JOHNNYS SELECTED SEEDS — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase II: 8.12

Description

Field 7. Project Summary (PS)/AbstractTitle: An efficient greens spinner for improving food safety and increasing profitability forsmall to mid-size farmsPD: Waugh BradfordInstitution: Johnny's Selected SeedsProblem or Opportunity. Leafy greens (greens) are a high value easy to grow crop for small andmid-size farms (small farms) but they require labor-intensive postharvest processing to wash dryand package. To dry their greens farmers utilize a greens spinner to spin dry excess waterextending the shelf-life of the product. Small farms selling greens need an affordable and efficientgreens spinner option to reduce their postharvest handling costs as current products on the marketare either too small—creating bottlenecks and high labor costs or too large—leading to purchasingbarriers and cost inefficiencies. Johnny's Selected Seeds (Johnny's) proposes to develop a cost- effective labor-saving and hygienic electric greens spinner for small farms that will vastlyimprove handling capacity for greens.Project Objectives. The goal of this Phase II effort is to commercialize a mid-capacity electricgreens spinner through three main objectives: 1) create a beta I prototype for testing and on-farmtrials 2) complete a life cycle analysis and 3) create a beta II prototype for regulatory certificationin preparation for commercialization.Description of Phase II Effort. Johnny's will build on the alpha prototype variations fabricatedduring Phase I to create a beta I. The team will perform reliability and durability testing on beta Iand field testing at several U.S. farms. Johnny's will implement a component and productpackaging design evaluation warehousing and distribution analysis and customer survey tocomplete a life cycle analysis for its greens spinner. Utilizing the beta I testing results and LCAthe team will fabricate the beta II. Beta II will undergo certification testing meet all warrantyrequirements and include cost-effective assembly and packaging considerations.Anticipated Results and Potential Commercial Applications. This project will result in a mid- capacity electric greens spinner ready for sale into the marketplace. This new product will helplower small farmers' production costs by increasing their post-harvest handling efficiencyenabling them to realize increased profit margins on their greens sales and thereby price theirproducts more competitively. In addition small farms could use Johnny's greens spinner to expandtheir operations to satisfy demand for local food.Johnny's has a more than 40-year history of developing new seeds and tools to benefit small farmsthat will help ensure the success of this project. There are more than 30000 farms selling greensin the U.S. and Canada that will be the target market for the greens spinner. Johnny's hasdetermined that more than 8000 of its existing customers will be in the market for a greens spinnerin the next five years. This project will help Johnny's maintain its position as a leading innovatorfor small farms and will enable farms selling greens to reduce costs and achieve greater profits.