Rooftop greenhouse grower finds high-end market for greens

From The Vancouver Sun (Published Nov. 20): A unique mechanized greenhouse operation will deliver its first crop of salad greens, herbs and spinach today and begin to pay back a $2-million investment.

The greenhouse, perched atop a Richards Street parkade in downtown Vancouver, employs a four-metre-high system of hundreds of suspended trays that move to maximize exposure to natural light and to facilitate harvesting.

Alterrus' vertical greenhouse prototype has been operating in a greenhouse at England's Paignton Zoo for three years, providing food for the animals. But all eyes are on Vancouver to see if the system can turn a profit as a stand-alone business, according to the company's strategic adviser Donovan Woollard.

The Vancouver-based company, which trades on the Canadian National Stock Exchange and has a market capitalization of $9.5 million, went back to the market for $500,000 in operating capital earlier this year.

Alterrus showed an operating loss of $417,453 for its most recent fiscal quarter, and the company states it has accumulated $53 million in losses during its development stage.

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