More than a vitamin-rich superfood, microgreens are a crop thatB次元官网网址檚 helping new generations of farmers take root in the North Okanagan-Shuswap communities.

The relatively recent trend of growing microgreens, vegetable greens (not sprouts) harvested just after their cotyledon leaves have sprouted, persists, in part, because they can be produced year-round and take relatively little time to produce, and yield high nutritional value.

B次元官网网址淒epending on which plant youB次元官网网址檙e talking about, some plants can be 20 times the amount of nutrition, especially vitamins, per pound, compared to the full-grown vegetable. ItB次元官网网址檚 mind-blowing,B次元官网网址� said Jean-Francois Chaumont, the owner/operator of Sacred Earth Eco-Farm in Salmon Arm.

A University of Maryland study found microgreens contained four to 40 times more than their vegetable counterparts.

Chaumont and his family started Sacred Earth in 2017, and currently provide certified organic microgreens and salad greens to grocery stores and restaurants in the Shuswap. He said theyB次元官网网址檒l soon be selling microgreens through the online store of MaraB次元官网网址檚 Wild Flight Farm.

Thursday, Feb. 8, was a harvesting day for Chaumont, who said his microgreens would be available in stores the next day.

B次元官网网址淲e have two deliveries a week, so we harvest twice a week, so the produce is no more than three days old maximum,B次元官网网址� said Chaumont, explaining a benefit to buying locally grown food. B次元官网网址淭ransportation is where you lose most of your nutrition in the plant, because the longer that it has lived without being in the ground, the more it loses its nutritionB次元官网网址� it will keep the minerals pretty good, but the vitamins will diminish over time.B次元官网网址�

Microgreens are grown indoors, typically on shelves, so they donB次元官网网址檛 require a lot of space.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 pretty easy to scale and itB次元官网网址檚 decently profitable,B次元官网网址� said Chaumont, adding it helps to be in or near larger urban markets like Salmon Arm. Though there are other microgreen growers/competitors in the region, Chaumont views this as a plus for the building of resilient, food-secure communities.

B次元官网网址淭he more farmers we have, the more available produce we have locally, the more resilient we areB次元官网网址�,B次元官网网址� said Chaumont. B次元官网网址淎nd you know what, itB次元官网网址檚 just less gas for transportationB次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 a little more money going directly to the farmer and it employs people in the town and the area. IB次元官网网址檓 happy with it.B次元官网网址�

Microgreen producer Seth Armbruster, the owner/operator of Sweet Haven Farms in Cherryville, also views B次元官网网址渃ompetitionB次元官网网址� as a strength for the region.

B次元官网网址淚t helps to spread more knowledge on microgreens and it reaches a wider range of peopleB次元官网网址� I donB次元官网网址檛 think itB次元官网网址檚 really a bad thing,B次元官网网址� said Armbruster, adding heB次元官网网址檚 heard from other growers with the same mindset, the more people growing, the better.

B次元官网网址淚f anything itB次元官网网址檚 just more people getting good foodB次元官网网址� If it ever turned into a thing where every city has itB次元官网网址檚 own grower, which it seems like itB次元官网网址檚 turning into, I think thatB次元官网网址檚 great too because it just means more sustainable agriculture, people can get food thatB次元官网网址檚 completely local, not shipped from the Lower Mainland or who knows where, or these big mega-corporations. Small farmers actually making a living and being able to support themselves in their local area without having to ship food across the country or whatever.B次元官网网址�

Armbruster said he grew up on a hobby farm in the Coldstream area. After high school he was looking for something to do that, ideally, involved farming. He found the guidance he was looking for on YouTube, particularly videos by farmer, author and consultant Curtis Stone, on how one can make a living on less than a quarter-acre of land with microgreens B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址渂asically more high intensity crops.

B次元官网网址淚 found that interesting B次元官网网址� It was the winter time, I was kind of bored, so I just started there, in the house actually, with a couple of trays B次元官网网址� and that moved into the basement,B次元官网网址� said Armbruster. B次元官网网址淲e grew to like 100 trays and I realized thatB次元官网网址檚 not great to have this in the basement. So we built a shop and facility and we have an operation in about 1,000 square feet.B次元官网网址�

Armbruster said his foray into microgreens began with a number of crop failures, as he learned to adjust things such as seed density and moisture so as to prevent mould. Regarding those failures, he called microgreens a B次元官网网址渓ess risky crop to grow, because if youB次元官网网址檙e growing something that takes the whole year and you have crop failure, youB次元官网网址檙e kind of stuck and that can be a bit of an issue.

B次元官网网址淭his way, if you have crop failure, itB次元官网网址檚 one week and then OK, weB次元官网网址檒l try again for next week, because itB次元官网网址檚 a weekly basis, every week you have a new crop, and you can really dial in the health of your crop and get a really solid grasp on how to do it in a short amount of time.B次元官网网址�

These factors, explained Chaumont, are part of what make microgreens an attractive crop for new generations of farmers.

B次元官网网址淎 lot of young people are now getting into farming, and itB次元官网网址檚 not going to be with tractors, with big machines and big buildings and thousands of acres because land prices, house prices, everything is very expensive,B次元官网网址� said Chaumont, adding he uses nothing but hand tools on his farm, including a two-wheel, walk-behind tractor. B次元官网网址淓verything is just hand work, because this is the easiest way to get into it. ItB次元官网网址檚 hard, but itB次元官网网址檚 easier and itB次元官网网址檚 possible to do it that way. And you can scale up to a few acres and do intensive farming, so a quarter of an acre, you can produce $25,000 to $30,000 easy on that.B次元官网网址�

On the topic of producing local, Chaumont, who came to Salmon Arm from Quebec, said at some point he would like to get a farmerB次元官网网址檚 co-operative started. Another goal is to grow his farm to further bolster the communityB次元官网网址檚 resiliency to food insecurity.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檇 like to grow this farm so that I can feed the needs of as many grocery stores around here as possible, so that Salmon Arm can depend on their local growers for hopefully the majority of the food in the grocery store, at least in the produce aisleB次元官网网址�,B次元官网网址� said Chaumont. B次元官网网址淚 think thatB次元官网网址檚 kind of something everybody would like. WeB次元官网网址檙e trying to do that. It takes a lot of years to build the experience and to build the capital to build a farm up to that point, but every year I try to build towards that goal.B次元官网网址�

Visit Sacred Earth Eco-Farm on Facebook to learn more about the farm. For more information Sweet Haven Farms, visit bestgreens.ca.