Côte-st-luc sprouts green thumb with community gardens and farmers’ market

Hoping to improve the health of its residents, the city of Côte-St-Luc announced Thursday it is embarking on an ambitious urban-agriculture program.

The goal: to turn the Montreal suburb of 32,000 people into an urban-agriculture leader in Quebec.

Community gardens will be created throughout the city, which will also set up a new weekly farmers’ market. “Edible landscaping” is on its way, with plans to plant fruit trees on city property and interspersing vegetables among flower plants in city gardens. Citizens will be able to harvest that produce, Mayor Anthony Housefather said.

For 2013, the city will open two new community gardens in local parks, city manager Tanya Abramovitch said. It will also open a demonstration garden behind the city hall building on Cavendish Blvd. where residents will be able to learn about growing food at ongoing workshops.

The farmers’ market will be held in Trudeau Park, and likely begin in July and run until the fall, Abramovitch said.

Côte-St-Luc will spend about $85,000 to get the urban-agriculture program up and running.

Urban agriculture, a trend that is sweeping North America, has many benefits, including improving health and saving money, Housefather pointed out.

“There is a great concern about where food comes from and where it is produced,” Housefather said. “Nothing is more local than growing it yourself.”

The city has been promoting fitness among residents — building a new aquatic centre, for example — but hadn’t yet addressed the issue of nutrition, he said, adding the city hopes the new program will make it easier for people

“There is a great concern about where food … is produced.”

MAYOR ANTHONY HOUSEFATHER

to have access to healthy and affordable food.

“We are generally viewed as an upper-middle-class community, but we have a lot of socioeconomic points in Côte-St-Luc where we have poorer residents,” Housefather said. “We want to make sure they have an opportun- ity to eat well as well.”

When asked whether CôteSt-Luc will allow the raising of livestock in its urban-agriculture activities, Housefather said the focus for now is on producing fruits and vegetables.

Last year, Montreal held public hearings on urban agriculture, and in March the city formed a permanent working committee to look at ways to encourage the practice. It will look at issues such as zoning laws, financing of community gardens, and how to encourage markets and green roofs.

For more information about Côte-St-Luc’s urban-agriculture initiative, go to www.cslgrown.org.