BC imports more than 67% of its fruits and vegetables from the United States and more than half of that percentage comes from California.
As B.C.’s U.S. neighbours struggle through one of the worst droughts on record, reduced crop yields have put enormous pressure on B.C. food prices, driving up costs for broccoli, lettuce, strawberries and other crops that used to be locally grown but are now largely imported from south of the border.
The glaring problem turned into a light-bulb moment for Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Sustainable Community Development Certificate program and fourth-year business student Ethan O’Brien, who was inspired by the food-supply issue to come up with an award-winning business idea. O’Brien and his Living Garden Foods Corp. startup business recently won the SFU Opportunity Fest’s Vancity Grand Prize for social, sustainable and economic innovation.
“Combining plants and fish into one system is a good way to achieve this,” he said. “In our recirculating system the plants clean the nitrates out of the fish water, which means we do not need to replace the water in the system. This direct source of natural nitrates allows our plants to grow two to three times faster than crops grown in a field with traditional fertilizing methods.”
