Spotlight on the Inuvik Community Greenhouse

Stepping inside the Inuvik Community Greenhouse on a summer afternoon is just like stepping into any greenhouse anywhere in the world: there’s the scent of rich earth, bright sunlight, and dozens of different plants and crops growing in profusion. But the Inuvik Community Greenhouse has a unique claim to fame: located more than 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle, it’s the most northerly greenhouse in North America. As such, it’s one of the region’s few sources of fresh, economical produce, and therefore a highly valuable community resource. Read on to learn some amazing facts about this very special indoor farm.

It’s in a converted arena.

Perhaps it’s not so surprising that a Canadian greenhouse should be located inside a converted ice hockey arena. The decommissioned Grollier Hall Arena — a 16,000 square foot, Quonset-style structure in the center of town — was converted into a community greenhouse in the late 1990s under the direction of the non-profit Community Garden Society of Inuvik. Most of the framework, floors, windows, and doors from the old arena were preserved, but its tin roof was replaced with polycarbonate glazing to let the sunlight in.

Given the logistical challenge of shipping materials to the remote town, the greenhouse makes use of recycled and repurposed materials whenever possible, such as using Styrofoam cups and milk cartons as temporary pots for bedding plants. In addition, the greenhouse includes an on-site composting facility that collects organic waste from both the greenhouse and local residents and businesses.

It incorporates both commercial and community growing.

There are two distinct areas inside the Inuvik Community Greenhouse. The main floor is home to 174 raised community garden plots, each measuring roughly eight feet by four feet. These plots are available to community members for a nominal fee and the pledge of a certain number of volunteer hours per year; in addition, some plots are sponsored for seniors, children’s groups, people with disabilities, and local charities. Members can use their plots to grow whatever they like: member-grown crops seen in the greenhouse have included tomatoes, strawberries, peas, rhubarb, squash, raspberries, watermelons, and even roses.

The second floor of the greenhouse features a 4,000-square-foot commercial greenhouse that is operated by the Community Garden Society of Inuvik. This part of the greenhouse grows bedding plants and hydroponic vegetables for commercial sale in order to help cover the facility’s operational and management costs. Other spaces in the greenhouse include a staff office, a classroom for gardening classes, and a gift shop that features the work of local artists.

It’s a member of Canada’s Good Food Organizations network.

The Inuvik Community Greenhouse is dedicated to increasing food security and food justice for northern residents, many of whom struggle with the high costs of food shipped in from elsewhere, and with the reduction or loss of traditional hunting grounds as a result of climate change. To this end, the greenhouse recently joined Good Food Organizations, a program of Community Food Centres Canada. Good Food Organizations helps unite progressive groups and associations that are working to tackle issues like poor health, inequality, hunger, and poverty through innovative food programs. Members of Good Food Organizations can access tools, resources, customized training, and networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities to help build capacity and improve their activities.

Plans for year-round growing are underway.

At present, the Inuvik Community Greenhouse is only open from May through October, taking full advantage of the 24-hour sunlight available during the summer months. In winter, it’s still too cold and dark to make greenhouse growing very effective — too much artificial light and heat would be required. However, the facility’s executive director Ray Solotki is hoping to change this by exploring an alternative growing option for the winter: modular farms. Solotki is working with an Ontario-based container farm company to develop modular growing structures, equipped with LED lights and HVAC climate-control systems, that can more easily withstand extreme winter weather. Because these structures are small — demonstration modules are 44 feet long by 10.5 feet wide — they would need much less energy to operate than the entire greenhouse, while still allowing for year-round growing.

It’s not the only greenhouse in the world’s remote north.

The Inuvik Community Greenhouse may be the most northerly greenhouse in North America, but similar facilities have been springing up recently in Arctic countries all around the world. In Siberia, for example, the world’s first far-north, year-round greenhouse complex (launched in 2016 with the investment support of Japan’s Hokkaido Corporation), is expected to produce nearly 500 tons of tomatoes and nearly 1,700 tons of cucumbers per year when it reaches full capacity. Likewise, thanks to an innovative geodesic dome greenhouse, Polar Permaculture Solutions is the only source of fresh, local food for the residents of Longyearbyen on the island of Svalbard: the northernmost city in the world.