Trumbull Conference Learns How Cleveland Man Went From Crime To Award-Winning Wine

Trumbull Conference Learns How Cleveland Man Went From Crime To Award-Winning Wine

Mansfield Frazier proudly displays a 2014 bottle of his Traminette Vigonier, which came in second place at the Geauga County Fair. (Photo credit: Margaret Puskas)

Published: Sat, April 1, 2017 @ 7:03 p.m.

WARREN

When advocates of urban farming cite success stories, one of the first names they offer is Mansfield Frazier. The 73-year old took a vacant plot of land and turned it into an award-winning vineyard in the least likely of places—Hough, a predominately black community in desperate need in Cleveland’s inner city.

How Frazier wound up growing grapes seems just as unlikely as his vineyard. He had been in and out of prison multiple times – all for the same crime.

“I was a professional [credit card] counterfeiter and served five terms,” he said. He later settled down, married and became a community activist, writer and host of a radio program.

Speaking at the Growing Gardens Leadership Conference sponsored by the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership Saturday, Frazier regaled his rapt audience with his tale of turnarounds – the community’s and his own.

“It’s called the ‘Vineyards of Chateau Hough’ and that’s a political statement,” he said. “It shows that the land we occupy is just as valuable as Westlake,” an affluent Cleveland suburb.

What did Frazier know about grape-growing or urban farming before he started? “Nothing,” he said, “but I always had an interest in nature.”

Frazier said experts at the Ohio State University Extension Service suggested two types of grapes that could flourish in Ohio’s unforgiving winters. He went along with their advice, but took it one step further. He was able to secure grants for the vineyard by making it a “re-entry project” because his workers are men transitioning from prison sentences.

“I wanted them to know there is life after prison, but they have to work for it,” he said.

Chateau Hough is actually bottled by a winery in Solon that produces nearly 1,000 bottles, but Frazier said a small winery is under construction near his vineyard. When completed, he said, the number should increase to 20,000 bottles.

“This isn’t just about grapes,” he said. “It’s about saving inner cities and the people who live in them.”

Matt Martin, TNP executive director, said Frazier’s story shows why commitment is necessary for community gardens to be successful. He estimates there are nearly 20 such vegetable and fruit gardens in Warren, each offering more access to fresh food.

“We provide logistical support and help them pursue funding, but we expect them to be self-sustaining,” he said.

Sarah Macovitz of Youngstown, a therapist and the leader of a vegetable garden on Laird Northeast in Warren, agreed. “You have to have a buy-in,” she said.

Michelle Maggio of Warren, a student who helped develop a garden project on Warren’s east side, said she identifies with what she considers to be urban gardening values. “It’s innovative and sustainable,” she said. “It’s a way to make a positive transformation.”

In Frazier’s case, there was more than sustainability with his vineyard. In a 2013 blind taste test competition involving several hundred wines, Chateau Hough’s Traiminette, a white wine, took second place.

Photo courtesy of SKYvantix

On Sustainability And Vertical Farming Systems

On Sustainability And Vertical Farming Systems

By Tom Karst March 31, 2017 | 12:06 pm EDT

Just how sustainable are urban vertical farms? One reader recently noted in an e-mail that a business is setting up a vertical growing system within a metal shipping container in Arizona, “of all places.”

When you put paper to pencil, does the math work? Will a sunless, LED light-only, vertical farming system located in a city warehouse work? How do costs compare with conventional greenhouses?

Check out a recent story about AeroFarms on CBS This Morning, found at this link.

The story reviews many of the positives of the urban vertical farming trend, notably jobs, fresh local produce and less food miles.

But do the economics work? After all the seed money and private equity funding, will this trend be sustainable?

In the text version of the CBS This Morning story, Cornell University researcher Kale Harbick stated that his studies found indoor farms that rely solely on artificial light are not energy-efficient or sustainable. He said in the story that once the seed money runs dry, urban greenhouses struggle.

Even before it was built, the AeroFarms facility had critics before it was built, questioning if investment incentives and tax breaks would be a sound investment.

Scott Beyer in Forbes questioned the economics of the vertical farm in a column called “Newark Subsidizes A Crackpot Idea: Vertical Farming”

I had a conversation this morning with Harbick of Cornell and he provided some insights on electricity costs in vertical farms versus conventional greenhouses. I’ll share that a little later...What is your sense on the long term sustainability of urban vertical farming systems in the fresh produce supply chain? I welcome your thoughts.

Topics:

GREENHOUSE

VERTICAL FARMING

About the Author:

Tom Karst 

Tom Karst is national editor for The Packer and Farm Journal Media, covering issues of importance to the produce industry including immigration, farm policy and food safety. He began his career with The Packer in 1984 as one of the founding editors of ProNet, a pioneering electronic news service for the produce industry. Tom has also served as markets editor for The Packer and editor of Global Produce magazine, among other positions. Tom is also the main author of Fresh Talk, www.tinyurl.com/freshtalkblog, an industry blog that has been active since November 2006. Previous to coming to The Packer, Tom worked from 1982 to 1984 at Harris Electronic News, a farm videotext service based in Hutchinson, Kansas. Tom has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism from Kansas State University, Manhattan. He can be reached at tkarst@farmjournal.com and 913-438-0769. Find Tom's Twitter account at www.twitter.com/tckarst.

With Floating Farm, New York Looks to the Future of Public Parks

With Floating Farm, New York Looks to the Future of Public Parks

Public foraging farms are sprouting up from coast to coast, but one, in New York, has an especially ambitious social mission.

by Nikki Ekstein

March 31, 2017, 9:44 AM CDT March 31, 2017, 12:36 PM CDT

If you always thought Central Park needed more edible plants, you're in luck.

Come April, a farm full of fruit trees and other crops will float to locations in three New York City boroughs, and visitors will be invited to enjoy nature by literally picking, snipping, and sowing to their hearts' content. Located on a 5,000-square-foot barge, "Swale" will include 4,000 square feet of solar-powered growing space, including a perennial garden, an aquaponics area, and an apple orchard sponsored by Heineken USA's Strongbow Apple Ciders atop a large man-made hill. (The hill allows deeper root space for fruiting trees.)

The project will be open to the public, but it’s more interactive exhibit than floating Central Park; only 75 people can board at once, and docents will usher guests around the grounds. Free educational workshops will include “painting with plants” and “dying natural fabrics,” and volunteers will always be on hand to explain how thoughtful permaculture planning can create a virtually self-sustaining farm.

Waterpod, a predecessor to Swale, docked in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 2009.

Photographer: Michael Nagle

But founder Mary Mattingly’s goals go far beyond providing city dwellers with a high-design place to forage for mushrooms in their next attempt at Beef Bourgignon.

She wants to make people work harder for public spaces, and public spaces work harder for people. She wants to create a model for sustainable urban farming. She wants to create an educational space. And she wants to eradicate the problem of food deserts in blighted urban neighborhoods.

“We don’t have much access to stewardship in New York City,” Mattingly told Bloomberg, “so we wanted to highlight and cultivate opportunities around that idea. People care for spaces that they can pick food from.”

That's exactly what appealed to the approving committee at the New York City Parks Department. "We are trying to prioritize community engagement," said Bram Gunther, co-director of the Urban Field Station, who cited a growing field of study that believes that community involvement, empowerment, and land management must all go hand in hand. "This project will act like a magnet, in a way, and inspire people to civic action," he added. 

A rendering of Swale, the floating forest coming soon to New York.   Source: Swale

That's exactly Mattingly's plan. Eventually, she hopes community investment (and city grants) will take the project from floating farm to philanthropic powerhouse. She’d like to use it as a springboard to raise awareness of such food deserts as Hunts Point in New York's South Bronx, where, Mattingly says, “10,000 trucks pass through each day, and everyone has asthma, and nobody has access to fresh food.” In her perfect world, Swale becomes a conduit to a public park in the Bronx, where “people could pick food 24 hours a day.”

Here’s the only issue with that: Public policy in New York makes that kind of project legally impossible—or close to it—as it currently stands. And on a trial run last summer, Swale barely raised enough funds to keep itself going for a second season. Its manifestation this year in the East River was made possible by the partnership with Strongbow, which has made it a brand pillar to conserve and create orchards around the world. Before Mattingly can sustain entire neighborhoods, she’ll need to sustain Swale itself.

There’s reason to believe in the project, though. First, there’s Mattingly’s own record: In 2009, she spent half a year creating and living aboard a fully self-sustained ecosystem on a barge in New York, which partially inspired the Swale project.

Then there’s the success of other so-called “food farms” around the country.

In Hawaii, the Malama Kauai Food Forest supplies several underserved schools and food banks—to the tune of 37,000 pounds of fruit and 1,000 volunteer hours in the last two and a half years. In North Carolina, the George Washington Carver Edible Park anchored a major urban revitalization project near downtown Asheville, replacing a trash-filled lot with a natural source for plums, figs, chestnuts, and pawpaws, among other things. The list extends to Massachusetts, Colorado, Alaska, Seattle, and beyond.

With the exception of a nascent project in London, no other food forest has cropped up in such an urban setting. Certainly, no other initiative has as striking a design. So Swale should drum up interest. And with an advocate like Mattingly at its helm, converting interest into action should be a real possibility. Even if she fails to create her public farm in the South Bronx, she will likely open up a dialogue that can lead to lasting public policy impacts. 

