Scaling up indoors-only greens

Salad greens and lettuces at retail have transformed the last few decades from intact bunches and heads to plastic bags and clamshells of baby greens, triple-washed and ready to eat.

This mélange of salad medleys met consumers where they are: more sophisticated in tastes but shorter on time.

And where are consumers today?

Shoppers are also voting with their dollar, endorsing sustainability and social responsibility. Food safety is also top of mind after years of recalls on romaine, spinach and other greens. People want local and organic too.

Yet, there’s a mistrust in seals and certifications on that packaging.

Controlled environment agriculture, CEA for short, delivers on a lot of those needs and wants with a variety of high-tech indoor growing and business strategies, proponents say. And now there’s a certification to verify it.

These farms are often planted in metropolitan areas near the end consumer, but as these companies gain investment capital and expand, they’re branching out into more rural areas and shipping farther.

Now called the CEA Alliance, the CEA Food Safety Coalition formed in 2019, and is comprised of more than 30 companies, to help consumers, as well as produce retailers, understand what CEA is and how to differentiate it from more traditional farm-grown greens. The group set out to create CEA-specific food safety standards for this fast-growing industry.

Founding members include AeroFarms, Bowery Farming, BrightFarms, Little Leaf Farms, Plenty, Revol Greens, Superior Fresh and Vertical Field.

Other high-tech indoor companies have formed too, such as AppHarvest, Gotham Greens, Freight Farms, Kalera, Soli Organic and Queen of Greens (if you were at IFPA, tell me you didn’t see the bathroom mirror ads!). And traditional farms are diversifying by adding indoor-grown divisions, brands and partnerships, such as The Oppenheimer Group’s UP Vertical Farms and Driscoll’s partnership with Plenty to grow strawberries vertically at scale.

This is why Tom Stenzel has taken helm of the CEA Alliance as executive director after retiring from his long tenure leading the United Fresh Produce Association and brief tenure co-leading the International Fresh Produce Association.

“It's a growth area for our industry,” Stenzel said. “It’s going to play an important role and in produce, leafy greens, tomatoes, strawberries and beyond.”

The organization has already created a CEA Food Safety Certified seal, the first externally validated food-safety certification specifically for indoor-grown produce. Designed by a multidisciplinary team of food safety experts, the seal validates that rigorous standards of excellence have been met. The group says the standards are stricter than existing standards for outdoor farming.

Look for it as you’re packing your chilled shelves with leafy greens. Possibly call it out with signage and consider explaining it a bit at your digital store. You might increase sales.

“They brought me on to try to expand our services,” Stenzel said about the Alliance. “We'll be doing more in public policy in Washington, D.C., working with retailers and foodservice to try to differentiate the category for consumers.”

Companies want to tell their sustainability stories, and this is one way. The organization has plans to measure sustainability, water use, land use and energy.

“All of those areas are very important," he said. "Also, it’s for transparency to the consumer. It's really adding value to the consumer.”

Related news: Quick-hit video with Tom Stenzel and Amy Sowder at IFPA's Global Show