Dong Jianyi has taken an nearly scientific method to rising tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, cabbages and different recent greens at his unconventional farm operation close to Olds, Alta.
The previous geologist who labored within the oil and fuel sector now runs a passive photo voltaic greenhouse operation that enables him to develop veggies year-round — and with out utilizing any typical fossil gas sources to maintain his veggies good and toasty throughout Alberta’s harsh winter local weather.
Dong’s Recent Pal Farms is believed to be one of many largest industrial passive photo voltaic greenhouses in Alberta.
He carefully displays and graphs the temperatures inside and out of doors the greenhouse, moisture and humidity ranges and soil circumstances. He additionally retains a watch out for illnesses and pests. Monitoring the entire circumstances comes with challenges, however he says it is going properly.
Final 12 months, he produced greater than 13,000 kilograms of tomatoes alone.
“I actually like agriculture and I believe it is good alternative,” Dong stated in early December from California, the place he was working as an agriculture guide.
A latest go to to the greenhouse confirmed that tomatoes and cabbages had been nonetheless rising in early December — one of many last crops earlier than Dong and his small staff transition to planting seedlings for subsequent 12 months.
Earlier than that, they may sneak in a crop of hardy leafy greens reminiscent of kale or spinach, which he says can tolerate the shorter days with fewer hours of sunshine.
Dong, 40, got here to Canada in 2014 shortly after quitting his job with an oil service firm in China. On the time, oil costs had been crashing and he was on the lookout for a extra steady future for himself and his younger household, so he determined to transition to agriculture.
He says passive photo voltaic greenhouses are widespread in his native China, however he wished to know if that very same mannequin may very well be duplicated right here.
“In north China, it additionally will get actually chilly and fairly darkish in winter, however individuals can develop year-round.”
He spent six months working and studying in regards to the mannequin in Manitoba. He additionally travelled again to his native China to speak to farmers, builders and producers as a part of his analysis earlier than launching his operation.
The $250,000 greenhouse package was shipped from China in two containers.
Dong and his spouse put it collectively nearly fully on their very own. He even welded the entire metal items collectively after taking a four-day welding course.
‘It looks like you aren’t in Olds’
The greenhouse is a formidable construction.
It is positioned east of Olds in Mountain View County. It is 100 metres lengthy, 10 metres extensive and 6 metres tall — the rising space inside covers about 750 sq. metres. Lengthwise, it runs east to west to maximise publicity to the solar.
The roof and south-facing wall are made up of two layers of polyolefin plastic with the air in between performing as an insulation barrier.
The north wall, or the again of the greenhouse, is made out of clay and is one metre thick. The clay acts as a warmth sink, capturing and storing warmth from the solar throughout the day and releasing it by the night time.
A big, thick, retractable blanket is lowered into place when the solar units and is raised within the morning shortly after daybreak.
In early December, the skin temperature was –5 C, but it surely was 28 C contained in the greenhouse.
“You may really feel type of a wave of warmth, a bit little bit of humidity, the scent, it looks like you aren’t in Olds, and you’re someplace tropical,” stated Sarah Singer, one of many volunteers at Recent Pal Farms who supplied a tour of the greenhouse.
She’s drawn to the operation for its distinctive options and minimal environmental influence in comparison with typical greenhouses.
“Persons are stunned how giant it’s, that there isn’t any warmth and he runs it by the winter,” she stated.
“Individuals just like the scent after they are available.… Within the winter, they’re going to say it is so heat in right here.”
Dong estimates it could price practically $30,000 per 30 days to warmth a equally sized greenhouse that depends on a heating supply fuelled by pure fuel.
Excessive climate, large challenges
There are challenges. The winter might be too chilly and too darkish. And the summers might be too scorching. Dong says this previous summer season noticed every week lengthy heatwave with temperatures peaking at 36 C in late June.
“The tomatoes, cucumbers, they do not develop properly. They could crack, they could look ugly. That is a problem,” he stated.
He would not use any followers throughout these excessive temperature days. As an alternative, he opens the underside of the north wall and a portion of the roof to permit scorching air to flee. He additionally rolls the blanket down to forestall the tomatoes from burning within the noon solar.
And there is the chilly. Dong says it dipped to –38 C final winter, dropping the temperature contained in the greenhouse to –5 C. He says they will add a layer of plastic over the tomato crops to guard them.
Is passive the long run?
The supervisor of the botanic gardens and greenhouses at Previous School says it has been thrilling to observe Dong’s passive photo voltaic mission come collectively, together with a number of the revolutionary methods he is been coping with warmth and air flow challenges in the summertime and snow load within the winter.
“I am actually, actually eager to see how how anyone like Jianyi can single-handedly innovate the way in which that we’re rising in Alberta. So it has been actually thrilling to see his work.,” stated Daniel Chappell.
Chappell, who transformed an outdated barn right into a passive photo voltaic greenhouse, says this sort of mannequin is attracting curiosity from people who find themselves involved in regards to the environmental influence of conventional greenhouses, transportation prices and meals safety.
The problem might be fronting the fee. He says the payback will are available subsequent years from not having to pay heating or cooling prices.
“So lots of people who’re attempting to maneuver into farming on a really small scale close to city centres, very, very keenly excited by this type of factor,” he stated.
“If yow will discover the cash to construct it, however then it would not price you hundreds of {dollars} a month to warmth it, then there’s numerous rapid profit to have the ability to develop as a enterprise particular person.”
Dong says that whereas he caters most of his enterprise to the Chinese language neighborhood in Olds and Calgary, he’d wish to develop his choices.
“I might wish to strive the farmers’ market and let everyone style my produce.”
He’d additionally like to assist growers arrange their very own passive photo voltaic greenhouse operations by serving to import the ready-to-build kits from China.
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Bryan Labby is an enterprise reporter with CBC Calgary. If in case you have story concept or tip, you’ll be able to attain him at bryan.labby@cbc.ca or on Twitter at @CBCBryan.
