Conference Dates: February 6-7, 2026
The Northern Ontario Ag Conference in Sudbury, ON, organized by the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance (NOFIA), was an exciting opportunity for us to showcase our work and connect with the people shaping the future of agriculture in Northern Ontario. As the premier gathering for producers, researchers, agri-businesses, students, and agricultural stakeholders from across the province, the conference brought together a diverse community committed to advancing innovation, sustainability, and food security in Northern Ontario.
This year, we were proud to be a part of Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness’ (OMAFA) Innovation Alley, a dedicated space that highlighted the latest Ontario-led technologies and research driving agriculture forward. Innovation Alley creates a hub where farmers, agri-food businesses, entrepreneurs, and tech developers can meet, exchange ideas, and explore solutions designed to strengthen Northern farming operations. OMAFA has been a critical partner of AgriTech North for some time now, with programs that have helped fund the development of several of our projects. The Hydronic Microclimate Control System (HMCS), one of the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) innovations presented at the conference, has been made possible thanks to OMAFA’s help. The Ontario Agri-food Research Initiative (OAFRI) through OMAFA helped fund its pilot and demonstration phase, and OMAFA’s Agri-Food Energy Cost Savings (AECS) initiative helped fund our pilot hybrid solar installation, supplying thermal energy to the HMCS heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and dehumidification (HVAC-D) system at our facility in Dryden.
During the opening ceremony, NOFIA members presented their 2025-2028 strategic plan, which is built on three core pillars: Local Food, Technology, and Sustainability. Presented at the conference, AgriTech North’s HMCS and Inflatable Multi-Layer Greenhouse both encompass these values, by enabling commercially viable year round agricultural production in Northern and remote communities. These pillars were recurring themes throughout conversations with exhibitors, researchers and growers in attendance, with whom we discussed various use cases and applications of our technology.
1. Local Food: Increasing access to Northern-grown foods
AgriTech North’s Greenhouse Envelope directly supports NOFIA’s Local Food pillar by enabling year-round local production for a wide variety of crops. Its high insulation and light transmissivity, as well as its proven snow-load resistance, allow Northern growers to maintain productive greenhouse environments even in harsh winter conditions.
We had a chance to speak with multiple Ontario greenhouse growers at the conference, for which year-round growing had previously not been viable due to the limitations of current greenhouse envelopes in freezing climates. Our greenhouse envelope’s high insulation was also discussed as a solution for CEA in hot climates, where greenhouses with limited insulation struggle to maintain ideal growing climates due to the ambient heat. In both situations, AgriTech North’s innovative greenhouse envelope allows for local production, reducing dependence on long-distance supply chains and helping address food insecurity in regions with limited local agricultural production.
2. Technology: Supporting scalable, Northern-focused innovation
Both of our featured CEA technologies embody NOFIA’s focus on technology adoption, as they were both designed with the challenges of Northern and remote communities in mind.
Designed for Northern climates, the Inflatable Greenhouse Envelope is small-scale proven, as demonstrated by our greenhouse growing year-round in Dryden, and can be scaled from a backyard greenhouse to industrial-sized greenhouse operations. This is a unique and desirable feature, as most current freezing climate CEA systems are only duplicable due to the numerous environmental challenges in these environments.
The Hydronic Microclimate Control System introduces a low energy consumption approach to controlled microclimate management, offering heating, cooling, and dehumidification powered by low-grade waste heat and passive cooling. The system utilizes adsorption chilling and hydronic heat transfer, allowing it to be fully self-maintained without specialized refrigeration technicians, a significant advantage for Northern and remote communities.
The importance of a self-maintainable HVAC-D system for agriculture was emphasized in discussions with an Ontario mushroom grower who faced similar challenges with the upkeep of their HVAC-D system. Our patented pressure washable HVAC-D coil was of particular interest as spore and mold growth on HVAC-D coil is a common occurrence in mushroom production, which greatly impacts the systems heat transfer capabilities. It was great to hear about the different potential use cases for our technology and how our planning for robust and scalable designs is of value for a range of agricultural applications and general occupied spaces beyond our initial use case.
Together, these systems demonstrate how Northern-led innovation can overcome regional barriers and help farms adopt resilient, modern-growing systems.
3. Sustainability: Ensuring long-term agricultural resilience
Sustainability is at the core of both systems.
Our HMCS eliminates reliance on high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants and makes use of renewable thermal energy, reducing electricity consumption. In addition, the ability for self-maintenance allows for longer-lasting machines, further reinforcing the system’s sustainability.
Meanwhile, the Greenhouse Envelope’s insulation dramatically reduces heating loads, cutting emissions and operating costs and has a lifespan of over 50 years, offering long-term durability that reduces material turnover and waste. This long-term durability was highly valued by greenhouse growers at the conference, who are currently limited to low-lifespan and less durable greenhouse envelope options for freezing climates.
By reducing environmental footprint and increasing local production capacity, our technologies align directly with NOFIA’s long-term vision for a sustainable agricultural sector.
