STARTUP LAB – Ep. 3: Lufa Farms
Changing How You Eat: Lufa Farms
Have you ever been disappointed with a meal at a restaurant or with the food you bought at the market? Specifically: the veggies and produce. Does it taste like it could somehow taste better? Have you wondered: where did this vegetable come from? How long has it been sitting in a box? Who picked it? Wouldn`t it be great to eat something that was harvested that same day? Unless you live on a farm, this is nearly impossible to fathom. However, a company called Lufa Farms [http://lufafarms.com] in Montreal is trying to make this a reality. We met with their founder, Mohamed Hage.
Tell us about Lufa Farms: what is the company?
Lufa Farms is the first commercial rooftop greenhouse in the world. This 31,000 square-foot experiment produces fresh vegetables, year-round. Through a membership system, where people can pick up same-day picked produce at specific drop-off points throughout the city, it’s attempting to revolutionize every day eating. Also, Lufa Farms employs biochemists and architects to help them further improve the present greenhouse and develop ideas for additional greenhouses expansion.
Part grocery, part research facility, Mohamed Hage feels that this concept has allowed people to get back to the agricultural way of life – but conserve the convenience of the city. Consequently, they have been questioned about what they think their concept (if it grows) will do to the conventional farmer. If people get better produce in the city, who will buy from the farmer? In response to this, Mohamed explains how Lufa Farms not only buy from these farmers (giving them more business) but also “exposes farmers’ products to new buyers”. Mohamed’s staff often refers its costumers to go directly to the same farmers it deals with (if they wish to buy something that Lufa Farms cannot offer).
Rows of plants in their final growing position. Source: www.lufa.com
What is an urban farm and how does the greenhouse work?
It functions solely on daylight: rain or shine, natural light heats up the interior. At night, it resorts to a heating system to keep plants warm. Amazingly, the greenhouse works year round: The winter weather in Montreal is one of the harshest climates one can find in a big city: from December to March, temperatures regularly dip below -20 Celsius and snowfall is abundant. “If a green house can survive the Quebec winter, it can survive anywhere!”
How about your beginnings? How the idea was conceived? What was the inspiration?
The idea grew out of numerous discussions that Mohamed had with Kurt Lynn, a consultant friend of his. “We talked about food. It seemed that every time we sat down for lunch or dinner, we would end up talking about some aspect of food. How we can get it fresher and more local. How can it taste better? Which grocery had the best choices…and which had the worst.”
Over the next few years, thanks to Kurt, other engineers, architects, plant scientists, and farming experts, they found a way to provide “better food”. The pleasant surprise was that as the idea developed and the greenhouse was built, efficiencies were found. For example: collecting refuse water to redistribute into the watering system; also, using snow melt during winter to irrigate the farm.
Interestingly, other innovations were developed. Like understanding micro organisms; what to grow in a green house; finding natural ways to repel bugs (ex: garlic and fennel). By continuously experimenting and applying a trial and error process, Lufa Farms has, as the founder puts it, “created its own ecosystem”.
After three years of planning, development and construction, Lufa Farms opened in February 2011 and has been distributing baskets to Montrealers since.
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