Little Leaf Farms: Now & The Future (Part 3)

Did you know that approximately 20% of all cases of food poisoning are due to leafy greens, more than any other type of food?

I've already written about some of the advantages of Little Leaf Farms, from its use of rainwater to its incredibly high yields, thereby saving even greater resources. This is an innovative operation, which succeeds on many levels, creating a more sustainable farm which offers many advantages over conventional lettuce farms. I want to note other advantages too, as well as to discuss the availability and taste of their leafy greens.

Back in January 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a comprehensive report, covering the period of 1998-2008, on the sources of food poisoning. The report mentioned that there are about 48 million cases of food poisoning each year, which includes about 3,000 deaths. Leafy greens constitute the greatest single source of food poisoning though they are not as deadly as other sources such as poultry. An important reason why leafy greens can cause food poisoning is due to unsanitary field workers. You certainly need to thoroughly wash lettuce before eating, and hope that restaurants you patronize do the same. If not, you risk potential food poisoning.

At Little Leaf, because of all their automated processes, there is only minimal human interaction in the process, and gloves are used on those few times when intervention is necessary. What that means is that the potential risk of food poisoning from their leafy means is drastically reduced from what you will find in field-grown leafy greens. That is another compelling reason to purchase Little Leaf leafy greens. If you've ever had a case of food poisoning, from items such as listeria or salmonella, you surely don't want a repeat so you'll want to take measures to reduce your risk of another such illness. In addition, they never use any type of chlorine-based cleaners or other chemical washing agents on their leafy greens.

As I've previously mentioned, over 98% of the lettuce in our country is grown in California and Arizona. It must then be trucked across the country to New England, incurring additional transportation costs, using additional resources and incurring a greater environmental impact than local products. With Little Leaf Farms, their leafy greens can be on store shelves the day after it is harvested, meaning you get fresher greens, with a lower impact on the environment and using less resources. Many people want to support local businesses, especially if they provide an excellent product, and Little Leaf Farms is worthy of your support.

Scientific support for the Little Leaf Farms hydroponic farm also comes from a recent study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health. The study, titled Comparison of Land, Water, and Energy Requirements of Lettuce Grown Using Hydroponic vs. Conventional Agricultural Methods, compared hydroponic to field agriculture for lettuce farms in Arizona. They found hydroponics yielded about 11 times more lettuce than field agriculture and also used 13 times less water. However, it required significant more energy but that is also based on the location of Arizona, which has a hotter climate. The study notes that cooler climate regions would have much less energy needs, and renewable sources of energy would also reduce the ultimate cost.

As Little Leaf Farms is located in Massachusetts, which possesses a much overall cooler climate than Arizona, energy needs would be much less. In addition, as mentioned before, Little Leaf uses some solar power to combat energy issues, and a number of the components of their farm have also been designed to conserve energy. In addition, their yields should be much greater than what was found in the study, which is only another added benefit.

Currently, Little Leaf Farms is growing six different leafy greens, including arugula, green leaf, red leaf, multiblond, red chard and finstar, though they are not yet selling a commercial product including their finstar. Currently, they sell two commercial products, a Red & Green Leaf Mix and a Spring Mix (which includes arugula, green leaf, red leaf, multiblond, & red chard), in 5 ounce bags at a competitive price. Their leafy greens, which came onto the market in July, are available at many of the large supermarkets, including Stop & Shop, Star Market, Shaws, Market Basket, Hannafords, and Big Y, as well as smaller markets like Russo's. In addition, restaurants can order bulk, four-pound boxes of the Little Leaf products through Baldor Food.

The big question arises, how do these leafy greens taste?

My favorite of their leafy greens was their Arugula, with a strong and compelling peppery flavor, and it also reminded me in part to garlic. The arugula isn't as bitter as others I have tasted and it makes a great base for a salad, and would be versatile for many other dishes as well. Little Leaf sells boxes of just their arugula to restaurants and I would highly recommend that restaurants check it out, as it contains lots of flavor.

The Finstar lettuce, a cross between romaine and ice berg lettuce, was crisp and clean, with a nice texture and the taste of romaine.

The Red Chard is a more bitter green but with some buttery notes on the finish.

The Red Leaf is a milder flavored lettuce

"Lettuce is a vehicle to transport refrigerated water from farm to table."
--Tamar Haspel, a columnist at The Washington Post

In Tamar's article, she attacked salads, stating they are "overrated" and "pitifully low in nutrition" though her words generally concerned iceberg lettuce and not other leafy greens. It is those other leafy greens which actually are nutritious, with the darker greens tending to be the most nutritious. Leafy greens generally are good sources of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C and iron. Tamar's criticisms are much less applicable if you use different types of leafy greens in your salad. The Little Leaf operation also avoids some of the other problems Tamar mentions, such as the risk of food poisoning.

