U.S.
Senate Majority Leader Tours Nevada Greenhouse Complex
Nevada
Senator Harry Reid learns of hydroponic vegetable production processes
from Tom and John Blount, owners of Nevada Naturals. Photo by Daniel
Clark.
Friday,
April 17, 2009
By
Mikalee Byerman
Nevada
Senator Harry Reid toured the Nevada Greenhouse Complex Wednesday,
learning about renewable energy and agriculture projects taking place
in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources at
the University of Nevada, Reno.
On
the tour, Reid saw a biomass project that focuses on converting algae
to biofuels and a collaborative greenhouse project where produce is
grown using hydroponic methods. He praised the new greenhouse projects
that are focused on renewable energy and the development of high-valued
crops.
"This
is what the university should be doing," Reid said in a press
conference following the tour, "experiments that transmit to and
benefit the public sector."
Dr.
John Cushman, professor and director of CABNR's graduate program in
biochemistry and molecular biology, showed Reid ponds growing
halophytic green algae - algae that can grow in salt water that is two
times as strong as sea water - and discussed its ability to produce oil
and starch for biodiesel and ethanol production.
Reid
then examined rabbit brush, a common native Nevadan plant, and
discussed its ability to produce natural rubber with Dr. David
Shintani, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology.
"We
were honored to have Senator Reid join us and learn more about these
and other critical projects," said Ron Pardini, acting dean of the
College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources. "Our brand
new Greenhouse Complex is an invaluable resource for our professors,
our students and the community that will help us improve processes and
ultimately benefit society through leading-edge research and
innovation."
The
final stop on the tour was a visit to the Nevada Naturals hydroponic
vegetable production greenhouse, a project currently underway in
partnership with the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station.
While
there, the senator talked with Nevada Naturals owners Tom and John
Blount and sampled hydroponically grown lettuce, discussing the
application of hydroponic technology in Nevada and abroad.
"Nevada
is blessed with enough geothermal, solar, wind and biomass resources to
power a clean energy revolution," Reid said. "Renewable energy and
efficiency means thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of
investment in Nevada. That potential makes it exciting to see the next
generation of clean energy industry leaders studying and gaining hands
on experience in the production of clean energy right here at UNR."
Reno
Gazette Newspaper
BY JOHNATHAN L. WRIGHT • jwright@rgj.com • August 20, 2008
After a visit to Nevada Naturals, you might never look at salad the
same way again.
Tom Blount, who owns Nevada Naturals with his brother John, guides a
visitor down greenhouse rows brimming with microgreens and lettuces
grown hydroponically — that is, in a nutrient solution
instead of
soil. He snaps off leaves here, flower buds there, offering up
everything for tasting.
Wild Japanese spinach delivers a peppery finish. Bronze fennel leaves
have a sharper licorice flavor than familiar fennel bulbs. Merlot
lettuce is intensely bitter and smudged purple-green. Micro basil
furnishes a powerful perfume. Minuscule mustard flowers seem mild at
first, but three bites in — whoosh! — the heat
arrives.
And then there is the variety of mint that tastes like a blend of mint
and, yes, chocolate.
"You could make a nice mojito out of it," John Blount said, laughing.
The brothers Blount, refugees from the restaurant business, founded
Nevada Naturals in 2006. In their two greenhouses, soon to be four,
they grow 21 varieties of lettuce and 24 microgreen varities, as well
as basil, tomatoes, peppers and strawberries. Nevada Naturals yields
about 200 pounds of produce per day from some 32,000 plants.
This yield, the brother said, requires only 25 gallons of water, a
fraction of what would be needed with conventional agriculture.
Hydroponics, the Blounts continued, conserves land and doesn't
incorporate the use of chemical pesticides. Locally grown hydroponic
produce also requires less fuel to ship.
The Blounts sell their produce at farmers markets and to a handful of
area restaurants.
"The chefs love to come in to taste different lettuces and create their
own blends," John Blount said.
With the growth of the local foods movement and their increasing
production capacity, the Blounts hope to widen their distribution.
Hydroponics could be the future of agriculture, they said, especially
in the desert climate of Northern Nevada.
Fruitful partnership
Nevada Naturals leases greenhouse space at the Valley Road Field
Laboratory of the University of Nevada’s College of
Agriculture,
Biotechnology and Natural Resources. The joint effort, all parties
agree, is good for Nevada Naturals and good for the university.
