Entrepreneur, Fermes Lufa, Montréal, Québec.
Discover why Lauren works for a sustainable future
Transcript
Yeah. It's a lot of moving parts. So there's a quote from Darwin: It's not the strongest of the species that survive, it's the one that is the most adaptable to change. At Lufa Farms, our mission is to build a better food system. We have four rooftop farms here in Montreal. We're a team of about 700 employees, and we work with 350 partners, farmers and food makers from throughout the region. These are organic farmers. These are bakers. And we deliver weekly orders to about 30,000 Lufavores all throughout Quebec. I think the Number One thing we set out to do was to grow food closer to where people live and grow it more sustainably. We also benefit, obviously, from the heat rising from the building below. And then we rent the rooftop. So it's kind of a added value for the building owners as well. One of the biggest challenges to date that we've had is how do we build a rooftop greenhouse? Not so straightforward. Had not been done before. Not at this scale. So figuring out how to first farm, farm responsibly: we don't use any synthetic pesticides, we recirculate our water, we watch our footprint really closely. And solving one problem at a, well, relatively one problem at a time, I would say. I'm most proud of what we've built, and that's proven the concept of constructing a greenhouse on a rooftop and feeding people from it, at scale. We went from a few hundred customer baskets that we used to do our first summer, to now tens of thousands of orders a week. We've proven the concept, it's time to replicate it in a new city.
[Upbeat music begins.]
[A montage begins with a close-up view of the logo of Lufa Farms, plus an aerial view of the greenhouses on the rooftop, and a worker picking produce from the plants and collecting them in a crate.]
[Images move quickly, the screen divides into nine with images inside the greenhouse, tomatoes, an eggplant, workers picking produce off the plants in the greenhouse, ending with a full screen of the rows of plants.]
Text on screen: Meet the people behind your food
[A fork and shovel on either side of the title.]
[Lauren talks to the camera.]
Lauren: Yeah. It's a lot of moving parts. [Laughs]
[Lauren touches a red pepper hanging off a vine.]
Text on screen: Lauren Rathmell – Entrepreneur, Montréal, Quebec
[Lauren with her arms crossed, stands in between two rows of plants.]
So, there's a quote from Darwin: "It's not the strongest of the species that survive, it's the one that is the most adaptable to change."
[Cut to a view of the middle of a row of plants.]
Text on screen: Can you describe your operation?
[Cucumbers hang from leafy vines.]
At Lufa Farms, our mission is to build a better food system.
[Two employees stand behind rows of seedlings the greenhouse, an aerial view of the rooftop greenhouses among large neighbouring buildings, busy streets and parking lots.]
We have four rooftop farms here in Montreal.
[Two employees spray water over boxes of produce, transfer soil from a bucket to planting trays.]
We're a team of about 700 employees and we work with 350&nbasp;partners, farmers and food makers from throughout the region.
These are organic farmers.
[Cut to large containers filled with soil and seedlings, a person wraps individual boxes of microgreens in bags and places them in a crate and an aerial view of the greenhouses on a rooftop of a building.]
These are bakers. And we deliver weekly orders to about 30,000 Lufavores all throughout Quebec.
Text on screen: Why grow food on a rooftop?
[An exterior view of the greenhouse and an overhead view of the rows of tomato plants in the greenhouse.]
I think the Number One thing we set out to do was to grow food closer to where people live and grow it more sustainably.
[A person walks down a row, inspects the plants, touches the produce with gloved hand, pulls out produce to inspect the root, among long rows of vines with ripe tomatoes.]
We also benefit, obviously, from the heat rising from the building below. And then we rent the rooftop. So, it's kind of an added value for the building owners as well.
Text on screen: What were some of your challenges?
[Rows of tomato vines, a person walking through the rows and with gloved hands picks tomatoes and places them in baskets sitting in crates.]
One of the biggest challenges to date that we've had is how do we build a rooftop greenhouse. Not so straightforward. Had not been done before. Not at this scale.
[A person stands in between two rows of plants, using clippers he harvests peppers, collects them in a crate, then carries and stacks the crate filled with yellow peppers. Lauren speaks to the camera.]
