Montreal Entrepreneur Transforms Rooftops into Sustainable Organic Farms
Living in a highly urbanized city like Montreal, you would think it could be quite a challenge to find freshly harvested organic fruits and vegetables. With almost every inch of the Canadian city covered in concrete, one would naturally assume that setting up an organic farm in the heart of Montreal is next to impossible. However, a local entrepreneur has come up with a daring and innovative solution that made it possible to bring fresh organic produce in every Montrealer’s table at the soonest time possible.
In 2010, serial entrepreneur Mohamed Hage created the world’s first-ever commercial rooftop farm. Along with a team of experts, they went on to establish Lufa Farms. Lufa Farms, which is located in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville neighborhood of Montreal, specializes in new agricultural technologies in urban zones, producing vegetables all year for more than 3,000 people in the greater Montreal area.
Aside from taking advantage of unused urban space and transforming it into a highly sustainable organic farm, what’s great and impressive about Mohamed and his team is that they are able to grow a wide range of vegetables without using any methods that could pose a risk to the local community. The farm produces 40 varieties of vegetables grown without synthetic pesticides. They are also able to develop a system that allows them to use and recirculate rainwater to irrigate the farm.1
Mohamed, who’s in charge of all of Lufa Farms’ development and operations, has always been interested in environmental science, sustainable fresh agriculture, and the use of renewable energy. Possessing extensive knowledge and experience in setting up and leading successful technology-based ventures and real estate development, he wanted to show that “large urban and peri-urban rooftop farms are a commercially viable way to feed cities.”
So in 2009, he enlisted the assistance of Lauren Rathmell to manage a growing and plant science, Kurt Lynn to lend decades of marketing experience to the project, and Yahya Badran to supervise construction and engineering. A year later, they started the construction of their first rooftop farm in Montreal, and in April of 2011, they harvested their first crop for same-day delivery to 400 Montrealers. This marked the official opening of the world’s first commercial rooftop greenhouse.
Mohamed and his team, however, didn’t stop there. In 2013, to fulfill their vision of “growing food where people live,” they finished the construction of their second rooftop greenhouse. It was also the same year that they launched their online marketplace.1
References:
1 Our Story. http://lufa.com/en/our-story.html
Mohamed Hage, Chief Executive Officer and Founder © Lufa Farms, Montreal/ UrbanismAU
First Greenhouse © Mohamed Hage, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Lufa Farms, Montreal/ UrbanismAU