SHELTER BAY - On an old abandoned dump site in Grand Island Township, two Shelter Bay men plan to build a massive $4 million tomato growing enterprise, bringing jobs, fresh produce and new investment to Alger County.
John Hust and John Shauver are the creative originators behind the Shelter Bay Tomato Company, an endeavor that would see construction of a 72,450-square-foot greenhouse on a 50-acre wooded parcel east of Christmas along M-28.
"A greenhouse can efficiently grow probably 10 times what a farmer can grow in the same space, even a hundred times," Hust said. "We should have the ability to produce 25 pounds of tomatoes per square foot."
Under the protection of glass in a greenhouse heated by a wood chip-burning furnace, the growing tomatoes would be free from weather damage or exposure to pests.
"We're calling it 'Upper Peninsula alchemy,'" Hust said. "We want to take wood chips and turn them into heirloom tomatoes."
Hust said the growers are focused on tomatoes because they are prolific greenhouse vegetables, with substantial nutritional value and seemingly boundless popularity.
"We'll concentrate on three or four varieties," Hust said. "They'll all be designed to maximize flavor and nutrition. Yield is also going to be important to us."
Big beefsteak and big rainbow are two of the tomato types the growers will be cultivating. There will be about 15,000 plants growing in soil in boxes in the greenhouse.
The tomatoes will be started from plants about 15 inches tall. The vines from the plants will grow around the bottom of the enclosure before moving upward inside the greenhouse.
"There are cables and things that will hold them up," Hust said.
Short-term companion crops will also be grown in the greenhouse, including spinach, lettuce, basil and turnips. The growers plan to have a small outlet store on the location. Pick dates will be marked with the vegetables.
City of Munising officials are drafting a contract to sell the property for the greenhouse to Hust and Shauver.
Hust said testing has been done at the site and the location is free from contaminants. Construction would cost $2.1 million.
The project at the brownfield site will give the city a way to reclaim the former dump site and firing range, while giving the growers a location for their operation that Michigan Department of Transportation officials say is passed by up to 9,300 cars daily.
Hust said the site also has good available water and soils. The location was selected after several others were investigated and rejected. The greenhouse would provide roughly 20 jobs for local workers.
Currently, the entrepreneurs cannot solicit investors for the greenhouse as part of a process required by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Hust said the growers plan to take advantage of low materials costs in the current sagging economy, hoping the economic situation will be improved when the greenhouse is operating.
"We figure this is the worst time in the economic climate to start an enterprise, but things are also way down in cost," Hust said.
The growers have been cultivating their idea over the past year-and-a-half.
Despite the incredible potential yields from the greenhouse, Hust said he and Shauver do not plan to compete with local growers.
"We will be tearing our tomato plants down when the homeowner and organic farmer in the area will be selling their crops," Hust said.
Hust, a commodities broker with previous Wisconsin farming experience, said one of the reasons he and Shauver, the current Onota Township supervisor and zoning administrator, wanted to grow tomatoes is to provide locals an alternative to a marketplace traditionally known to be at the end of the line when it comes to fresh produce.
"These things gush with flavor," Hust said. "Everyone remembers what a great-tasting tomato was in July and August; now they can have them year-round."
For more information, e-mail the Shelter Bay Tomato Company at tomatoes@tds.net
