Churchyard harvest? Urban farmers get creative as more city dwellers shop local

A sprawling rooftop greenhouse on a former Sears department store warehouse in Montreal, full of cucumber and bean plants, doesn't appear to have much in common with rows of radish and red lettuce leaves poking out of the dirt and hay in a Toronto backyard.

But Lufa Farms and Zawadi Farm are more similar than you might think. Both were started by Canadian immigrants who previously worked in the tech industry. Both bypass the supermarket and sell the food they grow directly to customers. And both are growing food in Canada's biggest cities.

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. 

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. 

He grows microgreens like sunflower and chickpea sprouts in his basement. And he sees many other potential growing sites around him.

Next door to a school in another part of town, the grounds of the Church of Our Saviour, Don Mills have been transformed into The Common Table Farm run by the Flemingdon Park Ministry. 

The non-profit community group grows produce like radishes, bitter melons and eggplants, and has also planted a few gooseberry, saskatoon berry and currant bushes.

"The produce here is for community-facing food insecurity, please do not harvest," reads a sign on the gate.

Anélia Victor, urban farmer and educator for the group, says many small patches of green space around the city could be transformed into gardens or farms.

 "If we are able to nurture the land and nurture the soil," they said, "we can be able to feed a lot of people."

Sarah Elton, director of the Food Health Ecosystems Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University, has noticed more urban farms, including many that are not-for-profit, growing food to feed people in the local community.