US: NEW YORK - What If Central Park Were Home To A Massive Urban Farm?

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08-04-20

A corner of Central Park was once home to a thriving Black community. Amber Tamm wants to honor the legacy of that neighborhood with a farm to feed New York’s neediest.

BY RUTH READER

In 1825, downtown New York City was growing crowded. Then, as now, racism made New York an uncomfortable place for Black Americans, so Andrew Williams, a Black shoeshiner, took an opportunity to move north, away from the hubub of lower Manhattan. For $125 he bought three parcels of land between what is now West 85th Street and 86th Street and where once there was just farmland. Shortly thereafter, a church bought up a plot with plans to create a cemetery for African Americans. Other Black Americans soon followed.

That was the beginning of a neighborhood called Seneca Village. Residents there, like Williams, were largely laborers. But land ownership provided an opportunity for upward mobility and Black landowners with property worth $250 or more could vote in elections. By 1850, there was a school, three churches, gardens, livestock, some 50 homes, and roughly 225 residents, the majority of whom were Black.

But the New York Williams had tried to escape was growing too: The city doubled in population between 1845 and 1855, and citizens began clamoring for green space to be set aside for recreation. Though several sites were up for consideration, including a tract of private land along the East River, the city decided on a large swath at the center of the island. Though the media of the time painted the region as a largely empty save for some poor squatters, Seneca Village fell right inside its bounds.

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The 1868 plan for Central Park. [Image: Wiki Commons]

The city acquired the land through eminent domain, paying owners “just compensation,” (though letters from the time reveal that Seneca Village residents did not always feel the compensation was actually fair). Seneca Village was razed and subsumed into what is now Central Park. Amber Tamm, a farmer for a nearly six-acre New York rooftop farm called Brooklyn Grange, wants to give part of the park back to that history, by taking 14 acres of the 55-acre Great Lawn and turning it into a community farm that would feed under-resourced Manhattanites, many of whom are Black. It would also serve as an educational resource for teaching New Yorkers about urban farming. Tamm wants to call it Seneca Village Farm. “I think calling out Central Park is powerful because it’s the biggest park in New York City and it has the most flatland,” she says.

Tamm is hoping to reclaim Central Park’s narrative and make it a more inclusive one. Her vision is that one person would farm an acre each and people would apply for one of the 14 spots. Tamm envisions running a training program where she and a small team would teach people how to farm their acre with room for creative innovation. If there is someone interested in herbalism, Tamm says she would find a mentor to teach her how to grow herbs. “But also what does it look like for her to exercise creativity? Does she want to grow in rows? Does she want to grow in circles and spirals? Let her flesh out what her vision is and let her work through what it’s like to revitalize soil while also supporting community through what she yields,” says Tamm. Another example she gives: What would it look like to grow rice in New York City?

Tamm’s introduction to the existence of Seneca Village started young and was driven by her mother’s persistent interest in the village. In 1993, a book about Central Park, The Park and the People: A History of Central Park, spurred archeologists Nan Rothschild and Diana diZerega Wall, a professor at City College, to consider Seneca Village’s old plot as the site of an archeological dig. Seventeen years later, the city approved it. The excavation yielded a small glimpse into a place that captivated certain New Yorkers.

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[Photo: Jermaine Ee/Unsplash]

“There would be these excavations where they were finding bones of our ancestors and my mother would always be moved to tears and be investigating how she can go see it, how she can go experience it on her own,” says Amber Tamm, a farmer for Brooklyn Grange, who grew up in East New York. She says her family has lived in Brooklyn for four generations. “Once Seneca Village became a thing and once they started to find the walls and the teapots, she was deeply invested in talking about it.“

The Seneca Village Farm idea was born out of COVID-19. In the early days, food was constrained. Tamm remembers going to the farmers’ market and seeing a bleak array of produce stalls. She and a friend who works on the rooftop garden at Cooper Union began a conversation about what it would look like for New York City to have food sovereignty or sustainable access to healthy, culturally appropriate food grown locally. What kind of food a person can access in New York City depends largely on where they live: Some neighborhoods have big grocery stores with expensive produce trucked in from all over the country. Others have corner stores with selections of packaged goods and small produce sections.

