Imagine fresh, locally produced strawberries, peppers, kale and more available on the shelves of major grocery stores in the city.

Sonny Gray, who has started up North Star Agriculture, is working to bring a NutraPonics system to Whitehorse that could result in just that.

The looped system uses fish waste to fertilize produce that could then be sold commercially to stores throughout the Yukon.

“I really think it’s the future of farming,” Gray said in an interview last week.

He was joined by Dr. John Vidmar, NutraPonics’ chief technology officer, and Tim Goltz of Stonecutters Capital, which has been involved in the development of NutraPonics.

Gray is now looking to build partnerships – including potentially with First Nation development corporations – that would help lead to a Whitehorse facility.

An eventual 10,000 square metre facility would be built and operated in phases over a number of years, producing commercial produce for grocery stores and restaurants in the territory.

Immediate plans propose a 4,000 square metre facility to start, growing leafy-greens.

“Whitehorse could become a leader in food security in the North,” Gray said.

He stressed that North Star Agriculture would not be looking to tap into any markets already being served locally.

It’s not looking to be at the farmer’s market every week or to commercially grow root vegetables. There are already local companies and individuals that are doing that well.

What he wants to see is produce currently trucked up the highway from places like Mexico and the U.S. and sold in major grocery stores and to restaurants replaced with produce that would be grown at a local facility.

As Gray pointed out, right now, grocery stores must go with what’s available to them – and that means having a lot of produce come by truck.

His initiative would put much fresher food on dinner tables around the territory and would mean about 10 more jobs when the facility is up and running.

“It’s an untapped market,” Gray said.

As Goltz pointed out, while the local chambers of commerce have done a good job of promoting “buy local,” with produce, it’s difficult to do that.

While the produce coming out of NutraPonics’ facilities is not certified organic, Vidmar said it’s essentially an issue of organic standards not being in place in Canada yet.

The fully enclosed system means pesticides and such does not touch the plants.

At a basic level, nutrient-rich water from the fish tank is moved through bio-filters and on to the plants to grow, with clean water making its way back to the fish tank.

Gray said his company would start first with leafy greens – lettuce, kale and the like – which generally grow fairly fast before future phases would move into berries, peppers and others.

Established in 2010, the NutraPonics system can be built small or large. The Edmonton facility is 1,000 square metres, while a site set to open in New Brunswick will serve as the largest in North America at 20,000 square metres.

It’s estimated five kilograms of produce could be grown per metre in a facility (depending on the type of produce and other factors).

While Gray sees the Whitehorse operation as a profitable, commercial business, he noted there’s also potential for smaller types of NutraPonics operations in the territory’s other communities, which might not be profitable but could contribute to better food security.

Even further down the road is the potential for the system to make its way across the North to the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Gray first heard about the system through a news story out of a conference at Yukon College last year.

“I was blown away,” he said.

As he looked into it further – including visiting the Edmonton facility – it became clear it could have a major positive impact on the territory.

As a licensed operator of a NutraPonics facility, North Star Agriculture would have access to the data from other NutraPonics operations.

They’re a somewhat more modern version of farmers swapping stories and tips over the fence with their neighbours, as Gray described it.

The local company would also be drawing on the expertise of specialists NutraPonics uses to build facilities.

As Gray pointed out, while local labour would be sought for most of the construction, there are a few details to making sure the air flow is just right with the proper systems installed and that’s where the specialists come in.

Gray, Vidmar and Goltz have met with officials at the college (given potential research opportunities), government officials and others about the Whitehorse project.