FRUITLAND, Idaho — A family owned hydroponics business is keeping fresh lettuce and herbs stocked throughout the Treasure Valley year round. GreenWave Hydroponics uses running water to give their crops the nutrients they need to grow.
- No pesticides or chemicals are used in the process
- The water used to grow the plants is recycled back into the system
- Their produce can be found in stores all over the Treasure Valley
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
“Well I grew up on a produce farm and we grew everything outside,” said Amos Wengard, owner of GreenWave Hydroponics
Amos Wengerd has been farming for quite some time now.
“We always talked about and dreamt about having a hydroponic system, so it’s always been a dream of mine,” said Wengerd.
But when he moved to the Treasure Valley, he noticed that hydroponics hadn’t really made it here yet.
“I realized there was no hydroponic farms around here, and I grew up in a farming community where there was lots,” said Wengerd.
So he decided to start GreenWave Hydroponics in 2020 and built a greenhouse in Fruitland using hydroponics to help his plants grow.
“Well, a lot of people think hydroponics is no soil involved at all. I would say the correct definition would be that hydroponic means it gets the nutrients from the water,” said Wengerd.
His greenhouse is now filled with rows and rows of lettuce and herbs that sit on a rack system.
The racks of lettuce behind me actually move. It takes about three weeks to get from this side of the greenhouse, where the lettuce heads look like this, to the far side, where they're harvesting where the lettuce is fully grown.
“It takes a lot less space to grow product, you can grow product year round,” said Wengerd.
Amos says that not only can he get you a farm-fresh salad in the middle of winter, but he can also make sure the lettuce is as good as it can be.
“Everything should always taste perfect because I can control the water to a T,” said Wengerd.
Makenzie Raptosh, a front end assistant manager at the Boise CO-OP, says that customers notice the difference.
“They love it! It is flying off of the shelves really quickly. It's really difficult to find herbs anywhere else around this time I think that are fresh and local,” said Raptosh.
Amos’ heated greenhouse is on a rolling schedule where they harvest two days a week.
“Most farmers have a crazy busy harvest period, we’re just very steady 52-weeks out of the year,” said Wengerd.
With that steady schedule, Amos tells me he is always looking for new ways to improve his process.
“We grow the plants as healthy as we can and they’re sweet and crisp the best out there,” said Wengerd.
