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Local Company Providing Fresh Produce, Tools to Grow It All Year Long
Since opening its doors last July, Cold Acre Food Systems has been perfecting its indoor hydroponic growing systems for greens and herbs that can be harvested continually throughout the year.
August 6, 2020
The Yukon isn’t the place in the world most suited to year-round farming, given its long winters and short, unpredictable summers, but one local company is trying to change that.
Since opening its doors last July, Cold Acre Food Systems has been perfecting its indoor hydroponic growing systems for greens and herbs that can be harvested continually throughout the year.“
Hydroponics is a very old growing system and can be done in different methods,” said Carl Burgess, Cold Acre Food Systems CEO. “It’s essentially nutrient water delivered to roots to grow plants.”
The benefit of it in food production for a community sense is that there is less soil management because there is no soil management and in that way it can stabilize production year-round,” Burgess added.
The company does the majority of its farming in two shipping container-style growing facilities located on Titanium Way in the Marwell industrial area.“
Right now we are operating 6,000 planting spaces,” Burgess said. “One of those (containers) is basically equivalent to an acre of a market garden,” and “one container can give, at minimum, a weekly supply of greens to about 100 to 200 people.”
Denise Gordon, Cold Acre Food Systems lead grower, holds trays of microgreens in front of their growing unit in Whitehorse on July 26, 2020. (Crystal Schick/Yukon News)
Environmentally, the system uses 10 to 20 percent less water than the traditional method of growing, Burgess said. The carbon footprint is also greatly reduced since produce only has to travel a couple of blocks to its destination compared to being shipped on trucks, food waste is almost nonexistent because of the high reliability of growing indoors, the company uses compostable packaging, and there are no storage facilities.“
We harvest and go,” Burgess said. “It’s usually within two hours of harvesting that the produce is in the grocery stores or dropped off at someone’s home.”
What began as some test lettuce crops have turned into a diverse selection of leafy greens, like bok choy, arugula, kale, mizuna, and rainbow chard, as well as several different types of microgreens, which are similar to sprouts in appearance, and basil. The company is also experimenting with growing edible flowers and mushrooms.
Cold Acre Food Systems currently sells the vegetables it grows to several grocery stores in Whitehorse, restaurants, and cafes, and through a subscription box.“
The last year of business has been lots of fun,” Burgess said. “We went from being a very small food producer to a medium-sized food producer (in the Yukon).”
But selling the vegetables it grows isn’t the end game for this company. Building, selling, and installing growing systems is also part of Cold Acre’s business model. The company can build custom growing facilities for just about any client, from smaller at-home units to the larger commercial shipping container-style units.
Right now there are two large units that will soon be providing fresh produce to Yukon communities. The first, in partnership with the University of Calgary, is at the Kluane Lake Research Station near Silver City. Once it is up and running it will provide food to the Haines Junction and Burwash Landing areas. The second, currently still in Whitehorse, is owned by Na-Cho Nyäk Dun Development Corporation (NNDDC) and will be ready to feed people in the Mayo area this spring.
Leafy greens grow under neon lights in a shipping container style facility in Whitehorse on July 26, 2020. (Crystal Schick/Yukon News)“
We are currently fabricating a small-scale unit for demonstration/growing inside the Mayo Foods Store as part of the NNDDC project,” said Burgess.
The objective of Cold Acre Food Systems is to reduce food scarcity in the North and to enable everyone access to fresh produce year-round. “Success will be twofold,” said Burgess. “Our goal is to activate indoor growing. So success will look like a handful of growing facilities around that we either deployed or helped deploy. And success for us looks like a large growing facility that’s displacing a number of food products that right now are coming up the road and doing that cost effectively for consumers.”
Contact Crystal Schick at crystal.schick@yukon-news.com
CubicFarms Leverages Its Expertise In Controlled-Environment Agriculture And Announces Launch of new Control Room System And Sale To Career Field Farmer And Entrepreneur
CubicFarms’ Control Room is assembled inside its proprietary stainless steel, fully insulated growing chamber with the option to customize features such as lighting, automated irrigation and nutrient delivery, and full climate control for temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide levels
VANCOUVER, BC, JUNE 18, 2020 – CubicFarm® Systems Corp. (TSXV:CUB) (“CubicFarms” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the launch of its new Control Room system for sale to growers looking to grow crops more efficiently by controlling every aspect of the growing environment.
