cooler at 45° F and maintain a relative humidity between 90-95 percent.

Christopher (ccurrey@iastate.edu) is an assistant professor of horticulture in the Department of Horticulture at Iowa State University.