Take a small section out of NatureFresh Farms’ 130-acres of greenhouse growing space in Leamington, and put it on wheels. Add a pollinator showcase and a few tasteful information plaques, and you have the mobile Greenhouse Education Center.
Grocery shoppers at Zehrs Markets on Paisley Road got an intimate glimpse into how NatureFresh Farms grows its peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers on Tuesday, as the Greenhouse Education Center rolled in and parked in front of the store. Zehrs is one of NatureFresh's major retail partners.
Henry Furtado, the vegetable grower’s corporate chef, talked about the project. The mobile greenhouse, he said, is making stops across Canada and the United States to show consumers how greenhouse growing works.
Plants are rooted in a nutrient-rich bed of pulverized coconut fibre, he explained. The peppers grow quickly, straight up to a height of about 3.5 metres, fed by the husks and by good, clean potable water. The operation uses beneficial bugs for pest control.
“We’re trying to show the public exactly how we grow, so that it’s fully transparent,” Furtado said, adding that all the husk material and water is recycled. There is no discharge of any kind into the environment, and not contribution to the algae bloom problem in Lake Erie.
The company has a small organic bell pepper component in its Leamington operation, and plans to grow organic tomatoes next year.
NatureFresh is putting the finishing touches on a major expansion into the U.S., setting up what is expected to eventually become a 200-acre greenhouse operation south of the border. That will allow year-round production of produce.
The company has about 350 varieties of tomatoes undergoing growing trials, an effort to enhance the flavour and nutritional value of what it grows and supplies to grocery stores, Furtado added.
NatureFresh is also cultivating its own bumblebee ecosystem for pollination purposes. Furtado said bumblebees have 100 times the pollination capacity of honey bees. Visitors to the mobile greenhouse could watch the bees doing their work behind a plexiglass display.
Shoppers gathered around to inspect the curious looking growing apparatus in front of the grocery store, asking questions about the growing process.
