A visit to SunSelect's 32-acre greenhouse

On Jan. 22, County Supervisor Zack Scrivner, City Manager Greg Garrett, Mayor Susan Wiggins and Tehachapi's Economic Development Council (EDC) were treated to a tour of the new 32-acre greenhouse in Cummings Valley which is owned and operated by SunSelect. The Canadian company is 100% family owned and operated by the Krahn family, which has operations in Toronto and British Columbia. The company has over 100 years of sustainable greenhouse growing experience and is headed by Chief Executive Officer Reinhold Krahn, the oldest brother. Len Krahn is in charge of operations and marketing, and was the day's tour guide, along with his sister Edith Gubiotti, and head of California operations, John Dol. A third brother, Victor, is in charge of greenhouse construction.

According to Len, finding Tehachapi was a “fluke”. The company had been searching for four years for a location that would have the right conditions for growing greenhouse peppers, when they happened to stop in Tehachapi for lunch at Kohnen's Bakery. They ran into a local real estate agent who told them about the Cummings Valley property. It turned out to be just what they were looking for, with just the right amount of growing light. They purchased approximately 130 acres and began with the current greenhouse which is planted with 28 acres of tomatoes and four acres of peppers. Peppers are not normally grown in a closed greenhouse and the experiment was a resounding success. The peppers did amazingly well and construction has just begun on the second 32 acres which will be red, yellow and orange peppers, as well as tomatoes.

The amazing greenhouse has row after row of tomatoes, which are grown in rockwool cubes, stuffed with coco fiber from coconut shells imported from Sri Lanka. The plants are fed and watered by a recycling drip system, which contains a soy fertilizer in which no GMOs are used. The used water is purified and stored in huge tanks, fresh fertilizer is added and sent back to the plants. There is virtually zero waste.

Pollination is achieved by hives of bumblebees which are attached to the end of each row of plants. Every care is taken to constantly test for bugs, fungus and virus infestations. Employees who work in the greenhouse wear shoes with orange shoelaces. These shoes never leave the greenhouse property. The city tour group was given disposable white coats and surgical booties to be worn during the tour.

The facility has its own weather station and two huge natural gas boilers keep the temperature and humidity at the correct levels, day and night. According to Len Krahn, natural light is the only element that they cannot control.

The facility picks about 3,600 cases of tomatoes a day which are shipped to markets from California to Maine. Their produce can be found at Costco, Walmart, Save Mart, Albertson's and other markets. “The industry is watching us,” said Krahn of their new project.

This is the first of a series of articles on various aspects of this fascinating new agribusiness in Tehachapi. Watch for more articles on the SunSelect story in future issues of The Loop newspaper.