It ends a 75-year run as a frozen vegetable processor in the area, according to a social media post by Johnson Fresh Farms from Barnwell, one of the many fresh vegetable contractors to be affected, producing the sweet Taber corn the area is known for.

WHY IT MATTERS: Nortera plant closure in June leaves several southern Alberta producers scrambling to figure out what to put in their crop rotations with upcoming loss of contracts.

The affected 6,000 contracted acres in the southern Alberta produces 40 million pounds of frozen vegetables according to Johnson Fresh Farms.

“(It) is affecting several jobs and family farms including ours scrambling to figure out what we are going to grow to replace all those vegetable acres with,” said Johnson Fresh Farms in its post.

“That is why we are encouraging everyone to support your local farms and everyone that will be affected when the plant permanently closes. We have some ideas, but we’re gonna need your support, so stay tuned to find out.”

The news comes on the heels of Quebec-based Nortera buying in late October, the Green Giant and Le Sieur brands in Canada from New Jersey-based B&G Foods, and investing $28 million in its Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu plant. Nortera also announced the closure of its Saint-Césaire plant which was scheduled for late January 2026.

The move has been dubbed a “strategic restructuring of its Canadian frozen facilities” according to a company press release, in a market increasingly challenged by international imports.

Over the coming months, production volumes and certain equipment from the Lethbridge plant will be transferred to several of the company’s other frozen facilities.

“Closing a facility is never an easy decision, especially given the dedication of our Lethbridge team,” said Hugo Boisvert, CEO of Nortera in a press release.

“Current market pressures have made it essential for us to consolidate our operations. By optimizing our manufacturing footprint, we are securing the future and the competitiveness of Nortera.”

The transition will affect approximately 70 employees at the plant.

Nortera is North America’s leading processor of frozen and canned vegetables. It operates 13 plants in Canada and the U.S.

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“In response to a formal request from the Canadian Association of Vegetable Growers and Processors, the government has directed the Canadian International Trade Tribunal to conduct an inquiry,” federal finance minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a March 13 news release.

A statement via Ottawa government relations consulting firm Maple Leaf Strategies bills the association as “the voice of Canadian vegetable growers, harvesters, employees and processors from coast to coast to coast, working to protect and strengthen the sector from farm to consumer.”

The CITT will have 180 days to decide if imports of frozen and canned vegetables are harming or threatening to cause harm to domestic growers and processors. If so, it will propose remedies to the federal government.

It has also been asked to consider impacts to food affordability and security for Canadians, the news release said.

The CITT, in a separate release March 16, confirmed it has launched the inquiry as requested and will report back to Champagne by Sept. 9.

In its notice of inquiry, the CITT said anyone wanting to make submissions to the tribunal on this matter must file notice by April 2 of their intent to do so, and it will hold its hearing on the inquiry in Ottawa starting June 15.

In an order in council, the government said that it appears importation of increased quantities of vegetables is a result of obligations under the World Trade Organization Agreement and “unforeseen developments in global trade.”

These have led some WTO members to restrict imports of vegetables into their markets, which has led those goods to be diverted into Canada.

In 2024, 55 per cent of Canadian fruit and vegetable preserving and specialty food were imported, according to Farm Credit Canada’s 2025 food and beverage report. That category includes frozen and canned vegetables and fruit, pickling and drying.

The Canadian Association of Vegetable Growers and Processors, in its separate statement, described the government’s move as “an important first step,” saying the domestic frozen and canned vegetable sector “has been facing a sudden surge of low-priced imports that is disrupting the Canadian market. Temporary, rules-based safeguard measures will restore fair competition and allow Canadian growers and processors to compete on equal terms.”

Such measures, it said, “will help stabilize supply chains that retailers and consumers depend on.”

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Thursday announced an agreement with Mexico’s national service for agri-food health, safety and quality (SENASICA) to allow shipments to Mexico of Canadian potatoes for consumption or processing.

