March 2020 - 3

Mid-Atlantic
Convention deemed a
success by organizers
10
14
Managing pepper
diseases requires
layered practices
22
Food production
industry entering
era of automation
expansion
March 2020 | Volume 54 |
Issue 3
Making it work
Water, weeds and spacing keys
to hoop house production
Bed width and length, and the number of rows per bed, are carefully planned in the University of Michigan Campus Farm hoop houses to fully utilize space, suppress weeds and make
harvest as efficient as possible, said Jeremy Moghtader, program manager. He was previously a farm manager at Michigan State University, pictured here. Photos: Gary Pullano
By Dean Peterson
VGN Correspondent
Water is necessary for plant growth
but can bring on diseases. Crops need
adequate space to grow but giving them
too much space is inefficient and makes
room for weeds. Tie it all together and
water, weeds and spacing are the keys to
hoop house production.
" It gets to be how they're interacting
and how they work as a system, " said
Jeremy Moghtader, program manager of
the University of Michigan U-M Campus
Farm and a speaker at the recent Great
Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market
EXPO in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Moghtader is formerly the director
of programs for the Michigan State
University (MSU) Student Organic
Farm, where he also served for 10
years as farm manager. In his time
at MSU he developed and directed
the MSU Organic Farmer Training
Program and the Farmer Field School
creating courses, teaching and giving
talks on organic and ecologically
based farming techniques.
The University of Michigan Campus
Farm is GAP-certified (Good
Agricultural Practices) and supplies the
U-M Food Service with about $120,000
of fresh produce each year. The farm
uses organic practices but isn't certified
organic and is part of U-M's Matthaei
Botanical Gardens.
The research and teaching facility
has a nine-acre footprint, four acres of
See PRODUCTION, page 5
Looking for a seasonal CEA crop? Consider strawberries
By David Kuack
VGN Correspondent
The interest in greenhouse
Three plants each of Albion and Cabrillo
strawberry plants were grown in 11-liter
buckets filled with a peat:perlite:coir
substrate mix and watered using drip
irrigation. Photos: Cornell University
strawberries has been increasing over
the last few years. Part of this has to
do with the demand for year-round
production of the crop. The variability
in quality and availability of fieldproduced
strawberries due to disease
outbreaks and weather-related issues
has increased interest in controlled
environment production. Last year's
early-season strawberry harvests in
California and Florida were delayed by
cool temperatures and/or rainy weather.
Another reason for the appeal of
greenhouse strawberries is the ability
to supply a consistent locally-produced
crop in most parts of the country
during the time of year when field
production is not possible.
" Strawberries are perfectly capable
of growing year round in a controlled
environment, " said Jonathan Allred,
Ph.D. student at Cornell University
in Ithaca, New York. " But in terms
of being financially competitive,
controlled-environment growers would
be doing off-season production, which
would be a late fall to early spring
production season. Growing over the
winter and being able to produce locally
is when the crops are going to be most
in demand.
" In general, greenhouse strawberry
production is difficult financially even
See STRAWBERRIES, page 6

March 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2020