Vertical farmers say they can play bigger role as Ontario farmland disappears. Critics aren't so sure

Lenny Louis says when people visit his vertical farming facility in Welland, Ont., they're often surprised by how much produce comes out of that one squat, two-storey building.

But inside, things look very different. Stacked rows of lettuce, arugula and basil grow 365 days a year, and, Louis says, the produce travels less than 200 kilometres to consumers. 

"We're using five per cent of the land of traditional farming," the CEO of Vision Greens said.

Vertical farming is defined as growing plants indoors in a stacked formation and a controlled environment  Vision Greens is equipped to grow 700,000 pounds of food a year and its produce is available to consume within 24 hours of harvesting. While Louis recognizes there are still some products that can't be grown in vertical farms, he believes it's a big part of the food industry's future.

"This is the evolution of farming," Louis told CBC News. 

"This is about food safety, food sustainability and food security, which is what we need as Canadians," he said, adding their crops are grown without pesticides and herbicides. They're also not genetically modified organisms, he says.

Data from the 2021 Census of Agriculture shows Ontario is losing 319 acres of farmland daily, equal to the loss of one average family farm. The province says it's encouraging municipalities to work with the Ontario government to identify and protect vital agricultural land. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is pushing for more protection of farmland, and says buildings can't replace the output and environmental benefits of conventional farms. But those running vertical farms say they could be part of the solution. 

Vertical farming isn't the only answer to all of our food needs, but it's a part of the puzzle, Shane Jones says.

"It's effective because not only can we take a small footprint of space and make it more productive than a single layer of farm, but also because we are able to control the environment to maximize the growth potential of any one plant," said Jones, the farm manager with The Barrett Centre of Innovation in Sustainable Urban Agriculture at Durham College in Oshawa, east of Toronto.

Jones says vertical farmers accomplish that by giving crops "the exact sunlight recipe, the exact nutrients, and bringing up the carbon dioxide to a point where plants can be super efficient."

He says costs and technology in the industry still have a way to go, but there are benefits to bringing farming back into urban spaces.

"Within a week period, we can turn out 700 heads of lettuce that go into our food production, our culinary program and food box programs," he said.

Derrik Stevenson, who runs a vertical farm facility in Oshawa called Mighty Harvest, says the pandemic put a spotlight on Canada's reliance on imported products.

"In the midst of COVID, there was obviously a lot challenges with supply chains," Stevenson said. He says he started Mighty Harvest to grow leafy greens closer to home.