McCain Foods, Power Sustainable Lios Lead $150M Investment for Canada’s GoodLeaf Farms

December 8, 2022

Image credit: GoodLeaf Farms

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

GoodLeaf Farms, the first and largest commercial indoor vertical farming company in Canada, has closed on $150 million in funding from McCain Foods, and through a new partnership with Power Sustainable Lios – a specialized agrifood investor with a focus on fostering a more sustainable and resilient food system. 

“Adding one of North America’s most sophisticated agri-food investors to our team alongside McCain, a global food giant, greatly strengthens GoodLeaf’s position as the leader in vertical farming in Canada,” says Barry Murchie, CEO, GoodLeaf Farms. “Together, we are driving sustainable and innovative agriculture technology that is revolutionizing the way we grow food in Canada. Farming indoors frees us from the limitations of Canadian seasons and supports the harvesting of a superior product all year long that tastes garden fresh.”

For McCain, which made a $65 million investment in March 2021 in GoodLeaf Farms saying at the time that the business “lives at the intersection of food, agriculture, and technology”, this is a return investment. 

Founded in Halifax in 2011, GoodLeaf Farms uses innovative hydroponic technologies, ebb-and-flood watering, LED lighting, and multi-level vertical farming to create controlled and efficient indoor farms able to sustainably grow more than 40 crops of microgreens and 20 crops of baby greens anywhere in the world on a year-round basis.

“McCain is at its core an innovative agricultural company and a leader in sustainability, which makes GoodLeaf a great fit with our values,” said Peter Dawe, chief growth & strategy officer, McCain Foods.

“The technology used in GoodLeaf’s farms replicate springtime’s ideal growing conditions every single day, ensuring we have a local supply of fresh, tasty and nutritious greens year-round. We have been a leading partner in supporting GoodLeaf’s growth journey and are excited to continue our support as it expands across the country.”

Free of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, GoodLeaf’s vertical farms use less than 5 percent of the water required in open-field farming. They are invulnerable to volatile or extreme weather, and are not susceptible to flooding or drought conditions, such as are currently forcing more than 500,000 acres to go fallow in California. This factor is critical for northern climates such as Canada’s – giving the country an alternative to imports from the U.S. or Mexico.

With this new funding, GoodLeaf intends to establish a national footprint with new farms in Montreal and Calgary, which will join the company’s existing fully-automated, 50,000 square-foot farm in Guelph, Ontario.

These two new farms will be equipped with the most advanced technologies available in CEA food production, and together will add 200,000 square-feet of production space to the company’s capacity. Initially, the two farms will be able to produce two million pounds of locally grown fresh greens per year, but also will be expandable, having the capability to rapidly double that capacity as Canada shifts to a domestic source of leafy greens.

“The traditional sourcing of leafy greens in Canada from California and Arizona is a problem now, and will continue to be a problem,” said Murchie. “It requires significant transportation miles, with each passing mile on the road the plants lose nutrients, and there is an increased risk of food spoilage and waste.”

Murchie continued, “With our excellent partnerships in both the retail and food service sectors, together we are bringing Canadians a superior domestic alternative in leafy greens whose taste, freshness and overall quality is unmatched. We are leveraging technology and commercial collaboration to secure Canada’s food supply and we’re doing so using sustainable growing practices.”

Currently, GoodLeaf’s growing product lines of baby greens and microgreens, including its Spring Mix, Micro Asian Blend, and Micro Spicy Mustard Medley, are available at most leading retailers in Ontario including Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Longo’s Whole Foods, and more.

But the completion of the two new farms, which are expected to begin production in late Q2 or early Q3 2023,  will give the company national coverage, supporting customers from Atlantic Canada to British Columbia.

“GoodLeaf is the leader in Canadian vertical farming, with best-in-class commercial operations, industry-leading food safety practices, and a strong food-first executive team,” said Jonathan Belair, managing partner, Power Sustainable Lios.

He concluded, “In tandem with its unique strategic partner, McCain Foods, GoodLeaf is ideally positioned to execute a pan-Canadian strategy, providing reliable and locally grown, nutritious, leafy baby greens and microgreens to consumers across the country, year-round.”

 

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

*The content put forth by Global AgInvesting News and its parent company HighQuest Partners is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. All information or other material herein is not to be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Global AgInvesting and HighQuest Partners are not a fiduciary in any manner, and the reader assumes the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or other content on this site.

Join the Global AgInvesting Community

Share your email to be notified about upcoming events, receive leading industry news and more.