Rod Link

September 12, 2024

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The community of Tachet on Babine Lake expects to be growing its own vegetables via the installation of a hydroponics farm by late this fall or early winter.

Using a series of grants, with a final one of $100,000 from the United Way of B.C. helping meet a total project cost of $400,000, the community, which is part of the Lake Babine Nation, is purchasing a growing unit from the Ontario company of Growcer.

"It's been a long time coming and a lot of various groups and people were involved in getting us here, but here we finally are," said Tachet community director Daisy Charlie last week of the project.

The population of Tachet is approximately 100 people and it is located on Babine Lake near Granisle.

"We've had an in-ground garden for the community for the past six or seven years and it's been good but it's obviously limited to our very short growing season up here in our northwest part of the province and with Granisle being at an even higher elevation, it's harder to grow a lot of vegetables up here," said Charlie.

She described the hydroponics farm as being approximately the shape and size of a 40-foot sea can container.

In preparation for its arrival, B.C. Hydro will be asked to provide the power supply necessary for its operation. It will also have a backup generator should the electrical power be disrupted.

"The best part about this farm is that from the time it's placed we've got a six-week waiting period from that first planting and after that it's a weekly harvest," Charlie said.

Once a regular schedule is set, plantings will be staggered and nurtured by grow lights through computer-assisted programming so that there is a continual production of greens and vegetables, she added.

The plan is to supply vegetables either at no charge for people on low incomes and then determine prices based on income.

The community is already talking to the school in Granisle and a program there which supports seniors about supplying both with fresh food.

"Future marketing and sales partnerships that we're working on are with local stores in the area, of course, in Granisle and maybe even Topley and some of the stores in Houston," Charlie said.

Those partnerships will then result in an income flow to support the farm. Two people are expected to be employed.

"The other good thing about this kind of farm is you start with the one container and as your production increases, it's quite easy to add on additional sections," Charlie continued. "If we are finding we want to produce more and more, we can order another [section] and increase production that way."

Charlie was also surprised in researching hydroponic farms that Tachet is not alone in determining ways to provide nutritional foods - several northwestern First Nations already have their own farms in production.

And Growcer, the company providing the farm to Tachet, supplies technical know how and advice.

"They've got quite a few across Canada already and a lot of them are in Indigenous communities and that's what sparked their interest. A lot of the remote and rural Indigenous communities didn't have access to healthy foods that were fresh or it was really hard for them to get it in," Charlie said.

Charlie herself is anticipating that romaine lettuce, her favourite fresh produce, might be among the first crops to be grown.

"Living out here, an hour away from the closest grocery store, being able to have a fresh head of lettuce in my fridge that'll last more than a day, it's an amazing thought," she said.