Expert Seed Advice
The Value Within
When building an indoor agriculture system, most of the attention is on the lighting, automation, growing system, labor and occasionally the crops. The focus is on the technology and not the plants. Yet farms are judged by the food they grow. A state-of-the-art indoor farm will fail if it grows low-quality food that consumers do not like.
The first step in delivering high-quality produce that customers will love is selecting seeds that match the customers' needs and will grow well in the indoors. Going to the local hardware store and buying whatever seed is in stock could harm the overall profitability of a farm.
A farm's success depends on the inputs used on the farm. That is why so much time and money is spent researching and improving various aspects of indoor farms. Seed is a critical input and requires the same amount of attention. That is where Stratagerm can help.
Lettuce Example
There are 7 categories of lettuce. Examples are salad lettuce, sandwich lettuce, lettuce for soups, and lettuce used in stir-fries. A lettuce that is supposed to be cooked in a soup will be too hard and bitter for a salad.
Within each category, there are many varieties. A seed company carries up to twenty varieties of lettuce seed to ensure that at least one will meet their customers' goals. The differences might include seeds that are ideal for:
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disease resistance
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adaptation to low light environments
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use in hydroponic systems
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head size
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planting density shelf life
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leaf color
To get the highest yield of high quality lettuce, it is critical that the variety you select matches the build out of an indoor agricultural system. Farms are graded on the food they sell. Careful seed selection helps a farm grow high quality produce that consumers want to buy!
Are you growing the right lettuce for your business?