PHILPOT, Ky. – Fischer’s Family Farm is a one-stop salad shop; they grow everything you need for a salad but the dressing. But it wasn’t always that way. The family transitioned out of tobacco in 2019 when they started experimenting with hydroponics and microgreens.

“My whole life, I’ve been trying to get my dad out of tobacco. I kept telling him I didn’t want to do it anymore,” Laura Fischer told the Owensboro Times. “When I was around 30, my dad became tired of the tobacco companies as they were trying to push small farms out, so he told me that I win and to find a replacement.”

The farm family consists of Kenny and Becki Fischer, who own the farm, their daughter, Laura, and son, Geoffrey (who also has an off-farm job), Becki’s, brother, Oren Minton, and Laura’s kids, Hunter and Taylor.

“It’s a small farm, and everybody has to work,” Laura Fischer told Farm World. 

While looking at alternatives to tobacco, they discovered hydroponics, that is, growing in water instead of soil, and microgreens, she explained. Now they have two hoop houses where they raise celery, joi choi, and four varieties of lettuces hydroponically with a recirculating water system.

The system starts with a 300-gallon tank with fertilized water in it, Fischer said. It pumps the water up to the troughs that hold the plants, and the water moves slowly through the roots in a low gradient gutter system that eventually takes the water back to the tank. The family also grows cherry tomatoes in a crossover system; it’s not soilless but is very similar.

“In our research, we found out about microgreens and we decided to give it a go because it was something we could do in my mom’s old cake shop,” Fischer said. “We use LED grow lights; microgreens must be grown in a controlled environment. We control every aspect of the growing process. It takes about two weeks for most of them to grow. It’s very labor intensive – we have to watch them all the time.”

The microgreens are grown in trays in a growing medium. The family controls all the nutrients and fertilizers that go into them and keeps careful records. They started with 11 varieties but have pared that down to the most popular: broccoli, peas, mustard and sunflower. Plus, they have a spicy mix and a traditional mix. Consumers can use them anywhere they would typically use lettuce.

“They were new to this area,” Fischer said. “They are popular in bigger cities where people have better access. When we brought it to Owensboro, very few people knew what they were. We had to teach them what they were and how to eat them. Now we have people who want them. It’s such a different flavor. You can use them anywhere you use lettuce.”

They market their produce at the Owensboro Regional Farmers Market and at the farm by appointment.

The Fischer’s also raise corn and soybeans, have cattle and horses. They offer guided trail rides. The blackberries and sweet corn they grow is for their own use, but they do market any excess.

For more information, visit Fischer’s Family Farm on Facebook.