Molly Neave (she/her)

I work for a company called the Growcer. We build farming units the size of shipping containers, for use across Canada. These farming units contain many racks we use as a surface to grow crops in a hydroponic system. This means we do not use soil. We grow plants in a nutrient-rich solution. These farms help to decrease the amount of water and land we need to grow food. They also help people grow plants they can’t normally grow in their local environment.

I work in either a lab or a hydroponic, modular farm. I run projects on crops like lettuce, leafy greens, and herbs. My end goal is to increase the yields, quality and flavour of produce. Then I provide this information to our network of Growers across Canada!

Recently, I have been working with strawberries in a proof-of-concept experiment. My goal is to see if our farm units work for growing strawberries. I will collect data on their styles of growth and assess what makes for a high-yielding plant with the sweetest fruits.

In and out of the lab or farm, I use problem-solving, creative thinking, and data analysis in my daily work. I work with our engineering team to make design suggestions for a farm suitable for strawberries. We also troubleshoot any problems that come up with our farming environment. These might include things like temperature, humidity, lighting and airflow. I also work with the other scientists, to share and assess findings and draw conclusions about our research.

I make a lot of decisions on behalf of plants. Since they can't speak for themselves, we use our experiments to decide what is going to make this plant grow best, for our purposes. It's a different type of language.