The Chef's Garden, Inc., is a year-round 400-acre production farm in Huron, Ohio, that grows more than 800 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and microgreens for dinner plates in homes and restaurants across the United States.
But keeping those plates filled year-round meant The Chef's Garden had to extend its growing season through the cold northern Ohio winters.
"Being able to grow produce here in the winter is huge," said Zach Jones, field production manager for The Chef's Garden.
Luckily the farm has two indoor greenhouses at its disposal. However, the cost of heating these structures sufficiently can put a strain on a small agricultural producer's budget. So, in 2017 The Chef's Garden worked with USDA's Ohio Rural Development team to apply for a Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grant.
This funding made it possible for them to purchase and install two biomass-fueled hot water boilers in the greenhouse. Using byproduct corn cobs from two neighboring seed corn operations for fuel, boilers heat water and push it through a system of pipes to create a temperature suitable for growing crops.
"During the past year or so, we've installed a line to take recycled cardboard from all over Erie County, grind it, mix it with straw from our cover crop, and compress the mixture into a log that's burned to fuel the boilers," said Zach. "It's definitely a more labor-intensive process, but we've been able to heat our two largest greenhouses without burning fossil fuels for the last several years."
According to Zach, this has kept the farm from installing large natural gas lines to fuel the boilers, so between the installation and gas savings, this whole process has likely saved several hundred thousand dollars over the lives of the boilers.
"We think it is important to be advocates for good agricultural practices, offering huge diversity," said Zach. "Being able to increase our diversity we're able to offer restaurants and home consumers more, and we're able to grow those fresh items even through the wintertime when we're not able to grow anything else outside."
With 100 acres of the farm in production at any one time, the Chef's Table has 180 full-time and 22 seasonal employees who harvest, pack, and ship everything by hand – no machines are used. This ensures all its fruits and vegetables go from "field to plate" in less than 24 hours so customers can enjoy the freshest possible produce items.
Source: USDA