Belgium: Roof farm pioneer sets her sights on the horizon
One of the pioneers of the green-roof movement and founder of roof-farming company Roof Food, Sabine Windels, is moving onwards and upwards – and not only because her business is on top of other people’s roofs.
By Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
November 2020
Excerpt:
Roof Food was founded in 2014, when Windels, a recently graduated business administrator, realised that the shortage of green space in the cities could be solved by making use of the flat roofs on many commercial and industrial properties.
That was the birth of Roof Food, which took over the roof of a social enterprise centre in the Gentbrugge area of Ghent. Windels and her business partner grew produce in planters on top of the building, which was then used in the kitchen of the cooperative to make vegetarian meals for delivery.
The enterprise later moved to The Point business centre, whose roof offers a 500 square metre plot for growing food.
Six years later, she has taken some knocks, but remains convinced of the value of city farming. “With what I know now, I would do a number of things differently,” she told De Morgen. “But that is part of being a pioneer.”
Elke Rogghe, a researcher at the Institute for Agriculture and Fisheries Research (ILVO) explains the importance of urban rooftops.
