Can machine-grown lettuce help cut Canada’s reliance on U.S. greens? This farmer is betting on it [Video]

As Canada’s reliance on U.S. produce hits the spotlight, one Ontario farmer has a pitch: locally grown, year-round produce, grown by artificial intelligence and automation. 

In a sprawling two-hectare greenhouse, tucked inside a wooden red barn in King City, Ont., an animated Jay Willmot, farmer and entrepreneur, shared his vision. 

“From sowing and seeding, all the way through to harvest and packing, no one touches this crop,” he said in front of rows and rows of lettuce shoots. 

Instead, multimillion-dollar AI and machinery does the work; the whirring and clicking of conveyor belts, hooks and levers, fills the space that was once part of his family’s horse farm. 

Willmot built his business, Haven Greens, to tackle the Canadian winter and a laundry list of obstacles that farmers face — from high labour …