When the office building is also a farm: Mount Pearl company makes growing season last all year long
Green Farm N.L. operates out of a 2,000-square-foot office building
Not only is it possible to grow food all year long, but it's being done inside a Mount Pearl office building.
Green Farm N.L. runs a food growing operation that produces leafy greens, herbs and microgreens, no matter the season, from a home base in the Donovans industrial park.
"We're doing this in about 2,000 square feet of retrofitted office space," said founder Scott Neary.
Hydroponics — the method of growing plants in water rather than soil — has been Neary's solution to the lack of fresh greens in the province for most of the year.
The company serves around 250 households and dozens of restaurants in St. John's and the surrounding areas by delivery and subscription service.
"Basically, any plant that there's a demand for locally we can grow and we can grow it year-round with no drop in production," said Neary.
Neary says he has always felt the encroaching stress of food insecurity, having grown up on the island. Trouble finding fresh and healthy produce pushed him toward this agricultural path.
With roughly 90 per cent of Newfoundland and Labrador's food being imported, Green Farm N.L.'s mission is to fight food insecurity and change perceptions of the province's agricultural capabilities.
"When that food gets here, it's poor quality, already half expired and super expensive," Neary said. "It comes with a massive carbon footprint from trucking it all the way from California or further."
The words "Mount Pearl" and "hydroponics" may bring to mind the ill-fated Sprung greenhouse, which was built at great government expense in the late 1980s, and collapsed soon after.
But hydroponic producers have been raising all manner of produce for decades, and like Neary, it can be done modestly.
Neary said the benefits of growing locally figure in the produce's freshness, a lower carbon footprint and a better price for buyers.
Well-suited for hydroponic growing are microgreens and vegetables like broccoli, kale and cabbage, which are harvested at an early stage of growth. At their concentrated size, a small amount of microgreens goes a long way in terms of nutritional value.
"One ounce of broccoli microgreens has as much nutrition as 40 ounces of full-grown broccoli florets." Neary said.
Green Farm N.L. is looking for the opportunity to expand its operations in the future.
"The dream is something around a 10,000-square-foot open warehouse that we build from the ground up to be specifically designed for what we're doing," he said.
With that, Neary says, they can begin to expand their repertoire with produce like tomatoes, hot peppers and strawberries and reach more people around the province.
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