Yukon hydroponic farming company ColdAcre shuts down

Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation first announced it had bought a majority stake in Whitehorse-based agricultural company ColdAcre Food Systems in January.

Just 10 months later, the company has closed.

Its last day of operation was Oct. 18, and staff will be dismantling and selling equipment until December. 

Sarah Frey is a communications consultant with the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation's development corporation (NNDDC).

She says financial pressures caused by the Eagle mine closure and the emergency mitigation efforts that followed make a project like ColdAcre less feasible.

"It's unfortunately a casualty of what is being called a huge environmental disaster," said Frey. "But NNDDC is also seeing the side of … this is a disaster economically for us and our community members."

On Oct. 23, the development corporation held a forum to support Mayo residents experiencing economic impacts in the wake of the mine shutting down.  

For CEO Tarek Bos, ColdAcre's closure has been "extremely sad." 

The company focused on making a business case for growing food in the subarctic, and often used a creative approach to tackle challenges.

"That was always my favourite part," Bos said. "Coming up with unique builds to solve problems… all the cool equipment that we devised on our own and figured out how to build." 

That could look like growing lettuce in old shipping containers or repurposing barrels to pasteurize oyster mushrooms. 

The company found success partnering with a number of First Nations governments and small northern communities interested in acquiring the tools to grow their own food. 

Bos said the Eagle mine situation hit during a transitional moment for the company as they tried to figure out ways to make the business more competitive with southern growers. 

"It does feel a little bit like swimming upstream when you're trying to pursue food production in northern Canada," he said. "I think if you spoke with any farmers, whether traditional or greenhouse farmers or anything, they would probably say the same thing."

Canada's three territories heavily depend on imported produce and pay high shipping costs.  

Over the past few years, Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation has made a series of investments to improve local access to food, running a farm, installing a communal commercial kitchen, and hiring a food systems researcher. 

Frey said that's still a priority.

"Often in a northern context, we talk about the idea of food security, which is basically having enough caloric intake," Frey said. "But NNDDC is really focused on expanding that to food sovereignty."

Sovereignty would look like giving the community a greater sense of control over what they eat and the ability to access culturally-relevant foods. 

Bos said he hopes the training, equipment and greenhouse operations ColdAcre helped distribute across the North will spark an appreciation for local agriculture long after the company is gone. 

"I'm very hopeful… I would love to see that."