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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Greenhouse truly tomato paradise

Garden centre adds high-tech facility

By: Murray McNeill

Posted: 04/24/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Harry Schriemer checks his current crop of tomatoes in the greenhouse. (KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

MANITOBA-GROWN tomatoes have never had it so good.

One of the city's oldest and largest garden-centre operators has invested big bucks in a new computer-controlled greenhouse that creates the perfect growing environment for tomatoes.

Although fully automated, climate-controlled greenhouses are becoming increasingly common in industry hot spots such as Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia, the newly rebranded Schriemer's Market Centre is believed to be the first Manitoba operation to go that route, according to Harry Schriemer, who owns the business along with his cousin, Scott Schriemer.

The editor of Greenhouse Canada, the monthly trade magazine for Canada's greenhouse industry, said he's not aware of any other greenhouse operators in Manitoba with such a high-tech operation.

Dave Harrison said the benefits of going high-tech include reduced operating costs, higher yields and better-quality produce.

"It (the plant) gets the exact amount of fertilizer it needs, the exact amount of water and the exact amount of sunlight," Harrison said.

"The only thing it (the computer-controlled operating system) doesn't do is prune the plants and pick the fruit," Schriemer said.

The new 70,000-square-foot greenhouse/garden centre, only open for a couple of weeks, replaces the garden centre the company operated for more than 20 years at 1505 Molson St.

Schriemer said when the city extended Chief Peguis Trail from Henderson Highway to Lagimodiere Boulevard, it eliminated one of the two entranceways onto their Molson Street property, making it far more difficult for their customers to access their garden centre.

So they decided to relocate to a new property just outside the Perimeter Highway on McGregor Farm Road. And since they were going to be building a new garden centre at that location, they decided to add a fully automated tomato-growing area to create an additional source of revenue.

They expect to produce about 75,000 kilograms of tomatoes a year. They'll sell the tomatoes, along with a variety of other fresh vegetables Scott grows on a farm he co-owns near Otterburn, in the retail store they built at one end of the building.

They also hope to sell their tomatoes to local grocery stores.

He said this is a good time to expand into the fruit- and vegetable-growing business because more Manitobans are interested in purchasing locally grown fruit and vegetables.

Schriemer is the second-generation owner of the family-owned business, which was begun in the mid-1950s by his parents, Klaas and Ruth. He wouldn't disclose how much he and Scott spent on their new facility.

"But it was a lot."

He said the new facility will also carry all of the same home-and-garden products they had at their former garden centre on Molson -- items such as trees, plants, soil, rock, gravel, patio stones, retaining-wall blocks, fountain, bird feeders, giftware and decorative accent pieces.

Schriemer said Canadians are spending more on their yards and gardens these days and doing a lot more outdoor entertaining. So they're trying to offer customers a wider variety of products under one roof.

"They can come here to get their fresh fruits and vegetables, their bedding plants, their herbs and their trees," he said.

And because their new facility is just off Highway 59, they hope to get a lot of cottage owners dropping in for supplies on their way to the lake.

"The home-and-garden portion of it is still huge for us," he added. "But I believe this (adding tomatoes and fresh vegetables) is really going to lengthen the season for us."

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 24, 2012 B4

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