Growers invest $80m in Cummings Valley

The SunSelect hydroponic greenhouse complex in Cummings Valley, which did not exist four years ago, is a high-tech wonder.

"It's a world-class facility and one of the most modern greenhouses in the world," SunSelect CEO Reinhold Krahn told the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council on Wed., Dec. 7, at the Tehachapi Police Department Community Room. "There are only two other in the world. This is the 3.0 version."

The family-owned, British Columbia-based company has an $80 million investment in Cummings Valley, Krahn said.

The 64 acres "under glass" produce tomatoes and sweet peppers that are sold all over North America and exported to Japan. The company owns 235 acres of Cummings Valley land and plans to expand to hydroponic production of strawberries.

"Hydroponics is the most efficient way of farming." Krahn said.

SunSelect uses five percent of the agriculture water in Cummings Valley basin, he said, and accounts for 63 percent of the valley's agricultural output. For every acre foot of water, hydroponic greenhouses are able to generate 37 times more value and 20 times more gross output than field-grown crops, Krahn said.

"It's [greenhouse technology] a million-dollar an acre investment," Krahn said.

SunSelect leads the way in carbon capture, Krahn said.

"We're part of the solution with Co2," he said. The company uses proprietary technology to capture carbon dioxide, and they are working with the Caterpillar company in Illinois to develop new methods.

"Plants need CO2," he said. "We bring it in, the plants absorb it."

Krahn, searching for a site in the United States that was closer to the company's markets, found Tehachapi in 2013.

"We searched for three years. This is the best place," he said. The light is intense, the nights cold for optimal growing conditions, there is a good water supply and Kern County is business-friendly, he said.

Krahn's sister Edith Gubiotti, who is vice president of human resources and administration, hires the workers directly, not through labor contractors. The welcome mat is out for local employees.

"All of our labor is skilled," Krahn said. "They have to be able to read the plants. We train employees in horticulture."