CANADA: Thursday, July 8th, 2021 - 12:00 PM EST

Every first Thursday of the month, we'll be hosting a Meet and Eat that anyone can join; however, we're going to have it on the second Thursday in July to accommodate for the statutory holiday on Thursday, July 1st.

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Sit back and learn more about Growcer's beginnings, our farm's uses, and essential considerations for starting your own Growcer project. It will be an informal opportunity to ask our team questions and learn more!

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Thursday, July 8th, 2021
12:00 PM EST

CANADA: The Value of Hyper-Local Produce

The hyper-local food trend is more than just a fad: there’s a reason that hyper-local food is catching on in a big way. If you’re thinking about growing hyper-local food, it’s important to understand the value of the product and its market position.

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At Yellowknife Co-op, produce is grown steps away from the store in a container farm!

BUT FIRST, WHAT IS HYPER-LOCAL FOOD?

Where does that ‘local’ head of lettuce you pick up from the grocery store actually come from? The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) defines ‘local food’ as being grown in the province where it’s being sold, or within 50km of the border. But hyper-local food is even more local than being from the same province or being Canadian-grown. It is usually grown within the same town or city, or a short distance from where it’s being sold (sometimes even right behind the store!).

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BENEFITS OF HYPER-LOCALLY GROWN FOOD

LOWER FOOD MILES

Hyper-local produce is usually grown within the same town or city, or a short distance from where it’s being sold.

As consumers are becoming more and more aware of the environmental impact of our food choices, the demand to lower food miles is also growing. A food mile can be thought of as the distance that food travels from the grower to the consumer. As a metric, it helps to assess the environmental impact of the foods we consume. A 2012 study showed that on average, 30% of food is imported in Canada, leading to annual emissions of 3.3 million metric tonnes of CO2.

Growing food hyper-locally can result in significantly lower food miles (and as few as zero food miles!) in both urban centres and rural communities. This reduces the carbon footprint of what you eat.

SUSTAINABLY GROWN

Growing hyper-locally in a hydroponic farming system has further benefits. Water in a closed hydroponic system is captured and reused, resulting in 90% less water use, and 95% less land than conventional farming.

TRACEABLE FOOD CHAIN

Growing hyper-local is completely traceable. This means you know exactly what’s going into your product. There are no synthetic pest control products, less risk for E.Coli, and a shorter supply chain to manage.

FRESHER PRODUCE WITH A LONGER SHELF LIFE

Growing food hyper-locally also means fresher produce and a longer shelf-life. Instead of wilting in a truck for hundreds of kilometers, hyper-local produce is shelf-ready immediately. This has a marked effect on the quality, as most produce loses 30 percent of nutrients just three days after harvest.

Life Water Gardens, a container garden project in Norway House Cree Nation, sells locally-grown produce at the Northern Store. Click here to learn more about the project and hear from its growers!

“When you get your hands on the fresh produce and taste it, you know it’s a good thing for your community in general. It’s really easy to get excited and pumped about [this project].” - Ian Maxwell from Norway House.

“When you get your hands on the fresh produce and taste it, you know it’s a good thing for your community. It’s really easy to get excited and pumped about [this project].”

— Ian Maxwell, co-manager of Life Water Gardens

WHERE IS HYPER-LOCAL PRODUCE POSITIONED IN THE MARKET?

For growers, it’s important to keep in mind that hyper-local food isn’t competing with foreign produce that you typically find in grocery stores. Between locally-grown vs imported food, the wholesale price for foreign produce is cheaper than local produce.

Keep in mind that grocery stores buy produce at wholesale prices, which means that they may buy produce from you at a certain cost, and then sell it with a 30% margin added to the price. When you walk into a grocery store and see produce being sold for $4.99, the reality is that the grocery store-bought it for $3.50 and added a mark up to the final price to help cover their costs of operations.

To find price-compatible products for market research in your area, look for products that will match your future products, such as living lettuce, other hydroponic greens, and other hyper-local, organic produce. Growcer greens belong in the hyper-local, value-added produce category.

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GETTING STARTED WITH HYPER-LOCAL FOOD

Growing hyper-local food has many benefits: not only is it fresher, healthier, and better for the planet, it can also be a profitable investment for growers. When crafting your financial projections, keep in mind the value of hyper-local produce and where it sits in the market.

Interested in learning more about our hyper-local hydroponic growing systems? Find out more.

Indoor Ag-Con Co-Locating With NGA Show in 2021 - The Event Will Be Held In Las Vegas At The Caesars Forum Convention Center

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November 26, 2020
Posted by Chris Manning

The NGA Show, a trade show and conference for independent grocers, and Indoor Ag-Con, a agriculture conference, and trade show for the indoor and vertical farming industry, announced that they will co-locate in 2021 for the first time. The combined event will be held May 16-18, 2021, at the new Caesars Forum Convention Center in Las Vegas.

