Jul 28, 2022
Chad Kolesnik, co-founder and CEO of Sunspring Farms, hopes to establish a vertical farm at the historic Armour Block on 4th Street N.E. PHOTO BY GAVIN YOUNG /Postmedia
Editor’s Note: It’s great to see Agritecture’s former client taking this initiative to not only bring more local produce via urban farms to communities, but also to adapt inclusive hiring practices. If you’re looking to set up your own mission-driven commercial urban farm, here are 5 expert tips from farms that are successfully doing this.
CONTENT SOURCED FROM CALGARY HERALD
Written By: Brodie Thomas
A historic building on the southeast edge of Crescent Heights that started its life as a grocery store more than a century ago could soon be providing food to Calgarians in a very new way.
Sunspring Farms will be making its pitch to establish an urban vertical farm to members of Calgary city council on Wednesday. The business is applying for a one-time grant of up to $250,000 from the Council Innovation Fund.
Sunspring’s co-founder and CEO Chad Kolesnik said he’s hoping to partner with the city and local not-for-profit Fresh Routes to grow produce hydroponically at the Armour/Reliance Block on 4th Street N.E.
Kolesnik said the plan is to start small in an adjacent storage space on the Armour Block property, with the goal of expanding into the main Armour Block Building if the 18-month pilot is successful.
“The main focus for the pilot will be on growing leafy greens, microgreens and fresh herbs,” he said. “Eventually, when we expand, we’ll be trying to scale up what we currently will be growing into things like strawberries.”
Kolesnik said the innovation grant will give his company runway to operate for the 18-month pilot, and will unlock capital funding from the private sector for equipment.
Fresh Routes, an organization that creates pop-up mobile grocery stores, would benefit from the program by receiving a share of the produce at a major discount.
Lourdes Juan, founder of Fresh Routes, said her group’s goal of getting fresh and affordable produce to those who need it most is being impacted by inflation, so any help would be welcome.
She said Fresh Routes’ other goal is to provide local produce, and Sunspring’s plan would also help check that box.
“We want to be able to have Calgarians eat and have access to local produce, but those two things have been challenging in the past, and this partnership would really help fix those challenges,” she said.
Kolesnik said all Calgarians will be able to benefit if urban farming takes off and there’s more local produce grown here. He said the supply chain challenges brought about by the pandemic have shown the limits of Calgary’s food security.
“The more we’re able to grow here locally, we can help offset those costs back to Calgarians, instead of having to ship it in from California or Arizona, or even Mexico,” he said.
While Sunspring is a for-profit business, social responsibility is built into their business model. He said aside from getting low-cost produce to Fresh Routes, their goal also involves inclusive hiring, including those with cognitive and physical disabilities.
“We want to strive to reach a certain benchmark of our employees to be those within the underserved population,” he said.
City administration is throwing its support behind the plan, but it will be up to city council to give the final go-ahead. Council’s executive committee will hear the matter on Wednesday. If approved, it will likely go before city council’s next combined council meeting on July 26 for a final decision.
