The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that Vision Greens, a vertical farm in Welland, Ont., believes it has a solution to the high cost of green vegetables in winter-bound Canada -- grow up. The Globe's guest columnist David Israelson writes that vertical farming proponents say these farms can supply greens all year to Canadians at prices that compete favourably with foreign-grown products, helping to keep grocery costs stable and making the country less reliant on imported food. Vertical farms do not need much land or water, using low-energy, artificially lit warehouses to produce non-pesticide leafy green vegetables. Vision Greens chief executive officer Lenny Louis says, "We built one vertical farm module to see if we could get price parity with produce trucked in from California, and we feel we're there." He adds: "The key for vertical farm properties is to locate close enough to major centres for distribution. In Ontario, our produce is in Metro and Food Basic stores, which is important because it shows that we can compete with imported produce in regular-priced and discount groceries, not just the premium ones." Mr. Louis says he is raising "funds to expand to four times our current size."