Help finding bylaws

[East York Childrens Community Garden]

Hello Everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on where to easily find municipal, provincial and federal bylaws that govern urban agriculture in Toronto?

I've been looking on the respective government websites but it's a challenge to find urban ag specific ones.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Suzanne

[Lorraine Johnson]

Hi Suzanne,

A good resource (though it's old now, more than 10 years) is a booklet published by the City of Toronto (Live Green Toronto) called A Guide to Growing and Selling Fresh Fruits and Vegetables. I can't find it on the City's website, but Sustain Ontario has a downloadable copy on their website; here's the link:

https://sustainontario.com/greenhouse/custom/uploads/2019/03/A-Guide-to-Growing-and-Selling-Fruits-and-Vegetables-in-Toronto.pdf

Although some of the info *may* be out of date, it covers issues around zoning and other basic rules and regulations regarding growing and selling produce in Toronto, and might provide some leads for narrowing your search for info about bylaws that govern urban ag in Toronto.

Hope this is helpful. 

Lorraine

Lorraine Johnson (she/her)

www.lorrainejohnson.ca

Co-author of A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators

Check out this blog post about a major victory for naturalized gardens! 

--
You received this message because you subscribed to the "Toronto Urban Growers" Google group.
 
To reply or post to this group, send email to toronto-ur...@googlegroups.com
 
Questions?
You can reach us at in...@torontourbangrowers.org
 
Mailing address
c/o Greenest City
220 Cowan Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
M6K 2N6
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Toronto Urban Growers" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to toronto-urban-gr...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/toronto-urban-growers/d7c988e8-3bde-4dff-babf-24db72aa7ae9n%40googlegroups.com.

[Sean Smith]

This is fantastic Lorraine, thanks! :)
Sean

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Crooked Farmz

 Brewing fresh compost teas and extracts for microbial health
 in agriculture, horticulture and arboriculture.

 crookedfarmz.net // @crookedfarmz // 416.669.1997

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 We Must Heal The Soil. It's That Simple.

 Crooked Farmz is a Certified Compost Facility Operator

 with the Compost Council of Canada.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/toronto-urban-growers/CAL0grp-OTQ%2BydM5-YLHeAs-fDikHdKZgLHuhVZYV5UdLCpvezg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Sean Smith]

After reading this document, I'm left with so many more questions. What were all the steps, historically, that got the City involved? What ever happened to the Toronto Agriculture Program? What ever happened to the "entrepreneurship" lever mentioned so prominently in this text? etc etc.

I'm certainly not asking anyone to type all of this out, but given that the TUG AGM typically lands in about 6-8 weeks from now, I am wondering if it would it be possible to have a little "history session" for those of us who've more recently come to the Toronto urban agriculture scene?

Or perhaps there is another standalone format/forum for this type of session?

Cheers, Sean

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Crooked Farmz

 Brewing fresh compost teas and extracts for microbial health
 in agriculture, horticulture and arboriculture.

 crookedfarmz.net // @crookedfarmz // 416.669.1997

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 We Must Heal The Soil. It's That Simple.

 Crooked Farmz is a Certified Compost Facility Operator

 with the Compost Council of Canada.

On Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at 04:45:37 p.m. EST, Lorraine Johnson <ljohnso...@gmail.com> wrote:

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/toronto-urban-growers/CAL0grp-OTQ%2BydM5-YLHeAs-fDikHdKZgLHuhVZYV5UdLCpvezg%40mail.gmail.com.

[East York Childrens Community Garden]

Wow, Lorraine, thank you! I greatly appreciate your reply and the link to that resource, thanks again!

Sean, I think that’s a great idea. In my research I am also left with many questions as there seems to be policies and programs in the process of being updated or websites that are no longer available.  I’m curious to know the status as well as the history. I would welcome the “history lesson” too!

Thanks,

Suzanne

East York Children's Community Garden

1081 Pape Avenue, Toronto

1st Place Community Garden Winner 

City of Toronto Garden Awards, 2022

[Maria Nunes]

I had started putting together a response that was getting a little long, but I'm including it below even in it's unfinished format.

