SHARON, Pa. – One of the questions that Rob Studor, manager of aquaponics at WestWinn Urban Agriculture Co. in Sharon, Pa., often gets asked is what cannot be grown in water.
The answer is nothing.
“You can grow everything you grow in soil in water,” he explains.
WestWinn, which began operations in June 2023, is a subsidiary of The Winner Companies. It is housed in The Landing, a multitenant space in the former Westinghouse Electric Corp. complex operated by Valley Shenango Economic Development Corp. and leased from Winner.
Fully planting the farm took about seven months, Studor reports. Since then, the farm has been going “full speed,” he says.
The operation, which runs seven days per week, grows lettuce and other agricultural products in a 25,000-square-foot indoor space using aquaponics, a soilless cultivation technique that merges hydroponics – which is growing plants in water – with aquaculture, which is raising aquatic animals.
The growing areas are illuminated under controlled lighting conditions, with existing systems now being converted to more energy efficient LED lights. Waste generated by fish raised on the site is used to fertilize the lettuce.
“We don’t have the sun, but what I’m finding out is even inside of greenhouses, they still supplement 40% with lights. So we just eliminated the sun, which actually helps us control our environment and things like that better,” he says. ”It stays this temperature and this humidity year-round, no matter what.”
What can grow in the 25,000-square-foot space at The Landing is equivalent to the yield of 30 acres of soil, Studor says. Aquaponics also requires 90% less water than traditional agriculture; the only replacement water needed is because of transpiration and evaporation.
What differentiates aquaponics from hydroponics is the addition of aquaculture, Studor says. “I found that everything grows better, faster, tastier, stronger in the aquaponics, just due to the constant replenishing of fertilizer, and it’s never depleted, so we don’t have rises and drops,” he says.
“Sustainable agriculture is on everybody’s radar screen, and we’re actually learning as we go,” says Bo Miller, chief financial officer for Winner Companies, says.
WestWinn has three full-time and two part-time employees but also receives support from PathStone Senior Employment Training and PA CareerLink, “where we get some volunteer labor that really helps us stay sanitized and organized,” Studor says. Additionally, Winner Companies provides technical support for the operation, Miller
says.
A Lot of Lettuce
Plants are grown using a nutrient film technique – or NFT – system that circulates a shallow stream of nutrient-rich water over bare plant roots. The plants are supported by rock wool, an inert media that can hold water and air that aid root growth and nutrient uptake. This allows more and smaller plants to be grown in less square footage. The plants are transplanted through the building as they mature until they are ready for harvesting.
“We currently have one variety of lettuce that we’re growing in our main beds, and then we have a couple other varieties,” Studor says.
“Pretty much everything you see in the NFTs and [deep water culture] is all one variety of lettuce at different stages,” Studor says. “We narrowed it down to this based on yield [and] taste. It is our 77th variety of lettuce that we grew, and since then we haven’t changed it at all.”
The Lalique lettuce grown at WestWinn is sweet like romaine but also has a leafy texture and crunch. WestWinn grows 220 pounds of Lalique lettuce per day. “Every day we harvest, transplant and seed, which is what gives us the ability to produce that much produce,” Studor says.
Other products being grown include herbs such as dill, cilantro, basil and mint, and baby vegetables, which primarily are used by restaurants.
Vertical Gardening
Many products are grown using a new ZipGrow vertical gardening system that “allows the drip irrigation to come down and wick through a wicking strip,” so the plants are not sitting in water.
The system is beneficial for plants like onions that could rot, he says. Unlike horizontal trays, plants can be grown on both sides of the vertical racks.
“We’re able to grow quite a bit of fruit, and we’re actually finding out that most of our herbs grow better in a drip system,” he says.
The system also permits WestWinn to expand the number of products it grows as well.
“We’ll be able to grow year round mint, rosemary and things that chefs really need but don’t really have access to over the winter, and some other varieties of lettuce that were a hit back in the day,” Sudor says. “So these will go out to our subscription customers. They always get first dibs on everything because there are loyal customers.”
Raising Fish
The fish used to supply the nutrients for the plants are grown in 10,000-gallon tanks. West Winn has been using tilapia but is 35% into switching to Koi, which is a “more adaptable fish for Pennsylvania” and is a better revenue source, Studor says.
