Montreal's food banks reap rewards from bountiful harvest at Botanical Garden

The team at the Montreal Botanical Gardenhas been busy this summer, harvestingmore than 2,300 bins of fresh produce for the city's food banks.

The project was launched in the spring when the pandemic-spurred economic shutdown cost people their livelihoods and, in turn, put a heavy burden on food banks, whichsuddenly had long lines forming at their doors.

Horticulturists expanded the garden'svegetable patch from1,100to 1,800square-metres, allowing them to double theusual amount of produce they donate each year.

Theychose squash,cucumbers, tomatoes and other plants that grow in abundance to ensure there would be plenty to donate.

"It was very demanding physically for the back. But, in general, it was very satisfying. It was really a summer like no other," saidIsabelle Paquin, a horticulturist with the garden.

Anne Charpentier, director of the Botanical Garden, said the Edible Garden is usually a display of a wide variety of vegetables. This year, the focus was on productivity and four organizations are benefiting from the harvest.

"It is wonderful that we can really produce and provide them with fresh vegetables twice a week," she said.

Charpentier said it was an initiative of the garden's horticulturists, who early on in the pandemic wanted to respondto the demand for affordable, healthy food.

Part ofcity's vision for urban agriculture

The City of Montreal soon got involved as elected officials were searching for a way to offer food banks more fresh produce.

"At the beginning of the crisis, we realized there were a lot of people in Montreal who lost their jobs and were more vulnerable," said Coun. Laurence Lavigne Lalonde.

Lalonde is the executive committee member in charge of urban agriculture and Space for Life, a museum district in the city's east end that includes the Botanical Garden and the Biodome.

She said the city did a lot to help Montreal's homeless population weather the storm, "but we decided we could also help people get access to fresh food."

"We believe the city will have a bigger role to play in food security in the years to come," said Lalonde. "We are right now working on a vision for urban agriculture."

That vision will include community gardens and farms on the West Island, she said, as the city looks to a future fraught with climate change.