“It offers a great opportunity to train students in
hydroponic
vegetable production and a great opportunity for research and
evaluating the possibility of growing vegetables hydroponically year
round in Reno,” said Ron Pardini, the associate director of
the
university’s Agricultural Experiment Station, the research
arm of
the agriculture college.
One proposed study would compare the nutritional content, flavor and
marketability of hydroponic vegetables with vegetables grown
organically and with conventional farming. The study could help settle
the question of whether hydroponic vegetables are healthier and tastier
than standard produce.
Greens afloat
Right now, the Blounts use an ebb-and-flow hydroponic system in which
organic seeds are started in a rockwool growing medium and then
transferred to plastic rain gutters with plant holes drilled into them.
A pump circulates oxygen rich nutrient solution three or four times a
day. Excess is collected in barrels for reuse.
When Nevada Naturals has all four greenhouses up and running, three
will use a new system in which trays containing rows of plants will
float atop six inches of solution. The fourth greenhouse will be
devoted to aeroponics, a sister growing method in which plant roots are
suspended in air and sprayed with nutrient mist. Tomatoes take
especially well to aeroponic growing.
The Blounts predicted the four greenhouses will yield about 10,000
pounds of produce a month, an amount that should help quiet naysayers
who contend that many family farmers can’t grow produce in
sufficient amounts for commercial establishments.
Flavor all year
Hydroponics, of course, isn’t new.
Many scholars believe the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world, were essentially hydroponic,
“and
hydroponics is how the Caesars grew their cucumbers,” Tom
Blount
said.
Countries like Israel, Australia and the Netherlands are leading the
way in broad scale hydroponic agriculture, but stateside, hydroponics
has had a harder time gaining traction.
A whiff of hippyish faddism still clings to hydroponics, perhaps
because marijuana is often grown hydroponically. But the larger
challenge has its roots in tradition. The conventional food and farming
lobbies are strong, and “farmers tend to keep on doing what
they’ve been doing for generations,” Tom Blount
said.
Plus, federal farming grant and loan guidelines have only recently been
changed to allow more hydroponic growers to apply for funding.
If the environmental arguments for hydroponics aren’t
sufficient,
growers can always appeal to the palate, Tom Blount said.
Imagine local tomatoes, juicy and truly vine ripened, available almost
any month of the year. With hydroponics, it’s possible.
Link to Article below:
http://sbdcnet.org/success-stories/nevada-naturals.php
Article in it's entiretl:
Nevada
Naturals
Would you believe that space-age
technology could be used to make a tastier leaf of lettuce? Tom
and John Blount demonstrate that the proof is actually in the
salad. Through the use of hydroponics (a technique of growing of
plants without soil, perfected by NASA, and used in space shuttles),
the Brothers Blount grow lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, and hundreds of
other fruits and vegetables using less water,
less  energy,
and less manpower than either conventional or organic agriculture
processes. And amazingly, the taste and nutritional value of
their produce puts your average grocery store to shame.
“Hydroponics is the future of agriculture,” says John
Blount, who seems continually pleased with the beauty and simplicity of
the hydroponic process.
“A hydroponically grown [plant] will have a higher nutritional
value because it is living in the perfect conditions and getting the
correct amount of nutrients, and there is no breakdown where pathogens
are allowed into the plant,” says Tom. And grow tubes can
be adjusted to accommodate the specific plant it houses.
“Each plant likes a different kind of mineral intake,” says
Tom.
Additionally, hydroponic plants grow faster, and produce more
crops throughout their life than the average plant.
“[Hydroponics] uses a lot less water, a lot less electricity, a
lot less power, you don’t have to use pesticides or insecticides,
you don’t have to bend down to pick things… it has every
advantage economically that you can think of " there’s
nothing negative about it.” The ability to produce locally
allows Nevadans to sidestep high transportation costs and pollution
that we normally incur by importing vegetables from southern California
in the summer and South America in the winter.
The two brothers, originally from the Bay Area, began using hydroponics
to grow produce for their restaurant while living on the Hawaiian
island of Kawai. When they moved to Reno, they brought their
passion for hydroponics with them. Active in local farmers
markets since 2006, they have up until recently grown all their produce
in-house. However, when demand for their fruits and vegetables
grew past their production abilities, they to expand.
The Blounts were referred to the Nevada Small Business Development
Center, and shortly thereafter a counselor took special interest in
their project. By coordinating with the UNR Agriculture
Department, the Blounts were allowed to lease University land and build
greenhouses on the Agriculture department facilities in exchange for
opening their project to research by UNR students and faculty.
