Publication Date:
Friday, December 23, 2011
Publication:
Fresh Plaza
When consumers think about where their produce comes from, they usually imagine acres of open fields. But for a significant portion of the tomato market, the product consumers buy isn't even grown in soil.
These are greenhouse operations which grow their tomatoes in an enclosed environment in order to exert a fine degree of control over the growing process. Such a system can give greenhouse growers many advantages.
“In our greenhouse environment, we're able to control most of the variables involved with growing,” says Helen Aquino of Village Farms.
Village Farms is the leading vegetable greenhouse producer in North America. It operates 232 acres of greenhouse facilities. Those facilities, according to Aquino, give Village Farms some advantages when it comes to food safety.
“We're able to control most of the variables involved with growing, and that equates to higher food safety,” she says.
They also grow their tomatoes hydroponically, which means that there's less threat from microorganisms which might be in the soil.
Pure Hothouse Foods also grows their tomatoes hydroponically in a greenhouse, and Sandra Dick, Marketing Coordinator for Pure Hothouse, also believes that the lack of soil in the growing process mitigates certain risks. She notes that growing hydroponically means they can avoid contamination through the soil of certain pathogens, like listeria.
She also agrees that greenhouses afford an exceptional level of control.
“We control the application of everything that interacts with our crops,” she says, “so there is no danger of animals wandering in, or of pesticide drift, and there is no access to foreign contaminants.”
However, such a high degree of precision comes with high investment costs to set up such a controlled environment. It's that aspect of greenhouse growing which might not make it the best option for all growers.
“The controlled environment greenhouse growing we do is a high-tech endeavor,” says Aquino, “and there are high start-up costs associated with developing a greenhouse of this nature.
But she also touts the efficiencies that come with greenhouse growing as something that makes the endeavor worth undertaking. Such efficiencies are achieved by recycling water and planting more intensely, thus getting higher yields per acre. Additionally, the controlled environment of a greenhouse allows the growing of tomatoes 365 days out of the year, further boosting productivity.
Thus, as Aquino points out, despite the high initial cost, for some growers, it makes sense.
“For us,” she says, “it's worth the investment.”