Ratooning for Increased Yield and Reduced Waste

Although controlled environment agriculture makes it possible to deliver fresh nutritious andaffordable leafy greens to customers far from the "salad bowl" in California and Arizonachallenges remain. For every pound of leafy greens an approximately equal amount of root andstem biomass is produced and must be disposed of. Disposal has an economic and environmentalcost and represents waste of inputs: seeds labor light nutrients etc. Ratooning is a techniquecommon in certain crops that allows one root and stem system to produce multiple harvests. Inthis project we propose a rigorous examination of the factors necessary to implement ratooningin the world's largest vertical farm. Objectives are to identify the key process traits forcommercially relevant varieties. This necessitates a series of experiments that will determine theideal height and cutting frequency each cultivar tested. Experimental outputs will includephenotyping of leaf material yield and observations of sensory quality by a trained panel.The anticipated results will be used to estimate improvements in profitability and sustainabilityof the effort. If results are promising a Phase II project is planned to improve the processthrough a computer controlled harvesting algorithm growth environment controls andmechanical engineering of the harvester to protect roots and stems.