The unequal food distribution in New York has led some food activists to start urban farms that cater to individual communities. East New York Farms, for example, operates a plot and sells to local residents in the Brooklyn neighborhood. The group has also helped others to start their own community-led farms, like the one at the Louis Heaton Pink Houses, a New York City Housing Authority project in Brooklyn.

During the pandemic, food access, at least initially, was even more constrained for those who already have difficulty accessing fresh food. Soup kitchens and groups like Harlem Grown, which uses abandon lots to set up urban farms, stepped in to fill the food void with fresh vegetables and prepared meals. Tamm wonders what such efforts would be like with a bigger piece of land.

The pandemic also provided Tamm with a precedent for converting Central Park to more essential uses: Within the first three weeks of the pandemic, after New York City shut down normal operations, field tents with 68 hospital beds went up in Central Park to support Mt. Sinai hospital as it treated COVID-19 patients. Tamm says, if New York City is willing to set aside land for treating sick New Yorkers, why would it not set aside that same land for ensuring that city residents have access to good nutrition.

“Farmers and doctors are deemed, essential workers. So why couldn’t we have the juxtaposition of on one side of the park they have the COVID hospital and on the other side they have farms, because that would be tackling both sides of health,” she says.

Sam Biederman, systems commissioner for community outreach and partnership development at New York City Parks, works closely with the Central Park Conservancy and also with New York City’s Green Thumb community gardens. He says that given the size of New York City’s population there is physically not enough available land in New York City to grow enough food to feed all its residents. However, he does think community gardens contribute more quality food to certain neighborhoods. Unfortunately, he says, the Central Park Conservancy, in partnership with the city, manages the park with strict rules that may make such a project difficult to undertake.

The Central Park Conservancy is a nonprofit that was founded in 1980 after the park had suffered years of decline, to rejuvenate and manage the park. The city pays about a tenth of the conservancy’s annual $85 million budget, and conservancy raises the rest through private sources. The organization works in tandem with the parks department.

“The undergirding philosophical approach is as much land should be available to all people,” says Biederman. He says that using Central Park as anything other than purely recreational space requires event permitting. The Great Lawn in particular has a lot of limits, he says, because any time an event takes over that space, it is taking it offline for recreational use. The longest a person can get a permit for the Great Lawn is two days and there are only seven permits given out a year. “Turning a significant amount of that space over to agriculture that’s a significantly different use—it’s a tall order.”

However, he also notes that the Central Park Conservancy is very aware of Seneca Village’s history and is trying to honor its legacy in various ways. Last year, the organization put up a temporary installation that highlights the work archeologists have done and their learnings about Seneca Village in the time they’ve been investigating it. It also released a series of materials that help guide teachers who want to use the exhibit to teach students about Seneca Village. Biederman says NYC Parks is also looking into renaming other parks to honor New York’s Black history. “Negotiating what it means to live on and operate and be the custodian of land that once belonged to someone else is a moral responsibility that you have to tend to in perpetuity,” says Biederman. “The way people interact with public spaces evolves from generation to generation—that’s clear.”

Tamm, who has separately recently raised more than $100,000 to start her own farm, is meeting with a member of New York City Parks to discuss the project further and has high hopes for the conversation, she says. “It would be there to pay homage to the ancestors of Seneca Village—that’s the number-one goal.”

Correction: This article has been updated to clarify the Conservancy’s role in managing Central Park.

Lead Photo: [Photo: johnandersonphoto/iStock]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ruth Reader is a writer for Fast Company. She covers the intersection of health and technology.

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Publix Grows Hydroponic Produce At Greenwise Store

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Krishna Thakker@krishna_thakker

Aug. 3, 2020

Dive Brief:

• Publix has partnered with local hydroponics firm Brick Street Farms to grow, pack and harvest hydroponic lettuce in a container farm located outside its Lakeland, Florida Greenwise Market store. 

