YEAR ROUND FRESH PRODUCE-LOCAVORE MOVEMENT GETS A BOOST

Almost all fruits and vegetables are seasonal in nature available only during certain times of the year. Seasonality of crops, because of the over riding influence weather conditions have on the growth of these plants, has been the greatest drive engine for development of many food preservation and processing technologies ever since man set his foot on this planet millions of years ago. Technologies like canning, dehydration, salt and sugar seeping, freezing, refrigeration, irradiation, etc help to prolong the life of fresh produce very significantly. However the products made by these technologies always fell short of the expectations of the consume who invariably cherish fresh foods if they are available all year round. As earth has different weather zones across the latitudes and longitudes with varying temperatures, humidity, sun shine and rain fall, every country has a typical crop foot print and enables them to tap global markets during times of short supply. However this factor is slowly being marginalized after the development of technologies such as green house production and hydroponics. Here is a take on this emerging trend.

But increasingly, farmers from West Virginia to Maine and through the Midwest are going indoors to produce tomatoes and other veggies in demand during the winter months. "There's a huge increase in greenhouse operations," Harry Klee of the University of Florida tells us. "This is unprecedented, the level of opportunity," says Mock, whose business is booming. And surprisingly, according to skeptical foodies like chef Todd Wiss, the best greenhouse tomatoes come incredibly close to reproducing that taste of a perfectly ripe, summer garden tomato. "It's amazing," Wiss says after trying a greenhouse-grown Gary Ibsen's Goldheirloom tomato. These are a far cry from the flavorless supermarket tomatoes typically found this time of year. When tomatoes are shipped long distances, they're usually harvested before they're ripe, which compromises taste. Plus, as we've reported before, some of the flavor of those supermarket varieties has been accidentally bred out. The advantage of the new greenhouse model is that the tomatoes are grown not far from the cities where they're sold and eaten. And it's the locavore ethos that's driving this trend. "What's harvested today will be delivered to stores tomorrow," says Paul Mock of Mock's Greenhouse and Farm in Berkeley Springs, W.Va. Mock's business has boomed in the last few years, as retailers such as Wegmans and Whole Foods in the D.C., metro area snap up his heirloom and cherry tomatoes, as well as cucumbers and lettuces. "There were times I had to pound the pavement" to sell produce, Mock says. Now he's being paid a premium, since "locally grown" produce is in high demand. "I'm finally having fun." The taste of Mock's tomatoes starts with the seed. He uses only organic varieties, including cherry and several heirloom varieties. Allison Aubrey/NPR Now even New Englanders can get summertime-tasting, fresh tomatoes grown not too far from home. In Maine, Backyard Farms is leading the way. And vertical greenhouses are changing the landscape, too, from the new garden spot at Chicago's O'Hare Airport to Vertical Harvest of Jackson Hole, Wyo., which is just getting started. So how do they grow? Many of these operations are turning to hydroponic farming, which means the plants are not grown in soil. As we've reported before, soil is one key component of tomato flavor, but it's not the only one. The hydroponic tomatoes get their nutrients (and fertilizer) from liquid solutions fed directly via irrigation hoses. This typically requires less water and less land than traditional farming. In fact, it uses up to 10 times less land and seven times less water per pound, according to Kate Siskel of BrightFarms, a company that's scaling up local produce by building greenhouses at or near supermarketsMock says there's another advantage of indoor growing: "We've had very little damage from bugs." And he's been able to avoid using chemicals on the leaves or fruit of his plants.

Local food movement which started some years ago advocates consumption of food produced nearer to the consumption centers and naturally cities and urban areas where food consumption is greatest cannot afford to grow food crops on precious urban lands which are extremely expensive besides lack of infrastructure to support agriculture in a big way. Of course feeble attempts are being made to adopt urban agriculture in a limited way and these include sky roof gardens, terrace gardens, balcony gardens, gorilla cultivation, etc but their impact is rather limited. Advent of green house technology and hydroponics which require limited land with high production potential has opened up enormous possibilities to promote locavore conscious consumers who frown upon the destructive impact of commercial agriculture which churns out safety-suspect foods with large carbon foot prints. Hydroponic technology may revolutionize the concept of agriculture production in the coming years and offers a ray of hope for the future of this planet and health of the denizens.

V.H.POTTY
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