The largest farm in Brooklyn, New York, is coming to the Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT)! Yes, this massive five million square foot building complex located at 140 58th Street, in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, will soon house the largest rooftop farm in the United States!
The Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT), formerly referred to as the U.S. Army Military Ocean Terminal, was built in 1919 and served as the largest military supply base in the U.S. through WWII. During WWII 56,000 military and civilian personnel were employed there, and over three million troops and 37 million tons of military supplies passed through the facility. The most famous soldier to deploy from BAT was Elvis Presley. He greeted fans and dozens of photojournalists at BAT in September of 1958, when he shipped off from Brooklyn to Germany.
New York City purchased BAT from the federal government in 1981 with the intention of restoring the complex to a light manufacturing warehouse. The New York City Economic Development Corporation now manages the BAT complex and today, over three million square feet of space has been restored for use by a diverse mix of businesses. Now a planned multi-acre, state-of-the-art, hydroponic greenhouse farm will be built on 100,000 square feet of rooftop space by BrightFarms, Inc., in partnership with Salmar Properties LLC. The farm will grow up to 1 million pounds of local produce per year, including tomatoes, lettuces, and herbs. This farm will cultivate a new national model for urban agriculture.
Enough crops will be grown to meet the fresh vegetable consumption needs of up to 5,000 New Yorkers. Construction is scheduled to start in the fall of 2012, with the first harvest expected the spring of 2013, and will be sold to local supermarket chains.
An example of a hydroponic greenhouse
The Bright Farms greenhouse will join a half-dozen commercial rooftop farms in New York City. Brooklyn Grange already runs a one-acre operation in Long Island City, Queens, and Gotham Greens, another company, has a hydroponic rooftop garden in the Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
I'm really excited about this new trend and I hope this local supply of fresh vegetables will make their prices more affordable to all New Yorkers. Do you have hydroponic greenhouses in your area? What do you think about them?
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46 comments:
Excellent news, Pat! I hope some of the produce will find its way to stores on Staten Island, too. I am glad that it was not turned into another big box store. xo
Very cool indeed, Pat. I love the idea! When I think of Brooklyn I never automatically thing: farming. But now I shall. :)
Wow - loving this trend. As far as I know - nothing like it here - at least not on rooftops. The U of MN of course has tons of greenhouses - but mostly for research. I'd love to think it would drive down the price of produce - but will remain mum on that - but if anything - at least it's fresher and not trucked in!
Now that is going to be one huge amazing farm!! Wow! What a great way to grow food and utilize space!! Brilliant!! Take care
x
Hi Pat hope all is well. I heard about this in the news this morning so exciting. I hope we can visit and also get to pick up produce there. Grace xoox
How interesting. I'm sure you'll keep us abreast on this project....try to sample some of their food. What a brilliant way to find space in a compacted area of the country. I'm sure so many NYC people would be stunned to see our MILES of farm land with giant wind turbines for energy. We all live so differently....how wonderful if this is successful.
Hi Pat, What a great idea for NYC.... Bet you will really enjoy the fresh produce...
We have little Produce Markets or Farmer's Markets down here--along with roadside selling.. There's just nothing better than fresh produce.
Hugs,
Betsy
What a great idea. I never heard of such a plan but like you said maybe food will get cheaper in time.
Have a happy weekend.
This is very cool! I know that smaller rooftop gardens are getting very popular.When it is finished, will they let people up there for tours or lectures and such?
This could be amazing...if they keep the hydroponic gardening organic and keep monsanto out. I am a little skeptical...I guess. Have a great weekend.
♥, Susan
That is a very exciting business endeavor and I hope that it is the beginning of more and more urban farms across North America.
I found information on one very exiting hydroponic greenhouse in Winnipeg, where I live and it happens to be underground. It's beneath the CNR mainline. I want to the location of it, it would be very interesting!
It was started by an elementary school teacher who gets his equipment from the Police department, who get it from drug raids. It's equipment that would otherwise be destroyed. It's a teaching garden for the underprivileged young people that it employs and it supplies fresh veges to those who cannot afford it.
Interesting, eh?
That is no doubt where farming is going, and for good reason!!!
Hugs, Cindy
Actually, there is a new company in Maine that has a goal of providing fresh tomatoes for all Mainers year round. It's called Backyard Farms.
Pat~ How exciting and what a wonderful idea & use of space in your neck of the woods! I think rooftop gardening is brilliant!
Now that title certainly caught my eye! What a great idea. I'm sure we will be seeing a lot more rooftop gardening in cities everywhere in the future.
What a great idea. We have plenty of our own fresh veggies in the summer but pay out of sight during the winter for veggies from a place just like that probably. Great informational post.
QMM
That really will be great. What a good use of that space! Love the history behind this complex, too.
Have a wonderful weekend, Pat!