And let's not ignore the twin goal of creating public stewards, which Gunther says is what he most looks forward to seeing. "The benefits start with people going to Swale and thinking about it—being more aware. Others will be inspired to come out each weekend and take care of their park or advocate for it." Over time, it's something that he thinks will come to represent "an evolution of more sophisticated community engagement in the New York City parks system."

Will Mattingly sail her concept elsewhere? Maybe. “People have approached us about using our plans in other cities,” she said, “but the scope of that seems pretty big for us right now.”

At least, one thing is for sure: There’s never been a more interesting way to treat your winter doldrums.

Nikki Ekstein@nikkiekstein

Exclusive: Bowery Farm’s CEO Irving Fain Talks Vertical Farming

Exclusive: Bowery Farm’s CEO Irving Fain Talks Vertical Farming

By Riana Soobadoo

March 30, 2017

The United Nations estimates by 2050, 66% of the world’s population will live in urban areas.  And yet, though population numbers keep increasing, traditional food production is unable to keep up with the growth.

“IN ORDER TO FEED THE 9-10 BILLION WE’LL HAVE ON EARTH BY 2050 THINGS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO CHANGE” – IRVING FAIN

Enter vertical farming, the practice of producing food in-doors as vertically stacked layers. It allows for control over all environmental factors through a combination of indoor farming techniques that control the environment crops are grown in. This allows for crop production all year round, irrespective of the weather.

To find out more about how the young industry of vertical farming is making an impact, we reached out to Irving Fain, CEO & CO-Founder of Bowery Farm.

Bowery Farm is a modern farming company that uses vertical farming techniques, including LED lights that allow them to mimic natural sunlight, to produce over 80 different varieties of greens under controlled environments.

Their products range from baby kale to mustard greens, and arugula. Founded only in February 2017, Bowery Farm has already raised $7.5 million from investors and, since this past February, has available products at select Whole Foods Stores in New Jersey and Foragers in NYC.

Fain believes there are a number of differences between Bowery and other indoor farming operations. He believes those differences explain how Bowery is quickly rising to a leading competitor position in the market, despite their relative youth when compared to competitors. 

Firstly, their growth system uses a unique combination of automation and proprietary software, which they call FarmOS, to grow the purest produce imaginable in a highly scalable and economic way. FarmOS leverages advanced vision systems, machine learning, and an extensive sensor network to provide complete visibility into every stage of plant growth. This allows them to continuously monitor the health and quality of their plants.

By monitoring the growth process and capture data at each stage, Bowery Farms are able to give their crops exactly what they need, and nothing more. With all of this technology, Bowery can compete not only with other indoor farms, but also with produce grown in the field. Unlike traditional produce, they grow year-round, regardless of weather conditions or seasonality factors.

Fain addressed the concerns held by many when talking about crops that are produced in an unconventional setting, and how to guarantee freshness and quality of produce.

To do this, Bowery Farm has created the “ideal conditions for growing the safest, purest produce imaginable”, Fain said.

They are able to do so because they grow close to the point of consumption, enabling them to deliver produce at the height of freshness, flavor, and nutrition; “food you can feel good about eating”.

Unlike organic producers, Bowery Farm does not use any pesticides, and controls the entire experience from seed to store to ensure freshness and quality.

Fain also went on to explain that Bowery Farms is working hard to “re-think the current agricultural system, bridging the gap between the world’s oldest and largest industry and a future where technology can be used to solve our hardest problems”.

Some of the biggest concerns include world supply of food, and the rise of concern over environmental impact and destruction.

“AS A NATION, WE DEPEND ON CHEAP, MASS-PRODUCED FOOD, SACRIFICING QUALITY FOR QUANTITY AT THE EXPENSE OF OUR HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT.” – IRVING FAIN

Fain explained how some of the most effective benefits the world could gain from increasing urban and vertical farming are environmental. Bowery Farms uses “95% less water” and is “100x+ more productive on the same footprint of land”, allowing them to produce food that’s better for us and our environment.

Bowery is only one of the many high-tech urban farm start-ups that have emerged in recent years. However, it promises to be leading the charge towards an increasingly environmentally conscious, and prosperous society.

Right now the company is focused on their first farm in New Jersey, whilst starting to plan for their next one. However, when asked about the next steps in the future in regards to Bowery Farm expansion, Fain stated how they plan to continue to build additional farms to scale their operations, but not at the expense of quality of produce.

“It’s important that our farms be located close to the point of consumption in order to deliver produce at the height of freshness and flavor, and we hope to serve more cities throughout the country and ultimately the globe.”

Irving Fain, CEO & CO-FOunder of Bowery Farms

View fullsize

Bowery Butterhead and lettuce growing in a hydroponic system.

Arizona Farmer Expands Sales Opportunities With ZipGrow Towers

Arizona Farmer Expands Sales Opportunities With ZipGrow Towers

Posted by Eve Newman on March 30, 2017

‘Growing Hydroponically Just Makes Sense’

The tri-cities area that includes Prescott, Prescott Valley and Chino Valley, Arizona — like many places in the country— has a population that’s becoming ever more careful about where food comes from.

Patrick Wilcox, who owns Prescott’s Natural Wonders Farm, is hoping to be on the front end of that popular trend by selling hydroponic, locally grown produce at area farmers’ markets and to area restaurants.

“Everybody is getting more and more conscious of the food they’re eating and where it’s coming from, and they’re demanding more local produce,” Wilcox said.

Wilcox decided to join the small-farm movement as a way to piggyback on an existing vermiculture business, which he runs in conjunction with a landscaping company. “It was an easy entry,” he said.

He first began producing and using compost made from worm castings, also known as vermiculture, in his landscaping business. Then he started selling this compost at area farmers’ markets.

Worm castings are the nutrient-dense fertilizer created by earthworms as they move through the dirt. In other words, worm poo. While selling the worm castings, Wilcox noticed that many customers visited the farmers’ market with an eye for vegetables, not worm poo, and he wanted to capture that market as well.

He knew from the start that if he were to make a serious business out of farming, he couldn’t do it in the local soil. At 5,000 feet in elevation, with about 17 inches of rain a year, Prescott isn’t ideally situated for farming. “Unless you’re on a well — and you’ve got a very good well — it’s just not cost-practical to do it in the ground,” he said.

That’s when he found Bright Agrotech’s ZipGrow Towers. Over the last 18 months, he’s been learning everything he can about greenhouse farming and hydroponic growing, with current crops including lettuce, Swiss chard, kale, cilantro and other cool-season greens.

Wilcox is making a gradual, deliberate move into the farming world as he grows Natural Wonders Farm. He’s using 50 ZipGrow Towers now and estimates his greenhouse has room for a total of 150.

Over the next year, Wilcox is planning to add another 50 Towers while still running his landscaping business, expanding the vermiculture operation and becoming an expert in growing top-quality produce. In the meantime, he also wants to hone his sales skills, an area he said isn’t a strength but will be necessary as he grows.

Next steps include creating a brochure to advertise Natural Wonders Farm and meeting more chefs and restaurant owners. Wilcox sees sales to those entities as an avenue of potential growth and a way to carve a niche among other local farmers.

“I feel like going into the restaurants and later possibly into grocery stores will be the market I’m looking for,” he said.

He’s also working with one intern already and would like to add another couple interns to the Natural Wonders team.

Wilcox is hoping to maximize production on the acre of land he owns by growing outdoors as well as in the greenhouse. But even with a 10,000-gallon tank to capture rainwater, Prescott’s dry climate will always be a challenge for in-ground farming, and thus ZipGrow Towers will always be part of the equation.

“Growing hydroponically just makes sense,” he said. The same dry, sunny climate that makes farming a challenge also draws retirees from around the country. They’re bringing with them a demand for locally grown food, and Natural Wonders Farm is positioning itself to meet that demand.

Bring Back South Central Farm

Bring Back South Central Farm

South Central Farm Restoration Committee Los Angeles, CA

Once the largest urban farm in the United States, spanning 14 acres and feeding 350 families in the midst of an industrial and residential landscape, the South Central Farm was an oasis flourishing from 1992 - 2006.

Our Mission:
Farmers and supporters have formed the South Central Farm Restoration Committee with the intention to #BuyBackTheFarm. Our goal is to secure the farm and protect one of the last and largest remaining undeveloped parcels of land in LA County. With a land trust in place the farm would be a permanent jewel for the city of LA’s sustainability and green endeavors.

Current Landowner:
Today the land is owned by the PIMA Alameda Partners, LLC, a clothing conglomerate (Poetry, Impact Mfg., Miss Me, Active Basic USA) – with plans to develop the parcel into a retail manufacturing and warehouse facility. With literally hundreds of comparable sites in the LA metro area to choose from, selling the parcel back to the South Central Community will allow for PIMA to be part of the solution for a greener Los Angeles.

The South Central Farm is securing pledges with partners who are ready to step up with funding if PIMA becomes a willing seller.

How to Help: 
In addition to signing the petition, join the conversation online through following @BringBackSCFarm on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. You may also send a Letter of Support to the to the City Council. In the coming weeks we will share community events and powerful opportunities to lend your valuable support. You can email the campaign directly: BringBackSCFarm@gmail.com

The South Central Farmers have continued their mission and currently sell organic produce at 10 Farmers Markets throughout Los Angeles, as well as drop-off CSA boxes in over 15 locations (which we encourage you to visit).

