Championing CEA and Community: A Conversation with Dr. Scott Lowman

Written by Indoor Ag-Con on July 20, 2024. Posted in Blog.

Looking ahead to the October 1-2, 2024 CEA Summit East in Virginia, we had the chance to catch-up with Dr. Scott Lowman. Many of you may know Dr. Lowman as VP of Applied Research at the IALR and Co-Director of the VT-IALR Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center, co-host of the CEA Summit East with Indoor Ag-Con. But what you might not know is that Dr. Lowman is also the co-founder of Lynchburg Grows, a seven-acre urban farm dedicated to providing access to fresh, local produce for Lynchburg residents, restaurants, and organizations, while also providing purposeful jobs for individuals with disabilities.

The site that is now Lynchburg Grows has quite a storied past. The property was originally owned by the Doyle family, who operated a nursery growing all types of flowers from 1920 until the 1950s, when they transitioned the business into an East Coast distribution network that would become Wholesale Florist. The Schenkel family purchased the property in the early 1950s to grow long-stem roses exclusively until closing in the 1990s. During this time, the farm became one of the largest rose producers in Virginia – representing 23% of the state’s flower industry and harvesting up to 10,000 long stem roses a day in 70,000 square feet of greenhouses. Roses from the Schenkel Farm crowned Kentucky Derby winners and even decorated the White House. There is an endowment at Cornell named for the Schenkel family.

Lynchburg Grows History — The Doyle family owned the property from 1920 until 1950 when they sold it to the Schenkels. Growing only long-stem roses, the Schenkel Farm would become of the largest rose producers in Virginia. Roses from the Schenkel Farm decorated the White House and crowned Kentucky Derby winners.

In 2003, a man named Paul Lam, himself disabled, witnessed the destruction of a garden he had lovingly cared for, all due to a communication error. Volunteers rallied to his aid when his story was published in the newspaper. Inspired by the experience, some of the people who helped Paul decided to form an organization to help more people with disabilities to grow food. They purchased the old Schenkel Farm, with its nine abandoned greenhouses, and begin work on what would become Lynchburg Grows.

In addition to providing meaningful employment to individuals with disabilities, key aspects of the work Lynchburg Grows does today includes operation of the Veggie Box Community Service Agriculture (CSA); the Fresh Rx Program that allows doctors to prescribe fresh produce to patients with diet-related illnesses; countless food donations; a host of educational programs and much more.

Can you share the journey that led to the founding of Lynchburg Grows and how your personal experiences influenced its mission?

Growing up with a cousin who was my age but was born with cerebral palsy, it was hard for me to understand why he couldn’t do the same things I was doing as a kid. When the opportunity arose to help create a program focused on providing people with disabilities the chance to share their talents and skills through agriculture, I jumped in with both feet.

Lynchburg Grows Founders — (L-R): Surviving roses from the original farm that were replanted in greenhouse 3; Lynchburg Grows co-founders Michael Van Ness (far left) and Scott Lowman (far right) with their first group of employees; Lynchburg Grows first planting in greenhouse 1.

What challenges did you face when transforming the old Schenkel Farm into the thriving urban farm it is today, and how did the community contribute to overcoming these challenges?

The Schenkel Greenhouse Complex had been producing long-stem roses for nearly 50 years but closed in the mid-1990s due to the collapse of the rose industry in the U.S. Our team faced a couple of major challenges.

First, when the greenhouse closed, all the roses were allowed to die in place. Starting with nearly two acres of dead rose bushes was a significant challenge. The community came to the rescue and helped clear practically all the roses with thousands of volunteer labor hours. Groups of college students came by the hundreds from Lynchburg College and Randolph-Macon College, and the roses were cleared within a month or two.

(L-R): Lynchburg College freshman who cleared the first greenhouse of dead roses in one morning; More Lynchburg College students clearing trellising and irrigation; the restored packing shed where CSAs are processed and stored. — (L-R): Lynchburg College freshman who cleared the first greenhouse of dead roses in one morning; more Lynchburg College students clearing trellising and irrigation; the restored packing shed where CSAs are processed and stored.

The second challenge was addressing the environmental impacts of a nearly 100-year-old horticultural brownfield site. The city of Lynchburg came to the rescue, and we went through the proper site assessments from regulatory agencies. The clean-up took place over time, and the project itself became a model of how brownfields could be turned into greenspaces in the state of Virginia.

To transform the property into a functioning farm, the community came together to raise funds. Combined with a USDA grant, we were able to restore much of the packing shed, which became the community center and CSA pickup spot for members

Lynchburg Grows emphasizes providing purposeful jobs for individuals with disabilities. Can you talk about some of the initiatives or programs you have in place to support this mission and any success stories that stand out?

From the beginning, we had several people with special needs involved in the transformation of the project. Practically all of them are still there 20 years later, and they provide inspiration to everyone who comes through the farm.

To date, hundreds of people with special needs have participated in our programs. Together with staff, the farm feeds nearly 300 families per week through our community supported agriculture program.

(L-R) Summer camps with local school groups; high school special needs students visiting the farm; the learning classroom in greenhouse 7

As Co-Director of the CEA Innovation Center/Vice President of Applied Research at the IALR and co-founder of Lynchburg Grows, you have a unique perspective on both urban farming and advanced controlled environment agriculture. How do these experiences complement each other, and what synergies do you see between them?

What I learned quickly was that starting a non-profit urban farm is very similar to most farming operations: margins are slim, and developing a market is key to survival. We soon realized that you can only grow certain vegetables in 100-year-old greenhouses during the summer, so we turned to surrounding farmers to help fill our CSA needs. We put nearly $70,000 in farmers’ pockets in the first year.

I then learned that farmers will grow almost anything if there is a market for it. Through this, I developed an interest in food systems that I still work on today. In fact, IALR just launched a Value Chain Coordinator program to help create a market for vegetables in our region

View of 8 of the 9 greenhouses at Lynchburg Grows today. Other than the last 2 on the right, all are more than 100-year-old Cyprus wood and glass structures manufactured by Lord and Burnham of Ohio.

With the CEA Summit East approaching, what key insights or innovations are you most excited to share with attendees, especially those related to urban farming and community engagement?

During the CEA Summit, I’m looking forward to welcoming CEA members from throughout the region to join us for two days of education and networking. Working with our partners at Indoor Ag-Con, we’re featuring a versatile group of tabletop exhibitors to showcase the latest industry innovations. We’re also offering an incredible line-up of keynote sessions, panels, and research showcase sessions. This Summit does a tremendous job of bringing the CEA business and academic sectors together to explore collaborative business growth and innovation opportunities.

In addition to all the exciting research and company support happening at our CEA center, I’m super excited to share our plans for expansion aimed at facilitating the success of current and future CEA entities in Virginia. The plan includes expanded development of a workforce pipeline for CEA companies, encompassing K-12, high school, community college, and university-level students.

We will also be expanding entrepreneurship opportunities and company support through the expansion of our facilities.

Finally, I’m excited to continue working with Virginia Secretary of Agriculture Matthew Lohr to promote Virginia as the best state in the U.S. for CEA companies to locate.

To learn more about Lynchburg Grows, visit www.lynchburggrows.org

Learn more about the upcoming CEA Summit East, including tabletop exhibitors, the full conference schedule, networking opportunities and more — www.ceasummit.com

community service agriculture, Fresh Produce, greenhouse, non-profit, urban farming