With consumers looking for more from their produce, at least one Canadian greenhouse grower is positioning itself as an environmentally-friendly and safe choice for leafy greens.
Coaldale, Alberta-based Whole Leaf is a greenhouse grower of a variety of lettuces including romaine, butter, Batavia and other assorted greens. “We’ve been set up to grow consistent product no matter what the outside temperature is. It’s all about the same consistent quality,” says Whole Leaf’s Rindi Bristol. She adds that Whole Leaf currently pulls 160,000 heads/per week and growing as it moves to longer days.
While Whole Leaf, which also offers its greens in trios including a Crispy and Crunchy trio and a Tender and Tasty Trio, Bristol notes that it’s not directly competing against field lettuce per se. “There’s no way a greenhouse will ever have the amount of acreage they can put out in the field. We’ve created our own niche because we can grow cleanly year round with consistent quality,” she says.
Expansion plans
That said, Whole Leaf is this week expanding its capacity for the first time since it began harvesting in 2017. “We began seeding an additional five acres Feb. 11th so that will put us over 11 acres by April when that product is ready to be harvested,” says Bristol. “We can also double again so we could be 24 acres of pure growing space if demand is there.”
Should demand warrant it, some varieties Whole Leaf grows are produced in 28 days in the summer and upwards of 34 days in the winter.
And demand does seem to be increasing—particularly when safety concerns such as the romaine E. coli outbreak that hit North America last November. “Lettuce is hard to grow safely,” says Bristol. “With that recall, our world changed overnight. Our retail and foodservice partners were looking for alternatives. They wanted products that they could trust and that have transparency in how they are grown.”
Since then though, demand for greenhouse greens has lessened somewhat given field product is now available at commodity pricing. That said, Bristol adds that Whole Leaf hasn’t changed its pricing since starting out in 2017 because it’s still building its name and consumer acceptance.
Safety assurances
And while many greenhouse growers note that their products come with a high level of comfort around food safety scares, Whole Leaf is trying other ways to set itself apart, such as positioning itself as a consistent choice that breaks out of the traditional greenhouse fare of Boston and Butter lettuces. “That’s been one of our challenges. When people think of greenhouse lettuce, their minds automatically go to those lettuces. And we’re trying to change that,” she says. “We’re also trialing spinach, arugula, watercress and all these things that people are looking for as they become more worldly with their food.”
Whole Leaf is also defining itself as a company with green thinking in mind. Each head of lettuce takes only 1.5 litres of water to grow and Whole Leaf has also moved past the typical clamshell packaging for more delicate lettuces. “The water conservation is really resonating with people as is that we don’t use pesticides or treated seed. It’s a highly automated process,” says Bristol. “We’re also able to reduce plastic because we can package in a small recyclable plastic sleeve.” She also notes that Whole Leaf can also capture waste, heat and CO2 and use it inside the greenhouse and reduce its emissions and carbon footprint.
For more information:
Rindi Bristol
Whole Leaf
Tel: +1 (306) 385-7460
rindi@wholeleaf.ca
http://inspiredgreens.ca/