Ottawa-based Growcer manufactures modular farms designed to supply fresh greens in some of Canada’s harshest environments, including the North. But its impact raises an important question: what role can the company play in tackling food insecurity in its own backyard — especially as U.S. trade tensions bring attention to the vulnerability of our country’s food supply?

Yesterday, Growcer announced a new partnership with its first local non-profit organization, The Ottawa Mission, with support from the RBC Foundation.

The announcement took place at Invest Ottawa’s Bayview Yards, where one of Growcer’s modular hydroponic farming systems was on display out back.

Growcer is a home-grown success story started by two award-winning graduates of the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management, CEO Corey Ellis and CFO Alida Burke. They founded their company in 2016 while students of uOttawa, with the goal of addressing food insecurity in the Arctic.

Growcer CEO Corey Ellis and CFO Alida Burke seen outside one of their modular farms, located outside of Invest Ottawa’s Bayview Yards. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Growcer now has cargo-container-sized modular farms located across Canada in more than 125 places, including Indigenous communities and co-op grocery stores. Meanwhile, food insecurity in Canada has reached alarming levels, affecting about a quarter of the population, according to Statistics Canada.

It was Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe who approached Ellis about a year and a half ago, challenging him to think locally. “You’re based here, your whole team is based here, what can we do to address food insecurity right in our own backyard?” Ellis said he was asked.

Around the same time, The Ottawa Mission was introduced to Growcer by Richard L’Abbé, co-founder and long-time CEO of Med-Eng Systems.

“He put the bug in our ear,” The Mission’s CEO, Peter Tilley, said at yesterday’s announcement. “He said, ‘I know some people you need to meet’.”

The Ottawa Mission CEO Peter Tilley spoke at the launch of a new initiative that will supply The Ottawa Mission with fresh, locally grown produce using Growcer’s modular farms. Photo by Caroline Phillips

The Ottawa Mission serves more than one million meals a year to individuals in need, both through its mobile food truck program and at its main shelter building on Waller Street.

The new partnership with Growcer will provide The Ottawa Mission fresh and locally grown produce.

“Initiatives like this are important because the need continues to grow,” said Tilley. “Just take a look around the streets of Ottawa.”

The Ottawa Mission’s initial visit to a Growcer modular farm took place one year ago, kickstarting a partnership focused on local food production.

Said Tilley: “It’s important we do this because combating food insecurity — and our dependence on international markets for producing fresh, nutritious produce and greens — is going to be a challenge in upcoming years, and something we knew we had to tackle head on.”

Growcer CEO and co-founder Corey Ellis inside one of his company’s modular farms, located outside of Invest Ottawa’s Bayview Yards. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Chef Ric Watson, director of food services at The Ottawa Mission, spoke about the challenges of trying to source fresh, high-quality produce for their meal programs. Every day, they prepare 3,000 meals.

“Over 90 percent of the produce that we’re getting right now comes from across the border,” said Watson. “And that seriously concerns me with the way things are going.”

Watson was the driving force behind creating The Ottawa Mission’s successful Food Services Training Program (FSTP) in 2004 — an initiative that equips unemployed men and women with the skills to work in commercial kitchens. The FSTP expanded nearly four years ago, with the help of the community, into a social enterprise that provides catering services and affordable meals through its Chef Ric’s location on Rideau Street.

Fifty-five percent of The Ottawa Mission’s funding comes from private donors.

With hydroponic farming soon to be added to the mix, FSTP students will gain hands-on experience with year-round indoor harvesting, which uses less water and land, and no agrochemicals.

The Ottawa Mission’s director of food services, Chef Ric Watson, spoke at the launch of a new initiative that will supply The Ottawa Mission with fresh, locally grown produce using Growcer’s modular farms. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Ellis praised The Ottawa Mission for having the “courage and conviction” to pursue innovative programs and “to be bold enough to change the way they run their operation.”

He said:  “The Ottawa Mission is really at the forefront of what I think the world is going toward, which is more food autonomy, more sovereignty in the way we grow our food, and more sustainability, so that we can grow more food for more people in a less environmentally impactful way.”

Local investors in Growcer include Ottawa-based national building services provider Modern Niagara, cleantech serial investor Jeff Westeinde and Altea Active CEO Jeff York, who has experience in the grocery industry as former co-CEO of Farm Boy.

Growcer CEO and co-founder Corey Ellis spoke at the launch of a new initiative that will supply The Ottawa Mission with fresh, locally grown produce using Growcer’s modular farms. Photo by Caroline Phillips

The RBC Foundation, which is the philanthropic arm of Canada’s largest bank, is helping to cover startup costs for the two hydroponic farms for The Ottawa Mission, which will seek donor support to fund the annual costs, estimated at $150,000.

Glenn Sheen, regional director of marketing and citizenship at RBC, touched on the Foundation’s broader commitment to investing $2 billion over the next decade to build sustainable community value by focusing on three pillars: skills development, the transition to a net-zero economy, and inclusive prosperity through initiatives that address food and housing security.

“When you think about it, this program is all of those things,” said Sheen, highlighting how it connects workforce training with low-carbon food production while meeting essential community needs.

RBC Foundation will be making a bigger announcement relating to the project in another month’s time, Sheen added. “But for now, we’re happy to be here supporting something that is really unique and made in Ottawa.”

In celebration of local innovation and sustainable solutions, the gathering was catered by The Ottawa Mission’s Chef Ric’s social enterprise, featuring fresh greens supplied by Growcer. Guests were also gifted take-home salads made with locally grown good stuff from a Growcer farm — dressing included.

Glenn Sheen, regional director of marketing and citizenship at RBC, spoke at Invest Ottawa about RBC Foundation’s support of a new initiative that will supply The Ottawa Mission with fresh, locally grown produce using Growcer’s modular farms. Photo by Caroline Phillips

From left, Erika Whitmee, senior manager of marketing and communications at RBC; Lucie Caron, regional director of communications at RBC; Yasser Ghazi, VP of commercial financial services at RBC; Ray Rashed, managing director of RBCx; The Ottawa Mission’s CEO, Peter Tilley; Growcer CEO and co-founder Corey Ellis; Grocer CFO and co-founder Alida Burke; RBC regional director of marketing and citizenship Glenn Sheen; and The Ottawa Mission’s director of food services, Chef Ric Watson, at Invest Ottawa’s Bayview Yards. Photo by Caroline Phillips

This article is made possible through sponsorship from Star Motors, WCPD, Marilyn Wilson Dream Properties, ExecHealth, Infinity Convention Centre, Altis Recruitment, Bell Canada, First Avenue Investment Counsel and RBC.

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