From Farm to Fork: The Winding Road of Lettuce

Lettuce, often perceived as straightforward, conceals a surprisingly intricate journey within its supply chain. When you relish that crisp salad or savor a bite of BLT, the origin of those fresh leaves might not cross your mind.

In the world of lettuce, the path from seed to salad bowl is a tale of complexity. You probably understand its humble beginnings — farmers planting seeds and nurturing heads of lettuce. And you’re likely acquainted with the end, where consumers bring the lettuce home from grocery stores. But what unfolds between these points? Let's unravel the captivating journey of lettuce together.

Seed to Salad: The Traditional Lettuce Journey

Farming Fundamentals

Here’s how the lifecycle of lettuce farming typically unfolds:

• Farmers start by putting small lettuce seeds into the soil. 

• With the right care, those seeds sprout tiny shoots that reach above the soil.

• As the plants grow, they form heads – clusters of leaves that will eventually be harvested.

• Farmers must make sure the lettuce gets enough water, sunlight, and nutrients to stay healthy and delicious. 

• After anywhere from 30 to 70 days, the lettuce heads mature.

• Farmers carefully pick the mature heads, ensuring they're at their crispiest and tastiest.

Of course, there are a number of environmental and seasonal challenges involved in this process. Lettuce thrives in cooler temperatures, but can be stressed by significant temperature swings. Extreme weather can destroy an entire harvest with little or no warning. And droughts and poor water management can make lettuce farming a challenging task.

Harvesting Hurdles

Properly timing a lettuce harvest can significantly impact quality. Harvest too soon, and you’ll miss out on The longer it is allowed to grow, the more bitter it will become. At the same time, growers don’t want to harvest too early before the heads of lettuce have reached their peak. 

Because lettuce is also  delicate and highly perishable, harvesting can be even further complicated. While some hardy crops can be easily reaped by machine, lettuce typically requires a human touch. Yet growers want to minimize sun exposure after harvest as too much heat will cause the delicate leaves to wilt. Instead, lettuce must be cooled quickly after picking to ensure the longest possible shelf life. 

Logistics Labyrinth

Of course, once those delicate heads of lettuce are harvested, the challenges are not over. They still have to make it through distribution and retail channels to arrive safely on consumer plates.

The Distribution Process

After harvest, the lettuce must first be cooled to preserve freshness, then packaged. In some cases, this is as simple as a bit of plastic wrap and a stick-on label. In others, it may go to a separate facility that will blend several varieties, possibly with other ingredients, to create bagged salads. 

Next, the product is typically sent on to a distributor. Ideally, this could be a local distributor, only a few miles away. But more commonly today, this may involve shipping the lettuce across several states or countries. This is one of several ways that traditional agriculture has negative environmental impacts.

From there it will be distributed out to restaurants and retailers. 

Retailer Challenges

Once lettuce reaches your local grocery store, it’s ready for you to purchase and bring home. But for many greens, this may not be the end of the story. 

Because of the delicate nature of lettuce, it must regularly be inspected. It’s pretty common for fragile crops to be damaged by handling, and not unusual for lettuce to spoil before it can be sold. Bagged salads, in particular, as they near their “sell by” date, may be sent to a landfill rather than sold. 

The Eden Green Difference

Vertical Farming Vision

By contrast, Eden Green Technology employs several advanced farming methods to produce the freshest lettuce, year round. First, our lettuce is grown in vertical farms — towers reach high into our greenhouses, each housing many heads of lettuce (or other crops). Next, these crops are fed through hydroponic systems, rather than traditional soil-based farming methods, meaning they get the perfect nutrients for ideal taste and nutrition. Finally, all of our plants are housed within their own controlled environments, allowing us to give them their ideal temperature, lighting, and humidity. 

The benefits of hydroponics and these other modern growing practices are many. They allow us to grow essential crops, like lettuce, year round, regardless of season, weather, or climate. They also use 99% less land and 98% less water than traditional farming methods. Our Texas campus produces about 5 million pounds of leafy greens every year using these technologies and more. 

The Streamlined Supply Chain

Of course, the benefits of Eden Green Technology don’t stop with our growing practices. We offer more than 200 varieties of private label produce and custom packaging options to our partners. Each of our products is carefully harvested in exceptionally clean and safe conditions. It is then packaged and shipped to the retail level typically within 48 hours. This means our fresh hydroponic produce is far less likely to spoil or be damaged during shipping and will have a longer shelf life once it reaches store shelves. 

Traditional Farming vs Hydroponic Vertical Farming

The truth is, when you compare hydroponics vs. traditional farming as methods of producing lettuce, there is no comparison.

Speed and Freshness

Because hydroponic crops can be grown anywhere and in any season, they don’t have to travel long distances to reach consumers. Instead, we can grow lettuce close to the urban populations that will consume it. This means hydroponic lettuce is typically far fresher than its traditionally-grown counterparts.

Environmental and Social Benefits

Eden Green’s sustainability mission is well-documented and an integral part of everything we do. We search for sustainability at every step of the process, from seed to retail. We also seek to be good neighbors, with significant contributions to community health and local economies. To this end, we donate up to 10% of our harvests every week, helping to feed those who need access to fresh healthy foods the most. 

For more details, check out our article entitled, What is environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)?

Joining the Fresh Revolution

It seems clear that we’re beginning to see a shift towards more sustainable, efficient produce supply chains. If you want to be a part of this movement, contact Eden Green today. We’d love to discuss how we can provide white label produce options to your retail or restaurant business.