Depending on how you plan to grow your food, you may need to apply for an urban agriculture development permit.

Do I Need a Permit?

You will need a development permit if you are:

  • Growing a fruit or vegetable garden in an industrial zone
  • Growing fruits and vegetables outdoors and selling your food products on-site
  • Growing fruits and vegetables indoors and are:
    • In a commercial or industrial building
    • Selling your food products on or off-site (see Selling Your Food Products)
  • Building a hen enclosure (permit should be applied for at the same time as your urban hen keeping licence)
     

crate with vegetables

If you are a resident or a non-profit group who wants to grow fruits and vegetables for your own consumption in your backyard or in a community garden, you will not need a development permit.

Fee Schedule

Please see page 9 for the appropriate fees for your development permit application.

View 2025 Fee Schedule

Residential Development Permits

Required for:

  • Urban Gardens in an industrial area
  • Urban Outdoor Farms

Download Residential Permit Application Form
(check off the 'Description of Work' as “Urban Garden” or “Urban Outdoor Farm")

Commercial Development Permits

Required for:

Download Commercial Permit Application Form
(check off “Other” and write in “Urban Indoor Farm”)

Selling Your Food Products

A business licence is required if you want to sell your fruits, vegetables, and other products on:

  • Your property
  • An Urban Outdoor Farm
  • An Urban Indoor Farm

Note: You can apply for the business licence at the same time as your development permit.

A business licence is not required if you want to sell your fruits, vegetables, and other products at an Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development-approved farmers’ market.

Bees may be kept on a property, as long as you abide by the urban beekeeping guidelines, and you have an urban beekeeping licence and development permit.

Hens may be kept on a property, as long as you abide by the Urban Hen Keeping Procedures and Guidelines, and have an urban hen keeping licence.

The Zoning Bylaw

The City wants to better support and measure the effects of urban agriculture. The Zoning Bylaw was changed to set rules for food production in Edmonton and fulfill policies in The Way We Grow and fresh: Edmonton’s Food and Urban Agriculture Strategy.

Contact Us

Development Services

Email  developmentpermits@edmonton.ca

Phone  In Edmonton: 311 | Outside Edmonton: 780-442-5311