ASET Technology Alberta Spring 2021 - 16

Updates to policy are another step needed for agtech to hit full stride in Western Canada. Image courtesy of Olds College.

results. This is made more compelling when comparing to
older response models in agriculture, where farmers would
need to wait the length of a cycle to figure out what worked
and what didn't.
Vertical farming's youth as an industry means that there
are some knots to untangle with energy usage and efficiency. Wright's team have managed to deal with these issues in multiple ways.

tion, really. Now, it's not that the meat itself takes up that
much land. It's that you need the grazing, and you need all
the land to feed these animals, " Wright says.
" In vertical farms, you can actually grow a lot of the crops
that are suitable for a lot of these types of critters, and you
need a fraction of the land and a fraction of the water to
do so. "

With lighting, for instance, instead of having large stationary
lamp fixtures, the NuLeaf system can adjust individual lights'
proximity to plants, and subsequently lower the intensity and
wattage. Flow rate of water from pumps is also highly flexible,
lowering energy costs on that front as well.

Even with new technologies bursting from the topsoil,
there's still the matter of dealing with issues of policy and
legislation. For greater Alberta, Smylie says a large process the agtech industry is working through now involves
cutting through the layers of permit, regulation and approval red tape.

Despite the potential to vastly inflate urban agriculture practices, vertical farming technology is by no means the traditional rural farming killer.

Despite the hiccups, there are institutions in place made
specifically to boost agricultural innovation in Alberta, by
influencing new policy.

" It's never going to grow all the food for everybody. It's just
not, " Wright says. " So like row crops, like what we traditionally
grow here in Alberta? Vertical farms, at least from where we
sit today, there's no way you could see how that's going to
scale properly to address those needs. "

Karen Spencer is the project coordinator at the Simpson
Centre, University of Calgary School of Public Policy. The
centre's goals revolve around connecting consumers with
where their food comes from, bridging the gap between
farm and table, as well as working with the government to
bring about needed policy changes.

That being said, there's a lot of weight that this style of
farming could take on, meaning more efficiency, and ultimately more sustainability in agriculture.
" 50 per cent of our usable land mass is dedicated to agriculture. And a huge part of that is dedicated to meat produc-

16 | SPRING 2021 | TECHNOLOGY ALBERTA

" At the end of the day, we want to be interacting with the
policy makers, which are typically those folks at the top of
industry and at the top of the government and/or within
government that are at the level where they can impact
policy, " Spencer explains.

ASET Technology Alberta Spring 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASET Technology Alberta Spring 2021