Pitt Meadows vertical farm revolutionizes produce production in B.C.

Lettuce and leafy greens, produce that would typically be trucked into B.C. from California at this time of year, began rolling out of Up Vertical Farms’ brand-new greenhouse-like operation in Pitt Meadows last week.

Displacing what are typically field-grown imports is a big part of Up’s proposition to grow high-density, hydroponic crops in clean, climate-controlled conditions, according to company co-founder Bahram Rashti.

Rashti was first drawn to the idea while still a practicing dentist, conducting remote clinics on Haida Gwaii, where he saw similar produce that was expensive with little shelf life.

“There’s a huge market opportunity,” Rashti said of the venture he and brother Shahram, an IT and business expert, started eight years ago.

“The more we looked into it, the more we were drawn because we knew there was an intersection in time where the supply, the centralized supply from California and Arizona, the western U.S., was going to collapse due to the adverse effects of climate change that are ever-increasing.”