Vertical farm under construction with $2.73-m grant

Added on 02 December 2021

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Vertical farm under construction with $2.73-m grant

CANADA- A vertical farm that's under construction in southeast Calgary has been selected as the first project to receive financial support from the Alberta government's new investment and growth fund.

Ontario-based company GoodLeaf Farms is building its biggest indoor farm in Calgary's southeast after receiving a $2.73-million grant from the provincial government to locate its next facility in Alberta. The money comes from the new $10-million Investment and Growth Fund, meant to attract companies to the province.

GoodLeaf Farms' Calgary facility will be a 74,000-square-foot indoor farm within the city in the industrial area along 108 Avenue S.E., and will provide 70 full-time positions once it's up and running.

The farm in Calgary will be the company's first in western Canada after opening facilities in Nova Scotia and Ontario. The company uses vertical farming technology to produce leafy-green lettuce products year-round.

"From the outside, it looks like a standard warehouse industrial space," Jeff McKinnon, the senior vice-president of network development with GoodLeaf Farms, said at a press conference Monday.

"We use height and stack technology to be able to optimize output. And from that, we're able to reduce water consumption."

A vertical farm uses about 95 per cent less water than traditional agriculture and produces roughly 50 times the output capacity due to LED lighting, water management, airflow and automation, McKinnon explained.

"Our model is immune to weather events and weather patterns, which allows us to grow the safe and clean product in an indoor environment. And we're able to eliminate the use of any chemicals," he said.

McKinnon said the company considered a couple of other western provinces before landing on Alberta. They settled on Calgary because of the open market access to western Canada and the proximity of research institutions that can help improve their business model.

When asked by reporters, McKinnon said he wouldn't disclose capital investment overall in the early stages of the project. He said the funding from the province is a "small component" to their capital cost.

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development Nate Horner said GoodLeaf Farms' facility will be an important step towards providing local alternatives in produce aisles.

"Alberta's recovery plan is about getting people back to work, building infrastructure and diversifying the provincial economy," said Horner. "We will be looking at the agri-food sector to help lead that recovery and growth, and this project contributes to our progress."

Click here to watch the video: How vertical farms are using inner-city warehouses to grow and produce food locally (cbc.ca)