CFIA said it will “work closely with the potato sector in the coming months as next steps are implemented.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Almost 93 per cent of Canada’s fresh potato exports by dollar value in the 2024-25 marketing year were to the U.S. alone.

Canada’s potato exports to Mexico today are almost entirely in frozen potato products. According to Statistics Canada export data for 2024-25, Canada shipped about 55,526 tonnes of frozen potatoes, valued at about C$77.7 million, to Mexico.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA/FAS) says Canada that year held about a 34 per cent share of Mexico’s total imports of frozen potatoes, compared to a 52 per cent share for the U.S. and 14 per cent for Belgium.

Meanwhile, citing information from Trade Data Monitor (TDM), FAS says the U.S. has been “Mexico’s sole supplier of fresh potato imports” in recent years. In the 2023-24 marketing year, those imports came in at 204,165 tonnes.

The bulk of Mexico’s potato consumption is supplied by its domestic growers, who produced about 2.12 million tonnes in 2024.

A 2025 FAS report on the Mexican potato market said its consumers favour the domestically-grown Alpha potato variety, and “the dominance of domestically produced potatoes in the Mexican market, accounting for 91 per cent of domestic consumption, limits awareness of other potato options among Mexican households.”

FAS noted Mexico requires any fresh potato imports to be packaged in 20-pound bags or smaller, adding that Mexican consumers prefer to hand-select produce and buy relatively smaller quantities more frequently.

Imported fresh potatoes in Mexico, FAS said, today go primarily instead to “restaurants seeking to offer differentiated premium products to their customers.”

Mexico’s new move to allow Canadian fresh potatoes follows a trade mission last October by Canada’s federal agriculture minister Heath MacDonald, during which the two countries “agreed to enhance regulatory and technical co-operation” under a 2025-2028 action plan.

Those talks continued during another trade mission to Mexico last month, led by Dominic LeBlanc, minister for Canada-U.S. trade, CFIA said Thursday. MacDonald also took part in that mission, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

The 2025-2028 action plan called for the two countries to make progress on a sanitary and phytosanitary work plan to improve market access for agricultural products for both countries’ consumers and processors, and on mutual recognition of electronic certification for plant, animal, aquaculture and fishing products.

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The report was full of predictions that came true, as well as a few surprises. This year’s report was the 16th annual.

Food prices were driven higher in 2025 by meat, said Sylvain Charlebois, the lead of Canada’s Food Price Report. Charlebois is the Director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. He leads Canada’s Food Price Report, but the report was developed by a collective of scholars.

“In fact, we claimed last year that meat would be driving food inflation, and we underestimated how significantly meat prices would go up. That was really the big story in 2025,” he said.

Meat prices to stay high

Unfortunately, the group expects meat prices will remain a huge factor for 2026.

“Beef is an issue, of course, it’s been an issue for a while now, and we don’t see how the situation will normalize itself before at least mid-year 2027,” he said. “Ranchers are leaving the industry. It’s difficult for ranchers across North America.”

The high prices of beef are encouraging people to change to other types of meat, like chicken.

“We’re short on chicken because of higher beef prices. The situation with beef is really a major issue for meat counter economics in general,” he said.

Chicken raised in Canada is under supply management.

“Supply shouldn’t be a problem, but it is a problem right now, because we’re importing more chicken from abroad. But I don’t think that is going to last. I do think the chicken industry will recover eventually. It’s kind of awkward to have supply management and import more chicken from the United States right now,” he said.

Fruit and vegetable inflation down

Vegetables and fruits had their inflation rates go down in 2025 compared to 2024.

“We were expecting increases to be in the positive, but the increases didn’t accelerate as much as we expected,” he said.

The group thought the “Buy Canadian” movement and the entire American boycott would put a lot of pressure on grocers to source products that are cheaper or the same price in America.

“But we were spared, and I think that’s due to the Canadian dollar. I think the Canadian dollar remained a non-issue. That came as a surprise, I would say,” said Charlebois.