“The NGA Show, entering its 38th year, has established itself as the world’s premier educational and supplier resource serving the independent grocer community,” said Courtney Muller, chief corporate development and strategy officer with Clarion Events North America. “By co-locating with Indoor Ag-Con, we bring our attendees a new resource to meet consumer demand for transparent food sourcing, delivering just-picked produce year-round and, for those on the cutting edge, access to in-store growing operational resources. Ultimately, that means additional value for all of our customers and the industries overall.”

Indoor Ag-Con, launched in 2013, provides exhibitors and attendees with the latest technology and business strategies for growing crops in indoor systems, using hydroponic, aeroponic, and aquaponics techniques, bringing together growers, investors, chefs, produce buyers, academics, policymakers, industry suppliers and advocates.

“Indoor farming is an important segment that’s been on the rise for several years,” said Brian Sullivan, co-owner of Indoor Ag-Con. “The great energy and audience The NGA Show has cultivated will be key to our combined success as we work together to better serve our industries. We look forward to welcoming The NGA Show visitors and exhibitors, and we can’t wait for a successful show.”

“This is an exciting opportunity and what’s bound to be a successful industry-first event that delivers much more value to our members, customers, partners, and the markets we serve,” added Greg Ferrara, president, and CEO of the National Grocers Association.

The NGA Show and Indoor Ag-Con visitors will have access to all exhibits, and discounts will be available for cross-over educational event attendance.

For more information, click here.

Health protocols for the event can be found here.

Tags: Retail Grocery Ag-tech Events Technology Blockchain Technology

Produce events Indoor farming events

Future of Food Is Fresh And Green For Manitoulin First Nation

Sheshegwaning First Nation Takes High-Tech Step

Toward Food Security

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Jul 22, 2020

 By: Lindsay Kelly

Last February, April Folz was attending a conference in Québec with a team from Sheshegwaning First Nation when a tradeshow display caught her eye.

It was unusual to see shoots of fresh, edible greens in amongst the displays, especially at that time of year, but there they were, at an exhibit for The Growcer, an Ottawa-based company that develops hydroponic container farms.“

It was winter, and it was snowing,” recalled Folz, Sheshegwaning’s economic development director. “It was so neat that it was growing in the middle of winter – there were snowstorms.”

The community’s interest in the farming system was piqued but wasn’t given any serious consideration until a few weeks later, Folz recalled.

When COVID-19 arrived in Northern Ontario in March, members of the outlying community, which is situated on the far west end of Manitoulin Island, began to worry about food chains being interrupted and how they would continue to enjoy a supply of fresh produce when the nearest grocery store is about 45 minutes away in Gore Bay.

Fears were further exacerbated with talk of closing off access to the swing bridge at Little Current, which, during the winter months, provides the sole route on and off the island that’s situated in the upper end of Georgian Bay in Lake Huron.“

This pandemic happened and people were complaining that they couldn't get anything at the grocery store, and they couldn't get any of the fresh produce in at the store here (in Sheshegwaning),” Folz said.“We were having a hard time supplying that for our people.”

The community of 118 quickly made a decision to take the plunge into container farming, taking out a loan to purchase their very own Growcer farm, and the unit arrived in the community on June 22.

Launched in 2015, The Growcer adheres to other models of container farming that start with a shipping container and add hydroponic growing equipment and LED lights to create a self-contained, closely monitored system that allows for growing year-round.

Seeds are nurtured with a tailored combination of nutrients, water, and lighting, and crops are ready to be harvested after about four to six weeks. With a staggered planting system in place, crops are always growing.If something goes wrong – the temperature gets too high, for example – the sophisticated monitoring system will alert staff through their phones so they can visit the farm and adjust accordingly.“

Growcer also has access to our system,” Folz said. “So they get alarms as well, and they can regulate it from Ottawa.”

The company provides full training and ongoing support as part of the purchase agreement.

There are even some job opportunities for those enterprising community members with an interest in agriculture. Folz is currently hiring for a full-time systems manager, who will be responsible for planting and harvesting, cleaning, and calibrating the Growcer system, as well as two part-timers, who will help with monitoring the crops.

Growcer farms are now successfully producing fresh greens every week in communities as far-flung as Kugluktuk, Nunavut, and Churchill, Man.

Conditions in Sheshegwaning aren’t nearly as harsh or rugged as in those more remote regions, but the arrival of their own container farm has generated buzz amongst the many avid salad-eaters in the community.

