Photo courtesy of Intergrow Greenhouses
Intergrow Greenhouses is excited to announce the opening of its newest expansion in Upstate, New York, according to a press release from the operation.
The 10-acre project will produce over 3 million pounds of fresh produce a year, feeding millions across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic all of the way down to the Southeast.
“We’ve been operating in the US since 1998, and always in New York State.” says Dirk Biemans, president of Intergrow Greenhouses. “Our European partners saw the opportunity for greenhouse grown produce here in the US back in the 90s and we quickly set up shop. The climate here in New York is ideally suited for our greenhouse production, resulting in the best flavor, quality and consistency for our retail partners all year. We are primed for successful growth. With nearly 60% of the U.S. population only 24 hours from us, and growing consumer demand for local and domestically grown produce, we’ve got to be ready.”
Biemans reports over 70% of the 350 employees at Intergrow are permanent residents of New York State and that number is growing. “Labor is an extremely important part of our business model, if we can recruit, train and retain local labor it can yield huge advantages for us,” he adds.
The new facility will be outfitted with HPS grow lights, adding to Intergrow’s winter offerings. It also boasts diffused glass for better light distribution and state of the art heating and fertigation systems. However, Biemans reports there were several challenges and delays that threatened the project finishing on-time.
“Ocean freight is crazy right now, not only have prices increased but there’s been a huge problem with on-time arrivals and customs issues. The majority of this project came in prefabricated from Europe, which offers a lot of benefits but our team and chosen suppliers were not quite ready for the logistical challenges in 2021. However, we were able to pull through, overcoming those challenges, working with the cards we were dealt. This project was successfully completed on time, putting us at a total of 105 acres under glass.”
For more information on Intergrow, head to intergrowgreenhouses.com.
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