US (MO): Lettuce Dream greenhouse complex nears completion
When fully operational early next year, the operation will produce hydroponically grown lettuce for area grocers and restaurants while providing progressive levels of job training for people with developmental and cognitive disabilities.
The non-profit organization’s first goal is to establish a crop rotation for moving plants from the propagation area through two sets of cultivation tables designed for young and mature lettuce prior to harvest.
Lettuce Dream board President Diane Francis said Lettuce Dream staff and volunteers will be joined this fall by horticulture students from Northwest Missouri State University in working to make the facility operational.
Once they are operational, Francis said, one greenhouse will function largely as a training facility while the other will be dedicated to production. Though job training, rather than on-site employment, is the primary goal, Francis said some clients, as their skills improve, could be placed in minimum-wage production jobs while helping train others.
Read more at the Maryville Daily Forum