Although, UNR currently has no hydroponics department, through
cooperation with the Blounts, UNR hopes to expand its research to
include hydroponics and provide a location for hands-on training.
The Blounts plan to investigate the nutritional differences between
regularly grown produce, organics and hydroponics. And the
location couldn’t be better; the arid climate of Nevada is
perfect for both hydroponic research and the commercial growth of a
food production method that requires significantly less water.
At the time of this article, the Blounts have two (out of a planned
total of four) greenhouses built, one of which has been growing plants
for almost three weeks. Perhaps most impressive is the volume of
vegetables that can be produced in a 2100 square foot greenhouse.
“This greenhouse will actually produce 10,000 pounds per month of
product,” says Tom, smiling. “[Normal means of
production] are hard because you’re only going to get one or two
crops, and maybe only 500 pounds, per year.”
“There’s no reason that Northern Nevada can’t grow
all its own vegetables,” says John.
In fact the brothers welcome and encourage competition, especially when
it results in a stimulation of hydroponic growth within our
community. Large economic and environmental stimuli exist for the
creation of a self-sufficient Nevada The Blounts, eager to teach their
practice to the public, will be holding seminars, open to the public,
on the last Saturday of every month. Additionally, John and Tom
are working with the World Bank to develop planned greenhouses by which
small villages across the world can affordably grow enough food to
support themselves.
In all, John and Tom Blount are into something great. And while they
surely know it, they are incredibly generous and highly interested in
helping others and refining a method of food production that could do
great things for Nevada and beyond. I look forward to watching
their progress and almost assured success.
Success story compiled and
written by Cecil "Chuck" McCumber - Graduate Assistant - Nevada Small
Business Development Center
|
Reid
between the lines
The Nevada senator talks about
food and renewable energy
By
Kat Kerlin
katk@newsreview.com
More
stories by this author...
Sen.
Harry Reid admires the hydroponic lettuce grown by Tom (left) and John
(right) Blount of Nevada Naturals during a tour of the greenhouses at
UNR.
PHOTO
BY KAT KERLIN
|
To
learn more about the greenhouse complex at UNR, visit www.cabnr.unr.edu
|
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada nibbled
a piece of chocolate mint grown from the waters of Nevada Naturals,
which operates a hydroponic greenhouse at the University of Nevada,
Reno last week. It was one stop on a tour of renewable energy and
agriculture projects underway at the university’s new greenhouse
complex off Valley Road. Earlier, he admired grapevines growing inside
another greenhouse, research to produce a domestic supply of natural
rubber, bubbling pools of algae and a gasifier that turns the algae and
other forms of biomass into energy.
Then he sat down for an exclusive interview with Reno News
& Review to discuss his thoughts on the future of energy and
agriculture in Nevada.
Reid agrees with many renewable energy leaders that the lack
of a transmission line—and a smart grid system—is perhaps
the biggest obstacle to producing and distributing renewable energy
both in Nevada and nationwide.
“We can produce lots of renewable energy all over the
country, but where the renewable energy is produced, people don’t
live there,” he said. “We have to take that energy to the
people.”
And one of the impediments to that is a lethargic permitting
process to get transmission lines and renewable energy projects built
on public lands. He said he’s introduced legislation that calls
for an “adequate time”—which he determines as being
about a year and a half—for public agencies, such as the Bureau
of Land Management, to review and plan for the projects. Beyond that
point, the federal government could step in using eminent domain or
condemnation.
“Renewable energy will never be a success until we take
it where it’s needed,” said Reid. In addition to lack of
transmission lines, he said, “the hindrances are making sure the
state agencies have adequate resources and manpower to do the permit
process.”
When asked how to best balance renewable energy development in
the state with protecting wildlife habitat, Reid said, “I think
we’re going to do a better job of protecting the environment by
having renewable projects. Coal and fossil fuel are destroying the
environment.” He referenced a large solar energy project north of
Las Vegas saying it is “big, but there’s no smoke coming
out of it. It’s not a problem at all.” Still, conservation
groups are currently working to develop maps suggesting places for
development that would be least likely to disturb ecologically
sensitive lands.
Reid perked up when the subject came to local food production.
“These greenhouses are a perfect example of that,”
he said. He was impressed by Nevada Naturals’ ability to grow
thousands of pounds of produce in a greenhouse that cost $10,000 to
build—a cost quickly redeemed in a season’s growth. Even
more impressive, their hydroponic methods—despite being grown in
water—actually use less water than most produce grown in soil.
