The people behind the world’s first commercial rooftop food garden have started construction on their 4th facility, and when completed will be the largest rooftop food garden in the world.
Lufa Farms is building their biggest and most sustainable designed farm in St. Laurent, Quebec which is a suburb of Montreal. When completed the facility will be a staggering 163,800 square feet, which is equivalent to the size of 3 football fields. Construction of the farm began in September and is expected to be completed by March, 2020.
Lufa Farms Saint-Laurent facility under construction
This greenhouse repurposes an existing industrial rooftop to further their vision of growing food where people live and doing so sustainably. “With each greenhouse, we hold ourselves to an ever-higher standard for sustainable design. Our new farm will be the most energy efficient to date and integrate all our learnings from the last ten years to responsibly grow more vegetables for Lufavores year-round,” says Lauren Rathmell, Co-Founder and Greenhouse Director.
Responsible agriculture meets innovative greenhouse technology
The greenhouse will feature double-paned glass and two sets of energy-saving screens for improved insulation, and its integration with the building below provides additional thermal benefit to both structures. The greenhouse will also capture rainwater to be used in the closed-loop irrigation system, as well as offset waste with an on-site composting system. At this fourth and largest site, Lufa Farms will be growing eggplants and more than ten unique tomato varieties without the use of synthetic pesticides.
Lufa Farms Saint-Laurent facility under construction
Scaling urban agriculture to feed 2% of Montreal
Lufa Farms’ most recent greenhouse will have a greater surface area than their three current greenhouses combined. “This rooftop greenhouse will double our growing capacity and allow us to feed 2% of Montreal with fresh, local vegetables. It’s an unbelievable step forward for hyper-local, sustainable urban farming,” says Mohamed Hage, Co-Founder and CEO.
Lufa Farms Anjou facility in 2017
Lufa Farms’ mission is to create a better food system by growing food sustainably on city rooftops and partnering with hundreds of farmers and food makers, to provide customers with fresh, local, responsible food via their online Marketplace.
Urban food growing has continued to grow and take hold in cities around the world since Lufa’s first farm opened in Montreal in 2011. With many concerns globally about a shortage of arable land suitable for growing food amidst a global population expected to top 9 Billion people by 2050, the development of technology and facilities such as this grows in importance with each passing year.
Here’s hoping that many more similar facilities are developed across the globe in the years to come.
Leave a Reply