A group of students at Toronto's Ryerson University spent part of the summer in Nunavut building a greenhouse to grow fresh produce for residents of the chilly region.

"This was two years in the making, and it was such a relief to get up there," Ryerson University student Ben Canning told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.

Canning and a group of fellow students spent August and September in the small community of Naujaat, once known as Repulse Bay, an Inuit hamlet located on the shores of Hudson Bay.

"It was an amazing trip," Canning said. "It's a lot bigger than just a greenhouse up there. For the people in Naujaat, it shows that you can do more. Your ideas can become reality and your actions can bring huge positive benefits to your community."

The students first visited Naujaat in the summer of 2014, and were inspired to return the next year. They raised $239,000 to buy supplies, along with donations from Ryerson, Brookfield Institute, other corporations and a crowdfunding campaign.

They returned in mid-August to make their plan a reality.

Students worked with the 750-person community to build a geodesic dome that will house the community's new greenhouse. The dome arrived by boat, and took about a week to install.

"The community was very much looking forward to this," said Savreen Gosal, another member of the student group.

"We did a lot of seminars teaching the students and the community itself about what growing is, about greenhouses."

Gosal said the best part of the project was seeing the looks on the community members' faces while telling them they can grow their own food, and not be subjected to shipping costs associated with products from the south.

Food is hard to come by in Canada's North, thanks to the cold climate and short growing season.

Produce has to be transported by boat or plane to those living so close to the Arctic Circle, leading to prices most southerners would consider exorbitant.

Fresh fruits and vegetables generally cost about four times as much as in the rest of Canada.

Any food grown in the greenhouse will be sold to the community at approximately 50 per cent of the current costs, and any money made will go back to maintaining the greenhouse.

The greenhouse is equipped with vertical hydroponic towers, and is able to grow produce year-round. Canning estimates approximately 24,000 pounds of food will be grown each year.

If the project is successful, the group will look at building similar structures in nearby communities.