“Ken and Susie are great people to work with. ![]() Monica Purviance, NRCS District Conservationist in Greenville, has been with the NRCS for 32 years and has worked closely with Ken and Susie for the past three years. With their NRCS partnership in place to help fund projects like their first two seasonal high-tunnels, Denise Farms became operational in February 2020, after two years of intense planning, investing, and constructing, thanks to their unwavering dedication. ![]() They also attended agricultural conferences and trainings and connected with Texas agriculture specialists, including the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), as well as fellow suppliers both within the region and nationwide. Their Dallas-based farming journey began with educational tours of farms across the United States to see what others were doing. They set out to overcome these obstacles.Īnd so, with a background that includes garlic farming and farming techniques found to work well in China, Ken and Susie set out to make their Asian vegetable farm-to-table dream come true. “We grow a lot of leafy vegetables like lettuce, spinach, and vegetables that are popular with the Asian community, as well as other things like tomatoes and chili peppers,” says Karen, of the family’s response to fill a need not only for the Asian community, but the Dallas area as a whole.ĭetermined to offer crisp, homegrown produce, the ambitious couple first had to deal with the reality of farming in a less than ideal climate with inadequate soil conditions. The unpleasant deterioration is a common occurrence, especially for Asian leafy greens, which tend to have a shorter shelf-life span, losing both nutrients and flavor. The high temperatures in the summer didn’t help either. They also noted the lack of available Asian produce. They’d discovered the vegetables sold in the local Dallas supermarkets were not fresh after several days of transportation and storage. Ken and Susie moved their family of four from Los Angeles to Dallas in 2012, purchasing Denise Farms in 2018 with the goal of creating a “vegetable factory” of sorts, capable of producing garden-fresh organic vegetables just like the ones they’d enjoyed in LA’s farm-to-table scene. ![]() The 12-acre farm is also home to two 1,400 square-foot seasonal high-tunnels, one of which is geared toward Asian-specific crops, as well as some outdoorĪ Family Farm Built on a Dream and Fueled by Innovation “Like humans, plants need purified water and the best water so they can be healthy, too,” Susie says, hinting at the crux of what makes the vegetables grown in their hydroponic garden stand out from the crowd. The 10,000 square-foot hydroponic garden, coupled with a reverse osmosis system, has been the driving force for the family farm, to be able to grow higher quality vegetables using far less space, while conserving water and producing higher yields. Owners Ken and Susie are on-hand making sure things are running smoothly, considering the operation’s unique moving parts, which include something pretty different for the Dallas area-a state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouse. ArcGIS storymap, story and photos compiled by Dee Ann Littlefield, NRCS Public Affairs Specialist, Henriettaĭenise Farms - Fresh & Delicious ArcGIS StoryMapĪs is the case on most days, Denise Farms is a busy place to be.
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