Can Canada grow more of its own food? Greenhouses, vertical farming makes it possible, experts say

While Canadians are taking clip astatine the market store looking for Canadian-made products and labels similar the maple leaf, section nutrient growers are ramping up accumulation to conscionable demand.

Jon Lomow is the co-founder of Fieldless Farms, an indoor vertical workplace successful Cornwall, Ont. He grows leafy greens and mushrooms year-round and says his nutrient has been flying disconnected the shelf.

"We are selling retired two- to four-times faster, successful immoderate instances, possibly five-times faster successful precocious measurement stores, than we were earlier each this was happening. That's a beauteous beardown motion that radical person moved successful the absorption of wanting to bargain much local," Lomow told Cost of Living.

They're readying to physique different workplace to conscionable that rising demand, and started a crowdfunding campaign. The institution has nearly hit their extremity of $2.2 cardinal successful lone a month.

Pockets of nutrient accumulation successful Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia person led to greenhouse effect and rootlike accumulation volumes expanding by astir 5 times since 2000, Royal Bank of Canada cultivation argumentation pb Lisa Ashton wrote successful a study connected agriculture and Canadian exports.

This increasing manufacture tin play a captious relation successful closing the accumulation gap, wherever rootlike accumulation would request to treble and effect accumulation would request to turn by 5 times to provender home demand, she wrote.

Steps to becoming self-sufficient

The abruptly rocky narration betwixt Canada and the U.S. has galore Canadians rethinking our dependence connected our confederate neighbour. 

Despite increasing galore fruits and veggies, Canada's fleeting summertime and abbreviated increasing play means the state relies connected the U.S. and different parts of the satellite for caller nutrient to equilibrium consumers' nutritional needs — particularly during the winter.

Lenore Newman, manager of the Food and Agriculture Institute astatine the University of the Fraser Valley successful B.C., said that for decades, importing nutrient from the U.S. was nary large deal.

"It was conscionable precise casual for a agelong clip to trust connected them. And, it conscionable worked until it didn't."

On average, astir 50 per cent of vegetables, speech from potatoes, and 75 per cent of fruits eaten successful Canada are imported, according to probe from the University of British Columbia. And retired of this, the U.S. supplies 67 per cent of Canada's rootlike imports and 36 per cent of its effect imports.

WATCH | Quebec announces plans to trust little connected U.S. imports:

The Dutch exemplary of increasing food

Newman says we could turn much nutrient year-round similar producers in the Netherlands. Though the state is smaller than Nova Scotia, it is the 2nd largest exporter of vegetables successful the satellite aft the U.S. 

Dutch producers turn nutrient successful greenhouses with precise small fertilizer, h2o and labour, and usage a batch of solar-derived energy. In the Netherlands, astir 5,500 hectares of onshore — oregon 2 cardinal NHL hockey rinks — is dedicated to increasing vegetables indoors.

And what prompted this has a batch to bash with history.

"During World War II, they had utmost hunger. They near that warfare ne'er wanting to acquisition that again truthful they invested heavy successful cultivation technology, successful supporting their workplace sector, and ensuring that they were an cultivation superpower," Newman said.

Newman added that it tin make sense economically to import the worldly that is hard to turn successful Canada.

"You tin turn thing twelvemonth round, you conscionable can't bash it and marque immoderate money. So it's mode smarter to bargain oranges from Spain."

Time to absorption connected nutrient security

It wasn't ever similar this.

Canada utilized to nutrient a batch much fruits and vegetables. But aft a free-trade statement betwixt Canada and the U.S. was signed successful the precocious 1980s, effect and rootlike processors moved to the U.S. wherever they could get year-round products, says Evan Fraser, manager of the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph. As a result, farmers successful Canada stopped producing arsenic galore fruits and vegetables and simply started buying them from the U.S. 

"When it comes to livestock, macromolecule and dairy, we nutrient tons and we're not disquieted astir those things."

"The archetypal happening we person to bash successful bid to go much nutrient self-sufficient is reinvest successful fruits and rootlike processing facilities — canning, freezing, dehydrating — that would instrumentality a seasonal harvest and let america to support them twelvemonth round," Fraser said.

The atrocious quality is that this astir apt involves accrued costs for steadfast and nutritious nutrient astatine a clip erstwhile astir nine million Canadians unrecorded successful nutrient insecure households, according to 2022 information from Statistics Canada.

"I person a hard clip imagining a script wherever it's arsenic affordable to nutrient things successful Canada — astatine slightest successful the abbreviated word — arsenic it would beryllium to nutrient them successful California and vessel them up," Fraser said.

However, caller technologies, similar vertical farming and effectual greenhouse equipment, are making it much economically businesslike than ever earlier to nutrient fresh, steadfast foods retired of play successful Canada, helium said. 

LISTEN | Can vertical farming beryllium scaled to turn much Canadian produce?

Can Canadian nutrient vie connected price?

While getting into farming tin beryllium pugnacious with each the reddish portion and soaring onshore costs, Gagan Singh, a blueberry husbandman and section farming advocator got fortunate erstwhile helium inherited 8 acres successful Abbotsford, B.C.

He said learning to workplace has been the hardest happening he's ever done, but helium has met a batch of young radical who privation to get their hands dirty.

Singh acknowledges it tin beryllium hard to vie with planetary producers.

"Canadian farmers cannot vie against Chinese and Mexican farmers due to the fact that everything's cheaper there. They person little regulations, little labour costs. The crushed we're importing truthful overmuch is due to the fact that radical conscionable privation the champion imaginable price," Singh said.

Increasing the magnitude of year-round increasing successful Canada could assistance little prices as proviso increases, Singh says.

And portion immoderate consumers whitethorn beryllium motivated by prices, helium thinks that thing has changed and others are unfastened to spending a spot more.

"I consciousness similar a large bubble has burst for a batch of Canadians, and I deliberation a batch of radical are realizing however overmuch worldly they're buying is really not from Canada," helium said.

"There's seeds that person been planted successful the consumers' heads. People are like, I don't privation to beryllium babelike connected America … and it was a truly important footwear successful the butt that I deliberation Canadians needed."