Prof. Mike Dixon, School of Environmental Sciences, is an expert at growing food in places where food has never been grown before. Whether it\u2019s mimicking the harsh environment of Mars or the extreme temperatures of Canada\u2019s Far North and the Middle East, Dixon\u2019s research \u2014 which employs cutting-edge LED lighting and space technologies \u2014 could hold the answers to complex problems of the future, including climate change, space travel and, perhaps most pressing for humankind, food scarcity.<\/p>\n
In Northern Canada, food security is mainly an economic issue. We currently import perishable produce and fly it into remote places at great expense. It\u2019s difficult for people to get fresh food and they can\u2019t grow their own food outside. In the Middle East, they\u2019re projecting the day when they will have to survive without oil. The deserts of Kuwait, where it\u2019s 50 C, and the snow banks of Yellowknife, where it\u2019s -50 C, have equally profound food security issues but the solution is identical: space-related technology.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re using controlled environment technologies to produce food year-round in places where you would never consider sticking a seed in the ground. It\u2019s technology that we\u2019ve developed for growing food in space \u2014 the next worse place after Northern Canada to grow food has got to be the surface of the moon or Mars. We\u2019re hoping to put a pilot-scale installation in the Northwest Territories and there\u2019s already a prototype in Kuwait growing vegetables in an otherwise hostile environment. We hope to explore high-value perishable crops like strawberries, sweet peppers, herbs and romaine lettuce, along with medicinal herbs, which have a higher profit margin.<\/p>\n
A plant is a product of its environment and responds to every environmental variable \u2014 carbon dioxide, light, temperature, humidity, nutrients and water. The advent of high-intensity, high-efficiency LEDs gives us the power to fine-tune the environment control. With the colour of the light, you can change the size, shape, taste and colour of a plant. Plants are the ultimate challenge because they\u2019re so sophisticated in their physiological responses to light.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, the arithmetic was good \u2014 previous NASA research supports it. Our work is to fill in the blanks more precisely. For example, looking at how low can you take the pressure in the structure and still have plants providing all the functions of life support, food, oxygen, recycling water and scrubbing carbon dioxide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Absolutely. It will happen as the technology gets deployed on a larger scale and becomes more economically possible. The technology exists, and the interest, initiative and feasibility are obvious. The need is clear. It all depends on money \u2014 it\u2019s the only limitation. \u2013DAVID DICENZO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prof. Mike Dixon, School of Environmental Sciences, is an expert at growing food in places where food has never been grown before. Whether it\u2019s mimicking the harsh environment of Mars or the extreme temperatures of Canada\u2019s Far North and the Middle East, Dixon\u2019s research \u2014 which employs cutting-edge LED lighting and space technologies \u2014 could<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"Photo Credit: Peter Power Photography","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":null,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":null},"categories":[25],"tags":[212,217,52,56,218],"yoast_head":"\n