Growing Berries Year Round – GROZINE

Guelph researchers aim to grow local berries year-round: Jasmine Mangalaseril

Prof. Youbin Zheng and team are finalists in the Homegrown Innovation Challenge

Growing Berries Year Round | Jasmine Mangalaseril |

In January, when snow blankets the ground and the sun disappears for 15 hours (or more), fresh, local summer strawberries can seem like a dream.

Thanks to a partnership between the University of Guelph and Agriculture and Agrifood Canada, that dream might be one step closer to reality.

“Our project is focusing on developing technologies to be able to produce strawberries year-round in Canadian greenhouses, and enable high-quality, high-yield strawberries at an affordable price,” said horticulture professor and project lead, Youbin Zheng.

Their hybrid greenhouse and vertical farming system is one of four finalists in the final phase of the Weston Family Foundation’s Homegrown Innovation Challenge.

The challenge was conceived in an effort to strengthen Canada’s food resiliency, after the pandemic highlighted our reliance on global supply chains for fresh fruit and vegetables.

“I know myself, as well as many Canadians, think that we’re a land of plenty … but because of our harsh climate, we have to import, at certain times of year, as much as 80 per cent of fresh produce,” said Tamara Rebanks, director of the Weston Family Foundation.

Launched in 2022, the foundation earmarked $33 million for grants and prizes to teams who progress through the challenge’s phases.

Finalists will be assessed on success factors, including technological achievement, large-scale implementation and environmental sustainability.

Two $1-million prizes, one for technology breakthrough and one for the overall winner, will be awarded in 2028.

“We decided to focus on berries, but we hope to catalyze a range of solutions that are appropriate for growing many other fruits and vegetables,” said Rebanks. “Berries were an appealing crop because we import approximately 80 per cent of the berries that we consume here.”

In 2022, Canada imported roughly $1.8 billion of strawberries, raspberries and highbush blueberries. Even though greenhouse-grown berries are available, berries are an innovation sweet spot, particularly in flavour and cost.

AI and farming

For Zheng, whose specialty is growing high-value plants in controlled environments, turning to AI made sense because of the complexities faced when growing crops on a commercial scale.

“Normally, in our brain, we can think two dimensionally, sometimes three dimensionally … but AI is able to take 10, 15 factors together. They have machine learning to learn how to do that, to perfect the system,” said Zheng.

Since October, Edward Sykes from the university’s AI lab, and an assistant professor at U of G, has been in the first phase of data collection. His sensors collect information at various intervals, on points such as light and humidity, and variables that influence how plants absorb nutrients.

“Part of this research is to be conscious in terms of what types of nutrients and water we’re providing to the plants, and trying to minimize waste that comes out,” said Sykes. “We’re investigating the runoff from the plants and analyzing the nutrients that come out of it and then determining what is being expelled from the plants.”

After the data is collected, categorized and prepared, the appropriate machine-learning models will be selected.

“So ultimately, it’s a prediction type of task that we’re exploring. We want to predict what is the next iteration of what nutrients would be best applied to the next time cycle,” said Sykes. “What should be the next application of sodium and magnesium and calcium etc. in the next irrigation cycle.”

Growing more with less

Sustainability, crop yield and production cost savings are built into the team’s vertical farming system.

Its multi-level vertical layout uses long tubes with strawberry pot-like openings to maximize growing space. While plants receive natural light, artificial lights on dynamic AI lighting controls save energy by taking advantage of off-peak electricity pricing.

Plants receive real-time water and nutrients through a closed-loop, AI-driven fertigation system, in which the solution is recycled and reused.

Overwatering often starves roots of oxygen, while allowing nutrient solutions to seep into the environment. Overwatering also creates an environment for pathogens. Using predictive AI models for feeding, healthier plants and berries can develop without pesticides.

“We are doing all of this research to be able to produce fresh produce sustainably,” said Zheng. “As researchers, we always want to do research for the good of the Canadian people.”

Original Article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/strawberries-affordable-year-round-harvest-youbin-zheng-homegrown-innovation-challenge-9.7022747