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SOLEfood Street Farms
SOLEfood Street Farms is an urban agriculture project in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 2008 by Michael Ableman and Seann Dory, Sole Food's mission is to provide low-income residents of the Downtown Eastside with "jobs, agricultural training, and inclusion in a supportive community of farmers and food lovers." It is the largest urban farm attempted in Vancouver, and through it Ableman hopes to demonstrate that "[urban agriculture] can in fact be considered a serious enterprise for urban areas. We’re not talking about community gardens any more. We’re taking it up a level." Solefood is a subsidiary of Cultivate Canada, a local charity that promotes human ecology-related social projects.

Description
SOLEfood currently operates farms in four locations in East Vancouver. The newest site, a large orchard located at the intersection of Main Street and Terminal, was leased to SOLEfood by the city of Vancouver for $1 per year. The land, which had previously been a gas station, had been empty for over a decade due to soil contamination. In order grow food in these circumstances, each of the 500 fruit trees is planted in a specially designed box that can be moved with a forklift.

Different locations exhibit different aspects of urban agriculture, such as unheated greenhouses and vertical planters. Since its inception, SOLEfood has been met with significant community support. Generous grants from a variety of sources including the city of Vancouver, banks, as well as philanthropists enable SOLEfood to continue expanding their operations. Because SOLEfood’s vision aligns closely with Vancouver’s Greenest City 2020 Action plan to increase production of locally grown food, the city has provided them with generous support. Because it is a social initiative, priority is placed upon improving the community: employees, many of whom are current or recovering drug addicts receive paid training, and 10% of the produce harvested is donated to neighborhood agencies.

Due to the small scale of SOLEfood and the use of high quality seeds, the food produced is relatively expensive compared to conventionally grown crops. The produce is sold to 30 restaurants in Vancouver that specialize in using locally-sourced ingredients as well as at 7 farmers’ markets.

SOLE FOOD Urban Orchard
In July of 2013 SOLE FOOD opened the largest urban orchard in North America. They initially planted 500 trees in raised boxes with plans to plant more. The one acre city owned vacant lot is located at Main St. and Terminal Ave. on an old gas station site. The orchard will include apple, pear, lemon trees, quince, cherry, plum, fig, persimmon and over 50 different types of culinary herbs.

The orchard should reach commercial production in 3 to 5 years. Other than providing large quantities of food, it is expected to generate a large number of jobs with some employees working year round. Currently SOLE FOOD is required to reduce the number of work hours during the slow winter months.

Installation of the site took place over a year and a half period with most of the work being completed 2 months prior to the official opening.

Sources for SOLE FOOD
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/solefood-farm-changes-landscapes-and-lives/article5471486/

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/07/08/vancouver-urban-orchard-sole-food_n_3564443.html

https://www.cog.ca/uploads/su11%2028-31.pdf

http://www.straight.com/news/398531/solefood-launches-urban-orchard-vancouver

http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/07/09/Solefood-Rising/

http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/vancouvers-sole-food-opens-largest-urban-orchard-north-america.html

http://www.bcliving.ca/garden/solefood-a-communitys-farm

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-home-to-largest-urban-orchard-in-north-america-1.1412964 Articles used: http://scoutmagazine.ca/2012/08/28/greenlight-the-skinny-on-solefood-a-project-all-vancouverites-can-be-proud-of/

http://solefoodfarms.com/about/

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Urban+farm+near+False+Creek+grow+organic+produce/6602315/story.html

Examples of Urban Farm Pages:

Lufa Farms

Meanwood Valley Urban Farm ((file:filnamehere|caption|thumbnail))

Growing Power