QUICK FACTS

A glance at the BC Greenhouse Growers' Association:

• Number of member greenhouses: 42
• Percentage of B.C.’s total greenhouse vegetables grown by our members: 96 percent
• Total annual farm gate sales for BC greenhouses: More than $199 million
• Estimated value of sector to British Columbia’s economy: More than $600 million
• Number of people employed: More than 3,200
• Total amount of B.C.’s farmland used: 0.01 percent
• Amount of herbicides used in greenhouses: None
• Number of months we produce vegetables: 10 (some are available year-round using lights)
• Size of fields needed to produce the same amount of vegetables grown in our greenhouses: 5,436 acres, more than five times the size of Vancouver’s Stanley Park
• Types of vegetables grown: more than five varieties of tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, hot peppers, mini peppers, long English cucumbers, mini cucumbers, and butter lettuce
• Distribution of vegetables in production:
  • Tomatoes: 36%
• Long English cucumbers: 12%
• Bell peppers: 44%
• Other: 8%
• Average number of plants per acre:
  • Tomatoes: 10,000
  • Cucumbers: 6,000
  • Peppers: 14,000
• Average amount of vegetables produced using less space than your bathtub* takes up:
  • Tomatoes: 143 pounds
  • Cucumbers: 113 cucumbers
  • Peppers: 55 pounds
• Amount of tomatoes produced by one of our greenhouses when setting the world record in 2002: 165 pounds per square metre.

*per square metre