Winter Farm Raises $46M to Replace 10 Pct of Canada’s Strawberry Imports
Summary
With this ability to integrate with the greenhouse category, together with its potential to scale its indoor growing solution, Winter Farm aims to develop an agro-industrial network of year-round fruit and vegetable production.Ultimately, the company is looking to produce 1 million kilograms of Fraise dhiver strawberries each year, replacing 10 percent of Canadas imports.In support of this goal, the Qu\xe9bec Government and Investissement Qu\xe9bec renewed their commitment to the startup, and along with new investors Desjardins, Farm Credit Canada, Financi\xe8re Agricole du Qu\xe9bec, Capital Financi\xe8re Agricole Inc., and two private partners, have made a capital investment of $46 million in the business.Investissement Qu\xe9bec is proud to renew its support of Winter Farm, said Guy LeBlanc, president and CEO, Investissement Qu\xe9bec. These new facilities will enable Winter Farm to produce strawberries on a year-round basis in Vaudreuil, Qu\xe9bec, using up to 25 times less space than field production, recovering 90 percent of irrigation water, all while generating minimal greenhouse gasses.As part of the process, Winter Farm also announced that it has acquired Les Serres Vaudreuil from the St-Denis family, who will now manage operations and leverage their expertise for the production of Fraise dhiver strawberries.Our thanks to the St-Denis family for teaming up with us on this adventure, said LeBlanc. Energy efficiency, artificial intelligence and food self-sufficiency: the support from Desjardins will enable Winter Farm to implement an innovative growing model to help develop a lower-carbon emitting economy, while offering consumers a high-quality local product.~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvestings AgInvesting Weekly News and Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Groups Unconventional Ag. *The content put forth by Global AgInvesting News and its parent company HighQuest Partners is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. Global AgInvesting and HighQuest Partners are not a fiduciary in any manner, and the reader assumes the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or other content on this site.