Widespread Support:
Response to the initial phase of the campaign has been strong with widespread support from respected leaders and celebrity advocates like: Daryl Hannah, Scottie Thompson, Shailene Woodley, Nicole Richie, Ian Somerhalder, Van Jones, Moby, and others.

Closing: 
Restoring the farm to it's original location will help grow community involvement and cultural celebration through its programs and park facilities. It will provide more oxygen and less pollution as well as lower greenhouse gasses in one of the dirtiest air corridors in all of Los Angeles, and it will grow the idea in people’s hearts and minds that if you work hard enough for something it will bloom.

This petition will be delivered to:

• Miss Me (Sweet People Apparel Inc.)
  Young Cho

Food System Leaders Gather In Brooklyn To Benefit Change Food

Food System Leaders Gather In Brooklyn To Benefit Change Food

Fifty-five attendees gathered for a mini-gala dinner on March 27 to raise money for Change Food, an organization which strives to create a healthy food system for all by developing programs, events, and resources for individuals and groups changing the food system from the ground up.

Lighthouse serves eggs, meat, poultry, and seafood from local, socially responsible, mostly organic farms and purveyors.

The benefit dinner was held at Lighthouse, a small restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, offering locally-sourced, seasonal dishes in an intimate setting. As the brainchild of Change Food’s Founder and Executive Director Diane Hatz, known to bring together great food minds, and Lighthouse’s Naama Tamir, an outspoken advocate for sustainability in New York’s restaurant scene, it featured a family-style meal custom-made by Chef Joey Scalabrino.

Attendees filled out a questionnaire prior to the event, which had thoughtfully assigned seating to promote meaningful connections and conversations surrounding different areas of the food system.

Food system leaders in attendance included Andrew Ive, Managing Director at Food-X; Viraj Puri, Co-Founder and CEO of Gotham Greens; Stephen Ritz, Founder of the Green Bronx Machine; and Robert Graham, MD, MPH, Co-Founder of FRESH Med NYC.

The dinner celebrated local producers in Brooklyn: microgreens courtesy of Edenworks’aquaponics operation; organic produce from Local Roots NYC; Sea to Table‘s small-scale sustainable wild shellfish; pesticide-free lettuce cultivated by Gotham Greens; and Sweet Loren’s all-natural cookies to finish. Beer was provided compliments of Brooklyn’s own Strong Rope Brewery.

The event also featured a corresponding online auction of items ranging from a one-hour consultation with Food+Tech Connect Founder Danielle Gould to a beer-making kit from Brooklyn Brew House. All proceeds benefited Change Food as the nonprofit strives to create a healthy food system for all.

From 2011 to 2015, Diane Hatz’s TEDxManhattan series, “Changing the Way We Eat,” brought together thought leaders in the food system. Click here to view Change Food’s free video library, consisting of short-length videos covering both problems and solutions to food and farming today.

City Bitty Farm Has Big Plans For Microgreens

City Bitty Farm Has Big Plans For Microgreens

By Pete Dulin

 - March 29th, 2017 at 9:00 AM

Greg Garbos of City Bitty Farm walks among tiny crops that will be harvested soon in the midst of winter in southeast Kansas City, Missouri.

Standing approximately one to two inches tall, arugula, sugar pea, mizuna, red cabbage, red stem radish, mustard, celery, and cilantro are just a few of the microgreens grown and harvested twice weekly in the farm’s custom-built greenhouse.

Microgreens are whole plants that germinate from seeds and form two seed leaves (cotyledons), which are followed by the true leaves that begin to look more like the mature plant. In later stages of growth, as the true leaves become larger, microgreens are considered a different culinary product. Baby leaf greens typically sold in grocery stores are larger than the specialty products sold by City Bitty Farm.

“As a microgreen grower, we totally focus on quality products for chefs and people focused on hyper-nutrition,” said Garbos, referring to the farm’s client base.

Chef Ted Habiger, owner of Room 39, was the first restaurant to order from City Bitty Farm. It took three years before the microgreen farm landed an account that generated a steady source of income. Over the years, Chefs Brandon Winn of The Webster House, Michael Foust of The Farmhouse, Jonathan Justus of Justus Drugstore, and Colby Garrelts of Rye and Bluestem have also been customers. Chefs use these delicate greens to add flavor and color accents to prepared dishes.

A Big Idea Starts Small

Greg and his wife Jen, an engineer at Hallmark, launched City Bitty Farm in 2010 behind their home on a section of their two-acre property in south Kansas City.

Garbos is also an engineer by trade. He previously worked at Ford Motor Company and a firm in the energy sector, gaining a wealth of expertise in advanced engineering, hybrid fuel technologies, and data management systems. Garbos, a LEED-accredited professional, possess a deep knowledge of renewable energy solutions, how to make buildings energy-efficient, and winter food production.

Strikingly, Garbos had no prior agricultural experience before City Bitty Farm. Years ago, he designed a custom microgreen greenhouse for Eric Franks, a Pennsylvania microgreen farmer. In turn, Franks taught Garbos about this farming niche.

With City Bitty Farm, Garbos sought to reinvent the business model for farming. Rather than a large-scale farm, farmers market, or community-supported agriculture (CSA) model, Garbos devised an urban farm as a high-yield, energy-efficient operation with a small physical footprint.

“I have an engineer’s mindset,” said Garbos, who custom-built each aspect of the greenhouse.

City Bitty sows seeds, harvests microgreens, and makes deliveries 104 times annually. Table surface area in the greenhouse is designed to fit an ideal arrangement of trays. Below, layers of racks serve as insulated germination chambers where seeds pop and grow. When the seedlings reach the desired growth stage, seed trays are rotated to table tops. Growth continues on this “prime real estate” until the microgreens are harvested. Watering hoses and trolley carts are suspended on rails and slide along the length of the greenhouse, saving time while maximizing reach and efficiency.

“My wife and I own the farm but work full-time in professions off the farm,” said Garbos. “I needed staff [so] I am not on site every day. I needed to scale farm operations to make it profitable.”

A small team handles microgreen growing, harvesting, delivery, and client relationships. Garbos sees a parallel connection between the microgreen grower and restaurant cook as well as the farm and restaurant industries.

“Both farms and restaurants have easy entry into the field. You can work your way up,” said Garbos. “Our business model is tied to their business model. Both businesses rely on deliverables with a relentless schedule and heavy seasonality. They don’t stop for holidays so we don’t stop. They keep tables flipping year-round. We do the same thing with our trays in the greenhouse.”

Seasonal production and cash flow at large-scale crop farms tends to dip in winter. “It’s the same with farmers market and the CSA farm model,” said Garbos. “It’s hard to retain clients and employees when you only farm seasonally.”

City Bitty Farm’s ongoing demand and supply cycle enables it to forge through “the backside of the calendar,” and generate year-round cash flow.

“We try to have chefs not think of us as just ‘their microgreen grower,’” said Garbos. “We are a greenhouse extension of their restaurant. We grow to order. It’s intentional. We do this to support restaurants.”

Starting Life in Soil Versus Water

Garbos draws a clear distinction between his microgreens grown in certified organic compost and the majority of those grown across the nation using hydroponic methods.

“Our microgreens have more nutrition density and better appearance and flavor than those grown hydroponically,” noted Garbos.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service led a study of key nutrients in 25 varieties of vegetable microgreens. The study was published in 2012 in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The results show that red cabbage microgreens had 40 times more vitamin E and six times more vitamin C than mature red cabbage. Cilantro microgreens had three times more beta-carotene than mature cilantro. Overall, microgreens have nutrient concentrations that are four- to 40-fold stronger than their mature counterparts, according to researcher Qin Wang, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Maryland in College Park.

City Bitty’s growers also pay close attention to the appearance of their microgreens.

“We harvest microgreens daily at the specific size,” said Garbos. “We are professional germinators. We start millions of plants each year.”

Growers watch the heighth of microgreen stalks so they don’t “get too leggy” in ratio to the leaves. Also, a day’s growth may entirely change the shape of leaves of kale frills, for example, that don’t fit established aesthetic standards that chefs expect. Microgreen leaves sell at a high price point. Allowed to grow slightly larger, these greens fall into a different product category at a different price.

As engineers and farm designers, Greg and Jen Garbos launched City Bitty Farm so they could better understand and service farms across the country.

When asked why he started his farm, Garbos replied, “My vision for a more resilient food system involves a dramatic increase in small-scale, year-round food production. We launched City Bitty Farm for chefs, and customers, who eat year round.”

— Pete Dulin writes about food trends for Flatland and is the author of the “KC Ale Trail.” Follow @FlatlandKC and #TapList on Twitter for more food news and trends.

City Bitty Farm grows an abundance of microgreens.

A look inside the greenhouse at City Bitty Farm. (Pete Dulin I Flatland)

Federal Realty Bringing Hydroponic Shipping Containers To A Shopping Center Near You

Federal Realty Bringing Hydroponic Shipping Containers To A Shopping Center Near You

Mar 29, 2017, 7:45am EDT

Updated Mar 29, 2017, 8:27am EDT

Michael Neibauer: Associate Editor Washington Business Journal

If shipping containers can be reused as housing, why not retrofit them for farms, too?

Rockville-based Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT) has struck up a partnership with a Boston-based company to bring farms contained in retrofitted shipping containers to select shopping centers across the United States.

