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US: NEW YORK - What If Central Park Were Home To A Massive Urban Farm?
A corner of Central Park was once home to a thriving Black community. Amber Tamm wants to honor the legacy of that neighborhood with a farm to feed New York’s neediest
08-04-20
A corner of Central Park was once home to a thriving Black community. Amber Tamm wants to honor the legacy of that neighborhood with a farm to feed New York’s neediest.
In 1825, downtown New York City was growing crowded. Then, as now, racism made New York an uncomfortable place for Black Americans, so Andrew Williams, a Black shoeshiner, took an opportunity to move north, away from the hubub of lower Manhattan. For $125 he bought three parcels of land between what is now West 85th Street and 86th Street and where once there was just farmland. Shortly thereafter, a church bought up a plot with plans to create a cemetery for African Americans. Other Black Americans soon followed.
That was the beginning of a neighborhood called Seneca Village. Residents there, like Williams, were largely laborers. But land ownership provided an opportunity for upward mobility and Black landowners with property worth $250 or more could vote in elections. By 1850, there was a school, three churches, gardens, livestock, some 50 homes, and roughly 225 residents, the majority of whom were Black.
But the New York Williams had tried to escape was growing too: The city doubled in population between 1845 and 1855, and citizens began clamoring for green space to be set aside for recreation. Though several sites were up for consideration, including a tract of private land along the East River, the city decided on a large swath at the center of the island. Though the media of the time painted the region as a largely empty save for some poor squatters, Seneca Village fell right inside its bounds.
The 1868 plan for Central Park. [Image: Wiki Commons]
The city acquired the land through eminent domain, paying owners “just compensation,” (though letters from the time reveal that Seneca Village residents did not always feel the compensation was actually fair). Seneca Village was razed and subsumed into what is now Central Park. Amber Tamm, a farmer for a nearly six-acre New York rooftop farm called Brooklyn Grange, wants to give part of the park back to that history, by taking 14 acres of the 55-acre Great Lawn and turning it into a community farm that would feed under-resourced Manhattanites, many of whom are Black. It would also serve as an educational resource for teaching New Yorkers about urban farming. Tamm wants to call it Seneca Village Farm. “I think calling out Central Park is powerful because it’s the biggest park in New York City and it has the most flatland,” she says.
Tamm is hoping to reclaim Central Park’s narrative and make it a more inclusive one. Her vision is that one person would farm an acre each and people would apply for one of the 14 spots. Tamm envisions running a training program where she and a small team would teach people how to farm their acre with room for creative innovation. If there is someone interested in herbalism, Tamm says she would find a mentor to teach her how to grow herbs. “But also what does it look like for her to exercise creativity? Does she want to grow in rows? Does she want to grow in circles and spirals? Let her flesh out what her vision is and let her work through what it’s like to revitalize soil while also supporting community through what she yields,” says Tamm. Another example she gives: What would it look like to grow rice in New York City?
Tamm’s introduction to the existence of Seneca Village started young and was driven by her mother’s persistent interest in the village. In 1993, a book about Central Park, The Park and the People: A History of Central Park, spurred archeologists Nan Rothschild and Diana diZerega Wall, a professor at City College, to consider Seneca Village’s old plot as the site of an archeological dig. Seventeen years later, the city approved it. The excavation yielded a small glimpse into a place that captivated certain New Yorkers.
[Photo: Jermaine Ee/Unsplash]
“There would be these excavations where they were finding bones of our ancestors and my mother would always be moved to tears and be investigating how she can go see it, how she can go experience it on her own,” says Amber Tamm, a farmer for Brooklyn Grange, who grew up in East New York. She says her family has lived in Brooklyn for four generations. “Once Seneca Village became a thing and once they started to find the walls and the teapots, she was deeply invested in talking about it.“
The Seneca Village Farm idea was born out of COVID-19. In the early days, food was constrained. Tamm remembers going to the farmers’ market and seeing a bleak array of produce stalls. She and a friend who works on the rooftop garden at Cooper Union began a conversation about what it would look like for New York City to have food sovereignty or sustainable access to healthy, culturally appropriate food grown locally. What kind of food a person can access in New York City depends largely on where they live: Some neighborhoods have big grocery stores with expensive produce trucked in from all over the country. Others have corner stores with selections of packaged goods and small produce sections.
