Indoor Farm Celebrates Groundbreaking in Welland
June 26, 2018 | Posted by: Erie Media
A new indoor farm is coming to Welland, phase 1 of the 20,000 sq. ft. industrial facility is about to get underway.
Niagara Holdings Canada announced Monday June 25/2018 that construction is about to get underway. They celebrated the start of this phase with a ground breaking ceremony at the Enterprise Industrial Subdivision at Hwy. 140 and Ridge Rd.
” Well connected infrastructure, ready access to markets, business friendly incentive programs like the Gateway Community Improvement Plan and the proactive and dynamic attitude of officials from the City of Welland and Niagara Foreign Trade Zone, are the main reasons we chose Welland”, said Clarence D’Souza, President of Niagara Holdings in a press release.
Local and federal dignitaries attended the celebration.
Niagara Holdings held it’s groundbreaking ceremony Monday at the location of its new facility in Welland. Photo submitted
Niagara Centre M.P. Vance Badawey congratulated all those involved in bringing the project to Welland.
“Great work by all partners to bring this all together,” Badawey said.
”This project exhibits investor confidence in South Niagara,” he said. “This confidence is a reflection of our current designations as a Gateway Economic Centre and Foreign Trade Zone and our overall proximity to markets. Our ability to work together continues to strengthen our economic performance, globally.
The “purpose built” facility will be the housing for “sophisticated and automated indoor farms in the world,” the press release said.
It is the first on this scale in Canada.
The design is for high volume production of leafy green vegetables. Romaine, Arugula, Kale and Basil are the primary products to be produced at this facility.
The operators for the facility are going to be Intravision Greens (Canada).
“lntravision Greens (Canada), together with lntravision Group Norway (http:/ /www.intravisiongroup.com/), is a leading provider of technology featuring broad spectrum lighting and full system integration. Backed by technology perfected at the University of Guelph’s Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility, the company’s focus is on multi-band and spectrum variable LED lights, enabling biological control and optimization of plant responses to specific wavelengths between UV A and IR light,” the press release said.
“The location in Welland, with its ability to scale up rapidly, it’s green and clean environment and close proximity to several key markets, is of considerable strategic value”, said Amin Jadavji, President of lntravision Greens (Canada) in the release.
The building contract has been award to Timbro, “one of Welland’ s best known engineering firms, with over l 00 years of experience in Ontario,” the release said.
Operations are targeted to begin in the first quarter of 2019.