Introduce Garden Fresh Farms: the farming technology company on a mission to change the way the world is fed.

GFF is already an approved vendor for Whole Foods, J&J Distributing, Bon Appétit, Kowalski's and H Brooks. With more partnerships with major distributors in the works, GFF will soon be the provider of choice for every major retailer who wants to deliver fresh produce to its customers.

Sustainability: Solving the Density & Energy Puzzle

Sustainability isn’t just a buzzword: it’s a call to action. With so much at stake, the obvious place to start transforming our planet is our food supply. That starts at the farm, where the vast majority of our food source problems begin.

The average traditional outdoor farm can produce just two lettuce crops per season, taking 60 to 80 days to produce each crop. That’s wildly inefficient.

If we’re going to change the way the world is fed, it starts with reducing the energy required to produce foods in the first place.

According to a University of California Extension study, it takes 19 gallons of water to grow a single head of lettuce in the irrigated fields of California. Given the drought crisis California is experiencing, that method of growing just isn’t sustainable.

Because 70 percent of our country’s produce comes from California, America’s food security is at risk. If we’re going to change the way the world is fed, it starts with reducing the energy and water required to produce foods in the first place. At GFF, that’s just what we did.

The Garden Fresh Farms Value Proposition
Garden Fresh Farms decentralizes growing, so fresh food gets to your local grocer within 24 hours ofharvest. High-value leafy greens, herbs and micro-greens are harvested each morning, packaged and sent to the distributor the same day in most cases.

The GFF model is at least four times denser than current models, meaning we can grow an astounding amount of good in a very small space.

In the GFF model, light fixtures are placed just inches away from plants during the growing cycle. That subtle change allows us to optimize the light used by each plant.

In traditional models, every foot of distance between a plant and the light source means a 75 percent drop in the value of that light to the growth of the plant.

Because our model uses light sources so close to the plant, we substantially reduce the energy output required to grow each plant.

All of our farms can be hydroponic, aquaponic or a hybrid of the two.

Aquaponic farms use the aquaponic component as a source of all-natural fertilizer. Water is recycled from the fish tanks to the plants and back to the fish tanks.

The aquaponic method produces a closed loop, eco-friendly system that reduces water consumption by over 95 percent compared to a typical dirt farm.

With the Garden Fresh Farms model in place, a two-week-old seedling can be harvested in just 35 days.  

Once harvesting begins, crops can be harvested 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Each grow simply moves down the overhead conveyer system, and is harvested daily.

Using that system, our one-acre warehouse can produce as much leafy green lettuce plants as a 100-acre dirt farm.

The Garden Fresh Farms model gives entire communities access to healthy food. We’re going to revitalize American farming and commerce, one community at a time.

As we transition to a greener form of capitalism, those that lead the sustainability charge aren’t just delivering a greener future: they’re delivering a more viable profit model.

The GFF model is environmentally holistic, taking into account the four main areas of sustainability:

When we revolutionized the food industry, the food industry took notice.

GFF is an approved vendor for:

Target Corp is ready for in-store testing, and Wal-Mart is ready to order when we have the capacity.

GFF has been featured in:

GFF has received the following awards:

• Minnesota Cup 2013 Finalist
• Received Energy and Clean Tech Division Award
• Finalist in 2013 Midwest Regional Clean Tech Open Competition
• Won Sustainability Award by near unanimous vote
• Won National CleanTech Open Global Forum (won the National Sustainability award by unanimous vote and won the People’s Choice Award)
• Honored by Progress Minnesota, Eureka Award
• Green Products award from St. Paul Sustainable City

GFF is already affecting change at the local level. We’re selling our product through major distributors and are currently in local area grocery stores like Whole Foods, Mississippi Market Co-op and Kowalski’s.

We’re scheduled to start supplying Target stores, and we’re in conversations with Walmart to build a 10-unit farm in Mankato, MN, near their own produce distribution center.

We’re supplying restaurants and corporate dining through Bon Appétit to clients like Best Buy and St. Olaf Colleges. We’re also selling direct to consumers through a CSA subscription service.

The response to GFF has been tremendous - in fact, we’re having trouble keeping up with demand!

But we’re not about to let up.

We are working toward guaranteed contracts with major distributors where we can provide a huge advantage over remote long-distance suppliers with a steady supply of fresh produce at stable prices with reduced costs of transportation and spoilage.

Dave is a veteran of corporate America, and has started 10 businesses, sold several and is still active in several. He started Garden Fresh Farms to solve an empty warehouse problem, after his research on sustainable indoor systems yielded virtually nothing. He's an equipment inventor, patent-holder, manufacturer, and operations officer.

DJ worked up the retail ladder to Divisional Manager at Target. In 1997, he left Target to join Dave.

Peter has more than 42 years of experience in the agricultural commodities business. He started, expanded and later sold a commodity brokerage business. He's currently the Vice Chairman of No Time for Poverty.
 

Bryan has a degree from the U of M in Biology, cell genetics and chemistry. He is a co-inventor of the patented equipment.

Jeff started a thriving retail business with several locations in multi states. After successfully selling the business he set up a marketing and consulting business. Jeff’s asset is working with big box companies.