OCR Text |
Show Dixie Springs project under way near Hurricane; spurs growth Consruction began this week at Dixie Springs, near Hurricane, Hurri-cane, on the first of twenty $250,000 hydroponics units, by Royal Garden Farms, according accord-ing to Douglas MeConochie, president if the newly located company. Hydroponics is a process of raising vegetables without using us-ing soil. In this process vegetable vege-table plants are supplied with water that contains all the necessary mineral nutrients for proper growth, MeConochie explained. Research into hydroponics began more than a century and a' half ago. "Soiless gardening" gar-dening" was developed and used considerably by the Armed Forces, stationed in the South Pacific, during World War II. It was helpful in solving solv-ing the problem of growing vegetables where sufficient quantities of good soil and fertilizer were difficult to obtain. Royal Garden Farms began I research , into hydroponics I nearly four years ago and has perfected a most advanced I and commercially economical 1 method of production. "Our first unit will be completed within six weeks, and production produc-tion will commence immediately immedi-ately thereafter," he added. MeConochie noted that, as an example, one such unit can produce up to 200 tons of ta-matoes ta-matoes per year. Factors such as tomato acidity, color, texture tex-ture and uniformity can be easily controlled. Tomato quality and durability has been improved to give double the normal life in a crLsper than their field grown counter parts have. Royal Garden Farms will ex. pand its facilities to include 20 of these units. This expansion ex-pansion will require 150 full time employees, and will add a million dollars annually to the local economy. "We are pleased to locate here at Dixie Springs, because of the ideal climate and water supply sup-ply needed for this type industry," in-dustry," concluded MeConochie. |