Sunterra sold on greenhouses | The Western Producer

A company is demonstrating its faith in what it sees as Alberta’s bright future in high-tech greenhouse agriculture by launching a nearly $40-million facility to raise produce during the winter.

“Especially right now, it’s more relevant than ever,” said Amanda Hehr, president of Sunterra Greenhouse. “Food security is definitely on everyone’s mind. Climate change and its impact on our food supply, especially during the winter months, is very top of mind for a lot of people.”

The firm is part of the Sunterra Group, which is noted for the Sunterra Market grocery stores in Alberta. Its new 20-acre greenhouse facility near Acme northeast of Calgary will use computers to create special indoor micro-climates, carefully controlling everything from nutrients and humidity to lighting.

It aims to raise as much as a million pounds of tomatoes per month from September to the end of June. It will also grow 25,000 lb. of Dutch strawberries per month, “even when it might be minus 30 C outside,” said Hehr.

About 10 percent of the produce will be sold at each Sunterra Market, with the rest supplying everything from farmers markets to national grocery store chains in Alberta.

The company is weighing plans for a further three phases of greenhouses over the next five years, bringing the total to 80 acres. The first phase will create about 50 jobs, with the initiative employing up to 200 people when all four phases are completed, said Hehr.

Sunterra Greenhouse is also taking part in a research project with Lethbridge College to improve indoor growing techniques in Alberta. The province has only a few hundred acres of greenhouses compared to thousands of acres in Ontario, said Kenny Corscadden, associate vice-president of research at the college.

“There’s great potential if we can identify growing conditions, crops and of course make it economically viable… some have said we can do a thousand acres easily and still not meet local demand with the produce that will be produced in these greenhouses.”

The province’s Results Driven Agriculture Research fund has provided $783,205 toward the project. It will involve the Acme facilities and the college’s 60,000 sq. feet of greenhouses in Brooks, Alta., said RDAR research director Clinton Dobson.

“And so this project will leverage that capacity that Lethbridge College has to address the needs and questions and opportunities for greenhouse operations in Alberta.”

About 90 percent of the produce sold in Alberta during the winter is currently imported largely from California and Mexico, said Hehr. A historic long-term drought has hit both sides of the United States border, heightening concerns about Canadian food security at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed gaps in the supply chain, she said.

It has boosted a trend among Albertans who are willing to pay more for locally grown food, not only because it reduces carbon emissions by cutting distances for transportation, but also because consumers see such food as being fresher, better tasting and more nutritious.

Much of the foreign produce in the province’s grocery stores was harvested seven to 10 days earlier when it was only about 70 percent ripe, said Hehr. By contrast, the strawberries that will be grown at Acme and Brooks will be Dutch and Japanese varieties with a flavour that is “kind of otherworldly, like nothing you’ve ever tasted before,” she said.

“I couldn’t believe it myself. They look a little bit smaller in size than what you would typically see at the grocery store now, but they’re really red and they’re extremely sweet.”

Alberta’s greenhouse industry had about $118.8 million in sales in 2020, up from $55.7 million in 2016. However, provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia have traditionally led a sector that at the national level involves billions of dollars, leading Hehr to initially wonder what obstacles have been holding back Alberta.

Other parts of Canada have denser populations and are closer to large markets in the U.S., she said. However, Alberta has more hours of sunshine and land for greenhouses, as well as typically enjoying lower electricity and natural gas prices, she added.

Hehr said energy costs and the severity of the upcoming winter are among the biggest factors outside of her company’s control. Prices are expected to rise this winter due to factors such as the pandemic and supply shortages.

Sunterra Greenhouses is considering cutting costs by using co-generation involving natural gas or agricultural waste as part of future phases of its Acme project, she said.

“I believe that in the next five years, we could see tremendous growth… we have all the ingredients for success here, so it’s exciting to be a part of that.”