What are the Critical Success Factors
in Operating an Economically Viable
Northern Greenhouse?
…The Federal Government wants to know!
Larry Lenton
Director Outreach and Collaboration
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Strategic Partnerships Initiative – Aboriginal Agriculture
Critical Success Factors in Locating and
Operating a Northern Greenhouse
1. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
•  ensure the community’s interest/leadership is engaged
2. MARKET DEMAND
•  opportunities for food/non-food commodities
•  size of service area and competitive advantages
3. LABOUR SUPPLY
•  skilled / non skilled labour (seasonal/full time)
•  competencies & level of education
4. RESOURCES
•  land & water
•  Infrastructure – Utilities and Roads
5. TECHNOLOGIES
•  agronomics & building design
•  heating and energy opportunities
6. ECONOMICS
•  enterprise budgets
•  macro economics (supply chain economics and transportation of inputs)
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
What is the community’s interest and expectations for northern greenhouse
production?
a. What is the business proposition that most interests the community?
b. What are the community’s short term / long term vision, and how does a
greenhouse support that vision?
c. How simple or sophisticated does the greenhouse operation need to be to meet
the community’s interest?
d. Is the community interested in creating jobs and/or making profit?
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT (cont’d)
f.
What’s the community’s level of commitment i.e. time and money for taking on
this venture?
g.  Is there community leadership with possible succession planning to ensure the
long term viability of operations?
h.  Does the community want a not-for profit business model where fresh food is
provided, labour is volunteered and the produce is shared, e.g. community
gardens?
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MARKET DEMAND
What are the drivers around the potential greenhouse services wanted and
needed by consumers?
a.  What are the current foods consumed in the community?
b.  What is the size of the servicing area, where one community serves as a hub to
providing services, and can a map be drawn for various opportunities?
c.  Are there food catering opportunities to local camps (e.g. mining, forestry), and how
big does that service contract need to be for cost-effectiveness?
d. What are the local diets and how does culture affect the introduction of new foods?
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MARKET DEMAND (cont’d)
e. Is there a historical understanding that might prohibit the introduction of new
foods?
f.  What are the non-food services that a greenhouse could provide, (e.g. tree
transplants for forestry and mining reclamation operations)?
g.  Are there transportation back haul opportunities within the northern routes for
other commodities?
h. Does the greenhouse serve a seasonal market (May-Oct) or is it a 9-12
month operation, and at what point is it feasible and desirable to switch, if it is
technically or economically possible?
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LABOUR SUPPLY
What is the demographic make-up of the local labour market?
a.
What is the proportion of skilled and non-skilled labour?
b.
What are the competencies and minimum education requirements in running
a greenhouse operation?
c.
Is there community leadership that can champion the project?
d.
What are the competing industries for the same labour pool?
e.
Is it cost prohibitive to import labour, seasonally or full time to meet
educational requirements?
f.
What are the short term and long term training requirements and associated
costs to addressing a skilled labour shortage?
RESOURCES
What are the available resources?
a.  Are there any competitive advantages to be captured in the community because of
its location to resources e.g. natural resources or man-made infrastructure?
b.  How is the community accessed e.g. by air, road, winter roads, boat?
c.  What is the source of water and its quantity and quality?
d.  What are the capital resources that could be tapped through building relationships
and partnerships e.g. mining, forestry companies?
e. What are the government financial assistance programs that can be used to initiate
and pay for start-up costs? (e.g. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Eco-Energy Program, federal/provincial government Growing Forward programs, etc.)
RESOURCES (cont’d)
f.  What level of support can the Aboriginal infrastructure provide, for example,
Economic Development Corporations that may exist for some Bands?
g.  What are the known limitations to development because of lack of certain
resources (e.g. capital, human, natural, etc.)?
h.  What are the short term and long term training requirements and associated
costs to addressing a skilled labour shortage?
i.
What are the energy and power sources?
j. What are the resource management strategies for the energy feed stocks to
be ecologically sustainable?
