b'FOOD SOVEREIGNTYBurke build their own modular vertical farming units at a factory in Manitoba and ship them to customers across Canada. Like AgriTech North, Growcer is a member of Canadian Council for AboriginalBusiness. To date, some 75 communities have installed Growcers vertical farming units. Indigenous users include Nipissing First Nation, Squamish Nation, the Gitmaxmakay Nisgaa Society, NorwayGrowcer co-founders Corey House Cree Nation and the Inuit ofEllis and Alida Burke: the two NorthernQuebec(MakivikCorp.),launched their company in 2016among others. We offer a number of different units, but theyre all prefabricated steel struc-tures built with structural insulated panels. Theyre modular and turnkey, so people can plug and play different modules depending on their needs, says Ellis.The units can be joined together in Growcers modular Farmplex system, whichallowsgrowerstoincrease capacity and accommodate other func-tions such as a root cellar cold storage unit, or food cleaning and processing in a hub unit. They have been tested for use in temperatures ranging from 40C to -40C.The main unit Growcer builds, named Osiris, enables growers to raise a range of fresh produce, including lettuce, kale, spinach, arugula, bok choy and other Asian greens, as well as herbs like basil, cilantro and parsley. Each unit can produce over 8,000 pounds of produce annually. Growcer says its system uses less water than conventional agricul-ture and yields larger-sized produce thancompetitors. The food hub concept was developed directly in response to demand from Indigenous customers. They said, Hey, we love this, we can grow our food, but we also have fish, wild game, things like that, that we dont necessarily have the infrastructure to store in large quantities. Could this be integrated in a food hub? So we figured we needed to develop that kind of solution, Ellis says. Theres a gap between what communities want and what they have access to. The role Growcer plays is just being good listeners and trying to put the puzzle pieces together.Aboriginal BUSINESS REPORT 49'