May 2021 - 14

PRECISION AG
Big Apple bound
Startup claims first vertically grown,
commercially sold strawberries
Oishii grows its Omakase berry variety, and has honed its vertical growing techniques at a research facility and farm system in northern New Jersey. Photos: Oishii
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
An interesting strawberry grown
vertically is making a quiet debut at
New York City restaurants, directto-consumer
online sales and even
upscale retailer Eli's Market.
The berries, which sell for about
$5 each in a three- or six-pack
are the product of research into
strawberry varieties and indoor
vertical hydroponic growing systems
by Oishii, a north New Jersey startup.
The variety of strawberry, Omakase,
is a rare type from Japan, and Oishii
claims to be the first to grow it in
the U.S.
Getting vertical
While vertical growing systems for
greens and herbs are becoming more
commonplace, the use of the systems
for strawberries is cutting-edge, with
category giant Driscoll's last year
announcing a partnership with San
Francisco, California, vertical grower,
Plenty, for research and development.
Oishii was founded in 2016 by
Brendan Somerville and Hiroki Koga,
who met pursuing MBA degrees at
Berkeley. Somerville had co-founded
an avocado company in Uganda, while
Koga had worked as a consultant in
agriculture technology in Japan.
The two built a northern New Jersey
research facility during 2017-2018 and
soon after started some commercial
sales to food service.
" We're the first indoor grower that's
been able to have happy bees on our
crops consistently, " Somerville said.
" Through our years of R&D, we've
created perfect pollination, which
I think is the real revolution in our
grow system. "
Their pollination results are nearly
perfect, he said - a strawberry from
every flower - and the magic is in
the variety of bees used, the ratio
of bees to flowers and growing
conditions that allow bees to thrive
at work. Other challenges they've
met for vertical growing have been
disease management - Somerville
said strawberries have more disease
challenges than greens - and the
right " environmental recipe " of light,
temperature, hydroponic nutrition
and CO₂ optimized for the individual
berry variety. The CO₂ level is
elevated, and the artificial light in
the modular, completely enclosed
grow space is a " recipe " from LEDs,
Somerville said.
A bit about the berries
The Oishii Omakase berry was
introduced to Michelin-starred
restaurants and chefs, and since has
been opened up to direct-to-consumer
sales. Somerville said they've had a lot
of interest from chefs and the public in
general.
" Even in Japan, people would say
it's extremely unique, " Somerville
said. " We're the very first to grow this
variety here in the United States. "
He said the taste, texture and aroma
are unique.
" It's a higher sugar content or
a higher brix berry, so it has an
amazing sweetness without being too
overpowering, " he said.
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May 2021

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