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TECHNOLOGIES
What are the proven sustainable northern greenhouse technologies that could
be adopted? (Note: The assumption is that there is “transferability and
relevance” of the technologies for wide use among northern/remote
communities inclusive of the Territories and provinces.)
a. What are the agronomics for growing food and non-food commodities, including
pest management, growth medium, light, temperature, humidity, air exchange,
etc.?
b. What are appropriate varieties of warm and cool season vegetables and fruits that
can be grown effectively in northern greenhouse operations?
c. What are the operational requirements and technologies/techniques required for
the growing of woody and herbaceous plants for landscaping, fibre, reforestation
and mitigation needs?
TECHNOLOGIES (cont’d)
d.  What are the most cost effective building materials to be used e.g. double
walled poly, insulated shades, etc.?
e.  Which technologies are tried and true and can be operated and maintained by
local staff? i.e. What are the most appropriate technologies given the existing
labour supply to support it?
f.  What are the alternative energy/power technologies that can substitute for
diesel and propane, e.g. biomass (wood, plant materials), biofuel (biodiesel,
ethanol), biogas (bio-digestion from crops, manure, food by-products, landfill
gas), solar, wind, thermal sinks, etc.?
g. What can we learn from other countries like China with similar environments
on low tech solutions and what is the certainty of success in Canada?
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TECHNOLOGIES (cont’d)
h.  What are the other promising emerging technologies that could be
commercialized in the future?
i.  What is the energy feed stock regime to supporting the different energy
technologies?
j. What are the proven best practice technologies in regards to energy efficient
options for heating, cooling and lighting, e.g. Stirling engine, LED lights?
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ECONOMICS
What are the micro and macro economics surrounding the adoption of
northern greenhouse technologies in support of economic development and
food security?
a. What is the most likely business proposition(s) that best aligns with the
community’s vision and aspirations?
b. What are the different commodities that could be feasibly grown and marketed
along with their associated revenues and costs given the market potential, available
human resources and natural resources, cost of production, revenue projections?
(Provide enterprise budgets.)
c. Are there niche market opportunities to pursue?
d. What are the set up costs in the establishing a greenhouse using biomass –
renewable wood products, as a fuel source for generating light and heat relative to
one other regionally applicable technology? (This other technology should be
financially competitive to burning wood for comparative purposes, and could be, for
example; anaerobic digesters, gasifiers, solar, wind, thermal, natural gas etc.)
ECONOMICS (cont’d)
e.  What are the risk management solutions for the different technologies,
including back up energy systems?
f.  What are the food safety business costs that need to be included?
g.  What are the capital resources that could be tapped through building
relationships and partnerships e.g. mining, forestry companies?
h.  What are the economies of scale and size to capture, especially other uses
of the heat source, e.g. through a district heating system using schools and
other buildings?
i.  What are the government financial assistance programs that can be used to
initiate and pay for start-up costs, including any food/transportation
subsidies? (e.g. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Eco-Energy Program, federal/provincial government Growing Forward
programs, Nutrition North, etc.)
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ECONOMICS (cont’d)
j.  What level of support can the Aboriginal infrastructure provide, for example,
Economic Development Corporations that may exist for some Bands?
k.  When is it economical to go from a seasonal greenhouse to a 9-12 month
period?
l.  What is the full cost accounting that includes carbon emissions and possibly
reducing the current carbon foot print of a community?
m. What are the associated economic benefits that could accrue to a community
from a greenhouse investment using an input/output model on costs and benefits
to determine the macroeconomics for a region?
n. What are the socio-economic benefits accruing to a greenhouse project that
could include personal health, etc.?
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DELIVERABLES
•  Literature review of northern food production as it pertains to
greenhouse production
•  Compilation of best practises of current design technologies
relative to the main focus of using biomass renewable wood
products as an energy source
•  Cost/benefit analyses including financial enterprise budget
scenarios and a macro-economic analyses of community
greenhouse investments that uses biomass
•  Develop recommendations towards how these findings could be
used to support a northern greenhouse investment.
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CONTACT
Larry Lenton
Director Outreach and Collaboration
Science and Technology Branch
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Regina, Saskatchewan
Email: Larry.lenton@agr.gc.ca
Phone: 306 780-5153
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