Did you know: there’s a quarter-acre urban farm on the rooftop of the newly opened Lawson Centre for Sustainability? Since this spring, the Trinity College Integrated Sustainability Initiative‘s Sustainability Team have been managing the college’s newest growing space, the George and Martha Butterfield Rooftop Farm.
Urban Agriculture Assistant Amara Digout gives U of T News a tour of the rooftop farm:
About the George and Martha Butterfield Rooftop Farm
A living lab, the Lawson Centre for Sustainability embeds sustainability into daily operations and supports interdisciplinary teaching and research through the Community Kitchen and the George and Martha Butterfield Rooftop Farm. The rooftop farm allows the integration of food production with academic programming, applied research, and student work and volunteer opportunities.
As a campus hub for learning, research and activity on sustainability and experiential learning in food systems, students will have incredible opportunities to explore how climate action, health, equity and learning can be integrated into daily campus life. Students become both participants and benefactors as they live and learn in an eco-friendly environment designed to support their well-being and education.
Along with exposing students to sustainable urban food growing systems, and rooftop farm explores the possibilities to address food shortages, particularly with climate change, in an urban setting.
For the first growing season, work on the rooftop farm has been focused on intensive growing with approximately 2,200 square feet are under cultivation, producing 26 crop varieties and nearly 900 pounds of produce has been harvested so far this season (see where the produce goes), with a lot of produce yet to be harvested. This year, only about half of the rooftop was farmed due to when Trinity College had access to the new building. The other half of the east rooftop is cover-cropped with clover to fix nitrogen in the soil and introduce organic matter for the next growing season.
The rooftop farm has also become a site for graduate research and community engagement, attracting interest from students, faculty, alumni and external partners.
Experience the George and Martha Butterfield Rooftop Farm for yourself!
Trinity’s Sustainability team’s weekly tours and volunteer sessions continue until the end of October 2026:
- Volunteer Farming on Mondays: 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
- Rooftop Tours on Wednesdays: 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm
Where does the produce go?
Since mid-summer, produce has been harvested three times a week. To date, the rooftop farm has produced 900 lbs of fresh vegetables and herbs, along with pollinator-friendly flowers (some that are also edible). Farming activity continues in to the fall, with bountiful produce yet to be harvested. Most weeks:
- Harvests have supported food security initiatives at U of T, including fresh produce donations to U of T Student Union (UTSU) Food Bank and First Nations House, helping to address what has become a broad and persistent issue for students: access to nutritious fresh food and vegetables
- Produce harvest bags with a selection of seasonal vegetables are offered to members of the Trinity community, along with those who volunteer on the farm
- Harvested produce is processed for future program integration, including events and teaching classes and workshops in the Community Kitchen at the Lawson Centre for Sustainability: see the results of a recent workshop on how to preserve produce from the rooftop farm (via Instagram) as part of our Urban Agriculture Week festivities