Food affordability is a top concern for consumers. A quarter of Canadian households are considered food insecure, and nearly 2.2 million people visited food banks in Canada monthly this year.

Charlebois said there are numerous factors that affect food prices including geopolitics, global weather events, policy enactment, consumer behaviour and changes in retail models. Energy costs, climate change, interest rates, labour costs, the level of consolidation in a sector, and consumer demand, including whether consumers have more money or less money to spend on food.

“These are the things that impact food prices over time. But the bottom line is that not one node of the growth of the food supply chain totally controls food prices,” he said.

Trade wars affect food prices

In 2025, food prices were affected by the trade dispute between Canada and the United States and subsequent policy changes. Consumer-led movements also altered the economic retail landscape, impacting food price inflation.

Charlebois said farmers would say there’s a weak correlation between protein prices, and retail prices, and they’re correct to say so.

“So even though there is a weak correlation between the two, production does have an impact on how food is sourced to supply grocery stores in general,” he said.

When people spend more money at the grocery store, the farmer gets a bigger proportion of the farm bill. With retail, 13 to 15 per cent of the money spent at the grocery store goes back to the farmer compared to food service, where about four per cent to five percent goes back to the farmer from food service.

“Right now, there is a strong movement towards staying retail for consumers, because they’re trying to save as much money as possible, and they’re avoiding restaurants, so that could actually be a positive for farmers in general,” said Charlebois.

Temporary foreign workers

Temporary foreign workers are widely used along the food supply chain. In 2024, Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program brought in over 78,000 workers into the agricultural industry. The Canadian government is revisiting its immigration policy and has announced plans to reduce the share of temporary residents in Canada to less than five per cent of the population by 2027, to encourage more domestic labour and improve youth employment rates. Agriculture is exempt from this cap.

The current population of temporary foreign workers is at seven per cent.

There are concerns that shifts with temporary workers could lead to a major labour shortage in agriculture, disrupting the supply chain and costing businesses already operate on tight margins. The costs would be passed down to the consumer.

Charlebois said the research team is concerned about the temporary foreign worker problem.

“It’s a very important program to support our farmers,” he said. The information about temporary foreign workers was added to Canada’s Food Price Report, to send a clear signal to government that the temporary foreign worker program in agriculture should not be compromised, he said.

Food bill to rise “a lot”

The report also contains predictions for 2026.

“We’re expecting the average family (of four) to see their food bill increased by $1,000, so we’re expecting an increase of four to six per cent, so that’s a lot. I believe it’s the highest we’ve ever seen in 16 years. That’s going to be pushed by two categories; meat and the centre of the store. That’s pantry goods and dry goods. This is not going to help consumers,” he said.

“We think it’s going to push inflation higher,” he said.

The ongoing trade dispute with the United States will continue to affect prices next year. The inflationary aspects of the tariffs and counter-tariffs will continue in 2026 as trade tensions reshape the economic landscape. Canada is strengthening its relationships with other international trading partners to build resilience and competitiveness.

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“Big Marble Farms is a great example of what makes this region special,” said Justin Wright, MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat, during a press conference at Big Marble Farms on Sept. 2. “This is the type of project that creates jobs, fosters growth and drives innovation.”

Big Marble Farms is a major player in the greenhouse industry. The farm is home to more than 496,000 cucumber plants, 385,000 tomato plants and 47,000 grow lights.

The operation is a family-run greenhouse that has grown fresh vegetables for Albertans all year round for more than three decades.

“You support jobs, feed our communities and keep our economy growing and strong. You’re a leader in sustainable farming the sweetest pepper varieties in Canada. And today we’re celebrating another big step forward,” said Rebecca Schulz, minister of environment and protected areas.

With the funding, Big Marble Farms is installing 5,000 new grow lights this fall. Since they will be able to grow more vegetables faster, and at a lower cost, more fresh local produce will be delivered to Alberta’s grocery shelves, said Schulz.