So figuring out how to first farm, farm responsibly: we don't use any synthetic pesticides, we recirculate our water, we watch our footprint really closely. And solving one problem at a well, relatively one problem at a time, I would say.
Text on screen: What are you most proud of?
[Lauren walks with two people through the greenhouse with the rows of plants to their left.]
I'm most proud of what we've built, and that's proven the concept of constructing a greenhouse on a rooftop and feeding people from it, at scale.;
[A woman carrying a reusable bag with the logo 'Les Fermes Lufa' enters a store and picks produce out of a container and places it in a reusable bag.]
We went from a few hundred customer baskets that we used to do our first summer, to now tens of thousands of orders a week.
[The woman exits the store.]
We've proven a concept, it's time to replicate it in a in a new city.
[Lauren and two others sit talking at a picnic table with a laptop computer in the greenhouse.]
Text on screen: Canadian farmers and agricultural businesses work to feed you and future generations.
Text on screen: Discover how they are growing a better future. Canada.ca/Taste-the-Commitment
Text on screen: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada
[Government of Canada wordmark.]
[End]
Learn how Lauren puts sustainability into practice
Transcript
My name is Lauren Rathmell I'm co-founder and co-CEO of LUFA Farms. We're an urban agriculture company based here in Montreal. We have four rooftop farms here in Montreal. We have a team of around 700 people. We've been growing, growing, growing. The rooftop greenhouses are the heart of what we do, but we partner with farmers and food makers from all throughout the region to put together this online marketplace. And then we sell directly to customers. So it's really as fresh as possible and as minimal waste as possible. We follow these tenets of responsible agriculture. So that's everything from recirculating the irrigation water, to saving energy and watching our footprint, to how we manage waste. We harvest-to-order and we compost all of our green waste. We thought we would be relatively immune from pests, being in the city, not the case. So we don't use any synthetic pesticides. It's really reliance on ecosystems, managing kind of good bugs versus bad bugs, these biological controls and predatory insects that we introduce. Really the most important thing though is vigilance. So we scout our plants every week, we remove affected plants if need be. So we have pollinators in the greenhouse. They're bumblebees, they're friendly pollinators, and we need those for certain crops for the fruit to set. Designing that greenhouse is not the same as the greenhouse that would be built on the ground or in a rural area. We really had to figure out the engineering of it and adapting it to the codes and the requirements of an urban context. We essentially did a Google Maps survey of the whole island of Montreal looking for potential buildings that could be suitable. And then it was going and kind of spying on the buildings to see if they structurally made sense and then talking to building owners seeing who might be interested. The energy savings. It's a very harmonious combination, having a greenhouse that replaces what was once a heat island or in snow a surface through which heat is lost. So now we're this insulating bubble of plants and warmth that helps cool in the summertime and keep things warm in the wintertime. We also benefit, obviously, from the heat rising from the building below. We save about half the energy by building greenhouses on rooftops as opposed to on the ground. By farming in the city and delivering directly to our customers, we're shortening the distance of delivery as well. The future of sustainable agriculture I think is really going to be around building and circularity, building and self-sufficiency into any operation at any scale.
[Upbeat music begins]
[A montage begins with a close-up view of a row in a greenhouse, an aerial view of the greenhouses on the rooftop, an employee picking produce from the plants and collecting them in a crate and Lauren Rathmell touches a red pepper hanging off a vine.]
My name is Lauren Rathmell, I'm co-founder and co-CEO of Lufa Farms.
Text on screen: Lauren Rathmell – Entrepreneur, Montréal, Quebec
[Lauren talks to the camera.]
We're an urban agriculture company based here in Montreal.
Text on screen: Sustainable agriculture in action
[An animated fork and shovel appear on the screen on either side of the title.]
Text on screen: How does that work?
[An aerial view of the rooftop greenhouses among large neighbouring buildings, busy streets and parking lots.]
We have 4 rooftop farms here in Montreal. We have a team of around 700 people.
[Three employees stand behind rows of seedlings in the greenhouse.]
We've been growing, growing, growing.
[Employees stand at a workstation and prep seedling trays by filling the trays with soil.]