One roughly 4-feet-by-6-feet section of plants required only one gallon
of water every 10 days. He added, “I was looking at these grapes
in the greenhouse. Alfalfa takes 14 times more water than grapes.”
Be it energy or food, the state appears to be in a time of
transition. To produce them, Reid said, “I just think people have
to get modern.
Sparks Nevada Tribune
By Sarah Cooper * Jun 26, 2008
Local growers give up
the dirt on hydroponics
Tribune/Debra Reid
- Tom Blount of Nevada Naturals snips a taste of lettuce in his
hydroponic/aeroponic greenhouse. Blount says his plants are tastier and
healthier than organic, soil-grown produce.
slideshow
Tribune/Debra Reid
- Hydroponic carrots and other produce contain more nutrients than
those grown "in-ground" according to Nevada Naturals general manager
Tom Blount.
slideshow
Tribune/Debra Reid
- Thick roots support productive tomato plants in the Nevada Naturals
hydroponic greenhouse.As shoppers wander past Nevada Naturals' produce
at
the Sparks Hometowne Farmer’s Market on Thursdays, they may
not notice anything spectacular about the half-pound bags of lettuce
selling for
$3 a piece. What they might not know is that the lettuce has never
slideshow
touched soil.
Reno-based
Nevada Naturals uses hydroponics, a system that grows vegetables in a
bed of water rather than dirt. The plants sit suspended on a table with
their roots dangling into a bed of water that is constantly being
circulated to provide the nutrients necessary for growth.
“It is
not anything new,” co-owner Tom Blount said, referring to the
Babylonian and Aztec gardens that used the same technology.
“The rest
of the world has been doing this for some time.”
The business’s
two operational greenhouses, tucked away off of Valley Road in Reno,
produce about 6,000 pounds of produce per month per greenhouse and each
use about 30 gallons of water per day. Nevada Naturals plans to bring
two additional greenhouses to full operation in the near future.
According to Blount, the hydroponic method uses about 70 percent less
water than outdoor farming.
Blount said that he believes this
method of growing is much more environmentally friendly and efficient
than shipping the produce to Nevada from California.
“Everything we get here is shipped from California and that
takes diesel fuel,” Blount said.
The
greenhouse has grand plans for growth. After completing an energy use
study, Nevada Naturals will be installing solar power in September. The
greenhouses now consume about 25 amps of electricity per day.
Nevada
Naturals has been a backyard business run by Tom and John Blount for
the past two years. Two months ago the brothers formed a partnership
with the University of Nevada, Reno, which was interested in studying
the alternative growing method.
“We have noticed that the
lettuce is bigger and healthier,” Blount said, adding that
the produce
seems to taste different. Blount also advertises a
longer-than-average
two-week shelf life for his lettuce.
Now his observations are
being tested by the university’s agriculture department. UNR
is in the
process of studying the nutritional differences between hydroponic
growing and traditional soil gardening.
Interns from the
university’s school of agriculture, biotechnology and natural
resources
have just recently begun work with Nevada Naturals, according to Ron
Pardini, associate director for the Nevada agriculture experiment
station.
“For this part of the country hydroponics is fairly
new,” Pardini said. “They would be the first in
northern Nevada to show
that we can do year-round veggie production.”
Various
universities across the country are conducting research on hydroponics.
According to Blount, the leading research university on the topic is
the University of Arizona.
In a study done by the Department of
Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona, Merle H. Jensen said,
“The
technology of hydroponic systems is changing rapidly with systems today
producing yields never before realized. In the last four years, nearly
40 greenhouses have been built in Colorado, Nevada and Arizona. Many
more hectares are planned, not only in the Southwest, but in Mexico.
The future for hydroponics appears more positive today than any time
over the last 50 years. I sincerely believe hydroponics will be
fashionable again.”
A group of students recently gained approval
to grow an organic garden at the university’s fields on
Valley Road.
According to Pardini, they will be comparing the nutritional values of
those vegetables to those grown hydroponically.
The chemistry
department has also asked to get in on the experiment, Blount said,
asking if they can play with the plant’s chemical intakes.
“The
chemistry department wants to add chemicals to some of the plants to
see what they can change,” Blount said. “They are
thinking they might
be able to make it sweeter or spicier, etc.”
The hydroponic
method is strictly controlled and does not allow for unidentified
minerals to enter the plant, as opposed to soil planting where every
aspect of the soil cannot be positively identified. The greenhouse is
also able to operate year-round.