“It also means nearly $2 million in savings on energy bills, and a smaller environmental footprint, and fewer emissions. This is good news for our environment. It’s great news for our economy, and it’s good news for every single Albertan,” she said.

High energy costs are putting pressure on greenhouse operators, and when they struggle, our food supply does too, said Schulz.

By investing in technology, Albertans will have a stronger, more reliable food system, she said.

“We’re lowering costs, boosting production and keeping Alberta at the forefront of innovation,” she said. “The new lighting system will be up and running by November. That is fast.”

Luka Jungen, the director of energy efficient programming with the ERA, said it has had the pleasure of working with Big Marble Farms over the years, not just with the current grow light project, but with other projects through the Energy Saving Services Program.

“Improving the efficiency of Alberta’s industrial and manufacturing processes and facilities is the quickest, most cost-effective way to lower your energy bills, and stay competitive. Low hanging fruit, if you will,” he said.

Reducing emissions takes knowledge, expertise, training and capital, said Jungen.

“This $60 million program targets key industries in Alberta; agriculture, forestry, mining, utilities, construction, manufacturing, transportation and many more,” he said.

Eligible facilities can access up to $50,000 for energy audits, up to $250,000 to implement energy management information systems, up to $100,000 to participate in strategic energy management training, and up to $1 million to invest in energy efficient retrofit projects.

“At its core, this program is about setting up Alberta’s industrial and manufacturing facilities for long term energy management success, building stronger in-house expertise and dealing with ongoing cost of energy savings,” he said.

The program, known as Strategic Energy Management for Industry (SEMI), was launched 11 months ago, and has been a huge success, with over $13 million allocated in program funding.

“At this current pace and with this high demand, the program will likely be subscribed before the anticipated end date of March 2027,” he said.

The SEMI program is expected to deliver over $150 million in economic activity, and over 1,250 jobs, directly and indirectly.

There will be up to $100 million of energy expenditure reduction, and 24 million tonnes of lifetime emissions reductions from capital project implementation, he said.

“Big Marble Farms is one of 200 expected facilities participating in SEMI. This program is a real success story in the province,” he said.

Ryan Cramer, CEO of Big Marble Farms, thanked the ERA, SEMI and the government of Alberta for the grant.

“Your support means so much to us at Big Marble Farms, and it shows real commitment to innovation and sustainability in agriculture,” he said.

“Now, for those of you that might not know what it takes to grow year round here in southern Alberta, we start by adding light and extending our day as early as September, and then we slowly stretch the day until the cucumbers are getting 20 hours of light, and our tomato plants are getting 18 hours of light,” he said.

“I always find it interesting that even with all the lights on, the intensity can’t match what we’re seeing right now on this hazy, smoky September day, and this is why we make up for it with longer days. This funding is helping us to take a big step forward,” he said.

The new lights that will be installed are LED fixtures that put out twice the light of the current ones with the same electricity input.

Cramer said the total light levels will be boosted by 50 per cent.

“We’ve done a two-and-a-half-acre trial over the past year, and we’ve already proven that this leads up to a 15 per cent increase in production. That means more food with the same footprint. This will be a $5 million project overall, and we’re excited and proud to be investing $3 million of our own funds alongside this grant. That’s how much we believe in this technology and in its future for farming. If we applied this across all our lit acreage, it would be like expanding 70 acres to 80 acres of greenhouse production area without using up more land or building more greenhouses. This is a sustainability success story; more lighting, greater efficiency and more food for Western Canada,” he said.

The premier of Alberta was also in attendance.

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There’s three kinds of onions, five types of peppers, three kinds of squash, watermelon, zucchini, green and yellow beans, beets, potatoes, strawberries, cabbage and carrots.

However, what it all comes down to is the crop for which the region has a Canada-wide reputation — corn.

Taber has been dubbed the Corn Capital of Canada due to its optimal growing conditions for the crop, which is sold in the area from early July to mid-September, depending on the growing season.

