The system can also grow radishes, fruits and berries. Eventually the station plans to experiment with growing root crops. "Practically speaking, these containers can yield up to two thousand kilograms of produce a year — the equivalent of one acre of traditional farming on a three to six week rotation," says Henry Penn, one of the managers of the Kluane Lake Research Station.
There's a new off-grid hydroponic food production facility established in Yukon and it's the first of it's kind in Western Canada. The Arctic Institute of North America's Kluane Lake Research Station, the body behind the facility, says it aims to host as many different types of new and innovative technologies, and to demonstrate those technologies in a northern, more remote environment.
It also tries to develop as much research platforms that make the station as sustainable as possible for the long term. Their off-grid food production facility project is hoped to do just that. Much like other containerized hydroponic food production systems, pretty much any type of leafy greens, herbs and smaller lettuces can be grown.
Penn says its annual yield highly depends on what is being grown. "If we want to grow things like root crops we'll have to change our configuration of the container. There will be a bit more space used up than if we were growing basil."
Part of this project is to understand what is the most economical and efficient way of growing produce in one of these systems that are also relevant to the people that are going to be consuming what comes out of it.
Read more at CBC (Chris Macintyre)