NYC Is Awesome At Rooftop Farming
July 12, 2012, 2:50 p.m.
The lack of pesky farm predators, like foxes and deer, means that farms can flourish on roofs.
Brooklyn Grange, via <a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150687832914503&set=a.10150687831799503.396994.261465154502&type=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a>
New York City has been adding a number of rooftop farms in recent years, like Brooklyn Grange in Brooklyn and Queens, and Bright Farms, a hydroponic rooftop farm in Sunset Park. Today the NY Times has a big feature about the Big Apple's new commercial urban farm boom. Brooklyn Grange partner Ben Flanner breaks it down, "There are a number of parallels with regular agriculture," like lots of light on rooftops, adding, "What we don’t have are deer or foxes or rodents." Or pesky rabbits!
Other benefits, at least in the eyes of the city government, are noted: "Rooftop farms have the potential to capture millions of gallons of storm water and divert it from the sewer system, which can overflow when it rains. And harvesting produce in the boroughs means fewer trucks on local roadways and lower greenhouse gas emissions, a goal of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration." Joe Nasr, urban agriculture expert anda researcher at Ryerson University's Centre for Studies in Food Security in Toronto, tells the Times, "In terms of rooftop commercial agriculture, New York is definitely a leader at this moment. I expect it will continue to expand, and much more rapidly, in the near future."
While the city wants to encourage more rooftop farms—there's a RFP out for a big one at a 200,000 square foot property in the Bronx—some chefs are also going to the top: The Waldorf-Astoria installed six beehives and is working on adding a chef's garden.
