Case Study: Butler Market Gardens boosts greenhouse productivity with Cobalt Design’s YieldX hydroponic platform

Butler Market Gardens boosts crop output by up to 190% with Cobalt Design

Butler Market Gardens, a commercial greenhouse grower, faced the challenge of inefficient space utilization in their hydroponic systems, where plants occupied the same footprint from seedling to harvest. They partnered with vendor Cobalt Design to commercialize the YieldX hydroponic growing platform, a system originally developed for NASA, designed to optimize plant spacing and maximize productivity.

Cobalt Design transformed the early YieldX concepts into a production-ready system featuring telescopic, modular channels that expand as plants grow. The solution included tool-free assembly, engineered water flow, and integration with automated cleaning. This resulted in a dramatic increase in production efficiency for Butler Market Gardens, raising crop output by up to 190% compared to conventional systems and enabling large-scale production of basil for major retailers.

Butler Market Gardens