discover our roots

The grohere story

The stark reality is that at the current rate of growth, the world population will be 9.7 billion people by 2050. 
As a result, food production will have to double in the same period.
A big challenge to this is that currently 50% of crops grown in North America are lost prior to harvest from things like weather, climate, water shortages, pests, birds, disease, and other causes. Globally that number is closer to 70%.
Another challenge is that North American retailers continue to face increased supply chain uncertainty and the effect of long haul transportation on GHG emissions. Concerns over pesticides and food safety are also at the forefront of retailer’s concerns.
Add this all up and the world faces a problem of huge proportions. 
There must be a better way. 
We are not under the illusion we can solve global or even Canadian food supply and security issues. We do believe, as with any worthwhile goal no matter how large or daunting, if you focus on what you can control you begin to take steps toward overcoming the larger questions that need to be answered.
groHERE is in the process of becoming a large-scale strawberry producer that delivers safe, reliable, and secure production. And strawberries are only the beginning. 
We leverage our experience in business, agriculture, energy, and technology to build and operate Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) vertical farms with a mission to produce food in Alberta 365 days a year at a scale that can have an impact on local communities.

Our Journey begins here

2020
Planting the Seed
  • Founded and incorporated
  • Added independent board members
  • Developed land and technology partners
  • Developed 16,000 sqft demonstration farm
2021
Harvesting Fruit
  • First strawberries produced and harvested
  • Recruited CEO, COO, and Master Grower
  • Scaled demo farm to 20,000 plants
  • Developed plan for large scale production facility
  • Letters of intent (LOIs) in place or pending with land and technology partners
  • Ongoing discussions with retail partners
  • Completing second seed round, raising $3M
Present Day
It's Only Up From Here
  • Formalizing location, technology, and retail partners
  • Raising capital to construct the first of five 44,000 sqft vertical farms

Why Strawberries?

a sustainable competitive advantage

Canada is the second largest global importer

Canada's third largest fruit import

Alberta imports 33M lbs, worth over $160M per year

8 months of peak off-season pricing

Prices spike for an inferior/poor tasting product

Ideally suited for vertical farming

Explore Our

Demonstration Farm

A lab to de-risk the commercial operation

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Grow towers
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plants
0 sqft
grow operation

Discover

How We Grow

Controlled-Environment

  • Realization of genetic potential of cultivars
  • Safe and reliable climate control
  • Real time monitoring of all parameters (light, temperature, irrigation, nutrients, and more)
  • Integrated pest management
  • Maximized yields and quality
  • ESG consistent

Vertical Farming

  • More value per square foot, maximizing yield per acre
  • Reduced shipping costs and delays
  • Allows high yield farming on higher-priced land, closer to large urban centres

agronomy

  • Cultivar specific agronomy
  • Sterile, inert substrate
  • Climate controlled environment (light, temp, water quality, nutrients, CO2, etc.)
  • Single nutrient fertilization
  • Local crop inputs
  • Integrated pest management – a proactive approach focused on prevention
  • Integrated pest and pollinator management

This means our strawberries will be of premium quality with superior flavour, aroma and texture