Lufa rooftop

World’s largest rooftop farm under construction

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Construction of the world’s largest rooftop farm is set to complete by March 2020. Lufa Farms’ fourth commercial rooftop greenhouse, located in the borough of Saint-Laurent, will measure 163,800 square feet equal to about three football fields. Construction began in September 2019.

This greenhouse repurposes an existing industrial rooftop to further their vision of growing food where people live and doing so sustainably. “With each greenhouse, we hold ourselves to an ever-higher standard for sustainable design. Our new farm will be the most energy efficient to date and integrate all our learnings from the last 10 years to responsibly grow more vegetables for Lufavores year-round,” says Lauren Rathmell, co-founder and greenhouse director.

The greenhouse will feature double-paned glass and two sets of energy-saving screens for improved insulation, and its integration with the building below provides additional thermal benefit to both structures. The greenhouse will also capture rainwater to be used in the closed-loop irrigation system, as well as offset waste with an on-site composting system. At this fourth and largest site, Lufa Farms will be growing eggplants and more than ten unique tomato varieties without the use of synthetic pesticides.

Lufa Farms’ most recent greenhouse will have a greater surface area than their three current greenhouses combined.

“This rooftop greenhouse will double our growing capacity and allow us to feed 2% of Montreal with fresh, local vegetables. It’s an unbelievable step forward for hyper-local, sustainable urban farming,” says Mohamed Hage, co-founder and CEO.

This milestone also coincides with the tenth anniversary of Lufa Farms’ founding in 2009.

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