In the hills of northern New Hampshire, even on a chilly day, you can find a massive indoor space where it feels like summer year-round. North Country Growers opened an energy-efficient greenhouse in 2024 in the city of Berlin.”This building is eight acres of greenhouse and two acres of work hall. It’s a 10-acre facility,” said Jake Rupert, who helps oversee operations. North Country Growers is essentially an indoor farm filled with thousands of lettuce plants.”At one time, there’s north of one-and-a-half million plants,” Rupert said.The facility uses hydroponics to grow the lettuce. After the lettuce is seeded in small pots, they do their growing in pools of nutrient-rich water. In fact, they collect water from rainfall and melting snow for the process.Rupert said using floating trays to grow plants is more efficient than traditional farming.”If this was a dirt facility, to match the kind of output we can get, you need 300 acres,” Rupert said.Inside, the average temperature is 75 degrees.Almost every day, new lettuce is planted and mature lettuce is harvested. It’s a constant cycle.They have the capacity to produce more than 7 million pounds of lettuce per year.The leafy plants are used by the company “State Garden” for their lettuce line called “Locally Known,” which is sold in grocery stores across the Northeast like Shaw’s, Hannaford and Market Basket.”A lot of people don’t know that it’s greenhouse-grown, but they absolutely love that ‘crunch factor.’ They love the crispiness, the crunch, and that is very fresh, that it lasts much longer in the fridge,” said Kate Weiler, from State Garden.Weiler said with lettuce, crunch is key. Varieties grown in Berlin, like romaine and butter lettuce, have lots of crunch.Berlin was chosen because the climate in the city is good for growing crunchy lettuce.”So, lettuce wants heat during the day and then cool nights,” Rupert said. “Kind of likes to recharge for the next day.”The lettuce grows for about 30 to 40 days in the pools. Each plant is transplanted twice in the grow cycle to larger containers.When the lettuce plant is ready to be harvested, it’s floated down a water channel into a processing line.Floating produce down the current is reminiscent of what Berlin used to be known for. About 100 years ago, cut logs would be floated down the waters of the Androscoggin River to be processed for paper.Just like then, this new greenhouse is providing much-needed jobs for the area.”One of the biggest benefits, other than the awesome lettuce, they employ somewhere in the vicinity of 35 to 40 people,” said City Manager Phillip Warren.North Country Growers has room to build more greenhouses in Berlin in the future and possibly add more jobs.They hope more produce will be grown locally.”This is product that’s coming from New England. It’s traveling fewer miles. It’s getting to retail shelves and your fridge, much sooner and much fresher,” Weiler said. The Berlin lettuce is sold ready-to-eat. Much of it is shipped off-site to be packaged. Some of it is boxed and delivered locally to places like The Berlin Marketplace.There is a hand-drawn sign in the lettuce section advertising the Berlin-grown produce.”People love that,” said Gary Bedard, the produce manager.When Bedard heard about the lettuce facility in Berlin, he started buying it, and customers seem to love it.”When we first started, we were going through four cases a week. Now we go through about 10 cases a week,” Bedard said. “Being in our backyard, I think people really like that.”Next time you buy some lettuce at your local store, check the label. It might say: Berlin, New Hampshire.
In the hills of northern New Hampshire, even on a chilly day, you can find a massive indoor space where it feels like summer year-round.
North Country Growers opened an energy-efficient greenhouse in 2024 in the city of Berlin.
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“This building is eight acres of greenhouse and two acres of work hall. It’s a 10-acre facility,” said Jake Rupert, who helps oversee operations.
North Country Growers is essentially an indoor farm filled with thousands of lettuce plants.
“At one time, there’s north of one-and-a-half million plants,” Rupert said.
The facility uses hydroponics to grow the lettuce. After the lettuce is seeded in small pots, they do their growing in pools of nutrient-rich water. In fact, they collect water from rainfall and melting snow for the process.
Rupert said using floating trays to grow plants is more efficient than traditional farming.
“If this was a dirt facility, to match the kind of output we can get, you need 300 acres,” Rupert said.
Inside, the average temperature is 75 degrees.
Almost every day, new lettuce is planted and mature lettuce is harvested. It’s a constant cycle.
They have the capacity to produce more than 7 million pounds of lettuce per year.
The leafy plants are used by the company “State Garden” for their lettuce line called “Locally Known,” which is sold in grocery stores across the Northeast like Shaw’s, Hannaford and Market Basket.
“A lot of people don’t know that it’s greenhouse-grown, but they absolutely love that ‘crunch factor.’ They love the crispiness, the crunch, and that is very fresh, that it lasts much longer in the fridge,” said Kate Weiler, from State Garden.
Weiler said with lettuce, crunch is key. Varieties grown in Berlin, like romaine and butter lettuce, have lots of crunch.
Berlin was chosen because the climate in the city is good for growing crunchy lettuce.
“So, lettuce wants heat during the day and then cool nights,” Rupert said. “Kind of likes to recharge for the next day.”
The lettuce grows for about 30 to 40 days in the pools. Each plant is transplanted twice in the grow cycle to larger containers.
When the lettuce plant is ready to be harvested, it’s floated down a water channel into a processing line.
Floating produce down the current is reminiscent of what Berlin used to be known for. About 100 years ago, cut logs would be floated down the waters of the Androscoggin River to be processed for paper.
Just like then, this new greenhouse is providing much-needed jobs for the area.
“One of the biggest benefits, other than the awesome lettuce, they employ somewhere in the vicinity of 35 to 40 people,” said City Manager Phillip Warren.
North Country Growers has room to build more greenhouses in Berlin in the future and possibly add more jobs.
They hope more produce will be grown locally.
“This is product that’s coming from New England. It’s traveling fewer miles. It’s getting to retail shelves and your fridge, much sooner and much fresher,” Weiler said.
The Berlin lettuce is sold ready-to-eat.
Much of it is shipped off-site to be packaged. Some of it is boxed and delivered locally to places like The Berlin Marketplace.
There is a hand-drawn sign in the lettuce section advertising the Berlin-grown produce.
“People love that,” said Gary Bedard, the produce manager.
When Bedard heard about the lettuce facility in Berlin, he started buying it, and customers seem to love it.
“When we first started, we were going through four cases a week. Now we go through about 10 cases a week,” Bedard said. “Being in our backyard, I think people really like that.”
Next time you buy some lettuce at your local store, check the label. It might say: Berlin, New Hampshire.
