Urban Agriculture: Growing Food Where People Live ft. Callie Giaccone (Lufa Farms)

Lufa Farms is on a mission to change the way people eat by growing food where people live and growing it more sustainably. To accomplish this, the company built the world’s first commercial rooftop greenhouse in 2011 and three more greenhouses since then (built in 2013, 2017, and 2020). With each new greenhouse, Lufa Farms holds itself to an ever higher standard of sustainability and technical ingenuity growing dozens of vegetables, greens, and herbs hydroponically. All of their greenhouses run following their five principles of responsible agriculture: using no new land, recirculating water, conserving energy, reducing waste, and using biocontrols instead of synthetic pesticides. Lufa Farms also partners with local farmers and food makers to provide customers with hundreds of products through their online Marketplace. Every week, the company distributes over 30,000 customized baskets filled with fresh, local, responsible food.In this episode, host Lauren Scott speaks with Callie Giaccone (responsible for Lufa Farms’ PR and copywriting) to talk about how the business has evolved over the past 10+ years to now include a marketplace of local producers, the way it now includes rooftop and indoor gardens, how technology is at the heart of their business, how their direct giving program helps to support those in the city struggling with food insecurity, why Lufa Farms is certified pesticide free, and so much more!Lufa Farms is an incredible example of how one entrepreneur can truly disrupt an industry for the better. Their growth trajectory is truly impressive, as is their desire to continue to do so as a means to create a better food system by growing food on city rooftops!(0:00) Intro(2:53) How Lufa Farms came to be(4:00) Expanding facilities and offering(5:17) Rooftop greenhouse vs indoor farm(6:24) Selecting marketplace partners(7:57) The role of technology in urban agriculture(9:20) Montreal as the perfect weather testing ground(11:33) The impact of the pandemic(12:52) Finding and training urban farmers(14:28) Water as a resource at Lufa Farms(15:27) Lufa Farms FoundationMessage us your thoughts!