Brooklyn Grange, BrightFarms and Gotham Greens are featured in this Wall Street Journal report. New York City gets all kinds of media publicity for these commercial urban agriculture projects. The iconic New York skyline is a media magnet.
The paradox is that our consumer horticulture education is from the dark ages. There is no institution in the city that teaches about modern methods of personal food production such as portable micro gardens, sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) simplified hydroponics and aquaponics.
Even though we have two of the most historic botanic gardens in the U.S. (New York Botanical Garden and Brooklyn Botanic Garden), there is not one public demonstration garden that features modernity. City gardening education is all about dirt with nothing about the fact that much of it is contaminated with toxic heavy metals. This presents a very real health hazard to young children in particular.
Can Farming Make It in the Big City?
Entrepreneurs are looking to urban farms and rooftop gardens as an alternative to traditional farms. While start-up costs are higher, these efforts could pay off with long-term environmental benefits and better tasting veggies. WSJ's Monika Vosough reports.
You are correct in raising the issue of contaminants in urban gardens, and I agree that immigrants are particularly vulnerable to these dangers. Some urban farm projects are taking these issues into consideration. Here is a friend's project. You may be interested in following their progression and the results of their lab tests: http://www.farmingup.org/updates/
Posted by: Regina | August 07, 2011 at 08:59 PM