How one Sask. farmer grows tropical fruits in the middle of winter
Global News
While Saskatchewan is known for a being a province filled with farmland, there aren’t many farmers that can say they grow their own tropical foods.
While Saskatchewan is known for being a province filled with farmland, there aren’t many farmers that can say they grow their own tropical foods.
But for Dean Sopher, that is exactly what he set out to do.
The idea for a solar-powered greenhouse came as food prices soared due to inflation. Sopher said the greenhouse was just an extension of how he lives his life.
“I’m a builder by trade, but I’ve always been interested in passive solar technology,” the Saskatoon resident explained. “I built my house to use very little natural gas and air conditioning and I knew this concept would work for a greenhouse.
“I designed this specifically for our latitude on planet Earth. So, where we live, we get 319 sunny days a year, and I decided to utilize all that sun for producing as much as I possibly can.”
Now, Sopher is growing avocados, bananas, passionfruit, lemons, limes, eucalyptus and a number of tropical medicinal herbs.
“In this climate, we have created, we are able to grow things that can’t be grown in Saskatchewan,” Sopher said with a smile on his face.
The solar greenhouse sits at roughly 35 degrees Celsius throughout the winter.
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