Creation of a High-Performance, Biobased, Block-Agglomerated Horticultural Mixture for Agriculture in Controlled Environments

The development of greenhouse farming is an essential way of guaranteeing food security, stimulating the local economy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting against weather conditions linked to climate change. This industry, which is still relatively young in Quebec, focuses mainly on high value-added products, benefiting from sustained market demand and high productivity. As with the agricultural sector over the past 75 years, we can expect the increase in greenhouse productivity to depend on advances in plant genetics and improvements in knowledge about treatments (climate, irrigation, fertilization) and horticultural mixtures. In this regard, the design of specialized horticultural mixtures is crucial, enabling specific plant yields to be increased and treatments such as irrigation and fertilization to be better applied.

In a context where automation plays an increasingly important role, for reasons of labour shortage and efficiency, the physical characteristics of the substrate that facilitate its handling become crucial.

Aware of these challenges, the project partners are aiming to design sage organic horticultural mixes produced from local and sustainable components, agglomerated in blocks to facilitate automation, and designed to optimize specialized crops. Such as innovation would offer Quebec and Canadian growers horticultural mixes that make it easier to grow organic produce all year round.