Canada: Engineer, nurse collide to farm in Richmond, BC

Dan Edmond and Piotr Majkowski teamed up to lease an incubator farm from Kwantlen Polytechnic University and grow their new business

By Maria Rantanen
Richmond News
Aug. 22, 2019

Excerpt:

Normally, the KPU incubator farms — in south Richmond and in Tsawwassen — are designated for students from the Kwantlen farm school program. But when the incubator farm was on a hiatus as the farm school was being redesigned a few years ago, Edmond and Majkowski lucked out to secure the lease and started their farm business, Fractal Farm.

They have about three-quarters of an acre under cultivation, with three large growing tunnels and one smaller one at the farm.

Fractal Farm uses its beds very intensively, Edmond explained, with three to four plantings per bed per year. As soon as one crop is harvested, they will plant a new crop on the same bed.

South Richmond has a great micro-climate, slightly warmer than elsewhere in the area, which is good for farming, Edmond said. But the land is what really makes it ideal for agriculture. Edmond calls the soil a “gift.”

“The river delta we’re on probably has some of the best agricultural potential in our world,” he said.

The soil is nutrient dense and it grows great produce that tastes amazing, something Edmond thinks people in the area sometimes take for granted.

“Good soil makes for great veggies that taste really good,” he said.

Read the complete article here.