Chisasibi Community Greenhouse Project close to sprouting

If the necessary funding comes through, construction of the Chisasibi Community Greenhouse Project may start as early as next year.

According to project coordinator Diane Croteau, the greenhouse has been in discussion for the last six years. But it wasn’t until two years ago that a solid plan came together to seek funding for the project.

Croteau said the Victoriaville-based Centre of Social Innovation in Agriculture hired her to oversee the project. CSIA was mandated to conduct a feasibility study to ensure that the needs of the community were met while accommodating Chisasibi’s climate.

“We wanted to come up with something that is up to standard and where we could conduct research as this could be a model for the north and other communities,” said Croteau.

The project has seed money from the Cree Alliance for Solidarity, the Cree Social Economy Regional Table and the Eeyou Istchee Social Economy Fund. However, the estimated price tag has not been announced and full funding is not yet in place. This is what Croteau will now focus on.

Taking into consideration the realities of creating a greenhouse project this far north as well as the desires of the community, a first draft of the feasibility study has now completed and Croteau said the project is looking quite promising.

“We are pushing for energy efficiency. It’s something that may be implemented in other communities which may not have easy access to affordable energy,” said Croteau.

The project is being designed to use hydroelectric power and will recycle energy so that the greenhouse is as efficient as possible.

With this in mind however, Croteau said the project would likely only run 10 months out of the year; January and February may be too cold for the greenhouse to be fully operational. At the same time, she said this is yet to be set in stone as some of the educational projects that are planned for the project may actually run year-round.

Chisasibi isn’t the only Cree community with a greenhouse project. Unlike the off-grid mega greenhouse project in Whapmagoostui announced last November, Chisasibi’s only clients will be local.

Whapmagoostui’s biomass-powered greenhouses will not only be producing for the locals but will also sell to northern mining camps and other communities.

“One of our first priorities will be to provide the community’s institutions with fresh vegetables and this is something that the community is already responding to,” said Croteau. “We are going to grow vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers and romaine lettuce as well as some traditional herbs and medicinal plants for educational purposes. We wanted to add peppers, but growing them is really hard in a greenhouse.”

Croteau said the local hospital and daycares are priorities for fresh produce and that the goods would also be sold in the local stores. The goal is affordable pricing with the profits going back into the project.

A committee will be set up to assess the community’s needs and to ensure the community can manage on its own.

With this in mind, the project’s design will not be using the high-end type of technology used in the larger greenhouse projects, like the famed Lufa Farms’ rooftop facility in Montreal. Chisasibi rooftops are not able to support this technology, and if something were to break down, the community would not have the means to get it fixed.

Instead, what is being proposed is simple, durable and sustainable. Croteau said they are looking to train several individuals for part-time work at the facility so that there is always someone around who could manage the community’s crops.

“We want to make sure that this is accessible to the community and to do so is to make sure that there is a workforce for this. That is part of the next phase. There will be training down south as well as people who will come up to do on-site training. We need to train a bunch of people so we are not dependent on just one person,” said Croteau.

Besides the indoor greenhouse gardens, Croteau said the project is also looking at creating a collective garden outside of the greenhouse facility where local families could grow and harvest their own food.

While Chisasibi may not be known for agriculture, Croteau said it wouldn’t be a first as there was, at one time, a farm on Fort George and root vegetables have been known to grow quite well in the region.

Croteau said there is a lot of enthusiasm for the project since many locals are trying to eat healthier. Locally grown produce is key.

“The idea of having more independence with this has also taken off. People want fresh food as it has more nutrients,” said Croteau.

Another plan is to teach children about agriculture. To this end, the Quebec-based non-profit organization, Jeunes Pousse, held workshops for daycare children last November.

According to Croteau, the children got an up-close look at greenhouse-grown sunflowers to get an understanding of how plants are grown and what they taste like.

“We are going to do another activity with these kids this summer that is also parallel to the greenhouses by building small gardens in their yards,” Croteau noted. “This way the kids will get to tend to their gardens and learn from that.”

Once the greenhouses are completely built, they will be something that all of the schools will be able to use as teaching tools and have room dedicated to educational projects.

At this point, Croteau said staff would be hired to coordinate the project while she focuses on fundraising and developing a business plan. If all goes well, construction will start as early as next year.

In the meantime, there is a plan in place to begin composting this summer to stockpile ample fertilizer for the greenhouse.