Innovation in Hydroponics and Greenhouses to Support Sustainable Agriculture

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Agriculture is a vital economic driver in the Okanagan and Shuswap regions of British Columbia. This$450-million industry contributes thousands of jobs to the local economy with many companies, particularlysmall and medium sized enterprises, engaged in various forms of farming practices. As agriculture becomesincreasingly driven by technology and constrained by environmental concerns, farmers are faced with the needto grow more food in a cost-effective way without cultivating significantly more land. Farmers need help inovercoming the challenges involved in developing new and innovative technologies to increase productivityand make their operations more sustainable from an economic perspective. Our proposed applied researchinitiative consists of three projects in the field of agriculture that we wish to undertake initially in collaborationwith two regional companies to increase their business operations and make them more economically viable.Two of the projects involve research and development into technologies and methods to make year roundoperation of on-the-grid and off-the-grid greenhouses financially sustainable. This will help to reduce thenumber of existing on-the-grid greenhouses sitting dormant during colder months and also enable year-roundoff-the-grid greenhouse operation that is cost-effective from a business perspective. The third project involvesresearching and developing an automated control system to ensure efficient air and water management for anexisting mid-sized, vertical-rack hydroponic farm. These interrelated projects will help our industry partnersmake their businesses more economically sustainable and lead to commercialization and technology transferopportunities that will positively impact local agricultural production.