Little Leaf Farms is also socially conscious, and provides hundred of cases of leafy greens each week to local food banks and other support organizations such as Loaves & Fishes and The Greater Boston Food Bank. How many farms in California or Arizona are contributing to food banks in Massachusetts?

Though Little Leaf Farms has only started selling their leafy greens, they have been looking to the future. They hope to break ground next year on a second greenhouse, basically the same size as the existing one, and attach it to the current building. Within three to five years, they hope to grow even more, constructing a couple other greenhouses. They are also likely to add to their product line, such as maybe an Arugula-only bag for consumers (which is a great idea).

One of their biggest challenges is raising consumer awareness of their products. Their operation is fascinating, sustainable, innovative and local. Their leafy greens are tasty, fresh and present a drastically reduced risk of food poisoning. However, consumers need to learn those facts, to be aware they have a new local option for leafy greens. And getting the word out to consumers is not an easy task.

At the supermarket, consumers are confronted with a variety of lettuce brands, in various types of packaging. Currently, the Little Leaf Farms packaging doesn't really stand out and doesn't emphasize the fact that the leafy greens are grown locally in Massachusetts. If you look closely at the bags, you can learn that information, but the average consumer is unlikely to do so. The packaging needs to make that information much more prominent and visible. It needs to attract the attention of consumers, to make them look more closely at their packages.

Restaurants too need to be made aware of this new option, to learn about these locally grown leafy greens which can add to the flavors of their dishes. Their food purveyors may not mention that they now stock Little Leaf Farms, so restaurants might need to specifically request it.

Little Leaf Farms may be the future of leafy greens and I strongly recommend that you check out their products.

Check out Part 1
Check out Part 2

Little Leaf Farms: Born Local, Raised Right (Part 2)

"Born Local. Raised Right."
--The motto of Little Leaf Farms

As I mentioned yesterday, Little Leaf Farms is located in Shirley, a 14 acre-site within the Devens Regional Enterprise Zone. This zone is the former location of the 4,400-acre Fort Devens military base and is now administered and regulated by the Devens Enterprise Commission. Within this zone, you'll now find private residences, schools, open parkland, and numerous businesses. Paul Sellew, the founder of Little Leaf Farms, worked with MassDevelopment to acquire the 14-acre site, investing a significant amount of his own money into this endeavor, indicative of his confidence in this project.

A three-acre facility was constructed, with 1 hectare of growing space within the greenhouse, which is the equivalent of about 2.47 acres. The construction of the facility included numerous aspects intended to conserve energy, be more sustainable, and contribute to the success of this hydroponic operation. For example, the Devens site was specifically chosen so they could use more affordable and sustainable energy, as Devens uses a significant portion of solar energy. In addition, the glass used in the construction of the greenhouse was specially designed to maximize the use of natural sunlight. During the winter, when there will be much less natural light for the greenhouse, they will use LED-powered grow lights, which use 40% less electricity than conventional grow lights.

The greenhouse was constructed with a north-pitched roof so that it could collect rainwater, which is then stored in a 2 million-gallon basin located to the rear of the building. One inch of rain provides them about 75,000 gallons of water and their basin is currently two-thirds full. The rainwater is their primary water source and their goal is not to use any other water, absent any significant drought. Interestingly, despite the scarcity of rain this summer, the farm still acquired more water than they needed for their purposes. Thus, they haven't had the same drought problems which have plagued California this year. None of their water is wasted as it is all used by their leafy greens. Their entire system uses about 90% less water than is needed for traditional field-grown lettuce operations, significant savings of an important and limited resource.    

Before the water from the exterior basin can be used in the greenhouse, it is first disinfected with UV light, using the machinery pictured above. This ensures the water isn't tainted before being used to irrigate the leafy greens.

Once the water has been disinfected, it is then stored in this interior water tank, where it will then be used for irrigation, as well as partly for the temperature regulation system.

Most of the operation of the greenhouse is automated, meaning much less labor is necessary, and they currently only have ten employees. They do need to have one of their two growers present every day of the week. The growers include Pieter Slaman, the Head Grower and a fourth-generation Dutch lettuce grower, and Tanya Merrill, the Assistant Grower, who graduated from Cornell University last year with a horticulture degree.

