MightyVine Tomatoes will be growing year round tomatoes and will partner with Chicago based grocer & distributor Local Foods. In October this year they will market the first freshly harvested tomatoes to the 9.9 million people in the greater metropolitan area of Chicago, as well as to nearby cities such as Milwaukee and Madison (Wisconsin) and other markets in Western Illinois, said Gary Lazarski of MightyVine Tomatoes.
Together with business partner Jim Murphy, Lazarski is the founder of Carbon Green, a company that is active in the development of sustainable green projects. When Carbon Green met Dutch greenhouse grower Frank van Kleef a couple of years ago, the group started to develop ideas for a greenhouse project in Chicago.
"As a grower and global entrepreneur, Frank van Kleef brought us much knowledge on the greenhouse industry and he introduced us to the right partners who could help us to realize a successful project", said Lazarski. "We immediately asked him on board, and the plan is that Frank van Kleef will be visiting us every other month to join our board meetings and to share his knowledge with us. During the first couple of years he will be very committed to ensure that we will get up and running properly."
VB Group broke ground in Rochelle in March this year. "After the levelling of the land, Havecon started to raise the posts of the new greenhouse by the end of March", said VB's Edward Verbakel, who is proud to work together with Havecon, another Dutch greenhouse builder that is widely active in the North American greenhouse industry. "In this project, VB group is the main contractor, as well as this we are responsible for the heating of the greenhouse. Havecon will be building the structure, PB Techniek will be responsible for the technical installations, Vepritec installs the screening and Gavita will handle the supplemental lighting. It is a real cooperation between leading parties."
The first greenhouse of MightyVine in Rochelle. The group of builders and installers for MightyVine is the same consortium that worked for Frank van Kleef of Royal Pride in the North of Holland. Nic Helderman (former Backyard Farms) will serve as COO at MightyVine.
The construction of the 3 hectare greenhouse is targeted to be completed in August. It is similar to the greenhouse of Royal Pride in the Netherlands: white coated steel with a gable post height of 7 meters. The greenhouse is outfitted with diffused glass with anti- reflective coating. As well as this a pack house is being built. The greenhouse will be heated with boilers, but as there is supplemental lighting installed, the group is also researching possibilities to install CHP in the future.
In the presence of the Dutch Royal Couple, the contract for MightyVine's phase II was signed.
These three hectares are the first phase of MightyVine, but in June, the contract for Phase II was signed between VB Group, Royal Pride and MightyVine Tomatoes. "As soon as we have the first phase up and running, we will begin with the 3 hectare expansion phase II", said Gary Lazarski. "This greenhouse will be identical, and will also have supplemental lighting in order to grow year round."
For more information, please visit:
www.localfoods.com
www.mightyvine.com
www.vb-group.nl/en