Our History
Our Story
Sole Food Street Farms was established in 2009 by Sean Dorry and Michael Ableman. The project was in response to community-identified needs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. With early support from United We Can, we launched our first urban farm on ⅔ of an acre beside the Astoria Hotel on Hastings Street.
By 2011, we had formed our own charity, Cultivate Canada Society, and expanded to four farms across nearly five acres of underutilized urban land. Over time, our focus has shifted from expansion to stabilization. We strengthened our internal systems, diversified income sources, and built the foundation for long-term sustainability.
Since 2009, we have:
Paid over $2 million in wages and benefits to staff
Created over 300 jobs for folks facing barriers to employment
Harvested over 1,000,000 lbs of fresh produce
Our Books
Our founder, Michael Ableman has two trade-published books on the history and idea behind Sole Food Street Farms. Purchase them here or stop by our market stalls to get yourself a copy!
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Street Farm: Growing Food, Jobs, and Hope on the Urban Frontier is the inspirational account of residents in the notorious Low Track in Vancouver, British Columbia―one of the worst urban slums in North America―who joined together to create an urban farm as a means of addressing the chronic problems in their neighborhood. It is a story of recovery, of land and food, of people, and of the power of farming and nourishing others as a way to heal our world and ourselves.
“Michael Ableman has a finely honed sensibility. Read how he gardens society, grows well-being, weeds out despair, and sows hope in this wonderfully written testament to life.” – Paul Hawken, author of Blessed Unrest
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Farm the City is an introduction to the principles, methods, and realities of starting an urban farm derived from the success of Sole Food Street Farms, one of the largest urban agricultural enterprises in North America. Covers navigating regulations and finding land, to crop planning, fundraising, marketing, and more.
In the Media
This parking lot farm is a hidden bounty of produce in the heart of Vancouver
The Chef at Vancouver’s Best Restaurant Taught Me How to Cook a Steak Like a Pro
The story of a thriving urban farm in one of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods
An urban farm manifesto