The value of towers like these depends on how well their harvest meets the needs of the people they are intended to feed.
Canada’s new CEA funding could help communities long dependent on imports produce more food locally, but choosing the right investment requires looking beyond the growing equipment.
Near and within the Arctic Circle, fresh greens can be welcome without answering the larger question of what people will eat through a long winter. Extending the growing season for crops residents want and can store, together with better storage capacity, may accomplish more than trying to grow everything year-round.
Consider apples. We harvest them once a year, yet low-oxygen storage allows us to enjoy them for the next 11 months until the next harvest. Producing food every month and having locally grown food available every month are different objectives, with different costs.
Applicants to the CEA Growth Pathway Program should begin with the community’s food needs and evaluate production and storage together.
The availability of funding should change what a community can accomplish, not what it considers a sensible investment.