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By 2050, 9 billion people will live on Earth with only a limited supply of farmland. How will farming meet the need of that many appetites? Mikrogreen is all about looking forward into the future and addressing the needs 50 years down the road. We want our grandchildren to be able to enjoy nature and live in a world where responsible farming practices are the norm.
We believe in a sustainable future where humans coexist with nature and where food grows up, not sideways.
What do we mean by that? Traditional farming takes up lots of land: the USA alone has over 900 million acres of farmland, which is 40% of our total land area (source: USDA Census of Agriculture). In traditional farming, crops are grown “sideways” and only one layer of crops is possible. With our method of vertical farming, many layers of crops can be stacked on top of one another like shelves. Imagine what we could do if we started using vertical farming methods in skyscrapers! We hope to see that someday in the future.
We believe in conserving our land and natural resources. We cannot afford to waste land, waste water, or waste food. We need to think of better ways to farm and support humankind as our population continues to grow. Vertical growing is a great way to move toward a more sustainable future!
So how do we carry out this mission at Mikrogreens?
What we do:
At Mikrogreen we use vertical growing methods, which allow us to increase agriculture square footage without destroying natural habitats.
We produce nutrient dense food that is tasty and visually appealing, grown with the highest food safety standards.
How we do it:
We grow our crops vertically, saving space and growing more food in a smaller area.
We save resources with technology such as energy-saving LED lights and a hydroponics system that uses 95% less water than traditional farming.
Instead of disrupting nature by tilling new land to create our farm, we repurposed an existing building and converted it into a CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) facility.
Our controlled environment greatly reduces environmental risks like pests and weather damage. In turn, this increases the profitability of our farm and reduces the risk for our investors.
Our controlled environment also eliminates food waste by ensuring the most perfect, safe, uniform, and consistent produce for our customers.
About Ernesto
Ernesto Becerril / founder grower
Ernesto Becerril’s passion for growing started at a young age. Ernesto was born and raised in the Yaqui Valley of Mexico, the birthplace of the agricultural revolution. He cultivated a small garden of his own in his family’s backyard, and he was always experimenting with fertilizers and creating new irrigation systems. As a small child, he was entranced by the transformation of a tiny seed into a food crop, and early on he decided to follow in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather by becoming a farmer.
Ernesto attended high school in Missouri and then went on to university, where he studied International Business and Agribusiness while helping out on his father’s pork farm. While working on the pork farm, Ernesto satisfied his need to work with plants by planting shrubs and flowers to beautify the landscaping at the farm.
In 2002, Ernesto followed his dream of diversifying the family farm by building several acres of technified greenhouses and organic certified shade net, where he managed his own sector of the family business growing hothouse tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers.
In 2008, Ernesto, his wife Claudia, and their growing family moved to Arizona, where he managed the largest desert tree farm in the USA, helped develop the agronomic management for novel crops (Acacia Victoriae and Guayale), and learned more about his passion for better ways of cultivating plants. As much as he enjoyed these ventures, Ernesto still wanted to start his own farm.
In 2015 he founded miKrogreen™, the first commercial vertical farm in Arizona. It’s the job he dreamed of during his childhood in Yaqui Valley. Ernesto enjoys tweaking and controlling his CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) technology in order to produce the best flavor, color, and nutrient density possible! Ernesto brings the height of technology to his urban farm. miKrogreens are entirely pesticide-free, non-GMO, and completely sustainable. With HEPA filtered air, purified water, and perfect light from energy-efficient LEDs, miKrogreens are grown in a literal plant-heaven environment. Due to the CEA environment, miKrogreens require 95% less water than traditional crops and are available all year round. These greens are flavorful, healthy, and great for the environment. Although small in size, microgreens provide surprisingly intense flavors, vivid color, and wonderful texture.
Food Safety
We are certified for Good Agricultural Practices GAPs & Good Handling Practices GHP
Good Agriculture Practices
All our microgreens are: * Pink-house grown, * Free of organic & conventional pesticides, * Free of dust, pollution, animal manure, soil, * They are all non-GMO. We are committed to food safety. We eat the food that we produce, and we want it to be safe and healthy for our families and yours! We understand the growing food safety concerns in the produce industry, and we’ve developed extensive protocols to reduce or eliminate those risks. Our top priority is to deliver safe, wholesome, and delicious foods to our customers.
Our Facility As committed vertical growers, we grow all our produce at our CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) facility in Arizona. Our growing environment is designed for safety. Many of the health and safety risks of traditional outdoor farms are eliminated with our indoor growing method—our produce never comes in contact with insects, wild animals, or potentially polluted air and water sources.
Since our microgreens are grown indoors, with HEPA-filtered air and purified water, the growing environment is clean and free of chemicals, pathogens, and pollution. We never use any type of pesticides, so our microgreens are never exposed to potentially hazardous chemicals.
We’re careful to stay at the forefront of the industry when it comes to Good Agricultural Practices, also known as GAPs & Good Handling PracticesGHPs We’ve designed a tailor-made Food Safety Plan based on the latest scientific research, government regulations, and expert advice.
As part of our Food Safety Plan, we train our employees to high standards and we have our end products tested for pathogens on a regular basis. Since clean water is an essential part of growing microgreens, we also filter and treat our water, and test it constantly to ensure that it is pure.
At miKrogreens LLC, we take every measure to reduce the risk of contamination as our fresh microgreens move through production and distribution systems. Every employee who comes into contact with our food is trained in food safety, hygiene, and sanitation. We do everything we can to ensure that our facility and our products are free from harmful microorganisms by taking preventative measures at all phases of production. Every level, from growing to harvesting to packing and shipping, is monitored for cleanliness and tested periodically to ensure we’re always meeting our standards.
Testing All testing is done by an independent, third party labs, located near our facility in Arizona. Part of our Food Safety Plan, and confirm that our facility, equipment, and final products meet their high standards of cleanliness. Produce that doesn’t meet these quality standards will never be sold to the public.
Food Safety at Home We’ve done everything we can to ensure the safety of our microgreens. However, even with our rigorous food safety protocols, there’s still a risk of contamination after the product leaves our facility. Having good food safety practices in YOUR kitchen will reduce the risk of food-borne illness and keep your family healthy! Any time you will be consuming something raw, such as salad greens and microgreens, it’s important to be extra-careful in how you handle your fresh food.
Consumer Handling Tips
Buy fresh-looking, undamaged produce.
Ensure that the microgreens have been refrigerated at your grocery store before you buy them.
Refrigerate your greens as soon as you get home.
Prevent freezing, frozen miKrogreens will be ruin, possible freezing reasons the refrigerator's temperature too low to storing the produce in the wrong location.
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap before handling.
Wash all utensils and cooking surfaces thoroughly before food preparation.
Before using, rinse your greens under cool running tap water.
Keep your fresh greens in a separate part of the refrigerator from raw meat, poultry, or seafood.
Throw away any produce if it no longer looks fresh, or if it’s been unrefrigerated for longer than 2 hours.
Ernesto in the pink-house were our microgreens grow.
Claudia Becerril in the pink-house were our microgreens grow.