CAMARILLO, CA – Houweling’s Tomatoes' CEO Casey Houweling was honored by the Ventura County Resource Conservation District (VCRCD) with the “Excellence in Agricultural Stewardship and Sustainability Award.” Casey's daughter, Monica Houweling, attended the 5th Annual VCRCD awards luncheon in Ventura, CA to accept the award on behalf of the company.
“It is an honor to be recognized amongst such a prestigious group of farmers and peers in Ventura County who are committed to investing in our planet and using their resources as efficiently as possible,” Casey shared. “I believe that working together in the agriculture community, we can continue to innovate and create solutions that are economically feasible but that support our ability to farm with fewer resources.”
One of Houweling’s most exciting innovations has been a 13.2 Megawatt cogeneration installation for its 125 acre farm in Camarillo, CA. This installation, the first of its kind in the United States, according to a press release, generates power on-site, supplies excess electricity to the grid, while capturing traditionally wasted heat and CO2. Instead, these resources are used to grow tomatoes within the greenhouse. The end result is carbon neutral energy and reduced fossil fuel use.
Houweling's also utilizes key greenhouse growing techniques to reduce its water consumption. With these methods, the grower uses approximately 1/6th of the water on less than 3% of the land necessary to farm a comparable yield with open field grown tomatoes, protecting the soil and watertable while conserving land usage.
In addition to the Excellence in Agricultural Stewardship and Sustainability Award, Houweling's has also been honored with the the 2014 Cool Planet Award (Agricultural Sector) and California Energy Solutions Center (ESC) Partnership Award for Innovative Energy Solutions during the ESC Technology and Market Assessment Forum.
Houweling's is looking forward to beginning harvest operations on its new 28 acre farm in Mona, UT. This farm will be completely heated by waste energy captured from the stack of an adjacent power plant.
Past winners of the Excellence in Agricultural Stewardship and Sustainability Award include:
- Harold Edwards, Limoneira Company, 2010
- Richard Atmore, R.A. Atmore & Sons, Inc., 2011
- Craig Underwood, Underwood Family Farms, 2012
- Phil McGrath, McGrath Family Farms, 2013
Congratulations on this latest honor, Houweling's Tomatoes!
