U of M scientists team with remote First Nation to grow more nutritious vegetables, teach locals to love them

CBC Indigenous: Researchers at the University of Manitoba are working with a northern First Nation to develop vegetables with increased nutritional characteristics that may help combat health conditions like diabetes. But they also have to convince local folks to eat them.

“There’s a lot of stigma that we were met with,” said Stephanie R. Cook, Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) smart farm operations manager. “People were like, ‘Oh … it’s artificial, it’s fake food.’ “

Cook understands this hesitancy, because in her first few months on the job, she was also too scared to eat the produce. Coming from a traditional background, she says she was taught that food comes from the earth, not from a lab.

“It was funny, because the first time I ate it, I was actually surprised at the freshness. You know, normally, coming from the north, you’re not used to getting such fresh product unless it’s coming from the garden in the summer.”

Healthier veggies by way of a vertical ‘smart farm’

WATCH | How a Manitoba ‘smart farm’ is hoping to produce healthier veggies: 15 hours ago, Duration 2:30

University of Manitoba researchers are working with the Opaskwayak Cree Nation to develop more nutritious vegetables that may help combat diabetes and other health conditions.

The vertical smart farm was established by the OCN as a pilot project in 2016 to see if they could grow vegetables faster all year round, providing fresher, less expensive produce to the remote northern community about 520 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, where it’s difficult to grow vegetables year round and expensive to transport and buy them.

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• Year-round garden provides free fresh vegetables to hundreds on Manitoba’s Opaskwayak Cree Nation

The plants are grown hydroponically in stacked layers, without soil, which means a smaller carbon footprint than traditional farming. Blue, red and green LED lights mimic sunshine. Artificial intelligence controls temperature, moisture, carbon dioxide and nutrient levels. 

When the smart farm was first started, it provided vegetables to OCN families at no cost through food programs at the local health centre, trying to encourage healthier diets. Now, the focus has turned to research. 

Fighting diabetes

OCN has about 4,652 members, about 2,850 of whom live on reserve. Almost half of the adult population on OCN is suffering from type two diabetes, said N. Glen Ross, the executive director of the Opaskwayak Health Authority.

“We were averaging probably about two to three deaths a month based on diabetes-related issues,” Ross said.

In an effort to change this, OCN teamed up with Miyoung Suh and her team from the University of Manitoba, and the Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine at the St. Boniface Hospital Albrechtsen Research Centre. Suh has received several grants to support the smart farm and her research there.

The team has experimented with different growing, harvesting and post-harvest processing conditions and found some made the vegetables more nutritious and possibly better at slowing the progression of diabetes. 

“We are trying to mitigate the prevalence of type 2 diabetes using vegetables as a source,” said Ruchira Nandasiri, a University of Manitoba food scientist and postdoctoral fellow in Suh’s laboratory. 

The smart farm is currently growing cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts for research purposes only.

As part of their work, the team has discovered ways to manipulate the lights and nutrients to stimulate production of antioxidant compounds in the vegetables that impact obesity, blood glucose control, inflammation, blood pressure and heart function, Nandasiri said.

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They are not genetically modifying the produce, he explained, but rather changing the growing environment.

The vegetables are being fed to obese and diabetic rats by dietitian and PhD student Breanne Semenko, who is studying the rats’ health to see how much of an impact the vegetables are having. She hopes to have definitive conclusions later this fall.  

However, early results show compounds such as beta carotene, potassium and manganese are four to 11 times higher in the OCN vegetables than in produce found in grocery stores, Suh said.

It means someone can eat fewer vegetables, but still have the same health benefits, she explained, adding food is a “basic entry point for building healthy communities.”

Developing recipes

But now, they must encourage local residents to cook and eat the vegetables. This is a challenge partly because fresh produce is not a regular part of their diet, especially in the winter.

“We want to try and make these vegetables as accessible as possible to individuals in the community,” said Semenko. “If you haven’t necessarily grown up with continued access to fresh produce, then you may not necessarily know how to utilize them.”

So they called on colleagues at Red River College Polytechnic’s Prairie Research Kitchen (PRK) to develop culturally-sensitive recipes that are easy to prepare.

• Traditional foods give boost to First Nations battling diabetes
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“Our chefs have created a chili with kale growing in the smart farm and cornbread with sage and kale, to go with the chili,” said the kitchen’s director Mavis McRae. “The goal today is to show how we can cook it up, make it tasty and add to a healthy diet without a lot of extra prep or concerns about taste.”

They set up at the shopping mall to hand out the food during the annual Opaskwayak Indigenous Days celebration that takes place from Aug. 13-19. 

Darrell Lathlin was skeptical at first about the green bits in the chili and the green tinge of the cornbread, admitting he didn’t even know what kale is.

Still, he gave the samples a thumbs-up. “Tastes more healthy, more natural.”

Agnes Cowley said the chili tasted “different” but “nice” and said she’d like to find a way to feed it to her grandchildren, “instead of the junk food they always get, like fries and gravy.”

Linda Scott said she was coming back for the recipe later. “I don’t know what it is, but I like the taste of it,” she said of the kale-infused food. 

The researchers said they were happy with that feedback.

“It’s a small movement, right?” Suh said. “We want to get some feedback so then we can further improve this.”

The researchers have applied for funding to develop First Nation food products that include the team’s vegetables — hoping to create food security in the North and also economic opportunities for the community. 

Karen Pauls · CBC News