CubicFarms’ Control Room is assembled inside its proprietary stainless steel, fully insulated growing chamber with the option to customize features such as lighting, automated irrigation, and nutrient delivery, and full climate control for temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels. The system has a variety of sensors available, all of which can be remotely monitored and controlled.
Photo: Inside a CubicFarms Control Room, complete with LED light fixtures, an automated heating, cooling and ventilation system, and wired environmental controls.
The Control Room enables growers to have complete control over the growing environment that is so crucial for high yields and quality – a capability especially well suited for research and development purposes. The temperature, humidity, lighting, and airflow can be properly calibrated to suit crop requirements.
“We are pleased to launch a new product that allows growers to conduct their own growing trials inside a controlled-environment chamber. We’ve had numerous inquiries for this kind of solution and are pleased to be able to support our customers with this technology. We see good market potential for this solution that helps growers fine-tune the optimal environmental parameters for growing crops indoors,” commented CubicFarms CEO Dave Dinesen.
“We are confident that once growers experience the consistency and quality of yields achieved in the Control Room, they will seek to automate growing inside our Fresh Produce system, which is essentially the Control Room plus motorized rows of trays containing crops that follow a patented path inside the chamber to ensure all sides of the crop are evenly bathed in light to maximize growth.”
CubicFarms control rooms can be placed inside an existing warehouse or greenhouse to serve as controlled-environment growing chambers to test and develop crop varieties. They can also be placed outside in many environments. It is well-suited for many types of growers, including:
Photo: CubicFarms control rooms being installed at the customer’s site.
Greenhouse growers and vertical farmers who have a need to hold larger plants in an environment separate from their existing facility. As an example, a hemp grower who would like to hold the mother plant used for cloning in an ideal environment;
Growers in the floral or nursery industry who need to hold plants or bulbs at a specific temperature or humidity; and
Growers undertaking research activities that require different environmental controls than their typical growing space.
CubicFarms announces first sale and installation of control rooms to BC-based field farmer and food entrepreneur
The Company is pleased to announce that it has sold three control rooms to a customer in British Columbia. The control rooms were recently installed at the customer’s site. The customer, an experienced field farmer, and consumer packaged foods expert, plans to engage in controlled-environment growing trials of various crops that have traditionally been grown in the field. Mr. Dinesen added: “I’m very excited that CubicFarms can support our customers by leveraging technology we already have, but in this unique way. Our customers never cease to amaze me in how creative and inspiring they are when looking to grow their businesses.”
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor it’s Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
About CubicFarm® Systems Corp.
CubicFarm Systems Corp. (“CubicFarms”) is a technology company that is developing and deploying technology to feed a changing world. Its proprietary technologies enable growers around the world to produce high-quality, predictable crop yields. CubicFarms has two distinct technologies that address two distinct markets. The first technology is its patented CubicFarm™ System, which contains patented technology for growing leafy greens and other crops. Using its unique, undulating-path growing system, the Company addresses the main challenges within the indoor farming industry by significantly reducing the need for physical labor and energy, and maximizing yield per cubic foot. CubicFarms leverages its patented technology by operating its own R&D facility in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, selling the System to growers, licensing its technology and providing vertical farming expertise to its customers.
The second technology is CubicFarms’ HydroGreen System for growing nutritious livestock feed. This system utilizes a unique process to sprout grains, such as barley and wheat, in a controlled environment with minimal use of land, labor, and water. The HydroGreen System is fully automated and performs all growing functions including seeding, watering, lighting, harvesting, and re-seeding – all with the push of a button – to deliver nutritious livestock feed without the typical investment in fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, field equipment, and transportation. The HydroGreen System not only provides superior nutritious feed to benefit the animal but also enables significant environmental benefits to the farm.
Cautionary statement on forward-looking information
Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the market potential of the Control Room system and system capabilities. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors including evolving market conditions, which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of CubicFarm Systems Corp., or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information including the Company obtaining the approval of the Offering from the TSX Venture Exchange. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict", and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events, or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will" be taken, occur, or be achieved.
These statements reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events, performance, and results and speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except as required by securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if the Company's expectations regarding future events, performance, or results change.
Kimberly Lim
VP, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations
Mobile: 236.858.6491
Office: 1.888.280.9076
Email: kimberly@cubicfarms.com