By David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca
When Microhabitat was founded in Montreal in 2016 its founders were looking for a way to bring local food to the nature deserts of the inner cities of North America.
They landed on the idea of full-service container gardening using pots. A typical urban farming project involves 30 pots which can produce 300 – 500 pounds of food.
It turns out building owners were starving for new ideas to bring nature and local food and sustainability to their projects.
Owners of buildings can earn points in their BOMA or LEED certifications for every action they take, so it was a marriage made in heaven.
And the idea is catching on. Microhabitat was founded by Orlane Panet and Alexandre Ferrari-Roy. They quickly expanded to Toronto, New York and Vancouver. And then this year they’re launching programs in Edmonton, Calgary, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.
“Our goal is not necessarily to maximize production but to create discussion about urban farming,” says Alexandre Ferrari-Roy.
They did one project in 2016 and this year they are working on 200 projects in eight cities. They have a staff of 65 people working full and part-time.
They must be doing something right because Microhabitat has a 95% retention rate year to year with clients.
Being Green is Easy
Sorry Kermit, but in this case being green is easy and that’s the way the clients like it. We tagged along with Kevin Vachon of Microhabitat in Edmonton as they worked on their third installation.
Kevin showed up with his crew of four at the Stony Plain Golf Course to begin the three-hour installation.
Like many municipalities, Stony Plain has a newly minted Urban Agriculture Plan and this seemed like a highly visible way to engage with and raise awareness of urban farming.
Kevin’s crew unloaded the thirty pots, soil, and trays of plants, mostly vegetables with some flowers thrown in.
This installation lines the pathway between the golf clubhouse and the first tee, so it’s highly visible.
“We have a multitude of things growing in the pots. Lots of different root crops, vegetables, herbs, and flowers,” says Kevin. Then he showed us a few pots with tomatoes, snapdragon flowers and cucumbers in another.
Julien Bergeron was in Edmonton from Montreal to help Kevin and his crew with their first few installations. He showed us the automatic irrigation system, all part of making it easy.
In addition, Microhabitat’s local urban farmer, Kevin in this case, will visit each site once a week to check on progress, harvest the crop and make sure everything is going well.
Urban Farming and Local Food
“It’s about sustainability. So, part of that is education and part of that is locally produced healthy food,” says Chelseay Rudolph a sustainability planner for the Town of Stony Plain.
“I think it’s just really good to know where your food comes from, how it’s being grown,” she says. “It doesn’t take as much transportation to get it from your garden to your door if you’re growing it in your backyard or like here on site at the golf course.”
Reaping the Harvest
Clients can provide the food to tenants of their buildings or use the food in any way they like, but more than half participate in Microhabitat’s Urban Solidarity Farms initiative and donate the harvest to local food banks.
The turn-key model is part of the reason for their success. “Food production systems can be installed anywhere,” says Ferrari-Roy as long as you have access to water, sun and safe access to the location.
And that’s great because they have big goals: “We are trying to bring Microhabitat to every city in the world,” says Ferrari-Roy.