When I first visited Little Leaf Farms more than six years ago in Devens, Massachusetts, it was clear from the get-go the operation was geared toward success. That first greenhouse in Devens was 2.5 acres, a proof of concept if you will, incorporating automation to move the growing and harvesting process to a hybrid of human and automated labor. As Devens achieved profitability and continued to expand, first another 2.5 acres and then a third 5-acre greenhouse, the exploration of automation grew, with less and less labor involved.
That's not to say no labor—there's plenty, and we'll get to that and where it fits in—but automation is definitely the gamechanger that continues at their McAdoo, Pennsylvania, campus—which is now about to start shipping lettuce this summer from its fourth 10-acre expansion. That puts McAdoo at 40 acres production under glass, for a total of 50 acres overall for Little Leaf Farms.
"Part of the key, I think in hindsight, is we never got into this land grab, over-expanded and raised too much capital, and had that pressure to invest it," says Founder and CEO Paul Sellew of the evolution of the business. "We built the business incrementally, step by step.
"We learned such important lessons along the way, Jen," he continued. "From Devens, we learned what we thought were the next design iterations we needed to make to get the quality and yield breakthrough. And that's what we did down in McAdoo."
Read more at Inside Grower