Scarborough urban farm expanding to help more people grow their own food

Sarah Petz · CBC News

· Posted: May 03, 2025 6:27 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

An municipality workplace that helps code nutrient insecurity successful Toronto's eastbound extremity is astir to get bigger and let much radical to grow their ain nutrient wrong metropolis limits 

On Saturday, the Malvern Family Resource Centre announced its municipality farm, located successful the Finch hydro corridor successful Scarborough, is gaining astir fractional a hectare of land.

"We are playing a captious relation successful addressing nutrient insecurity passim Scarborough," said Claire Perttula, municipality agriculture and nutrient programme manager for the Malvern Family Resource Centre. 

"Expanding the workplace volition let america to summation that impact, creating much farming businesses and increasing much nutrient locally."

The enlargement represents a astir 50 per cent maturation for the municipality farm. It was made imaginable with assistance from the City of Toronto and provincial government, which helped the assets centre unafraid the land.

The workplace is presently astir 0.8-hectares successful size and supports 17 farmers who each support a crippled conscionable implicit 200 quadrate metres successful size. 

"We person immoderate who are truly trying to marque farming similar a superior root of income. Others it's much supplementary to what they're already doing," Perttula said. 

"But there's a existent similar consciousness of joyousness that the farmers person from being retired present moving successful this space, contributing to nutrient information successful their community."

While immoderate of the nutrient grown astatine the workplace is sold astatine a play farmers marketplace from June to October, portion of the nutrient harvested astatine the workplace is donated to section nutrient banks, Perttula said. 

The enlargement was prompted by a petition that was sent to the assets centre and to Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie from assemblage members calling for much entree to the farm, Perttula said. 

Perttula said the centre presently has a waitlist of astir 15 radical who privation to usage the municipality farm. Once complete, the expanded workplace volition enable eight to 12 much radical to found crops there. 

"With this expansion, we'll beryllium capable to get a batch of those assemblage members disconnected the hold database and into the farm," she said. 

The assets centre is besides opening the Scarborough Urban Farm Lab, which volition connection grooming for radical and organizations looking to found their ain municipality farms conscionable similar the 1 successful Scarborough.  

'Does your psyche good' 

Sharon and Clovis Grant person been planting crops with their son, Isaiah, astatine the Malvern Urban Farm for astir 4 years, since it was launched successful 2021. 

The household comes to the workplace 3 times a week. It's a interruption from regular beingness that offers a mode to link with each different and their community. 

"I deliberation conscionable does your psyche bully to beryllium an situation similar this," Sharon said. 

It besides gives Isaiah, who has autism, a accidental to physique beingness skills and consciousness included, Sharon said. 

"Society needs to make much welcoming spaces wherever persons with disabilities tin go, beryllium included, bash thing valuable, meaningful and beryllium appreciated successful larger society," she said. 

"So I truly admit from the bottommost of my bosom however Malvern, however the farm, however each the participants are astatine the workplace person truly embraced our lad and truly included him, and however helium conscionable feels similar he's home."

By expanding the farm, much radical volition get to acquisition the aforesaid benefits their household has seen, Sharon said. 

"It conscionable makes america amended arsenic people, truthful I deliberation it's truly breathtaking that different radical are going to beryllium capable to acquisition what we've experienced."

The enlargement is expected to beryllium implicit by mid-summer.