New York Becomes a Global Leader in...Farming?

Only a decade after the last family farm in the city closed, commercial agriculture is mining "the last slice of untapped real estate in the city" to reap a bounty of benefits - from locally grown basil and bok choy to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

1 minute read

July 13, 2012, 7:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


Lisa W. Foderaro chronicles New York City's ascendance to the rooftop farming summit, as commercial agriculture operations, both soil-based and hydroponic, spread from Brooklyn to the Bronx.

The seeds of this revolution are being spread from on high. "The City Planning Department recently revamped the zoning regulations to
encourage green development, including rooftop farms, and the City
Council approved the changes," writes Foderaro. "Amanda M. Burden, the planning commissioner, credited the changes with 'creating more places for urban agriculture to take root in a dense, built-up environment.'"

And the city has good reason to support such efforts: "the rise of commercial agriculture has ancillary benefits, as well.
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."

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 in The New York Times

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