• The 40-foot container farm will grow an equivalent of 2.5 to 3 acres of lettuce and can operate 365 days a year in any weather conditions, Brick Street Farms told Grocery Dive in an emailed announcement. It substitutes soil for mineral-rich water, which means no pesticides are needed. The container farm uses 90% less water than a traditional farm and produces 720 heads of lettuce each week. 

• Customers can watch the produce grow through a window on the side of the container and purchase heads of lettuce inside the store.

Explore how the current landscape is impacting coffee manufacturers and how organic and fair trade can help ensure long-term success of the industry.

Dive Insight:

Publix has recently stepped up its partnerships in alternative agriculture. Earlier this year, the company began hosting Vertical Roots' interactive mobile hydroponic farm in the parking lots of its grocery stores and Greenwise locations. In March, Publix began selling microgreens from Kalera, a hydroponic farm on top of a Marriott hotel that lost all its business due to coronavirus, at 165 stores.

Hydroponic farming has been plagued by inefficiencies and high costs in the past, but improvements in technology are helping suppliers better meet retailers' demands for pricing and scale. On-site farms also add a bit of theater that can draw curious shoppers to stores. 

Publix isn’t the only food retailer exploring this field. Kroger last year installed mini hydroponic farms in a handful of Seattle stores in partnership with Infarm, a start-up based in Germany. Around the same time, Gordon Food Service and indoor farming startup Square Roots opened their first co-located hydroponics farm on Gordon’s headquarters in Wyoming, Michigan. H-E-B and Whole Foods have also experimented with hydroponics in and around their stores.

Having a hydroponic farm at the store removes the need for transportation and storage of lettuce before it hits shelves, according to Brick Street Farms. It also allows Publix to sell the produce in-season all year round, providing some supply stability.

Although omnichannel business is booming for grocers like Publix right now, many are looking for ways to drive traffic to their stores, where they can make the most money per order. Grow farms and other safe, eye-catching attractions could be one way to accomplish this.

Follow Krishna Thakker on Twitter

Lead Photo: Permission granted by Publix

Filed Under: Fresh food Natural/organic

Future of Food Is Fresh And Green For Manitoulin First Nation

Sheshegwaning First Nation Takes High-Tech Step

Toward Food Security

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Jul 22, 2020

 By: Lindsay Kelly

Last February, April Folz was attending a conference in Québec with a team from Sheshegwaning First Nation when a tradeshow display caught her eye.

It was unusual to see shoots of fresh, edible greens in amongst the displays, especially at that time of year, but there they were, at an exhibit for The Growcer, an Ottawa-based company that develops hydroponic container farms.“

It was winter, and it was snowing,” recalled Folz, Sheshegwaning’s economic development director. “It was so neat that it was growing in the middle of winter – there were snowstorms.”

The community’s interest in the farming system was piqued but wasn’t given any serious consideration until a few weeks later, Folz recalled.

When COVID-19 arrived in Northern Ontario in March, members of the outlying community, which is situated on the far west end of Manitoulin Island, began to worry about food chains being interrupted and how they would continue to enjoy a supply of fresh produce when the nearest grocery store is about 45 minutes away in Gore Bay.

Fears were further exacerbated with talk of closing off access to the swing bridge at Little Current, which, during the winter months, provides the sole route on and off the island that’s situated in the upper end of Georgian Bay in Lake Huron.“

This pandemic happened and people were complaining that they couldn't get anything at the grocery store, and they couldn't get any of the fresh produce in at the store here (in Sheshegwaning),” Folz said.“We were having a hard time supplying that for our people.”

The community of 118 quickly made a decision to take the plunge into container farming, taking out a loan to purchase their very own Growcer farm, and the unit arrived in the community on June 22.

Launched in 2015, The Growcer adheres to other models of container farming that start with a shipping container and add hydroponic growing equipment and LED lights to create a self-contained, closely monitored system that allows for growing year-round.

