Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Everything old is new again

From the Daily News:

The bucolic farms of middle America are getting some stiff competition from the rooftops of New York City.

A growing number of commercial farms housed several stories high throughout the city are producing crops year-round — in many cases without even using dirt.

Several city farms are looking for more rooftop space to grow their local food businesses. And swaths of Queens and Brooklyn with large expanses of industrial rooftops are prime candidates for the urban agriculture expansion.

“In dense cities like New York, there isn’t an enormous amount of vacant land,” said New School Professor Nevin Cohen, who specializes in urban agriculture.

But “there are thousands of acres of rooftop space in New York City potentially suitable for agriculture — with more than 1,000 acres in Queens,” he said.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The roofs will need heavy repairs after a few years. The weight and high moisture of these silly farms are a hazard to buildings.

Anonymous said...

The prior poster is right - my thoughts exactly unless structurally the roof is altered to accommodate the soil, water and other material weight that could cause various types of damage to a roof.

Anonymous said...

"The bucolic farms of middle America are getting some stiff competition from the rooftops of New York City."

The author really needs to drive through the mid-west to get an idea of how vast our bucolic farms are.

Anonymous said...

The bucolic farms of middle america are usually a minimum of about 10,000 acres at present. Get real.

Anonymous said...

the GREENIES will have a ball stopping the birds and rats from sharing the produce and leaving their droppings to clean up.

Anonymous said...

Anon No. 5:

You think that doesn't happen on the big farms? I hope you wash your fruits and vegetables before you eat them.

Erik Baard said...

I'm very supportive of these efforts but feel our greater food issues must be addressed by preserving upstate and regional farms from development and frakking.