“It seems like we have the perfect setting to have corn. We have the right amount of heat units (sunshine) for sweet corn and cool nights. It’s the cool nights that pack the sugars in,” James Molnar said during a recent Farm to Table tour in southern Alberta.

“That’s why we always get in these competitions with Ontario and B.C., who’s got the best corn?”

Molnar, who grows up to 14 different varieties of corn, started growing the vegetable on a half acre of land two decades ago with a friend when seed cost $250 to $300 a bag. Discussions at the coffee table led to seeking out alternatives because grain was not selling for much at the time.

“I said, ‘geez, I don’t know anything about corn.’ I didn’t have any row crop equipment or anything because I wasn’t in sugar beets back then. But he convinced me. We bought one bag of seed, which we shared,” said Molnar.

Seed prices have since ballooned to around $1,750 a bag.

Those humble beginnings, which featured spray-painted signs on the side of the road for marketing, has now led to 80 acres of sweet crop.

Molnar Farms still hand picks its corn, with the same group of seasonal Mexican workers coming in every year.

“We did have a picker at one time, but it does so much damage to the corn. I just don’t like … the way it does things. So we decided to park it and just hand pick,” said Molnar, adding the corn is grown under plastic using a machine specially made from Ireland that plants the seed and puts down a herbicide for weed control.

“It’s basically a mini-greenhouse that we’re putting on top of that corn, lays the plastic and puts the dirt on the sides. That gives us about a five to seven day advantage to get going a little bit earlier because everybody seems to want to have corn as early as possible.”

Those early varieties include Molnar’s Sweetness, which produces smaller cobs and grows about three-and-a-half feet tall.

However, those with patience can wait for a Molnar mid-season variety such as Kick Off.

When seeing the difference in size, the occassional customer will complain about the size of the cob in the early variety, but it is simply answering the demand for corn as early as possible.

“If we didn’t grow that variety, unfortunately, everyone would have to wait for another 10 to 14 days to get a taste of corn. That’s why we grow it. I always tell people, don’t buy corn to freeze until we’re probably three-quarters of the way through August because that’s when the best corn will come on,” said Molnar.

“The cooler the nights get, the more sugars that move into it. When you buy your corn, as quick as you can get into a refrigerator, the better, because soon as we pick it, the sugars will start turning to starches, and that’s where it’ll start to get blander by the day.”

Timing is everything to unlock the true sweetness of the corn.

Molnar encourages people to cook it as soon as possible after purchase.

He admits he’s spoiled from cooking corn mere minutes after it is picked, and says with a laugh that when he brings corn to his in-laws in Fernie, B.C., he doesn’t like it compared to the flavour of corn cooked almost right off the plant.

“You can’t get any better than that.”

The corn is sold at stands across the region, while others buy it straight from the yard and take it to other locations.

Beyond the occassional grower who dabbles in the crop, Molnar and Johnson Fresh Farms are the main growers.

There is no local corn growers association, but the farms use certificates so buyers across Canada know it is authentically grown in the area.

Molnar’s certificate has his farm’s land location and phone number and is signed by Molnar and his wife.

He also encourages people to search online for the name on their bag of corn for verification. Regardless, Molnar wants as many people as possible to enjoy the summer treat, regardless where it comes from.

“I always tell people, if you buy something from somewhere and you like it, go back and buy some more. Just because I grow Taber corn, yeah, I want to tell you all that it’s the best corn in the world, which I think it is. But that’s not to say that if somebody brings some corn over from B.C. or somewhere, they put a lot of time and effort into it. If it tastes great, go buy some more of it because it’s great to support local people.”

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Nielsen’s experience in public policy, trade and global development spans two decades and includes positions with Export Development Canada, food aid non-profit Nutrition International and Global Affairs Canada.

Nielsen, in the newly-created role, will lead policy development and research initiatives and engage governments and other stakeholders on the interests of the Canadian fruit and vegetable sector.

