Ohio hydroponic grower adds capacity and infrastructure upgrades in $5M expansion
Source: HD.com
Ohio hydroponic grower adds capacity and infrastructure upgrades in $5M expansion Thanks! Ohio hydroponic grower adds capacity and infrastructure upgrades in $5M expansion Building on its already significant local presence, Great Lakes Growers is planning a $5 million expansion at its Burton, Ohio facility.
"This current expansion will add 30 percent of additional greenhouse capacity for our customers," says John Bonner, owner of Great Lakes Growers. In all, the expansion will add a 50,000-square-foot greenhouse and bring the total operation to about five acres.
The facility will now be about five acres, and this location has a maximum buildable footprint of 10 acres of growable space," says Bonner. With this expansion we have made the necessary investments to ensure our customers continue to be successful well into the future and if they are successful, we think there is a real good chance that we will be to." © Great Lakes Growers Something Bonner has also seen in his region is more than half of the hydroponic lettuce growers–most vertical farms but some greenhouses as well–cease operations.
Why this matters: For operators, this is a water-management story. The useful signal is that direct substrate measurements can help cut drain loss materially without giving up yield or fruit quality, which is exactly the kind of controllable efficiency gain a facility can build on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does substrate sensing matter in free-drain strawberry systems?
Because drain percentage tells a grower what already happened, while substrate moisture and EC data show root-zone conditions directly. That makes it easier to cut water loss without guessing.
What is the operator takeaway from this trial?
If the thresholds are understood well enough, growers can reduce drain water materially while protecting yield and fruit quality, which makes sensing an operational tool instead of a reporting tool.