Watching the entire process is amazing, seeing how smoothly it runs, from seeding to packaging. And it all begins with the pelleted non-GMO seeds, like those pictured above, which are obtained from Holland. The seeds are expensive and Little Leaf purchases a large amount of seeds on a regular basis as they harvest on a regular basis.

This is Juan, the "father" of the greenhouse, as he is responsible for seeding.

The entire process begins with an empty, long white plastic growing tray, referred to as a gutter.

Next, a strip of "horticultural stonewool" (pictured above) is placed into each tray. The stonewool is a fibrous substitute for soil and is actually made from crushed and melted rock basalt, which eventually gets spun into wool. This stonewool is specifically designed to hold water and air, and is also natural and inert, meaning it doesn't provide any nutrition to the plants. Because their seeds are grown in stonewool, and not soil, their leafy greens currently cannot be labeled as organic. Hydroponics and organic certification remains an area of contention. Seeds are then added to the stonewool and the tray is then conveyed on a belt to the greenhouse.

For the first three days of their life, the newly seeded trays, are kept beneath the rest of the trays, gaining the shade they need for germination. Once they have sprouted, then the trays will be automatically moved to the same level as the rest of the plants.

Within the green house, there are 12 production lines, with a total of 2130 gutters. The oldest plants are located the closest to the conveyor belts, and the gutters will move forward each day. In addition, as the plants get larger, the space between the gutters increase so that each plant gets sufficient light as crowding could create too much shade. Each day, 120 gutters, per line, will be harvested and it takes only 25 days from seed to harvesting. As such, each gutter could be seeded and harvested about 14 times during the course of a year. They do not harvest at full maturity, harvesting at a time when they feel the leafy greens are at maximum flavor. Maintaining the balance of the lines and gutters is very important to their operation.

This is a gutter which I witnessed being moved to the conveyor belt, ready to be harvested, and headed to the cutting room.

Paul stated that their projected annual yield should be in the low millions of pounds! Hypothetically, if their total yield were 2,000,000 pounds, that would equate to 1000 tons, or about 400 tons per acre. Now, let's compare that to the average yield of leafy greens on an acre of land in California, which is only 12 tons. Little Leaf is producing as much leafy greens on one acre as it would take for over 33 acres in California. That is incredible and is a massive savings in valuable resources. As I said yesterday, lettuce production occurs on about 323,000 acres, but if the Little Leaf process was used, you could decrease that amount down to only 9700 acres!

Little Leaf uses a hydroponic system known as "nutrient film technique," where, in short, water containing nutrients, feeds the plants. Little Leaf purchases all of the various ingredients separately including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrients, and then creates their own nutrient blend, carefully selecting each ratio.

They do not use any chemical pesticides, opting instead for more biological control. Insects which could cause problems include aphids and white flies, and one of their means to controlling this threat is through parasitic wasps which live within the greenhouse. The greenhouse is also "over pressure enclosed" so that when you exit the greenhouse through a door into the cutting room, you will confront a large burst of air, which is partially to keep the greenhouse cooler in the summer and all helps to prevent insects from flying into the greenhouse.

From the greenhouse, plants that are ready for harvesting move on a conveyor belt to the cutting machine, where air is blown to ensure the leaves are raised before cutting.

The leaves are sorted, and then maybe mixed, dependent on what is needed for the final product.

For supermarkets, the leafy greens are sent to a packaging machine, which places mixed greens into 5-ounce bags, which use 90% less plastic than some of the plastic "clamshells" used by other lettuce companies. The bags are then boxed, refrigerated and shipped out the next day. With California and Arizona lettuce, it will take a number of days to get trucked across the country. Little Leaf lettuce could be on your table the day after it is harvested.  In addition, harvesting, cutting and packaging at Little Leaf occurs in a matter of minutes. On a typical field-grown lettuce farm, the time from harvesting to packaging is probably measured more in hours.

For food service distribution, they sell four-pound bulk boxes, and this is one of the only times there is any human intervention, but even then, the employees wear gloves to maintain hygienic practices.

The trays which once held the harvested plants are emptied and then disinfected by steam so that they can be reused. And the process begins anew.

Check out Part 1
Check out Part 3

Little Leaf Farms: Local & Innovative Leafy Greens (Part 1)

Where is the lettuce and arugula you eat grown? Most likely, it comes from California or Arizona, transported across the country to New England by truck. You might find a small amount of local lettuce at farmers markets, grown on farms which can provide leafy greens only within a specific season. However, there is now a new option, a compelling lettuce farm, located in Shirley, Massachusetts, which can provide leafy greens year-round and which should serve as a model for the future of lettuce farms across the country: Little Leaf Farms.

