Sixty years ago, if you would have told farmers that one day, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers would be grown indoors, without soil, and grown all around the world, year round, they would have called you crazy. And along came greenhouses.
Fast forward to today, the technology now exists to grow another slice of the produce the world needs, 12 months a year, anywhere on earth, and more reliably than ever. Developed in Langley, patented globally, CubicFarms technology allows automated, commercial scale and virtually foolproof growing of hundreds of crops, using very little water, energy, labour and zero pesticides.
TEDxChilliwack 2018 took place on April 13, 2019 at G. W. Graham Theatre in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada.
“Our family is dedicated to protecting the prairie. We strive to work smarter on our ranch by applying our business and consulting expertise and focusing on ranch innovation and sustainability. With climate change, technology advances and decreasing natural resources, we know we must operate our ranch differently. With the HydroGreen system, we can now produce better, faster, and stronger for ourselves and the planet.”
“My family is originally from Holland, I grew up on a dairy farm, and I’ve been in the industry all my life. Talking with my parent’s friends who are immersed in the veggie industry, they recommended Iinvestigateoptions to produce lettuce in a sustainable way. I looked into the greenhouse and indoor vertical warehouse systems, but they could not meet my needs. I needed to minimize my risk, space and lower my labor costs.
“After a significant drought and taking over my family ranch, I was looking for a more cost-effective way to produce our fodder. I knew there were better producer options out there, but most of the systems had too much manual labour and seed obligations that were not cost-effective. The HydroGreen system’s value proposition was compelling. The fodder’s nutritive value is exceptional for our herd and the system is time-efficient. I run one piece of machinery for 35 mins a day when in the past, it would have taken me a few hours a day and three machines using traditional equipment. In our neck of the woods, one six-rack HydroGreen system is the equivalent to 320 acres of South Dakota prairie sitting inside a 60 x 40 building. It is essentially drought resistant ‘Land on a Stand’ which produces grass every day, in any weather, in less than an hour.”