High-tech, year-round sustainable farming comes to Cochrane, Alta.
A high-tech farm close to Cochrane, west of Calgary, is producing 1000’s of heads of lettuce, and different greens each week, even within the darkest and coldest days of winter.
Good Life Farms Inc. operates a vertical-wall hydroponic backyard inside two transport containers.
“We are growing everything from arugula to graziano leaf lettuce, KC butterhead lettuce (and) we are actually experimenting with some root vegetables as well,” mentioned Good Life Farms founder Chad Randal.
“We’ve grown turnips, radishes (and) we’re growing carrots as well. We’re just actually planting our first tomato crop. A lot of these items, we feel that there’s economic value in growing them.”
Before setting his sights on hyperlocal farming, Randal spent his profession within the oil patch working a profitable water conservation and remedy firm.
That expertise piqued his curiosity within the sea-can gardens, because the computer-operated system occupies just below 30 sq. metres (320 sq. ft) and makes use of simply 20 litres of water a day.
“They’re a completely self-contained system. Everything has been engineered and designed to stay in a smaller footprint, eight by 40 foot footprint. We can essentially move these wherever we want, so we can set these up in parking lots.
“We can function them on a smaller scale for smaller communities.”
Randal sees it as a way for communities to set up local container farms to help overcome food scarcity issues. He says container farms can be trucked into small communities and be up and running quickly, supplying enough ongoing fresh produce for a small town.
“Our imaginative and prescient is to determine contemporary produce for everybody or to make meals obtainable to the local people. We envision placing these services in all of the small cities all through Alberta, wherever alternatives current themselves.”
The container farms are also partly powered by rows of solar panels on their roof, which supply just under 50 per cent of the power even through the dark days of winter.
“We nonetheless pull off the grid as properly, however we’re utilizing inexperienced power off the grid,” said Randal.
“We’ve established ourselves as a microgeneration facility as properly, however the services basically take all of the all of the power that the solar energy, or the photo voltaic panel system can produce.”
Local chef Jason MacKenzie regularly stops by Good Life’s Cochrane facility to harvest fresh produce for meals he creates at a nearby retreat centre.
“It’s group supportive, it is improbable for the atmosphere,” said MacKenzie.
“I’m getting contemporary produce each day if I want it that hasn’t been shipped up from California.”
He says it’s an excellent source of fresh food, on any day of the year.
“If you went out into your backyard on July day and picked some contemporary lettuce, that is what you are getting (right here), however I can do that in December and January, February, March – yr spherical – and the standard is all the time there. The dietary worth is all the time there.”
Randal plans to promote his contemporary produce at native farmers’ markets, and has lately inked a deal to promote his produce at a neighborhood retail grocery in Cochrane.
Each seacan backyard prices roughly $200,000 to initially rise up and working. They have an anticipated lifespan of greater than 30 years.
Good Life Farms’ Cochrane-based facility is considered one of about 600 comparable techniques worldwide.
Randal sees his facility, partly, as a proof-of-concept for southern Alberta’s local weather, however says it has been so profitable, he has already set his eyes on increasing and opening one other seacan farm in a close-by southern Alberta group.