VIEW SLIDESHOW

The partnership with Freight Farms, according to a release, "empowers anyone to use this technology while repurposing Federal Realty's unused parking spaces as a place to locally and sustainably produce food that benefits the shopping centers' tenants, customers and community."

Freight Farms produces what it calls the "Leafy Green Machine," a "complete hydroponic growing system capable of producing a variety of lettuces, herbs and hearty greens." The 40 x 8 x 9.5 shipping containers, weighing 7.5 tons each, include climate technology and growing equipment — LED light strips, closed-loop water system, multi-planed airflow — to ensure a regular harvest, Freight Farms claims.

The Leafy Green Machine costs $85,000, plus an estimated $13,000 a year to operate. The containers consume about 100 kWh of energy per day. With that, plus water, Freight Farms says a farmer can harvest, for example, more than 500 full-size heads of lettuce per week.

"Finding the right location is a major hurdle for most new farmers," Caroline Katsiroubas, Freight Farms' marketing director, said in the release. "By partnering up with Federal Realty, we are eliminating a large barrier to entry for individuals looking to grow fresh produce for their local communities."

Federal Realty will offer parking spaces for rent to freight farmers, providing, perhaps, opportunities to partner with restaurants and grocery stores.

It is unclear whether any Greater Washington shopping centers will be selected initially for the shipping container rollout, expected this spring, though the program is expected to be expanded eventually nationwide. Federal Realty representatives were not immediately available for comment.

Federal Realty's properties in Greater Washington include Pike & Rose, Bethesda Row, Rockville's Courthouse Center and Federal Plaza, Free State Shopping Center in Bowie, Gaithersburg Square, Friendship Center in Friendship Heights and Sam's Park & Shop in Cleveland Park, and Graham Park Plaza and Barcroft Plaza in Falls Church.

Michael Neibauer oversees our real estate coverage and edits stories for the website and print edition.

Lindsey Shute, National Young Farmers Coalition: "We need empathy"

Lindsey Shute, National Young Farmers Coalition: "We need empathy"

Lindsey Lusher Shute, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC), is speaking at the inaugural Boston Food Tank Summit, “Investing in Discovery,” which will be held in collaboration with Tufts University and Oxfam America on April 1, 2017.

With a background in organizing and state policy, Lindsey co-founded NYFC as a platform for young, progressive farmers to have a meaningful influence on the structural obstacles in the way of their success. Lindsey is a respected speaker and an expert on the structural issues facing family farms. In 2014, she was named a “Champion of Change” by the White House. In addition to her work with NYFC, Lindsey is co-owner of Hearty Roots Community Farm in Tivoli, New York.

Food Tank had a chance to speak with Lindsey about her background and inspiration, as well as the opportunity for talented and ambitious young farmers to inspire food system change.

Lindsey Lusher Shute is speaking at the inaugural Boston Food Tank Summit.

Food Tank (FT): What originally inspired you to get involved in your work?

Lindsey Shute (LS): I started organizing with young farmers because of the challenges that my husband Ben and I faced in growing our own farm. As we met more and more farmers who were facing similar struggles across the nation, I realized that we lacked a political voice. There were too many young people with the ambition and will to farm, but without a way to get there. 

FT: What makes you continue to want to be involved in this kind of work?

LS: I have a constant source of inspiration and motivation in the people that I work to represent: young farmers. These farmers are out to change the country by growing great food, taking care of the soils and water that they depend on, and daring to compete as small farmers in a highly consolidated food system. The risk that these farmers take on behalf of their communities keeps me going. I want them to succeed, and I know what they’re up against. 

I’m also encouraged by our bi-partisan traction and success at cutting through partisan divides. Just a few weeks ago, Rep. Glen Thompson (R-PA) and Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) reintroduced the Young Farmer Success Act (H.R. 1060) to add farmers to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. These co-sponsors were joined by two additional Republicans and two additional Democrats. These actions demonstrate how farming can be unifying—and a way to overcome national divisions in favor of help for ordinary people.

FT: Who inspired you as a kid?

LS: My two grandfathers were rural ministers and World War II chaplains. As a child, they served as beacons of service, faith, and devotion to community that I can only hope to achieve. When I would attend my family’s church in southeast Ohio as a child, the day would be filled with stories from church members about how my grandfather made a difference in their lives. One particular story that stuck with me is about a neighbor boy who repeatedly robbed my grandfather’s farmhouse. Over the course of months, electronics went missing and eventually my grandfather’s gun. After the kid went to jail on other counts, my grandfather repeatedly visited him and expressed his forgiveness and hope for the kid’s future. 

FT: What do you see as the biggest opportunity to fix the food system?

LS: The biggest opportunity lies in the talent and ambition of young farmers. If they’re given a real chance of success—land to own, sufficient capital, healthcare, and appropriate technical support—they will thrive and change the food system through their entrepreneurship. The candidate for Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Purdue, can leverage this new talent by directing the USDA to stand by young people in agriculture.

FT: Can you share a story about a food hero who inspired you?

LS: Leah Penniman is one of my food heroes. Last spring I gave a short, public talk about why we have lost so many farmers in the United States and I failed to speak to the effects of racism. Leah, in the audience at the time, rightly let our team know that my narrative was incomplete. Her willingness to speak up in that moment and to continue dialogue with our team led to the development of a racial equity program at NYFC—as well as more farmers of color identifying with and joining the coalition. Leah helped me in that moment and I am deeply grateful for her strong voice and leadership.

FT: What’s the most pressing issue in food and agriculture that you’d like to see solved?

LS: With the massive cuts proposed at USDA, healthcare access for farmers on the brink of collapse, and immigration enforcement threatening the farm workforce, it’s hard to ignore the myriad of rural issues created by the Trump Administration. But outside of these immediate policy crises, the nation must address the issue of affordable land access for farmers. In the next 20 years, two-thirds of the farmland in the United States will change hands as our aging farm population retires. How that land transitions will set the stage for the future of our food system. If we provide access for working class, small farmers, we will promote economic vitality, national security, and sustainability. 

FT: What is one small change every person can make in their daily lives to make a big difference?

LS: Practice empathy. In so many of the political discussions that I’ve been hearing recently, there has been so much antipathy for people facing struggle. We critique immigrants who, like most of us, came here for good work and opportunity. We call out folks who couldn’t afford healthcare before the Affordable Healthcare Act, and we undermine government programs that stoke innovation in areas of the country where mobility and economic agency have grown dim. I believe we need smart government programs that leverage best practices in technology and management, but I also want a government that stands by the principles of empathy and compassion for our neighbors. To get there, we need empathy. And to practice empathy, we probably need to drop our phones and make time for conversation with people outside our immediate circles. 

FT: What advice can you give to President Trump and the U.S. Congress on food and agriculture? 

LS: Agriculture is the wealth of the nation, and a large part of our national security. Although so few Americans are now farming, these farmers have an outsized impact on the nation’s health and prosperity. We need to invest in their futures and ensure that we are supporting smaller farms that minimize risk, make our economy more resilient, and keep dollars in rural communities.

Lindsey Lusher Shute is speaking at the inaugural Boston Food Tank Summit.

South Jersey Startup Alfrea Has Platform to Match People to Land They Can Farm

South Jersey Startup Alfrea Has Platform to Match People to Land They Can Farm

By Esther Surden, March 7, 2017, 10 p.m.

And to match farmers and gardeners to people who want to work their land

Alfrea, a Galloway-based startup, has developed a platform to help individuals move towards growing and consuming local, sustainable food.

According to founder David Wagstaff, the idea for Alfrea came from his family. “My father is 92 and my mother is 86, and they own a farm and live in a house near it. I live in New Jersey and they live in Maryland. As time went on, they needed more help managing and working the farm. I needed to hire more people to help. Over the years, we put signs on the road and used Craigslist. Neither of those methods seemed like the right way to match people to land to me.”

Also, Wagstaff was thinking about his own health and longevity. While he has good genes, with grandparents living past 100, he wanted to make those years quality years. “Food is really the cornerstone for quality longevity,” he said. “It really made some sense to create an application that makes it easier for people to connect with the land, makes it easier for people to find farm and garden help and services, and easier for people to eat well.”

Additionally, Wagstaff and his father both had another problem this platform could fix. They both wanted to grow a vegetable garden near their homes, for their own use. Wagstaff wondered how he could get people to keep up the garden while he went on vacation. “It wasn’t easy to find someone. There are landscapers, but they aren’t necessarily the right avenue to take, especially if you want to grow sustainable foods.”

So Alfrea was born.

Wagstaff began ideating the startup in August 2015, and launched a minimal viable product (MVP) 10 months later. “Simply put, we connect supply with demand,” much like Airbnb, he said. The first task Alfrea took on was to connect people with their neighbors for the purpose of farming or growing food. For now, the startup is focusing on New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Wagstaff is working with two additional full-time employees, Lindsey Ricker, customer engagement manager, and John Dynak, who is called “chief everything else officer.”

The MVP was developed as a hybrid open-source platform with some custom development. The startup used offshore developers to achieve its goal. Wagstaff noted that the MVP is fully functional: People can go onto the website and find land or services. And they can use their credit cards, so they don’t have to give cash to anyone. There is a geographic search capability and a way for customers to rate their experiences.

