On a work trip to China in late January, Frank Qin noticed something that would later influence the way he does business in the face of a pandemic.
“There were areas in China where there was a complete lockdown. People could step outside their homes only so many times a week, so some started growing produce in their balconies,” says Qin, founder of Markham, Ont.-based Mary Agrotechnologies Inc.
His company uses technology to simplify growing cannabis indoors. Its WiFi-enabled grow boxes operate using a company-developed app. After adding details such as what cannabis strain is being grown, and whether it’s a seed, plant or a clone, the system downloads a “recipe” that helps the plant grow. While the box takes care of the rest, the only thing left to do is add recommended nutrients in the water tank and do some pruning if needed.
Qin and his team returned to Canada with an idea and the requisite inspiration: “We came back and started growing produce like tomatoes, arugula, chives and a bunch of other stuff inside the grow box.”
The company created a tomato recipe some time ago, and a “generic” recipe for microgreens allowing people to grow much more than just cannabis. The hardware setup has also been conditioned to be versatile.
“The box grew some really high-quality tomatoes,” says Qin. “We were having salads until we had to leave the office to work from home.”
‘People forget we can grow our own food’
After the World Health Organization declared coronavirus a pandemic in March, retailers across Canada reported a spike in demand for seeds as many dug up their front yards to grow food. The trend recalled a different time when vegetable patches were referred to as Victory Gardens during the Second World War.
“There’s something about growing it yourself and knowing where it came from,” says Vanessa Labrecque, co-founder of Cannabis Cooking Company. “Most people forget that we can grow our own food. We’ve been programmed to just go to the grocery store and get our own food when it wasn’t like this back in the day.”
Although Labrecque has been gardening for years, a move from a condo to a house in Oakville, Ont. and the pandemic gave her a reason to go all out. Along with her husband and four kids, Labrecque has been growing pretty much everything, including cantaloupes, corn, beets, tomatoes and carrots. The family is planning on getting some chickens and an apiary next month.
“It’s something the kids enjoy too. It’s hard to do academic schoolwork with them all the time. So this is something different that they can learn about,” she says.
‘Everything I use to grow cannabis can be used to grow veggies’
As people return to the roots, the ones transitioning from growing cannabis to vegetables are in for an easy ride. “It’s sort of cheating… we have got all the toys already,” says Jonathan Hirsh, professor of Cannabis in Society at Centennial College in Toronto.
While almost everything is reusable, seeds are the main variables, says Dianna Donnelly, Kingston, Ont.-based cultivation and legalization consultant for BMA Hydroponics.
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