For $10 a week, residents who want a take of the harvest sign up for a subscription box, which guarantees them five heads of greens of their choice delivered to their door. A portion of the harvest will also go to local business Mkwa Catering for use in their dishes.

The first seeds were planted during the week of July 20, and Folz expects to reap the harvest in mid-August. Products will be marketed under the Odawa Freshwater brand.

She’s calculated that if they sell out weekly, the community will break even on its loan for the project.

So far, the community has planted Monte Carlo romaine lettuce, red Russian lettuce, Tuscan kale, wildfire lettuce, and win-win choi, along with basil, parsley, and mint.“

People want spinach, so they’re going to send us some spinach seeds and get that going,” Folz noted.

Folz said 450 heads of greens will be harvested weekly, while the herbs can be cut back each week and will self-replenish until they reach the end of their lifecycle, which she estimates will be some time in October.

An ongoing experiment with different lighting and growing conditions aims to see if there's any success with strawberries.

Known in many Indigenous cultures as the “heart berry,” strawberries are celebrated as a marker of spring, help promote health and well-being, and signify friendship and reconciliation.“

Strawberries are very important for Native culture for ceremonies, and it would be fantastic to get them fresh year-round if we could do that,” Folz said.“

This (container) is specific for greens, and it will probably stay that way. Maybe down the road, we’ll get one for strawberries.”

PHOTOS:

1 / 6 Crops being grown by Sheshegwaning First Nation in its new container farm include kale, lettuce, parsley, mint, and basil. (Supplied photo)

2 / 6 Sheshegwaning First Nation took delivery of its Growcer container farm on June 22. Its first crops will be ready in mid-August. (Supplied photo)

3 / 6 Container farms use a customized combination of water, nutrients, and lighting to get the maximum yields per crop. (Supplied photo)

4 / 6 Ottawa-based The Growcer uses a shipping container, outfitted with LED lights and a hydroponic growing system, as the base for its container farms, which allow year-round growing. (Supplied photo)

5 / 6 Seeds are put into a growing medium to get started. Crops are ready in four to six weeks. (Supplied photo)

6 / 6 Sheshegwaning's Growcer container farm will create jobs for three community members, who will plant seeds, harvest crops, and clean, calibrate, and monitor the system. (Supplied photo)

New Growcer Hydroponic System Will Allow Sheshegwaning to grow Fresh Produce For Residents At Any Time of The Year

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By Tom Sasvari 

July 3, 2020

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New Growcer hydroponic system will allow Sheshegwaning to grow fresh produce for residents at any time of the year

SHESHEGWANING – It may only be a sea container at this time, but soon Sheshegwaning First Nation will be able to grow fresh produce on a year-round basis in this unit and build food security for the community.

“We took delivery of the Growcer self-contained hydroponic system,” stated Sheshegwaning Chief Dean Roy last Thursday. “With this project, we will be able to provide some food security as we will be able to produce fresh produce and food year-round here. With COVID-19 there have been times we haven’t been able to get fresh produce as readily as we want from neighboring grocery stores.”

He pointed out, “Growcer is a self-contained modular hydroponic system. We just have to hook up services for hydro and water and will have a representative of Growcer on hand soon to provide training on how to use the system to grow the produce here locally.” 

“We should be able to produce 500 heads of fresh produce such as different lettuce weekly, year-round,” said Chief Roy. “I think we will be starting with romaine lettuce and other leaf lettuces, red kale, basil and parsley and we will be able to grow strawberries, for example, in the winter with this system.” 

“We took delivery of a sea container last week for the Growcer system,” said April Folz, economic development officer for Sheshegwaning, this past Monday. “The week of July 13 Growcer company representatives will be on hand to provide training. After that, we will be up and running.”

Ms. Folz explained, “we’re going to be growing green products such as romaine lettuce, spinach, bok choy, basil, mint, and dill. And once we get going we will want to get into growing other different greens and produce.” She noted, “we were having a hard time getting fresh greens in local stores, but with this system in place, this will be available at all times. Local residents won’t have to travel to the nearest grocery store.”

Ms. Folz said, “we’re hoping to be able to provide a subscription box for residents, where for say $10 they will be able to get five heads of fresh greens at a time. The hydroponic system will allow for 450 heads of produce to be grown each week.”

“Growcer outfits everything that is needed in the sea containers, and there will be a desk for a systems manager to work at and the actual green area where the seeds are planted and the produce is grown,” said Ms. Folz. With this new system in place, one full-time person will be hired as well as two part-time casual positions will be created. 

Chief Roy noted the community currently has a job posting for a systems manager. 

Ms. Folz added, “we have a community logo/branding competition for a name for this program here and are hoping to get local input on a name. We will be taking input and submissions until July 15.” 