Seeds are nurtured with a tailored combination of nutrients, water, and lighting, and crops are ready to be harvested after about four to six weeks. With a staggered planting system in place, crops are always growing.If something goes wrong – the temperature gets too high, for example – the sophisticated monitoring system will alert staff through their phones so they can visit the farm and adjust accordingly.“

Growcer also has access to our system,” Folz said. “So they get alarms as well, and they can regulate it from Ottawa.”

The company provides full training and ongoing support as part of the purchase agreement.

There are even some job opportunities for those enterprising community members with an interest in agriculture. Folz is currently hiring for a full-time systems manager, who will be responsible for planting and harvesting, cleaning, and calibrating the Growcer system, as well as two part-timers, who will help with monitoring the crops.

Growcer farms are now successfully producing fresh greens every week in communities as far-flung as Kugluktuk, Nunavut, and Churchill, Man.

Conditions in Sheshegwaning aren’t nearly as harsh or rugged as in those more remote regions, but the arrival of their own container farm has generated buzz amongst the many avid salad-eaters in the community.

For $10 a week, residents who want a take of the harvest sign up for a subscription box, which guarantees them five heads of greens of their choice delivered to their door. A portion of the harvest will also go to local business Mkwa Catering for use in their dishes.

The first seeds were planted during the week of July 20, and Folz expects to reap the harvest in mid-August. Products will be marketed under the Odawa Freshwater brand.

She’s calculated that if they sell out weekly, the community will break even on its loan for the project.

So far, the community has planted Monte Carlo romaine lettuce, red Russian lettuce, Tuscan kale, wildfire lettuce, and win-win choi, along with basil, parsley, and mint.“

People want spinach, so they’re going to send us some spinach seeds and get that going,” Folz noted.

Folz said 450 heads of greens will be harvested weekly, while the herbs can be cut back each week and will self-replenish until they reach the end of their lifecycle, which she estimates will be some time in October.

An ongoing experiment with different lighting and growing conditions aims to see if there's any success with strawberries.

Known in many Indigenous cultures as the “heart berry,” strawberries are celebrated as a marker of spring, help promote health and well-being, and signify friendship and reconciliation.“

Strawberries are very important for Native culture for ceremonies, and it would be fantastic to get them fresh year-round if we could do that,” Folz said.“

This (container) is specific for greens, and it will probably stay that way. Maybe down the road, we’ll get one for strawberries.”

PHOTOS:

1 / 6 Crops being grown by Sheshegwaning First Nation in its new container farm include kale, lettuce, parsley, mint, and basil. (Supplied photo)

2 / 6 Sheshegwaning First Nation took delivery of its Growcer container farm on June 22. Its first crops will be ready in mid-August. (Supplied photo)

3 / 6 Container farms use a customized combination of water, nutrients, and lighting to get the maximum yields per crop. (Supplied photo)

4 / 6 Ottawa-based The Growcer uses a shipping container, outfitted with LED lights and a hydroponic growing system, as the base for its container farms, which allow year-round growing. (Supplied photo)

5 / 6 Seeds are put into a growing medium to get started. Crops are ready in four to six weeks. (Supplied photo)

6 / 6 Sheshegwaning's Growcer container farm will create jobs for three community members, who will plant seeds, harvest crops, and clean, calibrate, and monitor the system. (Supplied photo)

Fifth Season Opens Flagship Farm And Partners With NHL Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux

Pittsburgh | Business Wire | June 11, 2020

Partnership comes as Fifth Season announces opening of industry-leading vertical farm, expanded partnerships with Whole Foods and Giant Eagle, and its innovative direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform

Fifth Season, a company that combines vertical farming with proprietary robotics and artificial intelligence to disrupt the country’s produce market and deliver an entirely new category of hyper-local fresh food, announced today it has partnered with NHL Hall of Famer and co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mario Lemieux. The company has also launched a new e-commerce website with expanded product offerings and all products shipping from Fifth Season’s newly-opened indoor vertical farm.

The partnership will accelerate Fifth Season’s expansion plans as the company scales the flagship commercial-scale farm in Braddock, PA, a 60,000-sq.-ft. solar-powered farm with twice the efficiency and capacity of traditional vertical farms. The company’s smart design will allow Fifth Season to produce and market over 500,000 pounds of produce in the first year of full operation. Through AI and robotics, Fifth Season's technology tends to each plant’s individual needs at unprecedented levels of efficiency and precision, providing the perfect light, nourishment and environment for healthier produce, higher yield and better flavor.

