City Rooftop Gardening is Gaining Popularity

With consumers more interested in fresh and local produce, rooftop and hydroponic farms are having their moment in New York City, says the New York Times.

“In terms of rooftop commercial agriculture, New York is definitely a leader at this moment,” Joe Nasr, co-author of “Carrot City: Creating Places for Urban Agriculture” and a researcher at the Centre for Studies in Food Security at Ryerson University in Toronto, told the Times. “I expect it will continue to expand, and much more rapidly, in the near future.”

In Bed-Stuy, a notable example has been the Child Development Support Corp., which that provides fresh produce for the group’s food pantry.

Brooklyn Grange—which actually started their first farm in Long Island City, Queens—built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard this spring. According to the article, the 65,000-square-foot roof garden features more than 100 rows of pattypan squash, scallions and beefsteak tomatoes.

Also in Brooklyn, Gotham Greens began operating from a hydroponic greenhouse on a rooftop in Greenpoint, but has plans to expand to three more sites in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, says the Times. The garden currently grows bok choy, basil and oak leaf lettuce, and sells to retailers like Whole Foods and FreshDirect. 

Ben Flanner, of Brooklyn Grange, told the paper that rooftop farming benefits from good sun and a lack of pests: “There are a number of parallels with regular agriculture,” he said. “What we don’t have are deer or foxes or rodents.”