About

Growcer manufactures and sells modular hydroponic farms that allow communities, retailers and organizations anywhere to grow local produce year-round. Growcer’s state-of-the-art farming systems combine hydroponic technology with precision climate controls to enable current and aspiring farmers to grow fresh produce with ease. Their technology is developed in-house by a team of world-class researchers and engineers, who use groundbreaking techniques to push the boundaries of productivity, yields and efficiency in controlled environment agriculture. Growcer’s innovative systems enable sustainable production, using significantly less land and 90% water than traditional methods, all while reducing GHG emissions and increasing production efficiency. With more than 85 units deployed across Canada– Growcer is one of Canada’s leading suppliers of turnkey hydroponic farms. Growcer’s mission is to provide local, secure food for everyone by creating an interconnected network of neighbourhood-level farms that enable communities everywhere to sustainably grow nutritious, affordable produce

Project

Currently, Growcer utilizes off-the-shelf monitoring systems as an integral part of their control system.  In order to strengthen their IP and differentiate from competitors, they are pursuing the development of their own control system design.  The company has brought this AI-enabled control system technology to TRL 5 and are now ready to usher it into TRL 6-7. This is a significant step, as this control system will also be integrated into the upcoming newest iteration of their modular farm.

With support from the Development and Commercialization Program, Growcer will utilize the Cambrian College TDS environmental test chamber and vibration analysis table for testing of electronics. These tools will allow Growcer to test how rugged their control panel electronics are to ensure that all components still work as intended when the unit arrives at the customer’s end destination.

Impact & Outcomes

This project is structured to produce significant, measurable outcomes that advance modular farming technology and address critical challenges in controlled environment agriculture. The key outcomes from the project that has been supported through the Development and Commercialization Program will be the advancement of the controls platform closer to commercialization.   The new controls system will result in an additional $25,000,000 in sales (85% increase) over the next five years as well as the addition of an additional 25 full-time employees.