The unequal food distribution in New York has led some food activists to start urban farms that cater to individual communities. East New York Farms, for example, operates a plot and sells to local residents in the Brooklyn neighborhood. The group has also helped others to start their own community-led farms, like the one at the Louis Heaton Pink Houses, a New York City Housing Authority project in Brooklyn.
During the pandemic, food access, at least initially, was even more constrained for those who already have difficulty accessing fresh food. Soup kitchens and groups like Harlem Grown, which uses abandon lots to set up urban farms, stepped in to fill the food void with fresh vegetables and prepared meals. Tamm wonders what such efforts would be like with a bigger piece of land.
The pandemic also provided Tamm with a precedent for converting Central Park to more essential uses: Within the first three weeks of the pandemic, after New York City shut down normal operations, field tents with 68 hospital beds went up in Central Park to support Mt. Sinai hospital as it treated COVID-19 patients. Tamm says, if New York City is willing to set aside land for treating sick New Yorkers, why would it not set aside that same land for ensuring that city residents have access to good nutrition.
“Farmers and doctors are deemed, essential workers. So why couldn’t we have the juxtaposition of on one side of the park they have the COVID hospital and on the other side they have farms, because that would be tackling both sides of health,” she says.
Sam Biederman, systems commissioner for community outreach and partnership development at New York City Parks, works closely with the Central Park Conservancy and also with New York City’s Green Thumb community gardens. He says that given the size of New York City’s population there is physically not enough available land in New York City to grow enough food to feed all its residents. However, he does think community gardens contribute more quality food to certain neighborhoods. Unfortunately, he says, the Central Park Conservancy, in partnership with the city, manages the park with strict rules that may make such a project difficult to undertake.
The Central Park Conservancy is a nonprofit that was founded in 1980 after the park had suffered years of decline, to rejuvenate and manage the park. The city pays about a tenth of the conservancy’s annual $85 million budget, and conservancy raises the rest through private sources. The organization works in tandem with the parks department.
“The undergirding philosophical approach is as much land should be available to all people,” says Biederman. He says that using Central Park as anything other than purely recreational space requires event permitting. The Great Lawn in particular has a lot of limits, he says, because any time an event takes over that space, it is taking it offline for recreational use. The longest a person can get a permit for the Great Lawn is two days and there are only seven permits given out a year. “Turning a significant amount of that space over to agriculture that’s a significantly different use—it’s a tall order.”
However, he also notes that the Central Park Conservancy is very aware of Seneca Village’s history and is trying to honor its legacy in various ways. Last year, the organization put up a temporary installation that highlights the work archeologists have done and their learnings about Seneca Village in the time they’ve been investigating it. It also released a series of materials that help guide teachers who want to use the exhibit to teach students about Seneca Village. Biederman says NYC Parks is also looking into renaming other parks to honor New York’s Black history. “Negotiating what it means to live on and operate and be the custodian of land that once belonged to someone else is a moral responsibility that you have to tend to in perpetuity,” says Biederman. “The way people interact with public spaces evolves from generation to generation—that’s clear.”
Tamm, who has separately recently raised more than $100,000 to start her own farm, is meeting with a member of New York City Parks to discuss the project further and has high hopes for the conversation, she says. “It would be there to pay homage to the ancestors of Seneca Village—that’s the number-one goal.”
Correction: This article has been updated to clarify the Conservancy’s role in managing Central Park.
Lead Photo: [Photo: johnandersonphoto/iStock]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ruth Reader is a writer for Fast Company. She covers the intersection of health and technology.
