FIRM SIX
Refresh Farms · a Firm Six sister company
01 · Why it matters
Full tax on land producing nothing
In many jurisdictions land in active agricultural production qualifies for a dramatically lower property tax rate. Most holders of pre-development land are paying full commercial or industrial rates instead.
The wait is measured in years
Phased build-outs and entitlement windows leave land fallow behind fencing for years, sometimes a decade, with carrying cost running the whole time.
An empty lot is a reputation cost
Neighbours see a fenced field and a developer who has not delivered anything yet. A working farm with public access changes what the site says about you.
The sustainability story has no proof
Trees, biodiversity, local food and community programming are things you can point at, on the site, during the years you are still waiting on approvals.
02 · Leveraging land
01
We study what the parcel can actually grow, design the farm around it, and map the regulatory path, coordinating with planners, assessors and municipal staff. Clients who are not ready for a farm can stop at this stage and just take the answer.
02
Modular grow pods built from shipping containers on rooftop solar, polyhouses on gravel and fabric pads, field production in the ground. No permanent foundations and no encumbrance, so the farm comes out or relocates on your timeline, not ours.
03
Agricultural tax status requires a real farm, not a lawn with a sign on it. We stand up genuine commercial production, coordinate the assessment and site inspection, file the applications and handle the annual reporting that keeps the status in good standing.
04
We run the nursery, the sales and the community programming: markets, workshops, pollinator zones, honey. You keep the tax savings and the story, with no operational burden and no recurring funding obligation after startup.
03 · Two ways in
Land you are holding
Use case 01
Put idle parcels to work while you wait
A site moving through entitlement or held for a later phase can produce for years before a shovel goes in the ground. Production scales to the window you have, and it comes off the land when you need it gone.
·
Revenue against a parcel that is currently pure carrying cost
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Active, visible use of a site during a long approvals process
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Community and food security story that helps at the council table
Buildings you are designing or operating
Use case 02
Build production into the asset itself
Controlled environment agriculture inside the envelope. Back of house, service levels and roofs become permanent growing space, serviced by systems the building already has. The crop is a choice, from mushrooms to leafy greens.
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Permanent revenue line inside the building envelope
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Amenity and differentiation a competing project cannot copy quickly
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Crop chosen to the room: mushrooms today, leafy greens where the light and load allow
04 · Team
Jeff Huber
Co-founder · Operations & Agronomy
Master Grower with more than twenty years commercialising agriculture technology. Helped design, build and commission one of the largest fully automated indoor vertical farms in North America. MSc, mycology and controlled environment agriculture.
Kenny Smith
Co-founder · Engineering
Building systems integration, structure and servicing capacity. Also co-founder of Firm Six.
Mark Alo
Co-founder · Product & Technology
Monitoring, reporting and the operator side of the system. Also co-founder of Firm Six.
05 · Partner with us
Developers, landowners, asset managers and operators. Early is better, but land you have held for years is exactly the conversation we want.
Refresh Farms
hello@refreshfarms.ca
FIRM SIX
Integrated building systems engineering, prefabrication and urban agriculture. Toronto, Ontario.
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hello@refreshfarms.ca
111 Peter St, Suite 700, Toronto, ON M5V 2H1
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