What I'd like to share is that, if you're trying to get access to (or not) any kind of land for gardening, you should check Toronto's Official Plan. In my past research, both for essays but also recently to justify why Parks shouldn't "decommission" a community garden, I used every reference I would find in the Plan to show how the initiative in question, or theoretically, urban ag of whatever flavour was in keeping with or even a means to address issues in the Official Plan.

I would often search the words "garden", "green"(spaces), "public land", "food security", among others.

Other sources would be the former Toronto Food Policy Council's work. I'm rather out of touch, but at various times, but the single most important might be the Toronto Food Charter.

Pretty much everything we all want to happen wrt the increase of urban ag in the interest of increasing food security from within the GTA can be justified by showing The Food Charter declarations demand we do these things!

Or course, there are the bylaws that constrain what we do, which is what I think you want to clarify. But asking for exemptions from by-laws that might be in the way can be based on this Charter and the Official Plan.

That's my opinion in any case!

...../Maria

Original e-mail draft:

Federally, you might check out the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership might also apply and a search for "urban agriculture" on that page garnered these responses; the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on which a search for "urban agriculture" gave these results. But generally speaking, that's too high of a level of government to apply to urban ag.

At the provincial level, in Ontario, it's the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness, which has replaced the old OMAFRA and although there are tons of results, I'd search "urban agriculture", but also "urban", "gardening" 

The most important place to find what you might be looking for, though, is the municipal level. A google search of "toronto bylaws governing urban agriculture" got these results. There are many aspects covered here and you might find what you want. Toronto Municipal University

But my initial reason for writing was that, if you are trying to make a case for urban ag or gardening in the City, please look at Toronto's Official Plan, and search the specific topic you want to know about, or also, "gardening" or "green" to find little niches where the main topic/area might not be specifically gardening or urban ag, but it might be touched on.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/toronto-urban-growers/93975159.755548.1769638716283%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Toronto Urban Growers]

Hi everyone,

I have heard rumors of a session to talk about a regional food planning body this spring, but I have no details yet.

A Seneca team that is part of TO Sustain is putting together a review of UA policies and conducting interviews with farmers about their experiences with policy barriers. When that team is ready to share, we will certainly co-host an event to highlight the findings. Suzanne - I will ask the team tomorrow if we can share the literature review of UA policies. 

In the interim, a policy recap and discussion could be a part of an upcoming TUG AMM if there is interest, since there are some new developments coming down the pipes!

The next session of the online TUG Urban Farmer Training on Tuesday, Feb 3 7:00-9:00 is about land access and we'll be discussing zoning and land use (one aspect of UA policy). If any TUGgers want to join that session, please email me.

A quick answer to the Toronto Agriculture Program question - city staff decided to discontinue the program, presumably because it was taking up too many staff resources.

Maria - I've also searched the Official Plan. The short story is that food and gardens are mentioned in the aspirational sections of the Plan, but not in the sections that enable uses. So there is very little language that explicitly permits UA (with some exceptions). When planning staff don't see a permitted use, they say no or direct you to a process that is not designed for UA.

Great discussion, thanks for getting it going Suzanne! And thanks to Lorraine, Maria and Sean for sharing.

Rhonda

Rhonda Teitel-Payne (she/her)

Co-coordinator

Toronto Urban Growers

www.torontourbangrowers.org

@TOurbangrowers #iGrowTO

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/toronto-urban-growers/CAHJEKanrEFVTKqxCyk_GB%3DBXwe47gM2OExUNtvWu5%2B%2BubRaH9Q%40mail.gmail.com.

[East York Childrens Community Garden]

Thank you Rhonda and Maria - you’ve both shared great information and I’m looking forward to exploring all the links, articles and ideas!

Rhonda, I would be very interested in a policy recap and to learn about the new developments coming down the pipes, so please do keep us posted. If there is a chance, I would love to hear more about the work done on the Toronto Food Policy Council.

