Montreal urban agriculture blossoms despite red tape

After two months of round-the-clock care, the first batch of vegetables at Lufa Farms is ready to be harvested. The eggplants and tomatoes that have been growing since February will soon be picked by a small staff of roughly ten people. Meanwhile, the cucumbers and bell peppers just a few rows over will continue to ripen in Lufa’s massive rooftop greenhouse, which sits on top of a two storey commercial building in Ahuntsic-Cartierville.

Three years ago, Mohamed Hage, 29, the founder of Lufa Farms, had the idea to build an urban greenhouse to grow organic vegetables. Armed with a background in computer software and a taste for the tomatoes he ate growing up in Lebanon, Hage set out to build a two million dollar, thirty-one thousand square foot greenhouse to provide Montrealers with fresh, locally grown produce.

That was a bold vision, especially in a city that has few examples of urban agriculture and plenty of red tape to prevent it from taking root.

Hage encountered several obstacles on the way to realizing his dream greenhouse. In order to be allowed to commercially farm, his preferred property had to be rezoned to include agriculture. That rezoning and licencing process alone delayed Lufa Farms for a year. (Construction finally began this past September.)

“I think this is what is disappointing and discouraging to a lot of future entrepreneurs that want to get into urban agriculture,” said Hage. “There is no need to change the zoning to allow for agriculture. Agriculture is not risky or dangerous.”

Each Montreal borough regulates its own zoning. Patrice Godin, a community organizer at the Montréal Urban Ecology Centre, said some boroughs, in particular the more progressive ones like Plateau-Mont-Royal or Rosemont-La Petit-Patrie, are more open to the idea of urban agriculture. However, Godin said the city of Montreal has fallen short in developing urban agriculture across the island.

“Even though we have this huge movement to cultivate vegetables in the city, Montreal’s Community Sustainable Development Plan 2010-2015 does not mention urban agriculture,” said Godin. “And it’s supposed to be the orientation for the next five years.”

Martine Painchaud, a spokesperson for the mayor’s cabinet and the executive committee, confirmed that it’s up to each borough to approve zoning. She added that the city is looking into new initiatives that will be released in a 2013 urbanization plan, including the reintegration of agriculture into the city.

But thanks to Hage and others, urban agriculture is already taking root in the city. In late March the city of Montreal announced plans to build a two hundred thousand dollar rooftop open-air garden on the Palais de congrès following the success of a pilot project last year. Included in their plan is an organic vegetable section that will provide produce for the conference centre's restaurants. The Montréal Urban Ecology Centre is a partner in the project.

Hage envisions a city of rooftop farms and hopes to expand his operations sometime in the next 10 to 12 months. Interest in Lufa Farms continues to grow in Montreal as well as Ottawa and Quebec City, according to him.

“There’s a lot the city can do to make this process much simpler,” said Hage. “They could allow agriculture as a standard in all its zoning or even promote urban agriculture by putting in incentives for developers to include green roofs and urban farms.”