Fascinating to read about, Pat. The only rooftop gardens I've seen are in movies and not a farm. Will be interesting to follow the development and progress. Visions of farmers' markets on the sidewalk below!
So cool! Gotta love New York, we make use of every inch of space. A huge rooftop garden, that'll be great.
Nope, we still have real farms here , even though it is NY! Of course, so many fewer as it is more profitable for the farmers to sell to MCMansion builders. I love being close to farms, and the ocean, a great place to live. Unfortunately, the growing season is very short. We won't have local produce till mid July, although this year has been warmer.
I actually bought my tomato plants today. I won't put them in the ground though till danger of frost is over!
Have a great weekend. We need rain out here, brush fires popping up all over.
This sounds like tremendous idea, Pat. Hydroponic gardens are becoming a great food source and in many ways seem to be the future of vegetable gardening. Here in Northern Alberta, the growing season is very short with very few vegetable gardens being planted before the May 21st weekend. Farmers markets are held in most towns once a week and fresh produce is available through the summer. We have long hours of daylight and most thing grow well in an average summer. Tomatoes rarely ripen before they have to be covered in late August due to frost warnings but picked green - they ripen gradually and our usually potatoes last until Christmas. We enjoy gardening and just hope that we won't face the grasshopper invasion that we experienced last summer.
This is soooo cool, Pat! I love that they're doing this. I know this building and it is sooo massive. I can easily imagine it feeding 5 thousand! Neat.
What a terrific idea Pat. I was just listening to a radio program about the hazards of eating produce grown in large, outdoor farms -- that the only way to control risk of feces from birds, runoff from cow's waste, etc. was to grow things indoors.
Isn't this farming movement great! Especially when you hear what the FDA considers safe - think "pink slime" as the most recent blunder! It's also unlikely that your veggies will be recalled because dirty water is being used to rinse them! I am all for home grown and lower prices! Go BAT!!!!
Great post. The one in Long Island City is just four blocks from the office. I'll be making a visit later this year and you know there will be pictures. Hugs and wishes for a great weekend!
who could expect such a farm in this place!:)
Life and travelling
Cooking
It will be so nice for New Yorkers to go to that market. Hope it's reasonably priced so many can enjoy it. Great photos Pat. Smiles, Susie(She Junks)
Brooklyn and Farm together is somewhat of an oxymoron. You teach me so much!
Very interesting. Wonder how much weight that will add and how they know the building can support it? Most interesting. Thank you for sharing. blessings ~ tanna
With all the interest in sourcing more food locally, this just makes so much sense. Good for NYC!
This is great news, I wish they had Big Greenhouses in Maine.
I don't know about NYC. but I am watching the prices jump on all food products at our supermarket's
I am in shock at what is going on.
Coffee jumped $3 a pound from last year. It sure would be nice to have more local grown produce.
How I wish Nashville would do something like this. And I wish my city had allotment garden space for apartment dwellers. I will bet the boroughs do-
This is so exciting Pat! I truly wish them such a great success that everyone will have to follow along in all cities!
A wonderful post to read on Earth Day 2012:)
Pat, what a wonderful use of that rooftop space. It seems like building occupants would want first choice at doing their grocery shopping right upstairs. I hope it is a major success.
I'm home just two weeks from my four months in India...am hoping to go back soon, this time for six months. Has a brief five day stopover in Hong Kong..a bit lonely as I was there alone. It's so much nicer when one has company!
Pat, this is wonderful news! So exciting--I hope it works and more buildings will use the rooftops in this clever way. We saw semi-underground buildings in Europe, where the roof is underground so things can grow on top. This is a great idea for a city. Linda
wow! I've heard of rooftop farming. I really like this idea.
wow that's a lot of seedlings! It surely is also exciting to tend big farms like this one!
What a brilliant way to use space in the city. Living in the middle of farmland, I realize just how important farming is. I found this post so fascinating! Thanks for sharing. As always, I learn so much from your blog.
What a terrific idea! Thanks so much for sharing it with us today! I love it! Hope we'll see more of the same in other places! Have a great week!
Sylvia
What a great idea!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
What a fantastic idea.
Holy moly!
I don't know of any hydroponic greenhouses in our area. My son tried to grow tomatoes that way as a science project, but it wasn't successful because the cat kept peeing in it.
First, that is a huge building, and you captured it so well.
I think this is a great idea, maximizing space or no space left unused!
Excellent information about NY on your blog. Always look and enjoy the post each week.
Joyce M
This sounds sooo neat!
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Very cool! I love seeing this happen and I always love the beautiful photos you take!
We knew people who ran a hydroponic tomato farm near home in Florida. They were SO good. This is such an interesting undertaking and I cannot see how it could possibly fail. It will feel LOTS of people. YOU GO BROOKLYN! genie
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