By JOHN HOWELL

Ever wonder why those red, plump and juicy tomatoes that you find in the dead of winter in super markets never taste like those picked fresh from the vine?

Well, you may not need to wonder when Rhode Island Grows Grow gets the state’s largest greenhouse up and operational at Schartner Farm in Exeter. Company CEO Jim Haught told the Warwick Rotary Club Thursday that the first crop of tomatoes could be in local stores by January of 2023.  For it to happen a lot needs to fall in place, but Tim Schartner, chairman of the board and CMO, is never short on optimism. Schartner wasn’t able to attend the meeting yet Haught outlined an aggressive schedule to start growing beef steak tomatoes that will reach markets up and down the eastern seaboard. 

Key to the $66 million project is a 25-acre greenhouse that when fully operational will produce 42,000 pounds to tomatoes every day – that’s 19 million pounds of tomatoes a year. With steel stanchions up, the scope of the greenhouse is clearly defined. As a basis of comparison, it is the size of the Warwick Mall and the warehouse NorthPoint Development is building on Commerce Drive off Airport Road. 

Only greenhouse construction has been at a standstill since the Town of Exeter issued a cease and desist order last fall. While state law exempts agricultural developments from local zoning, a matter that was upheld by a vote of the State Board of Standards and Appeals, the Exeter council backed the opinion of the town’s building official who argued the greenhouse is fixed and should be considered a manufacturing operation.

Rhode Island Grows has appealed the cease and desist and the council’s finding to Superior Court. Haught is hopeful RI Grows will be clear of the legal entanglements in three months so work can resume.   At this point, he said, 25 percent of the greenhouse is completed.

A Navy veteran, Haught is a finance guy who believes even though larger farms have been sold off for housing developments that there is tremendous opportunity for farming in the Ocean State’s future.  Haught has a Masters in Business Administration Degree from URI and has worked at State Street Bank and Citizens Bank.  He hooked up with Schartner about a year ago as Tim embanked on Rhode Island Grows.

Tim is a fourth generation Schartner farmer. When the popular Schartner farm stand burned in 2017, Haught said the family considered rebuilding. Over the years the fire codes had changed and although the stand was “grandfathered,” to rebuild would have meant more of a supermarket layout and design. “They weren’t looking for another Stop and Shop or Dave’s ,” said Haught. Rather they envision more of a “village” shopping experience of smaller buildings that might include a butcher shop, bakery and produce stand. That is still in the plans, but first is the greenhouse that Haught sees as a sustainable future for Rhode Island for Rhode Island farmers.

As he put it, famers face two means of increasing productivity, scale and technology. Enlarging farm operations is not a viable means for Rhode Island farmers. Land here is more valuable for other ventures. While it can be costly, technology, on the other hand can reduce the risks faced in farming and boost harvests.

The greenhouse will be a controlled environment where every day is a day in July, the best time to grow tomatoes. Light and temperature will be regulated. In the winter months LEDs will augment natural light to mimic a July day as natural gas driven generators will heat the water as well as produce carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide will be contained in the greenhouse that the tomato plants need as part of the photolysis process as they produce oxygen. The greenhouse that stands 20 feet tall has gutters build into the transparent roof panels that feed cisterns that will be used for watering the tomatoes. The plants will be grown hydroponically, the water having been filtered in a circulating system delivering nutrients to the tomatoes. In the event of a drought, Haught said, there is an irrigation pond on the property that could be used to augment the supply.

In total 160,000 tomato plants would be grown in the 25-acre greenhouse. To grow that many plants outside would require 1,000 acres, Haught said. The greenhouse plants would have a life of about 11 months. They would be tended by a staff of 75, which Haught observed would be full time, year round jobs paying $40,000 to $45,000 annually not requiring a degree or, for that matter, a high school diploma. The head grower would make $200,000.

The investment for such a venture is coming from a variety of sources. Haught said financing includes senior construction loans from a bank as well as green energy loans with US Government guarantees and $7 million from private equity.

“Tomatoes are very much a part of our culture,” Haught said imagining there will be no lack of demand for the fruit. He said Mastronardi Ltd, Sunset Foods has signed a 10-yer contract to buy grade A tomatoes, the plump red and proportionally perfect ones found in high end establishments. The grade B tomatoes will end up in supermarkets and the grade C will go to make ketchup and sauces. 

So, why would Rhode Island Grows tomatoes taste better from those imported from Mexico or elsewhere?

The answer is in the vine, not the fruit.

Haught said as tomatoes ripen the vine provides sugar.  But in order to deliver tomatoes to this part of the country other than in the summer, they need to be picked before they are ripe otherwise they would be mush. With Rhode Island located between New York and Boston and hours away, Rhode Island Grows will be capable to putting summer-sweet ripened tomatoes on tables year round.