Less than a year after Les Serres Bertrand from Mirabel was forced to give up the cannabis cultivation that made them famous, they are embarking on a new adventure: the unusual adventure of growing radishes in greenhouses.
“The need was there, the demand and the market too,” summarizes Steve Bertrand, managing director of the family farm. After consultation, research and some tests, our choice was clear. Instead of tomatoes, peppers or beans, we opted for radishes!”
The Bertrand family's six hectare greenhouses, until recently dedicated to cannabis cultivation, are now used for the production of radishes. Photo provided by Serres Bertrand
Three million dollars in investment later, in the conversion of six hectares of greenhouses previously dedicated to cannabis cultivation, the Laurentian company now appears to have the wind in its sails. So much so that it can already boast of being the largest greenhouse radish producer in North America. Seriously!
Dropped by Canopy
Obviously, the promising context is in sharp contrast to that experienced by the same Bertrand family when Le Journal contacted them last spring. The company was dropped by Canopy Growth, the country's largest cannabis processor, with which it had partnered. It then confirmed to us that it would have to stop production and laid off no fewer than 130 of its employees.
Steve Bertrand refuses to retain a bitter memory of the experience, preferring to look forward, encouraged by the prospects that the radish seems to offer. Although radishes have been grown here since the arrival of Europeans, they are still a vegetable that grocers must import from Mexico and the southern United States most of the year due to the climate.
Photo provided by Serres Bertrand
However, with the change led by the Bertrand family and the possibility that their facilities could allow growing root vegetables year-round, things could change quickly. Quebec's major grocers Sobeys, Metro and Loblaw have already agreed to become customers.
Grocers hope that shorter routes and delivery times will not only help reduce their carbon footprint, but also benefit from greater freshness. “Our products can be on grocery store shelves within 24 or 48 hours of picking. Our radishes will be better and look better than the ones that spend ten days in the truck,” he says.
A trendy meal
Nevertheless, nothing has been gained, he warns. Steve Bertrand says that to put radishes back on Quebecers' plates, the Laurentian company needs to invest in order to find a buyer for the approximately three tons of radishes it says it can produce each year.
Photo provided by Serres Bertrand
“In Europe, as well as in Spain, France and the Netherlands, it's crazy how radish has become a trendy food. There they eat it in butter, fried, marinated, sometimes even like chips.”
And that's without taking into account that the taste of radishes grown in greenhouses has nothing to do with the (tastier) taste of radishes that used to only be grown in the fields. Crisp, softer, even slightly sweet, these new greenhouse radishes and their leaves have it all, swears Mr. Bertrand.
“I am confident that Quebecers will like them as much as Europeans and my granddaughter, who now asks for them non-stop all day as if they were potato chips.”
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