Light shed on local greenhouses
On an otherwise wild, wintry day in Niagara, a calm slice of spring was found in local greenhouses Saturday.
Seven greenhouses in Niagara opened their doors to the public. For a $5 donation to Niagara Life Centre, people could tour Boekestyn Greenhouses, Creekside Gardens, CosMic Plants, Jeffrey’s Greenhouses, Prins Grow Inc., St. David’s Hydroponics and Sunrise Greenhouses.
“We have opened up different parts of our greenhouses to show technologies and they way we grow plants and the advancements we have,” said Chandra Bierhuizen, sales manager at Sunrise Greenhouses in Vineland.
“We have marked off certain sections where everyone can take a walk, take a tour and, hopefully, enjoy it and learn a little bit about the greenhouse industry.”
Sunrise Greenhouses sells its products wholesale, largely to large grocery chains, choosing to focus on a few plants.
“We are mostly into exclusive product lines so we don’t really do any of the commodities, like the roses, we go for specialty products like the campanula, so it is exclusive to Sunrise in North America,” said Chandra.
“We are trying to make ourselves into a little niche market that we do a lot of the programs that other people won’t touch. It takes a lot of time and research for us. We say if we bring a new item in, it takes about five years for us to figure it out.”
It’s been about a decade since Niagara greenhouses have gotten together to open their doors to the public. The first year Come See What’s Growing was presented attendance was great, but by the second year attendance began petering out. And when liability issues became a problem, the whole event was scrapped.
“We used to do this years ago and we would host open houses just to let the general public know what our industry is about. It is very prominent industry in the Niagara region but not very promoted. There’s probably 30 greenhouses or more in the area. It’s a big industry, it’s billions,” said Chandra.
Niagara greenhouses are expanding in the export sector. It is an industry worth more than $2 billion annually, but with coming marijuana legalization, Robert Bierhuizen said people look at greenhouses skeptically. Not knowing what is on the other side of the glass, he finds some people assume it’s a pot grow-op.
“A lot of our greenhouse outfits are going into marijuana, but titans of our market are cut flowers and we, on the flower side, want to open the greenhouses to show the people that there is a different side to it,” said Robert, president of Sunrise Greenhouses.
“So many people this morning that came in and didn’t know what was going on in a greenhouse. They have no idea. They see a glass greenhouse on the outside and that’s it — they don’t see what is inside.”
Part of his goal is to dispel the bad reputation greenhouses are getting in Niagara because of the impending legalization.
“We already had a bad rap because of the greenhouse gases, but it’s not correct.
“We do the good stuff. We take carbon dioxide out of the air and we give oxygen back, but it’s called greenhouse gases so people think right away, ‘Oh, greenhouses produce greenhouse gases.’
I had several questions. ‘Do you produce greenhouse gases.’ ‘No, that is just a scientific way of saying about what’s going on in the environment.’”
Robert understands and sympathizes with people who are worried about marijuana greenhouses popping up in their neighbourhoods.
“People are not satisfied, and I can see it. If you live near a marijuana place, you smell it,” he said.
“It’s a skunky smell if they are harvesting. Our main focus is to show the people that there is another side to the industry, that is the flower side, that is vegetable industry. Come and see.”
The greenhouse industry in Niagara is growing, albeit mostly south of the border.
Sunrise’s main export area is the East Coast of the United States, although it delivers as far as Texas, Florida and California.
“We go basically all over but that is because we have specialty plants, potted flowering plants and specialty items,” said Robert.