SUBMITTED PHOTO
From left to right, Big Marble Farms partners Rick Wagenaar, Ryan Cramer (president and CEO), and Albert Cramer.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Big Marble Farms – the local greenhouse outfit that’s slogan is “We’re Always Growing” – is growing again.
On Tuesday company officials announced plans to add more growing space to bring it near the 2 million-square-foot mark at its massive greenhouse operation located southwest of Medicine Hat.
As well, a new onsite natural gas generator will cover about one-third the facility’s needs and divert carbon dioxide and heat produced to promote plant growth, thereby qualifying it for energy efficiency grants from the province.
Already the largest indoor vegetable production facility in the province, Big Marble will become one of the largest in the country by late 2020.
“I thought that we’d get to this kind of size in my lifetime,” said Ryan Cramer, the company’s CEO and part-owner. “But it’s starting to happen a lot faster than I’d ever imagined.”
The planned 10-acre expansion will also pave the way for an additional 10 acres in a future phase, he said.
Big Marble has been in operation for 10 years, and in 2016 more than doubled in size with a substantial expansion that included a heat storage system.
New construction slated to start next fall will add growing room of 10 acres, equivalent to 435,000 square feet, to the facility that currently measures 1.5 million square feet.
Today that’s enough room to grow 165,000 English cucumber plants, 150,000 mini-cuke plants and 60,000 tomato plants.
New space will be used to expand current crop acreage and add new varieties of tomatoes said Cramer. An expected 35 new jobs would bring the total workforce to about 225 at the growing and packaging facility off Highway 3 near Medicine Hat.
In terms of power, a new Siemens generator will be able to produce 6 megawatts of power, thereby cutting the facility’s peak nighttime power needs by one third.
It will also recover heat from the turbine for use in the gas-heated facility, thereby lowering the impact on emissions.
“Obviously utility costs are a significant part of our operating expenses,” said Cramer. “We’re able to capture the waste heat and burning natural gas for power, but also heat.”
The power project, awarded to Missouri-based Martin Energy Group, is eligible to receive about 10 per cent of total cost in grants from Custom Energy Solutions, a division of Energy Efficiency Alberta.
“This is an opportunity for our organization to take the next step in offering a consistent supply of healthy, local produce, year-round,” reads a press release from the company. “The new addition will enhance our existing facility and the power plant will provide safe, sustainable power so that we can continue to do what we do best.”
