When you think about greenhouse farming you probably get the image of hothouse tomatoes.  In fact there is a giant greenhouse in Madison, Maine run by Backyard Farms that year-round produces many of the tomatoes eaten on the East Coast. We no longer need to settle for hard pink tomatoes—picked green in Florida and shipped by truck, that taste like cardboard.

Greenhouse farmers are exploring new types of growing, including hydrodynamics and the vertical greenhouse farms that Backyard Farms employs. Theoretically, a greenhouse farm can be located in the desert or on the roof of an office building in midtown Manhattan.

Greenhouse Farming a Business and an Art

Jack Algiers of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, NY has a stunning greenhouse with plants bedded in soil.  The level of analysis and detail that goes into running his operation is extraordinary. It has to be: Of 22,00 square feet in the greenhouse, he can farm on just 13,000 square feet, or less than a quarter-acre. To make the most of this land, Jack harvests twice a week year round. He calculates the output of his greenhouse down to the square foot., andhe’s ready to share this information with other farmers to give a full sense of the productivity for this type of farming.

It helps that Jack is selling to Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Dan Barber’s fabled restaurant. But Blue Hill is only one of many buyers Jack needs to satisfy at a price that consumers and restaurants can pay. To meet Jack and view the greenhouse and farm visit the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.

Additional Reading

Green Roofs in Boston

Giant Greenhouses Mean More Flavorful Tomatoes

Agsquared Online Toolkit for Farm Planning