Lef Farms: The Northeast's New Home For Fresher And Tastier Mixed Greens

LOUDON, NH — Let’s face it, who doesn’t like fresh salad greens? They’re tasty and crisp, not to mention healthy. So why do those in the Northeast settle for eating lettuce and herbs that typically spend an entire week on a truck shipped in from the West Coast?

That was the exact question Henry Huntington and Bob LaDue of Pleasant View Gardens had been asking themselves for the past few years. In fact, it was the primary motivation for them to start l?f Farms (pronounced “leaf”), and breaking ground on a brand new, 75,000-sq.-ft. greenhouse growing facility in the heart of New England.

“With the discerning tastes and Yankee practicality here in the Northeast, we truly couldn’t understand why anyone would choose to eat something that was perceived fresh but in reality was a week or so old,” stated l?f’s President and CEO, Henry Huntington. “We knew there was a tremendous opportunity to better serve the people of our region with greens that are truly fresh. To give them a choice while elevating their expectations of how fresh packaged lettuce could actually taste,” affirms Huntington.

Located in Loudon, New Hampshire, l?f Farms is currently in the final stages of construction and will be the first of its kind in the Northeast. Their grand opening is right around the corner, with finished product expected to be available as early as June, so l?f has already begun spreading the fresh greens gospel that will ultimately bring tastier lettuce to this very demanding market – a market that reportedly gets 90% of its lettuce from the West Coast.

“We will initially be able to produce 1.3 million pounds of fresh greens a year, with tremendous future capacity,” confirms l?f’s VP and COO, Bob LaDue. “Most importantly, our customers can get those greens within 24 hours from the time they’re harvested. Grocers, retailers, restaurants, schools, hospitals and consumers all across the Northeast will be getting the absolute freshest and most flavorful salad blends possible,” continues LaDue. “It’s something bagged lettuce shipped in from Mexico and California simply can’t match.”

L?f greens will be grown in an advanced climate-controlled greenhouse environment where fresh and nutritious baby greens will be harvested at premium quality standards every day of the year – regardless of the weather. So l?f greens can be consistently delivered at the peak of freshness and flavor, whether it is January or July.

More than just lip service, this notion of freshness actually establishes one of the key points of differentiation for l?f Farms. Knowing freshness equates to local production, much of the raw greens being harvested and shipped to the Northeast from the West Coast and beyond are being sent to East Coast packing plants, where they are transformed into “local” greens through the magic of packaging.

“This is the exact reason our tagline, ‘Fresh is right here’ is so important,” states an emphatic Huntington, “We’re truly grown in the Northeast – from start to finish – not packaged to trick people into thinking that.”

Beyond fresh and delicious, l?f Farms delivers on another principle that’s near and dear to the folks in the Northeast: Sustainability. L?f Farms’ hydroponic method of production relies on recycling water balanced with nutrients rather than dirt to provide essential minerals for optimal growth. And since the process delivers an exact amount of water, oxygen and nutrients to the plants, l?f is able to employ a plant nutrition program that has essentially zero waste. Plus, it uses as much as 90% less water than traditional farming, where water is used in excess and lost to the environment. All of this combines to help l?f lettuce grow twice as fast as lettuce grown in the very best organic media available.

Just like the population it will serve, l?f doesn’t care for salad topped with pesticide. So they’ve invested heavily in technologies and techniques that will minimize the introduction of insect pests. This includes expertly managing the high growth rates of its greens while also taking advantage of something the organic movement has helped make affordable: The use of beneficial insects to fight the bad ones.

From a food safety perspective, l?f Farms starts with 100% non-GMO seeds and employs a unique process where those seeds are sown, grown, cut, mixed, weighed, packaged and boxed all under the same roof. So human hands (sadly, the greatest source of food pathogen risk) will never touch the product directly. And since l?f greens will be grown in a clean environment with no pesticides, the need to pre-wash the product is eliminated. Which is something growers from the West Coast can’t compete with, as they are often required to triple-wash their lettuce to remove harmful chemicals, insects and dirt prior to packaging.

This is a huge plus for consumers, since each bag of lettuce from l?f Farms will contain more greens and less water. And don’t even get us started on the whole issue of carbon footprint issue, as l?f will effectively eliminate a 3,000-mile trip for every truckload of lettuce from California.

“When you add it all up, the benefits of our greens are tremendous,” says Huntington. “Fresher lettuce that’s grown without chemical pesticides, contains little to no PH2O (packaged water), and hasn’t experienced a weeklong road trip means our customers will get a much greater value for much tastier, safer lettuce,” smiles Huntington.

No strangers to the world of agriculture, both Henry Huntington and Bob LaDue have a rich history in growing. Not only is Mr. Huntington the President of l?f Farms, he’s also the President of Pleasant View Gardens, one of the country’s top 100 growers, with New Hampshire-based facilities that span 15 acres and generate more than 1.5 million trays of plant material annually.

As a third-generation family enterprise, Pleasant View Gardens’ roots date back to the mid-‘70s. Since then, Henry and his brother Jeff have built one of the most successful horticultural businesses in the Northeast. Arguably, their greatest achievement has been the creation of the world’s #1 plant brand, Proven Winners®.

With the solid foundation of their Pleasant View success, the Huntingtons have actively sought ways to expand and diversify their core agricultural business. A good example of this is the recent introduction of their Savor™ Edibles & Fragrants line of herbs and vegetables to garden centers. And now, with its involvement with the independently owned and operated l?f Farms, Pleasant View Gardens has evolved from being an organization exclusively focused on traditional ornamental growing into one that’s more technology-driven, using environmentally advanced systems for food production.

“It’s been a natural progression for us. We started with flowers, incorporated edibles, and now we’re involved in the production of food for direct consumer consumption,” beams Henry Huntington.

Mr. Huntington isn’t alone in his enthusiasm about the possibilities the l?f venture holds. His counterpart Bob LaDue is equally excited. And he, too, sports a pretty impressive background in the field of agriculture. With a degree in Agricultural & Environmental Systems Technology from Cornell University, Mr. LaDue started his career designing, building and operating fish growing systems, while managing the university’s Aquaculture Research and Demonstration Facility. He then expanded his aquaculture expertise by developing recirculating systems for various projects in New Hampshire, New York and Louisiana.

Bob leveraged his experience in systems for controlled environment food production at Cornell, where he helped perfect similar technology for lettuce production in greenhouses.

“We developed and commercialized new and innovative ways to maximize solar energy in concert with artificial light to manage plant growth in ways that allow for significantly higher productivity rates than had ever been realized,“ reminisces LaDue. “In doing so, we effectively took the seasonality out of production in an economically viable way. Most greenhouse growing concepts peak in the summer when competition is greatest, then struggle to produce anything of quality in the dead of winter when demand is the greatest and the only supply option comes from 1000s of miles away. We intend to offer consumers a very different and much better option,” concludes LaDue.

Prior to connecting with the Huntingtons and joining l?f Farms, Bob gained critical operational and business experience as general manager of Finger Lakes Fresh, where his ideas and successes were put to work in a commercial greenhouse business in Ithaca, NY. LaDue created and marketed new leafy-green products for retail and wholesale markets, established its distribution system, developed and implemented its food safety program, and advanced expansion plans for a new greenhouse and packing facility.

To find out more about l?f Farms, or to talk to us about getting your fork into some of our fresh, tasty greens, visit www.lef-farms.com or call 603.435.4500.

Source: l?f Farms