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1) Southeastern US. We will announce exact location shortly. 2) Vine crops (Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers) and berries. No cannabis. 3) Greenhouses are supplyi

1) Southeastern US. We will announce exact location shortly. 2) Vine crops (Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers) and berries. No cannabis. 3) Greenhouses are supplying the US market from Canada and Mexico today. So they are already price competitive. Greenhouses are complementary to field farms as a) field farms do not produce during the winter; and b) greenhouses supply higher quality varieties.

mythrwy 4y ago
Thanks! So you will grow on string and do lean and lower? Or use the high lift vehicle to prune and harvest? I've been in some of the greenhouses in Mexico, (Sinaloa to be exact) growing peppers and Asian eggplants. They were fairly simple plastic houses but had strict entry protocols including booties and yellow sticky trap mazes to enter. There is a more complex industrial greenhouse I saw in Utah growing tomatoes on string. Very tall, unfortunately I didn't get to go in. It's next to a power plant and they pipe the expelled CO2 into the greenhouse for increased crop production. I believe it was started by Dutch growers. I'm an agronomist by training and even got on the cover of a seed catalog one year back in the 90s when I worked in Arizona on a veg farm. Previously I worked field tomatoes around Tampa Bay area Florida. Now I program for last 12 years, but still have a big garden every year. I agree on greenhouse quality 100% but but am personally a big fan of soil and compost and dislike hydroponics. Nearly religiously so haha. Really like the idea of localized production centers. Makes a lot of sense for many reasons. I have to say, Dutch growers really have my respect. They are the masters of this craft and even dairies. I currently live in a dairy rich region and many of the owners are of Dutch heritage. Very interesting stuff anyway, thanks for sharing and I will keep an eye on this.
mythrwy 4y ago
Also I didn't realize you were founder of this company. I thought you were just a guy on the internet. Good work! Very interesting ideas in your videos. People think because something looks like a tomato it is all the same. But there is a huge difference in flavor and nutrition as you correctly point out and the idea of optimizing for nutritional quality is so overlooked. We grow on mineral poor soils often because those are taken up over the years however we still get something that is red and tomato shaped so it goes off to the supermarket to be sold after sitting for some long period of time which further degrades both flavor and nutrition. The thing that I am skeptical of (and why I love compost), is that we will ever get a full enough understanding of the interplay between various factors of life to duplicate or balance at the same level. But perhaps I am very wrong. At any rate, I view life as a succession of organisms of which we are a part, and trust management of complexity primarily to evolution and biology because I know I cannot manage complexity at the same level. Admittedly this could be one part naturalistic fallacy and one part article of religious faith and one part hippie wooo but the taste of compost grown produce with good mineral supplementation I have not found elsewhere. But perhaps it is possible hydroponically and I'd really like to see it. Anyway, great points in your videos! More people should know about what you say. It's such an overlooked topic, the real nutrition value of food.
- davidhunter 4y ago
  So you will grow on string and do lean and lower? Or use the high lift vehicle to prune and harvest? For vine crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, eggplants), we use a high wire system. The stems are clipped to the wire as the crop grows upwards. The entire wire (and crop) is then lowered as fruits are harvested to make room for more growth. We keep the same crop for an entire year. I've been in some of the greenhouses in Mexico, (Sinaloa to be exact) growing peppers and Asian eggplants. They were fairly simple plastic houses but had strict entry protocols including booties and yellow sticky trap mazes to enter. Pest and disease management is a big deal in greenhouses as they spread quickly given that it is an indoor environment. In Mexico, more high-tech plastic greenhouses are being built. They are cheaper than the Dutch glass equivalent but still have a high degree of actuation. In Mexico, there is so much light, that you don’t need the high light transmissivity of glass. There is a more complex industrial greenhouse I saw in Utah growing tomatoes on string. Very tall, unfortunately I didn't get to go in. It's next to a power plant and they pipe the expelled CO2 into the greenhouse for increased crop production. I believe it was started by Dutch growers. I’ve been to this facility. It was built by a company called Houwelings which are a Canadian company with Dutch heritage. Unfortunately it was not operated well and it has recently gone through a restructuring [1]. I agree on greenhouse quality 100% but but am personally a big fan of soil and compost and dislike hydroponics. Nearly religiously so haha. There’s a case for soil vs hydroponics but the reality is that you can’t supply year-round at the quality and price that consumers expect without hydroponics. Also I didn't realize you were founder of this company. I thought you were just a guy on the internet. I am both :) People think because something looks like a tomato it is all the same. But there is a huge difference in flavor and nutrition as you correctly point out and the idea of optimizing for nutritional quality is so overlooked. You can grow high taste varieties and low taste varieties in greenhouses. Which variety you choose is a simple ROI calculation like in any business. A big problem in the US today is that greenhouses have been built in Canada and Mexico and the produce is trucked a long distance. This results in significant quality degradation vs growing locally. We aim to fix this in the US and in other countries. [1]: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sunset-continues-to-grow-west-mastronardi-adds-utah-to-locally-grown-network-301567257.html https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sunset-continues-to...

