Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • May 1, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS STARTUPS & ENTREPRENEURS Hydroponic farming takes root in CT By Karen Ali Special to the Hartford Business Journal C onnecticut produces a mere 1 percent or so of the fruits and vegetables eaten by its residents. That's a statistic state agricultural experts and producers want to change. One way they are hoping to move the needle is through a type of controlled envi- ronment agriculture, called hydroponic farming, which is an eco-friendly way of growing produce in a soil- less medium, with nutri- ents and water. Hydroponic farming is gaining popularity in the state and nationwide, particularly in response to consumers' shift toward healthy eating and locally grown produce, rising food prices and extreme weather conditions making it harder for traditional farming. Joe Geremia, known as the go-to guy for hydropon- ics in the state, said because Connecticut has a small amount of farmable acres, it makes sense to turn to hydroponic farming. "It's nearly impossible [for Connecticut] to feed itself," said Geremia, who is a partner in Four Sea- son Farm LLC, which will develop 10 acres of land in Suffield as a startup hydroponic farm. The farm, which the state has invested $3 million in, is expected to generate 40 jobs over the next two years and produce millions of pounds of tomatoes. "It's a perfect thing for Connecticut. We can do more per acre, if we can do it indoors," said Geremia, who runs seven acres of greenhouses in Wallingford. Geremia and others say more Connecticut farmers and greenhouse operators are adopting controlled envi- ronment agriculture. "More people are embracing indoor technol- ogy in farming," Geremia said. "The trend is upward." Hydroponic farming industry revenues, which reached $821.1 million nationwide in 2016, have grown at an annual rate of about 4.5 percent since 2011, according to research from IBISWorld. And of the 2,347 hydro- ponic farm businesses that existed in 2016, 3.8 percent operated in Con- necticut, according to IBISWorld. Four Season Farm LLC, which is expected to break ground this spring, plans to produce 5.75 million pounds of tomatoes the first year and 7.5 million pounds by the third year. The farm plans to add cucumbers, peppers and micro-greens. In a February publica- tion put out by the state Q&A Bootcamp gives veterans shot at entrepreneurship Q&A talks with Mike Zacchea, director of the Entrepreneurship Boot- camp for Veterans (EBV) with Disabilities at UConn. The program, which is part of a national consortium of business schools and univer- sities, provides experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with service-connected disabilities. Q: Can you tell us how UCo- nn's Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans came about and how you got involved with the organization? What is its mission? A: We began looking at the data for veteran- owned businesses in Connecticut and New England and discov- ered that while the state and region overall are good markets for veteran-owned busi- nesses, the market was underserved. So we identified the opportu- nity, and said we'd be the New England cen- ter for the Entrepre- neurship Bootcamp for Veterans. We host- ed our first bootcamp class in 2010. Our mission is to help post-9/11 service disabled veterans start businesses. Q. What are some of the key skills you teach veterans? A: We have a comprehensive instructional curriculum that is heavy on applied knowledge and uses very little theory. We designed the curriculum with the help of the curriculum design center at UConn, using principles of universal access. Ensuring our veterans could access the curriculum regardless of dis- ability or impairment is a mission- critical competency. We start with an online course, which teaches fundamentals of cre- ating a mission statement, vision statement, values statement, and a value proposition. Veterans also produce a business model canvas for later use as they develop their business plan. During the bootcamp's resi- dential phase conducted in Hart- ford, veterans learn ecommerce, marketing, advertising, social media, networking, accounting, venture capital finance, busi- ness communications skills, and relationship management skills. Our bootcamp also leverages several corporate relationships with: Synchrony Financial, which provides instructors; Prudential, which has been supporting our bootcamp since 2011; and Linke- dIn, which provides our graduates with a free full one-year premium membership. Our veterans also read Reid Hoffman's "The Start-up of You." The idea of the book is that regard- less of whether you start a busi- ness or work for someone else, your career is an entrepreneurial endeavor. We are all entrepre- neurs, ultimately. Q: Do you have any sense of how many veterans go on to start their own business? A: Approximately 165,000 post-9/11 vet- erans have started businesses, but the veteran population overall is shrinking (by 25 percent since 2000) and is projected to shrink further (by an additional 33 percent) by 2030. As a result, the number of veter- an-owned businesses is also shrinking. This is meaning- ful. It predicts loss of economic, social, and political capital for veterans and the veter- an-owned business community. Q: What impact has the bootcamp had so far? How many veterans have opened a business or found jobs as a result of the bootcamp? A: We've graduated 157 veter- ans in seven years, and started 125 businesses that have produced more than $35 million in gross revenues and created more than 300 jobs. Ninety percent of the businesses we've started are still in operation. Additionally, we've had more than two dozen veter- ans find full-time, career-track employment, and more than a dozen have accessed career-track education opportunities. The greater impact is that it has started a larger conversation with the business and education communities and policymakers in our state about vets' needs. Q: How is the program funded? A: The program is entirely funded through charitable dona- tions, specifically grants and corporate and individual philan- thropy. All of our money goes to helping veterans reintegrate into society economically. We receive no taxpayer money at all. This is not a state program. It's a nonprofit that is sponsored MIKE ZACCHEA Director of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV) with Disabilities at UConn Continued Cheshire-based Maple Lane Farms II co-owners Allyn Brown (left) and Brant Smith inspect a foam float holding heads of hydroponically grown bibb lettuce nearly ready for market. Most Popularly Grown Veggies from Hydroponic Farming Hydroponic farmers produced $821.1 million in food crops in 2016, according to IBISWorld. Here's a breakdown of which crops produced the most revenue. S O U R C E : W W W . I B I S W O R L D . C O M Tomatoes 50.4% Other Food Crops 23.1% Lettuce 7.0% Peppers 0.8% Strawberries 0.1% Fresh Herbs 8.9% Cucumbers 9.7% P H O T O S | S T E V E J E N S E N

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