Canada: These urban farms are helping feed people who struggle to pay for food
Many aim to share their produce with those who can’t afford fresh food
By Emily Chung, Alice Hopton
CBC
June 20, 2023
Urban farms in church yards, atop downtown buildings and in power line corridors are helping bolster food security in Toronto and Montreal.
They’re not alone. More farmers and gardeners are making space in cities to grow crops — alongside Edmonton’s ring road, in a hydro corridor in Toronto, in other people’s front yards in Vancouver, inside a school in Moncton, N.B., on a former tennis court in Calgary, in carports on a street in Montreal and in the city-owned right of way alongside a sidewalk in Ottawa, to name a few.
Urban farming advocates say growing food where people live can make fresh vegetables more accessible and affordable amid rising food prices and supply issues linked to global problems like droughts, volatile energy prices and the pandemic. They say locally grown food can also have a lower climate impact, while providing jobs and environmental benefits for local communities.
These tempos have been converted into greenhouses to grow leafy greens in the bitter cold. The urban agriculturalists give us a tour.
Lufa Farms has built four rooftop greenhouses on industrial buildings in Montreal, covering more than 300,000 square feet and making use of the heat generated from the buildings below.
“We’re taking up no new land,” said co-founder Mohamed Hage.
Zawadi Farm is in Jessey Njau’s own backyard, as well as his next-door neighbour’s and a plot at Toronto’s Downsview Park. In his backyard greenhouse, he starts in the spring with arugula, bok choy, kale, chard, beets, lettuce and cilantro, which are later swapped for warm-weather crops such as basil, tomatoes and cucumbers.
