‘Ripe with possibility’: Innovative agrotunnel effort bears fruit

Article content

By: Beatriz Baleeiro

LONDON, ONT. — It may sound like science fiction, but the goal couldn’t be more earthly: cheaper groceries.

Article content

Berries are being grown inside a unique tunnel north of London and if the system that utilizes solar energy, lights, heat pumps and water pumps works, it will cheat Canadian winters and climate change and undercut the price of imported fruits and vegetables, said Joshua Pearce, a Western University electrical engineering professor.

Article content

For the last year, the berries have been growing in a vertical indoor farm or “agrotunnel,” the first of its kind in Canada, that stretches the growing season year-round.

The agrotunnel was built by Food Security Structures Canada, a Métis-led company that provides sustainable produce-growing systems. The company says the structure can be based above ground or buried.

“This is not science fiction. It’s all real,” Pearce said. “The grand dream of this is attaching one (tunnel) to every grocery store. When you get your greens or berries, it would be picked that day.”

The Western-led project at the university’s Environmental Sciences Western Field Station on Wonderland Road near Ilderton combines solar panels on an outdoor farm with the indoor agrotunnel.

The tunnel uses agrovoltaics — a kind of a solar panel optimized for farming — to power the LED lights and water and heat pumps used to heat and cool the tunnel’s interior, reducing energy demand and costs.

“Anything can grow in the tunnel,” Pearce said.

A $1-million grant from the Homegrown Innovation Challenge — an initiative of the Weston Family Foundation aimed at developing farm production innovations — is paying the bills. Eleven teams are designing small-scale tests to be evaluated by judges in January 2025.

Article content

“What we’re really aiming at is for economically viable food security so that we can provide everyone in Canada and across the world with low-cost, nutritious food that can be locally grown,” Pearce said.

There are other benefits, too, he said. Berries grow faster in the tunnel than in regular greenhouses, and last longer than those grown elsewhere, without using pesticides.

Crops receive water with nutrients through pumps twice a day and sprout on the tunnel’s 2.4-metre walls.

In winter, the thermal bunker keeps the crops alive, with the solar-powered, energy-efficient LED lights doing most of the heating.

The technology is ready for prime time, but costs need to come down to convince farmers to invest.

“What solar does is (let) you know exactly what your electricity costs will be,” Pearce said. “They don’t escalate like (other) energy prices, because you essentially are buying your electricity up front with the panel.”

Advantages of tunnel growing include weekly harvests, year-round income, and eliminating risks, such as natural disasters and pests, that could affect crops.

“Every week in the agrotunnel, harvest season is upon us, and the future of Canadian farming is ripe with possibility,” Pearce said.