The Feasibility of Controlled Environment in Horticulturally Poor Region: The Case of New Brunswick in Canada

More than 90% of the money spent on food in the Canadian province of New Brunswick was spent on food that was imported to the province from either other provinces or out of the country. The feasibility of controlled environment agriculture in the Canadian province of New Brunswick depends on a large variety of factors, some of which have no available data. Few studies have looked at this issue, including consumers’ willingness to pay for locally grown produce in that region. The study aims at understanding how agriculture can serve the region differently to increase its food autonomy and how consumers would be receptive to more locally grown produce. From the information in the survey conducted, unless CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) crops can compete with conventionally grown and imported alternatives pricewise, it could face many issues in New Brunswick and Canada considering the economic uncertainties surrounding COVID-19. Canadians were also surveyed specifically about paying a premium for food that they considered local, not necessarily Canada as a whole, and many of the larger regions in Canada, such as Ontario and Quebec, consider food grown within their region as local – a definition which would not include New Brunswick.