Ontario lettuce farm using AI to grow greens

From sowing and seeding to harvesting and packing, AI technology helps farmers grow pesticide-free greens.

On a dirt road in King City Township is a facility putting leafy greens on your plate without coming into contact with human hands thanks to technology.

Haven Greens grows millions of pounds of lettuce a year using automation and solar energy with the help of artificial intelligence to produce pesticide free, non-GMO heads of lettuce and putting them on grocery shelves across Ontario.

Jay Willmot, founder and CEO of Haven Greens, says the technology helps consumers get the most out of their dollar. “We utilize a number of advanced, autonomous control systems to optimize our energy density and try to get, the most energetic bang for your buck in terms of how much, volume we’re putting off of these lines.”

The facility provides a variety of lettuce year-round. The technology also improves the quality of lettuce being sold to consumers.

“The seeds are grown over the course of 24 to 25 days for lettuces and for our flavoring varieties, it’s between 13 and 14 days,” said chief of agricultural officer Eric Highfield. “At the end of that cycle, you come out with delicious crispy baby leaf greens.”

Highfield adds less human contact also improves the quality of the product.

“It is being delivered to you without human hands ever touching the product which ensures that what you’re getting is clean and safe,” explained Highfield. “There’s no chemical pesticides used in this facility and ultimately it is a significantly better, fresher product.”

With the facility located in King City Township, the production has a smaller carbon footprint than lettuce being brought in from the United States.

“The product takes two weeks from the field in order to get to a retail consumer’s table,” said Highfield. “For us, we aim to have product that is delivered from our greenhouse here to our consumers tables within 48 hours of harvest.”

The lettuce is an efficiently grown produce right in the heart of Ontario.

“We want to be the folks that bring you fresh, tasty, healthy nutritious greens on a daily basis,” said Willmot.

Haven Greens is available at Metro stores across the province and the company is hoping to get the lettuce into more retail locations like Sobey’s by the end of the month.