Pouring concrete on top of fertile land so you can grow plants in hydroponic systems is absolutely a waste of fertile land. They could poor that concrete and put those greenhouses anywhere. Put them somewhere with bad soil, and leave the good soil for growing food.
Several of our customers are Leamington tomato processors. I think part of it has to do with where the processing infrastructure is located. I doubt there is 1M+ square feet of tomato grading, sorting, processing and canning equipment other places in North Eastern North America. The whole downstream industry is built around Leamington and area (northern Michigan/southern Ontario). I would argue that building hydroponics near all the infrastructure makes sense then rebuilding the infrastructure somewhere more arid.
Likely run in land use issues where as putting green houses on existing farm land would not raise many if any objections. Plus farm land is generally flat which makes it easier.
Though it might be a great way to reuse a lot of old industrial areas provided the tax load can be adjusted appropriately to reflect its use in farming. Just look to Detroit and such. Surely all those dead neighborhoods with proper permanent tax changes would be great for such as this.
