One of Quebec’s newest strawberry farms can be found, of all places, in the heart of Brossard’s industrial sector. In its windowless South Shore facility, Ferme D’Hiver can produce an estimated one ton of fresh strawberries within a six-week period during the winter months.
“We’re taking advantage of our natural resources,” Ferme D’Hiver CEO Yves Daoust said. “Farmers in one hand and cheap hydroelectricity in the other, all to produce something we could only find in the summer season: strawberries.”
The indoor space houses 3,000 strawberry plants. "The idea is not to go against nature but to really come closer to nature and have food production,” director of smart farming Kashif Riaz said.
While producing strawberries, the method generates little to zero waste and leaves no carbon footprint, Daoust said. Run completely on electricity, Daoust says this style of farming is more green and efficient. As an example, the heat generated from the lights is reused to heat adjacent greenhouses.
Read more at Global News (B. J. Haines)