Inside one of the greenhouses at Big Marble Farms. (Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Gates Guarin

Greenhouses prepare for extreme temperatures, high UV index

Jul 13, 2022 | 12:24 PM

CYPRESS COUNTY, AB – Greenhouses in and around the city are gearing up for the upcoming summer months, which have already seen a heat warning for most of southeastern Alberta.

Medicine Hat, widely known as the sunniest city in Canada, is forecasted to hit a UV index of eight or higher in the coming days. This means the sun’s rays will be much stronger than average. Greenhouses have been actively preparing for the summer heat in order to sustain the quality of their produce throughout the months.

The large-scale production at Big Marble Farms, just outside the city off of Highway 3, has led to significant investments in tools and technology to help keep the crops cool, while also maintaining yield for production and distribution. The greenhouses include high-pressure mist systems for added humidity and to cool the air inside, blackout energy screens used to block out the sun’s rays and even specialized glass.

Ryan Cramer, president and CEO, says the plants themselves invoke their own cooling system and prevent temperatures in the greenhouses from skyrocketing.

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“The plants are actually the best air conditioners we have,” Cramer says. “So these plants are transpiring, every single leaf is transpiring, and when it’s really hot, you can actually feel the coolness coming off of them. So that’s pretty cool. So if you didn’t have the plants in the greenhouse on one of those really hot 35 degree days, it would be just scorching in here, probably 50 degrees.”

Cramer adds while the extreme heat can add an initial bump to production, not having the right tools will almost certainly affect crop production.

“The plant would start to suffer and it would start to shut down early, and it would start to wilt, and then you would see big-time production decrease. But what we’re noticing is because we can add that humidity to help cool the air, it does increase the temperature overall, the plant will actually go faster, will produce more, but then we’ll run out on the end of the crop,” says Cramer.

In addition, Cramer says to help his employees beat the heat, earlier start times within the greenhouse are utilized so those working inside can manage the heat and humidity.