Connecticut Farmer Experiments With Latest Greenhouse Technologies

Joe Geremia has built a 6.5-acre greenhouse that is heated by a biomass boiler that uses woodchips that he gets at no cost

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Connecticut Farmer Experiments With Latest Greenhouse Technologies

By CAROLYN MOREAU
The Hartford Courant
July 7, 2009

Caption: Joe Geremia runs Geremia Greenhouses in Wallingford. In the greenhouses are racks that move on tracks for easier handling of his plants and an irrigation system that wastes no water. He has built a 6.5-acre greenhouse that is heated by a biomass boiler that uses woodchips that he gets at no cost. (MICHAEL MCANDREWS / HARTFORD COURANT / June 9, 2009)

CHESHIRE - Joe Geremia dreams of the day when hothouse tomatoes in winter are as fresh and juicy as the ones grown in the dog days of summer and cost only a little more.

What's more, he's determined to help make it happen.

Geremia, 37, is the third generation to work on his family farm, which straddles the Wallingford- Cheshire border. But while his parents and grandparents used traditional methods of raising crops, Geremia is experimenting with the latest greenhouse technologies in his thriving vegetable and bedding plant business.

His goal goes beyond finding better ways to run his farm. He wants to do his part to foster a revolutionary movement in American agriculture, to switch vegetable production from field growing with its heavy reliance on fossil fuels, water and pesticides to indoor, sustainable environments.

"I have done well in agriculture," Geremia said. "A lot of people helped me out. You have to pay it back."

Since Geremia took over his parents' farm at 17, he has expanded it to 150 acres and added 65 greenhouses with a total of 6.5 acres under cover.

He isn't seeking patents on any discoveries, and he says he is not looking for financial gain.

"I would rather people used it," Geremia said recently at his sprawling complex. "It will lead to cheaper food that is safer and fresher."

Geremia said that at first he wasn't thinking about any of this. He was simply determined to run a successful agricultural business. But something changed after his three children were born, making him worry less about farm profits and more about the kind of world in which they would grow up.

Now he counts himself among a group of farmers, scientists, environmentalists and policymakers who fear that traditional methods of farming, with its reliance on fossil fuels, will lead to critical food shortages.

"The No. 1 word people in agriculture are using is sustainability," said Bonnie Burr, who manages external affairs for UConn's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. "It is not a new concept, but what we are seeing now is a demand by producers, saying 'help us to create sustainable ways to farm.'"

Burr said UConn has had preliminary conversations with Geremia on helping him pursue his dream of creating a learning center for greenhouse technology in Connecticut. The school is interested because greenhouses are perhaps the only way for an urbanized state such as Connecticut to increase local vegetable production because most of its farmland has already disappeared.

"The challenge is lining up funding," Burr said.

Geremia's concept is gathering interest from lawmakers and scientists, although it has yet to attract substantial funding.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, toured Geremia's Greenhouses and learned about his vision for creating teaching centers for greenhouse technology across America.

The technology for making greenhouses more efficient and less expensive to operate has been available for at least 20 years. But while such innovations as irrigation bays (which recycle all leftover water and fertilizer) and mechanized curtains (which reduce the need for ventilation), are commonly used in Europe, South America and China, they remain uncommon in America.

"There has been no need to grow in [high-tech] greenhouses until recently," said Gene Giacomelli, director of the Controlled Environment Agricultural Center at the University of Arizona. "It is not because we can't do it, but because we have a tremendous field system from which we can grow much of the year, and a tremendous import system."

"We didn't invent this," Geremia said, pointing to a new watering bay in his greenhouse. "We made it cleaner and more efficient."

Additional Information

Web Site: http://www.courant.com/community/hc-future-greenhouse-0707.artjul07,0,5658216.story

Category: Forestry>Biomass Energy

Region: Connecticut

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