Work is under way on greenhouse improvements in Tsiigehtchic so residents can have access to fresh, locally grown produce year round.
Mavis Clark, president of the Gwichya Gwich’in Council, said the community’s greenhouse is currently only able to operate during the summer months.
With the addition of heating and insulation, it is set to be operational for 11 months of the year.
“We’re hoping to have this greenhouse running year-round for potatoes, carrots, zucchinis, different vegetables,” Clark told Cabin Radio.
“We’ll be able to provide this to the community, cut down on the cost from getting it from the Northern store, which is very expensive.”
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Colin Xander is the president and founder of Promise for the North, a charity focused on improving living conditions in the territories that is completing the greenhouse project in Tsiigehtchic.
He said workers are currently insulating the greenhouse and installing a heater and solar-powered lights with a grant from the NWT government.
Once complete, he said the greenhouse will be able to grow 3,000 kg of produce a year.
Beyond improving the greenhouse, Xander said the project aims to provide more growing space in the community.
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He said the addition of two geodesic dome greenhouses from Arctic Acres will provide space to produce a further 17,000 kg of food a year.
“In a nutshell, it takes you from food insecurity through food security all the way to food sovereignty,” he said.
The federal government recently announced it would invest up to $184,000 in the modular greenhouse project.
Xander said the current greenhouse should be up and running by May and the two new greenhouses are expected to be operational by August.
He said the project is “a pretty amazing opportunity” to provide less expensive, healthy food in the North and the community will have control over what it grows.
He noted the federal Nutrition North program provides subsidies not only directly to retailers but also to greenhouses growing food in eligible communities.
Xander said this is the first greenhouse project for Promise for the North, with the goal of delivering similar projects across the North.
“We’ve already had several other communities in the North say: ‘We want to see how Tsiigehtchic comes out. Give us the pictures and videos and then we want to be next,'” he said.