I greatly appreciate this group and the willingness to share information,

Thanks again,

Suzanne

East York Children's Community Garden

1081 Pape Avenue, Toronto

1st Place Community Garden Winner 

City of Toronto Garden Awards, 2022

[Greg Knittl]

Hi Suzanne,

https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/1184_489.pdf Turfgrass and
Prohibited plants applies to PRIVATE land and purports to control weeds
by banning them. There are also undefined line of site (height)
restrictions. If you are planting on City and possibly other Government
land, I'm not sure what, if any, weed regulations apply - just look at
the state of our ravines - but would prefer you NOT plant Japanese
Knotweed, Poison Ivy etc. The Ontario government does NOT enforce the
https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90w05 Weed Control Act in urban
areas. This was documented in the recent win in Ruck v. Mississaugua
https://wolfruck.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Judgement%20%20-%20Ruck%20v.%20City%20of%20Mississauga%20-%20ONSC%2073.pdf
[16]

https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/1184_548.pdf Littering and
Dumping Schedule A defines Yard Waste, which includes Plant cuttings,
roots, weeds and leaves. I am not a lawyer, but I read it to apply to
both public and private property. I read it to, for example, ban
allowing any leaves falling from trees to accumulate on the ground,
although I have never seen Toronto cleaning up leaves in their ravines...

These bylaws are not written with Urban Ag in mind and I find them
hopelessly unbiological, but they could in theory be used to effectively
shut down agricultural operations. They are typically only enforced by
complaint, but there is nothing to stop the City from initiating their
own investigations.

If there is any serious money at stake you probably need to consult a
real lawyer.

I would be interested in finding out the results of your research.

Good Luck
Greg

> --
> You received this message because you subscribed to the "Toronto Urban
> Growers" Google group.
>

> To reply or post to this group, send email to toronto-urban-
> gro...@googlegroups.com

>
> Questions?
> You can reach us at in...@torontourbangrowers.org
>
> Mailing address
> c/o Greenest City
> 220 Cowan Avenue
> Toronto, Ontario
> M6K 2N6
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "Toronto Urban Growers" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
> an email to toronto-urban-gr...@googlegroups.com

> <mailto:toronto-urban-gr...@googlegroups.com>.

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/toronto-
> urban-growers/d7c988e8-3bde-4dff-babf-24db72aa7ae9n%40googlegroups.com

> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/toronto-urban-growers/
> d7c988e8-3bde-4dff-babf-24db72aa7ae9n%40googlegroups.com?
> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

[Joe Nasr]

Hi all,

It's great that this subject is coming up (again).  Rhonda and Lorraine have shared some useful reactions.  I'll add a couple of things for now.

Sean: it is great that you raised the fact that people like you - among the most active and engaged in urban ag in TO these days - don't know much about some of the recent history of UA in TO.  This just shows how dynamic the UA movement is.  Some of us (individuals and institutions) have been involved in this movement for a couple of decades or much longer, while others are super-active, but their involvement are relatively recent.  It's a good idea to figure out how to share this recent history - successes and many obstacles!  Let's figure how this can be done.  Last thing that this movement needs is constantly reinventing the wheel!  And it's useful to learn from challenges and mistakes.

On this note, some parallel lessons can be learned from a neighbouring city, London, which had managed to adopt formally an Urban Agriculture Strategy in 2017.  A research project was undertaken recently to learn from the challenges that those in London's UA movement encountered since this formal municipal adoption of UA Strategy.  A webinar is coming soon to share what was learned from the challenges to the implementation of that strategy - save the date for that webinar, on March 11th at noon.  I'll send out the announcement when it is ready.

It's always useful to learn from the past - especially hard lessons!

Joe

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/toronto-urban-growers/CAHD2hh%2BZ0cYiLJogGyj4FUdEbOZmAE5mPNeiXubYb__Yz49YPA%40mail.gmail.com.

--

Joe Nasr

jn...@torontomu.ca / joe...@sympatico.ca

[Maria Solakofski]

Hi Joe,

I definitely want to attend that webinar on Mar 11.

M