Fresh produce from Montreal

Added on 01 March 2025

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Photo: Lufa Farms

It’s February in Montreal. Snow covers the ground and 20+ cm more is predicted to fall today. Temperatures are below zero and everyone is heavily bundled up. It’s another winter in the North! But even in these frigid temperatures, agriculture is booming in Montreal. Indoor Agriculture- of course!

The Montreal area has a population of around 4 million people and most of its fresh produce is imported from Mexico and the US. Due to the very short outdoor growing season of only 4-5 months, limited produce can be grown outdoors. But farms are sprouting up in numerous parts of the city and I was lucky enough to visit 3 of these innovative CEA operations.

Lufa Farms

Lufa Farms is the pioneer of indoor farming in Montreal. They built the world’s first commercial rooftop greenhouse in 2011, the Ahuntsic greenhouse. That greenhouse is still active today and produces around 2,500 lbs of herbs, microgreens and eggplants each week.