These 4 Reasons Tell Us Why It’s Time To Shift To Indoor Farming
Though growing indoors can never be a replacement for outdoor agriculture, it can certainly help in growing certain vegetables, herbs, microgreens, and more
By Ecochirp Foundation in Environment
6th August 2020
Traditionally, agriculture was done on large open farms, having a large dependence on external environmental factors. In recent times, there is a new vertical emerging in agriculture, giving promising results i.e., Indoor farming or vertical farming. Particular challenges that were faced in conventional cultivation techniques have been resolved with indoor agriculture. Though growing indoors can never be a replacement for outdoor agriculture, it can certainly help in growing certain vegetables, herbs, microgreens, and more.
Let’s have a comparative study of indoor growing vs. outdoor growing.
Weather Dependence
Traditional outdoor growing is largely dependent on weather conditions. Only seasonal crops can be grown. Weather conditions can be the biggest nightmares for farmers as things like thunderstorms, floods, droughts can damage crops overnight. By growing indoors, we eliminate our dependence on the weather. Instead, growers can control the climate inside the indoor growing system creating the ideal environment for maximum outputs. Using a wide range of sensors, indoor growers can check their plants at all times.
Pesticides And Herbicides Requirement
Do you also wear a mask while consuming those??
The crops are more prone to pests and other animal damage as they are exposed to the outer environment. We recently saw the locust attack that happened; it devastated large areas of crops. We saw how fast they traveled and farmers couldn’t take measures in time. They had to spray large amounts of pesticides to protect the remaining crops that eventually went into our systems. The pesticides and chemical fertilizers used are a root cause of major ailments like cancers, immune disorders, infertility, and cardiovascular diseases.
Indoor grown edibles need fewer chemical additives to grow well. Being indoors, they are not prone to pests. Also, the environment is controlled; therefore, there is no need for pesticides or herbicides. Therefore, the vegetables are pure.
About 70% of the world’s freshwater goes to agriculture. And with increasing populations, this water requirement is expected to go up by 15% by 2050. This is a thing we should be afraid of, as the freshwater resources are declining. If things keep going in the same way, there is a possibility that we might not be able to keep up with the requirements. Taking the case of indoor growing, techniques such as hydroponics take up to 90-95% less water. They use a closed-loop system, where there is no wastage, and resources are optimally utilized.
The Nutritional Content Of Edibles
The current agriculture system is centralized. Therefore, fruits and vegetables have to travel thousands of miles before they reach us. In the meanwhile, they lose a considerable amount of nutritional content. For example, spinach loses about 50-90% of its vitamin C within 24 hours of being harvested, which means the vegetables and fruits we eat at our homes in cities is not as nutritional as it should be.
In the case of indoor growing, which is generally done in cities near our homes, transportation time is less than 5-6 hours. Therefore, they are fresh and highly nutritious.
Pre And Post-Harvest Losses
About 40% of the world’s food is wasted due to the pre and post-harvest losses. Pre-harvest losses occur before harvesting begins, and may be due to insects, weeds, and rusts. Post-harvest losses occur between harvest and the moment of human consumption. Fruits and vegetables are perishable products and tend to get spoiled or degraded with time and unfavorable factors. Indoor growing has very low wastage as they rarely get diseases; they are near to cities and therefore, have lower transportation times. The edibles are consumed soon after they are harvested.
This comparison is just a brief glimpse of how growing indoors is more beneficial as compared to conventional growing. However, this article does not mean that indoor growing can replace proper farming. Outdoor farming can not be eliminated but can be decentralized, and with the help of indoor growing techniques, we can revolutionize the current agriculture system for the better.
About the author: Palak Kumar is an insatiably curious Mechanical Engineering student, passionate about flying, clouds, literature, and plants, working towards revolutionizing Indoor Vertical Growing.
