(Photo from Salad Days on Facebook)
- The company will now be able to produce up to 3 million heads of lettuce annually using advanced hydroponic farming technology, reducing Mississippi’s reliance on lettuce shipped from across the country.
Salad Days Hydroponic Farm is now fully operational in Flora after an expansion in the city’s Industrial Park that includes a new 68,000-square-foot greenhouse facility.
The company will now be able to produce up to 3 million heads of lettuce annually using advanced hydroponic farming technology, increasing Mississippi’s ability to grow its own fresh produce and reducing the state’s reliance on lettuce shipped from across the country.
Salad Days noted that the new high-tech greenhouse uses controlled environment agriculture (CEA), allowing the company to grow consistently beautiful lettuce year-round without pesticides.
Because the lettuce is grown locally, it reaches restaurants, grocery stores and food distributors across Mississippi and neighboring states days fresher than produce trucked across the country, improving shelf life and nutritional quality.
Salad Days President Leigh Bailey said the expansion represents a major step toward rebuilding Mississippi’s local food supply.
“Today, about 95% of the lettuce eaten in Mississippi is grown more than 1,500 miles away in California and Arizona,” Bailey said. “Customers in the deep south should and now can demand fresh, locally grown lettuce in their favorite restaurants and grocery stores.”
State and local leaders were on hand Tuesday to cut the ribbon on the company’s new greenhouse, including Mississippi Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson, USDA Mississippi Director Dane Maxwell, Madison County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Joey Deason, and Flora Mayor Les Childress.
“Mississippi continues to lead the way in agricultural production and diversity,” Gipson said. “Having a facility of this scale producing fresh, healthy food for our people is a major win. It strengthens our local food supply and supports better health for Mississippi families. Today marks the beginning of Mississippi’s strategic plan to increase our local food production, processing and distribution to help meet the basic needs of our local people and communities, as well as our neighbors across the region and country.”
Salad Days thanks its public and private partners for the work to bring the expansion to life, noting that the City of Flora, Madison County Economic Development Authority, the Mississippi Land Water and Timber Board, the Mississippi Development Authority, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Entergy Solutions assisted with the project.
