Until last week, Happy Hydros supplied 48 restaurants, hospitals and schools across South Dakota with pesticide-free produce. Now they are out of business for the foreseeable future after a storm blew across the plains during the early morning hours of June 21.

Four of the grower’s bays and one hydroponic greenhouse were heavily damaged by strong winds, according to Teal Scholl, who co-owns Happy Hydros with her husband, Mark. The storm, with winds over 50 mph, also flattened the tomatoes, lettuce, greens and cucumbers growing at the business in Chamberlain.

Until last week, Happy Hydros supplied 48 restaurants, hospitals and schools across South Dakota with pesticide-free produce. Now they are out of business for the foreseeable future after a storm blew across the plains during the early morning hours of June 21.

Four of the grower’s bays and one hydroponic greenhouse were heavily damaged by strong winds, according to Teal Scholl, who co-owns Happy Hydros with her husband, Mark. The storm, with winds over 50 mph, also flattened the tomatoes, lettuce, greens and cucumbers growing at the business in Chamberlain.”We donated 8,000 pounds of tomatoes and we had to throw away 7,000 to 8,000 pounds of lettuce,” Teal Scholl said. “I probably lost 50,000 to 55,000 pounds of tomatoes.”

The loss cost the business roughly $150,000 in merchandise, aside from the destruction of the $500,000 greenhouse.

Several Sioux Falls businesses bemoaned the temporary closure of Happy Hydros, which has been operating for the last eight years.

Sioux Falls restaurant M.B. Haskett Delicatessen relies on the grower for much of the vegetables on it menu, owner Michael Haskett said.

“Most of our lettuce we get from them,” Haskett said. “I will certainly be planting a lot more lettuce in my garden.”

The fresh availability of produce at Happy Hydros, the only commercial hydroponic greenhouse in South Dakota, is what makes it highly sought after, according to Haskett.

“The nice thing about Happy Hydros is that they have lettuce year-round,” he said. “Not having it as a local source is a huge bummer.”

John Gilbertson, executive chef at Sanford Medical Center, said the hospital will be hurting without the vegetables that supplement the 1,300 meals prepared there each day.

“We’re already feeling the pinch,” Gilbertson said. “We know they’re out there 50, 60 hours a week making sure we get fresh produce.”

Insurance matters are still being worked out, but Scholl hopes the business will be up and running again by next year.

“A lot of bistros in downtown Sioux Falls relied on our product,” she said.

While companies like M.B. Haskett’s and Sanford will fill the gaps with vegetables from other produce companies, they are saddened by the abrupt end to a working relationship that has stretched back for years.

“Organic kale from California isn’t as good as hydroponic kale from our friends,” Haskett said.