A researcher from the University of Saskatchewan’s northern think tank says she doesn’t believe the status quo is good enough when it comes to food security in the province’s north.
About 100 experts from across the country are attending a conference on the subject in Saskatoon this week, and Heather Exner-Poirot of the International Centre for Northern Governance and Development is one of them.
She says greenhouses are a way of tackling things like diabetes and obesity, but they don’t happen without effort and someone championing the cause.
Exner-Poirot says the north has a hunter-gatherer culture that doesn’t immediately translate into the growth of vegetables — meaning there are barriers for the training of a workforce and finding people who are familiar with plants.
She also notes horticulture is a pursuit that requires some time.
Greenhouse construction is a hot topic, but so is energy efficiency.
Exner-Poirot says a group in Meadow Lake recently began churning out wood pellets for burning, a source of energy that is cheaper than oil or diesel:
“The biggest cost in your greenhouse in the north is the heating. And so, if you could use wood pellets, locally produced or close-to-locally-produced wood pellets, as your heating source, then in really starts to become much more feasible.”
She adds northern Saskatchewan’s vast supply of timber is a key reason why wood pellets make so much sense.