U of T Engineering startup Lyrata offers fresh solutions for sustainable urban farming

Lyrata co-founders Leo Hua (left) and Adnan Sharif (right) with fresh basil grown at Casa Loma. The U of T Engineering startup offers ‘farming-as-a-service,’ generating produce for caterers and restaurants across the GTA. Photo by Liz Intac.

A U of T Engineering startup co-founded by Adnan Sharif (BSc 2022) has its roots in an experience that is all too common for many of us – he kept forgetting to water his plants. 

“I was working in a plant immunity biology lab, so if I didn’t water them, I’d have no plants to do experiments with,” says Sharif. 

At the time, Sharif was a U of T undergraduate student working with Professor Keiko Yoshioka in the Department of Cell & Systems Biology. He has since graduated and is now pursuing an MEng in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry. 

“My dad is a mechanical engineering professor at a university in Japan and he knows a lot about manufacturing materials with porous, three-dimensional structures. So that’s how I got the idea to make my own 3D printed soil construct, which could retain water for a week or more. That way, I wouldn’t have to go into the lab and water the plants so often.” 

Today that product is called SmartSoil and it’s one of the key innovations at the heart of Lyrata, a startup that is producing edible crops for caterers and high-end restaurants across the Greater Toronto Area. 

Support from the U of T Engineering community has been key to Lyrata’s success. For example, it was an engineering alumni connection that recently led to Lyrata launching an installation at Casa Loma, a historic museum and landmark in midtown Toronto. 

Growing plants without soil, known as hydroponics, is a technique commonly used in greenhouses worldwide. But Sharif and his team see an opportunity to make the industry more sustainable, starting with the soil replacement that the plants grow in.  

“The product that almost everyone uses today is basically the same as house insulation,” says Sharif. 

“It’s made from rocks that are mined in remote places and shipped hundreds of kilometres to a production facility, where they are heated to thousands of degrees in a giant furnace to make a porous, chemically inert material. This material then needs to be shipped again to where it’s needed and when you’re finished, you throw it in the garbage.” 

By contrast, Lyrata’s SmartSoil is 3D printed using biopolymers such as polylactic acid, which is derived from corn. These materials can be locally sourced and require much lower temperatures to melt and form into porous structures. 

When the growing cycle is complete, the product goes through a low-heat proprietary cleaning process and can be used again. Sharif says that SmartSoil has a total lifespan of about two years, after which it can be composted along with crop residue. Together, these changes greatly lower the carbon footprint of indoor farming. 

Bringing ideas to reality

In 2020, Sharif and his co-founders brought his idea to The Entrepreneurship Hatchery, U of T Engineering’s startup incubator. Through the Hatchery’s Nest process, they got connected with business mentors, including alumnus Xavier Tang (BASc 2010), a consultant and venture capitalist who still advises the company today.

Over the next few years, the team continued to evolve, with some original members leaving and others, such as Leo Hua (MEng 2022), joining as partners, who has been pivotal to expediating the development of 3D printable soil to the point it is today. The concept evolved too, as the team realized that rather than selling their growth medium to other farmers, a better business model would be for Lyrata itself to get into food production, with SmartSoil as its ‘secret sauce.’

The Hatchery team – in particular, executive director Joseph Orozco, Go-To-Market lead Erika J. Murray and a large team of work-study students, mentors and legal externs – helped Lyrata develop their technology and business. In 2022, the Hatchery provided $155,000 in seed funding, enabling the founders to be employed by their company and further supporting their business development. The funding also enabled the company to rent greenhouse space on campus, where they began growing lettuce to provide to Spaces and Experiences at U of T.

Innovative systems

Lyrata also developed something new: a modular unit that contains everything required to produce a variety of indoor crops – from lights and growth medium to irrigation systems – that works exclusively with their SmartSoil.

“None of these technological and business developments would have taken place without the generous support of the over 50 Hatchery mentors, work-study students and legal externs who contributed to our success,” says Sharif.

“Our current concept is what we call farming-as-a-service,” says Hua. 

“The SmartGrow unit we developed is small enough to fit into a standard parking spot. Our clients sign a contract with us to place a unit on their site and we take care of everything from planting to harvesting.  

“For a flat fee, they get a self-contained farm that provides a reliable quantity of their desired crop over a set period of time.” 

In addition to providing a locally sourced, sustainable product, Sharif says the approach can also help mitigate fluctuations in the price of wholesale produce. 

“In Canada, most of our lettuce comes from California, which has been dealing with drought and many other issues,” says Sharif. 

“Supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19 were also a big challenge for restaurants, which have very thin margins to begin with. At one point, the price of lettuce increased by a factor of six, so you can imagine the effect that would have.” 

But it’s not just lettuce: so far Lyrata has produced more than 15 different types of crops, including basil, parsley and mizuna, also known as Japanese mustard greens. 

Helping to solve the global food crisis

One of the team’s newest installations came about because of a meeting that took place last fall, at the open house celebrating U of T Engineering’s 150th anniversary. 

There, Sharif caught up with his mentor Xavier Tang and Tang’s wife, fellow alumna Ines Fernandez (BASc 2010), and mentioned that he was looking for new potential clients. 

Tang and Fernandez referred Sharif to U of T Engineering's advancement office, who in turn connected them with alumnus Nick Di Donato (BASc 1981). Di Donato is the CEO of Liberty Entertainment Group, which owns Casa Loma and several restaurants in the city. 

Shortly thereafter, they got a call from Nikol Watlikiewicz, horticulture and grounds manager at Casa Loma. 

“Lyrata’s competitive edge is that they provide an on-site, full service and they do not take up very much space,” she says. 

“In a small corner of our potting shed, we were able to build two grow units that provide a good yield weekly, without having to train our staff on the complicated system. 

“Growing indoors gives us the stability and control that traditional agriculture does not. It’s an excellent example of how engineers can help solve the global food crisis with innovative thinking.” 

Future growth

Lyrata’s priority for the next few years is continued growth in terms of both the number of clients and the number of different crops they can offer. The Hatchery has continued to support the company, for example, by facilitating graduate student placements through Mitacs with matching funds. They also supported their recent $167,500 project with the Ontario and Canadian governments through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership program to further advance the yield and efficiency of their SmartSoil systems.

In late August, Lyrata launched another growing unit at U of T Scarborough, located within the Harmony Commons Dining Hall. They also placed first at the Falling Walls Lab Toronto 2024 pitch competition, held August 15, and will present their technological achievements at the Falling Walls Lab International competition in Berlin at the end of the year.

“The fact we’ve been able to come this far in such a short time is in large part due to the help we’ve had from U of T Engineering and especially the Entrepreneurship Hatchery” says Sharif. 

“Whether it was getting seed funding, finding mentors, hiring work-study students or making important connections through their alumni network, we wouldn’t be here without their support.” 

Originally published by University of Toronto Engineering News