Nielsen’s “talent for forging strategic partnerships, will be pivotal as FVGC intensifies its efforts to deliver results for Canadian growers” said Fruit and Vegetable Growers executive director Massimo Bergamini in a news release.

“As the voice of Canadian fruit and vegetable growers, FVGC must ensure their priorities and concerns are heard and acted on,” said Bergamini.

After assuming the role mid-August, Nielsen will reach out to FVGC members to gain more insight into the sector.

“I’m excited to work alongside such a dedicated team to advance policies that strengthen the sector and ensure Canadians continue to have access to healthy, sustainable food,” Nielsen said in the release.

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A new analysis of 450 genomes from cultivated potatoes and 56 genomes of wild potato species has revealed that the potato lineage originated through natural interbreeding between a wild tomato plant and a potato-like species in South America about 9 million years ago.

This hybridization event led to the appearance of the nascent potato plant’s tuber, an enlarged structure housing nutrients underground, according to the researchers, who also identified two crucial genes involved in tuber formation. Whereas in a tomato plant the edible part is the fruit, in the potato plant it is the tuber.

“Potatoes are truly one of humanity’s most remarkable food staples, combining extraordinary versatility, nutritional value and cultural ubiquity in ways few crops can match,” said Sanwen Huang, a genome biologist and plant breeder at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and senior author of the study published on Friday in the journal Cell.

“People eat potatoes using virtually every cooking method – baking, roasting, boiling, steaming and frying. Despite being stereotyped as carbohydrates, potatoes offer vitamin C, potassium, fiber and resistant starch, and are naturally gluten-free, low-fat and satiating – a nutrient-dense calorie source,” Huang added.

Resistant starch is a type of carbohydrate that resists digestion in the small intestine and ferments in the large intestine, feeding beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Etuberosum to Solanum tuberosum

The modern-day potato plant’s scientific name is Solanum tuberosum. Its two parents identified in the study were plants that were the ancestors of a potato-like species now found in Peru named Etuberosum, which closely resembles the potato plant but lacks a tuber, and the tomato plant.

These two plants themselves shared a common ancestor that lived about 14 million years ago, and were able to naturally interbreed when the fortuitous hybridization event occurred five million years after they had diverged from each other.

“This event led to a reshuffling of genes such that the new lineage produced tubers, allowing these plants to expand into the newly created cold, dry habitats in the rising Andes mountain chain,” said botanist Sandra Knapp of the Natural History Museum in London, a co-author of the study.

This hybridization event coincided with the rapid uplift of the Andes. With a tuber, the potato plant was able to adapt to the changing regional environment and thrive in the harsh conditions of the mountains.

“Tubers can store nutrients for cold adaptation, and enable asexual reproduction to meet the challenge of the reduced fertility in cold conditions. These allowed the plant to survive and rapidly expand,” Huang said.

Study may improve potato breeding

The study’s findings, according to the researchers, may help guide improved cultivated potato breeding to address environmental challenges that crops presently face due to factors such as climate change.

There currently are roughly 5,000 potato varieties. The potato is the world’s third most important food crop, after rice and wheat, for human consumption, according to the Peru-based International Potato Center research organization. China is the world’s leading potato producer.

“It always is hard to remove all the deleterious mutations in potato genomes in breeding, and this study opens a new door to make a potato free of deleterious mutations using the tomato as the chassis of synthetic biology,” Huang said.

The study also may open the door to generate a new crop species that could produce tomato fruit above ground and potato tubers below ground, according to Zhiyang Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

The potato and tomato are members of the nightshade family of flowering plants that also includes tobacco and peppers, among others. The study did not investigate the evolutionary origins of other tuberous root crops that originated in South America such as the sweet potato and yuca, which are members of different families of flowering plants.

While the parts of the tomato and potato plants that people eat are quite different, the plants themselves are very similar.

