March/April 2022 - 16

PROFILES
PURE GREEN FARMS
supplemented with artificial lights -
mostly LEDs, but also a few highpressure
sodium lights, Marcum said.
The fa rm operat ion, which
celebrated its first harvest in March
2020, was built as an investment
of Ceres Par tners, a specialist
i nve s tment manage r
focused
exclusively on food and agriculture.
Marcum said a four-acre expansion
doubling the size of the greenhouse
is being planned for a spr ing
groundbreaking. Ceres owns the
cornfields that surround the site,
Marcum said, and there is
the
possibility there to expand the
greenhouse as much as 300 acres.
But more recently, Pure Green
Farms has tapped resources that
are further afield. In August 2021,
the Salinas, California-based Taylor
Farms announced an investment in Pure Green Farms.
In a news release, Taylor Farms said the expansion
would complement Taylor Farms' existing 122,200-acre,
field-grown program and 16 salad-producing facilities
across North America.
 Pure Green Farms Vice President of Sales Jim Marcum. Photos: Pure Green Farms
" We're excited to venture into the industry of indoor
growing with this investment, " Bruce Taylor, founder and
CEO, Taylor Farms, said in the release. " Our customer
partners have asked for a national solution, and this is
our first step. "
Marcum said such East-West partnerships between
greenhouse growers and western field growers make sense
and the industry will likely see more of them.
Other such partnerships are appearing - Mastronardi
Produce recently announced involvement with AppHarvest,
a Kentucky-based, fast-growing indoor grower of tomatoes
and other fresh produce crops.
Products' broad appeal for consumers
Marcum said that starting out, the goal for Pure Green
Farms was to have products that appealed to almost everyone.
" Our product has this broad appeal to all consumers,
you know, " he said.
" We didn't get too carried away with you know, putting
this or that in the mix or you know, trying to make something
so unique. We really just wanted to appeal to everybody.
We only grow four varieties of baby lettuce and we only
sell four SKUs (stock-keeping units). "
The four lettuces are baby green- and red-leaf lettuce, baby
arugula and baby romaine. The four units the company sells
in 4- and 9.5-ounce containers are baby green leaf, baby
spring mix, baby red and green leaf and crispy romaine.
The company in October updated the packaging designs
and packing materials that use a third less plastic.
In addition to grocery store sales in Kroger, Family
Fare and SpartanNash chains, the farm is also growing its
foodservice sales, announcing in October a new exclusive
relationship with Cincinnati-based LaRosa's Family Pizzeria,
which will be offering Pure Green Farms Baby Green Leaf
lettuce on its menu. Pure Green Farms is providing 10,000
pounds of baby leaf per week to LaRosa's 66 pizzerias in Ohio,
16 MARCH/APR I L 2 02 2
March/April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March/April 2022
