The CultivAction Urban Agroecology Intermediate Course is a hands-on urban gardening and farming program for people who want to deepen their growing skills while understanding the bigger food system picture.
Designed for intermediate gardeners, urban growers, and graduates of our Beginner course, this program helps you grow more food, grow it better, and grow it with purpose.
Through biweekly evening sessions at Concordia’s Loyola Campus, field visits, and conversations with experienced growers and organizers, you’ll strengthen your skills in soil health, crop planning, seed saving, ecological pest management, and season extension. You’ll also explore how urban agriculture connects to food sovereignty, food justice, and climate resilience.
Agroecology is an approach to growing food that works with nature while strengthening communities. It brings together ecological growing practices and social values, recognizing that how we grow food shapes access, power, and the care of land and ecosystems.
Participants gain practical skills and essential knowledge to grow food in yards, balconies, community gardens, and other urban spaces. Throughout the season, you’ll co-manage a shared farm site, tending crops on your own schedule and taking home the produce you cultivate.
Just as important as what we grow is how we grow together. The course creates a supportive learning community where participants share successes, challenges, experiments, and exciting developments happening in their own gardens throughout the summer. Through guided instruction and peer learning, you’ll build not only technical skills, but confidence, connection, and collective capacity.
This hands-on experience equips you to strengthen your neighbourhood, contribute to more sustainable and resilient urban food systems, and cultivate meaningful change — starting right where you are.
Come grow with us.
This course It is ideal for intermediate urban gardners and urban farmers interested in ecological and social justice.
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This Course runs biweekly on Tuesday evenings from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., from May 5 to October 6. As daylight hours shorten in the fall, class times are adjusted to end earlier.
Beginner gardeners and urban farmers are encouraged to enroll in the Urban Agriculture Beginner Course for foundational training. If Tuesday evenings don’t fit your schedule, explore our Online Urban Agriculture Course or our Saturday courses in Senneville.
This course sold out last year – so register fast!
$900
(Register With a Friend and Both Pay Early Bird Rates)
$1000 (after March 23, 2026)
Pricing includes a collective garden space and a weekly food basket once harvests begin.
This course sold out the last three years—reserve your spot soon!
As a fee levy contributor, Concordia University students can take advantage of our special subsidized rate and pay just $350 for registration!
Subsidized spaces are limited—register soon!
The Urban Agriculture Intermediate Course runs biweekly from May to October and includes 12 hands-on sessions designed to build on your existing gardening experience. Participants will deepen their understanding of urban agroecology, develop practical skills, and gain the confidence to create thriving, productive growing spaces.
This program is ideal for intermediate gardeners and urban farmers who want to expand their practice, whether transforming a backyard into an edible landscape, managing a community garden, or growing food in urban settings. By the end of the course, you’ll have the knowledge, tools, and experience to take your urban farming to the next level.
A unique and hands-on aspect of this program is the opportunity for students to co-manage a portion of the Loyola Farm space. Students will form small groups and collaboratively develop a schedule to manage farm tasks outside of class time. Students can invest as much or as little time as they’re able to, ensuring flexibility to fit their schedules. At the beginning of the course, groups will discuss and agree on the necessary tasks to accomplish between lessons, from planting and weeding to maintaining the infrastructure. This cooperative approach fosters teamwork, encourages hands-on learning, and provides a fun and engaging way to immerse yourself in urban farming.
As part of the immersive experience, students will harvest fresh produce from their shared farm space as it ripens and take home weekly baskets filled with their harvest, allowing them to directly apply their learning and enjoy the fruits of their labour.
This ongoing connection between classroom instruction and real-world practice provides a comprehensive, practical, and enjoyable way to learn about urban agroecology.
Dr. Emma Despland will provide a lecture on garden and farm insects, while Justin Krieger from Hive Free Lunch will lead a hands-on workshop on food preservation. These expert-led sessions complement the practical, hands-on learning on the farm, giving participants deeper insights and additional tools to apply in their own gardens, farms, or urban growing spaces.
Intermediate Urban Agriculture Practices: Explore regenerative agriculture, permaculture, urban foraging, edible urban design, and SPIN farming techniques to enhance productivity and biodiversity in your growing spaces.
Designing and Implementing Urban Farm Systems: Build on existing skills in seedling cultivation, transplanting, infrastructure development, and garden/farm layout strategies for immediate application in your plots.
Soil Health and Regenerative Food Systems: Strengthen your understanding of soil ecology, nutrient cycling, and rehabilitation techniques to create resilient and fertile urban growing environments.
Mycology and Mushroom Cultivation: Learn practical techniques for cultivating mushrooms and integrating fungi into your urban farm or garden ecosystem.
Ecology of Plant Systems: Apply ecological principles to effectively manage annual crops while supporting ecosystem health.
Ecology of Perennial Systems: Develop strategies for long-term perennial food production that enhance sustainability and resilience.
Exploring Varied Urban Farm Models (Field Trip): Gain inspiration and practical insights through visits to diverse urban farms and gardens.
Integrated Pest Management and Natural Solutions: Learn ecological approaches to manage pests, encourage pollinators, and maintain healthy plants without chemicals.
Soil and Plant Health Management: Refine your techniques in sustainable crop and soil care for productive, resilient gardens.
Post-Harvest Management and Preservation: Explore seed saving, food preservation, and storage to make the most of your harvest.
Seasonal Garden Management: Learn strategies to prepare and maintain your garden across seasons for continuous productivity.
Harvest Celebration and Community Engagement: Reflect on the season’s work, share your harvest, and strengthen community connections through collaborative events.
Erik Chevrier is an educator, researcher, and advocate for socially just and ecologically responsible food systems at Concordia University. He teaches courses including Urban Agriculture, Food and Culture, Food and Sustainability, and Ecological Economics, combining hands-on learning with critical participatory action research to empower students as community leaders, urban farmers, and sustainability advocates.
He has co-founded and co-created organizations, research projects, and educational programs such as the Concordia Food Coalition, Divest Concordia, the Hive Café Co-op, the Concordia Action Research Network (CARN), and the non-profit solidarity urban farming cooperative CultivAction.
Erik also developed an online archive and framework to support food sovereignty on campus, linking research and practice to strengthen equitable, resilient, and ecologically grounded food systems.
The CultivAction Farm at Loyola Farm is located at the back of Concordia University, Loyola Campus – TB building.
Address: 7079 Rue de Terrebonne, Montreal, Quebec H4B 1E1.
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