Toronto Entrepreneur Brings Vertical Farms to Windsor
Toronto Entrepreneur Brings Vertical Farms to Windsor
MARY CATON
Published on: October 18, 2017 | Last Updated: October 18, 2017 8:27 PM EDT
Vertical Farm Inside Old Forster H.S. Click Here to View Video
The future of indoor farming is held together with zip ties, powered by extension cords and aerated by bathroom exhaust fans.
Toronto area entrepreneur Zale Tabakman has brought his budding vertical farming business to Windsor through a collaboration with Canada South Science City and support from Unifor Skilled Trades.
Tabakman’s agriculture and technology company — Local Grown Salads — is taking root inside the Forster Community Hub.
The old Forster high school’s computer lab houses the steel frame work for four vertical farms, including one that’s teeming with several types of kale and lettuce along with thyme, arugula and Italian dandelion. It has the potential to grow 70 plant varieties year round.
Because of the density of the plantings, each 32-square-foot unit can produce the equivalent of one acre of land over the course of a year.
“So I’ve got four acres of land here that don’t even take up a classroom,” Tabakman said.
Tabakman is fiddling with prototypes which is why the units still feature zip ties and bathroom fans.
“There’s nothing fancy here,” he said.
The roll-up shades contain the LED lighting necessary for growing while the base holds water and the white square-shaped towers contain an organic soil mix and the root system. The exhaust fans mounted at the top attach to flexible vent hoses punctured with holes so that air is pushed down on the plants.
It’s almost a closed-loop system that recycles water and nutrients to make it environmentally sustainable.
Eventually, Tabakman hopes to grow, harvest and package all in one location — so you can serve a salad harvested that morning.
Zale Tabakman checks on seedlings at Local Grown Salads, a business specializing in vertical growing located inside the Forster Community Hub on Oct. 18, 2017. NICK BRANCACCIO / WINDSOR STAR
Bill Baylis, left, of Science City, and Zale Tabakman, owner of Local Grown Salads, a business specializing in vertical growing, examine fresh lettuce, thyme and kale inside the Forster Community Hub. NICK BRANCACCIO / WINDSOR STAR
Zale Tabakman samples lettuce, thyme and kale at Local Grown Salads. NICK BRANCACCIO /WINDSOR STAR
At Science City, he will offer an education component explaining the process and even providing information on how to set up a home hydroponic growing unit.
Plans also call for a commercial grade farm in the old school cafeteria. Produce could be sold at local markets with the proceeds helping to sustain the Forster Hub.
A second non-profit community farm would be operated elsewhere in the building to provide fresh produce at low cost to the Sandwich community.
“It’s got a lot of potential,” Science City president Bill Baylis said.
“This food initiative captured Unifor’s attention,” said Ken Lewenza Jr. “There’s no pesticides, it’s more nutritious and better for the environment because it’s not being transported to Windsor-Essex from California.
“This is not your grandpa’s farm.”
LiUNA is another supporter of the venture and Lewenza Jr. anticipates a number of partnerships being forged in the coming months to bring vertical farming to different sectors.
“I think academic institutions could play a role in developing this,” he said. “We can develop interconnected strategies for social, economic and ecological development and think about how new technology can be owned, operated and directed by communities.”
Lewenza Jr. wants to work in partnership with traditional agricultural and green house sectors.
He calls the vertical farm “a game-changer in terms of thinking about schools and under-utilized community spaces we can make into sustainable hubs.”
Tabakman’s system economically grows vegetables free of insecticides or herbicides.
As for its home inside the Forster Hub, it’s been a slow ramp up since the idea of a community-based co-op first surfaced in May 2016.
The building is owned by Matty Maroun’s Canadian Transit Co.
Baylis said all the legal details have yet to be finalized and the 94-year-old building is still in need of a new roof.
That’s prevented Baylis from re-launching all of Science City’s exhibits, although he is hopeful he will be able to accommodate school tours by the end of November.
“The schools are still calling, so it’s nice that they remember us,” he said.