2024 Grower Outlook: Paul Sellew of Little Leaf Farms
March 5, 2024 
Paul Sellew, Founder and CEO, Little Leaf Farms
In this 2024 Grower Outlook series, we’re talking to greenhouse produce operations about their biggest challenges, achievements and plans for 2024. Our first interview is with Paul Sellew, Founder and CEO of Little Leaf Farms, a hydroponic greenhouse operation growing baby leaf greens.
CEAg World: What were Little Leaf Farms’ largest achievements in 2023?
Paul Sellew: We’re, by far, the largest producer of baby leaf hydroponic greens in North America and we’re continuing to expand. We almost doubled the business in 2023. And the market is loving our product, and we’re continuing to build out more greenhouses. So, right now, the Nielsen data says CEA leafy greens are about 4% of the market, and when I got started nine years ago, it was virtually zero.
CEAg World: How will you build on these successes in 2024?
Paul Sellew: We’re bringing on another half a million square feet of greenhouses this year on top of the 1.4 million that we already have in production. And we’re going to continue to build every year.
CEAg World: What are your biggest challenges this year?
Paul Sellew: The challenge is always the challenge that all greenhouse businesses have: It’s day-to-day execution. We’re dealing with a live crop that’s really sensitive to any sort of change in environmental conditions. And having a team in place that can deal with that is always the biggest challenge, and always will remain the biggest challenge.
CEAg World: Could you talk about any technologies or growing techniques that you plan to implement this year?
Paul Sellew: We’re the leader in the space. Our greenhouses … are the highest-yielding, highest-performing greenhouses in the world. So, we’re always incorporating the latest technologies, but we end up integrating these technologies into the overall system. That’s what we do. We’re not a company that has a separate department [for] innovation around new technologies. We work with the leading vendors in the world, and we integrate that together into our greenhouses. And that’s what we’ve done in the past. And that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
CEAg World: Are there any new technologies that are coming online this year or improvements you’ll be making?
Paul Sellew: I mean, the list would be too long …. Each new build is incorporating all the lessons learned from previous builds, and thereby with a focus on continuous process improvement.
CEAg World: Could you say what you’re personally most excited for this year?
Paul Sellew: The market is continuing to accept high quality, CEA-grown lettuce, and it’s great to see. I think ultimately, the quality of the product is going to drive continued CEA expansion. We’re in the food business. People have to love to eat. It’s the taste, it’s the eating experience, it’s everything. That’s what it’s all about. The notion that we are a tech company — or others have said that — to me, is not the way to look at this business. If you’re a business that is a grower or packer and marketer of a branded food product, technology enables us to do that. But we are not a tech company. We’re food companies.