NYC Entry 1: A Tale of Two Urban Agri-cultures

an update from Public Outreach Coordinator Adam Saunders

I had the joy of traveling to New York City with my co-workers May 29th through June 1st this year to attend the Horticultural Society of New York’s Urban Agriculture Conference.   It is truly a joy to see great new places, and even more enjoyable to meet like-minded people innovating in the world of urban agriculture.   Here is a quick rundown of what I saw while in the Big Apple.

We arrived Thursday morning in New York and enjoyed a great long walk through Central Park.  The huge park was alive with people playing tee ball, jogging, biking and enjoying the great outdoors.  The irony of a bunch of Midwesterners running toward the green space was not lost on us when we arrived…

We made our way to a movie screening and networking event in Brooklyn, and had our first chance to talk shop with New Yorkers and visiting urban farmers.  A great meal and drinks got people mingling before a nice presentation with short video clips from Tom Boyden of Madison, WI.   Tom spent part of last year biking across Europe talking to urban farmers and gardeners and ‘gorilla gardening’ in public spaces.  Check out his YouTube channel with some great shorts and a few longer form videos.

The next morning we caught the subway to the NYU campus on Jackson Square and took the elevator to the 11th floor to kick off the conference.  This great view greeted us and set a great backdrop for the morning.  

Billy Polansky kicked off the event with a great 45 minute keynote talk (video to come soon) about CCUA; our history, our programs, the trends we’re seeing locally, and how the urban agriculture industry differs from the sustainable and industrial food systems.

I then took the stage to facilitate a small panel of experts.  Each provided information about their experiences in urban agriculture.  A lawyer and advocate gave advice for incorporating a business; a designer/planner talked about the “systems approach” to building a food system; a research urban farmer talked about growing in ‘super sacks’ and coordinating volunteers; and an entrepreneur talked about his experience in designing and installing large scale urban agriculture projects (video on these coming soon as well).   Bios and more information about each of the panelist can be found at The Hort’s website.

6 adam with panel

The large group then broke into five smaller groups to travel around the city to visit urban agriculture in action.  Keep your eye’s peeled for updates from the other staff about what they saw on their tours.  I visited Smiling Hogshead Ranch in Brooklyn to learn about container gardening.   This two year old project taking place on abandoned Metro Transit Authority (MTA) land.  There are train tracks running through the middle of the two acres.  The site was covered in garbage when it was first initiated.  Raised bed gardens, fruit trees, berry bushes, mushroom production, composting bins, and native plants have been established on the site.  The soil tests from the site showed that relatively smaller amounts of pollutants were present in the soil, marginal for food production, and too high for a kids’ playground.

7 smiling hogshead ranch

The group uses ‘sub-irrigated beds’ on the site to accommodate the marginal soil.  We built a raised bed to demonstrate the process and showcase the production method.  The beds use an impermeable barrier at the base of the bed, PVC pipes to deliver water below ground, a gravel reservoir to hold water, and clean soil to help the plants take root and grow.   This methodology is utilized widely in dry climates and areas of scarce irrigation water.

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The next presenter showed how he maintains an urban farm using milk crates.  He works for a restaurant, Riverside Café, in downtown Manhattan and cares for over 3,000 milk crates to supply greens, tomatoes, herbs, and ground cherries to the kitchen.  The nature of the operation is mobile; in fact they have moved the operation three times in four years to accommodate changing land tenure and weather events.  Zack keeps meticulous records of production to push himself and make smarter management decisions.

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We had two more presenters talk about their experiences.  Tom (sat on panel earlier) and a co-worker talked about their research growing in 3’x3’x18” super sacks placed on pallets.  They tried several designs including some using the sub-irrigated methodology.  They have published their results in an urban agriculture research journal and are looking to continue to push the envelope in design and management in the years to come.    We also had a person from Sagg Harbor talk about their two+ acres of raised beds in eastern Long Island.  The huge scale difference from a bunch of 3x3 beds to thousands of square feet showed how an economy of scale, even in small spaces, changes your approach and management.

All the conference goers made their way to a bar in Brooklyn to recap about their tours, share what they learned, and continue to meet new people active in urban ag.  We invited everyone we met to visit the great town of Columbia to see how the Midwest does agriculture.  Hopefully some of the folks come out to visit us and we can keep the connection alive.  We’ll be sure to follow up with some key partners to explore collaboration in the future.

We then made our way to Chinatown for a nice meal.  We ate a wide range of great food sprawled out on a big lazy Suzan.  Fat and happy from fish, dumplings, bean curd, noodles, and pork, we made our way home for the night.

I had the joy of staying Saturday and half of Sunday in the area.  I used the extra day to visit friends in upstate New York living along the Hudson River.  The landscape quickly changes from heavy urbanism to farm country dotted with small country houses and small towns that have escaped the sub-urban sprawl of the last 30 years.  Vegetable farms, dairies, forests, and wetlands cover the landscape.  I took commuter rail out of and back into the city, a very enjoyable way to see the countryside and quickly get around the region.

Back in the city, I made my way to the airport.  I stopped for lunch and walked around a diverse working class neighborhood and passed this sweet front yard garden planted with tomatoes and cucumbers; a nice little treat before catching my last bus.

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Traveling is truly an honor and luxury.  I am grateful for this opportunity to share the work of CCUA with others, and to learn from urban farmers in one of the most urbanized places on earth.  Additionally, experiencing a pace of life much different from my usual provides a nice reference point for Columbia and the Midwest.  We have so many gifts and opportunities unique to this area, and so much to learn from areas that have grown up years ago.  This urban/rural interface is a fun one to observe, and the lens of urban agriculture adds great depth to the dynamic.

A big thank you goes out to the Horticultural Society of New York for the opportunity and all the donors to the IndieGoGo campaign that helped make it possible for us to make the trip! Please check back for more urban ag stories from NYC and CoMO, and “Follow” this blog to receive updates.

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Food deserts and CCUA

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Local Urban Agriculture group brings Midwest message to New York City