By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

BENTON, Ky. — For those who love fresh fruits and vegetables straight from the garden, it is the peak of growing season. Farmers’ markets, roadside stands and grocery stores are bursting at the seams with big, red, juicy tomatoes, plump green beans, mountains of sweet corn and a host of other kinds of produce.
The only problem is, this time of year just doesn’t last long enough. With that in mind, Matt and Jerry Wyatt of Heartland Hydroponics in Marshall County are working to extend the growing season and bring the area locally grown tomatoes throughout most of the year.

“Traditionally when people think of hydroponics they think of growing in water, but that’s not necessarily the case,” Matt said. “Basically it’s an artificial medium, and all of our nutrients enter the plant through our water source.”

The Wyatts have always been traditional vegetable growers and already had greenhouse structures in place through a bedding plant and nursery business. Lincoln Martin, Marshall County agricultural and natural resources extension agent, was instrumental in getting the family into hydroponics, traveling with Matt and Jerry to Mississippi to tour existing hydroponic operations and asking plenty of questions.

The two began their new business in 2003. “The Wyatts have done very well and they have had their trials and tribulations, but they are on top of things now. They just need more hours in the day,” Martin said.
“This is a state-of-the-art production that puts the consumer first and tries to provide them with what they want in a timely manner. This approach extends the growing season and allows them to produce a quality product, deliver it on a schedule in a quantity that’s desired, and it’s good.”

Martin also said the Wyatts now have something they can sell nine or 10 months of the year. “Do you think that adds cash flow? You better believe it does,” he said.

He added that through hydroponics, growers can control many situations they couldn’t under normal outdoor growing situations.
Vicki Wynn, Marshall County family and consumer sciences extension agent, said there is a misconception of just how good vegetables produced hydroponically can be.

“Typically, hydroponics was associated with an inferior product, but we know that’s absolutely false, so this is giving people an opportunity to try hydroponically grown vegetables,” she said. “They’ve been able to dispel a lot of those myths and educate the public about the process. The quality of these products is outstanding and we have experienced it firsthand.”

Wynn added that it’s important to bring local foods into the marketplace and being able to do that nearly all year long creates big advantages economically, as well as from the fresh-foods standpoint.

“The local food connection is extremely important, not only from a production aspect but from a food safety perspective. We know the transit time this food has, how many hands it passes through. We know it’s had no pesticides or chemical substances that would be harmful,” she said. “To our knowledge, this is the only operation of its kind in our area.”

Wynn sees the movement toward a local food economy growing.
“I do see a trend moving in that direction and although it may not be a swift trend, I think gradually we’re going to see more and more people understand the value and the quality in terms of buying locally,” she said. “The more we educate the public about the advantages, I think we are going to see more people take advantage of it.

“When we think of transporting food from coast to coast, it only makes sense to have it grown locally and distributed locally.”
Jerry said he knew a few years ago it was time to diversify his operation because of changing economic conditions.

“We thought about fall tomatoes because we had empty greenhouses then and needed to do something else, and the more we researched it, the more we decided we might need to do tomatoes all the time,” he said. “It seems like trends have changed over the years. But we figured that people were going to eat every week instead of buying flowers once a year.”

He figured correctly. After a couple of expansions, he now has an acre of greenhouses devoted to the 6,000 tomato plants in the operation and while the business has been successful, it hasn’t been easy.

“It’s a 13-month-a-year project,” said Jerry. “You really have to stay on top of things and you have to be dedicated.”

He also said that by staying dedicated, he believes there are going to be new markets opening up for products like his, and the Kentucky Proud marketing initiative has helped find those markets.
“We are Kentucky Proud and a lot of the customers want to buy Kentucky-grown produce when available. You get publicity and advertising encouraging people to buy from their local farmers’ markets, and Kentucky Proud products. It helps,” Jerry said.
When problems do arise, the Wyatts turn to help from their local extension office and the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture’s Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratories.

“I have had several issues come up with identification of insects and certain plant diseases, as far as why this plant is doing this or not doing that,” Matt said. “I’ve sent those to (the laboratory in) Princeton and we’ve come up with an analysis. I’ve had a lot of fertilizer and water analysis situations that I’ve looked into with UK specialists.”

Heartland Hydroponics sells its tomatoes under the Rebecca Grace label to a variety of customers, including Whole Foods, Value Market and Kroger stores in Louisville.