Canada’s largest organic garden on a supermarket rooftop

Since the summer of 2017, the IGA extra Famille Duchemin has maintained the country’s largest organic vegetable garden on a supermarket rooftop. This productive garden covers over 29,000 square feet, right in the heart of Saint-Laurent. The vegetables grown there are certified organic by Ecocert Canada. Building an urban garden of this scale and selling customers products with unparalleled freshness is a feat of creativity.

Over 40 different products, ranging from vegetables and herbs to fresh Quebec garlic, salad greens, cherry tomatoes, and turnips grow on the roof. Looking ahead has several projects are in store for the roof, including the recovery of vegetable wash-water, the cultivation of berries and edible flowers, and the installation of beehives.

Here’s how they made it happen

THREE CHALLENGES, THREE SOLUTIONS

Fertilizing a thin layer of soil The soil on the store’s green roof is only 150 mm deep. Generally speaking, plants that require little care and few nutrients are grown in such conditions—the exact opposite of vegetables! So we called in an agronomist to develop a specialized fertilization plan.

Beating wind and heat Wind and heat are more intense on a roof, so the team installed windbreaks and shade houses to fix this problem.

Securing plant stakes, but not in the ground Staking plants is more complicated on a roof since it’s impossible to secure the stakes in the ground. The team came up with a brilliant solution—they took plastic buckets that would have ended up in the store’s recycling bin, filled them with cement, and inserted steel rods to serve as stakes.

THIS AMBITIOUS PROJECT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE DUCHEMIN FAMILY

The organic vegetable garden is located on the rooftop of the IGA extra Famille Duchemin. The grocery store offers its customers certified organic fruits and vegetables, grown just a few metres away! This ambitious project is led by IGA store owners Richard, Daniel and Francis Duchemin.

FROM THE ROOF TO IGA

There could be no rooftop vegetable garden without a vegetable grower partner. Réal Migneault, a resident of Ahuntsic-Cartierville, manages the harvesting. He founded La Ferme de Rue Montréal, in 2019, a social economy organization with a mission to promote urban agriculture as an inspiring and viable solution to several societal challenges. The organization emphasizes the social impact of its activities and contributes to the community by offering educational workshops, providing a demonstration showcase accessible to community members, and donating a portion of its produce to food security organizations.

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Canada’s largest organic garden on a supermarket rooftop

Here’s how they made it happen

THREE CHALLENGES, THREE SOLUTIONS

THIS AMBITIOUS PROJECT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE DUCHEMIN FAMILY

FROM THE ROOF TO IGA

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