Calgary man shares method of growing saffron from home

A Calgary man has developed a method to grow saffron from his home and is sharing his process, which he says can be very lucrative for the Canadian economy.

Vikash Sangwan says this is a great opportunity for Canada to become a major player in the global saffron and superfood growing market.

“We have taken out the crude oil — or the black gold — from the Alberta soil. Now I’m introducing a new project: Alberta red gold,” he tells CityNews.

When not growing “Alberta red gold,” Sangwan works in IT. He says the spice sells at $50 per gram, approximately $50,000 per kilogram, and that it’s not very difficult to grow.

“Right amount of light, right amount of temperature, and humidity. Then we’re keeping it dark in here, and temperature around 22 C,” he explained.

Sangwan says that he’s automated his box using AI tools to regulate temperature and moisture, but adds that closer to harvest, they turn down the temperature and turn on the lights.

He also says he has had successful experiments growing it outside in soil, and thinks this is a great opportunity for farmers.

“We can teach our farmers how to diversify from normal corn, barley, or canola, to something like this, like a superfood. So if Canadian or Albertan farmers want to understand how it works, I’m happy to explain,” Sangwan said.

He says the only labour-intensive part of the process is the actual harvest, because he and his wife individually pick the saffron from the flowers, but he’s working on building a robot arm to automate the process. Once that happens, Sangwan plans to expand to other superfoods.

“So this is the first experiment, but we will bring corticeps, ashwaganda, Chinese medicinal herbs — lot of things in Canada, grown in Canada, in a box,” he said.

Sangwan hopes to turn this into a full-time business and help Canada become a major player in the saffron and superfood growing market.