Currently, about 98% of the nation’s lettuce is trucked from California and Arizona, contributing to spoiled produce, food waste and rising transportation emissions. California continuously faces major droughts, and soil erosion is a problem plaguing farmers nationwide. As a result, traditional farming is increasingly unsustainable. This system is energy and water-intensive and results in growing lettuce in a dry, desert environment using unsustainable groundwater to irrigate and cross-country shipping by truck.