“We are on track to get 7,000 subscribers by the end of the year,” Wagstaff said. He added that the MVP, while not fully featured, is highly scalable, so it wouldn’t be a problem if 100,000 subscribers signed up.

Wagstaff is excited about the social impact his startup could have as it continues to grow. “One of the things I find exciting about Alfrea is that, not only does it have the potential to be a big, scalable business, it has the potential to have a big impact.”

For example, he said, it is a very cost-effective solution to give people who don’t have access to locally grown food access to the platform.  He cited Camden as an example, which is a “food desert,” with no supermarket. “If we had one person once a week in Camden to provide food delivery, it will provide employment for them and access to food for the community,” Wagstaff said.

Also, locally grown food cuts back significantly on carbon emissions, as trucks are no longer driving long distances to deliver food to a community. “Industrial agriculture is one of the problems leading to climate change,” said Wagstaff. “When people grow sustainably and locally, there is the potential to put carbon back in the ground.”

While Alfrea is aimed at individuals, one of the ways the company is going to market itself is to encourage apartment complex managers to offer the sustainable-food-matching service as a perk to folks who live in their communities. “There are over 56 million people living in apartments, and some of those would like to grow their own food, but they don’t have a space to do it. So we can connect them with a community plot or a farm nearby,” Wagstaff said.

Wagstaff is also going after the health and wellness market, attempting have the platform adopted as part of the healthier-eating services offered by company health plans.

Alfrea offers its platform on a freemium basis to buyers. “If you are looking for someone to work in your garden, you don’t have to pay for that. However, the person who is earning income thorough the services Alfrea provides, whether land, services or food, pays a nominal monthly fee.” Right now the fee is $4.50 for individuals and $15 for business customers, although the fees have been temporarily waived to build up the customer base. The startup also charges transaction-processing fees, as well as fees for marketing. And it’s considering exclusive advertising deals as well.

Wagstaff says that the overall market for his platform is large. “Some 42 million Americans are growing some part of their food supply today. I’ve seen studies that say that as many as 82 percent of Americans would like to grow their own food if they had that option.” Those folks are grocery store shoppers, he said. But the problem with grocery stores is that they are hit or miss. Sometimes they have local sustainable food and other times they don’t. Also, they may define “local” a bit more liberally than most foodies would, he said.

The startup isn’t alone trying to help individuals grow their own food. Shared Earth (Fairfield, Conn.) and Urban Garden Share (Seattle, Wash.) focus on people sharing their backyards, Wagstaff said. On the services side, there are a million landscapers; and on the land side, a million farmers. They can be seen as competitors, said Wagstaff, but also as folks who could use Alfrea’s platform.

David Wagstaff, founder of Alfrea   | Courtesy Alfrea

A farm stand, | Courtesy Alfrea

Affinor Growers Signs an "On-Farm Test Agreement" with California Berry Company

Affinor Growers Signs an "On-Farm Test Agreement" with California Berry Company

Vancouver (Canada), March 28, 2017 - Affinor Growers Inc. (CSE:AFI, OTC:RSSFF, Frankfurt:1AF) (“Affinor” or the “Corporation), is pleased to announce the signing of a research and development Test Agreement with a large strawberry production company headquartered in California, USA.

The Test Agreement is a collaboration of Affinor’s vertical farming tower technology, proprietary strawberry seedlings from California, and the new greenhouse facility in Abbotsford, B.C. currently under construction by Vertical Designs Ltd. Under the terms of the agreement, specific strains of strawberry seedlings will be supplied for testing to optimize production within the unique environment created by Affinor's greenhouse tower technology. In return, Affinor will share the testing and production results, and collect a portion of revenue from berry sales to the local market.

Strawberries will be produced within a technically advanced light-diffused polycarbonate greenhouse. Vertical Designs Ltd. will operate the facility to grow and test the various strawberry strains in partnership with Affinor. It is anticipated the facility will be operational and planting will begin in late 2017. Affinor is working directly with the Californian strawberry producer over the next several months sharing information and collaborating on growing protocols to ensure the best varieties for vertical applications are identified.

Jarrett Malnarick, President and CEO said that“This is a great opportunity for Affinor to work with a company that has a long history in strawberry development and can offer strain specific seedlings to optimize production for our vertical farming equipment. It is one more step in bringing our technology to market with solid production testing data."

For More Information, please contact:

Jarrett Malnarick, President and CEO
604.837.8688
jarrett@affinorgrowers.com

About Affinor Growers Inc.

Affinor Growers is a publicly traded company on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol ("AFI"). Affinor is focused on growing high quality crops such as romaine lettuce, spinach and strawberries using its vertical farming techniques. Affinor is committed to becoming a pre-eminent supplier and grower, using exclusive vertical farming techniques.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

AFFINOR GROWERS INC.

"Jarrett Malnarick"

President & CEO

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION

This News Release contains forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this News Release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including various risk factors discussed in the Company's disclosure documents which can be found under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. This News Release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

A Conversation With Food Tank’s Danielle Nierenberg

A Conversation With Food Tank’s Danielle Nierenberg

By Brian Barth on March 28, 2017

anielle Nierenberg’s experience with agriculture goes all the way back to her roots in the rural Midwest. Though she admits that back then, “I didn’t want to have anything to do with farming.” To say that she has now changed her tune would be an understatement.

The feisty founder of Food Tank—as the name implies, it’s a think tank for the food system—always seems to be in three places at once, whether holding court in a farmer’s field, penning op-eds for major newspapers, or onstage, microphone in hand, smiling at a group of esteemed panelists assembled to discuss some obscure but important topic like the agroforestry systems of Afghanistan, while grilling them about their assumptions and the scientific validity of their work. (Full disclosure: Nierenberg is on the Modern Farmer Advisory Board, too.)

Food Tank is most widely know for its “food summits,” which occur sporadically throughout the year in different cities around the globe (the next one is April 1-2 in Boston). You could describe the summits as sort of a food-centric version of Ted Talks, but Nierenberg makes it clear that these aren’t just feel good preaching-to-the-crowd conventions. They’re about bringing food system players together who might not normally talk to each other—who might hate each other guts—and drawing them into a meaningful public debate on the most pressing issues of the day. No Power Points slideshows here, she says: “We don’t want to allow people to just give their usual spiel that they would give at any sort of industry event or sustainable agriculture conference. Sometimes it’s important to have an uncomfortable conversation, and allow for unusual collaborations to develop.”

I don’t like to romanticize farming; but we’re hoping to make sure that young farmers know that they are not alone,

This month, the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture released Letters to a Young Farmer, a collection of essays by 36 leading thinkers in the food world which addresses a certain white elephant: the average age of American farmers is 58.3. Thus there are now more farmers over the age of 75 than between the ages of 35 and 44, which says something about the appeal of the profession in contemporary society. Nierenberg, who contributed an essay to the anthology (along with the likes of Barbara Kingsolver and Michael Pollan), recently sat down with Modern Farmer to share her thoughts on this, and other, essential subjects facing the future of our food system.

Modern Farmer: What was on your mind when you sat down to write your essay for Letters to a Young Farmer?

Danielle Nierenberg: My letter talks about being someone who grew up in a rural Midwest environment and didn’t want to have anything to do with farmers. I thought what they were doing was stupid and I didn’t get it. But in my own personal evolution I’ve learned so much from farmers, as a Peace Corps volunteer when I was younger and later in my career with Food Tank and other organizations. I’ve been able to spend time on farms both in the United States and around the world and get a sense of the important work that farmers are doing every day.

I don’t like to romanticize farming; but what the book is hoping to do is make sure that young farmers know that they are not alone, that there is a growing movement that wants to support them. I thought about what would I want to hear if I was a 22-year-old fresh out of college and embarking on a life as a new farmer. We’re seeing so many people giving up lucrative jobs and turning to farming because they think it’s important.

We’ve forgotten that farming is super knowledge-intensive, or at least it should be.

MF: Do you think the agriculture world is making progress in attracting new farmers?

DN: We are certainly seeing a surge in organic operations, but you don’t see a lot of the folks that I grew up with in the nineties in the Midwest who stayed on the farm. Most didn’t want to. So I think we have a long way to go, especially now with the Trump administration. We made some headway over the last eight years with USDA programs to encourage young farmers, including mentoring programs that link younger farmers with older experienced ones. I fear that a lot of that will disappear and young farmers won’t get the resources and support that they need.

MF: Riding a tractor all day by yourself through a field of corn and soybeans isn’t an appealing job description for a lot of people. Is part of the problem that farming is not sexy enough as an occupation to draw the millennial crowd?

DN: I don’t want to demonize the folks who are operating those large commodity farms, because they have a lot of valuable knowledge and skills. Despite the stereotypes a lot of those folks are actually using very advanced technology to grow crops more efficiently and I don’t want to undermine that in any way. I encourage the integration of high tech with traditional techniques—combining GPS and drones and crop data on your cell phone and all this other cool stuff that’s happening in modern agriculture with cover crops and green manure and native species. I think there is a real opportunity for farmers of all sizes to make farming intellectually stimulating and exciting. We’ve forgotten that farming is super knowledge-intensive, or at least it should be.

MF: Sounds like agriculture has a branding problem.

DN: For folks out there who are looking for something that surprises them every day and invigorates them in a way that working on Wall Street or at a tech company doesn’t, I think they can find that in farming. We have this illusion that farmers are farmers because they are dumb, that they ended up on the farm because they didn’t go to college and don’t have any other opportunities. I think that perception is really changing, but it’s a slow road.

