Summary

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 74793
Story Slug HYDROFARMING LETTUCE (1994)
Location MAPLE ISLAND, MINNESOTA
Format PKG
Date 11/23/1994
Archive Time :15
TRT 1:31
Supers MAPLE ISLAND, MN JACK DEVRIES, LETTUCE GROWER JASON DAVIS REPORTING
Video Description (FOR AN ADDITIONAL FEE, THE REPORTER IS LICENSABLE) GREENHOUSE, SHOTS OF GROWING AND HARVESTING LETTUCE, SPROUTS, LETTUCE GROWING, WATER GROWING SYSTEM, SOTS
Script LEAD: FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS, MOST OF OUR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES WILL BE SHIPPED INTO MINNESOTA. YOU CAN BLAME OLD MAN WINTER FOR THAT... REPORTER JASON DAVIS TAKES US TO MAPLE ISLAND, MN, WHERE IT'S NEVER TOO COLD TO GROW. SCRIPT: THE FIRST FLUSH OF WINTER BRINGS TO AN END, THE GROWING SEASON IN MOST OF MINNESOTA... BUT NOT HERE. INSIDE THIS GREENHOUSE AT MAPLE ISLAND, JUST NORTH OF ALBERT LEA, IT'S ALWAYS SUMMER. IT'S HARVEST TIME HERE ABOUT EVERY SIX WEEKS, YEAR ROUND. (DEVRIES SOT:"THERE'S THAT LITTLE SEED THAT'S ALREADY GERMINATING IN THERE AND THAT WAS PUT IN HERE SATURDAY MORNING.") A WEEK LATER AND THE SEEDS HAVE BECOME SPROUTS. IT'S AS REGULAR AS A CLOCK. RAIN OR SHINE, WINTER OR SUMMER, JACK DEVRIES' LETTUCE PLANTS GROW STEADILY TOWARDS MATURITY. AND IT'S ALL DONE WITHOUT... ("THIS WHOLE THINS IS JUST A MATTER OF WATER RUNNING BY THE ROOT SYSTEM.") WATER, WITH A DASH OF NUTRIENTS AND TRACE ELEMENTS, THAT'S ALL THEY NEED. BUT, IT'S NOT AS SIMPLE AS IT LOOKS. ("IT'S A TRICKY BUSINESS. IT'S HARD TO GET THIS DOWN, TO FIGURE EVERYTHING OUT SO IT WILL GROW RIGHT.") IT TOOK YEARS FOR JACK DEVRIES TO BALANCE THE SUNLIGHT, WATER NEEDS AND NUTRITION TO GET THE HARVESTS HE GETS TODAY. ("YOU REALLY GOT TO LOVE PLANTS. YOU'VE GOT TO HAVE A LOT OF DETERMINATION TO STICK WITH IT BECAUSE ONCE YOU THINK YOU'VE GOT EVERYTHING FIGURED OUT THEN YOU GET INTO A DIFFERENT TIME OF YEAR AND THINGS CHANGE AGAIN.") AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF TRIAL AND ERROR, JACK DEVRIES AND HIS FAMILY DELIVER CRISP, FRESH LETTUCE EVERY WEEK, GROWN IN MINNESOTA. (STAND-UP:"THE LETTUCE GROWING IN THIS GREENHOUSE IS A SMALL OPERATION, BUT JACK DEVRIES SAYS, GIVEN ENOUGH SUNLIGHT AND WATER, HYDROPONICS HAS THE POTENTIAL OF GROWING ENOUGH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES TO FEED THE WORLD.") TAG: THE LETTUCE THAT JACK GROWS IS SO CLEAN, IT IS USED EXTENSIVELY BY MINNESOTA HOSPITALS.
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Keywords

HYDROFARMING
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