On September 8, I had the pleasure of visiting the
Ryerson Urban Farm located on the rooftop of the George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre as part of an urban geography field course I’m taking this term called Toronto’s Urban Metabolism (GGR481).
Arlene Throness, the Urban Farm Manager, led the tour and described to us the many beneficial functions green roofs perform. Green roofs reduce long-term building expenses because they have a cooling effect in the summer, while at the same time absorbing heat from concrete to lessen the urban heat effect. They extend the life of the building by forming a protective membrane, and soak up storm water to prevent flooding.
When I asked Arlene if she had any suggestions for how we might get something similar started at U of T, she noted that staffing is a huge part of ensuring the success of any urban agriculture project.  When Ryerson’s urban farm launched in 2013, they had one full time and two part time staff devoted to it. This year, they have two full time staff, and several work study students working over the summer, in addition to volunteers ranging from community members, students and researchers.
Those of us who’ve been volunteering with Dig In! Campus Agriculture for many years have long recognized the importance of staffing. Although we started as a student led initiative, just like the Ryerson Urban Farm, eventually those student leaders graduated and Hart House began to support us through the hiring of casual staff to serve as the Campus Agriculture Coordinators. These coordinators were critical in ensuring Dig In thrived over the years, and their work is documented in other sections of this website.
Unfortunately, Hart House is no longer able to support us by providing this level of staffing. It’s why we started a petition in collaboration with the Huron-Sussex Community Garden calling on U of T to fill this gap by hiring a full time, continuing Campus Agriculture Coordinator. If you would like to sign this petition, you can do so at https://www.change.org/p/university-of-toronto-creation-of-a-u-of-t-campus-agriculture-coordinator. We’ve drafted a budget and job description which can be read here.
The other tip Arlene gave us was that it’s much easier to start a roof farm on a new building that’s constructed with a green roof rather than deal with the expense of trying to retrofit an older building with a green roof. This should be an easy task given the Toronto bylaw requiring new buildings with a larger floor area of 2,000m2 to have green roofs, and also given that new buildings are being constructed at U of T all the time and this University likes to market itself as a leader in sustainability.
In 2004, when the Ryerson George Vari building was built with a green roof, the roof was only planted with daylilies. Over the course of ten years, 80 species of plants grew as birds sowed dandelion, vetch, and many other seeds. Eventually, trees began to grow before the University intervened by inviting a student community garden group to start maintaining the roof as a space to grow food in what had become fertile soil. Indeed, Ryerson’s experience has shown that food grows better on the roof than it does in their ground level plots. Another benefit to being on the roof in being able to have compost piles without fear of animal pests – a concern U of T Grounds Services has consistently raised every time we’ve proposed outdoor composting near our garden plots.
The Ryerson Urban Farm soil was initially prepped for growing food through the use of sheet mulching, where a tarp was used to cover the soil for three weeks, causing the weeds to decompose and stimulating life in the soil. When the tarp was removed, they dug 18 inch wide paths, piling the soil on top of 30 inch wide row beds to increase the soil depth from 6 inches to 1 foot – deep enough for root crops. Each plot is on a five year crop rotation.
The Ryerson Urban Farm is an excellent example of how food can be ecologically grown, without pesticides and harmful fertilizers. Here, the only fertilization is from liquid seaweed, fish emulsion, and compost tea. Radishes and salad greens are produced every 21 days, and lettuce is their big cash crop. Hungry Ryerson students directly benefit from the 10,000 pounds of produce the farm produces every year, thanks to food donations made to the student emergency food bank.
Institutionally, the Ryerson Urban Farm falls under the umbrella of ancillary and food services. It connects to the community via its weekly farmers market and CSA program, whereby customers buy shares of the harvest at the beginning of the season, receiving a basket of food every week in exchange. Some of these customers volunteer to help on the farm itself via a drop-in volunteer program. Produce is also sold to the University’s food services and local restaurants, resulting in $20,000 in sales last year, and $30,000 so far this year. $5000 in income is also generated through a ten week gardening training program hosted in the Spring. The farm is able to support a fifth of its budget through these revenue streams; the remainder currently is generated through donations.
Ever since I started gardening, I’ve felt the positive mental health impacts of being around plants. Being up on the Ryerson Urban Farm was no exception – it’s why so many people love to volunteer and visit. Eating fresh, locally food grown from this roof has additional health benefits, of course. And from the perspective of a University’s core mission, the research possibilities are endless. This space is providing research opportunities that delve into the social and economic benefits of urban agriculture, not to mention scientific studies surrounding organic and biodynamic agriculture.
The Ryerson Urban Farm has been so successful, they will establish another roof farm on a building currently under construction across the street. This one will include a greenhouse. Although U of T likes to tout itself as a leader in sustainability, it seems to me when it comes to urban agriculture Ryerson has us beat. Creating a full time Campus Agriculture Coordinator position would go a long way in ensuring we’re able to catch up. Help us convince U of T this is needed by signing our petition here.
-Kristy Bard, Dig In! Campus Agriculture Volunteer and Coordinator