When Trina Semenchuk started out in Manitoba's controlled environment agriculture sector, local resources were limited. She spent time and money attending conferences, travelling, and networking to build her knowledge of the industry. Four years on, the founder of Little Greenhouse That Could is working to bring some of that knowledge closer to home.
"Cormac Foster, who is the VP of Engineering at Vermillion Growers, and I are starting up a course called CEA Fundamentals at the Biosystems Engineering Department at the University of Manitoba," says Semenchuk. "We'll both be instructing the course and teaching students the fundamentals of controlled environment agriculture." The curriculum will cover system design, equipment selection, financial projections, feasibility, facility types, plant physiology, plant responses, and growth planning. For Semenchuk, the most important element is ensuring students understand the crop before the equipment around it.
"We will emphasise plant physiology and understanding how to get a plant to grow," she says. "I think that'll be really important to engineering students who want to pursue a career in controlled environment agriculture, because we've seen so many failures come from people starting up these companies without knowing how to grow crops and thinking about the plant last. Really, the plant needs to be thought of first."
Teaching CEA from the crop outward
Semenchuk says the course is designed to expose students to the practical and biological realities of CEA, not only its technology. She wants students to experience what it means to grow plants, diagnose problems, and understand the living system inside a facility.
"Getting engineering students, or students not in plant science, even in agribusiness, to just grow some plants in a greenhouse, I think that'll be a really good experience for them," she says. "Growing plants in general is so good for you. It teaches you patience. It's hard work. It can be frustrating, but it's also very good for problem-solving."
That problem-solving dimension is part of what makes hands-on growing a valuable training tool, she adds. "When you've got an issue with the plant, what is it? Is it nutrients, temperature, humidity, pests? It works a really unique set of skills."
The course was initially introduced during the summer term, when fewer students were enrolled, and is now expected to move to the fall intake. Semenchuk says the response from the university has been positive. "The director of the Biosystems Engineering Department is really excited about the course and getting it going," she says. "We've definitely received positive feedback, which I'm grateful for. They've been very supportive."
A growing network of growers
The university course sits alongside a broader shift in how Semenchuk works with people entering controlled environment agriculture. When Vertical Farm Daily last spoke with her, the conversation focused partly on 37 North Farms, a Manitoba family operation that worked with Little Greenhouse That Could to set up a small indoor farm without the high capital cost of a larger containerised system.
That project has continued, and it is now part of a wider network of growers with whom Semenchuk stays in regular contact. "37 North Farms, they're doing well," she says. "We have a couple of farmers who have done something similar, so now we've got a biweekly growers chat with them, just to keep in touch with all of our farmers and see how things are going."
More people are approaching Little Greenhouse That Could with interest in CEA, she says, but their questions are rarely only technical. Many need help understanding the business case, the operating model, and the path from interest to execution. "People do want to get into it, but there are just so many questions that they have, which is where we come in," she says. "We help with the business planning, the financial modeling, showing them what's possible, and what's being done elsewhere."
Semenchuk says the course and the grower network are part of the same effort: making CEA knowledge more accessible to the people who need it, whether they are engineering students in a classroom or small-scale growers figuring out their first season. "Honestly, it's great to connect with students," she says. "They're so eager to learn, and I'm happy to give them exposure to this field."
For more information:
Little Greenhouse That Could
Trina Semenchuk, Founder and CEO
[email protected]
www.littlegreenhousethatcould.ca
