Portrait of a farmer | Hyperlocal Montreal greenery

While we value local purchases and farm-to-table consumption more than ever, The Press hits the road again this summer to meet craftsmen and agricultural workers. Here is the second portrait of a series of six with Guillaume Salvas and Sarah Farley Gélinas, of ÔPlant urban farms.

Emilie Cote
The Press

A farm at the foot of the Olympic Stadium? Who would’ve believed that ?

Urban farms ÔPlant shares its premises with the distribution center of the underwear chain La Vie en Rose (!) rue de Marseille, a stone’s throw from the L’Assomption metro station.

You should know that the company cultivates microgreens indoors thanks to a unique and innovative vertical process.

“We can cultivate 12 months out of 12 and 365 days out of 365”, boasts the president and founder Guillaume Salvas, of whom he alone – or almost – has the secret of its inorganic substrate.

Without pesticides or genetically modified seeds, Guillaume Salvas and his team grow arugula and basil, but also tendril peas, red shiso, bok choy, purple radish, summer savory, mizuna, shunguku…

There are two harvests per week. A computer system makes it possible to control the temperature, the luminosity and the contribution of the plants in water and nutrients. However, Guillaume Salvas began to cultivate microgreens in a much more traditional way…

A revelation

For the record, the “guy from Montreal North” studied agricultural economics at McGill University. “I was interested in the environment and new forms of agriculture,” he says.

With the desire to have a job “with added social value”, he worked for the Ramo company, which specializes in the cultivation of fast-growing willows and the development of green environmental technologies.

It was during the Expo Québec Vert horticulture show that he discovered “vertical indoor cultivation”. It was a revelation. “I liked the idea of ​​a technological solution that could help Quebec become self-sufficient in food. »

Panties and microgreens

It was in 2015 that he started growing microgreens in a small premises located in Pointe-aux-Trembles. He had targeted “a high-end niche market with restaurateurs”, including Express, Joe Beef, Vin monrabbit…

Quickly, Guillaume Salvas realized that he needed something bigger. His meeting with François Roberge, president of La Vie en Rose, fell well: “He had just bought the building here […] and he wanted to share it with an urban agriculture project. »

Guillaume Salvas took possession of his spacious new space in March 2020, at the very start of the pandemic, when his customers – the restaurateurs – all had to close their kitchens. “My market was down. Luckily, Lufa — suddenly overwhelmed with demand — became ÔPlant’s main customer.

Since June, the urban farm has again been supplying greenery to restaurants (Nora Gray, Foxy, Hélicoptère, La Chronique), while talks are underway to have trays sold to a major brand.

Guillaume Salvas has automation projects and he can now count on seven employees, including Sarah Farley Gélinas. The latter became the director of brand and partnerships after devoting her master’s thesis in sustainable development to the company.

Sarah and Guillaume have their heads full of ideas and projects, the most ambitious of which is to build a network of vertical farms across Quebec. It should be noted that the superposition of culture trays in height makes it possible to reproduce the performance of a greenhouse of 1000 sq. ² on an area of ​​75 ft. ².

In the shorter term, ÔPlant would like to develop other products and be able to welcome customers — and even school groups — to its facilities on rue de Marseille. A bit like a market or a microbrewery. “An urban agritourism experience”, summarizes Guillaume Salvas.

“We are betting on hyperlocality, argues Sarah Farley Gélinas. We are located proudly in the heart of the east pole of Montreal, but there is a food desert. We like to say that we are not a farm, but a place of cultivation. »

In fact, she continues, ÔPlant works in a field where “everything is to be invented”. “We build the plane at the same time as we fly. »