[Cut to a quick transition of multiple rows of plants in the greenhouse and Lauren walks with two people through the greenhouse with the rows of plants to their left.]
The rooftop greenhouses are the heart of what we do...
[A woman carrying a reusable bag with the logo 'Les Fermes Lufa' enters a store and picks produce out of a container and places it in a reusable bag.]
…but we partner with farmers and food makers from all throughout the region to put together this online marketplace.
And then we sell directly to customers.
So it's really as fresh as possible and as minimal waste as possible.
Text on screen: What are your sustainable practices?
[Two employees spray water over boxes of produce and sift through the trays of produce.]
We follow these tenets of responsible agriculture. So that's everything from recirculating the irrigation water to saving energy...
[An employee holds a pressure washer hose as she walks along the side of the greenhouse with tables filled with seedlings to her left.]
…and watching our footprint, to how we manage waste.
[Cut to a close-up of the pressure washer spraying in empty equipment. A close-up view of a clutch of tomatoes hanging off a vine.]
We harvest-to-order and we compost all of our green waste.
[Multiple baskets filled with tomatoes sit in a crate.]
Text on screen: Do you have to deal with insects?
We thought we would be relatively immune from pests being in the city - not the case.
[In the greenhouse, an employee stands on a stationary lift with the rows of plants below him.]
So we don't use any synthetic pesticides.
[Employees inspect seedlings under heat lamps.]
It's really reliance on ecosystems, managing kind of good bugs versus bad bugs.
[A close-up view of a glue trap that is covered in insects.]
These biological controls and predatory insects that we introduce.
[A person walks down a row, inspects the plants, touches the produce with gloved hand, pulls out produce to inspect the roost, among long rows of vines with ripe tomatoes.]
Really the most important thing though is vigilance.
So we scout our plants every week. We remove affected plants, if need be.
[A quick transition of seedlings sitting under heat lamps.]
Text on screen: How do you pollinate your plants?
So we have pollinators in the greenhouse.
[A close-up view of a paper box used as a nest for bumblebees, situated on a ledge surrounded by plants.]
They're bumblebees, they're friendly pollinators, and we need those for certain crops to for the fruit to set.
Text on screen: What are the challenges?
[An aerial view of the greenhouses on the rooftop.]
Designing that greenhouse is not the same as a greenhouse that would be built on the ground...
[An aerial view of the inside of the greenhouse.]
…or in a rural area.
[An employee stands in between rows of plants in the greenhouse with a cart and picks produce off the vines. Cut to a close-up view of the employee picking tomatoes off the vine.]
We really have had to figure out the engineering of it and adapting it to the codes and the requirements of an urban context.
We essentially did a Google Maps survey of the whole island of Montreal looking for potential buildings that could be suitable. And then it was going and kind of spying on the buildings to see if they structurally made sense and then talking to building owners, seeing who might be interested.
[A montage of various vegetables.]
Text on screen: What are the benefits?
Energy savings.
[A person stands in between two rows of plants, using clippers to harvest peppers, collects them in a crate, then carries and stacks the crate filled with yellow peppers.]
It's a very harmonious combination. Having a greenhouse that replaces what was once a heat island or in snow a surface through which heat is lost.
[A person wraps individual boxes of microgreens in bags and places them in a crate.]
So now we're this insulating bubble of plants and warmth that helps cool in the summertime and keep things warm in the wintertime.
[An aerial view of the greenhouses on the rooftop.]
We also benefit, obviously, from the heat rising from the building below. We save about half the energy by building green houses on rooftops as opposed to on the ground.
By farming in the city and delivery directly to our customers, we're shortening the distance of delivery as well.
Text on screen: The future of sustainable agriculture?
[Lauren and two others sit and talk at a picnic table with a laptop computer in the greenhouse.]
The future of sustainable agriculture I think is really going to be around building in circularity, building in self-sufficiency into any operation at any scale.
[A close-up view of a red pepper hanging off a vine.]
Text on screen: Canadian farmers and agricultural businesses work to feed you and future generations. Discover how they are growing a better future. Canada.ca/Taste-the-Commitment
[Upbeat music ends]
Text on screen: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada
[Government of Canada wordmark]
[End]
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