Barclays and Unreasonable Selects 80 Acres Farms To Receive $100,000 Grant in Support of COVID-19 Related Work
Unreasonable Impact COVID-19 Response is a new initiative launched by Barclays and Unreasonable Group awarding $100,000 grants each to ten Unreasonable ventures that have pivoted their businesses to combat challenges related to COVID1
Barclays and Unreasonable Group launch $1,000,000 fund for entrepreneurial solutions addressing challenges resulting from the global pandemic
July 8, 2020 – LONDON – 80 Acres Farms has been awarded a $100,000 grant in recognition of the exceptional work being undertaken in addressing the immediate and long-term challenges resulting from the effects of the global pandemic.ar
Unreasonable Impact COVID-19 Response is a new initiative launched by Barclays and Unreasonable Group awarding $100,000 grants each to ten Unreasonable ventures that have pivoted their businesses to combat challenges related to COVID19.
The grant is designed to support and amplify the impact of the work 80 Acres Farms is doing.
The initiative was launched as a direct response to the outbreak of COVID19 and is an extension of Unreasonable Impact, the unique multi-year partnership between the two companies supporting growth-stage entrepreneurs across the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific regions solving many of the world’s most pressing issues.
80 Acres Farms was Chosen by a selection committee for the meaningful work the company has been doing during the COVID-19 pandemic. They bring access to fresh foods to the communities they serve. This grant will further their efforts by deploying mobile markets, “Veggie Vans” to neighborhoods most adversely affected by this pandemic. By growing differently, in a completely controlled environment, 80 Acres Farms can improve the nutritional value of foods, not only getting it to the customer hours after harvest, but also increasing vitamins and minerals, and antioxidants naturally during the growing process.
80 Acres Farms Mike Zelkind will join the nine other recipients at a live virtual event, The Unreasonable Impact COVID19 Response Global Summit, created with Barclays on July 8th where he will have a chance to share his exceptional work with a global audience.
Joe McGrath, Barclays’ Global Head of Banking, commented, “Through Unreasonable Impact, we set out to help entrepreneurs take their businesses to the next level. They are already tackling almost impossible-sounding challenges, so when COVID-19 took hold we weren’t surprised that they would point their talent and drive towards responding to the pandemic. We’re in awe of the speed that they’ve pivoted their businesses and of the positive impact that they’ve already made, so we’re delighted to be able to support them through the Unreasonable Impact COVID-19 Response.”
Daniel Epstein, Founder, and CEO of Unreasonable Group, added, “Unreasonable Impact was co-created with Barclays with a shared intention to support and scale up entrepreneurial solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. The global impact of COVID-19 is unlike any challenge any of us has seen in our lifetimes. Setting up the COVID-Response to support and amplify ventures leveraging business to combat challenges related to the pandemic is a natural extension of our mission. We are humbled to be supporting the exceptional work 80 Acres Farms."
For more information and to register to attend the Global Summit, visit https://unreasonablegroup.com/initiatives/unreasonable-impact/covid-global-summit/
Full list of ventures selected:
1MG Technologies: India’s leading mobile healthcare platform with over 9 million downloads and 33 million monthly visits
80 Acres Farms: Converting urban spaces in ultra-efficient indoor farms that produce accessible, tasty and affordable local food year-round
Airlabs: Transforming polluted cities into clean air zones by removing 95% nitrogen dioxide along with all other pollutants
Day Owl: Turning trash from the poorest neighbourhoods in the world into purpose filled recycled fabrics
Ecoware: Creating 100% biodegradable eco-friendly and compostable certified food packaging and garbage bags
eFishery: Creating the future of aquaculture with an IoT smart feeding technology to help hundreds of millions of farmers at the bottom of the pyramid
Globechain: Creating the world’s largest reuse marketplace that connects corporates to charities and people to redistribute unwanted items
Nanobiosym: Using nanotechnology to empower people worldwide with rapid affordable and portable diagnostic information about their own health
Olio: connecting neighbours and local shops so surplus food and other household items can be shared rather than thrown away
Zero Mass: Making drinking water an ultimate resource with SOURCE, a set of panels that make water from air
About Unreasonable Impact, created with Barclays
Unreasonable Impact is an innovative multi-year multi-geographic partnership between Barclays and Unreasonable Group to launch the world’s first global network focused on scaling up entrepreneurial solutions that will help employ thousands worldwide in the emerging green economy. To date, the more than 100 ventures that comprise the global cohort operate in more than 180 countries, have raised over $2.1bn USD in funding, have generated over $2bn USD in revenue, and have created more than 30,000 net new jobs since joining Unreasonable Impact. For more information, please visit www.unreasonableimpact.com.
