How a rooftop farm feeds a city | Mohamed Hage | TEDxUdeM

(Sous-titres en français disponible)
Mohamed Hage, an agriculture and technology enthusiast, is the founding president of Lufa Farms, a company that designs, builds and operates rooftop agricultural greenhouses. It was to provide fresh, local and responsible vegetables to montréalais consumers that he created the first commercial rooftop greenhouse in the world in the winter of 2011. Mohamed Hage supervises all of Lufa Farms' daily activities, but is particularly interested in research, planning, construction and operation of the greenhouse environment.
His present goal is to help this new agricultural model be progressively integrated into rooftops across major cities.
Introduction video by: www.tommycaron.com/
Event video by: www.interfacemedia.net/
Translated by: Stephane Detchou
For more information, please visit tedxudem.com/
TEDxUdeM - Mohamed Hage - Comment des fermes sur des toits changeront notre alimentation
Passionné d'agriculture et de technologies, Mohamed Hage est le président fondateur des Fermes Lufa, une entreprise qui conçoit, construit et opère des serres agricoles sur les toits. C'est pour fournir des légumes frais, locaux et responsables aux consommateurs montréalais qu'il a mis sur pied la première serre commerciale sur un toit au monde, à l'hiver 2011. Mohamed Hage supervise toutes les activités quotidiennes des Fermes Lufa, mais il s'intéresse particulièrement à la recherche, à la planification, à la construction et au fonctionnement de l'environnement des serres.
Son objectif est maintenant de voir ce nouveau modèle d'agriculture s'intégrer peu à peu sur les toits urbains des grandes métropoles.
Pour plus d'informations, visitez tedxudem.com/

[@sabelefrancois926]

Seriously this is incredible. I'm breathless. You know I have a similar idea for my own city but I thought it's was a crazy idea, to start a rooftop farm, but I see now that's completely possible. Thank you juste gave me motivation for change things.

[@matheuscardoso1]

Sabe Lefrançois Hey, I'm here to remind you that idea you had!

[@forrestgossett]

Sabe Lefrançois and? Did you?

[@juanrocastillon4327]

it is possible my friend

[@matthewcollins4764]

Sabe Lefrançois I want to do the same thing and inspire people in my city’s suburbs to use their lawn for food

[@portugalnatural5289]

Have one of us made it? I want to do it too x)

[@martanahaczewska]

Amazing! Good for you Mohammed... wish there were more people as passionate and committed to achieving sustainability and furthering humanity. Keep up the good work!

[@tttsoul]

Wow. So impressive. Great job Mo. Always been such a visionary from the first day I met you.

[@SN-xi7xg]

Great job Mohamed Hage! I hope you always win by creating a win-win situation for your customers . Good luck for your business.

[@Tisyaboy1]

Very impressive. Why can't every industrial building do this! Think of Walmart and IKEA which have huge flat surfaces on top of their building. So much place to build greenhouses.

[@waellerbe]

+RJ Tissink I appreciate your response on this incredible topic. In response I will say that it is wise for us to *continue* to engage in discussions which could lead to the next rooftop garden project. Companies like Walmart and IKEA need people like you and I to help them see the value of a solution such as this.

[@xyzsame4081]

Most industrial builings do not have the solid construction, they are too flimsy to carry the weight. you need brick and mortar for that. So especially malls, and the halls that house Ikea and Walmart will not be suitable. I can see how Ikea would do such projects for PR reasons (if it would be possible for static reasons, but not Walmart. PARKING HOUSES could be a fit, because they must be able to carry weight and usually in several floors.

[@kln2729]

One country has since mandated it. They were forced to reconstruct roofs to deal with the weight and water but it was efficient and save them alot of cooling the building. Eventually the market began to manage it themselves and now sell from there balcony those fresh foods

[@KostaTepedelenev]

This is the future of the world if we really want to keep living on it.Thank you!

[@waellerbe]

+kosti4ka Yes this *is* the future, and we can make it happen with collaboration and implementation.

[@lardmanattack686]

This needs to be implemented EVERYWHERE!

[@PushkarCarlotto]

Really amazing! This is lovely. Please keep it up.

[@nagarjunsahukar6531]

really super idea sir, in coming days every city has to adopt this kind of agriculture becouse population is increasing and cultivable land is decreasing day by day.

[@honduras1231000]

Bravo !!!

[@marjoriejohnson6535]

Fantastic. Would have loved to work on this project....hope to see this idea applied all over.

[@PeepalBaba-Givemetrees]

Wonderful. AWESOME

[@joshparker3363]

Thanks for posting! This is great stuff!

[@simiqutbi107]

Super, tu es formidable

[@evebr777]

absolutely amazing!

[@waellerbe]

+davbr777 *Yes* it is. I hope to participate in a rooftop garden project in the near future.

[@rexbk]

Fantastic!

[@AquaponicsSystemsPro]

great presentation !

[@rakesh.gollusharma87]

Such a great idea Mohd., and it should be implemented on rooftops of big buildings that have enough space and Govt should guideline for big business for rooftops farming,

[@7777Rodney]

I like to garden and I own a building similar to the one shown. My building is an apartment building with a flat roof. Occurs to me that instead of re-roofing, I should put the cost of doing that towards the expense of a rooftop greenhouse, assuming that the roof of the greenhouse is watertight and hail proof. Also an apartment building would have possible customers living right next to a fresh food source. Plus a possible labor pool right in the building.

[@labell4030]

Rodney, Can you post updates of your apartment roof garden?

[@salimahmed9016]

There is a red waterproofing sand in China which is very good and cheap. You just have to put a layer of it on the ground.

[@hinata2578]

That sounds wonderful!! How did it go?

[@CitoyensNature]

Awesome!

[@kennethhill8136]

Very informative. I would also liked to have heard some more in-depth discussion about the evaluation of the existing roof framing's ability to support the weight of the new roof garden and and greenhouse structure, how the new greenhouse framing connects to the existing roof framing and discussion of the construction details illustrating how the two systems framing (existing and new) are constructed and sections through the existing roof system and new garden above.

[@nikodowling1942]

Yes this is what we are doing

[@svetikstadnik1933]

great idea!

[@123manz123]

Great work my friend Mohamed, Wish I can become part of this some day.

[@ceciliabednarek4537]

Please come to Sweden and build rooftop farms like this!

[@eleanorwilliams9245]

Amazing stuff! :)

[@narayanbehera880]

and innovative.

[@pkittali]

He didnt speak about economics of this setup. Greenhouses, compatible irrigation systems will make it expensive. Just another feel good TED talk.

[@mpgaming3524]

This is very helpful, I have a research Project on future farming and these are some good ideas.

[@DreamsCatcher101]

MP Gaming What you got planned so far?

[@michawill6599]

If we crowdsourced this for schools, kids could learn more about their natural habitat and food, hopefully costing schools less

[@dustystahn3855]

Mich if you think plastic pipes, troughs and pumps are a natural habitat for for plants you don't know anything about nature. Vicki Olson this is one of the many concerns people have about the system.

[@sotmMrPants]

@@dustystahn3855 This is one of my concerns as well. I would like to strive for the idealized "natural habitat" where urban and very traditional ecologies meld together more and more... to who knows where it can go. I'd like to look into this further. I think this is a giant step forward (or backward to more traditional means) in learning about plants and food and perhaps some insects rather than continuing the current food system we are on.

[@xyzsame4081]

@@dustystahn3855 The roof garden equipment is not "natural", but "soil" used in conventional farming has nothing to do with the ALIVE substance either. Plus LOTS of herbicides / pesticides (a roof garden in an industrial setting has less problems, no snails for instance). They only have to make sure that they use plastics and metals (if in direct contact with water and plants) that are stable and do not leak out substances (but then what about the plastic foils used to transport other produce). I assume naturally grown, organic crops grown in a field, food garden or garden have even more value. BUT if you think the regular veggies offered in stores are any better than the organic crops you get from the roof garden ... many of the regular produces is grown in greenhouses, or under terrible conditions outdoors, with lots of herbicides / pesticides. That their roots are anchored in (what used to be) soil does not mean that soil / dirt has anything to do with the real ALIVE substance, the plant structure has to support itself somehow, the soil offers little support apart from that, it all has to be provided by humans: Nutrients come from synthetic fertilizer, that soil has a (fairly) reduced ability to hold water, very reduced soil life, too, so no support from earth worms and the bacterial living inside them, critters eating pests, etc. Plus the rooftop veggies are harvested RIPE, and there is less delay between harvest and consumption. I read about a test of organic and conventional veggies and fruits for vitamins and micronutrients. Harvesting them ripe makes a huge difference in vitamin content - more than organic versus convenionally grown (they did not test for herbicides, pesticides). Conventionally grown can deliver good vitamin content and taste (despite the somewhat degraded soil) if it is ripe and fresh and had enouhg sun. At the roof top they can select for varieties that are sensitive (cold, draught, pests), bring less yield, but have excellent taste, smell or cooking properties. As mentioned in the speech, the tomatoes (for conventional harvests) are not selected for flavor they are selected to withstand the transport conditions and to get red and to taste tolerably (but not good) after being harvested unripe and hard. Ripe bananas are very different from what we can buy in the stores.

[@mourningwarbler]

So cool. Are the daily costs taking into consideration the cost of building the structures? Would appreciate more information about the soil used. Likewise Ohio State University and Columbus, Ohio have sprawled out to cover what was formerly farmland.

[@psn3287]

I really liked the idea and its the future in agriculture. Only concerned about water supply as water harvest won't suffice to supply water year round and in metro cities, ground water level already dropping & prompting for external supply. Need to factor investment Vs returns...

[@imrankarimHunzai]

it very good i like it could u plz help me to do the same idea in Pakistan mountain area karakuram mountains specially in cols area Hunza

[@cqammaz53]

I'm interested in doing a rooftop garden on top of my home in Amman Jordan. The houses are cement and the roofs are flat. Can you recommend some books so that I can learn more about this process? Thank you

[@hasanjaber5086]

Lebanese make us proud wherever they go.

[@MelioraCogito]

"It's not hard to get one's mind around it." No, it's not, but he is demonstrating that organic hydroponic agriculture on a rooftop is not only efficient, it is also viable & profitable - esp in a cold climate like Montréal.

[@salimahmed9016]

In places, where the weather us nit an issue, mo use of a covering perhaps.

[@smartcatcollarproject5699]

10,000 square meters are barely enough to feed a few persons. This guy must own a really, really huge house, with an even huger roof !

[@cuscof2]

You can easily feed a family of four on less than a quarter of that, without the greenhouse structure or water system they have which allows for year-round agriculture. And yes, it's an apartment building, if you watch the video.

[@shelbyr2163]

They also source food from local farmers, restaurants and small businesses to meet demand. The quality of the fruits and veggies is really impressive. A bit on the pricy side though. I sign up for their baskets in the winter and directly with a local farmer in the summer since prices are lower.

[@ReallyHappened]

Help us by saying 'yes' to protecting our green infrastructure assets and investing infrastructure dollars in more green infrastructure in our communities.

[@arumugamnagercoil8858]

I would like to work with Lufa

[@elvisflorian]

Let me come in there I'll whip your inventory out

[@patrickcody9843]

How did the video relate to what we’ve talked about in class so far? How does Mohammed Hage define responsible agriculture? What are heat islands?What does he mean by “nothing new here”? What are the benefits to delivering food to some areas of the community? Is there something specific about this video that strikes you?

[@alexsmith2632]

i had that ideas too before i went to shanghai, the problem is with today's population desity in big city, you cant count on such single technology.

[@RajneeshSharma786]

it is my dream to do it actually

[@Ben-gp2fi]

+Rajneesh Sharma nice dream.

[@waellerbe]

+Rajneesh Sharma Never give up on your dream of roof top gardening. Vertical gardening is another consideration.

[@michelt5122]

Most of the roofs cant even carry the weight... And the others that are mostly left are not flat roofs. I like the idea.. but to say everyone can do it is just dangerous without the information architects have.

[@zxzxjameszxzx]

Not to reply two years later but I disagree in part. A flat topped roof in any northern area is always able to withstand enormous weight due to the possibilities of upwards of two feet of snow in the winters

[@danielleodin1782]

Since California has a lot of flat roofs, it would seem that this could work. But the state would have to issue all sorts of permits on the safety of these "farms" as we are an earthquake state. And the inspectors for building & safety would find all sorts of problems, I am sure to prevent those 'farms' from flourishing.

[@aryirawan9941]

I just visited Simply Love Gardening (just google it). I learned a lot there.

[@vickiolson1198]

This better than not growing anything but until we get a greenhouse system that opens up to real sunlight, we will not get vegetables with all of the nutrients and enzymes that they should have. Someone did a study, Paul from Back to Eden mentions it and it showed the difference between some 350 to 50 enzymes and nutrients from sun grown tomatoes as compared to greenhouse grown tomatoes in artificial light.

[@stefaniereinhold8240]

Looks to me like this green house is letting real sunlight in. Where is the problem?

[@vickiolson1198]

Stephanie, the plastic covering filters out the good rays in the sunlight that make the tomatoes manufacture the good enzymes. Glass does the same thing.

[@forrestgossett]

Vicki Olson any scientific proof of what you are claiming?

[@xyzsame4081]

They probably open up the glass in the summer or they would overheat on sunny days. But I agree, that organic crops grown in a field / garden are probably more valuable. The veggies here are certainly better than what is grown in regular greenhouses. (a lot in winter)

[@pinkpearl1967]

How many times does he say "if you can believe it"? It's just hydroponic agriculture, on a roof. It's not hard to get one's mind around it.

[@Splatzloki]

my question is about smog. what about petrochemicals tainting the food through smog? for that matter, what about acid rain. nobody wants to eat food tainted with that stuff. getting rid of pesticides and herbicides is great but moving production to cities will take more.

[@erniemartinez1444]

The farm on the roof did have roofs did it not and smog will do nothing compared to the pesticides

[@Splatzloki]

ernie martinez but if we're going to do something, the idea isn't picking the lesser of two evils. with modern technology can we build a functioning biodome?

[@previouslyachimp]

Max Steel I'm sure some air filtration is possible where necessary, but this project is one of the methods that will help to massively reduce the production of toxic emmissions in the first place. Couple that with electric vehicles powered by renewable energy and we're headed in the right direction.

[@Splatzloki]

previouslyachimp don't get me wrong. the idea is great. my question is how can they modify it. just in case I wanna do a microscale DIY

[@previouslyachimp]

Max Steel There's lots of people on KZbin doing small-scale hydroponics and aquaponics. They're very DIY friendly.

[@cdhelennh]

I wonder how the roof farm is operating now. Anyone knows?

[@diegowhittembury6132]

google Lufa Farms, I work in one of their greenhouses, its going well.

[@s13q]

ça peut aussi être pour empêcher les grosses multinational d'acheté le brevet et d'actionner tout le monde.

[@JanButterflyCons]

yes it is wonderful, but it seems we couldn't grow nearly enough QUANTITY of food for big cities. any figures for how this could work on a large scale?

[@parwindersinghdhillon1791]

I want to work in lufa farm . please help me

[@xyzsame4081]

_urban_ agriculture is a new thing. There never was the space. A village is a few houses and lots of space, but _cities_ did not grow food. Even butchering the animals nearby was a hygienic problem.

[@taurahelms3068]

It was sort of sad to see the photo comparison of the displaced farmer.

[@jeanrutka]

How do we sign up for food? How much does it cost?

[@anniegaddis5240]

Unfortunately, it costs MORE than if you buy at a grocery store. You are paying for organic mulch etc. and because of the small amounts grown compared to a large farm or bulk amounts sold to a grocery chain.

[@stefaniereinhold8240]

When I was a kid, in the 1960s, I wanted a calculator. The price for a calculator at that time was about $300... Today you can find one in a dollar store... Patience

[@beldengi]

I assume that this is hydroponic farming, that is to say using chemical nutrients which is contrary to organic values. Not for me sorry. Our church is covering our spare land with hugelkulture beds to feed our neighbourhood and it is entirely organic.

[@xyzsame4081]

Your church with the huegelkultur beds is wonderful (hope your first harvest was splendid) - but I guess the church has the SPACE. It is not either / or. I would assume that organic food grown outside is even more valuable, but that food is certainly better than conventional greenhouse crops (or conventionally grown in a field depending on water, fuel consumption and how much herbicides, pesticides they used and how ripe / unripe the produce was harvested). They could also use organic fertilizer (nettle tea, worm compost liquid) etc. I assume they use synthetic fertilizer here. That said the plants miss out on a myriad of soil life and who knows what that contributes so _organic_ crops in good soil are always better. On the other hand, as long as people in winter eat some (organic) root veggies too they should be fine. The problem with many veggies/fruits (organic and conventional) are that they must be harvested too early because of the logistics Apples, onions, some pears, beets, kale, carrots, ..... or potatoes are harvested RIPE and can still be well transported (because they store well, and are fairly hard). Very important: they store well for weeks and months even. Tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, salad, peaches, berries.... not so much. For veggies / fruits that are best fresh, production in the city makes sense, because being well suited for transport / handling and for being harvested too early (unripe) is not the most important criteria to grow a certain variety. They can grow varieties that are special (taste) but do not stand the growing conditions outside well. For instance if they would not cope well with cold snaps or dry spring / summer. Farmers will not risk growing them, unusual weather conditions could cost them the whole harvest. But in the glass houses they control the conditions much more AND because they also do not have to consider LONG and industrial manipulation of the produce they fruits and veggies can be more delicate. They are harvested and then the last seller transports them and consumers pick them up. They all can afford to treat them with more care than in large scale logistics operations. Food can be less robust and it can be harvested when it is ripe and tranport distances are much, much shorter. Plus it is easier to market old / unusual varieties, because the contact between producers / consumers is so much closer. With potatoes and the like you have more liberties - at least they do not need to be harvested before being ripe. Last but not least - as long as a lot of costs of conventional production are externalized - the organic produces (field or greenhouse) will cost more. Those producers have a very close contact with the affluent urban citizens that can afford to buy and are willing to buy at higher prices to support such projects. The contact is closer than if that would be an organic farm somewhere in a rural region. The producers will have open house, etc. to increase brand loyalty.

