Anguilla: A Hydroponic Paradise

Fresh produce is hard to come by in the Caribbean. But on one sleepy island, Howard Resh is revolutionizing how visitors get their veggies.

They may look like lush green paradises, but on many Caribbean islands obtaining fresh produce presents huge challenges for both locals and visitors. In Anguilla, a nation of 35 square miles with a population of just 15,000 — and just a brief boat ride from the more bustling and commercialized St. Martin — shipping produce by barge can easily take a week from the closest port of Miami.

The palm trees, native plants and grasses that cover the island may grow like weeds, but fresh salad greens, tomatoes and vegetables don't fare as well given the scarcity of fresh water and the high cost of desalinization.

Therefore, the vast majority of produce arrives from the mainland frozen and/or processed.

Enter Howard Resh, Ph.D., a long-time pioneer in hydroponic farming, and today the director of the hydroponic farm at the CuisinArt Resort, the first resort in the Caribbean to launch a large-scale hydroponic farm when he founded it in 1999.

"Hydroponic farming is all about increasing the quality of the food you eat," says Resh, who discovered hydroponics in the early 1970s, and soon became intrigued by the possibility of high-scale commercialization of the soil-less farming technique.

Basically, hydroponics is a method of cultivating plants in water and a nutrient-rich fertilizer solution without soil. Instead of planting in dirt, hydroponic farmers set seedlings in water or a substance like gravel, synthetic webbing, or even packing peanuts, and then enrich the plants with a mixture of minerals and nutrients diluted in water.

The yield is high, pesticide problems are nonexistent, and because of the almost-constant exposure to a highly-nutritious solution, vegetables grown via hydroponics also tend to be packed with more vitamins and minerals than conventionally-grown produce. Ironically, hydroponic farms use far less water than traditional agriculture, in some instances, up to 20 times less.

Spreading The Word

Some guests come to the resort just because of the farm; Resh gives tours several times a week, and it's on these tours where the scale and scope of the project hits home.

Wandering down the aisles of the greenhouse, Resh points out the arugula, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and herbs in pots, on vines, and in flat trays. The operation is significant: Each day, he provides the three restaurants at CuisinArt with 60 to 80 pounds of tomatoes, 30 pounds of peppers, 128 heads of lettuce, and varying amounts of herbs, cucumbers, and other produce. And he gives extra lettuce to the staff if the kitchen doesn't take it all.

We're not talking iceberg here: Resh grows European Bibb and oak leaf lettuce, and beefsteak, Roma and cherry tomatoes, along with Zebrinos, a darker-striped variety that stands up to grilling. Off in a corner, towers of pots hold herbs like oregano, chive, sage, rosemary and parsley, some of which are passed along to the Venus Spa for use in facial and body treatments.

The tomato vines can grow 40 feet high while peppers can reach up to 14 feet, but Resh and his staff trim them down regularly so they grow horizontally; the greenhouse is built to withstand a 150 mph hurricane, so the gutters are only 10 feet high.

Kitchen Wars

Of course, Executive Chef Daniel Le Guenan clearly appreciates the steady stream of fresh produce that flows to his kitchen twelve months out of the year, but there is the occasional tug-of-war between Resh and the kitchen, primarily due to the limits of hydroponic farming.

For instance, this year, Resh decided to grow eggplant. "We can't grow everything, of course, like spinach or cabbage, because those crops like cold weather," he says. "And while the chefs can ask for a particular vegetable, we may not be able to do it. White eggplant does quite well here, but the chefs don't like it because it turns brown when you cook it. For me, it's all about what grows best, while for chefs, it's all about aesthetics."

That said, the hydroponic farm is not profitable, and in fact, Resh reveals that it costs 35% more to run compared with what it would cost to bring in the equivalent in produce. "It doesn't make a profit because the scale of the operation is so small, only a third of an acre," he says. "And the labor-intensive nature of the business requires twice as many employees for a greenhouse of this size."

While eating lunch at the resort, I can definitely attest to the intrinsic value of knowing that the greens, tomatoes, and peppers in my salad were grown nearby, and in fact, that I probably saw them hanging on the vine during my tour of the farm the previous day.

Indeed, representatives at the resort attest that this feature brings guests back year after year.

Hydroponics at Home

Even though CuisinArt is a high-end resort, Resh says that hydroponic growing techniques can easily be applied to low-income environments as well; indeed, he's developed hydroponic farms in Venezuela, Tortola, and Taiwan. "Electricity is not necessary provided people take time every day to irrigate their plants manually," he adds. Indeed, that's about all it takes to maintain a home-built hydroponic system once you get it up and running.

Resh believes that the best way to convert someone to hydroponics is to just do it. "You can start doing it in your kitchen, in a windowbox, or on your fire escape," he says. The benefits are severalfold: "You can eat fantastic salads, and safe and healthy foods, save money, and always know where your food comes from."

It's easy to get started with plenty of website resources. In the beginning, you'll have to invest a little time and money in the form of equipment — whether you buy it or build your own — lighting, where to buy seeds and supplies, and learning the lingo. But the payoff is huge.

Here are some good places to start:

Howard Resh's website is filled with useful information, and his book Hobby Hydroponics is available on Amazon.

Easy Hydroponics

Hydroponics at Home

Anguilla photo by heidi.lauren via Flickr, Howard Resh photo by Lisa Rogak, Bibb Lettuce photo courtesy CuisinArt Resort.