It’s an especially slow road in developing countries where often the government is telling you to get out of farming and move to the city, that they’re not going to support farmers. There is a lot of work to be done to change those perceptions and encourage investment in agriculture so that it’s attractive for young farmers all over the world. But I’m encouraged by what we have seen over just the last five years with Silicon Valley being more interested in investing in sustainable food systems—that will be hard for the new administration to ignore.

If you’re interested in what makes good business sense, what makes money, you can’t deny that having more organic, planet friendly, and plant-based products is a good idea. Those things have been successful because the demand is there. I don’t think it’s going to work to ignore that now and focus on what is essentially a 1980s philosophy for the food system. But unfortunately I don’t think this administration realizes that.

MF: Now that you’ve brought it up, what else worries you about Trump in regards to food and farming?

DN: I’m very apprehensive about what’s going to happen with the next farm bill. I think we are going to have to fight hard to maintain what we gained over the last eight years rather than trying for a lot of new things. The connection between immigration and farm labor is another thing where I think the new administration is totally behind the times. They don’t understand that without those folks, whether they are documented or undocumented, our food system would come to a grinding halt. The people who are growing, harvesting, preparing, and serving our food need to be better recognized for what they do. (Editor’s note: For more on immigration and farming, see “The High Cost of Cheap Labor” from our Spring 2017 issue.)

MF: Food Tank summits have been a fantastic forum for bringing all the stakeholders in the food system to the table, including farmworkers. Why is that important to you?

DN: Our mission is to highlight stories of hope and success in food and agriculture, both domestically and globally, and provide that inspiration to others who need it. I started Food Tank to give a different side to the story of food that was based on the work that I’d done interviewing hundreds and hundreds of farmers and other food system stakeholders around the world. I worked for an environmental organization for many years and it was very doom and gloom, always focusing on the problem. At Food Tank we also highlight where we think the system is broken, but what we really want to do, through the articles that we post every day online, through our newsletter and webinars and podcasts and research reports, is to give people examples of what is working.

Sometimes the things that are working are not getting a lot of government support or funding, so imagine what the world would look like if all those things got the support they needed to be really successful? We want to get those stories out there to a wider audience and show people what needs to be scaled up.

Without immigrants, whether they are documented or undocumented, our food system would come to a grinding halt. The people who are growing, harvesting, preparing, and serving our food need to be better recognized for what they do.

MF: You’re a bit notorious, if I may say so, for bringing people together who have strongly opposing views.

DN: We want to bring people together for the sake of good conversation, but sometimes it’s important to have an uncomfortable conversation, and allow for unusual collaborations to develop. We don’t want to allow people to just give their usual spiel that they would give at any sort of industry event or sustainable agriculture conference. We’ve brought together food labor and justice leaders on the same stage as scientists from Monsanto and Bayer and essentially forced them to talk to one another. It’s healthy to have to answer hard questions and sit next to people on stage or at lunch or in the audience who you never wanted to talk to.

I’ve been doing this for a while now and I’ve seen that preaching to the choir hasn’t gotten us anywhere. If we’re only talking to people whose viewpoints are similar to our own, we are never going to change things. That doesn’t mean I agree with Monsanto, and it doesn’t mean I agree every sustainable food advocate out there, but I do think we need to find where we can agree on things, acknowledge where we can’t, and then find ways to move forward.

We have a president who is not listening to anyone else and that’s not getting us anywhere, it’s just creating a lot of bitterness and anxiety. It’s the same in the food movement—if we want anything to change, we need to start listening to one another.

When we are talking about climate change, every story should include agriculture.

MF: In many ways Food Tank acts as a media organization, blanketing the airwaves with all these new ideas about food. What you think of mainstream media organizations and how they portray the food system?

DN: I feel they are still so behind the times. That’s not to say that The New York Times hasn’t done some amazing reporting over the years on different aspects of the food system—you can’t ignore a publication where both Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman have contributed so much amazing writing. But when we are talking about climate change, for example, every story should include agriculture. Every story about urban conflict should include agriculture. I still think there’s a tendency to not understand that the food system is not only involved in many of these issues, but it can also contain solutions, whether it’s to help alleviate a conflict, find ways to quell migration, or to better engage youth at school.

So I tend to be very disappointed with mainstream media. Anything about agriculture is usually buried below the fold of the front page or inside the newspaper because it’s something that not everyone is interested in—but they should be. Why the famine in sub-Saharan Africa is not on the front page every day, or the role of agriculture in climate change, not to mention its ability to help mitigate and reverse the effects of climate change, I do not know.

MF: You seem to keep at least one foot, and sometimes two, in the international realm of agriculture. What’s the message that you want US consumers to hear about agriculture in the developing world?

DN: Great question. It’s not just what I want consumers to know, it’s what I want other farmers to know. I feel like there has been a tendency for farmers in wealthier countries to think they have so much to teach farmers in other parts of the world, and that the transfer of knowledge and technology would naturally always come from the United States. In some cases that’s true; I think farmers here have a lot to share and that north-south collaboration is important. But what I am really invigorated by, and what I’ve actually seen a lot of, is that we have a lot to learn from farmers in the Global South. So I would love to see more of that south to north sharing of information.

We shouldn’t be ignoring farmers in the rest of the world just because they might be “less developed than we are.”

MF: What might that look like?

DN: Many farmers in developing nations have been dealing with certain things for a long time that are kind of new to American farmers, especially in terms of climate change. Like the wildfires that devastated livestock farmers in the Midwest over the last few weeks and the drought in California. Things like that are an everyday thing for many farmers in poor countries. Those farmers have learned to pivot and change their production practices quickly, though I grant that these farms are often a lot smaller than those in the United States.

There is also a lot to share around things like agroforestry, growing more indigenous and locally-adapted crops, and working with traditional livestock breeds. These are all things that could serve as important lessons for farmers in the United States and in other rich countries. We shouldn’t be ignoring farmers in the rest of the world just because they might be, quote-unquote, less developed than we are.

MF: In a similar vein, what do you think a conventional commodity crop farmer from the Midwest might have to teach a young aspiring organic farmer?

DN: I think many of these older farmers really understand the business of farming in a way that many upstart farmers do not. It’s easy to forget that farmers are businessmen, and businesses need business plans. Idealistic young people in every profession go in not knowing exactly what they’re doing financially. When I started Food Tank I didn’t have a clue about fundraising. Fortunately I had great help from my board to help me figure that out. Those are skills that we all need to learn, and hopefully we find great mentors along the way. But we also need a government that supports farmers in learning those essential skills.

Danielle Nierenberg speaking on a panel/photo by Stephan Röhl on Flickr

Why Yardfarm?

Why Yardfarm?

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America’s future depends on cultivating the next generation to be yardfarmers.

The global climate is changing fast. This will require a radical shift in America’s economy, either proactively to limit carbon emissions, or in response to disruptions in global trade, and in food and energy supplies caused by runaway climate change. In turn, the consumer economy that provides the majority of the country’s jobs will inevitably contract.

Young people are often the first pushed out of a shrinking economy (as can be seen in Spain and Greece, both with youth unemployment rates of over 50 percent). Even today in the U.S.—in a relatively strong economic position globally—unemployment for 20-29 year olds with a college degree is at 11 percent, with many more ‘underemployed.’ Economists from the University of British Columbia and York University found that “Having a B.A. is less about obtaining access to high-paying managerial and technology jobs and more about beating less-educated workers for the barista or clerical job.” About 60 percent of 20-29 year olds still rely on parents for money, and 20 percent have moved back in with them—typically a source of great shame in the individualist American culture.

Meanwhile, the fifth largest crop in America is the turf-grass lawn with 40 million acres under cultivation, just after corn, soy, hay and wheat. These lawns are significant emitters of carbon dioxide (thanks to lawn mowing), major users of water (including in drought-prone areas), and considerable polluters as they absorb three million tons of chemical fertilizers and 30,000 tons of pesticides each year.

But imagine turning this upside down. What if adult children could proudly move back in with their parents—filling underutilized housing stock, reviving multigenerational living, and converting the ecologically problematic lawns around the neighborhood into a major source of sustainable food, household security and community resilience?

While yardfarming isn’t easy, it can be highly productive. Just a quarter acre of yard can produce more than 2,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables and provide a six-fold return on every dollar invested. The Victory Garden movement during World War II reveals the potential of this type of small-scale farming mobilization, with 18-20 million Victory Gardens producing 40 percent of household vegetable needs by the war’s end.

Imagine if suburban, exurban and even small urban plots around the country were converted to yardfarms. This land could create new livelihoods, food security, community resilience, and more biodiverse lands that would absorb water runoff, attract local wildlife, and sequester carbon (in the form of richer soils). Moreover it would reduce demand for lawn chemicals, and over time reduce demand for industrial food and farming—in turn making it possible for those lands to be rewilded.

And perhaps best of all, it would start rebuilding the norm around multigenerational living. In 2013, average home size in the U.S. hit a new record of 2,598 square feet, with an average of just 2.54 people living in the average American household. Having young people move back in to family homes would rebuild family ties and increase family interdependence, shrink household living costs, and reduce housing impacts on the environment and demand for new housing, all of which is a far more resilient, more sustainable way to design households and communities in the disrupted future that’s on our doorstep.

