The 2020/21 school year is the third year The University of Ottawa has grown greens right on campus.
The University uses a Growcer unit to grow greens for its dining hall and catering services. During a normal school year, uOttawa is able to easily consume 100 percent of what’s produced from a Growcer unit with 8,000 students passing through its dining services each day.
They only grows Monte Carlo romaine, because it’s a green that holds up well after multiple washes and has a good shelf life. Maryann Moffitt, dietitian and food liaison officer at the University of Ottawa, says she’s still learning and experimenting with what varieties work because there’s so many to choose from.
“If it’s fresh, it’s got crisp, some nice colour, people like it,” Moffitt says. During the COVID-19 outbreak when the dining hall shut down, uOttawa donated its surplus harvest to Shepherds of Good Hope, a homeless service in Ottawa, throughout the summer.
Moffitt says adding a unit on campus was more than adding a supply of local greens for the dining hall.
Co-founders Alida Burke and Corey Ellis appearing on Dragon’s Den.
“It’s also supporting The Growcer team, and giving them another location and place to learn. We were happy to let them experiment with us and it fulfills our mandate of supporting our students and supporting research,” Moffitt shares.
Read the complete article at www.thegrower.ca.