7/3/2023 0 Comments Little leaf guide service![]() LED grow lights, used to supplement the available sunlight and keep the availability of light consistent, use 40 percent less energy than incandescent grow lighting. Carbon dioxide is captured and recycled for plant use. Heating is 95 percent efficient, using natural gas. Solar energy powers much of the greenhouse operation. Their tagline, “The local lettuce locals love,” succinctly sums up the operation. Their system is transparent and traceable, going from farm to table with few intermediary steps. ![]() The operation has just expanded to five acres of growing space, and has another expansion planned for 2019. Growing vegetables hydroponically, year-round, in climate-controlled greenhouses has enabled Little Leaf Farms to supply over 1,000 grocery stores in the Northeast, within a day’s drive of the farm, with baby salad green mixes. “Our niche is being able to produce fresh, local greens year-round in a controlled environment, and I feel greenhouse growing is the most sustainable way to accomplish this. It’s a way to make local food production a reality given the ever-changing weather conditions,” farmer and manager Pieter Slaman of Little Leaf Farms said. “To grow greens throughout the year in New England you absolutely need to grow in greenhouses. This is the approach taken by Little Leaf Farms in Devens, MA, where the focus is on fresh, direct, transparent and low-mileage salad greens for the Northeast region, year-round. One solution: grow under cover, moving production into larger-scale, sustainably-focused greenhouses designed to supply regional Northeast markets with fresh vegetables year-round. While farmers are getting better at storing vegetables and are extending the growing season at both ends using high tunnels, row covers and even on-farm heated greenhouses, finding fresh produce during the winter most often means relying on growers in California, Florida or Central and South America. Food grown as close to home as possible, by local farmers, is a lot easier during the growing season than during the harsh winters found in the Northeast.
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