It’s About More Than Lettuce

                    No time to read? Here’s the link to the recording.

Not sure about others, but in our home we typically attempt to offset the impact of holiday indulgences by eating more salads than usual.

This year eating lighter and healthier has been tempered somewhat by the cost of produce. When a bag of three puny heads of tired California romaine lettuce hit $9.00, I kept walking and instead reached for a locally grown cabbage.

Ironically, a few days later I met a young woman who was excited about landing a job with a new company here in Welland - called Vision Greens. Turns out their lettuce is not only much better, it’s reasonably priced.

Vision Greens is a tech-advanced vertical farming group committed to locally grown produce. That means they are delivering fresh, pesticide-free, sustainable, affordable greens to grocery shelves throughout the year.

Since it never made sense to me that we were paying for lettuce shipped from California, it seemed like a great idea.

It made even more sense after we sampled their baby romaine. They grow other lettuces, arugula, and basil hydroponically and have plans to expand. Hydroponic simply means they don’t use soil, instead supporting the roots of the plant to grow directly in nutrient-rich water. The resulting flavour was amazing.

So, why am I making time to write about tasty lettuce?

First of all, kudos to Vision Greens for bringing this clever, innovative concept to Welland, here in the Niagara Region.

It seems to me Vision Greens are also an example of how a business can generate profit yet still operate in a way that promotes community and environmental wellbeing.
It’s also a viable strategy for improving our food systems by replacing imported produce with fresh, better tasting, clean food.

Fresh, leafy greens with a low carbon footprint and reduced food kilometers definitely trump sad looking lettuce shipped to us some 2500 miles across North America. 
Not only is this an example of ramping up local food production, it is of critical importance on a global scale. We need more innovators and entrepreneurs like Vision Greens to step up to the table to sustainably increase food production, bring nutritious food to those who suffer from hunger and malnutrition, and to decrease food loss and waste throughout the global supply chain.

In the end, it’s about much more than lettuce. 

#hydroponics #visiongreens #locallygrown #supportlocal

Not sure about others, but in our home we typically attempt to offset the impact of holiday indulgences by eating more salads than usual.

This year eating lighter and healthier has been tempered somewhat by the cost of produce. When a bag of 3 puny heads of tired California romaine lettuce hit $9.00, I kept walking and instead reached for a locally grown cabbage.

Ironically, a few days later I met a young woman who was excited about landing a job with a new company in town called Vision Greens. Turns out their lettuce is not only much better, it’s reasonably priced.

Vision Greens is a tech-advanced vertical farming group committed to locally grown produce. That means they are delivering fresh, pesticide-free, sustainable, affordable greens to grocery shelves throughout the year.

Since it never made sense to me that we were paying for lettuce shipped from California, it seems like a great idea.

It made even more sense after we sampled their baby romaine. They grow other lettuces, arugula, and basil hydroponically and have plans to expand. Hydroponic simply means they don’t use soil, instead supporting the roots of the plant to grow directly in nutrient-rich water. The resulting flavour was amazing.

So, why am I making time to write about lettuce?

First of all, kudos to Vision Greens for bringing this clever, innovative concept to Niagara.

It seems to me they are an example of how a business can generate profit yet still operate in a way that promotes community and environmental wellbeing.  It’s also a viable strategy for improving our food systems by replacing imported produce with fresh, clean food that’s better tasting.

Fresh, leafy greens with a low carbon footprint and reduced food kilometers beats out sad looking lettuce shipped some 2500 miles across North America. 

Not only is this an example of ramping up local food production, it is of critical importance on a global scale. We need more innovators and entrepreneurs like Vision Greens to step up to the table to sustainably increase food production in order to bring nutritious food to those who suffer from hunger and malnutrition, and to decrease food loss and waste throughout the global supply chain.

In the end, it is about much more than lettuce. 

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