With the help of the
university, the brothers are preparing a presentation for the United
Nations World Health Organization which they hope to take before the UN
next year.
“This greenhouse could feed 1,000 people,” co-owner
John Blount said.
The Blount brothers hope that the low cost and ease of operation will
provide a solution to ease hunger in struggling countries.
“We
look at it as an economic opportunity for the green section of the
economy,” Pardini said. “One of the goals of this
college is to provide
a research base to provide economic development in the agriculture
sector.”
At home, the brothers sell their vegetables not only at
farmer’s markets, but also to local merchants including
Butcher Boy.
For
the Blount brothers, the idea began in Hawaii where they owned a
Mexican restaurant and were worried about the rising cost of produce.
“A friend grew hydroponically and suggested it,”
John Blount said.
From there the brothers moved to Reno and started their produce
business.
Blount
said that the biggest surprise through the business’s growth
has been
seeing just how much it has caught on in the Sparks/Reno area.
“The
biggest surprise has been seeing where it started and where it is
going,” Tom Blount said. “I love what I do. You can
see where all of
this goes and you can experiment. No day is ever the same.”
Article Link:
http://www.cabnr.unr.edu/BCNR/News_Full_Story.aspx?StoryID=647
Article in it's entirety:
Tuesday,
September 02, 2008
By Johnathan
L. Wright, Reno Gazette-Journal
RENO, Nev. - After
a visit to Nevada Naturals, you might never look at salad the same way
again.
Tom
Blount, who owns Nevada Naturals with his brother, John, guides a
visitor down greenhouse rows brimming with microgreens and lettuces
grown hydroponically - that is, in a nutrient solution instead of soil.
He snaps off leaves here, flower buds there, offering up everything for
tasting.
Wild
Japanese
spinach delivers a peppery finish. Bronze fennel leaves have a sharper
licorice flavor than familiar fennel bulbs. Merlot lettuce is intensely
bitter and smudged purple-green. Micro basil furnishes a powerful
perfume. Minuscule mustard flowers seem mild at first, but three bites
in - whoosh! - the heat arrives.
And then
there is the variety of mint that tastes like a blend of mint and, yes,
chocolate.
"You could
make a nice mojito out of it," John Blount said, laughing.
The
brothers Blount, refugees from the restaurant business, founded Nevada
Naturals in 2006. In their two greenhouses, soon to be four, they grow
21 varieties of lettuce and 24 microgreen varieties, as well as basil,
tomatoes, peppers and strawberries. Nevada Naturals yields about 200
pounds of produce per day from some 32,000 plants.
This
yield, the brothers said, requires only 25 gallons of water, a fraction
of what would be needed with conventional agriculture. Hydroponics, the
Blounts continued, conserves land and doesn't incorporate the use of
chemical pesticides.
Locally
grown hydroponic produce also requires less fuel to ship. The Blounts
sell their produce at farmers markets and a few of area restaurants.
With
the growth of the local-foods movement and their increasing production
capacity, the Blounts hope to widen their distribution. Hydroponics
could be the future of agriculture, they said, especially in the desert
climate of northern Nevada.
Nevada
Naturals leases greenhouse space at the University of Nevada's College
of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources.
"It
offers a great opportunity to train students in hydroponic vegetable
production and a great opportunity for research and evaluating the
possibility of growing vegetables hydroponically year-round in Reno,"
said Ron Pardini, associate director of the university's Agricultural
Experiment Station.
The
Blounts use an ebb-and-flow hydroponic system in which organic seeds
are started in a rockwool growing medium and then transferred to
plastic rain gutters with plant holes drilled into them. A pump
circulates an oxygen-rich nutrient solution three or four times a day.
Excess is collected in barrels for reuse.
When
Nevada Naturals has all four greenhouses up and running, three will use
a new system in which trays containing rows of plants will float atop 6
inches of solution. The fourth greenhouse will be devoted to
aeroponics, a sister growing method in which plant roots are suspended
in air and sprayed with nutrient mist. Tomatoes take especially well to
aeroponic growing.
The Blounts
predict the four greenhouses will yield about 10,000 pounds of produce
a month.
Israel,
Australia and the Netherlands are leading the way in broad-scale
hydroponic agriculture, but stateside, hydroponics has had a harder
time gaining traction.
The
conventional-food and farming lobbies are strong, and "farmers tend to
keep on doing what they've been doing for generations," Tom Blount said.
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