February 2022 - 3

Thrips hit onions; foliar
disease boosts risk
Braga remains ahead
of industry changes via
sustainable practices
and innovation
9
19
26
Do's and don'ts for
selling at farmers'
markets
February 2022 | Volume 56 |
Issue 2
Gardens and
greenhouses
Grower partnerships, environmental concern help greenhouse
grower Edible Garden produce local organic greens
Edible Garden Ag Inc. operates state-of-the-art greenhouse and processing facilities in Belvidere, New Jersey, and in partnership with growers throughout the U.S., reducing
food miles. Photos: Edible Garden
By Doug Ohlemeier
VGN Correspondent
Sustainability and environmental
stewardship are in the recipe of success
for Edible Garden. The greenhouse and
hydroponic producer of organic greens,
lettuces and herbs utilizes sustainable and
proprietary growing practices to produce
organic produce from seed to store.
The Belvidere, New Jersey-based
greenhouse grower's slogan is " Simply
local, simply fresh. " Edible Garden
produces locally grown organic
produce supported by a network of
zero-waste-inspired, new-generation
greenhouse farms. The company uses
advanced technology to sustainably
grow and/or process and package its
lettuce and herbs.
" It's about doing more with less, " said
Jim Kras, chief executive officer. " It's
about being eco-friendly and being
conscious about what you're doing to the
environment. We try to hire and keep
good growers who really understand what
it is we're looking to accomplish. "
Local, organic and
greenhouse grown
Though some items are grown
conventionally, an overwhelming
majority - about 90% - of Edible Garden's
products are grown organically.
To supply locally grown leafy greens to
supermarkets, Edible Garden works with
partner farms and operations in 10 states:
New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Indiana,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Virginia, Florida,
Colorado and California.
" We are growing the freshest product
closest to the stores' distribution centers
as possible, " said Kras. " We are managing
multiple locations with multiple orders
across multiple retailers. "
In all of its operations, Edible Garden
produces crops on hundreds of thousands
of square feet of greenhouses. Its New
Jersey plant alone operates on more than
200,000 square feet of greenhouses. Edible
Garden ships greens directly to regional
distribution centers of retail chains
including Meijer, with products arriving
within a day or two of harvest.
Working with partner farms helps
reduce food miles, deliver a fresher
product and reduce loss.
" We have really focused on our shrink,
putting in technology to extend the life of
the product longer so it doesn't end up in
a landfill, " said Kras. " That's sustainability.
That's harnessing technology and
See EDIBLE, page 5
Weeding robots put farms in better control
By Sam Hitchcock Tilton
VGN Correspondent
(This is another installment of a
series of stories updating and tracking
the latest technology trends in specialty
agriculture.)
The Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable &
Farm Market EXPO was quite a treat
this year. I felt the energy around and
within me - after a year or two without
conferences I didn't realize how much I
missed being around other growers and
ag professionals. It sure felt good.
Dan Brainard at Michigan State
University Horticulture pulled together
some of our region's best and brightest
to talk about weed control, and through
the magic of technology we also got to
hear from an expert in California. In
this article I'll describe the basic types of
robotic weeders, examples of what they
are capable of and how they are being
used commercially in California.
Steve Fennimore from University of
California, Davis works with growers who
use these weeding robots in vegetables.
First he made a few distinctions between
the different types of robotic weeders. The
first, with the lowest level of complexity,
are camera-guided hitches (photo 1).
These are towed behind a tractor by
the three-point hitch and the toolbar is
moved left and right (perpendicular to the
direction of travel) by hydraulic cylinders.
The movement is controlled by cameras
that " see " the crop, keeping the tools
centered on the crop row. Camera-guided
weeders merely keep traditional weeding
tools centered on the row.
See WEEDING, page 6
Photo 1: An Ecodan camera-guided hitch
with traditional weeding tools.

February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2022