When Ryan Ehst was living in northern Virginia, he felt the pull back to the family farm in Berks County.
Ehst returned in 2008, becoming the 10th generation of his family to work on the land in Washington Township, just outside Bally. But Ehst knew that to make a living, the traditional grain farm would have to go in a new direction.
So Ehst invested $500,000 to install a hydroponics operation called Butter Valley Harvest, in which he grows lettuce, herbs, tomatoes and cucumbers in a nutrient-rich solution, rather than soil, in specialty greenhouses.
Ehst is among a small but growing number of Berks County farmers marketing products directly to grocery stores and restaurants. Farmers have been able to carve out niche operations, thanks in part to increased consumer interest in buying locally grown food.
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