Urban Farm at TMU receives generous gift from Graywood Developments

May 26, 2023

Graywood Developments presenting a cheque for $100,000 to the Urban Farm at one of the rooftop farms.

Toronto Metropolitan University’s Urban Farm received a gift from a local developer that will go a long way in helping to provide fresh, nutritious and ecologically-grown produce for community partners and community members.

Graywood has donated $100,000 over a three-year period to support the Urban Farm in growing rooftop crops for mutual aid and non-profit organizations that provide emergency food relief.

“For Toronto Metropolitan University, city building is about bold thinking that will shape the future of our city and urban centres around the globe,” said Mohamed Lachemi, President and Vice-Chancellor, Toronto Metropolitan University. “And we are proud to partner in that enterprise with city builders like Graywood Developments. We are grateful for Graywood’s support to our Urban Farm program, which will help us build the case for green roofs as sites of food production, as well as contributors to the health and well-being of our community and the environment.”

The gift, known as the Graywood Development Fresh Produce Donation, is part of the Graywood Vision Fund. The Urban Farm at TMU was the first of four charities to be gifted from the Graywood Vision Fund in 2022.

The Urban Farm follows a model of thirds in the distribution of its produce, where no less than one third is donated, no more than one third is sold at market price, and one third is sold at affordable prices for students. The Graywood Vision Fund has enabled the Urban Farm to expand the distribution of culturally significant foods, medicine, seeds and seedlings produced on the rooftops to the local community. Community partners that support the distribution of fresh produce from the Urban Farm have included the TMU Student Union’s Good Food Centre, Building Roots, Native Women’s Resource Centre, Community Fridges Toronto, the Bike Brigade, and Toronto Metropolitan University Pow Wow. For more information about the Urban Farm’s distribution model and how to become a community partner, visit Our Produce.