“We use different parts of these two species, fruits in tomatoes and tubers in potatoes,” Knapp said. “If you look at the flowers or leaves, these are very similar. And if you are lucky enough to let your potato plant produce fruits, they look just like little green tomatoes. But don’t eat them. They are not very nice.”

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“We are growing hydroponic lettuce entirely with fog water in the driest desert on the planet,” Orlando Rojas, president of the Atacama Fog Catchers Association, told Reuters near Chanaral in the Atacama, where some areas do not see rainfall for years.

“We have had other crops that have not yielded results, which is why we have tended towards doing lettuce.”

Researchers at the UC Atacama Desert Center are launching an open-access web mapping platform to show the location of the areas with potential for fog-water harvesting in the country, trying to open up these arid areas for cultivation.

“We know its potential and we know it can be an option and a solution for different scales of water needs in different territories where there is significant water scarcity,” said Camilo Del Rio, director of the UC Atacama Desert Center.

Amid barren rocky hills and dry, white sand, the system works by using a mesh suspended between two poles that intercepts the small amount of moisture in the air, turning it into droplets that are collected and stored in water tanks.

“We are able to collect 1,000 to 1,400 liters of water in these inhospitable places, where we are clearly not favored by nature in other ways,” said Rojas in a region where lemon trees were also growing from the collected water.

“We have the potential for life, which is this water resource. Once we learned about this project, we haven’t stopped because it is vital for human subsistence.”

Mario Segovia, also from the fog-catching group, said that the water collected from moisture in the air was pure.

“The harvest doesn’t look bad, it’s a super healthy food, pure nutrients that are organic,” he said. “They’re in a state of water with nutrients, because this fog-catcher water is completely neutral, it has no minerals, no chlorine, nothing.”

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Exports of greenhouse-grown cucumbers also equal or exceed imports.

“Canada continues to rely heavily in imported fruits and vegetables, especially during its long winters,” wrote FCC senior economist Amanda Norris in a May 28 report.

“Different types of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) are gaining momentum to overcome this problem.”

While greenhouses are the most recognized form of controlled environment agriculture, the category also includes insect farming, aquaculture, lab-grown meat, and vertical farming, Norris added.

Opportunities

Due to their extended growing season and ability to stack crops vertically to reduce footprint, greenhouse-grown crops tend to yield more per acre than the same fruits and vegetables grown outdoors.

Canadian greenhouses can typically operate for nine months out of the year.

“The advantage is striking, ranging from five times more pounds per acre for tomatoes to an impressive 30 times more for herbs,” said Norris.

Along with growth in peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes, greenhouse-grown strawberries have also gained ground in Canada. Production went from neglible in 2020 to 16.5 million pounds in 2024.

Canada has also added 70 new operations and 19 per cent more greenhouse area since 2013 outside of Ontario, the hotspot for greenhouse ag.

Lettuce, herbs and strawberries represent areas for further expansion.

“To realize this opportunity, Canada must invest in practices to boost productivity through labour and resource saving technologies, research and development for new crops, and explore ways to bring CEA to more regions,” Norris wrote.

Downsides

Most fruits and vegetables Canadians eat come from outdoor farms or imports because many crops aren’t suited to indoor environments. Potatoes, for instance, require deep, loose soil.

Controlled environment agriculture—like much of agriculture—requires a lot of capital to set up due to the many systems and technology involved.

Operating expenses are also rising—up six per cent annually on average over the last decade. Sales rose by 6.4 per cent over the same period, which kept margins a bit above break-even.

Greenhouse agriculture also faces a labour crunch. The number of workers under age 60 has shrunk an average of eight per cent annually for the past five years.

Greenhouses also find themselves competing for limited municipal infrastructure like energy, water and waste services. This makes building or expanding more challenging.

“Investment and the adoption of technology will be crucial to overcoming high operational costs, address labour and infrastructure constraints, and allow the sector to reach its full potential,” Norris said.

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