This ain't your grandaddy's farm - urban agriculture catching on
Have you been seeing a lot of strange people in overalls and straw hats hanging around your block? Tractors parked out front of your apartment building? Banjo music at all hours of the day and night? Your neighbourhood may be part of a growing trend towards bringing agriculture back to the city.
The Toronto Star reports on a company called Toronto Sprouts that's set up a farm right in the heart of the city, growing wheat grass, alfalfa sprouts and other healthy greenness.
The company grow its product in a basement in a busy part of town, using both hydroponics and soil-based techniques, and do a brisk business selling to local juice bars and health food stores. They recently scored a coup by securing a deal with a major Canadian grocery store chain to provide sprouts to two stores, and that number is expected to grow.
Toronto Sprouts is part of a growing trend where people are going ultra-locavore by growing crops in their own backyard, regardless of where that happens to be. Cattle ranching, however, will likely remain a largely rural pursuit.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-10-2008 @ 2:08AM
Aaron Martin-Colby said...
I've started growing strawberries in my bathroom, citrus and bananas in the dining room, and pots and pots of herbs on every window sill.
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