PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE
GBJ 9 Broad Street, #7 Glens Falls, NY 12801
VOL. 36 NO. 10
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GLENS FALLS, NY 12801 PERMIT #600
HH The Business Newspaper of Warren and Washington Counties HH
www.glensfallsbusinessjournal.com
DECEMBER 2024
A Local Railway Offers Holiday Cheer And Queensbury Leads Clean Energy Charge With A Adirondack History On Its Scenic Rides 6-Megawatt Solar Project On Former Brownfield
Hal Raven stands with Santa, Mrs. Claus, and an elf as they prepare to head down the tracks on the Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson Railway’s Candy Cane Express.
A surface-mounted solar project is currently under construction on a brownfield site at the former Ciba-Geigy property in South Queensbury.
Courtesy of Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson Railway
BY PAUL POST Hal Raven could drive the train, but he’d rather be the conductor punching tickets like Tom Hanks on the Polar Express. “That’s my thing, talking with people, interacting, getting kids excited,” he said. His company, the Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson Railway, gives people Christmas-themed memories to last a lifetime on the Candy Cane Express, a fun festive ride that runs through Dec. 22 highlighted by visits from Santa, music, lights and hot cocoa refreshments.
Raven, a Queensbury resident, gave up a 28-year railroading career to fulfill his dream of owning a scenic line. It operates year-round between South Greenfield and Hadley on 17 miles of track owned by the Town of Corinth. “We do all the maintenance and repairs,” he said. “When we first took over, weeds were chest high and overgrown. We had to fix all the crossings.” Two previous operators had run tourist trains from Saratoga Springs to North Creek, but couldn’t Continued On Page 14
Foothills Farm Is Scaling The Production Of Hydroponic Greens For New Markets
Max Poritzky inspects hydroponic greens, grown using innovative technology in a sustainable environment. The farm provides fresh, locally grown produce to local restaurants and institutions BY SUSAN ELISE CAMPBELL Looking back on their first full year of production, entrepreneurs Max and Nikki Poritzky have counted one ton of produce grown and distributed to restaurants and schools from their hydroponic farming facility, Foothills Farm, in Greenfield Center. The farm is a 40-by-eight-foot container
Courtesy Foothills Farm
housing an efficient, vertical growing system that produces high quality lettuces and herbs using a fraction of the space of traditional farming. The couple have backgrounds and careers in the field of nutrition and come from health conscious families, they said. She studied nutritional biochemistry at
Courtesy of the Town of Queensbury
BY PAUL POST An industrial brownfield site, vacant for 35 years, is being repurposed as a productive 6-megawatt community solar project. The 44-acre former Ciba-Geigy property in South Queensbury borders the Hudson River, nestled between Perkins Recycling and the recently shuttered Glens Falls Cement Company plant. “With its unobstructed southern exposure, a surface-mounted solar project is the best and only practical use for the site,” Queensbury Supervisor John Strough said. “It’s the least intrusive and will
add value to the property.” The site housed several industrial plants beginning in 1901, starting with wallpaper manufacturing and later producing inorganic pigments. Hercules Inc. took over operations in 1960, selling the property to Ciba-Geigy 19 years later. CibaGeigy ceased operations in 1989 and demolished the buildings soon after. A more-than-decade-long cleanup effort removed toxic chemicals and heavy metals, concluding in 2002. While the topsoil at the site is now safe, contaminants remain in bedrock Continued On Page 10
UC Davis and was a commercial executive marketing dietary supplements, an industry in which Max also had an executive career spanning 25 years. He said his mother founded Wild Oats, the first health food store in Saratoga Springs. “‘Let food be thy medicine’ might sound clichéd, but this is how our families live,” Max said. The couple met in and resided in California and later while in Boston, their careers and life took a new trajectory. About six years ago Max was visiting a technology museum in San José and was exposed to hydroponic farming at a kiosk display. “Hydroponic farming lets you grow nutrition-rich food year-round in any environment,” he said. “We were interested in the concept but didn’t know how or if to get into the business.” One company building these kinds of units was located in Boston and Max began to research the technology, he said. Then two years ago the couple purchased property in Greenfield and returned to the area where he grew up to start a farm business and raise two children. “Saratoga County has 100,000 acres of farmland and nobody was doing hydroponic farming, horizontally or vertically,” he said. The container offers 3,000 linear feet of growing space, according to Nikki. There’s no soil to till and no pesticides needed in a contained environment. Heat, cooling, and hydration are controlled with software. A large portion of the power comes from solar installations and weekly CO2 gas deliveries supplement what the plants take from the air, Max said.
“It is a wonderful environment for a human to be in,” said Nikki. “The technology is so efficient that we are at 70 percent capacity using only five gallons of water a day,” Nikki said. “Our well water has high quality mineral content and we add solubilized nutrients depending on what we are growing.” Max said the system reclaiming some moisture from the air, condensing it, and returning it to the tank helps keeps water usage low. The Poritzkys said while local greenhouses supply baby greens, Foothills Farm grows crops to maturity. The owners have built an ardent customer base and local restaurants such as Hamlet & Ghost in Saratoga, Next Door Kitchen and Bar in Ballston Spa, and [farmacy] restobar in Glens Falls take weekly deliveries. There are also regular deliveries to institutions such as Skidmore and customers may order additional produce for special occasions. The farm is willing to plant what is needed in time for the event, Nikki said. The average growing time is six to seven weeks from seed to harvest. In wintertime, lettuce is only grown in the warmer climates of California or Mexico, plucked early to survive crating and travel, and to ripen at the store. Nikki said by the time it reaches the northeast, much of the nutrition and f lavor have dissipated. “Chefs receive a full grown, living plant within hours from our farm,” she said. “So hydroponics is not only about achieving quality nutrition, but preserving it.” Flavor is an indicator of nutrition, and Continued On Page 10