Who We Are

Our History

There is a growing awareness of the importance of composting, the value of buying local and clean food, and an interest in growing food using biological gardening techniques in Toronto. Individuals wanting to grow their own food have also expressed a need for safe soil that is able to sustain food production without requiring the addition of chemical fertilizers or pesticides. City composting facilities and services cannot handle commercial organic waste and instead send 120,000 tonnes annually to landfill, with a resulting release of 7.5 times that in destructive emissions. 

In November of 2007, 40 individuals came together at Riverdale Farm to discuss the need for a local, mid-scale, community-oriented composting facility. Approximately 12 people immediately organized and began to develop the project that was later named FoodCycles.

Currently, FoodCycles operates in a 2,880 square foot greenhouse and on a 1 acre plot of land, at Parc Downsview Park.   Composting and vermi-composting is conducted on site.   Year-round, we produce and sell microgreens to a number of health food grocery stores and local restaurants.  In 2010, we piloted our first Community Shared Agriculture Program, offering shares to twenty members.   Our facilities are also used for educational programming, offering an entry point for the study of urban agriculture.