Stephan Senghor’s smart phone rings: “Basil, 500 grams? No problem ! »
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
Later in the day, he will pick up the order from the garden he has laid out and which he has been tending, supervising, coaxing since the beginning of summer on the roof of the quiet Esplanade in the Quartier des Spectacles, to Montreal. It is intended for a restaurant in the area.
The playground is huge for a single worker: 7,000 square feet of parsley, purple basil, oregano, thyme, tarragon, lavender, chamomile, lettuce, beets, radishes, mothered like a bonsai. There is also strawberry mint. “We grow it for a few chefs who use it for their cocktails,” explains Stephan Senghor.
PHOTO MORGANE SHOCK, THE PRESS
Garden landscaped on the roof of the quiet Esplanade
The social entrepreneur and founding advisor of the firms Biome/GS Urban Ecology watches his plants grow, analyzes them, thinks about their transformation. He’s mastered his crops, but admits there’s a lot of trial and error. “There were weeks when it rained a lot, then it got super hot, cold, he says. We see it in the behavior of plants. There are a lot of tests. »
It is the beauty of the garden, its geometry, before the diversity of the plants, which is obvious. “It’s wanted,” said Stephan Senghor. An urban farm must do much more than produce food. It has to be pretty for the person in the building in front. »
Call for projects
The urban farmer, born in Sherbrooke to a Haitian mother and a Senegalese father, inherited this roof after a call for projects in collaboration with the Urban Agriculture Laboratory (AU/LAB), and its MontréalCulteurs program , which aims to link producers and spaces. “We make sure that the site is turnkey,” says AU/LAB advisor Noémie Roy.
Indeed, the infrastructure on the roof was in place when the urban farmer arrived: low walls, pipes… “But we installed an irrigation system”, notes Stephan Senghor.
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PHOTO MORGANE SHOCK, THE PRESS
Stephan Senghor in his urban garden
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PHOTO MORGANE SHOCK, THE PRESS
Tomatoes
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PHOTO MORGANE SHOCK, THE PRESS
A concern for diversity to do tests, but also to make it look pretty
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PHOTO MORGANE SHOCK, THE PRESS
Peppers on the roof
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PHOTO MORGANE SHOCK, THE PRESS
Stephan Senghor and his work partner at work
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Of the eight spaces offered during the call for projects, Stephan Senghor did not hesitate to opt for this one. “Because it reflects my vision of urban agriculture, in the heart of the city, to do agrotourism, to have a component that goes beyond the food function,” he says. It’s much more interesting for me than doing it in an isolated, hidden place. It also wants to be an island of freshness.
I applied specifically for this space which I obtained in March. I have lived in Ville-Marie for 20 years. It is something that I dreamed of materializing.
Stephan Senghor
We do not embark on such an adventure lightly. Very often, Stephan Senghor is on his roof at 5 a.m., until 8 a.m., and he returns there in the evening, when the sun is gone. It was he who put together the 150 bags of compost needed to carry out his project. “I see it as a workout, without a gym membership! he throws. We motivate ourselves as best we can! »
The garden on the roof of the Palais des Congrès being closed, that of Senghor is the largest in the borough of Ville-Marie. Stunning? Not for those who claim to have set up urban agriculture projects in Senegal. “My intention is to duplicate it. What better than to practice to discover the real workload? That said, I can rely on AU/LAB. In my small team, I have a cook who tests the products to transform them. I work with the SAT Culinary Lab. It creates added value. Trash is the last option. We are in the principle of the circular economy. »
And how to achieve profitability when we do not deliver baskets to individuals? By the end of September, Stephan Senghor expects to have a maximum of 15 restaurant clients. “I’m in a year of testing,” he replies. It fits into my idea of “farming as a service”. I want them to sell fresh. It wouldn’t work with a banker. I know this from having previously been an account manager at TD. We have problems that come with profitability. There, we avoid producing carbon. »
“I see it as a private initiative,” he adds. I exploit space. I harvest and sell. I paid for the compost, the seeds, the tools. Without subsidies. I plow by hand. »
Afterwards, if it works, he will seek subsidies, admits the one who dreams of a network of microfarms on people’s heads. “Urban agriculture increases the resilience of communities,” he explains. In Dakar, Senegal, for example, there are thousands of flat roofs that are useless. They could attract projects like this to address climate change and food sovereignty. More than 50% of the world’s population resides in cities, which are the engines of change. You have to equip them. »