THUNDER BAY -- It’s golden times for DeBruin Greenhouses.
There is no lull on the horizon for owner and CEO Arjen DeBruin and he’s ready for it.
“We started growing greenhouse vegetables 18 years ago,” he said, noting they started with tomatoes in a small greenhouse space.
“We’ve grown to 17,000 square feet and we’re currently looking to expand fourfold because of demand. We have six restaurants on hold currently because we don’t have enough room to grow the produce they’re looking for.”
This is a good problem for the local producer and DeBruin said the news at Thursday’s Thunder Bay and Area Food Strategy workshop at the Masonic Hall on Dease Street was also all positive.
The workshop brought various stakeholders from the local food sector, including distributors, suppliers, farmers and institutional food services, together to strengthen connections.
This was part of the Local Food Procurement project to get more locally produced food onto the plates of meals served in public institutions like long-term care homes and child care facilities.
DeBruin said he’s attended the workshops in the past but Thursday’s session was an important one.
“We truly had the feeling we were connecting with the purchasers, but also it’s not something we can do overnight. I know it’s going to take a couple of years to get it all into place but the ideas have solidified and I think we’re getting close to applying this to real life,” he said.
By talking about contracts, DeBruin said know he knows how to plan for the future. He knows what to grow and how much.
“It’s like a big puzzle. The last four, five, six years we’ve seen all these pieces coming together. It’s starting to form a picture. I like that picture. I like what I see. I think I’m going to frame it and hang it above my bed,” said DeBruin.
One of the day’s presenters was Kelly Hughes, an education and outreach specialist for the Greenbelt Fund – a not-for-profit organization that encourages public institutions to buy more local food.
“It’s a $750 million market and if farmers can tap into that market, it’s a big opportunity for them,” she said.
Hughes spoke from a culinary perspective on how purchasers can incorporate local products into their menus and said one way is to rethink what seasonal food is.
One example is many people think of a salad as lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables like peppers, but in Ontario in the winter it could mean adding whole grains, raw or cooked root vegetables.
“There are lots of ways of looking at the way we eat and not only does it allow us to incorporate more local but it really encourages food culture as well and Thunder Bay has a great food culture,” said Hughes.
