This interview details Pure Farms, an indoor farming company based in the United States. The interview is with Tom Grams, Farm Manager at Pure Farms.
Pure Farms was established in January 2023 and is a hydroponic operation based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Michael Graf and I began the operation with the intention to provide locally grown, fresh produce year-round to the Milwaukee area. Pure Farms is a family-owned company, producing a variety of lettuces, herbs, and microgreens. We believe in providing the highest quality produce, free from any pesticides or herbicides.
Some of the challenges we face involve educating consumers on the benefits of how we grow our produce and connecting with customers who understand and believe in the value of nutritious, healthy food that is both good for the people and the planet.
Starting a company along with managing a farm operation is very time-consuming and the industry is ever changing. Michael is a natural entrepreneur and previously ran a very successful high-end graphic arts finishing company for 30 years, dealing with various food packaging. During Michael’s tenure, his company achieved SQF (Safe Quality Food) certification, one of the highest levels of food safety audits. I was able to learn the farming side of the business by working in & connecting with several different CEA facilities. Having these experiences helped launch the initial success of Pure Farms. While it was difficult to find a rhythm that worked specifically for us when first starting out, we have now gotten to a point where we have successfully developed our own process, utilizing the experiences and lessons we learned over the years prior to launching Pure Farms.
Another challenge is meeting both the customer needs and market demands that are ever-changing. Product demand can change quickly, and it can take as long as 6-8 weeks for us to produce a finished product, so adapting and making changes that are both effective and beneficial for our operation is key.
Pure Farms is unique in that we offer consistent, high-quality produce year-round in a geographic area that is often difficult to predict and obtain consistent yields outdoors. We grow our produce hydroponically in an indoor facility while utilizing technology that allows us to control different environmental factors that influence the growth of our plants. Our operation is set up to remove a lot of those variables that exist when growing outdoors and this allows us to constantly yield 3,000 pounds of produce per month, regardless of the weather outside.
Pure Farms is USDA-certified in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). This established program helps guide our operation in harvesting, handling, and packaging produce in a safe manner.
Pure Farms is a family-owned company and our staff takes great pride in providing produce that is healthy and nutritious to our community. We are involved in every step of the process from seed to harvest, and being able to see the end result of that work makes it all worthwhile.
We are constantly measuring and recording how much we are harvesting, comparing weights, harvest yields, and environmental conditions from current and previous harvests to help us track how we can improve and create a receipt for future success.
We grow in several outfitted 40-foot shipping containers, harvesting 1,000 pounds of produce every 10 days. The quality and amount of produce we offer to our customers has steadily improved with each harvest, and we are constantly trying new plant varieties, and growing methods, along with modifying our operational tasks to help us address areas we feel can be more efficient.
By logging the weights of yield, the amount of compostable material, tracking time spent on farm tasks, and our monthly sales, we can see that the changes we have implemented are having a positive impact. While we are happy with our success over this first year, we are always looking at ways to get better and move the company forward.
Pure Farms will focus on expanding its offerings in the produce market and placing farms strategically in geographic areas that are in need of consistent, fresh, and nutritious produce year-round. These areas could be future customer base locations consisting of food deserts and areas that lack food security.
We can be reached at our email address, lettuceconnect@pure-farms.com, or by contacting our CEO, Michael Graf at (414)828-6337. You also follow us on Instagram at pure.farms, Facebook, and our website, Pure-Farms.com.
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