If you’re partial to eating greens, you’ve likely been encountering a bunch of red flags of late. Public health officials in the United States are contending with the country’s largest-ever outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a nasty gastrointestinal infection caused by a microscopic parasite that hides out in produce. The current explosion of illnesses has been linked to iceberg lettuce grown by Taylor Farms, a California-based company that supplies vegetables to supermarkets and fast-food chains. (Taco Bell, a key customer, has hustled to purge all “shredduce” from its stores.)
“Right now is the perfect time to be scaling and expanding controlled environment agriculture in Canada,” says Eric Highfield, the chief agricultural officer at Haven Greens, which operates a fully automated five-acre hydroponic greenhouse in York Region.
