Thinking of growing controlled environment specialty crops?

Specialty crops like heirloom tomatoes, which have not been bred for commercial controlled environment production, require more attention to detail in regards to how they are grown. Photo by Timothy Vollmer, Cornell Coop. Ext.

If you are considering growing specialty crops in a greenhouse or vertical farm, it pays to do your homework.

Before starting to grow any controlled environment food crop, it pays (literally) to do your homework related to production and market potential. This is especially important with any type of specialty crop. Serge Boon, founder of Boon Greenhouse Consultancy, said regardless of the crop, a greenhouse or vertical farm grower has to determine if there is a sustainable market for the crop.

“I have seen growers who have started very small and have developed a market and want to expand their production facilities to produce more crops,” Boon said. “They want to increase the volume of the crops they are growing. By increasing the size of the operation, production efficiencies should also increase.

“Unfortunately, there are still some growers who think they can produce a specialty crop and easily sell it. They may not realize that the crop may be difficult to produce and/or market.”

Boon said the terms specialty crop and niche market are often used interchangeably and can have a wide definition or application because they can mean different things to different people.

“In most cases, specialty crops would not include more common controlled environment crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and peppers, but it could include a special variety of tomatoes like heirloom tomatoes not commonly grown in controlled environment production,” Boon said.

Production systems for specialty crops

The large commercial greenhouse vegetable growers that Boon is working with are primarily producing tomatoes, cucumbers, and leafy greens. He is also working with commercial mid-size greenhouse operations that are focused on producing multiple crops, including specialty crops.

Boon said the production systems used to grow specialty crops are not usually that different than the systems used for more common controlled-environment-grown crops.

“It is different from the perspective of the growers’ needs,” he said. “Because of their production needs, these crops might require more attention from the growers in order to produce quality, salable crops.”

Boon said a well-bred greenhouse tomato will almost grow by itself.

“The lines of tomatoes bred for controlled environment production have been developed so that they produce uniform size fruit,” he said. “The emphasis is on the size and yield.”

Because specialty crops like heirloom tomatoes have not been bred for commercial production, they require more attention to detail in regards to production. These varieties may be more susceptible to pests, diseases, and physiological disorders such as fruit deformities.

“This also relates to automation including robotic harvesting being developed for the more common controlled environment crops of tomatoes, cucumbers, leafy greens, and peppers,” Boon said. “The automation for some specialty crops may be more difficult to develop or not worth developing. The fruit of these specialty crops may also be more tender and more prone to bruising. The fruit may not be robust enough for mechanical harvesting. This will definitely have an effect on what automation can be used for planting, harvesting, and packaging. The production of specialty crops goes hand-in-hand with being more labor intensive.”

Boon said even specialty leafy greens could be more difficult to grow than some of the more commonly grown species and varieties.

“These specialty leafy greens could be more susceptible to nutrient deficiencies or they could tend to have a leggier habit,” he said. “These specialty greens could be more difficult to grow in mobile gutter systems because the plants fall over and they don’t lend themselves to automated harvesting.”

Boon said floating rafts are flexible systems that can accommodate even some of the more difficult to grow specialty crops.

“Mobile gutter systems are tailored more to certain varieties because the plants have to be able to stand up,” he said. “The crops have to be able to be seeded in a specific way.

“With floating rafts there is more flexibility. Production system and plant habit definitely should be taken into consideration. Some specialty crops require more hands-on attention which may not allow certain types of automation.”

Do you have the “right stuff”?

Boon said for each specialty or niche crop, growers need to consider whether they have the production expertise, the right production system and whether there is a market for the crops.

“Many of these specialty crops lend themselves to being grown near the markets where they would be consumed,” he said. “This also has application to lowering the risk from production loss.

“That’s not to say growers couldn’t produce large quantities of specialty crops as long as they have systems in place to deal with the plants’ shortcomings. This could relate to the production, harvesting and transport of crops. They may require a certain temperature and/or humidity for their production and/or transport. The risk of loss goes up for these crops.”

Growers need to be aware of the downsides of a specialty crop or variety.

“When picking a specialty crop, growers should know the benefits of it, but also know its downsides,” Boon said. “This will help to ensure growers are prepared to encounter difficulties.

“Sometimes this can be finding technical production information for some of these crops. There are reliable seed companies that know the varieties. The information may be available, but it may be more difficult to find the hands-on technical expertise and experience to assist in growing some of these crops. The information may be available, but finding someone with the production expertise may be limited.”

Do your market research

Boon said market research is critical to the production of any specialty crop.

“The design of the greenhouse or vertical farm and their production systems, what crops are going to be grown, growers can make those all work, but ultimately the crops have to be sold,” he said. “Being able to grow a crop doesn’t always mean you should. It can take multiple markets to be successful with these specialty crops.”

Boon said the changes in people’s eating habits bodes well for the specialty crop market.

“People are more willing to pay for produce that is nutritious and healthy for them,” he said. “In many cases, consumers don’t know how the produce available in grocery stores was grown. Knowing the source, knowing it is pesticide-free, knowing it is high in nutrition, these are all factors that will help increase the demand for specialty crops.

“U.S. consumers are starting to look for and are more willing to pay for these crops, which is already happening a lot more in Europe. There is a more direct-to-consumer market that is increasing. Growers need to determine how they can tap into that market and how to deliver the produce.”

For more: Boon Greenhouse Consultancy, serge@boongreenhouse.com; https://boongreenhouse.com/.

This article is property of Urban Ag News and was written by David Kuack, a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas.