Hydroponics firm to employ 200 in Pike

David Hulse
Posted 8/21/12

MILFORD, PA — In a joint announcement on June 17, the owners of All Fresh Farms LLC, the Pike Economic Development Agency (EDA) and the county commissioners revealed a new commercial …

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Hydroponics firm to employ 200 in Pike

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MILFORD, PA — In a joint announcement on June 17, the owners of All Fresh Farms LLC, the Pike Economic Development Agency (EDA) and the county commissioners revealed a new commercial vegetable-growing operation for Greene Township.

Speaking at the commissioners’ bi-monthly meeting, EDA Executive Director Mike Sullivan introduced the principals of what he called a “major investment in Pike County.”

All Fresh Farms’ investors, Steve Nelson, Garry Merritt and Ernest DeMarco were on hand for the announcement.

Nelson, who spoke for the group, said the 10-acre site on Mozzette Road would hydroponically produce lettuce, spinach and other vegetables in a converted 53,000-square-foot warehouse. The process uses recycled, nutrient-loaded water, no soil or manure, and produces no waste water, Nelson said.

With ready access to I-84, All Fresh Farms expects to produce about 100,000 pounds of vegetables weekly—about five refrigerated truckloads—for commercial buyers in a 400-mile radius of the plant, he said.

All Fresh Farms already operates a similar facility in South Carolina, where about 15 of the first Pike employees will be sent for training. New employees will start at $12 per hour, Nelson said.

The multi-year drought in California, where these vegetables have traditionally been shipped from, has prompted investors’ interest in East Coast hydroponics, Nelson said.

The company is hoping to boost production in South Carolina, and has had requests for up to 500,000 pounds of produce weekly, he said.

Nelson credited Sullivan and Greene Township, which has recently approved Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Act (LERTA) property tax inducements, as well as Gov. Tom Wolf’s staff for their help in making the deal possible.

In other business, in an agreement related to the county’s courthouse addition, the Pike Commissioners on June 17 approved a trade of Pike’s 1814 jail to Milford Borough for portions of Gooseberry Alley behind the jail. The alley will become a driveway serving the new addition. The jail is scheduled to become the borough police headquarters in three years’ time.

Also, commissioners appointed Michael McGowan, Paul Casparro, and Fred Mutzek (four-year terms), and Lori Phillips, Barbara Eisenberg and Howard Shankler (two-year terms) to the Pocono Counties Workforce Development board as of July 1.

They also appointed Adriane Wendell to the Hotel Tax Board to fill the unexpired term of Christopher Calo, ending December 31, of this year.

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