By Tracey Arial
Verdun resident Guillaume Voyer is one step closer to his dreams of creating a new urban agriculture cooperative in Verdun.
Voyer’s vision of raising fish such as perch and tilapia with greens in a recirculating system in the borough’s greenhouse won a $5,000 scholarship from CÉCOSOL, the social economy branch of Caisses Desjardins du Québec.
“Greenhouses have an enormous potential for transforming our borough into a centrepiece of urban agriculture,” said Voyer. “My project is really at the embryonic stage, but interest is there.”
His idea is similar to what’s already happening at Concordia and in Milwaukee at Growing Power, Sweetwater and Central Greens.
Voyer won his scholarship during the sixth edition of the « À go, on change le monde »!
À go, on change le monde is a collaboration between the Institut du Nouveau Monde (INM), CDEC, CÉCOSOL, LOJIQ and the Fondation Bombardier to encourage social economy entrepreneurship in Quebec. Some 200 projects were submitted from across the province with a total of $22,000 in cash and $3,000 in travel expenses going to nine winners.
There were seven other winning Montreal projects in addition to Voyer’s. They are: Le Petit marché de l’Est de Rosemont; a students’ coop called Utile in the Latin Quarter; the Valoristes Coop; a floating market on the St. Lawrence River; a mobile game to develop humanitarianism by Decode Global; and immigrant language training for health sector workers.
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