Courtesy Foothills Farm
By Susan Elise Campbell
Looking back on their first full year of production, entrepreneurs Max and Nikki Poritzky have counted one ton of produce grown and distributed to restaurants and schools from their hydroponic farming facility, Foothills Farm, in Greenfield Center.
The farm is a 40-by-eight-foot container housing an efficient, vertical growing system that produces high quality lettuces and herbs using a fraction of the space of traditional farming.
The couple have backgrounds and careers in the field of nutrition and come from health conscious families, they said.
She studied nutritional biochemistry at UC Davis and was a commercial executive marketing dietary supplements, an industry in which Max also had an executive career spanning 25 years. He said his mother founded Wild Oats, the first health food store in Saratoga Springs.
“‘Let food be thy medicine’ might sound clichéd, but this is how our families live,” Max said.
The couple met in and resided in California and later while in Boston, their careers and life took a new trajectory. About six years ago Max was visiting a technology museum in San José and was exposed to hydroponic farming at a kiosk display.
“Hydroponic farming lets you grow nutrition-rich food year-round in any environment,” he said. “We were interested in the concept but didn’t know how or if to get into the business.”
One company building these kinds of units was located in Boston and Max began to research the technology, he said. Then two years ago the couple purchased property in Greenfield and returned to the area where he grew up to start a farm business and raise two children.
“Saratoga County has 100,000 acres of farmland and nobody was doing hydroponic farming, horizontally or vertically,” he said.
The container offers 3,000 linear feet of growing space, according to Nikki. There’s no soil to till and no pesticides needed in a contained environment.
Heat, cooling, and hydration are controlled with software. A large portion of the power comes from solar installations and weekly CO2 gas deliveries supplement what the plants take from the air, Max said.
“It is a wonderful environment for a human to be in,” said Nikki.
“The technology is so efficient that we are at 70 percent capacity using only five gallons of water a day,” Nikki said. “Our well water has high quality mineral content and we add solubilized nutrients depending on what we are growing.”
Max said the system reclaiming some moisture from the air, condensing it, and returning it to the tank helps keeps water usage low.
The Poritzkys said while local greenhouses supply baby greens, Foothills Farm grows crops to maturity. The owners have built an ardent customer base and local restaurants such as Hamlet & Ghost in Saratoga, Next Door Kitchen and Bar in Ballston Spa, and [farmacy] restobar in Glens Falls take weekly deliveries.
There are also regular deliveries to institutions such as Skidmore and customers may order additional produce for special occasions. The farm is willing to plant what is needed in time for the event, Nikki said. The average growing time is six to seven weeks from seed to harvest.
In wintertime, lettuce is only grown in the warmer climates of California or Mexico, plucked early to survive crating and travel, and to ripen at the store. Nikki said by the time it reaches the northeast, much of the nutrition and flavor have dissipated.
“Chefs receive a full grown, living plant within hours from our farm,” she said. “So hydroponics is not only about achieving quality nutrition, but preserving it.”
Flavor is an indicator of nutrition, and Nikki said “Chefs will tell you our greens are among the best they have ever tasted. It’s because the nutrients used are crop specific.”
Hydroponic farms may not face droughts, rainy seasons, blight or bugs, but there are plenty of challenges with the “futuristic, technologically advanced form of farming” that the business entails, Nikki said.
“The learning curve has been steeper than we thought it would be,” she said. “The machinery is complex but Max is mechanically inclined, and with our skill set and combining forces, we are making it work.”
“While the business is humming and up and running, you definitely have to monitor, love, and nourish it,” she said.
“It’s not a set-it-and-forget-it proposition,” Max said. “There are plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and light systems, and software to program, operate, and monitor everything in the farm.”
There is also the component of selecting which crops to grow hydroponically. Max said not all greens grow well in this kind of environment.
“You also want to choose plants that grow well together, such as a certain radishes planted next to lettuces that like the same conditions,” he said. “The lettuce won’t be crowded by the radishes that were harvested earlier.”
Crop selection is part of what the Poritzkys call “getting the recipe right.” It is the challenge of formulating intensity of light, the mix of blue and red light, and nutrient level for the choice of crop, they said.
As the Poritzkys enter the third year of operation, they feel comfortable with the commercial development strategy they based on strong backgrounds in nutrition, finance and marketing. One thing they have not yet done is enter retail stores or farmers markets.
New restaurants are coming into the pipeline and the Poritzkys are committed to collaborating with other institutions such HVCC’s culinary program. They are actively building their brand and looking toward the next level of scale.
“Our platform is more than selling. Part is about sustaining the food culture,” they said. “We are here to stay and putting down roots. Literally.”
Learn more at www.foothills-farm.com.