WILMINGTON — The BrightFarms hydroponic greenhouse in Wilmington will grow baby greens and herbs for 50 more Ohio Walmart stores.

Walmart plans to expand BrightFarms’ products into these additional Ohio stores in the Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton metropolitan areas this spring, announced BrightFarms. Consumers in the region can expect to see BrightFarms packaged salads on the shelves by the end of May.

This expansion includes the Walmart in Wilmington, which is located not far from the BrightFarms greenhouse along Davids Drive.

In terms of other supermarkets, BrightFarms is having a number of active conversations with Ohio retailers to help grow its distribution and meet the consumer demand, said Paul Lightfoot, BrightFarms chief executive officer.

“In terms of other stores, residents from across the state of Ohio have contacted us and indicated they would like to see BrightFarms in their supermarket of choice. We want all of them to know that we’re working hard to make that a reality,” Lightfoot said.

Further, he made a suggestion: If someone is having a hard time finding the produce, he recommends the shopper contact their grocery retailer and let them know they’d like to see BrightFarms’ greens in the store.

In related news, BrightFarms had a successful launch in Ohio Walmart stores last year, and the company was recently awarded the Walmart Innovation Award in Produce at Rogers, Arkansas for its fresh, hydroponically grown salad greens.

BrightFarms’ produce reaches Walmart stores within 24 hours of harvest, providing consumers with a fresher product that’s grown indoors and without the use of pesticides, stated a BrightFarms media release.

“Everyone at BrightFarms was thrilled to win Walmart’s Innovation Award. We are enjoying working with Walmart in their successful efforts to grow their grocery sales, and I’m grateful that consumers in central and southern Ohio will soon have access to our delicious baby greens,” said Lightfoot.

The media release added that BrightFarms’ growing methods are a model for the future of scalable, sustainable local farming, and uses far less energy, land and water than does long-distance, centralized and field grown agriculture.