By Jeff Carter

I’ve been following the greenhouse vegetable industry for years, from the time most space under glass and poly was located in and around Leamington. There were around 500 acres of grow space back then, compared to roughly 4,000 today (not including cannabis).
    I’ve always had a great deal of respect for the growers, though there was one occasion when I managed annoy one of the larger industry participants.
    That occurred during a tour of his facility just north of Leamington. I arrived to the site with my ’75 Chevrolet, the kind of vehicle which fills with dust when traversing a dry gravel road.
    The grower, perhaps looking to impress me, drove me around to the other end of the operation with his European sports car. During the ride I foolishly observed that the greenhouse industry had become industrialized with operations essentially being agricultural factories rather than family farms.
    He and the fellow with him walked ahead and closed the door behind them. To my chagrin, I found it locked and so had to make the trip back to my car by foot.
    Change may be coming to the industry, as evidenced by the spectacular bankruptcy of one of North America’s mega greenhouse marketing operations earlier this year. The Leamington-based business with assets in the United States had liabilities totaling $188 million but assets of only $3.5 million, not including property and other equipment, according to news reports.
    Back in 2021, the federal government saw fit to offer more than a million dollars in aid to the company, according to a Windsor Star report, which suggests the financial problems were not purely internal but connected to wider issues facing the industry.
    Apart from the question of labour, there appears to be two big challenges for the greenhouse industry.
    One, according to the now retired executive director of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, Joe Sbrocchi, is that prices at the retail level have not risen to reflect the higher costs faced by growers.
    The second is related — the higher energy-related costs for growing all those tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other vegetables Canadian consumers have grown to expect at an affordable price throughout the year. The price of natural gas, fertilizers and electricity have risen to unprecedented levels.
    It’s not just in North America. There have been similar reports of energy-related setbacks in Holland going back to at least 2019. Among the most recent is the closure of vegetable and ornamental producer Plantise, putting 400 people out of work.
    A Reuters release last fall notes that 40 per cent of the members of Glastuinbouw Nederland, the organization representing 75 per cent of greenhouse horticultural crops in Holland, reported being in financial distress.
    I’ve long maintained, though I’ve largely kept the opinion to myself until now, that industrial greenhouse vegetable production is a poor way to produce the nutritional requirements of the population in terms of energy efficiency and its contribution to climate change. Not only are fossil fuels central to greenhouse food production, they’re burnt to transport that food hither and thither across the North American landscape.
    Yet media reports in Canada tout indoor production as a panacea for food security issues related to climate change. Even some members of agricultural academia have added level of credence to this notion, notably nationally-recognized food guru Sylvan Charlebois with Dalhousie University.
    Yet the idea that greenhouses represent a pathway to food security is akin to the idea more air-conditioning units will resolve climate change.
    The greenhouse industry has reached a pinnacle in terms of size and scope but will it keep growing? Unless the underlying fundamentals change and a new affordable source of energy is developed, a more likely scenario is gradual decline. It will be smaller, certainly, and perhaps more focused in the area of seasonal extension rather than year-round production.
    There are alternatives to greenhouses for fresh produce. Imports are an obvious candidate but so too is a more traditional food system in which food is accumulated as the growing season progresses and stored for later use until the return of the spring season. It’s an approach that could conceivably be combined with a more limited amount of greenhouse production – especially in locations where it makes greatest sense.
    In our household, a certain amount of greenhouse produce is on the menu, and we occasionally purchase imported greens, such as spinach. However, as gardeners or micro-farmers, we’ve been able to stretch our food dollar by both preserving what we grow ourselves and purchasing, in the fall, vegetables like cabbage and squash for long-term storage.
    I’ve also had success with in-ground storage of vegetables.
    I’ve been growing Egyptian or walking onions, the underground portion of which can be consumed over the winter months or in early spring as long as the ground is not frozen. They’re similar to green onions purchased at the grocery store though far less convenient in terms of preparation.
    I’ve also had luck for the first time with parsnips, managing to grow several jumbo specimens for long-term inground storage, the last of which yielded five cups once a peeled and diced.
    Looking out to the garden today, I see our chives have emerged and the sorrel, a lemony-flavoured green, will not be far behind. ◊