If you live in an area with a yearly average temperature of only 59 degrees Fahrenheit and an average snowfall of nearly 100 inches, it’s easy to dismiss year-round local produce as a possibility.

But an entrepreneur in Montreal saw no reason for location or climate to stand in the way of fresh produce being available to the community all year – especially if that produce is grown using hydroponics. Mohamed Hage founded Lufa Farms after a discussion with a friend about why it seemed so difficult to find local, high quality, fresh food.

“We concluded that the fundamental problem getting fresh food was that food is often grown far away from where it is eaten,” Hage said. “This meant that our food – whether grown in Quebec or in South Africa – would be handled, packaged, shipped, stored, refrigerated and reshipped perhaps dozens of times before it could appear on our dinner plates.”

The solution? Rooftop farms built in the heart of the city. The first prototype farm opened in 2011, offering customers a fresh produce basket service. These baskets are filled weekly with the more than 25 different types of produce grown at Lufa Farms, as well as with organic produce from area farmers.

By growing produce on the rooftops, not only is it possible to provide a large amount of local food to a large number of people, but it also puts less strain on resources like arable land (which is becoming more and more scarce) and water (they use rainwater collected on the roof for their plants, and recirculate everything). They’re also able to avoid pesticides by using beneficial insects, and have made a commitment to not use any unnatural or synthetic pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides.

Lufa Farms hopes to expand in coming years and use its existing farm as a prototype as an example that hydroponics could be the future of gardening in cities across the world.

“Our prototype 31,000 square foot farm will feed approximately 2,000 people and provide them with an excellent selection of fresh and nutritious produce,” according to the website. “Our future greenhouses will feed more. Every roof in the city should be able to do the same. Our farm is meant to prove that it's possible and viable.”

Learn more about Lufa Farms at https://lufa.com/en.

Next week, check back with us to learn about a Virginia farm striving to produce high-quality, local and fresh leafy greens to consumers, even in January.