Going green the high-tech way: Nipissing First Nation studying production-scale greeenhouse idea.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: INDIGENOUS BUSINESS

Nipissing First Nation is exploring the idea of building a production-scale greenhouse in an effort to help provide food security for the community and the surrounding area.

In April, the community, located near North Bay along the shores of Lake Nipissing, received $40,000 from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. (NOHFC) to study the feasibility of a greenhouse that would grow produce throughout the year.

Mike Harney, Nipissing First Nation's economic development officer, said the study got underway in March and is expected to be complete by Christmas. He's confident the community will move ahead with the project.

"The study's not going to be a study such that we sit back and say, now, should we do it or should we not do it," Harney said, noting there are working examples of year-round greenhouses in cold climate communities in Alaska and at Churchill, Man.

It's not that it can't be done; it's being done and being done profitably. So what we're looking at is the best system for Nipissing First Nation, and that's what we'll do.

The study will be completed in four stages: community engagement and alignment with Nipissing First Nation's strategic plan; market demand for produce (both on reserve and for export within a 200-kilometre radius); labour supply requirement (greenhouse horticulturalists, building operations managers as well as sales and produce market strategists); greenhouse building design and operations and the availability of site specific resources and opportunities for systems integration; and economics and business case validation.

Inspiration for the greenhouse first struck while Harney was attending a conference of the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers (CANDO). Listening to a presentation by Jeff

Scharf of Greenhouses Canada--a Lively-based business that manufactures greenhouses--Harney started thinking about food security and the origins of most Canadian produce.

Shipping fruits and vegetables in from the U.S., South America or Mexico is less than ideal because of the large environmental footprint, he noted, and produce isn't always safe to eat when it arrives. He cited a May recall of U.S.-grown Romaine lettuce, which was found to be contaminated with the E. coli bacteria, making six Canadians sick.

Concerns about climate change also played a role in the decision.

"Where vegetables are being grown now cheaply, climate change may change that; some of these places may be either under water or...