First, let's explore a little bit of the fascinating history of leafy greens, to see its importance to ancient cultures. It is thought that the ancient Egyptians were the first people to cultivate lettuce though they generally didn't eat it. Instead, they used its oily seeds and the milky sap that oozed out when you broke a piece of lettuce. That milky sap would later provide lettuce its name, based on the Latin word "lactuca" which means "milk." The Egyptians felt that milky sap was an aphrodisiac and dedicated it to Min, their fertility god.

Arugula was also once thought, by the ancient Romans, to be an aphrodisiac. Who would have thought a simple salad could enhance your love life? For the ancient Greek and Romans, lettuce was considered more of a food source, though initially they served it at the end of a meal, as they believed it made you sleepy. Later, they felt that lettuce would help to stimulate your appetite so they started serving it at the start of a meal, though they also felt it helped digestion, so they also might serve it at the end of a meal.

Lettuce was first brought to the Americas by Columbus but it didn't start to be planted as a regular crop until colonial times. Currently, lettuce is the third most consumed fresh vegetable in the U.S., behind tomatoes and potatoes, with the average American consuming about 25 pounds of lettuce each year. Lettuce can roughly be divided into two types, head (like iceberg) and leaf (like romaine), though some divide leaf types into a few different categories. Breaking down lettuce consumption, Americans generally consume about 14 pounds of head lettuce and 11 pounds of leaf lettuce each year, with leaf lettuce consumption having grown in recent years.

China produces the most lettuce in the world, about 56% of total production, while the U.S. occupies second place, with maybe 10% of total production. China consumes much of their own lettuce production and it is Spain which occupies the top place for lettuce exports, with the U.S. once again taking second place. The U.S. only export about 12% of their total production, with most of those exports headed to Canada, with smaller amounts to Taiwan and Mexico. Approximately 98% of the lettuce grown in the U.S. comes from California and Arizona, with California responsible for about 71% of all head lettuce production.

Lettuce production occurs on about 323,000 acres, using a significant number of resources, from land to water. It is also considered very labor-intensive, especially for harvest and packaging. On an acre of land in California, the average yield is about 12 tons for leaf lettuce and 20 tons for head lettuce. This year's drought has also caused serious agricultural issues in California, pointing up a vulnerability in the system.

However, there may be a way to counter some of the disadvantages of this land agriculture, to increase yields while still using less resources, including labor. Little Leaf Farms is leading the way in offering such a solution, with their own hydroponic, leafy greens farm contained within a three-acre greenhouse.

Hydroponics is basically a way to grow plants without the use of soil, using mineral nutrient solutions to feed the plants. Though this type of farming has been available for over 30 years in the U.S., it hasn't caught on much until recently, and it still is only a tiny percentage of total farming across the U.S. For example, it is estimated that next year, there will only be about 3500 acres of greenhouses in the U.S. Other countries, such as Holland, have been more amenable to hydroponic greenhouses, and looking to such countries can offer beneficial advice to farmers in the U.S. Paul Sellew, the founder and CEO of Little Leaf Farms, paid careful attention to the work in Holland.

Paul Sellew, who at six-foot eight-inches tall is someone most people need to look up to, grew up in Lebanon, Connecticut, working at Prides Corner Farms, which was started by his late father, Peter, and is currently operated by his brother, Mark. Paul graduated from Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, with a degree in horticulture. Though it seemed farming was in his blood, Paul took a few years away from it to play professional basketball in Europe and South America. Upon his return to the U.S., he began his entrepreneurial career, starting with Earthgro, a composting business.

Since that time, he has founded a number of different companies from Harvest Power to Backyard Farms. You might be familiar with Backyard Farms, which is a greenhouse located in Maine which hydroponically grows tomatoes. Their tomatoes can be found in many local supermarkets and are also served at some local restaurants too. Paul's latest endeavor is Little Leaf Farms, which he hopes to do for lettuce what Backyard Farms did for tomatoes.

When I met Paul, and toured the greenhouse, I found him to be humble and passionate, engaging and intelligent. He was a down-to-earth person, lacking any pretension, and answered all of my questions without reservation. The greenhouse was thoroughly impressive and it is clear that this is a labor of love. The greenhouse has only recently started operations, having delivered its first shipments of leafy greens in July, and still needs work out a few kinks, but its potential is massive. In a world concerned with conserving natural resources, sustainability, climate change, and other such issues, Little Leaf Farms is a shining example of the potential for hydroponics.

Check out Part 2
Check out Part 3