High-tech, 13-acre propagation facility opens in Ontario

Oct 15, 2024

Ontario Plants has officially opened a new 13-acre, high-tech greenhouse facility at Glencoe in southwestern Ontario. This year’s greenhouse tour, in conjunction with the Canadian Greenhouse Conference, made a stop.

This new facility prioritizes world-class biosecurity, quality assurance and sustainability, ensuring young plants can thrive and ultimately supply consumers with nutritious, flavourful produce. Speed doors ensure an optimal growing environment and the facility has safety-certified cleaning stations, comprehensive pest management and rigorous monitoring by in-house food safety experts and entomologists.

Mathieu van der Sande, CEO of Ontario Plants, said: “The new 13-acre greenhouse at Glencoe is a game-changer for Ontario Plants and most importantly for our customers. Ontario Plants has evolved to focus squarely on producing high-quality young plants and the Glencoe facility demonstrates this growing excellence. We now have two high-tech greenhouse facilities – at Glencoe and St. Thomas – meaning greater flexibility to meet customer demand for young, healthy and productive plants.”

More than 90 per cent of rainwater from Glencoe’s roof will be captured and reused in the greenhouse. Energy efficiency is improved by using 2800 hybrid LED/ HPS lights, the Dalsem Air semi-closed system and renewable energy from heat pumps and a planned six-acre solar installation.

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Video: From Conventional to Regenerative: Will Groeneveld’s Journey Back to the Land

"You realize you've got a pretty finite number of years to do this. If you ever want to try something new, you better do it."

That mindset helped Will Groeneveld take a bold turn on his Alberta grain farm. A lifelong farmer, Will had never heard of regenerative agriculture until 2018, when he attended a seminar by Kevin Elmy that shifted his worldview. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a deep exploration of how biology—not just chemistry—shapes the health of our soils, crops and ecosystems.

In this video, Will candidly reflects on his family’s farming history, how the operation evolved from a traditional mixed farm to grain-only, and how the desire to improve the land pushed him to invite livestock back into the rotation—without owning a single cow.

Today, through creative partnerships and a commitment to the five principles of regenerative agriculture, Will is reintroducing diversity, building soil health and extending living roots in the ground for as much of the year as possible. Whether it’s through intercropping, zero tillage (which he’s practiced since the 1980s) or managing forage for visiting cattle, Will’s approach is a testament to continuous learning and a willingness to challenge old norms.

Will is a participant in the Regenerative Agriculture Lab (RAL), a social innovation process bringing together producers, researchers, retailers and others to co-create a resilient regenerative agriculture system in Alberta. His story highlights both the potential and humility required to farm with nature, not against it.