Vertical farms just might be the future of agriculture and Torontonian Jonah Krochmalnek is forging a strong client base for his farm growing right in the heart of the city.
For more on this story visit the Toronto Star: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/09/05/indoor-farm-thrives-in-north-york-industrial-unit.html
Or read and excerpt of Alex McKeen’s article below:
Indoor farm thrives in North York industrial unit
Jonah Krochmalnek’s crops require less water than traditional farming methods, and taste delicious all year-round.
Jonah Krochmalnek is a 26-year-old farmer. He pulls up to work every day ready to plant, tend and harvest a variety of organic greens and herbs.
He produces loads, too. In a given year — he doesn’t have to worry about seasons on his farm — Krochmalnek estimates he could grow 16,000 kilograms of pea shoots, if they were his only crop.
Living Earth Farms, the company Krochmalnek started four years ago is no ordinary farm.
That’s because it isn’t on a remote country road where plants have space to stretch out and soak up sunlight, but in an unassuming, 2,300-square-foot industrial unit in North York, the same area where Krochmalnek grew up and lives still.
Living Earth is an indoor, vertical farm where crops grow in stacked rows seven layers high with special red and blue LED lights designed for optimal growing conditions shining down on them. It’s the first of its kind to be organic certified in Ontario.
“It took a long time to figure all this out because there’s no book on this type of thing,” Krochmalnek said.
