Innovative year-round vegetable producer wins Northern Food Security Challenge

Guelph ON, – A highly productive mixed vegetable farm from Cochrane has won the Northern Food Security Challenge on the strength of its innovative temperature mitigation technology. Grey Wolf Gardens receives a $10,000 cash prize for its cutting-edge carbon-neutral system that extends the growing season and can help provide northern Ontario with fresh, nutrient-dense food year-round.

“We consider it an incontrovertible truth that having access to abundant high-quality food is an essential component of maintaining good health. This temperature mitigation technology uses wood fibre – a locally abundant resource that is currently underutilized,” says Luke Dinan, owner and operator of Grey Wolf Gardens. “The results of implementing this solution are thriving rural landscapes, healthier Northern communities and dramatically improved food security in the North.”

The People’s Choice Award went to Northern Sustainable Farms from Killarney, an aquaponics facility that grows sustainable fish and vegetables for local communities 12 months of the year. They received a $5,000 cash prize.

Runners up were Ferme Agricole of Opasatika, a for-profit community food security project using hybrid-hydroponics to develop systems that grow early-season crops like strawberries and asparagus, and Lacroix Aquaponics of Thunder Bay, a producer of organic baby greens and fresh rainbow trout. Lacroix has recently received funding for an expansion of its operations from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. Runner up businesses receive $1,000 in in-kind services from Bioenterprise, Canada’s Food & Agri-Tech Engine.

“We congratulate the winners of the Northern Food Security Challenge and look forward to getting to know their businesses better in the coming months,” says Bioenterprise Canada CEO Dave Smardon. “Food security is a critical issue, and we are pleased to be able to support the development and commercialization of agri-food innovations that will help northern regions have a more secure and sustainable food supply.”

Judges included Glenn Laba, Manager of Applied Research, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northern College; Ian Lane, Executive Director of Northern Ontario Angels; Carole-Ann Nadeau, Director of Business Development for Northern Ontario with Farm Credit Canada; Kim Parker, President and CEO of Food Security Structures Canada; and Genevieve Sartor of New Grain Kitchen on Manitoulin Island.

The Challenge was powered by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor) and Bioenterprise Canada. Finalists participated in a virtual pitch competition hosted in partnership with Ingenuity, Lakehead University’s business incubator space.

The competition’s finale attracted an audience of curated professionals from the federal and provincial governments, academia, industry and investors from across Northern Ontario as well as representatives from other Northern regions in Canada like BC and Yukon whose work focuses on agri-food innovation and security for northern and remote communities.

This challenge was part of Bioenterprise’s Northern Ontario Program, which works to connect Northern Ontario start-ups and early-stage businesses with services and targeted resources across Ontario and Canada. Funding for the Northern Ontario Program is provided by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario.

Bioenterprise is Canada’s Food & Agri-Tech Engine, a national agri-technology focused commercialization accelerator. Bioenterprise uses its 20 years of industry experience and a global network of experts, mentors, funders, researchers, and industry partners to help small and medium-sized agri-food businesses connect, innovate and grow. Learn more.