Grow Calgary is marking its third year of using forgotten land to grow a bounty of food for our city’s most vulnerable.
They farm within city limits and Sunday, Calgary’s urban farming community celebrated the major milestone.
Their garden is the size of four sports fields, making it Canada’s largest urban farm.
‘There’s been so many people, over 5,500 people have come out here to help us grow food as volunteers,” Paul Hughes from Grow Calgary said.
What makes the operation so unique is that it’s inside Calgary’s city limits, run by volunteers, with the proceeds going to help Calgarians in need.
“We’ve transported 300 truck loads of food, primarily to the Calgary Food Bank. This year, we’re going to expand and supply food for 16 other agencies because of the unprecedented economic turmoil,” Hughes said.
The economic slump is an issue that has people wanting to give back.
“Seeing my peers and myself know that we struggled a little bit to have good food to help us make it though the day, it’s pretty nice to be out here and supporting other people,” said Merion Hodgson, a volunteer.
City Councilor for Ward 9 Gian-Carlo Carra is a big fan of the entire food movement that’s happening in the city.
“What you have in Grow Calgary is a sort of interesting socially justice minded approach to urban agriculture,” Carra said.
There’s a growing need and desire for more room to grow. In 2014, the group requested an additional 254 hectares of land on the transportation utility corridor- landit argues can be put to better use.
“We have a substantial, a massive area in the city of Calgary that is not being used right now. It’s actually being mowed,” Hughes said.
While Grow Calgary waits for the province’s response, they’re celebrating what they’ve already cultivated – three years of making food from forgotten land.