Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Thursday, November 04, 2010

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The hydroponic lettuce is delivered with the roots still attached, which helps maintain freshness.

High schools are “going green” across Fayette County Public Schools – particularly at lunchtime. Using hydroponic lettuce greens, food service staffs can offer more attractive, more nutritious salads.

“The kids like it better, and it looks better in the salads because there are a variety of colors,” said Mary Moll, cafeteria manager at Lafayette. “We also mix vegetables in it for our tossed salad.”

Hydroponic lettuce greens, which are grown in a water solution rather than dirt, come to the schools as live plants.

“You’re getting a fresher product that has retained its nutrients because it’s still alive,” said Marty Flynn, program coordinator in the district’s Child Nutrition office, who noted that dark green leafy lettuce has more vitamins and nutrients than the iceberg variety. “We get a mix of greens where all you do is cut the roots off and you have a salad.”

Since these greens last longer, cafeterias waste less of the romaine, bibb and mixed lettuce. Another advantage is that these greens are grown in-state, rather than trucked in from elsewhere.

“It’s been a real positive experience working with a Kentucky farmer and learning how it’s grown and how he produces it,” Flynn said.

Kentucky Hydro Farm in Marshall County, which is about three hours west of Lexington, is the school district’s source for this pesticide-free product. As a small family operation, the farm currently can only commit to supplying the five high schools here.

“I grow it in a controlled-environment greenhouse, in a water solution. There’s no soil involved. It enables you to have a whole lot cleaner product,” said farmer Matt Wyatt. “With it being a living product, it doesn’t wilt down real rapidly,” he added. 

Wyatt also pointed out that his hydroponic lettuce is 100 percent edible.

“It doesn’t have a hard core in the center. All the leaves are usable foliage,” he said. “It’s a little bit more efficient.”