“Fifth Season’s exciting technology is a game-changer for Pittsburgh,” said Lemieux. “They are positively impacting people's health and happiness by growing large quantities of delicious fresh food, right here in our hard-working industrial communities. Fifth Season is advancing the legacy of our city and I am proud to partner with the team.”

The new, fully-operational farm is accommodating Fifth Season’s increased demand from a growing list of retailers and restaurants, including an expanded retail presence with Whole Foods and Giant Eagle. At the farm, Fifth Season is growing more than 10 unique leafy greens and herb crops with two proprietary salad blends, spinach and arugula hitting shelves first. The company has plans to quickly expand into more leafy green varieties within the year.

“The events over the last several months have revealed that resilient supply chains and consistent access to fresh foods are more critical than ever,” said Fifth Season co-founder and CEO Austin Webb. “The opening of our first commercial-scale farm comes at a perfect time as Fifth Season works to accelerate our plans to reach new and expanding customer bases.”

The company also announced this month the launch of their industry leading direct-to-consumer program, providing both salad greens and salad kits for order and delivery via Fifth Season’s e-commerce website at www.fifthseasonfresh.com. Customers in the Pittsburgh area can place their order directly via the website to have locally-grown and crafted salads delivered right to their homes.

“Consumers want to connect with farms that reflect their values, and they seek convenience in how they receive their fresh food, whether that’s from their favorite grocer, delivered directly to their doorstep, or picked up from the farm,” said Webb. “Everybody prefers locally grown fresh food to flavorless, days-old greens and we’re proud to provide solutions that make choosing local and living healthy easier.”

By delivering its produce within hours of packaging, Fifth Season is setting a new standard for fresh food, at a price competitive with conventional produce. All Fifth Season produce is grown locally and without pesticides and has an average shelf life of weeks, not days. What’s more, Fifth Season’s produce is grown using up to 95 percent less water and 97 percent less land than conventional farming.

These announcements top off a monumental quarter for Fifth Season, which won a World Changing Ideas Award from Fast Company, an honor that highlights projects actively changing what we eat, how we eat and how we get our food. The company also won the Best Build-to-Suit from the NAIOP for its indoor vertical farm design. During the COVID-19 pandemic the company has increased donations of fresh greens and salad kits to essential workers and community organizations throughout Pittsburgh.

About Fifth Season

Fifth Season’s vertical farms combine proprietary robotics and AI with sustainable agriculture to disrupt the country’s $60 billion produce market and deliver an entirely new category of hyper-local, fresh food. Fifth Season’s newest vertical farm in Braddock, Pa., a historic steel town on the edge of Pittsburgh, features a 25,000-sq.-ft. grow room with twice the growing capacity of traditional vertical farms. It is set to grow more than 500,000 lbs. of produce in its first full year of operation. The company’s fresh, tender lettuces, spinach, arugula, “Bridge City” and “Three Rivers” blends, as well as their herbs, receive individualized attention as sensors monitor every condition — humidity, pH, light, nutrient mix — and adjust to each plant’s needs. Fifth Season can even determine the perfect nourishment to give varietals their own buttery or crispy, soft, sharp, or tangy flavor and texture. For more information on Fifth Season, its technology and produce, visit www.fifthseasonfresh.com.

Contacts

Media Contact

Quinn Kelsey
646-677-1810
FifthSeason@icrinc.com

KEYWORD: PENNSYLVANIA UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ENVIRONMENT SPORTS HOCKEY SUPERMARKET FOOD/BEVERAGE RETAIL AGRICULTURE NATURAL RESOURCES ONLINE RETAIL

SOURCE: Fifth Season

Copyright Business Wire 2020.

PUB: 06/11/2020 08:00 AM/DISC: 06/11/2020 08:02 AM

Bridge City Blend (Photo: Fifth Season)