UAE Farm Tech To The Fore

New technologies are helping the country make more of its own produce

Over a span of just six months, Covid-19 has not only changed the way we work, celebrate occasions and stay healthy but also forced countries to take a hard look at how they feed their residents. “I believe the current pandemic has provided us the opportunity to completely reimagine the global food system,” says Tony Hunter, a global food futurist.

Going urban

One of the factors pushing the global agri-tech agenda is the growth and increasing density of cities. “By 2050, more than two thirds of the world’s population is forecasted to live in cities,” explains Smitha Paresh, Executive Director of Greenoponics, a UAE-based retailer of commercial and consumer hydroponics systems, adding that urban agriculture will be crucial for feeding burgeoning urban populations.

“On a macro level, we will see a rise in urban farming, mostly using high-tech farming methods such as hydroponics, aeroponics or aquaponics.” Paresh cites Singapore’s conversion of car parks into urban farm centres as an example. “In the UAE, as per the national food security strategy for 2017-2021, we have already witnessed a huge increase in climate-controlled greenhouses all over the country.”

Arable environments

For Hunter, who spoke about potential silver linings of Covid-19 at a recent Gulfood webinar, new technologies present the best means of achieving domestic self-sufficiency. “They can release countries from the tyrannies of arable land and water stress.” He singles out algal products that rely on low rainfall and can use seawater; cultivated meat and biomass products; cell-based products such as milk proteins; and synthetic biology that can manufacture a range of food products.

Over the long term, Ravindra Shirotriya, CEO, VeggiTech, believes there are three critical areas for sustainable farming in the UAE. The first is precision agriculture, which focuses on growing conditions for plants using hyperbaric chambers and nanotechnology-based organic nutrition. Photo bio-reactors, meanwhile, can cultivate food-grade algae such as spirulina. Finally, Shirotriya cites smart farms, which work with smart cities to create harvest plans based on real-time data on food demand and consumption within communities. “This will address our current broken food ecosystem, where we waste 35 percent of food while 15 percent of the world population goes to sleep hungry.”

VeggiTech’s primary focus is on setting up LED-assisted hydroponics for indoor vertical farms and protected hydroponics for sustainable farming in the UAE.

In terms of crop production, Avinash Vora, Co-founder of Aranya Farms, says new technologies aim to boost yields, reduce waste and grow produce entirely. “Technology is being applied at every stage, whether for plant seeding, monitoring growth, managing water, energy conservation, harvesting and packaging. “We are making huge strides adapting all of them here in the UAE; the interest and investments in agriculture prove that.”

For Philippe Peguilhan, Country Manager of Carrefour UAE at Majid Al Futtaim Retail, the UAE had already been seeking self-reliance in food production, but coronavirus amped up its importance. “The disruption that Covid-19 caused to the supply chain highlighted the importance of local produce and presented an excellent opportunity for local farmers to grab a greater share of the market.” Majid Al Futtaim recently made headlines for opening the UAE’s third, and Dubai’s first, in-store hydroponics farm.

Hydroponic hope

Hydroponics is one agri-tech that’s attracting keen investor interest. “As an indicator, Madar Farms’ 7,000-sq-m factory will produce 365 tons of tomatoes a year, and about 14,000 tons of cherry vine tomatoes were consumed in the UAE in 2019,” says Hunter. “There’s therefore the market opportunity for 38 Madar farms in the UAE for tomatoes alone. Add in other nutrient-dense crops such as cucumbers, peppers and leafy greens. Depending upon their size, we could be looking at several hundred businesses.”

On an individual level, more people are leaning towards home farming, especially towards soil-less cultivation since it is simple and easy, according to Paresh. “It guarantees a certain amount of yield. Home farming will be on the rise, considering the disruption we may face in trying times like this.”

As with most technologies, Hunter says the biggest challenge of hydroponics is profitability. “Fortunately, the costs of technology inputs required to optimise hydroponic production efficiencies are falling rapidly. This drop, together with simultaneous increases in performance, is driving down the costs of hydroponics, making acceptable ROIs much easier to achieve.” He adds that economies of scale can help achieve good ROIs. “Currently most farms are in the 1-2 ton per day range but farms of 50 tons per day are being projected by as early as 2025.”

Sustainability challenges

“Challenges in building our own farm were access to sufficient and cost-effective electricity; renewable sources of water; and the availability of locally made raw materials, specifically growing media, nutrients and seeds. With seeds we are adapting — we have been growing our own seeds but having a library of seeds to choose from that are suitable for our climate and environment would be a huge boon to all farmers.”

— Avinash Vora, Co-founder of Aranya Farms

By Riaz Naqvi, Staff Writer | Gulf News | May 28, 2020