Meet the Entrepreneur Bringing Organic Farming to Urban Real Estate
Alexandre Ferrari-Roy’s business model helps corporate property owners and managers turn rooftops and other underutilized spaces into productive farms.
By Brittany Hopkins
Modern Farmer
Apr 28, 2023
Excerpt:
Alexandre Ferrari-Roy, founder and CEO of the urban agriculture firm MicroHabitat, isn’t looking to squat on vacant lots or commandeer forgotten patches of land to make more room for urban farming—not anymore, at least.
“We got into trouble a little bit about it,” he admits of his guerrilla-style foray into the industry, using overlooked spaces on McGill University’s Macdonald Campus—the largest green space on the island of Montreal in Canada.
But that’s all in the past. Today, he and his growing team at MicroHabitat are making larger strides by selling urban farming as a service to property owners and managers looking to boost their property values while bringing sustainability and community engagement initiatives to life.
Urban farming has been growing in popularity within North American cities as technologies have improved and more lawmakers and citizens recognize the myriad of social and environmental benefits. But high barriers remain, including the ability to access suitable land and turn a profit.
For nearly a decade, Ferrari-Roy has been working to hone a sustainable business model and reliable organic farming methods that can overcome those challenges. And his efforts seem to be paying off. After launching MicroHabitat in 2016, the company has expanded from a handful of locations in downtown Montreal to 140 farms in 2022, located on properties in Toronto, Vancouver and New York City.
