MONTREAL — Montreal’s Lufa Farms has announced the launch of construction of its fourth commercial rooftop greenhouse which at 163,800 square feet will make it the largest rooftop farm in the world.
Construction began at a site in the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent in September and is expected to be finished by March 2020. The greenhouse repurposes an existing industrial rooftop. The facility 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, a Nov. 21 release noted.
The greenhouse will capture rainwater to be used in a closed-loop irrigation system as well as offset waste with an on-site composting system.
Lufa Farms will be growing eggplants and numerous tomato varieties without the use of synthetic pesticides. The new greenhouse will have a greater surface area than the firm’s three current greenhouses combined, allowing Lufa Farms to feed two per cent of Montreal with vegetables.
“With each greenhouse, we hold ourselves to an ever-higher standard for sustainable design,” said Lauren Rathmell, Lufa Farms’ co-founder and greenhouse director, in the statement. “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.”
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed