CAN: vertical grower announces new certified dealer with sales commitments

CubicFarm announced a new HydroGreen Certified Dealer with initial sales commitments valued at CAD$2.7 million. Total sales commitments to date from the HydroGreen Certified Dealer Network include over 98 modules in 2022, valued at over CAD$20.2 million.

The new dealer, HydroGreen CanWest, is a 50/50 joint venture between Bill Vanderkooi, MSc., founder of Nutriva and owner of Nutritech Solutions, a livestock technology company, and Ryan de Lange, owner of J&D Farmers Dairy Service, a supplier of dairy automation technology. HydroGreen CanWest signed a letter of intent to become a member of the HydroGreen Certified Dealer Network. In aggregate, HydroGreen CanWest has committed to an initial 18 HydroGreen Grow System modules under contract by the end of 2022.

An experienced dairy owner and operator, Bill Vanderkooi installed the first HydroGreen Grow System in Canada in 2018 and has since expanded to four systems at the EcoDairy in Abbotsford, British Columbia. “Installation and integration with HydroGreen were easy,” said Vanderkooi. “The EcoDairy feed supply is consistent and reliable, every day. Beef cattle finish better and earlier, and dairy cows perform better when fed HydroGreen feed.”

“Ongoing research trials are underway on the nutrition, health, and wellbeing of grass-fed beef and dairy cows,” said Vanderkooi. “We’re looking at replacing grain and/or forage in the dairy herd, analyzing milk yield, and overall animal health and performance. Things like reproductive performance on the dairy side have a lot of promise and ongoing trials are showing the difference between cows fed HydroGreen or not.”

“I’ve established trusted relationships with dairies by consistently identifying and delivering new technologies that maximize benefits to the farmers and their herds,” said Ryan de Lange, a third-generation dairy farmer with 20 years of experience as a DeLaval milking robot dealer. “We’re excited to bring the HydroGreen indoor growing technology to dairy farms to experience not just how much the cows love to eat it but also better nutritional, health, and animal performance. For many dairies, sourcing enough high-quality feed is an ongoing challenge. The HydroGreen Grow System provides farmers with land savings and dairies with improvements for close-up cows and peak milk production.”