About Barclays
Barclays is a British universal bank. The company is diversified by business, by different types of customers and clients, and by geography. Barclays’ businesses include consumer banking and payments operations around the world, as well as a top-tier, full service, global corporate and investment bank, all of which are supported by their service company which provides technology, operations and functional services across the Group.
For further information about Barclays, please visit www.home.barclays.
About Unreasonable Group
Bringing together a global network of entrepreneurs, investors, creatives, and business leaders, Unreasonable acts as a catalytic platform for entrepreneurs tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges facing us today. From designing highly curated immersive programmes, facilitating access to a global network of mentors to operating a private equity fund, and providing advanced storytelling and media activities, Unreasonable operates at the highest intersection of business and impact. It is uniquely positioned to support growth-stage entrepreneurs solving key global environment and social challenges to scale up through the deployment of knowledge, networks and capital.
For more information about Unreasonable, please visit www.unreasonablegroup.com.
Media Contact
Rebecca Haders
+01 513.910.9089
VIDEO: Indoor Farming Emerges As A Reliable Source For Fresh Food As Coronavirus Wreaks Havoc On Traditional Food Supply Chains
The coronavirus has laid bare many issues in America's food supply chain. Could indoor farming be the solution? Irving Fain, CEO of Bowery Farming, joined Cheddar to discuss
USA: Nebullam Launches Farm-To-Door Program For Central Iowa Residents
“In the span of six days we decided to pivot from selling to restaurants to going from farm-to-door, offering fresh lettuce and microgreens direct to consumers weekly or bi-weekly,” said Clayton Mooney, co-founder of Nebullam. “We put up an e-commerce site, got everything set up, and launched.”
Screenshot from the shop section of Nebullam's website.
Nebullam, an emerging indoor farming company based in Ames, has launched a delivery service of its fresh food products to Central Iowa residents, to ensure that Iowans have access to locally grown lettuce, herbs, and microgreens during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as year-round.
“In the span of six days we decided to pivot from selling to restaurants to going from farm-to-door, offering fresh lettuce and microgreens direct to consumers weekly or bi-weekly,” said Clayton Mooney, co-founder of Nebullam. “We put up an e-commerce site, got everything set up, and launched.”
Since pivoting, Nebullam has had its best month of revenue to date and is growing at almost ten percent month over month, Mooney told Clay & Milk.
“In some ways, the change has really been a blessing in disguise for our business model,” said Mooney.
Nebullam was founded in 2017 with a primary focus of improving indoor farming technologies to help indoor farm owners and operators become profitable, faster. Today, Nebullam owns and operates its own indoor farm within the Iowa State University Research Park.
“Prior to COVID, about 3/4 of Nebullam’s produce was going to Central Iowa restaurants with the remain 1/4 going to grocery stores,” said Mooney. “In early March, we began talking to friends on the west coast who are indoor farmers about restaurants shutting down there and felt like it was inevitably going to happen here as well.”
Nebullam’s indoor farm produces red butterhead lettuce and microgreens such as broccoli sprouts and micro radish. Through Nebullam’s site residents from Ames, Boone, Nevada, Ankeny, and Des Moines can subscribe to have fresh produce delivered directly to their door, every week or every other week. In addition to Nebullam’s website options, you can always find fresh Nebullam lettuce and broccoli sprouts at Wheatsfield Co-op in Ames.
“We do have two restaurant partners that have come back online. When our other restaurant partners are able to get back up and going again, we’ll have the production to meet their weekly needs,” said Mooney. “As for the direct-to-consumer, we’re pretty excited to continue to pursue that.”