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A non-profit organization in Salluit is inching toward completing the community’s first greenhouse. It is set to be completed in October and ready for its opening harvest season in spring 2025.
The Society Promoting Food Safety in Salluit took on the project of building a greenhouse in 2018. At the helm is Stephen Grasser, who previously was at the Kativik Regional Government’s economic development department.
Stephen Grasser fills up the water tank that supplies the Salluit greenhouse. (Photo courtesy of Sam Chauvette) “We wanted to look into various food security issues and make it a community initiative rather than an initiative of the Northern Village or the landholding corporation,” he said.
After creating a board of directors, applying for funding and waiting through a two-year COVID-19 pandemic hiatus, the project got going.
The group tried for two years to find a contractor to construct the greenhouse, to no avail. Eventually, they opted to train people locally on construction techniques and working with concrete.
“The idea behind the project is to get people enthusiastic about eating fresh vegetables and fresh fruit,” Grasser said.
For that reason, the greenhouse will have no rental fee for its users.
Grasser feels half the vegetable beds should be reserved for the community and given away to organizations like the daycare centre and the women’s shelter.
“I get so much food from our hunter support program,” Grasser said. “I want this to be seen as an analog to the hunter support program.”
Grasser estimates the project to have cost upward of $400,000.
“We got a lot of support from the construction companies,” he said, adding businesses and construction companies in town supported the project and offered labour to push it to its completion.
“Money is not everything in a project, it is the alliances you make.”
The greenhouse building has an advanced ventilation system, a complex living soil mixture with fungus and other organisms to make it good for long-term usage, and a concrete footing that is two feet wide.
It’s an “ultra-resistant” structure, said agronomist Sam Chauvette, a researcher at the Centre for Social Innovation in Agriculture, at Victoriaville Cégep.
He has had hands-on involvement in the creation and upkeep of both the Kuujjuaq and Kangiqsualujjuaq greenhouses, and now has worked closely with Grasser for the newest addition in Salluit.
Chauvette visits all three communities a few weeks at a time, every year. While there, he offers activities to youth and garden enthusiasts about plant life cycles, how to use the tools, and how to own and take care of hydroponic gardens at home.
In contrast to Salluit, the Kuujjuaq greenhouse, established in 2015, is run by the town. Its board has to take most of its decisions to the person responsible at the Northern Village.
There are 45 plots available, which are all taken either by individuals or organizations. Priority is given to people who have always been residents of Kuujjuaq, then priority is given in order of how long the person has lived in the community, starting with over 10 years down to three years.
The exterior of one of the two greenhouse buildings in Kuujjuaq. They house 45 plots of soil available for people to grow food. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)
However, Chauvette said he has seen how difficult it is to maintain a consistent volunteer-based staff to take care of the greenhouse full time.
He wishes that at least two people could share the 50-hour-a-week workload that maintenance requires, so that there is consistent care for the plants and soil.
That said, Chauvette expressed enthusiasm for the fruits of the labour.
“This crunch, this taste, it’s good and nutritious,” he said as he ate a cucumber freshly harvested.
“There is a great variety of things that can be grown here, so why not do it?”