We recently had the chance to talk to Izaiah Bokunewicz, a Student Farm alum who was instrumental in starting our hydroponic greenhouse, about what he’s been doing since graduation. He shared a bit about his position with Revol Greens below:
At Penn State, I joined the Student Farm Club as a freshman and volunteered on the outdoor farm and in the Tyson research greenhouse room where the club trialed some small hydroponics systems. My sophomore year I became Production Director of the club and oversaw the expansion of our indoor hydroponic greenhouse to its current location next to the Ag Admin parking lot. I continued my role as Production Director junior and senior year as well as interning on the farm during those spring and fall semesters.
In May 2020, I graduated with my B.S. in Plant Science and accepted a job with Revol Greens hydroponic greenhouse in Owatonna, Minnesota. Revol Greens uses raft-system hydroponics to grow over a dozen different leafy-greens across ten acres. Products are grown, harvested, packaged, and sold under the marketing labels of “Clean & Green”, “Sustainably Grown”, “Greenhouse Protected”, “Non-GMO”, & “No Pesticides, Herbicides”. I am an assistant grow manager. In this role I help manage the greenhouse’s temperature, humidity, lighting, and irrigation. I’m also trialing new seeds, fertilizers, medias, and constantly monitoring product quality and yields data.
Revol Greens was a major step-up from the Student Farm Club’s hydroponic greenhouse room along Curtain Road. I have really enjoyed my job so far and have just learned so much more about how to successfully manage a large-scale hydroponic greenhouse.
Additionally, working in Minnesota has provided an even more unique experience related to greenhouse management because of the outside climate. In the summertime, I’ve worked with near 100-degree days, with high light levels. Six months later we can have below-zero temperatures with multiple feet of snow outside and low light. It’s challenging to provide the optimum lighting and temperature that those plants want to have, in either of those scenarios.
It’s very cool though. Revol Greens is expanding to Texas and California in 2022. I have been working with the teams from Texas and California, helping them in all ways I can for their expansions. My experience with the Student Farm Club was instrumental toward helping me prepare for what I would be working with after graduation. I didn’t know this a few years ago before I learned about Revol Greens, but it’s really cool looking back on it now.