Durham College (DC) announced today that construction on the first-ever greenhouse at its Centre for Food (CFF), a new learning facility created in direct response to the demand of the local culinary, hospitality, tourism, agriculture and horticulture sectors, has begun. This build marks a significant milestone in the college’s commitment to field to fork, which is the vision of bringing locally sourced, quality produce from field to table.

Being built for use by students in the college’s horticulture programs, the greenhouse is designed to accommodate multi-laboratory classes and provide students with a better understanding of the full potential of growing plants and produce all year long.

A major donation by the Alger family contributed immensely to the remarkable learning centre becoming a reality. DC President Don Lovisa, and the entire college community, is very grateful to the Alger family for its continued stalwart support of opportunity, accessibility and excellence to the benefit of DC students who primarily live in Durham Region.

Part of the college’s ongoing landscaping at the CFF, the greenhouse is located to the south of the 36,000-sq.-ft. CFF and will accommodate students studying in both the Horticulture – Food and Farming and Horticulture – Technician programs.

The two-year Horticulture – Food and Farming program offers students a hands-on opportunity to become familiar with the concepts of food production including plant propagation; soil and plant nutrition; fruit and vegetable production under field, greenhouse, garden and container conditions; food and agriculture regulations; and more. The two-year Horticulture Technician program focuses on the art, science and business of horticulture with students studying arboriculture; aspects of growing plants outdoors, indoors and in a greenhouse environment; landscape construction and design fundamentals; nursery management; and more

“The construction of the greenhouse at the CFF symbolizes an exciting new phase of learning for our horticulture students here at the Whitby campus,” said Susan Todd, dean of the School of Science & Engineering Technology. “In addition to the theory of horticulture learned in the classroom, the new greenhouse will provide students with a unique opportunity to gain a hands-on understanding of greenhouse design, required control measures, energy consumption and how to work in a controlled environment in both operational and plant production modes.”

The CFF, which opened to students in September 2013, houses both Bistro ’67, a teaching-inspired restaurant, and Pantry, a unique retail store that brings student-created goods straight from the culinary classroom to the community. The greenhouses will be used to grow vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers for use by the college’s culinary students at both locations, helping the college solidify its commitment to the field-to-fork concept, which is based on the harvesting, storage, processing, packaging, sale and consumption of food – in particular the production of local food for local consumers, a concept that has been adopted and applied to a diverse range of programs.

The comprehensive development of the CFF vision, such as the addition of the greenhouse, is continually underway and includes extensive landscaping of the grounds surrounding the building. This will strengthen the link between the college and the community and provide students with an outdoor extension to the indoor classroom, connecting them to sustainable practices; enriching their curriculum; and enhancing their environmental consciousness.

Future expansion plans at the CFF include agricultural fields, a pollinator garden, an arboretum and much more.