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A busy year for Affinor Growers

July 25, 2017  By Dave Harrison


July 25, 2017, Vancouver – Strawberry production trials are among several research projects conducted by Affinor Growers this past year.

The company recently provided shareholders with a summary of the accomplishments throughout the year and the plans for the current year.

Affinor’s fiscal year end was May 31, 2017. It continues to focus on becoming the leading technology developer and supplier of vertical farming equipment dramatically increasing the economics of farming, improving food security and increasing agriculture production for high value crops.

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Affinor has focused on strawberry development as fresh strawberries account for 80 per cent of the total strawberry production in North America valued at $2.6 billion annually.

It will continue to grow and harvest strawberries with its beta prototypes installed at the University of Fraser Valley throughout the summer, fall and winter of 2018. The focus will continue on standardizing crop models and determining best practices for commercialization.

CANNABIS TRIALS

Other notable achievements over the last fiscal year included testing cannabis on a small four-level vertical growing tower to determine if the high value crop can be utilized with the technology, and the initial results have been positive.

Affinor’s goal over the next year is to shift from a development company to an operational company focusing on generating revenue from vertical tower sales, licence agreements and by introducing new agriculture technologies. The revenue models will include selling systems to growers resulting in a margin on the equipment, license fees, and collecting royalties on the revenues from production; as well as potentially using the equipment ourselves to grow and sell crops.

PROJECT UPDATES

Commercial farm in Abbotsford: Affinor expects to commission 32 towers in a commercial farm in Abbotsford, British Columbia, in late 2017 capable of growing over 21,000 strawberry plants. The facility will be one of its first licence holders to commercially produce products using Affinor technology.

Beta prototype testing update: Two 4 level beta prototype towers were installed in April, 2016, and December, 2016, at the University of the Fraser Valley’s (“UFV”) Surrey, B.C., location in the agriculture research greenhouse.

One tower holds 128 strawberry plants within 100 square feet and the other 256 within 100 square feet.

Affinor’s next objective is to produce strawberries throughout the winter with customized LED supplemental lighting for fruiting crops and diversify the crop trials with kale during the fall 2017.

Affinor and cannabis production: As cannabis becomes more established in North America, cost-effective commercial production and greenhouse systems will be needed to improve production. Affinor sees this as an opportunity to diversity its technology into other markets with high value crops and be the first vertical system actively growing cannabis in Canada. Its first trial growing cannabis was completed this past February with a grower in Mission, B.C., and the initial results have been positive.

B.C. tree seedlings development: Affinor signed a research and development licence agreement to develop vertical growing systems to mass produce high quality, high stress resistance seedlings for the B.C. forestry market.

Licence agreements and sales: Affinor has signed several licence agreements throughout the fiscal year with various companies to use its technology based on its beta prototype concepts and preliminary production results.


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