Brooklyn Reaps Benefits of Rooftop Farming. Can You?

What Happened

Several new rooftop farm developments in Brooklyn, New York, are rapidly making the borough the focal point of the nascent urban farming movement.

So What?

Urban rooftop farming is on the rise across the country, partially in response to the demand for local produce, and largely due to the costs of transporting agricultural products; according to studies, produce can travel on average 1,300 to 1,500 miles from farm to table. As a result, forward-thinking cities are looking for partnerships and programs to accelerate rooftop farming, especially since there are ancillary economic and environmental benefits; besides the employment and tax upside, rooftop farming can improve stormwater management, prevent heat islands, and improve air quality.

But Why Brooklyn?

Brooklyn is at the epicenter of the rooftop farming trend due to a confluence of factors: the availability of rooftop space, a community of risk-taking entrepreneurs, and a built-in market for fresh food that includes high-profile chefs and ecologically minded young adults. Another key factor is an economic development agency that recognizes the opportunity for jobs, tax revenue and healthy products. (View the New York Economic Development Corporation’s RFP for a 200,000 square foot rooftop farm in Brooklyn).

Interestingly, most of those dynamics—available space, a startup mentality, etc.—also exist in other municipalities around the U.S. But what appears to have put Brooklyn ahead of the pack was a change in zoning regulations that excluded commercial rooftop greenhouses from existing height and size restrictions.

Details

For the record, the newest rooftop development projects in Brooklyn will bring the borough’s total rooftop landscape to almost 10 acres. Bright Farms is developing 100,000 square feet of space for a hydroponic farm, Brooklyn Grange opening a 45,000 square foot space, and Gotham Greens is adding three new rooftop gardens to bring its total farmland to 200,000 square feet.

Interestingly, Bright Farms will be utilizing hydroponic growth methods many reasons, including rainwater capture; their 200,000 square foot farm will gather an estimated 1.8 million gallons annually, diverting that rain into its farm and away from storm drains. Hydroponics, which eschews soil for water as the growth medium, typically brings higher yields and lower weights than classic soil farms. Surprisingly, hydroponic systems also use less water than soil-based farming.

Other Cities

New York is not the only city pursuing rooftop farming. Philadelphia has begun testing rooftop gardens on row houses, using systems designed by Community Design Collaborative. In Berlin, Germany, Efficient City Farming is bringing fish farming to the rooftop. “Aquaponics” is merely an extension of hydroponics, incorporating many of the same processes but taking it one step further; vegetables are grown in the waste-water from fish tanks. Serving as a filtration system, once the water leaves the vegetable growing tanks, it is recycled for use in the fish tanks once again.

Milwaukee has actually become a leader of the aquaponics movement, chiefly through a company called Sweet Water Organics. It has made a mission of re-purposing unused industrial space for the growth of sustainable fresh fish and produce. The company has a similated wetland system that not only produces perch and tilapia, but produces produces lettuce, sprouts, wheatgrass, watercress, basil, swish chard and oyster mushrooms. The industry has become a job driver for the inner city.

Last year, Milwaukee won an IBM Smarter Cities grant to help further the development of urban farms.

Resources

New York City’s Blueprint for a Sustainable Food System is available, which includes recommendations on urban agriculture. An overview of a Five Borough Farm Study also includes valuable information.

Resources from other cities are also available, For example, a white paper on how Philadelphia incentivized rooftop gardening is available online, which includes information on financing and the creation of “NRVs” or Neighborhood Rooftop Ventures, in which a group of properties band together to lease rooftops for farming. The Green Roof Resource Manual for the city of Sydney, Australia, is also available; weighing in at 139 pages, it includes extensive research on myriad topics including food production. And this excellent and fascinating memo from the Boston Redevelopment Authority to the city’s Urban Agriculture Working Group explores the regulatory issues around urban farming in the city, with comparisons to other cities, lessons, possible incentives, and more.

For a more broad perspective, refer to this interesting blog post from the Society of Landscape Architects, which discusses some of the challenges of rooftop gardening, and explores topics such as rooftop architecture, managing soil fertility, and maximizing product yields. A more “wonky” academic thesis on rooftop agriculture looks at challenges and the types of assistance that cities could provide to address sustainability challenges.