Up on the Roof: Sustainable Agriculture Grows in NYC

Urban sustainable agriculture often manifests on rooftops. With limited growing space in the city, farmers and gardeners need to get creative and utilize otherwise unused spaces, like building roofs, to grow fresh produce. Rooftop gardens have proven to be quite successful, even on a commercial scale, in many cities. And as urban sustainable agriculture movement continues to grow, school gardens are hopping on the rooftop train as well. This week an elementary school in New York City, with the help of some urban sustainability experts, took the idea to the next level, opening a brand new, state-of-the-art greenhouse and science classroom up on the roof.

The Manhattan School for Children is the first public school in New York City to take part in this sort of pilot project, but it could be (and hopefully will be) the first of over 100 schools to do so. The school's new rooftop greenhouse was inspired by the Science Barge greenhouse classroom built by New York Sun Works. The Barge is basically a floating greenhouse that is a premier example of how to grow high yield produce via urban agriculture. It uses hydroponic and other innovative methods to effectively grow vegetables in the midst of an urban landscape. It also serves as an educational site, and after a  trip to the Science Barge, several parents of kids at the Manhattan School for Children decided that their school ought to have such a classroom on site. The parents worked with NY Sun Works as well as a greenhouse engineering company to design and build the new hands on learning garden that's now up and running.

The school greenhouse has the potential to grow 8,000 pounds of produce, much of which could go directly to the school cafeteria and be incorporated into school lunches. While the nutrition benefit of having such a large on site garden facility has huge potential, the main purpose of the greenhouse is for science-based education. In the greenhouse, kids will have an a very hands-on learning experience discovering  sustainable development systems, biodiversity, contamination, and all sorts of other biological, chemical, and environmental science lessons.

Such a rich learning resource comes at no small cost, however. Most of the $800,000 required to build the facility was put up by private donors. A small portion, however, was provided by the local Borough and Council, which showed public support for the project. Still, despite the obvious educational and dietary benefits of having such a state of the art greenhouse farm on school grounds are undeniable, the reality of the cost means that most schools probably won't be able to house such facilities anytime soon. Nevertheless, the development of the Manhattan School for Children's top notch greenhouse/classroom/farm is inspiring and something that we should strive to propagate throughout the city and beyond!