A lettuce producer in northern New Hampshire is closing in on its one-year anniversary

 A lettuce producer in northern New Hampshire is closing in on its one-year anniversary in production and already looking to expand. From the outside, it looks like a fairly unassuming factory in Berlin, but growers say what’s happening on the inside could represent the future of farming in the Northeast. Butterhead lettuce is one of the seven varieties North Country Growers is churning out at its Berlin greenhouse. Roughly a million plants, at various stages, are growing in the eight-acre facility and everything begins as a seed.  “From there, those seeds go into a germination room which is 100% controlled. And then the plants come out to our pond, one which is our seedling pond.  All the water for the hydroponic system is captured from rain and snowmelt. The sun does the rest. “Generally speaking, we are about 30 days to 45 days for a head of lettuce.” “I think this is definitely the future of growing produce for this area,” said the farm’s Jack Daley. Lettuce thrives in cooler conditions and growers say greenhouses are much more expensive to cool than heat. In it’s first year, North Country Growers has shipped between 30–to–40,000 units from the facility every day to wholesalers across New England and New York.