Lufa Farms

CEO and founder Mohamed Hage was born in Lebanon and grew up surrounded by rooftop gardens. Upon moving to Canada, he was surprised to find that vegetables often travel over 2,000 km before being eaten. It was this knowledge combined with the simplicity and accessibility of rooftop farms that led him to bring together a team to tackle the mission to encourage cities to eat locally and responsibly. There was Lauren Rathmell to manage the greenhouses and plant science, Kurt Lynn for his decades of marketing experience, and Yahya Badran to manage the construction and engineering projects.[1][5]

The company began construction of their first commercial rooftop greenhouse in the Ahuntsic borough of Montreal. In addition to the 31,000 square feet of vegetable production, the two-story building also served as the company's head office and distribution centre. Currently, it houses the company's herb, micro-greens, cucumber, and pepper production using both horizontal and vertical farming systems.[1][3]

The company harvested their first rooftop vegetables and began delivering weekly baskets to their first cohort of clients, aptly named "Lufavores" (a contraction between 'Lufa' and 'locavore'). At that time, the company grew only 40 varieties of vegetables and delivered to about 200 customers without the option to customize the order. The baskets were delivered steps from customers doors thanks to a network of neighbourhood pick-up points (PUPs).[1]

Lufa Farms built their second rooftop greenhouse in the neighbouring city of Laval, measuring 43,000 square feet and currently housing the company's tomato and eggplant production.[3] In order to offer more variety, they partnered with hundreds of local farmers and foodmakers to offer Lufa Farms' rooftop-grown vegetables, as well as thousands of seasonal field fruit and vegetables, baked-to-order bread, seafood, and more. These partnerships brought the launch of the company's online farmers’ market, the Marketplace.[1]

The company went through a period of major growth. The total number of weekly baskets exceeded 10,000 and the company had to double its workforce to keep up. It was also the year that Lufa Farms' eco home delivery by electric car was launched and the company became cash-flow positive.[1]

Lufa Farms built their third rooftop greenhouse in the Anjou suburb of Montreal. This greenhouse, which was both their largest and most technologically advanced, grew the company's growing space to 138,000 square feet and allowed the company to expand production capacity to include more than one hundred varieties of vegetables, and feed over 10,000 Montreal households year-round.[1]

The company outgrew their Ahuntsic location, and moved their main offices and distribution centre to Ville Saint-Laurent where they began construction on their fourth, and largest rooftop greenhouse.[1][6]

The company is forecasting the completion of their Ville Saint Laurent greenhouse for the spring of 2020. Once finished, it will become the world's largest rooftop greenhouse at 164,000 square feet (about three football fields) and will house the company's complete tomato and eggplant production. The surface area will be greater than all three of their current greenhouses combined and will double the company's growing capacity, allowing them to feed up to 2% of Montreal households with local vegetables.[1][4]

Lufa Farms opts for growing food on rooftops as it uses no new land, gives purpose to unused spaces, and enables food to be grown locally instead of being transported from miles away. Rooftop farms help to mitigate the problem of wasted heat islands, filter CO2, and put oxygen back into the air.[3]

Lufa Farms grows their food in a coconut fibre substrate using a hydroponic system. Water is recirculated and rain and meltwater are added into the closed-loop system, effectively using 50% less water than a farm of comparable size not recirculating water.[3]

Rooftop greenhouses trap and use the residual heat let off from the building below and act as a protective buffer against the elements, thereby reducing the building's heating needs. Through the use of energy curtains and natural gas heaters, Lufa Farms' greenhouses use about half the energy used to heat an equivalent, ground-level greenhouse. In the summer, natural plant transpiration cools the greenhouse and consequently helps to mitigate the heat island effect produced by black tar rooftops.[3]

Lufa Farms uses no synthetic herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides. Instead, they rely primarily on bio-controls consisting of the introduction of predatory insects.[3]

Green waste is composted and sold on Lufa Farms' Marketplace or is sent to municipal or other partner composting sites.[3]