Missouri hydroponic farm says demand is growing

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- In late 2008 when the housing market collapsed, David and Terry Quick decided to get out of the construction business and into farming.

"People don't always need concrete patios, but they always need to eat," David Quick told the Springfield News-Leader.

So after 30 years, the Quicks launched a new venture: a hydroponic farm. In a hydroponic operation, plants are grown in a water- and nutrient-rich solution, eliminating the need for soil. Produce can be grown year-round in a greenhouse.

They run Quickley Produce Farm in Galena, Missouri, with their daughter Alisha and son-in-law Russ Welch. While the family didn't have a background in hydroponics, David said he believes in its potential: The farmer can grow more crops in less space, has a longer growing season and is less susceptible to traditional diseases that can wipe out crops, and the consumer can buy locally grown produce in winter.

So far, it has paid off. They specialize in tomatoes and cucumbers and can't keep up with demand.

Now in their fourth season, they'd like to double their capacity.

"In the past three years, the acceptance of hydroponics has been overwhelming ... to where people are actually seeking it out," David Quick said.

Hydroponic farming is not a common method, but it is gaining interest, particularly with crops such as lettuce and tomatoes, said Patrick Byers, regional horticulture specialist with University of Missouri Extension in Greene County.

"The method has been around a long time. It's not a new approach, but what has been developed is the technology with different types of greenhouses and growing setups," Byers said.

While people have toyed with this concept for centuries, the method was invented by William Frederick Gericke, a professor at the University of California Berkeley, in the 1930s. His vision was to create a farming technique that would produce higher yields in smaller spaces and help feed more people.

During World War II, it was put into practice by the American military, which grew crops for troops stationed in islands in the Pacific that were not conducive to growing food.

While hydroponic farming is practiced around the world, it hasn't taken off the way Gericke expected it to, partially because more research went into traditional farming and how to increase those yields, and because the cost of hydroponics can be prohibitive, especially to smaller operations.

"Hydroponic farms, because of the need for protective structures such as greenhouses, specialized equipment and planting systems, specialized nutrient solutions and intensive management, are more expensive to establish and operate than conventional farms," Byers said.

The cost is daunting but can be overcome by the longer growing season, Quick said.

No agency tracks the number of these farms in the United States, so it's difficult to say how many there are, but experts say the interest and practice is on the rise, especially in the last few years.

When Marilyn and Dan Brentlinger started CropKing, an Ohio business that helps farmers set up hydroponic farms, 32 years ago, this method was not mainstream. Today, the business is thriving.

"Back in the mid '70s, Dan and I got our start in the hydroponic industry when we bought two 30-by-96-foot hydroponic greenhouses located in Springfield, Missouri. Back in the 1970s, most people were not familiar with the word 'hydroponic' and those that were often had visions of weird plants growing in 'chemicals,"' Brentlinger said.

Dan, who died nine years ago, was a graduate of Southwest Missouri State University. In 1978, they grew their first batch of European hybrid cucumbers and couldn't sell them. They ended up giving most of the produce away.

"Much has changed over the past 40 years and especially the past five or six years. The consumers have come to recognize that hydroponic growing can be a much cleaner, safer method, and an even more ecologically friendly way to grow premium produce in a location where the weather or the soil may not be conducive," she said.

Because the produce is grown in greenhouses without soil, it eliminates soil-borne pathogens.

"There's no pesticide, no spray, no contamination. People seem to be looking for that now. It's clean and the only possible contamination is us handling it," Quick said.

Byers, who visits and consults with hydroponic farms in the area, said when he does, they are very clean; he wears surgical bootees inside the greenhouse and doesn't touch the plants.

Lane McConnell, market manager at Farmers Market of the Ozarks, said consumers and hospitals are interested in the "clean" aspect of hydroponic farming. She's fielded calls from Cox and Mercy, whose staffs have expressed an interest in buying hydroponic food.

It's also an efficient way to farm. Last year, in 6,000 square feet of space, Quickley Produce Farms produced 45,000 pounds of beefsteak tomatoes, 10,000 pounds of heirloom and cherry tomatoes and 32,000 cucumbers.

"You look at how many acres of property it would take to produce that much poundage of produce and you are doing it on one-tenth of the water that it would take in soil-based production," Quick said. "You would think you'd use more water, but you actually use less. You can grow so much more in so much smaller space and your growing season is so much longer. We have ripe tomatoes in April and most others don't until mid-July. We have tomatoes with snow on the ground."

Earlier this year, market members organized a tour of Quickley Produce Farm and another hydroponic farm, New Horizons, which specializes in lettuce, and the tour sold out. Sixty-one people attended, including a number who drove in from northwest Missouri to learn more about this method of growing, McConnell said.

While the interest is there, hydroponic farming is not easy. According to Cornell University's Biological and Environmental Engineering, Controlled Environment Agriculture website: "It is a very technical skill needed. One needs a special eye to 'know' when the plants are ailing (before the average person can tell). One needs to know about horticulture, computers, environments, energy matters, mechanical systems, marketing, sales, personnel management, pest management, plant pathology, plant nutrient management."

After establishing the farm, it can be costly to operate, too. Farmers have to use propane to heat the greenhouses, and that can be expensive during a harsh winter, said McConnell.

When considering hydroponic farming, a niche market is important and so is a customer base that wants to support local growers, said Byers.

But that market is alive in this area, indicated Quick.

"You would think it would be hard to sell 32,000 cucumbers, but I believe I could sell 50,000. I just can't grow that many right now," Quick said.

Terry Quick said the thought of this business was scary at first, but she had faith it would take off.

The first year they sold at farmers markets, but the wholesale end of the business to grocery stores and restaurants has picked up so much, David Quick said he may put a larger focus on that.

Aside from the technical side, one of the best aspects of this business is it's a family operation, echoed the family. Their five grandchildren pitch in in the summer and they're learning farming skills, marketing, business and where their food comes from.

Daughter Alisha Welch considers herself fortunate to work with family. This is an old way of life with a modern twist, said Welch.

"Families have been running farms together for a very long time," Welch said. "My dad teaches my son work ethic and my son teaches him to run his smartphone. It's great."

Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com