A late-night phone call changed everything for TMU researchers Habiba Bougherara and Lesley Campbell.
After more than three years of research and development, the duo received life-changing news: they'd been awarded $5 million to scale their revolutionary berry-growing system.
"I was sleeping and woke up at 1 a.m. when Lesley called and said, Check your email, we got the $5-million'," says Bougherara, a mechanical engineer from the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science (FEAS). "It wasn't surprising, though, because we put a lot of effort into the project, and we did amazing work on developing our pollination system."
Campbell, a plant scientist from the Faculty of Science (FOS), shares the same excitement. "It makes me so proud to be part of the TMU community. We do things differently. We have a lot of grit," she says.
The Homegrown Innovation Challenge began with 15 grantee teams, each awarded $50,000 in the Spark Phase to develop their concepts and scaling plans. From there, the top 11 teams moved on to the Shepherd Phase, receiving $1 million each over 18 months to develop a small-scale proof of concept for their growing systems.
Now, Bougherara and Campbell are among just four teams across Canada to successfully advance to the final Scaling Phase of the Weston Family Foundation's Homegrown Innovation Challenge.
The three-year funding will support their innovative pollination system for berries that aims to revolutionize sustainable farming in Canada.
The system addresses key challenges in modern agriculture while reducing environmental impact - a critical need as Canada faces growing food security concerns.
Meet MoFarm: The game-changing growing system
Their innovation, called "MoFarm" is a modular, vertical farming system designed for year-round berry production.
Developed with industrial partners Yves Bélanger and Pascal Gagnon of Montel Inc. (Montmagny, Quebec), the system's multi-layered design can pollinate and grow multiple types of crops at various stages. This maximizes bold yield and efficiency.
"There is no comparable system that is as affordable and autonomous as ours," says Bougherara.
The secret sauce: Pollination without bees
A key breakthrough is MoFarm's patented pollination and air circulation system. It delivers consistent, autonomous pollination - solving a major challenge in greenhouse and vertical farming.
Traditional bee pollination often fails under artificial lighting and short day lengths in controlled environments.
"Our system can pollinate berries without bees," explains Bougherara. "Our secret sauce is the air movement that goes from one plant to another. It creates turbulence that transfers pollen from one plant to another."
Breaking ground as urban agriculture pioneers
The researchers are breaking scientific ground while representing TMU, an urban institution in a field traditionally dominated by rural and agricultural universities.
"We were kind of underdogs in the whole experience," says Campbell. "But, it's an indication that we're doing something really interesting that's outside of what traditional research institutions do. We're thinking about the problem and we're solving it."
"It's a privilege," adds Bougherara. "We've never tackled this problem here. It's something big, not an ordinary challenge. It's something very unique and exceptional."
Women leading innovation in STEM
While their technology is redefining vertical farming, their presence as women in science and engineering is just as impactful.
"The fact that we have the opportunity and are being judged on our merits and not discounted for something as minorities has been pretty life changing," says Campbell. "I think both of us are finding our careers are being accelerated really quickly, but in the most exciting way."
The power of cross-disciplinary collaboration
This project brings together researchers, students and industry partners with diverse expertise, all learning from each other as they work together toward a common goal.
The TMU team gains valuable insight into product commercialization from Montel Inc., while Montel Inc. learns about pollination and plant science from the researchers.
Students benefit from immersive, cross-disciplinary learning.
"We have students from science and we have students from engineering and they are learning simultaneously from each other," says Bougherara. "Having the synergy between the teams is really unique, and it helps students."
What's next: From lab to real-world impact
The ultimate goal is finding people who want to adopt their technology and incorporate it into their farms.
"We want to see that the technology invented at TMU can actually be implemented in real world scenarios, helping people pollinate crops around Canada and the world," says Campbell.
"The $5-million funding means we can actually accelerate our commercialization process and really change people's lives. We'll really be able to pollinate crops that require pollination, and produce food as a result," says Campbell.
The team credits the Weston Family Foundation and TMU for supporting their ambitious research and development.
"Without the funds from the Weston Family Foundation, we wouldn't be able to do such a challenge at scale," says Bougherara. "I would like to thank them for the opportunity and also the support from our university."
