Oct 15, 2020

Signify’s LED lighting helps GoodLeaf Farms increase food production

GoodLeaf Community Farms in Canada selected Signify, a  lighting company, to equip its new state-of-the-art farm with Philips Horticulture LED lighting and increase its food production, enhance flavor and improve nutritional value.

According to a news release, as a branded producer, GoodLeaf grows and packs fresh, nutritious, and pesticide-free micro and baby greens year-round. The company operates a 4,000-square-meter indoor vertical farm in Guelph, Ontario, which is now fully operational to supply some of the largest Canadian retail chains. GoodLeaf is backed by McCain Foods as its strategic investor.

The vertical farm is fully automated and equipped with the latest LED lighting technology for growing indoors. The energy efficient Philips Greenpower LED production modules enable GoodLeaf to shorten production cycles. As it provides a controlled environment it also allows GoodLeaf to produce all year round without any lighting, temperature and pesticide worries, and reducing waste at the same time.

GoodLeaf Farms started working with Philips products in 2013 at the company’s test facility in Truro, Nova Scotia. “Signify has been very advantageous to GoodLeaf. We’ve worked with many vendors and Signify would stand out as one of the most collaborative, if not one of the best partners we’ve had through this project. We will work with them on a go forward basis and very much look forward to that,” said Jeff McKinnon, Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of GoodLeaf Community Farms and TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture.

Signify has built up a substantial track record in more than 400 projects in the horticultural lighting market since 1995, developing ways to apply lighting technology to crop farming. With cutting-edge LED innovations, the company can custom-build a science-based solution for growers providing data and plant expertise to optimize yields.

This expertise is built on close collaborations with Signify’s horticulture partners and through research at its own vertical farming research facilities in Eindhoven, called GrowWise Center. Vertical farming, or city farming, means that plants can be grown indoors in a controlled environment without sunlight. This is ideal for propagating young plants, cultivating full head crops and growing healthier, pesticide-free crops. It maximizes production by using LEDs to light multiple layers of crops, achieving a higher yield with a smaller footprint.

“The support from Signify and the folks from GrowWise Center is phenomenal. We meet with them monthly. The data they collect cover the data we collect as well, so sharing that knowledge has been excellent, and the service over their Philips’ products has been exceptional,” said McKinnon. For more information about this project at GoodLeaf, you can watch the video here.