Uncertainty around tariffs activating public’s ‘primal impulse’ to grow own food or source local

Vertical Roots in Leduc is using hydroponics to grow all kinds of vegetables locally. Miriam Valdes-Carletti has the story.

Like the COVID-19 pandemic did in 2020, the potential trade war between Canada and the U.S. has inspired people to take control of their own food supply, growers in the Edmonton region say.

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“In the last week or so, there’s been this huge buzz about wanting to grow more of your own food. It sort of reminds me a little bit about the early COVID days,” Salisbury Greenhouse owner Rob Sproule told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday.

“Certainly, you have tariffs. But more than that, you have uncertainty. Any time you have uncertainty, people tap into this primal impulse to be self sustaining and self reliant. And growing your own food is a part of that.”

His is not the only business seeing an uptick in demand; hydroponics farm Vertical Roots says online orders have multiplied by 100 and Prairie Gardens says interest has spiked in its summer basket program.

In fact, circumstances like those caused by the pandemic or potential trade war are why Vertical Roots – which mainly sells leafy greens and herbs at 22 pick-up locations across the province – was founded in the early days of the pandemic, its owners say.

“In our northern climate, we had to think outside the box and how we can feed ourselves in February in Alberta,” Vertical Roots owner Tess Pederson said.

Although Prairie Gardens was established in 1956, it shares a similar mandate and in the last 10 years has been experimenting with produce normally considered ungrowable in Alberta: figs, peaches, nectarines and blackberries.

“We just think it’s so very important to establish a local food shed for food security in and around our area and region,” Prairie Gardens' Tam Andersen added.

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All of the businesses say customers are coming around to see the benefits of buying local, be it price stability, convenience or better flavour.

For example, romaine lettuce from California will have been in transport for multiple days before landing in a grocery store or on a family’s table.

“You’re going to lose 30 per cent of your nutrients, whereas our romaine is harvested same day and it’s in the house same day, so your nutrient levels are really high. And it lasts twice as long,” said Becky Newhook, Vertical Roots' founder.

Their greens are usually sold out at Edmonton’s Bountiful Market on weekends by the early afternoon.

“The local chefs and restaurants that we deal with are really happy that we’re here and already have those established supply chains so that there’s no disruption for them,” Andersen also pointed out.

Whatever the motivation, Sproule is happy to see more people interested in buying locally or growing themselves.

“This is the time to get excited about it,” he said.

“You can start your peppers, your early season vegetables now. You can seed them now and grow them up. You can start your salad greens indoors, your herbs indoors, your leafy herbs. All these things you can start indoors now.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti