Urban Agriculture Reaches New Heights Through Rooftop Hydroponic Gardening

“Rooftop simplified hydroponics” — a system used in the developing world — is being used in the Canadian city of Montreal. (Photo courtesy of Alternatives)

In Montreal, as in other Canadian cities, many citizens would like to rent a small plot of land or join other growers to plant and grow vegetable crops cooperatively and then share the harvest. Long waiting lists for community gardens, however, thwart these modest ambitions.

In light of high demand and limited space for urban gardens, a Montreal-based development organization is experimenting with a gardening system called “rooftop simplified hydroponics” — a system adapted from the group’s experiences in the developing world.

“Our goal at the moment is to develop a low-impact, low-input technology to grow food economically in cities,” says Karen Templeton, a researcher at Alternatives, the Action and Communication Network for International Development. “The next step will be to find as many applications for it as we can.”

Read more here The International Development Research Centre (Science for Humanity).