Montréal, Canada

Photo by Karelle Clermont-Moquin

Photo by the City of Montréal

Photo by Karelle Clermont-Moquin

Photo by Karelle Clermont-Moquin

Photo by Songquan Deng

Photo by Mohammed Boudache

Photo by Mohammed Boudache

Photo by the City of Montréal

Photo by Laboratoire Sur L'agriculture Urbaine

Photo by Karelle Clermont-Moquin

Photo by Karelle Clermont-Moquin

Photo by Mohammed Boudache

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Initiative: Urban Agriculture Strategy

City:	Montréal
Country:	Canada
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Urban agriculture practices contribute to greening Montréal, as well as providing greater access to fresh local food and improving the city’s resilience to climate change. Montréal already has several initiatives in place to promote urban agriculture, as well as committed partners who have helped make the city a hub of social and environmental innovation in this area.

Urban agriculture in Montréal is alive and well and part of our city’s identity. It comprises more than 200 social and collective initiatives, numerous businesses, and 50% of Quebec’s urban farms. The practice of this multidisciplinary activity is growing in popularity. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the trend, challenging our alimentary models while providing opportunities for innovation to improve our food security.

Whether it is practiced in private, institutional, school or collective vegetable gardens, whether it takes root in community gardens or on commercial farms, urban agriculture helps make Montréal a city recognized worldwide for its vibrancy and innovation in urban agriculture.

In support, the City developed an integrated vision of urban agriculture in collaboration with local stakeholders from the community. Several findings and issues emerged from our partners’ experience, including access to space, public education and awareness-raising, the ecological transition, expertise and support for businesses, and management and governance frameworks. Montréal has set forth an Urban Agriculture Strategy, coordinated by the Ecological Transition and Resilience Bureau, to consolidate and strengthen existing practices, to facilitate the implementation of new projects as well as citizen and entrepreneurial initiatives, and to create partnerships whose collective actions will have greater impact.

This Strategy is also consistent with the Montréal 2030 Strategic Plan, which aims to accelerate the ecological transition, both by making biodiversity and green spaces a central focus of decision making and by improving City practices through the integration of the Climate Test and gender-based intersectional analysis (GBA+).

Urban agriculture is one of the themes addressed in the implementation of Montréal 2030. This project aims to align neighbourhood development programs in order to focus investments on the most vulnerable areas based on their local needs. The 2021-2026 Urban Agriculture Strategy is, in this sense, a great tool for improving social cohesion while simultaneously promoting biodiversity.