Growing Greens In The Grid: The Future of Urban Agriculture

Growing Greens In The Grid: The Future of Urban Agriculture

Feil Hall Brooklyn Law School

205 State Street Brooklyn NY 11210, Brooklyn, New York 11201

Thursday, April 6
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.: Networking Reception with Panel Discussion to Follow

Before the reception and panel, you are invited to attend the Fourth Annual CUBE Innovators Competition from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

About the Panel Discussion
The Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship (CUBE) will host a panel and networking event to discuss the growth of the urban agriculture industry in the Brooklyn and greater New York City communities. Joined by the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President and members of the New York City Council, the panel will feature industry leaders and policy experts who will explore the technology and market forces driving innovation in urban agriculture, and chart a legislative path forward to expand existing policy, foster the creation of food growth opportunities in local communities, and nurture thriving new businesses.

Discussion topics will include the role played by attorneys in providing guidance to stakeholders in this pioneering market and the ways in which city officials and policymakers are addressing the economic and nutritional needs of local communities. The discussion will be bookended by CUBE Fellow Tatiana Pawlowski's ’17 presentation of her white paper “From Food Desserts to Just Deserts: Expanding Urban Agriculture In New York City Through Sustainable Policy.” Please join this conversation about the future of how urbanites will grow and source their food.

Moderated by John Rudikoff, CEO and Managing Director, CUBE

Sponsored by CUBE, Office of the Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams and Rafael L. Espinal Jr., Council Member for the 37th District

Location
Brooklyn Law School
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Urban Agriculture Shifts Tactics Under Trump

Urban Agriculture Shifts Tactics Under Trump

D.C. organizations who depend on urban agriculture to feed the food insecure will be impacted.

JENNY SPLITTER

 MAR 28, 2017 9 AM

Advocates for urban agriculture are nervous these days. President Donald Trump has said little about his agriculture policy plans, his Agriculture Secretary nominee Sonny Perdue is a longtime ally to traditional rural agribusiness interests, and Trump’s proposed budget slashes funding for many of the agencies upon which urban residents depend.

At a recent daylong summit on “The Future of Food Policy” hosted by Washington D.C.-based Food Tank, urban agriculture advocates expressed dismay over the current political climate, describing it as both chaotic and frightening. In the midst of this chaos, negotiations for the 2018 Farm Bill are already underway and supporters of urban agriculture are scrambling.

Kathleen Merrigan is a former U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary and longtime advocate for both organic and urban farming. Many observers say she’d be the Agriculture Secretary right now had Hillary Clinton won the election. Less than 100 days into Trump’s presidency, she sounds worried.

Executive Director of Sustainability at George Washington University, Merrigan, told the food policy summit audience she’d heard “the forces of darkness want to eliminate organic” from the Farm Bill entirely. Both organic and urban agriculture programs may be at risk for federal funding cuts, but Merrigan stands ready to defend the space urban agriculture has carved out for itself.

“Urban agriculture can’t feed the world—heck, it may not even be able to feed the block,” she quipped, but Merrigan insists the movement has more than earned its seat at the policy table. Urban farms matter, according to Merrigan, because they offer city dwellers a way to find a connection to the land and even their rural-dwelling, fellow Americans.

Historically, the Farm Bill has always brought together unlikely allies, so Merrigan is urging urban agriculture advocates to work with traditional rural agriculture groups. Considering the many cuts to rural programs that Trump is proposing, Merrigan’s suggestion makes a lot of sense. She made that plea while sharing the stage with Kip Tom, a rural farmer from Indiana and a Trump supporter, signaling, perhaps, that negotiations can happen anywhere.

While Merrigan opined about federal funding, Chris Bradshaw, Executive Director of the D.C.-based non-profit Dreaming Out Loud, honed in on urban agriculture programs in the District. Bradshaw also sits on the D.C. Food Policy Council. For Bradshaw, D.C.’s city farms grow food, yes, but they’re also a conduit for social justice, or at least that’s what Bradshaw feels they should be.

Bradshaw was one of the few to explicitly mention racial justice at the Food Tank summit and, as quoted in a recent piece over at Civil Eats about urban farms and gentrification, Bradshaw says that for urban farms to truly feed food insecure residents, and not just those who already have a wide array of fresh and local produce options, urban farmers have to take the time to build relationships within the communities they want to serve.

Dreaming Out Loud’s urban agriculture project Kelly Farms will cover an ambitious two acres in Ward 7, and that requires funding. Right now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides support for urban farming projects like Kelly Farms in a variety of ways, including grants, loans, and training programs, so if Congress were to follow Trump’s recommendations and cut many of these programs, how would that impact D.C.?

If federal grants and other funding support were cut, urban agriculture advocates may become increasingly reliant on city funding. Speaking later that day at the Food Tank summit, Councilwoman Mary Cheh explained that when past presidential administrations cut federal funding, city governments were the ones to step in and fill the gaps.

For now, Trump’s budget proposal is just a proposal, of course, but if these cuts are eventually enacted by Congress, Cheh says D.C. is indeed ready to make up the difference. Councilperson Cheh was the legislative driving force behind funding for school vegetable gardens, tax incentives for urban farms, and the D.C. Food Policy Council, so her track record for funding urban agriculture programs is well-established.

Of course, D.C.’s financial and political independence feel just a bit precarious these days, thanks to Trump and some recent maneuvering by politicians like Congressman Jason Chaffetz, but many of D.C.’s urban agriculture supporters say all they can do is use the funding they have today and make sure their local political support is lined up for tomorrow.

Case Study: Boston Urban Farm Retailing Ordinance

Case Study: Boston Urban Farm Retailing Ordinance

March 28, 2017

by Barry Greenfield

While urban farming was catching on in many cities, changes to a Boston ordinance — Article 89 — allowed urban farmers to sell direct.

BOSTON — Originally published June 4, 2014 — Boston officials passed legislation to accommodate a comprehensive transactional urban agriculture system to provide healthy, locally-sourced food in low-income neighborhoods. The law helps farmers grow and sell their produce within the city.

Goal
Boston residents had been pushing lawmakers to support urban farming legislation to increase accessibility of healthy produce to low-income neighborhoods. In response, the city passed Article 89 and the mayor signed it into law. Prior to the passing of Article 89, farmers were not permitted to sell the goods derived from city gardens. Likewise, local restaurants could not buy from farmers within city limits. The legislation expanded changes to the city’s zoning code that supported community gardens to also allow for urban farms.

Not only did Article 89 lift restrictions on growing and selling produce within Boston, but it also detailed all the steps farmers must take to properly build an urban farm and launch a local business in line with other city laws to avoid fines or penalties. It provides farmers the guidance they may need to translate growing practices into an urban environment, such as apartment building rooftops.

Furthermore, Boston officials identified city-owned pieces of land that would be suitable for farming as well as seeking out proposals from farmers interested in setting up a farm in the city. Farmers will be able to purchase up to 6,000 square feet plots of land for $100 to get their farms up and running, so long as the land is used for farming for the next 50 years.

Thus, Article 89 not only eliminated barriers to urban farming immediately, but set up requirements to ensure long-term sustainability of projects that address communities in need.

Urban Farms Sprouting
Many major cities have embraced urban farming initiatives, including Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City. In the Big Apple, Gotham Greens launched with the goal of enabling urban farmers and providing the community with organic, pesticide-free vegetables. The group leverages advanced technology to create a climate-controlled, greenhouse environment where produce can be grown year-round despite the New York City climate. Because their urban farms are not located on open rooftops victims to weather fluctuations, Gotham Greens produce is available year-round.

Gotham Greens has several locations throughout New York City. One 20,000 square foot space atop a Whole Foods in Brooklyn reportedly harvests 200 tons of organic produce annually. The facility utilizes hydroponic technology to provide plants with nutrients through a water supply, rather than soil. Through hydroponics, Gotham Greens is able to bypass the need for green space to support urban farming, instead focus on a water-efficient form of agriculture using recycled water to grow produce. Hydroponics offer a solution to problems plaguing farmlands across the country – such as drought and extreme temperatures – that are shrinking harvests and driving up fresh food costs.

City-Grown Goodness
EfficientGov has reported on a variety of urban farming initiatives, many of which start with simple adjustments to city zoning codes.

The Growing Trend of Vertical Farming

CBS NEWS

March 27, 2017, 11:46 AM

The Growing Trend of Vertical Farming

The world’s population will climb from around seven billion people to nearly 10 billion by 2050. That will make it even more challenging to feed everyone on the planet.

Companies like AeroFarms are rethinking how we grow fresh and affordable produce through vertical farming -- growing vegetables like kale, arugula and watercress indoors on shelves stacked seven levels high. When all is said and done, AeroFarms hopes to produce 1.7 million pounds of greens a year.

A 70,000-square foot facility, housed in a former Newark, N.J., steel plant, is AeroFarms CEO David Rosenberg’s green machine. It grows 130 times more produce than the average American field farm of the same size per year.

But to fully understand this large-scale operation, you’ve got to go back to its roots, where it all began seven years ago, inside Philip’s Academy Charter School.

AeroFarms’ prototype was planted in the school’s cafeteria as a teaching tool for students to learn the basics of biology, chemistry, and nutrition.

