May 12, 2017

Clearwater Organic Farms to Build Hydroponic Greenhouse in NY

On May 10, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo  announced the nation’s largest hydroponic commercial greenhouse would locate its operations in Monroe County in upstate New York.

Clearwater Organic Farms, LLC, will build a 15 acre, 650,000 square-foot facility at Eastman Business Park. The company will produce fresh, locally grown, organic baby leaf greens year round.

The project will create 137 new full-time jobs, many of which are reserved for veterans or those who are underemployed to support the region’s anti-poverty agenda.

Phillip Theodore, Organic Farms’ chief executive officer,  said, “We are very pleased with the level of support that we’ve received from the State of New York the County of Monroe and COMIDA to bring innovative and leading technology to the Finger Lakes Region.  Furthermore we’ll be providing pesticide-free, fresh, locally grown and organic produce on a year round basis to the consumers in a 400 mile radius of the city of Rochester.”

“When we set out to plan and design Clearwater Organic Farms, Rochester, our goal was to build a world class baby leaf production facility using ‘state of the art’ process technology and grow science that would both be environmentally and socially responsible,” said Peter Ciriello, Clearwater Organic Farms partner. “We recognized that we could create real value in growing and providing fresh, local and safe baby leaf vegetables and herbs to the local markets and still have a project that would be energy efficient and one that would provide job and career opportunities for workers that might not otherwise be able to work in food production.”