In the Shuswap Market News there was an article about John Mcleod, a retired local farmer promoting agriculture in the area, with Coun. Ken Jamieson saying it is suggested that it should be a pillar of the new college, which I totally agree with.
I think one of our next steps should be to tie the college to the new treatment plant, which I understand could be happening soon, and use the methane gases to power and heat up greenhouses to produce fresh food all year.
Perhaps we could obtain provincial and federal money to promote the project as it will be very environmentally friendly. A lot of this technology is already being used.
I have a nephew who works at a 100-acre greenhouse site in Delta, where hothouse tomatoes are grown to supply all of western Canada and some of the States. All the heat for the greenhouses comes from water cooling electrical generators producing electricity, which run off methane gas from an old land- fill.
This is the kind of technology that we should be promoting and working on at the new college. The college should also be giving courses in the summertime on environmentally friendly backyard gardening or greenhouses which could then be promoted throughout the Interior.
Kim Arnold