“I think growing food every day and seeing it, I understand and have a better taste for it, and understanding for it,” said student Susannah Love. “I appreciate it a lot more.”

The technology is called aeroponics, which grows plants on a re-usable fabric -- proprietary information.

But as Love explained it to CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller, this process needs no soil, no sunlight, and uses less water than conventional farming.

“We’re misting it from underneath, so the water comes up through the sheet and it hits the seedlings.”

Hits them with a nutrient-rich solution that allows the plant to take root. LED lights substitute for the sun.

Rosenberg says vertical farming offers higher yields with less land, less time, and no pesticides. They can farm indoors in any city, anywhere around the world: “From seed to harvest in 16 days, what otherwise takes 30 days in the field,” he told Miller. “And then we’re able to do that 22 times a year versus, in the field, three times a year, because of seasonality.”

Still, not everyone is sold.

“Early adopting is not necessarily bad,” said Cornell University researcher Kale Harbick. But he says his studies found indoor farms that rely solely on artificial light are not energy-efficient or sustainable.

“Just because it’s possible to grow inside a warehouse doesn’t mean it’s a good idea, doesn’t mean it’s cost effective,” said Harbick. “If you do the math, the energy costs just aren’t what they should be.”

Harbick warns these companies struggle once their seed money runs dry. Case in point: One Chicago-based company recently shut down its growing operations.

Rosenberg says AeroFarms LEDs that run 24/7 have been tweaked to save energy. He didn’t share just how much.

Investors believe in it. AeroFarms has raised more than $50 million from the likes of Goldman Sachs and Prudential, and received more than $9 million in state and local grants.

Miller asked, “Why would someone want to buy from you as opposed to a field farmer or a greenhouse farmer?”

“Here, we’re growing in the local community,” he replied. “That’s the supply chain difference. But it turns out that we’re able to compete on taste and texture.”

By adjusting the lights and nutrients, Rosenberg says they can also make their arugula more peppery, their kale a little sweeter.

Which for many of us, parents in particular, might be the biggest selling point of all, to get their kids to enjoy their greens.

AeroFarms’ product is available in area grocery stores and supermarkets for about $3.99 a package.

        
For more info:

• aerofarms.com
• Philip’s Academy Charter School, Newark
• Kale Harbick, Cornell University

Aerofarms' 70,000-square foot facility, a former Newark, N.J., steel plant, grows 130 times more produce than the average American field farm of the same size per year.

 CBS NEWS

Seedlings being grown by students at Philip's Academy Charter school. The students grow some of the greens for their cafeteria's salad bar.

 CBS NEWS

CEO David Rosenberg gives correspondent Michelle Miller a tour of Aerofarms' vertical farming facility.

 CBS NEWS

Innovator Uses Technology To Build Urban Micro-Farms

Innovator Uses Technology To Build Urban Micro-Farms

Former resident’s Cityblooms firm working on sustainable food solutions.

By Aleese Kopf - Daily News Staff Writer

Nick Halmos, the son of Palm Beach resident Vicki Halmos, recently received an Innovator of the Year Award for his company Cityblooms and its work for sustainable food solutions in Santa Cruz, Calif. Halmos is seen here at his mother’s home Thursday in Palm Beach.

(Michael Ares / Daily News)

Posted: 6:30 a.m. Monday, March 27, 2017

Nick Halmos, son of longtime Palm Beacher Vicki Halmos, recently was recognized for his work to fight food insecurity.

Halmos, 37, grew up on the island and attended Palm Beach Day Academy. He now lives in Santa Cruz, Calif., and is CEO and founder of Cityblooms, a company that uses technology to create controlled, micro-farms in urban environments.

Cityblooms farms grow in an enclosed environment with automated controls for temperature and water use. Farm management software keeps track of crop schedules and maintenance.

Last week, Halmos was named Innovator of the Year by Event Santa Cruz at its annual NEXTies awards show that honors individuals and businesses who inspire the Santa Cruz community.

Halmos, a graduate of Brown University with a law degree from Vanderbilt, was recently in town and shared what his company is about and why its work is important.

How did you become interested in farms and growing things?

I first became interested in urban agriculture in an entrepreneurship class (my undergraduate focus) at Brown. At that time (2001), global warming issues were finally getting mainstream attention. I became keenly interested in the business case for improving supply-chain inefficiencies in our food system by learning to grow food in the underutilized nooks and crannies of the urban environment. In other words, what would happen if we could bring the farm to the people and measure seed to fork in yards, rather than miles?

What was your first project?

After graduating from Brown, I stayed in Providence and started to collaborate with some of my friends who had just graduated from RISD [Rhode Island School of Design]. They were interested in urban renewal. I was interested in urban farming. So together we built the first “shipping container farm” by building a hydroponic system inside an old shipping container. We set up operations at an abandoned steel mill and that project ran for three years, growing basil for restaurants in the Italian district of Providence.

What was your first Cityblooms success story?

It must have been my proximity to major technology and agricultural centers (i.e. Silicon Valley and Salinas), but by 2011, I once again found myself keenly interested in the technology of growing food. I spun the Cityblooms effort back up inside a barn where we built almost 50 prototypes and filed four patents before we drew the attention of one of the large technology companies in the Bay Area (Plantronics) that was interested in hosting an installation to grow fresh produce for its campus eatery. This gave us the incredible opportunity to put some of our ideas into action and make a big push forward with our technology.

That first “food growing robot” has been remarkably successful and has produced over 100 different varieties of crops in the three years since our first harvest. It was not long before other organizations were contacting us about similar projects. Over the course of the last three years, we have been fortunate to work with companies as large as Apple and as small as our local community organizations. In the process, we have learned how to create intensive food-producing systems in a variety of underutilized urban settings such as parking lots, rooftops, and warehouses. We have also been fortunate to be able to deploy our technology in more traditional agricultural settings, such as the greenhouses of Central California.

Why are you passionate about this topic?

The Cityblooms team is passionate about contributing to the transformation of our food system. With a global population projected to reach 9 billion by 2050, global agricultural output must increase by 70 percent. As Nobel Prize winner Normal Borlaug pointed out, over the next 50 years we have to produce more food than we have in the past 10,000 years. Considering the impressive sustainability gains created by efficient and local food production, there will be the opportunity to grow certain classes of highly perishable crops in a much more decentralized, and community oriented, fashion than the status quo. This will not be the single silver bullet that solves this tremendous challenge, but it will be a part of the larger solution.

How can residents and businesses contribute to food sustainability?

There are many fruits and vegetables sold in Palm Beach stores that travel thousands of miles. This not only has a negative impact on the environment, but also food that travels long distances can be of inferior quality to locally sourced products. For example, many types of green vegetables can lose up to half of their beneficial nutrients after only a few days in packaging.

Palm Beach residents can help this transformation of our food system by supporting locally grown products. Consumers should embrace the seasonality of fresh produce items. Look at the packaging on your food, and pay attention to where it is from. Vote with your wallets and buy local. As the demand for local food products increases, local farms will spring up to meet that demand.

Toronto’s Urban Farming Residence Will Bridge the Gap Between Housing and Agriculture

Toronto’s Urban Farming Residence Will Bridge the Gap Between Housing and Agriculture

• 14:00 - 25 March, 2017
• by Osman Bari

 With the ever-expanding global population, cities around the world today are caught in the midst of mass urbanization; the resultant problems are the topic of much of the current architectural discourse. From these trends stems the challenges of providing adequate amounts of both housing and urban green space, and by extension, providing adequate food production. In order to address this divide, Toronto will soon be home to The Plant – a mixed-use community revolving around sustainable residential urban farming and social responsibility in the Queen Street West neighborhood.

“It might seem extreme, but we orientated this entire project around our connection to food,” says Curated Properties partner Gary Eisen, one of the developers involved in the project. “It’s our guiding principle and the result is a building that lives and breathes and offers a better quality of life to the people who will live and work here. The Plant is a community that fits with the foodie culture that has come to define Queen West.”

Developed by Curated Properties and Windmill Developments, both of which have ample experience with prior sustainable projects in the area, The Plant is to be a beacon for sustainability and “agri-tecture,” located at the former site of Dufflet Bakery, one of Toronto’s most innovative food production companies.

With retail outlets at street level and offices on the second floor, the intention is to appeal to businesses and tenants that share the project's ideals. Additionally, single- and two-story residences are available on upper floors, each with its own custom micro-garden beds to supply the residents with fresh herbs.

The shallow floor plates allow ample sunlight into the units, while spacious latticed terraces and balconies can accommodate furniture, plants, and a barbecue. Communal food-focused programs include an internal greenhouse as a nursery for plants and seeds, as well as an industrial kitchen for shared food production and hosting events.

“The choices we make as developers dictate the lifestyle available to the people that live in our buildings. Urban living used to mean choosing between being a cool neighborhood full of amenities or having enough land to cultivate a robust garden,” states Adam Ochshorn, also a partner at Curated Properties. “When you consider two-thirds of all humans will soon be city-dwellers, having to choose between an urban residence or the ability to comfortably grow your herbs and vegetables no longer makes sense.”

The 10-story building, which was designed by which was designed by KOHN SHNIER architects and SMW Architects, alongside interior designers +tongtong, is currently under construction. Its developers hope it will serve as an example of how Toronto’s local expertise and promotion of sustainable ideals can help push the city in the right direction, and address the key concerns of food production and urban living that architecture faces today.