Dene High School in La Loche, Saskatchewan Gets  Modular Farm

Last month, students and teachers from Dene High School in La Loche, Saskatchewan, visited our Modular Farm located at The Food Dudes HQ in Toronto.

The students received hands-on training on how to grow and harvest fresh foods in a purpose-built container. With the help of President’s Choice Children’s Charity, the school will be getting its very own modular farm, where the produce grown will be used for the school’s lunch program and potentially for the greater La Loche community.

Food inaccessibility is becoming a bigger issue in La Loche especially after a recent grocery store fire that moved the community, leaving only one shop to provide fresh foods to the entire community. Locals are being pushed to their limits with some having to travel to Saskatoon for groceries as all options have run out in the remote Northern Canadian city.

The small prairie town is located six hours away from Saskatoon and often has a limited supply of fresh produce. Adding in high shipping costs, the cost of available produce is outstandingly more expensive compared to Toronto. With a small population of approximately 2,600 people, inaccessibility to fresh, healthy meals can pose a real food security issue. However, with the future installation of a modular farm at Dene High School, the move is a real game-changer for the community.

With the state-of-the-art modular farm, students will be able to actively contribute to their community and school’s food system. The concept to have the students become self-sufficient buyers and growers of local foods aligns directly with Modular Farms’ vision to eliminate a dependency on fresh food imports. Students will be able to taste their hard work with each harvest and take ownership in what they eat, understanding how and where foods come from. Not only will students reward themselves with the food they grow, but the farm also acts as an educational tool to teach them about topics like entrepreneurship, health, biology and nutrition. In many ways, the modular farm will be a “classroom” of sorts for students.

To spark the students’ creativity, the farm’s exterior will serve as an art canvas for students, thus allowing the personalized farm to be representative of the community it is run and led by. This initiative was made possible by President’s Choice Children’s Charity. Thank you PC! We hope to see more opportunities arise for Modular Farms to aid cites in Northern Canada by providing a vertical farm to grow fresh foods for nutritious meals year-round.

Have a question now? Contact our Customer Empowerment team at sales@modularfarms.co or read our FAQ section.