July 2024 - 47

BIG GROWER
" We'll decide what we like from all the
different standpoints - yield, quality, resilience,
how does it taste? " Bonner said. " I'll take it to
someone in the marketplace, confidentially of
course, and see if it's an improvement on what
we're already doing and if the price is right. I'll
funnel that back to the breeder and we'll make a
decision at that point. "
The company services customers from the
Greater Toronto area all the way to South
Dakota and the East Coast, down to Georgia.
" We do a lot of business in Canada now,
where we are only five hours away, " Bonner
said. " But we try to focus on the Midwest. I
think companies lose a bit of a competitive
advantage when you get too far away. So we
focus on Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Western
Pennsylvania, Western New York, West Virginia
and Northern Kentucky. That's our sweet spot. "
Quality is always a never-ending ideal that the
company is searching for, and it remains one of
the biggest challenges of the business.
" It can always be better, " Bonner said. " We
are looking for yields in the 98.5 percent right
now, and five years ago, we weren't even sniffing
that. We're always looking to get that perfect
yield and quality. It's very hard to grow in the
Midwest. We could have rains for three days in a
row and it's 30° F, and the next day it's 75° F and
sunny. That's stressful on a plant and makes it
challenging to deliver good quality all the time. "
LOOKING AHEAD
With more than a dozen years of success
behind it, Great Lakes Growers isn't going away
anytime soon.
" It's a massive market in North America
and I don't know many companies who have
been in the lettuce business as long as us, "
Bonner said. " The biggest part of that market
are two items that are very hard to grow in
greenhouses, romaine and iceberg, and we
are working hard with breeders to bring those
to market. That's where I see the biggest
opportunity ahead. "
Add to that the fact that greenhouse
technology is getting better, yields are
improving and Bonner and his team have the
experience to know what works and what
doesn't. The company is well positioned for
continued growth and accomplishment.
" We'll be adding another 50,000 square feet
sometime this year, " Bonner said. " Our site,
we can grow another 10-acre facility, and we
have another 70 acres down the road, and we
definitely have plans to expand more with our
customers and new customers. We have the
opportunity to excel and there's more ahead. "
A graduate of the University of Miami, Keith
Loria is an award-winning journalist who has
been writing for almost 20 years. View his recent
writing at keithloria.contently.com.
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WOOD FIBER GROWING MEDIA
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JULY 2024 BIG GROWER 47

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July 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2024