mythrwy 4y ago

Thanks! So you will grow on string and do lean and lower? Or use the high lift vehicle to prune and harvest? I've been in some of the greenhouses in Mexico, (Sinaloa to be exact) growing peppers and Asian eggplants. They were fairly simple plastic houses but had strict entry protocols including booties and yellow sticky trap mazes to enter. There is a more complex industrial greenhouse I saw in Utah growing tomatoes on string. Very tall, unfortunately I didn't get to go in. It's next to a power plant and they pipe the expelled CO2 into the greenhouse for increased crop production. I believe it was started by Dutch growers. I'm an agronomist by training and even got on the cover of a seed catalog one year back in the 90s when I worked in Arizona on a veg farm. Previously I worked field tomatoes around Tampa Bay area Florida. Now I program for last 12 years, but still have a big garden every year. I agree on greenhouse quality 100% but but am personally a big fan of soil and compost and dislike hydroponics. Nearly religiously so haha. Really like the idea of localized production centers. Makes a lot of sense for many reasons. I have to say, Dutch growers really have my respect. They are the masters of this craft and even dairies. I currently live in a dairy rich region and many of the owners are of Dutch heritage. Very interesting stuff anyway, thanks for sharing and I will keep an eye on this.

mythrwy 4y ago

Also I didn't realize you were founder of this company. I thought you were just a guy on the internet. Good work! Very interesting ideas in your videos. People think because something looks like a tomato it is all the same. But there is a huge difference in flavor and nutrition as you correctly point out and the idea of optimizing for nutritional quality is so overlooked. We grow on mineral poor soils often because those are taken up over the years however we still get something that is red and tomato shaped so it goes off to the supermarket to be sold after sitting for some long period of time which further degrades both flavor and nutrition. The thing that I am skeptical of (and why I love compost), is that we will ever get a full enough understanding of the interplay between various factors of life to duplicate or balance at the same level. But perhaps I am very wrong. At any rate, I view life as a succession of organisms of which we are a part, and trust management of complexity primarily to evolution and biology because I know I cannot manage complexity at the same level. Admittedly this could be one part naturalistic fallacy and one part article of religious faith and one part hippie wooo but the taste of compost grown produce with good mineral supplementation I have not found elsewhere. But perhaps it is possible hydroponically and I'd really like to see it. Anyway, great points in your videos! More people should know about what you say. It's such an overlooked topic, the real nutrition value of food.

davidhunter 4y ago
So you will grow on string and do lean and lower? Or use the high lift vehicle to prune and harvest? For vine crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, eggplants), we use a high wire system. The stems are clipped to the wire as the crop grows upwards. The entire wire (and crop) is then lowered as fruits are harvested to make room for more growth. We keep the same crop for an entire year. I've been in some of the greenhouses in Mexico, (Sinaloa to be exact) growing peppers and Asian eggplants. They were fairly simple plastic houses but had strict entry protocols including booties and yellow sticky trap mazes to enter. Pest and disease management is a big deal in greenhouses as they spread quickly given that it is an indoor environment. In Mexico, more high-tech plastic greenhouses are being built. They are cheaper than the Dutch glass equivalent but still have a high degree of actuation. In Mexico, there is so much light, that you don’t need the high light transmissivity of glass. There is a more complex industrial greenhouse I saw in Utah growing tomatoes on string. Very tall, unfortunately I didn't get to go in. It's next to a power plant and they pipe the expelled CO2 into the greenhouse for increased crop production. I believe it was started by Dutch growers. I’ve been to this facility. It was built by a company called Houwelings which are a Canadian company with Dutch heritage. Unfortunately it was not operated well and it has recently gone through a restructuring [1]. I agree on greenhouse quality 100% but but am personally a big fan of soil and compost and dislike hydroponics. Nearly religiously so haha. There’s a case for soil vs hydroponics but the reality is that you can’t supply year-round at the quality and price that consumers expect without hydroponics. Also I didn't realize you were founder of this company. I thought you were just a guy on the internet. I am both :) People think because something looks like a tomato it is all the same. But there is a huge difference in flavor and nutrition as you correctly point out and the idea of optimizing for nutritional quality is so overlooked. You can grow high taste varieties and low taste varieties in greenhouses. Which variety you choose is a simple ROI calculation like in any business. A big problem in the US today is that greenhouses have been built in Canada and Mexico and the produce is trucked a long distance. This results in significant quality degradation vs growing locally. We aim to fix this in the US and in other countries. [1]: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sunset-continues-to-grow-west-mastronardi-adds-utah-to-locally-grown-network-301567257.html https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sunset-continues-to...