By Doug Lett

Container Farm planned for Nipawin

Apr 19, 2023 | 8:00 AM

A Nipawin entrepreneur is hoping to start up a container farm to grow fresh leafy greens for the region.

John Worsley is asking the town of Nipawin for approval to build a container farm. The plan is to produce lettuce and other greens year-round.

Worsley, a former conservation officer, believes there is a real need.

“I’ve noticed over basically since COVID started here that the price of produce has drastically increased, and the quality has diminished,” he said. “So I’ve been looking into container farms to provide fresh, locally grown leafy greens for Nipawin and area.”

Worsley explained he plans to order the system from a Boston company called Freight Farms that makes container farms. Each “farm” he said, is about the size of a shipping container, and each unit can produce roughly 1,000 heads of lettuce per week.

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His company is called Bridging River Greens, and he plans to order two units, and said they can produce a variety of greens.

“It could be kale, Swiss chard, bok choy, any type of herbs. The system also can do flowers, as well as small root vegetables like radishes, and carrots,” he said.

At a meeting on April 11, the town said it is willing to consider the application. However, a report to council said there are a number of conditions Worsley will have to meet – and the town will need to do a technical review before it gives the project a green light.

He also needs to finalize financing, and estimates the project will cost around half a million dollars.

However, Worsley says he has letters of intent to purchase his products from a number of restaurants, as well as Lakeland Co-op. That would give him retail access not only in Nipawin, but also Choiceland, Smeaton and Prince Albert.

“It opens up a huge potential market,” he said. “It’ll be a fair chunk of change to get it up and going but with the price of produce and the numbers that are out there, it’s feasible. You can produce between two and four tons of leafy greens a year.”

Worsley said each container farm requires about 15 hours of work per week to produce a crop – so initially he plans on operating the system himself.

He said if all goes well, he hopes to be producing his first batch of greens by September. His letter to council said besides selling to restaurants and in grocery stores, he also hopes to sell subscription boxes directly to the public.

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doug.lett@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @DougLettSK