The COVID-19 crisis has revealed certain vulnerabilities in the Canadian food system, but Simon Simogyi, a University of Guelph expert in the food industry, thinks it also highlights opportunities for the greenhouse sector.
He said the pandemic has revealed both the opportunity for increased domestic production of fruits and vegetables and the vulnerability of Canada’s domestic industry and the imports it relies upon from the United States and other sources.
“We could be producing more fruits and vegetables here, at a lower price,” he said. There are a lot of greenhouses that are empty.”
Much greenhouse capacity was built during the boom in cannabis production, but that has slumped due to overbuilding.
Simogyi said Canada has the potential to develop fruits and vegetables that do well in greenhouses.
“We could be producing more,” he said.
