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canada's only supermarket rooftop vegetable garden grows in st-laurent

iga extra famille duchemin st-laurent has partnered with a team including cegep students and newcomers to montreal for its new season.

by susan schwartz, montreal gazette

jul 28 2024
read time 1 minute read
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the green roof at iga extra famille duchemin st-laurent, billed as canada’s only vegetable garden on a supermarket rooftop, has kicked off its eighth season. new features include a new gardening partner — the not-for-profit organization la ferme de rue montréal — to support the iga extra team, and an expanded space.
la ferme de rue montréal’s team of 17 includes students from cegep de victoriaville completing an internship as part of the development and management of an urban agriculture program; newcomers experiencing social integration; and adolescents for whom this is their first job in urban agriculture.
la ferme de rue montréal oversees vegetable production on the roof — the garden now occupies more than 29,000 square feet, up from 25,000 square feet — prepares the produce for market and ensures a direct supply from the rooftop to the grocery store. this year, there will be 40 varieties of ecocert-certified organic vegetables and herbs, including, for the first time, quebec garlic.
projects in the pipeline for 2025 include the recovery of vegetable wash-water, the cultivation of berries and edible flowers and the installation of beehives.
in addition to overseeing production, la ferme de rue montréal’s team offers workshops on urban agriculture to elementary and high school students as well as horticulture and agriculture students, landscape architecture students and community and corporate groups.

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la ferme de rue montréal integrates the support of organizations involved in food security into its mission, and 15 per cent of this year’s production will be donated to not-for-profit organizations in the region that help people in need.
iga extra famille duchemin st-laurent is located at 5600 henri-bourassa blvd. w.
 
susan schwartz, montreal gazette
susan schwartz, montreal gazette

we used typewriters when i started at the gazette, and big black rotary phones. nearly everyone smoked. today’s newsroom looks different but the work – reporting and informing my readers – remains constant and rewarding. i am grateful to my adviser at mcgill, where i was a neurobiology major, for steering me to journalism. undoubtedly, he realized i wasn’t cut out for neurobiology.

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