CO-OP PEOPLE
Orchid empire
Green Circle Growers has blossomed into one of the nation’s most innovative greenhouses. BY DAMAINE VONADA
W
ith jade leaves held upright by translucent vases and tall flower spikes laden with buds, Phalaenopsis orchids ride on a conveyor belt inside the orchid range at Green Circle Growers. A computerized camera has just photographed the orchids, and soon a series of automated arms will embrace each one and methodically funnel it into a row of similar plants. “The camera takes 10 digital pictures of every orchid to determine how developed it is,” says Jose Martinez, marketing manager at GCG. “The plants are then grouped
12 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • APRIL 2020
according to their size and number of spikes and blooms. If a plant is too small, it goes back to a growing area.” A member of Lorain-Medina Rural Electric Cooperative, Green Circle Growers ranks among the nation’s largest and most innovative greenhouses, operating 100 acres of indoor growing space and 35 acres of outdoor growing space in the countryside west of Oberlin. It also employs more than 800 people and is Lorain-Medina’s largest consumer of electricity. John van Wingerden founded Green Circle Growers as a vegetable farm in 1968. While the company remains
