NANTON, Alta. – An entrepreneurial family in Calgary has drawn on technology from the contact lens business to build an unusual greenhouse.
“We’re not in the greenhouse business. We build the technology and take it to the marketplace,” said Bill Sturm, president of Controlled Environment Agriculture.
He and his son Michael operate Unique Contact Lens Co., which makes and sells contact lenses to optometrists in worldwide markets. They develop technologies to improve lenses and then sell them to larger companies who develop the ideas further.
Read Also
Feeder market adds New World screwworm risk premium
Feedlots contemplate the probability of Canadian border closing to U.S. feeder cattle if parasite found in United States
Their greenhouse idea follows a similar path.
Operated by his daughter, Lisa Sturm, passersby see a green building that looks like a warehouse. Inside, it is a sophisticated greenhouse controlled by a computer and an innovative insulation system.
The 12,000 sq. foot facility at Nanton, south of Calgary, produces more than 225,000 kilograms of vine-ripened tomatoes each year. With a staff of three including Lisa, tomatoes are sold direct from the greenhouse or at Calgary Co-op grocery stores.
The insulation is provided by a soap bubble mixture. When the plants need more shade, the system blows bubbles across the plastic ceiling and up the plastic walls. To get more light, the bubbles are made larger or are removed with air pressure.
“The whole idea is that it would function like a cloud,” said Sturm.
Long-lasting bubbles
The structure is 45 metres long and the spaces can be filled with foam in six minutes. The foam can last for 72 hours.
This structure lets light and heat in and out as needed. The insulation value in the roof full of bubbles is the equivalent of R-24. The goal is to maintain a controlled environment in the greenhouse at a temperature of 28 C plus or a degree. This system saves energy costs because it doesn’t need the same ventilation system as traditional greenhouses.
The operators were having difficulty with friction in the soap chambers when spreading the suds. Consequently, it took too much air pressure to move the foam around. They tried a contact lens coating traditionally used to reduce friction with the eyelid. When applied in the chamber wall, they found it helped the foam move more easily.
Using soap bubbles for shade is not a new idea. Sturm saw the idea when his wife’s cousin, Richard Nelson, tried the system in a 400-sq.-foot greenhouse in his backyard.
“He made it work but it wasn’t very sophisticated,” he said.
McGill University and Ohio State experimented with it but had some technical problems and the idea was shelved.
Setting up shop
As a research and development company, Sturm’s family decided to pursue it three years ago when Lisa wanted to move to the country and farm. She knew greenhouse management so they bought a quarter section of land near Nanton.
This greenhouse was a prototype where they learned and corrected designs.
Sturm said they made many mistakes and have discovered numerous improvements after running this first greenhouse. They plan to build a three-acre facility on their land and make some design changes for more efficiency.
For instance, they plan to slope the roof two percent. Water collected from condensation or rain can then drain off and be recycled.
Sturm believes this technology, which is easy to reproduce, could expand into the greenhouse industry in southern areas of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba where there is plenty of sunlight in winter and summer.
Buildings for livestock using plastic walls and foam for shade is another possible application. Dairy barns or stables would be cheaper to build than a traditional barn and would provide animals with more natural light for better production.
