LDEI Cleveland kicks
off the new year with a tour of Green City Growers
The LDEI
Cleveland Chapter began the new year with a tour of Green City Growers,
a 3.25-acre hydroponic greenhouse and the largest urban greenhouse in the
country.
The host
and tour guide was Jeremy Lisy, National Sales Manager for Green City Growers.
Lisy noted that Green City Growers is a branch of
Evergreen Cooperatives ofCleveland. Evergreen Cooperatives helps to create green jobs and economic
stability in low-wealth neighborhoods.
The
state-of-the-art, industry-certified hydroponic greenhouse in Cleveland’s
Central neighborhood is situated on a 10-acre site that was once urban blight.
The inner-city site, with 3.25 acres under glass, now serves as a vibrant anchor
for the surrounding neighborhood.
Opened in
2012, the Green City Growers greenhouse is engineered and constructed to grow
specialty greens prized by chefs, restaurants and retail clients. Rather than
growing in soil, the greens float on pools of nutrient-enriched water. That
enables a quicker growth cycle as well as producing tastier produce, appreciated
by farm-to-table enthusiasts. During the winter, energy-efficient grow lights
are used to maintain production. The carefully controlled environment in the
greenhouse allows produce to be grown twelve months a year, to meet customers’
demand for the freshest product.
The
hydroponic greenhouse is industry-certified by PRIMUS/GFS, a leading name in
global food safety. That means that Green City Growers meets the highest
quality standards for food safety for hydroponic produce.
Lisy said
that specialty greens currently being grown in the greenhouse include Upland
cress, mixed greens, butter lettuce, NuFar basil, red butter lettuce and
Cleveland Crisp. The greens grow from seed to harvest in 35 to 40 days. Lisy
noted that the greenhouse produces about three million heads of lettuce
annually and 300,000 pounds of basil. It supplies restaurants and some grocers
as far away from Cleveland as Indianapolis. Clients include Kroger, Meijer, Aldi
and the Northeast Ohio Marc’s chain of stores. Green City Growers also operates
a produce stand at Cleveland’s historic West Side Market.
Green City
Growers functions as a cooperative, with its business model getting noticed
around the world, according to Lisy. He said that it is currently at about 90
percent of its profit potential but, as soon as it becomes completely
profitable, it will be turned over to the 34 greenhouse employees. Lisy said that
they have commissioned studies that show most of the employees spend the money
they earn within 10 miles of their workplace, meaning the profit comes full
circle and stays in the community.
“If we can
make this greenhouse business model work in Cleveland with our shorter and
darker winter days, we can put this model out there to work all over the
country,” Lisy concluded.