[@parwindersinghdhillon1791]

I want to lufa Farms Montréal original email address please (the problem is very big )

[@nickfooz]

This sounds great, unfortunately in countries like Venezuela, the government is proposing a half-assed version of this as a solution to the food crisis, caused by their own mismanagement, corruption, confiscation of private land, suffocating price controls and foreign currency restrictions. They're basically telling people to grow chickens on their rooftops and planting tomatoes in their toilets to feed their families when there used to be supermarkets packed to the brim with products (even if the prices were high). Never mind that space is at a premium in the city and people need to work for a living without having to pluck feathers off malnourished birds and fishing for plant eating bugs. Also the pathetic amount that can be grown in a tiny rooftop (if you have one) or kitchen would hardly be enough to make a salad after a month. Hello 18th century!

[@razadaza9651]

A bit of bro science here and too much commitment required... it’s easier said than done.. I actually am fortunate enough to grow some veges in the city

[@YanikCrepeau1]

English is not his first language, actually, it is his third. So, people using a language other than the language they use the most have that kind of problem.

[@danf4447]

why isnt everyone doing this

[@georgepatrickraphaelc.barr9060]

this idea is great but the plants might absorb pollution coming from cars which can produce hazardous fruits

[@xyzsame4081]

And on fields they may be nearby streets as well and you have NO idea what is in the groundwater. Especially in the U.S. where pollution is rampant. Never mind FRACKING.

[@xyzsame4081]

The pollution from cars is NOT that high (It could have some impact on the very sensitive lungs of humans, but it will not poison the grown food). Looks like this is a commercial area but not directly nearby a highway. Air pollution is not _that_ bad in Canada. It is not comparable to being sprayed with pesticides or herbicides. If it would be that bad - humans usually work in areas nearby highways day in day out.

[@xyzsame4081]

I wonder if it would be possible to run planes on denatured alcohol (assuming it would do less harm to dump that - it is a wasteful strategy anyway), or having some lightweight batteries as emergency reserves (the extra weight has to be compared to the weight of the fuel they also have to drag along, and the loss of fuel at the end of a regular flight). or having extra fuel that is not as much of a fire hazard, and they do not have to discard it every time.

[@ki5ngau]

Farning is tough and many of us are too lazy to do it.

[@bluebimmer33]

Parce que c'est son entreprise, mais cela ne signifie pas que vous ne pouvez pas le faire vous-même.

[@parwindersinghdhillon1791]

please help me

[@kietale3259]

So we don’t have to starve to death because of zombie

[@SmartEngine-]

First sine of life: "CO2 REDUCING, HUMIDITY INCREASING"

[@dustystahn3855]

What is said is not as important as is left out and he left out a lot. A one sided arguement doesn't prove anything.

[@richardrossell5979]

In 2006 to 2009 there was no hits for rooftop greenhouses but too many agreements in privilege by me trying to get green types to work with begot me my copyrights gone it's okay for people not to work with but that doesn't give them the rights to take a song a life or any awards or venture capital and I have lots of copyright proof and head greenhouse specialists and others that will cooperate my ownership of these designs and attempts to mediate met with spins and stalls seeds of love for magic gardens to grow

[@parwindersinghdhillon1791]

I want to tell all the problems of the lufa company. Because someone has betrayed me

[@NesparKiwi]

im curious why this video deserves a downvote. Are there impact that were not measured or mentionned? Or maybe you dont support innovation.

[@richardrossell5979]

Haig stole my rooftop designs and has changed his web and who inspired him first Suzuki he and his collective stole my venture capital and awards how can you allow frueders on KZbin

[@parwindersinghdhillon1791]

please help me