Working on It: How Haven Greens is shaping the future of hands-free farming

Inside Canada’s first fully automated greenhouse, food microbiologist Nitika Disawar helps harvest 12,000 pounds of lettuce every day — grown with zero pesticides, minimal water and maximum crunch.

In this series, we explore cool new jobs in the innovation economy.

Haven Greens is a five-acre greenhouse in King City, Ont., with a “Look, Ma, no hands!” approach to farming. Powered by a fully automated hydroponic system that nurtures each plant from seed to harvest, the operation became the first of its kind in Canada to grow indoor crops without human contact when it launched last year. The advanced tech also means the company’s leafy greens are pesticide-free, low-waste, grown with minimal water and don’t require washing.

Literal tons of green and red lettuce, mustard greens and arugula are ready to be plucked every day. And Nitika Disawar, Haven’s director of food safety and greenhouse operations, makes sure every one of those leaves is constantly crunchmaxxing.

“It’s so fulfilling because we’re growing local, good quality food for Canadians,” says Disawar. Haven Greens products are currently sold across Canada at Costco, Foodland, Mandy’s Gourmet Salads and Toronto’s Summerhill Market and their growth plans have strong you-do-win-friends-with-salad vibes. “We want to be the largest lettuce producer in the country.”

Disawar spoke to us about leveraging AI for the greener good, harnessing her childhood penchant for DIY experiments and how often she eats her greens (spoiler alert: it’s every day — possibly all day long).

Why the world needs more local greens

“Ninety-seven percent of the produce Canadians consume comes from south of the border. It takes three to four days before harvested produce hits our border and by that time, the plant has already lost half of its nutritional value. At Haven, we want Canadians to get sustainable, fresher, all-year-round leafy greens. I eat salad literally every day. And, to be honest, our lettuce is so crunchy and it keeps you hydrated, so I’m skipping potato chips and just snacking on this lettuce.

“We recently launched our salad kits and we have three flavours: a Caesar crunch, a fiesta crunch and a sesame crunch. I am the biggest sesame crunch fan right now. The leaf itself is so crunchy, and then you add crunch from everything else, and then you shake it up with sesame dressing. Oh, my God, I’m obsessed.”

What it’s like being director of food safety and greenhouse operations

“I make sure every product that leaves the door here at Haven Greens is good for a consumer to consume. The biggest buckets under my umbrella are food safety, quality production systems, infrastructure and sanitation. That includes harvesting, packing, building infrastructure, cleaning the equipment. I’m trying to prevent problems from cropping up.

“No two days are alike, and that’s one of the best things about my role. There are days when eight hours straight go into collecting data and then decoding what it says. Our facility is very automated. There are a couple of tools we bought to monitor greenhouse data trends, and we use Microsoft Excel — everyone’s best friend! We’ve also started incorporating Claude into our data analysis and are building our own internal Claude portal where every team inputs information.

“I want something that keeps me on my toes all the time — to dive deep into problems and fix them. There’s something about being better every day. If I’m driving to work and sitting in traffic, I like to listen to podcasts like BigDeal by Codie Sanchez.”

What drew her to the field

“I was a curious kid and enjoyed looking at different types of data. My mom’s a chemistry lecturer, and I would go to her lab and take random chemicals and bring them home. I had my own test tubes and would do experiments to see colours change — What happens if I mix this with this? That curiosity stayed with me.

“I went to Centennial College, where I studied biotechnology with a major in food microbiology. We did cool experiments in my genetics class, like taking the glowing DNA out of jellyfish and introducing it into E. coli bacteria to make it glow. The professor made science cool and made me feel like I was part of a bigger cause than just being at school and getting a degree. Partway through my program, there was a co-op opportunity at Kisko’s Mr. Freeze. Based on that experience, the company made me a job offer even before I’d graduated and still had to finish three more semesters. So that’s where my career path started.

“I’ve always been in consumer packaged goods (CPG) and eventually worked at a dairy plant, then moved on to the bakery industry. I started off in food safety and quality systems, and then moved into integration management, change management, implementation, operational processes. In 2024, I came across the job at Haven Greens and needed to know more about it. I got an interview when they were still building the infrastructure. I remember walking around, my shoes all muddy, and I was like, This is where I want to be.”

What’s next

“We’re still early in our startup phase. We have this one greenhouse where we’re harvesting about 12,000 pounds of leafy greens daily. Within the next year we’ll build a second greenhouse next door, and we’re forecasting for phases three, four and five in other locations.

“We’re building microturbines at the back of the building, and then we have a solar farm. We already recycle our water so we don’t take any from the city. By the end of Q1 2027, we won’t be taking any municipal electricity either. When it comes to greenhouse farming, I think we’ve just scratched the surface. The opportunities are going to be endless. If you’re looking at CPG, there are so many different areas you can get into, but if you’re looking specifically at greenhouses, that’s brilliant, because I foresee the world going in this direction.”

Photos courtesy of Haven Greens