It was a cold winter morning on Martha’s Vineyard, with a dark gray sky threatening to drop more snow on the white fields at Thimble Farm in Oak Bluffs. But inside the Island Grown Initiative (IGI) greenhouse, the temperature was a balmy 70° during a recent visit.
Everywhere one looked were rows and rows of green plants, all the more colorful when set against the snow and sky outside. Automated black shades overhead preserved the heat. Later in the afternoon, the shades would roll back. The afternoon sun, even when blocked by clouds, heats the greenhouse to 80°.
Financed by $3 million in donations by two major donors, IGI announced its plan to purchase the 41-acre property in 2012, and set out to grow the nonprofit organization, beginning with a substantial hydroponic produce facility. In May 2013, when Keith Wilda was hired to manage the farm, the 33,000-square-foot greenhouse sat empty except for piles of discarded equipment.
Last summer, the first hydroponic crops were ready for harvest. IGI began selling greens and vegetables to Island schools for school lunch programs.
Today the greenhouse is filled with crops in various stages of maturity, and the organization sells to schools, retail stores, and restaurants year-round. There are three full-time employees working on the farm, and another coordinating the Island Grown Schools program. In addition to the hydroponic greenhouse, IGI operates a mobile poultry slaughterhouse that processed 4,000 chickens and turkeys last summer, a vegetable gleaning program that yielded 24,000 pounds of food last fall, and a winter CSA (community supported agriculture) co-op program retailing directly to consumers.
“Island Grown Initiative,” according to the organization’s web site, “works to encourage and support a resilient local food system on Martha’s Vineyard.”
No dirt, no problem
As one of the farm workers harvested sweet red peppers from plants that are still bearing a year after they were planted, Mr. Wilda explained some of the advantages of growing food without soil. By controlling temperature, sunlight, and nutrients, the greenhouse provides optimal growing conditions around the clock.
“We can grow our cut lettuce this time of year from seed to harvest in about seven weeks,” Mr. Wilda said. “In the summer it’s four weeks. The greenhouse, with 33,000 square feet of growing space, is equal to 8.5 acres outside. We can do it year-round.”
Lettuce is the primary cash crop in the winter months. Several Island restaurants buy 10 to 16 pounds of bagged lettuce each week, at a wholesale cost of $9 per pound.
IGI also grows custom orders for Island restaurants. Unseen under a large tray of young radishes, a tangle of corn shoots were growing, a custom order from a local eatery. Mr. Wilda reached under the tray and snapped off a small tendril. It tasted like sweet corn in salad form.
Unlike in traditional dirt farming, every drop of water used in the greenhouse is recycled, replenished with organic nutrients, and sent back to the plants. “We use 300 gallons of water,” Mr. Wilda said. “Compare that to 8.5 acres that has to be irrigated; they would probably use 3,000 gallons a day.”
In another part of the greenhouse, two large tanks were filled with small trout. By the end of June, the fish will grow to about 15 inches, weigh 1.25 pounds, and be ready for sale to retail fish markets and Island
restaurants. But the fish are not the primary product. The water from the fish tanks provides enough nutrients to feed a large portion of the plants growing nearby. It will dramatically reduce the amount and cost of organic fertilizer needed to nourish the crops, Mr. Wilda said.
Growing pains
Island Grown Initiative has grown so quickly that a new management structure was needed, according to Mr. Wilda. The three-member board of directors expanded to seven, and the group is working to fill all the seats. At the moment there are six directors.
“Because of the growth of all the programs, we needed more board presence,” Mr. Wilda said. “The board called me into a meeting in August 2014 and asked me if I would be interested in filling the role of executive director. I work the farm program 50 percent, and executive director 50 percent.
“You need oversight. It’s growing so fast; just like any company or corporation, you need some upper-level management. I work directly with the board, conveying the issues that need to be addressed.”
Change has caused some friction: “Change always does,” Mr. Wilda said. “Being here almost two years, I have seen a lot of changes in this organization, all for the good, I think.”
Steve Bernier, owner of Cronig’s Market, was among IGI’s most active board members and financial supporters. Late last year he resigned from the board and severed ties with the organization.
“There were too many different things getting me compromised, so I thought I better step aside,” Mr. Bernier said. When asked to elaborate on some of the issues that prompted him to resign from the organization, he mentioned the CSA, which competes with his grocery stores by selling produce directly to consumers.
“I’ve heard from customers of the startup of a CSA,” Mr. Bernier said. “It’s less complicated this way. I hope they [IGI] find their path and do well.”
Sarah McKay, who formerly worked for Cronig’s, serves as president of the board of directors. She was volunteering her time as a de facto executive director before Mr. Wilda was hired for those duties.
Ms. McKay declined to comment on the organizational changes.
Competitive landscape
Mr. Wilda said IGI tries very hard to avoid competing with local food producers. During an informational meeting two years ago, some local farmers were hostile to the plan for producing food in a hydroponic greenhouse. Mr. Wilda said relations with local farmers have improved, and he hopes to organize another meeting with them soon. But he concedes that avoiding competition is tricky business.
“We’re very sensitive about that,” he said. “Island Grown Initiative is here to build a food system that’s resilient for the Island. That means working with farmers.”
He cites marketing assistance, a small-equipment repair service, help with small-scale greenhouses, and a farm equipment lease program as ways IGI works with local farmers.
IGI is also evaluating whether it can establish a wholesale distribution center, where Island farmers could bring their produce and retailers and local chefs could buy it.
IGI has recently invited local farmers to submit proposals for growing crops on about 12 acres of land at Thimble Farm.
Treading lightly on competitors makes it more difficult for the nonprofit organization to make ends meet with income from the food it grows. But Mr. Wilda said even with the self-imposed restrictions, IGI will soon be in the black.
“If it means we have to go off-Island with our products, as long as the revenue is coming back to programs within IGI, we will,” Mr. Wilda said. “We’re about 20 percent from breakeven. We’ll be in the black this year.”