A serial entrepreneur, Big Eagle announced his latest venture, Evolution Growers. It will start with a $20 to $30 million, 200,000 square foot “indoor agricultural facility” to be located just east of the Estevan Comprehensive School. A new sign went up on the site Wednesday morning. To put that 200,000 square feet to scale, Estevan’s Walmart is a little over 100,000 square feet in area. And that’s for the first phase, according to Big Eagle. The intention is to expand further down the road. Big Eagle generally refrains from calling it a “greenhouse,” saying, “There s going to be a little bit more of technology and robotics.”
But there are a lot of reasons for hope for our community. In case you haven’t noticed (which means you’ve likely been living under a rock), there’s a lot of new businesses that have opened in Estevan this year, especially in the last six months. It’s been a while since we’ve had so many brick and mortar businesses open within a short span like we’ve had in her in the past few months. These businesses aren’t going to offset the job losses associated with losing one unit at the Boundary Dam Power Station, let alone two. And they won’t offset the larger job losses we’re going to experience should the Shand Power Station and Unit 6 at Boundary Dam eventually have to retire by the end of this decade.
That city land had previously been slated for a solar power development that fell through, and thus it is now available, according to Estevan city manager Jeff Ward. To put that 200,000 square feet to scale, Estevan’s Walmart is a little over 100,000 square feet in area. And that’s for the first phase, according to Big Eagle. The intention is to expand further down the road. Big Eagle generally refrains from calling it a “greenhouse,” saying, “There s going to be a little bit more of technology and robotics.” Part of the research included going to the Netherlands as part of a federal government trade mission. Several Estevan city officials also took part. That trade mission provided an opportunity to see the latest in growing technology, which Big Eagle plans to incorporate.