Back by the nursery for the smaller fish is a growing space where Studor says he likes to experiment.
“That’s where we figured out our mint. We’re getting ready to grow a red variety of kale,” he says.
Between produce and fish, WestWinn’s throughput totals about 100,000 pounds annually, Studor reports.
“That’s max capacity for the systems that we have,” he says.
Sweet Melissa’s
He estimates about 85% of West Winn’s lettuce goes to Sweet Melissa’s Good Eats.
Sweet Melissa’s, a salad-based restaurant with locations in Boardman, Columbiana and Howland, goes through 300 pounds of lettuce daily for its large salads and wraps, Melissa Poland, founder and operator, estimates. More than half of that lettuce – 170 pounds daily – is supplied by WestWinn.
Working with WestWinn took about a year to determine the color, quality and crispness Poland wanted, and Studor “tailor made” the product to meet her needs, she says.
“People will come to me and say, ‘I’ve never had lettuce like this,’” she says.
The product isn’t cheap, Poland acknowledges, but the shops “get that back tenfold by the volume that we do,” she asserts.
“It’s worth spending the money on a really good product,” she says. “People know they’re always going to come in here and they’re going to get the same exact quality.”
Sweet Melissa’s is just one of the dining venues that WestWinn supplies. Others include Tara – A Country Inn, Buhl Mansion and Gifted at Applegate. West Winn’s fish is only sold directly or at Great Depths Seafood in Sharpsville, which is available if customers call ahead. Donofrio’s Food Center in Hermitage also sells lettuce from WestWinn.
Adjacent to the growing areas is an interactive classroom as well as a room with equipment for freeze-drying food, mostly products grown on site, Studor says. So far, about 17 classes and schools have come through in partnership with Hope Center for Arts & Technology, and some have their own aquaponics programs in place.
Distribution
This year, WestWinn is focused on direct-to-consumer distribution, Studor says. It already sells lettuce and herbs and distributes its subscription boxes through Webb Winery in Hermitage. In April, May and June, pop-up monthly farmers markets will be presented in The Landing’s lobby, accompanied by tours and workshops. WestWinn also will be represented in the Sharon and Hubbard, Ohio, farmers markets, with one in Farrell possibly being added as well.
The micro greens and the herbs are only hitting restaurants and subscription customers now, but as soon as the April market starts, they will be available for purchase at retail outlets and farmers markets. WestWinn also recently hired a chef to make salads that will be available for purchase, initially though the subscription box, but sales could be expanded with acquisition of a refrigerated truck.
“Everything but the lettuce is a pretty new venture for us,” he remarks.
“What Rob has done is second to none relative to maximizing what we’re trying to accomplish here and how we grow,” Miller comments.
“We could use more of what we’re doing but we’re always looking into other products and things to expand the farming, like strawberries or some unique things like vanilla. You never know,” Studor says.
“We have room to expand but there’s a cost associated with that,” Miller says. “It has to expand on its own merits.” He praises Studor for maximizing the use of the existing growing space as he expands operations, including by taking different growing patterns into consideration.
“We’d like to do a commercial kitchen here,” he says,
Studor says he would like to see the commercial kitchen in operation within 12 to 18 months, a goal he acknowledges is contingent on securing funding.
“It’s not an easy thing to take on an older building like this and redevelop it,” Miller says. “There’s a lot of things that have to be done with the structure, there’s a lot of code issues that have to be taken into consideration, and it’s just not inexpensive to do those types of developments.”
Poland says she can talk until “blue in the face about how beautiful the product from WestWinn is and how good it tastes,” but people have to experience it for themselves. Unlike lettuce from a store, there are no chemicals used for color or to preserve the product.
“You are getting an honest to goodness head of lettuce that is completely clean, and it’s just a wonderful product,” she remarks.
Pictured at top: Rob Studor, manager of aquaponics at WestWinn Urban Agriculture Co., and Bo Miller, chief financial officer for The Winner Companies, say they want to expand operations at the indoor aquaponics facility at The Landing in Sharon, Pa.
