When Hurricanes Irma and Maria roared through the Caribbean in September 2017, killing crops, flooding farmland and pulverising plantations, they devastated the landscape. In the aftermath, the worst affected countries of Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda and St Kitts and Nevis scrambled to rebuild their agricultural industries. Almost two years later, they are still struggling.
Now, as the region heads into another hurricane season, many islands are contemplating the lessons learned from Irma and Maria and looking at how to maintain food security in the face of extreme weather. One US company thinks it has the answer as it brings to market the first fully certified Category 5 hurricane-resistant greenhouse.
Protection from the elements
Developed by Connecticut-based firm Alquimi Renewables in partnership with its technology group Island AgTech (IAT) and engineer Sprung Structures Ltd, these are a far cry from the ordinary greenhouse set-up. The customised structures offer specialized evaporative cooling, humidity control and shading systems. They can also be equipped with solar panels, battery storage and water production.
Alquimi’s greenhouses are fully scalable, making them equally suitable for smaller operations or commercial enterprises, and the company also builds ‘blackhouses’ — shaded greenhouses designed for medical cannabis production; good news for growers in Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Both blackhouses and greenhouses can withstand any wind rating, from tropical storms to 170mph hurricane-force gusts.
Alquimi developed its greenhouses specifically for the Caribbean and Pacific regions where extreme weather is a constant threat. The current version is the latest in a long line of indestructible greenhouses and was built in direct response to the 2017 hurricane crisis. “We had designed a Category 4 resistant greenhouse but then we had the hurricanes in 2017 and that changed everything,” says Alquimi co-founder Ralph Birkhoff. “After the hurricanes, Cat 4 was not good enough so we went back to the drawing board. We strengthened the structure and we are back in the game. We are all trying to rebuild and be cognisant of how we do that. We cannot go through what we went through in 2017 again.”
Reducing the food import bill
The Caribbean has always had problems feeding its people. Poor soil, limited land, scarcity of resources and natural disasters have led to an agricultural sector that consistently fails to reach its full potential. Over the past decade, island nations have run up staggeringly high food import bills as they rely on international providers rather than homegrown crops. In 2010 Saint Lucia spent over EC$ 350mn on food imports (according to 2012 figures from the Ministry of Agriculture). The region currently imports 80 per cent of its fresh produce, at a cost of US$ 1.4bn.
Alquimi and IAT are setting up a greenhouse system on St. Croix which is projected to grow 3 million lbs of produce per year. The firm is focused on helping Caribbean nations reduce their food import bill and hopes that the St. Croix farm will act as a template for the region.
“You have to start somewhere and create a model that everyone can see, feel and inspect so they can really get an understanding of what we are doing,” says Birkhoff. “I want people to see what our technology can do and the type of high-quality food we can produce. We only want to grow what is imported. The region’s food import bill is growing very quickly because of growing demand. There are a lot of new resorts putting pressure on the food supply chain. If we can grow at a high volume on each Caribbean island, we would be able to produce much higher quality food at a lower cost.”
Financial challenges
Cost is always a consideration for island farmers, and while Alquimi greenhouses are suitable for small-scale operations, Birkhoff warns that they don’t come cheap. “The biggest issue is cost but you have to compare it with the alternative,” he says. “An inexpensive greenhouse will not last through a tropical storm, it will blow away. Then your biggest loss isn’t the greenhouse, it’s your crop, your work, that sweat equity you have built up.
“If you invest in a strong greenhouse and put a good hydroponics system in there, you are going to grow ten times more so you can pay it off faster. The rate of return on that investment is tenfold.” A smaller greenhouse of around 1,000-1,500sq ft costs US$ 50-70 per sq ft. Birkhoff says this is a great investment, but finding funding in the sector can be tough, with traditional banks wary of throwing their support behind such a challenged industry. “It is very difficult to lend money to farming now because there are a lot of risks in open field farming — hurricanes, droughts, flooding.”
Given the risks, it’s no surprise that those at the forefront of agriculture are embracing ‘protected agriculture’ where farms are created in a controlled environment such as containers and customised greenhouses. Birkhoff says: “You do not have to depend on the natural environment any more. The technology is accessible for everybody that can afford it, and it will repay itself very very quickly.”
The future of farming
Pressure to reduce food costs and sustain production in the face of mounting weather threats in recent years has led to a boom in so-called ‘GreenTech’ solutions. As technology evolves, so do options in protected agriculture and Birkhoff believes that the sector is undergoing a transformation, saying: “Things are going to change a lot within the next few years. It is extremely exciting. It’s happening everywhere — urban farming, rooftop farming, hydroponics, aquaponics. There are all kinds of new ways of producing food where you can produce ten times more than soil-based farming.
“Technology adapts to solve all the world’s problems. With technology, plants grow faster, they grow healthier and there is no spoilage or wastage.”As agriculture changes, the Caribbean is being forced to keep up. With land scarcity, an exploding population, a rising food bill and more hurricanes on the way, there is no other option. For Birkhoff, the social aspect to Alquimi’s work is as important as the commercial. Originally from Canada, the long-time Anguilla resident says this is a cause close to his heart, “I am here because I love the Caribbean. I know the problems, I see the issues. We need better quality food. We are state of the art, we have the technology and we want to get those solutions going.”
